Jaune pushed himself off the broken asphalt stiffly. Dust clung to his frame and hair, drifting from his skin every time he moved. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, tasting blood. He blinked until the doubled images in his vision steadied. It wasn't the pain that unsettled him, his Body stat ensured that most impacts on that level felt like rough shoves rather than real harm.
No, what unsettled him was the confusion.
His entire plan had been built around the idea that Roman's momentum reversal trick required sight. Most runes that altered movement or force did. Blinding an opponent for even half a second gave a clear advantage against anyone who needed their eyes to anchor their power. That was why he had resorted to such a bizarre tactic. He had blown up the ground and he had filled the air with a suffocating storm of dust and smoke. He had created enough chaos to choke up an entire building.
And yet Roman Torchwick stood there as if none of that mattered.
The man stepped out of the lingering haze with a calm, unhurried poise. He brushed dust off his sleeve with one gloved hand and regarded the scene with mild curiosity. In his other hands rested two objects that caused Jaune's teeth to grit in slight rage.
Crocea Mors in one hand.
Lux Aeterna in the other.
Roman held them with a familiarity that felt obscene. He studied the reforged sword with a careful touch of a jeweler examining a rare gemstone. He turned it so the embedded rune on the blade caught the faint light bleeding through the fog. He hummed approvingly.
"Well now," Roman said. "This is interesting."
Jaune braced one palm against the ground and rose fully to his feet. His heartbeat thumped in a heavy, uneven rhythm. He remembered the moment his blades had vanished from his grip. One instant the hilts were solid in his hands. The next they were gone as if plucked from existence, leaving him off balance and wide open.
Then, immediately, the second effect had come. The violent reversal of his own momentum. His fists shoot up and hammered into his own face before the invisible force hurled him backward like a puppet cut from its strings.
Roman had shown two runes.
Both deadly and unfair.
Roman continued rotating Crocea Mors slowly, admiring it. "A Sword rune, on your sword. How very literal of you, kid."
Jaune spat blood onto the cracked ground. His jaw ached, but his pride stung the most. Roman only smiled a little more at the sight.
"Oh relax," Roman said. "I wont break your toys. I like collecting rare things." The smile widened with a playful cruelty. "And a pair of swords like these are very rare."
He tossed Lux Aeterna into the air with a careless flick. The blade spun in a full rotation before Roman caught it by the grip as neatly as if it were nothing more than a pen. Jaune had to stop himself from lunging on instinct alone.
Roman noticed the tension and laughed softly. "You really should see your face right now."
Jaune forced a slow breath through his nose. He needed to think. He had only Teleport and Weakness left in his arsenal... and his sidearm. But that tended to be useless unless he had some type of rune that could directly increase his shooting power. In any case, Lux Aeterna and Crocea Mors were gone. His entire fighting style depended on them. Their range. Their versatility and their synergy with his prowess. That partnership was now completely severed.
He was nearly defenseless.
Roman turned Crocea Mors once more. "Let us see what this little inscription can do."
Before Jaune could even shout for him to stop, Roman channeled his Aura into the blade and activated the imbuement. The rune ignited with a bright flare that spread across the entire length of the sword.
Air wavered and light thickened.
The effect bloomed silently.
Around Roman, translucent blades began to appear, floating in the air. One sword. Then several more. Then dozens. They filled the air in a floating constellation that encircled Roman like an ironclad halo.
Each construct was a perfect likeness of Crocea Mors and each one shimmered with the energy stored inside the Sword rune's single-use effect.
Jaune stared, numb with disbelief.
Sword had sentimental value to Jaune. It was the first rune he had ever made since becoming Rank 1. One of the main reasons he didn't submit the imbuement for LUCID to research was that he wanted to keep it attached to his blade. He figured that using it as a trump card would allow him to overwhelm an entire battlefield with summoned sword constructs and rain destruction on anything that moved.
