Chapter 81: Last Minute

Chapter 81: Last Minute

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Last Minute

Beside what remained of Tenne's body was a book titled Longshot and a belt named Orion. The belt had an odd design that left me unsure whether it was intended to be worn over the shoulder as if for a quiver or through one's pantseither way, the belt was obviously designed to holster weaponry. That was made especially obvious by its effect, which allowed one to create mundane ammunition for a low MP cost and lowered the costs of ranged attacks somewhat. Even if I didn't have a lot use for the first power, I wasn't one to complain about cost reductions, so I bound it over a shoulder and then devoured the book.

Longshot (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 10

An ability to attack from great distances. Triple the reach of a single ranged attack with no reduction in accuracy.

Interesting, I thought, if not the most amazing drop I've ever gotten. I could appreciate an increase in range, thougha pretty basic rule of combat was that if you could hit your enemy and he couldn't hit you back, you win by default. Whether its because of speed, range, whatever, that was still true, so I thought the ability was fairly good, especially at level one. Between the fact that it was multiplicative and its synergy with my new belt, I figured it would probably come in handy soon.

Returning to where I'd left Ren and Nora, I was glad to see that both of them were gone, swept down into the tunnels beneath us by Onyx. With any luck, they'd be safe down there. I'd sent my Elementals back into the village to try and save whoever else they could, but considering that I was currently infected myself, I couldn't risk getting near anyoneeven ignoring the fact that they might well run screaming if they saw me. Still, though I could fell Levant still at work, keeping people safe and alive, Onyx would need me to confirm if people were safe to draw down. I'd try to find a place high enough to see the whole village and clear the living, but I knew that before too long, the only people above ground would be the infected and the dead.

Speaking of which, I looked around at the now empty part of town and quickly found what I was looking for. Beside the corpses of the married Hunters, I found a pair of books with a ring laying atop of each, but Lei Hui didn't seem to have left me anythingprobably because I'd played only a minor role in his defeat. Even so, learning even a small part of Xuan Wu's lost art before going into battle would have been a comfortand depending on how much Hui had managed to pass on before his death, the style might be lost forever now.

But I suppose it couldn't be helped, so I collected the items as swiftly as I could and then darted up to the rooftops to head back the way I'd first came.

You have obtained the item 'Hero.'

You have obtained the item 'Leander.'

You obtained the skill book 'Burning Blade.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You obtained the skill book 'Deposition.' Would you like to learn this skill?

I consumed both skill books without a second thought and glanced at rings as the profiles appeared. They were a matching pair or wedding bands, inscribed with delicate looking crystals in an intricate design I didn't recognize. The crystals were set into the gold of the rings such that they felt almost smooth when I brushed my thumb over them and the rings were identical but for the colors of the crystalsred for Hero, blue for Leander. I considered them for a moment before sliding a band onto each of my ring fingers.

To be honest, I wasn't super excited to be wearing wedding bands dropped by a couple I'd killed, but I that, however I felt, it was the right thing to do. Conquest was responsible for this and it was because of him that I'd been forced to kill Keppel and Carmine, so I'd consider these rings their ways of helping me get back at him. Hero increased my Fire Affinity by twenty and Leander did the same for Water; I wasn't sure how much it would amount to just yet, but every bit helped.

As I came to a stop, I glanced over the profiles of my new skills and read each in the blink of an eye.

Burning Blade (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 50

The ability to convert ones Aura into flames and enshroud ones weapons with it, this skill is only possible for those with an Affinity for Fire or through the use of Dust. The damage and heat of the flames increases with one's Intelligence, Fire Affinity, and the skill level. Warning: While this ability may also be used to enhance armor or other items, it does not confer any immunity to the flames created.

Additional 50 MP used per minute.

Deposition (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 350

The ability to freeze an area by drastically lowering the ambient temperature, this skill is only possible for those with an Affinity for Ice or through the use of Dust. The drop in temperature is such that certain gases can be instantaneously solidified and increases with one's Intelligence, Ice Affinity, and skill level.

