Two days later, the forest no longer felt like an alien wilderness. Instead, it felt like a hunting ground.
Team 1 had been exploring this section of the Shadow Realm with a zealotry that bordered on madness, time and time again adjusting their senses, tactics and skills against the Stalkers that were in the area.
Until finally....
They were ready.
Pale shadow light bled down through cracks in the leaves in long, fractured beams, striping the forest floor with bars of silver-gray illumination. Between those shafts of light, the world was a kingdom of layered darkness, roots like coiled serpents, bark ridged like cliff faces, and shadow pooling thickly in every hollow.
And in that darkness, something moved.
Jaune's eyes narrowed. His senses stretched outward and turned sharply.
"Ten o'clock," he said, voice low and immediate. "Fifty meters. Closing in fast."
The response came at once.
"Roger."
Taiyang Xiao Long did not hesitate.
He stepped forward, golden eyes flashing beneath the fractured light, and then his mouth opened.
A beam of incandescent force erupted from his throat
Calling it a simple flame would be incorrect. It was something far more concentrated, a draconic lance of blazing energy that screamed through the air in a straight line, so bright that it turned the surrounding trunks into stark silhouettes. The laser-breath tore through the giant shadow tree ahead, boring a molten tunnel clean through bark thicker than fortress walls.
The impact lit the forest like a lightning strike.
The hidden Asura Stalker burst from behind the ruined trunk.
Its white eyes blazed.
Shadow wings exploded from its back in a violent unfurling, black feathers becoming blades and tendrils in the same motion as it launched forward with terrifying speed. Its six arms had fused into something monstrous, a single gigantic limb that stretched far beyond its own body.
A greatsword.
The weapon was absurd in scale, a slab of dark Umbra so massive it dwarfed the creature wielding it, dragging a scream through the air as it cleaved downward.
But it never reached its target.
The ground beneath it erupted.
Raven Branwen surged upward from the shadow-soil itself, not as a woman, but as a monstrous maw of living darkness. Her entire body had liquefied into shadow runic energy, reforming into a gigantic set of jagged jaws that snapped shut around the Asura's lower half.
The sound was sickening.
The creature twisted at the last possible instant, instinct and intelligence saving it from total destruction, but it was too late to escape cleanly.
Raven's shadow maw clamped down on both legs and tore them free.
Umbra sprayed outward in ragged ribbons.
The Asura gave no cry, but its wings reacted instantly, reshaping into blade-like feathers that stabbed downward in a storm of shadow steel.
They struck empty darkness.
The maw dissipated harmlessly.
Raven was already gone.
A heartbeat later she appeared from the side of a nearby trunk, stepping out of the bark as if the tree itself had birthed her. Her body and sword was already in motion.
She drove it into the Asura's back.
The force of the strike was monstrous.
The Stalker was launched downward like a meteor and Raven rode the momentum with ruthless precision as both of them crashed toward the ground.
The impact shattered its oversized greatsword arm, the fused Umbra splitting apart and unraveling back into six distinct limbs.
Only this time, the ground beneath it was not shadow-soil.
It was wood.
A platform.
Zeki's rune had quietly transformed the battlefield into an elevated plane of polished timber, roots and planks layered together into a broad arena that broke the Stalker's advantage over shadow travel.
The creature hit hard and before it could move, Raven acted again. Six blades of condensed shadow materialized around her in a ring of dark light.
They fell all at once.
Each sword punched through one of the Asura's six arms, driving limb after limb into the wooden platform and pinning it spread-eagled like some grotesque insect mounted for display.
The wood groaned beneath the force.
The Asura's head snapped around and its face began to split.
The smooth black and white mask of its features deformed into a huge serrated maw, rows of shadow-forged teeth pushing outward like the opening petals of a carnivorous flower.
Then two figures dropped from above.
Taiyang Xiao Long landed first.
His foot came down on the creature's skull with enough force to crater the wood beneath it, slamming its head flat against the platform before the creature could twist it.
Beside him, Clover descended with eerie calm, a school of luminous elemental fish swimming in lazy circles around him. They glimmered through the air like living constellations, their fins trailing sparks of elemental light.
Taiyang pressed down harder. The forming maw cracked beneath the pressure, teeth splintering into raw Umbra.
For the first time, the Asura stopped struggling and its white eyes shifted.
