AN:
Before we get to the fanmail, an announcement I'd like to make is there's new Giant-Slayer fanart for anyone who wants to see it. Link is in my profile; courtesy of KegiSpringfield.

And now, onto the fanmail!

LoamyCoffee: Oh this was super nice~ I do enjoy Brigitte~ I liked this insight into Cardin and his family, not mention that fanfic versions of him tend to be 50/50 on whether he'll be straight up bashed or redeemed nice guy.

Re: Yeah, when I play Overwatch as Healer I try to main as her whenever possible. I'm actually pretty good, at least as far as Gold goes, but only as long as I'm not out in the frontlines by myself against half the enemy team…
As for Cardin, yeah, I figured some insight would make him more-interesting than the punching bag most authors tend to write him off as. Being the punching bag is now Dominic/Ian/Rudolph's job~

Blaze1992: Don't like him but at least he has the sense to pick a "right" type of girl for a date.

Re: Well, seeing as how Jack's former 'partner' and teammates are the whipping boys for this story, I thought with all I'd done to develop Cardin's character, that maybe I'd do it a bit more, so something different.

*NEW WORLD*

The following day, neither RWBBY nor JNPR had any missions lined up. In fact most of the morning was reserved for homework, something Weiss and Pyrrha on their respective teams both urged upon, since any last-minute scramblings would be sure to result in a loss of GPA.

For those with loads of energy to burn like Ruby and Nora, the hours of sitting in and doing coursework seemed to drag on forever. For those who liked being in the thick of it like Yang, the time similarly wore on, but seeing Jack taking his schoolwork seriously lit a fire under her, and the blond got to work. For Jaune who was eager to prove himself, now the proud owner of an Ironclad Guild armor set, the blond was itching to get out there and start proving Ozpin didn't make a mistake admitting him to Beacon.

A while after lunch, Jack had barged into JNPR's room with a rucksack over his shoulder and dragged Jaune out by the scruff of his neck; after telling him to get his armor. Pyrrha of course was worried, but after hearing the rest of RWBY and JNPR being invited along, their sum interest was piqued, and Pyrrha's unease lessened.

A short-ish walk from the dorms later and they were guided past the northern gate of Beacon and into one of the training grounds. A heavily-forested area surrounding a clearing of grass and packed dirt, along the outliers were log benches, and toward the center were dummies for target practice and rust-laden boulders to train strength.

"So uh… What're we out here for?" Jaune asked, happy he wasn't alone.

He still had nightmares about getting Sparta Kicked off Beacon Cliff.

Sure, Jack had hitched a towing cable to his armor, but he'd still pissed himself.

"Figured we could do something a little more physical today, help you prepare for the Vytal Festival," Jack shrugged. "Now, apart from Ren, Nora, and Weiss, who here knows what Combat Artes are? And I mean 'Artes' with an 'e'."

At this the others gave him confused looks, whereas those that'd been singled out nodded knowingly.

"Jaune, pass me your sword, would you?"

"Oh, um, okay," he said rising from his feet and tentatively handing it over, "but what're you-"

"Demon Fang!" Jack roared as soon as it was in his hand, sweeping the tip of the blade through the dirt and away from Jaune.

To the surprise of those not-in-the-know, when Jaune's blade left the ground, a red conical flame-like projectile streaked across the ground, dirt and grass churned in its wake before colliding with one of the iron-rich boulders down the way, a large crack visible up the side.

"Whooooaaaa!" Ruby gawped as the dust settled, eyes twinkling. "It's like a Super Move…!" she said breathlessly.

"That is the idea, yes," Jack said lobbing Jaune's sword back toward him, the tip stabbing deeply into the ground when floundering hands failed to retrieve it. "What you just witnessed is an Arte, with an 'e' on the end. Old word, don't know where it comes from."

"Arte…?" Jaune asked juggling the word on his tongue, still digesting that his sword had created a bona fide energy blast.

"To put it simply… You know how your Aura forms a barrier around you?" Jack began. "Well, your body naturally shapes Aura into a shell around yourself. However, you can also take that Aura and mold it into other shapes as well, and if you get really creative, you can pull off all sorts of amazing crap. You've already seen a few from Nora, Ren, and I, in fact."

"We have…? OH!" Ruby gasped. "Yeah, I remember now!"

"Oh! It's like Menma!" Pyrrha gawped suddenly.

"Huh?" Jack hummed confusedly.

"Menma! It's the name of a popular manga back in Mistral! Part of the Shonen Leap lineup," she clarified, sounding quite excited. "Menma is about ninjas using 'ninja magic' called 'Jutsu'! Chakra, their energy source, can be 'shaped' into different techniques! If you treat Aura the same way, it makes perfect sense!"

