章節 490: 46
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Fifteen minutes before they were going to be within sight range of the castle, everyone headed to the cargo hold to get ready. Strapping on armor, checking battle outfits for damages, reloading and checking ammunition loads and so on. Droids around them carried fortifications and auto-turrets, keyed to their facial ID and genetic scans and generally just set to kill Grimm in any event, towards the front where the ramp separated from steel. From crates making makeshift walls on the flanks and secured by thick cables to sandbags that were being piled up as cover at the top of the ramp, just beyond what would shift away to form the actual ramp. Several droids were positioning manned guns and ammo stockpiles as well for themselves, intent on holding out the eventual horde in the sealed cargo hold. A distraction more than anything, the cargo hold would be sealed behind several bulkheads to protect the ship itself, the Doctor and Neo, still too injured to fight.
And boy oh boy had that been an argument. Neo was particularly against the idea of him going into a fight without her since, qoute, "He didn't know how the fuck to avoid the pointy ends!"
His explanation of his plan fell on deaf ears, ironically.
"Master." He turned to look up from where he knelt, checking his boots at the top of the ramp, behind a sandbag. Cinder offered him a hand and pulled him up, and she held his helmet out, "We will be within range of Salem soon, Master, you should put this on." "If you pass out in the middle of the fighting…"
He nodded with a sigh, sliding the old helmet on and adjusting it so he could see well enough. Looking around, he watched the others preparing. Nora grabbed extra explosives, Dust grenades for her launcher she'd spent hours loading, Ren ran through katas, stretching and meditating all at once. Yang and Ruby were checking shells, the latter methodically examining each shell on Yang's bandoliers before letting the blonde load them or put them in her cases on her waist. Then she moved to her own, checking her sight seveal times before moving on.
Pyrrha was sitting on a crate a ways away, eyes closed and embers burning in her hands, and Jaune sighed, "Cinder, go help Pyrrha? You've had the Maiden powers longest."
"But-" He turned to her, face impassive and invisible behind the plated mask, and she flinched. "Yes, Master. As you wish."
"Arc, Jaune." He turned to regard a droid, holding out a small white belt with several cylinders on it attached. "Explosive charges. Excellent for crippling building supports and structural integrity. As requested, Commander."
"Thanks." He said, mentally chiding himself. It was a machine it didn't need to be thanked… He ignored it, wrapping the belt around his waist and clipping it so the grenades hung on his sword-side, his sheathed sword on his left hip. "Dismissed. Continue the preparations."
"Yes, Arc, Jaune." It intoned, turning and lumbering off to find some task to perform.
The ship listed to the side, a signal to Jaune it was approaching to land, and he rolled his shoulders experimentally. A confirmation came a moment later when Roman's voice crackled over the speakers, "Okay, kiddies, slaves and robots all. Comin' in to land, so get ready to fight. Best of luck out there, I'll make damn sure you got a ship to get back to. And remember kids, ain't no shame in runnin'."
"He would say that." Weiss dismissed, idly rechecking the vials of Dust on her hip and arrayed in a pair of bracelets tucked into her sleeves safely. "I would wager strongly he hasn't stood to fight a day in his life."
"He is the one guarding our exit, Weiss." Yang argued halfheartedly, shrugging when the white-haired woman raised a brow at her. "What? I hate the guy, but he's doin' a job. One that needs doin' too, and he's not the best one here at smash and grabs."
"He's also the best pilot on the ship." Jaune argued as he joined them, the group slowly coming together around him at the head of the ramp. "When we get back, everything on this continent will be after us. We need to get out of here fast or we'll end up overrun. No time for Roman to run all the way to the cockpit."
"Master is quite correct." He smiled when Cinder and Pyrrha joined them, the last of the group, and he sensed the redhead's bolstered confidence. "When Salem realizes our attack, she will call on her Grimm to defend her. We must defeat her or run, one of the two, before the greater Grimm arrive. We should also have him send a communique to Atlas and warn them about the threat to Ansel, and that the Grimm in general might turn aggressive. Or, well, more so than usual at least."
