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V^^^V
The next week: Combat Class
A Monster is Born
The past week was bullshit! These were the thoughts of one Cardin Winchester. Jaune Arc, or as Cardin likes to call him, "the fake," had somehow gone from bottom bitch to freaking top of the class in the span of a week! It started after he somehow won against him in last week's Combat Class.
After the fake cheated that win, he began some kind of "Secret training." With his gay-looking teammate and somehow, he started winning all of his fights in Combat Class with a standard longsword! Miss Goodwitch even started to give Arc preferential treatment!
Not only that but, the Schnee-bitch started tutoring him on Dust Application Class, and somehow he started getting A on the quizzes! I don't know how he did it, but I know that fake could never win against me, so he definitely cheated! And I'll prove it!
But enough about that extra, let's go to the important people.
The gang decided to go to class early today to get better seats. Since today they'll be fighting in a proper arena courtesy of the Beacon alumni who were sick and tired of hearing their kids complain that the school didn't have an appropriate area to fight in that protected the audience.
Mostly because, more often than not, they were the audience getting hit by stray rounds and debris that escape Miss Goodwitch.
"Have you guys seen Jaune? He's been waking up before any of us do since last week." Pyrrha asked team RWBY.
"No, but I heard he was on the school's west wing at 6:00 am, and he was laughing like a supervillain, carrying a box to the lockers," Blake said while reading her smut. (Blake: It's not smut! It's Literary ART!)
"Hi, Guys!" Jaune hollered as he arrives in the nick of time to avoid the wrath of professor Goodwitch. "Jaune, where were you? We didn't see you at breakfast. In fact, have you even eaten yet?" Pyrrha said in her usual mother-hen-like behavior towards Jaune, making the others giggle at her.
"Sorry about that. I was so excited about the combat class that I could barely sleep! It's why I was up so early, so I went to get some things from the armory before class." He said.
"There's an armory in Beacon?! Why didn't anyone tell me?!" Ruby exclaimed
"Well, according to Miss Goodwitch, it was in the pamphlet, but apparently not bothered to read it," Jaune said to pacify her. "Who would have been bored enough to read that?" Ruby said, pouting. Not realizing that, she just insulted her partner and Pyrrha.
"May I have your attention, please." Miss Goodwitch said to get the attention of the class. "As you may have noticed, we have a few additions to our academy. Namely, this new arena but, that is not all they gave us. They also outfitted the training rooms with the latest Atlassian Hard Light Hologram projectors and "The hunter's Workshop," an Augmented Reality Systems for Combat Simulations and stealth training. The rooms also have Gravity and Environmental settings to prepare all of you for different scenarios that you may encounter."
"Wow, that's some cutting-edge stuff," Jaune said to Pyrrha in astonishment. She nods and says, "We should schedule a room for both teams later. It would be fun!" they returned to listing to miss Goodwitch after discussing what scenarios they want to try first with team RWBY.
"- today's lesson is on how to survive an ambush with multiple attackers. As such, the exercise today is to fend off an entire team alone for fifteen minutes. Survive or beat them in the allotted time, and you get a perfect score. Survive for eight or more minutes, and you get a passing or higher grade. If your Aura falls below 15% before ten minutes are up, you fail."
"Yikes. I feel so sorry for whoever fights P-money or me for that matter." Yang said to Nora, "I bet that Pyrrha will be the first pick today." Nora wagered to her. "I bet it's going to be Yang!" Ruby loudly whispered, "I bet It's Jaune." Ren said, shocking the others that he joined in.
Jaune raised his hand and said. "I'd like to go first!" this shocked everyone. No one anticipated he'll volunteer. The shock didn't last long because Cardin immediately volunteered team CRDL to fight Jaune. Miss Goodwitch allowed it and asked them to prepare. Ruby and Nora gave Ren his dues.
"Jaune, are you crazy?! Why did you do that?!" Ruby asked with concern for her first cru- FRIEND!
"It's ok, Rubes; I can totally survive for ten minutes against Cardin and his mooks! I'll show you the results of my team's training!" he said to a pouting Ruby. "Good luck Jaune!" Pyrrha encouraged him, Followed by the rest of the gang.
