King: No need to shout. I'm back with a new chapter. Let's have some fun, shall we~?

Inspiration: Skyrim

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King returned to a group that could only groan while Yang went off on a pun-fueled tirade. "Maybe I should just start the next one…"

Weiss looked up to the magic ball, "Please do."

"Alright then…" King vanished, and the lights dimmed again. This prompted Yang to temporarily halt her puns to watch the new reality.

The picture opened to show a small town in the northern mountains of Atlas. The town itself was built from an old fortress, its walls surrounding the village to defend it from marauders. It was the middle of winter, the entire screen nearly obscured by snow. A distant roar hinting at the dangers beyond the walls. To many, this would be a haven from the frozen north and the beasts that roam it. But this was a façade. The fortress had long been abandoned.

Ironwood's eye twitched a little. The idea of any of his forts being abandoned and still standing was ludicrous. If a fort must be abandoned, then they should have scrapped the walls and use them to rebuild elsewhere.

Save for one person. This long-forgotten fortress was now the home of the criminal mastermind that was Roman Torchwick.

Roman leaned back in his chair and smirked, "About time I got some recognition."

It also now held within its walls his greatest payday. Forced to his knees was the familiar form of their young blonde warrior. Dressed in cast-iron and leather armor, he looked ready for the cold weather, but just barely. Jaune had been gagged with a cloth and his hands tied behind his back.

This got a few glares from the group, but Torchwick just held up his hands, reminding them he was innocent here.

Roman walked around Jaune and kneeled in front of him. This Roman wore fur—lined steel armor over a white cloak. He smirked and grabbed Jaune by the jaw. "No hard feelings, right kid?"

Jaune tried to lash out, but Roman just smacked him back down. He groaned, unable to speak.

Roman sighed and stood back up, "Look, it's just business. I plan to sell you back to whichever side pays. Both of them want you alive, and preferably under their watch… What they do is up to them. As far as you're concerned, this is as bad as it gets from me."

They saw a shadow in the background move along the walls and disappear down the other side. Roman turned to the wall and waited a moment. "Alright." He tapped the top of Jaune's head, "She's gone."

Jaune took a breath and brought his arms in front of him and removed his gag.

"Wait, what's going on?" Ruby looked up to the screen, confused.

Roman cleared his throat, "No hard feelings, right?"

Jaune smirked and punched Roman square in the nose before handing him a small bag, "No hard feelings."

"Alright. I deserved that." He weighed the bag in hand and nodded, "Pleasure doing business, kid. Weapons and armor you gave me are in the chest just inside the keep as per the agreement."

"I'm surprised you didn't take them off to sell them." Jaune made his way to the keep's door.

"Hey, you want to fight the Dominion, I'm not about to stop you. My life will be easier with them out of the way."

"Dominion?" Blake thought for a moment, "I get the feeling it might be the SDC…"

Weiss sighed, "Yeah… I could see that."

Glynda adjusted her glasses, "Or the Atlas military."

Ironwood was about to stand and call her out, but the Jaune on the screen said something that caught him off guard.

"By that logic, you'd want General Ironwood and his legions out of the country."

Roman scoffed, "The General is a godsend. The hothead and his militant second try to subjugate everyone under their heels with a show of force. This makes people scared of them more than they are of me stealing from them."

Ironwood paused. Something in his mind couldn't quite believe what he heard. His plan to move troops into Vale for the Vytal festival came to mind. Oh crap…

Roman continued, "But the Dominion? Everyone hates them. Myself included. You want to give them a black eye, and I'll be all too happy to expedite the process. I'll even throw in some gauntlets to really make it hurt."

Jaune opened the door and started to rummage through the chest. "Still made me pay."

"Have to make a living."

"A living that you'd want to protect. The Dominion will be here soon."

"Good point. Good luck kid." Roman ran off and out of the fortress.

Roman was satisfied with his portrayal in this. A survivalist in every sense. Make your money, don't take sides. If only he'd listened to his own advice before…

Jaune closed the door to the keep and waited for the Dominion to arrive.

