RWBY: LUCID

Jaune hurtled through the torrent of incandescent fire like the spearpoint of the dragon's own wrath.

Around him, Taiyang's Dragon Breath roared with enough destructive force to melt mountains into rivers of liquid stone, yet Plunder quietly reached outward and stole the runic flame from the attack itself.

The blazing inferno surrounding his body peeled away in spiraling ribbons before condensing violently toward his clenched fist, compressing until an enormous quantity of fire occupied scarcely more space than a human heart.

The crimson void distorted around the sphere as the impossible density bent heat and light alike, creating a miniature sun that crackled against the air with barely restrained violence. Ahead of him, Carnis continued diving toward the moon's core, his grotesque worm body weaving through floating continents of crimson rock with desperate speed.

Jaune simply accelerated further. The Dragon Breath had already granted him overwhelming momentum, and by stealing its force into himself he became little less than a living missile.

Then, he struck.

The impact detonated like a celestial body colliding with another. Jaune's fist buried itself into the eldritch worm with such terrifying force that the colossal beast folded around the blow before being driven violently downward through the air.

A deafening shockwave exploded outward, pulverizing nearby floating moon rocks into crimson dust while the flesh making up Carnis' monstrous body tore apart under the sheer violence of the collision. Hundreds of the grasping human-like hands covering the worm simply exploded into shredded meat, their severed fingers tumbling helplessly through the void while writhing tentacles were ripped clean away and scattered like dying serpents. One gigantic fleshy wing failed to withstand the force entirely. It tore free from the worm's side amidst a shower of black blood and fragmented bone before spiraling uselessly into the darkness.

Carnis himself lost all control, the enormous body tumbling end over end through the air, yet paradoxically the tremendous impact only increased his downward velocity. Rather than slowing him, Jaune had transformed the worm into a living meteor plunging ever faster toward the moon's core.

The beast screamed. Flesh along its shattered body convulsed grotesquely before splitting apart in dozens of places. Thick tendrils erupted outward, each one tipped not by claws but by human mouths lined with jagged teeth. They writhed through the air toward Jaune, every mouth speaking simultaneously until their overlapping voices became a horrifying chorus that echoed through the vast emptiness beneath the moon.

"Jaune Arc! You are interfering in matters which aren't of your concern! Why are you fighting me? You've met with your father, haven't you? You know you cannot stop us!"

The countless mouths shrieked with equal parts fury and desperation, but Jaune never so much as slowed his pursuit. He regarded the screaming horror with complete indifference. What purpose did conversation serve with someone who was already a dead man?

Whatever fragment of the original Carnis had once existed had long since disappeared beneath layers of the grotesque influence of Puppeteer. Besides, Jaune understood his father's position better now than anyone else alive. Nicholas Arc had spent years walking the impossible line between opposing factions, convincing LUCID he had become Sleepless while simultaneously convincing Sleepless he had truly abandoned humanity. Neither side understood the truth. He had never belonged to either organization. Every betrayal, deception and every impossible scheme had ultimately served only one allegiance.

His family.

Carnis, by contrast, had willingly surrendered everything that made him human. There was nothing left worth speaking to.

A dark grin spread slowly across Jaune's face. Plunder and Weakness surged outward simultaneously, invisible tethers anchoring themselves upon the grotesque worm.

For the briefest instant, Jaune raised an eyebrow. His runes were responding strangely. Rather than identifying a single target, both runes perceived Carnis as possessing two distinct bodies occupying the same existence.

"Seems that he really is fused with a Grimm," Jaune mused inwardly. "Must be due to the power of his meta rune."

The realization lasted scarcely longer than a heartbeat. Almost immediately he released his second Plunder tether that had been connected to an enemy from the previous battle. He then calmly redirected it away from Carnis himself and attached it directly to the Grimm organism that had merged with him.

The distinction mattered.

