A full day had passed since the catastrophe.
When Jaune and the surviving members of the expedition finally awakened, reality had felt strangely muted afterwards.
The aftermath began immediately.
LUCID as a whole moved quickly.
Once the details of the expedition were reported and the extent of Sleepless infiltration became apparent, the entire organization entered a state of controlled chaos. Security procedures escalated and entire departments were mobilized to properly oversee the issue.
Ozpin himself had personally overseen the immediate containment measures.
Or at least, attempted to.
Unfortunately, the surviving traitors whose bodies were supposed to be in the specialized pods, were gone.
They were found empty.
At first, some suspected that there was internal sabotage or extraction by outside forces, but the truth was discovered not long afterward. Tiny fragments of activated imbued rune residue were found hidden inside the pods themselves.
Teleportation type.
More specifically, a pre prepared imbued teleportation rune that had activated automatically the moment certain conditions were fulfilled.
Sleepless, apparently, had planned for the possibility of failure from the very beginning. It was the kind of paranoid foresight that made even veteran LUCID operatives uncomfortable.
The organization had not merely infiltrated the expedition but had prepared contingency plans within contingency plans.
As for Coppal and Rajah, the two had survived the expedition as well, though neither was allowed unrestricted movement afterward.
Once it became clear that the pair had been subjected to extensive mental tampering and forced manipulation, LUCID isolated them immediately.
At least officially.
The issue with their minds was... unusual. Their personalities remained mostly intact, but their ideologies had changed. Altered responses and subtle distortions in emotional processing and instinctive reactions.
It was like portions of their psyche had been rewritten by a conceptual hand.
Emerald Sustrai. Her rune was incredibly powerful for a meta rune. A very dangerous one at that too.
Contingencies were being placed to counter the issue and LUCID's specialists were still attempting to reverse the damage.
Results so far had been inconclusive.
Meanwhile, Jaune's own situation became increasingly bizarre.
Neither he nor Pyrrha had decided to rank up immediately, despite both now possessing full comprehension of their respective runes.
Partially because they wanted time to acclimatize. For one, if they ranked up, they would have to fight Rank 2 Grimm every night instead. It was better to get used to their new capabilities first before rushing into anything.
And the other reason was mostly because the entire situation still felt unreal. In any case, explaining all of this to their friends was going to be an absolute disaster.
Especially the part involving Gula.
That had become... a little awkward.
When Jaune returned fully to the real world, the merged state between him and the Asura Stalker had changed.
Gula no longer remained fused directly into his body.
Instead, it became his literal shadow.
Not metaphorically but literally.
Whenever light struck Jaune's body, the shadows cast beneath him were longer natural but moved independently at times. It could watch things and even blink
The truly strange part, however, was that they still were not separate beings. Whatever Plunder had done to them transcended normal concepts of fusion or possession. They occupied the same existential space while simultaneously existing as two entities.
Another development Jaune quickly discovered was memory sharing.
Gula possessed access to all of Jaune's memories and vice-versa. However, when Jaune looked through Gula's own memories, they were profoundly uninteresting.
The majority consisted of hunting other stalkers, walking and more hunting. Occasionally, sleeping inside strange clusters of Umbra ground.
Then, additional hunting.
It was honestly incredible how such a terrifying creature could possess the life experience of what amounted to an extremely violent raccoon.
Still, despite everything, the Shadow Realm expedition was officially considered a victory for LUCID.
A costly and deeply unpleasant victory.
But a victory nonetheless.
Sleepless had suffered catastrophic losses. Their plans had failed completely and Velik's ascension into something far more dangerous than before had essentially forced the organization into retreat.
For now.
They had been hurt badly enough that even Ozpin believed they would likely remain dormant for some time.
Unfortunately, the situation in Mistral remained deeply concerning.
The Dream Realm surrounding the city had not recovered at all.
Normally, the dream realm environments gradually reset over time due to the observer effect. When regions were left unobserved long enough, reality would reassert itself and the environment would stabilize back toward its original state, reverting damage.
That was not happening anymore in Mistral's Dream Realm location. The volcanic black stone from the Shadow Realm remained fused permanently into the Dreamscape making it the default state.
Entire sections of Mistral's Dream Realm had effectively become hybridized territory.
Nobody knew what long term effects that would produce and that uncertainty unsettled everyone. However, it wasn't a concern of Jaune.
He himself spent much of the following day testing the effects of his newly comprehended Plunder Rune.
The results were horrifying and even he had trouble accepting how powerful it had become.