One by one, it took them in.
Clover, serene and watchful.
Raven, standing atop its back with one boot planted between its shoulders, blades still buried deep within its flesh.
Taiyang, foot pinning its head with enough gathered force to vaporize it the instant he chose.
The creature could feel the power there.
Concentrated.
Coiled.
The sole of Taiyang's boot was a miniature sun of destructive potential. One wrong movement and its skull would cease to exist.
The forest around them seemed to hold its breath.
Massive trunks loomed in every direction, disappearing into darkness and silver shafts of black sunlight. Above, the canopy whispered with faint movement, leaves rustling like distant voices.
From the far side of the platform, Zeki approached at a measured pace and beside him walked Qrow Branwen.
Qrow's expression was sharp, dark eyes flicking toward Jaune in silent question.
Jaune closed his eyes for the briefest moment.
His senses brushed against the creature's emotional state. He opened his eyes and gave a single nod.
Qrow's mouth curved into a dangerous grin.
"Well then," he muttered.
The wooden platform shifted.
At Zeki's silent command, timber and roots flowed upward around the pinned Asura, rising like the walls of a living shell. They curved inward, wrapping around its body in a layered cocoon of hardened wood, leaving only its head exposed.
Taiyang shifted position, replacing his crushing foot with one iron grip on the back of its skull, fingers threaded into the creature like a vice.
The Stalker was trapped.
Completely.
The moment stretched. Even the elemental fish seemed to pause in their lazy circles. Qrow crouched slightly, bringing himself level with the creature's glowing white eyes.
His voice was low and measured.
Cold with intent.
"If you can understand us," he said, "say yes."
The words hung in the forest air, suspended beneath the vast shadow canopy like a blade waiting to fall.
The forest seemed to lean inward around them, every towering trunk and hanging shadow-leaf holding its breath as the question settled into the stillness.
For a heartbeat, the Asura Stalker said nothing.
Its white eyes flicked from Qrow's face to Taiyang's iron grip, then to Raven's blades still pinning its limbs to the timber shell.
Then its white mouth shifted.
"Yes."
The single word dropped into the silence like a stone into still water.
For one stunned moment, no one moved. Then the reaction rippled through the group almost at once.
Grins.
Sharp, disbelieving and triumphant.
Jaune felt a pulse of excitement shoot through the gathered team. After two days of relentless hunting, failed captures, and more than one near-fatal skirmish, this was the first true success.
Clover's smile widened, easy and bright even in the oppressive gloom of the forest.
He lifted a hand and called out into the trees, his voice carrying through the immense pillars of bark and shadow.
"Coast is clear. Witness the interrogation."
Like ghosts stepping out from the forest's seams, the rest of the expeditionary team emerged from their hidden positions.
Pyrrha Nikos came first, spear already hovering at her side in case anything went wrong. Beside her, Auberyn stepped out with her teammate, Bann close behind, the latter's posture wary but curious. Coppal emerged with a thoughtful frown, while Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias moved in from opposite sides of the wooden platform.
Behind them came the researchers, expressions lit with the kind of dangerous excitement only scientists seemed capable of feeling in the face of something that could very easily kill them.
This was what they had been after.
Information.
Capturing an Asura had proven far more difficult than anyone had first assumed. It was not simply a matter of rarity, though second variants were indeed far less common than the shambling zero variants and the towering first variants.
No.
The true problem was that they were strong.
Frighteningly so.
Strong enough that every prior attempt had ended in one of two ways: either the creature escaped through the shadows, or the team was forced to kill it to avoid casualties.
This time, for the first time, they had managed to pin one down alive.
The senior female researcher stepped forward, tablet in hand, her face illuminated by the soft glow of runic script scrolling across its surface.
She stopped a careful distance away.
Close enough to speak and far enough to run.
Qrow leaned in slightly, his voice losing all humor.
"When she asks you a question, you answer. If you don't know the answer, say you don't know."
He paused, letting the threat settle.
"If you lie, we will know."
Taiyang's grip tightened just enough to reinforce the point.
"Understand?"
The Asura's white gaze shifted once more across the faces surrounding it.
"Yes," it said with a small amount of fear leaking through. "I understand."
A visible thrill ran through the researchers. The woman adjusted her glasses, then glanced once toward Zeki and Raven for confirmation. At their nod, she began.
