Chapter 8:

The Blood Boil

Jaune approached Weiss slowly his worn leather boots making audible scuffling noises, the room had drawn quiet.

Watching each new rendition Jaune brought to combat class was like watching an action movie, new extravagant moves that were impossible for the average person to perform, there was a certain grace and a brutality to Jaune's move sets if one were to examine him closely.

And Lady Maria is no different, her name is naught but one that strikes fear and awe to those who knew her, the twin blades the conductor's baton to an orchestra of blood, fire and steel and her voice like silk tinged with a cold sweetness, a flavoured poison.

Weiss' brow furrowed as she gripped onto Myrtenaster tightly and yet her wrist shook, her opponent's eyes completely unseen, it was if she were fighting an advanced Atlesian android, those twin blades they reminded her of her sister, but the worn, bloodied look to them continued to add to her distress.

Flourishing them Jaune lunged the sound of his boots the only noise as the singing of steel carried over it.

Swiping upward with the sabre Jaune grunted lightly as his weapon clashed with Weiss' rapier they both drew back quickly before lunging and clashing again, Weiss attempted to take control of this duel initiating first with a flurry of jabs.

Jaune answered in kind with deft parries and blocks with the dagger half of the Rakuyo, Weiss had developed her own theory on Jaune's stratagem, he would control the fight in hindsight he would throw off the 'rhythm' of a fight of his own volition, and it was an advanced form of combat theory.

'It seems Jaune has had some higher grade combat tutoring compared to others' Weiss thought as she continued her assault.

'But I will not grant him the same luxury, I will lead this dance'

With a heave of her sword-arm the both of them recoiled from Weiss' explosion of force, a gravity glyph had been used beneath them and timed it at the right moment to unleash a burst of force just as she used her own physical might to overpower Jaune.

With relentless disciplined strikes she struck Jaune cleanly, his dagger arm struggling to keep up with her own speed from a speed glyph enhancement.

Jaune's senses were abuzz with activity, the whistling of Myrtenaster whistling through the air gave guidance to Jaune as he attempted to keep up with her assault, but her new tactic of near relentless but not reckless aggression was throwing him off.

He growled as his excess aura began to chip away from each swift blow, he would need to either parry or simply strafe away from her as quickly as possible, he could not move away however instead he would just be continuously pursued with her speed glyphs.

However like most combatants they abided by the natural rhythm of attacks like a musician who follows the score of his/her music, meaning there was always a pattern that could be exploited, unless his opponent was a complete madman in which case Weiss Schnee was most certainly not

Gripping his dagger in hand with a hunter's swiftness he deflected Weiss' rapier, not with great force like with Yang's case, this action was not wasteful it was a simple flick and it got the job done.

Retaliating with equal speed he began slashing and jabbing at Weiss repeatedly using the Quickening effect to great effect, his flashes in and out of visibility forcing Weiss' mind to work harder, it was erratic and out of rhythm just as he liked it.

Weiss pushed herself away with a short blink of movement another projected speed glyph making room between the two of them, cursing to herself for allowing Jaune to regain control of the fight.

They circled once more, Jaune's blades still held out to his sides, a display meant to feign arrogance or carelessness.

Weiss' was slightly unnerved by the slight smell of blood that tinged the air, and neither of them were that injured, her thoughts instantly locked onto those antiquated weapons within her opponent's hands.

They lunged at each other once more, their blades clashing sparks blasting outward from the points of contact, the two Huntsmen traded blows it was a contest of speed and accuracy rather than raw power the better only managing to land light nicks upon each other's Aura

Jaune raised both blades aiming for an overhead attack, Weiss readied her rapier but it was made too early through the heat of battle her eagerness and anticipation of a fast furious assault was used for Jaune's benefit, and had intentionally delayed the attack, it was a feint.

Jabbing her with Maria's dagger and slashing at her midriff he continued by pirouetting with both blades outward unleashing a punishing cleave with both weapons, a deep ripping noise signalling that the blades had dealt significant damage

Weiss yelped in pain as she staggered backward, quickly composing herself she let her hand drift behind her back as she took up a fencer's pose lunging with the help of a glyph she made another series of thrusts to which Jaune Quickened away from drawing his repeating pistol sneaking in shots at her attempts to lunge and close the gap.

Weiss grit her teeth, the heiress continued to lunge and engage Jaune in short bouts of clashing steel, he denied her the opportunity to control the space using his superior speed and dexterity as bonuses from Lady Maria's mimicry to weave his way out of the Schnee Heiress' assaults, parrying what blows managed to reach far enough and shooting her with his repeating pistol.

Fleeing from her no longer, Jaune lunged to meet her just as Weiss made her own advance the two clashed with a resounding shriek of blade grinding against blade, Jaune however withdrew his off-hand a void of blackness filled with blips of light like a miniature nebula formed in the palm of his hand.

Thrusting it forward a mass of pale fleshy tendrils lurched from the astral projection the mass of writhing limbs sending the heiress to the floor whilst Jaune shivered slightly paralysed from the after-effects from utilising the Augur of Ebrietas.

