Disclaimer: RWBY is an animated series created by Rooster Teeth. The cover image for this story is a screenshot from the Volume 8 opening.

Cardin Winchester swung his mace towards me in an overhead strike with a guttural roar.

I twisted to the side just enough to dodge his overhead swing and smacked him in his unguarded face with my shield. While he was still off-balance from his missed swing and stunned from the shield bash, I slid Alba Mors through the flanges of his mace and yanked it out of his grip. As his weapon flew across the arena, I transitioned into an offensive stance and stabbed him twice before finishing with an overhead swing that smashed him into the arena floor.

"And that's the match," Goodwitch said. "Cardin is no longer fit for battle. As you can see, his Aura has fallen below 20%. Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

I let out a deep breath and looked at my fallen opponent. I was probably Cardin's worst possible matchup, excluding Pyrrha. He was a slow, heavily-armored fighter that relied on brute strength to win fights. Unfortunately for him, I was both faster and stronger than he was.

My diet and exercise regimen had been tailored to becoming a Huntsman for more than a decade. While I focused more on muscle groups to increase speed than strength during my workouts, I was still stronger than most other Huntsmen my age even before adding Aura into the mix.

As Cardin started to pull himself to his feet, I considered giving him a hand. Then I remembered he was a total douche, so I turned around and left the stage. Over the past few weeks, Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL had cemented themselves as the biggest assholes in Beacon. As someone who had to put up with Sky Lark in Combat School, I'd be lying if I told you that surprised me.

Ignoring Cardin, I hopped off the stage and approached my friends. Weiss and Yang looked equally fired-up, and it looked like Ruby and Nora were vibrating with excitement. "Excited for the tournament?" I asked rhetorically.

"Of course," Weiss replied with a flick of her ponytail. "It will be the perfect opportunity to show the world that we're the strongest team at Beacon."

"You wish, Weiss!" Ruby shot back with a dramatic pose. "Team RRNN is going to kick your butts!"

Weiss glared at the finger Ruby was pointing at her face. "I doubt it," she replied dismissively.

I winced. Ruby's disastrous first impressions with Weiss had left their relationship somewhat frosty.

"How about we get lunch and worry about the Vytal Festival later?" Ren suggested. He looked a little winded after his match, which took place right before mine.

"Oooh, I could go for some lunch," Nora chirped. "And I can tell you guys about this amazing dream I've been having!"

As we all left the training hall, I fell in alongside Weiss. "Still not a fan of Ruby?" I asked in a low voice.

She pursed her lips. "Part of me still wonders whether she's actually earned her position at Beacon, let alone being made the leader of a team."

"She did skip two years of Combat School because Ozpin personally invited her to Beacon," I pointed out. "And she's made fantastic progress on catching up to the rest of us." I gave her a shrewd look. "She's apologized multiple times now for the way you two first met. Have you considered airing your grievances with her? She'd be willing to talk things through with you."

Weiss didn't say anything for a few moments. Right as I started to worry that I had somehow bungled that conversation, she replied. "I'll think about it."

Well, that's progress, I suppose.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." Nora began.

"It was day…" Ren tiredly added.

"We were surrounded by Ursai…" Nora continued, completely ignoring Ren's comment.

I hate that "Ursai" is the actual plural for Ursa. As someone that actually speaks Latin, it rubs me the wrong way every time I hear it.

"They were Beowolves," Ren said with a sip of pitch-black coffee.

"Dozens of them!" Nora shouted. Despite the noise, Blake continued reading her book and Weiss kept filing her nails. Yang was the only one paying rapt attention

"Two of 'em," Ren said.

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

Ren sighed. "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

Ruby nodded. "It's fun to try and pick out all the differences every time she tells it. Kinda like when you go see the movie version of a book you've read!"

"Less talking, more eating," I ordered. "You too, Weiss."

They both grumbled but complied. Weiss ate like a starving model, and Ruby gorged herself on sweets, so I had been trying to fix their terrible diets for weeks now. After plenty of experimentation, I eventually found that they were both willing to eat Argive yogurt, which was basically just Greek yogurt from back on Earth. It was nutritious, rich in protein, and tasted good too. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

"You should both be eating at least 2,500 Calories of food per day if you want to maintain a good training regimen." I said. "Nutrition is—" What the fuck is Team CRDL doing?

