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heliosthegriffin · 6 months ago

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Shadow Knight Chapter 23

AN: Sorry for the Hiatus, real-life stuff happens. Anyway, back to our irregularly scheduled program.

A03 Link

A red-headed man walked down the Museum hall.

He moved at his own pace, slow, steady, and soothing in its consistency.

Every few steps he’d stop to look at an exhibit for a moment, nod to himself, then continue on, smiling at the sight, as his heels clicked against the floor.

Behind him, his shadow rolled out from behind his feet, expanding far, far down the hall and beyond, overtaking the floor behind him far beyond eye-shot.

An unfathomably number of things moved in the darkness, creeping out from the spilling darkness behind the man, moving to the exhibits and dragging them wholesale into the endless darkness.

From a distance, they almost looked like normal people, but the clothes they wore looked like they belonged in the exhibits they were looting, as some wore armor from Mistral’s Warring Cities Era, while others looked like they had been taken off the tundra of Solitus a thousand years ago, others were dressed like turn of the century Vale. It was a disorientating sight to see, they almost looked like people dressed up for a historical event, if not for the grotesque changes to their bodies.

A bone mask with red tribal-esque lines was attached over their face, so deeply attached to the face, it melded into the bones of the skull itself, rendering it impossible to remove. How much of the face it covered varied from creature to creature, with it ranging from just covering the eyes and nose, to totally overtaking the skull in one bony growth, to anything in between, with random growths of the mask like tusks or horns also appearing every so often. Though, one thing that they all shared regarding those masks, was at least one set of burning red eyes, and underneath the mask and across the body, was tar-like skin that was littered with bone growths under their clothes.

Other than the common features, they ranged greatly in size from hardly changed child-like figures wearing impossible elegant and expensive clothes to literal giants covered in armor like growths across their body wearing rags of former clothing, and everything in between.

They were falling upwards and out of the darkness, dozens at a time, being birthed from that shadow as that man walked slowly forward, inspecting and enjoying the exhibits that were laid out for him. Once out they stood there dumbly, looking back at their former home, before shambling away, their dull, red eyes focusing on something through the walls. Occasionally, walking into the walls, and the stronger ones, right through the thinner, weaker ones, leaving gaping, crumbling holes in the old, venerable building.

The man stopped purposely at a crossroads, He smirked, holding his chin with one arm supported by the other. “Now, now, now, here I was, enjoying myself, harmlessly, all by my lonesome. What cause for action is that? Don’t you know how hard it is to get a Museum all to yourself?”

From the opposing three hallways, a maiden appeared with flaming eyes and outfits of excessive amounts of singular color, along with the respective smells of fresh flowers, ozone, and icy air. They faced him, eyes unreadable under the fire, blocking his way. The Yellow one with golden fire, twitched looking at him, as if ready to spring into action, but stopping herself. Crimson and White, looked at Yellow, in what he could only assume to be surprise.

Roman’s eyes shifted, as he took in that little detail. He turned to Yellow, with his eyes darting between them all. He opened his mouth, to say his aggravating piece-, only to dodge backward, as a scythe and curved sword rose up from his shadow right where his head had been, followed by two girls with glowing eyes, he frowned noticing one had Silver-eyes, as he stomped his foot on the ground, making the shadows thicken.

“That was rude! Don’t I have a right to a jury, before you execute me?” Roman smirked at them.

The one that carried the Silver-eyes through his shadow, Black, looked at him coyly. “For the crime of overwhelming mass murder, you've been preemptively judged guilty.” He noticed this one carrying the scent of sweet decay, of dead leaves and loamy soil on the breeze.

He took another step back, looking at the quintet of girls before him. “Well, well, the whole gang's here, isn't it? Lucky me, right?”

The SIlver-eyes blinked out of existence, reappearing right in front of him, swinging that scythe at his neck. Underneath the silvery-light radiating off of her, burning him, she looked murderous. “You monster, how could you do this, to all these people, and-”

Her form was imperfect, she had lunged at him, leaving her hanging in the air as she swung. If it was anyone slower, it would have been a fine, effective even, attack. Against, Roman though?

