This chapter of Wolves of Remnant is dedicated to Monyreak "Monty" Oum.

Thank you for everything you did, for all us.

Rest in peace. Or work, whichever is more paradise for you.

Hey guys. Done with RWBY Watches for now, so it's time to turn back to WoR. Bit of a shorter chapter, but work has been messy lately, to say the least. Higher than usual levels of exhaustion do not make for good writing/ inspiration conditions, and neither does my first TPK in D&D the other night.

Today, we see another part of Leman Russ emerge in Jaune, as well as a little Arkos development (I hope).

Wolves of Remnant

Chapter 9

"You ready?" Ruby said seriously, looking up at Jaune.

"As I'll ever be." Jaune replied, nodding solemnly.

"Okay, take it off."

"Is this really necessary?" Jaune asked, turning around and taking off his hoodie.

"It's gonna get hot in there, so yes." Ruby said, taking off her hood and cape. She folded it almost reverently and placed it next to his hoodie. "Alright, let's do this."

Ruby opened the door next to her and the pair were immediately smothered by sweltering heat, followed swiftly after by loud clanging.

"Welcome, Jaune, to the Beacon forges!" Ruby exclaimed. The room was massive, easily the size of the school's ballroom and filled with at least a dozen fully stocked forges lined against one wall. Only a few were occupied, with the majority being operated by what Jaune assumed were employees of the school, and the others being used by older students. The other side of the room was lined by work benches filled with more students doing weapon maintenance.

"Figures that you would know about a place like this." Jaune joked to his weapon-loving friend. "Why don't you just put a work bench in your dorm? Or just use your desk?"

"One: Weiss and Yang wouldn't let me." Ruby pouted, "Two: too much of a hazard. All these tools are electric and having too many plugged in at once is liable to start a fire or cause a blackout."

"You say that last part as if you have experience. And that kind of terrifies me."

Ruby ignored him and led him to a workbench, taking out his plans. "Alright, me and Weiss looked over the plans in detail, and it looks like modifying your sword will be the most complicated part of the process since we will basically have to rebuild it completely. The other we can just build with an ice Dust compartment in mind, but the sword will have to be taken apart."

Jaune winced and laid a protective hand on Crocea Mors. "Is there any way around it? Crocea Mors is a family heirloom, so I want her to stay as unmodified as possible."

"I get that, Jaune, but something's got to give. How old is she anyway?"

"Not quite sure. I know my great-great grandfather used her in the Great War, but past that, I'm not sure."

Ruby thought for a time. "What about the shield? How old is that?"

"Not as old as the blade. Why?"

"Well, since you're against internal mods to the blade, that only leaves external mods. The shield is clearly younger than the blade since mecha-shift tech is still fairly recent, so we could modify that to hold the Dust."

"And since I'm planning to adopt a dual-wield fighting style, what use is a shield? Clever girl." Jaune said, following her logic. He smiled, flashing his new fangs- there really was no other word for them- and Ruby returned it, looking just as vicious.

"Let's get to it then."

XX

Two weeks later

Jaune smiled as he sat down with his friends in Combat Class. He had been looking forward to this. He and Ruby had been hard at work over the past two weeks, using every piece of spare time they could between classes, studying, and training to get their little secret project done. And it was a secret to them, with Weiss being the only one also in on their plans and no one else. They had even taken to calling it Project Attika, and convinced Weiss to play along for the sake of her sanity. Jaune hated to keep secrets from his friends and teammates, but he wanted it to be a surprise for them, as well as their classmates.

And now it was time to put the final product through its paces in a controlled, full-combat exercise.

Professor Goodwitch walked into the arena and gave her usual speech before she activated the randomizer on her scroll tablet to decide who would be the first combatant. This was how it always was; Goodwitch would randomly choose one student as a fighter, and then asked for volunteers. However, if there were none, she would randomly choose the opponent for them.

When Jaune saw who the poor sod was, his hand couldn't shoot up fast enough.

"First up, Cardin Winchester. Are there any- ah, Mr. Arc. Are you quite sure about this?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"Absolutely, ma'am."

"I gotta agree with the prof on this one, Jauney-boy." Cardin said as the two went to their lockers on the wall and took out their gear. "Your record in the ring ain't exactly stellar. You sure about this?" Cardin stepped into the ring with his mace over one shoulder.

"Neither is your record with Grimm, if memory serves." Jaune said as he closed his locker.

The entire class laughed and jeered at the exchange while Cardin's face flushed in anger and embarrassment.

"You just signed your own death warrant, bitch." Cardin muttered, tightening his grip on his mace.

Jaune stepped into the ring and surprised his class with his easy confidence.

"Alright, gentlemen, you know the rules. Ring out or loss of Aura marks a win." Goodwitch said from outside the ring.

Ruby and Weiss leaned forward, causing their friends and team to do the same out of sheer curiosity. Jaune drew his sword, leaving it in the sheathe.

"You take a few too many knocks to the head there, Arc?" Cardin taunted. "Or do you just want this over quickly?"

Jaune responded with a grin and thumbed a button on the hilt below the guard. The hilt extended a small bit, allowing for a more versatile grip, while the edges of the sheathe revealed blades hidden within and began to exude an icy mist. He held the blade in a two-handed ready while Cardin assumed his single handed ready.

"Begin!" Goodwitch shouted.