"You see Nora blast me backwards with a giant lion head and that's what you compare it to?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Says the guy with the nightmare fuel on his bookshelf…" Blake muttered.

"Blake… Please tell me you didn't read what's on my shelf…" Jack paled.

"You have a really fucked-up sense of humor."

"If you think that's bad, you should probably avoid Petshop of Terror."

"Because of course something you read has a title like that..." Blake deadpanned.

"Can we please turn our attention back to the Super Moves?" Ruby asked hopefully, mind positively awhirl with ideas.

"Yes, lets," Jack nodded. "Now, Artes aren't all that different from Semblance, actually," he began, causing a few eyes to go wide. "The difference however… I guess you could say that Semblance is like an Automatic, while Artes are Stick."

"Huh?" Yang asked confusedly.

" . . . Maybe a different metaphor is in order," Jack hummed. "Okay, Semblance, are like the keyboard commands on your computer; shortcuts meant to streamline certain actions like cutting, copying, pasting, so-on. However, even if you don't know the Keyboard command, aka 'Semblance', you can still cut, copy, and paste, you just need to do it manually with the mouse."

"Sooo… I could make Glyphs like Weiss, possibly?" Ruby inquired, causing Weiss to chuff. "I saw Glynda make something similar a few times, but her Semblance is [Telekinesis]," she went on to say, poignantly ignoring her partner's response to said inquiry.

"That's actually a very good example of what I'm trying to convey," Jack nodded. "Glyphs are essentially formulas you draw with Aura, ink, chalk, whatever, that act like 'cheat codes' for Aura Manipulation. In theory, anyone can wield Glyphs, but the Schnee Bloodline with their Hereditary Semblance gives them the 'keyboard command' necessary to do it automatically.

As if to prove that point, Jack splayed his fingers outward and touched his wrists together before slowly turning his forearms, a pair of concentric crimson rings drawn through the air starting at two points above and below. When he scrunched his face in concentration and tried to add runes to it however, the Glyph broke and the Aura he'd weaved into the air fizzled out.

Despite the complete and total failure on his part, Weiss' jaw hung, speechless at what she'd witnessed while the rest applauded his effort.

"As you can see, the more-complicated the 'shape' you try to weave Aura into, the more-difficult the 'manipulation'-"

"Oh! Like Elemental Manipulation in Menma!" Pyrrha gasped before blushing and falling silent.

"Again, I don't know what that means, but I'll assume that helps you understand what I'm trying to get across," Jack hummed. "Now, Artes are typically divided into three categories. Martial Artes, Arcane Artes, and Mystic Artes. Martial Artes involve using your body or a weapon as the medium for channeling Aura; Nora hitting me with her war hammer and making a giant lion head come out is a pretty good example of the more-eccentric end of the spectrum, while Demon Fang is the more-mundane end of it."

"You hear that, Ren? Jack called me 'eccentric'," Nora preened.

"Arcane Artes and Thaumaturgic Dust Manipulation are essentially one in the same, though Magecraft can also fall under the category of an Arcane Arte, it's just more-difficult to perform so most choose to use a physical catalyst. Basically, anything that'd pass for "Magic" in the olden days would be an Arcane Arte; Fire Ball, Stone Blast, Wind Blade, and Aqua Edge are some of the more-rudimentary Arcane Artes, while stuff like Tidal Wave, Gravity Well, Cyclone, and Meteor Storm can level small villages if the wielder has enough Aura to pull it off."

"Hey, what about that stuff you did with your blood?" Nora asked excitedly. "You know, the blades, the armor. All that gross stuff. Did you have to sacrifice a small goat?! Can you teach me to do that? Would I also have to sacrifice a small goat!?"

"Nora…"

"Hey, yeah, I'm curious too," Yang hummed. "I don't advocate you cutting yourself, but if a bad guy cuts you, they definitely wouldn't expect you to sprout a big freaking scythe blade."

"Ahhhh~ Arm Scythe...!~" Ruby swooned dreamily. "Me! Me! Teach me!"

"Hey, I saw him first!" Nora yelped.

"Ruby, no!" Yang cried.

"Please don't," Ren sighed.

"Blood Artes…" Jack said before pausing, trying to wave the two down. "Obviously, using your own blood as a medium makes it messy, on top of being very bad for your health, but if I were classifying it… I'd say Blood Artes are in the grey zone between Martial and Arcane."

"Jaaack?!" Yang yelped.

"But! To be perfectly honest, I stumbled upon it purely by accident so I doubt I could 'teach it' even if I wanted to," he finished, causing Nora and Ruby to whimper cutely. "Its all about taking what you've got, and channeling the right kind of Aura into it in the right amounts at the right pace, and with enough time and practice you could make anything happen. You could chuck an empty bottle at someone and have it explode like a shrapnel grenade on impact, or send an egg through a barn door; two barn doors if one of 'em's open."