"First question. What are you?"
The Asura's mouth flexed.
"I am #$#@."
Its voice came out like a hundred whispers saying 9 words at the exact same time.
The researcher frowned slightly, stylus already moving. Everyone looked towards Jaune.
"Roughly translated, I think it's trying to say its a lesser one. Not entirely sure what that means." Jaune explained, with a slightly troubled look.
The researcher nodded and
"Don't speak in that language unless there is no other term that can be used to describe it. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Now, what did you mean by lesser one?"
The creature's head tilted within Taiyang's grasp.
"Below me is inferior ones and beneath the inferior is the worthless. Above me are the greater ones."
Interesting.
The researcher nodded slowly, seemingly comprehending something.
"I see..."
"You got something from that?" Taiyang asked.
"Yes. I believe that it is referring to the Stalker designations. Since it classifies itself as a lesser one, the inferior ones are probably first variants and the worthless ones are the zero variants."
"Huh. That seems kinda..."
"Self deprecating?" Qrow offered.
"Yeah. These creatures really are a sad bunch ain't they?" Taiyang shook his head.
The researcher continued her questioning.
"Do you have a name?"
"No."
"Do you understand what a name is?
"Yes."
A murmur passed through the operatives. The researcher continued.
"Do the zero... worthless ones and inferior ones obey you?"
The Asura was silent for a moment.
"Some do."
That immediately drew everyone's attention.
"Some?" she repeated.
"Yes, we all follow our purpose."
Jaune's eyes narrowed. That was a fascinating distinction.
Purpose.
The researcher clearly thought so too.
"What determines purpose?"
"The call."
This time even the researchers looked thrown.
"The call from where?" she asked.
The Asura's eyes drifted upward, seemingly looking beyond the canopy of trees into the sky itself.
"Above."
A chill moved through the gathered team. Above? The researcher pressed on quickly.
"What do you mean by above?"
The creature seemed to become a little restless.
"The eye."
The forest seemed to grow colder. Jaune exchanged a glance with Raven.
"What do you mean by the eye?"
The Asura's voice lowered, almost reverent. "The source of all. It watches me. It watches you."
There was a chill in the air. It felt like creeping roots of ice were swimming through Jaune's veins. He had a terrible feeling.
"Stop! Don't ask about the eye anymore."
Everyone looked towards Jaune. He felt a little nervous. He wasn't entirely sure why.
"Why?" Raven asked.
"I have a bad feeling." Jaune cringed, knowing how exactly that would sound.
The researcher looked at Jaune curiously. "This is an expedition. We're here to get answers, you know? Just because you have bad feeling doesn't mean that we should stop? There has to be particular reason. Could you explain further?
Jaune sighed, and rubbed his forehead with his black hand. "I can't really explain it. Call it intuition, call it instinct, call it paranoia. I just have this sinking suspicion that...."
Qrow narrowed his eyes and shared a glance with Raven.
"...If we continue to talk about the eye or source or whatever. Something is going to go very, very wrong."
That sent another wave of murmurs through the researchers.
"Don't ask about it anymore. Stick to the forest and the ecosystem." Qrow nodded, supporting Jaune.
The researcher nodded. If a Rank 2 like Qrow was supporting Jaune Arc. That meant that it likely wasn't something to joke around about. It seemed Jaune Arc's intuition was some merit to it.
The woman glanced briefly at her tablet before asking the next question.
"Where did you come from?"
The Asura turned its gaze back to her. For some reason, the Asura was staring at Jaune like he was the most interesting piece in a puzzle that it had ever seen.
"I come from the great pillar. All of us are created from it and follow our purpose until we become a greater one."
The answer landed like a blade.
Qrow's grin sharpened.
"Well now we're getting somewhere."
"You grew from a great Pillar? Can you explain what this Pillar is?" The researcher continued.
"The Pillar is our creator. It is in the forest, at the center."
The senior researcher's hand tightened around her stylus.
"What does the pillar look like? Describe it for us."
The Asura looked at the titanic trees around it. It seemed to point to them with its eyes.
Now everyone leaned in.
"The great pillar is like a tree but inversed. Its roots reach towards the sky. Its crown is in the ground and from the ground it make us. The moment we are made, our purpose is given."
