Trying some shifting perspectives in this chapter. Had a word with my tutor and wrote two versions, one where the changed perspective was 1st and the other 3rd. Decided to go with his opinion and went with 3rd person perspective for the switch.
I don't think it's perfect, but I'm decently happy with it; enough to release this chapter on time and not delay it.
Speaking of, I realized the other day I didn't mention the update schedule. As you may have noticed it's slower than before. I'm taking my time with chapters until I can build up a head start so that I don't need to have any hiatuses.
The release schedule will be on the 23rd of every month around nighttime (AEST).
That's all for now. Enjoy!
/-/
"See you both tonight then?" I asked.
"We'll be back for lunch, and then finish in the afternoon. So we might see you before then." Ren replied.
"Don't make Miss G's job too hard now. If you shoot down all her ideas you'll end up with nothing." Nora advised.
"Right, right. I'm sure she'll find something suitable. Now get going or you'll be late."
I waved them off and closed the door.
Time to see the professor.
"You look tired." She immediately commented upon seeing me.
"I was up all night. I couldn't sleep, so I was experimenting with my aura. I wanted to work out what was going on."
"And did you learn anything?" she asked.
"It's definitely tied to my emotions. I was calm when I was in bed and my aura was normal. Not weak, just normal. I could do everything I remember being able to do, just as easily."
"So you tried to trigger a few emotions to test it then?"
I nodded.
"Whatever this new ability is, it's pretty touchy. It's like my aura becomes... toxic; or maybe explosive? I don't know the best word for it, but it's definitely violent. If you don't give all that energy a direction, it just burns up." I explained.
"And did the use of that 'violent' aura cause you to feel anything?" she asked.
"Not like you're thinking. When the energy got used up there was this feeling of calm. Like some internal tension was lifted. It didn't stop me from thinking about what I'd had on my mind. But I felt better, for a while at least."
"Interesting. Well, if this is the result of a Semblance, I must say it's one of the more varied ones. You would do well to continue studying it. Let's get down to business though, shall we?" she asked.
I nodded and took a seat in front of her desk.
"So what have you got for me? I specialize in high-intensity fights where I can use my aura to go all out before recovering. Am I joining a team in taking out a high-rank Grimm? An expedition with a powerful guardian?" I asked.
"In a sense, that is part of the job." She replied.
Part of the job? So there's more?
"Hmmm... Am I going to a nearby town to pick up supplies then? Taking out Grimm on the way?" She seemed amused by my impatience and how I was continuing to guess rather than let her tell me.
"You will be doing some babysitting." She finally replied when I stopped talking.
"Huh?"
"Well, the more appropriate term is 'supervising'. But I'm certain given your current... mindset, that this is how you will see it."
"Who am I 'supervising'?" I asked while air-quoting.
"You don't want to guess this time?" She asked with a wry smile.
I frowned and she laughed right in my face.
"You will be supervising the would-be 1st-year students for their replacement initiation."
"Wait, what? Beacon is gone, what's the point in an initiation?"
"We managed to convince the council to give out trainee licenses to anyone who can pass a trial of skill. Though they won't be able to take classes, they will in a way be apprenticing under me. I will be able to give them tailored missions that match their skill level. Nothing quite beats real-world experience after all. Though it is more dangerous than a regular curriculum."
"And how does this help us?"
"Come now Jaune, they might be trainees, but even trainees can pull their weight. Why on your first few days with aura you thwarted a White Fang infiltration."
I had to give her that. But then, luck had played a role, and my partner had played another.
"With 16 new huntsmen and huntresses, Vale will be able to more easily push back the Grimm to a safe distance. We will steadily reduce the risk of Grimm attack and reclaim the land and resources we lost. And once Vale is self-sufficient, I and other allied hunters will be free for other jobs. Jobs that might involve towns that are further from Vale and closer to Mistral or Atlas."
"And closer to Cinder."
"Exactly. It's not an immediate thing, but it's progress."
"Why me though? What about Professor Port, or Doctor Oobleck? Or... well... anyone who is an actual huntsman and not just a second-year student." I asked.
Not just me is what I really meant.
"It's because anyone more reliable is a more expensive resource that is already allocated. You are not. We can have you do this without costing us a hunter anywhere else." She hummed thoughtfully for a second. "And more to the point, I trust in your skillset for this job. You might be 'just a second-year student'. But you have a combat style capable of performing at a higher level than one might normally expect. It wouldn't qualify you as a real huntsman, but it'll do for one mission at a time."
