What separated a second variant Asura Stalker from a first variant Tall Stalker was not simply size or raw strength but density.
Umbra Density, to be precise.
The second variant's power was packed, layered, and expressed with terrifying flexibility. It's six limb manifestations were not just an advantage in number but were also six vectors of intent and six simultaneous ways of attacking.
Six decisions unfolding all at once—through Umbra.
Jaune—or rather, Gula stood at the center of that truth.
Even with the suppression of that meta rune threading through its body, limiting the full expression of its physical capability, something fundamental had shifted. Gula was awake and that meant that the Umbra within Jaune was no longer uncontrollable. It moved with purpose, feeding into every motion, every strike, every instinct.
Versatility bloomed.
All six spears launched at once.
Each one curved mid flight, twisting through the air in arcs that defied simple prediction. Some came from above, others skimmed low along the ground, and a few angled in from the sides, attempting to cut off escape routes before they could even be taken.
Adam and Grise split apart.
Adam tried stepping into a portal that formed at his side, but it sputtered and detonated from Jaune's destabilization. However, it seemed as if Adam had been expecting it and used the force of the rebound to dodge the strikes of the spears.
Grise kicked off one of his floating swords and launched himself upward to avoid the incoming barrage. For a fraction of a second, it seemed like the both of them had avoided the attack cleanly.
Then, in a single instant of a second, the spears turned from their preset moves.
The moment they passed their targets, their trajectories bent sharply as their points each dug into the ground, then surged forward again, dragging through the world like predators catching scent.
They chased after the two of them without pause.
Grise landed on a sword midair and immediately propelled himself forward, accelerating toward Gula in a direct assault. Dozens of blades formed behind him, rotating into a spiral formation that followed his path like a storm of steel.
Adam emerged from the left at an oblique angle, already mid swing. His blade cut downward, carrying both kinetic force and that same spatial distortion that had shattered Jaune's weapons earlier.
Gula's new arms arms moved to intercept.
Two spears met Adam's strike directly, crossing to intercept the blade. The impact cracked the air, runic energy grinding against Umbra as space itself seemed to shudder under the collision.
At the same time, three other spears shot upward toward Grise.
The final arm twisted, spear angled low, dragging along the ground before erupting upward in a sudden thrust aimed to catch Grise from beneath.
Grise adapted.
His spiral of swords broke apart, individual blades shooting forward to intercept the incoming spears. Metal collided with shadow, sparks and fragments bursting outward as he carved a path through the attack.
But it cost him momentum and that was enough for Gula to take advantage.
It shifted forwards, body blurring with an echo step, appearing within Grise's range, one spear already driving toward his center mass while another swept horizontally toward his legs.
Grise twisted midair, barely avoiding the thrust. The horizontal strike clipped his guard, forcing him to raise a sword to block. The impact knocked him off balance and sent him skidding across the air as he hastily formed another sword beneath his feet.
Adam thrusted his blade into a piercing strike, cutting through space Gula had occupied, just a moment before. The distortion that the blade left behind trailed pierced through the ground, leaving a warped gash in its wake.
Gula had already sunk into shadow and reemerged behind Adam's back, two spears thrusting toward his back in perfect synchronization.
A portal snapped open behind Adam, acting as a redirection shield. The spears plunged through it reappearing several meters away. The moment they emerged, the portal destabilized exploded.
Adam stared at Jaune and muttered, even as he dodged through Jaune's extra thrusts.
"Not bad. You've taught me a new way to fight."
Gula's smile, didn't change, even as Adam's blade lashed out, sending a crescent of compressed kinetic energy slicing toward it.
The attack slowed and its structure destabilized as Weakness threaded through it. The crescent fractured, splitting into uneven segments before dissipating entirely.
Grise reentered the fray, this time with a tighter formation of his hovering weapons. His swords moved in coordinated patterns, some attacking directly while others hovered in reserve, ready to intercept or redirect Gula's strikes.
Jaune met him head on and their clash became a storm.
Spears and swords collided in rapid succession, each exchange flowing into the next without pause. Grise's precision was absolute and his control over his blades allowed him to attack from multiple angles simultaneously.