"Rubes, by the time I'm done with this fight, I'm going to show you what's better than a scythe!" Jaune said to Ruby before he went to prepare. As he walked away hi missed Ruby blushing up a storm and a slightly fuming Yang. "Silly Jaune. Nothing better than a scythe!" she says as he walks away.
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V^^^V
In the Arena:
The arena was massive; it was like a miniature Amity Colosseum only on the ground instead of flying in the sky. The stadium itself was the size of a football field and was surrounded at all times with an invisible Hard Light force field, and it can create terrains via the same Hard Light hologram projectors. The projections are so realistic that they look and feel like the real thing! It was set to a castle ruin setting, making Jaune geek out at how much it seems like the Undead Burg from BlackSpirit 1.
Team CRDL was standing by the western part of the arena, all of them looking smug like they'll get an easy win because they still think he's faking it and that he somehow bribed his oppositions from earlier fights. They were going to show that this guy was nothing but a fake, even if it kills one of them!
Jaune then came to his side of the arena, and as he got into view, everyone immediately knew something was up. Jaune wasn't using his standard equipment. In fact, he was using something entirely out of his modus operandi.
mechashift weaponry, Jaune had two Katana-type swords with what looks like mechashift abilities. One was an Uchigatana, a samurai sword that was 5 to 6 inches longer than a standard katana with a possibly telescopic handle. The other is a Chisa katana, which is a slightly longer version of a Wakazashi also with a telescopic handle and what seems to be a Dust caster attachment.
Both katanas don't have a guard and are color black in both handle and blade. Both are sheathed on his left side. The other thing is Jaune was also wearing two animalistic fingerless gauntlets and clawed sabatons that were made of black metal with white light trimming the contours of both armor pieces.
Miss Goodwitch raises an eyebrow but says nothing. She was about to start the match but was interrupted when the Headmaster arrived unexpectedly. "What are you doing here, Headmaster?" she asked, somewhat irritated at being interrupted.
"Oh, I'm just here to watch the maiden battle of the arena. After all, it's not often I get to watch the student fights myself." He said as he sips his coffee.
This makes Miss Goodwitch silently seethe with rage. She knew Ozpin was using this as an excuse to get out of doing his paperwork, but it's not like she can do anything about it. She called all the student's attention, and she repeated the instructions for Ozpin's benefit.
Only for Ozpin to added a new stipulation to the bout. "All students capable of beating all four of their opponents get to have a 2000 lien gift card from the (Schnee Mall) S.M. Mall of Vale and all teams and solo-members capable of defeating or surviving their opponents for ten minutes get to skip a whole day of class on any day of the year. For solo members, this prize is shared with your team. Exams days are exempted from this prize."
This got everyone excited! If they can't get the prizemoney, they at least can get a day without class with their teams. Since there was a holiday next Monday, it would be like a mini-vacation! "Hear that, boys, we get to beat Jauney-boy to the ground and skip class legally!" especially team CRDL.
"~Ahem~" they all look to an irritated miss Goodwitch. "As I was saying, get into position." Jaune and team CRDL started to go to their parts of the arena.
"I want a good clean fight. No-kill moves and dismemberment allowed both are expulsion level offenses. Aside from that, this is a no-holds-barred fight. in the count of three, you may begin." This is, it Jaune thought, a chance to test all of his admittedly bizarre skills. At this moment, he can't help but feel the excitement. Then miss Goodwitch started counting down.
"One"
Jaune's heart was beating like the Drums of War.
"Two"
His hands tightly grip the handles of his blades, ready to strike.
"Three"
Time stood still for Jaune.
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V^^^V
Weiss's POV
You know, if someone had told me, That Arc of all people would go from the weakest student in Beacon to one of the top 10 in class in a week, I would probably ask you which asylum did you escape from. Yet here we are, Arc's fighting like an ancient Atlassian knight and was really good at it! It started after Jaune had gotten his first-ever win against Cardin, and he discovered his new training method.