That's... nice to hear actually.
"Alright. Then I guess the only question I have left is... What's the initiation going to be?"
/-/
"You've all got your teams already, but today you'll be working as a single 16-man squad. Your mission is to complete a single expedition picked for you by Ms. Goodwitch. Everyone who makes it through the mission today gets a pass. If you run out of aura you fail. Having your teammates cover you is fine. This is not a zero-sum game. If you all work together, you will all have a higher chance of success. Making your squadmates look worse than you will do you no favors, and the energy will be wasted. Is all that clear?" I shouted to the group of trainees.
It's weird to be taking charge like this. The power balance is so wrong.
These people don't trust me. They have their own team leaders and they've been together for a week now apparently. Being ordered around like this is just screwing with that dynamic.
At least with my team, no one else wanted the role. Even if they were stronger than me in the beginning, they wanted me as the leader.
I'm surprised that none of them have complained about it yet-
"I got a question!" A young girl shouted from the back.
She pushed her way through the group to the front but didn't stop there. She stomped her way right up to me.
The height difference made it difficult for her to look intimidating, but she gave it her best. She pressed her chest against my own and got right up in my face.
"How come we have to follow your orders? You're not even a real huntsman." She asked with no hidden degree of vitriol.
That's more like it. Unfortunately, even if she is right, I have a job to do.
"You don't have to. You're more than welcome to take your team and try again next time." She grimaced, but I wasn't done there. "But to answer your question; it's because I'm stronger than you. I'm here because you need a safety net."
I'd have thought the warning would do the trick. Sadly, I could see she'd latched onto my second statement long before she spoke a single word.
"You think you're strong with a scar like that? What, did a few too many Beowolves get you during the blackout?" she mocked.
It was interesting how I'd gone from a small local celebrity to someone who couldn't handle a few Beowolves. Did I look so different now? Did she specifically not care about the tournament? I might have lost, but I didn't think my performance was bad enough to warrant this.
Was the scar itself actually why she was doubting me? Surely not, right? No one was ignorant enough to think that a scarred huntsman was a weak one. All a lack of scars meant was that they hadn't fought anything actually dangerous before.
It was hard to feel insulted by someone who didn't know that. Still, the intent was there, and that means she needs to be put in her place before she causes any real troubles.
Luckily, Glynda permitted me to discipline them for just this occasion.
"The reason I 'think' I'm strong is because I can do this."
I thrust a palm up under her chin. She was quick to react and grabbed onto my forearm with both hands. But I was stronger than she expected and she failed to redirect the blow. She threw several repeating knees into my chest and jaw as the palm strike lifted her skyward. Her struggling stopped when I spun and drove her headfirst into the concrete.
I don't know how much aura she had, but it hadn't broken all of it. Even still, the targeted shaking of her brain was enough to leave her dazed on the ground.
"Now, we'll wait for the troublemaker to recover her aura, and then we're setting off. Got it?" I asked.
"Yes sir." They all responded.
/-/
A splash of water and two hours later the group was ready and waiting at the entrance to the Forever Fall forest.
I hadn't been expecting to hear this was the location when Glynda briefed me on their mission. But as she'd soon pointed out, there wasn't a choice.
Ordinarily, this forest had a higher danger rating than the Emerald. It was a training ground for students who had proved themselves to the professors.
But after the fall of Beacon, the Emerald forest was a several-hour-long slog through Grimm territory. So despite the higher rating, this forest was better suited for beginners.
With that said, I was no beginner and right now this forest was not suited well for me.
The colors brought up memories that right now I didn't want to relive.
Maybe one day I would, and I'd look back on them fondly; but not today. Today I was feeling irritable and on edge and my reactive aura wasn't helping.
Still, this was the mission and feelings had nothing to do with it.
"Alright, we're here. I'm sure the professor has told you all about running off by yourselves and what that could mean for Vale. I want you all to move as a tight group. Someone recap the mission specifications so I know you're all on board."
One girl timidly put her hand up when no one else did.
"You, with the teal hair, go for it."
"This is a D-rank nightmare stone. All basic Grimm species have been spotted in the area. Guardian is reported to be an Ursa Major. 15ft tall, tier two armor plating and no reported signs of increased intelligence." She reported.
