When the darkness had faded, Jaune found himself back at Beacon. But something was different about this one. For one, he was on that same stage that the students were whenever they sparred during combat class. Second, the armor that he had when he trained under Winter Schnee was gone, replaced with his old equipment. Thirdly, there were occasional shakes that occurred yet his balance was unaffected. Lastly, Saint War Order was replaced by Crocea Mors once again. There was no one else around him except for one individual who stood across him.
Cardin Winchester stood across him, the Executioner in hand. There wasn't even a display of their aura levels nor was Professor Goodwitch present to referee this sparring match. Cardin drew his weapon and was waiting for him to do the same. Jaune placed his hand on the old hilt of Crocea Mors. Once, this hilt would have been the only weapon that he had ever known. Now, it is as though he had never held it before. He could have kept the sword in the sheath and fight as he had up to this point but the unwieldly design of having the weight of the shield be on the blade would affect his swings. Jaune had grown accustomed to Saint War Order.
Instead, he drew the sword and deployed the shield. He took a stance opposite to the one he normally had. With the shield as a defensive tool, both it and the corresponding foot were forward. Jaune was mostly sideways with his shoulder facing Cardin Winchester. He shuffled forward, being careful not to make his stances too wide. In those brief moments, Jaune's fingers slowly relaxed onto the shield and sword. Having been better trained now, he finds himself better at adapting to his old weapon. Being a sword already certainly made that transition more bearable.
Cardin was the first to attack. He swung his mace downwards, aiming directly at Jaune's head. It was highly telegraphed as Jaune responded by using the shield to deflect it. The blonde knight sidestepped and swung his sword, also aiming for the head. With his opponent having worn more armor than him, Jaune would have to aim at the exposed areas in order to put any sort of damage. While he could use both the pommel and the shield itself as a blunt weapon targeting the armor, neither was going to be as effective as a dedicated blunt weapon like Cardin's mace.
Speaking of armor, Jaune's sword was deflected by the vambrace on Cardin's arms. He pushed the blade aside, leaving Jaune open for a counter attack from that same arm. Swinging the arm back and closing the fist, Cardin swung at Jaune's face, putting his entire weight into it, causing significant damage. The two split apart from there and made distance from them. The first exchange went to Cardin Winchester's favor. Another shake had occurred.
Now split apart, the two fighters once again closed in slowly. Never really changing their stances other than vain attempts at baiting the other to attack, exposing them to a painful counter. Jaune had the advantage of mobility and better defense but Cardin had better reach and would hurt a lot more. The circled around each other as their bodies tensed and relaxed as they inched closer and closer.
This time, it was Jaune who acted first. Rather than swing his sword, he opened his shield inviting Cardin to exploit the opening; he had taken it. Swinging the mace to deflect Jaune's sword aside, Cardin swung it back, aiming to attack him at the head. Collapsing the shield, Jaune reached for the hand that held the mace and struck at Cardin's face with the pommel of the sword.
With a sweep of his foot, Jaune broke Cardin's balance and tossed the large boy on the ground. As Jaune's shield hand descended, the shield expanded quickly, adding further momentum to the descending strike. Jaune guarded the coming knee but still stumbled away because of the force behind it. Cardin hurried to get back on his feet but Jaune descended on him quickly with the sword, making his opponent backed away by instinct. It was not enough as Cardin was still cut by the tip of the blade.
Something went wrong for Jaune when he completed the swing. For one, he did not hear the sound of aura being used for defense. His mind was focused on the fight that it never occurred to him that his strikes on Cardin wasn't dwindling his aura. What he had heard instead was the sound of flesh being cut. Jaune stared at the tip of the sword and saw the slight red and the small drops on the ground. Jaune didn't strike Cardin's aura, he had cut a piece of Cardin's flesh.
Jaune had won that exchange. Rather than press his advantage, he stopped. He still hasn't quite processed that he had just made Cardin bleed. Thus far, he had thought that he was fighting him like it was combat class. He hadn't expected that it would have turned to this. Cardin slowly got back on his feet. As he did so, the blonde knight felt another rumble.
Picking up his mace, Cardin readied his stance again. This time, Jaune's eyes focused on the cut face that Cardin had. The expression was that of someone devoid of life. Like he was simply a body that bore the face of Cardin Winchester. There was nothing left of the boy, perhaps they were pieces of what had remained. Still, he fought really well and just as hard as Jaune could remember.
With a breath, Jaune dropped the shield of Crocea Mors. The sword itself allowed for two hands and the blonde knight adopted the stance that he had become familiar with over his time. He was not the same huntsman as he had when he first started in Beacon. He had trained in a different weapon and he had accustomed to a different style of combat. While it was still a sword, his approach had been different. He calmed his mind as he relaxed into the posture that he is most comfortable with.
