Chapter 8 - The Grand Huntsmen

Jaune was sitting down cross legged in a triangle formation with Iron in his new silver/blue armor form and the surprise third member of their group. The personification of the system itself.

Jaune glances between the two of them and await their tale. The system shifts in its sitting position as it seems to sigh and begin the story of Jaunes grandfather and the previous inheritor of the system.

~Well Jaune as you know so far, your grandfather was the previous user of me, the system, and the previous master to Iron here. One difference though, Iron was living back then and your grandfather was more hesitant to speak with me compared to you. In fact he treated me as more an adviser for key decisions than a system since he wasn't familiar with video games. In fact in the end he decided to treat me as a second personality to himself and as his semblance. It was an interesting take on how I was treated, I guess in that regard both you and your grandfather are very similar! Hahah!~

Jaune was concentrated throughout that small recap and then glanced at Iron imagining him as human, then noted the size he had. "So my grandfather spoke to you more as a voice in his head, and for Iron he was alive back when my grandfather was alive? You weren't in this form? And similar in talking with you? Or do you mean similar in other ways?"

The system chuckles more at those last two questions while Iron takes up the speaking role next. "What the system means is that yes, your grandfather spoke to it as a voice in his head, and for me yes I was alive, in fact I am actually a Bison Faunus. Hence the horns on my helmet to allow me room for them under my helm. And yes similar in talking to the system, but also your introduction to it."

With a raised eyebrow Jaune stares at Iron for clarification before Iron drops the hilarious reveal, "Your grandfather thought he went crazy and fainted when the system designated him as the new user as well."

Jaune simply goes "Ah" in understanding while the system giggles more at that memory and how similar it was to Jaunes reaction to it for their first interaction. Jaune then blinks and realizes, "Wait! How did my Grandfather access the system in the first place? Did he also find the temple and not tell anyone? Or was it something different? And how important was he that he suddenly had a keep? You as a solider? And was sitting on a throne in this said keep?! I am missing so many details!"

~Well… to be honest… Your Grandfather did find the temple, but it was under a special circumstance. In fact I believe Iron can tell us how your grandfather came to the temple in the first place.~

Iron nods then closes his eyes before gazing at the ceiling, "Well it all began with a mission. Between myself, your Grandfather, and 6 other huntsmen and huntresses. It was a simple protection mission for a village. In fact at this time your Grandfather had more than 50 successful missions in a row by now and was known as the White Knight of the Arc clan. And he was being considered for a new title and a new personalized team by the council of vale soon. Until this mission happened. He and I were good friends from our time in Beacon together. Same team even. So it made sense for us to work together as we always have as the twin shields of the light."

– Flashback –

A man no more than 32 years old with an average blonde beard growing on his face, covering his upper lip and all around his mouth, stood smiling at the afternoon sun as he polished his prized possession. A long sword and shield called Crocea Mors. His pride and joy of a weapon, his father said it was from his father so it was a powerful legacy weapon that meant so much to all members of the arc clan as it was passed from son to son. His full plate armor glistened in the sun as he finished checking his gear and backpack of supplies for this new mission, a B ranked danger mission for at least 6 people to participate in. He stood tall and proud in his gear at a nice solid 6' 5" with a nice lean and powerful build to himself to keep himself, strong and flexible for missions.

He looked at his teammates, who were a mixture of Faunus and Humans and all of them looked to be tense but they knew each other from Beacon and were more than ready to work together to help protect this village from the horde of Grimm that were picked up by scanners 2 days ago. The horde numbered in the 100s and were a variety of Grimm all charging towards the village due to something attracting them. They were to provide protection while the civilians were to be evacuated. The local militia and soldiers were to be the wall defenders while the huntsmen team were to be protectors for each section of the weaker wall areas that had yet to be repaired from a previous Grimm attack be Beringals and large Deathstalkers.

With his teammates gearing up Auriville Arc was looking towards their ride to take them to the village before he is suddenly caught in a headlock from behind. Looking to his left he sees his longest friend from Beacon, Garret Ironhorn, in full armor beside him with his trusty hammer and shield on his back.

