Capítulo 459: 15
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"Jaune… are you sure that we can do this?" Pyrrha asked quietly when Ren and Nora moved away, the ginger doing so reluctantly with a nervous look in her eyes, humor vanished entirely, "I don't fear battle, not when I'm with my lokhoi, but I'd sooner live than die if it can be helped at all." He smiled to himself. Alone, she spoke with an increasing frankness to him, knowing that hiding her true feelings was a little more than pointless gesture, making his Semblance almost a moot point. "I'm sure you agree." "I doubt you're suicidal, after all."
He found himself liking that honesty.
"Pyrrha, we don't have much choice. Besides," he raised his shield, the hoplite turning slightly to bang her spear on it in a show of camaraderie, and the young man dropped his voice to almost a whisper "I wouldn't risk my team without good reason. They want me alive, they'll have to hold back at least a bit, or risk killing me in the fighting."
"Against you, mayhaps, but not against me. What's to prevent them simply overwhelming us and dragging you away?" She asked cautiously, dropping her voice to match her partner's pitch. "I assume you have reason for your stratagem?" "Or at least, I hope so, at the least."
"Because with this many, I doubt whatever… thing, is controlling them has enough control over them to specify who to be less aggressive to. It would be easier to use them to subdue us, use you as leverage maybe… To make me cooperate." He sighed, adjusting his footing and watching several of the Grimm sidle along the top of the path, grunting and growling lowly, "I can… sense it, I guess. They're not that well controlled, as smart as they are, and-"
The Grimm chose that moment to make their move, two leaping down from each side while the others stayed back, stepping backwards into the woods to watch and spreading out so they could join when they were needed. They were taking it easy on them, as Jaune had known they would. Jaune rolled under the first one, its claws scraping stone and soil where he'd stood before Pyrrha took its head, spinning and sinking to a knee to catch the one of hers on her own shield shield, grunting from the weight. Jaune raised his own, blocking the following Lupinus' strike on his side and letting the momentum carry him, spinning to bash his sword pommel into its jaw, shattering it like glass.
The beast roared at the pain, staggering to the side, and Jaune sank his blade into the flesh between a couple of its armored plated ribs, jerking the blade as it gurgled weakly and glared at him, claw resting on his collar bone. He could sense its instinct, and smiled when he sensed the intelligence controlling the creatures force it to relent, collapsing to the ground with a wet thud and beginning to dissolve.
Pyrrha, meanwhile after she'd killed the first beast, vaulted her next opponent's initial leap, tossing her spear behind her to impale its skull, intercepting the next Lupinus' claw with her shield, lashing out with a kick as she flipped over her former, and very dead, opponent while her Semblance called the blade back to her, the weapon singing through the air first to her hand, then through the next creature's throat as she spun to the side, killing it almost instantly. She raised her shield as three more scrabbled down the side of the steep incline, catching a pair of claws on her shield and another on her blade, turning the latter to the side and letting the creature slide past her, using her sword to sever the arm attached to the claws that scraped against her shield, smiling and breathing heavily before the third slammed its shoulder into her back, throwing her to the ground.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled, turning and driving his blade into its back before one grabbed his shield arm, yanking him back and throwing him into the ground hard enough to wind him. But it gave her the opening she needed, the woman rolling out from under her dead attacker and hurling her spear at Jaune's opponent, spinning and hurling her shield at the next comer for herself.
Jaune's opponent collapsed, and Jaune kicked the weapon out of it, the red-haired girl using her Semblance to summon it to her, sidestepping so it buried itself in the throat of another Lupinus. She wrapped her hand around the red handle and yanked it free and they pressed their backs together, breathing heavily.
"We… seem.. to be… faring well." She said breathily, raising her shield and smiling brightly as three more slid down the incline to face her, another four on Jaune's side, "How are you doing, Jaune?" "There's too many to face, and more in the woods I fear."
"Exhausted… Your training and... your instincts are... all I have going for me." he sighed, grimacing and raising his shield as he inhaled, the two fighters postures mirrors of each other, "Just keep fighting, Pyr. The Headmaster will handle that guy over there, I'm sure of it."
