15K words, and this chapter was originally slated to have two more sections, each around 3k words or more.
Considering no one really enjoyed the Arc-Arc, I decided to speed through it and finish it off in this chapter. Does doing this change the entire plotline to come? Yes. Does it change it in a way that matters? No.
This is the last chapter in arc 2 of Empyrean. Three more arcs remain. No more OC arcs remain, as we will be dealing with primarily canon characters from now onwards.
The aftermath of this chapter and the linkage to the next arc will be covered in the next chapter, but we're going back to Atlas soon!
With that said, here's the most haphazard, all-over-the-place chapter I've ever written. Hope you enjoy!
It's also not beta-ed because my beta is currently dead in the water and I've been looking for a new one for a while to no avail.
You have taken Critical Damage!
External forces have healed your body.
Those two notifications greeted him when he finally woke up, sprawled out on the cold marble flooring next to the ajar door he'd walked through god knows how long ago. He got up slowly, his back was stiff, sure, but no evidence that he'd been stabbed through the heart remained. His clothes, Jason's old uniform, which had taken one hell of a battering in his battles against the Hunter and Sophia, had also returned to pristine condition.
Just like the ground had in Sophia's coliseum.
There was something to be learned from that, something about the true nature of the gaol of the immortals. Yet, considering the larger issue at hand, such learnings were lost on him.
He'd gone up against the immortals, and he'd failed horribly.
The Hunter was immortal, sure, but he was more animal than human. He attacked with reckless abandon, knowing that his immense durability and regeneration would not fail him. Wasting as much time and mana against him as Jaune had was not ideal.
Speaking of durability, Sophia's body was quite literally indestructible. Yet, she'd been helpful enough to inform him that the last Empyrean had defeated her in one move, at his age nonetheless. Sure, the knowledge had been humbling, but he'd surmised that the last Empyrean probably had more time to level up and accrue strength. He'd likely been trained as a child, unlike Jaune himself. It was a reminder that he wasn't 'all that' quite yet.
Only for Sylvia to shatter that assumption with a few words. The last Empyrean, at his age, was weaker. Weaker, yes, but far more specialized. Sylvia had refused to fight him, but something told Jaune that had they fought, he wouldn't have made it down to the next floor.
Fat lot of good that did, though. He hadn't even seen Arc move. He hadn't been able to react. Arc's spear had shattered his aura like it didn't even exist. How was he supposed to fight someone like that?
What abilities did he need to fight someone of that caliber? His kneejerk reaction was to want to go out and farm. Kill more grimm, get more levels, come back stronger. Yet, what use was that? Normal grimm could die in the thousands around him and still barely give him enough experience for a level.
No, the issue was deeper thn that. The Empyrean had been trained since he was young. His specialization in ability reflected that. It could also be a product of his time. None of the immortals had fancy mechashift weapons. None of them had hit him with Dust or any mechashift shenanigans. They were warriors of discipline. Specialists at their jobs, what more.
he was a generalist, and not a very effective one. his abilities were many but not all useful. Some went as far as to make others redundant. he could get this far only through his ridiculous stats and growth.
Yet that approach could only take him so far, and against Arc, even against Sylvia, her unwillingness to fight Jaune notwithstanding, this approach had hit a wall.
Yet, the abilities were his crutch, it was what differentiated him from what he once was. Sure, he could see how an ability that served to make his movement faster on snow was not useful ninety percent of the time, but that ability was something he'd learned in his first meeting with Diamante and Jade.
They weren't just abilities. To him, they represented something more. They represented his journey, growth, and memories he'd made along the way.
Even the mere idea of giving them up gave him a sour taste.
He sighed, raking his fingers through his dishevelled hair as he straightened up his clothes. While they weren't dirty, they were creased thanks to all the time he'd spent lying on the ground.
Speaking of time, he pulled out his scroll to check how long he'd been passed out—six hours from when he last checked, just before he entered the gaol.
What was more surprising was that his scroll still had service even here, three floors underground. That, and there was a message waiting for him. A message that had made it past all the spam filters he'd applied to all family contacts.
It was a message from Winter.
SchneeW: Hey Jaune, can we talk? There have been developments.
It was a reminder that even though he was back home, the world didn't stop moving. Winter and General Ironwood were making inroads towards their shared goals in Atlas, and considering Winter wouldn't message him unless it was urgent, there was more than likely some new development.
JArc: Yeah sure, you available for a call right now?
The reply from Winter was instant. The basic ringtone from his Scroll echoed in the hallway twice before he picked up the call.
"You look tired." He commented, taking in Winter's disheveled appearance. He could see her lack of sleep from her unfocused eyes, and also from the dark circles beneath them. Her dress was still immaculate, but she had the same look he'd worn many-a-times after an all-nighter for an exam.
It was cute, but also a reminder of how hard Winter was working.
"That's rich, coming from you. You look like you haven't seen a bed in days." Winter shot back with a huff that reminded Jaune of Weiss. Guess the younger sister took after the older in more ways than one.
"Such is the cross big shots like you have to bear. Is it not?" Jaune spoke with a chuckle, trying to bring some levity to the situation, If the hint of a smile that appeared on Winter's face was anything to go by, he'd say his efforts bore fruit.
"Don't try to be fake-humble, Jaune. It doesn't suit you." Winter replied, not even trying to hide the smile on her face at this point.
"Still got you to lighten up, didn't it?" Jaune smiled back, choosing to ignore the butterflied that had suddenly manifested in his stomach at the sight of Winter's smile. "I digress, though. I assume you have something important for me?"
Winter's smile faltered as she straightened up, her focus sharpening. "Yes. I was able to confirm the support of all of my father's dissidents within the SDC. There's only one person who is too obstinate to budge on this matter."
"Considering you chose to call me, I assume this one person is not someone we can proceed without?" Jaune asked.
Winter was silent for a moment. Then, she steeled her resolve and answered.
"It's… It's my mother. I'm afraid fear of my Father has made her unreasonable. She refused all the options I gave her, and I'm afraid that without her, the legitimacy of our coup may come under public scrutiny." She spoke, the tone of disappointment that tinged her voice was unmistakable.
"That's… something of a problem." Jaune whispered out.
"We might be able to make him step down as the owner of the SDC, but he would just instate her as the new puppet owner and run the corporation, using her as a puppet as he works behind the scenes to get rid of all our allies within the corporation." WInter finished, a tone of desperation in her voice.
"She can see clear as day what her dear husband has done to her father's empire. Yet, she chooses to support him. Do you think she still harbors feelings for him?" Jaune questioned.
Winter shook her head. "She hates him with every fiber of her being, but she fears him. For what few values my mother has, bravery is not one of them. That, and my father is a man of many means. Right now, he has no need to do anything to mother. If she stands against him, though? She believes her life will be in danger."
Jaune nodded back. "Do you think your father would go that far?"
Winter grit her teeth. "If it means eliminating an opponent who could bring him down? He wouldn't lose any sleep over it."
Jaune sighed. "And you want me to give her assurance that even if she stood against him, she wouldn't come to harm?"
Winter was silent for a moment, before lowering her head, "I… I know that's a lot to ask. I know you cannot be her personal guard, but it's the only thing I could think of. If she knew that the person who brought down both Lau and the monster in the mountains was the one who was protecting her, I believe she'd find the courage to speak against father."
"Yet, it would come at the cost of my freedom. It would ground me in Atlas." Jaune responded, and a silence fell between the two of them. It was a sign of complete trust that Winter had felt courageous enough to ask this of him, and he knew this.
He also knew that asking Ironwood was not an option. While Ironwood was the face of Atlas, Jacques Schee was the financial backbone of the nation. Anyone who Ironwood could assign to protect her ran the risk of being compromised.
Yet, he couldn't afford to be shackled in Atlas, so it was up to him to come up with an alternate solution.
"I think I might be able to do something about that." Jaune responded. "There is a way that I can make sure there's someone both strong and incorruptible protecting your mother."
An expression of shock passed over Winter's face, before being replaced by curiosity. "You have a plan, don't you?"
