Chương 814: 157
Chapter 157:
The apparition hovered over Kyo's body. Looking at her, Ruby noted that Salem was different from the version they had been shown in Jinn's vision. That pale skin and white hair were there, but the veins visible through her skin were a comparatively new addition. Those eyes of hers were narrower, harder, practically overflowing with malevolence. The Salem that the reincarnated Ozpin had married, and had four daughters with, had still had some kindness and warmth in her eyes. But it seemed that, along with her relationship to her husband, Salem had also severed her last ties to what humanity had remained within her, fully embracing the essence of the Grimm that she had contaminated herself with in an ill-considered effort to overcome the God of Light's curse.
Below her head, Salem's figure dissolved into a shifting, black mist, which obscured most other details of her form. From within the approximate region of her chest, the red light of the Seer's eye shined out, like a malignant beacon. This was a form from some person's worst nightmares.
Still, Ruby was having a hard time remaining objective and noting details; not with the prone, unmoving, mutilated form of her brother lying beneath Salem's image.
"We meet at last," said Salem, her gaze locking with Ruby's. "I have waited a long time for this moment. I had wanted Tyrian and the others to bring you into my presence...but it seems that is no longer an option."
"Get away from my brother," said Ruby.
"I will...when we have spoken," said Salem, her tone calm and even.
"You'll get away now...or we'll have nothing to speak about," said Ruby.
"Have a care, child," said Salem. "I hold this boy's life in my hands, while he remains beneath my thrall. If you do not mind your tongue...I will finish what Jester started."
So Jester did this to him, thought Ruby. It was pretty much the manifestation of their worst fears. Not even her brother, whom Ruby thought to be amongst the strongest in the world, had been able to defeat Jester. That being the case...what hope did she have?
Still, she kept that concern to herself, instead focusing on her desire to protect her brother, to ensure that he did not die while she had breath in her body to save him. For years, Kyo had watched over and protected her, in a somewhat roundabout manner. Now it was her turn to do the same for him. Drawing upon that feeling, she felt a familiar warmth building within her, a pressure gathering behind her eyes. She let it increase for a few seconds, before letting it release.
Silver light flared out in a sharp strobe from the edges of her eyes. Within Salem's image, the Seer let out an angry hiss, accompanied by a bizarre assortment of clicks, and immediately reeled back, black particles streaming out into the air around it. Salem herself scowled, baring her teeth, raising a phantom arm, as though that would ward off the power of Ruby's eyes. However, it was futile, and Salem's apparition was driven back away from Kyo, Ruby moving forward to plant herself between the Queen of the Grimm and her brother. Behind her, Sasame immediately moved to crouch at Kyo's side, her hands glowing as she sank them inside his body and swiftly worked to mend his injuries...what ones she could.
"I warned you," said Ruby sternly.
"Insolent," growled Salem, her eyes arrowing. "You should know by now just how outmatched you are."
"Because you're immortal?" wondered Ruby, raising an eyebrow.
"You know full well that I am beyond the reach of death," said Salem. "I yet have a use for you, child. So you should be grateful that I have sought to spare your life, regardless of how much resistance you offer. However, what we wager next will be something I imagine you esteem as infinitely more important...the lives of your friends and family. Just how many of them I spare after this will be dependent on your cooperation."
"That's assuming you can win," countered Ruby, able to sense the confusion from some of the people behind her.
"You believe that anything else would be the outcome of this?" Salem wanted to know, her eyes narrowing sharply.
Ruby smirked. "I think it's possible, and so do you," said Ruby, finding herself smirking. Anger at what had happened to her brother hummed through her veins. However, Jester had yet to make an appearance. So she instead focused that anger upon Salem.
"And what makes you believe that?" asked Salem.
"Because...you didn't do this from the beginning," said Ruby.
There was a noticeable pause before Salem responded. "What do you mean?"
"You could spawn as many Grimm as you wanted," said Ruby. "You could gather them together. You could build the greatest army in the world. You could overrun the Kingdoms with ease...except you didn't.
"Instead, you sent your agents. You had people work behind the scenes, creating instability, and chiseling away at the Kingdoms' strength a little at a time. You sent Cinder to use the White Fang to try and tear this Kingdom apart from the inside. When that didn't work, your people worked with Mason Ayers. When that didn't work, you and Jester orchestrated the attack during the Vytal Festival. If you had the power to overrun the Kingdoms and destroy everything with sheer numbers...why didn't you?"
Salem frowned, but didn't answer.
Ruby met her gaze squarely. "Maybe it was the Maidens and the Relics. So long as Ozpin had those cards, you couldn't be completely sure he wouldn't use them against you in some way. Even if you couldn't be killed, you could still have your armies destroyed, maybe even whatever place you've made your base in too, and be knocked all the way back to Square One all over again."
In fact, Ruby suspected that was exactly what had happened in the past. Past a certain point, Jinn had simply rendered the abridged version of Ozpin's conflict with Salem. Ruby could easily imagine just how it had been. Ozpin would try to build up and strengthen humanity, creating centers of power, through which they would be able to build civilizations that could live up to the gods' judgement. Meanwhile, Salem would try to tear them down. Back and forth it would go, cycles of creation and destruction between these two powerful, immortal figures. The four Kingdoms were but the latest iteration of Ozpin's efforts, with Salem's efforts being her latest iteration on how to bring him down.