The four boys were surrounding a Faunus with rabbit ears and jeering at her. Sky Lark was pantomiming having rabbit ears. The girl tried to get up to leave, but Russel Thrush stepped behind her to block her escape. Cardin Winchester and Dove Bronzewing boxed her in and laughed.

I started to get up but paused. What exactly should I do here? I could try diplomacy, but even if that got them to leave her alone, there's nothing to stop them from going after her or other students later. I could start a fight, but that's not a permanent solution either, and the White Fang have proved that while violence can stop harassment from some sources, it causes other bigots to double down.

Then Cardin reached up and grabbed one of her rabbit ears as she tried to flee, and all doubt vanished from my mind. This isn't something I can ignore.

"Might need some backup in a minute if this goes poorly," I said to my friends as I stood up and started walking over to Team CRDL. Ignoring the questions my abrupt departure had created, I rapidly began thinking about what I had at my disposal.

Team CRDL and I are in our combat outfits, but none of us have our primary weapons. I'm not bad in unarmed combat, but I'm not sure I can take down all four of them without my weapons.

It'll have to do, though.

"Ow! That hurts!" the girl said. "Please, stop…"

"I told you it was real!" Cardin laughed.

"What a freak!" Russel added.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Cardin?" I asked.

"Well if it isn't Jauney Boy," Cardin said without releasing his hold on the girl's ear. "Come to take a look at the freak show?"

"Are you actually trying to be a cartoonishly-evil asshole, or are you just such a piece of shit that it comes naturally to you?"

"Fuck off, Arc," Sky spat with a glare. "Go play White Knight for animals somewhere else."

"Well, I tried diplomacy," I said with a sigh. "Now it's time for violence."

Then I punched Cardin in the teeth.

My fist connected with his unguarded face. The Aura in my arm pushed they metal-reinforced knuckles of my glove directly into his open mouth. The blow was strong enough to smash his head into the cafeteria table with a colossal crash. The thick wooden table cracked slightly from the impact, and I felt some of his teeth loosen when I made contact.

The entire lunchroom went silent. Everyone stared in shock at me and the person I just sucker-punched. The Faunus girl sprinted out of the room the minute Cardin let go of her ear. Sky and Dove on the other side of the table were frozen in place and staring at Cardin, who was cradling his face and groaning. Russel, who was standing directly to my left, kept glancing between Cardin and me.

I exhaled and let my Aura flow through my body, directing its metaphysical flow towards my nervous system to increase the speed of my reflexes. Then I slid into a combat stance and waited for them to make the next move.

After a few seconds, the three of them leapt into action. Russel swung a left hook towards my face, while Dove and Sky jumped out of their seats and across the table towards me.

I dashed in towards Russel, shot a lightning-fast jab into his windpipe, grabbed his outstretched arm, and hurled him over my shoulder into Dove. Sky lashed out towards my face with a kick, but I ducked under it, grabbed his leg, and yanked him forwards and off his feet. He landed with a yelp, and I punched his unprotected throat as hard as I could.

"You've been losing to me for four years now, Sky. I know everything you can do, and it won't be enough," I said dismissively.

Russel and Dove, who had managed to disentangle themselves from each other, hopped off the table and moved to flank me. Clearly they hadn't paid enough attention in my fights against stronger opponents.

I Blinked behind Dove, grabbed the back of his head, and yanked him down to smash his face into the cafeteria floor. While he was still stunned, I stomped on the back of his head, Blinked again, and swept Russel's legs out from under him. As he hit the ground, I swung my steel-toed boot right into his solar plexus, leaving him a coughing mess.

Then I heard metal boots hitting the ground behind me, and I leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding Cardin's wild haymaker. Behind me, Sky was standing again, and Dove had pulled himself to his knees, Aura coating his bloody nose. Things were about to get messy.

I dodged Cardin's next punch and retaliated with an uppercut, but I had to back off before I could follow up on my attack when Sky came charging in to tackle me with a roar. I sidestepped and grabbed Sky's arm in a lock to yank him into the path of Cardin's next punch. Seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, I twisted to block Russel's punch and dashed back to escape his kick. A quick glance over my shoulder showed Dove charging toward me as well.