Garret was taller than Auriville at a solid 7ft even with a mountain of muscle. And his combat style used this to an effective degree. With shield and hammer in hand he has been the longest lasting shield brother to Auriville since their Beacon academy days. He is a Bison Faunus with a powerful semblance that has saved himself and his friend from many a dangerous situation. Much like Aurivilles semblance was able to. He grins widely at his old friend and simply says, "You ready for this my friend?! We will crush those Grimm under boot and protect the fair maidens of this village with our very lives! Still its interesting how headmaster Ozymandius has such a stake settled in this village to send not the minimum required huntsmen on this mission, but even two extras and even some spare soldiers."

Auriville had to nod to his friends words as he looked at the heavy combat Bullhead and sees a squad of 10 soldiers joining them for this mission to ensure the civilians had more than enough time to escape. Auriville puts his two cents in, "Aye but that just means he treasures those lives and souls that much. Which is one of the reasons I follow his lead so well and do any mission I can that allows us to save as many lives as possible! And I can't help but appreciate having you with me in every one of those missions my friend!"

Garret chuckles as he looks to the Bullhead and their members once more before grabbing his bag, "Hehe of course! We are brothers in all but blood! So tell me! How goes things with the wife? Didn't you get married about a year ago? Or am I remembering that wrong?"

Auriville chuckles as he says back, "You would forget! You were my best man! And you got so drunk we had to prop you across two benches at the reception! You could barely make it through your best man speech without crying from how drunk you already were! Hahahah!"

Garret rolls his eyes and in a good natured way smacks his hand on Aurivilles shoulder before addressing what was on his mind, "Yep I remember it barely, but I was going to ask how her pregnancy was going? She was 6 months along right?"

With a happy and proud smile Auriville grins at his friend and nods, "Indeed! And we are expecting a boy soon! Someone to carry on the Arc name!"

Garret chuckles as they get on the transport, "Of course you are excited for that! I can't wait to be the little ones uncle, and tell him all about the embarrassing training stories of his father at Beacon!"

Auriville playfully shoves his friend in their seats as they get locked in and prepare for lift off, it was going to be a stressful mission, but he knew it would be a great adventure with his friends by his side like always. As they flew off towards their mission area they were briefed by the lead soldier of the supporting squad on positions they will take and areas to pay close attention to. The whole team thought it would be a simple protection mission… Sadly it didn't turn out that way.

– Flashback Pause –

As Iron takes a break from regaling the System and Jaune with his recounting of that fateful mission he notices Jaune giving him a strange look, cocking an eyebrow he simply asks, "Yes?"

Jaune sputters out at that simple question, "YES?! Yes?! Well how about we talk about how you actually had a living life before I called your soul back as a soldier under my command! No! Even before that! And even before you were the dungeon boss for my class advancement quest! You were a real person who had a real life before all of this?!"

Iron shrugs his shoulders in indifference, "Why does that matter now? I enjoy where I am and I can serve my friends grandson in his continuing fight against the Darkness… What's there to complain about? Besides even if I take up my old name again, wouldn't I already be dead in the memories of any surviving family members by now? It has been more than 40-50 years now, I think I'm past the stage of 'I want to regain my body and life' and am now in the stage of 'Just glad to still be here and contributing to society' so it works out for me. Make sense?"

Jaune then simply shakes his head as he breathes in slowly and calms down over the course of 3 minutes as he asks with a quiet voice, "So… you don't have any regrets right now? Should I release your soul so you can rest after this story?"

Iron stands tall and grips Jaune forcefully by the shoulders, "Hey! Don't you start that releasing my soul talk! I am happy to be of use to the living people of the light here and now! So I will say it again! I am here to serve, and you are the master who I have chosen and recognized to be the one who holds my soul safely so I can continue to be of use to the people of this world! So don't you DARE release my soul from service so soon! I will remain here to help you in your fight against the Darkness that took my best friend and your grandfather away from me! Understood?"

Jaune nods slowly before shaking his head and nodding with more vigor and determination before both men sat down after calming down. They look at the System who was watching the whole interaction with rapt attention. It chuckles and simply says.

