DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to RWBY

Jaune sits on top of the dorm rooftop basking in the moonlight and pondering over a lightning Dust crystal and a plant Dust crystal.

'The Black Tortoise is Yin. Therefore, the next must be Yang, which leaves me with either the Azure Dragon or the White Tiger...'

He leans back in his seat and gazes up to the stars.

'Engraving the second Divine Beast is not impossible at this stage, but it is risky. However, due to the recent breach in the city, I am being left with little choice on the matter. If that breach was any indication of what is to come, then I must be as prepared as possible, no matter the risk.'

An irritating sensation in the back of his mind distracts him for a moment, almost like an unreachable itch. Shortly afterwards, it disappears.

'There it is again... What is it?'

He discards the thought for now and focuses on the task at hand.

'The Azure Dragon epitomizes supreme speed, while the White Tiger is unmatched strength.

Jaune closes his eyes and mentally debates with both options.

'Even in my current state, I doubt there are any who could easily keep up with my speed. Even if there are, I have confidence in my experience and insight to the Dao. What use is speed if I can not breach someone's defenses? Paired with my augmented defense due to the Black Tortoise, the White Tiger is the better choice of the two. Supreme defense and supreme strength.'

Having made up his mind, Jaune pockets the plant Dust crystal and focuses on the lightning crystal. He cups it between his hands and envelops it with his divine sense to begin the refinement process.

'Piercing the Heavens White Tiger. The White Tiger embodies the essence of metal, the season of Fall, and prowls in the West.'

As he'd done previously with the Black Tortoise, Jaune refines the energy within the Dust crystal. With some effort, he takes the energy within himself, breathing heavily with small beads of sweat on his forehead as a result. Tracing with his finger and imbuing his will, he condenses the energy into a strand and begins to draw the sigil.

'The origin of lightning is the primordial element of metal when the universe was born. The claws of the White Tiger has no equal as it pierces the void and decimates the stars. Its seven mansions are the Legs, Bond, Stomach, Head, Net, Turtle Beak, and Three Stars. The beast is a God of War. Protector and defender.'

Jaune's body involuntarily shudders as it strains contain the energy of his creation taking form. He grits his teeth and swallows the blood threatening to surge up his throat while he completes the final stroke.

The White Tiger springs to life and fiercely roars towards the Heavens.

With the push of a palm, the sigil embeds itself into the left section of the Paifang. The White Tiger circles in its spot several times, before laying down to slumber. Back in reality, Jaune slowly opens his eyes.

'I've taken some internal damage, but it was a success. I should recover after a night's rest. Cultivating the third beast is definitely impossible at my current stage.'

Rather pale in the face, Jaune stumbles onto his feet. As he slowly makes his way towards the rooftop exit, he notices some activity down below him at the Beacon courtyard. He narrow his eyes to focus, finding a familiar raven perched on top of the statues.

The bird hops off towards the ground, and it suddenly expands and morphs into the figure of a young looking woman with long black hair and blood red armor. Her face remains hidden, covered by a Grimm mask. She quietly lands behind the statues and stands within their shadows, waiting.

'I'd suspected that raven was indeed a person, and it seems that my suspicion is correct. Who is she waiting for?'

Deciding this to be worth his time, Jaune sits down and observes quietly. It does not take long before another figure approaches the courtyard from the distance. The woman steps out from behind the monument and faces the newcomer, revealed to be Yang. The woman reaches up to remove her mask, revealing her face to Yang, and unknowingly, to Jaune.

Jaune's eyes widen, intrigued.

'I may as well be looking at twins. If someone told me she is Yang's sister, I would not doubt it. Is this woman... Yang's mother?'

The two have a brief conversation. One that Yang is clearly unsatisfied with, but the woman was apparently done. She jumps backwards into the shadows of the statues, out of Yang's view, then slashes the air with her weapon, creating a dark red portal. She quickly jumps through before Yang can turn the corner.

'A Semblance? Teleportation?'

