161

Chapter 161:

Ruby frowned as she faced Jester. She was doing her best to hide it. However, she couldn't quite conceal the fact that her arms and legs were trembling, not from nerves, but from plain fatigue. Fighting Salem had taken far more out of her than she would have liked.

Naturally, her opponent didn't fail to notice. "Looking a little ragged there," he pointed out.

Ruby kept her mouth shut.

Jester sighed. "Well, I guess that's part and parcel to you being new to god-slaying techniques. Your fight with Adam was enough to awaken your awareness…but you can't reach that point at will yet. You had to let Salem push you all the way into the corner, before you managed it again. And now…you've got almost nothing left in the tank."

"I guess…" Ruby admitted, smiling wryly. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to put this off until I can get back into fighting shape."

Jester looked to be considering it seriously for all of a moment, before sighing. "Nah…my patience has pretty much run out at this point. Besides…" He fixed her with a fierce grin. "Even driven into a corner like you were, even though it was enough for Salem…It wasn't enough for me. That tells me that simply letting this go on won't bring you where I need you to be. If anything…I need to push you even closer to the edge...and it looks like we're off to a good start."

"Huh...?" Ruby blinked.

Then she heard the sounds of battle behind her, not immediately behind her, but farther. Glancing over her shoulder, her eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

The Grimm had reached Vale. She could hear their roars, see the explosions of Dust munitions and Manifestation powers in the distance. While she had been fighting Salem, the Grimm had been continuing on. And, just because Salem was gone, it didn't mean that the Grimm vanished along with her. Now they were pressing in on Vale. Faced with the fear of impending invasion, the negative feelings of the people within were continuing to draw the Grimm, inciting them to attack, even without Salem's direction. It seemed that not even Makoto's presence could fully deter them.

"Boy, Salem sure built up a lot of Grimm for this shindig. Even with the Goyosei and one of the Taishiro there, holding the line ain't gonna be easy. Sometimes quantity is a quality all its own, am I right?"

Ruby swallowed. She could imagine, in her mind's eye, the sea of Grimm sweeping around the Kingdom. Sure, the Goyosei and Makoto were the kind of warriors who had elevated their skills to the level where numbers had little meaning, but that was generally referred in human parlance, in the movement of armies. What Salem had brought to Vale wasn't an army. It was a black tide sweeping across the land, a tide that was now threatening to break over Vale and swallow it from existence.

"But still...if it's those guys, I could see 'em holding out," continued Jester. "And that sister of yours is probably working on getting Kyo back on his feet as we speak. If he comes to, then the Grimm'll probably just scatter like rats, which won't be worth my while."

Ruby disagreed. While it might save Vale, if a hoard of Grimm that size broke up and spread across the countryside, even if each herd or pack was a fraction of the total, they would be enough to overwhelm the defenses of virtually any settlement they ran across, settlements whose inhabitants were probably wrestling with plenty of negative emotions themselves, as many of them had undoubtedly borne witness to the revelations that Jester had used Jinn to unleash the previous night.

Jester seemed not to care, pressing onwards. "That being the case...let's up the ante a little."

He raised his right index finger, a spot of black hovering over it. With a flick, he directed the spot, which flew away from his finger and in an arc towards Vale.

"No!" exclaimed Ruby, turning to try and cut it down, only to falter as her trembling legs threatened to give way beneath her, her fingers slipping on her sword's handle as she tried to pull it out of its sheath. Forget fighting, she barely had the strength to stand at this point.

The orb floated up in a lazy arc, disappearing into the distance. Ruby knew that that arc was carrying it into the skies above Vale. Even though it had been small, she could feel the pure menace contained within that tiny orb, dwarfing its apparent size by an order of magnitude.

"That was a nice mini black hole," said Jester. "But...as it feeds, it's gonna grow stronger and stronger...until it's big enough to swallow that poor little Kingdom below. It won't even have to wait until it's big enough to reach the ground. In less than ten minutes, it's gonna have enough power to start vacuuming up everything that ain't nailed down...and in fifteen, it'll suck up everything that is. After that...who knows what's gonna happen."

Ruby shivered, turning back to Jester, her eyes narrowing.

"Now then...tick tock..." Jester grinned. "What are you gonna do, Ruby Rose? Will you sit back and watch your Kingdom get swallowed into oblivion...or will you push through this crisis, and come out the other side."

"Definitely the latter," declared Ruby, injecting more confidence than she actually felt into her voice.

Jester cackled. "That's my hope. You're my last chance at a proper death, brat. Don't screw this up."