Now that all of Team CRDL was back on their feet and surrounding me, I briefly pooled Aura into my eyes to see how much they had left. To my dismay, they were all sitting between two-thirds and three-fourths of their maximum capacity. I was still mostly full, but without the element of surprise, this could get messy fast. I need to keep them off-balance and unorganized.

So I Blinked forward and kicked Cardin in the groin as hard as I could. As he fell to his knees I spun to the side and punched Sky in his groin. Seriously, were none of them wearing cups? I Blinked right in front of Dove, and when he instinctively shielded his crotch, I grabbed him by his hair and smashed his head into the edge of the bench.

Behind me, Russell was trying to help Cardin to his feet, so I Blinked behind him and kicked the side of his head, launching him face first into Sky. Walking up to Cardin, I lifted my foot and stomped on his face. Then I did it two more times for good measure. When I tried to hit him a fourth time, he rolled to this side and I missed. Off-balance, I had to Blink again to avoid Sky's furious tackle.

They were all below 50% Aura now. If I could just keep this up a little longer, I—

"I can't believe you started a fistfight," Yang said. "…without inviting me!" she finished with a haymaker that smashed Dove back into the ground right as he tried to get up.

"I know you said you only wanted help if things went poorly, but you don't need to fight this battle alone," Pyrrha offered with a smile that didn't reach her steely eyes as she glared at Sky.

Cardin staggered to his feet and spat blood out of his mouth. "What's the matter, Jauney Boy? Too pussy to fight us alone—" was all he got out before I Blinked into close range and kicked him in the balls again. Seriously, if he doesn't want me to keep doing it, he shouldn't leave his guard blatantly open.

While he rolled around on the floor (again), I glanced over at the rest of his team. Yang had knocked Dove out cold, Pyrrha had put Sky in a pin, and holy crap Nora just suplexed Russell. With Team CRDL now fully dealt with, I turned my full attention to Cardin.

"Now, what have we learned today?" I asked. "Aside from the importance of groin protection, of course."

"You… fucker…" he groaned.

"Today's lesson is that you shouldn't be a racist piece of shit, and that harassing people is bad. Someone might pick a fight with you over it."

"You're fucking dead, Arc…" he said as he spat a bloody tooth out of his mouth.

"What was that, Cardin? Because it sounded like you just said 'Will you please beat the shit out of me, Jaune?'" I said as I kicked him in the ribs. "I don't understand what's so hard about this to understand. If you don't want people to beat your ass, all you have to do is… nothing. If you don't go around harassing people, then people won't kick your teeth in. Crazy stuff, huh?"

I turned away from him and started walking away. He still had some Aura left, so if he was angry enough, he'd get back up and attack me while my back is turned… like he's doing right now, judging by the noise behind me.

As he staggered towards me, I spun around, grabbed him by his breastplate, and lifted him up off the ground. With my Aura flooding my muscles, I brought him down as hard as I could on the table, right where I had smacked him into at the very start of this fight. The combined force of his weight and my strength sent Cardin right through the weakened wood, breaking the table and sending him crashing into the ground below.

Damn that was cool. I hope someone recorded that.

I looked at Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora and smiled. "Thanks, guys. Now let's get out of here before any professors show up. If Goodwitch sees this, she'll go apoplectic."

It was at this point that I noticed that the three of them looked terrified. My Aura also chose this time to inform me that someone was glaring at the back of my head. With a sigh, I turned around. "Hello, Professor Goodwitch."

"Hello, Mr. Arc," she said. She was smiling, which worried me. It was the smile of someone who had gone so far past anger than they reached a Nirvana of absolute fury.

"Headmaster's office?" I politely asked.

"Yes, Mr. Arc."

I sighed.

Professor Ozpin stared at me with a calculating look in his brown eyes. Despite whatever my actual age was, I still felt like a misbehaving child beneath his gaze.

"Mr. Arc," he began, "would you like to describe the events of today's altercation? In your own words, of course."

"I was eating lunch with my friends when I noticed Team CRDL harassing another student. She attempted to leave, but they blocked her escape. Cardin grabbed her Faunus trait, so I approached them and asked them to leave her alone. When they refused, I forced Cardin to let go of her."