Instead of draining only the human portion, Plunder now reached greedily into the colossal Grimm body as well, stealing its vitality alongside Carnis' own. The effect became immediate. The impossible creature visibly weakened as Body, Aura and Will bled away into Jaune's ever-growing reserves.

Carnis felt it instantly.

Panic overtook rage as more flesh erupted wildly from his body in a desperate attempt to overwhelm his attacker. Gigantic maws burst from his sides, rows of monstrous teeth snapping violently while countless tendrils lashed toward Jaune from every direction. Entire forests of claws, mouths and grasping limbs converged upon him with murderous intent.

Jaune never bothered moving.

He simply floated there amidst the storm of attacks. Null made ordinary Rank Two techniques worthless. The instant every tendril crossed into the invisible sphere extending roughly one meter around his body, reality quietly denied their existence. Flesh unraveled into drifting strands of runic energy. Teeth dissolved before closing. Claws fragmented into crimson particles that scattered harmlessly into the void.

Every attack simply... came apart.

Carnis hurled wave after wave of mutated flesh toward him only to watch them unravel ineffectively against their target.

While the eldritch horror exhausted itself against Null, Jaune calmly completed his own attack. The compressed sphere of Dragon Breath remained clenched within his fist, its heat growing steadily more unstable.

He drove it directly into Carnis' exposed flesh.

The condensed inferno punched through the worm's body with absurd ease, carving a tunnel through flesh, bone and Grimm matter as effortlessly as a red-hot knife sliding through fresh butter. For a fraction of a second nothing happened. Then the stolen fire reached critical instability. The sphere detonated.

A second sun blossomed inside Carnis.

The explosion ripped outward through every layer of his body simultaneously. Under normal circumstances, Carnis' horrifying runic synchronicity would have regenerated such damage almost instantly.

Carnis had the Masochism rune which transformed suffering into strength. His other runes also reinforced one another with terrifying efficiency.

Against any other Rank Two, he would have endured the blast and continued fighting. But unfortunately for him, he was up against Jaune Arc.

Every passing second Plunder siphoned away more of his strength while Weakness continuously degraded every aspect of his existence. His Body stat had fallen, his Aura had fallen and even his very Will had fallen.

His regenerative capacity desperately attempted to compensate, pouring more and more energy into healing the catastrophic damage, but each attempt failed because the energy fueling those runes vanished into Jaune almost as quickly as it appeared.

The balance had already tipped beyond recovery. Carnis simply lacked the raw strength necessary to survive.

The worm exploded apart.

Its gigantic body tore cleanly into two enormous halves that spun violently away from one another before smashing straight through surrounding floating landmasses. Moon rock the size of cities burst apart beneath the tumbling corpse, shattered fragments drifting lazily through the crimson void while black blood sprayed outward in impossible quantities.

Jaune watched the destruction with complete composure. He made no effort whatsoever to steal any of Carnis' runic energy.

He simply didn't want it.

There existed powers one was better off leaving untouched. Masochism might have remained an exceptionally potent rune, but Jaune simply didn't need it.

He had experienced its terrifying potential during his battle against Nicholas, where every injury had only strengthened its wielder further. Combined with Carnis' other runes, the resulting synchronicity had become truly monstrous. Impressive, disturbing and effective, even.

Yet none of that mattered now. Carnis had encountered the wrong opponent.

In the modern era, Jaune Arc occupied a category entirely his own. Among Rank Twos there existed no equal. If history itself were measured honestly, perhaps there had never been another Rank Two capable of matching what stood here today.

Weakness, Plunder and Null formed a combination so catastrophically oppressive that ordinary awakened simply ceased functioning around him. Only Rank Threes possessed sufficient authority to challenge him, and even that stemmed less from superior combat ability than from practical limitation.

Null demanded enormous Aura expenditure. Should Jaune confront the conceptual domains wielded by Master Runes, eventually even Jaune's immense reserves would be overwhelmed beneath such pressure.

Rank Twos, however, possessed no such advantage. Against them, he had become little less than invincible.