"Yeah. Good thinking, Cinder." Jaune agreed, inclining his head gratefully at the woman and ignoring the flush in her cheeks at the praise. "Roman. You heard that, right?"
"Yeah, kid." His voice crackled, "I'll send something out as soon as the shooting starts in the hold, should be a good enough signal for me as anything else. Also gonna turn up the rotary cannons on the hull, not much but they should handle avian Grimm. Unless a damn Drake shows up."
"Don't jinx us, Roman." Cinder warned him, crossing her arms under her bust, "She has several Greater Drakes and even a few proper Elder Drakes around on this continent for her protection." She saw several of their group's panic and she added, "They're always near the exterior of the continent, not her castle. They're to take down expeditionary forces coming into the continent, explorers and the like."
"We're not on there perimeter. Therefore, we won't meet them. Correct?" Pyrrha offered helpfully, the older woman nodding at the young Maiden as the group relaxed around them mildly. "All we have to worry about is that which Salem," Pyrrha only hesitated a second on the name, swallowing nervously before continuing, "would keep around her constantly, and nearby enough to worry about."
Even with his helmet on, he could sense everyone's nerves spiking, and let his hand rest on Crocea Mors' hilt as a reminder it was there. He felt his stomach churn familiarly as the ship listed, Roman's voice crackling across the speakers again to tell them they were on their way, and Jaune took a breath before making his way to the ramp. "Everyone, stick to the plan. Cinder, you go first, if you see someone try and deal with them quickly."
When the ramp hit the dirt, they rushed down it, scattering to do their jobs as soon as they left. Sprinting towards the tower, he slammed his blade into a Beowolf's head, Yang blasting past him and crushing another before any of them could react.
But they did react, and when that happened they knew trouble was coming. It took Ren a microsecond too long to kill his, and that was all it needed to loose a loud howl that reverberated inside Jaune's helmet and off the walls around them, echoing out across the dark land and the castle itself, before the young man could whip his knives along its throat and send it sputtering onto the ground with a hacking, wet sound.
They hesitated for only a second before they heard the warbling sound echo back at them, from the buildings and the woods around them equally, and Yang swore, "Shit! Now we're in it."
"Keep going." Jaune ordered simply, fishing out one of his grenades and planting it just outside the door, right at its base, before it flew open. Jaune rolled out of the way, his side flaring in pain, but Yang didn't and was thrown back along with the door.
"What the hell is going on- Jaune?" Hazel demanded, blinking as he took in their surroundings. "What are you doing, boy?"
Surprise was their weapon, and would win against Haze;s strength. That was the bet Jaune had to make.
Jaune didn't answer, lunging at him, and the man snarled as he sidestepped and rolled hi shoulders to rid himself of his heavy coat, throwing it in a ball at the blonde's back to add more weight to his movements and throw him against the wall by the door. Ren leapt at him, spinning with his blades aimed for the man's eyes, and Hazel raised a forearm to defend himself, reaching down with his left hand faster than a man his size had any right to move and grabbing the man, hurling him bodily at Pyrrha as she rushed him in turn.
The redhead leapt over the flying young man easily as Jaune turned, hurling her spear at the large man. He batted it aside as the Champion landed, spinning on her heel and following the spear with her shield. That slammed home against his chest, actually staggering him, and Pyrrha leapt with her hands outstretched, calling her weapons back to her easily as Yang lunged for the staggering man's chest.
"Enough!" The man snarled, rolling as his back hit the floor and coming up with a devastating haymaker that caught Pyrrha across her shield and threw her full weight against Jaune as he moved behind her, slamming them into the wall in a heap that they ended up in on the ground as Hazel fought Yang, blocking her strikes easily until he found a gap, reaching in for her shirt and slamming his head into hers hard enough to stagger her. Ripping away his sleeves, the man fished out a pair of red crystals, "You will pay for this, traitor! I hope Ozpin did something to earn your loyalty!"