That was well done; like she had read it out of a book.
"Good. Make sure you are all prepared for what that means. A D-rank nightmare stone is fit for a single 1st-year team. That means once you have your licenses you'll be expected to handle this regularly. I don't want to see any mistakes. If you mess up out here today, you're not even close to ready for a license. So don't mess up. Vale is counting on you."
That seemed to light a fire under some of them.
"Let's start with a simple half-circle formation and see how we go. Get a move on." I ordered.
/-/
The first five minutes were quiet. Any Grimm which had wandered out this far were cleaned up hastily. Not one got the chance to sound an alarm with a howl.
Things did, inevitably, get a bit messier.
As the number of Grimm increased, the time for each kill climbed until one Beowolf managed to call for more.
I didn't know how long we had, but it was certain by this point that the horde was coming.
I let them make their own decision on how to proceed. I was pleased to see a few of them convincing the group to bunker down. It was a good call. The terrain was to our advantage at the moment. There was a good mix of wide-open spaces interrupted with strong and sturdy cover. It had a little of everything. Perfect for taking advantage of the different weaknesses between species.
After barely a few minutes we could all hear them coming. I drew my sword for the first time and readied myself for the chance of action. If something was going to go wrong, this was the first opportunity. I would have to step in to back up any individual student who screwed up bad enough to need it.
The first wave crashed into the prepared wall of trainees and met a swift end. From there, the second and third waves managed to break their ranks. The groups broke apart into teams as everyone fought for optimal terrain.
Grimm were steadily spilling into the area at a rate just barely higher than the rate they were dying. Fortunately, it wouldn't last forever. All they had to do was ramp up the intensity of their defense to match the horde until Grimm stopped spawning.
It didn't take long for Semblances to start making their appearances. Not long after that, they started using up their limited supply of dust to augment their attacks and keep up.
I hadn't done much Grimm slaying myself. But I'd heard enough stories in class and from my team after their hunts. From what I knew, a D-rank horde like this one should only last a few minutes at best.
That still amounted to several dozen to a hundred or so Grimm at worst though.
I kept my eyes on the battlefield, waiting for any sign of weakness from the trainees. One younger boy with a spear was having difficulty keeping distance for his spear tip to land. The blunt pole strikes didn't have enough force behind them to truly hurt the Grimm either. His team was doing a decent job of having his back, but eventually, the Grimm were too numerous for them to cover him.
"Do you want a hand?" I asked after repositioning to be closer to him and his team.
"I can handle it." He said as he choked the handle of his spear to shorten his reach and fight more efficiently.
I shrugged and left him to it. He hadn't been touched yet, so it wasn't like I needed to step in. Besides, by now the battle should be easing up.
I looked around and saw that the Grimm had, rather than start to ease off, actually become even more numerous.
Did we step too close to another nightmare stone and provoked a second horde?
A quick examination revealed there weren't any new species present, so it wasn't likely. Possible, sure, but unlikely.
The more likely cause was that this horde was bigger than its rank implied.
I moved out of formation to the front of the group such that any Grimm would see me first.
Right now, my best option wasn't to wait and help individual trainees but to lead the entire group.
With that said, my normal fighting style wasn't going to be any faster than the average trainee here. Neither my Semblance nor my weapon was meant for killing Grimm in large numbers. I was built for tackling stronger Grimm in smaller numbers.
If I wanted to get anything done, it would have to be aura techniques all the way. And as a bonus, that meant I could see what my new ability was capable of.
I started slow, striking exclusively with my sword and getting into the swing of things. Thanks to the help of half a dozen Beowolves, I was considerably warmed up pretty quick.
I loosed an aura slash that cut through a Boarbatusk's flank and crashed into the snout of another. I'd only used a small burst of condensed aura, so I could probably let off another odd 30 of those before running out. Nowhere near enough to be efficient.
Thanks to my experimentation from the other night, I had a rough idea of 'where' the energy was. Drawing upon it was the hard part.
It was always there like my second aura pool had been. And just like my second pool, I had to learn how to use it properly. When I was emotional it forced its way out through my aura. But without getting needlessly worked up it was slow and sticky. Willing it to move was like getting water to flow upstream.
Still, thanks to the rush from battle, I managed to steadily charge my aura to a point I was happy with, and I released a second attack with all that energy contained within.
My aura, normally gold and white came out a shade of pink. The attack ripped through three Grimm before dispersing against the hide of an Ursa.