Ruby figured that Salem probably had resorted to force in the past. After all, from what Jinn had shown them, she was in control of the Land of Darkness, once the home of the God of Darkness, the birthplace of the Creatures of Grimm. Given time, she could spawn as many as she needed, even twist their forms to suit her purposes, and amass armies of unbelievable power. But...
But that might not have worked for her in the past, and Ruby could guess why. When Salem had attacked with her armies, it was clear that humanity was faced with the threat of extinction. That being the case, all other conflicts were mere trifles to the threat that Salem represented. Truces would be called. Alliances would be forged. The whole of the human race would bring together their full might, and fight back. And then, of course, with Ozpin and the Relics on their side, the victory of a united humanity might not be such an impossible idea after all. Which suggested that, in the ancient past, Salem had fought...and lost...just such a war.
On top of that, uniting humanity would have satisfied the terms the God of Light had set forth. Even if Ozpin and humanity couldn't have won, he would have been free to unite the Relics, call back the gods, and have them deal with Salem. Or, even if she won, and wiped out most of the human race at the time, so long as the remaining humans were united, then that might still have worked, as far as the God of Light was concerned. That might have explained why the efforts of Salem's agents had been focused on the Maidens and Relics this time. If Salem could secure even one, then she could neutralize Ozpin's strongest safeguard, and crush what remained of humanity at her leisure.
That was why she had defaulted to more-subtle methods. She recruited agents. She preyed upon those like Hazel, warped by his grief; Cinder, warped by her desire for power; Emerald, with her desire for love; or Tyrian, and his perverse love of violence. Salem had then sent them out into the world, to work behind the scenes; to weaken, to destabilize, to sow conflict and strife. Only then, once the Kingdoms were weakened by conflict within, and probably set against one another as well, would Salem then bring the hammer down, once and for all...maybe.
After all, in all the centuries of conflict between her and Ozpin, Salem had to have put plenty of effort into more-subtle methods as well. She and Ozpin had probably gone through this dance countless times. Even if Salem managed to destroy the Kingdoms, Ozpin might well have already prepared to lay the foundations of the civilization that would replace them...both of them starting all over again.
It was an absurd conflict, which had seemingly repeated itself over and over again through the centuries. But enough was enough. Ruby silently vowed to herself that it would stop, here and now.
"An astute observation," mused Salem. "However, the main flaw in your reasoning is that I am past needing such trite measures. We have one of the Relics. This Kingdom has been brought to its knees, its defenses weakened, the spirit of its people on the verge of breaking. No help will come. No hope will be had. All that is left for you...is despair."
"I don't believe that," said Ruby. "One way or another, we will find a way to stop you."
Salem's eyes narrowed. "Your mother said something similar, once."
Ruby shivered, unable to contain the small gasp that escaped her lips, a similar sound escaping from Yang, behind her. Her mind flashed back to a vision that was almost forgotten, a memory of a kind face, a white cloak, a memory that was tainted by the sense of loss. None of them had ever known what had become of Summer Rose. However, Salem's words appeared to make the ultimate truth of her fate rather apparent.
Even so...
Closing her eyes, Ruby centered herself once more. "I am not my mother," she said firmly. "I got chances she never did, and I learned things she never could." Opening her eyes, she glared determinedly at Salem. "I will finish what she started."
"Bold words...child," said Salem. She glared at Ruby with an imperious expression. "I will give you this one last opportunity. Surrender...turn over the Maidens and the Relic to me...or watch as your friends and loved ones die."
"That's not happening," said Ruby. "Besides, thanks to what we learned from Jinn, we know that you can't be trusted. Any agreement you made with me, you'd break at the drop of a hat."
"Is that so...?" mused Salem. "In that case...so be it. Struggle as much as you wish. It will not affect the outcome either way."
With that, the apparition of Salem dissolved into black smoke, which dispersed into the air. The Seer's body was left behind, twitching spasmodically, before dropping to the ground, then breaking apart itself. It appeared that whatever mechanism Salem had used to produce an image like that had been more than the Grimm's body could handle.
Ruby immediately turned to Sasame, who had been working desperately to bring Kyo back from the brink. "Will he be okay?" she asked.
"For a given definition of the term," said Sasame, her voice soft. "I cannot regenerate his right arm."
"Yeah, well...what if you had the original?"
Ruby yelped, spinning in place to plant herself between the new arrival and her brother. Her other friends moved to back her up as they regarded the unfamiliar man who had appeared where Salem's apparition had been hovering only moments earlier.
Well...he looked unfamiliar anyway. As Ruby regarded him, she could sense that bone-chilling Aura, infused with the pure essence of madness, which seemed to stream from the eyes hidden behind the lenses of the man's sunglasses. For all that he looked absurd, there was no question in her mind as to who this was.
"Jester..." growled Ruby, her hand going to her sword.
