Welcome to great finale of TPA. JJD, one more time into the breach.

JJD: Cue the wailing guitars and explosions

Jaune jumped out of the bullhead, his mind racing. The situation felt familiar in some way. It wasn't the first time he had to deal with a sudden outburst of Harrowed in the middle of city, or a horde of Grimm that came out of nowhere and breached some villages' defences. He was certain that in such a situation, he would have no problem making the use of his team. Four trained combatants with unlocked Aura was about twice as many as he was used to working with.

There was just one, small problem.

This wasn't some frontier village. This was Vale - a capital city with thousands of people living in close quarters. There were easily hundreds of civilians in the area, screaming, and running around, each trying to get as far away as possible from the growing horde of monsters pouring from the massive hole in the ground.

Jaune cursed. It was too much. Too big an area to cover, too many civilians to escort, too many enemies to deal with. What should he do? What could he do with just himself and his teammates? When would reinforcements come? Should he prioritize evacuation, or killing hostiles?

He shook his head. There was no point in heistating. The breach happened in a large plaza, basically in the center of the city, not far from the shopping district. In a situation like that getting civilians to safety wasn't the priority.

Stopping Grimm from spreading out was.

"So, what's the plan, Fearless Leader?"

Jaune drew Eclipse.

"We need to keep them contained, prevent them from running off into the city. Start circling the plaza, kill any you see. then we converge on the impact zone. Be careful to not get swarmed, if you are in trouble retreat. Reinforcements should be coming in shortly."

They nodded and ran off, the blond Witcher focused on his first prey. The large Ghoul didn't even noticed his approach, too busy trying to get into some shop. Eclipse pinned it to the ground. Jaune hesitate for a moment. He could feel corrupted Aura circulating through its body, slowly flowing into black blade. He hadn't had much time to practice with the fully awakened Eclipse, but he knew he could speed up this process. The question was - should he? Leon warned him that he should be carefull with his new abilities, and it would only take a few seconds to purge this one. But then…

The blond Witcher spared a quick glance at horde of monsters running around.

There were tens, if not hundreds of them - Grimm, Harrowed, even some White Fang - running around. Could he spare a few extra seconds for every Ghoul he killed?

With a huff, Jaune focused, and pulled, ripping Eclipse from the Ghoul's body, and with it, what little Aura it had. He waited for a moment to see if he got the same rush that he'd gotten when he killed the White Fang commander, but nothing like that happened. If the Faunus terrorist was the best meal of one's life, this was more of a bland snack, something you ate without even really registering the taste.

Jaune smirked, and dashed back into the fray. As long as he kept a cool head, he should be fine.

Ruby leaned on Crescent Rose, taking deep breaths. She spared a quick glance behind her - the group of civilians they were escorting almost finished boarding Atlas bullheads. This whole situation brought up some very fresh, and very unpleasant memories - but hopefully this time it wouldn't be as bad.

She huffed and looked back towards the group of Ghouls she just disabled. Twenty black, deformed creatures were lying on the ground, with severed legs and arms, easy targets for the two Witchers that accompanied her team.

"Good job there, Red." One of them said, handing her bottle of water that she accepted gratefully.

"I must say, I'm impressed. Most kids these days just go for the kill, but you just disabled them. It's not your first time facing Harrowed, is it?"

She nodded and smiled.

"Yeah. Friend of my is a Witcher too. He taught us a bit about how to fight them."

The older man nodded, checking something on his scroll.

"Allright, we are about done here. Can you check area one more time, see if we missed anyone?"

Ruby nodded, and dashed ahead. So far evacuating civilians from infected parts of the city was going well. Of course, hidden White Fang soldiers were still a real problem, but most of them were already apprehended. Now, the biggest problem was the breach in the middle of the city.

Ruby bit her lip, landing on the roof of some two storey building. Team JNPR was sent there to stop the incursion, and even though she knew they would receive reinforcements soon, she was still worried. Would they be ok? From what she'd heard, there were a lot of baddies there - Grimm, Harrowed, and even White Fang soldiers. Reinforcements were on the way, but Vale's defenders were already stretched thin, trying to contain multiple pockets of Harrowed.

Rubu sighed, jumping from roof to roof, looking for any civilians. She'd better focus on her own job. Maybe if they finished quickly, they could go and help JNPR. She paused when she noticed some movement on the street down below. Her eyebrows narrowed. This area should have been cleaned out already. Did some Ghoul wander in? Or was it some civilian? Should she go Investigate on her own, or call for backup?

With a shrug, the young Huntress jumped off of the roof and started carefully heading towards the alley she thought she saw someone walk into. If this was a civilian, it was better to grab them quickly.

And if it was the enemy? Well, she was confident she could take on any stray Ghoul, or White Fang soldier. And even if she couldn't, she could always run away.

She stopped near the entrance to the alley, and carefully peeked inside. It was empty, save for one dumpster, and some trash lying around. Just as she was about to turn around and leave, she noticed a quiet sound. She slowly walked into the alley, focusing on it. It was barely noticeable, but it sounded like… crying? Or whispering?

Neither Grimm, nor Harrowed talked.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She called out and waited for a few seconds. Nothing happened,

After a moment of consideration, Ruby started carefully walking forward, scanning her surroundings for any potential ambush. There weren't many hiding spots she could see, only two doors, that looked to be closed, and a few windows. Her eyes traveled to the large, metal dumpster. It was big enough for someone to hide behind it - or inside.

She stared carefully approaching it, weapon at the ready. The closer she got, the more tense she was, Jaune's lessons about Ghouls flashing in her mind. They were mainly ambush predators. They preferred to hide in dark places, and jump on unsuspecting prey when it came close enough.

But how close was 'enough'?

She was no more than five meters from the dumpster now, well within a Ghoul's jump distance.