Jaune silently muses, before his eyes narrow, sensing someone coming from behind. He turns around to face an identical dark red portal, and the raven woman steps through. Jaune slightly tenses his body.

'Hopefully she is not looking for a fight. I am not exactly in optimal shape...'

Jaune conceals the trembling of his body, due to fatigue, and calmly greets.

"Good evening. And who might you be?"

"Hmph," she grunts before sheathing her sword.

"Finally, I get an opportunity to catch you alone. Since I do not like wasting time, I will get right to it as you and I have much to talk about."

Jaune sighs, "If you want to talk, you should introduce yourself."

She smirks, "Even outside of Anima, there aren't many who do not recognize Raven Branwen."

'She transforms into the same bird as her namesake...'

"Very well, Raven Branwen. And for what reason do you seek me out?"

Raven takes a moment to glance around, noticing the rooftop they are currently on, in direct view of the courtyard where Yang is sitting down beside the statues, hugging her knees. Despite the twinge in her heart, she quickly masks the brief softening of her eyes. She looks back at Jaune imposingly.

"You were spying. How much did you see?"

'She teleported to me without knowing my exact location? Does this mean she could only sense that I was alone?'

Jaune calmly smiles.

"I saw enough. I am curious... what is your relation to Yang? Sister?... Aunt?... Mother?"

Raven's eyes involuntarily twitches at the last one.

'Mother... so I was correct. Interesting.'

"I'm the one asking the questions. Not you," Raven grits.

"I am not your subordinate," Jaune narrows his eyes. "I will only speak with you so long as it is on equal terms."

Raven can not help but feel disturbed by how calm this boy remains in her presence.

'I've been emitting killing intent since we've started talking, yet, he hasn't even flinched!'

"Fine. Why are you constantly following RWBY?" Raven asks.

Jaune sighs, "You should know just as well as I on how prone those brats are at getting into trouble. After all, you've constantly been following Yang."

"That ended when the breach happened," Raven coldly responds. "I saved her during that time. She gets one and only one. Anything more that happens to her will depend solely on her. The weak die and the strong survive. Those are the rules of this world."

Jaune chuckles, "Indeed, the strong prey on the weak. However..."

His voice turns deathly serious.

"I do not believe for a second that you'd willingly let Yang die."

Raven strongly resists the urge to flinch.

"Your little act may have fooled others, but you will not fool my eyes."

Her stomach shudders, but she reassures herself.

'He's bluffing.'

"They say that the eyes are the windows to one's soul," Jaune continues, then pauses, pretending to think.

"Actually, I don't think I've ever heard a single thing about Yang's birth mother. Why is that? Was she abandoned like trash?"

"Shut up!" Raven yells, unable to hold onto her composure. Her hands are tightly clenched into fists by her sides.

Jaune silently regards her for a second, then bows his head.

"I went too far. I apologize."

'Truly an interesting one you are, Raven Branwen.'

Raven takes several deep breaths to calm herself, then switches to the main topic she'd come here for.

"Jaune Arc. How much do you know about Ozpin?"

'Ozpin? Why the sudden fixation on Ozpin? Is she perhaps aware of his reincarnating nature?'

Jaune shrugs, "A child prodigy that quickly rose through the ranks of Huntsmen. It did not take long until he ended up as the headmaster of Beacon. The youngest headmaster in history."

"I see..." Raven narrows her eyes. "I find it hard to believe that is all you know. I know all about your various private meetings with Ozpin. In addition... your reaction to my ability of morphing into a bird was rather tame."

Jaune raises an eyebrow.

"What is the big deal about something like that? Given the vast variety of Semblances and that this school is training teenagers with superhuman powers, what is so strange about someone turning into a bird?"

'Clever answer,' Raven thinks.

"So you aren't at least a tiny bit curious as to why I have this ability? Something that is completely separate from my Semblance?"

"What is the point you're driving towards?" Jaune questions. "I thought you disliked wasting time?"

Raven grunts in annoyance.

