Chapter 18

Saul stood over the dead traitor holding his bolt pistol and power sword; the midnight blue armor was tarnished with puncture marks from both of his weapons. He pulled the power sword from the traitor's chest, blood hissing on the blade as the energy field burned it away.

Looking up, he could see that the forest around him burned with the fires of war, pops and cracks of gunfire from the supporting Arcadian infantry reverberated around him. Though there were also the occasional bursts of bolter fire that echoed through the forest either from the 3rd Cohort or the traitors themselves.

Explosions rocked the terrain as the Army air wings continued to flatten the surrounding areas to pen the traitors from escaping.

A few stray rounds shattered against his armor as well but standard Arcadian infantry weapons weren't a threat unless in massed numbers. Though the chances of that ever happening were slim to none but he frowned at that as he looked down at the dead 8th Legionnaire.

A time long ago, he would have been a comrade fighting for the same goal as him. They would have been the shield of Mankind as they made their way through a hostile galaxy but those days were gone, never to return.

With them was his honor for his own gene brothers and father abandoned the cause, turning their guns on brothers and comrades alike.

It made him both sickened and sad to know the fate they had walked down. Sickened to know that their blood ran through his veins as well as knowing of the tragic fall of his brothers.

"Legatus!" A new voice entered the clearing and Saul turned to see several Legionnaires from the 3rd Cohort coming into the clearing.

Four wore light silver armor with the edges of the armor being metallic blue, all carrying standard bolters. White arrows pointing upward could be seen on their right shoulder while the Arc emblem was on their left.

The fifth and sixth members wore green armor with yellow trimmings on their pauldrons. A silver winged skull displayed on their chests with the Arc emblem on their left shoulders while having an inverted V on their right. One carried a flamethrower in his hands while the other one was outfitted to carry a heavy bolter.

The seventh Legionnaire wore grey armor with a silver winged skull in the middle of his chest and a red helmet. His pauldrons were pitch black, the golden Arc emblem in stark contrast to the black background of his left pauldron with a skull on his right pauldron.

He had a bolt pistol maglocked to his right thigh and a chainsword in his left hand. He used the tip of the serrated weapon to poke the dead bodies of a few other dead Night Lords in the clearing. The squad behind him set to work in dragging the five other dead traitors into a single pile before the Legionnaire with the Flamethrower set them on alight.

"Yes Decanus?" Saul responded as he stepped away from the dead Night Lord. The red helmed Legionnaire stepped forward and gestured to the south with his chainsword.

"Centurion Delius is moving the 1st and 3rd Centuriae three klicks south, there's a derelict tower there that's holding the Army up. Reports indicating that the traitors have at least fourteen Havocs on site, four Heavy Bolters, eight with missile launchers and two lascannons. Plus maybe a two or three dozen Night Lords in support of those." Saul looked towards the sergeant.

"Do we know if there's any chance of them escaping?" The sergeant shook his head.

"The infantry company that arrived on the scene first lost their main armor units but fell back after exchanging fire for half an hour before two additional companies closed in. They've been trading shots but the Lascannon and missiles are keeping them at bay so they set up a perimeter to keep them from trying to escape." Saul shook his head at hearing this, as he reloaded his own bolt pistol and locked it to his thigh, keeping the power sword in hand.

"Detestable as the 8th Legion may be they are experts in escaping their foes, this forest is to their advantage. Hence why I ordered the Army Aircraft wings to raze the forest, it robs them of that advantage as we closed in for the kill. However we can't torch the entire thing, word might make it back to the Four Kingdoms and we don't want them asking too many questions." The sergeant nodded.

"True and it was a good decision sure but that won't be a problem that section of the forest was already put to the torch. Everything within four hundred meters of the tower is nothing but ash." Saul nodded as a flight of three Avengers swooped low over the tree line. Each one releasing four rockets from the underside of their wings before pulling up, Saul listened as a ripple of explosions could be heard several seconds later.

"What is the status of the other units?" Saul asked as he proceeded to make his way in the direction the sergeant pointed earlier.

"Colonel Cohen has his 1st and 3rd Battalion covering the western reach while 4th Battalion is stationed at the Daglaski Fjord. Canoness Commander Kila's or anyone from her commandery have not voxed in yet, the third contubernium says that the Sisterhood's Bullheads got scattered by the Night Lords but no one knows for sure where they are. Captain Yen is bringing the Wayfarer into low orbit to provide support with C.A.S flights." Saul said nothing as they traversed the ruined forest.

There was a few Arcadian infantry squads spread out in the area, no doubt to cover the rear of the Companies up ahead from attacks.

The possibility of the traitorous Night Lords having a few remaining warriors in the forest was a high chance. Not only that the fighting would have no doubt drawn the attention of Grimm. Whether or not they attack depends on how good or bad the situation goes.

The fighting had already lasted for nearly six hours, no one had expected to encounter a large amount of Night Lords as they fled to the south. The assessment of the Intelligence Agency was that there was less than thirty left after Amboss.

Instead they had run into a force of a nearly two hundred and fifty Night Lords.

The first move of the battle was a two part strike aimed at the lead armor elements of the Arcadian Army and the Bullheads of the Legion. Saul saw four Bullheads filled with Legionnaires hit by Lascannon fire before his own Bullhead took a direct hit to the cockpit forcing him to ditch the craft at the last second.

From what he was able to gleam over the chaos of the fighting that occurred over the next hour was that it was a slaughter for almost any Arcadian Company caught alone.

It wasn't until he had reached the Flight Commander of the supporting Army Air Wings that he was able to order forest to be targeted by Bullheads and Avenger Strike Craft.

Numerous danger close sorties were done around both the Legion and Arcadian forces, racking the forest with explosions. Soon enough the forest in a fifteen mile radius was a charred shadow of its former glory.

Though the sons of Curze may not traditionally fight like him and the others in the old days save for the warriors of the Nineteenth Legion. They were still Astartes to their core. So despite this they still fought tooth and nail for every inch of ground.

Casualties have been high; at least four contubernium worth of Legionnaires have perished. Along with the better part of several Arcadian Infantry companies including the armored elements paired to them.

It was far too high a price for Saul's taste but it must be done to keep them from escaping. If they lose the scent of the Night Lords today, they would never find them on their own terms any time soon.

The trees around Saul and the other Legionnaires started to thin out, the sound of gunfire growing louder as they came to the source of conflict. Now dozens of Arcadian soldiers milled around them, most were waiting to be called forward to join the fighting.

However there were also mortar crews, Vox operators and field medics attending to wounded men or women. Bolt rounds cracked through the air, most of them missing their marks instead blasting chunks out of the few remaining trees but some did find victims.

Saul watched as two bolts ripped into a medic who was carrying a wounded soldier.

Within seconds of the rounds hitting the medic, the left shoulder erupted in a shower of gore as the mass reactive round detonated. The left arm fell away from the body to lay on the charred grass, soaking it with blood.

The second round had hit the abdomen, blood, flesh, armor and ruined intestines shot forward covering Saul's legs. The medic and wounded soldier fell to the ground, one no doubt dead and the other soon to be.

He ignored them as he stepped towards what he assumed was some sort of officer who was pulling a wounded soldier behind an overturned Chimera.

"Legionnaires? About fucking time." The man pulling the wounded soldier said as he noticed them. He stood up and hefted his rifled before peeking around the edge of the Chimera. Shouldering the rifle he fired a trio of five round bursts up at the tower before ducking behind as a bolt round cracked at him. Saul turned to the Decanus.

"Spread out and assist the Army units, notify me when Centurion Delius is here." Saul said towards the Legionnaire, the warrior raised a fist to his chest before directing the rest of his contubernium to join the fight. The heavy sounds of bolter fire mixed in with the cacophony of rifle fire from the infantry.

"Marvin! Get a runner to third platoon, Irssak isn't responding and someone find me that fucking F.O.!" The man yelled gesturing for another soldier to start running in a crouch from foxhole to foxhole. Saul simply kneeled down both to avoid stray bolt rounds and to wait for the man's attention.

"What the fuck do you want?" The man asked turning to face him; Saul couldn't help but raise his eyebrows a little in surprise. There were very few officers in the Army that could address beings such as him without being a little fearful. Though the man wouldn't be able to see the amused look on Saul's face due to the helmet he wore.

"I assume you're a Captain, right?" The man nodded.

"Major actually. Major Thomas Harroda 2nd Battalion, 82nd Light Infantry, 4th Infantry Division of the 3rd Army." Saul nodded before gesturing to himself.

"Legionis Legatus Saul, I'm at your service Major Harroda." Saul said he could see the man stiffen up considerably at hearing that, the vox operator and two other soldiers nearby stared as well.

