Their place of patrol had once been a park—Jaune could imagine children playing on the swings and slides in the real world. Here though, everything was hollow and dead.
The trees were gnarled skeletons of wood, branches brittle and leafless. Their roots clutched at blackened soil, the rot of all green things long since stolen by the Nightmare. Broken swing sets creaked idly in the wind, chains twisted and warped by rust, while a seesaw lay overturned, one end buried like a gravestone in the cold dirt.
And prowling through this graveyard of play were the Ursa.
Six of them, with their eyes burning with hateful light. Two towered massively above the rest—each one the size of a small building, shoulders plated with jagged bone and void-black fur. Their claws were larger than entire adult humans and gouged furrows through the dead ground.
Ursa Major.
Ren and Nora had claimed those two.
Jaune and Oscar Pine were left with the four lesser-ranked Ursa, and it wasn't lost on him that "lesser" here still meant death incarnate.
Jaune ducked as a claw swept past, the air cracking like a whip. His body responded with frightening speed now—his reflexes sharpened by months of grinding fights in this hellscape. His sword blade flashed with an eerie light, trailing faint silver, as he slashed across one of the Ursa's ribs. The blow staggered the beast but didn't kill it.
The interesting thing about fighting groups of grimm which had higher ranking variants in their pack was the empowerment mechanic. When a lower ranked grimm was in the presence of a higher ranked one, especially groups, they get empowered to a certain degree. This applies to all grimm variants, like beowolves, bears, nevermore and even goliath herds. Though that last one was rare.
Oscar shot past him like a dart, his boots flaring with a burst of acceleration. He struck low, scything his short sword into the Ursa's foreleg before twisting away from the retaliatory lunge. Black ichor dripped on the ground where the beast's blood touched it.
"You got it?" Jaune asked, voice, slightly tight.
Oscar nodded, already looping around its flank.
A distant boom shook the cracked sky. Jaune spared a glance.
Ren and Nora were locked in a storm of violence with the two Ursa Major. Nora's hammer blurred in wide arcs, each impact detonating with the recoil of her stored Discharge bursts. She smashed into the beast's shoulder, bone plating shattering as a shockwave of electricity blasted the dead soil into the air. The Ursa howled, a guttural, hollow sound.
Ren was akin to a phantom beside her, weaving through the other giant's strikes like smoke. Thin, thread-like protrusions of what appeared to be emerald light spiraled from the bullets that hung in the air before the beast. The manifestation of his Trajectory rune. Each of his shots dragged away more of the monster's momentum, like he was piercing the weight out of its limbs.
They had grown.
They all had.
Three months. It had only been three months since they first stepped foot into the Dream Realm, trembling rookies terrified of the black fog and red-glowing eyes.
Now…
Jaune parried a strike, pivoted under it, and drove his sword into the Ursa's eye. The beast screamed and thrashed. He wrenched his blade free, vaulted back as Oscar darted in to finish the kill, cleaving its neck with a flash of violet Rune-light. The manifestation of his force rune.
It dissolved into oily smoke.
They weren't prey anymore.
They were predators.
"Two down," Oscar gasped, spinning his short sword and shaking black ichor off the blade. His breathing was controlled. His movements, faster and tighter than they'd once been. His technique had improved drastically—cleaner steps, fewer wasted motions.
Jaune smirked faintly. "Two more."
The remaining Ursa roared, lunging at them as one.
Jaune burst forward to meet them.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he reflected on the path they had taken.
The truth was, it wasn't just stats that had carried them this far. Numbers mattered, yes—Body, Will, Aura—but beyond a certain point, technique became king. And beyond technique, comprehension.
Rune Comprehension.
The phrase echoed like scripture in his mind.
Almost all awakened at Rank 1 eventually hit the same wall. Their abilities would improve, their tactics honed and their weapons, stronger—and yet, they would stall. Beasts they could once defeat would begin overwhelming them. Such was the nature of the grimm, after all. They grew without bottlenecks.
For all awakened, progress would eventually cause them to stagnate.
Until comprehension struck.
Understanding a Rune and internalizing it. Not just using it as a tool, but embodying its concept.
A Rank 1 with a comprehended Rune will almost always crush one without.
And Ren and Nora… were close.
Jaune could see it in how their Runes bled into their movements without conscious activation now, how their strikes were intuitively woven through their Rune's meanings. Nora's Discharge Rune bursts flowed like exhalations, while Ren's Trajectory rune tethered the movements of his bullets like spider web.
They hadn't broken through yet, but they were near the threshold.
Jaune wondered if they even realized.
He didn't have time to wonder long.
The Ursa slammed down where he'd been standing, black claws carving trenches in the soil. Jaune launched himself sideways, rolled, and came up with his sword whirling in an ascending arc. He bisected the beast's snout, then pivoted low and stabbed up under its chin and into the base of its skull.