He held out his right hand. With a poof, like the kind a cartoon magician would perform, he conjured a sword, a basic katana, in his hand. Its rectangular guard was decorated with star-shaped cutouts, but that was about the only remarkable thing about it. It didn't even really seem like something on the level of what Muramasa or Murasame had forged. However, in Jester's hand, the mere presence of something like an actual weapon only seemed to magnify his danger tenfold.

Behind Ruby, Jaune moved to stand beside Miyu, who was lingering near the unconscious Oscar. "You think you can manage one last boost?" he asked her softly.

"I don't have much left," Miyu admitted. "I could supplement Ruby-chan's Aura a little...but not enough to make a difference."

Jaune gave her a sly smile. "What if she's not the one you'd be supporting?"

"What?" grunted Miyu, looking up at him in confusion.

"I've got a plan..." said Jaune.

Meanwhile, Ruby took a staggering step forward. Her trembling left hand moved to grasp Akaibara's handle once more, the sword rattling as it left its sheath. Ruby lifted the blade up, leveling it at Jester, her arm seeming to strain from the effort.

"It's a pity that fight with Salem took so much out of you," he commented. "Still...when you've got nothing left, and everything to lose, that's when you see things so much clearer."

Suddenly, he was standing directly in front of Ruby, practically inches away. Ruby's eyes widened, the realization striking her that he had used his gravity to condense the distance between them, just as he'd demonstrated when toying with the Goyosei. His sword twitched, and Ruby's eyes caught a glitter of light reflected off its flat.

Her body was already moving of its own volition. Her energy was so low that it wasn't an active attempt at a dodge, but more of a guided collapse. She acted according to the sense of Jester's motion. If she waited until he was already moving, then she was as good as dead. She didn't have enough energy to move her body the way she wanted. So she simply relaxed and allowed her opponent to move her instead. Fluttering and swaying, like a piece of windblown paper, she allowed the "wind" of Jester's attacks to push her aside, her body bending and flickering in time with Jester's movements.

Even as she dodged, Ruby moved to counter. It had taken all her remaining strength just to lift Akaibara with her arm. Swinging it was out of the question...that is, if she relied upon her arm-strength alone. However, since the very beginning of her training in swordsmanship, Ruby had learned to channel the strength of her body into her strikes. What followed was a natural extension of that principle. Twisting her waist, she used the movement of her upper body to move her shoulder, which in turn sent the movement continuing down the length of her arm, an almost whiplike motion, which allowed her to lash out with her sword, swinging it up and across at Jester's torso.

"Ha!" With that barked laugh, Jester allowed Ruby's blade to cut across his front. However, the tip of Ruby's sword seemed to shrink, compacting down until it was just barely too short to reach his body.

Not like that... thought Ruby, barely conscious at this point. She caught the glint of light off Jester's sword with her eyes again, sensing his next attack coming. This time, she was beset by the feeling that merely trying to dodge by relaxing her body wouldn't be enough. Jester was using his Manifestation again, this time using gravity to condense his time, which would allow him to strike within the space of an instant, while Ruby had no hope of moving within the same time to dodge. Mere speed wouldn't be enough to match that kind of ability.

Even if it was just for the tiniest fraction between two seconds, she needed to be faster. Thinking about it was too hard. However, somehow, Ruby's body and Aura understood what she needed. What little Aura remained she automatically used to accelerate her movements. It didn't have to be long. Even if it was for the tiniest of instants, Ruby needed to use her Aura to accelerate to a level beyond speed, reaching the point where her mind and body seemed to come apart. To those watching, Ruby's form seemed to break apart into red petals, countless streaks of light cutting through them, before suddenly reforming back into her.

"Oooh! Well done!" crowed Jester.

Once again, Ruby twisted her body to slash at him, her sword arm lashing up at him like a whip. She remembered what Taihaku had said, how he'd broken through the barrier of compressed space that Jester used to make almost every attack against him fall short. Her remaining pool of Aura, already low from her fight with Salem, had been drained even further by her desperate dodge. Now she allowed what little remained to Flow down the length of her sword, accumulating a the very tip, where it merged with the Aura that Akaibara herself possessed. It was like the twinkling of a star at the tip of the blade, leaving a thin line of light in the wake of the blade's swing. However, the space between Ruby and Jester was parted by that streak of light, the tip continuing on to cut into Jester's chest.

In a flash, Jester's body was split in two, his head and shoulders flying off. Even his arms had been severed at the elbows. However, as the light from Ruby's Aura faded, the severed portions of Jester's body simply rejoined the rest, everything becoming whole again in a flash.

"Not bad, but not good enough!" he teased.