"So I hear you've got problems with that tower Major." The man seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

"Well Sir, my 3rd Company ran into the fuckers earlier and took a beating. The idiot Barruva got his squad killed by bunching them up together; a frag missile killed them all in one swoop. Also got half of his company butchered before his second in command pulled them back. They're to our right about half a klick laying down what fire they can to keep the fuckers in the tower from coming out." Someone nearby screamed for them to take cover. Saul braced as a trio of frag rockets slammed around them, followed by a storm of bolter fire hammering the surrounding area. Saul saw several soldiers blown apart by the withering fire and a few of them were even still alive afterwards, crying out in absolute pain.

The loud scream of jet engines could be heard as the stream of fire lessened. Saul looked up to see the same three Avenger Strike Fighters diving down at the tower. Gouts of flames erupted at the nose of the craft as they sent a shower of autocannon shells into the tower before each one unleashed a trio of rockets.

Saul watched as nine burning lights with white exhaust trailing them, hammered the tower side. Inspecting the tower for the first time since he arrived he was surprise to see that it was still standing.

The tower was sixty meters tall, with three adjacent towers that were forty meters tall, connected by bridges surrounding it. If he had to make a rough guess, each tower had a diameter of about twenty meters and looked to be made of stone.

However the damage it had sustained was clear to see, two of the three connecting towers were in ruins. Each one was toppled from the fire of the Arcadian soldiers. The third looked like it was about to fall at any moment but the main tower was standing fast despite a dozen holes in its side. Saul could even see the light of flames inside a few holes.

Those flames betrayed the movement of the traitors inside, he could see them sticking out in front of the fire before disappearing behind the walls again.

"Legatus, this is Delius, where do you need me?" The gravelly voice of Fourth Centuria's Centurion came over Saul's vox link.

"The traitors are holding position in the main tower, the Army units are unable to approach and are trying to bring it down but most of their armor was taken out." There was a series of pings as bolt rounds hammered the overturn Chimera.

"We'll handle this Legatus." Delius responded, Saul said nothing in response as he switched Vox channels to contact the Wayfarer. The Wayfarer was a naval ship that was seconded to his command as he hunted the traitors.

"Wayfarer this is Prime." Saul waited for a few seconds before a business like woman's voice came over the line.

"Prime, this is Wayfarer we read you five by five." Another missile slammed into the ground several meters to Saul's left. The concussive force pressed against him before dirt, rocks and body parts pelleted his armor.

"Wayfarer I'm going to relay you these coordinates for a Danger Close Fire Mission." There was a pause over the line, gunfire crackled around Saul but his helmet dampened the sounds out.

"Acknowledge Prime. Time on Target T-minus four minutes, suggest taking whatever cover you can find down there." Saul switched back to the Legion Command channel.

"Delius order your Legionnaires to take cover, I've called for a Danger Close Fire Mission from Wayfarer." Saul looked down at Major Harroda.

"Major Harroda! I suggest you get on the vox with your men and tell them to brace for impact, Wayfarer is launching a bombardment against the tower." The Army major snapped his head towards Saul before reaching out to his Vox Operator. He grabbed the soldier's collar and pulled him towards him.

"Tell all units to take cover we've got Orbital Strikes inbound!" He shouted before directing the men around him to take cover. Saul reached down and pulled up his bolt pistol, checking to make sure it had a full magazine in it before looking to the sky.

In the afternoon light he could see a dark shape appear in the sky dozens of miles over head. It was the Wayfarer; Saul hunkered closer to the Chimera.

There was a serious of booms, which reminded Saul of thunder before a loud whistling sound. Saul peeked over the Chimera as the whistling continued, he could see the traitors inside reacting to the sound but it was too late.

There was a brief second that Saul felt that he could see the shells dropping in before the tower was riddled with massive explosions.

His helmet sensors immediately kicked in, compensating for the multiple explosions. Damping the sound and sight of the explosions as it tore the tower apart. Each one sending a massive ripple of concussive force that even he could feel was pushing against the Chimera.

As more and more shells struck with devastating effect, the area became shrouded from the dirt and smoke kicked up by the shells. Even then the shells didn't stop coming, the loud, ear splitting explosions followed by the concussive blast that could be felt in his chest as the waves rolled over them, again and again.

Unfortunately a few shells had drifted off target. Saul could see to his right, an explosion erupted high into the sky from a stay shell less than a hundred meters to the Arcadian line. There was no doubt that someone got hurt from that.

Thankfully the rest of the shells didn't get terribly closer to the Arcadian lines. Some were close like that one but nothing serious.

Almost like a tap being turned off, the shelling stopped. Saul looked up but the area was still shrouding in the dirt and smoke from the bombardment. Soldiers started calling out to each other and Major Harroda was barking orders into the vox caster.

"Legatus, the Army units are slightly disorganized shall I advance with my Century onto the traitors in the smoke cover?" Delius voice came over the vox channel in Saul's helmet.

"Negative Delius, hold the line with the Army units. If the Night Lords slip past you they'd wreak havoc on the Army units." Saul said as he stepped past the Chimera, even with the helmet the visibility was cut down to less than a hundred meters for him.

Though his hearing was fine, all along the line soldiers were moaning or calling out to each other. He noted that there was very little confusion amongst the ranks of the Arcadian soldiers, as they got their bearings of the situation.

Soon enough the smoke started to disappear and Saul readied his bolt pistol. Behind him he could hear Major Harroda barking orders for his soldiers to stand ready in case anything charged at them.

They waited, yet nothing happened and Saul stepped forward slowly. The soldiers behind him didn't move as he moved. The dust started to settle a little more as he moved forward, after walking about forty paces he came across demolished debris of masonry.

No doubt from the tower, but the question being was it here before the bombardment or after? Saul froze as he heard a crunch to his left, dropping into a crouch as he raised his bolt pistol up he saw the Decanus from before.

"Vox me next time you're going to come finding me Decanus, I nearly put a bolt round between your eyes." Saul snapped and the Decanus bowed his head in apology.

"Doesn't matter, how's your contubernium? Any casualties?" The Decanus shook his head.

"We're fine, a couple of close calls but nothing major." Saul nodded as he faced forward, the area was finally clearing out and he got a look at the tower.

The tower was no longer standing; it lay crumpled upon itself barely reaching a few meters high in some places. While in other areas were craters left by the bombardment, shattered masonry was strewn throughout the area but Saul could see that there wasn't enough there to equal the size of the towers.

"Over here!" One of the Legionnaires called out to Saul's left and he moved over there with the rest of the contubernium at his back.

The Legionnaire who called out stood over the shattered bodies of three Night Lords. Their armor was torn and crumpled, one was missing his legs. The other didn't have a head, while the third had a fist size rock embedded in his chest plate.

Saul looked up and could see more Night Lords in the ruins of the towers; he looked back down at the three before him. Raising his bolt pistol he put a round in each one before turning to the Decanus.

"Get me a count of the dead and if there's any alive, finish them."

An Hour Later…

Thirty four Night Lords, which was the amount of bodies that Centurion Delius had reported to him a few minutes earlier. Those thirty four had held off hundreds of Arcadian soldiers and their armor.

Saul watched as scores of wounded Arcadian soldiers were moved onto Bullheads to be taken up to the Wayfarer for treatment.

An entire Division of the Arcadian Army had been deployed alongside a Sisterhood Preceptory and five full Cohorts of the Legion. Thirty thousand soldiers, a thousand Sisters, along with hundreds tanks, armored personnel carriers, armored vehicles and artillery guns.

Along with them were the attending auxiliary units of the Mechanicum and the Hospitallers.

The Mechanicum maintained the fighting capability of their armor, weapons, fuel, ammunition, and equipment. While the Hospitallers maintained the bodies of the people so they can use those weapons and equipment.

The Arcadian Army also a contingent of the Military Logistics group here. They made sure the necessary catalogue of events is taken. Everything from how the Army Division planned for battle with what equipment to how things actually went down.

They noted loses in things like manpower, fuel, equipment, medical supplies. Along with usage of items like food, water, clothing, all manner of things, even body bags.

They were a professional bunch but that was to be expected in a sense. They didn't do the fighting; their job was to make sure that the logistical capability of the Military was maintained. Which in turned made sure those soldiers in the field had the right means to do their own jobs and make it home alive.

Though any experienced soldier would talk about how much bullshit that really was. There were constant snags in the lines of communications for parts, weapons, ammo, fuel and even manpower.

There was an incident about two decades ago of an entire regiment getting a shipment of bolt rounds when they were collectively at twenty percent of capacity on ammunition. It wouldn't have been so bad if the Grimm had attacked them a day or so later.

The regiment was mauled to the point that the Army had marked them combat ineffective. They sidelined from active duty for nearly a year before they were up to half strength.

Having run out of ammo early in their fighting then relying on their armor to blunt the repeated attacks of the Grimm left the regiment in a bad state. Most of the armor was destroyed or crippled to the point it would require at least a day to two or three weeks to repair them.

Infantry causalities had also been high; for some soldiers a bad engagement meant two or three dead with another one or two wounded. In this case only three to four soldiers were still alive out of every ten, that didn't even include the wounded.