~Well said Iron, and well met Player Jaune! Always putting others needs above your own! You are certainly growing into an amazing young man with your mental growth showing amazingly well right now! But let us return to the story shall we? I want to know how Auriville came to the temple form a simple protection mission like what you are describing Iron.~

Iron nods then sighs as he gets comfortable once again and glances at the star filled ceiling of the keeps dome before recalling what happened once the mission started and the defense began. "Well we made it to the village, met the village head, got settled into the defenses and prepared our supplies and sleeping areas along the wall to help defend the village. It only had the bare bones level of defense since it was an outlying village with only a basic 9ft wall of iron, a few auto turrets that were about 5 years out of date, and a garrison of 15 trained soldiers and 25 volunteer militia men as well. With our team we swelled the defenders to 58 people defending a good sized village of 350 people. But that meant that the evacuation would still take a few hours to get them all out since the Bullhead transports we were given only seat up to about 20 people at a time plus bags. And we only had 3 transports. The nearest well defended town was about a 2 hour round trip, 1 to get there and 1 to get back. We had a lot of work on our shoulders, but we stood ready. Then it all went wrong only 3 hours after we settled into our rolls. In a way we never saw coming."

– Flashback Resumes –

Auriville was unpacking his gear at the spot of the wall he was given to guard with Iron prepping his sword and shield on his hip and making sure all of his armors fixing and straps were secure and not in danger of loosening in the middle of combat. He takes a deep breath in while glancing to the wall behind him. It had definitely seen better days with claw marks, dents, burn marks, and some hasty repairs being plainly seen across its surface.

Each huntsman and huntress had been assigned to similar places around the village while all the civilians had been sent to town hall for evacuation. He breathed out as he looked to the top of the wall and saw the 9 people who were manning the turrets and their heavy assault rifles for the point defense they would need to perform once the horde arrives. As Auriville stretches he hears a call coming in and sees Ozymandius calling on a video call. He picks it up as he begins to patrol his side of the wall, "Greetings headmaster! How are you?"

An elderly man in his late 60s shows up with a monocle, a full silver and gray beard, a bushy head of hair, and smiling eyes answers the call, but his voice sounds like a wise old British scholar. "Greetings Auriville, and what have I told you about still calling me Headmaster? I am no longer your teacher and you are no longer my personal student."

With a chuckle the proud Arc scratches the back of his head before glancing around while answering, "Well what can I say? After throwing me through how many walls during training… those habits kinda stick with you! Anyway I'm glad you called! I was about to update our situation as we have settled in and began the evacuation. Any news on the horde?"

Ozymandius suddenly widens his eyes and looks worried, "You weren't notified? Hmmm troubling." Auriville loses his friendly tone and his faces hardens into a serious business mode tone, "Notified of what sir?"

Ozymandius strokes his beard while pulling up a report on their shared call screen, "The horde that was nearing 800 strong has suddenly disappeared! The last traces of it were 10 miles form your position. And now they have all vanished! As if the ground just swallowed them up and ate them. However you must prepare yourself for an incoming earthquake. The geographers guild says it is coming in at close to 4.3 on the richter scale. So brace yourselves for a nasty shake."

Auriville begins to nod before he stops and thinks back to his lessons with the Grimm expert professor and an older Grimm text of forgotten Grimm and older legends. Shaking his head for a bit as he remembers his classes to think what the cause could be his eyes widen in horror as the ground begins to shake. He utters a single phrase, "Shadow Wurms!"

Ozymandius also Widens his eyes and immediately calls up the local soldiers to alert them to a Danger rank B+ Grimm coming towards them with a possible army on their tails. Auriville calls his friends and teammates to warn them as the ground shakes harder. He then turns his attention back to his old Headmaster while saying, "I hope you can get us some reinforcements or even a few more evac ships Oz cause we are going to need them soon!"

The older huntsman nods his head as he types furiously on his computer just off the call screen, "And you shall have them! I have input my personal command to all nearby Huntsman to rally to your location to help out with the defense and the evacuation emergency! Stand strong and protect the light! Ozymandius out!"