Jaune pushed the winded Mistralian off him and staggered up, raising his shield warily while Pyrrha caught her breath, propping herself up on the wall with her sword-side shoulder, "What are you doing?"
"Making Ozpin pay with your hide!" The man snarled hotly, eyes wilder and angrier than Jaune had ever seen them be in all his time here and stabbing them into his arms, at the crook of the elbow. He snarled as red sparks lit along his skin, "Huuuaaaaaaah! Come at me and die, you pathetic, brainwashed children!"
They collectively hesitated, and Hazel took the choice from them, rushing at Yang as she brought her guard up and slamming his fist down against her crossed arms hard enough that everyone heard the crack as her left arm fractured, and the woman screamed as much in pain as surprise before Hazel slammed his other fist under her guard and into her stomach, staggering her back while Ren stepped in to try and help, peppering the man with rounds.
He ignored them entirely and lumbered towards him while Jaune and Pyrrha charged his back, spotting their advance over his shoulder as he slammed a fist at and past Ren, ripping a hole into the ground and ripping the stone from the earth, turning to hurl it at Jaune. The blonde caught it on his shield and it exploded against it hard enough to send rocks against his helmet and shoulder and denting the metal there, turning as it struck and staggering to his right while Pyrrha advanced, shifting her sword to spear-form with a flick of her wrist and lunging at his throat as fast as she could manage.
Dodging the strikes as easily as breathing, he lunged in and grabbed Pyrrha by the arm, wrenching it to the side hard enough to force the haft into her side and raised a fist high over her head, aiming to crush her beneath his weight. Ren lunged at his back, digging the blades of his handguns into his left shoulder. The man snarled, the surprise slipping by his Aura, and hurled Pyrrha away towards Yang before she could recover and stand as he tried to turn to get at Ren.
Jerking his arm, he tried to shake the raven-haired young man off and, when that failed, ran towards Jaune. The blonde raised his shield to ward off whatever attack he had in mind, but Hazel barreled by and turned, slamming his shoulder into the wall with the force of a freight train, and Ren trapped between the two. The wall itself gave some, the bricks sagging inward as Hazel pulled away, leaving Ren groaning in the rubble.
"You see, Jaune?" He asked, turning a hot glare on the boy and his two remaining allies as they joined him, "You have nothing that can beat me!"
"Jaune?" Pyrrha called, half a question and half a suggestion, spinning her spear in her hand as she took a position behind the large man. He turned to regard her and Yang, the blonde grimacing as her almost certainly fractured left arm moved.
He nodded and she returned it, and Hazel looked at him with a raised brow, and Jaune shrugged, "Never assume you have a win until you have it."
Jaune charged the man, and Hazel turned as he did so, the blonde raising his shield to ward off the punishing blows raining down on his shield, numbing his arm and forcing him to his knees. Wrenching the metal aside, he reached down and grabbed the blonde by his collar, hoisting him into the air and rearing back a fist before screaming as lightning arced across his back, the blonde dropping from his numb fingers as his back arched and he staggered, Jaune scrabbling out of the way to avoid being crushed as he turned.
"You… You're…" He groaned, growling as the lightning faded and Pyrrha panted, "The damn Maiden?"
Jaune rose as quickly as it could, burying Crocea Mors to the hilt in the man's side and up towards his heart, and watching the man sink to his knees with a grimace, "Yeah, she is." He grunted as he yanked it free and the man fell back, "Sorry, Hazel. But we don't have time for a long goodbye."
"Hopefully you have time for an explanation." A cold, harsh voice crowed at him, his heart freezing in his chest as he turned towards the door. Salem stepped out elegantly, hands folded in front of her and a smirk on her face, "And a good one, I should hope, or else I will have to take some manner of… disciplinary action against you."
