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Chapter One : Semblance

Semblance.

The projection of one's soul.

Every living thing has a soul. If they have their Aura unlocked, in time they can learn to project it outward. Aura has many uses; the ability to heal wounds, project force fields, enhance the senses, enhance bodily function etc.

These skills can in fact be learnt by anybody who puts in time and effort to train these skills.

The first ever huntsman was a powerful being. It was said that this man meditated for 50 years to unlock the power of his soul. In that time he dug into the very depths of his mind scape to reach an understanding like no human ever attempted before him. People called him mad. They slandered and hated him for his massive willpower of believing that humans were not meant to be the bottom of the food chain.

The hatred they had evaporated however as the final day of his meditation came to a close. He trounced past the very shell of his soul and pulled it outward to protect him from harm. Thus it was named as Aura. The very light of the soul.

In time the first huntsman learned to control this power and shaped it into a weapon. A weapon of power and might to slay the monsters that hounded the people of the olden days. He became a light, a beacon of hope for the people of that time. He was a hero, a legend like no other that did his duty and vanquished the monsters that doorstep.

This man trained in his abilities to the point where he would collapse from exhaustion. But it yielded results. He formed a way for his soul to resonate with the people around him and thus was able to awaken his followers' own Aura. And they were dubbed as Hunters.

The ones who would hunt the monsters.

Their tales were of heroic and powerful deeds. They were travellers, wanderers and even lovers but no one had any doubt that they were beings resembling gods.

Around a year or so after the group was formed. The first huntsman discovered a hidden property of his soul. That hidden property gave him the ability to summon and command the elements as he pleased. He was confused at how he was able to do such an act but didn't put much thought in the action, thinking that the other hunter would also develop the same elemental prowess that he showed.

The rest of the hunter and huntresses had also developed the hidden aspect of their souls but it wasn't the same as he had. Some could fly, some had control over blood and many more.

The only thing that was shared was that not one of these hidden properties were the same. Sure one or two were slightly similar but not completely.

Thus the first huntsman named this hidden property, Semblance.

The projection of one's soul.

"Sigh, basically what I'm trying to say is semblances can be almost anything. Some are just unfairly powerful when compared to a lot others." Jaune said to the Beowolf.

The grimm tried its best to move but it was frozen in fear. Yes, fear. See, the thing is...Grimm aren't supposed to feel fear. They do things instinctively but their instincts aren't like normal animals. They are literally programmed to attack any thing that has emotion. They have no concept of retreat. No concept of common sense or anything else really.

The fact that a beowolf was showing fear was laughable.

But then again... Semblances were always different with every person. And it just so happens that Jaune Arc's semblance was...

The beowolf growled at the teen in front of him. An invisible pressure pulsed from the boy in front of it, rendering the grimm completely and utterly powerless.

"Sorry there, I don't usually do this but I was bored and you so happened to be around. Oh alright! I'll finish you off now." Jaune replied.

Before the beowolf could process what he meant, its head fell off from its shoulders. It turned into smoke particles a moment later.

"Sheesh, how long have I been in the Dead Zone? I've actually gone mad and started conversing with the grimm themselves..." he sighed, pulling out his scroll in the process.

"Four Years... wow. Alright, I guess i'll head to Vale. It's about time I had some human contact."

Jaune got into a running stance. His legs tensed as he gazed at the barren land of the Dead Zone. A grin appeared on his face as he activated one of his skills. He pushed off the ground and his body disappeared, appearing to have vanished into thin air.

A second later, a sonic boom occurred.

"Mommy? Why isn't that person wearing shoes and a shirt?" asked a little girl.

"Don't look sweetie, just ignore him." said the mother as she quickly dragged her daughter away.

Jaune twitched at the comment. He looked down at himself and sighed. He checked his pockets and walked into an open clothing store. He had completely forgotten that people wore a full set of clothing. Shoes included.

He browsed the clothes on display, completely ignoring the looks of confusion and wariness he was receiving from the employees in the store. One employee walked up to him with a curious glint in his eye.

"Excuse me sir, I have to ask, why are you shirtless and shoe-less?" asked the employee.

Jaune glanced at the man, amused.

"They were in the way of my training. Now that I've completed it, it makes sense for me to wear proper clothes again, no?" Jaune answered the man, smiling.

"I-see... not to be rude or anything sir, but do you have the money to pay for those items of clothing?" asked the employee, frowning as he pointed at the shirt Jaune held. Of course the employee would ask that question. Any person would, if a half naked teen walked into their store and started browsing through.