Auriville prepares his sword and shield as he rushes back to his section of the wall to see that the soldiers and militia men he was assigned are already pointing their weapons out towards the woods and ground around the wall. Standing strong Auriville prepares his interceptor stance where his shield is in front of his body, his head able to peer over the top edge, with his sword tilted down at an angle back and away from his body but ready to arc upwards to cleave through any foes from the ground to the tops of their heads.

The rumbling stops after 5 minutes of it growing in strength until the defenders had to brace themselves on the wall as it creaked and groaned beneath them while Auriville used his aura to grip the ground and keep himself rooted. The silence after the abrupt stop to the rumbling is intense and nerve wracking. Even the mighty Arc huntsman is unnerved at the sudden silence. Looking left to right he checks the surroundings until he remembers the way the Shadow Wurms travel and looks just 10 feet in front of him to see a large glowing red eye glaring at him. With a gasp of shock he barely leaps back as the Grimm bursts from the ground and tried to swallow him whole with its large 20wide gaping maw. It lands on the ground not 5ft from the wall only to be greeted with the defenders shooting at its eyes desperately trying to land a fatal hit.

In a surprise move the Shadow Wurm coveres its vulnerable eyes with bone plates and opens its maw wide enough to look like a mining tunnel, then bursting from its mouth come a horde of Grimm. Beowulves, Creepers, Borbatusks, and Ursas all come charging right for the wall. The defenders switch their aim to the oncoming Grimm as they crash into the wall with a gut wrenching crunch of metal and a very visible dent in the walls side. Right as the bear and boar Grimm rear back for a second strike they are all suddenly cut in half by an arcing blade of light as Auriville comes crashing past with his shield out front bashing and crushing the Grimms heads right and left. He lets loose another arcing blade of light cleaving through dozens of Grimm but still more emerge from the Shadow Wurms maw.

Looking at the cause of the attack the Arc Knight yells up to the defenders, "Cover me! Take out the Grimm in my way!" The soldiers nod and begin to snipe and spray and pray on the horde surrounding their position. Auriville uses this chance to charge both sword and shield with his semblance and charges through. He tears all the Grimm in front of him apart as they make contact with his armor and shield. Once he reaches the Wurm he raises his blade and lets loose a large crescent blade of aura light from his blade cutting the Grimm in half. And as it fades away the army that was using its tunnel passage falls with it as the tunnel the Wurm was supporting collapses on top of them underground.

With the army vanquished and a very visible divot in the ground spanning fro at least a mile the Arc turns around to see the remaining hundred or so Grimm that are shocked at his move. He charges in with the defenders helping to thin out their ranks. Within another 10 minutes the Grimm are wiped out and the huntsman wipes his now sweaty brow. He looks to the defenders to check on them, in response he gets a panicked thumbs up as the soldiers are reloading and prepping for a possible follow up wave.

Auriville now more at ease calls to check up on his fellows and gets reports that they managed to fight off the Shadow Wurms with some difficulty but they managed to route the Grimm with only 1 or 2 soldiers and militia men having been lost from unlucky tumbles over the wall into the Grimm hordes.

With an understanding nod of sadness for the lost defenders Auriville prepares to order the remaining protectors for preparing for a possible second wave only for his order to be lost as the ground erupts with Wurms spanning the full length of the wall. Stunned Auriville doesn't have any time to prepare his signature aura blade attack as the massive Grimms use their momentum to crash into and break through the damaged walls the previous wave had prepared for them.

The huntsmen and huntresses all panic and rush to intercept the maws while the defenders use their remaining foot space on the walls to try and thin out the emerging hordes of Grimm. Auriville yells out across the comms, "BREACH! INTERCEPT AS MANY AS YOU CAN AND PROTECT THE EVACUATION SITE!"

Soon a battle for the very village was on.

– Flashback Pauses –

Jaune was stunned at the odds his Grandfather and his new soldier Iron were facing as he asked, "So these old forgotten Grimm became the main enemy for this mission? And with them the Grimm successfully invaded the town?"