The senior researcher went very still.
For several long seconds, only the scratching of her stylus against the glowing tablet could be heard.
Then her eyes widened.
"That description…"
Her voice came quieter now, less the tone of an interrogator and more that of someone staring at the final piece of a puzzle.
"It matches."
Every eye turned toward her.
Clover tilted his head. "Matches what?"
She looked up sharply. "Team Two's discovery."
A murmur passed through the expedition.
"The structure they found in the valley chasm," she continued, words gathering speed as realization took hold. "The one that was designated as Catalyzer."
Her fingers moved rapidly across the holo tablet, pulling up recorded sketches and observational notes.
"The proportions, the central pillar, the root-like upper formation…" she said, half to herself now. "This is almost certainly the same structure."
Her expression darkened. "Except according to this creature, the one in the forest... should be still intact."
That sent a quiet chill through the group. Clover's easy smile faded into something more serious.
"The one Team Two found had that weird black lightning around it," he said, glancing toward the restrained Asura. "Slow moving, disintegration type stuff."
He stepped closer.
"Does your pillar have black lightning around it?"
The Stalker's white eyes shifted.
"No."
The researcher nodded slowly.
"Then Team Two's Catalyzer is almost certainly damaged. We can probably confirm now that the lightning may be a symptom rather than a natural feature of it."
She exhaled through her nose.
"In that case, it would be best if we head there ourselves and confirm the situation."
Zeki looked out past the wooden platform into the endless forest.
The colossal trees stretched in every direction, their trunks vanishing into shadow, their crowns merging into a black sea that seemed to roll all the way to the horizon.
The forest was simply too vast. There was no sense of scale and no clear landmarks.
Just endless trunks like pillars of a dead cathedral.
Clover crouched slightly near the Asura.
"Can you take us there?"
The creature was silent for a moment.
Then:
"No."
Qrow frowned. "Can't?"
The white mouth moved. "If I go, I would die."
A cold prickling sensation ran across Jaune's skin.
The quiet unease was different from before. This came through Weakness.
A pressure and a sudden spike of danger.
The researcher, unaware, leaned forward.
"Why would you die?"
The Stalker's eyes locked onto Jaune. From its emotions, Jaune could sense a form of mockery emanating from it.
"A Great One is there."
Jaune's breath caught.
Something snapped into place in his mind. The creature wasn't afraid of the path. It was afraid of what was already aware of them.
Jaune's eyes widened.
"Taiyang!"
His voice cracked through the clearing like a blade.
"Crush its head! Now!"
Taiyang startled, his grip tightening instinctively.
"What?"
The Stalker's mouth split into something that resembled a smile.
"Oh."
Its white eyes gleamed. "But I forgot to mention. The Great One isn't there right now."
A horrible pause.
Then:
"Right now…"
Its gaze swept across every person gathered there.
"…the Great One is watching you."
Taiyang moved.
All the force he had been compressing into his arm detonated at once. His hand came down in a brutal crushing motion and the Asura's skull exploded into a burst of white fragments and raw Umbra.
The sound thundered through the forest. But it was already too late. The moment the words had been spoken, the atmosphere changed.
A pressure descended.
Not physical but something worse. A vast suppressive will slammed down over the clearing like an invisible ocean.
The Rank 1s hit their knees almost immediately. Pyrrha's spear clattered against the wood. Auberyn gasped sharply, one hand bracing herself against the platform.
Sun cursed through gritted teeth. Even Neptune stumbled, face pale.
Jaune felt his entire body lock. It was like standing beneath the gaze of something impossibly ancient.
The Rank 2s remained standing, but barely.
Raven's face had gone cold, Qrow's expression sharpened into open alarm and Zeki's eyes widened.
Then the forest moved.
Not the leaves or the branches but the the trunks. All around them, the giant trees began to open like grotesque mouths ready to devour prey. Except instead of teeth, what emerged were eyes.
White eyes. Each blooming like pistils of death.
One.
Ten.
Fifty.
Hundreds.
They emerged from every direction. From the trunks, the roots and even from the ground itself. Smooth, glowing white eyes opened like flowers across the forest.
Every single one of them staring and watching.
Silence swallowed the world.
Then, a voice resounded through the trees. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once. A hundred whispers spoken by a thousand invisible mouths.
"I see you."