Range: 50 meters

Area of Effect: A 5 meter radius centered on a targeted point.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Warning: The user is not immune to this ability if caught within the Area of Effect.

I took a deep breath and dismissed both windows before setting my sights on what I'd left behind. I was still far from my parent's fight, seven buildings back from the growing circle of destruction they had reduced the neighborhood to. I was nearly a hundred meters away from my father and about a hundred and fifteen from my motherstill, it was as close as I was willing to get if I was limiting myself to observation; it's not like being this far mattered much when it came to my eyes.

But I couldn't say I liked what I saw. My mother was in nearly as bad a state of undress as I was, but the skin that should have been showing was mostly burnt away, along with most of her hair. Between that and her ragged appearance, she looked almost skeletal, as if she'd been starved before tossed in a fire, and she was bleeding badly as wellor, at least, she had lost enough blood to stain much of her shredded clothing red. Looking at her, though, I didn't see any open wounds, just burnt flesh, which was a bit surprising because while my father was as skilled with heat-related bombs as any other kind, pretty much all of her injuries appeared to be in the form of burns.

Sadly, it wasn't very hard to realize why. My father hadn't inflicted those wounds; my mother had burnt herself. In a fight between near equals, it went without saying that both sides would get their hits inbut the thing was, any hit from Conquest had the potential to be lethal in every way that matters. Even a glancing blow could spread his sickness and grow to consume a person utterly and the only ways to avoid that were to either avoid being hit at all orto deal with the infected areas. Onyx had torn off a leg to avoid the infection for instance, and then wisely hide himself underground.

My mother hadn't hidden or run, but it was obvious she had been hit. But in order to keep fighting, she'd cleansed the areasand given both my own experience with killing Conquest and the general horror of the burns, I was guessing she had used plasma to do so.

Looking at her, I was reminded again that my mother was an amazing. While cauterizing a wound to clean it was something that came up fairly regularly in movies, but doing something like that in reality was a last resortand the type of thing that generally laid you out in a hospital bed for at least a little while. Using that as a way to fight Conquest and continuing despite her injurieseven with her Aura healing her, the fact that she was still fighting with injuries like that was amazing; that she was still fighting despite who knows how much emotional pain, even more so. I'd known it since I was young, but my mother was extraordinary.

She was also, I couldn't help but note, going to die soon. Fighting despite horrible wounds was amazing from an emotional standpoint, but also a pretty horrible idea. The healer in me clinically noted the reasonsblood loss, risk of infection, the damage to tissue, the sheer pain, on and onthe fact of the matter boiled down to this; getting hurt was a big deal to people who weren't me. She was badly wounded and, even beyond the myriad of long-term consequences normally associated with that, those injuries would weigh her down in a battle. Against an opponent like Conquest where she was forced to resort to sure tactics every time he so much as touched herwell, it was obvious, wasn't it? Each time she was hit, she had to hit herself even harder to survive, so unless she could dish out several times what she was receiving, it was really only a matter of time until she lost. As it was, her body was probably going to fail her soon.

Its fine, I thought; I can just heal her. I nearly took a step forward to rush to her side before forcing myself to stop. I wanted toI really, really wanted to. But wanting something really badly didn't make it smart and rushing into a situation blindly when I had a chance to observe was as far from smart as I could get. So long as she was alive, I could heal my mother, and she wasn't dead yet. She could keep fighting for a while longer; I knew that logically and believed it in my heart. If I really wanted to help her, I had to do so with intelligence and wisdom.

With that thought in mind, I held myself back and did something I really, really didn't want to doI took a breath and turned to look at my father.

Those Who Hunt Monsters

LV94

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"That it's our understanding of physics in error is a common explanation for what Aura does," I continued. "But it's also not very helpful. It boils down to 'It's magic; it can do whatever it wants.' But it can't, can it? Using Aura and Semblances tire people out over time and neither we nor Conquest can wave our hands and just rearrange the world. We can only draw upon finite amounts of power and there are limitsand if there are limits, then there are rules. The fact that we may not know what they are doesn't change the fact that they're there. We've already talked about Babel and what it was capable of, but I don't think there was anything that made them unique; I just think they understood more than we do now. But while Remnant may have lost the knowledge, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist or that it can't be found again."