"You can come out. I'm a Huntress, I'm not going to hurt you." She called out

Unless you are from the White Fang. he thought, tightening her grip on her weapon. Each step she took made her even more tense. If this was a Ghoul, it would have attacked her already, right? So it was probably a person.

Ruby sighed.

If only that made things easier. She slowly come closer, each step carefully measured, ready to burst into action at the first sign of danger. She could almost hear the raspy breathing now.

Soon, five meters become four, then three and two. Ruby swallowed, the tension in the air was so thick she could cut it with Crescent Rose.

Calm down girl, at this rate you will cut them down as soon as they move…

She normally wasn't so jumpy, nor so careful. But recent events, including, but not limited to, multiple ambushes by hidden White Fang soldiers, suicide attacks on refugees camps, and well, almost dying two weeks ago, left its mark on her.

"Come out. There is an evacuation point nearby, we will take you to safety." She called out one more time. There was no response, but she could hear something shuffling around.

She sighed and took a deep breath. There was no time to waste, her friends were fighting out there. Besides, if she hadn't been attacked yet, there was a good chance that whoever was hiding behind the dumpster wasn't hostile.

Or it's not person at all. I think I'll break something if it turns out to be rat, or some stray cat…

She covered the remaining distance in one burst of her Semblance, Crescent Rose aimed at whoever - or whatever - was making those noises.

The man looked small, but it was probably just because he was curled up in a small ball, his arms wrapped around his knees, and rocking back and forth. The tattered pants on his legs, and some dirty rag that he'd thrown over his shoulders made it clear he was either some beggar, or refugee.

"It's alright. Everything will be fine." Ruby said, lowering her weapon, and slowly approaching him. Now that she took a closer look, she could say that the man was in bad shape. Once upon a time, he probably had an impressive build, but now was painfully thin, probably due to starvation, and covered in bruises and scars. His head looked uneven, like part of his skull was missing. Judging by the green-fish scales covering his arms, face and torso, he was some kind of reptile Faunus.

Ruby hesitated for a moment. The man continued rocking back and forth, and now that she was closer, she could hear him muttering something under his breath. Something about him looked familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

One thing was certain - he wasn't from the White Fang. The Faunus looked like he could barely move, let alone fight. Hell, he looked like he'd spent weeks imprisoned somewhere…

And then it clicked. Two weeks ago, when she nearly died. The reason why they had to stay longer than anticipated - a group of refugees, escaped from one of the White Fang camps. Twenty or so people, all in terrible condition, whispering in terror about what was done to them. This man, he was one of them.

Ruby sighed, and approached slowly, to not startle the Faunus. Though so far he hadn't give any indication he'd noticed the young Huntress.

"It's alright. Come with me, I'll take you to safety." She said softly, coming closer and extending her hand towards him. She was so close now, she could almost understand what he was saying, and strange smell hit her nose. It wasn't the usual odor of a body not washed for too long, it was different. And for some reason, it was familiar.

Ruby paused, her eyes narrowed. This smell… for some reason she had a really bad feeling about it. She looked the man over again, looking for anything that could be seen as a weapon. Now that she was closer, she could see the glint of something metal in his right hand - probably a knife or small dagger. Not the most dangerous weapon, and beside his rags, he really seemed to not have any other belongings.

"Are you alright?" She asked, watching him carefully.

Man stilled, then chuckled.

"All… right?" He repeated, his voice raspy.

Ruby winced. It wasn't the best question, but at least she'd gotten his attention. Kinda.

"Come with me. I'll get you to the evac point. You'll get help there." She said, taking another careful step forward. Whatever this blade was, it was no danger to her, but it was better to not provoke him. The Faunus was clearly not in the right state of mind. She recalled a few lessons they'd had in Beacon, back when this whole mess started. The teachers warned them that people during crisis, especially if they'd suffered great loss, might act irrational, and perceive everyone as a threat. Jaune warned them about it several times as well.

"Heeelp?" The man said quietly, stretching out the word. Ruby shivered. For some reason, he was giving her the creeps.

"I don't need your help little girl..." he said, and chucked.

The young Huntress paused. Now, so close, she took better look at man, Some of the darker spots on his body, that she initially took for scales, proved to be just discoloration of skin. Was that blood? He looked wounded, some of the gashes on his body still ozzed dark liquid. But it was black, and thick, looking more like tar than blood. For some reason, it brought to mind Jaune, when he showed them his blackened limb.

Ruby's eyes widened.

The Faunus' head snapped up, his eyes, burning with eldritch, greenish light bearing into hers.

"For I have been CHOSEN!" He roared, lunging at her, black dagger coming for her throat.

Jaune tore Eclipse out of the dying Beowolf body, and spun to face his next opponent. The Ursa roared, raising up to its full height. The blond scoffed, taking full advantage of the stupid beast's mistake and decapitating it in a single strike. He huffed, and seeing no immediate danger, he took stock of battlefield. His team was holding up… for now. They managed to stop the enemies from spreading further into the city, but at the rate new ones were coming, it was only a matter of time before they were overran. Thankfully, some reinforcements had already showed up - a squad of ten Atlas soldiers had arrived a few minutes ago. Some of them took care of the civilians, dragging them out of the combat zone and tending to wounded. Some put their guns to good use, providing support fire for the four Hunters.

But it was not enough.

He winced, his hand twitching towards the new pouch on his belt. Powdered Dust Bombs - PDB for short - would clear out large portion of enemies, but he was hesitant to use it here. Not because of the fact that there were a few Faunus - so technically people - among the Grimm and Ghoul horde, but because he wasn't sure what effect such a big explosion will have. There was a lot of rubble lying around, and if it was knocked around it could really hurt his teammates, maybe even the civilians and Atlas soldiers.