"Whoa! Easy now," said Jester, grinning cheerfully. "I come in peace...to deliver pieces."
Holding up his right hand, Jester displayed what was unquestionably a severed arm...Kyo's arm, which he waved in a macabre gesture of greeting. "I imagine it'd be tough having to learn to use the sword left-handed. I'm sure Kyo would be up to it, but it doesn't have to be that way."
"What do you want?" asked Ruby.
"Maybe to chat a little," said Jester. "Salem ain't gonna launch her attack just yet, so we've got a little time. What do ya say?"
"But you have no time."
The voice had only just barely reached Ruby's ears, when Shinrei appeared behind Jester. He wasn't alone either. Chinmei and Keikoku also jumped into the battle, the three of them flanking Jester from three sides, their weapons blurs, streaks of light flashing towards Jester...only to fall completely short of him.
Despite not even seeming to move, Jester remained untouched. It was as though all three attacks had been just a few inches short, or if their weapons had suddenly shrunk to the point where they couldn't reach their target.
"Hey now, don't wear yourselves out before the big brawl, boys," said Jester, idly flicking the fingers of his right hand.
Abruptly, all three of his attackers: three of the Goyosei, the elite of the Mibu Clan's military; were blown away, each one of them flying in a different direction. Shinrei slammed into a car with enough force to completely bend its chassis around him. Chinmei was blown through a lamppost, before slamming into the side of a building, crushing the wall with his body. Keikoku was blown through the window of a building on the opposite side of the street, disappearing into the interior, though a series of crashes suggested that his momentum was keeping him going.
"Pretty rude, that," said Jester, his gaze flicking between his three attackers. "Now where were we...?" He turned his gaze back to Ruby.
Before he could continue though, a septet of azure dragons lunged at him from behind, their bodies winding around each other. At the same time, Jester was suddenly trapped beneath a dome of distortion, the street beneath his feet buckling and caving in. A roaring jet of fire surged out from the building Keikoku had been launched into. Both his flames and Shinrei's water-dragons rushed towards Jester...only for the attacks to shrink into nothing before they could even reach him.
"Really...?" deadpanned Jester, his smile fading, replaced by a look of annoyance. "Can't you guys judge your range at all? It only took Kyo one time to figure things out. Is this what the Goyosei are made of, in this day and age?"
In response, the power of Chinmei's Chiyugi redoubled, pressing Jester down harder. The street beneath him caved in, the asphalt plummeting down into the sewer tunnel below. Yet Jester did not fall with it. Instead, he remained in place, floating in air, as though he were still standing on solid ground. With a grunt, Chinmei increased the force of his technique even more, but nothing changed.
Jester turned his head to regard Chinmei with a look that could almost be called pitying. "Hey now...give it a rest, would ya. After a brawl with Kyo, this is pretty dull by comparison."
"Why...isn't it powerful enough?" groaned out Chinmei, forcing the words out through gritted teeth, as he struggled to put more of his Aura into the attack.
"'Cause it ain't a matter of power, buddy," said Jester, chuckling. "When it comes to your techniques, well...they just don't work on me. After all..." Jester raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The dome of distortion over his body shattered. "...I was once a Chinmei too, you know. You think someone with just one lifetime behind their study of the Mumyo Dai'On Ryu would hold a candle against me?"
Chinmei found himself gaping unashamedly at the grinning man.
"Well...it was a bit nostalgic to face a guy who fights at the level I used to...a few-hundred millennia ago...or are are we into aeons now? It's so hard to keep track." Jester chuckled and shrugged indifferently.
"So...this is the power of the Intercessor," rumbled the voice of Taihaku, the large man coming to stand beside Ruby.
"You're the one running this lot, right?" asked Jester, gliding slightly to the side, so that he could touch down on a section of the street that hadn't caved in. "You wanna rein in these idiots, before they waste anymore of my time?"
"Before that...I would waste a little of your time," said Taihaku, drawing his katana.
Jester let out a disappointed sigh. "Oh well...take your shot then."
Neither Ruby nor the other spectators saw Taihaku's blade move. Suddenly there was a flash of light. Jester's torso was abruptly split open by a line that ran down from his left shoulder, reaching down to the level of his waist. His blood arced through the air. His smile actually faltered slightly for a moment, his face betraying some surprise. Furthermore, the air around him seemed to be split as well, a strange, rippling phenomenon emerging from either side of his wound.
No! Ruby thought, her eyes widening as her other senses probed the phenomenon. It's not air! It's like he's close...but far away at the same time.
Jester remained standing, the cut portion of his body hanging away from the rest of him, only held up by where it joined with his waist by a thin strip of flesh. The befuddled look remained frozen on his face.
"Using the gravitational powers of the Mumyo Dai'On Ryu, you utilize gravity to compress space, creating a barrier of near-infinite distance around you. Thus, even when you are in reach, you are actually out of reach." Taihaku's eyes narrowed.
Behind him and Ruby, Setsuna looked on, his jaw hanging slack. That's possible? he wondered. We'd always been taught that, at high enough levels, gravity can distort space itself. But to use it in such a way...Does even Haruka-sama know about that?