Ruby didn't even have the energy left to feel frustrated at how futile it all seemed. Rather, everything had a strange, almost surreal, feeling to it. Ruby felt as though she was moving within a dream. With each move she made, her body felt lighter, more insubstantial, as though she was little more than a wisp of cloud on the breeze. Even if she'd been conscious enough to continue thinking, the fight had already surpassed the level of conscious thought. With her Aura dwindling, her will automatically reached out to the One, beckoning it down into her sword.

Directed by the movement of her blade, the thinnest bolt of lightning, almost like the strand of a spider's web descending from the heavens, flickered down. With a flash, Jester's body was bisected from top to bottom, a surprised gape marking his divided face. However, he returned to normal just as quickly as before.

His sword flickered at her again, and Ruby matched its movements with her own. In place of her failing strength, she called the lightning into her body, using it to contract her muscles for her. At the same time, she again called upon the tiny fragment of Aura she had remaining, supplementing it with the power of the One, using it to accelerate again, attaining speed beyond speed. The flickers of Ruby's sword matched those of Jester's, her movements matching his, gently directing his slashes away from her body where she could. Where she couldn't, she accelerated the movement of her body, until it came apart again, leaving Jester with nothing to cut.

All of this was taking place within a flickering and flashing blur, the movements of the two fighters beyond the comprehension of those observing from the outside. The sheer speed of their moves was such that it was almost impossible to conceive the power that was going into them. Then, at one point, the tip of Jester's sword scraped the ground, producing a blade-like shockwave that split the land in a line for hundreds of meters. One of Ruby's slashes produced a string-thin line of light that extended out in an arc through the sky, cleaving through the clouds above, and splitting a massive Nevermore passing overhead in two. As their fight continued, their attacks began to alter the very landscape around them.

The sky above Vale was dotted with clouds. They were nothing like the storm clouds that now circled perpetually above Ruby's battle with Jester. They were white and puffy, the hallmarks of what would have been a fine day. However, the sky beyond Vale was filled with horror, flocks of flying Grimm looking like swarming insects from a distance. With the threat they represented, it was all too easy to overlook a very different threat that was taking shape in the skies directly above the Kingdom. The clouds were beginning to converge inwards, circling like water flowing down a drain. In the center of that circle...a tiny speck of black was becoming visible...and gradually growing larger...

The citizens were first to notice. The defenders had their eyes focused outwards, so they weren't immediately aware of what was taking place in the skies behind their defensive line. However, it didn't take long for someone to realize the strange behavior of the clouds over the skies of Vale. Once someone did notice, word spread quickly.

It was the kind of news that could be a critical disruption to the defenders. They were already facing down a living tide of Grimm. Finding out that something was amiss behind them was a surefire way to disrupt the defenders' cohesion and distract them, allowing them to be overrun. Only the furious efforts of the Goyosei managed to keep the flow of attacking Grimm down enough that the soldiers, Huntsmen, and Huntresses manning the walls were able to afford being distracted by some strange phenomenon taking place in the skies of Vale.

Ironwood took up a pair of binoculars, examining the black sphere slowly growing over the center of the Kingdom. "Jester's doing," he guessed.

"Without question," agreed Makoto, standing beside him. While Makoto's power as a fighter surpassed even that of the Goyosei, he was currently standing in reserve in the back line, with the other defenders. This allowed him to work as a healer, while simultaneously being in a position to provide backup to any point of the defensive line that looked to be in danger of folding. However, from the look of things, that was the least of their concerns.

"What is it?" asked Ironwood.

"A singularity," said Makoto. "In the Mumyo Dai'On Ryu, such techniques are in the highest tier. More often than not, they are a set size and power. But this one is growing stronger with each passing minute. If we leave it be, it might well consume all of Vale…and more…"

Ironwood grit his teeth. "Is there nothing we can do about it?"

"Conventional weapons would merely be consumed by it," said Makoto. "Rather than an object, that technique produces what might be called a 'negative space' that consumes matter. From a purely physical perspective, there is nothing there to attack."

"Then how?" asked Ironwood.

Makoto's hand went to the handle of his sword, the curved blade whispering out of its sheath. "From a physical perspective, it cannot be destroyed. However, it is a construct of Aura. if you can destroy the Aura Manifesting that singularity, then you can eliminate it. However...please do not have have too high an expectation."

Ironwood turned to ask Makoto what he was asking about only to find himself gaping as Makoto drew his sword across the side of his abdomen, cutting through his kimono and into his own flesh. Blood began to rapidly spill out, dying the cloth around the wound a dull-red color. The blood itself flowed in a strangely unnatural manner, running up the length of the blade and coating it in a sheath of pure red. Strangely, the blood flowing from the wound abruptly stopped.

Meanwhile, Makoto raised his sword over his head. "Kuraokami!"