It was strong, almost stupidly so. To gain that much strength in so little time made no sense, even at the expense of my finer control.
I tried to find the right balance to include this new ability in my normal style. I stuck to close combat fighting while I charged the new energy. Then I would release it in stronger and larger blasts.
Despite what I'd expected, charging for longer didn't make my attacks any stronger. It gave me more 'energy' with which I could throw larger attacks that would be similarly enhanced. But there was nothing I could do to infuse this energy more tightly like I could with my aura.
I could roughly double the strength of my aura at the cost of reducing my control over it. Considering I needed efficiency more than anything else to fix my style, it was pretty damn good.
As I kept a good fraction of the Grimm occupied, the rest of the trainees managed to regain their footing. Together we held out until finally, the Grimm died off.
I didn't have the experience to say what rank that horde belonged to, but it wasn't D-ranked. Not when 17 hunters were a coin flip away from slipping up.
"Is that how it always is?" I heard one of them complain as they leaned on their weapon for support.
"No way. My older brother is a huntsman and he never said anything about this." Another chipped in.
"My dad always taught me that expeditions were dangerous, but I didn't think it would be this bad."
I pulsed an aura shot out of my hands to clear my head and soul of excess anger and energy. It also served the purpose of getting their attention.
"You signed up to kill monsters. No one said it was going to be a walk in the park." I stated.
"Yeah but come on, that wasn't what we expected!" One of them argued back.
It was annoying, but even if he didn't have proof, he was probably right. That horde had been almost twice the size. Not enough for a second D-rank nightmare stone to be in the area, but an E or F-rank for sure. If they were too close, it could make fighting the Guardian a real struggle.
"You even had to step in and fight with us. Haven't we basically failed initiation already?" the same trainee asked.
"No." I instantly replied.
I couldn't have them failing, not over something as stupid as a coincidence.
"I am the only supervisor here and while I chose to step in, I can also choose to continue the mission. None of you have failed yet. Is that clear?" I asked.
"Wait, we're going to keep going? I used up more than half my aura for that!" someone else complained.
Several echoes of agreement followed.
"So you're going to give up after losing just half your aura? Some huntress you'll become then." I taunted.
I needed them to want to keep going. I needed them to finish this mission so I had the chance to pass them.
"Haven't the mission parameters changed though?"
I looked for who said it and found the teal-haired girl suddenly shying away from the attention.
"I-I mean... I read that if a mission briefing is different from conditions in the field, standard operating procedure..." She caught me staring at her and started to stumble more. "...I-is to return to base and report. So... shouldn't we do that first?"
She'd make a good leader. She was willing to stand up to me despite her shyness and she had a good head on her shoulders.
Unfortunately, right now I didn't need good leaders with good heads. I needed people to do what I said so I could get this mission finished.
"Standard operating procedure isn't always the correct move. It's called standard because it is meant for standard encounters. Unfortunately, as you've all realized by this point, this isn't going to be a standard encounter. Hell, when dealing with Grimm there's really no such thing. If you fight Grimm expecting things to go as planned, you'll get caught out and you'll die."
I paused to make sure they were all listening and didn't plan on interrupting. I wanted to get the full message across before anyone had the chance to call me out.
"More to the point though, Vale doesn't have resources to throw at failed missions. The longer we let this go, the more this section of forest will worsen. Sure, you all might get to take another mission in a safer location. But your initiation is hardly a top priority. Also, we're already more than 2/3rds of the way through. If we can just kill this guardian, we can go home with a successful mission under our belts. But if we leave now, the next person has to fight that entire horde all over again. We'll have wasted time and energy. I promise that I'll personally maintain 'standard' levels. So we will keep going and I will keep this mission on track. Understood?"
There was no response, which didn't exactly scream confidence. Probably if I'd been willing to build some rapport with them first words alone might have worked.
Fortunately, even if it was artificial, I could help them with a lack of confidence.
I washed the group with my aura of courage and repeated myself.
"We will finish this mission. Got it?"
"Got it." A few of them answered back.
I only needed a few of them to help pressure the rest of the group.
"Good. Then let's keep mov-"
I paused mid-sentence as faintly I heard movement. A vague grinding noise accompanied by the sound of a dozen small objects hitting the ground.
"Spread out!" I ordered and not a second too late.