"You're… You're…" He turned to look at Yang, bright lavender eyes widening at the pale, vicious visage and the cold dark eyes. "Shit, I didn't actually think that-"
"That I was real, or that you'd have to fight me, young lady?" She asked, sounding amused and eyeing the blonde woman up like a piece of meat for her to enjoy. Which might be outright true, honestly, given Salem's possible proclivities. "Jaune did tell you of me, at least, I hope? Not to do so would be deliciously manipulative."
"He told us everything of you that we needed to know, Salem." Pyrrha intoned weakly as she caught her breath, stepping in front of Yang with her shield held out at her ready protectively. "He pursued no tricks to bring us here to face you. He told us the truth and we all came, for the good of all Remnant."
"In whose eyes, I wonder?" She mused, crossing her arms beneath her considerable bust and gesturing to Hazel's body where he lay. "Does his good seem to have been done? Further, how about mine? Tyrion's? I could even mention the Faunus, I am pursuing an alliance with the White Fang that would place the Faunus in quite a nice position. Or did you mean your good? Because that is entirely separate from Remnant itself. And if you meant the planet's good, I would have to argue that the Grimm do no pollute this planet, or wage wars in its forests, or slaughter its creatures en masse for food."
"Your word games mean nothing to us, creature, so-"
"Pyrrha." Jaune snapped quietly, turning his head to look at her only slightly and shaking his head. She wasn't trying to goad them, there was no point in it… And where were her Grimm, she should have a horde here already. He spared Ren a glance behind her legs and she stepped her left one out a bit further, exposing her pale leg up to the thigh n a clear demand for his attention, "You haven't called your Grimm to attack us, or done it yourself. Why?"
"Because, Jaune, I want to know how you turned my dear, precious Cinder." She sighed, "I spent so much to turn her to my side, and insure her absolute loyalty. There should have been naught than any but the gods could do to sway her away from my side, and I sincerely doubt one of those turned up after I killed the first two."
"You-"
"Yes, yes, I killed the Brothers." She said with a tired, aggravated sigh. "Accidentally, of course, and not directly. When I claimed the Grimm as mine, they turned on them and tore them down." She shrugged, smiling a smile with far more teeth than Jaune found comfortable, "Oh well, more power for me, I supposed. But you, Jaune, need to answer my question before I send my Nevermore after your precious ship and do far worse to the pathetic rescue you're staging."
Jaune had noticed the lack of gunfire in the background shield arm bouncing in thought for a few seconds while Pyrrha watched him carefully. Appraisingly. If he could at least stall, she and Yang could recover, and they might fair better against Salem…
He doubted it though.
"Why do you care?" He asked simply instead of answering, the woman sighing.
"You will answer me, Jaune, or you will be punished." She said simply, deigning not to answer his question. "I may be swayed to answer why I wish to know after I know. Maybe."
"My Semblance." He eventually admitted, having to force the words past his lips and grimacing at the wide, eerily satisfied smile she gave. "I used it to… to control Cinder's mind, make her serve me and my own goals instead of you."
"Perfect!" She cheered, surprising Jaune enough that his guard lowered. Turning, he saw the others were similarly shocked when the woman-thing seemed to bounce on the spot in excitement. "Oh Jaune, it's been so long I've waited… Oh when you sensed me through that Ursa back in that forest, I had hoped so dearly that your power was as I thought it would be. It's been so long since I met another like myself-"
"What do you mean he's like you?" Yang demanded hotly, shoving past Pyrrha and looking between the two of them in surprise. Salem's smile died on her lips, her mouth pulling back to show her fangs, but Yang glared at Jaune warily, "The fuck does she mean that you're like her, Jaune?"
Jaune flinched when tendrils lashed past him, the wind from their movement tossing him aside as they wrapped around Yang's torso and left arm, yanking the girl towards the Grimm Queen, who held the woman by her throat. He rose, coughing as oxygen rushed back into his lungs, and Salem tutted at the choking girl.