You see, Jaune can learn anything that was put into a game, and at first, it was just following the fighting style of the character he was playing. After three days of practice, we found out that he doesn't actually just learn from games. He also derives the knowledge he needs from them.
Like when he created an actual longsword martial art style from the videogame he was playing, The Hexer III: The Wild Hunt. He calls it The Nine Sun Sword Style, a sword fighting style that revolves around fighting up to ten opponents alone while spinning around to create momentum and look around you to keep your enemy in your sights. Also, with the sword spinning around you, keep them out of stabbing distance of your back.
I've seen him use it three times. 1st time I saw Jaune use Nine Suns was when Jaune was picked to fight five Level 3 training robots in Combat Class, and the 2nd time was in Grimm Studies, where we all went to the Emerald Forest. Jaune Took on a small Grimm hoard. (Roughly 10 Beowolves, 5 Ursas, and one Ursa Major).
The 3rd time was in Combat Class last Wednesday, where Jaune fought Jaers Tempestwing (Jaerskov Tempestwing), the 8th strongest of our year. (RWBY and NPR make up the top 7 strongest) Jaers or Jae, as he likes to be called. Is a well-mannered 1st year with black hair and eyes with a blue dragon tattoo made with Blue lightning dust ink. His weapon is a Katana with a Lightning and Wind Dust Caster.
Apparently, Jaer was a fan of the SpiritBorne series's games (RPG's in general), specifically Jakiro: The Darkness Kills Twice and BlackSpirit 3, and when he witnesses Jaune's fight last week and saw the fighting style he used at the end. He just had to fight Jaune after that.
The battle was epic! It was like a fight between The Undead Legion's final phase and The Divine Dragon from Jakiro! Jae hurled lightning bolts and wind blades at Jaune while Jaune used his new Nine Sun style mixed with the Undead Legion Kata to dodge and strike at Jae at inhuman speeds.
The fight met a Climactic end when Jaune CAUGHT the Biggest lightning bolt Jae can throw at him with his sword and hurled it right back at him! The battle ended with Jae at 15% and Jaune at 25% Aura, making Jaune the winner. After the match, Jae and Jaune became friends, and they sometimes play Jakiro or BlackSpirit from time to time.
It also seems his "Scholar Gamer" ability or simply "Gamer" also translates to learning about other things like the Dust Craft in Kingdom Come: Mantle. It's the spiritual successor for the Kingdome Come: Deliverance, and it had the most realistic application in-game of Dust-Craft, like how to use it in making dust rounds and dust bombs.
And when Jaune applied what he learned from the game to real life, with a little tutoring from me in exchange for letting me use his X-Station, he started to get good grades in Applied Dust Theory! He even got the second-highest score in the last exam, next to me, of course. Still, for something he only studied for two-days, he did astoundingly well.
Still, it's not perfect. While Jaune can learn practical knowledge with his Gamer ability, esoteric stuff like Aura Control is still far from his reach since no one can even observe such a thing in real life, let alone in a videogame format. Fortunately for him, Ren, and surprisingly enough, Blake volunteered to teach him basic aura control exercises. Though I do believe Blake got bribed with something.
Why, you ask?
Because I saw them talking in a shady corner in the library last Thursday, they looked like they were dealing with drugs with all the suspicious things she was doing. I mean, when Jaune gave her a book, she looked into it and began calling it precious and acted like that Golem character from the Lord of the Circlets books. Yesterday when I tried to look at it, she swiped at me while hissing, "My precious! MINE!"… It was a weird day…
Anyway, because the rest of our teams helping Jaune out with his academics and his constant spars with Pyrrha. He finally caught up to the rest of us and was now a semi-decent huntsman-in-training… He still a dunce, though!
"I'm curious, how do you think Jau- Arc will fare in this exercise. I mean, before his first victory, he would probably just run around and turtle up to survive the next ten minutes. But now it was getting harder and harder to predict him." I asked Pyrrha.
"Honestly? I don't know. Although Jaune spars with me at night, I think he has been training in secret in the morning, and it's getting harder and harder to hold back in our spars." She said proudly. "Although I never got to spar with him when he experiments with other weapons." She grumbled, a little miffed. I would be, too, if my partner decided to do dangerous things on her own.