After a little less than an hour, Dominion forces did arrive. Dressed in gold and black robes and armor, they all looked like gilded toy soldiers. As they broke in the outer door, they charged into the inner area. Slowly following behind was a young woman in a black and gold robe with a high collar. Her dark black hair was cut short save for a section to the side of her face. Her piercing golden eyes held within them a burning passion for power. This was Cinder Fall, Justiciar for the Dominion.

Cinder grinned seeing herself on the screen at last. And more so that she seemed to exude power and prestige. It just felt right.

Cinder walked on with her hands behind her back. She had no care for anything before her. She had only one goal in this crumbling embarrassment. "Torchwick! Come on out! The Dominion has come to call upon you for your hostage!"

In the background, the group could hear a quiet chanting.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"What's what?" Nora wasn't paying attention to the background.

Blake's ears perked behind her bow. "There's a chanting in the back. But I can't understand any of it…"

Cinder signaled for her underlings to flank the door to the keep. It was time to be done with this thorn in her side. As they approached the world slowed. The snow falling shimmered as the camera approached the door with two of the underlings reaching for the handle.

"FUS…"

Everyone leaned in closer. Whatever was about to happen, it would be big.

"RO DAH!"

Everyone fell back in their chair at the sheer force of the statement. More so when they saw what it did.

The door came flying forward, taking both of the underlings out as the oak wood flew passed Cinder's head. Her face going pale. "Impossible…"

Jaune stepped out into the snow. He had swapped his common looking armor for a more iconic style. His armor was now cast in steel and fur. Studded leather adorned his thighs. His boots and gauntlets were a black steel. His chest piece was a shimmering white plate with golden accenting. His helmet formed over the upper part of his face, his blonde hair falling in strands behind him, and a pair of goat horns adorning either side.

It was Nora's turn to go starry eyed. "Woah…" She didn't know why, but she liked this version of Jaune and his armor.

Jaune's sword was a sleek, double edged steel blade. He accompanied this with a solid steel kite shield. There were strange runs on both items. They looked more like claw marks, but they were too intricately etched to be simple scratches.

Jaune held his sword up and pointed the blade toward Cinder. "I see they sent the dog to collect me."

This got both Cinders to twitch. Emerald, Mercury, Roman, and Neo started to get a bit of distance in case she went ballistic. Cinder's fingers were digging into her armrest, just able to keep her fiery powers in check given she wasn't alone.

The Cinder on the screen was a little more composed, twitch notwithstanding. She took a deep breath, "Of course… Call me a bitch all you want. It won't save you."

Jaune gestured to her downed cohorts, "Are the bodies not a clear indication of this will go down?"

"Damn." Yang chuckled a little, "Vomit boy's got some spine in this one."

Cinder's grip tightened, He best not by the end of this…

Cinder snapped her fingers to have the rest of her underlings charge, but most didn't move. Those that had only moved an inch, before stalling as Jaune smiled. Cinder growled and sighed, "He's just one man! You are all the trained and elite of the Dominion! Kill him already!" This got them to start charging again.

Jaune took in a deep breath. "TIID KLO UI!"

The underlings charging him slowed to a crawl. They were moving in slow motion. Jaune, simply walked through each of them and slashed at each as he moved. In a few moments, they all fell to the ground as they finally caught up with what happened. They fell to the ground, blood staining the snow beneath them.

Cinder froze seeing that. What had she just seen? Her grip fell off and she was left stunned.

Ruby, on the other hand, was impressed. "Oh my gosh! How did he do that?!"

Yang shrugged, "It was cool, but I have no idea."

Weiss attempted to reason about what she had seen, "Super speed? If he moves fast enough, in theory, everyone around would seem like their moving in slow motion."

Ruby got excited, "I can do that?!"

"Not unless you can move multiple times the speed of sound."

Ruby drooped a little, her speed never reaching the sound barrier.

