Velik's eyes settled on Jaune the moment the door sealed behind Qrow.
There was no rush or overt pressure in his gaze. And yet, it felt like being placed under a lens that could peel apart layers that Jaune himself did not fully understand.
The obsidian depths of Velik's eyes moved slowly over him, tracing the contours of his shadow-formed body with quiet scrutiny, as though examining not just what was visible, but what lay beneath.
Then Velik spoke.
"That probing of yours," he said, his voice deep and even, carrying a strange weight that seemed to press into the air itself. "It's a little weird."
Jaune stiffened slightly.
Velik was... sensing Jaune's weakness sense!
His Weakness sense had never truly been something he consciously controlled. It was always there, brushing against everything in his surroundings like an invisible current. And now, with his Plunder rune reaching comprehension, the two had begun to intertwine in a form of rune synchronicity. It was no longer just observing weaknesses, but assessing what could be taken.
However... this was the first time that someone was actively sensing it. No one had been capable of sensing it before. With the sole exception of... Velik.
Qrow, still standing nearby, raised a brow.
"Probing? What probing?" he asked, glancing between the two.
Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed.
"Sorry," he said. "I can't really stop it. It's… passive. Comes from my meta rune."
Velik gave a small nod.
"I know," he replied. "I have something similar."
Qrow was about to say something, but Velik continued before he could interject.
"It's a special development, that almost all meta runes are capable of reaching under the right conditions. Yours feels like it's trying to determine the structural integrity of my body."
Jaune swallowed lightly. That was… uncomfortably accurate. Velik watched him for a moment longer, then tilted his head slightly.
"Are you curious as to how I was able to sense it?"
Jaune hesitated, then nodded. There was no point pretending otherwise. Velik's expression did not change.
"Don't be nervous," he said. "You know what domains are?"
Jaune nodded again.
"Good," Velik said. "That saves me time to explain."
He shifted slightly in the air, though he remained seated in that impossible, weightless posture.
"My domain is… a little different now," he continued. "Before today, I wouldn't have been able to perceive something like that. But the Grimm's domain has altered certain aspects of it."
Jaune listened carefully.
"I can sense the use of Aura," Velik said. "No matter how small of an amount is used."
Jaune frowned. "That doesn't make sense," he said. "My Weakness Sense doesn't consume Aura. It's just… there."
Velik shook his head.
"Weakness Sense, is it?" he repeated thoughtfully. "It doesn't matter. All runes consume Aura to function."
Jaune opened his mouth to argue, but Velik continued, his tone calm and absolute.
"What is likely happening is this. Your rune is consuming such a minuscule amount of Aura that you are unable to perceive it. A fraction of a fraction. So small that it blends below your baseline existence."
Velik's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Considering you cannot detect that consumption," he added, "it is likely that you reached comprehension of it under extreme duress."
Velik continued.
"This passive phenomenon has only been observed in individuals who achieved comprehension under those conditions. Their runes adapt for efficiency and permanence replaces activation."
Jaune felt something settle uneasily in his chest. That… tracked. Everything about how he had reached comprehension had been desperate and forced. On the edge of collapse.
Velik's attention shifted slightly, then he glanced toward Qrow.
"Thank you. You can leave, now." he said.
Qrow did not argue. He simply nodded once, stepping forward to clap Jaune lightly on the shoulder.
"Try not to get dissected," he muttered under his breath, before turning and walking out of the room.
The door slid shut behind him with a soft hiss.
Silence settled and Velik's gaze returned fully to Jaune.
"You likely have many questions," he said. "But I would like to ask mine first."
Jaune straightened slightly.
"My primary question," Velik continued, "requires your… expertise in Stalker communication."
Jaune blinked.
"That's not really something I expected to hear today," he admitted.
Velik ignored the comment.
"I've received reports regarding the expedition," he said. "Including your circumstances in the Shadow Realm. It was mentioned that you were able to communicate with a Stalker."
Jaune nodded slowly.
"I'd like a more detailed explanation," Velik said.
Jaune took a breath and began.
He recounted everything. The initial contact. The moment Plunder had interacted with the Stalker. How the creature had merged into him. How, at first, he had completely lost control of his own body due to the overwhelming difference in body stats.
He described the suffocating helplessness of that moment. The sensation of being trapped in his own body while something else moved it.
Then he explained how he had forced it down and was able to suppress its consciousness.
"At first, communication was… basic," Jaune said. "Emotions and Instincts. Nothing structured."
Velik listened without interruption.