Saul looked to the sky; it was swarming with Bullheads heading to the Wayfarer. Each one was no doubt packed with wounded soldiers and members of the Hospitallers.

If one were to look at the big picture of this battle, they would say that it was a fairly one side victory. However the Division had been split up with each respective Regiment being paired to a Cohort and one Commandery.

That wasn't even getting to his Legion and the five Cohorts that were deployed. He was always uneasy about using the Legion, mainly because it was a throwback to his old days, days he now looked at in remorse and fear.

To deploy a cohort of six hundred Legionnaires was a powerful force. Five cohorts were three thousand Legionnaires strong; such a force was to be feared. Greater beings than him have held this sort of power and failed to use it for the good of mankind.

There was even a lot of tension in the Legion itself due to this nature. More than a few Legionnaires found it distasteful at the current structure of the Legion.

From what he gathered from the few more mild tempered ones after the Betrayal, these sorts of fighting forces were looked down upon. For they did nothing but serve to remind them of the wounds dealt in the past and how their kind wasn't meant to control it.

He sighed, now wasn't the time to dwell on these thoughts. There were still so many things to do; he needed to arrange the transfer of all Arcadian assets to their new duty stations. Look over the reports of the Pilus Priors then make a report of his own to the Stewardess Arabella and the Council.

He sighed; he was going to be so tired after this.

A Week Later…

Once again Pyrrha sat in the observation rooming watching Jaune train in the full gear of a normal Arcadian soldier. He was holding a one handed longsword and a round shield fighting against two Sisterhood warriors who held longswords and shields of their own.

Jaune was surprisingly holding his own against his two opponents. Which Pyrrha was proud to see, even now he was sticking to the fundamentals of her training, crouching low with a wide stance.

However what was interesting was the way he was now using his shield and sword. More often than not Pyrrha would see him or other people keeping the shield and sword close to their body.

The principal behind this method was supposedly the inherent push back for a counter attack. Have the shield flat as it takes the hit while having the shortest distance needed for the blade to strike back.

It seems someone's been teaching Jaune something else. He now held the shield angled to the side, no longer taking sword strikes with just the flat of his shield. Instead he was using it to push the strikes to either side as the Sisterhood warriors attacked him.

Swords worked on the basis of leverage or angle. If the edge of a blade met another's blade in a head on strike the chances of the two struggling to beat each other increase. Both relying on who can beat who in terms of strength. Pyrrha remembered seeing Jaune have this trouble when he fought Cardin.

Cardin who wasn't a skilled fighter, simply a stronger one who would always beat Jaune in those feats. However Cardin would also rely on making big flashy strikes to end his opponents, often leading to him just swinging wildly and over extending his reach. Which Pyrrha recalled made him vulnerable to get slammed into the ground from twenty feet up in the air.

Good times.

Pyrrha focused back to the spar at hand. Jaune was adapting well in the fight moving his blade away from the Sisterhood's strong side of the blade to get a better leverage to turn it aside.

The closer an opponent's blade to the base or hilt of the sword means they're close to the source of power of their opponent. Ideally the best position one would want to be in is where they can apply the most pressure on another. Generally this would mean anyway from the tip and halfway down from it were the weak parts in a blade to blade fight.

It's easier to push aside a blade from those areas to avoid getting hit because it's in a sense the glass cannon attack for swords.

If for say a thrust with a sword is made and it hits then it'll be a deadly or serious wound. However if a person knocks it aside at the top or dodges the thrust, then the opponent is left in a position of being over extended with their blade.

Looking down at Jaune she could see him deflecting one blade before sending a kick that sent the Sister stumbling back. Before turning around and stepping to the side then slashing down on a thrust the second Sister made.

With her blade striking tip first into the ground Jaune moved in on her right. The Sister immediately stood up and tried matching his movements as she attacked with her shield. This time Jaune took the hit with his shield straight as he jumped at her. That robbed the strength of her strike but also sent her falling onto her back.

Jaune rolled off her and stood up first. Pyrrha winced as Jaune smacked her in the face with his shield, sending the Sister back onto the ground. Jaune reached out and slide the dulled blade across her throat. Anna Vermillion who was supervising the match called out that the Sister was dead.

Jaune turned in time to get a kick to the chest, Jaune stumbled back then immediately dropped into a crouch before jumping up again but this Sister was expecting that. She moved to her right as Jaune turned around only to get his shield knocked to the left by her foot again.

Pyrrha watched as the Sister brought her sword down on his exposed shield arm, only to strike the shield as Jaune let go of the shield.

Before she can follow up on this, Jaune grabbed her shield by the edge and moving behind her. His left hand which was gripping the shield dragged it aside, exposing her arm; he slashed down at her shoulder.

The Sister blocked the blade but now the two of them were locked into position for a few moments. The Sister reacted first by kicking backwards at Jaune's leg sending Jaune stumbling back.

However Jaune still had her shield as she had let go of it to avoid falling back with him. He tossed the shield aside and turned to face the Sister only to see her blade coming at him in another thrust. Swinging down with his sword, he knocked the blade down and away from him.

The Sister however used that momentum to quickly spin around and bring the blade swinging down on him. Jaune raised his blade again and blocked it this time. As their swords came to blows again, the sound of dulled steel striking repeatedly could be heard.

Finally the two locked swords with each other, Pyrrha saw Jaune twisting his wrist in order to get the edge of his blade around to press the flat of the Sister's sword.

Swords relied on a number of things to be effective, angle, position, pressure and strength of the sword arm. It was basic biomechanics for swordsmen; if they pressed forward with their blades then they were weak laterally and vice versa.

Pyrrha watched as Jaune and the remaining Sister continued to trade blows. Pyrrha could see that Jaune was still for the most part on the defensive end. Reacting to her every move instead of making her react, that being said he was doing phenomenally well in comparison to their time in Beacon.

The Sister swung downwards at Jaune's neck; he raised his sword by the hilt intercepting the edge of the Sister's sword with the strong point of his sword. Twisting his wrist, Jaune used his crossguard to push the sword down and away as he made to elbow the Sister.

However it seemed she was coming up with a similar idea of her own. Instead of Jaune's elbowing connecting with her face, Jaune stumbled back as a fist smashed into his helmet.

As Jaune was stumbling back, the Sister knocked his sword out of his hands. Looking back at her as she slashed down Jaune crouched and tackled her to the ground.

The sword fell from the Sister's hand which Jaune was glad but he wasn't glad to get another fist smashing the face plate of his helmet. She hammered three more punches and Jaune could see the visor on the helmet was cracked again, before she tucked her legs in and pushed him off.

Jaune rolled to the side and got on his feet only to get another fist hammering his helmet. Stepping back he raised his own fists as the Sister lashed out. He used his left forearm to block this strike then raised his left knee and kicked out to as she tried kicking him.

Jaune ducked another fist then crossed his arms together as she tried to knee his face. Jaune rolled to the right then lashed out with a fist, hitting the Sister in the side of her knee. Jaune winced as his fist made contact with her armored knee.

While she wasn't wearing the standard armor for those in the Sisterhood, she still was wearing metal armor on her arms and legs with layered leather armor on her torso. Jaune stood up, jabbing with his right fist at the side of his head.

He expected her to try and move to avoid getting hit altogether but instead she stepped towards him, turning clockwise. With his arm over her shoulder the Sister grabbed it and pulled him over, tossing him to the ground.

Jaune groaned as he rolled to the side avoid her fist from smacking his head again. Getting to his feet again, he was about to raise his hands as a fist came sailing through his guard, cracking against his collar bone.

A second fist on his right, hitting where his cheek would be and sent him sprawling to the ground, Jaune looked from the corner of his eye then looked up. The Sister was poised over him, he raised his left hand catching one of her fists but he failed to catch the second one before it smacked him.

Jaune however reached out with his right hand, grabbing the collar of her leather armor. Raising his right knee he pulled forward and tossed her over him. Jaune rolled to his right as he got up he picked something up from the ground.

As the Sister fell on her back, she rolled to her left and got on her feet with her fists raised. What she wasn't expecting was Jaune swinging a sword at her. The dulled training longsword smacked her in the chest, knocking the wound out of her as she fell to the ground. There was a whistle and Anna walked out onto the training floor.

"You've won Jaune, congratulations." Jaune pulled the helmet off his head. Sweat coated his face and he took a deep breath.

"Thank you." Anna crossed her arms.

"Now tell me what you could have done better there." Jaune straightened up as he thought about the fight, then lifted the cracked helmet.

"Didn't react as fast as I could to intercept or counter her blows. Had this been a real fight, where she had a weapon or her armor she would have smashed my skull in." Anna nodded.

"It's important to know where you need to improve because the next time you're in a situation like this, it won't be training swords." Jaune nodded as Anna gestured to the cracked helmet.

"Really need to get you something sturdier, that's the ninth helmet you cracked in the last three days. I think Enginseer Paulus might bust a gasket if you break anymore helmets." One of the Sisters who had been sparring with Jaune quipped up at that.

