– Day 21 break from Salem (Wednesday) –
They steadily climbed the tower. Thankfully the opponents graduated from basic Creeps and Beowolves to Ursas and Alpha versions of the first two. But to be fair it was just an increases in difficulty from Ranke E and Ds to Ds and Cs. Still they took it as basic training to avoid getting rusty as they rose through the floors.
By the time they had broken through to floor 25 they were getting used to their new weapons. Neo was enjoying her new parasol the most. And Yang said something about being some sort of angsty super hero that loved the color yellow? Eh, whatever works for her.
But on the 25th floor they had finally found the first tower boss.
Is was a massive 25ft tall heavily muscular humanoid. He had arcane lines of pure dust across his skin in some sort of tribal tattoo design. And he was bulging with so many muscles one would think he did nothing but work out. And he seemed to be growling out the name, "Ozpin!"
Ozpin shook a bit as he recognized this man, or at least the man he was based on. He whispered out, "Hazel."
Jaune and the students all turned to the old Wizard, "Who?"
Ozpin sighed sadly as he said, "A student of mine who was my pride and joy to teach… but also my biggest regret. He and his sister were very talented individuals, and possible holders or even champions to aid the next Monarch of Light when you reappeared. But his sister Gretchen… didn't survive a mission I assigned them personally. And Hazel lost it. He blamed me for her death as I had formed the team, I had prepared the gear, and I had sent them in. He blames me for her death so strongly that he joined the very side that took her from him. He became so blinded by rage that he was willing to take any life as long as it meant that he took mine. Salem used that to her benefit and her cause as you can tell."
They all look sadly at a man who has lost so much and had finally lost his humanity.
Jaune gauged Hazel and judged this version of him to be around B+ to A- in difficulty. He asked Ozpin, "His semblance?"
Ozpin broke down Hazel's semblance to ignore all pain and being able to ingrain pure raw dust crystals into his body to enhance his physical and auric abilities depending on the type of dust used. They all wrack their brains about how best to tackle this monster. When Hazel suddenly whips his head towards their location around the corner from the large amphitheater room he was guarding.
They all go wide eyed as he roars out and starts charging at them all with his large body coming at them all. His dust lines glow ominously as he unleashes a lightning coat on his body.
They all scatter as Jaune smirks, "Nora! Lightning rod! Now!"
Nora smiles evilly and launches herself at the juggernaut of a tower boss. She cackles as she lands right on his back. Hazel ramps up the lightning to zap her off. Only for the lightning energy to flood his body, and suddenly flow right into a now glowing blue Nora. Hazel's face goes to one of shock and fright as Nora now has her hammer glowing blue, her rockets are firing up and her body is literally surrounded by a whole coat of thunderous energy.
Nora yells out, "I! HAVE! THE POWER!!!"
She jumps up making Hazel switch to earth dust to increase his endurance. Only to be doused with water from both Weiss with her advanced level spell water squall, and Simin's advanced spell cascade.
He sputters as he is covered head to toe in the water before gasping and looking up at the madly cackling Valkyrie who is looking like a lightning elemental given a serial killer form.
She comes down with her rocket hammer on full blast as all her energy gathers at the tip. With it bringing down a literal thunder bolt right on the tower bosses head.
The resounding boom covers the whole room as everyone is blown back. Except for Weiss, Simin, and Ozpin who used barriers. Velvet who empowered herself to stick. Jaune who is just that strong. And Ren who is pretty much immune to his girlfriends craziness as a whole.
He sighs dreamily as he looks at the lovely image of Nora getting up from the crater she has created in the floor of the boss room. He then says, "That's is my girlfriend. I am both the luckiest and the most patient man in the world."
In the aftermath of said girlfriend of said most patient man. No one argued his logic.
Nora comes over and hugs Ren with a huge smile on her face. He hugs her back with a small smile as well while everyone goes to check on Hazel.
He is currently down dead in a very familiar pose from a certain animated comedy family where the fat father seems to faint or "die" in this pose all the time.
Jaune then sees Hazel beginning to fade from being defeated. And the fact that he no longer has a head.
