Fist 5: Variant strain

Fist 5: Variant strain

'The power that comes from the soul, huh?' atop a great mountain, sitting with his legs crossed and feeling the wind strike his body, Jaune couldn't help but think about the explanation he had been given several months ago.

What a strange power, aura.

Truth be told, Jaune wasn't really too interested at first.

As a charanko, he had faced all sorts of monsters and people with strange powers and abilities.

Mind control.

Cloning.

Teleportation.

Psychic powers.

Super regeneration.

Kinetic energy nullification.

Force fields.

The list could go on and on, not to mention that many of these powers were found in the same individual at the same time.

Aura simply sounded like an elegant power armor, something that protects and enhances an individual's strength to a certain extent.

Jaune had destroyed many of those before.

Probably the only advantage he could see was that you didn't need to literally put on armor that could be easily torn off as soon as you put it on.

And Semblances.

Jaune didn't think too much of them either.

As mentioned, the number of beings with strange powers he had faced was immense.

Many of them had multiple abilities combined.

So, even though he knew about aura, he didn't care that much and didn't give it too much thought.

Until he remembered a phrase recently.

"Truly protects hunters from all harm, even their clothing seems impeccable thanks to aura."

Looking at his pitiful current state, he couldn't help but think,

"It would be nice if my clothes didn't tear or get dirty so much..."

Could Aura serve for that, right? Preventing his clothes from continuing to tear and his blood from staining everything...

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If any Huntsman were to hear Jaune's thoughts, they wouldn't have been able to avoid indignation. Aura! The power that humanity was given to face the Grimm, the power that all hunters cherished more than anything, the one that saved countless lives!

And he only thought it would serve to keep his clothes clean?!"

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So, with the mindset of the well-being of his attire in mind, Jaune climbed the highest mountain he could find and tried to sense that "aura" lying within his soul.

It wasn't working.

He was probably doing something wrong because, even though that girl from the settlement that saved and healed his wounds knew a lot about aura, she didn't know exactly how it naturally unlocked.

Of course, she also told him that other people with aura could unlock yours for you, but Jaune didn't consider that method.

If it could be unlocked naturally, then he would do it that way.

the aura is something that can be obtained through training, which means it should be obtained that way. Any other method simply wouldn't do.

The martial artist in Jaune roared at the idea of someone else giving him something easily that others struggled and worked hard to obtain.

So, with the mindset of 'it would be nice if I get it, but if I don't, it doesn't matter,' Jaune tried to unlock his aura naturally.

And, as mentioned before, it wasn't working.

There was probably something he didn't know, some secret method or special training. Perhaps he would have to talk to a Huntsman who had unlocked their aura naturally to better understand it.

"Well, I gave it a try." With that simple dismissal, Jaune cleared his mind of any thoughts about aura and decided to continue his journey.

He stood up and looked at the landscape below him. Grimm of all shapes and sizes gazed up at him from below, and in the distance, he could see some of those large birds circling around him.

Nevermore?

Honestly, remembering the names of things that were going to die anyway was annoying. Why not just call them all Grimm and be done with it?

Of course, Jaune knew it wasn't that simple. Different names were probably given for a reason, but to him, that reason wasn't relevant.

Big, small, long, or wide, aquatic, flying, or terrestrial – none of these things made a difference to his fist.

And with a single step, his body lifted into the air, launching himself directly into the army of dark creatures seeking to destroy him.

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"Why do you keep doing this?!" an angry voice of a girl echoed in the white room's walls, making Jaune grimace as his ears buzzed.

"Why are you shouting like that? If you keep doing it, your voice will get hoarse when you're older," Jaune's words elicited an angry look from the girl in front of him.

"Seriously, Jaune, every time you come here, it's like you jumped into a meat grinder. You need to take better care of yourself," the genuine concern in her voice made Jaune smile faintly.

"Didn't you say you'd help me whenever I needed it? I can stop coming if you want," he said in a joking tone, but the girl didn't catch on and quickly shook her head in clear panic.