"You don't need to get him a helmet; he's already got a thick skull." Jaune chuckled as he shook his head; Anna looked up at the wall where a digital clock was mounted. It was seven at night, to Jaune it felt like the day had barely even begun, everything felt like a blur in the routine of his training.

"I guess it's time for me to head to Rolf's meditation session." Jaune said as he picked up his sword and shield.

"Actually, Rolf wanted me to tell you that you're sessions with him are over." Jaune looked back at Anna to see that she looked uncomfortable which Jaune honestly thought was a little cute.

"Really? Did he say why?" Anna shook her head.

"No and on top of that he said that the training was also over since the test is being moved up to tomorrow." Anna could see Jaune's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait what?!" She nodded.

"It was decided to move the date up, Rolf said that no warrior prepares for battle to happen at his time but prepares his time for battle." Jaune threw his hands up in exasperation before looking at Anna.

"What does that even mean?" She simply shrugged before looking up at the observation deck.

"Well, look on the bright side; you've been working incredibly hard and have learned a lot." Anna said but Jaune ran a hand through his hand.

"But it's not going to be enough to beat Rolf in a fight. I have no doubt in my mind that he's stronger, faster, more skillful, and just all around more experienced in fighting than me." Anna shook her head.

"Then there's no point in dwelling over his Jaune, whatever happens, happens in the end you're just going to have to deal with the consequences." Jaune didn't say anything as he placed the shield and sword on the racks he got them from. Then wordlessly went into the locker room.

"He's being tough on himself isn't he?" A new voice called out and Anna looked to see Pyrrha leaning on the rails of the stairs from the observation room.

"Yes but I suppose it's understandable in this case. Fighting someone like Rolf would be absolutely terrifying." Pyrrha looked towards the albino.

"He's stronger than you?" Anna nodded.

"Far stronger than someone like me, it's as Jaune said. He's stronger, faster, skilled, and experienced. I would need to live several lifetimes to be on the same level as that man." Pyrrha nodded slowly.

"So how has Jaune come along in his training? I was watching from above with his fight with the Sisters and was wondering how do you think he did?" Anna nodded at that.

"He's doing great; he's made progress by leaps and bounds with my training. If I had trained him before Beacon I reckon he would have been able to beat you Pyrrha." Surprisingly enough the red hair champion laughed.

"Maybe, he's a hard working person who always does what he thinks is right and more often than not his instincts in a fight are amazing. I have no doubt that he's got talent and skill in him but it wouldn't be because of your training that would lead to his victory but himself as a whole." Anna quirked an eyebrow at the other girl, she was unsure what to say for a few moments.

"On top of that, even with the training it's easy to see that his core footwork and stance relies on what I've already taught him." Anna frowned a little but Pyrrha was simply smiling as she stared at the door which Jaune had gone into.

"So training is over now?" Anna nodded.

"Good." Pyrrha said with a wide smile as Jaune came out of the locker room. He was dressed in a simple white shirt with black shorts with grey shoes that had black laces.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune called out in surprise, had she been watching him this entire time?

"Hello again!" Pyrrha called cheerfully at him. Jaune shook his head at the trademark greeting and walked over to her.

"Were you watching?" Jaune asked as he looked up at the observation deck, Pyrrha smiled as she nodded.

"Why didn't you come down sooner?" Jaune asked, curious to why she came now of all times to see him. Pyrrha's smile fell away a little at the question and Jaune immediately regretted asking it.

"Well Rolf asked us not to come disturb you until you're done training. I decided that even if I couldn't talk to you that I needed to see you so I came to watch all of your training sessions." Something about that rubbed Jaune in a strange way; he couldn't put his finger on it.

In fact the more Jaune looked into Pyrrha's eyes he couldn't help but get the sensation that something in Pyrrha had changed. He continued to look into Pyrrha's eyes until she started to poke his face repeatedly.

"I'm sorry what?" Jaune asked as he shook his head, Pyrrha looked puzzled at him.

"Jaune you weren't answering my question."

"What question?" Pyrrha's cheeks were a little pink as she looked away from him.

"I was asking if you would be so kind as to show me around the city." Jaune blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"Jaune, would you like to go on a date with me?" Pyrrha asked but Jaune just looked puzzled.

"Like now?" Pyrrha nodded.

"Really?" Pyrrha gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine but before he could say anything Cressida had returned.

"Actually Ms. Nikos I hate to inform you this but the young lord isn't allowed to leave the Citadel until after his trials are done." Jaune could see the despair settle on Pyrrha's shoulders at hearing this but surprisingly enough she looked up at him. Putting her hands on either side of his face, she drew him close to her.

The next thing he knew was his lips were locked with hers.

As Pyrrha's lips locked with his she could feel a warm sensation take over her body as her heart beat went into overdrive as her body heated up in more than one area. Jaune's left hand wrapped around Pyrrha's waist and he pulled her closer to him.

Pyrrha could feel the progress that Jaune had made as her body pressed against his thin clothes. A small part of her mind made a mental note that she was going to need to take care of herself later in private. After what seemed like a blissful eternity, Pyrrha reluctantly broke contact.

"Well, I guess that makes up for it." Pyrrha said as she cleared her throat softly, desperately trying to hide her yearning for Jaune at the moment. Though she could tell that the only person she fooled was Jaune, which wasn't really surprising.

"Well, I'm gonna go check on Ren and Nora. Can Jaune at least start staying with us now, since his training is apparently done?" Pyrrha asked turning to face Cressida but the older woman shook her head.

"I'm afraid not, he's still required to stay in the Blackshield Tower." Pyrrha started to feel a little annoyed at that.

"How come?" She asked but Cressida just shrugged.

"I really can't say for sure Ms. Nikos; those are just the standing orders at the moment. Until told otherwise, I'm to escort the young lord back to his quarters." Pyrrha was about to say something but Jaune raised his hand, stopping her.

"It's alright Pyrrha; I'll come see you and the others as soon as I can." Pyrrha's face softened as she looked at him.

"Promise?" This brought a smile to Jaune's face.

"An Arc never goes back on his word."

Later that Night…

Pyrrha opened the door of her room and stepped out into the main room of where they were being housed. Nora sat across one couch watching the wall mounted television which was currently on a cartoon channel.

The smell of food wafted through the air and the familiar scent of pancakes could be detected. Nora sat up on the couch and looked towards her.

"Sup Pyrrha!" Nora called out as Pyrrha sat next to her on the couch.

"Hello Nora."

"So how's Jaune? We didn't come to see him at the end of his training today."

"Oh, he's doing fine. It turns out his combat test is tomorrow now so his training is done." Nora jumped up and Pyrrha jumped a little in surprise.

"Well that's great!" She cried out before turning to the kitchen.

"REN! DID YOU HEAR PYRRHA?! JAUNE'S DONE WITH HIS TRAINING!" The bubbly orange hair girl shouted loudly. Ren came out from the kitchen area with a pink apron on, and an exasperated look on his face.

"Nora, I can hear you fine so please don't shout." Nora had the common decency to look a little bashful before reverting back to her normal self.

"Sorry Ren." The magenta eyed boy turned to Pyrrha.

"So Jaune's done with his training?" Pyrrha nodded.

"How come he's not here then? I figured he'd want to hang out with us since we're here." Pyrrha nearly slapped herself at forgetting.

"That's the thing, since his combat test is tomorrow he's not allowed to leave until afterwards." The other two exchanged looks before turning back to Pyrrha.

"So he's fighting Rolf tomorrow?" Ren asked and Pyrrha nodded.

"Do you think he's stronger than Saul?" Nora asked.

"I honestly don't know we haven't even seen Saul fight before." Ren said.

"I remember watching Alexander fight at Beacon Tower." Pyrrha said softly, Ren and Nora turned to her.

"He was magnificent, I barely lasted five minutes against Cinder and that power she stole. Alexander though he stood toe to toe with her giving her a tough battle. If Rolf has even a tenth of the skill as Alexander, there's no chance for Jaune to win." Ren looked towards Nora and it was a silent agreement that seeing Pyrrha so openly place doubt on Jaune was not normal.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked softly, Pyrrha turned to her a sad smile on her face.

"But he never gives up, even when all the odds are against him. He proved that to me when he came back for me at Beacon Tower even though I put him in that locker and sent him away. He still came back to save me but he got hurt because of me and my stupidity." She turned to look away from them and the two friends just stood around silently. After a moment Ren returned to the kitchen and Nora sat next to Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry Nora, I'm sorry for being a burden to you and Ren." Pyrrha whispered, Nora turned to her and could see the champion had glistening eyes. Nora put an arm around her shoulders and drew her into a hug.

"No need to say sorry Pyr, we're friends."

"I don't know what to do, he looks at me like Beacon never happened but it's my fault his dad died and he got injured. Why isn't he being honest with me and getting mad, why is he lying to me?"