"And you intend to find it now?" Ozpin asked, raising an eyebrow. "In the next minute?"

Put that way, it sounded ridiculous. People had been researching Aura for years, but we were no closer to truly understanding it. I was smart, I knew that, but because I was smart, I knew my limits. I wasn't going to do in a minute what countless scientists failed to do in lifetimes. It was impossible.

But I looked at my mother and father and decided to try anyway.

Ozpin must have seen something on my face because he pursed his lips and nodded.

"There are theories," He put forth hesitantly. "Nothing ever truly confirmed, but of course we've wondered. It's generally believed that Aura functions on aa different level of existence. That it's something higher dimensional acting upon our world, reaching beyond normal limits. An analogy I've heard was that it could be like a person acting on picture of something, folding it to make points touch that could not in two dimensions. There are many interpretations of this in regards to the effects createdtelekinesis being a common example. What might seem like telekinesis is simply something greater acting upon multiple points, though we don't know the means. Several trains of thought thus believe that our perceptions of the world are limited by our minds or bodies; that we can see only what we are capable of understanding."

I shook my head.

"'We know nothing and have no way of truly knowing anything because everything we know is probably wrong' is not helpful, even if it is possible that it's true, so for the time being, I'm going to continue operate under the assumption that we aren't complete idiots and that our science and theories have at least some grain of truth. It's obvious that our souls can do so impressive stuff, but they're finite if renewable, so I'm going to continue to assume that matter cannot be created or destroyedso what the hell am I looking at?" I cracked my neck and grit my teeth for a moment before looking up. "Matter cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be changed and it can be moved from place to place. Could that be it? When I use Dust"

I stopped for a moment to contemplate that thought, refine it, and then continue.

"When I use Dust," I said more confidently. "I can do some amazing thingsI can control gravity in a wide area seemingly effortlessly, draw upon tremendous amounts of power, even create water and stone. But I do that by draw on the Dust and the power within it. I'm not gonna lie and say I know how it works, but the Dust itself fuels all of that. We've called it Nature's Wrath since forever; maybe it actually draws upon existing sources in nature. There's enough energy on Remnant to do anything Dust does and while I've never tested any of the water I produced, but it could be taken from the oceans, rivers, something. Gravity, time, I don't know how changing those would work, but it could be rearranging existing forces. Focusing the gravity across some area upon me, maybe andsomething similar with time."

"It's possible," Ozpin said, seeming to consider it. "But it's only conjecture without more to support it. Do you have anything else?"

"My power," I replied. "That's the answer. The things it createsmy loot drops, the skill books, all of thatthey aren't just made from nothing. That book I told you about, it was written in Babel. And the other stuff, their text implied that these were things that existed. And the money. I can spend it and not be accused of counterfeiting. Because it's not counterfeit. But where does it come from, then? Because it must be drawn from something. Maybe it's stealing those things, like the money, but that doesn't explain Narakaor perhaps it's something dimensional, like with the Many Worlds theory. Maybe my power even accesses somesome store of knowledge and copies it down, translating it for me in the form of books or even skills. I don't know, but Naraka implies that it wasn't created. Conquest confirmed it; it was a real technique. I just have to"

I cut myself off, right arm spasming. The Grimm armor had grown over it in smooth, flowing plates until it reached my shoulder, at which point I felt a spike of pain go through it, up my neck, and then stab into my brain. My fingers trembled and then clenched tight and I looked down

A pair of eyes stared back, solid, gleaming red. A mask covered my shoulder like a pauldron and after a moment of disorientation I found myself looking atmyself. As the eyes seemed to connect to my brain, I found myself staring into my own eyes. It didn't seem to inhibit the use of my right arm, but

"Jaune?" Ozpin asked.