Taihaku continued. "Of course, if one can perceive that barrier, and one has attained true mastery of the blade, then one has the capacity to cut space itself, and reach through to you."
Despite the severe injury he'd been dealt, Jester merely canted his head. "Yeah, true enough," he said, acting as though he hadn't been touched at all. The complete nonchalance was unsettling, reminding Ruby of how Sasame often behaved when someone tried to kill her, taking what seemed to be a fatal injury, only to regenerate her own body right before her attacker's eyes.
Ruby blinked. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but Jester's injury was gone, not even the split in his clothes showing. It was as though Taihaku hadn't touched him at all. He can regenerate like Sasame-nee! She paused. No! It's not the same. I'm not even sure what he did. The moment he had healed-No!-the moment his body had returned to normal had completely escaped her. It wasn't like how it was with Sasame, where one would watch the injury close with their own eyes. Instead, it was as though time had somehow rewound, bringing Jester's body back to how it had been before Taihaku had cut him.
The faint widening of Taihaku's eyes was the only sign of lost composure from him.
"Not bad," said Jester, grinning a bit wider. "Kyo figured it out a bit quicker. But...if I'm still whole after he was done with me, then what chance do you have?"
He chuckled. "Still, I guess I should give you a cookie for paying better attention than your subordinates did. As a reward, let me show you something fun. You should see what you can do with the Mumyo Dai'On Ryu when you've had as long as I've had to play around with it.
"For example, you can do more than compress space to make a barrier. You can also use your technique to compress space between you and your target. I can make the distance between me and an incoming attack nearly infinite. But I can also compress space to make the distance between me and my opponent..."
Suddenly Jester was standing directly in front of Taihaku. "...zero."
Taihaku didn't appear to move, but the flicker of light off metal surfaces betrayed the fact that he was swinging his sword. However, like a video skipping a frame, Jester was behind Taihaku.
"You're pretty quick, even better than the OG Taihaku, I'll give you that," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the larger man. "But, to me, you might as well be standing still. After all, gravity can do more than compress space. It can compress time as well. By the time you'd started your first swing, I essentially made myself enough time to get a dozen swings of my own in."
Abruptly, blood exploded out from a round dozen lacerations across Taihaku's body. He grunted and staggered. The wounds were shallow. But their sudden appearance had taken him off-guard.
Still, he rallied and turned, slashing his sword at Jester again. At the same time, Shinrei, Chinmei, and Keikoku flanked Jester from the other directions, also striking at him with their own weapons. Ruby was forced to leap away, before she could be caught in the crossfire.
Not even seeming to notice, Jester didn't seem to react at all. All four attacks intersected...
Taihaku reeled, Keikoku's spear stabbing into his shoulder.
Shinrei was knocked off his feet by a powerful slash from Chinmei's sword.
Keikoku staggered as a pair of slashes from Shinrei's blades struck his shoulder and stomach respectively.
Chinmei reeled as blood erupted from a trio of slashes that opened up across his body.
Ruby gasped. In the instant that all four attacks appeared to have landed, they instead vanished, only for the striking weapons to suddenly emerge from different points in space, hitting their new targets instead. Now all four attackers stumbled back from Jester.
"And when you've really learned to control space, you can make stuff like that happen too," said Jester.
A wormhole... thought Chinmei, gritting his teeth. Haruka-sensei can create them too, but not on such a small and precise scale.
It was a despairing feeling for the man. If Jester's skills were such that not even the member of the Taishiro who had taught Chinmei himself could manage them, then this man was truly beyond them.
"Pretty sad, ain't it?" asked Jester rhetorically, his sunglasses-covered eyes turning to focus on Ruby. "I mean, I respect the tenacity to keep going, even when things are hopeless, but sometimes a man's just got to give up, and learn to settle things peacefully. Kyo was all kinds of stubborn, and look what that got him."
Jester snapped his fingers again, and the four members of the Goyosei who had been attacking him were blown away, each in a different direction. However, they all vanished as they moved, their bodies reappearing in completely different locations, and moving in completely different directions, entirely. Taihaku was flung into the upper stories of a building down the street. Shinrei was slammed straight down into street somewhere behind the crowd of Huntsmen and Huntresses that had been making their way to the walls behind Ruby. Chinmei appeared inside the hole he had created in the street, slamming into, and through, a set of sewage pipes. Finally, Keikoku appeared high up into the air, falling at an angle that carried him over the line of buildings and down to the next street over.
Jester sighed again. "So...not gonna try your luck?" He turned to regard the man who had emerged from the Huntsmen and Huntresses behind Ruby, who'd moved to the front without a single soul noticing his presence until now.
Ruby whirled around to see Makoto standing almost directly behind her. However, his gaze was focused on Jester. Despite the anger simmering in the man's eyes, he made no move, his hand not even twitching towards the handle of his sword.
"I am duly impressed by the power of one of the original Crimson Cross Knights," said Makoto.
His words caused Ruby, and her friends from Leng, to flinch, before staring at him in shock.
"B-but...isn't that Kyo's title?" asked Natsuki.