"Pyrrha he isn't lying to you, you're just imagining it. Jaune loves you there isn't a person out there that can't see that. So please stop it with these thoughts, I know you feel they're right and I understand that but trust me on this Pyrrha. If you still have doubts, the moment Jaune kicks Rolf's butt you go up to him and ask him on the spot." Pyrrha let go of Nora and sat up straight, rubbing her eyes with both hands.

"Do you really mean it?" Nora smiled and gave her two thumbs up as Ren entered the room holding a tray of buttermilk fried chicken, corn, barbeque beans and mash potatoes. The three friends sat around the table and tucked into their food wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile…

Jaune sat alone in his room staring at the ceiling. It was dark inside but he didn't really mind it. The cool air mixed with the darkness of the room was surprisingly comforting, like a blanket that didn't overheat him or leave him cold.

He couldn't help but think about what he had seen earlier with Pyrrha. Even after all this time she looked as beautiful as ever. A faint smile touched his lips as he could imagine the cinnamon smell on her like he was so used to.

Yet there was something about her that seemed to have changed since he last saw her. He wasn't sure if it was always a part of her and he just missed it or something that came to light recently.

When he had looked into her eyes he was always enthralled by them. It felt like being in a peaceful forest that drowned out all his worries of the world.

Now something had disturbed that world. It was no longer a peaceful place but nor was it necessarily a hostile or chaotic place. Not but something was off and Jaune didn't know what to do about it.

He knew that his absence after the Battle of Beacon where he was injured might cause some alarm or concern in his friends. However he always expected Pyrrha to handle it the best but the more he thought about it the more he realized how wrong he was in thinking that.

Pyrrha was like any of them, she had emotions and feelings like anyone else. So to expect her to be fine after what happened is wrong.

Maybe that was the problem, she had been keeping it bottle up in order to stay strong for the others. Now though she wasn't able to release it like she should. Or maybe there was something else going on?

Jaune groaned aloud as he scratched his head furiously. Why was this so complicated? Jaune sighed as he closed his eyes, but no matter what he did he couldn't go to sleep. He couldn't stop seeing a certain red hair girl.

The Next Morning…

"Several agents along with their attending retinue have been found dead throughout the Four Kingdoms. One was found in Atlas, another in Vacuo, one in Vale and four in Mistral, all show signs of torture before death." The Director finished reading his report at the Council meeting. No one said anything as they processed the findings.

"Do we have any idea on what sort of leads they were following?" The Civitas Administrator asked turning in her seat to look at the Director who nodded.

"The Atlas and Vacuo agents were looking into recruiting pools of the White Fang. It seems that despite the Battle of Vale that their image hasn't suffered in the other Kingdoms, well save for Atlas but they've never liked them to begin with." The Lord Commander grunted in disgust.

"Do those fools not believe what's in front of their eyes? It's clear as day that the White Fang had a major role to play in the battle. They released Grimm at key points in the City, hundreds of civilians dead with thousands more wounded on top before anyone could be redirected to hunt the Grimm down. That's not even taking into fact that the White Fang themselves took part in the fighting at Beacon." The High Admiral waved a hand dismissively.

"People have the tendency to ignore what's right in front of them, especial if it doesn't fit their narrative." Arabella nodded at this.

"Alas one of the many flaws that we must all contend with but we're getting off track, let the Director finish." She said nodding to the man.

"The Vale agents were tracking down the White Fang contingent, most notably this Adam Taurus fellow. He was the one directing the White Fang forces until he decided to go and attend to some personal issue but he ran into one of the Sentinel Guard. He was never caught after the fighting and still remains at large, hiding with the bulk of his forces in the Outlands from what they gathered before they went dark. Mistral however is where things get a bit hairy. The agents in Mistral had two objectives, to investigate the Haven Academy whose current Headmaster is Professor Lionheart and monitor the movements of the White Fang."

"Why were the teams in Mistral the only ones investigating the Academy of their region?" The Lord Commander asked but the Director waved a hand in a vague sense.

"Well actually there are other teams that were tasked to investigate the Academies of the Vacuo, Vale and Atlas but nothing happened to them. It was only the teams that were charged with the investigation of the White Fang that were targeted." The Lord Marshal leaned forward, her hands clasped together in thought.

"So I assume the speculation going on is that whoever attacked them wants to cut us off from any potential leads by eliminating all your agents in the field because of what they might find out." The Director nodded at this but the Lord Commander spoke up.

"It could be a ruse, make us think that we were close to something there so we'll double our efforts in that Kingdom while they try slipping something under our nose in Vacuo or Atlas."

"That may be the case but I still suggest moving additional assets to Mistral for the time being. We need to catch whatever information we can that we may have already missed the prime date of usage in our absence and to find who's targeting our agents in the field." The Director said as Arabella nodded.

"Alright, thank you for that Director. Now what news do we have on the 8th Legion in Southern Sanus?" Arabella asked looking at the High Admiral, Lord Commander and the Legion representative.

"The 8th Legion scum have been put to the blade." The Legion representative said simply.

"Though there were a much larger number of them than we had truly expected." Arabella frowned at this and indicated for him to expand.

"Well in the report that was compiled for you all the initial assumption was that they had lost most of their strength after the fight at Amboss. However we know that region of Sanus was a perfect setting for them to lose us in so the Legionis Legatus requested that I deploy a full Division there to help tighten the net around them as they could try escaping while he deployed a sizeable strength of the Legion. I deployed the 4th Division from the 3rd Army to assist the five Cohorts he had on the field." This drew some looks of surprise around the table. More often than not what the Legion did wasn't privy to the Council until after it's been done.

"Five Cohorts deployed in Sanus, that's seems like an overkill isn't it? Five Cohorts can defeat almost any army twice its size." The Civitas Administrator said as she looked around the room to gauge the reaction of the others.

"That's true but once we did get into contact with the Night Lords we were greeted by a much larger force. Initial count indicated that we were off by a wide margin when they ambushed our forces and it wasn't until hours after the fighting had begun that we were able to get a rough estimate of their force which was about two hundred and fifty Night Lords." This drew looks of concern among the Council.

"Two hundred and fifty Night Lords, how did we not see something like that coming? If they really did escape us then who knows the damage they'd bring upon Sanus." The High Marshal muttered aloud.

"The Night Lords specialize in terror tactics; any place they would hit that didn't get razed to the ground would draw the Grimm in the thousands. The Four Kingdoms would have to mobilize everything they could to battle not one or two opponents but three opponents. The White Fang, the Grimm, and the Night Lords, they'd be able to handle the first two albeit with probably significant losses or damages but the Night Lords would bring them to the point of collapse before they're stopped." The Director said the others nodding in agreement.

"So what's the issue now? It says in the report that the Legatus killed all of the Night Lords." The Civitas Administrator said as she flipped through the hundred and eighty page long packet that was submitted for the Council to read.

"The issue is no longer what to do with them but how a force of that size made it to the southern regions of Sanus without any of us knowing about it in the first place. The portal at Gellar had been destroyed and the Sisterhood with the support of the Intelligence Agency has been working day in and day out trying to find and stop any more portals being made and if failing that destroy them." The High Admiral pointed out.

"It means that there's some sort of unknown gateway or portal that's being used to bring the denizens of the Immaterium or servants of the Ruinous Powers to our world. If we can't find it then we'll risk waging a ceaseless war with them until we exhaust either our supplies or manpower." The Lord Commander said.

"Let's not forget that the Grimm and the Ruinous Powers go hand in hand. The Ruinous Powers cause fear, anger and other extreme emotions that they thrive off of. While the Grimm are drawn to such emotions, fighting anything and everything they can to a reasonable extent. They're unintentional allies that cover for each other." The High Admiral followed up.

"I can start bolstering my efforts in finding these gateways but they're still extremely difficult to find and I can't guarantee that it'll be any time soon."

"Is there any way we can speed this process up?" The Civitas Administrator asked, no one said anything.

"I suppose that's all we can do until more information comes into light on this matter. What news of the Legatus now?" Arabella asked looking towards the Legionnaire.

"The Legatus is actually supposed to arrive within the next few hours to observe the young lord during his combat test." Arabella nodded before looking to the assembled council.

"Alright then, Director redoubled your efforts in Mistral, with Sanian still on her journey you may consult with my aides on what forces you need from the Sisterhood. Lord Commander, please file an updated report on the status of our armed forces, I want to know how we're doing in maintaining command and logistical structure with the latest developments. High Admiral, please continue monitoring the surrounding space and notify me if any orbital observation runs picks up an anomaly. High Marshal, have your office comply a report of this month's events and send them to me by the end of the week. Administrator, I'll need a dossier on all the diplomats and business representatives that are petitioning a meeting with us. I want to know if any of them are compromised by the White Fang or are lending support to them. Chief Magos, I'll be sending a data packet of the supplies needed once the others have submitted their report." Arabella sat up straight as she looked around the room; everyone gave her their undivided attention.