Jaune nodded, looking back at the door leading into the gaol. He'd captured three floors of the Gaol, something that no Arc had done for a millenia. If needed, he could use that as a way to challenge his father for leadership. It wouldn't be clean, and he'd have to fight his own father for the right to lead. Even doing something of that magnitude, there would be dissidents. The oldest members of the council would still impede him, even after all that.
His status as the disgrace of the family was not one so easily washed away.
Yet, there was a better alternative. There was a way to make sure no one on the council would dare oppose him.
"There is a way for me to bring warriors from the Arc family to protect your interests in Atlas." He responded, hesitation coloring his tone.
"Does this 'way' put you in danger?" Winter asked.
Jaune cocked an eyebrow in response. "What makes you think that?"
Winter sighed. "Jaune, you wear your heart on your sleeve. When you returned to Ingress after meeting Lau in his graveyard, there was not a shred of doubt on your face. You weren't scared of him, a legend." She continued, concern clearly visible on her face. "Yet, you're hesitating. What in the world could make someone like you hesitate?"
Jaune was silent for a moment. "Have you ever gone through something in your life that made you reconsider everything you've once believed?" He asked.
To his surprise, Winter laughed. It wasn't a small chuckle, but a full-blown fit of laughter. It took her the better part of a minute to regain her composure. Even once she'd managed that, there was still a genuine smile on her face.
It was beautiful.
"Oh, Jaune. It's only been a few weeks since I've known you that my entire world-view was changed. Not once, but thrice!" She responded.
"Thrice?" He asked.
"Yes! The first was when we first met, right after you took down that herd of Megoliath. Your power was something I couldn't even fathom!" She spoke, still beaming at him. "Then when you chose to go up against the might of the whole legion, just to protect a place that doesn't even show up on most maps!"
"The one that shocked me most was when you went up against both Lau and that firebird and still came out on top. Atlas couldn't have managed that, even with an army. Yet you did it alone." Winter continued.
"You, Jaune Arc, should not exist in this world. You set new standards of possibility. The world doesn't even know who you are, or what you represent, yet your actions have already brought this world more hope than generations and generations of hunters have." She finished, her smile not even dimming once.
"Yet, for all that power, power that could let you take over this world, here you are, still trying to make this place a better world for people like me, people who can do nothing for you. It makes me want to do more. It finally gave me the confidence to do something I should have done years ago. That's the effect you have, Jaune. You inspire me."
There was a moment of silence. Winter had said her piece, and Jaune didn't have anything to say in response. What could he say, after all?
"I'll be honest, I didn't quite expect that answer." Jaune finally breathed out, unable to control the feeling of heat on his cheeks.
"Honestly, I didn't think it'd come out quite like that," Winter spoke, sporting a blush of her own. "So, I ask again, will your plan put you in danger?"
Jaune shook his head. "Not 'danger' so to speak. The worst that could happen is some injury to my ego. It's… different. I feel I've hit a wall, and it's not one I can easily surpass, at least not with the methods that I've become accustomed to using."
"Then start from the beginning. Tackle the issue in a different way. If anyone can do it, it's you." Winter spoke, but it was the look of complete confidence that spoke volumes, much more than her words could ever convey.
It gave Jaune confidence, the kind of confidence that he'd never known since he was a kid. The kind of confidence that came not from himself, but someone else's belief in him.
Something he had been denied all his life.
"Well, it wouldn't be very nice of me to let you down after you said all that." Jaune replied with a chuckle, noticing as Winter's blush returned full force. Still, she was a specialist from Atlas, and she didn't let it linger long.
"Ah, I apologize for that outburst. You can't imagine how long I've had it weighing on my soul." She spoke, covering her mouth with a hand.
"Could you send a bullhead down to Phalanx tomorrow?" Jaune asked. Startling Winter.
"Tomorrow? Are you giving up on your plan, then?" She asked.
Jaune shook his head in response, "No, I'll be ready on my end by tomorrow. I think you'll like my solution."
Winter replied by giving him a halfhearted glare. "That sounds ominous. Still. I wish you good luck. Jaune, even if you don't need it."
"It means more than you could imagine. Winter." Jaune responded, a serene smile gracing his face. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow." he finished, cutting the call.
He put his scroll back, his undivided attention now rested solely on the door leading to the Gaol. He still hesitated. Going back here in his current state would mean sure defeat.
He needed to change. This fake castle of redundant skills and abilities he'd built up to cover for his old weakness was holding him back from what he was meant to be.
It was this determination that gave birth to another ability.
Legendary Skill Created
Grand Reset
To truly gain strength, one must first learn how to let go.
Uses Left: 1
It was his will that gave birth to the ability, yet his weakness held him back. The certainty of power he'd gained from his abilities still had a hold on him, but it fell short against his determination to keep the promise he'd made to Winter.
Wordlessly, he activated the ability, and for a second, he wondered if he'd made the right decision.
He felt gaps appear in his memory as abilities left him. Even abilities he had used from the first day like Blink were taken from him, the familiar strength of his passives drained away as nothing was left behind.
Nothing but the two spells he had gained. The fire and thunder that made up his entire offensive arsenal stayed like a comforting presence. It made sense. They were not skills, they were not abilities. Magic was its own thing, and that was fine.
He had plans for them anyways.
Still, their comforting presence wasn't the only thing preventing him from feeling full-on fear. The fact that his stats did not change was another source of comfort. While his abilities left, the fact that the levels and stats he'd worked so hard stayed have him more comfort than anything else could.
It was when the last of his abilities left him, that the system gave him the lifeline he was hoping for.
Hidden Quest Complete: Once more, with feeling.
System Function Unlocked: Constellation of Might
Would you like to enter?
Yes-No
The speed at which Jaune agreed to enter the Constellation could be measured in nanoseconds. He felt reality itself bend around him, whisking him away to a place that existed for no one but himself.
And it did not disappoint. He stood at the edge of a lake, a lake filled with the glowing, ever-undulating waves of his power, the diluted essence of what shaped every ability he had ever unlocked.
Knowledge came to him in waves as he stood by the edge of the lake. And with one hand, he commanded it to rise.
Responding to his will, his power rose. Not all of it, but enough that the absence of it was physically visible. The level of liquid power in the lake fell considerably as the power he controlled rose into the high heavens.
And just as he predicted, he had created an ability.
A smile lit up his face as he realized that he finally had answers for what the immortals were going to throw at him. This time, things would be different.
His father once told him that no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
Now, it was his job to live up to his father's saying.
Cinder POV
Cinder was scared.
Being around Grimm was nothing new or frightening. After you've seen your first tame Beowulf, you feel you've seen it all. On her early missions for Mistress Salem, she was often paired alongside packs of Grimm. She hadn't been on any settlement destruction missions for a few years now, but that didn't mean she'd lost the ability to work alongside the creatures considered the bane of humanity.
That immunity did not hold up against the Grimm she was currently escorting towards the fortified settlement of Phalanx.
The mission itself was a surprise. Sure, after being betrayed and having to abandon her mission to take down Vale earlier in the year, she found herself in hell. Salem no longer trusted her. Her erstwhile peers in Salem's council were no longer peers, but superiors instead. The goodwill and trust she had built up with her mistress was lost, and her two useful tools were lost.
Sure, Emerald still held complete loyalty to her, but there was no chance that Mercury would work for her again, even if she regained her lost position. He'd run away the moment Towrchwick betrayed them and sided with Ozpin. It was only luck that had allowed them to escape with their lives.
Luck, and a generous application of Emerald's semblance.
The worst part was that she had no way of getting even with Torchwick. Last she heard, he had gained amnesty under Ozpin, and so had his little strumpet. To even get to him, she'd have to take down Vale. With her foiled plan, and with the Vytal festival over, chances of her succeeding on a second attempt were slim to none.
And that was where she stood now. With her revenge denied, and her position demoted, she was given a mission to attack a settlement known for consistently producing huntsmen revered all around the world.
She'd consider it a suicide mission if not for the monster she was traveling with.
She'd seen Grimm of all shapes and sizes ever since she'd joined Salem's inner circle. She'd seen the Leviathan in all its glory, she'd even traveled on Monstra. She thought she knew what the pinnacle of Grimmkind were capable of. Yet, even with all that might, the thought of sieging a stronghold as feared as Phalanx was absurd.