The blood coating his sword exploded upward, mingling with the water that Makoto conjured with his Aura. Together, they mingled to form a spiraling spout of blue and red, which manifested into the form of an enormous dragon, its azure jaws lined with bloody fangs, opening wide as it lunged for the sphere of Jester's attack. The dragon's maw was so large that it was easily able to swallow the orb whole.

However, after just a few seconds, the water and blood making up the dragon quivered, then the entire construct collapsed inward, swirling like water running down a drain. In the center, Jester's singularity remained, consuming the water and blood, the stream that had connected the dragon to Makoto's sword being drawn in as well. With a grunt of exertion, Makoto broke the connection, allowing the liquid to be drawn up into the sphere, before he collapsed to his knees.

"What happened?" asked Ironwood.

"I wasn't able to destroy it," said Makoto, panting for breath. "Simply trying nearly killed me."

"Wounding yourself like that was not a good idea," chastised Ironwood.

Makoto shook his head. "The wound was no trouble. I am able to crystalize the blood to stop the bleeding. However, upon making contact with Jester's technique, it simply swallowed everything. If I hadn't broken it off, it would have ripped the life from my body, even from all the way up there."

Ironwood went pale, then stared up at the sphere again, which was undeniably larger than before, and still growing.

"I am afraid that thing is beyond my power," said Makoto.

"What do we do?" asked Ironwood.

"At this point, we can only wait, and have faith in Ruby-chan and her friends," said Makoto, forcing himself to his feet. "Jester likely did this to put more pressure on her, to increase the chances of her producing a result that will defy all expectation. Right now, the only hope that we have is that she will deliver."

"Ms. Rose has already come through for us many times before," said Ironwood, turning to gaze out over the battle, and towards the area where Salem's massive whale-Grimm had gone down, "that does not mean that I enjoy leaving things to her and her friends every time."

"And yet...we have little choice in the matter," said Makoto with a heavy sigh. "Even if all the Elders and the Crimson King himself gathered, we could not stop that thing."

"Then what hope does Ruby Rose have?"

"She has a very special confluence of circumstances, a unique combination of lineage and training, a combination that might well be the key to Jester's undoing. We are not the only ones who think this. Jester himself clearly believes that Ruby-chan holds the key to his death."

"So all we can do is hope..." grumbled Ironwood, staring out past the black sea of Grimm, looking for any sign that the real battle was nearing its end.

Everything around Ruby had faded into a blur. She couldn't even consciously register the input of her own senses. Her body felt so light that she thought she might just float away. Yet, strangely, she couldn't quite call this lack of sensation numbness. With each passing second, the world seemed to recede further and further away. It was getting to the point where she was having a hard time remembering what she was even doing.

Despite that, she could feel her awareness spreading out wider than she ever remembered being capable of. As her senses encountered the presence of the one she was fighting, Ruby finally got a true sense of Jester's nature.

Against Salem, Ruby had managed to comprehend the truth of her nature, finding the Root of her existence, and striking specifically at that. That was what had allowed her to kill the un-killable. She imagined that the True Mibu, like Kyo, or the Brother Gods for that matter, had a similar nature, an existence that would not end, unless she targeted the Root. However, Jester had no such Root. It was hard to comprehend consciously. Jester was in this world, able to act upon it, able to shape it or destroy it. Yet he had no tie to bind him to it. He simply was. Therefore, killing him required something else, something beyond that which could slay a god.

It would have been hard for her to put into words. She needed something that could end an existence, that could essentially erase the utter concept of her target. But being capable of that demanded something more than her Aura, even more than the strange power that she had apparently inherited from the God of Light. To end the existence of Jester...what was required was not gaining something...but giving something away. To destroy an existence...an existence would have to be given up.

Killing Jester for good required something more than a new pinnacle of strength, something more than a new technique. Killing him would require a sacrifice, the sacrifice of a life. Within her heart, Ruby was already beginning to settle upon exactly what kind of sacrifice she needed to make.

At that moment, a sharp stinging sensation erupted from the palm of her hand, racing up her arm, like countless red-hot barbs digging into the muscles beneath. The sensation of pain was so intense that Ruby found herself snapping all the way back to reality, as though being pulled out of her semi-unconscious state by a thorny grip. Her anxiety skyrocketed as she dreaded what would happen if she was forced to consciously try to keep up with Jester in her current state. However...it seemed as though her consciousness was being dragged somewhere else entirely.

To the eyes of Ruby's friends, the fight suddenly seemed to come to a complete stop. Ruby pitched forward, her eyes blank and glassy. She was no longer attacking, defending, or dodging. Suddenly, she just...dropped. Everyone found themselves gaping. Even Jester paused, not bothering to capitalize on the sudden opening, instead watching Ruby fall towards the ground with a slightly befuddled look on his face.

