The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Finishing Touches

As expected, Cinder needed a little time to deal with the way I'd completely upended her plans and had sent her minions running around making arrangements and excuses. Taking a trip to another Kingdom wasn't easy at the best of times, what with the various expenses, the need for transportation, the risks posed by the Grimm, and the simple time it could take out of an otherwise busy schedule—add the fact that it was a sudden thing and that the purpose behind it was to rob a major government facility, and the problems quickly began racking up.

All told, I found that reassuring. My enemies, at least in the big picture, tended to be some much stronger then me that any reminder that they were omnipotent was appreciated. While I was a hundred percent sure that Cinder was still holding back a great deal, the fact remained that she hadn't been able to simply dismiss all the various issues she had been faced with. It also at least implied that whatever other allies she may or may not have were also limited and in ways that differed from the limitations of my friends. This specific problem would have been easy of Raven and I to solve, for instance, which meant that—at the very least—there were places were Cinder was weak and we were strong.

At the same time she was readjusting her plans, however, I needed some time to, uh, come up with a plan, so I suppose I couldn't throw any stones on that particular front. Even as I kept watch over her activities, I had to consider how to head forward with what I now knew about her, limited though that was. I was hoping that Grandmother would soon compile the information on Cinder's family and that there'd be something there I could use, but…the question remained, how should I handle Cinder?

I didn't know enough to answer, but the question continued to rise in my thoughts. I suppose it was because there was a chance, however slight it may currently be, that Cinder would be where theory met practice and I had to fight another Rider. A great deal had changed since my father's death and I could confidently say that I'd grown, but at the same time, she was still a major unknown and a huge potential threat. While in most of my training fights, I could confidently say that whatever happened, I'd be able to deal with it without endangering others—whether by defeating my opponent, fleeing and leaving them far behind, or simply by transporting the fight to another dimension—a Rider was one of the few things I was almost certain could splash over onto others, despite my best efforts. Going in blind especially, I had no way to be sure that I could protect people this time. While nothing I'd seen thus far implied Famine to be the infectious risk that Conquest was, what little I did know implied it had a connection of some kind to Dust which was sadly not particularly useful because it could cover an array over options. Worse case…

Worse case, she was a bomb waiting to go off—a destructive force even the Ananta paled in comparison to. And if she could shatter Naraka the way Conquest had, she could well kill countless people. I'd tested my ability to protect a group of people against the Hydra and I knew my limits in that regard and I feared she exceeded them.

And then there was the human element. The Riders, by their very nature, possessed a host…or, at least, that should have been the case—but with Cinder, I couldn't be certain if that was true. From what I knew now, I could understand that her situation was horrible. She'd lost her family, her home, and everything she'd ever had through the ruthless political machinations of Mistral, been left with a family who, at best, had tolerated her, and had undergone years of exclusion, hatred, and fear. When presented with a way out, a way to get stronger and get even, she'd taken it.

I could understand that. Before I'd gotten my Semblance, back when I'd seemed to fail at anything I'd truly wanted to succeed at, I'd known a fair bit of desperation myself. Not the loud kind, which begged and pleaded and screamed, but the quiet kind that grew and pushed. If I hadn't suddenly been given a way out, what would I have done? Accepted my weakness and content myself with a life far different from what I'd always dreamed of? Would I have been able to accept things as they were or settle?

Probably not. Odds were, I'd have done something—anything. Whether it was smart or stupid, safe or dangerous, it would have been better than doing nothing. And if it had been something besides an awesome Semblance that had nonetheless gotten me in a fair bit of trouble, I'd still have taken it. I could understand Cinder, then, empathize with her. Or situations had been different, but if things had been different, or situations reversed, I may well have picked up that crystal and prayed to God, too.

None of which changed a thing. Similarities and differences aside, here we were. She was a threat to what I would protect and that was that. I'd kill her to protect what I loved, if I had to.