"Now, now, children shouldn't interrupt when their betters speak." She pressed her thumb against Yang's throat, the choking sounds turning more desperate as the blonde kicked and clawed weakly at the tendrils holding her, her left arm outstretched with the tendrils wrapped around it, "But today is a good day, a day I shall celebrate, so I won't kill you. But alas, discipline is required. I'll even let you keep your good arm."
With a wet squelching sound and s strangled scream, the Grimm queen shoved her hand through Yang's left shoulder and pulled towards Yang's right as the tentacles yanked her arm the other way, dislocating the limb before wrenching the flesh apart. Yang screamed long and loud and Salem rolled her eyes, the tendrils shifting her behind her and wrapping around her throat, constricting visibly until she stopped struggling and dropped limply to the floor beside Ren who scrabbled away.
"Tend to her, boy, or she will die." Salem growled over her shoulder at the raven-haired young man, "Tear off her jacket and use it for bandages. Or don't, I care not for her beyond Jaune's apparent care for her." She raised the bloodied hand and caught his sword as it descended, the blonde scowling behind his helmet, "You're too smart to attack me head on if you didn't, after all."
"Why did you do that?" He demanded, trying to yank his sword free for several seconds before she hurled him at the redhead running up behind him, the blonde knight slamming into the Mistralian for the tenth damn time that day, rolling off of her and staggering upright. "And why does everyone keep doing that!"
"Because it's effective, Jaune." Salem chuckled, cocking her hip and raising an eyebrow at him. "And she angered me, and interrupted me as well just so you're aware, so I punished her. I already let her live, what more do you dare ask of me? Because you haven't even asked what I wanted you for."
"And what would that be?" He asked suspiciously, looking past her at Ren and the unconscious brawler worriedly.
"Oh, for the love of all the Grimm, take her to your ship and have her treated!" Salem snarled out, spinning and glaring at the raven-haired Mistralian. Ren spared Jaune a glance and, when he nodded, lifted Yang as best he could and started dragging her away. Salem watched them go, glaring all the while, and eventually sighed, "Forgive me, Jaune, but I don't want any distractions for this conversation and that… Whelp's moaning was annoying."
Jaune bit back a retort, taking a step and wincing at the sharp pain in his side, "And w-what are you wanting to not have interrupted?"
Her dark eyes locked on his side and she inhaled, shaking her head after a moment, "Grimm, I can smell your wound… Annoying." She spared Hazel a glance and then Jaune's side, an eyebrow rising in curiosity, "When did you suffer that, exactly? Hazel bears no blades on him."
"He got it from Cinder." Pyrrha said simply, gesturing at his side. "He impaled himself upon her blade to get close to her and use his Semblance."
"Impressive and bold." She said with a… pleased, almost, smile? "As were were speaking about though, what I want from you, Jaune. You see, I was like you, as a young… thing." She grimaced, as though offended by the memory. "A little waif, in a little village one could hurl a rock from one end of and strike the ground outside the other. These were the early days on Remnant, when a roaming group of Grimm meant devastation and Aura was barely understood. Dust's use began and ended with bombs and attaching them to long sticks to make bombs to poke with. A laughable solution to larger Grimm, truly."
"It worked though." Jaune argued, gesturing around them. "We wouldn't be where we are today if it didn't."
"Ah, but that is where you're wrong." She said, smiling brightly and walking to the side to look out onto the land surrounding her dark castle. "You see, this was the advent of Aura, the first days of it truly being used. Admittedly, before the Huntsmen and Huntresses developed, so it was mostly… roaming warriors, seeking out those who could fight. I volunteered for training, and after a year, my Aura was unlocked."
"And you discovered your Semblance…" Jaune offered anxiously, dreading where he suspected this might be going.