"It was...appropriated," said Makoto. "Originally, that title had a very different meaning."
"Yeah, the Mibu of today have appropriated a lot of stuff from their past," remarked Jester. "Not that that's a bad thing, mind. But it seems that your subordinates could have done with a bit more of a briefing, before they thought to try me on for size."
Ironwood emerged in Makoto's wake, coming to stand beside the Elder, his hand going into his jacket, withdrawing to produce his gun. He was about to raise it to aim at Jester, when Makoto's hand came to rest on the barrel, pushing the weapon back down.
"It will be no use," said Makoto.
"Well, if we're all of an understanding now, I'd like to get back down to business," said Jester, yawning.
"And what is that?" asked Makoto.
"Well, I need to talk to the little lady," said Jester. "But I'm getting a bit sick of the interruptions. So I'll borrow her for a minute. You fine folks should head for the wall. I said we had a little time, before the Boss Lady begins her attack. But now you've wasted a healthy chunk of it. No telling how much you have left."
He paused, as though remembering something. "Oh! Right..." Holding out his right hand, he seemed to pull Kyo's severed arm out of thin air again, having seemingly made it vanish when he'd been about to be attacked, before casually tossing it to Sasame. While the fighting had been going on, Sasame had been treating Kyo's injuries, focusing on the damage to his legs. Rather than close the stump where his arm had been, Sasame had instead wrapped one of her tails around it, staunching the bleeding and rerouting the blood back into his body to keep his circulation going. Catching the arm Jester had lobbed her way so lackadaisically, she immediately brought it over to connect to Kyo's stump, before bending her hands to the task of reconnecting the limb.
"Ain't I a nice guy?" Jester asked rhetorically.
Suddenly, he was beside Ruby, a hand resting on her shoulder. "Ta..."
Then they were gone.
"Ruby!" shouted Yang, rushing forward to where her sister had been standing only seconds earlier.
Ruby blinked in surprise, finding herself standing on a mountain that overlooked the two forests, Emerald and Forever Fall, which bordered Beacon and Vale to the north. Presently, the forests were almost impossible to see, the land awash in black, white, and red. The Grimm flowed like rivers between the trees, making their tops sway. Taller ones plowed right through the canopy, and many trees were felled altogether. Ruby got the feeling that a substantial portion of the forest would look completely different after all of this.
However, it wasn't just the Grimm on the ground that gave off such an ominous sense. The sky was boiling with swarms of flying Grimm, the blur of countless beating wings obscuring forms, the Grimm hovering or circling in place, winding in amongst one another, their individual forms lost against the backdrop of their flying brethren...save one.
Ruby's mouth dropped as she took in the sight of the massive shape plying through the sky. It was miles distant, yet it was easily discernible, thanks to simply being that large. Exactly how large it was she couldn't say. It was so enormous as to completely exceed her rational sense of scale. There's no way a Grimm could be that big!
The immense beast flying amidst the leading fringes of the swarm was an oblong figure, its body reminding Ruby of the sperm whales she'd seen on the sea voyages she'd taken with her siblings. However, this whale was a true monster. The underslung jaw was decorated by a set of bone-white teeth jutting upwards, while the front of its head was decorated with a large, glowing, yellow light that reminded Ruby a bit of the light shining from within the mantle of the Seer that Salem had confronted her with earlier. The whale's back was decorated by what looked like ridges of stone, from which jutted dark-purple crystal formations. Blood-red fins jutted down and out at angles from either side of its underside, from locations where they would likely have been on a regular whale...although regular whales didn't fly either.
"What is that?" she asked reflexively.
"That's Salem pulling out all the stops," said Jester, coming to stand next to her, his hands resting on his hips, the pair of them watching as the gargantuan Grimm, and the multitude accompanying it, slowly drew closer to Vale. There were more than enough of them to swamp the entirety of the Kingdom's northern boundary. "Truth be told, it's obviously overkill, and a lot earlier than she'd originally planned for this. You're the one to thank for that, by the way."
"Me...?" Ruby stared at the man in confusion.
"Well, you did sink her plans to do things the quiet way," Jester pointed out with a chuckle. "First, you kept getting in Cinder's way. Then you killed her. The Boss Lady sent in the rest of the boys, but they wound up unable to get anything done either. She was on the verge of pulling up stakes and biding her time until another chance came along. But I convinced her that all this failure maybe just meant that the time for subtlety was past."
"Why?" asked Ruby, glaring furiously at him.
Jester smirked. "Because of you, of course."
"Why me?" demanded Ruby. "What makes me so special? I'm not some kind of god, like the True Mibu. If the Silver Eyes were enough to kill Salem, or you, then this would have been over before I was born, probably. Someone else would've ended it already."
"You're a rare kid, Little Rose," replied Jester. "I'm sure your siblings have pointed it out to you already. You've had the training of the Mibu, the wherewithal to develop a god-slayer technique of your own, which could put an end to Salem. But you're also a Silver-Eyed Warrior, a child with a power descending from the God of Light, the very god that gave Salem her immortality in the first place."