Plus, even though he personally cared about his and his team's lives more than the collateral damage such an explosion would cause, he would prefer to not accidentally set city on fire. They had enough problems as it was.

Jaune shook his head, and took a deep breath. The soldiers were almost done with clearing out the civilians, he would wait until they were done. And then…

The earth shook, there was the terrible sound as of metal being twisted and teared apart, and then the front car of the train that caused the breach shot a good five meters in the air, followed shortly by a massive King Taijitu. Jaune just stared at the massive beast, then sighed, and took a black ball from his pouch.

"Fire in the hole! Get down everyone!" He shouted as loud as he could, more for the benefit of Atlas soldiers and civilians. His team will be fine. Even if they were closer to explosion, they had their Aura to protect them.

He took a second to take aim, and activated his new weapon. The massive snake's angry hiss turned into pained screech. It lasted only for a brief moment, before it was drowned into a loud explosion, just as its body was consumed by a massive fireball. It lasted a few seconds, before disappearing and revealing picture of utter destruction.

The King Taijitu laid dead, one of its heads completely obliterated, the other charred, and still burning. Numerous smaller Grimm laid around, their burning corpses turning into black smoke.

And just like that, five thousands of Lien went out with a puff of smoke.

Jaune grinned, lowering his hand.

Totally worth it.

At least until he'd have to explain to Nora why he never told her he had something like that, and that she wouldn't be getting any. At least not anytime soon. He could already see the short girl staring at him hungirly, Ren's hand on her shoulder probably the only thing stopping her from rushing him.

Oh, well, he would deal with it later.

A quick look around revealed that the civilians and Atlas soldiers were fine, if a little shaken. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, and focused back on the battlefield. The massive explosion killed, or stunned most of the hostiles, which gave them a moment to catch their breath. All the White Fang soldiers laid on the ground, unmoving, and judging by how close they were to the point of impact, Jaune doubted they would be getting up.

Fine by him.

Many of the Grimm were killed or knocked around, some of them still burning. Those would need to be dealt with fast, before they tried something funny, like running into buildings to try and set them aflame. He'd seen it happen a few times, and while not a common occurrence, he prefered to not take any chances. There were a fair number of dead Ghouls lying around. Some were in one piece, but many were torn apart.

Jaune winced. This area would be pain to cleanse later on.

But for now, they needed to get back to work. There were still a fair number of enemies not affected by explosion, and while new ones had stopped flowing in, due to the hole being blocked by the King Taijitu's body, it would not last for long. Better clean up as many as they could.

Ruby easily ducked under the swing, and used her Semblance to dash upwards. She kicked off of the wall, and then another and landed on the roof of a nearby building, the Faunus' glowing eyes tracking her the whole time. She hesitated for a moment, before pointing Crescent Rose at him.

"I'll give you one chance. Surrender peacefully, and you will be given fair treatment."

The Faunus just laughed. It was… normal. Not maniacal, like some creepy villain from the cartoons she used to watch, but regular laughter of a normal person. For some reason, she felt a bit of disappointed.

"Save your breath, little miss. You words, and the authority of your masters have no power over me. No longer! For I have been chosen!"

Ruby winced. He was clearly not taking her seriously. Well, that was about to change.

"I'm warning you, I'm authorized to use lethal force to neutralize of anyone I judge posing a threat to the security of Vale and it's citizens." She tried one more time. Of course, she wasn't about to kill the man. Not unless she had to.

He just shook his head.

"Lethal? Little girl, I'm a Chosen! I transcended silly concepts such as mortality, or morality for that matter. And soon, all of you will join us!" He shouted, spreading his arms wide. " Soon, the Project will be completed!" His mouth stretched into wide, delighted smile. His eyes drifted shut, and he looked like he was in some kind of ecstasy.

Ruby shivered.

Allright, that confirms it, this guy is insane.

She took aim and fired. The bullet tore through the man's thigh, splattering blood and meat everywhere. The wound was so big that it almost tore his leg off. Ruby tensed. He had no Aura?! Then how he could move so fast? Did she just kill him?

But the strange Faunus didn't seem to be bothered by what happened. He stood there, with his arms spread wide, and the same smile on his face. Eventually he sighed, and shook his head.

"It's pointless, little girl. I told you, you can't kill me. You can't even hurt me. I already died once, and now such minor hindrances can't stop me anymore. That being said, I'll have to ask you to not to damage this body too much." He looked at her and smiled. It was an easy, friendly smile. As if he was asking her for some small favor. "I can just borrow one from lesser ones, but I'm a bit emotionally attached to this one." He winked at her. "It's my original one, afterall.."

Ruby started at the man for a moment. Original one? Little ones? What the hell was he talking about?

She took aim again, and let out a startled yelp when the Faunus basically materialized in front of her. Yet again, she barely managed to dodge his black dagger.

Allright, he might be insane, but he is definitely strong.

How did he get up there anyway? Did he jump? Teleport? And what about his leg, he should be bleeding like crazy. One look revealed that the wound was gone, covered in some black goo. In fact, it covered most of his wounded leg now, pulsating slightly. Ruby winced. It looked really creepy. Whoever her opponent was, he clearly wasn't normal person.

Well, he might not be a person at all…

She thought, eyeing him carefully. Jaune did mention that sometimes Harrowed retained their sanity for some time after death. And if what this man said was true, he was already dead.

So is he some kind of Ghoul? But they can't regenerate like that!

At least they shouldn't. If this was something that Jaune just forgot to tell them about, she would have words with him later.

"Now then, let's not drag it out. I would prefer to avoid hurting you too much. Just stay still, and I'll make sure…" there was a sound of gunshot, and the Faunus eyes widened. He looked to the side, where his right arm laid severed on the roof. He stared at it, and the rose petals flying around for a few moments, then just sighed.

