Jaune's fist connected.
For a fraction of a second, the world condensed into that single point of impact. Force and intent collided, travelling back up his arm in a shuddering wave that gave him equal amounts of glee and equal amounts of pleasure.
He couldn't help it. He reveled in it.
The sensation of strength flooded him like a drug hitting his bloodstream all at once. His muscles felt almost too large for his skin, and his bones too light, his movements felt impossibly sharp. It was intoxicating. A heady mix of power and purpose that made his breath come fast and his pulse roar in his ears.
And yet, his mind wasn't lost in it.
It was akin to being drunk, but his brain was also clear.
Perhaps even more clear than it had ever been. Clear enough to understand exactly what was happening to him.
The Centurion that Arthur Watts had created was exceptional. Even among Rank 2 combat strength capacity. It had been a Rank Two. A true combat unit that was dense with runic energy, reinforced with layered systems meant to contend with awakened fighters or grimm or whatever Sleepless were trying to fight.
But it had a flaw.
Zero Aura.
That was the key.
Aura was resistance and friction. Aura was what turned meta runes into a contest of wills. A grind that burned through Jaune's reserves as his rune pushed against another's defenses.
Yet the Centurion had none.
Plunder had sunk into it without opposition, like a blade into still water.
Jaune felt it even now, the echo of that siphon, the way the runic energy had poured into him unchecked. It had not fought him. It had not slowed him. It had simply transferred.
Weakness would have worked too. He knew that. He could have unraveled it, softened the molecular bonds, reduced reinforced alloys to slag and slurry. But Weakness would have been costly. Even without Aura to resist him, the Centurion's internal runic density would have demanded a massive expenditure of Aura to overcome. Rank Two constructs carried far more runic reinforcement than Rank One units.
And Jaune's Aura reserves were already thin.
Plunder was different.
Plunder didn't break anything. It simply took.
Jaune wasn't even sure why he didn't bother testing out his new rune against the centurions. Perhaps it was due to the immediate happenstances at the time. With the sudden attacks, and deaths and everything else, Jaune had subconsciously ignored it.
Or perhaps he had subconsciously, instinctively believed that Centurions were machines and that he couldn't plunder stats from them. It was an inconceivable thought. Mostly due to the fact that they were made from awakened remains.
In any case, the reason didn't matter.
Plunder usually devoured his Aura quickly. When he used it, he usually had to contend against the defensive presence of another will. The same applied to grimm with whatever weird caricature of energy that they used.
Yet here, there had been none.
The Centurion's runic energy had flowed into him freely, pulled apart and rewritten by his rune, converted into raw stats that layered directly onto his frame.
Jaune felt humming through him. Strength coiled into his limbs until every movement felt explosive, as though he were constantly holding back something catastrophic.
Then his Will followed.
His sense of self expanded outward, pressing against the world. The ambient laws of reality felt thinner and weaker, like something he could lean on and make bend. He understood, instinctively, what Raven had meant when she spoke of Aura Echo. Rank Two was not just strength or speed. It was presence. The ability to impose oneself upon the laws that governed everything else.
Jaune had that now.
Part of it.
Artificial and Incomplete.
His Aura, crucially, had not risen to match it. That imbalance rang in his bones like a warning bell.
He was borrowing from a source that would eventually run dry.
He felt it even as his fist struck home, the borrowed power already beginning to stabilize, to settle into something finite rather than endless. This was not a true Rank Two ascension. His runes were not at comprehension and his Aura had not grown to support the strain.
He was burning borrowed fuel. Yet perhaps... it might be enough.
Watts, true to his rank 2 status reacted just in time.
A film of mechanical matter blossomed across the man's face an instant before impact, forming a sleek, reinforced barrier that absorbed much of the blow. Even so, the force was tremendous.
Watts' body left the ground in a wake of thunderous sound.
He was launched backward like a projectile, crashing into the rotating pillar that once housed the mimic creation rune. The impact rang through the chamber with a deep, resonant clang, metal on metal reverberating like a struck bell.
The pillar didn't so much as dent. Neither did the surrounding chamber from that force.
The materials here were built to withstand nuclear bombs. Jaune's strike, devastating as it was, did not threaten the infrastructure.
Watts slid down the pillar and landed on his feet.
Slowly and calmly.
When he straightened, a full mechanical helmet had sealed itself over his head, smooth and angular, runic lines pulsing faintly across its surface. Black armor crawled over his body in segmented plates, assembling themselves with unsettling elegance. Pistons locked into place. Reinforcements slid over joints.
A compact mech suit, tailored to him. Possibly made from the power of his runes. Jaune only knew that Watts had an Insight rune. What his other runes did was a mystery to Jaune.
Watts rolled one shoulder, testing the fit.
"Well," his voice echoed from behind the helmet, distorted but unmistakably amused. "That was certainly unexpected."
