The Last Hunter
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Illithid behind the Curtain: A Jaune Interlude
🕑 Added 2024-04-09 07:09:51 +0000 UTC"Hmph. Again."
Jaune's newest teacher was a relentless man. He slammed the hunter through all manner of exercises, forcing him to take a heavy backpack filled with weights for example and begin jogging. And much later, other things as well. He would be expected to carry it when climbing, when crossing some kind of obstacle course and when sparring. Even the times he did some good only garnered a dismissive 'do it again' or worst, something like 'now do it backwards.'
It was a regime nothing like what Pyrrha and Yang had tried to help him with and by the end of a week, he was dead tired. In turn, Azreal Blackstone seemed contemplative and even a little confused before he finally nodded. "Come back tomorrow. I'll have something new for you. Leave the backpack."
Thankful, Jaune nodded and turned to do so... Before he hesitated. His eyes went to it, the load of weights he didn't really need anymore, but... He finally walked up, slung it over his shoulders and letting out a sigh, went for a jog back to the cabin.
At his hip, there was a brief glow of something new from the hilt before it faded away, unnoticed.
When Jaune woke up and left for the training clearing appointed, his teacher was not alone. Standing there, was a short person. Covered in much the same style of clothing as Azreal, including the tricorn and face mask. Curious, Jaune's eyes flicked down to their boots, heavy and made for travel and then to the single weapon on their hip. That of a calvary saber, as he looked at the persons face.
What could be seen of their eyes was violet, set-in pale skin as a red curl of hair peeked from beneath the brim of the hat and he wondered if they were related. Azreal, nodding crossed his arms as he spoke.
"It occurred to me that perhaps you needed something to drive you. Something much more than mere exercise, to realize your potential. So starting today, you'll be working with Alyss. Or rather, she'll be working with you."
Jaune blinked, looking back at the short person as he blurted out. "That's a girl?!"
The next moment, he suddenly felt himself go flying, two impact strikes on his body making him rise twenty feet into the air before gravity took its course. As he fell with a crunch, Alyss snorted, her sword drawn as she drawled in a lilting, angry accent.
"Pa, ya cannae seriously believe this? Teaching this gobby piece of shite our secrets!"
"I am dead serious my dear." He turned to look at her, his hand reaching out to pat her shoulder. "Strength can be obtained with time and effort, as can learning. But sometimes, true wisdom can only be found with experience. And I've found that Mister Arc here learns best by doing and osmosis. Give him a Blackstone special, won't you?"
"Wait! Let's not!" Jaune pleaded, only to fall on deliberately deaf ears as the girl cackled, turning to Jaune with eyes wide, her posture more akin to a berserker.
"Get ready, Paladin-lite! Because here we come! Sis! Give me something welcoming!"
And to Jaune's surprise, the calvary saber transformed. It reverted to a red liquid, with streaks of silver as the girl ignored it, waiting for it to become what looked like a massive warhammer. The head itself, reminiscent of a gravestone that someone attached to a pole as she gave a swing and beamed.
And in his mind, something was heard. A faint whisper, demanding, imperious. Across from him, Alyss blinked and let out a laugh. "Ooooh, ye got a gobe doncha? Oi! Paladin-lite!" Jaune looked up, his shield out as the girl snarled beneath her face mask.
"She's a weapon. Weapon's don't think, they don't plan, they don't have existential crisis's! Unless ye do what we did, what our clan is famous for doing! We build the legend with the blade, with those we care for most. You're lucky enough tho' that she's got something like that already! She wants to be used. Cannae ye hear her? Screaming in your mind?"
Jaune blinked... He focused, he concentrated.
He thought he heard something, felt it in his-.
"THINK FAST, PALADIN-LITE!" Alyss was suddenly there, swift and with her hammer up. Jaune gasped, unable to do anything about it.
And then suddenly, there was a cracking sound, a slam akin to hitting a gong and a shimmering shield of energy between them. Jaune gaped, amazed to see it.
It was a standard that had once characterized his family, that had been in their genealogy books and now protected him like a shield of its own. Alyss slammed her warhammer one more time, testing it before giving a grudging nod.
"Pa was right. You do learn better under pressure."
"You saved me?" Jaune glanced at the sword in his hand, a presence suddenly in his mind that felt like he could take on the world, like the first time he had his aura awoken. It was the spirit of generations of Arc's, all wielding the same blade, all of them fighting the good fight. And in his mind, for the first time he heard her voice as she spoke firmly.
"I won't allow this. I will not allow this! Saleté de vampire, you may be skilled. But you do not face a single Arc! Today, you face them all. Jaune! Trust me and more importantly, trust yourself! You are not alone."
He never was, was he? Alyss came running, hammer in hand and this time as she slammed down, Jaune suddenly just felt something click in his head.
He was a blonde girl in armor, wielding the same sword as a Beowulf leaped for her. She couldn't fight it head on, but if she spun like so...
Something in Jaune immediately followed, repeating the same move as a small crater was seen where he had been standing, Alyss turning to strike only to be charged by Jaune as he moved forward!
He was a large man in armor, with sword and shield. With the standard of their family before him, running headlong into the fray, using his bulk to topple Grimm.
Alyss cursed in a language that sounded vaguely filthy, turning into mist to avoid the attack before she rushed in, Jaune turning as he dropped his shield, flipped his sword to grab it by the blade.
He was a vagabond looking faunus, laughed at in piecemeal armor before she flipped the blade around, slammed the hilt into the head of her opponent.
"GAH! YOU LITTLE SHITE!"
As she fell backwards, Jaune blinked. He was unsure what happened, what exactly occurred before a thrumming warmth from the sword was felt, and the impression of a smile and hands... Many hands, placed upon his was felt as the first voice spoke.
"Speak, and we shall come to help. For as sure as the rivers meet the sea, there will always be an Arc unwilling to let the darkness win."
"Fucking ow..." Alyss groaned and suddenly, in a swirl of mist himself was Azreal. Pride in his eyes, for both of them as he reached down and helped his daughter up as well as Jaune.
"Good, good both of you. It seems you've finally spoken to her." Jaune chuckled, sore but feeling great as he added.
"I did! And she's awesome and so are the others-."
"Others?" Azreal asked, his voice sharper as Jaune nodded. "Yep! Turns out, there were a LOT of Arcs who wielded this sword." He missed the glance between Alyss and Azreal, as he continued on.
"I have SO many questions!"
"Bah, fie on that." Alyss grabbed her hat, throwing it to the side as she shed her coat, the heavy material discarded now revealing, that yes... She was a girl. Her eyes were lit up, her scarf mask still obscuring her lower features but there was no mistaking the crazy grin as her warhammer suddenly turned into an identical longsword as she tapped a gauntlet she had been wearing, the entire thing expanding into a rounded shield. Tapping the blade on the shield, she snarled.
"Ye gave me a right, proper ding around the head. So now I figure I'll give ye the same till I feel satisfied."
"Isn't that a bit disproportionate!" Jaune yelped and she smiled sweetly.
"Naw." And once more, they were clashing. Sparks flying as shield smashed on shield, Azreal watching before he suddenly glanced to the side to his shadow.
"As you can see, my daughter is learning well the huntsman's tricks. She should be perfect for what you have in mind, mistress." The shadow seemed to ripple briefly, considering before it spoke again as Azreal blinked, nonplussed.
"The Icewind Dale contingent? The bar?"
A beat passed and for the first time, Azreal spoke with shock.
"What?!"