"From the report I've received from the infirmary, you were quite zealous in doing so," he calmly replied. "While their Auras will of course heal most of the damage, Mr. Bronzewing required assistance in setting his nose back in place, and Mr. Winchester will need several trips to the dentist."

I shifted uncomfortably. "I… may have gone a little too far." Admittedly, I got caught up in the moment and kept fighting when I should have tried de-escalating the situation.

"Indeed. Glynda was quite upset with you and your friends," Ozpin replied.

I winced slightly. I didn't want them getting in trouble for my mess. "They only participated because I told them to," I lied.

Ozpin hummed thoughtfully. I doubted he bought the lie, but he wasn't calling me on it. Hopefully that meant Yang, Pyrrha, and Nora wouldn't face any consequences over this.

"While that might explain their actions, it doesn't explain yours. What made you, an otherwise exemplary student, choose to start a violent brawl in the middle of the dining hall?"

"Someone had to do something," I said with an uncomfortable shrug. I wasn't exactly used to talking about my emotions, and that fight was almost all impulse.

"Not one of the faculty?" Ozpin asked. "It's not your job to police your fellow students." Despite the pointed words, his tone was oddly calm.

"No professors were present, and even if any were there, they wouldn't have solved the actual problem," I said. "Cardin has been punished for his bullying before, but it hasn't changed his behavior. Team CRDL probably would've just targeted that girl again the minute the faculty's backs were turned."

"And you thought violence was the only answer to this problem?"

I grimaced. "In a perfect world, I would've been able to try something different. But that girl needed help right then, and no one else would do anything. And… I couldn't just ignore what was happening and do nothing."

"Were you familiar with Miss Scarlatina before?" he asked.

"Is that her name?" I asked. "I don't think I've ever seen her before today."

"Then you fought Team CRDL, ignoring the risks of both punishment and bodily harm, over a complete stranger?" Ozpin asked rhetorically.

I nodded.

"Very well, then. Your punishment will be detention with Professor Goodwitch for the next week."

That… was very generous. It was basically a slap on the wrist.

Ozpin smiled at my confused face. "I don't see someone in need of purpose when I look at you, Mr. Arc. I just see someone who needs a bit of guidance in the right direction," he said, echoing his speech before Initiation.

"And in the future, don't be afraid to rely on the faculty. It is our job to help Beacon's students, after all."

"Yes sir," I replied.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Pyrrha and Yang. Pyrrha looked worried, and Yang had an uncharacteristic frown on her face.

"What's the damage?" Yang asked.

"A week of detention with Goodwitch."

Pyrrha blinked. "That's… generous."

Yang whistled. "If that's all it costs to smash Cardin through a table, then maybe I should start another fight."

"I think he'll be busy at the dentist for a while," I said with a smile.

Pyrrha gave a snorting laugh that she hastily covered with a cough. "Where did you learn to fight like that, Jaune?" she asked in a blatant subject change.

"Yeah, you're not half-bad," Yang said. "Not on my level, obviously, but you really kicked their asses."

I shrugged. "That's just how I fight unarmed. I learned a bit from my dad, but the rest kind of just… comes naturally to me."

"Groin shots are your instinct, huh?" Yang joked.

I shrugged. "If it works, it works."

Pyrrha tilted her head confusedly at my answer. "Really? Some of your forms reminded me a lot of Argive Pankration."

I matched her confused look. Wasn't Pankration ancient Greek wrestling? Did I learn it in my past life?

"I'm just as confused as you are about that," I responded honestly. "Maybe I saw videos of someone using it somewhere?"

Then I caught a glimpse of a wall-mounted clock and blanched. "We have class with Peach in five minutes. We can solve the mystery of my groin shots later."

We made it in time for class. I got quite a few stares from my fellow students, and Weiss gave me a verbal lashing over starting a fight. Her anger was thankfully somewhat abated when I told her about the light punishment.

Plant Studies with Professor Peach was pretty uneventful otherwise. The only thing notable was that we'd be going on a field trip to Forever Fall next week.

Blake pulled me aside after class. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Jaune?"

"Sure, Blake." This was pretty unusual, to say the least. Blake was by far the most closed-off member of Team ABYS.