"Indeed I did." She said, chuckling darkly and shaking her head. She smiled eerily, as though remembering something pleasant, or maybe amusing. "I awoke my Semblance surrounded by hundreds of anxious, fearful people in squalid conditions. Many were sick, suffering, others dying or with those they loved dead near them… This was, you must understand, the Dark Age of Humanity. A war was being waged with another nearby nation. This was all very… normal. Except what it did to me."
"I felt them, Jaune. Their pain, fear, hatred, loneliness… All which they suffered, I felt it to my very core." She leaned against the side of her great tower at the very edge of the flattened and raised ground, hands gripping her shoulders comfortably. "Have you guessed yet, Jaune? I always took you as a smart young man, so have you guessed my original self's Semblance?"
"Every Semblance is unique." Pyrrha tried to argue, shaking her head animatedly. "You… It may have been a similar ability, but it was not the same as-"
I a flash of wind and a scattering of stones, Salem moved to Pyrrha's side, slamming a fist into her stomach hard enough that Jaune heard the crack of ribs and when Salem dropped her to the side, she coughed and emptied her stomach across the stones as she fell and the ancient queen sighed, "Honestly, I'd think she'd have learned not to interrupt by now… I do so dislike being interrupted."
The Mistralian crawled away gracelessly, dragging her weapons with her across the stone, and Jaune growled, "She's right though. We can't have the same Semblance, they're all unique."
"Not really, no." She dismissed easily, "The Schnees are but one example of a lineage of people who all share the same Semblance. Hereditary Semblances are quite rare indeed, enough so I considered snatching a Schnee for my own purposes, among other families…" His displeasure at the implication must have shown because she laughed when she looked at him, "Ah, your face… Rest assured, I had no children and so your Semblance is not from me. Nor have I abducted anyone."
"Then how would you… How would you begin to say we share a Semblance?" He demanded as sternly as he could while Pyrrha dragged herself up, leaning on her spear and glaring at the Grimm Queen weakly and looking at Jaune beyond her in worry. He tried to put on a brave face and reassure her, behind his helmet. "How is that even possible?"
"Mathematics." She said simply, "Odds of an event occurring will, eventually, come around to it occurring regardless of likelihood. You see, the odds of two individuals having the same Semblance are not impossible, per se. They are just… astronomically unlikely. So all I had to do was wait until someone with my ability came around. Everything I have ever done has been to that end, to making someone like you come into being."
"But why…" He gestured around them, at the warship, her castle, everything, "Why do everything you've done? The killing, the Grimm, what you… What you did to Amber. Why do all of that? What was that for?"
"Because she wanted people to strive against the Grimm." Pyrrha hacked out, focing herself upright and flinching only slightly when the woman turned on her with a curious glare. "If she did that, then no one would awaken their Semblances. But if she attacked just enough, she could push society towards what it is now."
"The Academies, the reverence for Huntsmen and Huntresses, the militarization of the Kingdoms under these things…" She trailed off with a pleased humming sound and turned, gesturing at Jaune. "And you, Jaune, are the product of all those centuries of work and effort. All that time, work, steering people into places and hemming Humanity in to gather their desperation… All for this payoff."
"You…" He blinked in realization, shoulders sagging under the sheer weight of it. Of everything shifting all at once and falling into place, "You were lonely?"
"I didn't care who it was. Human, Faunus, male, female… You could say, perhaps, that I was lonely." She sighed, grimacing and chewing her lip slightly, "That seems a bit… weak of a word, though, to me. 'Lonely'."
"I can't believe this…" He whispered, shaking his helmed head and looking to the ground, then to Hazel's body."He died, and so many others have… Because you were lonely."
"I know it seems a poor reason to you, Jaune, but…" She sighed, "You haven't experienced my loneliness. I only began this plan after near a thousand years, alone, on this continent. I kept the Grimm mostly pacified for centuries, until the first Faunus War started, then I started using them to keep that from happening… And then I had this idea. The desperate idea that if someone could understand me, maybe I could have something of my own."