Jaune sighed and pulled out a few lien cards out of his shorts pocket. This had the positive effect of consoling the employee.

10 minutes later, a lithe teen in brown khaki shorts and a black shirt walked out of the store. He glanced at his new threads and smirked. No one was giving him weird looks anymore. Hey, at least he was able to blend in with normal people.

Now, the million dollar question.

Which way was it to Vale?

He was currently at a frontier town around a hundred kilometers away from the Dead Zone. He had to slay more than a fair share of grimm that were in his way to make it to this town. Truth be told, Jaune didn't know which direction to run in so he had leave it up to luck when he exited the Dead Zone. Jaune supposed he should probably count his lucky stars as this town was not only fairly modernized but it also had around a dozen huntsmen to protect it.

How did he know there were huntsmen here?

Easy.

He could sense them.

He looked through a few stores for a map and finally found one that showed him the map of the areas recorded in Remnant. He searched through the map and found out he was in a tiny settlement called Enchille.

Enchille only had three bullheads that would bring in items and Dust to trade. Jaune wasn't planning on traveling on a bullhead as he was much faster on foot than a bullhead could travel.

He took his gaze of the map and looked at the walls surrounding the village.

He tensed his legs and once again his form disappeared, only to reappear on top of the walls.

Jaune sat down as he studied the map once more. He theorized that he should be able to reach the Kingdom of Vale in the time-span of a single day. According to the map, there appeared to be another frontier town on the way to Vale.

It would serve as a good pit stop for him to restock his supplies.

"Hey Kid!" came a voice from below him. "Get down from there!"

Jaune didn't even react to the shout. He had after all sensed the man's presence a few minutes prior.

He stood from his perch, ignoring the frantic shouts of the man. He stretched his limbs and got into a running stance not dissimilar from the one earlier. His legs tensed up briefly before he pushed off the ground, his body disappearing. A moment later, the area of the wall where he stood, shattered and a sonic boom could be heard if one listened closely.

When he arrived, the town was already halfway from being completely destroyed. Fires raged all around the buildings and there appeared to be bandits fighting against what appeared to be this town's version of the militia.

"Oh boy, this isn't good..." Jaune stated as he gazed at the scene in front of him

One bandit noticed his arrival and rushed straight at him with his sword trailing behind him.

Jaune could instantly tell that the bandit had at least some form of training. The way he ran and the angle his sword was in proved that he was familiar with wielding a blade. Unfortunately for the masked bandit, Jaune wasn't just anyone.

Jaune was someone who had trained in the Dead Zone, also known as The point of no return.

The Grimm lands had three sections. Each more dangerous than the previous. The first is the Red Zone, which has many common grimm that can be found throughout the kingdoms. Ursa and Beowolves being the most common.

The next section of the the grimm-lands was the Dead Zone. Somewhat resembling a barren dessert except the temperature wasn't sweltering hot. The Dead Zone is called the point of no return because of one particular reason. It is teeming with various types of grimm. Some, not even recorded by the history books.

Finally, the Void Zone. No one has ever been to this zone and returned alive. Jaune wanted to explore the area but the energy from the grimm in the Void Zone gave him a pause. Using video game logic, if a beowolf was level 1, Jaune was level 53. The grimm that he could sense over in the Void Zone? Over level 200.

The grimm-lands were separated from the kingdoms by a huge stretch of water, the sea. It would take close to three hours of travelling by bullheads to reach the entrance, the Red Zone. Because of this, very few grimm could cross the vast expanse of the sea.

Jaune dodged the first few swings of the mans weapons. He frowned, seeing the man's ability to wield a blade. If this was a contest of swords, Jaune knew he would lose. The bandit definitely had much more skill than he was anticipated.

Sadly for the bandit, this wasn't a sword fight.

His legs tensed up briefly as he activated his skill, disappearing and reappearing behind the bandit almost instantly. Jaune karate chopped the back of the man's neck, aiming to bring him down as fast as he could. Jaune wanted to help the civilians that were being knocked out by the other bandits as soon as he could.

Jaune was confused as to where the huntsmen protecting this village were. Shouldn't they be helping the civilians evacuate at least?

It was all for naught however as the bandit stood right back up as he eyed Jaune warily.

"You have a speed Semblance. You a huntsman are you?" the bandit growled. "Seems like we missed one boys. That's fine, the boss'll take care o' you soon enou-"

The bandit didn't get to finish his sentence as a fist coated in black rammed into his gut.