But Gula was able to answer with overwhelming versatility.
Six limbs moved independently yet in perfect harmony. One arm blocked while another countered. A third thrusted forward while a fourth redirected an incoming blade. The remaining two adjusted, adapted, and struck wherever openings appeared.
Umbra flowed through every motion.
Grise found himself pushed back, his attacks disrupted not by raw force but by the sheer unpredictability of Gula's movements. Every time he thought he had found an opening, another spear was already there to deny it.
Adam joined in again, his blade cutting through the exchange with precise timing.
Gula was forced to split its focus.
Two spears intercepted Adam while the others continued to pressure Grise. The battlefield tightened as all three engaged at once, their movements weaving together in a deadly rhythm.
Then the ground moved.
Shadow tendrils began to spread outward from beneath Jaune's feet, thin at first, barely noticeable against the darkened terrain. They crept along the surface, slipping between cracks, curling around debris.
Waiting.
Grise stepped back, creating distance as he launched another wave of swords. Adam pressed forward, his attacks growing sharper, more deliberate as he tested the limits of Jaune's new form.
For a brief moment, there was a lull—a tiny fraction of a second where all three adjusted.
Pyrrha, taking advantage of that pause, entered the fight, driving her spear forward toward Adam's flank. Metal surged around her, forming additional blades that followed her thrust, aiming to box him in.
Adam pivoted and deflected her strike, but the timing was off.
Gula's Umbra tendrils struck.
They erupted from the ground in a sudden burst, wrapping around Adam's legs and arm that was holding his sword, binding him in place just long enough to disrupt his movement.
Pyrrha adjusted her grip and thrusted her spear forward again, aiming for his center, but Adam was able to quickly form a portal at the tendrils to cut them off.
The portal destabilized just in time to force the piercing strike to veer off course.
The spear struck and his arm separated it from his shoulder.
For a single moment, everything stilled.
Adam's severed limb fell, his weapon dissolving with it as it struck the ground. Blood followed, dark and sharp against the ruined street.
He flipped backwards and watched them warily, frown etched on his face from the pain. Though, to his credit, he didn't make a sound.
Grise moved to his side immediately, swords forming a defensive perimeter as the two reassessed.
Gula did not press forward. The tendrils receded slightly, curling back toward him as the battlefield quieted.
Pyrrha exhaled, her stance steady but her attention shifting towards Jaune. She looked at his form and his face. The shadow that still clung to him like a second skin.
"Jaune…" she said, her voice careful. "Is that… still you?"
For a moment, there was no answer, then the shadows shifted.
They peeled away from his face and retreated just enough to reveal something more familiar beneath.
Jaune looked at her.
"It's me," his voice was steady and grounded.
"Don't worry."
He flexed one of the shadow limbs, watching as the spear it held dissolved and reformed seamlessly.
"We can talk now," he added, a faint hint of something lighter beneath the tension. "Me and Gula."
A pause occurred, seemingly to adjust his voice.
"We've got a bit of an understanding."
Pyrrha nodded and the both of them turned back towards their opponents.
Grise had let go of his sword.
For a brief moment, it looked like he had simply relaxed his guard. Then he brought his hands together in a sharp clap that echoed strangely across the fractured battlefield.
"Congratulations," he said, his tone almost conversational. "The both of you actually managed to injure Adam. That's quite an achievement."
Around him, the remaining floating swords began to move in slow, deliberate patterns, circling him in layered orbits. Their motion was almost akin to a hypnotic dance, that grew more complex with each passing second. Runic energy churned around him, thickening and condensing in unstable pulses that made the air feel sharp.
Jaune narrowed his eyes.
Something was coming.
Beside him, Adam rolled his shoulders, then reached up and cracked his neck, ignoring the blood pouring from his arm. Jaune felt the subtle shift in energy as Adam drew upon one of the imbued runes.
His severed shoulder twitched, then flesh grew, knitting outwards in seconds until a new arm extended, fully formed. The only difference was the lack of a sleeve, leaving the pale skin exposed.
Adam flexed his fingers, testing the new limb, then summoned his weapon again. The blade reformed in his grasp as if it had never left.