"But when it evolved," Jaune continued, "into a second variant, the Asura Stalker… things changed."
He paused briefly, choosing his words carefully.
"It became clearer. Language and concepts. It could understand more and so can I."
Velik nodded slowly.
"And now?" he asked. "Do you still need to suppress it?"
Jaune shook his head.
"No," he said. "Not anymore."
He hesitated, then added, "It doesn't try to take control. At all."
Velik's brow lifted slightly.
"It's… content. Just watching and observing. I also named it Gula."
Velik considered that, then he asked, "Can you let it out?"
"…What?"
"I would like to converse with it," Velik said simply.
Jaune stared at him for a moment. That was… not a normal request. Still, he closed his eyes briefly and reached inward.
Gula.
The presence was there, coiled deep within him. Awake and aware. Watching. Jaune sent the request and the response came almost immediately.
'Gula. Come on out. He wants to talk.'
'No.'
'What? Why not?'
'Greater one will kill me.'
'I don't think he's going to...'
'No. The Greater one will devour me.'
Refusal.
Jaune opened his eyes and scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"Uh," he said. "It doesn't want to."
Velik's expression shifted.
"…What?"
Jaune coughed lightly. "It's... scared of you."
There was a brief, almost comical pause. Velik looked… mildly speechless. Then he coughed once into his palm, turning his head slightly as if to compose himself.
"…That is unfortunate," he said.
The faintest hint of awkwardness lingered in his tone.
Velik slowly lowered himself from his meditative position, descending until his feet touched the ground. Despite the motion, there was no sound or impact. It was as if gravity itself had decided not to interfere.
He stood at his full height now, towering over Jaune.
"Tell your Stalker," Velik said, then paused. "No. Tell Gula… that I have no intention of harming it. I only wish to speak."
Jaune nodded and reached inward again. This time, he pressed a little more insistently, not forceful. But persuasive.
A pause. Then hesitation, before… reluctant agreement.
Jaune exhaled softly.
"Alright," he said.
A moment later, his body changed.
The shadow that composed him began to shift, flowing upward like liquid darkness. It crawled over his neck and face.
The transformation was slow enough to be unsettling.
When it settled, Jaune's features were gone.
In their place was a smooth, black surface broken only by two blank white eyes and a crude, uneven shape that resembled a mouth.
The mouth twitched slightly, not quite forming a smile or quite anything human.
It looked… uncertain. The air in the room seemed to tighten just a fraction as the presence shifted.
Velik watched, unbothered, yet interested.
"Hello," Velik said calmly. "I would like to ask you a few questions."
There was a brief pause. Then the shadow-mouth opened.
"This lesser one… will defer to the Greater one."
The tone was strange. Respectful, but not in the way humans understood it. There was a slight fear woven into the words but mostly instinctive acknowledgment of hierarchy. Of something older and deeper, etched into whatever passed for its nature.
Velik regarded it quietly.
"Your form," he said after a moment. "Why are you not manifesting your full structure?"
The white eyes flickered faintly.
"You are an Asura Stalker," Velik continued. "You should possess three pairs of arms."
Gula hesitated.
"The host… is more comfortable with two," it said slowly. "I… like it too."
There was something almost tentative in that last admission, as if the preference itself was still a new concept.
Velik said nothing.
Then, without warning, Gula shifted.
From the shadow that formed Jaune's torso, two additional pairs of arms emerged. They unfolded like liquid silhouettes given shape, extending outward from its sides in smooth, unnatural motion. Six arms in total now framed its body, each one long, muscular, and perfectly still.
The air in the room seemed to tighten slightly around the transformation. Velik observed it with quiet approval and gave a small nod.
A moment later, the additional arms dissolved back into umbra, melting into the body as though they had never existed.
Silence settled again.
Velik's gaze remained fixed.
"Then tell me," he said, "why have you not taken control of your host?"
Gula paused.
There was a longer hesitation this time, as if it were sorting through its own reasoning.
"…It is… useless," it said finally.
Velik's brow shifted almost imperceptibly.
"Explain."
Gula complied.
"There are… multiple reasons," it said. "This lesser one and the host… are now the same body. There is no need to take control."
Its voice steadied slightly as it continued.
"The host uses power. I benefit. Both benefit."
Velik's expression did not change, but there was a faint shift in the way he stood, a subtle indication that something had caught his interest.
"Can your host use your power," he asked, "without your permission?"
Gula went still. That question lingered longer than the others.
"…Previously… no," it said. "But now…"
Another pause.
"…Yes."
Velik exhaled softly through his nose.