Jaune exhaled through clenched teeth. The initial surge of strength was tapering into something more manageable and more dangerous, precisely because it was limited.
Watts turned his head, sensors locking onto Jaune.
"I suppose," he continued, "I will have to take this seriously now."
Then he moved.
Not toward Jaune but toward Weiss and Blake.
They lay where they had fallen, unconscious and defenseless beside the collapsed Centurion. Watts' movements was speedy decisive, the intent clear before Jaune's mind could fully catch up.
Yet instinct took over.
Jaune reached out with Plunder.
Not to steal but to pull.
The sensation was different this time.
Before, Plunder had could only act as a siphon, a focused extraction that clung to a single target and drained it. Now, with his Will artificially elevated to Rank Two levels, the rune's reach expanded. The same mechanism and the same principles, but magnified.
Reality yielded.
Weiss, Blake and the inert Centurion vanished from where they lay and reappeared in front of Jaune in a rush of displaced air. The Centurion hit the floor heavily, metal clanging as it collapsed in a useless heap.
Jaune caught the girls.
Blake first, instinctively, her lighter frame fitting easily into one arm. Weiss followed, her weight settling against his chest as he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. He adjusted automatically, careful, precise, ensuring their heads were supported, that nothing jarred them awake or worsened their injuries.
For a heartbeat, the world narrowed again.
Blake's breathing was shallow but steady. The blood at her temple had dried, no longer spreading. Weiss' face was pale, lashes resting against her cheeks, her chest rising and falling in a slow, even rhythm.
Alive and Safe.
Jaune bowed his head slightly, his forehead almost brushing Weiss' hair.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. The word felt inadequate, but it was all he had.
Behind him, a soft mechanical whirring sound drew his attention.
Penny.
She had managed to sit up, her movements stiff and uncoordinated, systems clearly still impaired. Her emerald eyes were fixed on Jaune, wide and luminous, filled with a strange mixture of relief and something brighter.
Excitement.
"Jaune," she said softly, awe threading through her voice. "That was… incredible."
Jaune straightened, careful not to jostle the girls, and turned slightly so Penny could see them clearly.
"They're okay," he said. "At least, I think they are."
Penny nodded quickly. "Yes. Their vitals are stable however Blake has a mild cranial injury. Weiss appears unharmed."
Her gaze flicked back to him, scanning, analyzing. "But you… your readings are highly irregular."
Jaune huffed quietly. "Tell me about it."
Across the chamber, Watts had stopped.
He stood still, helmeted head tilted slightly, studying Jaune with renewed interest.
Curiosity.
"So," Watts said slowly, "Your Plunder rune can reposition targets now, can it?"
Jaune didn't answer.
He shifted his stance, and planted his feet more firmly, angling his body to keep himself between Watts and the others.
Watts clasped his hands together, armor plates adjusting with the movement. "You are aware," he said conversationally, "that what you are doing is unsustainable, correct?"
Jaune's eyes flicked to him. "I'm aware."
"Good," Watts replied. "Then you will understand why this is fascinating. You have achieved a partial Rank Two state without the requisite foundation."
Jaune's passive sense, boosted from his stats finally detected something emanating from Watts. It was like a wave of invisible energy that echoed outwards from him before going back into his own body.
Jaune instinctively realized that he could now feel Watts using Insight for the first time.
"Your Will is elevated and your Body stat is also reinforced. Yet... your Aura is not."
He tilted his head. "You're burning borrowed potential."
Jaune met his gaze without flinching this time and an idea started blooming in his mind. "We'll see who has the last laugh, Watts."
Watts laughed, a sharp, delighted sound. "Excellent."
The chamber felt charged now, like the air before a storm. Penny watched tensely from behind Jaune. Weiss and Blake remained unconscious in his arms, their weight grounding him even as the stolen power urged him forward.
Jaune adjusted his grip one last time, then gently lowered the girls to the floor behind him, placing them near Penny.
"Stay with them," he said quietly.
Penny nodded. "Be careful."
Jaune inhaled once, deep and steady, then spoke without looking back.
"Sorry, Penny," he said quietly. "I'm going to need your help with something. Just bear with me alright?"
Penny blinked, surprise flickering across her face, but she nodded without hesitation. "Of course."
Jaune didn't give himself time to reconsider.
Crocea Mors slid free of its sheath with a familiar, grounding weight. Lux Aeterna followed, its edge catching the chamber's light as if eager. Steel and purpose settled into his hands, anchoring him against the storm of stolen power humming through his body.
Then he moved.
He launched forwards with explosive power and crossed the distance between himself and Watts in a blink of an eye. The borrowed Rank Two strength roared approval through his muscles, begging him to let loose, to abandon restraint and become something catastrophic.
Jaune was happy to oblige.
He had thought about using Plunder on Watts directly. The idea hovered there, tempting and sharp. With his Will elevated, it might have worked.
But not yet.
