The descent into the LUCID base beneath Beacon Academy always carried a certain gravitas. Even for Ruby, who had long since grown accustomed to the hidden elevators and biometric scanners concealed behind innocuous faculty doors, there was something about guiding someone new through the layers of secrecy that made the air feel solemn.
Like it was some sort of weird initiation ritual.
Sun Wukong stood between her and Weiss in the lift, hands tucked casually behind his head as if he were riding down to a shopping district instead of a covert operations facility. The metal walls reflected faint, fractured versions of their faces in the dim light.
After reporting in, Sun had been formally processed by Counselor Vex.
Counselor Vex had received him in one of the operations offices, her expression measured yet faintly entertained from the moment Sun introduced himself with a grin and an informal salute. She scanned his identification, confirmed his Vacuoon affiliation, and reviewed the preliminary transfer notes from Vacuo's LUCID branch. Throughout the process, she said very little, but her sharp eyes missed nothing.
They certainly did not miss the look that flickered across Weiss's face whenever Sun leaned a little too close or offered commentary under his breath.
Counselor Vex clearly had found it amusing.
"Well," she had said, fingers steepled as she leaned back in her chair, "since you three have already become acquainted, I see no reason to assign an escort."
Weiss blinked. "An escort, Counselor?"
"Yep." Vex's gaze shifted between Ruby and Weiss. "You and Miss Rose may give Mr. Wukong a tour of the Vale facility. It will expedite his connectedness."
Ruby's eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, that sounds fun!"
Sun grinned. "I like expedited."
Weiss had opened her mouth to protest, but Vex's knowing smile silenced her before the words could fully form.
"Think of it as kingdom relations," Vex added lightly.
And that was how they found themselves descending toward the hidden heart of Vale's LUCID operations.
When the elevator doors parted, Sun stepped out first, golden eyes sweeping across the expansive corridor lined with reinforced steel and muted lighting. The air carried a faint hum of circulating systems and distant machinery. It felt alive beneath the surface of Beacon's normal academic calm.
"Okay," Ruby began brightly, walking backward as she faced him, hands clasped behind her back. "So this is the main corridor hub. Everything branches out from here."
Sun gave a low whistle. "Hmm... this is quite similar to the Vacuo base."
"Really?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah. Back home, the capital's LUCID base is under the high school too. Same vibe."
Ruby tilted her head thoughtfully. "Do you think that's like a culture thing? LUCID bases under high schools?"
Weiss let out a soft sigh. "No, Ruby. Atlas's LUCID base is connected directly to a military installation in the capital. It is not beneath a school."
Sun glanced sideways at her. "Atlas always does things differently, huh?"
"It does things efficiently," Weiss corrected.
Ruby tapped her chin. "So Vale and Vacuoo are under schools. Atlas is under a military base. We don't know where Mistral's is."
"That is correct," Weiss said. "And given Mistral's political climate, it could be in any number of locations."
Sun chuckled. "Kind of cool though. Like every kingdom hides its secrets in a different way."
They began moving through the facility.
The armory was their first stop.
Rows upon rows of weapons lined the walls behind reinforced glass panels. Some were standard issue, others clearly custom built. Ammunition cases were stacked in orderly formations, each labeled and cataloged. Technicians moved quietly between stations, running diagnostics and performing maintenance.
Sun stepped closer to one rack, eyes gleaming. "Now this is homey."
Ruby perked up instantly. "Right? The customization stations are amazing. You can recalibrate the color accents of your frames and even adjust recoil dampeners for your weapons."
Weiss folded her arms. "It is a professional armory, Ruby. Not a playground."
Ruby pouted slightly but continued enthusiastically explaining the modular systems. Sun listened with genuine interest, nodding along as she described different runic weaponry infusions and interchangeable components.
From there they proceeded to the hangar bay.
The doors parted to reveal a cavernous chamber carved deep into the bedrock beneath Beacon. Several special aircrafts rested on elevated platforms while maintenance crews worked below. The ceiling stretched high overhead, embedded with lighting arrays.
Sun's brows rose. "Hmm... impressive."
"Multiple deployment routes," Weiss explained crisply. "Surface access points are concealed throughout Vale."
Ruby gestured proudly toward one of the smaller transport crafts. "That one's my favorite. It's fast."
"You have a favorite aircraft?" Sun asked, amused.
"Of course."
They continued onward, passing through the cafeteria pod rooms where personnel gathered during breaks. The design was sleek and functional. Compact dining clusters separated by privacy dividers allowed small groups to talk without their conversations carrying too far. The scent of coffee lingered faintly in the air.
"It's quieter than Shade's," Sun noted. "Ours gets kind of loud."
Weiss gave him a dry look. "I cannot imagine why."
Sun flashed her a grin that only deepened her faint scowl.
Operations rooms followed.
Large screens displayed mission data, surveillance feeds, and scrolling reports. Analysts monitored dream realm enemy movement patterns and communications intercepts. The atmosphere was more intense here, more focused. Ruby's countenance was also subdued slightly out of respect.