But like I'd told Raven, it was something I'd do only if I had to. Thus far, I'd avoided killing people unless there had seemed like no other choice—like with the people Conquest had taken and my father. There were several reasons for that, the most simple being the simple morality of it, but beyond that there was a fair bit of pragmatism. Did I need to kill people? Sure, I could appear in a room and reduce everyone inside to paste within moments…but in most cases, my powers were broad enough that there was no actual need to do such a thing. I could blind them with illusions, bind them with my power, knock them out, and any number of other things with ease; given that, what point was there in doing such a thing? Even if the people in question were criminals, I saw little point in killing them when disabling them safely would take only a few moments more. A second or two of inconvenience was no reason to end a life. For the same reason, I tried to avoid pointless property damage, when possible.

Which didn't mean I wouldn't kill people. Aware as I was of the morality of it all, I was the Gamer and with my Mind, I could consider such a thing calmly. If a situation got bad enough that I couldn't handle it trivially, if innocent lives were in danger, then I'd prioritize. If a murderer shot at an innocent little girl, then naturally saving the girls life was more important and preserving the gunner's life moved further down the list. Granted, that wasn't the best example because I could probably stop the bullet and disable the criminal without killing him, but the point was that I'd put the girl before him. In the same way, I'd put the lives of thousands of innocent people before a murderess, however tragic her background story might be.

Even if it might be the first time I'd killed someone in a way that wouldn't have been a mercy kill.

I sighed quietly to myself without bothering to open my eyes.

Removing the Rider's infection entirely was beyond the ability of my healing skills, even now. If the target was Conquest, I might be able to get around that by confining him to an area of the body and then excising it, but with something like Famine, there were no guarantees that would be possible. Even in Conquest's case, there was a possibility it would work, it he withdrew into the brain or another vital location and Famine's mark on Cinder wasn't wholly physical, even leaving out the potential for the target's resistance to disrupt things. Generally, I healed people who were either willing or had no idea what I was doing, so it wasn't an issue, but if someone tried resisting an attempt to heal them, it could get complicated. It was all based on the target's Aura, after all, so the person being healed had something of an advantage. If Cinder was a willing collaborator, killing her might be the only option.

Which wasn't a sure thing by any means. All I knew was that she'd prayed over the crystal for help. Famine could have preyed upon her distress and desperation and then imprisoned her within her own body; that was what I'd figured happened to all of the Rider's victims. Except…

The Cinder I knew didn't seem much like the type to force a woman to eat her own children and then burn her alive; that seemed more like something I'd expect from Conquest. Revenge or no, Cinder seemed the type to burn cold instead of hot; I could see her slitting someone's throat, poisoning them, kill enormous amounts of people for the sake of her own goals, and more, but she'd have been professional about, for the sake of efficiency rather than mercy. She didn't seem the type to do something like that—or rather, not to do it in such a way. If it had been a message of sorts, a way to intimidate her enemies, I could see her doing it, but alerting the Alexandria family who would otherwise not have known she'd even existed? That seemed less likely. Cinder was ruthless, but not impatient.

Granted, people changed over time and her body had been younger then—but the Riders were old enough that I figured any personality quirks they'd ever had had either been worked through millennia ago or were here to stay forever, which implied that something else had changed. Had it been Famine who'd done those things, drawing from the same sadism as its brother? But if so, did that mean that the calm and collected woman I knew was Cinder herself, going along with the Rider's plans of her own will?

Was it the other way around, then? From what I knew, the Riders were very different in both design and function; it would be foolish, then, to assume Famine would behave the same way as Conquest when War had already chosen a very different tactic. Could it be the cold one, making that act of hatred a human thing, where the girl inside had taken her revenge once she'd been granted the power to do so? Normally, I'd have figured the Riders would take over their hosts as quickly as possible, but I thought they might find such a thing funny and play along for at least awhile. But where was that anger now, then? Had Famine taken control after facilitating her vengeance and locked her away, or…

No. Whatever the case, her present face wasn't an act—I could feel that much, at least. I didn't feel anyone struggling within as I had my father and the others, but I didn't feel any rage from her, either. Emotions I wouldn't expect from a Grimm from time to time, but Cinder had always seemed to be cold. Even looking at her now. I couldn't figure out where the human stopped and the Grimm began, if there even was such a thing. Maybe Famine's nature or even simple time had erased such distinctions.