"H-how di-d.. aura-" coughed out the bandit before he fell unconscious.

"Tch, so these guys really do have aura. Guess, these guys aren't a group of regular bandits after all and the fact that they mentioned a boss... I'm willing to bet that he's probably the reason why all the huntsmen seem to be missing. This may be trouble." Jaune muttered to himself.

Jaune ducked under a slash from another bandit that snuck up behind him then jumped into the air as the bandit's weapon mecha-shifted into what resembled a flame-thrower.

Just in time too, as the bandit pressed a button on his weapon and out came a massive gout of flame. The bandit was fairly surprised to see the teen in front of him having evaded the attack. He recovered quickly however as he pointed the nozzle toward Jaune. The bandit was sure that he wouldn't be able to dodge mid air and would have to rely on his aura to shield him.

That theory held for less than a second as Jaune seemed to have kicked off of the very air itself like it was the ground and moved to just above where the bandit was standing. He angled his body downward and kicked of the air one more time, his right fist appearing to have turned black.

"Armament." Jaune whispered to himself as he punched the bandit in his face, somehow managing to bypass his opponents aura.

"How'd he do that?" asked bandit number one to bandit number two

"Probably a semblance. Though, I never expected a semblance to be that unique..." bandit two answered.

"You kiddin? The boss can basically attack from almost any angle. This semblance ain't unique at all." bandit number two snorted and pointed at the strange teen in front of him. He then shouted, "Everyone! Target this guy. He has a semblance that can bypass others auras!"

"Take this, weakling!" shouted a bandit as he attempted to cut Jaune in half.

"Damn, this is getting me nowhere!" Jaune shouted as he two of the that attempted to hold him in a choke hold. He back flipped away from a few of them who decided to try and use guns to attack him then jumped a few meters back. They stood in front of him, blocking his way to the villagers that they had tied up.

Jaune frowned, his tone slightly angry, "I'm guessing you aren't going to let me pass, are you?"

"Heheh, you got lucky kid. Even if you're a huntsman in training, defeating all of us together is impossible. We've had a little training of our own, ya know?" replied a bandit who appeared to be the leader of this group.

'Damn, I didn't want to use this as I'm still not very good at controlling it. Don't think they'll give me much of a choice through... alright here goes!' Jaune thought to himself as he lifted his right leg into the air.

"Hey, what's he doing?" asked a bandit.

"Boys! Attack now, I've got a bad feeling about this..." screamed the leader.

Jaune smiled.

"Rankyaku!"

He took one last glance at the unconscious men around him before turning back to the family that was previously tied up.

"Find a safe place to hide. I'll go and see if there are any more survivors left." said Jaune.

"Mister, wait!" came the voice of the young child as he pulled on Jaune's sleeve.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Jaune asked, concerned if the child was hurt or not.

"No, nothing's wrong mister... its just that... well..." the boy fidgeted slightly.

"Erm... so can I go now or...?" Jaune questioned.

"W-wait, mister! Are you... are you a huntsman?" the child stammered out.

"Em, yeah. I'm actually a-err huntsman in training. Why'd you ask?"

"I-I want to be a huntsman too!" the child shouted, convicted clearly written in his eyes. "Then I'll be as strong as you and something like this will never have to happen again!"

Jaune eyes softened as he gazed at the child. He knelt down to be eye level with the kid.

"What's your name?" Jaune asked.

"Anthony!" the child replied.

"Well, Anthony... I believe that if you put in the conviction and you have the Willpower and the bravery to want to protect this world, you will be a fine huntsman." Jaune smiled at him and stood up.

"I have to go. Good luck Anthony." Jaune the muttered under his breath, "You're gonna need it." He turned towards the fire at the town central and tensed his legs. A moment later, he disappeared, leaving behind a sonic boom in his wake.

"Oh no!" shouted Anthony, an expression of distress covering his face.

"What's wrong sweetie?" his mother questioned, worried.

"I forgot to ask him what his name was!"

His parents glanced at each other and smiled.

Jaune traveled as fast as his feet could move. He had to get to the other villagers in time. The village's militia system including the hunters must have been preoccupied with the bandit leader.

Considering how the bandits seemed to speak of the person, it was clear that they were strong. How strong? Jaune wasn't sure but he was confident in his ability to fight this person. His semblance and training gave him a massive boosts in that regard.

A glint of a blade caught his eye. He glanced down, seeing more bandits from his parkour across the rooftops. One things which Jaune couldn't fully comprehend was why the bandits didn't seem to be harming anyone. So far among all the bandits that he had witnessed, the worst thing they had done was knock out the rather loud or obnoxious civilians.