"What about Mystic Artes?" Weiss found herself asking. "There must be something special about it if it's a separate subset from Arcane Artes."

"Okay, if Artes in-general are 'Super Moves', then Mystic Artes would be 'Ultimate Techniques'," Jack answered. "Think of it like a 'clutch movie' you can only use when your emotions are at a fever pitch, a last-ditch effort to end a fight in a single shot. Even if you have the ability to perform a Mystic Arte, it isn't something you can pull out of your ass at the beginning of a fight, you have to build up to it, like those gauges at the bottom of fighting game screens that let you use super moves."

"Oh! I think Goodwitch might've used one of those," Ruby said thinking back to the Foreverfall Forest and that massive fireball she'd hurled at the True Ursa Major. "She even called it a Mystic Arte! It looked like it could level a small village!"

"Ah, yes, I think I remember her saying something to that effect," Jack nodded.

"So what about you?" Yang asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you have a Mystic Arte?" she asked curiously.

"Not in the declarative sense, no, but I have something that could fall within that category."

"Wait, does declaring your Arte have anything to do with it?" Pyrrha asked.

"When you're starting out, maybe, or if you want to draw attention to yourself and away from your comrades. There's also if you're aiming for style points, like if you want to impress a prospective client," Jack shrugged. "Really, it's all a spectrum. Giving it a name gives it 'power', both to the user and against the victim. Its also a form of self-hypnotic trigger that makes the act of manipulating your Aura in the middle of combat more-automatic and less thought-intensive."

"I see…" Pyrrha hummed. Honestly, she thought calling out the names of your attacks was silly, but if it could help you shape your Aura into a new and interesting shape for an unexpected effect, the payoff might be worth it.

"Sooo… What's that 'Mystic Arte' of yours like?" Jaune asked.

With how-strong the Faunus was, even while holding back, it had to be something quite significant.

"Not something you'll see unless we're all up shit creek without a paddle," Jack said plainly, causing them to gulp.

"Sooooo… What're the basics we need to nail down before we can start firing energy blasts?" Yang asked excitedly, imagining herself with glowing crimson hair firing off powerful energy beams to annihilate her enemies.

"Well for one, it helps being able to shape your Aura into something other than a forcefield. Channeling it through your body and weapons is a start, but Artes is something that takes time, practice, and dedication merely to use, let alone master," Jack said plainly.

"Well, can you recommend a training regiment?" Jaune asked.

"In terms of Auric Manipulation, there are three branches you need to consider and refine before you can do anything eccentric with it; Control, Output, and Volume," he tacked off on his fingers. "Control represents how much Aura you can dedicate to any one purpose in comparison to how much of it ends up as 'waste emissions'," he began, writing Control in the sand with a stick. "Weiss for example, doesn't waste any energy on her [Glyph]s. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Yang's [Dragon Fire] is loud and flashy, with lots of unnecessary heat and light that doesn't really do anything."

This statement caused Weiss to smile, and Yang to pout.

"Next is Output, the amount of Aura you can willfully expel from your body within a given timeframe," Jack said writing Output down and to the left. "For example, the greater Pyrrha's 'Output', the more pieces of metal she can move with her [Magnetism] simultaneously."

"[Polarity]," the red-head corrected.

"That too," Jack waved. "Lastly is Volume, which is exactly what it sounds like; the amount of usable Aura your body can contain at any given time before you reach your cap and can't stockpile anymore. For example, a person who's only had their Aura for a week would have 'a kiddie pool's worth', while a master Hunter would have enough Aura 'to fill an Olympic swimming pool'," he stated writing Volume to the right of Output before encircling them all, drawing curving lines resembling a three-part pinwheel. "Volume naturally grows over the course of your life the longer you live, but if you go out of your way to see and experience new things, whether it's something big like visiting another country, or something small like trying out a new food, the 'depth' of your soul increases, though some would argue that sort of thing falls into the realm of philosophy rather than plasmology," he trailed off. "Hence, someone who is younger but more world-traveled can have more cumulative Aura than someone older than them who's only worked in one part of the world for years and years without leaving their comfort zone. That's why Hunters who travel abroad are always stronger, at least in terms of Aura, while those rooted to a single place tend to stagnate."

"Well, I know what I'm doing after graduation," Yang said with a smile, lacing her fingers behind her head.

"Jaune," he said, causing the blond to perk up. "In your case, your family has a propensity for 'Volume'; even though you've only had an active Aura for a couple months, you still have more Aura than most of your peers, which quite frankly, says a great deal about your lineage."

At this the blond preened happily.

"However, in contrast, your Control is complete shit," he said causing the blond to wilt. "For example, if you wanted to use Demon Fang like I did, not only would you have to match the amount of Aura I put out, but you'd have to double it just to get it at any level of coherency."