His gaze drifted briefly to the distance.
Shockwaves continued to ripple across the horizon as Rank 2 combatants clashed. The distant thunder of impacts rolled through the city, each one a reminder that this battlefield was only a fragment of a much larger conflict.
Then Adam looked back at Jaune.
"You know, Jaune…" he began, voice calm, almost reflective. "It might have been your little friend that wounded me…"
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"But I have this odd suspicion that if I don't kill you here today, you're going to be a very dangerous opponent for Sleepless in the future."
He tilted his head, studying him.
"Call it instinct. Intuition. Whatever you want. But I just have a feeling."
Jaune raised a brow, the faintest hint of dry amusement slipping through despite the tension.
"High praise," he said. "Coming from a master swordsman."
Adam shrugged lightly, as if the exchange meant very little to him.
Then his tone shifted.
"Why are you stopping us, Jaune?" he asked. "Why persist through all of this?"
There was no mockery in his voice. Only curiosity.
"You should just join us already. You already know this is a fool's errand."
Jaune's expression hardened.
"The only fools here are the two of you," he replied. "Sleepless… your goal is to awaken the Sleeper so she can end all life."
His grip tightened slightly.
"What kind of goal is that?"
For the first time, both Adam and Grise showed genuine surprise.
They exchanged a glance and it was Grise who answered.
"It seems," he said slowly, "that you still don't truly understand why we're doing all of this."
He gestured faintly, the swords around him shifting in response.
"End all life? No… that's not the goal."
Jaune frowned, confusion flickering across his face.
"While that may be the result that appears on the path," Grise continued, "it is not the destination."
Jaune opened his mouth to respond.
Adam cut him off.
"I know what you're trying to do," he said, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Buying time for reinforcements?"
Jaune blinked. For a moment, he felt genuinely thrown off. They were the ones talking.
"What the hell are you—"
Adam's smile widened slightly.
"Kidding," his voice turned sharp. "Grise—"
Everything happened at once. Grise dropped his hands and every sword in the air slammed downward.
They pierced the ground around him with brutal force, sinking into stone and shadow as if it were soft clay. The moment they struck, Jaune's instincts screamed.
He cursed under his breath and grabbed Pyrrha, pulling her close as he shifted his stance. He had lost focus. Even for a moment and that was enough.
Grise's voice rang out.
"Sword Tomb."
The world erupted.
The entire street exploded upward as countless blades burst from beneath the ground, tearing through the surface in a violent surge. Steel erupted in every direction, a forest of blades that pierced upward with lethal intent.
Jaune's Weakness surged around him instinctively.
Every sword that reached them softened, its structure unraveling just enough for it to collapse into harmless slurry before it could pierce through.
They survived the initial burst.
But Jaune's expression darkened.
His aura was draining.
Not from the swords themselves, but from something deeper. Destabilizing the intangibles forces around him like Adam's portals and the shockwaves from earlier had pushed his rune to a new level. However, interacting with intangible constructs came with a cost, and that cost was steep.
Forty percent.
That was all the aura he had left. And the fight was nowhere near over.
But he couldn't stop. If Adam and Grise escaped, the consequences would spiral far beyond this battlefield.
Jaune kicked off the air as another wave of swords converged toward them.
"Take over," he said.
Pyrrha nodded instantly.
Still in his grip, she extended her control outward. Metal tore free from the environment, fragments of buildings, broken vehicles, and scattered debris ripping loose as she shaped them into a defensive storm.
The incoming swords collided against her constructs, clashing in a chaotic barrage of impacts. Then one of the blades changed.
It twisted mid flight, reforming into Grise himself. He swung immediately and a massive arc of sword energy surged toward them.
Pyrrha reacted, compressing the metal in front of her into a dense barrier. The attack struck, cutting deep into it, carving through layer after layer.
Jaune's shadow arms moved.
Three of them expanded, merging into a thick, black shield that reinforced the defense just as the energy broke through. The impact slammed against it, dispersing in a violent burst that shook them both.
Grise was already moving.
He flipped over the shield, descending with a thrust aimed directly at Jaune.