He turns to a stunned Ozpin who looks at Jaune with a gaping mouth face as he says, "Pretty sure this is due to us still being only on the first fourth of the tower. And also him picking the wrong element to deal with Nora. If it was any other element. We would have been in for a decent fight on our hands."
Ozpin slowly nods at that logic and follows Jaune and his friends into the next floor. While still looking at the body of his former student. And feeling weirdly cheated out of some sort of self satisfaction.
They all rest after that to make sure their magic levels and aura were fully prepared and ready for whatever will happen next.
Jaune thinks back and realizes that the tower bosses might be reflections of Salem's faction members. So hopefully they can get a feel for the rest of them. After all they now know who to send against Hazel to shut that guy down. It all depends on who needs to fight the next one and analyze their weaknesses and who in their group is the next bosses kryptonite.
– Day 22 break from Salem (Thursday) –
After a nice rest and filling breakfast they head off to explore the 26th floor.
They were finally seeing only C ranked foes and a few B ranked foes here and there. Meaning they actually had to try and fight a bit as the summons would be sucking up their practice and their exp at this point. Jaune couldn't fault his friends that.
After all they do experience a 20% boost to their training speed and growth rate when training and harvesting exp in a dungeon like this one.
They breezed through the floors when Jaune and Weiss got more practice with their summons in. Soon enough the 40th floor came and went and they saw more B ranked foes with only groups of C ranks here and there to match the difficulty of the many B ranked foes they had.
Soon enough they had to break for the night but not before Jaune had his summons out and about to scout and watch for threats around their camp.
He was also stuck on how to use his recent drop from Hazel and his stat points from his defeat.
You Defeated Hazel! Reward: +10 stat points, Monarchs ring, +10 floor skip
Jaune was contemplating using the floor skip and he checked out the monarchs ring stats, to say he was stunned would be an understatement.
Monarchs Ring (Rank S): +10 to all stats
Set function:
2 set items: +10 to all stats
3 Set items: +20 to all stats
Jaune had the sneaking suspicion that the last of the set items would be with the upcoming bosses. He knew they had a fight in their hands coming up soon with how they would have maybe two more intermediate tower bosses similar to Hazel showing up.
But his real worry was the tower top boss. Hazel was alone in his boss floor. But that doesn't mean the upcoming bosses would be alone.
They had to plan to fight army to army soon.
He looked at his sleeping friends as his watch for the 2 hour shift would be ending soon. He glanced at his Girlfriends as they all cuddled together in a little sleep huddle using their sleeping bags stuffed with spare clothes as a make shift king sized matress.
He chuckles as Yang and Pyrrha had begun to cuddle each other in their sleep. With Pyrrhas face in Yangs cleavage. Weiss was laid out like a sleeping princess. And Velvet was curled into a tight ball, with her ears back down along her back. Neo was the most unruly one. She was silently snoring as her feet was up against Velvet's back, and her hands had flopped onto Pyrrhas side while they slept. And Neo was at an odd 45 degree angle compared to where her pillow was resting on their make shift bed.
Jaune knew he would need to navigate that mess to figure out where he would sleep tonight among them. But he enjoys them any way. After all it shows they are who they are. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
He noticed Ren and Blake wake up for their shift and he trades nods to them as he goes over to his Girlfriend pile and puts his hand to his chin in thought at how he will manage to squeeze in there.
– Day 23 break from Salem (Friday) –
They all ready themselves as they continue their way up the tower. Their supplies were holding steady as they started to get more creative with their rations and cooking strategies. After all you can only have stew so many times in a row for lunch and dinner before you need something different to cleanse the palate and allow you to enjoy it once again.
So the kebabs came out and the young adults feasted.
As they ate a good lunch of kebabs on the recently cleared 49th floor, Jaune walks over to Ozpin as he is in deep thought while looking out the window of the large fortress sized tower they found themselves in. Jaune come sup and asks, "Ozpin? What's got oyu in such a deep thought process?"
Ozpin turns to Jaune as he registers the young knights words, bfore turnign back to the window. After a deep breath and long exhale showign his many years of life he answers, "Well… It was smaller than this back then. But this tower is similar to the one I rescued Salem from the first time… in my very first life with her. We were both human mages then."