Sun's expression shifted too. He studied the displays with thoughtful interest.
"Same layout," he murmured. "Central command, live tracking. Guess LUCID likes consistency."
"It ensures operational cohesion between kingdoms," Weiss said.
Ruby's excitement gradually returned as they reached the final corridor.
"And now," she announced dramatically, "the best part."
Sun smirked. "You saved the best for last?"
"Obviously."
They approached Simulation Training Room Seven.
The heavy doors were sealed, but a narrow stretch of reinforced glass ran along the side. The internal lighting flickered faintly against the corridor walls.
Sun slowed. "Looks occupied."
Ruby's grin widened. "That's kind of the point."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"This is my bestie's favorite training room," Ruby said proudly.
Weiss nodded once. "If it is in use, then it is highly likely he is inside."
Sun stepped closer to the glass, peering in. Ruby and Weiss joined him.
Inside, the simulation environment projected a fractured urban battlefield. Concrete debris littered the ground, structures flickering at the edges of the arena. At the center moved a blonde teenager wielding twin swords.
He flowed between opponents with sharp precision.
Three female combatants advanced on him in coordinated formation. Their movements were swift and disciplined. Yet the blonde fighter adapted seamlessly, parrying one strike while pivoting to deflect another. His footwork was controlled, economical. Each motion carried purpose.
Steel clashed against steel in rapid succession.
Sun's expression shifted from casual curiosity to focused admiration.
"Whoa," he breathed quietly. "He's good."
The blonde teen twisted beneath a sweeping strike, one blade locking against an opponent's weapon while the other disarmed a second fighter with a sharp upward motion. He shifted his weight, ducked a kick, and responded with a controlled counter that sent the third combatant skidding back across the simulated pavement.
Ruby beamed, pride radiating off her. "Told you."
Weiss watched with composed approval, though a faint softness touched her eyes.
Sun continued observing, golden gaze tracking every calculated movement.
"Huh...he's not just fast," Sun murmured. "He's reading them and... anticipating. Is that guy your, uh... bestie?"
"Yep!" Ruby confirmed, popping the p.
Inside the simulation, the blonde teen leapt onto a crumbling ledge, using the elevation to split his opponents' formation. His swords moved like extensions of his arms, balanced and deliberate. When the trio regrouped and pressed forward again, he met them head on without hesitation.
Sun could not help the low chuckle that escaped him. "Man. If that's your bestie, I get why you brought me here."
Ruby turned toward the door controls.
"Well," she said brightly, "guess we should say hi."
She pressed the panel.
The heavy doors slid open with a muted mechanical hiss.
.
.
The doors parted, and the roar of simulated battle poured out to meet them.
Heat shimmered across the projected skyline. Shattered buildings loomed in fractured angles, concrete and rebar suspended in a cityscape frozen at the moment of collapse. Dust motes glittered in artificial sunlight. At the center of it all stood the blonde teen with twin swords, caught in the tightening circle of three formidable opponents.
Ruby stepped in first, eyes shining.
"That one with the spears is Pyrrha Nikos," she said, her voice tinged with unmistakable admiration. "She's one of the strongest Rank 1's in this LUCID branch."
Sun folded his arms loosely, golden gaze sharpening as he focused on the red haired warrior.
Pyrrha moved with a kind of calm inevitability. Around her, metal rippled like a living tide. Spearheads melted and flowed together into streams of liquid steel that coiled through the air as if guided by invisible currents. They gleamed silver under the simulated sun, beautiful and lethal.
The liquid metal surged forward.
It condensed mid flight, hardening into razor sharp points that thrust toward the blonde teen from multiple angles. They came like a forest of steel branches, twisting and weaving to cut off escape routes.
Yet as they neared him, something strange happened.
The moment the spear tips entered a certain radius around his body, their edges quivered. The metal destabilized. The sharp points softened, losing cohesion, dissolving back into liquid that splashed harmlessly against the invisible boundary surrounding him. The molten steel swirled at his feet, seemingly obedient yet denied.
Sun's brow lifted slightly. "Huh..."
Before the phenomenon could be fully processed, another threat descended from above.
The second girl leapt high into the simulated sky. Chocolate brown hair streamed behind her like a banner, bow raised with effortless grace. As she hung suspended at the apex of her jump, glowing power formed beneath her boots.
A massive shape assembled in crackling blue pixels.
A dragon.
It looked as though it had been carved from digital starlight, scales forming from shimmering cubes that clicked into place with electric precision. Its eyes flared a neon azure. When it opened its jaws, the interior glowed with condensed data light.
"That's Mocha Fiore," Ruby supplied quickly, excitement bubbling. "She's super versatile. Her runes can do a ton of things."
The dragon exhaled.