"Do you know what Ozpin is hiding?"

"Everyone has their secrets. Please be more specific."

"Fairy tales," Raven mockingly says. "Ring any bells?"

'The tale of the four Maidens?'

"Which fairy tale do you speak of? There are quite a few."

"The seasons," Raven bluntly responds with a glare.

Jaune brings a hand up to his chin.

"Hmm... I do recall Ozpin telling me the tale of the four seasonal Maidens. That was a rather charming story."

Raven coldly responds, "I'll do you a favor and issue you a fair warning. Ozpin is not trustworthy. Trusting him is something only a fool would do. You are not a fool, are you?"

'Unlike my idiot of a little brother...'

Jaune calmly smiles at her.

"Trust? Such a fickle thing, trust is. However, it is something everyone must partake in. I think you'll be quite disappointed to learn that I trust Ozpin to a certain extent."

'At the very least, he is not my immediate enemy.'

Raven disappointingly sighs, "So he's roped in another one. Shame that one as talented as you has been brainwashed."

She looks at Jaune in surprise, when he suddenly begins to laugh in amusement.

"You seriously believe that I am one of Ozpin's machinations? Woman, I just said that I only trust Ozpin to a certain extent. By no means does this mean I am his follower. Do not allow your preconceptions to cloud your judgement."

'Did I misjudge?'

Raven decides to take a gamble.

"Answer this for me. If someone you trust knowingly sends warriors and guardians to their deaths. To fight against an adversary impossible to beat, how would you react? What would you do?"

'She must be referring to Salem.'

"Impossible to beat? For all your talk about the weak dying and the strong survive, your heart is rather weak," Jaune shakes his head.

"The answer is simple. If you are not powerful enough, then get strong enough to utterly trample and annihilate the enemy and anyone else who stands in your way. To concede the fight before you've even begun will end up becoming a self fulfilling prophecy."

'He has no idea. He doesn't know Salem like I know her. What arrogance,' Raven's eyes dim with disappointment.

Jaune comments, "I can assure you that I know exactly what I am talking about."

'How did he-' Her eyes widen.

"Remember that I said the eyes are a window to the soul? You're surprisingly easy to read," Jaune chuckles. Feeling slightly recovered, he pushes himself onto his feet and walks towards the rooftop exit.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I'd like to get some sleep."

"Wait. We're not done yet."

Raven steps in his way and grabs at his shoulder, only to grasp at air. Her eyes frantically scan the area, before Jaune's voice sounds directly into her ear.

"Here is some advice of my own. No foe is unkillable, and Salem is no exception."

Raven's eyes widen, then her head lurches forward due to a sharp flick to the back of her head.

"That is for pecking me. Good night little bird," Jaune's voice fades.

Raven glances around in confusion, then bites her lip in frustration.

'Jaune Arc is definitely not a normal student. He knows about Salem and is hiding many secrets, maybe even more than Ozpin. In fact... he doesn't even act his age.'

Her red eyes narrow with suspicion. She draws her sword and swipes it through the air, manifesting her portal. Before she steps through, she takes one final look down at the courtyard.

'Yang...'

With a sigh, she disappears.

Jaune's knees buckle, and he collapses against the door of his team room. As he catches his breath, he reflects upon his meeting with Raven.

'She has some intense animosity towards Ozpin. However, based on my interaction with her, I would not consider her an enemy.'

He takes a few more moments to rest, then silently enters the room.

'I must rest. Tomorrow is the preliminaries after all. An exciting day for all of Remnant...'

*** The following morning ***

Glynda's voice echoes through the sound system of Amity Colosseum, broadcasting to both the direct audience and the viewers around the world.

"Welcome to the beginning of the Vytal Festival Tournament. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. For those who are not familiar with the rules, allow me to clarify. Two teams will be randomly selected, and a representative must be selected by the respective teams to fight in a one vs one."