He slid under the slash, sighing, he hardly needed to aim, as he delivered a cross-straight into her solar-plexus, while she practically tackled her body into his knuckles. The air left her lungs, and she was sent flying down the hall with a cry of pain. He waved his hand, silvery smoke pouring off his right hand, her light bypassing the protective darkness around his hand, light burns covered his hands.

Roman could practically hear whatever little restraint in Yellow snap and fall to pieces, the other girls cried out for her to stop, and she flew straight at him, fists blazing.

----

The search to find some weapons didn’t take long. This was a Museum dedicated to Vale’s history, afterall. It wasn’t all that long ago, relatively speaking, that Vale was nothing but a series of dozen warring micro-kingdoms. It wasn’t uncommon for a homeowner doing some landwork to find an old arrowhead, broken swords, or even an intact weapon and donate it to the museum (or keep it as a personal relic).

“Mine!” Velvet watched as Nora grabbed a warhammer and held it like a teddy-bear. She turned to her with a toothy grin. “I’ve always wanted one of these growing up,” She turned to Ren. “But, someone insisted I didn’t need one!”

The lithe man shrugged. “I’m not stopping you now, am I?”

“I’m not giving it back after we leave.”

“If we survive, I’d say you earned it.”

She held it over her hand. “Yes!” The ginger girl gave Velvet a look, holding out the warhammer. “Want to give her a swing?”

Velvet looked at the brutal looking head of the hammer and the cruel looking spike coming off it, she shook her head. “I’ll pass,”

“More for me, then!” Nora shrugged, then started swinging her hammer in the air with a mad laugh. Velvet looked towards Ren who sighed softly. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t exhaust herself.”

“Right,” She looked at Ren, at his hands, then back at him. “Don’t you need to find something for yourself.”

He followed her look. “I can handle myself,”

For a moment, she thought they glowed, but shook her head, it must have been a trick of the light. “I’ll trust your judgment, then.”

She looked around the room, seeing the other scant survivors helping themselves to the bounties of Vale’s history, noticing that they were gravitating to spear-like weapons, one with a long reach and sharp end, not that she’d blame them. If she had to pick a weapon, and most likely would, she would take one of those as well.

Strangely, though, as almost if following the same line of thought, only to verge backwards at the finish line, she saw Jaune holding a short-sword. He held the odd blade in his hands, it looked like someone had taken a spearhead and attached it to a sword handle, so it wasn’t very long, around a foot and a half long, with a narrow leaf-shaped blade that merged effortlessly into a dark wooden handle. The blade itself was both decidedly plain, but also charming, with a dull gray body marked with small scratches and nicks across its body, but it also held a presence of undeniable lethality, as if its damage only added proof to its unsaid claims that it was a tried and true weapon of war.

“That doesn’t look like it comes from Vale.” Velvet stated idly.

“It’s listed as an anonymous donation, it might have been made yesterday for all I know.” Jaune told her. “It’s more than that, though.” He said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

His fingers rubbed against the wooden grip. “I can’t explain it, not very well, but it feels very ancient.” He turned to her with a smile. “It’s mine now, though.”

Velvet couldn’t help but return the smile. “I’m glad you found something you like,” Her eyes caught something next to his leg. “A shield?”

She thought he looked a bit nervous for a second. “Yeah,” His eyes darted around. “You find anything you want to use.”

“N-no, not yet.”

“Don’t feel pressured, but remember this, the best person to protect you, is yourself.” Velvet looked away. “I will protect you, just like I would for anyone else here, but if you can protect yourself, it puts us just that bit closer to victory.”

“I know,” She felt her heartbeat raise a bit, while her stomach sank.

She felt a warm, heavy hand on her shoulder. “You’re stronger than you think you are,” She looked up into blue eyes. “Also, don’t stand around Nora when she gets going, you’ll go flying.”