Iron nods sadly, before he squares his face and answers with a melancholy yet also fond tone, "Indeed, and we fought as hard as we could, but even a Hunters stamina, while impressive will eventually putter out. We fought for nearly 3 hours, and even once Ozymandius's reinforcements came with drop pods to aid in the efforts boosting our numbers by 10 Hunters and 40 soldiers, we were still hard pressed. It became like those stories from the great war. We had a circle of defenders protecting the evac site but as we lost people and ground we found ourselves barely 4 blocks from the evac site within 2 hours of that formation. And your grandfather did something only an Arc would think to do to aid in our time of need once he saw a fresh wave of Grimm coming in from the woods and over the wrecked walls."

Jaune thought it over but came to an epiphany from what he also did for his friends, "He led the new wave away all by himself didn't he? Just like I did for my friends in the temple… Right?"

The system nods in appreciation and Iron nods sadly but happily that Jaune realized just how alike he and his grandfather were, "Correct, and it is at this point where I can't fill more of the story, it is now the systems turn. System? Mind filling us in from here?"

The system nods and begins, ~Of course, my spirit that resided in the temple was made aware of the Grimm scrounging around the area trying to break in due to them not liking the pure light energy of the souls of past warriors leaking out and protecting the temples ruins. That is when I sensed your grandfather come rushing in and decimating the Grimm scouts. When he defeated them I figured I better open the door to let this brave warrior in. As in its hayday the temple was home to all manner of warriors who wanted blessings from the one who made it in the first place. He rushed in and well...~

– Flashback Resumes –

Auriville panted harshly as he ran through the woods. He had been running for hours it seemed, but thanks to the time he could see on his watch it had only been 30 minutes. He had fought through the horde that came during their defense and lead the remaining second horde away from the village. He was down to barely 20% aura left and his body was exhausted and his semblance would only allow him one more use. He burst through the last of the trees as he heard the horde coming up behind him. As he came through the trees he sees a ruined temple with a few Beowulves and Ursas milling around the site as if searching for something.

With a grunt Auriville charges his sword with energy and slashes it outwards from his blade cutting through the Grimm around the site. He gasps to try and quickly recover from the burst of Aura use. But before he could the first of the horde behind him caught up with a Beringal Grimm bursting through the woods. He pivoted and charged his sword with his aura as the first fist was thrown. The fist met the blade but seemed to melt around the edge of the sword as Auriville cut right through the Beringals arm from knuckles to shoulder as he completed the counter slash and cleaved through the Grimms body all the way through.

The Beringal dissipates as the huntsman completes his slash and notices an entrance to the inside of the ruins up ahead that is opening up for him. He grunts again as the horde is sounding like it is approaching once more. With a second wind he didn't know he had Auriville charges like a mad man as the entrance finishes opening for him.

He dives inside and finds the open temple floor with the murals and old altars with warrior depictions all over including old offerings of weapons and armor on the old altars. He glares back at the entrance as the horde of close to 500 Grimm come rushing towards the door. But the moment they reach it there is suddenly a blue aura barrier that disintegrates the Grimm that touch it. It fluctuates but keeps steady for now after 30 Grimm die to it. The rest of the horde pause and wait to see if the barrier will wane so they can get to the annoying huntsman inside.

Auriville slumps to his knees in relief from seeing the barrier come out, but right after he lets out a sigh of relief and slumps to his knees he hears a small voice whispering to him to come to the lower floors.

He walks almost in a trance, walking on automatic while still being aware of his surroundings to see the temple in its entirety. But once he reaches the inner chamber he finds a pulse of energy greetings him and replenishing his aura reserves. Auriville gasps in the feeling as it washes over him and surges within him. He looks around and realizes that the writing was ancient latin and the forgotten language of magic his grandfather had told him about and that he had a few lessons in.

Looking through what he could decipher, he figures out this chamber is called the chamber of the Monarch, this place is the inheritor chamber, and that the fight against the Monarch of Darkness must continue. The rest if gibberish to him. Auriville couldn't help but think back to his grandfather after being able to read these runes and ancient language, Grandfather, is this why you said it would come in handy so might as well learn this just in case I would need it? Man I owe grandfather an apology if I survive this for laughing at his phrase of 'every skill may have a use so might as well learn as many skills as you can', you really don't know when a skill will be handy.

