Chương 143: Chapter 136: The Shattered Trust

The blinding, ethereal white void dissolved, snapping back into the opulent, physical reality of the Schnee-sponsored luxury penthouse. The brilliant cyan smoke swirled violently inward, rushing back into the golden spout of the Lamp. With a final, faint hum of ancient magic, the Relic of Knowledge went completely dormant, resting heavily in Ruby Rose's trembling hands. Time resumed.

Outside the window, the bustling hum of Atlesian traffic returned, completely oblivious to the fact that the fundamental reality of the teenagers inside the bedroom had just been catastrophically shattered. Team RWBY and Team JNPR stood in absolute, suffocating silence. The eight students were completely paralyzed, their minds desperately trying to process the horrifying, apocalyptic fable they had just witnessed. The tragic fall of humanity. The shattering of the moon. The dark pools of annihilation.

And the ultimate, inescapable truth. Ozpin, still in full control of Oscar's body, remained on the carpeted floor. He had collapsed onto his hands and knees, his shoulders shaking violently as he wept. The ancient Headmaster, stripped of his secrets and his grandfatherly facade, was completely broken.

"Salem..." Yang Xiao Long whispered, her voice trembling as the horrifying reality finally set in.

"Salem... can't be killed?!" Yang's lilac eyes widened, instantly flashing to a burning, furious crimson. She clenched her golden gauntlets so tightly the metal groaned in protest.

"Everything..." Blake Belladonna breathed, her amber eyes wide with profound despair as she stumbled backward, hitting the edge of Saitama's bed.

"All our battles... all this time..."

"We fought so hard," Pyrrha Nikos gasped, covering her mouth with her trembling hands.

"We sacrificed so much... for a war that literally cannot be won."

"We lied to everyone," Ren stated, his stoic composure entirely pulverized.

"We actively lied to Robyn Hill. We told her we were protecting everyone."

"We lied to Saitama!" Nora cried out, her voice cracking with raw, unbearable guilt.

"We've been using him as a shield! We dragged him into this, and the final enemy is literally unkillable!" Jaune Arc stood completely still. He was trying so desperately to maintain his composure, his jaw locked tight, but the sheer, blinding magnitude of the betrayal was too much. The memory of Pyrrha almost dying on the roof of CCT tower. The hell they had endured at Haven. All of it came rushing back.

Team RWBY and Team JNPR slowly turned their gazes away from each other, locking their eyes onto the weeping Ozpin. Eight pairs of eyes, filled with profound, unadulterated fury, glared down at the ancient wizard.

"What is the meaning of this, Professor?!" Jaune demanded, his voice dropping into a dark, lethal register. Jaune took a heavy, aggressive step toward the kneeling man. Ozpin kept his head bowed, tears staining the carpet. He had spent lifetimes building walls of reassurance, offering wisdom and comfort. But now, he had absolutely nothing left to give. Ozpin choked out, his voice a fragile, broken rasp.

"I..." Jaune didn't let him finish. The blonde knight lunged forward, violently grabbing the collar of Oscar's shirt and hauling the ancient soul upward, shaking him furiously.

"THERE WAS SO MUCH YOU HADN'T TOLD US!" Jaune roared, his voice cracking with pure, agonizing betrayal.

"HOW COULD YOU THINK THAT WAS OKAY?!"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha gasped, instantly darting forward. Ruby and Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arms, desperately trying to pull him back. The relic fell to the floor.

"Jaune, stop! It's still Oscar's body!" Ruby pleaded, her own tears blurring her vision. Jaune gritted his teeth, his breathing ragged and heavy. He glared into the tear-filled eyes of the Headmaster for one more second. He shoves him back, violently releasing his collar. Ozpin stumbled backward, falling to his knees once again.

"This is going nowhere," Yang spat bitterly, throwing her hands in the air.

"Everything we did... every drop of blood... it was for nothing!"

"That is not true!" Ozpin cried out, his head snapping up.