"The victor's team will be rewarded one point for his or her team. By this point, any of the remaining teams may issue a challenge to the victor via their Scroll. Challenging the victor is on a first come first serve basis, therefore, taking too much time to decide will be detrimental for any team's ability to earn points. If the victor is left unchallenged, then the one on the arena will have the right to issue a challenge towards any of the waiting teams."

"Those who lose in the one vs one match will no longer be eligible to fight for the remainder of the preliminaries. This entire process will repeat until all participants have fought at least once, and at the end, the top 16 teams will be participating in the main Tournament. In the case of tying scores, those respective teams will go through the preliminary format once again."

In the waiting rooms, the various teams of students bustle with excitement. Professors Port's voice booms through the speakers.

"Without further ado, let us select the two lucky teams to fire off the start of the preliminaries! And those two teams are..."

The holographic screen transitions to two boxes rapidly cycling through team names. They slowly come to a stop.

"Team RWBY and Team LEAF! Now, who will be the first to represent their respective teams?"

Jaune glances over at the members of RWBY huddled together, silently conversing amongst each other. After several moments, they all nod in agreement, and surprisingly, Ruby separates from the group and heads out towards the arena stage.

'Interesting choice. I fully expected them to select Yang or Weiss to go first, but Ruby?'

Jaune rubs his chin in thought. As Ruby passes by, he pats her head.

"Show them what you've got," he encourages and holds out a hand.

Ruby cheerfully grins and claps her hand against his.

Up on the screen, Ruby walks up onto the stage holding onto Crescent Rose in its compact rifle form. Across from her is her opponent from Team LEAF, looking rather confident since her opponent is so young.

"Begin!" Oobleck announces.

Ruby brings up her weapon and quickly fires off several Dust rounds. Her opponent dodges from left to right and dashes towards Ruby. When she gets closer, Ruby activates her Semblance, bursting into speed and disorientating her opponent. The girl from LEAF fails to react in time when Ruby swings her weapon against the back of her head, knocking her out from the arena.

'She's keeping her weapon in compact form, deliberately concealing her weapon's true form. Ruby is capable of coming up with plans, but she wouldn't come up with something like this.'

Jaune and his team walk up to the rest of RWBY.

"So, who came up with this scheme?" He asks them.

Blake and Yang point a finger at Weiss, who huffs with pride.

"You can't tell me it's not genius," Weiss smirks and crosses her arms.

Yang laughs, "I gotta hand it to you this time Weiss. People are naturally going to underestimate Ruby because she's 2 years younger. Until they catch on, it's practically free points."

Blake nods in agreement.

"As expected of a Schnee. Exploiting and executing nefarious plots," Blake playfully smiles at Weiss, whose eyebrow twitches.

"This is indeed quite sneaky," Pyrrha chuckles.

"Hmm, perhaps one of us should challenge her," Jaune suggests and brings out his Scroll.

"You wouldn't!" Weiss snaps her head at Jaune with some panic. In the meantime, Ruby has defeated her third opponent, scoring 3 points in total for her team.

Weiss glares when she notices the teasing look in Jaune's eyes as he holds the Scroll.

"Team CRAS as issued their challenge. What will we see next? Can anyone stop the rampage of Beacon's young Rose?"

A lanky teen with a gaunt face strolls up onto the stage with both hands in his pockets. Once he assumes his position, Oobleck announces the start of the match.

"Begin!"

The lanky boy makes no moves to indicate moving from his position. Rather, he brings a hand out from his pocket and holds it out in front of him. He flashes a smile at Ruby.

"Before we fight, I'd like to shake hands. For the sake of a good match."

Ruby, still naive due to her years, walks up to him with an unsuspecting smile. As she puts her hand out for the handshake, the lanky teen takes his other hand out from his pocket and throws a powdery red substance into Ruby's face. Based on the color, he'd just thrown fire Dust powder.

Though Ruby had quickly reacted to the movement, some of the Dust had made it into her eyes, blinding her and causing intense, sharp pain. The boy from CRAS kicks Crescent Rose out of Ruby's hands. Then, without a hint of reserve, he begins to punch and kick Ruby in the face and torso.

