Iron Arc
A/N – Thank you for all the support, you guys are the best! I didn't expect this idea to go as far as it has.
Anyway, please enjoy!
To say the Iron Arc stronghold was under great havoc was a bit of an understatement, if the leader of said stronghold had to put it lightly. He panted under his breath as he dashed through the corridors of their armoury, seeing wounded soldiers beginning to pile up while others tried to help them get to safety.
"Head to the great hall! Evacuate there and send the wounded there! The doctors will do all they can!"
He managed to bark off quick orders to the troops he had, seeing the tired and fearful looks on their faces, as if they had lost already… The young man shook his head inwardly before coming across one of the captains under his command, his hand instantly clamping on the man's shoulder.
"My Lord!"
"I need you and your remaining men who can fight to guard the wounded. They cannot take this place!"
"S-Sir!"
Jaune watched him go and take his own men towards the great hall but Jaune couldn't stop a heavy yet frustrated sigh from his lips as he dashed as fast as he could out the armoury, only to be brought down to his knees as a boulder managed smash into the roof of the armoury near him. Debris from the crash was quick spread like a maelstrom around the open area, though his armour managed to save him yet again…
On his head was a helmet that was very rarely seen nowadays, ever since the Iron Legion had become a thing of the past. The helmet has a horizontal slit across the top half, so the bearer could see as well as eight vertical slits on the bottom half, four on each side of his cheeks. Though there was a distinct feature on his helmet that could only be described as something that was taken from a fairy tale… An ornament resided on his head which was once lost to the Iron Legion many years ago but was now found. The ornament was a pure white mohawk with an almost hollow looking horse/unicorn head with small wings on either side of its head. According to Ozpin, it was a symbol of a great beast. (A/N – Tedeus Helmet with Pegasus Rider ornament)
His body armour was nothing too special, as it consisted padded leather with chain mail though Jaune couldn't bring himself to get a new one since it had been a gift from an old blacksmith he had saved a few years ago from a mugging that almost ended up a bloody mess. There was a small shield that covered his heart which was designed with intricate patterns that looked like some sort of fancy arrow heads. (A/N – Dain Chest)
His armoured arms were quite simple yet effective since it was an upgraded version of the standard issue ones that Wardens usually wore. The pauldrons were the same, so the metal had curved up some which he believed helped block or at least encounter incoming attacks from shoulder height. However, on either pauldrons were pure white paint with engravings on each side. (A/N – Fendrel Arms)
The left held the head of a wolf, which according to Ozpin, who had decided to put it on it, meant he was an alpha. A natural born leader. Even though he really did beg to differ about that… The right was a lot more delicate yet intricate since it held the head of a demonic skull with horns. It put the young blonde off at first but when he was told as to why he had it engraved on his armour, he couldn't stop the shake of his head. The best part about the armour liked however, was the fact that is was pure black iron.
It was also another reason that got him the nickname 'White Lightning'. Black thunder before white lightning…
After a few moments, the lone Warden shook his head some and raised himself to his feet, steeling his nerves as he made his way over to the main courtyard to join his men and his loyal follower, the valiant Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos.
"Pyrrha!"
The red-headed Valkyrie whipped her head around and saw her leader running towards her, her eyes lighting up to see him safe and sound.
"Pyr, I need you to cover our blinds spots. Take a few men and head upon the walls so that they cannot climb up with ladders or harpoon bridges."
"But Jaune, I can't leave you here to defend the courtyard by yourself! You'll get overrun!"
"I won't if you keep them off my back!"
"Why is this even happening!?"
Jaune bit his lip behind his helmet at that since he usually had a small soft spot for Pyrrha when it came to tell her things but as of right now, it wasn't the time. Right now, they had to protect the fortress and make sure they actually lived to speak about it.
"Not now… Later. The mission comes first. Now go, hurry!"
As soon as he said that, there was an ear rattling bang the resounded throughout the courtyard as it seemed the Blackstone Legion's golden ram head bashed and crashed through the main doors. Roars of soldiers were heard as they began to flood into the courtyard and among them, was a man in a heavy suit of armour and his most trusted second in command.
Jaune Arc was quick to scowl under his breath before quickly drawing Crocea Mors from his back.
"Go Pyrrha!"
The Valkyrie bit her lip and left, shouting for a few soldiers to follow her to the barracks so they could head up to the Iron Arc's walls.
"… Do you think they are going to live through this?"