"Oh well, I'll guess we're doing it hard way. Just don't blame me if your Ascension fails because of that." He turned around, just in time to see Ruby bursting into a cloud of rose petals again.

Eclipse bit into black flesh, tearing through skin, muscle and bone. It burst out, a fountain of blood and bits of flesh seemingly suspended in the air. Jaune spent an instant looking at it, marveling at its savage beauty. He never understood why blood was only thing that had color, besides the lights of Aura in this dark, grey word, result of him drinking Dusk.

Well, it was a question for another time. He had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like for example this Beowolf that was lunging at him from behind. The blond ducked, and thrust upwards, impaling the beast through the chest. He tightened grip on his sword, using the Grimm's own momentum split it in half. He huffed and got up, scanning the battlefield. It didn't take long for a new wave of enemies to come after the King Taijitu died. They burst out of the hole and threw themselves at the four Hunters with reckless abandon. There was no reason, no tactic to their attack. As one, Grimm, Harrowed, and White Fang Knights charged at them, roaring, snarling, hungry for blood.

And as one they died.

Jaune wasn't sure what to think when he saw Pyrrha impale one of the Faunus terrorists on her spear. Shortly after that, Nora sent a few grenades into the approaching horde, no doubt killing a few of them as well. He wasn't sure how Ren was doing, but he was almost certain that the time for him to take another person's life had come as well.

On one hand, he knew it had to happen, sooner or later. There was no way one could avoid it in their line of business, unless they decided to never leave the safety of the bigger cities.

On the other, some small, selfish part of him wanted to spare them this for as long as possible. He knew full well that when he killed his first person, some part of him died too.

Well, we will worry about it later.

He dodged the charging Ghoul, taking its head off as it pased by. An Ursa tried to bite his head off, but he sidestepped it, allowing a Boarbatusk charging at him from behind to collide with the bear-like Grimm. Two quick stabs later, he left their decaying corpses, to engage another enemy and smiled.

This one attacked him not with claws or teeth, but a sword. The Faunus was shouting something, he could feel the sound waves washing over his skin, but he muted most sounds long ago. Jaune deflected a clumsy strike and immediately countered, cutting off man's right hand. A fountain of red splashed out, some of it landing on Jaune's face. The blond ignored it, instead he stepped in, and brought Eclipse on man's neck.

"Thanks." Jaune muttered, as the black blade took man's head off his shoulders, and his Aura out of his body. The blond Witcher grinned, feeling a wave of power washing over him. This Faunus had come just in time. He was starting to get tired. It wasn't as strong of a rush as he remembered, but it might have been because the man's Aura was not awakened.

The blond grinned, looking around.

Well, it wasn't much, but there were a lot of snacks running around. And quantity had a quality all its own.

Ruby skidded to stop and spun around, firing two times, and activated her semblance to dash out of the way of a spectral arm that shot through spot she was just a moment before.

Well, at least it makes it clear he is Harrowed. She thought bitterly. Why the hell didn't Jaune warn them about something like that?!

Her opponent slowly walked towards her, still with the same friendly smile. Though it looked much more creepy now, considering that he was covered in multiple cuts that oozed a black, pulsating liquid, that seemed to move on its own, and was missing one arm, replaced by green tentacles that were apparently made out of pure Aura. Six more grew out of the man's back, making it almost impossible to approach him safely. Each time she attacked they would shoot out, trying to catch her, even if she came from behind. So far she had only been hit once - a glancing hit on her leg, but it was enough to make her gasp in shock. It was ice-cold in touch, and even though it touched her skin just for a moment, she could feel her Aura being drained out.

Ruby huffed, watching the approaching man, no, monster, carefully. It looked like his range was limited, only five meters or so. But she still kept at least twenty between them. Better safe than sorry.

Now, what should I do?

She couldn't defeat this monster, she just knew it. Her attacks hadn't had much effect. In fact, it appeared that the more his body got destroyed, the stronger he was getting. Her only option was to find some Witcher and let them deal with it. But if she ran off, this monster might hide somewhere. Or worse yet - go for a hunt. How many people would he kill if she let him out of her sight?

Ruby bit her lip. She could activate the distress beacon in her scroll. This would let any Hunter nearby know that she is in trouble - but now what kind of trouble. If a regular Hunter showed up - they would be just as helpless as her.

She could try calling her team, but she couldn't afford to get distracted. She sidestepped a trash can that was thrown her way, and dashed backward, letting the spectral limb catch nothing but a few rose petals.

Ruby scoffed. This had to be some kind of special ability. Each time she got distracted, even for a moment, this monster suddenly appeared just a few steps in front of her. She had no idea how it worked, but she realized that as long as she didn't let it out of her sight - she was safe. Well as safe as she could be facing a deadly monster that she had no way of killing.

Think girl, what can you do?

Something cracked behind her and Ruby yelped, instantly activating her Semblance, turning mid-flight to face a new enemy. There was nothing behind her, besides some stray cat, that looked at her in surprise and ran away. The red Huntress let out a relieved sigh, turning back to the real threat.

It was just in front of her, its tentacles surrounding her, a triumphant grin on its face. Ruby activated her Semblance again, dodging the spectral limbs, but one of them caught her leg.

She hit the ground hard, gasping for air. She couldn't breath, couldn't move. It was so cold, her body felt so heavy. She just wanted to close her eyes, and sleep, never wake up again.

With titanic effort, she forced herself to stay awake. She called out for her Semblance, and pushed onward. She traveled only a few meters, but thankfully it was enough to escape this death-cold grip.

Ruby pushed herself upward, making sure to keep her eyes on her enemy at all times. This was bad, very, very bad. She could barely stand, and this monster was coming closer. If it caught her again, it was over.

To her surprise, the monstrosity paused, and was just watching her intently. Its smile was gone, replaced by a curious expression.

