Emerald jumped back barely missing the Arc's sword , she kicked at the boy's side, sending him sprawling to the ground. Jaune rolled away before regaining his footing. His blue eyes held no trace of emotion as his gaze hardened.

He raised his sword and lunged forward, aiming directly at Emerald's throat.

Emerald braced herself as she prepared to receive yet another attack.

But it never came.

Instead, Jaune's sword was blocked by another sword as Emerald's eyes widened when she caught sight of who had just saved her life. Standing before Jaune was none other than Cinder Fall.

Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders, cascading gracefully as she lifted her sword and pointed it at Jaune.

Cinder held her head high and stared intently into Jaune's eyes. She smirked softly at him, a look of pride shining brightly in her eyes.

"I knew I'd find you here sooner or later, Arc."

The blond glared at Cinder but otherwise said nothing in return.

Emerald could see that the two were still locked into an intense stare off. There was something in Jaune's demeanor that made Emerald feel uneasy. In fact, she wondered if it was actually Jaune himself. But as the minutes passed he remained silent.

Before Emerald had the chance to ponder more about Jaune, Cinder attacked. A sharp dagger suddenly appeared in the black haired woman's left hand and she flung it towards Jaune, who easily dodged it with ease. Cinder used this opportunity to strike him again and again, using the dagger to distract him as she tried to hit him anywhere possible. Each of the blows connected and Jaune was forced backward. Cinder pursued relentlessly after him and

Jaune found himself constantly on defense.

Eventually Jaune found a opening and delivered a swift kick to Cinder's side which sent her stumbling several feet back. Cinder coughed roughly as she recovered from the blow and quickly rose to her feet, glaring angrily at the younger teen. He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to Cinder again.

"I'm going to kill your little minion here and then I'm kill you." Jaune declared coldly.

Cinder let out a small scoff. "Please, try."

With that she suddenly shot forward at him, slashing her sword at Jaune's chest. Jaune sidestepped her attack and grabbed the sword from her hand, spinning around to deliver a kick at her back.

"That is no way to treat a lady!" Cinder exclaimed as she spun her body around and landed a solid kick at Jaune's stomach which sent him crashing to the ground. Jaune groaned in pain as he laid face first on the ground. Cinder smirked as she stood above him.

"If you think I'm done with you...then you're crazy." Jaune spat out as he struggled to push himself back onto his feet, ignoring the shooting pains from his stomach. His gaze was glued to Cinder, waiting for a sudden attack to appear from her or even another weapon.

It never came. It seemed like Cinder's attention was solely focused on him now, rather than her little puppet that she called a minion. Jaune growled in frustration as he saw how calm Cinder was. He didn' know why she was being so calm.

Jaune decided to strike back. He quickly ran forwards and thrusted his sword at Cinder, who blocked him with her own weapon. He then swung his sword sideways and struck her squarely in her face. Cinder stumbled back, surprised by the attack. When she regained her composure she swiftly swept her leg in front of him causing Jaune to tumble backwards.

The blond quickly returned to standing upright, preparing for another attack. However, Jaune did not attempt to strike her again this time. Instead he simply stood back and waited, trying to figure out what Cinder's next move would be.

Suddenly Emerald charged at Jaune , brandishing her blade wildly at him. He raised his sword up in front of him defensively and blocked her attack. Emerald swung her sword at him again and again but he blocked every single attack . Emerald continued attacking but she wasn't making much progress. Eventually, Jaune knocked aside her weapons and sent her tumbling backwards onto the floor.

She tried to get back up only for a heavy boot to stomp on her abdomen, pinning her on the ground. Her eyes widened in shock as Jaune's foot crushed most of her rib cage. Blood seeped out of her mouth as she gasped painfully for breath. She attempted to speak only for Jaune to thrust his sword though her neck, cutting off any words that may have come out of her mouth. Blood sprayed everywhere as she stared at Jaune with her wide eyes, a look of confusion in her green irises.She gave a small gasp as the life began to leave her eyes.

Jaune removed the heel of his boot from Emeralds' corpse and wiped off the remaining blood. He then turned around to look at Cinder , who stood silently watching the scene unfold. Her expression was unreadable as she gazed at her dead ally before giving him her usual grin.

"Nice work Arc."

she said in a monotone voice. She glanced over to where Emerald was lying and gave an approving nod of her head. "You killed her without breaking a sweat. Impressive."

The sound of footsteps echoed from outside the room as Cinder continued to speak "Well seems you friends are coming so I shall be leaving." With that, she summoned a giant surge of fire and when it stoped she was gone.