“Pfft,” Velvet felt herself relax, a laugh escaping from her. She felt his hand leave her shoulder, immediately missing the warmth, watching him walk pass, she couldn’t help but compare his figure with another, for a second the way they moved looked identical to the local legend she obsessed over.

----

Roman leaned under a fiery punch, as a mask slowly grew over his face in the mockery of a fox with burning eyes. Leaning back far enough to almost be horizontal with the ground, Roman swung two fingers up across the floor. A pillar of shadows erupts under the Yellow Maiden throwing her up into the ceiling.

The other Star-Chosen rushed forward, he threw his hands forward as a tidal wave of darkness and bodies flew forward, as his power collided with them, his minions inside trying to drag them into the abyss inside.

Bursts of light and elemental power detonated inside of it, as the other three Star-Chosen flew up, shooting rays of power at him, he dodge back, and flung his shadowy power in front of him.

A growing heat above him gave him just enough of an early warning to evade critical damage, as the one he tossed up came roaring back down in a burst of fire. She hit the floor like a meteor, a shockwave hitting him with a wave of air, as she looked about ready to charge him down.

But, to his surprise, she snarled and threw a wave of fire his way, retreating back to the rest of their group.

They eye’d him up, and Roman mentally felt how many servants he had lost in his tidal wave, less than 10%, which wasn’t bad, he had many, many more stored away in his Shadow Den. But, it wasn't like he could instantly bring them forth.

Down the hallway, he saw something flying forward at him, and sidestepped a bolt of silver energy, burning through his shadows like they were just normal shadows, leaving a trial of wispy silver smoke. He frowned, as the Silver-Eyes flew towards them, only slightly injured.

He needed time, if he wanted to break-even here, he still hadn’t obtained his prize, the source of the power-built up here. So, with a wave of his hand, he unleashed his remaining servants on hand, as they rushed the Star-Chosen, as he got to work summoning his meaner minions.

----

Jaune looked behind himself, having just finished checking up on the other survivors, he thought he saw something watching him. Was his mind slipping? Normally, he felt that someone would justify it as their imagination, but since it had kept him alive this far, he went to go look.

The room they were currently in, had a large diorama in the center of it, depicting some old battle, pelt wearing warriors native Valeans fighting a group of armored men from one of Mistrals City Empires around a stone circle. According to the diorama, the natives won that somehow through some sort of soul ritual. He thought he saw the shadow of one of the models move.

He got closer, nothing there, other than a sense of unease. His eyes then caught movement again, it was a small, feminine shadow moving behind the stones. He leapt over the stone, and was confronted with nothing but silent rocks, and the faint smell of honey and cream.

“Doing some parkour for a warm-up?” Jaune rose up from behind the stone circle, seeing Ren standing outside the diorama.

“No, just going insane.” He noticed something on Ren’s wrists. “Find something useful?” He had never seen his old friend wear bracers before.

Ren held them up to the air, even from several yards away there was an unnatural feeling coming off of them, similar to the short-sword he found earlier. “Yes.” His friend looked at the aforementioned sword. “You know how to use that?”

Jaune shrugged. “Stick ‘em with the pointy-end, cut ‘em with the cutty side.”

“Ah, a true master then.” Ren nodded.

“You flatter me,” He said with a bow, then raising up, he took in their small group of survivors scattered across the room. For a moment, it didn’t feel like their lives were in danger, it felt like it did earlier today, just another day at the Museum.

“Ren,”

“Yes?”

“I’m never entering a museum again,”

“I never thought we’d get you this far in,” He shrugged.

“And, now, I have every reason never to return.”

“Such a loss,�� He smirked, then it slowly fell as they both looked at the others who were slowly gathering back together. “What is the next step?”

Jaune’s hand strayed to his new sword, gripping the handle tightly. “I’ve checked the map earlier, and there’s a way out not too far away from here,”

“So, we’re going to make a break for it?”

“Not quite,” Jaune’s vision hopped from person to person. “I was going to go scouting, see if the way is safe or not,”

“That’s a terrible idea, our strength is in numbers, we lose you, and we’re that much weaker for it.”