Until she'd seen this Grimm's capabilities. Her Mistress had spent the night testing her new creation. In terms of destructive potential, she'd never seen anything like it. Even with her (and yes, the fact that this Grimm was clearly feminine had come as a shock) diminutive form, Cinder had seen her decimate hundreds of Grimm of all sizes, all night long. Not even the strongest of Nuckelavee, the fastest of Wyvern, the mightiest of Goliath could stand against it for a second.
There was only one issue, and it was the fact that at the very core of this Grimm, there was a human. She hadn't been aware of the fact until Mistress Salem had pit the Grimm against a huntsman they had captured for interrogation a few months ago. While the Grimm had disarmed and defeated the huntsman with ease, she had refused to kill it.
This was why Cinder was sent alongside her, to put an arrow through the head of anyone the Grimm defeated. It was a temporary solution. Mistress Salem had been displeased that the Grimm had been unable to consume the human inside, but in her own words, this was only a prototype.
And she did have all the time in the world to work out its issues.
Walking back into the Hunter's arena felt much less special the second time around. The forested enclosure had been restored to its previous glory, and the pit of magma he had created in his last encounter was now nowhere to be seen.
The hunter, though, was still there. Jaune could sense it, stalking in the treeline, its gaze boring holes in the back of his head.
He allowed himself a little smile. Last time, he hadn't even sensed the hunter until being greeted by an arrow. This time, even without his array of sensory abilities, he could track the Hunter better now than he could before.
The abilities he'd gained from the Constellation were… beyond powerful.
The Alpha's Domain: Unique Ability
The Law of the jungle is the law of the world, the Alpha always reigns supreme
Passive: Track the location of any creature that has hostile intent against you in a 500M radius
Active: Apply debilitating pressure against a target in a 100M radius, Can cause fear. The amount of pressure applied is directly proportional to the gap in strength between you and your opponent.
Mana Cost: 1000 Mana per minute
The first had been tailor-made to replace all his sensory and presence-based abilities. A one-stop solution to maximize his sensory radius while having some sort of crowd-control.
It had also been tailor-made to dismantle the hunter.
The hunter wouldn't shoot at him unless he found a blind spot. He'd repositioned four times, and Jaune could feel his irritation rising. The Hunter gave it two more tries before he understood that Jaune knew exactly where he was.
So he did what Jaune expected, launching out of the tree line, hatchets out, ready to pounce.
Only to be hit by the full force of Jaune's pressure. Jaune saw the hunter fall like a kite with its strings cut. He landed awkwardly on the ground and stayed there. All he could manage was to tuck in his hands and knees.
The hunter was kneeling in front of Jaune, prostrating himself. Jaune could feel the fear emanating from the Hunter, and knew that he had chosen well.
The Hunter, for all his immortality, was closer to an animal than a human. He'd lived his immortal live in the jungle, he'd learnt to live by its laws. He'd learnt to conquer it, to be the alpha.
Yet, he was a fake alpha. He was human, and with tools and techniques, he'd made up for the strength that he inherently lacked.
Now, faced with someone stronger than him in every way possible, he was unable to do much but prostrate and beg for his life.
Jaune had no intent to drag this out. He disabled the active effect of The Alpha's Domain, daring the hunter to attack him.
Yet, as he predicted, all the Hunter did as the pressure dispersed was give him one fearful look, then run straight back into his jungle.
He had faced an alpha, and the alpha had shown him mercy. He would not do so again.
Jaune allowed himself a chuckle as he left the arena. The encounter had gone exactly as planned.
Hopefully the rest of them would go as smoothly.
"Back so soon? I was expecting you to take at least a month before you dared challenge us again."
Sophia looked as stunning as the first time Jaune saw her. All the damage their last damage had done to her arena was nowhere to be seen.
"I hope you didn't put a bet down on that. I'd hate for you to lose money on my behalf." Jaune spoke, equipping Flameseeker.
That made Sophia chuckle. "I'd think about betting if I had any money to my name. I don't particularly need much considering I'm locked down here for all eternity."
Jaune gave her a smile. "Do you not miss the world above? Meeting new people? Seeing new things?"
A bittersweet smile appeared on Sophia's face. "It's… not my world up there anymore. My legions died eons ago, and my city was razed to the ground in the great war. There isn't much out there for me anymore."
Jaune chuckled. "A new world means you get to see new things and meet new people. It would be an adventure. I think you'd much prefer it to being locked down here, waiting for the Arc kids to show up."
She shrugged. "I made a promise, Arc needs us here."
"I don't think you'll need to worry about that much once I'm done here." Jaune spoke, taking up a combat stance.
"Confident, aren't you? You went up against him yesterday, how much could you have changed in such little time?" Sophia commented.
As an answer, Jaune laughed. Sophia looked confused, but that confusion rapidly morphed into alarm as she felt a bone-chilling amount of mana cover Flameseeker.
"Let me show you how much difference one night can make." Jaune commented, a determined smile on his face.
And with that, he let loose the second ability he'd created, the technique built to replace all his sword-based projectile skills.
Longinus: Unique Skill
The spear that pierces divinity itself.
Passive: Increases combat proficiency to divine levels with all weapons
Active: Fire a mana construct that can pierce through any physical or magical defense
Cost: 10000 Mana
With his mana-pool, Longinus was an ability he could only fire once or twice in a single fight. It was also - by no means - hard to dodge. It took a second to charge up and only fired in a straight line, but in the right circumstances, it was a one-shot game-ender.
Sadly for Sophia, she did not have the agility or skills to dodge something she was not expecting.
The blade of pure white energy tore through her like a hot knife through butter. Her entire right side was sheared off cleanly from the rest of her body. It was only because she'd tried to move at the last second that her head was spared the utter destruction her right half went through.
As her body hit the ground in two pieces, a moment of dread overtook Jaune. Nothing could have prepared him for the sheer power behind the attack. Sure, he'd made the skill, he'd seen the obscene mana cost, but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined the sheer scope of power.
The ability had shredded through Sophia, kept going till it hit the walls, shredded through them like they didn't exist, and then kept going, revealing the earth surrounding the prison.
He was also worried about Sophia, but one look at her slowly regenerating body put those worries to rest.
"You know, I always wanted to know what happens if you cut a starfish in half. Do you get two starfishes or?" Jaune joked, trying to add some levity to the situation. Taking in the look of awe on Sophia's face, it didn't work as well as he'd hoped.
"That… was not the same ability that the last Empyrean used." She breathed out with a rasp. It was a miracle she was even able to speak, considering her current state.
"You said it yourself, I'm not like him." Jaune smiled, lowering into a crouch next to her body. "Still think I'm the same person who walked in here yesterday?"
She tried to smirk, but it came out as a grimace. "Honestly? Not bad. You've changed, but do you think you've changed enough?"
Jaune nodded. "I think I have. You yourself said I was stronger than the last Empyrean. All I've done is give that strength direction." he spoke. "Is it enough? The next two fights will tell."
"Didn't Sylvia refuse to fight you last time?" She asked.
"She did, but something tells me things are going to be different this time around." Jaune stated.
"Well, I wish you the best of luck, Jaune Arc." Sophia said, "The next floor is open to you. I'd escort you to the next floor, but as you can see, I'm not exactly in any shape to do that."
Jaune nodded. "I know, but there's something I wanted to ask you."
Sophia quirked an eyebrow in response. "You want something from me?"
Jaune nodded, as a grin slowly appeared on his face.
"How would you feel about assisting me with something?"
"So you've come again."
Jaune didn't even flinch as he was teleported to Sylvia's tower this time around. It was seamless as well, telling him that last time, the only reason he saw the magic circle before teleportation was because Sylvia was giving him a warning.
This time around, there was none of that. Even he little tea table they'd sat at was missing.
Sylvia was standing at the balcony of the tower, staring out at the abandoned city surrounding it.
"This is how I met him for the first time, you know?" Sylvia spoke, "He was a paragon, the destined savior of his people, no less than a king."
