The flying copies of Crocea Mors had vanished from the sky without warning. Jaune didn't know whether that meant Roman had finally fallen or whether Sword's duration had run its course. His instincts told him not to relax yet, however. Silence after a fight was usually never safety. It was always a breath before something else.
Dust swirled in heavy clouds across the crater, thick enough to sting the eyes. The entire block looked like it had been dug out by a meteor, the pavement peeled in layers and the streetlights drooping at odd angles. Somewhere deeper in the haze, something shifted. A small crunch of loose gravel, faint and uneven. Jaune tensed until the figure burst up and out of the dust in a coughing, stumbling leap.
Yang.
Her hair was a mess, her face streaked with soot and sweat, and she held something awkwardly cradled in her arms like she could barely keep her grip. Jaune and Ruby darted to her sides, supporting Yang under her arms as she half-fell into their hold. Yang looked at Jaune, squinting like even keeping her eyes open was work, then pushed the things she was holding at him with a force that seemed to use the last of her momentum.
He took them without hesitation.
Lux Aeterna and Crocea Mors.
Jaune sighed in surprise and relief. He hadn't expected to see both again so quickly. Both sword appeared quite scraped and dulled across the edges. Their shiny metallic glints were carrying a heat-warped ripple like it had been stressed beyond safe limits. For Crocea Mors, near the hilt, where the small imbued rune had once nestled in the metal like a sun-shaped gem, there was now nothing.
Jaune inhaled slowly. He felt a brief ache in his chest, not quite sadness and not quite anger, only the sense of one more thing that an enemy had reached into his life and twisted. Roman was still getting a punch to the face. That was not negotiable.
Yang doubled over with another cough, one hand bracing on her knee. "Remind me," she said, "to never do that again, because that was a real aura guzzler."
Ruby pushed a strand of hair from Yang's face. "You're that low on aura?"
Yang let out a breath that sounded like it hurt. "Low? I am at zero. Zero zero. Negative, probably. If aura debt was a thing I'd be in it."
Ruby's eyes widened with concern. "Zero? Like if I poked you you'd bruise and not be able to absorb my kinetic energy?"
Yang nodded. "Yeah... more like collapse and maybe cry a little."
Jaune looked her over more closely. The glow that normally radiated off her when she used Inferno or absorbed heavy recoil was gone, replaced by dull patches where her armored rune frame had melted in spots. Her gauntlets were also warped and her palms trembled from nerve shock. She was upright only because Ruby was helping her stand and because Yang never accepted the ground unless physically forced onto it.
"How'd you get them?" Jaune asked, lifting the swords a little. "Lux and Crocea Mors. He wasn't going to let these go easy."
Yang rubbed her forehead with her wrist. "I think Roman ran out of aura too. Or close enough that he couldn't push Reversion anymore. The last few explosions were… bright. Really bright. I don't remember most of it. Everything flashed and then everything sounded like it was underwater. But when the final wave hit, he stopped reacting in time. I guess he was busy trying not to get blown apart. I used the chance to grab the swords. Or maybe I just fell on them. Hard to tell."
Jaune laughed under his breath despite the exhaustion creeping into every limb. "Thanks. Really."
Yang shrugged. "Figured you'd want them back. Also figured he didn't deserve to keep them. He doesn't take care of other people's stuff."
Jaune looked at Crocea Mors again, brushing his thumb across the metal. "He took my rune. A little annoying. Still owe him a punch."
Ruby squeezed Yang's shoulder gently. "You did amazing. That back-and-forth with the explosions was incredible. I thought the whole district was going to split in half."
Yang groaned. "Yeah, I thought my spine was going to split in half. We can both be right."
A sudden coughing sound echoed somewhere in the crater. All three stilled immediately. Ruby turned toward the noise, posture poised and ready despite the exhaustion in her stance. Jaune narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.
"Stay here," he said to Yang, although she could not go far even if she wanted to.
Yang rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm not exactly sprinting laps right now."
Ruby stayed by Yang, Crescent Rose braced but steady.
Jaune stepped forward alone at first, then paused when Ruby joined him anyway. She shot him a small smile, the kind that said of course I'm coming with you. He did not argue.
He raised a hand and sliced it downward with a sharp motion. A burst of controlled wind cut forward, pushing back the dust like a curtain. The cloud split, rolling away in slow waves.