Ruby cries out in pain and panic, unable to see the oncoming blows. Having lost the comfort of her weapon, she is unable to remain calm.

The audience watches with disgust at the tactic this boy had employed.

"Though within the rules, what a disgraceful display by what should be an aspiring protector of Remnant. Truly disgraceful."

Growing tired of playing around, the boy roughly grabs Ruby by her hair and drags her to the edge of the stage, then throws her off, ending the fight. The stadium audience overwhelmingly sounds out with shouts of disapproval.

Jaune's eyes dangerously glint. Yang slams her fist into her seat, destroying the metal. Her pupils flash blood red and her hair is set ablaze by her Semblance.

"I'll kill that bastard!" She furiously yells.

Blake remains silent, but her hair is raised and pupils are slit.

Weiss tightly grips Myrtenaster hard enough that her knuckles turn white.

"That idiot..." She whispers, with concern etched across her face.

"How disgusting," Pyrrha angrily says, glaring at the screen.

Nora's usual smile is now a deep frown with hints of electricity bouncing across her body, while Ren's eyes turn abnormally cold.

At the opposite side of the room, the other members of CRAS point and laugh loudly at the screen. Ridiculing comments towards Ruby can be heard from across the room. Jaune's arm shoots out and grabs Yang by her shoulder, forcing her back down onto her seat.

"Do not be rash."

"Don't stop me Jaune!" Yang furiously hisses. "You saw what he did to Ruby! And his teammates over there deserve what's coming to them!"

"I'm well aware of what he did to Ruby. However, unless you want to be the one responsible for disqualifying your team due to misconduct, I suggest you sit still," Jaune replies before glancing over at Blake and Weiss. "This applies to you two as well."

The two in question remain completely silent and frozen in their seats.

"You see how gullible that dumb girl was?" A fat boy from CRASS guffaws.

Though Jaune's expression remains unchanged and calm, the temperature in the room drops, causing the other teams in the room to halt their chatter. The only one who does not seem to notice is Yang, due to her elevated emotions.

"Yang. Ruby will need your support when she gets back. This is not the place to look for a fight."

Yang glares into Jaune's impassive eyes.

"You dare call yourself Ruby's friend?! Take a look in a mirror. You look like you hardly even care-"

"Team JNPR has issued a challenge to CRAS!"

Yang jolts in surprise at the announcement. Her eyes flicker back to their normal lilac color and her hair settles. Pyrrha places a hand on Yang's other shoulder and consoles her.

"Yang. Jaune is just as upset as the rest of us. You didn't notice because of your anger."

Yang finally takes a moment to glance around the room, finding that all the other participants in the room are deathly quiet, and staring at Jaune warily.

"I've only felt that kind of pressure from my sister when she'd get into an argument with father... Even that seemed tame compared to this..." Weiss comments in a low voice.

Blake is visibly shivering. Being a Faunus and with her prior experience working for the White Fang, she is highly familiar and sensitive to killing intent. What she's feeling from Jaune terrifies her on an instinctual level.

Ruby slowly limps back towards her team, accompanied by CFVY. Yang pulls away from Jaune and Pyrrha's hands and sprints to her younger sister. She pulls Ruby into a hug and frantically checks over her body.

"Ruby! I- Are you okay? What about your eyes? What did the nurse say?"

Ruby sniffs and rubs her eyes.

"The fire Dust got into my nose and eyes. They still sting a bit, but the nurse said there shouldn't be any permanent danger, though it could have been dangerous," she quietly responds.

As Jaune walks past them, he pats Ruby's head and gives her Crocea Mors.

"I'm entrusting this to you. I'll be back soon."

Ruby grabs her friend's weapon and subconsciously hugs it close to her body. Maybe it was her imagination, but it felt as if the sword was humming against her body, bringing comfort to her.

