Replies to my Reviewers

To DragonTetho: Cardin isn't a Gilgamesh Expy, He calls Jaune Faker, because Jaune started dangerously late compared to his peers and is showing signs of actual capability to surpass him. That really pisses him off, like a person who would notice another person getting better at something they suffered for, while showing less effort than they put in. I might bring in the Nasuverse though, but not so early.

Chapter 04: The Emerald Forest

"Ugh. Me and my big mouth." Jaune said as he took stock of the situation. After dealing with two of the five Boarbatusks around him, a few Beowulves had joined the mob, raising the stakes against Jaune.

He normally had no problems against numbers like this, but it was difficult to fight enemies with different styles. While fighting Boarbatusks who would attack from below, Beowulves were pack attackers and similar to actual wolves, if one or a few Beowulves were ever sighted, it's normal to expect a pack nearby.

Dodging a swipe from a Beowulf, Jaune Hardened his leg and kicked forward, caving in a Boarbatusk skull and beheaded another Beowulf with a sword swing. He then stepped on another Beowulf's back, which had just done a failed diving attack, to propel himself up a tree.

He only bought himself a few seconds of time but it was enough.

"[Open, Gate of the Maiden!]" Jaune declared as he swiped his Key from his neck and held it forward. "[Virgo!]"

There was a flash of light then an explosion of dust and rubble from the ground. Jaune blocked his nose and jumped down. When the dust cleared, there was only a single figure standing amongst the Grimm corpses.

Virgo had the appearance of a maid with shackles around her wrists, short, pink hair, and blue eyes.

"Master Jaune, I have finished killing off the enemies." Virgo spoke with an emotionless tone, which then turned sultry with her next sentence. "Time for punishment?"

"How can you want a punishment for doing a good job?" Jaune asked as he blushed from Virgo's innuendo. "Also, no punishment in public, especially since I'm in the middle of Initiation right now."

"Very well then." Virgo replied, bowing down in subservience. She then raised her head to send Jaune a sensual smile. "I look forward to our next... ah, session."

Virgo then vanished in a flash of sparkly light. Jaune had to readjust his pants a bit. "Has Virgo gotten even sexier than before, or has my experience with Virgo caused me to get a maid fetish?" Jaune looked up to the sky in ponder, before he shrugged in nonchalance. As a an average, hormonal teenage boy, Jaune was completely ok with either option.

Jaune ran Northwards in the belief that sooner or later, he would run into a potential partner when-

*WHAM*

He ran right into Pyrrha at high speed. There was a bit of a tumble as each mistakenly thought the other was a Grimm at first and wrestled each other until Pyrrha emerged over Jaune victorious. They laid there a bit staring into each other's eyes till Jaune spoke. "Hey there, Pyrrha. Unless you're already spoken for, welcome to Team Jaune."

"Pffhahahha" Pyrrha laughed in surprise and a bit of relief. "Glad to be here, Jaune."

"That's great. Now, please help me up before we both get kicked out for intimate relations." Jaune said from underneath her.

Pyrrha blushed scarlet as she realized that their position was that of a lover forcing her companion to the ground to commence lovemaking. She practically teleported off him, stammering and gesticulating wildly.

Jaune just stared at her cute behavior for a bit before taking pity on her. "Come on, Pyrrha. Now that we're partners, we head North."

Pyrrha took the save and proceeded to lead the way, hiding her still red face from Jaune's view.

As Pyrrha and Jaune made their way through the bushes, Jaune heard a noise far away and turned his head.

"Did you hear that?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha nodded in response. "Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

They kept moving forward, Jaune still staring in the sound's direction as Pyrrha raised a branch to pass by and accidentally released it right at Jaune's face. He barely dodged it, preventing it from flooring him instantly.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha looked back behind her. "I'm sorry!"

Jaune laughed, lowering his hand from his cheek to reveal a small scratch from the wooden branch he thought he had completely dodged. "It's okay. Just a scratch!" He got back up when Pyrrha approached him.

Pyrrha asked. "Why didn't you activate your Aura?"

"Huh?" Jaune was confused until he gasped in realization. "Sorry. I forgot about it."

He closed in eyes in concentration as a soft white glow formed around his face, causing the scratch to vanish.

"Thanks for the concern." Jaune said as he kept his Aura Armor active. "Let's move on."

"R-Right." Pyrrha said in shock, as she struggled to comprehend the large reserves of Aura Jaune had. An amount usually for active Pro Hunters.

'Thank Celestial Spirit King that Roman unlocked it for me that night.' Jaune thought remembering when he first learned about aura. It had been humiliating to see Roman and Neo, two grown adults, fall into raving, ground-pounding laughter at his foolishness. It still burned to remember it. Jaune shook his head to get rid of the embarrassing memories.

"Let's hurry up." Jaune called out to his partner. "We don't know if the Relics we're getting are going to be enough for everybody so lets-"

*BOOM*

Jaune and Pyrrha flinched from the explosion. "Was that one of our comrades?" Pyrrha asked in shock.

"Yes." Jaune said tersely, already moving away from the direction of the explosion as another rang out. "I know the owner of those blasts and I don't want to be anywhere near him."

Cardin breathed heavily as six of the nine Beowulves who had attacked put some space in between them. He didn't permit that. With a wordless cry, he launched himself, literally sparking explosions beneath his soles to propel him, towards the nearest Beowulf. He swiped forward with his mace, The Executioner, burying it into a Beowulf's shoulder. It promptly detonated, obliterating the Beowulf's upper half into smoking gore.

It went on like that for a while, the entire clearing ringing with explosions. By the time Cardin had defeated all the surrounding Grimm save their Alpha, there was a small fire starting up.

Cardin raised his hand and then thrusted them downwards. A blast of air rather than fire and sound, blew out the flames, thereby preventing the potential forest fire.