He looks to the center pedestal and approaches once more in the semi trance state. Once he reaches it he sees the indentation in the tops that shows a blade of some kind should be slotted into it. After seeing this he does his best to channel aura into his blade and prepares to fit it into the slot. Fitting his sword into the pedestal he feels a surge of that same power that healed him coming through the connection point for him and the temple with his sword being the bridge.

He soon hears, ~New inheritor recognized. Registering user of System. Welcome Auriville Arc and congratulations for being the newest of the Arc line who are the chosen champions of the Monarch of Light. Good to meet one who can become the newest champion. I look forward to working with you to try and fight back against the darkness that is the Grimm… And he is out cold.~

Right after the system had gotten past the newest champion line Auriville couldn't take the new information or the new surge of aura overloading his body and mind before passing out from both exhaustion and idsbelief.

The system awkwardly waits for him as it ponders, ~Soooo… should I maybe wait for him? Or do something different? Decisions decisions.~

– Flashback Pause –

Jaune looks at the System in an 'Are you serious?' look. The system siply nods and goes on to continue the story.

~Your grandfather woke up about 30 minutes later after he recovered and I proceeded to explain to him my powers, but since he didn't know a thing about videogames I simply explained my ability to grow his abilities similar to a computer update, like how you can see your aura bar numbers grow from training. He understood and proceeded to familiarize himself with his stats and his skills that I helped him see fully. And soon we had a friendship growing. But after I explained to him all that information I felt the barrier at the entrance fading so we went out to confront the Grimm horde.~

Jaune ponders that info but then catches something from the story, "Wait so my family line has been the preferred inheritors for the Monarch of Light all this time? And are these Monarchs anything like the twin bother gods of Light and Dark? Cause if they are I have a pile of other questions."

The System and Iron look to each other before the System takes up this part of the explanation, ~Indeed, you see Jaune when the original Monarch of Light came to this world it was due to a war between opposing factions in his home world. The Monarch of Light and Darkness were fighting and got sucked up into a worm hole due to their powers clashing without limit. But when they came to this world they met the brother gods, and the brothers didn't like the similarities between themselves and the Monarchs and thus sealed them into a spiritual version of their original selves. The Monarch of Darkness quickly found a host in the one who has been his holder for centuries at this point. And the Monarch of Light became a champion to the people giving them the gift of Aura.~

Jaune can't help but be shocked along with Iron at this point. Iron quickly speaks up, "Wait I never heard this part of the story before! We were given the power of Aura through the Monarch of Light in the past?"

Jaune mirrors Irons remark in his own way, "And he has been fighting the Monarch of Darkness all this time? Champion to champion? Host to host?"

The System nods to them and continues its explanation, ~Indeed, after all Aura is just another version of light with it being the light of the soul hardened into something physical outside the bodies confines. As the generations past he gained the peoples trust as each generations champion and soon the Monarch of Light had an army under him again through many efforts on his part to gather allies through the years and they banded together against the Darkness. But the Monarch of Darkness wasn't idle, besides gathering the Grimm as their forces they also gathered those with corrupt morals, ideals, and souls seeped in darkness. They fought long and hard and were known as the first great war. But as with any historical recalling the war was rewritten by the darkness's forces to be between Faunus and Humans to stir up feelings of distrust and lack of cohesion so they wouldn't band together against the Darkness again. The Monarch of Light tried to do his best to fight back and gain their trust but each time he could only do so much and could only gain allies bit by bit per generation to make an effort to stall for time. And then it happened. He found a surprising fact out about this world.~

Jaune and Iron looked to each other confused, "What was this surprising fact? Did he find another Monarch soul here?"

The System nodded to that lucky guess as Jaune and Iron both looked shocked. Jaune couldn't help but exclaim, "WHO!?"