"Just another thing to work on…" Jaune pouted, Pyrrha patting him consolingly on the shoulder.

"Weiss on the other hand, has some of the best Control out of everyone here, downright surgical since her Semblance is extremely technical in nature," Jack said causing the heiress to smile sweetly. "That being said, her Output leaves much to be desired because of the time it takes for a [Glyph] to 'maturate' into a completed state, like trying to fill a bucket with only a trickle," he elaborated, causing her brow to twitch. "Your current skill level might work against Grimm, but a smart person can easily work around that, and even use it against you if you try to use a Glyph to effect repeatedly."

"Oh! Oh! For 'Output', does Yang embody it the most?" Ruby asked eagerly.

"Actually, yes, that's a good example to make," Jack nodded. "Yang's Output, frankly, is frightening, and she has the Volume necessary for a fast-burn Semblance like her [Dragon Fire]. However…"

"Let me guess… My Control is complete shit too?"

"In as many words," Jack hummed. "If we envision you using your Aura like turning the faucet on a spigot, then you only have two settings; All, or Nothing. You have enough Output to overwhelm most opponents like a fireman's hose on a riot, and your Volume can keep you in the fight for a good while, but go up against anyone with better Control than you and they'll outlast you every time. Think of it like the difference between a scooter and a gas guzzler. Put the same amount of fuel in both, and while the gas guzzler can go faster, the scooter can go farther."

"What about Aura Generation?" Pyrrha asked. "I always found that a good night's sleep helps 'top me off', but what about in the middle of a fight?"

"Well, that would be harder to measure because everyone's 'their own baseline' and it isn't fair comparing apples to oranges," Jack stated. "For example, two people might have the same 'Volume' of Aura, but the potency is different, like the separation between Leaded Fuel and Premium. Different 'engine types' in terms of 'fuel efficiency' also influence how fast a person's Aura regenerates. Throwing in factors like physical, mental, and spiritual health, and that just muddles things up further."

"Is it possible to force your Aura to regenerate?" Yang asked. With all the times she'd tapped out in training, it'd really help if she could just "refill" and get back to her feet.

"Well… If we continue using the car metaphors, then forcing your Aura to regenerate, would be the equivalent of 'shortening battery life'," he said causing some to wince. "Aura is an extension of the Soul. While it is possible to convert emotional or caloric energy into more Aura since your body and spirit are tied together, you can only do that for so long before you start experiencing negative side-effects. There are as-many side-effects as there are people using Aura, so don't ask me for a baseline, or we'd be here all day."

"So then I take it, because you've been training more-intensely than all of us for a longer period of time, your Control, Output, and Volume all surpass ours?" Pyrrha groused.

"Yes and no," Jack returned. "On-paper you'd think I was stronger than the lot of you, individually, and in most cases you'd be right, but by the same logic, I'm like a car that's taken a beating over the years. My 'top speed' and 'acceleration' don't really change the fact that if I actually put the pedal to the metal, the car would start rattling itself apart," he said causing Yang to wince, since one time her Bumblebee did start rattling itself apart; but only when she'd pushed the poor girl past her limits.

"So you have to hold back, or run the risk of more permanent, cumulative damage…" Jaune mused. "Oh! Is it like Debuffs from video games that case permanent drops to HP and/or MP?"

"That's actually a very apt comparison," Jack said holding out his arms. "All these wounds I got? They healed over, but they didn't heal one-hundred percent of the way. I'm not as flexible as I used to be, and I'm not as strong as I'd like pain-free, but the power I do have was the tradeoff for the 'level grinding' I did."

"Huh. Didn't make you one for video games," Jaune hummed.

"Not really, but my baby sister likes them, so I manage," the Faunus shrugged.

"So then… with enough Control, Output, and Volume, you can use Artes to replicate some Semblance?" Pyrrha asked.

"Those three aspects of Aura Manipulation are only one half of the equation," Jack answered. "The other, at least in my experience, is more-instinctual than that. In order to make your Aura conform into a new shape, you need the power of… Impression."

"Impression?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jaune, if you're going to open your mouth to ask a question, please don't slap a question mark onto the last word I said. Its very unflattering," Jack said bluntly causing Jaune to wince. "Jaune… Remember that day you reeeeeally pissed me off, and then you hallucinated that your head exploded causing you to fall on your ass and cry out like a little bitch."

"Hey, it did not happen like-

The next moment, Jaune's head violently exploded like a latex head filled with leftover burgers, rabbit liver, fake blood, syrup, and dog food which was shot with a big shotgun to blow the hell out of it.

"AAAAGH!" Jaune squealed as he fell flat on his back.