"Well...that's an odd wrinkle," he commented. "Still...just don't think you two can take your time and chat in front of me." He raised his sword.

The blade froze in place, seized by a field of black energy as Pyrrha clamped down on it with all the strength her Semblance possessed. Weiss shot forward, propelled by a Glyph, accompanied by Yang and Nora. Even as Jester quickly wrenched back control of his weapon, they were upon him, swinging their own weapons.

"Not good enough," commented Jester, before tilting his head. "Huh...?"

Weiss' rapier slashed across his chest. Then Nora's hammer slammed into his stomach, causing him to double over, right into Yang's fist. The impact of Yang's attack sent him flying away from Ruby.

"Hurry!" shouted Jaune, rushing to Ruby's side, Miyu following alongside him, as most of the rest of their friends gave chase to Jester.

For his part, despite the hits he'd just taken, Jester didn't seem all that bothered. His flight abruptly stopped. Then his body righted itself without any movement on his part. "Well that was-" he began to comment, before Piper's orbs slammed into his body in multiple places, knocking him about. Before he could recover, Penny descended on him from above, her blades deployed in two lines which she brought about in a series of cross-shaped slashes, staggering the man further. Rain was next, his shield hammering Jester in the small of the back, sending him flying towards Ciel, who slashed at him with the glowing-red blade of her pata-sword, the blade cutting a burning line across Jester's midriff as he flew past her.

Blake and Ren were next, dashing past Jester, their own weapons leaving glowing lines in the air behind him as they struck him multiple times. Tumbling through the air, Jester let out a series of confused noises, before stopping and righting himself again. When he did so, he found himself facing a charging Natsuki, her swords blazing with black flames. With a shout, she thrust forward with both her kodachi, immolating Jester in waves of ebony flame.

Meanwhile, Jaune knelt by Ruby, pulling her up a little so that he could rest her head on his knees. As he did, he noticed something odd. She seemed unconscious now, eyes closed. Frowning, Jaune gently brushed his fingers over her forehead. "Ruby...?"

"Her hand!" exclaimed Miyu.

Following Miyu's advice, Jaune looked down at Ruby's left hand...then gasped.

Red lines extended out from Akaibara's handle, like thorny vines of blood they ran across Ruby's fingers and over the back of her hands, twining about her wrist, before following her arm up inside the sleeve of her kimono. Pulling the sleeve back, Jaune felt his heart shudder at the sight of those vines climbing higher up her arm. What was more, the flesh between those vines was blackening...corrupting...almost as though Ruby's sword was invading her body like a disease.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune.

"I...I've heard about this," said Miyu. "They say the Muramasa demon blades will take over their wielder, if he's not strong enough to control it."

"But this isn't a Muramasa, right?" asked Jaune. "Someone else made it. I thought it wasn't like that."

"I...I don't know," admitted Miyu. "This is my first time seeing this."

Frowning, Jaune channeled his Aura into Ruby, using his Extension to check her condition. He reeled back in pain. Ruby's Aura was weak and fading. However, touching Akaibara's Aura was like running face-first into a veil of thorny vines, all those countless points digging and scratching at him. It was strange though. He'd expected to find those vines twining about Ruby's soul, threatening to smother it. Instead...they were wrapping around her Aura...almost protectively.

"What can we do?" asked Jaune, looking up at Miyu.

"Not much," admitted Miyu. "Her actual wounds are fairly light. It's mostly fatigue now. The best we can do is start channeling your Aura into her, and see if helping her recover some energy will help her deal with...whatever this is."

"In that case...let's go with what we planned," said Jaune, looking back at her.

Miyu nodded slowly, then moved to stand behind Jaune, resting her hands on his shoulders. A second later, her Aura came streaming into him, merging with and supplementing his own. Jaune felt his previous fatigue fading, and his own Aura beginning to swell with power. It was limited. Miyu didn't have much Aura left after all, not after helping Setsuna lift all of them up to the Grimm-whale. But Jaune would take whatever he could get at this point. Taking the Aura that had been supplemented by Miyu's input, Jaune began to channel it into Ruby herself.

He'd expected some form of resistance from Akaibara's Aura. However, those thorny vines seemed to part, allowing his Aura through, streaming into Ruby's own, fortifying it, enhancing it, and strengthening it. The white of Jaune's Aura streamed into Ruby, before being dyed red.

Meanwhile though, her eyes remained closed.

"Whoa!" Jester emerged, coughing and hacking, from the cloud of black flames that Natsuki had inundated him with. His clothes seemed a little smudged, but those smudges quickly faded away, the man soon looking as pristine as he had at the beginning of the fight.