As the shattered halves of Carnis continued tumbling downward, Jaune lightly kicked against empty air, redirecting himself aside just as Qrow's gigantic Murder Crow thundered past. The immense construct crashed bodily into one half of the dismembered worm, driving the broken flesh even deeper into the abyss.

Simultaneously, Qrow's human body became almost impossible to follow. Crow wings extended across his back while an enormous crow's head enveloped his own. His blade streamed countless razor-sharp black feathers behind it as he vanished into a blur of impossible speed. The friction alone generated blazing streaks of fire that painted crimson lines through the darkness.

Again and again he flashed around Carnis' ruined body, every pass carving away enormous sections of flesh until the worm seemed less an organism than an unraveling mountain of gore. Limbs, tentacles and monstrous hands scattered endlessly through the void beneath his relentless assault. Finally, from deep within the shredded mass, a humanoid figure burst outward.

Carnis himself emerged from the collapsing flesh, kicking Qrow away before the older huntsman could finish the execution.

Meanwhile, Taiyang's colossal Dragon simply reached forward with one of his impossibly long golden whiskers, the elegant strand wrapping effortlessly around Jaune's waist before depositing him gently atop the dragon's gigantic snout. Jaune settled there without resistance, folding his arms as he watched the duel unfolding ahead.

He made no attempt whatsoever to rejoin the battle. He understood Murder well enough through the countless fragments of cross comprehension that Plunder had stolen over the past few months to recognize the danger.

If he interfered too heavily now, Qrow's rune would reject the culmination entirely. Murder demanded personal completion. Vengeance and resolution. Certain journeys could not be shared.

Obviously, Jaune could have ended Carnis in an instant.

That had never truly been in doubt.

But strength alone was not always the correct answer.

Some victories required careful hands rather than overwhelming force.

There existed concepts woven deeply into Murder beyond simply taking life. Retribution and justice was a part of the meta rune.

The settling of ancient scores.

Carnis had butchered countless innocent people over the years. He had murdered awakened and civilians alike without hesitation.

Now Qrow stood poised to answer every life stolen.

The duel itself had already become hopelessly one-sided. Qrow vanished again in an explosive burst of compressed air before reappearing directly before Carnis. His feathered sword descended in a single merciless arc, cleaving straight through Carnis' torso and splitting his body neatly in half.

Flesh immediately writhed and stitched itself together once more.

Again Qrow struck and again Carnis regenerated. The cycle repeated relentlessly as the two figures plummeted through the abyss. Yet despite the regeneration, Carnis was undeniably losing. Jaune quietly observed through Weakness as the mans' stats continued falling toward roughly five across the board.

Every heartbeat, Plunder stole more and Weakness compounded further. However, Carnis' runes continued sustaining him through sheer stubbornness alone.

Taiyang's deep voice rumbled beneath Jaune's feet.

"We're not helping?"

Jaune kept his eyes fixed upon the duel.

"Probably best not to. If Raven were here, her existence might factor well into the Murder rune. The two of us... probably not."

The Dragon hummed thoughtfully before asking, "Because Qrow and Raven always encountered him together?"

"To a degree, yes," Jaune answered. "But also because the both of them have a special connection that's a little different from normal twins."

Taiyang acknowledged the explanation with another thoughtful rumble.

Jaune himself wasn't entirely certain where that connection truly originated. Raven had created Ending, Shadow and other concepts uniquely suited to her path. Qrow possessed Crow, Misfortune and Murder. Ravens. Crows. Two siblings whose powers mirrored one another in unsettling ways despite diverging entirely. Perhaps coincidence or perhaps something deeper woven into fate itself.

The fact that both of them were awakened as well and both carried the concepts associated with death, endings and ill omens?

It was strange.

He dismissed the thought almost immediately. It didn't matter. Besides, something else had drawn his attention.

The darkness surrounding them had begun changing.