As calm and collected Ruby was, she couldn't stop her mind from speaking what her gut was feeling… She hadn't seen sieges like this before and honestly, it seemed to make her become a little fearful, but she swallowed it down as she remembered her training.
"Of course. Jaune may be a fool but he is not an imbecile. And, he has Valkenheim's most feared Valkyrie at his side. They will be fine."
"His recklessness will get him killed one day."
The red-headed shinobi looked at her two companions in slight surprise, going from the white-haired Orochi to the amber eyed Peacekeeper. She found herself sighing under her breath as she still had to figure out what they actually thought of this guy… Ruby turned to Weiss as she stood up, a hand on the hilt of her katana.
"The plan is take out the catapults first. Ruby, right?"
"Yes?"
"Listen closely. Use your speed to get around to the right flank, kill anyone who opposes you. Blake, you've got guard duty. Infiltrate the towers and kill the archers, stop them from getting cover fire. "
"Got it."
The white-haired Orochi turned to the small number of soldiers behind and gave them the order to focus on their supplies. They nodded without a word.
"Good. Let's get to work."
And with that, the three women dashed off into the fray that was the Blackstone Legion army.
Pyrrha blocked an incoming fiery arrow with her shield before dashing forward towards a soldier, quickly bashing her shield into their face to make them disorientated. Watching them stagger, she took no time to thrust her spear into the chest before swinging her spear around to the knock away an incoming sword but even then, they couldn't stop the spear from penetrating through their exposed back.
With a yell, she pulled her weapon out of the dead corpse, her deep emerald eyes scanning around passed the walls. A scowl came upon her beautiful yet bloody features as she saw more reinforcements on their way and honestly, as much as she loved fighting, this was getting ridiculous… It was if the Blackstone Legion had the whole of Ashfeld on their side.
She roared as she ran forward to the wall, using her shield to bash and push the ladder away from the wall. After hearing the yells and screams below, the red-headed Valkyrie turned her attention to the courtyard and not even she could stop the gasp from escaping her as she saw Jaune getting overwhelmed by six soldiers at once.
She watched as the young blonde stabbed a spearman through neck before grabbing the spear and swinging it around to get some much needed space from the soldiers, but one was unlucky to get knocked across the face, rendering them dead instantly. Jaune was quick regain his breath but he didn't have time to take in another as a soldier shot forward, thrusting their sword forward but it met air as the blonde Warden dodged to the side.
He took the spear and thrusted it down into the soldier's exposed leg, embedding them to ground while making them wail out in pure agony but was quick to dismiss him once more by thrusting Crocea Mors through his back and once again, his attention was back on the soldiers. Pyrrha was about to rush down and help her leader but was instead confronted by Holden Cross' second in command… The Black Warden.
"Never thought a Valkyrie would work with a Knight, of all things… If you weren't dangerous, I may have taken you back with us."
"This bastard…"
Pyrrha scowled at that comment and once more, she felt anger flood through her veins as she didn't bother to respond but instead, rush into the Warden with a shield bash and a mighty roar.
Jaune managed to fend off the remaining soldiers, his chest heaving in much needed air as he turned to another incoming solider, quickly dispatching them by dodging their incoming blade and sliced at their exposed stomach. He turned just in time to come face to face with a large axe head, which collided with the flat edge of Crocea Mors beside his head but unfortunately, left him staggering and skidding off to the side and onto his back.
He slowly got to his feet and took off his helmet, showing his face to the Lawbringer that decided to show himself, who just raised his chin and smirked at the young man.
"You're good, kid. You got guts. We know everything… Surrender and there will be no more bloodshed."
The Lawbringer's voice was gruff and deep, though instantly one could hear and see the superiority that this man posed… Who couldn't? From the information Jaune had obtained, this Lawbringer was one of the four generals of the Blackstone Legion.
"Sorry, Hazel Rainart, I have no intention of surrendering…"
"Oh?"
There was a loud clang of metal that was heard as the tall Lawbringer brought their halberd down onto the concrete before getting into their stance. Jaune gritted his teeth as he slowly brought himself into his own traditional sword stance… This was going to be a painful fight.
Ruby darted passed the trees and into the clearing where the catapult she needed to take care of was, counting the enemies as she got closer.
"Four, five… six… Should be easy enough."
With that thought in mind, the young shinobi dashed even faster towards her destination. As soon as she got close enough, she was quick to throw a kunai into a soldier who was getting ready to let loose the boulder, dropping him dead immediately. The others became startled at the sudden invasion but quickly scrambled around to grab their weapons and attack the newcomer.