The lanky teen from CRAS arrogantly stares at Jaune, who is standing calmly across the stage.

"I know you... You're the team leader of JNPR, with Pyrrha Nikos. I heard that she was quite the attraction during the dance. Hehe, I would have shown her a great time... I also know that you're close friends with that idiot girl I just beat."

He laughs maliciously and mocks, "You're here to take revenge for your friend right? Haha! You should've seen her face up close when she was panicking. It was hilarious!"

Jaune calmly stares at his opponent with blank eyes, making no reaction to the taunts.

"3...2...1... Begin!"

Jaune brings up a leg and casually stomps the ground, shattering the ground beneath him. He reaches out and catches a piece of debris that had flown up from the impact. He hefts the piece of rubble, roughly the size and shape of a building brick, then calmly begins to walk towards the lanky teen.

"What the fuck? You making fun of me?"

The lanky teen snarls and brings out a pair of combat knives.

"You think a rock will protect you? Die!"

He charges forward and stabs his knives down towards Jaune's eyes.

When the knives reach his eyes, the lanky teen cruelly smirks, then quickly turns confused when his knives pass through without resistance. He suddenly feels a sharp kick on the back of his legs, forcing him onto his knees.

'I can't feel my legs!'

The lanky teen looks up as Jaune's shadow casts over him.

As if looking down on an insect, Jaune brings his brick up and hits him across the head, knocking the boy across the ground.

Though protected by his Aura, the teen from CRAS is concussed and unable to move. Expression unchanging, Jaune walks to his side and crouches down next to his head and casually brings his brick up. With an almost lazy swing, Jaune hits him on the head once more.

"Ahhh!" The boy cries out.

The audience watches in complete silence, unsure of how to react to such a bizarre scene. Some viewers finally notice that up on the status screen, the CRAS member's Aura was hardly decreasing, despite his loud cries of pain.

Jaune relentlessly continues to smash the boys face with his brick, carefully gauging his strength as to avoid knocking him unconscious.

*Clunk*

"Guh! Please sto-"

*Clunk*

"Pleas-"

*Clunk*

Though no visible marks of injury are present, the lanky teen feels every single blow reverberate throughout his entire body, along with the ever present excruciating pain.

"P-please mercy!"

*Clunk*

"I want to give u-"

*Clunk*

Jaune pauses for a moment, expression still unchanged since the beginning of the match. Seeing the opportunity to forfeit, the lanky teen hastily cries.

"I forfei-"

*CLUNK*

Jaune's brick quickly cracks down onto the boy's head, and up on the screen, his Aura instantly drains from 95% to 3%.

The stadium erupts.

"Holy shit! With a single shot?!"

Jaune looks down on the unconscious teen and hefts the brick with mild satisfaction.

'This sure brings back some fond memories. One of my very few friends had jokingly used Brick Dao to humiliate his opponents. I must admit that it is quite satisfying.'

His eyes narrow as he scans the audience.

'Are you watching little CCT intruder?'

Back in the waiting rooms, Coco and Nora can not help but howl in laughter.

"Dear gods, that was brutal! With... with a rock of all things!" Coco manages to squeeze out between breaths.

"An utter humiliation," Ren nods in satisfaction.

Pyrrha whispers into Velvet's ear.

"When he dodged the initial blow... was that?"

Velvet nods.

"That was definitely Reflection of the Divine Moon. Unlike when he'd shown us, it was instant when he used it."

She looks down at her camera and sighs. Due to being caught up in the moment, she'd forgotten to record the match.

Ruby, despite her loss, can not help but smile at Jaune's performance. Yang on the other hand, sweats a bit.

"So... someone make sure that I don't get on his bad side."

Fox and Yatsuhashi silently nod in agreement. Having been demolished by Jaune through firsthand experience, they almost feel bad for the CRAS member on stage. Almost.

Weiss pinches her brow, trying to remain composed. Even Blake can not help but smirk.

Unlike Jaune's group of friends, the other participants in the room feel nothing but terror.