"Guys! It's starting!" Ruby shouted, "Go, Jauney!" Nora Cheered after.
As soon as the match started, Jaune ran at team CRDL, and in the blink of an eye, Jaune lunges towards his target blades drawn, held toward each opposing side of him. Dove was about to block with his gunblade arming sword, But Jaune does a jumping cruciform slash that breaks Dove's guard.
Pushing Dove's gunblade away from his body and while disoriented, Jaune stabbed Dove with the Uchigatana in his right hand, into his stomach, making Dove fold forward. Jaune then lifted him up slightly with the blade before he SLAMMED him into the ground on his back with another stab.
Up in the stalls
"in all my years as Tournament champion, I have never seen such a brutal opening attack before," Pyrrha commented, a little concerned for her Blonde knight.
"I've done worse," Ren commented. Probably referring to what he and Jaune did to that guy who tried to grope Nora two weeks ago.
"That was the Oni Slayer Weapon art with the Hornet Ring Riposte!" I shouted, and unknown to me. Blake took notes on how it's done for her own use with her Katana/Cleaver/Kusarigama. Meanwhile, a red reaper is admiring the weapons Jaune is displaying.
Back in the arena
The stab didn't actually injure Dove since his Aura blocked it, But the fact that the blade's point kept trying to pierce him throughout the attack ate a lot on Dove's reserves. Cutting his Aura by 45%. He isn't really much of a tank, and Jaune hits like a truck. Jaune then jumped away from a diagonal slash from Sky's halberd while Russel helped Dove to his feet.
'Ok, I admit that was a pretty epic guard break riposte combo. Although, why did he have to pick the Onikiri and Ubidachi? Why didn't he choose The Crystal Sage's Rapier? That's the best weapon in-game!' I thought, slightly miffed
Jaune then saw a shadow closing in from right above him, and he dodges to the left. Just as Cardin plunge attacks the area he was in before, Russel then copies Jaune and strikes him from behind him with a cruciform jumping slash with added Fire and Ice Dust from his Dust casting sabers. If Jaune blocks or parries the attack, his blades would be ruined. "That's not how you fish for backstabs," Jaune said
The blond knight dodged to the left. This caused Russel to overshoot and allowed Jaune to slip behind him and shout "BOOTY!" then proceed to stab Russel in the -ass- I mean BACK! And then Spartan kicked him to the ground. Causing Russel to lose 35% of his Aura and fall to the floor with his butt in the air. "THAT'S how you fish for backstabs."
Ok, that was just bad. What type of idiot shows his back to his enemies? Might as well have painted a target on your posterior with an arrow pointing at it on your back that says 'Stab here!' Props to Arc for capitalizing on it though, you did your fellow SpiritBorne players proud on that glorious backstab fishing.
"Well, Russel thought he was hot shit only to end up the BUTT of the joke," Yang puns at Russel's misfortune.
Everyone groans at her abominable attempt at comedy. "Damn it, Yang!" Ruby shouts at her, exasperated at her sister's stupid puns.
"Yang, Can't we just watch the fight, please," Blake said with a face and tone that she was done with all of Yang's Punishment.
"You just want to see Jaune Assassinate another one." Yang quipped to her partner. At this point, my team and I are already hatching a plan to make Yang mute, preferably forever. Anyway, back to the fight.
Sky came twirling around his halberd as he shoots dust rounds at Jaune at point-blank range and trying to hack at him with the axe head. Unfortunately for him, Jaune knows that halberds, like scythes, have a sweet spot when it comes to dealing maximum damage, The axe head specifically.
As Sky swings his halberd diagonally at Jaune, Jaune gets closer to him, just past the axe head, and he tanks the hit from the halberd's shaft, and he slashes Sky in the side with his Chisa Katana. Sky jumps away and goes for an overhead axe swing.
Jaune sheaths his Chisa Katana and mechashifts his Uchigatana into a Naginata and uses it to deflect Sky's halberd.