I wasn't sure it made any difference in the end.

Sighing again, I slowly opened my eyes, carefully guiding the flow of my power as I rose from my seat.

"Jaune," Adam said, noticing that I was up. He was standing a ways away from me, trying to get used to the feel of his new sword. Given that his surroundings had been mostly shredded, I figured it had been going pretty well. "You done brooding yet?"

I turned and frowned at him.

"I wasn't brooding," I answered defensively. "I was meditating."

Actually, I'd been brooding—but I'd also been meditating, so it wasn't really a lie, and really, I was a reincarnating magical angel tiger. I could do whatever I wanted.

"Uhuh," Adam answered looking unconvinced. "Whatever you say. Anyway, help me with this?"

"Working on your sword thing?" I asked, despite already knowing.

"Yeah," He replied, frowning slightly as he looked down at the storming edge of his sword. "I think I've got something, but at the same time…I don't know. Watch."

Adam took a careful breath and the sword began to glow. It was dim at first, a slight tint to the steel, but it grew with each passing moment until the blade itself was concealed by the searing light. I watched the process carefully, opening Ajna as I did so to better see the process.

"Usually, I gather power while my sword's sheathed," Adam recited. "Then I release it with a single attack."

"Mm," I replied. "But now you're trying to keep it contained even after you attack. Not as large an area of effect, not as much range, but that's a good thing in its own way, because the power is focused and it lasts longer. Since its charge time is your Semblance's greatest weakness, being able to prepare it once and last the rest of the battle would be pretty useful. Even more so if you can prepare it while fighting."

"Right," Adam agreed, shrugging a shoulder. "But it's a bitch to do."

I smiled slightly at that.

"Of course it is," I answered. "Instead of quickly releasing the energy you gathered, you're trying to hold it all in place. It's only natural that it's hard to do."

Adam grunted and then flicked his wrist, quickly unleashed an edge of brutal power that shredded several houses.

"I can only hold it for a second or two at full charge," He said, rolling his wrist. "More if I use less energy, but as is, it's nothing like what I used against that thing. I'm not even sure if it's worth using as it is now, given how hard it is to do in the first place. I might have been able to hit that thing while it's down, but if I try using this in a real fight…"

I hummed a bit at that, tilting my head to the side.

"It's definitely worth using," I disagreed with his words. "It'll get easier with some more practice, but even as it is now, it looks fairly handy. I can already tell how much it would improve your damage output, you just need to strike a balance between power and ease of use."

"I've been trying," He answered, sounding a bit frustrated. "But it's harder than it sounds."

"For you, maybe," I answered, giving him a smug look. "Charge it again."

I watched carefully as he obeyed and it was easy to see Adam's problem. Namely, Adam couldn't see his problem, literally. One of the biggest advantages of my Clairvoyance—now perfected in my new Ajna—was the simple ability to see Aura. While any Hunter could feel the use of Aura, it was just that; a feeling, more similar to a vague sense of touch than anything else. But I could see Aura, as well as feel it, and that made manipulating it vastly easier.

Right now, Adam was trying to judge it by the glow of his sword, but trying to gauge the precise brightness of something that was growing steadily brighter by the moment was pretty hard to do with the naked eye. In my case, however, I could tell precisely how much power he'd gathered by looking directly at the Aura that had gone into the blade.

"Stop," I said when it was a quarter as powerful as it had been before. He obeyed quickly and ceased gathering power. "Do you feel that?"

"Not sure what you mean," He answered after a moment. "Feel what?"

"The Aura you've gathered," I clarified with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh," He said. "Yeah."

"How much do you think it is compared to what you were holding before?"