"That. That is what an Impression is," Jack stated, raising his finger to tap the side of his head, Jaune gawping at him like a fish out of water. "By imagining a scenario or event strongly enough, a person is able to cause an impression of that scenario or event strong enough that it actually occurs, whether that be imagining stress and forming an ulcer, or imagining an attack succeeding and having it actually succeed. It's an entirely mental concept with no real bearing on three-dimensional space, but it increases one's focus and accuracy exponentially. For example, even if you had the Control and Output necessary to use the Demon Fang, unless you believed you could do it, you won't be able to make it happen because a part of you is stopping yourself," he explained. "Another example I've heard of is cases where ricocheted shots landed that had no business landing because the ballistics were all wrong, but the shooter's Impression was strong-enough to bend the bullet into going where they wanted it to go, because they had that-much faith in both their abilities and their weapon, even if they didn't have a head for math."

"So it's 'mind over matter' then?" Pyrrha asked. Given that one-in-a-million throw that'd saved Jaune from painting the forest floor a very disgusting color, she couldn't help but take the older Faunus' words to heart about the power of Impression.

"Yes and no," Jack answered. "To fully utilize the power of Impression, you need an astonishing level of concentration and self-confidence, and depending on the difficulty of the desired impression, the energy required can be enormous. And I do mean that literally, not just metaphorically?"

"Huh? How so?" Ruby asked.

"The humanoid brain might only take up two percent of our bodyweight, but it takes up twenty percent of our energy at-standing, so imagine what would happen if you had really intense thoughts going through your head," Jack posited. "Have you ever wondered why you get the munchies after hours of studying, even if you've only been sitting at a desk? That's because your brain, a living computer, needs fuel, and sometimes that tissue between your ears is a gas guzzler."

"I see…" Ruby hummed contemplatively. "And how do I train that?"

"Aren't you still struggling with the foot-thing?" Weiss asked.

"Hey, I can diversify!" the red-head pouted.

"Training the ability to use Impression… Hrmmmm…" Jack hummed thoughtfully. "If this were before the Age of Reason, you all'd be whipping out Artes left and right like nobody's business," he said more to himself than to them.

"Age of Reason?" Pyrrha blinked. "I don't think Dr. Oobleck covered that."

"The Age of Reason is basically the point in history after the Dark Ages, following the Great War, where people stopped believing in Magic altogether and started accepting what Science told them as fact," Jack answered. "Back then the world was a more-mystical place where anything was possible; without the idea of 'limitation' in the collective consciousness, people were able to create Impressions powerful enough to split oceans, level mountains, rend the sky, and sink islands. Miracles, and catastrophes in equal measure, happened left and right because science hadn't 'sucked the fun out of everything' yet."

"Prove it," Weiss stated, still saucy from earlier comments.

"Huh? Prove what?" Jack asked.

"Prove that a strong-enough Impression can make the impossible possible."

"You're really going to push me on this?"

"Yes!" she insisted. "Without proof, how can I take anything you say as fact and not fiction?"

"You do realize the whole point of Impression is to believe in something strongly-enough to make it happen, even if things wouldn't conventionally play out that way, right?"

"Can you do it or not?" Weiss asked, wholly prepared to dismiss everything she'd just been told. Words and concepts that threatened to unseat the very idea of 'the world' she spent her entire life in.

"Fine. Fine…" Jack shrugged, pointing his index finger off to the side and calling out- "Spirit Gun!" -, a crimson beam of light shooting out, straight as a laser, and shearing a small branch off a tree.

"Yes, yes very nice, but what does that prove-"

"Spirit Gun!" Jack said rounding on… her!?

The beam of condensed light flying right for the space between her eyes, before the heiress could fire off the synapses necessary to instruct her muscles to carry her body out of the way, a physical impossibility occurred as the light ray bent, at a perfect right angle before curving around to the back of her head. Whirling around, a scorched hole in the tree straight behind her and leading to Jack's finger with her head occupying the space in the middle, told the story.

"Wha… Bu… How…?" she stuttered, her brain melting like butter on toast.

"I believed~" Jack said cheekily at Weiss' gawping features, wiping a bead of sweat from his temple. "Do the impossible, see the invisible. Raw! Raw! Fight the power! Touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable. Raw! Raw! Fight the power!~" he sung.

"Oh! I love that song!" Nora gasped.

"Well, I'm sold," Yang nodded exuberantly. "So, I just gotta believe my flares will fly a certain way, and it'll happen?"

"Yes, but you have to 'un-learn everything you think you know', like in those old kung-fu movies, otherwise you can't wield the power of Impression."

"Oh! I love those movies!" the ginger gasped again.