Cardin charged Jaune, who responded with a charge of his own. Cardin went for a crushing overhead blow and Jaune responded with a slashing block just below the head, deflecting the blow to the side. The boys passed each other and maneuvered for another pass. This time, Cardin aimed at Jaune's sword arm, but Jaune rolled backwards, channeling Aura to his legs as he landed and launching himself at Cardin with a vicious thrust.

As Cardin recoiled from the blow, he felt an intense cold radiating out from the point of impact. Looking down, he saw that a portion of his armor was icing up. Pouring Aura into his fist, Cardin punched the ice to clear it a bit.

"Tch, so you got yourself some tricks, eh, Arc?"

"That's just the start, Cardin." Jaune said as he reached behind him and pulled out a large headed, saw toothed hand axe. He pressed a button above the grip and the haft extended a good three feet, making the weapon a full axe. "And you're gonna be my guinea pig for the rest."

Cardin's mind raced. He knew he was at a disadvantage with just his mace, and that stab he took bled off a small portion of his Aura. His mind told him that the sensible option was to resign, but his ego promptly beat that notion to oblivion. He was Cardin fucking Winchester! His family had been soldiers and huntsmen for the past six generations. All their knowledge and experience culminated in him, so there was no damned way this scrawny little puke would be able to beat him.

On the other side of the ring, Jaune was exhilarated. The redesigned Crocea Mors was working exactly as designed, and the axe had deployed beautifully. He'd have to come with a name for it later. He had felt the beast rising within him, but it felt more manageable now that both his hands were full. All he had to do now was beat Cardin. He glanced up to check his Aura; still full, but a bit more so than Cardin. With no real practice with his new style under his belt, red-zoning Cardin was out. He either had to force a surrender or ring him out.

As he thought, Cardin charged, catching Jaune off guard and forcing him back with a flurry of swings, each of which Jaune easily dodged. He saw his chance when Cardin set up for another two-handed crushing blow. Quickly, Jaune crossed his blades over his head and caught the blow just below the mace head. Cardin leant in, trying to force the mace head to reach Jaune's head. What he didn't notice was the ice once again building up at the point of contact.

Jaune responded by squeezing the plunger that popped up under his fingers when the axe extended. An internal motor roared and the saw teeth on the axe began to churn, cutting into the metal haft with a shower of sparks.

"What the fuck!?" Cardin yelled over the roaring motor.

Jaune wasted no time and pulled his weapons apart, cutting the head from the mace in a shower of sparks and ice crystals. Cardin fell backwards onto his back. He opened his eyes to see Jaune standing over him, his sword to his throat and the flanged head of his mace on the ground behind Jaune.

"And with that, Mr. Arc takes the match." Prof. Goodwitch announced.

The room erupted with cheers from Teams RWBY and JNPR, and applause from everyone else, even Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark.

"Arc cheated." Cardin declared as he picked himself up off the ground.

"How so?" Goodwitch asked, with a tone of warning.

"I came up here expecting an even fight, and then this bastard goes and pulls a second weapon on me. How is that fair?"

"It isn't." The blonde teacher said plainly. "But then, fairness is not the point." She turned to the class. "What Mr. Arc did is a perfectly acceptable strategy. It is always in a Huntsman or Huntress's best interest to go into a fight with as many advantages as possible, including the element of surprise. While this may not be particularly necessary when fighting Grimm, is essential when fighting a human opponent.

"Of course, the downside to this is that now you all know his little trick, and it would behoove all of you to develop potential countermeasures should you face him in the future. But above all, remember this: in a fight, there is no place for honor or fairness. Those who hold on to such ideals will wind up dead or worse. Now, Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester, take your seats so we can begin the next match."

As Jaune marched back up to his team after putting his gear away, Nora brought him into a tight hug.

"You were great!" she said.

"Thanks, Nora." he grunted back with a smile. He walked over to Ruby, gave her a high ten and a hug, and shook Weiss' hand.

"So?" Ruby asked, "How did it feel?"

"So much more natural than the sword and board." He sighed in relief. "The mecha-shift worked perfectly, and the Dust worked the way we discussed. I can't think of any way to improve them."

"So that's what you guys have been working on for the past two weeks." Pyrrha realized. She had been worried they had been doing… something else.

"Yeah. The idea came to me after what happened in Forever Fall, and I wanted to surprise you guys."

"Well, color me surprised." Ren said.

Jaune smiled and sat down next to Pyrrha as they watched Yang go up against another first year who was using a longsword and firing energy beams from a gauntlet in his free hand. An idea came to mind, and he pulled out his scroll. Next to him, Pyrrha's scroll pinged, alerting her to a new text message. Setting it to vibrate as she pulled it out, she found the text was from Jaune.

Jaune: hey. was thinking i should get a firearm of some kind, just in case. wanna come with me to Vale and pick one out?

Pyr: Absolutely! When did you have in mind?

Jaune: we're off after this class. maybe grab a shower, then head out?

Pyr: Sounds like a plan. Should we bring Ren and Nora?

Jaune: ren said he was going to try and get nora to study later.

Jaune: almost forgot! have to call home first, let dad know what I did with Crocea Mors. *gulp*

Pyr: If he's anything like your sister, then it was nice knowing you.

Jaune: traitor

Pyr: XP

What can I say? Short chapter is short.

Hope you guys liked it, cuz I had fun writing it.

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