A small whistle preceded a large rock smashing past my left side. It bounced through where several trainees had been standing. It looked at least 50 pounds and it moved fast. If it had hit anyone, it would've been bad news, even for me.
"Move! Go get it." I shouted.
The sooner that we could find the Grimm tossing these rocks, the sooner we could put it down.
12 out of the 16 trainees agreed with me and raced off into the forest ahead of me. 4 did not.
"What are you doing? Get moving!"
"I don't think we should." That same teal-haired girl refused.
You're beginning to get on my nerves here.
"A Grimm big enough to throw rocks like that should be the guardian. But Ursa Major don't have hands for grabbing. I think you're making a mistake." She blurted out.
It was clear how much she was fighting against her obvious shyness to tell me this. But just as before, her shyness was secondary to her clear intelligence.
She was right, just as she'd been about the decision to turn back. But just as before, I had no intention of wasting even a single day.
"If that's what you believe then go back to Vale. Nobody is forcing you to be out here."
"What about the others?" One of her teammates asked.
A deep drum-like beating echoed from up ahead, followed by a guttural roar.
"You can either turn back to Vale to avoid the risk. Or you can come to help them. I don't care what you choose."
I turned away and dashed in the direction of the roar.
I couldn't hear them behind me as I ran, but frankly, I didn't blame them.
It took me little time at all to catch up and break into a clearing.
Just as predicted, there was no Ursa Major. There was, however, some kind of barrel-chested humanoid Grimm. It walked around on all fours, placing its weight onto its front knuckles.
So far no one had been hurt by it, but I could tell from its appearance that this wasn't a D class Grimm.
It was easily 18 feet tall if not more as several of the trainees stood no taller than its knees.
Large and thick bone plates covered every surface of its body, only breaking at the joints to allow it to move
The intelligence and the level of adaptations put this at least a full tier above, maybe 2. I wasn't sure which, but in either case, it was at the level that no amount of trainees could handle alone. Defence-oriented Grimm had tough hides. They required a level of power output that these guys wouldn't have yet.
"Clear the Grimm as they spawn and keep out of the way!" I ordered.
I circled and snuck into its flank while it was distracted by the others as they split apart and spread out.
Hunched over like it was, it had several openings along its spine and ribs and I swung my sword hard at the closest one. Crocea Mors dug in maybe an inch before the dense flesh beneath its armor caught it. I instantly jumped away, dodging the spinning back fist it launched in retaliation.
I'd have to strike harder if I wanted to get anything done, but how much harder? I could triple my strength again if I wanted to burn my aura and risk injuring myself as I had during the blackout. But would that be enough?
Would this creature even flinch after a five-inch deep wound? How many would I have to land to kill it?
No, I needed to find a weakness to exploit. I would exhaust myself before brute-forcing my way through this fight.
The Grimm's red eyes tracked me as I circled it and I could see the dense musculature of its back and legs wind up. In turn, I boosted my strength to the limit. I needed to see how strong this thing was. If I had to dodge its every blow, it restricted a lot of my options.
The Grimm leaped with an arm cocked back for a punch that contained the full weight of its body behind it.
I pushed my aura into the ground, deeply rooting myself into place so I wouldn't be knocked away during my defense.
Its fist met my shield head-on and my defense instantly crumbled.
The raw strength overpowered me, pushing my shield into my chest. It ripped my feet away from the ground and sent me flying backward into a tree. The impact was mostly absorbed by my back and aura, but the rest of my body soon followed. My head cracked against the wood and even with my enhanced aura shield, the blow left me seeing stars.
I sluggishly stumbled forward onto hands and knees, narrowly avoiding the fist that shattered the tree where I'd been.
With what strength I could muster in my arms while I recovered, I pushed myself to the side as a hand shook the earth behind me.
I struggled to find my footing and lashed out with Crocea Mors as I did. The blade bounced off the armor plating, but the feedback force accelerated me back.
Slowly, I regained my wits as I scrambled to put more space between the windmill of bone and flesh and myself. I leaped and crawled and rolled until finally, I could no longer feel the wind of its blows chasing me.
But it wasn't because I'd escaped it.
It had lost interest in me.
Its red eyes trailed away from me and over to one of the trainees.
No!
I sprinted back to make myself a target once more, but it had already begun bounding toward her.
"Look out!" I shouted, desperate to warn her.
She turned and jumped away as fast as she could. But the attack she had evaded, never even came.