Once we were in a mostly secluded area, she turned to face me. "Why did you start that fight to help Velvet?" she asked with a piercing stare.

Thankfully, my conversation with Ozpin had let me articulate my reasoning. "Someone had to do something, and I couldn't just sit there and do nothing."

Blake winced and turned away. "Part of me wanted to fight Cardin over what he was doing," she explained. "But violence isn't the answer. You can't fix racism with fear—not in any way that matters."

"You're… not wrong. But our job as Huntsmen and Huntresses is to protect others. We can't just ignore people being hurt."

I paused, and thought about what I said to Ozpin. "And yet… you're right. We also can't just answer violence with violence. So if we see something like this happen again, we should exhaust all other options before we resort to fighting."

Blake stared at me for a while but eventually nodded. "Okay," she said with a faint smile.

I smiled back. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this "friendship" thing. And it only took a fistfight and several emotionally-draining conversations.

My eyes widened. "Oh crap, I have detention with Goodwitch in five minutes. She'll flay me alive if I'm late."

Blake smiled back at me. "Don't worry, we'll all show up at your funeral."

I rolled my eyes and Blinked away.

I wrote as fast as I could, desperately trying to take notes fast enough to keep up with Oobleck's rapid speech.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution—more popularly known as the Faunus War—" Oobleck said as he zipped around the classroom, "humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie."

I still can't believe they named the place "Menagerie". Sending the people with animal features to a place called "Zoo" just seems petty.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" Oobleck continued before pausing to drink more of his coffee. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Some of the few Faunus in the room raised their hands. Velvet, the rabbit Faunus that Cardin was harassing, raised her hand too.

Blake didn't raise hers, weirdly enough. She doesn't have any noticeable animal features, so it's possible that most people assume she's human. I don't actually know what her Faunus trait is; I assume she has some sort of retractable claws like her father, Ghira Belladonna, who showed his off in an interview once.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck took another sip of his coffee, which Yang thinks is also full of drugs. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss's hand shot up like a rocket. "The battle at Fort Castle!"

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

"Night vision," I said. "Many Faunus have eyesthat let them see near-perfectly in low-light conditions."

The name of it and the biology are different on Remnant, but on Earth, many animals had an extra tissue called a tapetum lucidum that let their eyes reflect light better. It also caused their eyes to glow in pictures.

The effect is less pronounced in Faunus for some reason, but their eyes still reflect more light than humans. Blake's eyes, and weirdly enough Ruby's too, glow slightly if you shine lights at them in the dark.

I don't actually know if Ruby is a Faunus, though. I also don't know how she and Yang are related, both because of their radically different appearances and the fact that Faunus-Human pairings almost always result in a Faunus child. Ruby also doesn't have an obvious Faunus trait, so the eye thing might just be a weird genetic quirk.

Meanwhile, Oobleck continued his lecture. "General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

A few seats away from me, Cardin grumbled something too quiet for me to hear. Judging by Blake's glare, it was probably racist.

As the bell rang before Oobleck could resume his lecture, I turned to face my team. "Want to get some team training in?" I suggested.

"That sounds acceptable," Weiss replied with a smile.

Yang groaned and slumped forward. "What did I do to deserve being on a team with two workaholics…"

"I can see why you hung up a painting of this place in our room," I told Weiss. I meant it, too. Every leaf in the forest, both on the trees and on the ground, was a brilliant crimson. Having finished detention the night before, I was in high spirits, and the view made it even better.

She opened her mouth to reply, but closed it when Goodwitch started speaking again.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful," Goodwitch said. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

She then held up a large jar full of reddish liquid. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!"

I walked with the rest of Teams ABYS and RRNN to find a good spot for tapping. Once we found a suitable spot, we pierced the trunks and let the sap flow into the jars. Well, most of us did. Nora put her mouth right underneath the tap and started drinking it instead.

Then I sneezed. Twice.

"Guys, I think I might be allergic to this stuff," I said through my runny nose. My eyes had started watering too.

"Do you want to take a break?" Weiss suggested. "We can watch your jar for you."

"No need," I said. "I have goggles and some dust masks."