"Not at all what I was expecting," he admitted, looking past Natsuki at the young, silver-haired boy, who was standing beside the unconscious Oscar. Setsuna hadn't drawn his kama, but was instead holding out his hands towards Jester.

"I see...that's what you're doing," said Jester, his grin widening. "You can only do it for a couple seconds at a time, but you're actually using your Mumyo Dai'On Ryu to neutralize my own. Pretty sharp for a novice."

Setsuna merely grunted.

"Still...it's not gonna amount to much," said Jester with a tired sigh.

Behind him, a crow dropped out of the sky, before transforming back into Qrow, now descending with his sword raised high. His blade struck Jester in the shoulder, biting into his flesh, cleaving a diagonal line down, and exiting his waist. However, there was no wound left behind.

"I mean...even without factoring in my little immortality problem, it just isn't actually possible to injure a Crimson Cross Knight with the tawdry tools of man."

Growling, Qrow lunged forward, thrusting Harbinger at Jester's chest. However, Jester raised his left hand, holding it over his chest. The tip of Qrow's sword struck it...then kept going. But it wasn't because the blade had pierced through. Instead, it simply crumbled away into dust as Qrow progressed, until all that was left was the handle, once his hands met Jester's own.

"See?" said Jester, the eyes hidden behind his sunglasses locking with Qrow's own.

Penny charged Jester from behind. However, Jester simply turned towards her, meeting her swords with a casual wave of his other hand. Penny's blades crumbled to dust upon contact. In just a second, she'd lost half of her Floating Array.

With an angry roar, Yang rushed straight at Jester. He turned towards her, hand raised, but was caught off-guard when Yang's haymaker plowed straight past his lackadaisical guard, slamming right into the center of his face, Ember Celica discharging upon impact, launching Jester back again.

He came to a stop again, hovering just a few inches above the ground. Smoke streamed off his face, but he looked unharmed otherwise. "Well...I should've seen that coming," he commented, looking at Yang, whose Crimson Eyes were shining brilliantly.

"Still...it's all just so futile."

There was a snapping noise. The bridge of Jester's sunglasses broke, the two pieces falling away to the ground. However, in that instant, a dull roar filled the air. Jester's Aura erupted in a torrent of angry-red. In the center of that maelstrom of raw power, Jester's eyes shone like miniature suns, their angry light seeming to darken his skin by contrast. Just as they had with Salem before him, Jester's True Crimson Eyes marked the revelation of his true power.

One by one, each of his attackers found themselves crushed to the ground as the gravity in their vicinity multiplied several times over. Jester used an individual Chiyugi for each one of them. They each collapsed to their knees, the ground giving way beneath them, their bodies feeling as though the life was being crushed out of them. Setsuna, who'd been standing next to Oscar, desperately shielded the unconscious boy from the effects of the gravity by using a Chiyugi of his own to counter Jester's. But Setsuna could only manage that for Oscar, and only because Jester wasn't seriously trying to crush them yet. Setsuna himself was quickly driven to his knees.

"You kids have heart, I'll give you that," said Jester. "What you don't have...is the power to make a difference. The one who does is apparently out of the fight though, so it's bad news for you...and your Kingdom."

Straining with all her might, Weiss lifted her head, looking over at the sky of Vale. The sounds of battle with the Grimm still drifted their way. However, over the sky of the Kingdom itself, the black orb of Jester's attack was swelling larger, gradually reaching the point where it was visible at this distance. No doubt, the people in Vale had noticed it as well...and were dreading what was about to befall them. Even if they didn't fall to the Grimm, they would simply be swallowed by the singularity that Jester had placed over their heads.

"In any case, you guys don't need to worry about that," said Jester, strolling casually over to Yang. Standing over her, Jester grinned, seeing Yang glaring up at him with her Crimson Eyes.

"Well well well...you're Raven's kiddo, ain'tcha. I see you're starting to get a handle on your eyes, but you're not quite at her level yet. A pity, really."

Jester raised his sword, holding it positioned to slash down at Yang's neck, preparing to behead her. The others struggled and strained, but only found themselves pinned in place as Jester redoubled the force of his gravity over them.

"Don't worry, I'll send the others after you," he promised.

Pyrrha latched onto the sword with her polarity, bending every ounce of strength she had to the task of keeping it from falling. However, Jester didn't even seem inconvenienced by its presence.

Even though she was pinned in place, Weiss was able to create a Summoning Glyph. The massive form of her Arma Gigas Summon surged up and bore down on Jester, swinging its massive sword at him. However, Jester simply glanced at the enormous Knight.

"Get lost."

His Aura exploded outward, and the Knight's form shattered against it like glass.

"Now...if the peanut gallery is done..." said Jester, turning back to Yang.