Jaune nods at that then notices something, "But… there is something else right?"
Ozpin smiles as he notices Jaunes ability to glean small details from minor interactions with others. He turns to regard Jaune fully in his knight plate armor. Then smirks at him, "I just can't help but feel like I have lived through this before. You know? As if there is something at the edge of my mind that is nagging me to remember something… but I can't seem to recall anything."
Jaune nods at that and joins Ozpin in looking out the window at the abyss of clouds surrounding the tower. He nods to himself before saying, "Yeah… I feel like this should be familiar as well. But for the life of me I can't seem to recall anything."
Ozpin glances at Jaune and then joins him in a silent moment between two old friends.
In fact if one could see aura they wold notice two large ghost like figures standing behind the two reborn Monarchs in their natural forms. When they had their own lives, souls, and bodies. But neither looks angry or resentful. Just basking, as if these are the moments that they fight so hard to gain.
Soon the lunch is over and the raid party packs up the gear and get ready to enter the 50th floor of the tower and meet the second boss.
The group of young adults had noticed the small discussion between the two reborn Monarchs but decided to avoid asking them too many personal questions since it seemed to be something small between just them.
Neo was tempted to pry but was stopped by an annoyed looking Weiss. She stopped her plans to badger Jaune and instead remade it into a plan to subtly ask and draw out what they discussed.
Jaune and his raid party all come to the next floor which seems to be a mechanics wet dream.
Computers, Robots, Mechs, weapon designs, tools galore. Everything was all over the work shop looking place.
Ruby immediately squealed so loudly that every one, (Especially Velvet) covered their ears from the volume. Jaune sighs at the response and figured with stealth now fully out the window for their group that they may as well come out fully to meet the boss of this area.
Soon he is made apparent. A man who is barely as tall as Ren, but even skinnier comes out. He has gray hair, a very distinct mustache, and a business suit that was covered in bits of high tech looking armor. He smiles at them all as his eyes glow an electrical blue. Nora gets excited before noticing the glow is more energy based than electrical based. She pouts at that before noticing his energy encasing the mechanical and technical gear around their raid party.
They all gasp as the robots, mechs, and weapons all seem to gain a life of their own. And in this cramped boss room, which is only the size of the sparring arena at Beacon, they wouldn't be able to use their summons without giving up space for mobility.
They all form their usual teams of 4 with Neo acting as a guard to Ozpin with her refurbished Parasol. Right before the various mechanical enemies open fire on them.
It was, to put it into one word… Chaotic.
Blaster fire was flying everywhere, their weapons cut through the air shearing through bot after bot, weapon after weapon. But there seemed to be no end to them.
They had to use every defensive trick they had from using Pyrrhas polarity to lift up the defeated bots to be floating shields around their groups to Weiss summoning earth and ice walls with the help of Simin.
Jaune and Yatsu had to combine their aura for an aura wall when this mysterious boss used a tactic that was annoying to deal with, he lobbed a literal wall of explosives at them all hoping to explode them with sheer force.
They endured but not without Yatsu and Jaune now having a few scorch marks and now being about a quarter through their own aura reserves.
Jaune scanned the boss during a time when he threw a large mech at him, only for the mech to slow down, stop in mid air and repair itself before being set back down and charging Nora for a rematch.
Jaune gasps as he notices the name of this guy and how he was doing all of this.
Watts: Master of technology
Guardian of the 50th floor of the Cursed Tower
Threat Rank: S- (When having technology. Without is only a C rank)
Jaune gains a truly devilish grin. Watts for the first time in this fight flinches at that and sees Jaune yell out, "Guys! He's a Technomancer! Use EMP plan for anti mech formation!"
Nora and Pyrrha both grin as Simin, Ragora, and Weiss all charge up electrical spells alongside Ozpin who is charging up an S ranked spell to make sure this was super charged. Nora stands ready as Pyrrha has her aura pulsing through Nora and her polarity powers and Geomancer powers coursing through them both.