Then he hits Cardin's chest with the butt of the staff as he was going to hit Jaune with a sneak attack landing him on his ass. He pole-vaulted to his left, and flying kicked Dove in his face. As he landed, he then did the Split Leaf Combo on Cardin and Sky. The former using his mace to defend himself while the other getting hit twice, costing him 30% of his Aura.
Jaune then mechashifted his Naginata into a Scythe. As he lunged, he swung it at Russel to his right, apparently recovered enough to pay back. Russel ducks his head down, which saves his neck from getting hooked by the blade.
Up in the stalls
"SQEEEEEEE! HE HAS A SCYTHE! SCYTHE BUDDY! SQUEEEEEE!" Ruby Squeals in delight at seeing her friend (crush) use an honest to Oum Scythe. "OW! Not so loud!" Blake complained, rubbing her bow for some reason. "Sorry, Blake!" she says while Yang just continues to collect Blackmail material with her phone.
Back to the Gank Spank!
He smirks smugly at Jaune and shouts, "Ha! You missed!" he then sees a lock of light green hair falling down in front of him, then another, and then another. Russel positions the side of Shortwings in front of him with a trembling hand, using them like mirrors to see that Jaune's Scythe had cleanly shaved his Mohawk except for the part from behind his head, leaving a smooth strip of skin in its place. This shocked team CRDL enough to pause their attack.
Up in the stalls
"HAAHAHAHAHAHAH! That was EVIL!" Yang shouted while laughing her ass off. Even though I know, she would have totaled anyone who'd dare try that on her.
"Jauney! His legs are lower!" You can guess who said that on your own.
Back to the Gank Spank!
Jaune's POV
"Sorry! I was aiming for your neck!" I said apologetically, "I'LL KILL YOOOUUUU!" Russel shouts with pain and anguish.
I was having so much fun. It's like I'm playing BlackSpirit 3, spanking a gank squad of four try-hard-noobs! Russel was their 40-INT/60-DEX Assassin whose focus was fast casting sorceries for DPS and then chipping away their health with his sellsword twinblades. Sky Lark was their Ornstein Cosplayer that forgot to invest in Faith with his build. Dove was their straight sword R1 spammer. And Cardin is their Pyromancer that likes to spam Chaos Vistage.
Seriously, the only one that had a proper build was Russel! He even had a decent plan to disarm me with the whole ice and fire tactic that would have destroyed my sword if I had decided to parry or block. But, the guy got a bit greedy and got his ass handed to him.
Anyway, Cardin and his gang are on the move again. He's ordering his team to surround me. I'm ok with that. It just means I can show one of my secret weapons. "Hey, Ruby! I'm about to show you what's better than a Scythe!" I shouted to the stalls above me, though I doubt that she can hear me. She and everyone else in the room looked at me, curious at what I mean.
While I was talking, team CRDL had finished their preparation. They look like they recovered 15% of their Aura each, and all of them had their weapons primed with elemental dust charges. I held my scythe behind my back across my shoulder, then unsheathed my Chisa Katana and smiled.
Weiss's POV
"What could Better than a scythe?" Ruby asked while tilting her head to the side. Now, this is usually the time I start ignoring her, but then again, I'm curious about what Jaune could be planning. 'Let's see, Jaune aimed that boast at Ruby, so that means it has to be something that Ruby herself would think as being better than a scythe. However, improbable that line of thinking it may be.'
Cardin and his merry band of imbeciles have just surrounded Jaune, and the dunce just smiles and- 'Hold on a second, I know that stance.' As soon as Jaune put his scythe across his back. Its blade began to glow a pale blue while frosting over.
Suddenly Weiss screamed in excitement and began to clap rapidly, scaring her friends. "If he's doing what I think he's doing, then it would definitely be better than A scythe!" I said with manic glee. After all, Jaune's going to be referencing my favorite game character. 'He'd better do her justice!'