“Yes, but, it’d only be one person, versus all of us, being eliminated if there's way more monsters than we can handle.”

“And, if you don’t come back, what’s to stop us from seeking you out?”

“I’d say-”

“We’d look for you anyway,” Ren looked at Nora and Velvet, “The rest of these people here might not care, but we do. And, tell me this, what if we go the other way, if we do decide to go another direction, and then all die, anyway. Because, you weren’t there? There are no good options, Jaune, just least worse ones.`

Jaune sharply inhaled, his knuckles going white from strain. “You’re right,” He exhaled. “I just,”

The building shook, dust falling from the ceiling, as the lights flickered for a moment, some of the men and women screamed, but it went unheard as a roar suffocated any other sound as it over took the building.

Ren swore, as he turned to Jaune. “We’re running out of time.”

“I know, what way do you think it came from?”

“I couldn’t tell you, but-”

“We need to leave,” Jaune started walking towards the center of the room. “We’ll just take the shortest path to the exit, and deal with the consequences as they come.”

Ren followed behind. “If that’s what gets us out of here alive, so be it.”

----

White thrust her hand forward sending a wave of icicles forward, impaling and destroying the minions of the Grimm General, though, no matter how many she was destroying, they always came back in heavier numbers.

She flew upwards, lifting her arms up to summon a rotating sphere made of razor-sharp ice, a trick she had picked up after an unfortunate encounter not too long ago. It gave a small reprieve as she took in the situation.

Yellow, was of course, rampaging across the enemies, but, she would give her credit in holding back this long, and also, for not leveling the building. Still, she wasn’t breaking the lines as much as hoped she would, instead she was just hanging around the back keeping the horde from spilling down the hall.

Black was struggling, her normal stratedgy of striking from the shadows wasn’t working, The General had done something that prevented her from entering the shadows, which in any other situation would have brought a smile to White’s face, but right now, she would give any amount of Lien to Black if she could just take the monster down. Instead she was limited to using magic she had far less affinity towards, like lightning and wind, which just left her in a similar situation to herself.

Crimson, of course, was the only one actually putting pressure on the General, flying above the crowd, summoning metal to herside from across the building, to create a whirling barrier of metal, that she fired at the horde and the General, forcing him back every so often, but, it seemed even beyond her to do any actual damage, which left, unfortunately, Red.

Red was currently flying through the air, trying to cut her way toward the General, but was being harangue by Grimm jumping at her, and trying to pull her down into the horde, which would be problematic, as while she had the highest anti-grim power, she had the lowest in raw magical power. Thankfully, she didn’t, it just slowed her down, as these Grimm were nothing but peons.

Still, White wasn’t sure how she could get to the General and strike him down; the other girls could handle the peons, if only they’d made an opening for her.

There was a sound of air shattering, as the General slid back, holding a steaming piece of iron that had been shot at him, arms one with the shadows around him. Metal was coated in dark powers, then shot back with even greater force, as Crimson had to evade it, the piece of dark-coated metal exploding against the ceiling shaking the hallway, while leaving a new, crude skylight there.

The General smiled at them, a sense of foreboding in the expression, then stomped a foot to the ground. White’s eye widened as his shadow spread down the hallway again, widening and splitting the hallway in two, and she internally braced for another wave of Grimm, but to her surprise, all the Grimm they were fighting fell in. But, the shadow remained, pulsating and rippling.

“It's been a pleasure, ladies, but I must go!” He bowed, he had the audacity to bow! “But, I found what I”m looking for, and I must be off!” A inky black skeletal hand, the size of a limo, shot out of the darkness, punching through the ceiling. “I’ll leave my friend here to entertain you all, don’t fear, he’s grand company!”

Another hand rushed out, punching through the ceiling as well, as the rest of the arms followed, as behind it, its summoner disappeared with a swish of his arm, shadow enveloped him and he vanished from sight.

The hallway broke open, as head emerged, a pitch-black skeletal giant, looking at them with burning flames in its eye sockets. Rubble rained down upon them, as the entire building fought to stay together, it roared at them, air hitting them like a hammer of wind.