"How can you be so sure?" Pyrrha asked lightly, turning her head slightly to him, sword arm trembling slightly, "Because Jaune, I'm not so sure about this myself. I'll fight for your sake, and honor, but..."
"I know..." He murmured, lunging forward at the closest Grimm with a yell.
Further up the path, Nora and Ren wove between each other, crushing the one Lupinus as it rushed in with Nora's hammer, while Ren used his blade to hamstring the next. Nora spun the hammer, slamming the flat against its head hard enough to throw it aside with a wet smack and catching the next one in the chest when Ren leapt above her to escape it. It snarled, sinking to its knees under the weight and trying to reach her. She leaned back, narrowly avoiding the claws, and Ren brought his twin blades down onto its skull, killing it instantly and sliding it to the side, pulling his blades free with a wet sound.
He leapt to the side then, and Nora stepped back, hammer shifting to launcher and firing a grenade at a Lupinus as it charged. The creature batted it aside, where it impacted against a tree, splintering it and sending it crashing into the woods behind where Jaune and Pyrrha fought, effectively blocking the direction. The young woman backpedaled, weapon shifting in her hands too slowly as the Grimm leapt over its fallen comrade, claws raised and mouth opened wide to show razor sharp teeth.
Ren intercepted it, leaping onto its chest with a roar of almost possessive, or protective, rage and burying his blades into its chest, knocking it off course with his weight and scrabbling across the ground with it. A second leapt after the first, aiming for Ren's back as he fired Stormflower into the first monster's chest, emptying half the ammunition into it. Magnhild caught it, its wielder staggering in the awkward strike she'd been forced to make, hurling it into a tree a few feet away where it coughed violently and staggered upright, glaring viciously at her.
"Hehe, sorry?" Nora offered weakly, the beast roaring in answer and lunging at her angrily. She didn't even laugh as she rolled away, Ren turning from the fresh kill to pepper it as it flew towards his friend, the rounds tearing into its side. Around them, several more of the beasts surrounded them, snarling to charge in and rend and tear at them, only their master's simple instructions keeping them at bay, the simple and intuitive instructions rendering them far less useful than they may have been otherwise.
Beyond that, beyond the fighting in the forest, Ozpin stood a yard away from his opponent, the man bent over, hands extended and blades ready, smiling widely, clearly excited at the bloodshed around him.
Ozpin merely stood, smiling thinly at the other man with an air of almost patience, "You know, you are the worst opponent she could have sent to face me. I suppose in her age, her mind simply must be going, at this point. Happens to the best of us, I am told..."
"How dare you insult my goddess, you sack of shit!" He snarled, smile vanishing as he shot forward, blades singing through the air. Ozpin stamped his cane into the ground, turning to face the man as he straightened, turning to glare at him in confusion from where Ozpin had stood only a moment before. "How did you-"
"Did your queen forget to even tell you my Semblance? Oh, what a pity… It truly must be her mind, you'll have to send my condolences along." He shrugged, smiling pleasantly at the man in front of him, "Or could it be, you aren't here for me? I mean, if that isn't the case, a declining mental state is all that could explain Salem's-"
"Don't you dare speak my goddess' name, you piece of filth! Of course I'm not here for you, she wants the boy! She and her little bitch told me about him, not you!" The man snarled, lunging for him again and snarling when he once more turned to see Ozpin standing where he had been, smiling pleasantly, having once more swapped their places. "Stand still and fight me, you sack of shit! Stop these pathetic tricks!"
"Ah, so you're here for Jaune then… I suppose that rules out him being a spy or anything of the kind then..." He turned his head slightly, watching the boy's desperate fight for a moment before turning back to Tyrian, "I suppose I should thank you somehow." He smiled widely, lifting his cane from the ground by a foot, holding it there almost threateningly.
"Thank me by dying, you old bastard!" the man snarled launching himself at Ozpin, fully intending on spinning to leap at him when they swapped places, smiling widely. Instead, he was stunned - literally - when Ozpin's cane slammed into his stomach, doubling him over as he wheezed. The Older man grabbed him by the pony tail, leaning down to smile at him and pulling it at the same time, so their noses almost touched.