~The Monarch of Magic had managed to come to this world before with the Monarch of Light or Darkness. However there was a complication by them. The Monarch of Magic had adapted to this world and became a human fully just with his memories and magic potential. By the time the Monarch of lights later champions found him the Magic had divided his mystical energies around and accidentally weakened himself to the level of a Monarchs Commander. He wasn't much help but he did what he could to aid the Monarch of Light. It still wasn't enough. But with your grandfather, he was an amazing host and Champion to my powers and the powers of the Monarch of Light. In fact...~

– Flashback Resumes –

Auriville stood at the entrance as the barrier was beginning to fade right as he charged up his new skills and abilities to prepare for the fight ahead. The Grimm sensed his new power and backed away from the doorway in fear at the overwhelming power of light coming from one human. Opening his eyes Auriville had the wisps of white light coming his eyes much like Jaune did when he revived Iron and used his newfound power to charge into and burst his aura like a bomb among the Grimm. He eradicated them with a few more moves and looked around while marveling at his newfound powers in awe. The Grimm were decimated and he had new points to put into his growth. He applied the points as directed by the System and rushed back with his new speed to the village to aid his allies.

He arrived right as his remaining allies were only a block from the evacuation site with still at least 100 civilians still there screaming in fear as the encroaching horde had only thinned out by a little. With his new energies surging Auriville leaped up and came crashing down into the thickest part of the horde wiping out at least 150 of them Grimm in one move. The Dark forces all turned to him in fear as he burst out his full powers at that time and came crashing right through them all. As Auriville did he unleashed all the skills he had suddenly learned to make sure they stood a 100% chance of fighting off the Grimm. He pulsed out the roar skill to weaken them, and the aura of team skill to boost himself and his allies. The Defenders found they had gained a second wind as the skill washed over them and empowered their tired bodies.They all yelled a battle cry and rushed to join Auriville to push the Grimm back. With a large rush of effort they fought off the Grimm and were able to relax and celebrate once the last of the Grimm had poofed into black particles. But as they celebrated Auriville felt the full force of the drain on him that came with using too much power too soon. He collapsed and went unconscious from the strain and was brought for healing with many civilians and defenders who were injured in this battle.

He woke in a hospital specialized in caring for wounded huntsmen and found he was out for a week. Soon he was recovered and called to Ozymandius to check in with him and get a full mission debriefing. He told Ozymandius everything, even his new powers as the vessel champion for the Monarch of Light. Once he mentioned and explained that part Ozymandius stiffened and nodded before bowing respectfully and revealed he was the current holder of the remaining Monarch of Magics power. His powers were diminishing with every generation after he became a full human and gave huge parts of his powers to his 4 daughters but he was still willing to fight and help against the Darkness.

With both of them together they gathered an army to gain ground against Salem and try to expand the kingdoms. To aid in their efforts to gain this army and gain the trust of the other kingdoms for these plans of the future, Ozymandius gathered the 4 Headmasters of each major academy of Hunters and had them agree to call Auriville Arc the newest Grand Huntsman of the 4 Kingdoms. And with the leaders backing this claim no one argued against them for this title to be granted to one as powerful as the current Arc Patriarch. Their plan for expansion was complicated and simple at the same time, they went kingdom by kingdom. First was Mount Glenn, then the tundra of Atlas, and then the oasis locations throughout the deserts of Menagerie. They gained allies and ground and within a decade they had this keep in the northern deserts to prepare to launch a devastating blow against the Darkness. But the Grimm Monarch had spies even in their ranks, within a month the allied forces of the kingdoms were at each others throats and the keep lost its support and cohesion, and it was at this moment when the Grimm stuck everywhere. The keep of the United Kingdoms was lost first, then came the Oasis hubs, then the Tundra Towns of Atlas, and finally Mount Glenn. One by one they lost people and locations, and their support.

After losing 80% of their forces form the surprise horde attack and the bast stabbing Auriville decided to use the last of his forces in a desperate bid to try and at least deal a devastating enough blow against the Monarch of Darkness to force them to delay their take over efforts for at least half a century.