"I, Arabella Arc, Stewardess of Arcadia, hereby dismiss this council." As everyone stood up, Arabella tucked her data slated under her arm. The last thing on her agenda for the day was to observe Jaune's combat test.

Later That Night…

Jaune was stretching in the locker room when he heard a door open from nearby. Standing up straight he turned to see his mom standing before him. She was wearing a white blouse with grey pants and black high heel shoes.

"Hey mom." Jaune said Arabella smiled.

"Hello Jaune." She said raising her arms up beckoning him over to hug her, Jaune the ever dutiful son closed the distance and wrapped his arms around her. His mom was never the tallest person but now she seemed so much tinier.

"So are you ready? Have you finished doing your stretches? Did you eat a good lunch? Also did you get enough sleep? Have you been drinking enough water? Oh, you got something on your cheek." Arabella said without pause, licking her thumb she started to rub Jaune's cheek.

"Mom please, I'm fine. I got enough sleep, ate a good lunch and just did my stretching. As for how ready I am, well there's only one way to figure that out." Jaune said as he looked up at a set of doors that lead to the training area where he was to fight Rolf.

"Jaune, look at me." His mother said in a voice that gave no room for compromise, so he looked at her. She reached out and placed her hands on Jaune's cheeks focusing him on her gaze.

"No matter what happens out there, I want you to understand that your sisters and I are proud of you. You're a wonderful person Jaune who brings light to all those that are around you. Your friends can attest to that more so than I in fact. So remember that whatever comes that you'll always be true to yourself because in the end the only person that can truly judge you is yourself." Arabella spoke softly before drawing him into a hug which he gladly returned.

"Alright honey, I'm going to go now. I'll be up in the observation room. Good luck and remember we love you." Arabella said as she let go and turned to head out the door but stopped.

"By the way, you should visit him after this is over." Jaune was puzzled first but it hit him hard as to who she was referring. The door closed with a soft click and he was once more left alone to think. However he didn't really know what to think at the moment.

Looking at a nearby mirror he looked over himself again. He only wore boots and training shorts for today, he didn't know why but Cressida had informed him that was what he was supposed to wear.

Going over his body he could see that his body had continued to shape up to an exquisite form of athleticism. A solidly built body with little body fat left remaining on it; there were some people out there that worked for years to get the body and strength he had.

However there was one noticeable flaw that he could see. In the center of his chest, the scar from the shard that had impaled him at Beacon Tower was still very visible. Despite all this time after waking up it still had not disappeared.

Maybe since he received the wounded after his aura failed completely it was unable to properly heal it. He wasn't sure and he hadn't remembered to ask about it with someone who was a lot smarter than him about it.

He took a deep breath and held it for several seconds before slowly exhaling. There was a knock and a door opened. Jaune turned to the sound and saw Cressida at the door in her uniform.

"It's time." Jaune took another deep breath before exhaling then nodded. Following her he made it back out into the training room. All the equipment had been squared away and numerous flood lights were pointed at the center sparring ring.

Standing in the ring was Rolf, he didn't wear his armor and a part of Jaune wished he kind of did. Rolf had a body similar to what his father had but albeit it was smaller in size but no less intimidating. He wore a simple pair of black shorts and boots.

Black inked tattoos covered the warrior's arms. His chest surprisingly enough was like someone had glued a brown furry rug to it. Had Jaune not also been able to see the numerous scars crisscrossing the old warrior's body he would have felt a little better.

"Are you ready Jaune Arc?" Rolf's voice boomed over the arena. Jaune closed his eyes steeling himself as best he could.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Rolf shook his head disapprovingly.

"There's always room for improvement, never let your self-doubt limit what you can do. If it controls you on the battlefield, you might as well fall on your own sword and spare us the tale of your defeat." Jaune wasn't sure what to say so he just kept quiet, Rolf pointed to his left.

"Pick whatever weapon you feel most comfortable with, when you're ready we'll start." Jaune turned and saw a table with weapons on it. Walking over he could see square and round shields. There were arming swords, one handed longswords, war axes, war hammers, and a claymore.

Jaune picked up on of the arming swords, they were well balanced swords but it didn't feel right in his hands. Setting it down he inspected the other weapons, he ended up being torn between taking the two handed longsword or Claymore.

He finally picked up a two handed longsword. The shining blade was forty inches in length while the total length was forty eight inches, including a black hilt and cross guard.

It wasn't as long as the claymore nor did it have the weight but it was still a very effective weapon designed for thrust and slashing. It was also something that he was familiar with in knowing how to use.

Turning around Jaune headed back into the sparring circle where Rolf stood. However it was at that point that he realized that Rolf had no weapon, the older warrior must have seen the question on Jaune's face.

"I decided that it wouldn't be fair if I used a weapon so I decided that I will use only my hands." Jaune frowned as he placed the blade tip down into the floor.

"Be that as it may it doesn't feel right to fight you with a weapon while you don't." Rolf just chuckled as he shook his head a little before looking at Cressida.

"You may begin." He said simply, Cressida stepped forward.

"The rules of the combat tests are as follows; if at any point in time that I feel that the match is leading to dangerous territory for either side the match will automatically end in a loss for Jaune Arc. The weapons used in this test are also not training weapons but real ones capable of dealing death and other injuries. Lastly, do everything you must to win." Jaune ignored that last part as he replayed what Cressida had said in the middle. Jaune looked down at the sword in his hands. This could kill Rolf if he wasn't careful, as he looked up; in an almost slow motion he could see Rolf sailing at him with his fist aimed at him.

Jaune couldn't even lift his sword up as Rolf smashed his fist against Jaune's chest, sending him hurtling to the floor a dozen feet back. Jaune landed with a thump on the hard floor gasping for air, looking at Rolf he could see the older warrior stalking towards him like an aged wolf after its prey.

Jaune rolled to his left and scrambled to his feet, gripping the sword with two hands he faced Rolf. A cold sweat was already beading his body as he sized up the man. He watched for the barest hints of his muscles tensing before he attacked.

Jaune dropped into his stance, whipping the sword around in an overhead strike that struck Rolf's fist head on. There was a crack of metal on flesh, vibrations travelled down Jaunes arms as the sword and fist cancelled each other out.

"Is that all you have boy?!" Rolf shouted with surprising glee as he struck out at Jaune with a one, two combo with both of his fists. Jaune smashed the flat of his sword upwards, diverting one fist but was unable to bring his sword hilt down to block the second one.

Rolf's fist hammered into Jaune's face, his vision exploded in a flare of white and pain. After a brief second, Jaune saw the lights beaming down at him. Without thinking he rolled to the side and stood up, he could feel a throbbing pain in his left cheek from the strike.

"If you don't take this serious, you're going to fail." Rolf said, his facing becoming as impassive as stone. Jaune gritted his teeth as he readied his blade. He ducked under a wide right hook only to have Rolf grab him by the forehead, lifting him up off the ground as Jaune struggled to pry Rolf's hand off him.

"The enemy will not give you a second chance in a fight; fight me as you would anyone else. If you don't well then I'll show you what happens to those that hold back on the battlefield." Jaune barely registered the words as Rolf raised him higher before slamming him onto the ground.

Jaune gasped as the wind was knocked out of his lungs, looking up he could see Rolf raising a fist to strike down. Jaune rolled to the side as Rolf struck where his head was; Jaune was on his knees and looked to see the spider cracks around Rolf's fist.

Jaune stood up but as Rolf's fist closed in at a startling speed, Jaune reacted on wholly on his instincts. Ducking below the strike, he jumped to the left, holding the sword over his shoulder he quickly brought it up and forward.

Turning around with the longsword gripped in both hands, Jaune hadn't realized what he had done till he looked at the blade. Running down the edge of the blade was something red. Looking up at the tip, he could see more of it on the blade.

Jaune looked at Rolf who was inspecting his arm; a thin line of red about seven inches long ran diagonally across it. A few drops of blood were already splattered on the floor at his feet, but Rolf paid no mind to it.

"Well, I wanna say you've finally got your head in the right place but it looked like you did this on accident." Rolf said casually before starting to wipe away at the cut. Jaune watched in amazement as the thin cut disappeared slowly as Rolf's hand passed over it again and again.

Jaune felt his hands get sweaty as he stood there watching Rolf who was acting as if getting cut by a sword was like accidentally getting scratched by a tree branch.

"Lad if you don't lighten up you're gonna have a heart attack." Rolf said as he placed his hands on his hips.

"How can you say that?! I just fucking cut you Rolf." Jaune snapped back but the older warrior just snorted in derision.

"How else would you win if you weren't trying to strike true at your foe?" Rolf asked but Jaune shook his head.

"You're not my enemy Rolf."

"Yes, yes, I know but you need to start getting this into your mind about that this is how you face those you may see in the future." Jaune was a little more confused by this.

"What do you mean?" Rolf gave a sad smile.