'That guy's a monster!'

In a corner of the room are Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo, reacting to the fight that had just occurred on screen. Neo has her arms wrapped around her stomach, silently laughing while swinging her legs.

"What was that? What did we just watch?" Emerald struggles with her words. "What are we even supposed to take away from that?!"

"Nothing, aside from what we already know. That Jaune Arc is extremely skilled and powerful," Mercury sighs.

Cinder silently glares at the screen.

'Is he mocking me?'

"Place Jaune Arc higher up on the list," she instructs.

"No one has yet to issue a challenge towards Jaune Arc of JNPR! As per the rules, he now holds the right to challenge any team he wishes!"

Jaune stares impassively into the camera.

"CRAS."

"Well yeah, obviously no one would want to challenge him after seeing that," An Atlas student mutters.

"Yeah... risk getting beat down by a random rock? Concussion, loss, and humiliation all in one package. No thanks!" Another scoffs.

The other participants nod and sigh in relief that none of their teams were called out by Jaune. Why needlessly antagonize him when it seems that Jaune Arc only has grievances against CRAS? Better to let them take the beatdown, and hope he doesn't turn his sights onto them afterwards.

The remaining members of CRAS argue amongst themselves on who should go next.

"I'm not going! I'm not even involved with the idea to go after that Beacon girl!"

"Bullshit! You're the one who came up with the idea!"

"What'd you say?! I'll kick your ass you motherfuc-"

"Seeing as the next participant has not been chosen by CRAS, the system will now select one of them at random."

A name shines on the screen.

"Shit!" One of them loudly curses.

A fat boy waddles up onto the stage across from Jaune, who stands there casually with the brick in hand.

"Begin!"

Jaune blurs out of vision.

Panicking, the fat boy wraps his arms around his head and actively bolsters his defenses with his Aura. Jaune reappears in front of the stationary boy and looks at him as if looking at an idiot. With a glance, Jaune locates a gap in the boy's pathetic excuse for a defense, and strikes his temple with the brick.

*CLUNK*

Aura or not makes little difference to Jaune. A hollow sound echoes out from the fat boy's head, and he crumbles onto the ground, unconscious and Aura in the red.

"Another one shot!"

Many in the audience pinch themselves to make sure they are not dreaming, while others feel as if they're going insane. Was Aura a joke all of a sudden? What's the point of it if a piece of rubble could wipe it out in a single shot?!

Unbeknownst to everyone but Jaune, the reason why his blows circumvent the effects of Aura is due to the tiniest slivers of White Tiger qi flowing through his brick. To him, his opponents' defenses are nothing but wet tissue paper.

Like before, the remaining two members of CRAS fail to decide who goes next, so the system promptly chooses for them.

An ordinary boy steps up onto the stage, heavily sweating from his forehead. As soon as Oobleck starts the match, the boy flees into the opposite direction.

Jaune internally sighs.

'Pathetic.'

He steps forward and disappears, almost instantly catching up to the CRAS member without a sound. The fleeing boy turns his head back towards where Jaune was standing, only to find him missing. His eyes widen in panic, and he frantically draws his weapon, a crude metal club. He turns his head back towards the front, discovering that Jaune is standing there, waiting.

With a desperate scream, the boy raises his club into the air and swings down.

Jaune flicks his arm out, smashing his brick against the weapon. The impact bends the club at a 90 degree angle and blows it out of the wielder's hand.

"The brick in inevitable," Jaune states, then swings down.

The boy collapses onto the ground, frothing from his mouth.

Oobleck sighs into the mic, "And the final member of CRAS. Step forward into the arena."

The fourth and final member of CRAS steps into the arena and immediately raises an arm.

"I forfeit!"

"You are not able to forfeit, as the match has yet to even officially begin," Oobleck coughs into the mic. "So, on that note. 3...2...1... Begin!"

The final members raises his arm once again.

"I forfei-"

*CLUNK*

As soon as Oobleck announces the start of the match, Jaune instantly appears in front of the final member of CRAS and slaps him across the head with the brick, knocking him unconscious.