Jaune responded instantly.
His arms liquefied.
Shadow spread outward, engulfing Grise in a dense shell that wrapped around him completely, sealing him inside a cocoon of Umbra.
For a brief second, it held.
Then it exploded.
Grise's form shattered into dozens of blades, each one cutting outward in all directions. The shadow shell tore apart under the sudden assault, fragments scattering as he escaped.
By now, the battlefield had shifted.
They had been forced into a new area, a large, dilapidated parking structure. Rusted vehicles littered the space, many half buried in partial shadow fused debris. The air was thick with dust and the remnants of shattered concrete.
A car flew toward them.
Pyrrha stepped forward, her spear shifting shape as its tip flattened into a blade. She cut the vehicle cleanly in half, the two pieces crashing to either side.
Adam emerged from behind it with a dozen energy slashes following in his wake.
Pyrrha formed a triangular shield, bracing against the barrage. The attacks struck in rapid succession, forcing her backward slightly as the structure held.
Then Adam changed his angle and his sword shifted behind him.
Instead of releasing another slash, the blade erupted with force. A concentrated beam burst from it, propelling him forward like a thruster. He arced upward, clearing her shield in a single motion.
Jaune moved to intercept but Grise stopped him.
The real Grise appeared at his side, blade already in motion. Their weapons clashed, the impact forcing Jaune back just enough to disrupt his trajectory.
Jaune reacted, driving his Weakness into the ground beneath Grise.
The surface destabilized instantly, collapsing into soft, shifting matter that swallowed his footing.
Grise adapted mid fall.
He kicked off the air itself, twisting his body and striking again, forcing Jaune further away from Pyrrha.
It was enough.
Adam closed the distance.
His hand shot forward and grabbed Pyrrha by the face and he drove her downward. Her head slammed into the ground with crushing force.
Fortunately, metal had already surged around her, forming a helmet just before impact to absorb the blow. The ground shattered beneath her, cracks spidering outward from the point of contact.
But she did not break.
Her legs snapped upward, locking around Adam's torso in a tight grapple. Using the momentum of the slam, she twisted her body and pulled him with her.
They crashed through the floor.
Concrete gave way as both of them plunged to the level below, smashing through rusted cars and debris in a violent descent.
The impact sent a shockwave through the structure. Dust exploded upward, swallowing the lower level in a thick cloud.
For a brief moment, Jaune lost sight of her completely.
And the battlefield split apart again.
.
.
Jaune called out in his mind.
'Gula.'
The response came immediately, no longer alien or distant, but threaded through him like a second heartbeat.
'Understood.'
Grise was already moving.
He launched forward in a straight line, his body cutting through the air with precision, a formation of swords spiraling behind him, fanning outward to restrict space and evasion.
Jaune dismissed his spears.
All six of his shadow arms spread outward, and for a single, suspended moment, his body seemed to lose cohesion. Then it changed.
His limbs expanded violently into massive tendrils of Umbra, thick and root-like, twisting outward with a force that warped the surrounding air.
Jaune had been inspired by the Asura Stalkers he had seen before. The way they dominated space, not through finesse alone, but through sheer presence. And somewhere in that instinctive motion, there was also trace of something else. A memory of Zeki and his Wood Rune, the way he had reshaped the battlefield to his advantage.
Jaune wasn't really able to perform at the same level, but what he could do... was something similar.
Grise turned the layers of swords in front of himself. The blades interlocked, forming a multi-layered barrier that gleamed with dense runic energy.
It did not matter.
The tendrils hit with overwhelming weight. The first layer shattered instantly, fragments of metal bursting outward under the pressure. The second layer bent and fractured, its cohesion breaking as Umbra forced its way through. The third collapsed entirely, and Grise himself was driven backward, his body slamming into the wall behind him hard enough to crater it.
Concrete and shadow fused stone broke apart on impact, the entire structure groaning under the force.
Jaune did not pause.
His lower body had transformed as well, tendrils plunging downward into the ground before surging forward beneath the surface. Through his Weakness sense, he felt everything. The battlefield unfolded in layers of perception beyond sight.