"Why did you run? I was about to free you from all this pain. Why do you insist on making things harder for both of us?" He shook his head sadly. "It would have been so much easier if you just let go"

He walked a bit closer, this strange black dagger held firmly in his normal arm.

"Never mind. This end here." He said, smiling again, pointing at her with his dagger.

His arm exploded in a fountain of blood and flesh. Both the monster and Ruby stared at it for a second in complete shock.

And then it screamed, for the first time looking genuinely hurt.

"You know…" said a new, vaguely familiar voice. "When I kill someone, they usually have the decency to stay dead."

Ruby let out a relieved sigh, and resisted the urge to turn towards her savior.

"Be careful." She said instead. "He has some strange ability to teleport close to you if you take your eyes off him. And he can drain your Aura if he touches you."

Leon glanced at her and hummed.

"What's the range?"

"For tentacles about five meters. For teleport, I'm not sure, the longest distance he jumped was about twenty meters."

"Got it. Can you move?"

She nodded.

"Then get out of here. Yes, I heard what you said, but he won't' be able to follow you. I'll make sure of it."

"You are just delaying the inevitable! Soon, the Project will be complete and…"

"Project?" Leon hummed. "Oh, you are talking about the second train? Don't worry, it was dealt with."

The Harrowed Faunus frozen, the triumphant smile on his face slowly disappearing giving way to confusion.

"But… Master said…" he shook his head. "No matter, Master will…"

"Be dealt with." Leon interrupted him again. "But you will not be there to see it." The black sword in his hand hummed, and starring dissolving, filling air with black mist. "It's time to go to sleep, little nightmare."

Ruby watched the two of them dash at each other, and after a moment of hesitation, turned away and ran, pulling out her scroll. She quickly found the number she was looking for, and initiated the call.

She was of no use here, she would only get in Leon's way. But there were other places, and other people she could help.

Jaune sighed and got up, looking around the dark tunnel he was exploring for... Days? Weeks? It felt like it, but he knew it probably wasn't even an hour. But it was over now. Or at least would be soon. He stretched and focused on the black shape in front of him.

It looked like a human, wearing a black cape with a hood covering his head. But the fact it was floating a few centimeters in the air, and where its legs should be, there was only a cloud of black smoke, one could safely assume it was not a person.

It appeared just a few minutes earlier, first as just specks of black smoke that slowly grew and took humanoid form. And it looked like its materlization was complete. He sighed, hoping his team wouldn't do anything stupid and stick to the plan. This was not a fight in which they could stand by his side.

Suddenly, two blue spots in its head shone with intense light. It looked around, taking in the dark, ruined tunnel, the bodies lying around, and then focused on the lone human in the middle of it all.

It floated higher in the air, and it's burning eyes focused on the blond Witcher.

"Welcome, Jaune. We meet again."

The blond nodded in greeting.

"Looks like it." He rolled his head. "So, judging by fact you are now Harrowed… I think? Does it mean you won't be running away anymore?"

The black figure let out rumbling sound that might have been a chuckle.

"No, I will not. Our story ends here, Jaune."

The blond smiled, drawing Eclipse.

"Good. It has been going on for far too long, if you ask me."

The Harrowed watched him for a few moments in silence.

"You seem different. More… composed. I was certain you would attack as soon as you saw me. But your anger… it's not gone, rather… controlled?"

The blond shrugged.

"Yeah. A few things happened, forced me to rethink my life choices. Made peace with some of my decisions. With myself."

"I see. As strange it might sound, I'm glad you did." The figure floated closer, its burning eyes never leaving Jaune's. "You sure you want to face me alone?"

The blond just smiled.

"You gotta do what you gotta do." Jaune took his stance, his black blade humming with power. "Before we begin, I have one question."

"I'm listening."

"What is your name anyway?"

There were a few moments of silence.

"Joseph. Joseph Brown."

"Any family you want me to bring news to?"

Master shook his head.

"No. Beside, I think you are greatly underestimating me if you think you can defeat me alone." His form started to grow, dark sparks shooting out.

"For now, I am Master of the Damned! And they obey my WILL! ARISE!"

Jaune stared dumbfounded, as bodies of the White Fang soldiers he'd killed just a few minutes ago started getting up, their skin turning black, their limbs thickening, their teeth and nails growing into sharp fangs and claws. Just a few seconds later he was surrounded by six sizable Ghouls.

He glanced at Master.

"That's just cheating."

All of them attacked at once.

Jaune grinned and activated his Semblance. Time seemed to slow down, each moment, each sound, each sensation seemingly stretched to the limit. Jaune moved, carefully controlling the Aura in his body. He had to get this right, there was no room for error. He stepped in and dashed, Eclipse decapitating the first Ghoul, then he ducked, avoiding a sphere of black energy that flew by the spot where his head was a moment before.

One.

The blond kicked off, meeting another Ghoul head on. He ducked under its paw, burying Eclipse in its chest. He turned around, putting the dying monster in the way of an incoming blade made out of darkness. It flew straight through the monster's head, killing him on the spot.

Two.

Not wasting a second, Jaune freed his sword and jumped back, avoiding the Ghoul lunging at him, and then again to dodge the shadowy spike that erupted from the ground.

Something hit him from behind, but he managed to turn around before he was pinned to the ground. The Ghoul snarled at him, its maw opened wide, revealing rows upon rows of serrated teeth. Jaune shoved his fist into its maw, and activated Aegis. Burst of Aura ripped the Ghoul's head to shreds, fragments of its skull and brain falling on the blond's face.

Three.

Jaune wiped his eyes clean, and got up. A shadow ball hit him in the chest. It felt as if he jumped into fire. The more Aura he tried to pull out, the more it hurt. Jaune just clenched his teeth, and rode through the pain. When it disappeared, he realized he was leaning against a wall a few meters away from the spot he was previously in.