"You need to know what it's like to face people, especially people like me." With that the old warrior lunged forward, Jaune rolled forward but was halted when a pair of legs closed around his chest. Looking down for a brief second he realized it was actually Rolf's arms, Rolf picked him up and brought him close to his own body.

"If you don't use that sword like it's meant to be used, you'll lose this test Jaune. If you lose this test, you'll no longer be allowed to continue this path you've set yourself on. You're friends, who are watching if I might add, will be sent away and you'll no longer be allowed to see them until we deem you ready. Which can be years from now and since they're trying to be Huntsmen and Huntresses their life span can be cut short at any time. They'll die in the Outlands without you knowing." Everything seemed to slow down for Jaune as he thought about what Rolf said. If he failed this test, then his friends would be essentially kicked out of Arcadia and he wouldn't be allowed to leave? A flash of Pyrrha appeared in his mind, he couldn't allow that to happen. Steeling himself, he raised the sword up and set it flat on his shoulder be thrusting it hard back.

"HA! That's what I want to see!" Rolf barked out a laugh as he dropped Jaune to his feet. He turned around to see a scratch on Rolf's shoulder. Jaune gritted his teeth as he gripped the longsword in his hands and held it ready.

Above them in the observation a group of people watched as Jaune started to get a little more serious in his fight with Rolf.

Pyrrha turned around to see a number of people watching aside from her, Nora, Ren, Anna, and Arabella. There was an old man in what looked to be an Army uniform, though there was a ridiculous amount of ribbons and medals on it.

Next to him was a much younger woman who could be in her late twenties if Pyrrha were to see her from a distance. She also wore a uniform of some type with a large amount of ribbons and medals on her chest.

Though that thought was shaken up since Pyrrha could see stress lines around her eyes that made her look far more mature.

There was also a very bland looking man in the corner who appeared to be bored as he watched the fight but Pyrrha could see the razor sharp focus he had on Jaune. Pyrrha couldn't lie, it was kind of creepy.

There was also a Faunus Sentinel there aside from Anna; she had grey hair with grey rabbit ears that twitched every so often. For some reason Pyrrha couldn't help but remember about the ever so shy Velvet Scarlatina.

"Psssst, Pyrrha." Nora whispered to her and she turned to her friend.

"What's with all these old people?" Nora said as she jerked her thumb over her shoulder but Pyrrha shrugged.

"I don't know Nora, and it's not nice to talk about them like they're not here." Pyrrha said.

"They're important figures of Government." Anna said from the other side of Ren. Nora and Pyrrha looked towards the albino Sentinel but Arabella spoke up from behind them.

"The people you see in here are members of the Arcadian Council." Pyrrha looked around in surprised; these people were the Council members of Arcadia. In the Four Kingdoms that would have made them the most powerful people in the Kingdom.

"Why are they all here?" Ren asked and Arabella smiled.

"Well they're here to see if Jaune passes his first test."

"So he has to beat Rolf?" Nora asked but Arabella shook her head.

"Not necessarily." Ren frowned.

"What do you mean?" Arabella looked as if she was mulling over his question for a few seconds.

"You'll see." The three teens exchanged looks before looking back down at Jaune and Rolf.

Jaune ducked another right hook, twisting his wrist counter clockwise as he swung the sword upwards but Rolf stepped out of the blades way. He twisted his wrist clockwise as he cleaved downward; aiming at Rolf's left leg.

However the older warrior simply jumped up avoiding the blade and leaned forward as he lashed out with a quick jab. Jaune twisted his blade, using the flat end to meet Rolf's hand; Jaune grimaced was pushed back from the force of Rolf. The much heavier and stronger man easily sending Jaune off balanced from the hit.

Recovering quickly Jaune decided to press the advantage. Jaune thrust the sword forward aiming past Rolf's right shoulder then quickly pressed then and slid the blade back.

Or well at least he would have done that if Rolf hadn't simply smacked Jaune's hands up then slammed his right fist into Jaune's solar plexus.

Jaune gasped in excruciating pain as he fell the floor, coughing heavily he rolled to his knees but it seemed Rolf was getting impatient as he struck Jaune in the back between his shoulder blades.

Jaune could see the white light of his aura flaring from this hit. There was a running shuffle and Jaune looked up to see Rolf's shin coming at him. His vision exploded again in a world of white and pain as he rolled back from the hit.

Jaune inadvertently pressed his hands to his face from the pain. After a moment he pulled his hands away. Jaune opened his eyes and saw that white cracks on his hands running up the length of his arm. His heart a cold weight settled in his stomach as he remembered the last time that happened.

"Get up lad as long as you've got breath in your lungs and the enemy stands before you, you will fight." Rolf said as Jaune watched his aura flake away.

Each piece of light that broke off his body dissolved in the air. Soon enough it was all gone, he climbed to his feet. His body ached as he stood up straight and looked at Rolf.

He looked at his feet and picked up the longsword, gripping it with both hands he looked Rolf in the eyes. The older warrior's expression was enigmatic as he cracked his knuckles.

"Why do you fight Jaune Arc?" Rolf asked as he closed the distance within seconds. Jaune swung the sword vertically warding off Rolf's hands before jumping back to avoid Rolf's left leg. However Rolf kept pressing him, Jaune barely escaping a palm strike by intercepting it with the flat of his blade.

Jaune feigned a jump to the side by stepping wide with right foot then crouching low, Jaune thrust the blade forward and nearly cut the side of Rolf's leg. However the older warrior pivoted, the blade missing his legs by a few inches.

Rolf punched down smacking the flat of the blade sending it tip first into the ground. Before raising his right leg then stopping on the rain guard of the longsword. Jaune was forced to let go sword as Rolf smacked Jaune in the chest with his left palm.

Jaune stumbled back swordless before falling onto his back. Jaune just laid there for few moments, a million thoughts racing through his mind.

If he couldn't beat Rolf, he'll lose and if he lost he'll lose his friends. Most importantly he'll lose Pyrrha, he couldn't handle that. He thought back to the moment when she put him in the locker and sent him away, a familiar rage and pain filled his heart.

He rolled to his hands and knees then slowly stood up. Behind him Rolf watched his every movement. The lad was much stronger, faster and even skilled than before however he was wasting it at the moment. He didn't have a clear goal in mind, that clouded mind was his undoing.

"Why do you fight Jaune Arc?" Rolf called out but he didn't answer as he turned around. A dark bruise forming on his chest where Rolf had hit him, above it the scar from his injury seemed to be enhanced by it.

"I fight because I have to." Jaune said simply but Rolf clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"That's not why you fight boy that just says you do it against your will but we both know that there are options for many that do not wish to fight. You didn't have to sneak your way into Beacon or learn to fight with that girl of yours if you didn't want to." Rolf said but Jaune stayed silent in response.

"So tell me honestly, why do you fight?" Jaune didn't say anything at first but finally spoke up.

"To honor my families legacy, to be the hero that everyone expects us to be." Rolf barked out in laughter.

"That's a load of horse shite and you know it. You think stealing Crocea Mors and then lying your way into a school thus taking the place of someone who would have earned their way into that spot would honor your ancestors? You know that's false so don't insult me with such a blatant lie."

"Here's another question, why do you still fight?" Jaune blinked at that before looking up at the observation room.

"What?" Rolf pointed at him.

"Why do you still fight me?" Jaune took a moment to think.

"I'm fighting for myself." Rolf grinned.

"Why do you fight for yourself?"

"I fight to protect those I love and the values I hold dear." Rolf's grin turned to a smile.

"What do you fear lad?" Jaune blinked as he looked up at the observation room.

"Losing my family, my friends…her." Jaune whispered that last part but Rolf was clearly able to hear it as his smile turned wolfish.

"Ah yes of course but what about those values you mentioned, who did you learn your values from?" Rolf asked.

"My family."

"What did they always teach or at least try to teach since it seems you've got a thick skull lad." Jaune started remembering random lessons that his father and mother always told him when he was a boy.

"To help those in need even if I get hurt while doing so, never close my mind to new possibilities, listen first then talk, think before I act, treasure my loved ones no matter what, and strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Rolf nodded then pointed to the sword at his feet.

"Now tell me lad, if you met a warrior who was like me that was going to hurt that lass of yours, what would you do?"

"I'd protect her." Jaune said instantly.

"Would you do it knowing that you'll die doing so?" Jaune nodded.

"Yes."

"Would you fight an enemy even if you have no chance of beating them?" Jaune nodded.

"If fighting means doing the right thing to give time for someone to escape and live then I'll trade my life knowing that what I did was right." Rolf's face turned serious.

"Do you think you can beat me?" Jaune shook his head.

"No." Rolf nodded before turning to Cressida.

"The match is now over, the winner is Rolf." Jaune felt ice forming in his stomach and looked down. He failed; he didn't know what to do to stop what was going to happen. Someone placed their hand on his shoulder, it was a rather large hand, and he looked up to see Rolf standing in front of him.