As she turned to face Jaune, her skin rippled. The changes were subtle, but easy to recognize. Scales, dark as the deepest night, covered small patches of her diminutive body. They weren't many, but they were striking. In fact, the slight additions made her otherworldly beauty even more pronounced.
As did the serpentine tail that trailed behind her as she took measured steps, closing the distance between them.
"I, on the other hand, was an unholy abomination. The product of forbidden love between dragon and man." She spoke, standing firm, inches from Jaune.
"He saw me in this form, because back then, I did not have access to tutelage, back then, I did not know magic. I was not the feared witch of the East. I was simply Sylvia, the abhorred." She said placing a hand on Jaune's chest.
"You are much like him, but also not. Now, with your powers consolidated, I can barely look at you without being reminded of him." She finished, turning away abruptly.
"You truly loved him, didn't you?" Jaune asked, placing a hand over where she'd touched him.
"More than you can imagine. He was the first person who treated me like a woman, not like a monster. I met Sophia and Arc through him and gained a peerage. I gained a life because of him. And yet, when he needed me most, I let him down," Sylvia whispered, guilt writ large in her features.
"If he loved you like you love him, then I doubt he blames you for it." Jaune responded, hoping to give her some solace.
"That's the problem, Jaune Arc. I know he didn't blame me. He didn't blame us." She spoke, finally mustering up the courage to lock eyes with him.
"It was him that left us behind when he marched to his death." She spoke, venom seeping into her voice. "We could have made a difference! We could have ignored his order and followed him! Yet we were so mired in our belief, so trusting in his victory, that we obeyed."
Jaune did not break eye contact. "Then you already know why he left you behind. He couldn't stand to put you in danger. I'd do the same."
A forced laugh escaped Sylvia, her gaze betraying the frustration building up in her. "Another self-sacrificial fool. You'd do the same as him and leave those that love you to rot."
"And what would be the alternative? Letting them die? Allowing them to sacrifice themselves for my sake?" Jaune countered, "I'd rather die myself than let them come to any harm."
"BUT THAT'S THE PROBLEM! WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO WHEN YOU'RE GONE?!" She screamed. "What are those who are left behind supposed to do once the very reason for their existence is gone?"
Jaune did not have an answer for that, and a moment of silence stretched between them.
It was then broken by Sylvia, who raised a hand. Jaune felt magic rise at her command, and a sudden chill took over him.
"It seems I was too courteous to you on your last visit, Jaune." She spoke, as the temperature around them dropped further.
"Allow me to teach you this lesson so that those who one day follow you do not have to suffer the same fate we once did." She spoke, snapping her fingers.
Jaune was teleported to the very outskirts of the city. From where he stood, he could barely see the tower. Not only due to distance, but because of the heavy blizzard that now raged around him, slowly burying the city in white.
"This will serve as a delayed punishment, a payment for the sins of your forebear." he heard her voice echo out, undoubtedly enhanced by magic.
"Struggle, Jaune Arc, and learn the pain we felt, the pain of being abandoned by our guiding light." She finished, and Jaune's instincts shouted at him, yelling at him to move.
And he moved.
Pillars of ice snap-froze around him as he made a mad dash towards the tower. Even with his prodigious speed, the town was large, and the ice spells that Sylvia was controlling made his pathing harder.
Jaune adapted, he ran up the side of a building and leaped high, his strength propelled him far above the city's skyline, as he took in the layout, mapping out a path as he descended.
It was then that he saw them.
They were the size of meteors, each made of clear ice, each descending towards him.
And he no longer had Domination or Blink, his two ways of dodging in mid-air.
The first meteor sailed past him. He kicked off from its side, trying to propel him away from the path of the others. Yet, his heart sank as he realized that the meteor bombardment wasn't targeted. They fell as far as his eyes could see, like a deadly hailstorm.
This thought was cut short as one of them impacted him, taking away a good chunk of mana and sending him flying back down to ground level.
He quickly got up before the meteor could land on him. While his aerial mobility was compromised, on the ground, he could move fast enough to dodge the ice meteors.
Again, his chain of thought was cut short as he sensed multiple hostile presences enter The Alpha's Domain. One look around him was enough to confirm his worst fears.
Ice Golem
He hadn't seen a non-Grimm monster with a title since the Phoenix. An orange nametag told him that these were creatures that could not be treated as trivially as Grimm.
He tried to avoid them, only for them to move at speeds that were unbelievable for creatures of their size. They barricaded his way, and before he could react, they opened fire.
Icicles the size of cars shot out from their bodies and fired at a speed that could put a machine gun to shame. He was forced to take cover behind buildings as he tried to circumvent them, only to realize the sheer number of golems that Sylvia had conjured.
There was no way around them, only through.
Jaune tried to blindside the Golem closest to him. Flameseeker, emboldened by the fires of the phoenix, was able to slash off its arm without much effort. Jaune doubled back, slashing off its legs, bringing it to the ground.
Only for the cut limbs to regenerate within seconds.
As the Golem started firing at him, Jaune realized the depth of the shithole that he'd gotten himself into. He was able to re-maneuver himself. He perched himself atop a high building, trying to figure out just how he was going to get past the wholeass army of nigh-indestructible snow monsters that blocked his way to the tower.
The answer came from experience. These were magical constructs, not unlike the Phoenix itself. Magical constructs had a core, and due to the transparent nature of ice, the core of each golem was easy to see.
A red coagulation of mana resided deep within the body of each golem. The issue was the depth. While it was easy enough to lop off a limb from a golem with Flameseeker, getting that deep would require multiple slashes, and that was ignoring their rapid regeneration.
No, this would require a different approach, and he knew just what to do.
He located another Golem that had strayed away from the rest. He jumped from roof to roof, getting to it in a matter of seconds. He then raised his right hand, and the flames he had gained from the phoenix answered his call.
Revelation
A pillar of fire burst upwards from under the golem's feet, melting it down with its searing heat.
Jaune leaped through the fire, and Flameseeker slashed straight through the remaining Ice that still protected the Golem's core. True to his prediction, the golem collapsed, melting away into the fire that surrounded it.
The closest golem, noticing the defeat of its brethren, ran towards Jaune. Unluckily for it, Jaune was not done with his testing.
Levinstrike
The streak of lightning bored a hole straight through the core of the Golem, making it crash headfirst into a building, bringing it down with it.
You have leveled up!
1 to all stats!
Your health, mana, stamina and Aura have been replenished!
Jaune couldn't help but laugh. He'd noticed that he got experience points when he defeated the first Golem, and at that point, he'd felt a very specific kind of elation he hadn't felt for months.
The same elation he'd felt that night, when he'd first discovered the system.
"Oh Sylvia, you really shouldn't have," Jaune spoke as he stepped forward. The falling building had alerted every golem in the vicinity. Yet, Jaune looked at them differently now, they'd gone from being an irritating blocker on his way to Sylvia to an all-you-can-eat buffet of experience points.
And he had the right abilities to make sure he could make the most of this opportunity.
The Archmage's Chainspell : Unique Ability
Passive: Decreases mana usage on every subsequent cast of a spell
Active: Removes cast delay, Increases Mana regeneration 500%
Cost: 1000 Aura Points/Second
"Let's see what happens first, Sylvia," Jaune spoke, arcane energies coalesced into magic circles around him, and Levinstrikes fired in unison, bathing the world in violet light.
"Will I hit level 70, or will you run out of Mana first?"
And with that, Jaune leaped into the fray, one arm crackling with lightning, the other growling with fire.
Level Seventy came first, then level 75. It wasn't till he hit level 77 that he finally reached the tower.
The last mile or so leading up to the tower had only been sparsely populated. He could tell that Sylvia's mana was immense, but even an ocean had its limits. Every mile he'd conquered, the number of Golems had fallen. It wasn't an extreme decline at first, but as he got closer, it became more and more noticeable.
At this distance? There were only three Golems left, three casts of Levinstrike dealt with them easily enough, and here he was, at the foot of the tower.
He scaled it easy enough, covering thousand of stairs in a matter of seconds, only to find Sylvia, lying on the ground, propped up against a wall.
With a trail of blood trickling from her mouth.
"W-what did you do?!" Jaune thundered, bringing her out of her reverie.