The first major change involved Plunder itself.
Jaune discovered he could now steal runic energy from virtually any normal rune and temporarily manifest its effects himself.
Not the rune itself, but the energy and function.
Unlike Roman Torchwick, who had been restricted by compatibility and certain categorical limitations, Jaune's version, appeared far broader in application.
Its only real limitation was meta runes.
Those remained untouchable.
He also discovered that while he could steal imbued runes, he could steal the runic energy of perpetuity used by Sleepless operatives.
That phenomenon stemmed directly from meta rune interaction. Even Plunder could not bypass that restriction.
Still, the implications were absurd. Against normal awakened, Jaune was now effectively the perfect countermeasure.
Any imbued rune that they used, could potentially become ammunition for him instead. But that was not the truly terrifying part.
The truly terrifying part was what happened when Plunder synchronized with Weakness.
At first, Jaune had not fully understood what he was doing during the battle against Adam and Grise.
Now he did.
He had stolen thoughts.
Intent and focus, manifest. In addition to that, combat rhythm. The very structure of active cognition itself.
Weakness allowed him to sense emotional and mental vulnerabilities and Plunder allowed him to take.
Combined together, they created something deeply unnatural through Rune Synchronicity.
During the battle, Jaune had stolen the momentum of thought from both Adam and Grise. Their minds had stalled momentarily, stripped of direction and continuity.
They had simply stopped, confused and disoriented.
Open.
Aura protected against the worst effects, such as permanent damage, but the problem was that it was nearly impossible to defend against directly.
The ability bypassed conventional combat entirely.
Even Jaune found the implications disturbing. Combat wise, he was beginning to realize something uncomfortable.
He was very likely, almost unbeatable against anyone below Rank 3. Only other meta runes posed legitimate uncertainty.
That realization did not make him feel triumphant. If anything, it made him feel strangely isolated. Which was why, late that night, Jaune sat alone atop one of Vale's towering high rise buildings.
The wind moved softly through the city while endless streams of headlights flowed far below like glowing rivers weaving through steel and concrete.
The city was alive and people laughed somewhere below.
Cars moved.
Restaurants glowed with warm light. Normal life continued onward completely unaware of how close everything had come to disaster.
Jaune rested his arms loosely over his knees while staring out across the city skyline.
Behind him, stretched across the rooftop beneath the moonlight, his shadow stared quietly back at him with two blank white eyes.
"What do you think, Gula?"
"Colour. It is very beautiful to witness. Very different from my own world."
"I suppose it is, isn't it? We should probably see if you can taste things too. What kind of food do you want to try?"
"Ramen?"
"Mistralian food? I suppose its not too bad of a choice to start off with."
"Pizza?"
"Well, some Valean Pizza isn't bad, but I personally wouldn't try it from just any place. I guess we'll be doing some research first. Though... I guess we have plenty of time hey? Especially since..."
Jaune quieted. His eyes, dulling.
Gula stared.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm... not. You probably know why, don't you?"
"Grise..."
"Yeah."
The answer lingered between them.
There was no point pretending otherwise. Gula possessed his memories now. It knew exactly what he was thinking. Probably better than Jaune himself did.
The rooftop felt colder suddenly. Jaune stared out across the skyline, his expression distant.
"I killed him," Jaune said quietly.
The words still felt strange in his mouth.
Before this, combat had always carried a strange feeling to it. Grimm dissolved, stalkers disappeared into Umbra and even awakened opponents in training matches or minor encounters never truly crossed that final line.
But Grise had.
There was no ambiguity there or technicality.
Jaune had killed a person for the first time. The realization sat heavily inside his chest like wet concrete.
At the time, Jaune had been distracted by many things, and didn't have the time to introspect, but now...
Gula was silent for a moment before asking, "Does it hurt?"
Jaune laughed softly. Not because it was funny but mostly because hearing a horrifying shadow creature ask emotional questions with complete sincerity was still deeply surreal.
"Yeah," Jaune admitted. "More than I thought it would." The city lights reflected faintly in his eyes.
"I know he was a part of Sleepless and I know he tried to kill us but..."
Gula shifted slightly beneath him, shadows rippling softly against the concrete.
"In the Shadow Realm," the Stalker said slowly, "death is simple."
Jaune glanced downward to his shadow.
Gula continued.
"The weak are eaten and the strong survive. There is no hatred, sadness or confusion."
Its white eyes tilted upward toward the sky.
"It is natural."
Jaune smiled faintly.