He never did, however. Jaune simply didn't feel like parting with that rune. And now... Roman had stolen it and wielded it as casually as one might test the spray function on a garden hose.
The criminal inspected the floating array with a pleased hum. "Well, isn't this just extremely convenient?"
He tilted Crocea Mors and the blades shifted in perfect response, aligning themselves in sharper, more predatory angles. He flicked his wrist and they rippled again, moving with frightening synchronicity.
"I have to admit," Roman said with a grin, "I always enjoyed finding new toys."
Jaune's hands clenched at his sides. His mind raced. Teleport could save him from death, but only if he timed it perfectly. Weakness could possibly cripple Roman if he could apply it right, but... even then... this was a hopeless situation. The swords floated around Roman like a defensive sphere. A thousand blades waited for the slightest command.
Roman finally bowed his head in a mocking little flourish. "Ready, kid?"
Jaune inhaled once and forced his pulse into a steadier rhythm. His empty hands felt foreign. His stance felt incomplete. He imagined his squadmates yelling at him for letting someone take Crocea Mors. He imagined Nora screaming for him to get up and punch Roman in the teeth.
He steadied himself while his eyes sharpened.
"If it's the last thing I do. Im going to break your teeth in." Jaune coldly declared.
Roman raised a brow. "I highly doubt you have that capability."
He rotated his wrist once more.
A single golden sword broke formation and shot forward at a blistering speed, slicing the air with a high, shrill whistle. It aimed straight for Jaune's throat. Behind it, the rest of the constellation trembled, ready to follow in a merciless wave.
Jaune's body moved on instinct, muscles coiling, Aura stirring.
The fight had only just begun.
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(Neopolitan p.o.v.)
Neopolitan had great balance. Balance in movement, balance in expression and balance in violence. Even the chaos of an assault on a fortified LUCID base did not rattle her. The world could roar and crack and burn around her, but Neo would always remained centered. A small, quiet gravity at the eye of the whirlwind.
Which was why she only tilted her head when Arias displaced her, Roman and the rest of the Dragon Gang away from those three weird people who were trying to fight against a large group of awakened all by themselves, and into a new battlefield.
The sky above the LUCID stronghold was a fractured painting of color and violence. Turret rounds streaked upward in hot blue arcs. Explosive blasts broke the air open with hollow booms. Rune skills flickered around like wounded stars. The Dragon Gang had come in full force, dozens of awakened surging forward with a confidence that bordered on madness.
Arias hovered above the ground for only a moment. He scanned the enemy lines with a flat calculation and gave Neo and Roman a single nod. Then his body blurred upward, soaring toward the floating jade bestial constructs of Evergreen. The two Rank 2's met high in the air in a clash of emerald and white light.
Roman sighed with theatrical exhaustion. He placed his hand on Neo's head as if she were a child standing in the wrong aisle of a grocery store. Neo narrowed her eyes at him.
"Lets get this over with and get our payment, yeah?" Roman said lightly.
Neo smirked. Payment was always the part Roman cared about. Neo cared about the game. Well, in this case... the payment was actually quite good. Maybe she cared a little about it too.
She flicked her wrist and wrapped her body in an illusion so smooth that it settled over her like a second skin. Her form rippled, twisted, and vanished. To everyone around her, Neo simply ceased to exist. No sound, presence or trace. She stepped sideways out of view and drifted into movement like a leaf caught in a soft breeze.
The battlefield unfolded in front of her in violent bursts. Claws of Rune energy carved trenches through concrete. Flames, bullets, and blades sliced patterns across the ground. The members of Dragon Gang charged alongside their allies, firing wildly as they moved. LUCID's automated and manual turrets ripped through the chaos with ruthless precision.
Neo moved through all of it without a single particle of dust clinging to her shoes.
A turret round shrieked past her and collided with the pavement, blowing a chunk of concrete into the air. Neo pivoted around the debris and continued down the side of the building. Explosive shockwaves thumped against her illusion, unable to track the source of her movement. Her mismatched eyes glittered with a soft, amused interest.