"A-ah, Yohan… my beloved." She whispered, her state was delirious, and going by the puddle of blood that surrounded her, Jaune knew exactly why.
"No! It's me, Jaune!" he shouted, dashing next to her. He picked up her hand, and realized her pulse was noticeably lower than what it should have been.
"Ah… the new one…" Sylvia breathed out. "Kill…me. Set me…free."
"What did you do to yourself?" He asked again.
"Sacrificed…vitality… ran out of mana…hours ago." She chuckled through the pain. "Had… to teach…lesson."
"You went this far just to teach me a lesson? What the fuck?" Jaune yelled. "Do you not care about your life?"
"Died…when Yohan died…body is…just a shell." She breathed out, barely audible. "Had… to make sure… your followers… don't meet…same fate."
Jaune didn't have the words to respond, but he knew he could save her. He just had to make a healing ability, something that could restore her vitality.
His world shifted around him as he entered the now-familiar sanctuary of the Constellation of Might. The now-shallow lake of power greeted him, and without losing a second, he beckoned the power to rise.
Yet, it didn't obey.
There was simply not enough there to create an ability strong enough to save Sylvia from death's door.
He slammed his hand on the ground next to him, hairline cracks ran out around him as he screamed into the cold night.
Only to stop as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He slowly looked back and came face to face with someone who could pass for a close sibling. Sure, he wasn't quite as well built or tall, but the resemblance was uncanny.
"So, you're my successor, huh?" He spoke.
Jaune stood up, only now noticing that something about the other man wasn't quite right. While from a distance, someone could mistake him for a flesh and blood person, on closer inspection, he was more like a hard-light hologram.
"You must be Yohan." Jaune spoke, a blank expression on his face.
"Yes, that was one of the names I went by. Though most simply called me the Emypyrean. Quite a boorish title, if you ask me." He spoke, an apologetic smile on his face.
"You're dead. Yet, you're here. Why?" Jaune asked. In response, Yohan walked to the shore of the lake, beckoning Jaune to follow.
"Do you understand the concept of contingencies, Jaune Arc?" he asked. Receiving a nod from Jaune in response.
"Then you'll understand that I'm the last contingency left behind by Yohan. While I am him, I am only him at the point where he made me. My memories are his, but they are not complete."
"I was made in case things went wrong, in case the world needed another Empyrean. I do not know what my original's plan was, but I do believe he was the only Empyrean to have ever needed something like me." he spoke.
"There… there have been others like us before?" Jaune asked, and to his surprise, Yohan's contingency laughed.
"We're a lineage, Jaune Arc. As long as this existed, there has always been an Empyrean. Yet, two eras have gone by without one. It is only now that you have been awakened, and that alone tells me that something did go wrong." He answered, leaving Jaune with more questions than answers.
"What is my purpose? The purpose of the Empyrean?" Jaune asked.
"The scribes of my time said the Empyrean would lead the world into a new era. Then again, they knew little of what our purpose was. My original spent his entire life embodied in war. He believed that to be his purpose. Yet, you exist, and the kinds of threats that harried humanity in my era no longer exist. How could we have the same purpose?" He asked.
"You have a habit of talking in riddles, don't you?" Jaune growled.
Yohan's contingency was taken aback by that. "Oh, my apologies. I spent my entire life surrounded by men of power who would stop at nothing to use me to further their agendas. Surrounded by people like that, you tend to learn how to speak politics."
"In essence, though, I think you understand the gist of what I said." He stated.
"What you're saying is that I have to discover my own purpose? That's rather contrived, don't you think?" Jaune shot back.
"Contrived it may be, nebulous too, but that is part of our lot." Yohan's contingency spoke. "Yet, you have clues. For one, why was no Empyrean born in this world for two ages? What went wrong that stopped the Empyrean's rebirth? I believe that if you follow that thread, you'll find some sort of answer."
"Is that all you were left behind to tell me?" Jaune asked, and Yohan shook his head.
"If that was all I was left behind for, I'd be a pretty shit excuse for a contingency." He spoke, motioning towards the Constellation of Might with his arm. "Every empyrean has a strength. My forebear's strength was foresight. The ability to see things before they ever happened. Yours? Yours is growth. You accumulate power faster than any living being can."
He then pointed towards the lake. "Mine was malleability. Did you know why my wife gave you the example of water as a metaphor for our abilities?"
"You told her?" Jaune asked, and Yohan's contingency nodded.
"Yes. And this is the great contingency Yohan left behind. Once he had grown to his peak, this place ceased to have a use for him. So, he planned to make his successor stronger with it." He then pointed at Jaune.
"You, Jaune Arc, are the first Empyrean in history to have two specialities. You have the potential to grow into the strongest Empyrean this world has, or will ever see." He finished.
It took a second for the sheer gravity of what had happened to hit Jaune. Two different power sets. One to make him stronger, and the other to give him force multipliers in the shape of skills and abilities. No wonder each immortal had told him that he was stronger than his forebear.
He was growing twice as fast because of Yohan's foresight.
And how had he repaid him, by failing to save the person Yohan loved most at death's door.
"That's not all though."
Jaune was forcefully pulled out of his depressive spiral by Yohan's voice.
"He left me behind." he spoke. "I was his last creation, the expression of his abilities. Something that would make sure that the people he loved most would continue to live, even after he was gone."
An orb of bright white light appeared in his hands, and before Jaune could remark about it, the contingency spoke again.
"He wanted to live long and happy lives. It helped that most of them were immortal. Yet, their immortality was not perfect." He spoke, holding the orb of light between his hands.
"The huntsman can be killed if you could destroy his soul." He remarked. "Sophia is strong, but if her entire body was to be destroyed or her imperviousness was nullified, she could just as easliy be killed."
"Even my wife, ageless in her existence as a half-dragon, could be felled in combat. Outside of her might, she can be killed just like any mortal." He finished.
"It was to make sure he never lost them that he made this." He spoke, and the orb of light flew into the sky, taking its space between the stars.
Soul Saver: Legacy Ability
The love of one man for another, is there truly a stronger linkage of souls in this world?
Passive: Increase Aura and Mana regen by 200%
Active: Sacrifice aura to repair the soul and body of yourself or an injured ally
"You already know what to do with this, don't you, Jaune Arc?" Yohan asked.
Jaune numbly nodded as he saw Yohan's body start to fade away. He'd only known the shadow of the man for a few minutes, but as he faded, it felt like an integral part of him was lost.
Yet, he had no time to reflect. He had a job to do. Sylvia had expended her vitality to teach him a lesson.
It was time for him to give her a lesson of his own.
Sylvia POV
She had not expected to awaken.
She'd expended too much energy. Her nigh limitless mana from her dragon heart was spent, and her vitality was burned to nothingness to keep fuelling her spells. There was no way back from that.
Yet here she was, lying on the floor of her tower, healthier than she had ever felt before.
Next to her sat Jaune Arc. on his outstretched palm danced crystalline ice. It was only when he saw her move that he dispelled the spell he was so entranced by.
"Had a nice nap?" he asked, a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Spare me your gloating." She spoke, rising to her feet. One look at herself was enough to tell that she had been fully rejuvenated.
"Isn't it the winner's right to gloat? Especially when they're so magnanimous in their victory?" Jaune spoke, yet the memory of the desperation she had seen in him when he find her at death's door was fresh in her mind.
Plus, she knew the ability that he had used on her, and there was only one place he could have learnt that.
"You… you met him, didn't you?" She asked.
"Yeah, and I can see why you say we're similar. He could pass for a brother of mine." Jaune spoke, standing up next to her.
She'd never realized just how tall he was, even compared to Yohan.
"Though I'm not sure why you called him an uncultured swine. The way he talks, he'd be right at home in some meetup between nobility." he spoke, and his words brought back a memory. One that was equal parts embarrassing, and equal parts comedic.
"Do you know what was the first thing he ever said to me?" She asked. A shake of Jaune's head was all the invitation she needed.
"He asked me if I would be the mother to his children."
There was pin drop silence in the tower for a moment, only to be broken by a peal of genuine laughter from Jaune, and Sylvia's heart skipped a beat.