"But how does that help with you?" asked Ruby, narrowing her eyes. "Were the gods capable of killing you?"
"Nope," admitted Jester easily enough. "Believe me, that's one of the first things I asked of 'em. Ole Darky was all too happy to oblige, and even Goldy gave it a shot, once I'd pressed his buttons enough. For a guy willing to wipe out mankind so that he could remake it from scratch, he's surprisingly squeamish, when it comes to doing the deed himself."
"Then what could I do?" asked Ruby. "You're not a Grimm. My eyes shouldn't have any power over you."
"Maybe that's because you haven't realized all of what they can do," said Jester. "Your mistake is thinking yourself lesser than those old gods. But that's the crazy thing about humanity. Over the ages, they build themselves up, climbing upwards over the accomplishments of their predecessors, pushing themselves higher still. Who's to say that you could't do the same with a power received from a god. Sure, it's nothing more than a divine hand-me-down. But, if you polish it, you could reach a point that even the God of Light couldn't.
"It's ironic really. The one thing I learned about the gods is that they don't change. They don't grow older or weaker, but they don't grow stronger and develop. They simply are. But humans have the capacity to go either way. We've had that potential from the very beginning. Not even the gods could stamp that out, when they remade humanity. That potential is what allowed the old Mibu to stand against them after all."
"And what do you want from that?" asked Ruby.
Jester ignored her question, staring out at the ominous swarm of Grimm, which looked large enough to swallow Vale in its entirety. "Hey...how was Adam, by the way? I figured he'd give ya a pretty serious fight."
Ruby swallowed her frustration at Jester's dodging her question. "He was strong," she said, "the strongest I've ever fought...except for my brother, maybe."
"It would've been worth it to pit him against Kyo and see where he scaled, huh," mused Jester. "Oh well, no point in crying over spilled milk."
"How did you make him so strong so quickly?" asked Ruby.
"Gravity," answered Jester. "You just saw that I can use gravity to compress time. Well...if I expand that effect, then I can create a space of compressed time, where more time passes, relative to the rest of the world."
In other words, he had created a space where Adam had been able to train for the equivalent of an unknown number of years, in a matter of months. Now Ruby realized why Adam had looked and seemed older. In a sense, he had been older. He'd aged more rapidly, thanks to his training in Jester's accelerated time-space.
"Thanks to him, you managed to claw your way up another step," noted Jester.
Ruby nodded. "What do you want from me?" she asked again.
"I want an end," said Jester. "It's going to be you or me, with 'you' being the entire rest of this world. I've spent so long looking for an answer, trying to find a way to put an ending to my story. But it just goes on and on and on..." He sighed and shook his head. "So the idea came to me...if I can't end, then maybe I'll be the end. If no one can kill me, then I'll kill everyone...and that'll be the end in its own way."
"But you'll still be there," Ruby pointed out.
"Maybe...but...if there's nothing left, then maybe it'll be the same as being dead," mused Jester. "I figure, what the heck, it's worth a try."
"Why now?" asked Ruby. "You could have done this a long time ago, couldn't you?"
"I could've," admitted Jester. "The reason I didn't was 'cause the Mibu kept to their side of the bargain."
Ruby frowned. "You didn't end everything because of the deal you made?" That kind of honorable thinking didn't track with the kind of man Jester was.
"Nah, it ain't like that," said Jester. "Think of it as more of an impulse really. I was just waiting for the Mibu to give me an excuse, 'cause that would make things more fun. After all, that kind of fun's pretty much all I've got left at this point."
"But why me?" asked Ruby.
"Because you're maybe the only person who can," said Jester, turning to regard her seriously for the first time. His expression was grave, with no trace of that maddened smile he seemed to perpetually wear. In a sense, Ruby felt that this was Jester at his most sane. In its own way, it was even more frightening than his previous malice.
"Ruby Rose...you are a child of two worlds."
Ruby felt a shiver run down her spine at those words.
"You're not the first time people from outside the Mibu have mingled with them. Heck! That adopted mother of yours is an example. But outsiders either assimilated completely into the Mibu, or Mibu went outside and, more or less, cut ties with the clan. But you...you were born in the outside, raised by the Mibu, but kept your allegiance to the outside. You returned to the Kingdoms, even planning to live your life out here.
"You were born with Silver Eyes, a power descendant from the God of Light. But you were raised and trained by the Mibu, the last descendants of the original strain of humanity, and born from the humans the Mibu themselves revived. You are a bridge across the gulf between this era and the one the Mibu herald from, a gulf that the gods created, with ties connecting you to all three waves of humanity. If you can bring together the essence of the power inherited from a god with the skill you've learned from the Mibu, then...just maybe...you can accomplish what even they can't."
Ruby swallowed.
Jester smiled again. However, it wasn't the maniacal grin he typically wore. it was a smile that was almost earnest. On his face, again, it was far more unsettling than his usual tendencies.
"This will be the final battle, kid. Everything will be decided here. If you win, then it's all over. Humanity will be safe, whether from Salem or from me. Even the gods won't be able to interfere anymore, since I'll be unable to stop anyone from stopping them."