"Kill her!"
The silver eyed shinobi skidded and slid across the floor, knocking an enemy's feet out from under them before bringing her Kama down and into the exposed back of the unfortunate soldier. Her attention turned behind her as she heard a roar coming towards her, her instincts quick to tell her to dodge to the side.
She did so and once more, her instincts were alive in her system and her body decided to jump and kick the soldier off to the side, staggering them back into the catapult. This gave Ruby time to capitalise on the soldier and was quick to slice her scythes across their throat, killing them instantly.
"W-Wait a sec-!"
Another soldier was cut down by the shinobi before her attention to the other end of the large clearing. The sound of heavy metal and wood crashing against the earth, which Ruby found out was a catapult that was holding a boulder, had its rope cut and was now rendered useless.
"Must be Weiss…"
Before she knew it however, a body fell right before her, making her jump back and get her weapons at the ready but found that the body was an archer. A dead one at that. She looked up just in time to see another fly off the top of the small towers and plummet towards the earth with a scream escaping their lips…
"And now Blake… They can keep up after all."
Ruby looked around the place and saw that the Blackstone Legion still had more reinforcements and she heaved in a breath before heading towards them but was quickly stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw the mask of a Peacekeeper, instantly recognising the amber eyes behind it.
"We're leaving."
"What? But their main force is here-!"
"And we will get slaughtered. The soldiers will handle it."
She couldn't argue with that but she bit her lip some before turning to the rest of the army who were either trying to infiltrate from the side or heading towards them. However, not a moment later, fire began to erupt around the middle of the clearing as everything began to catch fire… Blake smirked slightly behind her mask as she knew the soldiers had done their job.
"Let's go. Now."
This time, Ruby didn't bother to object.
The famed red-headed Valkyrie swung her spear around towards the Black Warden, watching him block and parry her before coming in for a backhanded swing from his longsword. Her shield managed to block the attack and with sheer power, she pushed him back and with a roar, she thrusted her spear forward but only watched as her spear missed its target… However, before she could comprehend where they went, she felt a deep burning sensation run throughout her leg.
She yelled in pain and fell to one knee before turning the side to see a blade heading straight towards her neck… Time seemed to stop for the Black Warden as he watched in horror as Pyrrha was quick to fall onto her back and thrust her spear last time up at his exposed ribcage. The spear pierced his left lung and made him cough up blood, but he wasn't given any sort of mercy as the red-head decided to pull the spear out and thrust once more into the Warden's exposed body.
Pyrrha watched the Warden fall to the side of her, her breathing becoming more laboured as she felt the effects of the adrenaline wear off in her system… She looked down and saw that her thigh had been sliced pretty good but luckily, it wasn't too fatal. She threw off her helmet and began to rip the fallen Warden's cloth from their back and quickly tie it around her leg tightly.
Her face grimaced and she gritted her teeth before moving to look below her to see her leader dodge a large swing from one of the generals of the Blackstone Legion.
"Jaune…"
White Lightning scowled under his breath before charging into the tall Lawbringer with a shoulder barge, staggering Hazel some before bringing Crocea Mors up in a diagonal slice. The tip of the sword met its mark as he managed to slice his opponent's abdomen slightly but Jaune knew it was barely enough to even bring this guy down since he was quickly shoved away by the halberd…
"If this is all you've got… Then I'm not impressed."
"…"
"You're good boy, but you're not good enough."
Jaune merely allowed a deep chuckle to erupt from his throat as he looked up at the Blackstone Legion Lawbringer, his sword being held loosely in his right hand as he could see the smoke arise over the walls… It seems the infiltration team did their part. Good.
"Sorry for not living up to your expectations General… But I just didn't put my back into it. Speaking of backs… It seems you didn't decide to watch yours, did you?"
Hazel raised an eyebrow at that and took the moment to look behind him, his eyes widening slightly as he saw the army behind him slowly become ash. He growled lowly and turned to Jaune once more but already saw the young Warden in front of him with a different look in the cobalt eyes he could see in the darkness of his helmet.
Crocea Mors slashed at the Lawbringer from above, the sides and even from below whenever Jaune saw that it would be more effective. As soon as one slash was on its way, another was already being summoned and sent Hazel's way, making the large man stagger back and only block… He could feel his armour being knocked and pierced but only grazes were given thanks to his blocking.