The gods truly were cruel, not only to make this man the Empyrean, but to make him so very similar to the man she loved. They even had the same laugh.
Yet, they were different people. For all their similarities, she knew full well that Jaune Arc was not Yohan, and for the first time since shed met him, she could see him as his own person.
It was a liberating feeling.
"And you agreed? You're married after all!" He choked out between fits of laughter.
"Oh, you best believe I didn't agree. I picked him up and threw him out of my tower through that very balcony." She motioned. "Yet, he never stopped trying to woo me. It wasn't till years later, when we were happily married, that I learned why he opened with that question."
"He, much like yourself, used humor to cover his insecurity. He'd been taught all his life that the woman in the tower was an abomination. Had he spoken any platitudes, my guard would have gone up. So instead of using the scalpel of subtlety, he defaulted to the hammer of bad humor." She finished. "And it worked."
"He seems like quite a character." Jaune spoke.
"Yes, yes he was. You would have gotten along with him like a house on fire." She whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.
"Yeah. But what's gone is gone." Jaune spoke, walking up to the balcony. "Meeting his contingency was weird. It was like meeting an old friend."
"He was pretty good at that. Making friends came to him like second nature. That, and he was loyal to a fault." She stated.
"And yet, you despise him for leaving you behind and marching to his death." Jaune commented.
"I couldn't despise him. He could have stabbed me through my heart and I'd just smile." She spoke, holding back tears. "All I feel is guilt. Guilt that I didn't deny his commands. Guilt that I still live while he's long passed into memory."
"Yet, he would want you to live. I mean, he went as far as to entrust me with his own ability to make sure you lived." Jaune spoke, conjuring a very familiar orb of light in his right hand.
"Would you not say that you're disrespecting his wishes by tying yourself to this prison? All of you?" Jaune finished.
"We are relics of a dead world, Jaune. It is not our place to influence this one." She spoke.
"Do you truly believe that? Or is that propaganda that Arc fed you?" He questioned.
"It was a decision we all made." She retorted.
"And that decision will be overturned by me once I beat up Arc." Jaune shot back, walking up closer to her. "You all have power. Power this world sorely needs. Yohan went this far to preserve your lives. This?" he motioned towards the false image of her city. "This is not living."
"So what would you have us do?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"I would have you walk this world as my peer. I would have you meet people, forge bonds, fix this world on the brink of collapse, while I go discover what my own purpose is." He spoke, passion coloring his tone.
"I want you all to help me create a better world, one where you live in rather that staying holed up here, waiting for death." he finished.
"So, Sylvia, will you join me?"
Cinder would have approached Phalanx like a puzzle.
The stronghold was infamous for being impenetrable, yes. Armies had broken on the walls of this place like waves on a beach. Yet, the stronghold had never been breached.
Yet, armies were large, loud, noisy. She was not an army. She was someone who was raised in shadows. Her strengths were those of her mind and experience.
She would have sneaked in at the morrow. Seduced some poor travelling merchant to afford her entry to the stronghold. Once in, she would have spent time, researching how to dismantle the place from the inside. She'd done it before more times than she could count.
The only difference between Phalanx and the other settlements she'd felled was the fact that this place was filled to the brim with huntsmen of a caliber that she couldn't match. One slip-up was all it would take for her to be incapacitated and captured, if not killed.
It was part of why Mistress Salem had never set her eyes on this stronghold. That, and she had noticed an undercurrent of fear in her mistress's voice every time the place was mentioned.
She had never seen anything like it.
Yet, emboldened by this new Grimm and fed knowledge of the presence of a target of importance within its walls, Mistress Salem had left the downfall of Phalanx in her capable, if slightly maligned hands.
So she had made her preparations. The plan was simple. She'd get into the stronghold, and then open up a path for her Grimm companion.
Except, for all its similarities to a human, the Grimm was still a monsters.
Subtlety was an art lost on monsters, and that was what she learned when the Grimm lashed out with its tendrils and shred the main gate of Phalanx into steel ribbons.
She did her best to hide, to get to a vantage point high enough from where she could take out the enemies incapacitated by the Grimm. Yet, the speed at which the Grimm mowed through the stronghold's streets left her struggling to catch up.
It wasn't till the Grimm stopped moving forward that she was able to finally catch up.
Confused as to why the Grimm had stopped, Cinder peaked at its location from behind a chimney.
She had assumed the Grimm to simply be confused, to have run into a wall and lacking instructions as to where to go next. Instead, what she found was the scene of a fight that she could barely even follow.
Nine women surrounded it, and the way they were synchronized in their efforts to bring it down was beautiful to watch, if not slightly concerning.
They weren't the strongest huntsmen she'd ever seen. Except for the two older women, the rest of them were opponents that even she fancied her chances against. Yet, their teamwork was ridiculous.
They managed the Grimm's aggression immaculately. At no point was the Grimm ever opposed by one attack at a time. They came at it in threes, two managing aggression while the third came in through a blind spot. It was textbook perfect, and at no point did they give it a chance to escape.
Yet, Cinder knew better.
Grimm didn't tire, and the maneuvers the nine women were using to contain it cost energy. It was a battle of attrition, but considering the place they were in, it was likely a ploy to delay the monster till reinforcements arrived.
Her train of thought was broken as she heard the familiar sound of steel whistling through the air. She jumped back, just in time too as a knife buried itself in the chimney she was leaning against.
"Of course, the monster would be accompanied by a rat." She heard a feminine voice say, and before she could turn to face her assailant. She was forced to block a pair of knives with midnight.
It was only after that that she got a good look at her assailant.
She was short, closer to five than six feet. Her face has slight signs of aging, which in huntsman years meant she was ancient. She had blonde hair tied neatly in a bun. In both her hands, she held three throwing knives, spread like fans.
She was old, that much was clear, but considering Cinder didn't even hear her approach, she was also stronger than any of the nine women fighting her Grimm companion.
This was dire.
"No words? How typical." The woman spoke, and then she disappeared. Scarcely a moment passed before Cinder was yet again forced to block a hail of knives.
She swapped Midnight into its bow form and fired off an arrow, only for her quarry to disappear again.
"Don't worry, little dearie. You will speak once I catch you. They all do."
She was shocked to hear the woman's voice right next to her ear. She dropped low and swept her leg, only to find a sudden weight settle on her back.
The woman was standing on her fucking back.
She took in a deep breath, realizing the dire situation she'd gotten herself into.
"In the name of Jeanine Arc, leader of the Arc Militia, I place you under arrest." She spoke, her voice lacking any sense of emotion. "Recall that monster, and I'll think about being generous during your interrogation."
Hearing that, Cinder couldn't help but chuckle.
"Do you really assume someone as weak as me can control that thing?" She asked.
"If you do, you may be a bigger fool than even me."
The sudden scream of pain that came from the other side of the building only served to reinforce her words.
Arc was still standing in front of the house.
"This isn't your floor, you know?" Jaune spoke, walking up to him.
"Yet this is where I choose to fight. The things I have on my floor are only meant for the eyes of the Empyrean." Arc answered, not even bothering to look at him. "Provided they can make it through me."
"You don't look surprised so see me again this soon. Why?" Jaune questioned, and Arc finally turned to look at him.
"When you re-entered the Gaol, I thought you were a fool." He spoke, walking up to his spear, which was sticking out of the ground. "Then you defeated both the Hunter and Sophia without even giving them a chance to fight back."
He pulled at his spear, extricating its tip from the dirt. "I thought nothing of it. With their secrets laid bare, it isn't too hard to defeat the two of them. I didn't know how you'd done it, for they wouldn't tell me. That too, was nothing too out of the ordinary. They need to find their enjoyment somewhere, I guess."
"It wasn't till Sylvia almost killed herself trying to stop you that I realized you weren't a fool. Quite the opposite,in fact." he spoke, getting into a combat ready position. "Somehow, over the course of a single night, you'd completely changed how you fought, just so you could challenge us again."
"That should not be possible. That's not how the power of the Empyrean works."
His voice came, this time, from right in front of Jaune. Again, he had gone straight for Jaune's heard.
Yet this time, Jaune had caught his spear, surprising both himself and Arc.