"Well, that is the end of the match. So far, Jaune Arc has earned 4 points for his team and looks to be in peak condition. Will anyone step up to challenge him? Or will he, once again for the fifth time in a row, receive the right to challenge another?"

"H-he's gotta be done by this point... right?" Someone asks uncertaintly.

Up on the screen, it displays Jaune taking out his Scroll and casually browsing through the remaining teams.

"Oh gods..." A student from Haven whispers in horror. "He's not finished."

Jaune flicks his finger across the screen, carefully browsing through the teams.

'Quite a few students match the intruder's profile. How unfortunate.'

Jaune looks up and dismissively waves a hand at the camera.

"I'm feeling tired from fighting so many difficult consecutive matches. I'm stepping down."

"What?!" The audience exclaims. "Your mother that you're tired!"

Unlike the audience, a collective sigh of relief sounds throughout the waiting room as they watch Jaune hop off the arena stage.

"Very well. Jaune Arc has not officially lost a match. Therefore, another member from his team must take his place. You will have 5 minutes to decide. In the meantime, your hosts, myself and Professor Port will review these fights for the viewers in greater detail."

The participants in the waiting room part like the sea as Jaune makes his way back towards his friends. When he sits down, he looks at their incredulous expressions.

"What?"

"That was quite the performance," Pyrrha chuckles. "Whatever happened to keeping a low profile?"

Ruby holds out Crocea Mors for Jaune to take back.

"Thanks Jaune," she quietly laughs.

"What you did was borderline cruel," Weiss comments, before giving Jaune a small smile. "But seeing that it was completely justified, I have no complaints."

"He completely crushed their spirits," Ren says. "I doubt that any of them will continue to pursue the path of a Huntsmen after today."

Jaune glances at Ren, impressed.

"You're rather perceptive at times. Yes, you are correct that I crushed their spirits. Huntsmen and Huntresses have a duty to uphold in protecting and serving as paragons of righteousness. Trash like that do not deserve such a title."

"Damn," Yang remarks. "Pretty harsh words, but fully agreed."

Jaune crosses his arms and looks at Ruby with an admonishing gaze.

"As for you Ruby. Despite such foul play, you played into it due to being naive. What you did was stupidity and I hope you'll learn from this experience. Secondly, you completely lost your composure upon losing hold of your weapon."

"I... I know," Ruby looks down.

Jaune lightly flicks her forehead with a gentle smile.

"Thinking the best of others is a rare trait, and is truly a charming aspect of you. However, you must practice caution in the future."

"Question," Weiss raises a finger into the air, then points at Crocea Mors.

"You decided to forgo your weapon in order to drive in the fact that they are, as you referred to them, trash? Couldn't you have simply used hand to hand combat instead? Why the theatrics with a rock?"

"Hmm," Jaune rubs his chin in thought. "How to best explain this?..."

"Would you kill a bug with a sword?"

Everyone raises their eyebrow.

"No... you'd likely do it with a shoe, but that would dirty the shoe... Then what about scum? How would you deal with it? It is dirty and disgusting."

Everyone begins to feel a slight headache at Jaune's logic.

"Indeed, the best way to end such a thing is by smashing it with a rock. Honestly, it is really quite simple."

Jaune looks around at the group.

"Right?"

Coco snorts into her mouth, struggling not to laugh.

"So basically... you... didn't want to... touch them?"

Velvet looks away with a red face, embarrassed by Jaune's roundabout excuse while trying to sound profound.

Weiss rubs her temples.

"Okay, just stop. We get it."

"Anyways," Jaune coughs into his hand. "We need to quickly decide who goes next."

"OH!"

Nora jumps onto her feet.

"Me! I call dibs! You broke their faces, so I get to break their legs. It's perfect!"

She maniacally laughs and darts away towards the stage with Magnhild in hand.

"Well... I suppose that works," Ren sighs.