"Don't even think about it! If you can't take care of yourself, then I have to make sure you at least stay in one piece," she was resolute about this, and Jaune would have said he'd be fine even without her help, but he didn't want to dismiss the effort she had put into helping him these past months.

"How's the settlement, Bianca? Have there been any Grimm sightings?" The change of topic caught the attention of the 18-year-old girl named Bianca. She sighed but still answered.

"As I've told you the last times, ever since you started coming, Grimm can only dream of getting near this place. Even the Huntsmen who were here after you left without warning couldn't find any Grimm in the vicinity," her reproach for the latter part was evident in her tone of voice.

She still couldn't forgive him for leaving without a word one day after saving the settlement.

Several months ago, after Bianca had tended to his wounds and he had rested for a day, Jaune decided to leave. He didn't want to cross paths with the Huntsmen for now. His father was a fairly well-known Huntsman, if his few memories served him correctly. He preferred not to have to confront him if he found out about his location due to his influence and tried to come for him.

After that, a month passed before he decided to return, solely to make sure the settlement was doing well and restock some basic supplies. Needless to say, Bianca, the girl who now took care of the local clinic and whom he had first spoken to when saving people from the Grimm attack, was not pleased.

It was understandable. She had been learning medicine from the local doctor before the Grimm killed him. Her calling was medicine, and being strict with patients to care for their health came naturally to her.

She cared about his health and had offered to treat his wounds whenever he needed it. That's why Jaune visited this settlement from time to time. Of course, he didn't do it openly.

Lately, he had built a certain reputation among the less protected settlements in Vale. Probably the only one who knew he would come here was Bianca.

"That's good; I'll make a sweep just to be sure." Even if the Grimm weren't seen by the settlement's people, it didn't mean there weren't any or that they weren't hiding somewhere.

"Maybe you should rest... people are talking about you, about what you've been doing. Stories and rumors have spread through the CCT network and among the settlements outside Vale's direct protection. They talk about how much you've helped people, but they also talk about the sorry state you're in almost all the time. People are worried, Jaune... you're working too hard..."

Jaune thought about it. It had been nine months since he woke up in this world as Jaune Arc again. His current strength was at least enough to face a demon-level threat. If he used the Fighting Spirit and Awakening Breath at the same time, he could push his body to dragon-level strength, albeit with severe consequences afterward.

The Grimm had started to become ineffective for training, unless there were thousands of them attacking him at the same time, his life wouldn't be in danger, not like in the beginning.

His wounds were due more to the different extreme training methods he had started using to compensate for the lack of Grimm power.

Maybe it's time to investigate the situation in Mountain Glenn? The deadline was at least a year, at most two, and 9 months was close enough to the minimum for him to take a look.

"You're right, I need to rest." His words seemed to surprise Bianca. Her eyes widened, and as if she couldn't believe it, her mouth opened and closed quickly.

"Are you serious?!"

Jaune nodded. To confront the issue of Mountain Glenn, his body and mind needed to be in the best condition. Despite Jaune having killed an astronomical number of Grimm in the last few months, the quantity of them around Mountain Glenn was too much.

Even if he wanted to, he couldn't kill them all in a short amount of time, not while they were so scattered. The best course of action would be to wait until the largest number possible had gathered and then attack. This way, he could save Mountain Glenn from external threats.

Of course, there were internal threats as well. Maybe it would be better to deal with them before the Grimm attacked.

But, would a few months be enough to figure out who and why someone thought destroying the tunnels of Mountain Glenn was a good idea? If the minimum time was indeed a year, then he might have to face both the external and internal threats at the same time.

If it was two years, he could address the internal one first.

A hand on his forehead snapped him out of his thoughts.

"No signs of fever, maybe poisoning? Did you eat some unknown mushrooms, Jaune?" The clearly sarcastic tone made Jaune snort.

"Believe it or not, I do know when to take a break, Bianca." If his expression were any indication, she seriously doubted his words.