Instead, as he closed the distance, Jaune reached sideways with his awareness.
Penny.
He didn't know what she truly counted as anymore. Not fully human or just a machine. A soul bound to a vessel, a machine spirit given form. But she had something inside her.
Something like Aura.
Plunder latched onto her gently.
He felt it immediately.
Resistance, but not hostility. A soft push rather than a wall. Penny gasped softly as the rune engaged, her systems flaring in response as ten percent of her power flowed into Jaune.
The effect was amazing, and just as Jaune had predicted.
His stats surged.
Not explosively like from the Centurion's flood, but steadily and solidly. It filled the hollow places inside him, reinforcing the borrowed Will and Body with something closer to balance.
With him using Plunder on Penny, he now, barely had acquired Rank Two Aura capacity.
Which gave him the option of going even further.
Weakness layered over Penny next, carefully controlled. He matched his Will against her Aura and found parity. For one fleeting, razor thin moment, he was her equal in that contest.
Thirty percent.
The drain hit him like a thunderclap, but it was offset from his now greater Aura reserves, which were further bolstered once again. It poured into him, reinforcing his core until his entire being felt pressurized with energy ready to erupt.
All of this had occurred in the instant of a second in which he and Watts were about to collide, and once they did, the force was apocalyptic.
Aura Echo ignited around them simultaneously, the air screaming as both men struck at the same time. Jaune's blades met Watts' armored fist and the impact detonated outward in concentric ripples.
Ten echoes.
Each strike landed not once, but ten times in the same instant. Force folded over itself, amplifying until sound itself distorted. Shockwaves tore through the space even when there was no damage to the surroundings.
Jaune skidded backward, bare feet carving furrows into the floor. His clothes had torn to piece from the friction of the attack. Watts slid as well, armor grinding, spiderlike stabilizers snapping out from his back to anchor him in place.
Watts laughed.
"Remarkable!" he shouted over the roar. "You are rewriting your own limitations in real time!"
Black mechanical limbs unfurled fully from his back, six of them, each tipped with bladed prongs that gleamed with runic charge. They stabbed forward in a coordinated storm, each strike precise and lethal.
At the same time, Watts' armor shifted. Panels split apart and two massive cannons detached from his shoulders, hovering into position on either side of him. Their barrels glowed white hot as they charged.
Jaune reacted on instinct.
Plunder and Weakness flared outward together, layered onto Watts in the way he had just planned.
Watts' Aura pushed back, dense and refined, a Rank Two presence that snarled against Jaune's Will, yet it could do nothing against the concentric power of his Meta Rune.
Shock rippled through Watts' energy signature as his stats lowered and were funneled into Jaune.
Jaune felt it through his weakness sense, the sudden disruption, the flicker of surprise.
The cannons fired.
Twin beams of condensed energy screamed toward Jaune, bright enough to sear shadows into the walls behind him.
Weakness caught them.
The beams destabilized mid flight, their cohesion unraveling as the rune weakened the bonds holding them together. By the time they struck Jaune, they were little more than hot wind and scattered light, washing harmlessly over his body.
Jaune hurled both swords.
Crocea Mors and Lux Aeterna spun end over end, propelled by Aura Echo, their trajectories splitting and then folding inward as they struck the hovering cannons simultaneously.
Ten echoes.
Metal screamed as the cannons were blasted away, spiraling into the far wall where they embedded themselves uselessly, systems dying in a cascade of sparks.
The spider limbs were already upon him.
Jaune ducked under the first strike, twisted past the second, then took the third across the shoulder, only for it to deal no damage.
He didn't slow, only growing faster with the now borrowed stats from Watts fueling him.
Aura Echo detonated in his legs and he vanished.
Jaune reappeared behind Watts in a blur of displaced air, feet skidding across the floor as he pivoted into position. He reached out with Plunder again and his swords answered.
Crocea Mors and Lux Aeterna ripped free from the embedded cannons and teleported back into his hands, metal singing as they rejoined him.
Watts twisted, spider limbs snapping back to defend, but Jaune was already moving.
He raised both blades high.
And brought them down.
Ten echoes thundered through the chamber as Jaune poured power into the strike. Weakness flared at the point of impact, targeting the joints where the spider limbs met Watts' armor.
The blow landed like a meteor.
Metal buckled. Runic lines flared and shattered. All ten of the mechanical limbs were cleaved cleanly away, crashing to the floor in smoking heaps.
Watts was driven to one knee.
The chamber rang with the aftermath.
Jaune stood over him, chest heaving, Aura blazing around him in violent waves.
But Watts was not finished.
The man looked up, helmet scorched and cracked, and laughed again. This time there was strain in it.
"Urgh..." Watts said, voice distorted but exhilarated. "Damned bastard didn't say this would happen."
Jaune's raised his swords.
"You talk too much," he growled as he swung them down towards the man's neck.
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AN: Advanced chapters are available on patreon