A low growl emitted from the large man's throat before he pushed the young Warden away once more before thrusting his halberd forward, only for it to be knocked to the side and burning sensation to enter his system… Ignoring the sensation for now, Hazel quickly swing the axe head in a wide arc and watched Jaune duck under it and dash into his personal space, his sword's pommel smashing into his stomach at a great force.
The force knocked the wind out of the tall man and made him stagger back before he once more felt that burning sensation run throughout his body, making a pained yet controlled yell escapes the man's throat. He found himself on one knee and yet another burning sensation running in his system… Though this one was much worse than the others.
His eyes finally made sense of the situation and he actually saw his hand get impaled the tip of a sword… When did he drop his weapon? Pained breaths now escape the man as he finally felt the adrenaline leave his body and now, the pain became the only thing he could focus on, but he decided to not let the man before him not gain any satisfaction.
What in the world had just happened?
"So… This is the power of White Lightning? I didn't even see it happen…"
The young Warden let out a heavy sigh as he stood proud on shaky legs before looking down at the kneeling general in mild anger, even though no-one else could see it. His own body had taken quite a beating and he was sure that he was covered in bruises, but he was a little more worried about his slashed arm, collarbone and his possible re-opened injury from not too long ago.
The blonde-haired leader heaved in heavy breaths as he watched the remaining forces of the Blackstone Legion either retreat or get killed for retaliating. His own soldiers began to pour out of the great hall, at least the ones that could walk and watched upon the scene of their leader prevailing above one of the most feared generals of the Blackstone Legion.
His cobalt eyes looked up and he saw his trusted Valkyrie laying down and looking over to him with a tired smile, a small nod being sent his way. He then picked up the sounds of feet coming in from behind him, the pathway to the barracks was now blocked by Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna, though all three of them were looking at the leader in curiosity. He didn't need to look back to see it.
"Your Grace…"
Jaune Arc turned to the side slightly to see his faithful scribe, Ozpin and Council Oobleck coming towards him. The young Warden nodded gently so he could go on.
"We were unable to apprehend Lionheart… I'm deeply sorry. He must have escaped through all the mayhem."
He watched as Ozpin bow him his deep condolences, but he just nodded slightly to himself before looking up and around to everyone who was present.
"Soldiers of the Iron Arc! Listen well…"
Jaune sighed slightly as he began to slowly yet shakily pace around the small spot he stood.
"The reason we were attacked here, in our home, was because Councilman Lionheart betrayed us. He had been working with the Blackstone Legion, giving them information on us. All of us. They must have planned to attack here today because they thought I was not here… And that we are weak."
He shook his head as he heard murmurs from around the courtyard though honestly, Jaune's focus was on the general before him who was slowly breathing in breaths and trying to stop the bleeding on the back of his leg.
"We are not weak!"
The murmurs began to rise in agreement.
"We will not be looked down upon!"
The murmurs only got louder.
"We will not allow the Blackstone Legion or any other legion for that matter to do as they please!"
It only got louder…
"We are the protectors of the innocent!"
By now, the whole of the courtyard echoed with the roars of agreement from everyone.
"We are the guardians of peace!"
Somehow, it only got louder…
"We are the Iron Arc!"
General Hazel could only listen and stare at the place before him in bewilderment. Every one of them was cheering for one another and for their leader. The tall Lawbringer shook his head, understanding now as to why others followed him and as to why he should be feared on the battlefield and in the world of society. He was pure hearted and not even the most potent poisons in this world could taint that heart…
Jaune awaited for the noise to die before slowly walking over to the Lawbringer, his hand resting on the hilt of Crocea Mors before ripping it out of the hand of Hazel, who in turn yelled in agony.
"And we will not be beaten… General Hazel. Go back to your Blackstone Legion. Tell your leader that we will not bend the knee and await for our own slaughter. The Iron Arc is coming for you. And this time… You will not survive."
And with that, the stunned General stumbled back and out of the Iron Arc stronghold, shakily making their way back to the troops who had retreated nearby… All he could hear in the distance was more roars from the Iron Arc.
"Do you understand now Ruby?"
The red-headed shinobi looked towards the Orochi beside her, who was adorning a small smile on her face after she took of her helmet and face mask.
"This is why we follow him. It's things like this… That make him worthy. One day, he will become something more… And we'll be there to see it happen."
For the first time in a long time, Ruby Rose felt her chest tighten as she remembered the words Jaune had just said and the response he was given by his followers… She had taken him to lightly and because of that, she felt awful.
"I'll apologise tomorrow…"
Thanks for reading!