"A pair of eyes have grown into place on my right shoulder," I answered calmly after a moment, getting back to work. Another set of eyes wasn't a big deal. "It's nothing to worry about. The eyes seem fully functional and under my control, as does the arm. It is possible that it connect to my brain through the modifications to my nervous system. There do not yet appear to be consequences because of it. As I was saying, my Semblance seems to draw from things, rather than create them whole saleperhaps even the items it creates are real or once were. It's still conjecture, but it makes sense. If we could test itbut we can't right now. Still, it makes more sense than the alternative. Dust, Semblances, the Grimm, they draw matter and energy from somewhere, it's just a matter of figuring out where."

I didn't mean to put the stress on those final words, but another current ran up my neck and left my lightheaded. Before I even got the chance to look at it, another set of eyes seemed to open and left me looking at the world from three different angles. I rolled my shoulders in an attempt to ease the strange sensation, but in moments my head began to pound hard enough that I thought my skull might break, sending the world white. When it eased, so did the odd feeling and soon the eyes felt bizarrely natural. I didn't have any problem focusing through them or looking at different spots with each, nor was it hard to channel my Clairvoyance through them.

Taking a deep breath as I rubbed my neck, I looked down with my normal eyes and saw the armor begin spreading over my chest as well, growing faster now. As it did, the armor seemed to flow, like a river over me and I felt other rushes of sensation.

"Then" Ozpin said, watching me carefully. "If we could figure out how"

"We might be able to interfere with the process in some way," I continued, forcing my voice to remain steady as I felt things moving inside my ribcage, bones flexing and shifting aside. I paused for a moment as I lost my breath, lung expanding against bone and then contracting without me inhaling. After a moment, it stopped, but then I felt a shock that made my heart skip a few beats. The armor continued to flow down my abdomen, picking up speed as it went like a waterfall of liquid bone. Then eyes began to bubble to the surface, a pair forming right below my ribs and hints of another mask expressing itself around it. I didn't even have a chance to take a breath when another shock raced up my spine as eyes opened behind me. Already, my arms and chest were covered by the armor and it was creeping down my legs and up my neck.

I realized belatedly that I was panting hard and glanced up to meet Ozpin's worried gaze.

"Sorry, just" I slowed my breathing and wiped my face carefully with my claws. "Growing pains, you know?"

"I can't say I do, Jaune," He replied. "Are you"

"I'm fine," I answered. "The point is, if I'm right, I might be able to interfere with Conquest's growth and from theremaybe even stop or reverse it. And it might even tell us more about the Grimm themselves or even Aura. If I can just figure out how"

"It's a good idea, Jaune," He said at last. "But do you have any way of proving it? Testing it, even? You have some of the best eyes I've ever seendo you see anything like this when you look at Conquest."

"No," It was hard to say and not just for the changes Conquest was wrecking on my neck and throat. For the first time in years, I heard my voice crack and I had a coughing fit before continuingand when I did, there was something almost like a growl to the words as my voice continued to shift. "I can't see it. It's just conjecture, I knowa hypothesis at best, but it's what I have. It's all I have."

"Can you" Ozpin hesitated before shaking his head. "If you're right, do you any idea on how interfere with it."

"No," I said again, wiping sweat from my forehead. At a guess, my temperature was at least a hundred and ten degrees. "I know, it's like I gathered all the ifs in the universe for this, wasn't it? I left my father behind to try and find a way to save him and I return with this. But I have toI have to try, Ozpin. He's my father."

Ozpin was silent for a moment and I felt my cheek twitch as a mask began forming around the edges, the world darkening as it shut me in completelyat least, for that set of eyes.

"I know," He replied at last, the worry on his face remaining. "But Jaune, don't forget, Jackhe's your father, but you're his son. He would want you to"

"Yes," I said, mouth fully covered. I barely recognized my own voice. "I'll stay safe and look after myself and I'll save mom and everyone else I can, because I'm my father's son. But I'll set him free, too."

I closed my eyes as the mask finished sealing me in.

"One way or another."

You have received the Status Effect 'On A White Horse He Rides [High].'

A skill has been created through a special action! By fully assuming the form of a creature of Grimm, the skill 'The White Rider' has been created.