"I was thinking I might just let you live, to tell your queen how you spoiled her plan." The other man snarled and Ozpin shoved him back with his cane, spinning it around like a sword as he walked casually away, "Now come to me again, Tyrian, I have to help my students now that I've gotten my answers from you."
The man frowned deeply, eyes narrowing as he thought, something niggling at the back of his mind like a bad itch. "How do you know me, old man?"
"Let's just say I have my ways and leave it there, shall we?" Ozpin answered vaguely, waving off his glare, "Oh come now, would Salem want your face to get stuck like that?" Mentioning her snapped him out of his lucid state, the man screaming maniacally and leaping for him. Ozpin sidestepped the attack and Tyrian smiled, tail shooting out from under his duster, aimed for the other man's throat.
Ozpin tilted his head back, reaching up to wrap an arm around it and wrenching it downwards all in one fluid move, resting his cane against its base, "Now that was quite rude, young man." He flicked his can, and Tyrian's eyes widened when a clockwork symbol spun into life, twirling around his tail rapidly, "You see, what Salem should have mentioned was my Semblance… Temporal Acceleration."
Tyrian screamed, staggering away as his tail hit the dirt behind him, a small hunk appearing in front of him, "W-What the hell, you son of a bitch?"
"Had I released you, you would of ended up there. I 'accelerated' part of your tale's place in time, severing it." Ozpin explained simply, smiling and shaking his head, "Now, as I promised, you may leave with your life. Tell your bitch of a queen that I'm coming for her, would you?"
Tyrian frowned, wanting to rip the man apart more than he wanted even to live, but instead turned to limp away, whimpering to himself lightly at the failure and the pain. Ozpin watched him go before turning to watch his students fight, the Grimm slowly pushing them back. He raised his cane, eyes closed as he focused for several long moments.
And every one of their heads shifted to positions near enough to their bodies, but distinctly unattached to their shoulders.
Jaune staggered up, watching the creatures collapse before turning back to Ozpin, the man sinking to a knee with a shaky breath, Ren offering him a hand as the other three jogged up to him to join them, Ozpin the first to speak, "I am fine, children. Simply… an old man, too unused to fighting after so long, stiff from peace and safety." "Ah, the rigors of combat… Such an old memory to recall."
Jaune looked around them, at his team mate's wounds. Pyrrha was limping on her left leg and her shield was hanging at her side limply, the woman grimacing through the pain in her arm and leg. Ren was bleeding from a gash on top of his head, and Nora was holding her side, breathing shallow. Jaune himself was mostly unscathed, nothing more than scrapes and bruises.
Jaune turned when he felt a hand on his arm, looking at Ozpin's serious eyes and blinking, "Mister Arc, I believe you, Miss Nikos and I, need to have a conversation of the very important sort." "The kind of important that gets people killed."
Jaune swallowed nervously, nodding at the older man dumbly.
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For the third time that day, Ruby looked to where JNPR normally sat at their lunch table, chewing her food absentmindedly and drumming her fingers on her thigh. She squeaked when Yang leaned over and nudged her in the ribs with her elbow, smiling widely at her, "What?"
"You've literally spent twenty minutes chewing on that cookie and staring at Jaune's seat." Weiss said quietly, slicing off a piece of her steak primly, politely chewing on it before continuing, "So tell us what's wrong."
"I think she just misses her crush." Yang offered in her usual, oh-so wise manner, smiling when her sister pouted, "Oh relax, it's not like they'd send them on a mission without them bein' ready, right?"
"I guess… I just can't help it, Yang, I always worry you know? I hate when I can't help my friends." She pouted but sighed, tossing the cookie into her mouth and looking at Weiss again, "Yang's right though, right Weiss?"
"I would… lean on that conclusion, yes. Though the Headmaster himself going may be an oddity, I doubt that would place him in any more danger." She shrugged lightly, shoulders stiff and proper as always, "So while I would say they are safe, there are… Other concerns I have."
"Aww, do you miss Jaune too?" Yang teased, smiling at her and taking a large bite of her burger, the Schnee glared at her hotly.