"I won't believe it until I see it." Although her attitude seemed to suggest she still didn't believe him, Jaune could see the relief in her. The load on her shoulders seemed to lighten a little., figuratively though there were two significant reasons why it couldn't realistically disappear.

A pleasant silence followed, but then an explosion, panicked screams, and hurried footsteps interrupted them. Jaune and Bianca wasted no time, both of them rushed out of the room to the clinic's main area near the entrance.

Through the window, Jaune saw one of those small Bullhead aircrafts crashed in a somewhat cleared area, with a few people exiting it and running toward them.

The clinic's doors swung open, and a group of clearly injured and battered individuals entered, dragging a man whose legs were missing.

"Please, we need help!" The situation wasn't good. Bianca did her best, but her medical education had been interrupted by her master's death, and injuries as severe as these required more than just the assistance of an 18-year-old girl and the equipment in a small clinic in a remote settlement.

So Jaune pitched in. He wasn't a doctor, but his knowledge of the human body wasn't far from one. As a martial artist, he knew how to treat combat injuries and what to do to resolve certain life-threatening situations.

Bianca accepted Jaune's help without hesitation, Having learned a long time ago that Jaune knew a lot about the human body despite looking younger than her.. In fact, Bianca had learned some special wound-treatment methods from Jaune.

Soon, they managed to stabilize the situation. The man with the worst injuries was now stable and could at least hold on until a rescue team that had been requested arrived. From there, they hoped he would be transported to Vale's hospital.

Jaune finished bandaging one of the less injured men, looked into the panic in his eyes, and making sure no one could overhear, he asked the question that had been on the tip of his tongue.

"What happened?"

The man trembled upon hearing his question, swallowing blood-tinged saliva and wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand before looking at Jaune.

"It was supposed to be a s-safe trip! We're just a group of mercenaries without aura. They told us there were no more Grimm around, but when we arrived, the whole place was destroyed, and that thing! That strange Grimm attacked the entire group. He...he ate them! He..." Jaune slapped him.

"What place, where is it?"

"The settlement of Bright to the south!" Startled by the sudden slap, the man replied hastily. Jaune nodded and, from the corner of his eye, looked at Bianca, who was talking to some settlement residents who had come to help.

Everything was in order here, so he decided to go check on this "strange Grimm."

The man was left in shock as the boy who had been treating him suddenly disappeared in a blur of movement he couldn't quite catch.

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Not far away, in another border settlement, a man with black hair was lounging against the bar, his massive sword resting by his side and a bottle of liquor in his hand. Suddenly, his left pocket started to ring and vibrate vigorously.

The man quickly pulled out the device and saw an alert on the screen.

"A distress call from the settlement of Bright? That's not far." The man took a long swig from the bottle before strapping his sword to his back. It was time to get to work.

"Put it on my tab, Bart!" With those words, he swiftly left the bar without waiting for a response.

"What? Wait! Qrow, you damn scoundrel, this is the third time you've left without paying!" The indignant shout didn't reach the ears of the person who had already bolted.

Hundreds of meters in the air, a black bird soared toward its destination at high speed.

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For Jaune, the landscape changed rapidly, each step he took making his body move at impossible speeds. Indeed, Flashy Flash's footwork was truly unique and useful.

The speed at which he could move when using the technique had no comparison to any other footwork Jaune knew. However, it came with disadvantages. Just a few months ago, doing this would have been impossible. His legs wouldn't have been able to withstand the immense effort required with each step he took. Although it was an incredible footwork technique, it was impossible to use for anyone who didn't have a certain level of physical strength in their lower body.

Jaune had to work hard to use it without tearing his muscles with each step.

But now that he had achieved it? The word "speed" fell short in describing how fast he was moving.

The air exploded as the sound barrier shattered four kilometers behind him. By the time the shockwave began to take effect, his figure was already several kilometers away.

However, despite moving at incredible speed, the terrain he passed through wasn't as affected as it should have been. Apart from the initial shockwave, he wasn't actually leaving a trail of absolute destruction, which anything moving at such speeds should have done.