The others looked at me confusingly as I washed my face with water from my canteen and covered up my eyes, nose, and mouth.

"Why do you have those?" Yang asked with a weird look on her face.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, equally confused. "Disposable dust masks are a cheap but effective way to avoid inhaling harmful substances. And polarized goggles protect your eyes and counter flashbangs. My Semblance requires me to see my destination, so eye protection is vital."

"What else do you have in your bag?" Ruby asked as she pointed at my mission backpack.

"Just the basics," I said. "First aid kit, emergency rations, rope, a survival kit, that sort of thing. Don't you guys have a bag like this?"

"Uh, no?" Ruby said. Several of the others shook their heads as well.

Ren, on the other hand, nodded. "I have a similar bag back in our dorm room, though mine is smaller than yours. Preparedness is important."

"See, Ren has the right idea," I said. "Why can't you guys be like him?"

"How much does that weigh?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Only about fifty pounds," I replied. "Why?"

"That weighs almost half as much as I do," Weiss replied.

Before I could tell her to lift more, I felt several new presences on my Aura. Four people were watching us from somewhere. I stopped to look around, which gave me just enough time to react to the jar of sap flying towards me.

I pumped Aura into my body to increase my speed and caught the jar as gently as I could. I let out a sigh of relief when it didn't break. According to Peach, Red Sap attracts Ursai and Rapier Wasps, both of which can be found in Forever Fall.

The jar didn't just appear out of nowhere, though. Someone threw it. I Blinked in the direction it came from just in time to see Cardin Winchester and the rest of his cronies running away.

"Hey Cardin! You dropped this!" I shouted as I chucked the jar back at him.

Before he could even turn around, it smashed into his back and broke, covering him in sap. He stumbled and looked behind him with a furious look on his face.

He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the roar of an absolutely massive Ursa Major charging towards him. Cardin froze at the sight of the giant Grimm, but his teammates immediately started running away screaming towards where Goodwitch was.

"It's going after the sap!" I shouted as I whipped out my new revolver and fired a shot towards the Grimm.

The .50 caliber round loaded with Ice Dust punched into its shoulder and coated it with ice, but the Ursa effortlessly broke through the ice and finished its charge by knocking Cardin aside. Cardin lost his grip on his mace and fell to the ground, looking up at the Grimm in terror.

"Crap! Crap, crap!" Cardin fearfully said.

I swore, drew Alba Mors, and Blinked forward just in time to block the Ursa's claw swipe with my shield. The Grimm was massive and its arm was nearly as big as I was, but I held firm. Aura flowed through my body as I shoved against the weight of the Ursa, knocking it off balance.

I darted forward and stabbed Alba Mors through the bottom of its jaw, twisted the blade, and yanked it out. The Ursa let out a gurgling roar and swept another claw at me, but I rolled to the side and transitioned into a flurry of slashes that Pyrrha showed me. I focused on severing as many tendons as I could to remove its mobility.

As the Ursa collapsed to the ground, I finished it off by stabbing through its eye.

"Holy crap, Jaune!" Cardin said with a shocked expression on his face.

"Any injuries?" I asked.

"Uh, no," he replied. "But… why did you help me?"

"You're a piece of shit and I hate you," I said, "but a Huntsman's duty is to protect others, regardless of personal feelings… and regardless of race," I finished with a pointed look before walking away.

Ruby then arrived in a flurry of rose petals with her scythe drawn. "Where's the Ursa?!" she asked. "Cardin's team was shouting about it and running away!"

"Already took care of it," I replied. "Now let's get back to the others before Nora eats all our sap."

"Too late for that, I'm afraid," Weiss said as she and Pyrrha arrived in the clearing.

I sighed. Hopefully Aura can prevent diabetes.

Author's Note: Last chapter was very light on content, so I made this one longer than usual. And feel free to roast me if you thought the lunchroom fight was cringe.

Jaune speaking Latin and knowing some Ancient Greek fighting techniques from his past life is a plot point that will become relevant further down the line. It isn't a self-insert power fantasy; I don't know any Latin or martial arts, nor do I have any inclination to learn either.

Also, if you're wondering about Aura letting you detect when people are watching you, Pyrrha tells Jaune about that in V01E06: "Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

(First published on Dec 24, 2021)