The super charged lightning spells all hit Nora and Pyrrha making Watts eyes go wide as it turns black and the now black and gray colored lightning explodes outward and hits every mechanical and technical piece of equipment in the workshop. Soon the entire workshop goes dark and only the torches of the natural dungeon light up the boos floor.
Watts tries to get anything to work but nothing responds to his magic.
He slowly looks at the group of young adults in fear as they all grin and slowly approach him with weapons out. He begins to scream right before he is literally torn apart by all their weapons and their CQC abilities.
Soon Watts is an evaporating husk of magic as he disappears from the room and the portal to the next floor opens up. Everyone cheers and head towards it while Jaune collects the drops and analyzes them while they are entering the next floor.
This is where he is distracted. The tower that was once uniform and unchanging, was now covered in dead knight bodies, and had scorch marks and signs of battle all over the hallway.
Everyone makes sure their guards are up while looking around. They check the dead knights but only find they have been long since fried and are unable to be resuscitated.
Ozpin looks guilty as Jaune looks around. He only realizes a moment later that these knights must have been past victims of Ozpins effort to rescue Salem from her corrupt minded father. He keeps silent as they all hear some powerful Grimm rushing towards them. Soon enhanced Arma Gigas, Shadow blades, and some Goliath Grimm all rush towards them. Everyone begins to show their growth by fighting an A ranked foe each and dominating them.
Jaune grins as he casually cuts apart an Arma Gigas Grimm with his sword coated in his aura. While another is smashed into a flattened tin can by Iron who looks at the party's growth and smiles at how far all of their members have gotten.
He then turns to the hallway as they all continue to fight through a literal deluge of Grimm.
Eventually they fight through another 5 floors of fully stocked A ranked foes before they all rest up for the night.
Jaune looks out the window of the cleared floor they are on before going into his bed roll alongside his girlfriends to sleep off the days fatigue. While not physically taxing due to A ranked Grimm not standing a chance against them as a team. Or even individually. The boss fight and the mental strain of nonstop combat will eat away at anyone's mental stamina.
He curls up and goes to his mind space to have a small chat with Iron and the systems physical form. Which is always a bit uncomfortable to look at. It has a shadowy presence, but also has a form, like an outline of a fully drawn body that was never colored, or penciled in. But it outlined with a heavy and thick shadow aura denoting that there is indeed someone there. Jaune had only been able to start doing these mind dives to chat with them while he rests recently. Ever since he broke through to level 200.
Soon they all begin to do their usual greetings before sitting at a table with three chairs they conjure out of the mind space. Soon enough the meeting goes form light and basic friends meeting up, to serious and full of tension as they begin to discuss the upcoming war against Salem.
Jaune opens up with a straightforward one, "System… Tell me honestly. How much longer do we have before Salem comes out of her recovery sleep? We are still training and I am not sure if we are ready to go toe to toe with her at our current strength."
The system ponders it for a moment, Iron begins to lose his patience, before suddenly being stopped by an open palm from Jaune as he was about to explode in impatience. The system finally tilts its head as if it was done calculating something in its mind before answering, "Well there are two answers here… It depends on how much you are willing to push the others so you can maximize her time recovering."
Jaune perks up at that but Iron beats him to the follow up question, "So what ARE these two answers? Is it something like, one is only a week away, but if we do this side task then we can extend it out by a month?"
The system smiles its wide cartoon like smile that always looks like a sketch without solid lines. Making Jaune shudder at it but he focuses on the systems next words. The System nods to Iron as he sums up his thoughts, "Essentially, by this upcoming Wednesday, if we haven't cleared this tower, Salem will be back in full force. And we will have to contend with her new more ferocious attempts at wiping out the current strongest reincarnations of the Monarch of Magic and Light we have ever seen. But~! If we can manage to finish this dungeon before Wednesday, then we can shock her very soul. This dungeon was made from her soul fragments that past inheritors had shaved off of her through the generations. And this current one was updated after that hard soul searing slash you used on her. With the update and the new, stronger connection, we can deal a heavy blow to her very core, making her soul wound reopen and buying us another full month!"
Iron nods with a wide grin at that while Jaune looks to be deep in thought.
Both other occupants turn to their master as Jaune looks up with a small smile and says, "Welp, that sound like a deal to me. Not only will it buy us time, but it will also slow her plans down. She may have these agents we are beating in this tower. But that means we are learning to fight them and know how to defeat them in the real world. I say, let's get as high up this tower as we can tomorrow!"
Iron let's out a cheer while the System grins and tells him good luck before he goes to his dream realm to actually rest his mind too now.
Iron smiles at his young masters energy before noticing the system looking serious, He asks, "You still haven't told him what will happen once he assimilates the full power of the Monarchs soul. Have you?"
The System shakes their head as they watch over their most powerful and kindest user yet. But it still smiles as it turns to Iron and says, "No… But I think I like it this way. After all I won't be around forever but he won't need me forever. I believe if he can finally assimilate the true soul? Then my job is done and we have both accomplished our missions. Just remember that I will be counting on you to watch over him once I am gone."
Iron nods sadly at the system who he thought was a cheeky trouble maker at first. But had proven him wrong with his efforts in helping Jaune grow safely and with guidance when needed. He smiles truly before clapping the systems avatar on the back in a brotherly way, "I say… We will miss you. But we both know you won't fully be gone."
The system smiles as he goes, "Thanks. Friend. Now let's let everyone sleep. They have a busy few days if they want to slow Salem down for another month."
Iron nods and the mind space disappears.
Soon the next day comes while no one, not even Jaune, knew of the impending doom of the Systems life.
– Day 24 break from Salem (Saturday) –
The next day Jaune let's everyone know of how to slow Salem down for another month. Which they all agree to achieve as they plan out their attack on the rest of the tower.
While everyone finishes packing up the camp they set up, and making sure their gear needed no repairs, and that their weapons were fully loaded, Jaune was analyzing the drops from Watts floor as the new floor layout was a bit too distracting and the new difficulty was also a factor in keeping him from completing the appraisal.
As he analyzed the drops he found three of them.
One was a mech summoning item, an advanced Paladin mech with high spec abilities that on its own would make it a slid A ranked threat.
The next was a powerful Gauss pistol capable of piercing the bone hides of even A+ ranked Grimm with only some difficulty. Jaune equipped that one rather quickly.
And the third was an advanced mechanic and technician book about weapon theories, upgrades, and aura applications to enhance said weapons further than ever. It was gone from his hands as soon as he called Ruby's name out and held it up fro her to read the title. He was left grasping air half a second later. And high itched squealing happened in the next half second. Only to be shut down by a silencing spell courtesy of Ragora.
Everyone thanked her as she smirked at the praise and went about restoring her bed roll and her tent into her storage back pack.
Soon the camp was set up, the gear was prepped. And now they had their ultimate goal of finishing this tower off!
They went to the next floor, unlocking floor 56 only to find all kinds of mutated Grimm who varied from Rank A strength to A+ strength.
Everyone went wild with their combo attacks, team attacks, and Jaune summoned his army to help them in clearing out this floor rather quickly.
With his army out in full force Jaune and his guild climbed the tower rapidly. Scaling it all the way up to floor 74 in only a few hours.
They felt an overwhelming stench of death on the other side of the portal to floor 75. It made them hesitate. But Jaune smiled and led the charge prompting his friends to all join him as they rushed in.
Inside the portal Nora and Ren gasped hard. They saw Kuroyuki in its destroyed glory.
In the middle of the floor stood 50 Nuckelavees, and one humanoid figure covered in carapace armor looking much like a scorpion given human form.
The creature cackled wickedly at them all and held up some severed heads of the village people in one of its claws. He threw them at the group only for Nora and Ren to quickly catch them and to reveal the heads of Ren's parents, the village chief who took Nora in, and the kind old herbal woman who would take care of them like a grandmother.
The scorpion rushes in with the Grimm battalion at its back only for the entire guild to see red as they counter charged and Jaune even summoned his Heroic and Commander ranked luminous soldiers to the fight.
The two sides clash with many members of the guild going for the grimm and the soldiers following behind them.
Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren all fall into their formation as they face down this Scorpion humanoid. It cackles maniacally and yells out, "For my Queen Goddess! For Salem!! HAHAHAHAHAAH!!!"
It charges with aura shining around the scorpion blades on each arm.
Ren and Nora open fire on the humanoid leaving some dings and hits on its armor. The armor however reveals itself to be at least S ranked in strength as they see it charge straight through the hits.
Jaune and Pyrrha both clang their shields together and using their bond as partners and as lovers they merge their aura together into a large auric energy wall that the scorpion goes wide eyed at as his blades clang uselessly against the fortification. He leaps off of the wall as his blades use up the energy they were coated in. Landing back he sees Jaunes light suddenly make the ground around him glow, looking down the boss flinches at seeing dozens of angry and upset sets of eyes glaring up at him.
He leaps to the air just barely dodging many axes, swords, spears, and maces that shot up at where he was standing just a second ago.
He lets out a sigh of relief only for Noras grenades to be seen shooting right at him. He gasps and the explosions rock his vision for a few seconds. He begins to see through the smoke only for a slew of spells and arrows to be seen shooting up at him next. He gasps out and screams in pain as they all land on him and destroy pieces of his armor.
He falls to the ground in immense pain as his armor has cracks and his torso armor and some pieces of his legs are revealed.
He grunts as half his combat mask slides off from the giant crack bisecting it. Glaring at the kids he shows half his face.
Ren and Nora both gasp and look at him before going, "Tyrian."
Jaune looks at them then back at the scorpion Faunus. "You know this guy?"
They tremble in rage as Ren answers while holding a crying Nora to his chest, "Yeah. We was a traveler we let stay in the village for a few days. The same few days where people were beginning to be axed off every night due to a powerful grimm in the area. So you led it to our village?! Why?! What did we do to deserve such a fate?!"
Tyrian laughs out loud and says in his most fanatical voice yet, "I was following the words and orders of my goddess! The great lady Salem! She said you village of Martial Aura users had to be wiped form the map to avoid you helping the next evil god of light's champion! SO I snuck in! Made those deaths look like a Grimm! But I was enjoying myself on their screams of pain and terror! It was such an amazing rush of euphoria to hear their screams and delight in seeing so many struggle against me even though my Goddess will claim all their souls! Now prepare to die by my claws!!"
He readies his blades while Ren and Nora are now seething with hatred at him. Unknowingly charging the Grimm around us with energy and making them slightly stronger and able to hold off our friends and soldiers more effectively than normal.
Jaune and Pyrrha suddenly appear to either flank of Tyrian who notices them and leaps up in a forward mid air leap. Their weapons arc at him, but his blades manage to catch them both With a laugh he flips again and shoots out a small amount of acid form his tail making Pyrrha have to block her face with her shield to avoid going blind temporarily.
But the chance is all he needs as he lands and rushes by Jaune who was unprepared for this burst of speed. He goes to catch up to him but is blasted back by a large burst of purple energy from the bosses arms.
Jaune slides back a few feet only to suddenly see Tyrian about to stab Pyrrha with his tail. He goes to shoot an aura beam from his sword only to smirk and holds back the attack.
Tyrian is about to stab this so called champion of the people. Only he flicks his tail forward as it goes numb. He looks back to see a bloody stump spewing blood form where his tail used to be. He yells out in shock and pain as the sensation hits him fully. He then feels a painful sensation in his right arm along with hears a sickening crunch.
He looks as he is flung away form the hit to see a deathly calm and steel eyed Nora there. Ren is beside her with his severed tail hanging from his gun blades. He yells out in pain and surprise as Jaune appears next to him and lands a powerful shield bash with a fully charged aura shield making him fly back towards the three members of JNPR.
Tyrian tries to get any feeling to his limbs right as he reaches the trio. Pyrrha slashes at him super fast as she helps her strikes along using polarity to speed up her armor and weapon to go twice as fast. Ren is next and lands shooting punches points blank into Tyrians body in key joints and armor joints tearing his remaining armor to shreds while also leaivn ghis body feeling the pain that was so extreme he wonders when he last felt it.
Then Nora appears above him with a whole back pack of Thunder crystals on he back as Tyrians eyes bulge. Nora yells out, "For our family! DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"
The thunder strike that follows is so loud that is actually mutes their world for a solid minute. Everyone was blow back as the Grimm were shredded from the blow.
Ren and Nora at the center were able to stand tall and firm while seeing Tyrians slowly dissipating corpse as the only thing left of him after that hit was a pile of ashes in the shape of his body.
Nora slumps against Ren as he hugs her close and kisses her. She smiles as she whiseprs to him, "We did it right Renny? We got our revenge?"
Ren nods at first before the words of Tyrian return, "Not quite."
Nora looks up at him in confusion before she gasps and realizes they had one more target to take down, "Right! His boss!"
Ren nods and looks to Jaune as he is approaching with Pyrrha leaning on him from using most of her aura to withstand Noras last blow, "Indeed, and We will be with Jaune to the end to see our revenge through. Then we can focus on our future together. Sound good my lovely Valkyrie?"
Nora blushes deep red and squirms a bit in the hug as Ren hugs her close and nuzzles into her hair. She hugs him close and doesn't let go.
As the moment continues everyone else approaches while the soldiers reform.
Simin turns to a wincing Lycan and says, "Man. Better not piss them off right bro?"
Lycan looks at him in confusion and yells, "WHAT!? I CAN'T HEAR A THING!"
Simin holds his own slowly recovering ears as fresh ringing is in them after that.
Everyone laughs as the portal to the next floor opens up.
Jaune has everyone follow him as they are all tired and wondering why they can't rest here. Jaune explains to them, "I have a plan about that. And it would feel… wrong to rest and recover in a place that holds so many bad memories for Ren and Nora while they are trying to move on."
Everyone turns to Ren and Nora who are crying gently while holding each other close as they walk towards the group. Everyone nods at that point and they all follow Jaune through the portal.
Soon enough they land on the 76th floor. Jaune has everyone set up a camp while he goes over the drops from Tyrian. They do so and he summons his army, sticking his sword into the ground he yells out, "Soldiers! Secure this floor! We must protect our guild until they are recovered! Now move! Leave now grimm left standing!"
The soldiers cheer and head off in their squads to empty the floor of foes.
Everyone understands at that point and rest.
Jaune sees the drops from Tyrian and notices something interesting.
10 k Shop points, +10 stat points, Charm against all poisons S ranked and below x7, The story of the witch in the tower.
He gives the charms to those who need them and to those who plan to help in the personal fight against Salem when it is time.
Leaving JNPR and RWBY as the ones who claim the charms.
Ozpin notices Jaune holding the book and he goes pale. Jaune nods to him as he hands the book to the ancient mage, "Read it to us when you are ready. We may not need it in the end… but it might help you come to terms with the fact that you might not be able to save her until you do. We have a world to save. And if you still hold some hope of saving her then read it. Who knows? It might solidify the fact we can't save her, or it might give us the chance to at least save who she was. Before the shadow Monarch. Let us know what you decide."
Jaune leaves him to it and joins Velvet in healing everyone while they cook and reload their weapons for the upcoming floors.
Ozpin caresses the books cover and opens it to the first page to see who wrote this book and to see if there were any clues to at least save the original Salems soul from her now corrupted body and heart.
(Story is same as in canon only with the Shadow Monarch making a deal with her to give her the death she wants one she helps him destroy this new world the gods made after her loss.)
Ozpin hums and gets to his feet, sharing with the guild members his thoughts, the story, and what he hopes they can do as a team.
All while a glimmer of hope shines in the corner of his eyes.
– Day 25 break from Salem (Sunday) –
Their progress had slowed down tremendously after floor 80. They quickly discovered intelligent Grimm lived on these floors. All of them ancient class or older, making them dangerous as some laid out traps, ambushes, or even coordinated assaults on the brave hunters.
Soon enough though they hit a nice resting zone on floor 95. It seemed to be someones bedroom. They looked all over and Ozpin was stunned at the lay out.
He saw it again. He could never forget it.
The room he saved Salem from. The bed was the same, the dresser, the wardrobe, the furniture, the locks, the bars, everything was of her.
He cried a bit as he remembered how in love they were and how it was such a wonderful time together.