Blake, however, gave them the answer, "Time manipulation." When everyone turned to her, she continued, "The way they moved slowly while not really reacting until after he stopped is similar to portrayals of time distortion abilities."

Cinder now felt a little worried. The idea of her counter part fighting someone that could do something like unnerved her.

Cinder recoiled a little.

Making the Cinder in the audience twitch again. The idea of ever being scared of that brat was inconceivable, time powers or no!

Cinder took a step back and pulled out her blade, "So the rumors were true…"

The two Dominion underlings remaining attempted to charge again, only to be met with the cold steel of his shield. Jaune parried the blades away and swung his body around to decapitate one and blind the other.

Cue the sickening feelings of those not used to sights like that.

Ironwood sighed, "Best get used to sights like that kids… If you plan to be huntsmen and huntresses, you'll probably see sights like that more often than you want…"

Ozpin sighed and nodded an affirmation. "Never makes it easy, though…"

Cinder growled. She took a breath before readying her blade again, "Jaune Arc!" Her voice remained forceful, but there was clearly fear hidden away. "You are wanted by the Aldmeri Dominion of Haven! You are hereby sentenced to death!"

Jaune took in another breath, "ZUN HAAL VIIK!"

Cinder's weapon was suddenly forced from her hand and embedded in the wall behind her. Her eyes widened in shock toward the weapon once wrapped by her fingers.

Jaune started to walk toward her slowly.

Cinder slowly turned back toward Jaune. "You… You're…"

Jaune was directly in front of her as the chanting in the background started to swell.

DOVAHKIIN! DOVAHKIIN! NAAL OK ZIN LOS VAHRIIN!

Jaune raised his arm and placed the tip of his blade at her chin, "The Dominion's greatest enemy. I'm aware." Jaune breathed in lightly through his nostrals, "YOL TOOR SHUL!"

The last thing that Cinder saw was the burning force of destruction flow out from Jaune's mouth. She would see nothing but fire until she was ash.

Jaune returned his blade to its sheath and placed his shield on his back. He walked passed Cinder's cinders and toward the exit. As he marched on, the score in the background began to soften.

Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal…

Everyone was stunned silent for a while. The first person to speak up being Nora. "Woah…" It was all she could muster. It was all anyone could muster. This Jaune was a serious badass.

As Jaune walked on and out of the fortress. As he passed, he paused and turned to a shaking Emerald, dressed in a tighter version of the black cloak. This Emerald was a spy rather than a justiciar. Jaune turned toward her and she scrambled to her feet to run away.

"WULD…" Jaune was suddenly in front of her. Jaune stood in place like he hadn't just moved several yards in less than a second. Then his voice carried on from his previous location, "…NAH KEST!"

Emerald fell backward. She shook, realizing there was no escaping. There was no hope for her anymore.

Emerald was shaking a little for her counterpart. This Jaune was actually going to kill her. She was going to die.

Jaune squatted down in front of her and glared into her eyes, "I'm not going to kill you, spy…"

Emerald looked up to him in disbelief. "You're not?"

"He's not?" The group spoke in unison. This included RWBY, NPR, Sun, Neptune, Mercury, and Emerald.

Jaune pulled out a small scroll and held it out toward her like a knife. "I want you to deliver a message to your masters back in Haven. Stay out of Atlas's politics and keep your Justiciars out of my nation. Got it?"

Emerald shakily nodded her head and took the note. After Jaune stood back up, she slowly moved back before breaking into a sprint. Jaune simply stood there and watched as she left. Time will tell if she'd even hand the Dominion his message. Even more so whether they'll listen. Either way, he'll be here. If they want a fight, he'll give them one better.

The screen started to blur in the white of the blizzard.

He'll show them the fury of a dragon.

When the screen when completely white, a glowing set of marks began to burn into view. It was the same scratch-mark-like language they saw on his sword and shield. They blended into something they could read, though not understand.

[Zu'u los Dovahkiin]

The words blended in again to become understandable.

[I am Dragonborn]