He felt Pyrrha and Adam, the moment they separated.
The tendrils burst downwards from the ceiling above Adam, slamming into him with brutal force. Adam raised his sword in time to block, but the impact did not stop at the blade. It carried through him, tearing apart his stance and launching him across the level. He crashed through debris and shattered vehicles, blood spilling from his mouth as his body was driven back.
The tendrils surged forward again, seeking to end it before Adam could recover.
However, Adam was no slouch.
An imbued rune flared to life.
A spherical barrier formed around him in an instant, the surface shimmering with condensed energy as it intercepted the incoming strike. The tendrils slammed into it and stopped, their force dispersing across its surface without breaking through.
Inside the barrier, Adam moved quickly. One rune activated first, the familiar glow of a healing effect as damaged flesh began to knit itself back together.
The second rune activated almost immediately after.
Jaune did not recognize it.
But the moment it ignited, something deep within him screamed.
Danger. Lethal.
Jaune reacted without thinking. The tendrils snapped back, retracting in a single motion as he redirected everything he had toward Pyrrha. Umbra surged outward, forming a layered shield around her position just as the world detonated.
The entire parking structure exploded into a storm of glass and fire.
It was not a simple blast. Glass formed out of nothing in jagged sheets before shattering outward, each fragment catching the light like a blade. Fire followed, weaving through the explosion in violent currents that consumed the collapsing structure. Floors gave way. Pillars snapped. The entire space folded into chaos.
Jaune was thrown through it.
The force tore him free from his position, launching him through debris and collapsing concrete. He twisted midair, barely managing to brace as fragments slammed into him from all sides. His body hit and rebounded, driven through the destruction as the world broke apart around him.
Even as he moved, his mind locked onto one realization.
'That was some type of signal rune!'
Jaune forced himself upright, bursting through the debris as his senses flared outward.
A presence descended into the ruins.
A figure landed at the center of the destruction, precisely where he had shielded Pyrrha. The ground cracked beneath her feet, fractures spreading outward in jagged lines. Glass fragments hovered in the air around her, suspended like a frozen storm, reflecting the firelight that burned through the wreckage.
Cinder Fall.
Jaune's body stilled.
In the distance, he saw Taiyang's massive form tearing through the air, rushing toward her with unstoppable speed. But in that moment, it did not matter.
Cinder did not move immediately.
Her gaze swept across the battlefield in a single, encompassing motion. Adam, recovering within his barrier. Grise, stabilizing his position. The shattered structure. The overlapping destruction.
Understanding settled across her features with terrifying clarity.
Then her attention shifted.
Pyrrha.
She stood nearby, the remnants of Jaune's shadow barrier collapsing around her. The protection had held just long enough to keep her alive, but it was gone now. Broken.
Pyrrha turned.
Her eyes met Jaune's. For a single instant, everything else disappeared. No battle, no enemies.
Just that moment.
Cinder followed her gaze. Her eyes landed on Jaune and a smile formed slowly across her lips, cold and amused.
"Pest."
She raised her hand.
The air condensed instantly. Glass formed in massive quantities, coalescing into shape with unnatural speed. It was not a scatter of shards but a single, unified construct.
A colossal hand.
Translucent and gleaming, with veins of fire running through it like molten light, it loomed overhead for the briefest fraction of a second before it descended.
Jaune tried to move, but it was not enough.
He could only watch in slow motion as the hand came down—Pyrrha disappearing beneath it.
The impact shattered the ground, a deafening crash that tore through the remains of the structure. A massive crater formed instantly, debris and dust erupting outward in a violent wave that swallowed everything in its wake.
The world fell silent.
Jaune's vision locked onto the point of impact.
Where Pyrrha had been.
Gone.
Buried beneath overwhelming force.
The image of her eyes lingered in his mind, seared into him with perfect clarity. The way she had looked at him in that final moment, not with fear for herself, but with something deeper. Something that twisted inside him as the reality of what he had just witnessed settled in.
The battlefield roared back to life around him.
But Jaune did not hear it.
There was only the crater.
And the absence where Pyrrha had been.
.
.
AN: Dead...