Violence had a rhythm. She always enjoyed finding the beat.
Her true mission waited inside the stronghold. Roman was buying time and Arias was handling Evergreen. Neo only had one task. She drifted along the outer wall until she spotted a service hatch. Two LUCID staff members scrambled through it, hands shaking as they joined the battle. Neo slipped between them as they retreated inside. Her illusions carried her unseen down the hall.
She paused at the first turret control station. Two unawakened personnel sat inside, shouting coordinates at one another as their fingers danced across the controls. She could kill them. It would make the Dragon Gang's assault significantly easier. She pictured it. The way they would crumple. The way the turrets would go silent. The way Roman would grin at her in approval.
But Neo shook her head.
That was not her job today. Her job was underneath.
She scanned the hallways, her steps soft and her presence nonexistent. Her illusory veil rippled slightly as she turned a corner. Door after door passed by her. None matched the description Arias had given her, yet she kept moving with quiet patience.
Then she found it. A fingerprint lock panel beside a thick steel door. The metal was reinforced and the hinges heavy enough that most unawakened would have struggled to even budge it.
Neo dismissed her illusion and struck the panel with a sharp blow. The lock sparked. She drew her leg back, planted her foot firmly, and kicked. Her Rank 1 strength surged through her heel. The door caved in just enough to break its structural integrity. The second kick tore it from the frame entirely.
The room beyond dropped sharply downward. A subterranean annex. Fluorescent lights buzzed faintly along the stairs. Neo descended into the hidden space.
She reached the bottom and stepped into a laboratory that smelled a bit like antiseptic and fear. A handful of white-coated researchers froze at the sight of her. One man dropped a clipboard. Another backed away until he pressed against the wall.
They all knew they were trapped. With their real bodies here, both awakened and unawakened personnel couldn't escape unless they came through the same portal that the Dragon Gang members did. Which meant these people had nowhere to go.
Neo made a short, irritated movement with her umbrella. The flat side hit the first researcher's temple with a crisp thud. The others followed quickly. In under three seconds, all of them lay unconscious on the floor.
She stepped over them and approached the centerpiece of the room.
A massive sensory deprivation tank stood at the far end. The liquid inside glowed faintly. It was not from the real world. It was a product of a rune. All liquid from the real world couldn't enter the dream realm. Food too. Which was why a preservation medium that kept its occupant suspended between sleep and sensory nullification, like this, was rare.
A naked woman floated inside, suspended in the thick fluid. Tubes ran from her arms, chest, and temples. The breathing mask over her face released soft clouds that rippled the liquid around her.
Neo pressed one hand against the glass.
This was the target. The entire reason for the operation and the object Arias wanted.
Neo took a step toward the control terminal, ready to release the woman but she was interrupted when a flash of silver cut through the air.
A blade screamed toward her neck at the speed of sound. Neo reacted with the reflex of someone who had spent a lifetime dodging death by inches. She snapped her umbrella up and caught the strike on the reinforced edge. Sparks jumped in the confined space. The impact made her teeth vibrate.
She slid back a half step and her eyes narrowed.
The sneak attack failed. The researchers had been bait to lower her guard, but fortunately Neo wasn't a rookie.
Her attacker stood only a few meters away. He wore a LUCID Rune-frame that hummed with restrained power. The frame glowed with pale blue light that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. His stance was aggressive and coiled.
He was Rank 1. She could feel it in the pressure of his Aura.
Yet, his breathing was ragged and his pupils were dilated. His movements were fatigued in a way that told Neo that dream erosion was doing its fair share of work.
He had been stationed here specifically to guard the girl. It was just too bad that Neo was fresh and he wasn't. Perhaps he would have even been able to put up a greater fight.
Neo rolled her umbrella once in her hand and let her illusion settle back across her shoulders like a cloak.
The guard lunged again with a hoarse cry.
Neo's smile sharpened.
Time to work.
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AN: Advanced chapters are available on patreon