"If anything, she misses Ren. Those two seem to enjoy each other's company often enough." Blake added quietly, flipping to another page in her book and shifting in her seat. She always ate quicker than most, in the hopes of reading afterwards, like she was doing now. "Understandable, I suppose, that she likes chatting with him over someone like you, Yang."
"Hey, Weiss loves me!" Yang defended loudly, frowning at the other girl for a second.
"No, I really don't" Weiss helpfully offered, taking another bite of her food and smiling primly, "I really, truly, don't."
"You people! Fiends and villains, each and every last one of you!" Yang cried dramatically, throwing her hands up in the air and sighing, "Oh, what ever shall I do after such painful words?"
"Suffer in silence?" Blake asked quietly, smiling slightly at the theatrics and turning to another page once again, "Or is that too much to hope for?"
"Far, far too much!" Yang cried again, laughing and throwing a fry at her, "Keep up the sass and I'll toss Zwei in your bed."
"You wouldn't dare!" Blake said seriously, glaring at the laughing blonde before looking at Ruby for help, "She wouldn't, would she?"
"She would." Ruby said with a nod, smiling at the two for a long second, "Did it all the time when we were younger."
"...Fiends." Blake murmured, grimacing and raising her book to ignore their laughing.
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The group limped, literally in a couple cases, into the Atlesian base an hour or so after their fight, Ozpin himself handling every single Grimm to the last Creep that attempted to harry them. It was almost pitiful, the Grimm would charge at them, only for their heads to suddenly appear behind the group and for their bodies to slump to the ground with dull thuds.
The camp itself was normal for Atlesian Frontier Defence Forces to maintain. A large wall of thin but tough armored metal surrounding the camp, which was about two hundred yards in every direction from the center. Each gate was guarded by two tall tower-guns, four barreled monsters that could let loose on both air and ground targets with explosive, sometimes even incendiary, Dust rounds the size of a man's torso.
Inside the compound proper, multiple storage buildings - not-quite towers around three stories tall, with small windows dotting its side - were located at each corner of the camp, large enough to store weapons, armor, food and water, and the other needs and wants for defending a frontier camp. Beside each one was a small vehicle bay and work area, where the Atlesian mechs and robots were stored, maintained, repaired, etc.
At the center was the command center. Rounded and resting atop the box-like base that served as the barracks, medical area, rec area and food court, it sported a large dish on its roof for communications and radar uses. High above the camp, a single Atlesian patrol ship cruised in the air, occasionally firing a round to support a ground engagement somewhere in the forests.
As the gate swung open, three Atlesian drones and a soldier moved out to cover their entrance, a protocol developed after several incidents of retreating soldiers resulting in Grimm overrunning a gate. Once they were safely inside, the soldier turned to them, "Sir, we were informed that you might be travelling through these woods. General Ironwood has instructed we do whatever we need to in an effort to assist you." "Not that he's as worried about his own men…"
"Ah, I see. Thank you, Sergeant." Ozpin said simply, and Jaune could sense his displeasure at the militaristic surroundings he was in. "Several of my students are injured, nothing life threatening. I require a place for them to be treated, and a location for me and this team's leader to have a conference and… decide our next move, so to speak."
"Understood, sir." The man turned slightly, raising his arm in front of him and relaying the requests before turning back to the group, "My Base Commander is making the arrangements for your… conference, sir. He has asked that I request any information you have about Grimm in the area." "What could do this to a group of Beacon's students?"
"We encountered several packs of Class-A Grimm." Pyrrha offered helpfully, watching the medics run up to them with an almost wary gaze, "We eliminated them, but some may remain scattered around. Best that you know and send out squads to eliminate them, if you can." "Unless they were only there for Jaune, as I suspect…"
"Thank you, Miss Nikos." The sergeant intoned simply, turning to march away without another word as the medics looked over Jaune's team. "And to hurt even the Invincible Girl that bad..."
"Now, Mister Arc, would you mind accompanying me to see about our… chat?" Ozpin half asked, half commanded, smiling warmly all the while as his team limped off, Pyrrha only doing so at a nod from him, to get patched up. Jaune turned to look at the man, eyes wary and narrowed.
"You know I'll be able to tell if you lie." Jaune said simply, to which the man simply chuckled and nodded.