"Then tell us, Professor Ozpin!" Ruby demanded, stepping in front of the group. Ozpin looked up at his young, silver-eyed leader. She looked at him with an expression of such pure, desperate hope, begging him to give them a reason to keep fighting.

"What is your plan to defeat Salem?" Ruby asked, her voice trembling. Ozpin froze. The silence in the bedroom was deafening. The ancient wizard looked at the eight teenagers, the greatest students he had ever mentored. He searched his millennia of memories, his countless lifetimes of strategy, magic, and war. He couldn't lie to them anymore.

"I..." Ozpin whispered, his voice incredibly small.

"I... don't have one..." The words hit the group like a physical execution. Whatever tiny, lingering shred of hope they had desperately clung to instantly evaporated. The absolute despair in the room deepened into a suffocating, pitch-black abyss. Team RWBY and Team JNPR staggered back, contemplating everything they had been through. The injuries. The trauma. The fear.

"You made us fight an unwinnable war," Weiss Schnee condemned him, her voice as cold and sharp as a glacier.

"You sent us to die against a god."

"Maybe if you had at least told us everything in the first place, the situation would be a bit different," Blake added, her voice hollow.

"But then again... in the end, our struggle was always going to be in vain." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Ozpin didn't know what to say. The masterful orator, the great uniter of humanity, was entirely speechless. He couldn't reassure them. All he could do was lower his head, burying his face in his hands as he offered broken, pathetic apologies.

Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren took turns expressing their profound, absolute disappointment. They tore into his logic, his manipulation, and his ultimate cowardice. After several minutes of agonizing, furious venting, the students fell silent, completely drained. They looked at each other, the reality of their situation settling heavily upon their shoulders. Jaune took a deep breath, his blue eyes hardening with definitive resolve.

"We can't do this anymore," Jaune stated firmly.

"We can't keep this a secret." He turned to the group.

"We need to tell the others. They deserve to know exactly what they are truly fighting."

"I agree," Ruby nodded instantly, wiping her eyes.

"They need the truth." Hearing this, Ozpin immediately scrambled to his feet, his hands raised in desperate panic.

"No, please! You must not!" Ozpin pleaded frantically.

"The negativity... the sheer despair it will cause! It will fracture our entire alliance!"

"Shut up!" Yang snapped, silencing the Headmaster instantly.

"We've had enough of your manipulation!"

"They have followed you much longer than we have!" Pyrrha argued.

"They have dedicated their entire lives to your cause. We will not let them be blinded by your deception any longer!" Ozpin took a desperate step forward, trying to plead with them again.

"Please, if James finds out--""Hey." The single, profoundly lazy syllable sliced through the heavy, dramatic tension like a dull knife through wet paper. The nine frantic individuals instantly froze. They slowly turned their heads toward the doorway of the bedroom. Standing in the doorframe, looking at them with a masterpiece of absolute, comical confusion, was Saitama, in his "Darwin" outfit. The sharp black suit, white trench coat, and bowler hat.

Beside him stood Neopolitan in her warm black trench coat, holding her parasol, Hush, in one hand, and a large, premium paper grocery bag from a high-end Atlesian bakery in the other.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" Saitama asked flatly. Having just returned to the penthouse, he was completely, blissfully oblivious to the cosmic revelations, the shattered trust, and the apocalyptic despair that had just occurred in his personal space. Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Ozpin stared at the anomaly. Absolute, blood-curdling panic instantly seized their vocal cords.

"S-Saitama?!" Ruby squeaked, her voice pitching up three octaves.

"You're back from the cafe already?!" Weiss practically shrieked, desperately trying to force a natural smile.

"It's closed for today," Saitama complained, a highly annoyed scowl crossing his face as he remembered the tragic culinary injustice.

"Damn it... Just when I spotted a menu item that I liked on the board outside." Saitama shook his head, his expression returning to its standard deadpan baseline. He looked around the crowded bedroom.

"Anyway, what's up? Why are you all in here? I heard you guys were yelling something earlier." The panicking students frantically scrambled to find an excuse.

