Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 13; Book 9: Ch. 2]

Salem glanced down to my sword, still held between her finger and thumb, and smirked. With a twist and a flick, the metal shattered, leaving me with a shard of metal a foot shorter than it had been.

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 13]



"But he could still move," Sun pointed out. "And Salem knew that yet still didn't back away or take any measures to protect herself from him. Why?"

"Because… Because she didn't think he could hurt her?"

"Close," Sun said. "But it was because she knew he couldn't hurt her. Knew none of us could." The Monk tapped his head. "Think about it. What happened when Jaune did sink a blade into her?"

"Bright light," Yang said again. Her eyes lit up. "Shit, you're right. A bright light pouring out from her body. No blood, no guts, no organs or anything. She's, like, what? A being of pure energy? Something that doesn't actually have a form?"

"That's my thought," Sun said. "She sure as hell wasn't human, and she as good as said she didn't come from our plane of existence. That's why she never cared to feel worried about anyone; no one had the ability to harm her."

"I'll ask again," Weiss said. "How does this help us?"

"Because now, that's changed."

"Our laws," I said, realising Sun's point. "Salem is now bound by our laws."

"What laws!?" Nora groaned. "Stop talking in metaphors!"

"The law that if you cut someone's head off, they die," Sun said, silencing everyone. "The law that you need your eyes to see. That you need to breathe. That you have a heart, a heartbeat and blood pumping round your body."

"Blood, guts and organs," Yang whispered. "Stuff to actually cut through this time."

"In theory," Ren warned. "This is all a lot of theory to base our decisions on."

"True," Sun allowed. There was no way any of them could know for sure and we all knew it. "But it holds with one thing I noticed in Jaune's story of how Salem acted on the Mirage Isles. Something she never saw the need to do before." He grinned. "Do you know what that is?"

I shook my head.

The others did as well.

Ruby, however, spoke. "She defended herself…"

"Heh." Sun winked at her. "Bingo."

"What? What do you mean?" Weiss became agitated and glared at both Sun and Ruby, unhappy to be out of the loop. "Explain, one of you! Salem has always defended herself. Why, she almost killed Jaune for attacking her."

"That was more retaliation," I mumbled, rubbing my chest. "Even after, she didn't act any more afraid around us. She was angry because I dared to attack her, not because it did anything. And my Purify Skill only stopped her attack. It didn't harm her." I had to investigate that more, I knew, but there just hadn't been any time. Time spent researching my Skills was time not spent equipping people who would be relying on my weapons and Runes to survive.

"Jaune's got a point," Yang said. "Salem is a bitch. What's to say she didn't just want to hurt him for the sake of hurting him? It fits. You remember how she let three of us fight against Tyrian? There was never any fear we might harm her."

"What changed in the Mirage Isles, then?" Pyrrha asked.

It was Ruby again who answered. "Salem broke Jaune's sword."

I remembered. She caught it between a finger and thumb, then snapped it in two.

"Could that just have been to drive home how helpless he was?"

"Maybe." Ruby shrugged. "But she also dodged Raven's attacks. She never let anything hit her, and that would have done even better to make it seem hopeless. It's the first time Salem ever exerted herself to not be hit." Ruby let that sink in. "And the only difference was that Salem had been brought into our world by Raven's wish."

A vulnerability. A long shot and a small chance, but one I wasn't quite willing to deny just yet. The others caught on at the same time, looking for once a little more hopeful about their chances. Maybe Ozpin had already figured this out – it would explain why he wanted tens of thousands of arrows launched at her. Even the strongest Class with the highest Level could die if you hit them enough times. It was just a question of applying that force.

"You think she can be killed, then?" Blake had a hand on one of her daggers and I felt the unreasonable urge to ask her not to try and assassinate Salem. I held back, knowing she'd be right to call me an idiot if I did.

No one was dumb enough to try and sneak up on her before the battle – and in the midst of the siege where she might be distracted enough for that to work, I had no right to tell Blake not to take any chance made available to her. The lives of everyone on Remnant depended on this.

"I think that Salem is cautious of that fact," Sun said. "Why else would she go out of her way to avoid damage for the first time ever? Even if she was cut and bled, it would be enough to tell you she can be killed. Better for her to keep that illusion of invincibility."

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 2]