He was silent for a moment, considering the blade in his hands as if he were a blind man trying out different weights.

"A tenth?" He guessed before shaking his head. "No, wait. A fifth?"

"Close," I said. "But actually, it's almost exactly fourth."

"Huh," Adam mused. "It feels lighter than that."

"Unsurprising," I said. "Because it gets more and more difficult to hold onto as you continue to gather it. What we need to do is find a balance between the effectiveness of the blade and how hard it is to use. Then, we'll need to make sure you can recognize that amount on your own. Release it and try again."

"Stop when I reach the same amount?" Adam guessed. "Or when I think I do?"

"We'll do that later," I said. "For now, just stop when I tell you to."

He grunted again but didn't argue and for several minutes I made him gather power, stop, and gather it again.

"Now hold onto it like that," I stopped him after the tenth try. "See how long you can keep it stable."

"I got it," He said with a snort. "Practice estimating it and then practice holding it, again and again."

"This shouldn't be new to you," I replied.

"Raven made me do something like this a long time ago," He admitted with a sigh.

"Good on her," I said. "Get ready to reminisce on the olden days a lot from now on."

"Back to basic again, huh," Adam muttered, smiling bitterly. "I know, I know. Like I said, I've done this before. Well, not exactly the same thing, but close enough. You'll be spotting me, then?"

"It seems like a waste of my valuable time, but you might do something stupid otherwise, so I suppose so," I answered with a shrug.

"Hmph," Adam snorted again. "Whatever. Are you going to be doing some training of your own or are you just going to keep lying around?"

"I already told you, I'm meditating," I replied, finding another comfortable place to sit down.

"While watching me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "How's that work?"

I considered making a remark about how he overestimated the amount of effort I'd need to keep an eye on him, but shrugged to myself and answered truthfully.

"It's not an issue anymore," I replied.

By raising Soul of the World to level 99, you have gained the skill 'Breath of the World.'

Breath of the World (Active & Passive) LV1 EXP: 94.31%

By meditating deeply upon the nature of the world, the user has come to understand his place within it—and as a part of it. With this skill, tapping into the flowing currents of energy around the user is as simple as breathing and the process of meditation itself has simplified. With this skill, it is no longer necessary to remain passive or stationary whilst meditating, as the user can remain focused through the common distractions of the world.

Increase HP recovery per minute by 100% while meditating.

Increase MP recovery per minute by 100% while meditating.

Increase Stamina recovery per minute by 100% while meditating.

Health (HP) can be improved through meditation.

Aura (MP) can be improved through meditation.

Stamina can be improved through meditation.

The user may meditate while physically active, so long as all actions taken remain simple.

This skill deactivates immediately if the user is distracted or takes complex actions.

With the opening of my Chakras, my skill with meditation had improved by leaps and bounds. Soul of the World, which had been improving relatively slowly despite my daily Accelerated use of it, had rocketed through its last seven levels and ranked up to create something greater—and made even more so by the fact that each of my Chakra skills improved it in their own way.

Even as I just sat here, I could feel energy rushing into me like a river, rising up through my body like a waterfall running in reverse. It ran through my body along strange paths that led in-between by Chakras and caused that power to circle and cycle, filtering it as it went and then spreading it throughout my form. Perhaps it was a result of that strange mental state I had obtained as my Chakra's opened, but I could feel that power settling in and changing me. Despite what my skills said, it definitely wasn't just my HP, MP, and Stamina that were growing.

And thanks to the Breath of the World, I could do this constantly. Granted, it deactivated if I did anything that took much effort or concentration—whether that be running fast, fighting, or whatever else—but I could walk around just fine, as well as keep an eye on my surroundings. During the day especially, this was much more convenient, than being immobile as I regained my power and the skill was only level one. It'd improve quickly if Soul of the Worlds sudden growth was any indication, but for now, I was content knowing I never needed to stop my training.

Cinder left for Atlas tonight and I had several things to say to her before she went.

I could use all the help I could get.