Ok, note to self - don't get hit by that again.

He rolled to the side, took aim and fired another burst of Aura at the two charging Ghouls. They fell, and blond quickly took advantage of the opening. The first one died before it could even get up. The second one snapped its maw at him, but the blond jumped back, sidestepped the lunge of the last Ghoul, ducked under another shadow sphere, and dashed back at the two monsters. They spread out, one clinged to wall and hissed at him, the other jumped to the side, and tried to bite his leg off.

Jaune pierced its skull and tried to sidestep, but was too slow. The dead Ghoul's body hit him, knocking him down and blocking his legs. The last beast hissed, and jumped at the immobilized Witcher.

A metal slug hit in the chest, leaving a sizable hole in place of its heart. Jaune freed himself and focused on Master.

He was currently holding a massive ball of dark energy, almost as big as Jaune himself. Multiple smaller ones surrounded it, orbiting around it like planets around the sun.

When he noticed Jaune looking at him, he bowed head in mock greeting.

"Here. Play with this." He said, throwing the giant ball at blond, all the smaller ones following it.

"Fuck." Jaune turned around and ran.

Leon slumped against wall, clutching the wound in his stomach. He chuckled, but it turned into coughing.

Well, this could have gone better.

He galnced to the spot where Harrowed he just killed laid - or rather what was left of it.

I relaly hope you have the decency to stay dead this time.

He sighed, reaching to the pocket hidden under his armor, and pulled out his scroll. The device was still working, the person on the other side no doubt hearing everything that the strange Harrowed said. And oh boy, he had a lot to say. The Faunus seemed all too happy to interrupt their fight with friendly chatter from time to time, and didn't need much encouragement to spill all their plans.

Leon chuckled.

This was all valuable intel, well worth getting his ass kicked.

They knew some of it already, suspected more, but it was good to get some confirmation, along with a few more details.

Cinder Fall… I wonder who she is...

Leon sighed, his eyes slowly drifting shut.

I hope he sticks to the plan...

Jaune hit ground hard, rolled and groaned. Master slowly floated towards him, accompanied by eight new Ghouls.

"You are too arrogant, my boy. I guess it's typical for young ones. You always think you can do everything best yourself. But sometimes..." Master smiled, raising his hand and forming another blade of darkness. "To do something right, you need some help." It shot towards the blond, who rolled out of the way. When he stopped, he took aim and fired.

Predictably enough, one of Ghouls jumped in the way of projectile, dying on the spot. Not that it was needed. Master proved to be extremely resistant, even hits with Eclipse didn't do any lasting damage. What AUra Jaune could rip from him, was quickly replenished and on top of that he was able to drain corrupted Aura from his surroundings. And in a very wide area. All the Ghouls Jaune killed when searching for him were now feeding his power. All the White Fang Grunts he killed, were turned into new Ghouls, and if he killed them again - it was just more power for Master himself.

Jaune surged to his feet, and started running again. Master continued bombarding him with dark spheres and shadow blades. The blond knew he couldn't keep this up forever. Master knew it too, that's why he was content to let Jaune run, and exhaust himself.

Jaune coughed, and dragged himself to his feet after yet another explosion knocked him down. He needed to get out of these damn tunnels. There was no place to hide, and no room to dodge. Thankfully, he could already see an exit. He had a plan, he just needed to stick to it.

It's really shitty plan… He thought, narrowly dodging another dark ball.

Ruby sat on the sofa, leaning on Crescent Rose. The rest of her team was there too, as well as team JNPR.

Minus their leader, of course.

She sighed for the hundredth time. This was awful. They were sitting there doing nothing, while they friend risked his life. And worst of all - they all knew full well they simply couldn't go with him. Atlas reports clearly stated that the monster lurking in those tunnels could be taken out only by a Witcher. And for some reason Jaune was sent in alone.

They protested, but the Atlas officer was unyielding. The fact that not only them, but even more experienced Hunters were strictly forbidden from even approaching the hole in the ground, made her even angrier. When Miss Goodwitch came, and Ruby had never seen her this angry, she hoped that the scary woman could help them convince Atlas soldiers to let someone go and help Jaune. But instead, she led them to this room.

Ruby sighed again, checking Crescent Rose firing mechanism for the hundredth time. She just wished there was something she could do beside sitting here.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked at her sister.

"Cheer up, Ruby. We just need to stick to the plan."

Yeah, the plan.

The young Huntress scoffed. Even though they were not allowed to go with Jaune, Miss Goodwitch at least let them know why exactly. They had a plan.

In her opinion, it was a really dumb plan.

Jaune didn't run out of the hole made by train - he was thrown out by a massive black explosion. He flew a good five meters into the air, and the slammed into the ground hard.

A black shape slowly flew out after him.

"What happened, Jaune? You were so afraid of me running away, yet all you've done up until now. Well, besides giving me more food."

"Just… wanted… to get… the terrain advantage." The blond joked between harsh gasps.

Master stared at him for a few moments, then laughed.

"Terrain advantage? You think that just because I came into sunlight, you will get an advantage? Yes, it's strangely unpleasant, but it's just a minor discomfort. Or maybe you thought that the wider area will let you better dodge my attacks, let you tire me out? Perhaps, but if that were the case, you should have led me to somewhere with less food." He floated in the air, spreading his arms wide.

"This is exactly where I wanted to be, Jaune. You not only failed at stopping me, you even helped me achieve my goal. I must say I didn't expect Atlas will be so...thorough about destroying my laboratory. I was left greatly weakened, it might have taken me weeks or even months to gather enough strength to recover. But, by killing all those Ghouls in the tunnel, you helped me recover faster. By killing all those White Fang, you helped me create more soldiers to fight in my cause."