"Uh... We're..." Nora stammered, sweating profusely.

"We were just..." Saitama's dotted eyes drifted downward. He spotted the golden, jewel-encrusted Lamp resting on the carpeted floor near Ruby's boots.

"Isn't that the weird lamp furniture piece from the wardrobe?" Saitama asked, tilting his head.

"Why is it on the floor?" The students' panic immediately skyrocketed into the stratosphere. Blake, however, taking a deep breath. She couldn't do this anymore. The lies were too heavy.

"Saitama..." Blake gathered her courage to finally tell the invincible hero the absolute truth.

"This... this lamp is--""This lamp is truly the same as the one that you grabbed in Haven!" Ruby screamed, instantly cutting Blake off. The other seven students snapped their heads toward Ruby. Their eyes bulging as Ruby offered Saitama the most strained, incredibly fake, wide-eyed smile in human history.

"Yeah!" Ruby rambled at hyperspeed.

"After our talk this morning, we just... we couldn't get the image out of our heads! The super rare, limited-edition lamp! We had to see the only other one in the world!" Jaune instantly realized what Ruby was doing. They couldn't drop the immortal Grimm Queen bombshell on Saitama right now. They needed to handle Ironwood and the rest of Ozpin's group first.

"Y-Yes!" Jaune aggressively played along, laughing like a maniac.

"A-And, like Ruby said... we wanted to make absolutely sure that this... furniture... that you were talking about, was indeed the exact same model!"

"That's right!" Oscar blurted out. Ruby, Jaune, and the others looked down at Oscar. They instantly realized the ancient, heavy shimmer in his eyes was gone. Ozpin had completely retreated to the darkest corners of their shared consciousness in absolute shame. Oscar was back in control.

"This lamp is... truly fascinating! Definitely not worth selling to a pawn shop! Nope!" Oscar continued, picking up the slack perfectly as he nervously adjusted his suspenders.

"And... as for the yelling earlier... We were just arguing whether we should spill this to the others or not. That's all!" The rest of the team immediately nodded aggressively, forcing incredibly awkward chuckles as they desperately hid their lingering existential despair. They had collectively decided to keep Saitama in the dark for just a little while longer. Saitama stared at the nine sweating, frantically smiling teenagers. His face remained a perfectly flat oval.

He blinked twice, his mundane brain slowly processing their bizarre, hyper-enthusiastic excuse regarding interior decorating. Beside him, Neopolitan raised a single, delicate eyebrow. Having survived on the streets as a master thief and a highly perceptive criminal, Neo could smell a lie from a hundred miles away. The sweating, the frantic overlapping excuses, the sheer panic... she knew, with absolute certainty, that they were hiding something massive. But Neo simply offered a wicked, highly amused smirk.

It was their problem, not hers. Let the Huntsmen and Huntresses play their little games. As long as she had the invincible, oblivious bald hero as her personal shield and wallet, the rest of the world could burn.

"I see," Saitama said simply, completely accepting the idiotic lie.

"Well, be careful with it. I don't want to pay compensation to the crop lady if it breaks."

"O-Oh, sorry!" Ruby hurriedly grabbed the Relic of Knowledge off the floor, practically throwing it back onto the bottom shelf of the wardrobe and slamming the mahogany doors shut.

"Don't worry!" Pyrrha assured him, flashing an awkward, terrified smile.

"If anything happens to it, literally ANYTHING, it won't be your fault!"

"Yeah! We will defend you from any blame! You're totally innocent!" Nora added, chuckling nervously. Saitama stared at them, his dotted eyes squinting in comical confusion.

"Okay... That's reassuring, I guess..." Saitama muttered.

"But wait a minute, how did you guys even get in here? The front door was locked."

"W-We used Winter's spare keycard!" Weiss answered instantly, holding up the plastic card.

"We just... we honestly couldn't wait to see the Lamp!" Saitama let out a long, highly comical sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Man, you gotta at least message me before breaking into my room," Saitama complained.