Anyway, back to the gank-spank! Jaune swung his scythe around him with one hand, causing icicles to spear around him like a garden of bamboo. Hitting Sky and Dove while the other two jumped away. Then he mechashifts his Chisa katana into ANOTHER SCYTHE, and it burst itself and Jaune in black flames. At first, it looks like Jaune lost control over the Dust function, but one look at him, and everyone knew that it was all part of his plan.
Ruby squeals in absolute ecstasy and jumps up and down in her seat. "He has TWO scythes!" she fan-gasms at us. I don't need to be a mind reader to know that she now agrees with me that it was definitely better than one scythe. 'What is Cardin doing?' she thought as she sees Cardin hanging back while the other three fight Jaune.
Jaune then started slashing around with his scything blades of ice and fire. Jumping into the air while twirling his two scythes around him like a maelstrom of pain and death. Swooping down with the wrath of an angry god on to his unwitting victims. The first to reach the red zone was Dove, getting hit twice on the side with the longer scythe and once neck with the shorter scythe, freezing him and setting him on fire with the first and second strike.
The second to go was Sky, who got his halberd cut in half while using it to defend himself. He got hit three times with the Dust function before being rendered to 15% Aura. And the last one to drop was Russel, who Jaune picked up from behind him and caught between his scythes' necks and subsequently hammered into the ground in front of him in a frozen heap.
Yang's POV
"You got to hand it to Lady-Killer. He sure has style." Arc sure came a long way, and to think that it only took three months! 'Nora's training sure gave him GREAT results!' I thought, remembering the incident where Jaune accidentally used the girl's shower last night, he was lucky it was just me who saw him. His ass looks so firm, I bet you can bounce quarters off them! I was ripped from my fantasies by my sister tugging on my sleeves.
"Yang?" I hear my cute little sister call out to me with uncertainty in her voice.
"What's up, Rubes?" I asked her with concern. She looks at me with unsure eyes brimming with doubt and confusion. Her hands gripping the front of her skirt as her legs squirm underneath. 'What's wrong with my baby sis?!' I thought worriedly.
"Yang, when Jaune used his scythe earlier, my chest felt really warm, and my tummy felt tingly." She said with a blush, my concern turned to anger though I hid it well. "and then when he revealed his second scythe. The tingling went down to… you know… down there." As she finished, she crosses her legs and looks me in the eyes.
"and now my undies a little damp, Yang, my body feels weird and oddly…kind of hot... Am I Ill, Yang? Am I dying?!" she asks me, worried and confused. My eyes were blood red at this point, and I was ready to jump into the arena to kill Vomit-boy myself. "Don't worry, your pretty little head Rubes, you're not dying... Although someone else will be." I said with a fake smile and grit teeth.
"Well, it was nice knowing you, Jaune," Blake whispered. Meanwhile, Pyrrha was glaring daggers at Ruby. While everybody was distracted, Weiss shouted, "Behind you, Jaune!" bringing us all back to the arena's match.
Jaune's POV:
After freezing Russel to the ground, Jaune mechashifted his Scythes back into katanas. He looked at the crowd and waved at his friends, Pyrrha, and team RWBY sans Weiss seemed to be distracted, but Nora and Weiss are cheering me on. Mostly, Nora, she was incredibly animated today, it seems. She was jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store with excitement.
Although I do feel like I forgot something? Just as I was about to sheath blades, I noticed that Miss Goodwitch hasn't announced who won yet. Then I remembered Cardin's still out there. I heard footsteps behind me, just before Weiss Shouted to watch out.
I turn around, and I saw Cardin 15 meters away sprinting towards me with his mace burning hotter than hell. As fast as Cardin was running. I could still dodge him, and just as I was about to, I remembered Russel was frozen in place with barely any aura left.
Shit! If I don't dodge, I'll lose, and if I do, Russel will die when Cardin hits him! Cardin was only three meters away when I decided to block the strike, but as soon as Cardin was two meters away, he decided to make his charging attack into an aerial one and jumped into the air to perform an overhead axe strike!
I knew that if I tried to parry that, it would just plough right through my Chisa Katana. I decided to flare my Aura into my swords and basically overcharged the dust function of my weapons. I then countered the devastating attack with one of my own and did a cruciform dual diagonal slash.