He chuckled, black mist slowly flowing out of him.

"And now you led me here!" He shouted, making a circular motion with one hand, as if he wanted to point at all dead Ghouls, White Fang soldiers, and even some civilians.

"The essence of my children will become my strength. The bodies of my enemies will give birth to more of my children." He raised both hands, and black mist started flowing out of him. "What answer to that have you, little Witcher?"

Jaune considered it for a moment, then shrugged.

"Nora."

Master blinked, surprised.

"What?"

A pink grenade hit him in the face. The explosion didn't hurt him too much, but it blinded him for a moment. Time Jaune used to get away, with help of a white glyph that formed under his feet. Every window, every door opened revealing barrels of guns of all shapes and forms. Jaune lifted one hand to his ear, activating his earpiece.

"Fire." He said simply.

The barrage lasted almost a full minute. When it came to a stop, the blond slowly approached a small cloud of black smoke floating where Master was only a few moments before. Two blue spots, his eyes, still shone, but the light was now dimmed.

"This changes nothing, Jaune. You can't kill me. Come on, stab me with your black sword. See for yourself."

The blond Witcher shrugged.

"Oh, I know I can't kill you now. It's not real you, afterall."

Even though he was now just a floating ball of black smoke, Master still managed to look surprised.

"What…"

"I knew from very beginning that I wouldn't be able to kill you. You see, we faced a few of your creations. They gave us no end of trouble, but all shared one similarity - flesh. All of them had bodies. Some could transform it, or possess others, or even leave it and travel around, but they all needed a body, a material body to exist. If it was destroyed, they would quickly lose their power."

The blond shrugged.

"Not only that, those 'chosen' as they call themselves, they were all very talkative. Spilled out all of your plans. What you want to do, where you would be, your new abilities. "Jaune grinned. "And how eager you was for this little rematch with me. So, we figured that if you saw me alone, you would not be able to resist the temptation to take it. Especially if you had a lot of… 'materials' to work with. Sure, damaging your projection wouldn't harm you. But it will weaken you, and there has to be link between this spectral form and your real body."

Jaune checked his scroll and hummed.

"And it looks like we finally found it."

"What? How!? My laboratory was destroyed, and this attack started yesterday! I wasn't spotted until a few hours ago, you couldn't possibly find it that quickly!" Master began, but Jaune just rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please. After the mess you caused in Atlas, and what your little student pulled off in Spring Valley? No one would believe you were dead unless definite proof was found. Plus, some of the Fang soldiers that surrendered before Atlas blew Mountain Glenn up were high ranking officers. They told us a few interesting things too. Where do you think all the Atlas soldiers went? They were digging through all the rubble, looking for your real body and the second train. Speaking of which…"

Jaune smiled, when his scroll buzzed signaling incoming call.

"Hey Peter." The blond greeted. "Found it?"

"Ay, I believe we did. You sure you don't want to do it yourself?"

"No," Jaune answered firmly, looking straight into Master's eyes. "I wouldn't be able to do it right. It's… too personal for me."

"As you wish."

Master shook, the smoke that made his body up suddenly started spinning violently.

"So, I guess this is truly the end."

"Yeah." Jaune agreed. "It truly is."

"Won't you ask? Why I did all of this?"

Jaune shook his head.

"I read your journal, the one we found in Atlas. So I know what lead you to this, but I don't approve, not at all. The idea was good, but the execution… Honestly, I'm not sure how you come to the conclusion that the solution to humanity misery is to turn us all into monsters."

Master chuckled, his form slowly disappearing.

"When you put it like that, it really sounds stupid. I had my reasons, you know. I would gladly share them but…" he chuckled, barely visible now. "I don't think I have time for it." He stared at Jaune for a few moments before speaking again.

"You know what surprises me the most?"

"Yeah?"

"Even after all of this, I can't bring myself to hate you."

Jaune chuckled, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, thanks? But to be honest - I really do hate you. More than anyone."

"I know. Why didn't you go to kill me yourself then?"

"That's precisely why. I hate you. And the Harrowed don't' deserve to be sent off with hatred. They've suffered enough. One should send them off with a smile and a good word. That's what I believe in. And besides, "Jaune grinned. "To go after you, I would have to leave all my friends behind. And they are more important to me than you. No offense."

Master didn't answer, but Jaune could swear he smiled. A few seconds later, he disappeared completely, all trace of his Aura gone.

"It's clear on my side. How about you?"

"All clear." Said Peter Port. "I think we got him for good this time."

Jaune smiled, and ended the call. It was over. Master was no more. He'd often wondered how he would feel in this situation. Would he be happy? Lost? Melancholic? He heard people often grew strangely attached to their long-time enemies.

But he felt nothing like that. He was tired, hurt all over, his head threatened to explode, and he could feel the first wave of nausea. But the only thing on his mind was to check up on his friends, to make sure they were ok, and then take a shower and sleep for a week.

Jaune chuckled and turned away, heading towards the group of six Huntresses and one Hunter heading his way. It looked like he was right.

In the end, Master wasn't that important. It was his friends that mattered.

The beeping of the medical aparature was what woke him up. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

"Finally awake?"

He slowly turned his head to the source of the voice, noting two swords lying on the man's lap.

"Yeah. What…"

"You were out for three days, numerous broken bones, and some internal bleeding. Doctors said you would be fine, just need to take it easy for a week or two."

Leon sighed, looking over his grinning student.

"How long have you waited for our roles to be reversed like this?"

"Oh, Gods, it feels like forever. I was getting afraid I'd never get to do it."

Leon chuckled.

"Yeah, but you should start with where we are, and leave out the details about injures, unless it's something they have to know."

The blond nodded.

"Got it."

"So, how'd it go on your end?"