The endless void opened outward into an unimaginably vast expanse where floating moon fragments grew increasingly sparse. Far below, his eyes subtly shifted, pupils narrowing as Weakness reached outward across impossible distances.

Combat.

Immense combat.

At the absolute limits of perception, explosions blossomed continuously beneath them while overwhelming tides of runic energy surged across an enormous battlefield.

Then he saw it.

A crimson dome.

Impossible large.

It stretched beyond every horizon simultaneously, a barrier so vast it resembled another world suspended beneath the moon. Even from this unfathomable altitude, its sheer scale defied comprehension.

Jaune's expression hardened.

"Qrow needs to kill him quickly..." he murmured. "...or we're going to be in a spot of trouble."

Fortunately, destiny chose that exact moment to answer.

Carnis had finally reached his limit.

Every remaining limb had already been severed. His grotesque body bled continuously while his featureless face somehow conveyed pure, undiluted hatred despite lacking proper features altogether. His gaze locked furiously upon Jaune.

"Jaune Arc!" he screamed.

The cry ended abruptly.

Qrow's sword punched directly into Carnis' open mouth.

The Rank 2 awakened stood calmly upon the broken, falling body as they continued plummeting through the moon's core, one boot planted firmly against Carnis' chest.

Carnis heard only a single cold voice.

"This is for all the souls you've..." Qrow paused thoughtfully before snorting. "...ah, who am I kidding?"

His expression flattened completely.

"Fuck you, Carnis."

He twisted the blade.

Every feather composing the weapon exploded outward from within Carnis' throat, surging violently throughout his entire body before Qrow casually kicked the dying man away.

Carnis tumbled helplessly through the void.

He coughed violently, black blood pouring from his mouth as he desperately attempted vomiting the murderous feathers back out. Instead, his body began swelling grotesquely. Bulges raced beneath his skin. His chest expanded. His throat convulsed.

"Noooo!"

The scream never finished.

His body burst apart.

Blood, flesh and shattered bone erupted outward in every direction as hundreds upon hundreds of black murder crows exploded from within him, each bird shrieking triumphantly as they scattered into the crimson abyss and disappeared into streams of runic energy.

Carnis was dead.

Far above the exploding remains, Qrow suddenly froze.

Something clicked deep within both mind and soul.

Murder wasn't merely killing. Manslaughter, second-degree murder. Premeditated murder. Revenge. Justice and execution. Even the ancient instinct driving crows to gather around death itself.

The entire concept unfolded before him with crystalline clarity. His absurd Meta Rune finally reached complete comprehension.

Half-step Rank Three.

Only one task remained.

Merge Crow, Misfortune and Murder together into a single Master Rune.

The crow's head surrounding Qrow dissolved into drifting runic energy as he simply floated there, breathing quietly while countless revelations settled into place inside his mind.

A golden dragon whisker wrapped gently around his waist before lifting him upward and depositing him beside Jaune upon Taiyang's enormous snout.

Jaune smiled.

"Good job, Qrow."

His expression immediately became serious again.

"Now..."

He raised one hand, pointing downward.

"...we have bigger fish to fry."

Qrow followed the gesture and his breath caught. Far below stretched a structure so vast his mind initially refused to process it correctly. The crimson dome dwarfed everything he had ever witnessed.

Mountain ranges. Entire cities... they would all have fit comfortably beneath its impossible curvature.

Solid streams of crimson runic energy extended from its surface like enormous arteries, flowing both into and out of the barrier in endless circulation. Unlike the ethereal energy filling the rest of the moon, these rivers possessed physical substance. They were part of the barrier itself, simultaneously feeding it and being fed by it in an eternal cycle.

The dome alone measured at least the size of an entire country.

Perhaps larger.

They had reached the moon's core.

Jaune stared silently at the impossible construct for several moments before finally speaking, his voice carrying an unmistakable weight.

"That right there," he pointed directly toward the immeasurable crimson barrier stretching across the world beneath them.

"...is the System Barrier that is sealing Salem."

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