He glanced out at the horde. "On the other hand. If we win here, then the final battle will be won, and all that's left will be Salem's victory parade across the rest of Remnant. I'll see to the Mibu myself. I owe them that much, after all. Of course, after that, I'll see to Salem myself. Then I'll wipe out the rest of this planet...and see where that leaves me."
Ruby swallowed, her mouth going dry.
Jester's grin returned. But the intensity behind it was even greater than before. "It's do or die now, Ruby Rose. Claw your way up to me, then take me down. Because, if you don't, it'll mean the end of everything. I think you'll know where to find me, of course. Salem will be there too."
Jester's Aura engulfed her, its waves like a wind that chilled Ruby to the bone. As she shivered and trembled, Jester's body seemed to warp and twist before her eyes. At first, she thought it was an impression of the fear he had inspired, his presence reaching the point where her mind couldn't process it anymore. However, she realized that it wasn't Jester that was warping, but her. She was in the grip of his technique, the very same technique he'd used to bring them to this vantage, which he was now using to, she hoped, send her back to the others.
"Come and find me...and write the end to my story..." Jester's last words rang in her ears as the world around Ruby twisted away.
Salem stood tall atop her mount. In preparation for this battle, she had opted to change her appearance. She now wore a slim, black dress, its slim form hugging the tight lines of her body, long sleeves stretching down her arms to loops that were wrapped around her middle fingers. The high collar was closed by an elaborate, cross-shaped brooch, decorated by a red gem, with an opening beneath it bearing a portion of her cleavage. Red lines extended down her dress, all the way to its hem, accentuating the lines of her body. Her upper arms were covered by elaborately-shaped, gray armlets, with a decorative ridge extending up from each one. Finally, she wore a black cloak over her shoulders, its red trim framing the black of her dress.
She was perched atop her greatest creation, watching as it bore down on Vale like a gigantic battering ram. Nothing that the Kingdom could hope to muster would have any chance of defeating this, especially since Morgan had succeeded in bringing down Ironwood's warships. Reinforcements from Atlas would never arrive in time, assuming they were coming at all.
Her expression cold, Salem glared ahead at Vale. The time has finally come for us to end this...Ozpin, she thought, her eyes fixating on the shape of Beacon Tower in the distance. Now that Jester has made his move, there is no longer any need to concern ourselves with subtlety.
In all honesty, she hadn't expected Jester to move the way he had, to use Jinn's two questions to reveal the truth to the entire world. Still, she could admire a hand well-played. With the revelations he had unleashed, countless people across Remnant were now facing an existential crisis, as they confronted the truth of their origins, and the nature of the war that had been fought out of their view for so long. That alone would bring down plenty of pressure from the Grimm on the other Kingdoms. And now they would be watching as Vale itself was swallowed by darkness, confronted by the terror of knowing that they were next, that nothing could stop her.
However, there was an element of frustration to it as well. Centuries, if not millennia, of endless back and forth between her and Ozpin; schemes and skullduggery, obfuscation, secret battles with hidden meanings...and none of that would have been necessary if Jester had just done this from the very beginning. He had had the power to overturn everything, to enable her to crush the Kingdoms in one fell swoop. Yet he had almost solely focused on keeping the Mibu at bay. While Salem appreciated the lack of interference by that powerful faction, she still would have preferred to have settled things a long time ago.
The air rippled beside her, and Jester's body warped into being.
"Are you finished?" asked Salem.
"Yep," said Jester, flashing her a cheery grin. "How 'bout you? Ready for the grand finale for this little show?"
Salem nodded, turning her gaze back towards Vale. "What did you speak to the girl about?"
"Oh...this and that," said Jester with a cackle. "I had to make sure that she will be making her way here, after all. That's what we want, right?"
"Correct," said Salem. She paused for a moment. "In other words...you have served your purpose."
"Hmm...?" Jester turned towards her, then lurched. Glancing down, his eyes widened behind his sunglasses as he saw Salem's arm now penetrating through his chest, her hand punching all the way through to exit out his back.
Unperturbed at being impaled, Jester raised his gaze, meeting Salem's eyes. "Really...? Now...?"
"Yes," said Salem simply. "I no longer have any use for you separately. I will do what I should have done long ago...and take your power for myself."
"Ah..." said Jester simply. Then his grin returned in full force. "That's a tall order, Salem. I'll admit that I've had this happen before. But the only other guy to try this was the one who created me from his own flesh and blood. You're biting into an eternally withering and rotting fruit. I hope you've the stomach for it."
"There is no need for concern," said Salem. "Once your power is mine, then I will have nothing to fear...not from the Kingdoms, not from the Mibu. From the moment we first met, I have been waiting for this time. Be consumed by me, and I will become the goddess of a new world."
Jester threw back his head, barking out a fierce laugh. "That's a good one! You don't have it in you to be a goddess. As you are now...you cannot truly create. You can twist, you can mutate, you can distort...but you cannot create. You've completely aligned your nature with that of destruction. Anything you try to create will inevitably be destroyed by your own hand."