Were they really bandits? Jaune remembered a time when he was younger when his family would tell him stories of the truly evil deeds they would do. Killing, plundering and taking hostages so that the authorities wouldn't be able to much of anything in regards to their escape. These guys were neither killing anyone nor were they taking hostages. Jaune sighed as he landed across from the bandit group.

He could immediately resonate with their auras. This particular group of bandits were in no rush to attack him. Rather they seemed more than comfortable to sit it out and wait for him to make the first move. He supposed they were wary for a reason. He wouldn't be surprised if one of the bandits groups he had dispatched earlier had managed to relay a few things about him before he could knock them out.

But Jaune could sense something else form these guys in front of him. The way they held their swords. It wasn't just familiarity that was presented in their grips. It was profound knowledge. Like they knew the ins and outs of their weapons very well. In fact to them, Jaune wouldn't be surprised if it was an extension of their bodies.

They were experienced, he realized.

They've done this before. Whether this was they're first time plundering towns, Jaune wasn't sure. But what he could definitely determine was that they knew what it was like to fight an experienced opponent. Jaune's brows crinkled as he imagined the strain that would accompany fighting these men. He was fairly sure that this would take away much more time then he was hoping to give.

"Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to make a move?" came the snide comment from one of the men.

"What makes you think I'm going to move?" Jaune replied impassively.

The man just smirked at him. "We don't need to do anything. You however are planning on saving these civilians behind me and the more time you spend wasting time here is the less time you get for saving other civilians that are in peril."

Jaune cursed as he realized that this man had a point. It was no skin of these bandits backs if he were to waste time with them when others were in danger. They didn't seem to be harming the civilians but Jaune didn't want to take any chances when it came to the bandits.

Making up his mind, he dashed towards the one who he believed was the leader. He coated his arm with his willpower aiming to shatter through all defenses and aimed it at the man's gut.

Jaune, having gone through a training regime which literally came from a different universe was around a tier or so stronger than a regular huntsman who have been in service of the kingdoms for a few years. All of his physical stats had surpassed that of what was possible for his age.

Which was why he was surprised when the bandit dodged out of the way of his attack with naught but a centimeter. The bandit's buddies instantly reacted to the the current threat which was in this case, Jaune. They swiped at him from all angles that were conceivably possible with their swords.

Jaune, feeling threatened for a second, jumped into the air for a quick escape and continued to jump off of the air to create some distance from them. It seemed that this group could also work well together. In conjunction to personal skill, teamwork was an aspect they focused on as well...

This was slightly problematic.

Jaune jumped off the air and angled his body toward one of the bandits, raising his leg in the process. He kicked at the man's head, expecting his leg to connect. Jaune was once again proved wrong as the man dodged away and grabbed at Jaune's leg while he was still in mid flight.

The bandit pivoted his body in a way that allowed him to throw Jaune over his shoulder and onto the ground. Jaune coughed as his chest slammed painfully down unto the ground. His aura had protected him from external injury but it did nothing to stop the air from forcefully rushing out of his chest.

Jaune flipped forward as his legs tensed and he disappeared and reappeared on top of a broken rooftop which was on fire. He analyzed each of the bandits fighting styles and cursed himself for underestimating these men.

"You're fighting style is odd!" came the shout of the bandit that slammed him on the ground. "You have experience fighting but it feels wrong somehow. Tell me, why aren't you using a weapon?"

"That is not of your concern." Jaune replied, wary. These men didn't seem to be fazed with the level of speed he had displayed.

"You are weak. The weak will always lose to the strong." the group leader shouted.

Jaune's eyes sharpened. They had called him weak, believing that he was displaying his full strength in front of them when he was barely scratching the tip of the iceberg. While it was true he hadn't mastered his skills to the best of his abilities, he still had a profound understanding of them.

It was time to show these men the power of his will.

"You insult what shouldn't be insulted." Jaune replied, his legs tensing as he jumped down to the ground. The air seemed to vibrate with a hum of energy, twisting and distorting as he stepped forward.

The bandit's previously lackluster behavior was immediately culled. They could sense a buildup of power that was about to be emitted by the teen in front of them. It had them slightly sweating. His eyes, shadowed by his hair, his body slowly moving forward without a care in the world seem to give off the image of death.

They grew afraid.

Just as it seemed he was about to release this energy, a red portal swirled into existence in front of them.

The bandit leader had arrived.