"Is it really that simple?" Pyrrha asked. Sure, when she speared Jaune to that tree with her Miló from half a mile away, she'd visualized hitting his hood without hitting him very clearly in her mind, but bending an actual laser in a perfect arc around someone's head before returning it to its intended course…

"I wouldn't say 'simple'. More like… you need to take it too literally or not literally enough," Jack hummed, only to gain a confused look on his face like he hadn't heard the words until they came out of his mouth. "Look, actually performing Artes are different between different people. One person works a jigsaw puzzle, they'll start with the edge-pieces; another person works that same puzzle, they'll work the most-distinctive clumps together first; another still will slog through the sky pieces and leave the rest for later. What I'm telling you about Artes isn't meant to be taken as a step-by-step instruction manual. More like… a vague tutorial for a game with a really robust physics engine where the only upper limit is your imagination and creativity."

"Oh, question."

"Yes, Ruby?"

"In anime, heroes have way more Super Moves than the bad guys; and not just the jobbers that get killed at the end of their episode. Is it like that in real life too?"

"Jobber?" Weiss asked with a raised brow.

"The guy whose job it is to get their ass kicked by the good guy for sake of plot," Yang clarified.

"Hrmmmm… Honestly, I feel like I'd have to make the whole 'good and evil are artificial constructs' point, which leads into the next segment of today's lesson; Light Aura, and Dark Aura."

"Dark is evil, right?" Jaune asked.

"No, that's an extremely biased and naive point of view," Jack said flatly, causing the others to gawp. "Light & Dark, and Good & Evil, are not mutually exclusive to one another."

"But… I mean… That doesn't make any sense!" he protested. "Light, good, Dark, evil. It makes perfect sense!"

"Tell me, when you hear the word 'priest', which word comes to your mind first? 'Light', or 'Darkness'?"

"Well, obviously 'light'-"

"And what if I were to point out all the child molestation perpetrated by the Catholic church since its inception? Or the fact that some of the worst atrocities against humanity were committed in the name of their god?" he asked, events like the Crusades, the Witch Hunts, the Inquisition, and so-on coming to mind. "Would you still consider priests 'wholly good' then?"

"Well, when you frame it like that-"

"And what about Hunters? You'd think they were a force for good, but what about the ones that only care for money, or the pass to hurt people, or just the title that gives them the choice of young village girls while half-assing it out in the middle of nowhere?" he went on causing the gathered teens to wilt a little. "Light isn't necessarily 'good', and dark isn't necessarily 'evil'. Bad people are just as capable of doing good as the inverse, and real life is in shades of gray."

"But, what does that have to do with Super Moves?" Ruby asked.

"In order to master your Aura, and I mean really master it, not just wave it around like a crude bludgel… you have to realize and accept the fact that there is both Light and Darkness inside of you; good and evil. Pretending you don't have the latter within yourself will only shackle you, stop you from rising above yourself and wielding your Aura to its absolute fullest."

"And I take it you've already accepted this fact?" Weiss asked.

"Trying to master your Aura without an acceptance of your Darkness, in addition to your Light, is like trying to empty a lake with a sieve instead of a pot. It can still be done, but you're only working against yourself," Jack said with a shrug. "Light and Dark coexist within all of us. You can't have one without the other. For what is Light without Darkness to compare it to? If you choose to act in only a 'morally sound' way, what becomes of free will? These are the deep philosophical questions that some people spend their entire lives trying to solve, and most of the time, instead of accepting the answer that's true, they try to fabricate evidence for a fiction they can more-easily accept."

"So then… since Light Aura isn't necessarily 'Good', and Dark Aura isn't necessarily 'Evil'… it's all the same?" Ruby asked.

" . . . Aura, is only a power source, and power is neither good nor evil," Jack began somberly, raising up his right palm. "The power of light can banish the darkness, but the brighter the light, the longer the shadow cast."

As he said this, clutching his left hand to his wrist, a soft keening filled the air as crimson energy spilled out of his skin and into the air above his hand, coalescing into a slowly-spinning luminous orb the size of a golf ball.

"According to Hesiod, Erebos is the god of darkness in Greek mythology, the son of one of the original gods, Chaos," he said in a story-telling sort of tone, spoken to no-one in particular as his eyes lost focus. "The children of that Erebos begat with his twin sister Nyx were Aether and Hemera, and, being darkness and night, they are the divine beings that precede light."

As he said this, the sphere of Aura above his hand whirled faster, and like a centrifuge, the lighter particles were cast outward, dissipating into nothingness.

"As I've come to experience it through years of meditation, Darkness, is the denser of the two. Darkness is not in opposition to Light. Darkness is a source that holds all things within it, and is tremendously broad-minded. And this broad-mindedness becomes a power that takes in all opposites such as good and evil, superiority and inferiority, self and others, etc. This is because light is the basis of opposition and disparity."

The last of the lighter particles cast off, left behind a tiny sphere of blackest black, a miniature void that seemed to suck in all light.