"I am well aware of that," said Salem in a level tone. "After all, that is what she is for. The Silver-Eyed child will purge me of this dark infusion, and I shall have the full measure of my power once more. With that, I will truly be free to create a new world."
"Thought it all out, have you?" mused Jester. "Fine then...take your stab at it. I'm curious about what the end results will be." His grin took on a savage quality. "You want my flesh, my power, my flaws...then take it. Eat your fill...and then get ready for one hell of a stomach-ache, 'cause there's way more of me than you can handle. Eat until you burst."
Black threads extended out from Salem's arm, winding their way through Jester's body. Bit by bit, he was broken down, his flesh running like water, clothes disappearing, everything dissolving and swirling inwards towards Salem's arm, his mocking laughter trailing away into distant echoes.
Then he was gone.
For a long moment, Salem was silent. Then she let out a small laugh of satisfaction. However, the very next second, she lurched, doubling over, clutching hands to her stomach and chest, her mouth opening wide as she began to hack. Inarticulate grunts erupted from her throat, spasms rocked her body. Lurching and jolting, she sank to her knees, black and red Aura swirling and converging around her, threatening to swallow her up.
Salem had lived for millennia. Since the days she was cursed with immortality by the God of Light, she had endured the passage of what seemed like endless time. She had cursed her existence, hated it, then turned that hatred on those who were free to enjoy the fruits of life and death. She had tried to end her life in the Pools of Grimm in the Land of Darkness, yet had only emerged alive...and corrupted. Instead of bringing an end to one curse, she had simply layered another one on top of it.
For thousands of years, she had drifted alone through the world. When humanity had returned, Salem had used her newfound power over the Grimm to occasionally toy with them, but had otherwise left well enough alone, until Ozma had found her once more. After their falling out, they had carried on their conflict through thousands more years.
However, at some point...Salem had met him. Jester was like her, someone who could not die, no matter how hard he, or anyone else tried. And he had shocked her with an unbelievable truth. Even while she had been wandering the world alone, she had never been truly alone. He had been watching over her, protecting her. Though it had taken her a long time to credit it, she had come to realize that Jester was far older than she was...far older than she could have imagined. When she learned that he was possibly even older than the gods themselves, or at least from a time before they had come to Remnant, that the humans created by the Brother Gods were not the first humans to walk this world, Salem had felt her entire worldview crumble away.
And now...she had taken all that accumulated time and experience into herself. It was maddening as she was exposed to the sheer scope of Jester's life. The weight of his existence, the sheer burden of it all, descended on her body like a set of weights so heavy that it seemed as though she would crush her mount into the ground. That empty, yearning feeling opened up within her, threatening to swallow her whole. And so...even as her forces pushed forward, Salem writhed in agony, desperately trying to keep from surrendering to the weight of Jester's Ennui.
Ruby staggered, disoriented to suddenly find herself somewhere else again. As she did, she was bowled over by an enthusiastic Yang, who tackled her to the ground with a hug.
"Ruby! Are you okay?" asked Yang desperately, her arms squeezing Ruby so tight that Ruby groaned and gasped for a few seconds.
"I...am...for now..." Ruby managed to croak.
Finally, Blake and Nora managed to pry Yang off.
"What happened?" asked Jaune, pulling Ruby to her feet.
"Jester took me to a mountaintop. We talked. He sent me back."
"That's it?" asked Weiss skeptically.
"Pretty much," said Ruby, frowning. "I mean, we talked about some weird stuff. But, with how long he's been stuck alive, he's pretty messed up in the head. The only thing I know for sure is that he expects me to kill him."
"Really?" asked Pyrrha, confused.
Ruby nodded. "More than anything...he wants to die. He can't, and no one's been able to do it. He's even worse off than Salem. He's been around longer than her...and he doesn't have a purpose."
Reflecting on it, Ruby figured that Salem's story explained how she had staved off the force of the Ennui. By grasping so firmly onto the idea of building and reigning over a new world, Salem had used the sense of purpose that gave her to alleviate the burden of her accumulated age. Jester had no such purpose. Everything he did, everything he was doing, was a diversion at best. And they were working less and less as time passed. But no solution yet arisen for his original problem. That was the bitter reality he was trapped in.
"If...if I can't kill him...Jester will destroy everything," said Ruby.
"H-He can do that?" asked Natsuki, coming nervously to stand next to the rest of Ruby's friends.
Ruby swallowed, then nodded slowly. "He won't die...so he can just keep going. He won't be able to do it all at once, maybe. But he'll just start by killing whoever or whatever is in front of him, then keep going until there's no one left."
"Can you do it?" asked Jaune, gripping Ruby's shoulder tightly.
Ruby swallowed, looking out and realizing, for the first time, that Jester hadn't sent her back to where she'd been taken from, but had instead set her on the wall, where forces of Vale were preparing to meet the tide of darkness that was Salem's invasion. She now had a clear view of the endless hordes of Grimm threatening to wash the Kingdom away. In the center of them, she saw the whale, the truly immense, monstrous Grimm. Salem was there...and so was Jester. Before this day was out, she would need to take down both of them.
"I'll have to," she said.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực