The laughter gradually faded into something quieter. One by one, Jaune's friends settled beside him upon the fractured surface of the Crimson Moon, still close enough that their shoulders touched, as though none of them were quite willing to put too much distance between themselves and him yet.
The immediate rush of emotion had passed, but the sheer number of awakened surrounding them had only increased. People were beginning to gather from every direction, some limping, some carrying injured companions, others simply walking because they did not seem to know what else to do now that the battle was over.
Their eyes repeatedly returned to Jaune.
Whispers moved through the crowd, spreading faster than any formal announcement could have. That was him. That was Jaune Arc. That was the one who had fought against the very being that had stood above every Rank 3 in history.
That was the one who had defeated Salem.
Awakened began crowding closer, wanting to see the savior of humanity with their own eyes, wanting to understand how a person who had once stood beside them could now possess a majesty that seemed almost incomprehensible.
The Rank 3s noticed before Jaune did. Qrow stepped forward first, extending one arm across the path of the approaching crowd while Raven moved beside him, and Velik's shadows rose subtly from the fractured ground.
"Give him some room," Qrow said, not loudly, but with enough authority that the closest awakened immediately stopped.
"He's been fighting for longer than most of you have been awake. Let the kid breathe." The crowd reluctantly backed away, creating a wide enough circle for Jaune and his friends to remain undisturbed.
Jaune smiled at the sight, the expression still lingering upon his face even after everything that had happened. He looked almost strangely peaceful sitting there among them.
Ren approached through the small opening Qrow had created, and for a moment he simply stood in front of Jaune. There was something different in Ren's expression that Jaune immediately recognized.
Ren had always been able to stand in front of overwhelming power without allowing himself to be swallowed by it. But there was a slight distance in his eyes now, a hesitation that had not existed between them before.
Perhaps it came from everything that had happened after Jaune disappeared. Perhaps it came from the Shadow Realm fiasco, from the unanswered questions and the uncertainty that had followed. Or perhaps it was simply difficult to look at someone who had become the strongest human being in history and pretend that nothing had changed.
Ren eventually extended his hand. Jaune looked at it for a moment before reaching up and grasping it. Ren pulled him to his feet, and Jaune brushed some of the moon dust from his body before looking at his old friend.
"Been a while, huh?" Ren said.
Jaune's smile softened.
"Yeah. I... how have you been, Ren?"
Ren gave a small shrug, his expression becoming more familiar.
"Better. Though, I suppose for you, it's... more than better?"
The hidden question was obvious.
Jaune could hear everything Ren wasn't saying.
How are you? What happened to you? Are you still the Jaune we knew? Are we still friends in the same way?
Jaune couldn't entirely blame him. Even without being able to feel the true majesty of Jaune's domain, Ren could see what everyone else could see. Jaune's existence had changed. The distance between them was no longer measured in rank or strength.
It was measured in something far more difficult to describe. Jaune knew how to solve it, too. There were things he could say, memories he could bring up, wounds he could finally explain. But now wasn't the time.
"Something like that, Ren," Jaune answered. "While I rest, I might as well explain what's been happening to all of you. Would you all like that?"
He looked toward the others.
Nora and Mocha emerged from behind Ren, and the moment Nora's eyes landed on Jaune, her expression immediately transformed into one of exaggerated outrage.
"Finally!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms outward. "And don't think I forgot about you ditching us again. Didn't you say we were supposed to go down to this core area together or something?"
Jaune's expression became sheepish. He coughed awkwardly into his fist.
"Um... there were... extenuating circumstances?" Nora stared at him. There was a long enough silence that Jaune knew he had made a mistake.
"Extenuating, my ass!" Nora shouted, raising her fist. "Take this super lightning fist!" Her fist came swinging toward Jaune's arm. Jaune grinned and allowed the blow to connect. Of course, the attack did absolutely nothing to him, but he immediately grabbed his arm and recoiled with an exaggerated cry.
"Abuse! Abuse! A crime is being committed!"
Nora's eyes widened.
"Oh, you think you're funny?"
Yang stepped forward with a grin.
"You know, I think I deserve a few licks myself."
Jaune's eyes widened dramatically.
"Yang, wait..."
She punched him in the shoulder. Jaune staggered back.
"Unprovoked assault!"
Yang hit him again.
"That's for disappearing!" Another punch. "That's for making us think you were dead!" Another. "That's for fighting a god without telling anyone!"
Jaune fell backward onto the ground.
"Gang violence! Police, help me!"
Ruby immediately burst into laughter and joined them.
"Get him!"
Blake shook her head, but the smile already forming on her face betrayed her. "This is ridiculous."
Weiss folded her arms. "Entirely ridiculous, I'd say."
She paused.
"Move over."
She stepped in and lightly kicked Jaune's leg. Jaune looked up at her in disbelief.
"Weiss?! You too?"
"That was for making me worry that you died for some reason."
Pyrrha laughed softly before crouching beside him.
"I suppose I should probably contribute."
"Et tu Pyrra? ?" Jaune protested.
She gently punched his shoulder.
"That was for leaving." Jaune placed a hand over his heart.
"My own friends. Betrayed by everyone."
Nora immediately shouted, "Again!" and the ridiculous assault resumed.
For the next minute, the strongest human being in history was reduced to a laughing target for his friends, rolling across the fractured ground while shouting increasingly ridiculous complaints.
"I demand legal representation from the authorities! This is a violation of my rights! I defeated Salem, doesn't that count for anything?"
Ruby laughed.
"No!"
Yang answered.
"It makes you more annoying!"
Jaune rolled away from her.
"Haven't I suffered enough?!"
"No way!"
"I literally fought the end of the world!"
"And now you're stuck fighting us!" Yang shouted.
"This is arguably worse!" Jaune yelled.
That finally broke everyone. Even Weiss lost her composure, laughing as she covered her mouth. After another few seconds the mock battle simply collapsed under its own weight, leaving them scattered across the fractured ground.
Jaune once again laid on his back staring into the strange black sky, breathing out a laugh. Nora was sprawled beside him. Yang was laughing with one arm over her stomach. Ruby had fallen onto her side. Blake sat nearby, shaking her head with a smile, while Weiss tried to recover whatever dignity remained to her.
Pyrrha sat beside Jaune and looked at him with an expression that carried more relief than amusement. Ren sat a short distance away, smiling quietly. Mocha watched the entire thing with a grin.
"You know," Mocha said, "I think that might be the first time I've ever seen someone defeat a god and then immediately get beaten up by Nora."
Jaune turned his head.
"I would like it officially recorded that I allowed it."
Nora snorted.
"Sure you did."
Ren chuckled. "You really haven't changed that much, have you, Jaune?" Jaune looked at him. The words carried more weight than Ren probably intended.
Jaune smiled.
"Neither have you."
Around them, the rest of the awakened had begun tending to their injuries and helping those who were still unconscious. Some had already begun moving toward the areas where the remains of the Dream Realm were stabilizing.
Ozpin, Ironwood and the other surviving Rank 3s had clearly wanted to question Jaune. Their expressions had made that much obvious. There were too many unanswered questions, too many things they had witnessed that no one else could explain.
But Qrow and Raven had intercepted them before they could approach.
"Not now," Qrow told them. "Give him a minute."
Raven silently agreed.
The others reluctantly moved away, though it was obvious that several of them were still listening from a distance. Qrow waited until Jaune's laughter had settled before finally returning to the group. Raven followed him. Qrow looked down at Jaune and shook his head with a crooked smile.
"Not bad, kid. Your plan worked. Or rather..." His expression became more thoughtful. "Your dad's plan?"
Jaune's smile remained, though it became quieter.
"Yeah. Had to make him proud somehow, right?"
Qrow nodded slowly. Then his expression shifted.
"I suppose. Where is he, by the way? You guys went into the seal, right?"
Jaune's smile slowly faded. The warmth remained, but something heavier settled behind his eyes.
"My dad..."
He paused, looking toward the titanic seal in the distance.
"He sacrificed himself to bring me to the threshold in Mastery for my Runes. He's the only reason I was able to reach Rank 3 and overturn the entire situation." The joking atmosphere disappeared almost instantly.
Ruby's expression softened. She looked toward Jaune and quietly said, "Jaune, if you... don't want to talk about it, you don't have to right now."
Jaune shook his head. He reached over and placed his hand gently on top of Ruby's head. He simply left it there. Ruby looked up at him for a moment before reaching up and holding his hand, smiling softly.
"It's alright, Rubes," Jaune said. "I suppose this is as fine a time as any to explain things."
He looked around the group.
"You all want to know the truth, right? About why I disappeared for a while, about what exactly happened during the fight, my confrontation with my father a couple of days ago, Salem's plan, everything that happened inside the seal?"
The eager expressions that answered him were almost comical in their unanimity. Jaune took a slow breath. "Then let me start from the beginning."
And he did.
He explained everything.
He told them what he had seen inside Nicholas's memories and what his father had been attempting to accomplish long before anyone else understood the true scale of the conflict. He explained the hidden layers of the Nightmare system and the distinction between the various ranks, the nature of domains, the reason Rank 3 represented such an enormous threshold, and why Rank 4 was something fundamentally different.
He explained Tyrian's role, the Supreme Runes, and the horrifying truth that Tyrian had never truly been the final enemy. Salem had been using him as a vessel. He explained the battle, the way Knowledge had allowed Salem to understand his actions, the failures that had forced him to use Choice, and the iterations in which everything had ended.
He explained why he had deliberately removed memories from himself, why he had inverted Choice into Finality, and how Nicholas's second gift had allowed the hidden part of his existence to move forward through time until it reached the precise moment when Salem had taken control of his body. He explained why Salem had wanted his body, why she had stopped trying to kill him, and why allowing her to believe she had won had been the only path that could have worked.
He explained Genesis, the Sleeper and everything else.
He explained that the being they had considered the ultimate source of the Nightmare system was part of something far greater, that there were other entities like Salem somewhere beyond the boundaries of their world, and that humanity had existed beneath the protection of something called superimposition of the Dream Realm which acted as a veil that prevented those entities from easily perceiving and interfering with reality.
He explained the final mechanism Genesis had prepared and why the seal had been temporary. He explained that the Nightmare system was gone, that no new awakened would appear through it.
By the time Jaune finally finished, the silence surrounding the group was immense.
Everyone was processing.
It wasn't one revelation.
It was hundreds.
Every individual truth was already enough to shatter someone's understanding of reality. Yet now they were hearing all of them connected together. Things that had once seemed unrelated suddenly fit into place. Events from years ago had meaning. Decisions made by Nicholas had meaning. The existence of the Nightmare system had meaning.
The pieces finally formed a picture.
Pyrrha was the one who broke the silence.
"I'm sorry."
Jaune looked toward her.
"For what?"
She hesitated. "For everything. For what you had to carry. For what happened to your father. For all those times you were alone when the rest of us didn't understand what was happening."
Jaune shook his head. "No, Pyrrha. It's me who should be apologizing. But some things just have to be done regardless."
Weiss was quiet for another moment before asking the question that had clearly been forming in everyone's mind. "So what now, Jaune? You're a... Rank 4, right? Are you going to separate the Dream Realm from reality and bring us all back to the planet?"
"Technically speaking, I'm not yet a Rank 4," Jaune answered. "But yes. I'll bring all of you back. However, there is something which I have to do beforehand."
Blake frowned.
"All of you? Not us?"
The question hung there. Jaune was quiet for several seconds. Then he looked toward Raven.
"Raven."
She immediately understood.
She turned and called the other Rank 3s back. Ozpin and Ironwood approached first, followed by the others. They had already been listening from a distance anyway. There was little point pretending otherwise.
Jaune slowly rose from the ground and the atmosphere changed. The casual warmth vanished and whatever he was about to say was clearly going to be important.
Ozpin stepped forward. "Mr. Arc. You have truly accomplished some incredibly complex and wondrous things. On behalf of all of us, we wish to thank you. What is it that you wish to convey?"
Jaune looked directly into Ozpin's eyes.
"You're welcome. But first and foremost, all of you were probably wondering whether I was going to give up the Supreme Runes., correct?"
Every expression changed.
Jaune continued. "The simple answer is no. I will be reaching the Realm of Rank 4 first and foremost and to do that, I'll require the runes. I need this level of power if I am to protect this world. The seal holding Salem now won't last for too long, so I'm going to have to consume her power and reach true apotheosis, replacing her as a human divine."
Nobody interrupted.
"And besides," Jaune continued, "there are also other entities like Salem out there in the universe who would be all but ready to intervene in humanity's development if there is no superimposition of a domain strong enough to hide our reality."
The Rank 3s remained silent.
Then Jaune said the words that made the atmosphere colder.
"And... after giving it some thought... I have also decided that Runes and runic power should no longer exist."
Ozpin's expression changed immediately.
"Mr. Arc, could you... please clarify?"
"The Nightmare system is gone. Which means that awakened won't have any chance of becoming stronger or creating Runes anymore. And since Salem will be gone as well after I devour her, there won't be Grimm or anything else."
Ironwood stepped forward. "You... can't you..."
Jaune raised one hand.
"I know what you're thinking, but I'm not going to take the place of the Nightmare system. Nor am I going to create a similar system like that. If I do, the future will be full of problems."
Velik spoke next. "Are you using Knowledge to see this?"
"Yes." Jaune nodded. "Knowledge is a Supreme Rune for a reason. When I use it, I can be almost omniscient. I can also use a small part of its power to see glimpses that I want. In any case, humanity's future is going to be a bad one, if I don't become a true rank 4."
Jaune's eyes moved across the awakened.
"Which brings me to my next point."
Nobody spoke.
"After today, there will no longer be any new awakened in this world. And those who are currently awakened will lose their status as awakened as well."
"What?"
The word escaped from several people at once. Jaune didn't answer, because he didn't need to. The Rank 3s understood.
Jaune Arc was most likely going to take their strength.
Their awakened existence.
Everything.
"Consider this a reset."
The Rank 3s instinctively backed away as Jaune began floating into the air.
"But don't worry," Jaune said. "Your path to strength isn't exactly cut off. This, I promise you."
Then Jaune looked toward his friends.
His expression softened.
"Guys. Don't look so down. I'm not leaving you... well... not for too long, anyhow."
Ruby looked as though she wanted to say something.
Jaune smiled.
Then he disappeared.
The next instant, Jaune reappeared within the enormous seal surrounding Salem's continental-sized beating brain and heart.
The scale of the thing was incomprehensible. The remnants of Salem's power still pulsed within it. Jaune extended his hand and Devour activated. The seal itself trembled and then, the power of Salem began flowing into him.
At first it was a river, then an ocean. Then something beyond anything that could be described through ordinary quantities.
Jaune absorbed the vast might of Salem's existence, pulling it through his domain and into himself. The power of the Nightmare system, the accumulated energy of the Dream Realm, Salem's immense reserves and the remaining authority imprisoned within the seal all became fuel.
Jaune's domain expanded.
From thousands of kilometers to tens of thousands. The boundaries ceased behaving like ordinary distance. His domain grew and grew and grew.
His body changed with it.
The golden threads surrounding his form became brighter, denser and more fundamental. His existence began to move beyond the hierarchy of Rank 3.
Rank 3 power had been the manifestation of a domain. A Rank 3 could impose their own rules upon reality within a space that belonged solely to them.
But Rank 4 was different.
A Rank 4 did not merely possess a domain. At this level of power, a Rank 4's domain would evolve and become... a realm.
Jaune's domain continued expanding until it covered Earth and the entire Dream Realm itself. The entire superimposed reality fell beneath his authority.
Every awakened felt themselves being lifted.
Then transported.
Across the world, awakened suddenly vanished from the broken Dream Realm and reappeared upon Earth.
They each felt a warm embrace surrounding them and felt that within that warm embrace of light they felt their strengths flow out. It was neither a painful process nor was a it frightening. Rather, it was oddly comforting
Like a massage or the embrace of a long friend or lover.
Their power was gone.
Not completely, but the extraordinary strength that had once elevated them through the ranks had disappeared. Their powers remained, altered and diminished, but the path they had once walked through the Nightmare system no longer existed.
Jaune continued.
The Dream Realm itself began to disappear.
Consumed, every fragment and every layer of apocalyptic dream. Every remaining structure that had once existed between dream and reality was devoured by Jaune's growing realm.
His domain swallowed it all. And as it did, it ceased being a domain and became something more fundamental.
Something alive.
A realm.
Jaune stood at its center.
There was no horizon, sky or ground.
Only an enormous expanse of pure white filled with streams of flowing golden liquid. The rivers moved through the emptiness without gravity, winding across impossible distances and disappearing beyond sight. Some flowed upward. Others curled through one another. Some formed enormous spiral helixes that stretched for what appeared to be astronomical distances.
The scale was staggering. Multiple planets the size of Earth could have fit within the realm with room to spare. Even then, the realm would not have felt crowded.
Jaune stood silently within it.
He was now a fully realized Rank 4.
The hierarchy had changed.
He was a realm-bearing existence.
And the world below was now different.
In downtown Vale, people suddenly looked upward as groups of awakened began appearing in flashes of light.
Soldiers rushed toward them.
Civilians pointed.
"Those are awakened!"
"They're back!"
"Get medical teams over here!"
Ruby landed among the others and immediately looked around. The streets were damaged. Buildings had been partially destroyed and military personnel filled the area.
But it was Earth.
Real Earth.
She looked down at her hands. Something felt different. Strength was still there... but it was clear that the immensity that she had once possessed was gone.
Yang stood beside her.
"Rank 0 strength?"
Yang nodded.
"I think we're around peak Rank 0. It's been... a while since I've felt this weak."
She flexed her hand.
"But... my aura feels a bit different. My Runes too? They're still there but... no. They're not there...? Huh... this is weird."
Blake sighed.
"We can figure it out later. Come on. Job's not done. Even though all I want is a damn shower."
Weiss looked around at the ruined street.
"Couldn't he have at least brought us closer to the base?"
A soft voice drifted through their ears.
"Sorry."
Everyone froze. The next instant, the entire group vanished. Light surrounded them and the ruined streets of Vale disappeared.
They reappeared in front of the partially destroyed LUCID base.
For several seconds, nobody spoke. They simply stared at the damaged structure. Pyrrha finally looked toward the others.
"Well... he's certainly listening, I suppose."
Yang gave a small laugh.
Ruby looked upward.
Somewhere beyond reality, beyond the Dream Realm that no longer existed, Jaune was now standing within his own newly born realm.
They couldn't see or hear him. But somehow, they knew he was still there. Together, the group began walking toward the ruined LUCID base.
The world was different now. The awakened age had ended. And now, it was the beginning of an entirely new age.