The second I stepped into range, it turned and struck at me once more.
I hadn't even considered the possibility it would act like this. I'd never seen a Grimm lure someone like that.
I'd been so certain it had changed targets that I'd put all my energy into moving forward. I couldn't stop or steer away In time.
So I had to stop it instead.
If I used my full force I could probably carve its outer finger off and just barely dodge. The muscle there couldn't be as dense as it was on its back, and there's less than a foot of flesh to cut through.
I overcharged my strength, prepared to deal with the backlash, and countered as hard as I could.
My sword cut the air as the Grimm pulled away at the last second. My momentum carried me forward, off-balance, and the Grimm grabbed me by my lower body.
It lifted me off the ground and squeezed.
The pain was intense, and I screamed as my aura could barely smother the crushing force.
But then the squeezing stopped.
The Grimm brought me up to its face and snorted at me. Its red eyes searching for something from me.
When it didn't find it, it squeezed again, drawing further screams from me. And once again the squeezing stopped.
It held me up high and pounded the ground and its chest, hooting as it spun itself in circles.
It was… laughing?
The crushing grip returned and I fought to deny it. My reward was that it only squeezed me harder by striking the ground with the fist that contained me. I couldn't stop myself from crying out as my aura continued to dwindle.
It was laughing at my pain, enjoying it even. It sought to prolong my suffering so that it could enjoy it as much as possible.
But even I had my limits.
/-/
An ominous, heavy feeling weighed down on the shoulders of the trainees.
With the Grimm culled back to the point where only those that were freshly spawning remained, the trainees had the freedom to scan their surroundings and realize that it was coming from Jaune.
His head hung loosely from his shoulders and he didn't scream anymore.
It would have been easy to assume him dead if it weren't for the movement of his lips as he muttered to himself.
Then, like a man possessed, Jaune's body jerked upwards as he lifted the sword high and brought it back down tip first into a gap in the Grimm's armored knuckle.
He struck again and again, growling and roaring with every hack and slash. His aura which had been a strange pink color shot out from his body in bolts of blood-red every time he moved. And with every bolt, a small pang of fear penetrated his audience.
The way he fought; the way he felt; it wasn't the same as what they'd felt from other huntsmen that they'd met in their lives thus far. It barely felt human at all.
The Grimm's finger finally severed and hit the ground as it began to dissolve. Jaune immediately pulled himself free of its grasp.
Several of the trainees stepped forward, rallying by his side, ready to take on the ape.
A wave of Jaune's arm shot out more aura, pushing them back into the group. He did not want them involved.
Several of them shared a look as if to say 'wasn't this meant to be our initiation?'
There had been mutterings well before now regarding Jaune's decision-making. But they'd assumed he was just being a hard-ass and pushing them. They'd thought it had been tough love.
But now, they were beginning to wonder if they had even been a factor in their 'instructor's' mind.
"Do you have a plan?" One of the trainees asked.
His response was to race toward the Grimm, sword at the ready.
His aura streaked off of his body, congregating around his sword and turning him into a red missile that churned the ground and exploded against the palm of the Grimm that it held up in defense.
For the first time today, Jaune's attacks had an effect. His sword penetrated straight through the hand of the Grimm and began to grind against the armor of its chest. Black Grimm essence splashed as his aura produced a second swell that fractured the hand and cracked its chest.
"Dance now you bastard!" Jaune shouted as the energy wave condensed to a single point.
A small hole was opened in its armor and the Grimm slapped at Jaune to try and get him away.
Jaune raised his shield and a red barrier formed an inch ahead of the steel. The Grimm's arm was rebuffed violently and the conflicting forces tore its arm back at the elbow, breaking it clean off.
"Die!" Jaune roared as he pulled the sword free of the Grimm's shattered palm.
With a swing of his sword, he severed the hand at the wrist, rediscovering the weak point on its chest.
His roar was more like an animal than a human's, and an injured one at that.
He pushed his sword and the red coating of aura through the gap in its armor and into the flesh of its body.
And then with a final shout, the Grimm's body exploded, leaving nothing but a smoking pair of legs and a head which soared through the air before landing near the feet of the shocked students.
Jaune's red aura crackled, evaporating the Grimm essence which coated him head to toe.
And as he stood there, no doubt in pain from the injuries he'd sustained; he began to laugh.