"Yes, I am aware. That is precisely why we're having this chat." Jaune nodded and followed after the older man quietly.
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The room was small, looking like the kind of place that a few people would receive assignments. Likely squad leaders and the like, with desks, chairs, a collapsible viewscreen on the back wall, and a table at the back of the room. All painted a dull grey on the floor and ceiling with stark white walls, lights set into them to reflect off the bright paint and light the room in a way that wouldn't hurt the eyes.
Ozpin flicked his cane and the table shifted position by a few feet, as well as a pair of chairs at either end of the oval, "My Semblance is what I like to refer to as Temporal Acceleration. I can move things to places they will be. I decided we'd move these things, then used it to shift them to where they would be." Ozpin sat, and after a moment, Jaune sat opposite him and looked at him anxiously, "I am telling you my Semblance as I know yours. Quid pro quo."
"I… Thanks, I guess." Jaune muttered, looking away from him out of habit, to avoid the man's more private thoughts, "I… guess you want to hear some answers."
"You guess?" "Or you know?" The man asked quietly, smiling and rubbing his chin in thought.
"I… I know you do." Jaune answered back, grimacing after a second, "I… Heard you think it, I guess. Just ask your questions, and I'll answer what I can. Okay?"
"That is more than sufficient, Jaune." Ozpin said simply, using his first name rather than the polite way of speaking to him. A way Jaune sensed was a slight manipulation to help him relax. "Start by explaining the specifics of your Semblance for me, then." "I need to know how to use my tools."
"I, uh, heard that…" He said simply, Ozpin blinking in surprise and opening his mouth to apologize. "No, don't. I get it. I heard your thoughts and what you meant… If you want to use this to protect people, I am fine with that."
"That's… surprisingly insightful, Jaune." He could hear the other man's impression and respect rise marginally and smiled before the man continued, "Now, if you mind?" "Your Semblance?"
"I can read minds, feel emotions-"
"I know. I heard you and Miss Nikos' entire conversation." Ozpin interrupted, and Jaune could sense a tinge of… regret? Anxiety? He moved on too quick for Jaune to get a feel of it, "What I need to know are the mechanics. Range, how to use it, and the like."
"A few hundred feet in any direction, I can feel presences. Up to a hundred, I can hear their thoughts unless I try to focus on one person and block it out. In close proximity, I feel emotions, attune to their instincts if I want to." Jaune explained, gesturing to the door, "I've been… Stealing, I guess, Pyrrha's fighting style. Copying her instincts and habits into my brain so I can use them. I use it in class too, on Port, to understand his… lectures. If I look away from someone, it's… less invasive, I guess."
"I see... " Ozpin was quiet for several long moments before sighing, "Well, Jaune, I just need to ask you one thing then." Jaune looked at him at the intensity of the man's… fear and anger, mixing into an odd cocktail. "Will you help me save the world?"
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[Archive Entry 102] Atlesian Military Forces, Atlesian Frontier Defense Corps.
The Atlesian Frontier Defence Corps, or AFDC for short, is the Atlesian answer to the question of how to honor their agreements with the other Kingdoms - Menagerie excepting, reasons [REDACTED INFORMATION] - and thus secure the supplies of food, materials and, just as importantly for preventing war, goodwill to their Kingdom.
The AFDC is the ground-based military detachment in charge of defence and general protections for the Kingdom's allies. Fielding a larger proportional number of Atlesian droids and mechanized infantry, the Paladins as an example, the AFDC tends to build what are now as Border Guard Camps. These camps are typically walled, garrisoned constantly, and treated as rest points for patrols, Atlesian and allied navies needing a place to rally, or even the occasional Hunter group.
The AFDC, as well as the Atlesian Expeditionary Fleet, is treated as the face of Atlas in the Kingdoms, due to the AFDC's personnel having a tendency to spend their leave in the Kingdoms they serve, unable or unwilling to spend the larger amount of money required and the time needed for travel to return to Atlas. These are the troops a citizen is likely to see in their Kingdom's streets, often being requested to serve as police forces under the proper police forces of the Kingdoms.
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Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
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-- Pedra de
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