"Good. Master is out, the White Fang is in shambles, and the Harrowed were mostly dealt with. There is extremely high Grimm activity around the city, the Council fears they might attack the walls, but so far it's peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it can be after shit like that, but I think you slept through the worst of it."

Leon chuckled.

"Glad to hear that. Any other great news?"

"Actually, yes. Apparently, someone tried to break into Beacon during all this mess. No one knew what for, but a fight broke out, and school was heavily damaged. Qrow got wounded, I saw him taken to intensive therapy with heavy burns. Don't know much else, everyone is confused, and there is no word from Beacon itself. But there is a rumor that Ozpin's dead."

Leon winced.

"Damn. I liked the guy. What about Qrow? He's the best drinking buddy I ever had."

"Form what I know, he'll live, but I don't know much else. Overall, it's one big mess."

Leon watched him for a moment.

"So, what are you gonna to do now?"

"Well, the school is out of commission, lessons suspended until further notice, and Vale is in shambles. I guess I'll stick around for awhile, there should be plenty of work available. At least until winter ends. And then." He shrugged. "I'll go back on the road. Been sitting in one place for far too long."

"Was it boring?"

Jaune laughed.

"No, it wasn't. But then, I don't think I spent much time doing student stuff." His eyebrows narrowed. "Now that I think about it, I never even got out to a club, tried to pick up girls, or got detention. It's kinda sad."

Leon laughed, and so did Jaune. They talked for a while, and then the blond left. Vale was in ruins, but his friends and family were alive. School was out, and after some debate it was decided to send the students back to their homes.

Jaune left the hospital, and smiled at his team.

"So, you made your decision?"

They nodded.

"Of course. School is out, but we still need to learn. What better way than to go out there with an experienced Hunter?" Said Pyrrha with a wink.

Nora giggled.

"Yeah, you're not getting rid of us that easily, Fearless Leader. We gotta stick together, whether you like it or not. Now, come on! Adventure, glory, and riches await!" She exclaimed, running off.

"Nora!"

"Yes, Renny?"

"Where are you going?"

"To the Company office, silly."

"It's other way."

Jaune laughed, as did Pyrrha. The future was uncertain, but when wasn't it? And whatever happened from now on, he and his team would face it together.

END.

(que the sound of fireworks, fanfares, and popping champagne bottles)

Ladies and Gentlemens, Welcome to the last AN of TPA.

First of all, my apologies - I know this chapter is very late, but it turns out that writing the last chapter is much harder than I imagined. I just couldn't get it right, and while I'm still not satisfied with how it turned out, I've decided to leave it at that.

I… I honestly don't know what to say. At the moment I'm writing this, TPA has almost 1,1k favs, and over 1,3k follows.

I'll be honest, this is easy three-four times more than I expected it to get.

This story, it turned out to be much more than I expected. At first, I thought it would just be a silly little project, that a few people might find amusing. But somewhere along the way, it evolved into this.

When I first mentioned idea for this story to JJD, I actually wanted him to write it. He convinced me to try it myself, and I was hesitant. I'd never written story myself (though I read a lot), and here, this guy wants me to write one, and in a foreign language at that?

But I decided to at least give it try - I mean, the worst thing that could happen was that it would turn out I completely suck at writing. JJD helped a lot, not only with grammar (I'm so sorry you had to deal with it JJD…) and storytelling. Thanks to him, this story ended in much better place than it would be otherwise.

But TPA was not only a test of my writing skills, but also patience and discipline. So many times I was tempted to push out shorter/less refined chapter, just to 'get it done'. So many times I was tempted to give myself a 'week off'. It wouldn't hurt if I skipped once, or twice, right?

But I knew that if I allowed myself to be lazy once, it would happen again and again. And now, at the end of the story, I'm somewhat happy to say, I managed to stick to my schedule most of the time.

Like I said, this last chapter is not something I'm happy with. I feel I could write a few more chapters, build up certain events/characters better. But then I would be just dragging other things out, and above all else - I can feel myself burning out. I know that if I try to continue writing TPA, the quality will drop, and I might end up making some half-assed, rushed ending, even worse than this one.

Overall, I think I'm satisfied with TPA as my first story. I don't think it's perfect, or even particularly good - just good enough that I'm not ashamed of it. I made a lot of mistakes, and learned many things. That having a story planned out beforehand helps, especially if you want to foreshadow future events, or that writing Jaune and Weiss interacting comes way too easy to me, being among them, and something that I will definitely use in my future stories.

Speaking of which - I have one already in the making. Title - Project: ARES. The main character will be one, and only…. Jaune Arc! Yes, I know, it's shocking.

This one will have different theme than TPA, and will include actual romance. Who is the lucky girl, you ask? Well, it's a secret, but I'll say that it's one of less popular ships. Or maybe less represented.

Anyway, the story has a few chapters ready, but I must read through them again to make sure everything is in order. Before I publish it, I think I'll take short break, maybe a week or two.

So, at the end of this too logn AN, I would like to say thank you.

Thank you JJD, for convincing me to write this, and being my Beta. Without you, this story wouldn't be the same - or wouldn't come to live at all.

Thank you to all those who read this, and decided that TPA was good enough to follow. I'm glad you like it, and I hope I'll be able to create more stories for you to enjoy.

And double thanks to those that left reviews. Reading them was fuel for my dedication. Even now, I sometimes come back to them, and reading your thoughts, your reactions to my story, it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Thank you all.

And see you on the next journey.

JJD: Cr00cy, it's been a hell of a ride. I'm so glad that you decided to pursue this story and start your career as a writer. It's been awesome to Beta and watch people's reactions to the twist and turns of the story. I'm excited for the next step. Onwards!

If you like what I write, and have a buck or two to spare please consider supporting me at 'Patr" "eon'.

See you all… soon-ish.