All of this was thanks to Flashy Flash's movement technique, the movement technique of a true ninja.

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Soon, Jaune saw the smoke rising in the sky, and in a blink, he got close enough to see a settlement engulfed in flames.

But despite being so close, Jaune didn't see any Grimm, in fact, he couldn't see anyone at all. Stopping, he let his senses extend. Different sounds entered his ears, but there were no screams, cries, or anything of the sort.

A bad premonition washed over him, and with gravity, he ventured further into the settlement, beginning to search for survivors.

What greeted him was an eerie silence.

There were signs of a struggle, traces of blood, and tattered pieces of clothing, but there were no people

Jaune recalled the man's words, "He ate them!" Jaune had witnessed scenes like this before, monsters that devoured humans. This was very similar in many aspects.

"But Grimm don't eat humans..." At least not literally. Of course, when they kill them, they can tear off parts of their bodies and even "devour" some of them. Jaune had experienced it firsthand with his first kill. However, strictly speaking, Grimm didn't completely consume a person. Once they stopped breathing and ceased emitting negative emotions, the Grimm lost interest and left the remains of the body to rot over time or until another human found them.

Typically, a Grimm attack left many body parts and incomplete bodies, but the scene in front of him was different. The bodies had disappeared completely, with only a few bloodstains indicating that there had once been a body.

Jaune examined the area carefully and began to trace the trail left by whatever had done all this. The trail ended at one of the town's entrances, and after that, it was as if they had cleaned up. It grew increasingly faint and hard to follow.

A sound caught his attention not far from him, steps?

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"Damn, what the hell happened here?" Qrow Branwen looked around the destruction with bewilderment. As a seasoned Huntsman, he had seen many scenes of carnage, but never one where everyone had disappeared. The strange silence unsettled him.

Had his stupid Semblance led him straight into a bad horror movie?

"Something devoured everyone who was here," the sudden voice that sounded behind him and broke the silence made Qrow jump in alert. His hand drew his sword on instinct, and his body spun at high speed. The wind whistled, and the blade of his sword struck the ground, creating a deep cut.

Qrow blinked when he saw that he hadn't hit anything. But when he was about to raise his sword, he felt an extra weight and, upon looking, saw a figure covered in a gray cloak standing on Harbinger's hilt.

"Be careful; you could hurt someone." With a slight hop, the figure moved away, and Qrow regained his weapon.

Looking at the person who had startled him, Qrow noticed two things instantly: he seemed too young, and he were in a sorry state, or at least appeared to be in a sorry state with all those torn clothes and bloodied bandages.

Qrow squinted. Had he seen this kid somewhere before?

"Are you a Huntsman? You reek of alcohol." The kid wrinkled his nose in disgust, and Qrow felt somewhat offended.

"Hey! It's my day off. I didn't expect to get a distress call right now." Although he said that, the truth was that even if it weren't his day off, he'd still have a drink or two.

"Besides, you're not one to talk about smells. You reek of blood, kid." Jaune looked at himself and realized it was true... though for him, it was a scent he'd grown used to, whether from killing monsters or getting injured in fights.

"What did you mean when you said something devoured everyone here?" Despite the strange encounter, Qrow didn't forget the main issue.

"I've searched the entire settlement. There are bloodstains and signs of a struggle, but no bodies or body parts. Whatever attacked this settlement got rid of all the bodies. Additionally, I met some people who managed to escape to a nearby settlement. One of them told me that a strange Grimm ate some people, so it's easy to deduce what happened."

Qrow pondered the situation. If he took what this kid said as true, then it was indeed easy to deduce what had happened. However, it was hard to believe. As a Huntsman who had dealt with Grimm for so long, he had never seen one completely devour a body.

Furthermore, a nearby settlement? As far as he remembered, the nearest settlement was several kilometers away, which was where he came from. Certainly, no one had arrived there to alert anyone. It must be another, less nearby settlement. The distress call had just been sent, and even if they used a Bullhead, the time it would take them to arrive, inform someone about what happened, and then have that person come to check, would be substantial.