His sword descended with overwhelming force. The power behind it was such that he and Yang vanished in an explosion of dust, shockwaves washing out, as though a missile had detonated.

"YANG!" shouted Blake, struggling to reach her partner, despite knowing it was too late.

After a moment, the wind began to disperse the dust thrown up by Jester's attack. When the dust cleared, it revealed Yang, her head still intact. Jester's sword had been halted by a pair of crossed swords, their crimson blades holding Jester's own at bay.

Ruby Rose stood protectively over Yang, her cloak fluttering behind her, shining with the light of her Aura. For her part, Ruby looked almost as good as new. Only the smudges on some of her clothes betrayed the intense battles she'd been through to get this far. And now she stood before Jester, staring up into his face with a resolute expression.

"Ah...Just in time," said Jester, before glancing over to see Jaune and Miyu, the two of them collapsed, on the verge of unconsciousness from the effort of pumping every last ounce of Aura they had into Ruby. "Well...you probably don't have long then. I guess it's time to finish this."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, her expression becoming heartrendingly sad, "let's go...one last time."

What does that mean? wondered Yang, staring up at Ruby's back. She couldn't see Ruby's face from her position. But, Yang could sense Ruby's unhappiness through her Aura. Ruby's entire being resonated with sorrow.

Watching Ruby head towards the final battle, Yang wanted nothing more than to reach out after her, to stop her. Yang got the strange feeling that...even if they won...someone wasn't coming back from this fight. That was the sense of sorrowful resolution that Yang sensed from her sister.

However, there wasn't any time to dwell on that. Ruby and Jester vanished, the backwash of their passing causing Yang to pitch over, before realizing that the gravity holding her down had vanished. The others had been likewise released. Either Jester felt they weren't going to intervene anymore, or focusing on Ruby meant that he couldn't spare the will to keep all of them pinned.

For a few seconds, they lost all sight of the pair. Instead, it was sound, the ring of steel on steel, that indicated that Ruby and Jester were still fighting. Here was a glint of sunlight off the face of a blade. There, a foot stepped down with enough force to shatter the earth beneath it. All around them, geysers of dust erupted as clashing weapons and missed blows completely altered the landscape, which had already been altered by the crash of the massive Grimm, as well as the battle against Salem before.

With his mastery of gravity, Jester was able to distort both space and time, freely controlling the distance between his opponent. When he attacked, he was always within striking range. When he was attacked, he was an infinity away. Even if he and Ruby moved at the same speed, Jester always had more time than she did to make his move.

And yet...whenever Jester tried to defend himself with a barrier of compressed space, Ruby cut straight through it. Whenever he compressed his own time to launch countless attacks in what was an instant to Ruby, her body accelerated to the extent that it seemed to simply come apart, resulting in all Jester's strikes missing. However, when Ruby's swords struck, any wounds they opened vanished instantly. At first glance, it seemed that they were on equal ground. But Jester's immorality made them anything but equal.

"You're doing well," Jester commented. "But 'well' isn't nearly good enough."

Ruby said nothing. Aside from her speed, she wasn't using her Aura for anything. She had yet to call upon her wind and lightning. Even her Silver Eyes remained dim. Jester could sense that she was biding her time, building all her remaining strength towards what would be her final blow.

Up above, clouds began to pile up again, darkening the sky, a swirling eye opening up within them. Then, a powerful bolt roared down. Ruby raised her swords to meet it, the lightning forking to reach each sword's tip. However, rather than wrap around her swords, the lightning instead crawled down the handles, then up Ruby's arms, before merging with her cloak. Her Aura exploded outward. When it had settled once again, the red cloak Ruby wore had bloomed with countless petals that resembled feathers, shimmering with a scintillating variety of colors.

"Tenyo no Hana."

Then Ruby resumed her attack upon Jester, who laughed as he dodged and blocked the strikes using the Flow of his own Aura through his sword to keep the electricity from being conducted up the blade. Petals detached, becoming projectiles that arced around him, but Jester dodged them easily.

"There's got to be more than this," Jester called out tauntingly. "Come now, Ruby...your time is almost up isn't it? Show me your finisher."

Ruby didn't need Jester's words to know that she was nearing her limit. Even fighting as conservatively as she could, she could still feel that it wouldn't be long before the boost she'd gotten from Jaune and Miyu would wear off, and she'd be brought down to practically nothing. And yet, she continued to assault him. Despite the urgency of this situation, there was a desire for her to prolong this battle just a little bit longer...

But it was futile. The limit of the power she'd been loaned was approaching fast.

I'm sorry, she thought, realizing that her time was pretty much up. There was no room for hesitation, not anymore. It's time.