The Alpha Beowulf stepped forward. It was twice the size of the other Beowulves, with a lot more bone armor and spikes on its body. It stepped forward a bit before it was literally blindsided, due to a shortsword burying itself into one of its eyes.

Cardin looked to appraise the newcomer.

It was a guy with a pale green mohawk, dressed in a brownish green sleeveless hoodie and camouflage pants, with spiked pauldrons.

"Hey there, new partner." He said, twirling a second shortsword in his hand. "Name's Russel. Russel Thrush. Wanna take him down together?"

"Hmph" Cardin readied The Executioner. "Don't get in my way. My semblance doesn't account for precision."

The duo dashed forward. Russel being faster, reached Alpha Beowulf first and violently ripped his weapon out, causing it to swing it's claws around to hit him, sending Russel flying away then faced Cardin, who gave an overhead swing, which Alpha Beowulf dodged. It was useless, as the missed mace impacted the ground, causing a burst of flames which briefly swallowed the Grimm whole.

As the Alpha Beowulf tumbled away from the flames, Russel appeared and quickly slashed at the Grimm's tendons, bringing it down to its knees and rendering it vulnerable to Cardin, who stuck his mace into the Grimm's mouth.

"Let's see if you're as tough on the inside." Cardin pulled the trigger, which caused a torrent to race down Alpha Beowulf's throat and ruptured its body violently. He pulled his weapon free and hefted it onto his shoulder.

"Guess you're not." He turned to his new partner. "I'm Cardin Winchester. Nice to meet you. How did you not die from that earlier hit?"

"My semblance is Hardening." As Russel spoke, his body suddenly took a jagged and rocklike appearance. "I'm impervious to most forms of physical damage when I'm like this."

"My Semblance is Explosion." A small one blasted in Cardin's raised palm for emphasis. "I can create explosions from any where on my body. Fire, air, sound, as long as it can be considered an 'explosion', I can do it. Fire's easiest though."

Cardin and Russel then shook hands and headed North. 'I wonder how that Faker is doing. I don't care if he fails but He better not die. Not in a place or time like this.'

Jaune and Pyrrha had arrived at the mouth of a dark cave, where drawings were seen to the side involving armed men against giant beasts.

"Think this is it?" Jaune asked.

"Maybe."

Jaune nodded, then stepped inside, after lighting a burning torch to light the way.

"Uhh, Jaune. About earlier, I've changed my mind. I'm not sure this is it." Pyrrha responded to Jaune's earlier question.

Jaune sighs. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet? If it's empty or dangerous, we leave."

Suddenly and completely unexpectedly, Jaune tripped on the ground, and the torch flew into a small puddle, extinguishing the flame so the two were cast in darkness.

As Jaune gets up and grumbles, Pyrrha asked. "Do you... feel that?"

"Soul-crushing regret?" Jaune responded.

"No, it's... warm." Pyrrha observed.

Jaune reached out with his haki and did not like what he found. He turned to Pyrrha. "We're leaving. Now!"

Pyrrha didn't hesitate but as they barely moved five inches, the floor under Jaune's feet cracked.

There was silence for a second before Jaune swore heavily enough to make Pyrrha blush scandalously.

"Dodge!" Tackling her out of the way, Jaune and Pyrrha barely avoided the gigantic golden stinger of the Death Stalker.

"What do we do? Fight or run?" Pyrrha asked as they got combat ready.

"We run! We can't fight it properly in this space!" Jaune dodged the stinger again before catching it before it retracted. "Quick! Cut it off!"

Pyrrha hefted her sword before she was suddenly hit aside by the Death Stalker's pincer.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune was shocked enough to loosen his stance a bit, which allowed the Death Stalker to dangle him right in front of it like a caught fish.

"H-Hey there." Jaune said nervously. "How about we-" He didn't finish before the Grimm hurls its tail back and launches a screaming Jaune across the forest.

Pyrrha looked at her disappearing partner and then turned back to the scorpion as it continued to snap its claws at her, and she smiled embarrassedly before turning and rushing away.

'Jaune, please don't forget your Aura again and die! You're the first potential friend I've had in years. And maybe more...' Pyrrha thoughts went to places she didn't think existed before.

The Death Stalker looked in the direction of the sunny-haired human it had just thrown. The human smelled of magic just like its substitute mistress and the male who opposed her. Despite its immense age, it could tell the sunny-haired human was worth abandoning its refuge for.

A Mage has appeared.

Hunt and Devour.

Hunter Profile

Name: Cardin Winchester

Age: 17

Title: The Explosive Berserker

Aura: Brownish Orange

Color Motif: Brown, Black

Semblance: Explosion. As long as it can count as an explosion, Cardin can create it from anywhere on his body.

Sex: Male

Alignment: True Neutral

Likes: Training, Hamburgers

Dislikes: Jaune Arc, Slackers, White Fang

Bio: When Cardin was a child, he was actually close friends with Jaune Arc and Alice Snowlander. Unfortunately, his mother was killed by the White Fang during a conference to aid Faunus Rights. This would not only mark the White Fang's change from peaceful protesters to violent terrorists, but also the undying hatred of Cardin's hatred towards Faunus in general

As he has grown older, His hatred towards Faunus has reduced to indifference while his hatred for the White Fang rages on. One of the few positive things in his one-sided rivalry to Jaune, which had devolved from friendship when Jaune and Alice refused to denounce Faunus.

He is especially wary of Jaune's growth rate, as Jaune only needed a year to catch up with Cardin's four years of training.

KingVessel: Looks like the Grimm have different reactions to Mages compared to other humans and faunus. There's a reason for that. The Brother Gods are not the only gods of Remnant. Chew on that next time in "Ominous Appearance".