Arc's eyes widened. "Fascinating." he said, and this time, he was behind Jaune.
Only for his spear to be knocked aside by Flameseeker.
This time, Arc backed off, a look of surprise on his face. "I didn't feel any distortion in my magic. I didn't feel you tap into your powers. So how come you are able to deflect my attacks?"
Jaune's reply was to give the man his best shit-eating grin.
Ascent: Divine Skill
If you can't solve an issue with human levels of strength. Then what you need is the strength of the gods.
Passive: Increases all stats by 50%
Active: Prescience: Allows you to predict all possible paths of any enemy's attack
Increases all stats by 200%
Cost:
5000 Mana per Minute
5000 Aura per Minute
It was the first skill he had made, and the one that had taken him the most time and resources to create. It had taken him a few minutes, but seeing how the arenas fixed themselves after destruction, as well as how his body and clothing had been returned to pristine condition after he was stabbed through the chest, he finally realized exactly what Arc's power was.
Time manipulation.
It was such a simple, but such a deadly power. From his theory, Arc could freely control time for both himself and others. He needed a spell to dispel spells, but the constellation of might simply could not create something like that. Which led to the other alternative.
He would need to be able to predict Arc's attacks, and be fast enough to counter it.
It was with these stipulations that he used the majority of his power to create Ascent, an ability he could barely use for more than ten minutes at a go.
Yet, Yohan's ability had come as a godsend. The passive increase in regeneration for both his mana and aura skyrocketed the duration from ten minutes to thirty, provided he did not use any other skills.
For this fight, he wouldn't need any other skills anyway. Once you got past his gimmick, Arc was likely the weakest of the four immortals.
Sure, he missed Blink, but with his kind of stat increase, he could move faster than blink ever allowed him to.
"I'm glad you like it," Jaune spoke, his smile threatening to split his face. "But this is just the beginning."
He activated the ability and felt his world shift. Everything around him felt slow. He felt felt strength beyond his wildest imagination travel through each any every one of his muscles.
It felt euphoric.
"You are the root cause of my family's current state." He spoke. "All so they can sit here and rot, guarding a jail whose occupants could change the world for the better, all because you were waiting for some mythical 'Empyrean' to be born."
He moved, and he felt Arc's magic activate. With how slow everything else was, all it did was make it look like Arc was moving at the same pace as he normally did. Yet without using his magic, there was no way Arc could have brought his spear up in time to block Flametongue's downward swing.
The noise made by the collision of the two weapons was so loud it felt like a physical force. The force was enough to bury Arc's feet into the ground.
Yet, this was just a taste of what was to come.
"I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life." Jaune spoke, kicking Arc straight in his sternum, sending him flying.
"I'm going to dismantle this prison and take your friends with me." He continued, catching up with Arc in midair and grabbing his face.
"And I'm going to make you fix the stupid council you've made." He spoke, smashing Arc's face into the ground, burying him face-first.
"So, are you ready to get your shit kicked in, revered ancestor?"
Jason POV
The milia was no match for this beast.
She - for there was no mistaking the creature's feminine form - was beyond any Grimm he had seen, even including the beasts mentioned in the old Arc compendiums.
She was fast. Faster than any Grimm or huntsman he had ever seen. Considering his semblance allowed him to move faster than the speed of sound, he hadn't landed a single hit on her.
It that wasn't bad enough, the hair-like tendrils that whirled around her were both razor-sharp and prehensile. They protected all her blind spots. Even when surrounded, she could hold of an entire army of huntsmen just by using those tendrils.
The only saving grace was the fact that the Grimm didn't kill any of them. It was the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. It was almost like an invisible force held the creature back every time she would go in for a killing blow. Like it was fighting itself, keeping itself from killing.
Yet the way the creature was answering their attempts at its life with more and more oppression, something told him that this self-control the monster had showcased would not last long.
The only reason the militia was still standing was because of the three people currently fighting the beast.
Jeanine Arc, the wife of the erstwhile patriarch, and the leader of the Arc Militia
Cyan Arc, the twin brother of the clan's current patriarch, and the second-strongest warrior of the bloodline.
Most importantly, in front of him stood the immovable shield of Phalanx, the patriarch himself, Helio Arc.
Between the three of them, they had controlled the beast somewhat. Yet even for all their prowess, they were beginning to tire. The militia couldn't help, as only a few of them were of the caliber where they could fight a being like this. They were the lucky ones, considering their job was to help move the civilians and the council to the Grimm shelters.
He was not so lucky, because he was considered one of the Militia's premier fighters.
Yet all he could do was take potshots whenever the situation allowed. This was not a dance he could partake in fully. One errant hit from the beast's tendrils, a glancing blow from its arms, and he could say goodbye to his aura, if not his life.
He couldn't afford that, he had a child to raise, and a wife to go back home to.
Yet, his duty came first. He was a militiaman of Phalanx. If he didn't protect his home, who would?
This was where he was born, and so was his son. This was home, and if he had to lay down his life to protect it, then so be it.
He would help bring this monster down and live to tell the tale. Else Jaune would never forgive him.
It was with this belief that he entered the fray again.
For his son, for his wife, for his brother in all but name.
For Phalanx.
It felt different.
The Alpha's Domain was the pinnacle of sensing techniques. Not only could it sense anyone who could harm him, it also assigned a degree of potential threat to it.
When he had initially unlocked it, he had felt every combatant in a mile-long radius. That included all his sisters, his uncle, his grandmother, various members of the council, and his father.
It also notified him of the threat posed by each of the immortals. It was what told him that the greatest threat in the tower was Sylvia, and the weakest was Arc.
He didn't understand it until he fought them. What The Alpha's Domain measured was not 'threat', it measured potential. With Sylvia's almost infinite source of mana, she registered as a threat that eclipsed everyone else he could sense, combined.
So when a new existence entered The Alpha's Domain while he was beating up Arc, he was shocked, not only because it had more potential than Sylvia, but also because it wasn't a single entity.
It was two, somehow conjoined into one.
It also didn't enter The Alpha's Domain alone. He was deep down in the gaol at this point, and the range of the ability was not large enough to cover all of Arc from this far below it.
Yet, when the existence entered The Alpha's Domain, with it came the rapidly diminishing beacons that represented his father, uncle, grandmother, and Jason.
"Yuu feew iw tww, dwn yuu?" Arc spoke, though with the amount of swelling on his face, and due to him missing most of his teeth, Jaune could barely make out the words.
"Yeah, I feel it." He spoke, as he saw Arc reverse the damage to his body by turning back time. "It's strong, stronger than all four of you combined."
"It's not that strong." Said arc, "It's a construct. Not a divine construct, but something similar to a Grimm. Yet, it has a divine core, and it's latched to the soul of a human." He spoke, picking up his spear.
"It feels stronger than Sylvia." Jaune countered.
"I told you, it has a divine core. Something similar to what the Phoenix had, if not the very same." He explained. "When you kill a divine construct, its core returns to its maker's atelier. In this case, likely, it went straight back to the brothers' pools."
He then snapped his fingers, and one of Sylvia's teleportation circles appeared below them.
"You use Sylvia as an elevator?" Jaune asked incredulously.
"How do you think I surprised you on every floor the last time you came down here?" He asked.
Next thing he knew, he was standing outside the Gaol. Beside him stood Arc, spear in hand. Without missing a beat, he started running, and Jaune followed.
As they finally exited the Arc compound, they saw the destruction caused by the creature with their very own eyes.
The stronghold burned in front of them. From their spot at the entrance of the Arc compound, they could see the trail of destruction the creature had left, as well as the collateral damage done by the hunters of arc in an attempt to subdue it.
And right below the hill that the compound stood on, they saw the creature, barely being held back by the only four people left to fight it, and surrounded by the injured bodies of those who had failed.
Yet, not one person had died, a fact that Arc understood better than him.
"The human used as its core. It's holding it back." Arc stated. "How could even someone like Salem create a creature like this? Does her madness know no bounds?"
"I'll go kill it." Jaune spoke, but before he could jump over to the fight, Arc grabbed his arm.