The clash of our weapons was so intense. It sent shockwaves all around us shaking the entire stadium like an earthquake. I managed to nullify Cardin's attack at the cost of 30% of my Aura and my now broken Chisa katana. 'There goes my deposit.'
I thought to myself as both blades were damaged and the sleeves covering my biceps were shredded off to my shoulders. Looking at the aftermath of our attack. The ruins around us were absolutely demolished and covered in fire and brimstone on one end and ice and hoar frost on the other.
Strangely enough, the rest of team CRDL were spared from all that. "Cardin, you asshole! You nearly killed me!" Russel shouted from his frozen prison. Cardin looks shocked after seeing Russel was right behind me, and he looks at his scroll mounted on his wrist. I look around me and saw Russel's scroll was twenty feet away from him to the west of the arena.
So that's why Cardin attacked even though Russel was in the line of fire. Cardin must have been looking at his scroll to coordinate his sneak attack. I look at my weapons; The Chisa was broken beyond repair, and the Uchigatana's mechashift and Dust functions are fried.
"I curse my stars in bitter grief and woe,"
I threw away the Chisa katana and sheathed the remaining Katana into its scabbard. I then took out the Uchigatana and its sheath off my belt and held it with my left hand, and brushed my hair up with my right. It was getting in my eyes, and I was channeling my inner weeb.
"That made my love so high and me so low."
This is gonna be Stylish.
Weiss's POV
"Ok, props for Jaune for quoting "Poetical," by my namesake. But the way he brushed his hair up kinda made him look like an edge lord." Blake told the team, coming from the girl who wears all black? That kind of comes off as hypocritical.
'William Blake? Isn't that-' my thoughts were interrupted by Jaune strike Cardin Twice with his sheathed blade, which he held in his left hand in a reverse grip by its scabbard. Once in the stomach with the sheath and on the chest with the handle. The last hit sent Cardin skyward, and Jaune slipped into a very familiar Iaido quick draw stance.
'He is!' I thought excitedly.
As Cardin was beginning to descend, Jaune did a quick draw strike, which would have looked ridiculous if it weren't for the frigin blades of Aura sent out of his barely visible multiple strikes. All of which washes over Cardin like winter mist. As Cardin lands on his feet, he saw Jaune turn his back on him, slowly sheathing his blade.
"All that bullshit, and I'm still standing you fake!" Cardin shouts at Jaune with superiority in his voice. Jaune just audibly clicked his sword into his sheath, and as if on cue, Cardin's body flashed where all the blades of Aura hit him, and his Aura, which was 50% at the time, dropped to 12% in the red. Cardin falls to his Knees, barely keeping conscious as his mace and armor start falling apart around him.
Blake's POV
'That attack!' I thought in a panic remembering another katana-wielding individual with a penchant for edginess and energy blades. 'Had Jaune met Adam before? He couldn't have he's human! Adam would have slaughtered him.' While I was ruminating on this Weiss and surprisingly Ren got really excited.
"That was the Dark Slayer Style!" Ren oddly enough, shouted to the teams. Further exciting Weiss and Nora, who now understood why Ren was so happy. "Dark Slayer? What's that?" Pyrrha asked.
"Dark Slayer is the fighting style of my favorite character Vergil from the GMC (Grimm May Cry) Videogame series. He is one of the twin half-Grimm brothers with Dante as the other half who is the protagonist of the games. He is also the antagonist of the series due to him being the opposite of his twin. Who is a happy-go-lucky guy with a devil may care attitude." Ren explained to the group.
"Vergil is also based on my mother, Raven Branwen, who believes might makes right. While Dante is based on my uncle Qrow, her twin brother, and all-around goofball with the same amount of luck with women." Yang added.
That calmed down my worries, and I'm just happy that Jaune isn't in danger of being eviscerated by, and I'm quoting my mother on this, 'the edgiest edge-lord to have ever edged.'
Jaune's POV
'Man, that was close!' I thought to myself. Looking at my scroll, which is mounted on the underside of my forearm. 'I'm at 18% and climbing, Aura attacks drain me a lot, note to self: learn to use less Aura on Aura slashes or be more efficient.'