When he was flying in his bird form, he hadn't seen any Bullheads that weren't destroyed.

"Let's say I believe you. What are you doing here then?" Qrow stepped back from the kid with suspicion.

Jaune looked at him, noticing his distrust, and sighed.

"Investigating, looking for the responsible party, and if I find them, destroying them." Upon hearing this, Qrow raised an eyebrow with clear doubt in his eyes.

"You're here, looking for something capable of destroying an entire settlement on your own? Just you?"

Jaune didn't see the problem with that. Obviously, he was alone; who else would he be searching with?

"Yes?"

Qrow sighed.

"Of course you are, kid. You'd better go back to your mom. I'll handle this." Qrow dismissed him as if his statements were foolish, and Jaune didn't feel happy about it.

"It seems I thought too highly of the Huntsmen," Jaune said with disappointment. He ignored the man and went to continue following the trail. The reason he had initially decided to talk to him was to see if they could cover more ground by working together. The trail had been too well-hidden, and it would take a long time to find it on his own. A second pair of eyes would have been helpful.

'Oh well, I'll just do it on my own.'

The clear disappointment in his tone made Qrow furrow his brow, for some reason, he felt somewhat slighted.

"Hey, what did you mean by that?!" There was no response; the kid simply walked away. Qrow watched him go before looking around. It didn't seem like he would find anything on his own beyond what he had already seen.

"Did the kid find something?" With no other leads, Qrow tried to follow him, but he quickly realized that the kid had moved faster than he thought because he couldn't see him.

With a frustrated sigh, his body transformed, and he soon soared into the sky as a bird.

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Despite the fading trail, Jaune was still able to follow it. He soon reached the deep forest, where a large opening on the right side of a mountain greeted him.

It appeared to be the entrance to a cave.

Sounds of crunching could be heard, and Jaune didn't need to be a genius to know that whatever was inside was chewing.

Jaune stretched his body before deciding to enter, his instincts warning him that something dangerous was inside, but that was okay. If it felt dangerous to him, then all the more reason to eliminate it.

In the sky, a crow watched him enter the cave and quickly descended.

Qrow returned to his human form and looked at the dark cave. Cold sweat ran down his back, and he felt that something extremely dangerous was inside. The effects of the alcohol in his body quickly dissipated, replaced by alertness.

Just as he was deciding whether to enter, a blurry figure shot out at such a speed that Qrow only had time to open his eyes in panic before a body collided with him, sending them both dozens of meters away, crashing into several trees.

Qrow's back hit each one, his aura glowing with each shattered tree.

"Ouch," Qrow exclaimed, touching his back. When he looked up, he saw the ragged boy already on his feet, seemingly unaffected by the impact that had launched him dozens of meters at incredible speeds.

"You followed me? How?! Doesn't matter, you have to run!" His voice had a sense of urgency, and Qrow couldn't help but feel a queasy sensation in his stomach.

"What? I'm a huntsman, kid, I don't run." He seemed like he wanted to say something against that, but his words were lost when the entrance to the cave exploded, and a massive, hideous Grimm emerged from it.

"HA HA HA! What's this? Now, food delivers itself to our doorstep?!" It was then that the ugliest and most deformed Grimm Qrow had ever seen stood before them.

It looked like a Beowolf had been poorly inflated, its body bulging and contracting as if bubbles of something were appearing and disappearing inside it.

Moreover, this thing had spoken!?

The deformed Grimm somehow had something extremely akin to a human face that grinned sinisterly.

Four pairs of red, hungry pupils glowed.

"Huntsmen? That's good. I haven't tasted your kind yet. I wonder how many cells I can create after devouring you." Suddenly, the deformed body began to shrink, the malformations disappeared, leaving a much more humanoid figure. Not to mention that sinister face and a dark whip with white plates running down to the tip, sprouting from its head.

"Shall we begin?"

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