"What if I thought you guys were thieves and accidentally punched you?" Saitama paused, turning his head slightly toward Neo.

"No offense, brat." Neo instantly puffed her cheeks out, offering him a fierce, highly offended pout, crossing her arms over the bakery bag.

"Yes, Saitama. We're incredibly sorry," Ren apologized smoothly, gently steering the group toward the door.

"It will not happen again."

"Oh, well, look at the time!" Yang announced loudly, clapping her hands together with a strained laugh.

"We gotta go now, guys!" Oscar, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR immediately began shuffling out of the bedroom, eager to escape the suffocating awkwardness.

"Thanks, Saitama, for letting us know about the lamp!" Yang called over her shoulder.

"Wait, you're leaving?" Saitama asked, genuinely confused.

"You came all the way up here just to look at a piece of furniture?"

"W-Well, we initially wanted to hang around too!" Ruby lied frantically.

"But... we just remembered that we have an... incredibly important task! From the General! So... that's how it is!"

"Yeah! Let's... let's eat together again next time!" Jaune added, practically sprinting for the elevator.

"Yeah, sure," Saitama shrugged lazily.

"Well, the umbrella girl and I want to head out again anyway. We need to find another cafe." Oscar, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR offered one last, deeply awkward wave to the hero.

"See you, Saitama!"

"Yeah, see ya," Saitama lazily waved back. As the teenagers rushed out of the penthouse, Neo lingered in the doorway. She cast a slow, highly suspicious glance toward the closed mahogany wardrobe. She had a very strong feeling that the golden lamp inside was not just a piece of rare furniture. But Neo simply shrugged. She honestly didn't care if it was a magical artifact, a ticking time bomb, or a cursed relic. She spun her parasol playfully and followed Saitama out of the room. Neopolitan had her hero.

Out in the carpeted hallway of the upper residential tier, the heavy mahogany doors clicked shut behind the teenagers. Oscar, Team RWBY, and Team JNPR walked briskly toward the grand elevators. The frantic, comedic energy they had forced into their voices instantly evaporated, leaving behind a heavy, crushing solemnity. Ruby let out a long, shaky sigh, burying her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry." Ruby whispered, her voice cracking.

"I... I don't know if that was right. Lying to him again."

"It's fine, Ruby," Blake reassured her gently, placing a hand on her leader's shoulder.

"I... I honestly don't know if telling him the truth immediately is even the right move right now. We have to figure out our next steps." The rest of the team nodded in grim agreement. Dropping the immortal Salem bombshell on Saitama could wait until they confronted the adults. Oscar walked a few steps behind them, his head lowered, staring at the intricate patterns on the carpet.

"It's my fault..." Oscar whispered, his voice thick with profound guilt. Team RWBY and Team JNPR stopped walking, turning to look at the young farm boy.

"I'm... I am his current reincarnation. I share his soul..." Oscar continued, closing his hazel eyes tightly as tears threatened to fall.

"I... I should've known... I should've found out sooner!"

"Stop," Ruby said firmly, stepping forward and placing both hands on Oscar's shoulders. She looked him dead in the eye, offering a fierce, reassuring look.

"You're not him." Oscar looked up, his breath hitching.

"I told you back in Argus," Ruby promised, her voice unwavering.

"I will... No. We will always look to you as Oscar. You are your own person." Jaune stepped up beside Ruby, offering the boy a firm, supportive nod.

"Do not put yourself in the same place as him," Jaune advised gently.

"You didn't lie to us, Oscar. He did." Oscar looked at Jaune, and then at Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren. They all offered him small, genuine smiles of total acceptance and solidarity. He wasn't Ozpin. He was their friend. However, the warm, comforting smiles quickly faded, completely overtaken by the looming, apocalyptic dread of what they had to do next. The despair settled back into their bones like lead.

The nine teenagers turned back toward the elevator, their faces hardening with absolute, unyielding resolve. They were going back to Atlas Academy.