It twitched once, then died standing.
Another one down.
The last Ursa backed off, snarling.
Jaune's heart was hammering now, the edge of fatigue scratching at him. Even with their improved stats, the endless tension of combat here wore on the nerves.
But this was their life now.
"Circle it," Jaune called out, and they closed in.
It bolted forwards into a lunge, as if attempting to hug them gently. Except its sharp claws and deadly fangs killed that motion into a deadly attack, instead.
They didn't let it.
By the time the last of the rank 0 Ursa's crumbled into black vapor, Jaune was panting slightly. The dead park was quiet again, though the silence was never comfortable here. Always waiting.
He straightened, sword tip lowering. Oscar slumped to a knee, then pushed himself back up, chest heaving.
"Four kills," Oscar said, wiping his face.
"Ren and Nora are still at it," Jaune replied, glancing toward them.
And they were.
The fight with the Ursa Majors had grown even more vicious. One of the giants was missing an arm, its black flesh smoking where Nora's hammer had caved it in. The other was slowed, its movements dragging through invisible syrup—Ren's suppression of bullets were anchoring it down, dragging it closer and closer to collapse.
But the beasts were still dangerous and most importantly, still lethal.
Jaune could see the way Ren's footwork had become razor-clean, the way Nora's impacts now layered bursts mid-swing rather than only at the point of contact.
They were pushing themselves to the limit.
So was he.
Three months ago, Ren had been quite cautious, even to the point of passivity. Nora however, was reckless to the point of self-destruction. Oscar had been unsure and somewhat awkward. His strikes were lacking a certain weight.
Now, they moved like blades being sharpened by friction, pressure, and blood.
And Jaune—
Jaune was faster, stronger and sharper than ever. And while he knew he could beat Oscar outright in a pure competition of skill, he still wasn't strong enough to pose a threat to higher Ranks. And that was his goal.
His first step was to condense a rune.
In any case, they'd all grown.
But the road ahead was steeper.
If they wanted to survive, they'd all have to eventually break through that wall of comprehension.
They'd have to become more than just skilled.
They'd have to become concepts.
Nora's roar split the sky. Her hammer slammed down in a bright electrical discharge of of lightning and light, collapsing the last Ursa Major's skull like a rotten melon. Ren surged past her in a blur, carving his twin gun blades across the other giant's chest. Suddenly, all the bullets that were spinning around the beast like a satellite all turned at once and burrowed into its flesh with a piercing boom.
Silence fell.
The two monsters evaporated.
Ren exhaled slowly, shoulders sagging. Nora raised a trembling fist, grin wide and wild. "That," she panted, "was awesome."
Ren only nodded faintly, but there was a small smile tugging at his lips.
Jaune walked toward them, Oscar trailing behind.
They stood there, four young hunters-in-the-making, surrounded by broken swings and the ashes of monsters.
Jaune glanced at his friends, and a thought settled heavy in his chest.
They were getting stronger.
But so were the things waiting deeper inside the Nightmare.
Which meant it was now time.
Time for Oscar to become stronger.
They stood in a loose circle around him and the air between them felt oddly heavy.
Jaune crossed his arms, watching closely. Lie Ren stood slightly back, expression placid, though a hint of anticipation could be seen slightly within. Nora however, practically bounced on her heels like a spring wound too tight.
Oscar exhaled slowly, shoulders rolling as if he were shedding invisible weight.
"So…" Nora began, eyes wide with excitement. "This is it! The big moment! You're going to go whoosh and zap and then—" She made an exploding gesture with her hands, grinning. "—Rank One!"
Oscar chuckled lightly at her words. "Hopefully without the exploding part."
Ren nodded his head. "The Nightmare System won't harm you. If you're ready, it will simply… accept you."
Jaune nodded. "Come on Os. I wanna see the process in person. Besides, no one else had failed a rank up before, so you're definitely not going to be the first."
"That's comforting," Oscar muttered dryly.
"You'll be fine," Jaune said firmly. "You've got all your stats at 10. Will, Aura, Body—all of them. You've also condensed your Rune of Force that you really like. You've met every condition. This is what we've been training toward."
Oscar's eyes flicked from face to face. "I know. It's just…" He paused. "It's a big step. My stats are going to manifest in the real world from this point forward. Im going to officially become a superhuman."
"It is a big step. Things will change from here on out. Well, considering that we're going to be clearing Nightmare zones..." Ren said quietly, and there was something almost solemn in his tone.
Oscar nodded once, drawing in a long, steady breath. He closed his eyes.
"Okay," he said. "Let's do this."
They all fell silent.
Oscar focused inward, and in the stillness, Jaune could almost feel it. A shift—an unseen current stirring in the air around them. It was subtle at first, like the air pressure dropping before a storm, and then it grew.