"And this castle, your people, none of that was something of our own?" Jaune asked, shaking his head in disbelief still. "None of that counted for anything to you?"
"And who would be mine in that way?" She asked, laughing bitterly and gesturing at Hazel, "Him? All he cared for was revenge on Ozpin, for what happened to his sister. Tyrion? He worships me, he'd never be my equal in a relationship, romantic or otherwise. Watts? He's only here for the wealth he gains for it. And look at me, Jaune?" She gestured at her face, the pale skin and dark, spidery veins, tone growing more manic and desperate as she spoke. "Who would truly have me? And even would someone be willing, how long would it last before fear of Grimm overrode whatever they were willing to feel for me?"
"And is that what you want from me?" He demanded quietly, gesturing at the ship. "Why you ordered Cinder to try and kill Neo? To get me to yourself?"
"Yes." She said, shrugging when he tilted his head in surprise at her. "I am far, far too ancient to be ashamed about what I have done, Jaune. I have existed for eternities innumerable, you think I am going to balk about what it takes to claim what I desire?"
"If you think I'm going to just-"
"I do not think for a moment that you will even consider staying with me, Jaune." She admitted easily, smiling when he sputtered out. "I have awaited a chance for this for longer than history has recorded. So no, I do not wish to force you to my side." She gestured at their ship, smiling, "Go. Tell your friends you killed this body, that I will rise again less than a year. You may even strike it down if you wish. I will resurrect just as Ozpin does. So by all means, if you wish to speak the truth to them. I will even stand aside for a year, my Grimm will fight without my guidance or command."
"And you'll just... Let us leave?" Pyrrha asked, not even arguing her claim of resurrection. They had, frankly, heard equally crazy things already, and done a couple of them themselves if they were honest. "After everything?"
"Yes." She said simply, turning and heading for her castle, hesitating before she passed Jaune and snatching the satchel of grenades off his belt. "Go. I shall see these planted in places that will destroy this fortress, but when you decide to come to me, return here."
"When? You think it's that set in stone" He asked, affronted slightly.
"Yes. When." She said with a slight nod, "When you decide to come here, and bring your friends as I know you will wish to, know they will find safety and shelter and that you will find a complete answer to your every question. I will await you as patiently as can be, but if you take too long I will come for you myself. And once that is done, I will give you the world and eternity."
He watched her leave, disappearing back through the door she'd exited previously, shaking his head and looking at Pyrrha, "What do you think?"
"I think we can't beat her in a fight… And I think she is aware of this." She said simply, sighing and holding a hand to her side under her shield, grimacing. "A simple punch shattered two of my ribs beyond my Aura… And she yanked Yang's arm off entirely. Not to mention her Grimm."
"Coming here was a mistake…" Jaune remarked, watching the others ushering a few dozen people up the ramp into his ship dressed in a variety of outfits. He even spotted "We should all be dead… We're only getting out of it through an insane, lucky break."
"And whatever the Queen of the Grimm wanting to bed you is called." Pyrrha agreed almost sarcastically, turning and leaning on her spear heavily. Like a crutch. Sighing, she looked back to him, "The choice is yours, Jaune. If you wish to pursue her and fight her, I will follow you. Unto the breaches of hell itself."
He considered it for a second before shaking his head and sheathing his sword at his waist, using his free shield-hand to press against his side in the hopes of clamping down the pain there. "Fuck it… Let's get out of here, she'll just come back if we kill her anyways. And that's if we can even manage to do it."
"As you say." She said, and he could tell she was trying to hide the relief she felt at the news. He didn't mention it as they made their way back to the ship. "Where do we go after this? I doubt you will return to Beacon, with Neo and Cinder?"
"No… I can't go there. Even if I wanted to, they would never, ever find peace there or in Vale." What a mess… There was only one place he could go that would take him, after everything that had happened, if he wanted to protect them. "I want to go home, Pyr."
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每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
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