Pixelated flame cascaded downward in a torrent of blazing blue fragments. It was not fire in the traditional sense, but looked more like a storm of disintegrating code, a wave of burning light that chewed through simulated concrete and left glowing fractures in its wake.
The blonde teen sprinted.
He moved with astonishing speed, boots skidding across debris as he dodged the descending breath. The digital inferno chased him, curving unnaturally to track his path, carving molten trenches into the battlefield.
From the side, the third combatant struck.
Black hair, sharp amber eyes, katana flashing.
"She's Blake Belladonna," Ruby added.
Blake appeared directly in the teen's path, blade already mid swing. The katana cut downward in a precise arc meant to intercept his escape.
He reacted instantly.
With a twist of his torso, he flipped over the blade, clearing it by inches. His swords crossed mid air, aiming a counter strike toward the back of Blake's head.
But before his weapons could connect, the back of her head seemed to suddenly split open.
An arm erupted from the space behind her head, gripping a katana. The blade intercepted his strike with a metallic crack that echoed across the arena.
Sun's eyes widened slightly.
From that singular arm, more arms unfurled like branches of a dark tree. Then figures stepped out from Blake's silhouette, clones peeling away from her body in a cascade of phantom copies.
Each clone bore ten arms.
Each arm held a katana.
Steel shimmered in a forest of blades as the duplicates fanned out beneath him.
The blonde teen kicked off the air itself.
For a heartbeat he hung suspended above them, twin swords spinning in controlled arcs. Blades clashed against blades in a storm of ringing metal. He deflected strikes from impossible angles, wrists turning with surgical precision.
Yet something about the deflections felt odd.
Each time his swords connected, a pulse of force rippled outward. The impact carried far more weight than the physics of his position should have allowed, even at Rank 1 strength. Shockwaves burst from the clashes, invisible concussions that blasted Blake's clones backward like leaves caught in a gale.
Sun's lips parted slowly. "That shouldn't… wait... is he using—"
He did not finish the thought.
Pyrrha's metal answered.
Liquid steel erupted upward from the ground, branching toward the airborne teen in twisting spires. They shot forward like the roots of an angry forest, sharp tips reforming at their ends as they converged on him from all directions.
Above, Mocha's pixel dragon's breath finally caught up.
Blue flame roared toward him, a tidal wave of burning data ready to swallow him whole.
Below, Blake's remaining clones thrust their katanas upward in a coordinated strike. Ten blades per clone, dozens of edges stabbing skyward.
He was trapped and encircled in three dimensions.
Sun leaned forward unconsciously.
Ruby's eyes shone brighter.
Weiss watched with quiet intensity.
At the center of converging destruction, the blonde teen stopped moving.
Yet he didn't panic nor did he scramble.
Instead, a smile curved across his face.
Then the world trembled.
A pulse erupted from his body, expanding with staggering force. The air itself warped, rippling like disturbed water. Dust lifted from the ground in spiraling currents.
The approaching metal spears shuddered mid flight. Their sharpened tips lost cohesion, dissolving back into liquid before they could pierce him. The molten steel was not merely softened this time. It was repelled and launched backward as though struck by an unseen hammer.
The pixel dragon's breath faltered.
Blue fire fragmented into scattered cubes that flickered and destabilized. The stream unraveled into harmless particles that drifted away like dying stars.
The clones below faltered as the pressure wave slammed downward.
The ground liquefied.
Concrete, asphalt, steel beams, all of it transformed into slurry beneath the expanding aura. The battlefield melted into a churning sea of gray and silver. Buildings sagged. Debris dissolved.
The shockwave expanded in a perfect sphere, flattening everything it touched. Pyrrha was forced to plant her feet as her metal was torn from her control, Mocha's dragon shattering entirely into dissolving pixels as she descended, Blake's clones scattering like shattered reflections.
The slurry surged outward in a ring.
It rose into a cresting wave, a miniature tsunami of liquefied terrain that rolled across the arena. The three girls braced themselves as the tide swept past, tearing apart what remained of the fractured cityscape.
Then, as suddenly as it had liquefied, the battlefield began to solidify.
The wave collapsed inward, reforming into hardened stone and twisted metal. The ground reassembled itself in jagged layers, crystallizing around a central impact point.
When the motion ceased, a crater dominated the arena.
At its center stood the blonde teen.
Unharmed with his twin swords lowered at his sides.
The air around him shimmered faintly, residual power fading like heat after lightning.
Mocha landed lightly beside Pyrrha, bow lowering as the last pixels of her dragon winked out of existence. Pyrrha's eyes shone with exhilaration, lips curved in a competitive smile that promised she had enjoyed every second. Blake stepped forward from among her dissipating clones, scowl etched across her features, amber eyes narrowed in focused irritation.
Sun exhaled slowly, awe plain on his face.
Ruby clasped her hands together proudly.
"And that," she said with unmistakable affection, "is my bestie."
She gestured toward the figure in the crater.
"Jaune Arc."
.
.
AN: Advanced chapters are available on patreon