The trainees didn't know what to do with that. They just watched, uncomfortable and uncertain of the man who had pushed them well beyond their capabilities on this mission; the man who practically oozed danger.
Jaune's laughter finally subsided and he took a deep shaking breath. He turned and looked at the students who flinched under his gaze.
"What are you wasting time for? Destroy the stone alre-"
A flash of red energy interrupted his orders as it seemingly ruptured the skin around his left armpit. A heavy flow of blood began to drip from his fingertips.
"Are you okay?" One of the trainees hesitantly asked.
"I'm-"
Another flash of red erupted from his thigh, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Shit." He swore before passing out.
/-/
"-healing the wounds as we speak."
I shifted a little. The ground was soft. Too soft.
A bed?
"I think he's awake," Nora stated from close by.
Two fingers forced my eyelids open and shone a torch straight into them. I pushed it away; it was way too bright.
"So he is. I'll leave him to you all."
"Thank you, Jessica." That was Glynda.
"It's no problem. At least this one is always interesting to treat. Broken bones can be a little boring after a few years. But a body exploding from the inside with no external trigger? That's worth the trip." The voice that must be Jessica responded.
A door opened and closed a moment later as someone left the room.
"So what do you have to say for yourself?" Glynda asked.
"Is now the time to be having this conversation?" Ren in turn asked Glynda, revealing himself to me.
No one spoke, so I assumed some nonverbal gesture had answered instead.
I cracked an eye open and once I'd adjusted to the light, I could see a concerned Ren and Nora. I also happened to spy a visibly pissed-off Glynda.
"Mission successful?" I tried.
The last thing I remembered was getting grabbed by that Grimm; what was I supposed to say?
"Mission-" She audibly growled. "When you realized the mission had changed you should have abandoned it and returned to Vale. You put a dozen potential huntsman and huntresses at risk-"
"Did anyone get hurt?" I interrupted.
She didn't respond straight away.
"Did anyone other than me get hurt?" I corrected.
"That's not the point and you know it."
"That sounds like a no," I replied.
I sat myself up and examined my injuries. I wasn't bleeding anymore which was good. And that burning pain was gone too.
"Look. The original mission was too easy for the group in the first place. That they struggled a little bit wasn't enough evidence for me to just throw in the towel while I was there. I had the right to step in if something went wrong without costing them their licenses, so I did. I got all of them out of there with a mission success and no one injured. Why am I being lectured over this?"
"You got injured." Nora corrected.
"You know what I meant."
"Maybe, but do you know what it sounds like? It sounds like you don't care whether you get hurt. You do care, don't you?" Nora asked.
"If I could've avoided it I would've-"
"Then why didn't you order a retreat?" Glynda asked.
"Because that would've meant failing the mission."
"And that's more important than you not getting hurt?" Nora asked.
Getting tag-teamed by these two was getting a little bit annoying.
"Uhh, yes? People get hurt all the time. Shit happens. I have aura, I can handle a bit of pain if it means I get something out of it. Speaking of, how many passed?"
Glynda looked about to drag the conversation back where she wanted it.
"Just tell me. You can lecture me whenever can't you?"
"Three out of four teams, one team returned early-"
"Pass them as well. I gave them the choice to return to Vale when they recognized how the mission had changed. Making that call wasn't a failing of theirs, and they held their own against the horde. Considering I'm the one who fought the guardian, they did just as much as the other teams." I interrupted. "Besides, we need them, right?"
Glynda studied my face before finally nodding.
"That is agreeable." She stated. "But! We aren't done discussing this mission Jaune. I need you to understand what you did before I can trust you with more missions."
"Consider it understood." I dismissively replied, earning a frown.
She turned and stormed out the door, leaving me with Ren and Nora.
"Go ahead." I sighed.
Neither of them spoke up.
"You should've told us you had a mission," Nora stated.
"Yeah, I probably should have. I didn't want you to try and talk me out of it."
"I know," Nora replied. "And I probably would have."
"Then...?"
"Nothing. We would have preferred to be told. And we would prefer you to stop ending up like this. But the mission was a success and you'll be better by morning. We just have to accept that this time you made the right call. But Jaune... Tell us you at least understand what might have happened if this hadn't been the right call." Ren requested.
I'm not stupid. If that attack hadn't killed it we all might have died. If I'd been even slightly too weak, it could have been a repeat of that night.
I needed to get stronger; fast.
"I do."