"Dark Aura isn't necessarily 'negative', but because of the preconception everyone has about 'darkness', using your Aura deprived of Light will attract the Grimm since its impossible to truly separate the two from one's thoughts."

As he said this, a flock of nevermore began to drift closer from overhead, but still circling.

"When it comes to the sort of strength Darkness can grant you, as long as you don't lose yourself to emotions like hatred, or rage, if you can balance the tradeoff between safety and strength…"

The next moment he crushed the sphere of Dark Aura with an ear-splitting *CRUNCH!* something so small had no business making.

"…the risk… is well-worth the reward," he said with a satisfied smirk as he uncurled his fingers dramatically, jet-black markings, blackest black and dark as pitch, coiled around his arm like snakes. A chill ran up their collective spines at the mere sight of it, the limb absolutely oozing with forbidden power.

"Um, not to tell you how to use your own Aura, but shouldn't you get rid of that?" Jaune asked worriedly as the Nevermore overhead became even more agitated.

"Hm. I suppose so," Jack hummed, turning his back to them as the Nevermore dove. "Ruby, take out your Scroll and pay attention. The next kernel of wisdom will come easier that way."

Nodding frantically, Ruby fumbled for her Scroll, the bit of glass and plastic turning over in her hands a couple times before she got it recording, Jack and his darkness-clad arm front and center.

The Nevermore cawing angrily as they dove for Jack, the Faunus shifted his right foot back, his arm of darknesss following suit, index and middle fingers extended before he thrust them forward and called out- "Fire of the Darkest Flame!" -, a plume of fire an ominous black spilling forth from his extended fingers, the dark markings coiling his arm retreating upwards as the Grimm were immolated in their entirety, an eerie calm overcoming the training ground in their passing as the last of the darkness vanished from his fingertips.

" . . . Remind me not to get on the business end of those fingers~"

"Yang..." Blake groaned while Weiss retched in disgust.

"I'd say that was such a chuuni thing to say…" Ren began pensively, shifting uncomfortably amidst the gooseflesh, "but there was nothing delusional about that."

"You can say that again…" Nora hummed softly.

For a moment, Ren thought his long-time friend was of the same mind.

"I wanna try!"

And like that, the magic was gone.

"Now then, what did we learn from that little demonstration?" Jack asked cordially ambling over to them, his gait nonchalant even as everyone shifted back ever-so-slightly. "Mmmm…" he hummed aloud, eyes roving down the line of stunned teenagers. "Ah, you, in the front, Ms. Rose," he said pointing to the girl as she eagerly thrust her hand into the air.

"When you used that inky flamethrower attack, your Aura went down too!" the red-head said excitedly, scroll waving in the air above her.

"An astute observation, Ms. Rose!" Jack said sounding like a pleased teacher. "Here. Have a cookie," he said tossing Ruby something from his rucksack, the girl eagerly leaping up like a dog and catching the tasty treat in her mouth. "Now, can anyone tell me why that is?"

"Um… is it because Artes are fueled by the same thing powering your 'forcefield'?" Jaune asked.

"Very astute. Yes, that is in fact the case," Jack said tossing another tasty morsel to Jaune, the blond reaching up to take it only to nearly lose a finger when Ruby's teeth closed around it. "Ultimately, that's the tradeoff you have to ruminate when contemplating whether to throw Artes into the mix or not, and why you should always carry extra ammo into battle. You could carpet bomb the enemy with nothing but the power of your own spirit, but its all for naught if you run out of power and get pumped full of lead."

"All that stuff about gods of darkness and light being the basis of opposition… Those were a great deal of philosophical themes," Weiss said aloud, putting down the shorthand notes she'd been taking on her Scroll.

"Brain... melting... Too much... information... Can't... comprehend...!" Ruby groaned the moment she saw them.

"Well I for one completely understand what he's saying."

"EYAUGH!" Blake yelped as she fell backwards off her log. "Vincent?! When did you get here!?" she shrieked, hairs standing on end.

"I've been here the whole time~" the RA greeted, long-tailed cat resting in his arms. "No-one actually noticed me until I spoke up, though…" he said sullenly, like a kicked puppy.

"Aw, there there," Nora said patting him on the head and drawing his face unashamedly into her bosom. "It's okay. Shhhhhhhh," she cooed gingerly, stroking his hair like a mother would her child.

"There, there," Ren added with a pat to the shoulder.

"No, seriously, how the hell do you keep sneaking up on me?!" Blake yelped, heckles raised.

"I'd like to know that too…" Weiss muttered.

Growing up with a target on her back as she had, she'd been raised to respond to every little noise indicative of a potential assassination attempt. And yet, this mysterious odd-eyed person from parts unknown could amble up to more than a half-dozen HITs with none of them, not even Jack, any the wiser for it.