"You did good lad." Jaune shook his head.

"I failed the test." He whispered hoarsely.

"No Jaune, you passed." Jaune didn't look up; instead he stared at his feet confused about what he heard. He finally looked up to see Rolf staring down at him.

"What?" Rolf nodded slowly.

"You pass Jaune; the purpose was never really to test your combat ability but to evaluate your mind." Jaune shook his head again confused about what he was saying.

"What do you mean?" Rolf chuckled.

"Jaune, none of us truly expected you to beat me in a fight. Though had it happened it wouldn't be the true deciding factor if you passed or not. No what I was looking for was how you handled the target in front of you. At first you faltered in your refusal to actually use your blade against me since I had no weapon but once I told you that lie about what would happen to your friends then you became more serious about it. Your mind became clear on what it is you wanted to do despite who you were fighting. Even then you were very conscious about what the actual outcome would be but did it nonetheless without faltering you did what you could." Jaune looked at Rolf confused as he nodded slowly.

"So essentially, you wanted to see what I would do once I had a goal in mind and whether or not I'll act despite common sense dictating that it would be better to run or surrender when I had something to fight for?" Rolf nodded.

"Pretty much." Jaune pressed the palm of his hands against his eyes in agitation.

"That's kind of stupid." He said when he looked back at Rolf who just grinned.

"Well your opinion on the matter is noted lad but no one cares either way." Jaune just sighed as he slowly let himself lay down on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Rolf asked as Jaune closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Resting, you still kicked the shit out of me." Rolf laughed.

"Yea I did do that didn't I?" He continued to laugh and Jaune just glared at him as he turned to walk away. Jaune finally sat up to look around the room; Cressida walked over to him and kneeled down.

"You need some help getting to the locker room?" She asked but Jaune shook his head and slowly stood up.

"I'm good, though I don't think I'll be doing much tomorrow." Jaune said as he slowly made his way over to the door leading to the locker room.

"No, I suppose not." Cressida said from behind him, he could hear the mirth in her voice.

"Fearless Leader!" A very familiar voice called out and the next thing Jaune knew was a familiar weight on his back.

"You got your butt kicked Jaune." Nora said as she rode on his back, Jaune didn't say anything as he struggled to stay upright. A familiar set of arms took Jaune's left arm and he turned to see Pyrrha standing next to him.

"Nora please get off Jaune, I don't think he can carry you at the moment." Ren said from behind Jaune.

"Awwww." Nora said as she climbed off Jaune much to his relief.

"Thanks Ren." Jaune said as the locker room door opened.

"It's not a problem since you got beat up pretty badly." Jaune sighed.

"You guys aren't going to let this go, are you?" The accompanying laughter, most noticeable from Nora was evident that it wasn't going away any time soon.

"But in all seriousness, Rolf won the fight but you passed the test?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune opened the locker where his clothes were situated.

"Yea, it wasn't about my fighting skill, it was about how or why I fight." Jaune said as he disappeared behind one of the walls to change. Pyrrha could feel her cheeks heat up at the thought he was undressing on the other side of the wall from her.

"So now that they tested that, what now?" Ren asked.

"Well not I've got some free time till I get sent to the mission my mom and the Council set out for me." Pyrrha almost forgot about that, looking at Ren and Nora it seemed they did as well.

"So what's going to happen at this Irkalla place?" Nora asked as Jaune came out from behind the wall, he now wore a loose white shirt, jeans and black shoes.

"I'm not really sure; I'm supposed to be a part of a Military operation there. I don't really know much besides that." Pyrrha nodded before standing up and moving besides Jaune who was still moving slowly. She would have helped him stand but he waved her off as he stretched his back, multiple cracks could be heard as he leaned back.

"I do know that Irkalla is a dangerous place, fighting is constant over there along with the weather ranging from a bad to worse due to the snow. So it's going to be tough, probably even more tough than today." Pyrrha frowned as she looked at Ren and Nora who nodded. Pyrrha looked back at Jaune who was staring ahead.

"Well I'm sure we'll have your backs this time." Pyrrha said drawing a smile from Jaune.

"I wouldn't mind that, it's been a while since the team has had something to do together."

"Oh! We can finally go out into the city then if you're free for now." Nora said and Ren nodded with her.

"Indeed, I wouldn't mind seeing what it's like here for the average person." Jaune grinned then looked at Pyrrha.

"I think I can show you guys a few interesting places before we head out to the mission." Someone cleared their throat from nearby and the four of them turned to see Arabella standing by a door.

"Oh hey mom, how long have you been standing there?" Jaune asked and she stepped forward flashing a quick smile before it turned serious again.

"Let me just say I'm proud of you Jaune for passing the first test and remember to rest up. Rolf didn't go as hard as I expected him to be but he still packs a powerful punch." Jaune grimaced.

"Wait he was holding back on me!?"

"As for the mission to Irkalla…well Jaune, this is also something you've got to do by yourself. So you three won't be allowed to go with him." She said as she addressed the last part mainly to Pyrrha and the others.

"Wait why?" Pyrrha asked, stepping forward but Arabella held her hand out to stop her.

"It's to see Jaune's ability to function and lead in a military situation."

"But we're his team, we should be going then." Pyrrha argued but Arabella shook her head.

"You're a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Jaune isn't going to Irkalla as a Huntsman but as an Arc of Arcadia." Pyrrha looked like she was gonna argue more but Jaune raised his hand stopping her.

"It's fine Pyrrha." Jaune looked at his mother.

"I assume you'll tell me the details later?" She nodded.

"There are still some things I need to get finished, so I'll find you when it's time to continue talking about this. Until then relax and have fun Jaune, you deserve it." Arabella said with a smile, one hand reaching out cupping his right cheek. Jaune smiled as he patted her hand and she reached out to hug him which he returned.

Soon enough she broke apart and headed out the door she came from. Jaune turned to his friends and smiled, gesturing for them to follow.

"Let's go." He said as he led them out the locker room.

Welp wasn't this an action packed Chapter of sorts huh?

Will Pyrrha ever get over what happened at Beacon?

Will Jaune ever get over that ass kicking?

How tired is Saul going to be?

Anyways, there's a few things I think I need to address. For instance, what is the actual population that is on Remnant in my story at least. Well the answer is about a few hundred million people. Now some of you may think "That's ridiculous" and maybe it is but I remember coming across a very interesting post on the RWBY Wiki page called Determination of the Size of Vale via Cartographic Analysis by Shadow at Morning who gives a thorough explanation at the size of Vale which I then applied to Vacuo, Atlas and Mistral then tweaked it that it makes a little more sense in context of my story.

Next, someone messaged me how much research do I actually do with my stories and I think it's safe to say that I do as much as I can.

Hence why it takes me so long to actually get the chapters out.

For instance just in this chapter, I had to look through Artillery terms, then watched "Sword and Shield Fighting with Roland Warzecha," looked through Lexicanum for relevant information on Astartes. Double checked to make sure I remembered the organization of the Legions and the terminology for them. Hammered out some information on Military Logistics and how it interacts with the Arcadian army.

That was all just in this one relatively light chapter, I take three times the amount of time to double check and find realistic terms and items for heavier chapters or for my "A Dance of Death" story.

Oh also, I've been thinking about moving this back to the General RWBY section, mainly because it feels like the story doesn't get as much traffic in the cross over section as it would in the general section. Or maybe this is just my what my fogged up mind is thinking at 2 in the morning, I don't know at this point, I wouldn't mind hearing what ya'll have to say about this.

*Update*

Alright so I've been thinking about it for a long time now but I might end this story.

Now I still want to have a story with Warhammer 40k mixed in with it but I feel like I could or should have done a better job at this. Now admittedly this is my first story and I'm not under the delusion that I'm some top notch writer.

However I'm still on the fence about it.

I always go back to read the comments and messages that people send me or posted on the chapters. In a sense they're right from the very beginning. My story falls flat in those chapters with the exception of the first chapter and Gellar there was nothing interesting which according to the traffic it's true. The people the story brings fall off before I grew ballsy and made Chapter 8 about Leflore.

Don't even get me started on the organization of the story.

Anyways I'm going to put a poll up about the Fate of this story. When the polling is done I'll act accordingly.

Besides that feel free to leave a comment about what you think of this or PM me.

*Final Update*

Alright the poll is closed and it seems the majority of those who voted desired for me to start over. So that's what I'm going to do, for the now the name will also stay the same. As for the story I'm not going to divulge what I'm thinking of doing yet.

With that being said I actually would like to know what it is that actually brought you to this story then what you liked and didn't like overall. I got this idea from reading Lionfire42's review that he left when I first made this update on the fate of the story. I want to see what it was that made the people (you) want to continue reading my story and what drove them away as well.

Obviously no one is obligated to speak and I'll continue with what I'm doing at the moment.

Aside from that don't expect to see this story back on it's feet for a while.

Anyways ya'll know what to do...