The two then clashed again. Without the shield, Jaune had exposed himself more to Cardin's attacks and with the shorter length, he had to step in closer in order to strike at Cardin. However, one advantage he did have was the comfortability and the near instinctive movement he had now that he had adapted much closer to style that he had trained under. Cardin still used his mace in one hand, freeing up his other hand to do grabs should they ever come close. Jaune wasn't about to let that happen as he would also free one of his hand in response.
Cardin had the superior strength and power of weapon but Jaune had better control of the distance in the close range. Once one goes past the main striking area of weapons like the mace, the overall effectiveness of such weapons decreases significantly. Swords have a longer effective striking area thus could afford to come in close.
Another cut had been made and more blood had been spilt. Cardin still has yet to use his aura. Even Jaune hasn't forgotten to keep his up so why hasn't his opponent? A thought then entered his mind when the two separated again: Cardin is out of aura. Just before Jaune was in this recreation of Beacon, the victims of the Grimm would take the aura of its victims to feed itself. Jaune immediately turned his own off; it is likely that his own aura was being drained as well.
"I'm sorry, Cardin," Jaune said. He knew what he had to do. He readied his sword and charged in. Cardin charged forward as well, in response. It was to be the final exchange.
For Jaune, it felt like the longest time. In reality, it had lasted only a moment. When the two had swung at each other, there was no parry. There was no deflection. There was only the singular swing that would have ended anyone's life. The two held their stances as they breathed in. Then, Jaune heard the massive fall of Cardin Winchester. The victory had gone in his favor. It was a surreal moment for Jaune. For much of his time in Beacon, he had never won a match against Cardin. Yet here he was, now clad in the armor and weapon that he had worn after training under Winter, standing victorious over Cardin.
Everything around him started to crumble. Rather than the blue skies above, Jaune could only see a bright light. Whatever landscape that he was in, it was clearly deteriorating as parts of the ceilings and walls started to break apart. None of them fell down; they were rising, like they were being pulled by some invisible force that was present above them. The brightness expanded and much like how earlier he could only see dark, now he could only see light.
"…aune! Jaune!" was the first thing he had heard once his vision had been covered only in light. When it had returned to him, Jaune could see that he was covered in a lot of black; it was the remains of the Grimm. Pyrrha was holding him, panic had marked her face. Behind her were the other members of his team, also visibly worried about their team leader. That fear turned to euphoria when they realized that he was alright.
Their embrace was tight and as the other members of team JNPR gathered around him, they all got together in one big group hug. When they had released, Jaune's attention was on where his sword had been. Saint War Order was impaled deep inside a lifeless Cardin Winchester. Both of them were covered in much black liquid that Jaune wasn't sure how many baths he will need to take to get rid of it all.
The blonde knight stood, struggling as he got up. When he neared to get his sword, a strange looking book had caught his attention. Jaune felt his hands being pulled as he took hold of the strange book. It had an albino-looking woman with red eyes and veins staring back at him. It had a strange allure to it that he felt his knees weaken and he held the book tight momentarily. If it wasn't for Pyrrha catching him, he would have stumbled and fell.
Suddenly, the book was taken away from him and Jaune was broken free from his momentary trance. When he raised his head, he saw the figure of a disheveled headmaster Ozpin throwing the book on the ground. His clothes were torn and some of his gray hairs were missing, burnt away. Ozpin opened a vial of red Dust and sprinkled it all over the book. With a breath, there was a small explosion that had caused the book to catch fire. As if it wasn't enough, headmaster Ozpin then took out a flask and poured out some alcoholic drink on it, further fueling the flames.
"Never again," he said, shaking his head. Ozpin then nodded a second later saying to himself, "I have done it, Gilles. I have done as I promised." He then turned to face an approaching huntsman and raised the flask as if to return it. "Whatever you will replace it with, Qrow, put it on my tab."
Headmaster Ozpin then proceeded to walk away with a slight limp, leaving everyone dumbfounded and still. No one had ever seen the headmaster in this manner. It was as though a completely different individual had stood in front of them. Jaune's arm was still over Pyrrha's shoulder and he found himself putting much of his weight on her.
"It's alright," said Pyrrha. "Let's go find someplace to get you cleaned up." Her smile was weak and tired but the gladness in it was genuine. This time, team JNPR stuck together as they made their way to where everyone else was gathering.
AN: One more to go and Knight War Order has officially ended. This one was an experience to be honest. Not having the canon timeline as reference for this fic definitely made me more uncertain of the choices much of the time. Feel free to point out whatever weakness/strength in the reviews.