"Well, seeing as how you 'completely understand' what I've been saying, why don't you show off to the class," Jack offered with a sarcastic wave of his arms, the Faunus taking a seat on the log-bench while Vincent rebounded and happily strode forward.

If Vincent thought he could put into practice in minutes what took him entire years, let him try.

"Hmmmm! Okay! Here we go!" Vincent said strutting forward, his long-tailed cat sauntering over to Pyrrha and sitting tauntingly in her lap. "Hm. What to do, what to do…?" he hummed aloud, cupping his chin. "Aha! I know!"

Proverbial lightbulb having one off, he then walked up to them and…

"Huh?" was their collective hum as he drew his lips into a thin line, pressing his hands against an invisible wall between them.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Jack said flatly as the RA en-squared his way around them, making an "invisible" box that completely enclosed them, his hair alight with a soft silver glow. "Really? Really?" he asked incredulously only for Blake to elbow him in the ribs.

"He's trying his best. Cut him some slack," the Faunus hissed in his ear.

"Fine. Fine. Looks completely ridiculous though."

"Says the guy who five minutes ago was talking like a chuuni," Ren hummed.

*Vrrrrrrr*

"Hm?" Vincent hummed, taking his hands away from the invisible wall and going to his Scroll. "Hello?"

Those without the tact to know better perking up their ears to listen, Vincent's expression which had shifted from concentrative to happy-go-lucky, slowly drained of emotion as he talked into his Scroll. A minute later and his arm fell to his side, Scroll barely held in his grasp.

" . . . I'm sorry I have to go now…" Vincent said in an emotionless voice, as though all the energy had been sucked out of him. "I'll see you guys later. Bye…" he said leaving without another word.

"What do you think that was about?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah? He almost sounded like his grandma just died," Nora hummed.

"Well, that was a minute of my life I'll never get back," Jack said curtly. "Yang, you're up. 'Wow' me."

"You got it, teach!" Yang said with a smile, hopping to her feet before walking forward.

*Thunk*

" . . . What the…?" Yang gawped, her hands pressing up against something invisible. "Uh… Guys!"

"Yes, yes, Yang, very funny," Weiss said dryly with a roll of her eyes. "If you're not going to take this seriously-"

"I am! There's seriously something here!" she said pressing her shoulder into it.

"She's right," Ren hummed as his hand felt something solid and quite transparent.

Ren, being the last person to eke on a tasteless joke like this, spurred the gathered teens to scatter, bodies finding invisible walls, even more-transparent than cleaned glass, in the four cardinal directions.

"Um… Jack!" Yang said worriedly. "I think he took your lessons 'too literally' and/or 'not literally enough'," she said rapping her knuckles on the invisible screen containing them.

"Jack! Gimme a boost!" Nora suddenly said.

"What?"

"And I mean it! Gimme the good stuff!"

"Huh? But-"

"Do it!"

Jack, finding he couldn't refuse her, interlaced his fingers. The ginger giddily running up to him and planting a foot on his hand, leapt as Jack drew his hands upward, the girl letting out an excited- "WHEEEEEEEE-

*THUNK!*

"Oop. Found it," Nora muttered, pressed into an invisible overhanging screen before she peeled herself off, whooping on the way down as Ren caught her in a princess cary. "My hero~" she swooned, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Did… did we seriously get… boxed in~?" Yang asked, her worried look turning into a happy grin.

"God damnit Yang…" Ruby groaned.

"What? I was just thinking outside the box~"

"Yang…"

"Don't worry, I'll get us out of here! I'm packing~"

"Uuuuugh…"

"I'll box my way out!"

"Groan."

"Don't worry! We've got a Jack-in-the-box!"

"Please stop…"

"If I dropped a sick beat, would that make this a boombox?"

"So embarrassing…" Ruby trailed off, face flushing redder and redder with embarrassment as Yang prattled on.

"How do you think I feel?" Blake asked trying to hide her face, the long-tailed cat that'd been left behind catching her eye.

The Faunus girl did not like the way that cat was looking at her from its place on Pyrrha's lap. And not just because Pyrrha looked like she was trying to stop her brain from melting out of her ears.

*NEW WORLD*

'be perfectly honest, the whole "Age of Reason" was a last-minute addition that was inspired by the third book in The Dresden Files Series, Grave Peril (by Jim Butcher). Still, it served my purposes rather well, fitting perfectly into the explanation of Artes, which is a mix of various Tales of- games and Toriko.

I always noticed that outside of Semblance, no-one apart from Ren (in Volume 1) ever seemed to use their Aura as anything other than "a forcefield". Well, him, Glynda, and Ozpin, but you get the point…

Anyway, hope you like this and the next chapter, because there's more HeadCanon on the way.