"Humanity's a little more complicated than that."
"I know."
The response came immediately. That caught Jaune slightly off guard. His shadow shifted again.
"You carry memories differently," it said. "You replay them, reconstruct them and ask if things could have changed."
Its voice remained oddly neutral and observational. "You fear becoming comfortable with killing."
Jaune's silence answered for him.
That was exactly it.
Not guilt or grief alone but fear. Fear that one day it would stop bothering him and that power and necessity would slowly sand away pieces of himself until actions like this became easy.
Convenient and normal. The thought unsettled him more than any nightmare creature ever had.
Gula was quiet for several seconds before speaking again.
"Grise chose to hunt you."
Jaune looked away toward the horizon.
"But he was still a person that could laugh." he said softly. That was the part that kept replaying.
Not the battle itself or the violence, but the moments before. Grise joking casually, smiling and mentoring him.
He was just a normal human. Then, he became an enemy. It made the line feel blurry in a way Jaune hated.
The Stalker considered this.
"In the Shadow Realm," Gula said, "creatures also laugh before killing."
Jaune stared at him.
"…That is somehow the least comforting thing you could've said. And... that's also a complete lie. we both know for a fact that they don't. Remember that I can see your memories too?"
"I am trying?"
The immediate sincerity of the response nearly made Jaune choke on a laugh. A strange sound escaped him halfway between amusement and exhaustion.
"You know," he muttered, rubbing his face, "sometimes I forget you're technically an eldritch horror."
"What is eldritch?"
"Honestly? I don't even know anymore."
The rooftop fell quiet again.
Below them, a bullet train slid through the city tracks like a silver serpent illuminated by streaks of artificial light.
Jaune exhaled slowly.
"You know what the worst part is?"
Gula tilted its head.
"I'm getting stronger way too fast."
The words left him before he fully realized he intended to say them.
"The Plunder Rune. Weakness. Everything." Jaune frowned. "I can feel how easy it's becoming."
He looked down at his own hands.
"During the fight with Adam and Grise, I didn't even consciously understand what I was doing anymore. I just… took."
The terrifying part was how natural it had felt in the moment. Like instinct and breathing.
Gula's shadow shifted faintly.
"You fear yourself?"
Jaune let out another humorless laugh.
"Little bit."
The Stalker seemed to think carefully about its next words.
"You shouldn't. You are not like the Greater One."
Jaune blinked.
"Velik?"
Gula confirmed with a small ripple of shadow.
"He is… heavy."
That was honestly the most accurate description Jaune had heard so far.
"His existence crushes things around him," Gula continued. "You do not."
"Yet," Jaune muttered.
Gula paused. Then the Stalker asked something unexpected.
"Why do humans fear strength so much?"
Jaune frowned slightly at the question. Because honestly…
He did not have a simple answer. Previously, Jaune had craved strength. The innermost power of himself said that if he wasn't strong enough, he would die. But now... he realized that he was akin to a frog in a well.
Strength was important, but he also needed knowledge.
After all, he still didn't know why his father had done all that he had. And... apparently Sleepless's goal of reviving the Sleeper had greater connotations to it.
Jaune didn't forget Adam's words.
Sleepless... was it really true that they were aiming for the end of all life?
Jaune didn't know.
After a moment, he spoke quietly.
"Gula... the thing about humans is... that we hurt things. We hurt others, hurt things and even hurt ourselves. It's like an instinct."
The city wind swept around them again.
"We always have. Power makes it easier."
Gula seemed to absorb that.
"But power also protects, that's true too."
"Then strength is neither good nor bad. Just the intention behind it."
Jaune smiled faintly.
"Yeah. That's the annoying answer, isn't it?"
The Stalker's eyes blinked slowly.
"You protected your pack."
Jaune snorted softly.
"Pack huh?"
"You call them teammates. Friends. Family. It is similar."
Honestly…
Fair enough.
Gula's shadow stretched slightly across the rooftop concrete. "You killed one hunter to protect many others. Yours is a strength built to protect."
Jaune's gaze lowered again. When phrased like that, it sounded straightforward and simple. But humans were not built to experience things simply.
Emotion tangled everything into knots.
Still…
The tightness in his chest eased just slightly.
"I have to admit that you might be right, Gula. It is inevitable that I'll have to kill again. Since..."
"Are you sure this is the best path? Your friends will be lonely."
"I haven't truly decided. But... I can't get what Adam said out of my mind. I need to truly understand what Sleepless goal is."
"Understood."