A tear trickled down Ruby's cheek, before it was quickly stripped away by the air resistance of her high-speed movement.

Abruptly, her Silver Eyes were illuminated, blazing with light. Ruby crossed her swords, then pulled them apart, scraping their flats against one another. As she did, the light from her eyes was drawn into Bara's blade. At the same time, the energy that formed her cloak flowed down her right arm, and into Ibara. The varicolored light of the plasma that had formed the cloak turned a uniform red. The two swords began to glow brightly, a glow that spread to their handles, intensifying to the point that they no longer looked like illuminated objects of metal, but constructs of pure light.

Ruby's breath hitched. But she did not falter. She charged Jester head on, crossing her arms in front of her, so that her swords extended out behind her. For his part, Jester was not about to meekly accept her attack. An orb of pure ebony darkness appeared over his head, hungrily drawing in the air, pulling at Ruby's body. However, she continued forward, ignoring the pull. Directing the orb with his sword, Jester brought it descending downwards.

"Fushi no Satsuriku Bara!"

Ruby's body vanished. Suddenly, time seemed to stop completely. Jester was stunned, not having expected Ruby to invoke this phenomenon. Then, with a flash, he was struck from all sides. The singularity Jester had been attacking with was carved to pieces in an instant.

The blows alternated. A wave of red cleaved through him, followed by one of silver. Each one was a crescent-shaped arc of energy, leaving a solid wave behind it. As they passed through Jester's body, they extended through him, forming a radius that enclosed him in a ring, making him look as though he were standing in the center of a massive flower of red and silver petals. More and more blows struck, each one adding another "petal" to the flower. One could not count how many had landed. They stacked up on top of one another, until Jester's body was almost completely enclosed by them. Within their center, Jester was visible only as a black shadow, one that was beginning to waver.

Finally, the rain of blows ended. Ruby reappeared behind Jester, her cloak gone, the last of the power she possessed, along with the power she'd been loaned by Jaune and Miyu, depleted. Yet she didn't falter, not yet. Her hands were closed about the handles of her swords, the weapons still looking like constructs of light, all the more so because the light they emitted extended in a pair of lines, tethering Ruby to her creation. Behind her, the red and silver petals of the rose she'd created began to tilt upwards, slowly converging upwards and inwards, the flower closing in on itself.

"I...see..." hissed Jester's voice, barely audible over the hum of the petals. "So...that...was the final ingredient."

"It was," agreed Ruby, tears making their way down her cheeks.

"Funny...I'm sure the Mibu tried a sacrificial strike before...I guess it being you made all the difference."

"Maybe it did," conceded Ruby. She looked over her shoulder at him. "It's over. Once the flower closes, you will be purged from existence, never to return."

A wheezing, pained laugh came from Jester, his voice growing weaker. "So...this...this is death, huh...? What a...pleasant feeling...My thanks..."

Ruby nodded, turning her face away from the man, closing her eyes, though more tears began to spill from them. She let out a soft sob. Her body shuddered. Her hands clenched a little tighter around her swords' handles.

What she said next was not to Jester. "Sayonara."

Then Ruby let go. Her weapons transformed completely into light, being drawn into the flower behind her. Then, all at once, the petals folded in on themselves, the flower closing tightly. The red and silver light emitted by the construct intensified to blinding levels, Jester's shadow vanishing completely, before the whole shaped dissolved away into a swirling pillar of red and silver, extending up into the sky. Once the light faded, Jester was gone, only a perfect circle of blackened earth to show that he had been there at all.

Not far away, Ruby's friends looked on with wide eyes.

Weiss slumped down to her knees. "It's over..." she whispered, her eyes wide. "She really did it."

"He's gone," whispered Pyrrha.

"And he isn't coming back," added Nora, her voice hopeful.

"So it seems," agreed Ren, a certain degree of caution urging him not to be overly optimistic. After all, how many times had they seen both Jester and Salem come back after being "killed" this day?

But there was no sign of Jester's return.

In almost complete unison, their eyes turned to the black orb that had been growing in the skies of Vale. As soon as the light from Ruby's technique had faded, the orb had simply winked out of existence. Only the odd arrangement of clouds left in its wake indicated that it had been there at all. And, even then, the winds were beginning to shift their arrangement, so that nobody would notice anything in odd after an hour or so.

Sighing with relief, Natsuki staggered over to Oscar, slumping down beside him, and keeping watch over him. One by one, Ruby's other friends allowed themselves to relax, feeling spent, even though their fatigue was nothing, compared to what Ruby's had to be, after what she'd been through.

However, Jaune and Yang both looked at Ruby, their expressions worried.

Then, as they watched, Ruby suddenly fell forwards, landing flat on her face, not moving.

"RUBY!"