Everyone gave him space while eating and resting before progressing to the last few floors.
Ozpins eyes snapped open as he refocused knowing they had a mission, and a duty to finish this tower dungeon to give them more time.
Soon enough they rested for the night after nearly 20 floors of hard battles. They didn't complain as they knew they had their work cut out for them in the next few floors if this difficulty progression was anything to go by.
– Day 26 break from Salem (Monday) –
They entered floor 96 and were shocked to see the tower had changed. It was no longer a tower. They were now in a grand mansion.
And rising up to face them were humans. Well to be more accurate, human husks. They wore armor and wielded weapons but no body was inside. However they were no slouches. Each of them were a solid B to A rank in strength and they were all magic soldiers.
Ozpin is conflicted at this as these were echoes of the men and women he trained to protect the realm when he was married to Salem. Even worse still was the fact that these individuals were the ones he had trained personally to defend his mansion.
They fought for a good hour before they realized that the floor was self generating them and keeping and endless tide coming. They found the portal to the next floor at the main entrance and entered it.
They found themselves in a grand foyer for floor 97, with the next portal at the top of the grand stair case.
More soldier husks attacked, and they were all A ranks. No Bs to be seen or fought.
The fighting was harder but they managed to weave their way through. And they entered the next portal.
They next found a grand ballroom for floor 98, with a literal army of A+ ranked husks blocking their way to the next portal. They fought hard with Jaune having to summon his army to even out the numbers.
They made it to the side doors leading deeper into the mansion and enter it.
They found a strangely calm area next for floor 99. They were in a hallway that had a portal leading to a set of study room doors.
Ozpin goes pale as he remembers this hallway and the stars shining outside the windows all too well. They were in the time and place of when he lost his daughters.
He stumbles a bit before hardening his resolve. He had to get through this. To regain what had diminished over the generations.
The pain of losing his daughters and the drive and the determination of the avenger he originally was.
They all notice and wait until Ozpins eyes gleam as he looks up at them all and says, "This will be painful for me, it will be a time in my life where I was not the man I am today. But this will be a time that shows you who I was. How I used to be. Hopefully as a way for you to see exactly what I hope to become once again. Will you help me?"
Every member. Every single one of his students look to each other and nod readily. Their weapons gleam as they all prepare to charge alongside the old wizard.
Neo gives a 'meh' face with a so so hand gesture.
Everyone chuckles at that while she then switches it to a thumbs up to show she is ready to help them with whatever they need.
They all charge into the portal. Into the one hundredth floor.
And Ozpin gasps as he sees 5 figures.
To the right the first one is made of Fire, in the form of a young woman who looks to be angry with him as she glares directly at him.
The second one who is also a young woman is made of flurrying snow and frost with her dark blue eyes glaring holes into Ozpin with such a cold glare even flames may freeze.
The ones to the left show a young woman of wind who giggles with a menacing glare in her dark orange eyes.
And the final figure of elements is made of water who chuckles darkly while her deep green eyes glare hard at the whole group ready to drown them.
The one in the middle startles them all though, it looks like a tanned silver haired Ozpin who is dressed in robes and armor. Almost like a combat mage. And his aura feels the same as Jaunes who is ready at the front alongside Ozpin.
Their Ozpin goes, "No… It is this moment we will relive then."
The past version, Ozma raises his sword and staff and yells out, "Soldiers of humanity! My Daughters of the elements! The evil Grimm Queen sends her champions forth to stop us from reaching her! Destroy them all! And avenge the Monarch of Light who gave his life so we may fight once again!"
His daughters all fly into the air using their elements and Charge right at Weiss, Yang, Pyrrha, and Velvet.
Ozma teleports right into Ozpins space and blasts him back with a force of pure mana, launching the older wizard into the air and away from his students.
Jaune charges forward while deploying his own forces. He orders them, "Support the guild! Our elites and I shall handle the enemies elites!"
His luminous soldiers all nod and get into formation as every soldier they fought for the last 4 floors emerge from the hill Ozma stood on and charge over it towards the guild and their army.
The battle of the Tower has reached it's final act.