Jaune's danger sense prickled faintly with a sense of... presence?
"Oooh…" Nora whispered. "Something's happening…"
Oscar stood utterly still, expression serene, breathing slow. Then, without warning, Jaune saw it—a glimmer of light behind Oscar's back, like molten gold trapped in glass. It coalesced in the air, twisting and spiraling until it formed a glowing sigil: the Rune of Force, etched in light and humming with restrained energy.
Jaune's eyes narrowed. The Rune wasn't just shining; it was… dissolving. Threads of it unraveled like molten strands, streaming away from the sigil and flowing toward Oscar.
The glowing strands sank into Oscar's skin, disappearing beneath the surface, yet leaving faint trails that pulsed once before fading. His feet slowly lifted from the ground, body suspended in the air by nothing visible.
Jaune could feel it now—waves of invisible force radiating outward in soft pulses, brushing against his senses like ripples through water. It wasn't hostile, but it was immense.
Oscar's eyes snapped open. They glowed faintly for a heartbeat before returning to normal. The air around him seemed to tighten, condense, as if reality itself were holding its breath.
And then—
The world exhaled.
The golden light flared once, brilliant and blinding, then vanished. The hum of power cut off abruptly. Oscar lowered gently back to the cracked pavement, boots touching down with a quiet thud.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Jaune said softly, "...I felt that."
Ren nodded slowly. "We all did."
Nora whooped, punching the air. "YES! Rank 1, baby!" She darted forward and wrapped Oscar in a crushing hug, lifting him briefly off the ground.
Oscar wheezed, laughing breathlessly. "Okay—okay, can't breathe—"
Nora set him down with an unapologetic grin. "Worth it."
Jaune's eyes stayed fixed on Oscar, though his tone was light. "You feel different. Your presence."
"I am different," Oscar said, flexing his fingers slowly as if testing them. "It's… hard to explain. Everything feels sharper and clearer. Like the world's been… turned up a notch."
"Your stats might have been reset to 0, but now, your effective stats power has increased by five times. That also applies to your Aura capacity." Ren observed.
"Yeah," Jaune said, still studying him. His danger perception, usually a quiet, background hum, was now buzzing faintly whenever he looked at Oscar. Not screaming alarm, but acknowledging him. "It's like… before, you were just another guy. Now you feel like… a threat."
Oscar smirked faintly. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"It is," Jaune smiled.
Oscar rolled his shoulders, eyes half-closing as he focused inward again. "The Rune of Force… it's feels weird. Almost like its closer to me somehow."
Nora nodded. "Yep, that's Rune integration for you."
"Yeah. It's… not separate anymore. It's like... it's a part of me now. I can call on it easier now. Like with nothing but a thought."
Ren nodded. "That is as it should be. Once a Rune is ingrained, it ceases to be just an external tool. It becomes an intrinsic aspect of your being."
"Yeah, but it's still weird," Oscar said, though his tone was more awed than unsettled. "Like I've got this… constant low hum of power under my skin."
Nora was still bouncing in place. "Okay, but real talk—do you feel like you could punch through a building now? Because you look like you could punch through a wall."
Oscar grinned. "I might try it later."
Jaune shook his head with a laugh. "Don't. Ren will scold you."
Ren inclined his head. "Correct."
That earned a chuckle from everyone. The air felt lighter now, though Jaune could still sense the faint aftertaste of power lingering like ozone after lightning.
Oscar glanced down at his hands again, flexing them once more. "It's strange. The Nightmare System… it didn't speak. It didn't explain anything. It just… acted. One moment I was me, and the next… more."
Ren's gaze was thoughtful. "You stood at the threshold and were acknowledged. That is enough."
Nora tilted her head. "Do you think it… judges people? Like, what if it said 'nah, you're not worthy' and just—" She mimed an explosion again.
Jaune shrugged. "Not sure. So far, from records, that's never happened before. So... maybe not."
For a moment, the four of them stood there, the quiet settling around them like soft dust. Then Nora broke it with a clap of her hands.
"Okay! Now that our boy here is officially big and scary, what's next? Do we throw a party? Get him a cake? Fight something even scarier to celebrate?"
"Probably that last one," Jaune said dryly.
"That's… mildly terrifying," Oscar said.
"Welcome to the club," Nora said cheerfully, clapping him on the back hard enough to make him stagger.
Jaune watched him steady himself, and a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Oscar had done it.
They had another Rank 1 now.
.
.
AN: Finally reached chapter 100. I know the fights are kind of boring right now. Apologies about that. But struggle and despair is coming soon. Promise. Also, someone came really close to guessing what Rune is going to be condensed. But no spoilers.
The problems with creating a slow-burn story
Advanced chapters are available on patreon.