And standing in the center of the revealed space was Roman Torchwick.
He looked like he had been through a blender set to violent. His white suit was blackened with soot and ash, the fabric torn and singed. His hat was long gone, his red hair sticking up in frayed pieces. His cane was bent almost to a right angle and its energy blade flickered once in a sad attempt to reignite before it finally dimmed and died. Roman coughed again, a thin rasp, then brushed uselessly at his ruined suit.
"Well," he said, voice hoarse, "I'm really starting to regret this whole operation. Seriously, that shitty payment better be worth it."
Ruby narrowed her eyes and pointed Crescent Rose toward him. "Stay down, Roman. Just… stay down."
Roman raised both hands weakly with a sake smile. "Believe me, Red, I'm not planning any heroic second wind. I think I sprained my arms and pretty sure my spine is negotiating with gravity for an early retirement. And…" He looked down at his cane mournfully. "My baby's dead. Look at her. Snapped in half. This is the saddest thing that's ever happened to me."
Jaune tightened his grip on Crocea Mors and Lux Aeterna. "Yours and Dragon Gangs actions have brought the real Belmont city in grave danger. You deserve every bit of this beating.... and you also stole my things"
Roman blinked. "In my defense, you had very stealable things. Swords, runic energy... even your... questionable fashion sense."
Ruby stepped closer. "You don't get to joke your way out of this."
Roman sighed. "Can I joke a little? Just a bit? I've had a long day. I think my eyebrows got burned off. Do you know how long it takes to fix eyebrows?"
Yang coughed from behind them. "You can joke once you're unconscious. Preferably because I punched you."
Roman pointed in her direction without turning his head. "Please do not. If she hits me, I will die. Like actually die. I'm running off stubbornness and caffeine at this point."
"You done?" Jaune asked quietly.
Roman shrugged, the motion slow and pained. "I think I peaked about ten minutes ago. So yes. I'm done."
Ruby kept Crescent Rose steady. "Then surrender."
Roman considered that, staring at his bent cane like he was weighing his options. There were none. His expression softened, not with acceptance but with something closer to resignation.
"Nah," he grinned evilly. "That's for the uncouth. The miserable, the pathetic and the tragic. Besides, why would I surrender, when I've already won?"
Roman's grin never had the chance to finish curling across his face.
His entire body shattered. There was no organic collapse, no fall to the ground, no stagger of exhaustion. His figure hacked apart into floating shards, each fragment reflecting the glow of distant streetlights before dissolving into the drifting dust like melting glass. Jaune's eyes widened in shock, but he only processed the sight for a fraction of a heartbeat.
A force slammed into him and Ruby so suddenly it felt like the world had stuttered.
Jaune barely recognized the blur of a smooth booted leg before it crashed into both of their faces with enough strength to whip their heads sideways. Their feet left the ground. Ruby was ripped off balance in the same instant, the sound of her breath being punched out of her chest sharp and thin. The two of them flew backward in a tangled arc until they hit something warm and solid.
Yang.
Even weakened, she managed to catch them by hooking her elbows under their backs and gritting her teeth through the impact. Her boots scraped across the broken road, her body swaying dangerously, but somehow she held steady enough to keep them from collapsing.
"Seriously," Yang coughed weakly, "can everyone stop flying into me today?"
Jaune pushed himself upright, jaw throbbing, vision doubled before it snapped clean again. Ruby cradled her jaw in one hand with her eyes watering from the blow. They instinctively scanned the battlefield.
At the far end of the ruined street, standing calmly as if the world were not a crater around her, was a girl.
A short girl. Pale skin. Eyes like mismatched glass. Her hair held three distinct colors: pale pink, off white, black. Her entire outfit flowed in the same palette, coordinated down to the parasol that rested in her hand with casual, almost gentle ease.
Roman Torchwick stood beside her.
And at their feet lay a passed out woman covered only in a draped cloth, clearly dragged there from somewhere. Her limbs were slack, her breathing shallow but present.
The girl with the parasol tilted her head slightly as if curious about whether Jaune would run to her or attack. Jaune did not hesitate. A quick glance at Ruby was all it took. Their runes burst to life almost simultaneously.
Jaune vanished.