"Team CRDL is unable to battle! Jaune Arc has survived the ambush simulation for over thirteen minutes and has defeated all four of his opponents, granting him the prize money and one day leave of absence for his entire team. Congratulation, young man! You've come a long way since the initiation." The Headmaster announced to the stadium. And the students cheer and chant his name.
'I did it. I caught up with my friends!' I thought to myself. I started to celebrate a little, shouting with joy with my friends who were still at the stalls not realizing that someone was about to ruin everything I've worked for.
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"What are you all cheering this fake for?! He didn't earn his way into Beacon like the rest of us! He faked his transcripts to get here, Headmaster!" my heart stopped for a moment upon hearing Cardin rat me out. I look around, and I see the class whispering among themselves, discussing whether I belong or not I belonged in Beacon, to begin with.
I look at my friends, and I saw that they were worried about me being expelled. Nora was threatening to break all of Cardin's bones while Ren was trying to hold her back from killing Cardin; Yang and Blake comforted Ruby, who was about to cry. Pyrrha was pleading with the Headmaster not to dismiss me from Beacon. Weiss argued to the naysayers that my exemplary performance since the start of the semester more than earned my way here.
The last one actually surprised me since even though she and I had been friendly the previous two weeks, I didn't think she had warmed up to me enough to overlook my fake transcripts. I'm touched that they like me enough to fight for my sake. If I get expelled today, I promise to help them in any way I can.
As I was trying to build my courage to face the music. The Headmaster spoke. "Bold of you to assume we didn't know from the beginning." He said in a neutral voice.
'...Whut?...'
That was the general consensus of the class. "WHAT?! You knew he was a fake, and you let him in any way?!" Cardin snarled at the Headmaster.
"Well, the transcripts are there to protect you from harm, not the other way around. Who are we to say no to able-bodied warriors when we are outnumbered a million to one by the hordes of Grimm?." He pauses to sip his coffee and continues.
"Besides, one of the best huntsmen in the world, Qrow Branwen. Also, faked his transcripts along with his sister, yet they and their team became one of Beacon's most powerful graduates in the last three decades." The Headmaster said to the class.
This information changed some of the class's opinions about me. While there are still a few, who would like to see me punished, almost all of them agree that with my recent development that at worst, I should get remedial class or detentions as both a punishment and a way to help me survive the rest of my time here.
"He still faked his way in! he in no way, shape, or form deserved to stand with us who got in fair and square! Let alone be a team leader!" Cardin said with as much venom in his voice as a King Taijitu.
"Not necessarily." The Headmaster spoke. Then show us a video of the initiation from the perspective of hidden cameras that followed my team and me. It highlighted our fight with the Deathstalker, mainly getting hammered by said Grimm repeatedly and me telling my team how to kill it.
"Mr. Arc here had earned his spot as both a student and team leader when he led his team to victory against an ancient Deathstalker and secured their artifacts as the mission dictated. He also tanked hits from said Deathstalker without Aura augmentation." He then showed us my grades from months back.
"and as you can see, his strategy and leadership grades are one of if not the highest in Beacon history, boasting a 100% on every examination, some of them getting more than 100% due to him getting even the bonus questions right." He sips his coffee again and continues.
"Now, why would I ignore such potential then when even now he shows great improvement?" he said, making me tear up at the compliment
"Be that as it may, you are also correct that cheating is wrong and must be punished" my friends and I went pale at that. Cardin was starting to smirk, thinking that I was about to be expelled.
"since the autumn break is near, he will have that time to prepare for a solo mission. A simple extermination mission under the watchful eyes of a teacher similar to the graduation exam of Signal Academy. When he passes that, his transcripts will be replaced with proper ones to legitimize him as a student."
I was so relieved when I heard that my friends started celebrating as Nora and Rubes said that it was as good as done!
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Thank you guys for your kind words! It warms my heart to hear them. But please, tell me what you like about the chapters or what needs improvements. It helps me improve my story writing skills!
with love,
Thanatos413 :3