"I have a small request for you, before you take that monster out." He spoke, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "The human that was used to create this monstrosity is innocent. It is because of her strength of will that after this is over, the only thing we'll have to repair is buildings, as opposed to digging new graves."
Jaune looked at Arc. He had never seen an expression this aggrieved on the man's face, all for the person inside the Grimm.
"I'll try." Jaune spoke, jumping down to where the fight was happening.
Before he fought this monster, he had to make sure everyone else got out of the way. The creature might not have killed them, but at the end of the day, it was a monster more than it was a human.
There was nothing more unpredictable than a cornered beast.
With that in mind, he decided to open with the spell he'd gotten for defeating Sylvia.
Cold World : Spell
A Variable spell that becomes more powerful the more mana the user expends
MP cost: Variable
Four flicks of his wrist and four walls of Ice surrounded the monster. As a byproduct, it also scared the living shit out of his father, uncle, grandmother, and best friend.
Too bad he didn't have the time to gloat.
He activated Ascent before his feet touched the ground, and before any of them could so much as speak a word to him, he picked them up, one by one, and yeeted them out of the little arena he'd created.
Allowing himself a brief chuckle at their yelps of surprise he then turned his attention to the monster.
Unnamed
Its name had an orange border, which was not surprising since he recognized the green gem embedded in its abdomen.
It was the very gem he'd seen when he slashed through the Phoenix's hide with Vorpal Blade. Yet, it no longer had the crack that he'd left on it.
The fact that every divine construct had one of these was troublesome, especially if they ended up in the arms of that Salem person. If a monster like this could be created by the crude usage of a single one of these stones, then what kind of monster could she create with more of them?
He'd have to deal with her sooner than he wanted.
He was still in his thoughts as he felt the monster's tendrils fly at him. They attacked him at a pace that shouldn't have been possible with how much Ascent was boosting his stats, but they were easy enough to evade.
He threaded the needle between the tendrils and handed a devastating slash to the monster with Flameseeker. He didn't attack with all his force, though, worried that he would kill the woman inside if he did.
The Grimm recoiled at the attack, and through the large gash he had created in its body, he could finally see the woman inside.
Her face was still covered, but her skin was sickly white. The corruption from the Grimm was spreading through her veins. It hadn't reached her head, as evidenced by the fact that the black veins that were prominent on her arms had not yet reached her neck.
He had a chance.
He tracked the frenzied tendrils with the prescience afforded to him by Acent. His body began to burn with the phoenix's fire. After the 'fight' with Arc, He only had a few minutes of mana left.
That much would have to be enough, as his burning arm melted right through the Grimm's exterior. He enlarged the gash he'd created with his opening strike, and then reached in.
With one hard tug, he pulled the woman out of the Grimm's body and retreated. As he jumped back, he dumped a thousand Mana points into the Phoenix's fire, immolating the rest of the Grimm in a pillar of divine fire.
It was then that he finally looked down and saw the face of the woman in his arms, and for a brief second, he felt the blood freeze in his veins.
Ruby.
No, that wasn't right. She was far older than Ruby. While the resemblance was uncanny, the woman in his arms was someone he knew of.
After all, anyone close to Ruby and Yang knew of their dead mother, Summer Rose.
An insidious thought crept up in the back of his mind. A reminder that Ruby was one of the people who had betrayed him. She didn't deserve to have her mother back in her life. She didn't deserve his help, not after what she had done.
But he was not that kind of person.
The soothing light of Soul Saver washed over her body. Perforating deep into her soul, and what it found was corruption so vile, that had it not been the ultimate skill of an Empyrean, it would not have been able to save this woman's life.
Whatever had been done to her was beyond heinous. There were parts of her soul so corrupted, so tortured, that they couldn't be fixed.
So they were cut out, replaced with fragments of his own. As the spell fixed her, he saw her skin go from pale white to a healthy pink. The corruption in her veins was expunged, leaving behind a healthy woman.
So thorough was the healing that it even fixed her atrophied muscles, her malnutrition body, her shattered limbs.
In his arms, Summer Rose was born anew, and it was a thing of beauty to see.
His reverie was broken by the propeller wash of a bullhead that hovered over them. A bullhead that carried the logo of Beacon.
He covered Summer Rose's naked body with the rags of his old ensemble that had been destroyed in his confrontation with Lau. It wasn't much, but with how small Summer Rose was, it was enough to protect her modesty.
Just in time as well, as two things happened in rapid succession.
Two figures dropped from the bullhead. Both of them known to Jaune. Professor Ozpin, and Glynda Goodwich.
And Summer Rose opened her eyes.
Ozpin POV
Ozpin had never much believed in miracles.
Even after seeing the birth of a new humanity after the destruction caused by the brother gods, he refused to see it as a miracle. It was a mercy at best, considering the price that was paid for it.
Even after meeting the silver-eyed warriors, and with their help, driving back Salem's hordes, he refused to consider them a miracle. He considered them a creation of the God of Light's guilt, a tool to counter Salem, his greatest mistake.
Every 'miracle' he had seen in his long life came at great cost. Too great a cost, in some situations.
It was the same case here. In front of him was Summer Rose. Alive, healthy, safe, if a bit embarrassed by her current state of dress. By all accounts, the return of a prodigious silver-eyed warrior to his fold was nothing less than a miracle.
Yet, on her side sat someone who had the potential to be their either their savior, or their doom.
Ozpin had tried his level best to keep an eye on Jaune Arc since his expulsion. He knew of the boy's escapades, of all his unbelievable accomplishments, of the fact that he could be a huntsman so generational, that with his help, they could push back against Salem with more ferocity and might than they had ever done before.
Yet, there was a difference between observing someone on a TV screen, and then coming face to face with them. Sure, Ozpin already knew that Jaune was capable of magic from the recording of his fight against Lau, but to stand next to him, to feel the sheer amount of mana coalesced deep inside his body.
It was humbling, to say the least, and terrifying to an obscene degree.
Ozpin looked on as Glynda stood next to Summer, who was now trying to fashion the rags on her body into a makeshift toga. He needed to speak to her. He needed to speak to Jaune.
Yet all of that would have to wait, because to do either, he had to survive the man who stood in front of him first.
"Fancy seeing you here, infinite man."
It was quite ironic, considering the man who stood across him looked exactly the same as he had the last time they met, centuries ago.
"Do you truly wish to do this again, Jailer?" He asked. His tone was measured, not because he didn't fear the man, but because he understood the futility that lay in responding.
If the man wanted him dead, he would have been dead long before he opened his mouth.
"Oh, you know well enough that I gave up on you and your wife centuries ago. There's only so many times I can kill both of you, after all." The man responded, a grin on his face.
"You mean after you killed me thirty times, and after you failed to kill Salem a hundred times." He shot back, exasperated. "Had you succeeded in killing her the way you did me, you'd have done the world a favor."
He shrugged in response to that. "Hey, I'm a man of many talents. Killing immortals isn't one of them, considering the company I keep."
"Is Jaune one of us too?" Ozpin asked, no longer content with simply exchanging jabs.
The man was silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. His gaze moved, and Ozpin's followed.
Jaune had not held back for a chat once Ozpin arrived. He'd flung himself straight into the recovery effort. Even now, after laying low a grimm that had destroyed half of the town he called home, he was still trying to heal anyone that needed it.
"No, not yet. He does not yet share our curse." The man spoke solemnly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"And for his own sake, I hope he makes peace with mortality before it is a foreign concept to him." he finished.
Ozpin couldn't help but agree.
And that's chapter 9. God I fucking hated writing this chapter. But hey! On the plus side, we can now get to the more interesting stuff faster.
Jaune's conversations with his mother, father, and Arc are still pending, so is the grand trial that he's going to make into a sham. All of that will be covered in the first half of next chapter. Then we're home free!
Shilling my discord server again at (slash)DQnmaHECfA for anyone who wants to join. This is in order to combat the shitty email system this site has, as well as so you guys can provide feedback directly. These days, I've been spending a decent amount of time there. Nothing is a substitute for good feedback, and I feel a direct line of communication only makes that better!
Either way, that's all for now. Next chapter will be for Quixotic whenever I can be arsed.
-Cold Daylight