The teleport snapped him forward like a chain released from a taut pull. The moment he reappeared in front of Roman and the parasol girl, he brought both Lux Aeterna and Crocea Mors down in a brutal cross-arc, intent on ending the fight before anything else spiraled further out of control.
Metal rang.
The girl with the neapolitan color scheme hadn't moved so much as a step. She simply lifted her umbrella, angled it with perfect balance and timing, and caught both of Jaune's swords in a single motion. Her posture never wavered. Her smile was almost mockingly polite.
She pushed him back with a firm, covered strength that made Jaune's arms jolt in response. He used the momentum to flip backwards and land on his feet. As he twisted in the air, he condensed Weakness, directing it toward her arms and shoulders.
The shimmer of the debuff clung to her for a moment like pale smoke.
But she did not seem to react at all.
Ruby streaked past him in a red blur, Crescent Rose drawn, acceleration rune burning bright enough to pierce the dusty air. She cut through the girl's form in a clean horizontal slash.
The girl shattered.
Not into gore or torn fabric but again into shards of glass. At the same instant Roman and the unconscious woman fractured the same way, each of their bodies splitting apart and dissolving into illusionary fragments before reappearing two meters to the left. In the new spot, Roman now held the unconscious woman in a bridal carry, while his partner somehow balanced on the very blade of Ruby's scythe.
Suddenly, as if his aura was magically back, Roman casually reached out with his rune and stole Crescent Rose from her hands. The weapon disappeared and reappeared into his grasp. He lifted the weapon like a stolen wallet, examining its craftsmanship with an amused smirk.
Ruby gasped and stumbled forward as the girl bent her knees and jumped. She opened her umbrella midair and pointed it down at Ruby. From it, a blast of compressed air erupted downward. The force rocketed Roman's partner upwards while slamming Ruby backward so violently that she crashed into the half-standing facade of a ruined building. Concrete fractured around her and she slid down through the dust.
Jaune teleported again without hesitation.
He appeared directly above the girl's next landing point and swung for her midsection. But the moment his swords should have connected, they vanished, ripped clean from his hands. Roman had stolen them again, runic energy flickering faintly on his fingers. Jaune crossed his arms just in time to block a forward kick from the girl that landed squarely in his guard. Even bracing, he felt the shock travel down to his ribs.
He was knocked into the air, rolling once before gravity reclaimed him.
He did not teleport this time. Instead he gathered Weakness and pushed it across the girl's entire form. This time, the effect seemed to properly cling. She stumbled for a moment, but then, she blurred forward. Her speed rebounded quickly, impossibly quickly given what Jaune had inflicted.
Yang stepped forward on instinct to intercept her. Even without aura to activate her rune, Yang threw a punch that held every scrap of muscle memory and fury she had left. Her fist sliced through the afterimage as the girl broke apart once more into delicate glasslike pieces.
She reformed behind Yang.
Standing lightly on Yang's back.
The tip of her umbrella pressed gently against the side of Yang's neck. A blade slid out from the top of the parasol with a clean metallic whisper, resting perfectly at the point where a single slip would draw blood.
Jaune froze mid step. Ruby stilled completely in the rubble.
Neither dared move. Neither dared breathe too loudly.
Roman began clapping lightly. A slow, amused rhythm that echoed across the ruined street.
"Well done, Neo," he said with theatrical praise. "These three really were something. Truly the most annoying little pack of awakened I have ever had the pleasure of fighting."
Neo smiled wider. Her blade pressed just a hair tighter to Yang's throat.
Yang's breathing went thin.
Ruby's hands shook.
Jaune's eyes tracked every angle he could possibly use, every possible path for a teleport, every risk that would get Yang killed instantly.
Roman adjusted his grip on the passed out woman in his arms and looked almost disappointed. "You all forced us to go all out. Really. You should be proud. Most terrifying team I've met in ages."
"Let her go," Jaune said, voice low.
Roman sighed dramatically. "My dear boy, if I did that, she would punch me. And as much as I admire her spirit, I quite like my face the way it is."
Roman laughed a victorious laugh, his voice dropping into something confident and gloating.
"And now, children, the curtain closes."
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AN: Not sure if I'm going to be able to post tomorrow, so double chapters for today.
Advanced chapters are available on patreon