With a mighty effort and a great sacrifice Auriville stopped them. But he would not survive to continue to defend the people and be there for them when they needed him. But in his sacrifice and the sacrifice of his army they succeeded in stopping the Darkness for the next 40 years. And now…

– Flashback End –

~The war is back again, and you are the new rising Champion for the people of this Generation. Much like your grandfather… Do you have anything else to ask us?~

The system and Iron both look with wariness at Jaune as he remains quiet for a while after the story is done, and his hair is covering his eyes from their current angle of view.

Then they heard a sniff and Jaune looks up with tears in his eyes as he cried softly, "He… He was a true Knight until the end… I am sad he isn't here… But I am happy for what he did for everyone of this world… Now I have a responsibility to continue his work! I will beat this darkness! Will you both help me?"

Iron and System look to each other before grinning and looking to their new Inheritor and nodding as they switch to a kneeling position. "We shall endeavor to serve you until our lives end my master!"

~We will be here for you until the end of this war or until my exsistence is gone and the Darkness consumes all!~

Jaune looks at them stunned before placing his hands together in a prayer position while breathing in and then chopping down with them while giving them a, 'what?' look, "Okay I appreciate the loyalty, but lets keep it positive and try to win before we talk about doing this until our lives are snuffed out and we lose… Okay?"

With a chuckle from both System and Spirit Jaune realizes they just wanted a unique reaction out of him before they both disappear until theyare needed again.

Jaune stands and finds the notification ready for him asking if he would like to exit the dungeon. He looks around then gazes at the throne his grandfather had been in once upon a time before scoffing and turning back to the message, "Yeah I am going to do things better than before. We will do our best with what we have and build up our forces slowly. Otherwise we will just fall apart at the end again like with my grandfather."

With a final glance around the keep Jaune nods to himself as he tears up at thinking how his grandfather must have felt so accomplished before it all fell apart right before the finish line when he was prepared to fight off the Monarch of Darkness.

He clicked 'Yes' and then got teleported back to the alleyway where he began this mission back to back. He breaths in the fresh air before looking at the sky to notice how it is covered in stars, and the broken moon is out. Seeing the night sky he gulps before noticing the time has gotten past 10pm now. He checks the bullhead schedule to go back to Beacon and sees the first one available will be at 9am. So he books the first 10:30am so he can keep his cover story and shoots a text to all of his friends that his sister invited him to spend the night to keep them from worrying about him and to assuage their texts they have sent him when he noticed he missed close to 20 texts from Weiss, 25 from Pyrrha, 18 from Yang and 22 from Velvet and an average of 12 from the rest of his friends. All of them being around the subject of his well being, his health, how things are going, is he reconnecting well, and have you told her about us. Manners of those subjects and others all coming to him making him smile softly to himself as he was walking to a nearby Motel.

After messaging each friend letting them know the cover story of him being at his sisters house tonight and how he was going to let them know about the 'adventures' he had tomorrow. He walks to the Motel counter and checks into a small one bed room with a standing shower for a small 70 Lien for the night. He goes to the room to rest up and does some pre-sleep stretches before hunkering down for the night to sleep and dream of what he plans to do to protect his friends and family to defeat the Darkness and save the world.

With a smile on his face he drifts off to sleep while Iron and the System watch their young Champion dream.

"So you think he will be the one? He and his grandfather are similar… but also different. I worry that he might meet the same fate as my old friend."

~Hehe he has the power, and potential to win this war, trust me he may still seem young and inexperienced but he has heart, soul, and a will to live and win, he will help guide his friends to the winning path at this rate and help them do what they can to beat back the one we have been battling.~

"Are you sure she is still the host? It has been thousands of years… She may have been given up for a better host by now."

~Trust me, my master who made me has sensed that she is still the one as the vessel, but we must prepare Jaune she has new chosen champions to do her bidding, while Jaune and his friends have the potential to match them, they are not yet ready to do so. We must prepare them as best we can for it. Are you with my my friend?~

Iron grins at him seeing a glimmer of true hope reach its way back into his gaze as he goes, "To the Death my new friend. Let us help them reach the end of this ongoing war. So that we may all finally rest at ease and in peace."

~Took the words out of my mouth. But for now let him sleep, he has much more growing to do and this upcoming school year will help his friends and himself grow much more than any of them expect.~