"Comprehension in the Plunder rune," he murmured, almost to himself. The implication settled into place neatly. He continued.
"What other reasons?"
Gula answered more quickly this time.
"The host… is better."
Velik's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Better?"
"…Better fighter," Gula clarified. "No need to take over."
That answer lingered in the air. Velik studied it for a moment, then let out a quiet hum. "Practically perfect symbiosis."
There was no sarcasm in his tone. Only observation. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, he straightened slightly.
"Alright," he said. "I have no further questions."
The shadow receded.
It flowed downward from Jaune's face, peeling back like a curtain of darkness until his normal features were revealed once more. His eyes blinked as he adjusted, his expression carrying a trace of confusion.
"That's it?" Jaune asked. "You didn't really ask much."
Velik's lips curved faintly.
"I didn't need to," he said.
Jaune tilted his head slightly.
Velik continued. "I am… familiar with Stalkers."
Understanding dawned slowly in Jaune's mind. Velik's Darkness rune. It would have given him the ability to freely traverse the Shadow Realm freely. His status was surely one of the earliest and strongest explorers.
Of course.
Velik had been there long before most. Possibly even before reaching Rank 3. The knowledge that LUCID possessed about the Shadow Realm did not appear from nothing, after all.
People like Velik had carved it out of the unknown. That made sense.
Velik's gaze settled on him again. "You have questions of your own as well," he said. "Go on then, ask them. I will answer what I can."
Jaune nodded, gathering his thoughts.
"…Why were you curious about my Stalker?" he asked. "Are you like me? Is that Formless Stalker… in the same kind of symbiosis?"
Velik considered that.
"…Somewhat," he said.
He shifted his stance slightly. "I am suppressing it the same way you once suppressed yours. After all, unlike you, I do not trust it."
There was no hesitation in that statement.
"However," he added, "unlike your previous state, I do not require its permission to use Umbra."
Velik raised a hand and the shadow that formed his body shifted.
In an instant, his massive, imposing frame compressed and warped. Muscles shrank, proportions twisted, and suddenly…
He was small.
Ridiculously small.
A chibi version of himself stood in place, with a disproportionately large head and tiny limbs that looked entirely unsuited for the overwhelming presence he had carried moments before.
Jaune froze. For a brief, dangerous moment, something inside him threatened to break into laughter.
He barely held it in and Velik glanced at him, a faint smile touching his lips. Then, just as quickly, the form dissolved and returned to normal.
"I have complete control over its umbra," Velik said calmly. "It is not limited to just that, but that is one example."
Jaune blinked a few times, still recovering from the absurdity he had just witnessed.
"…Right," he said.
Velik inclined his head slightly.
"In any case," he said, "thank you for your assistance."
Jaune nodded. "No problem." He turned slightly, preparing to leave. "I don't think I have any other questions," he added.
Velik's voice stopped him. "Are you sure? Not even about why your… weakness sense… fails to perceive me?"
Jaune turned back fully now. "…Actually," he admitted, "yeah. I was wondering about that." He hesitated briefly before asking, "Is it because you and every other Rank 3 don't have any weaknesses?"
Velik shook his head.
"No."
He folded his arms loosely.
"Rank 3 biology is still… biology," he said. "Enhanced and extremely reinforced, but not exempt from fundamental structure."
He took a step forward. "We have weaknesses, but you simply cannot perceive them."
Jaune frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because of our domains," Velik replied simply.
The answer settled heavily.
"Domains have the ability to block external probing and sensing. Your rune isn't failing but it is being denied by my authority."
Jaune's eyes widened slightly.
"So if I could… break through your domain…"
"Then you would see everything," Velik finished.
Understanding clicked into place.
"…That makes sense."
He gave a small nod. "Thanks."
Velik did not respond, only watching as Jaune turned and walked toward the exit. The door hissed open, then closed behind him and silence returned.
For a moment, Velik stood still.
Then he exhaled softly and from his shoulder, something shifted.
A thin, dark stalk emerged, rising upward before unfurling into a single, unblinking eye. It rotated slightly, focusing outward, then inward, its presence alien and unsettling.
A voice echoed within Velik's mind.
"See," it said. "I am useful."
Velik did not move.
"There is no need to suppress me," the voice continued. "I will keep the Grimm dormant. Of my own will."
The eye narrowed slightly. "You do not need to control me. I promise."
Velik turned his head slightly, his gaze settling on the eye. There was no warmth in it.
Only calculation.
"…We'll see," he said.
The eye did not blink.