----

Jaune stared at the shaking ceiling, what in the world was going on? Then he looked at the gathered people before him, he tried his best to look strong, and not let his voice betray his doubts as he called out to them. “Everyone here?” There was a quick call out of names. “Things don’t look too good right now, do they? We’re all by ourselves, with the way out looking farther away by the moment, surrounded by monsters, and have nothing but the clothes on our backs, the weapons in our hands, and each other.” He thrusted his sword up through the air. “So what?! We didn’t even have these an hour ago, and we held our own! With just our drive to live, with just the person you stand next to, with everyone here, we have survived!

“Now, we’re going to thrive, we are going leave this place, and not let a single of those pathetic things stop us, we got better things to do today, we got dinner at home, we got loved ones outside, pets, and whatever else you can think of, but we have them, we have our obligations to get out of here and destroy whatever gets in our way! You all have trusted me this far, right? Then, I need you to trust me just a bit longer, then we’re out of here. If you can’t trust in me, then trust in yourself, the person next to you, or just trust Nora!”

“Yeah! Trust in me!” Nora lifted her warhammer over head.

“Have faith in something, yourself, your god, or your weapon, just put it to work, don't fall behind, and struggle on! You will survive this!” Jaune pointed his sword to the door. “Now, are you going to stay here and die, or will you follow me and live?”

““LIVE!””

“Then let's get out of here!” Jaune screamed, marching towards the door.

Just as it was thrown open, a small horde of lanky monsters ran towards them. Not slowing or rushing to meet them, Jaune banged his sword against his shield, inviting them towards, to which they obliged, rushing at him in a stream of long limbs, red eyes, and uncanny movement.

The first to meet him head on was welcome with a shield bash to the head, knocking it backwards so hard that it’s skull split open, the second was greeted by him side-stepping it’s claws and beheading it, the third had it greeted by a heel to the chest then cut from head to hip, the fourth punch with shield knocked to the ground then beheaded, the fifth, the six, and so on, were dealt with till none remained. Leaving Jaune’s standing over their fading bodies, he turned to his people. “See? Look how easily they can be beaten?T they are nothing! What I’ve done to them, any of you could as well!” His eyes seemed to glow for a moment, his voice loud as a trumpet, as everyone stepped back before him. “The only thing stopping you is yourself!

There was a tremble among the survivors, among Ren, Nora, and Velvet, as a certain weight was lifted off their hearts. As they lifted their hands and weapons to the ceiling, they cheered. They stomped, as they moved forward, following after Jaune, they lost all uncertainty, as they walked beside him, and left the room.

Leaving it empty, aside from a small shadow with mismatched eyes watching from the stone circle.

-----

In the depths of the Museum, a single lanky Grimm stood in the depths of the storage, standing alone, staring towards the center of it, where a tangible thick amount of magical energy was in the air. The shadows next to it rippled and trembled as Roman rose from the depths as the minion sank below, though not without, giving it a soft pat on the head as it sank. “Good job,” It didn’t respond.

Roman walked forward, going past a series of crates and boxes, until he was face to face with a long, slim, and somewhat innocuous box, he touched it gently, putting his hand to the top, shadows rushed over it, pulling the screws and nails out of the boxes top, then casually pushing off the top.

What lay in the center, on a bed of packing peanuts, was a simple cane, Roman looked at it softly. “Oh, old friend, it’s been too long,” He picked it up, holding it to his face. “We’re back together, and now, I”m complete.”

The cane thrummed with an orange glow, as fire appeared in the depths of Roman’s mask. With a swift stab down, the building jolted. Not the walls, not ceiling, not just the floor, all of it, the ancient Museum that covered the entirety of a city block suddenly moved.

Downwards.

The building started to sink, as shadows stretched from the sides and corners of the building, till the whole circumference of the building had a visible black outline. The building began to fall into darkness.

Roman smiled, then waved his cane in a figure eight. “This oughta do as a declaration of war,’ Then disappeared.

#Shadow Knight #Jaune Arc

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