Capitalising on his moment of weakness Weiss unleashed a leaping kick to our blonde hunter's cheek knocking him down

'Did I deserve that?' he rubbed his cheek

'Hmph' was the heiress' only response and accentuated her frustration by cutting their dialogue short as she lunged

Parrying what was to be the beginning of a thrust from the Schnee, Jaune quickly reattached his dagger to the pommel of its sabre counterpart levelling the weapon as he took up a stance he thrust the combined weapons forward the long curved edge struck Weiss' chest staggering her before a surge of blood fired from the tip of the sword like a bullet the sheer force of it sending Weiss sliding across the arena.

Weiss recovered quickly and was about to lunge once more but halted herself at the last moment as she watched Jaune perform something peculiar.

He held his dagger and sabre gripping them tightly before bringing them upward over his chest.

SCHLIK

With a cruel ripping motion Jaune withdrew the stained red steel from his body, blood thick like tar dripped from the cruel edges of Lady Maria some dropping onto the floor.

Loud gasps filled the arena as onlookers cringed and squirmed, uncomfortable with the sight of so much blood, even more disturbing was the apathetic stare from Jaune unaffected by the fact that he had stabbed himself through.

Many whispered amongst themselves, others looking away from the abhorrent display one unfortunate bunny girl excused herself from the classroom her face quickly turning green.

Weiss' jaw dropped as the blood rippled and writhed as it clung to the weapons adding a murderous black-red effect to his swords.

Sheathing his weapon onto his hip Jaune drew backward before slicing at the air like an eastern warrior.

Blood gathered at the edge of the weapon shooting outward as an extension of the weapon Weiss was struck thrice as Jaune swung the impromptu katana back and forth the blood blade catching Weiss in the torso before he thrust the weapon forward again firing a 'blood' lance at Weiss.

'It's like the Frayed blade but not made of glass' Jaune mused

'No BAD Jaune!' he mentally slapped himself 'keep your head in the game'

Weiss was dazed from the sudden counter-attack, the sudden range advantage from Jaune's blood manipulation forcing the Heiress to further reassess the strength of the blonde.

Shakily getting to her feet Weiss proceeded to dive roll and dash away from Jaune's length enhanced blade, the blood still in liquid form congealed as Jaune separated his Trick weapons the dagger and sabre equalling in length from the sanguine enhancements.

Grinning confidently Jaune proceeded to swipe and swing the Rakuyo from afar letting the crimson edges to their bloody work forcing Weiss on the defensive, despite her speed from Aura and last second boosts from Glyphs Weiss' dodging capabilities could only go so far, and was forced to attempt to parry the liquid blades with no success.

She yelped as blood spattered across her eyes as Myrtenaster cut through the faux steel, in her moment of weakness Jaune drew the weapons close to his chest spinning like a merry-go-round of gore, leather and steel Weiss' rapier struggled against the whirling cyclone her mind too much of a chaotic mess to formulate a potent glyph Jaune wrenched Myrtenaster away as he pulled Lady Maria outward into an 'X' shaped slash.

Jaune leaned forward bringing the weapons across his body once more with a lifeless amoral stare he brought his weapons out again and spun launching Weiss into the air with him at the height of his ascent Jaune glared at the Schnee his eyes changing from a righteous blue to a murderous red.

Weiss' fight or flight response kicked in but was helpless watching him bring Lady Maria over his shoulder the weapons almost 'fusing' together before dredging them into Weiss' form as they crashed back down onto the arena floor together in a shower of blood.

Weiss struggled to her feet raising her rapier but her grip quivered and faltered her eyes wide in shock as her mind registered the thick sickening stench of blood that clung to her clothes.

That was no semblance projection this was real, this blood was Jaune's.

Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as this fact registered

Out of the cloud of viscera Jaune lunged his eyes screaming bloody murder, the Rakuyo bound together in its twin blade configuration. taking inspiration from the twin-blade weapons from Dark souls 2 he spun the weapon furiously landing numerous blows against Weiss' weakened form finishing his flurry with a sweep the single edged weapon dug into her dress as her Aura heaved from the final crescendo

With a click and a snap of the Rakuyo Jaune dashed after her retreating form, sheathing the sabre at his side if one looked closely Jaune had run his hand along the scabbard with a scrap of paper that had been withdrawn from within the sleeve of his duelling jacket, a fleeting movement but a slight glow emanated from within the weapon's leather binding.

Drawing himself into a low eastern warrior stance he drew the weapon swiftly and precisely

Weiss' eyes widened in horror as the extended blade set alight with fire and said blade was quickly making its way towards her way

She fended off the attack with a hasty gravity glyph and was expecting her opponent to follow up with a thrust, setting another defensive wall glyph in front of her just as the edge of Lady Maria crept up to her chest.

'I give!' Weiss yelled aloud 'I surrender'

Jaune withdrew his weapon from the pierced wall glyph, sheathing his dagger and sabre at his hip in acknowledgement of her concede to the fight, slumping backward onto his knees from exhaustion his complexion noticeably paler.

Glynda nodded announcing her surrender and for the next randomised set of opponents to prepare

As the two were dismissed from the arena floor, Weiss spoke up

"I'm….sorry"

Jaune chuckled awkwardly "It's alright now, at least the message got through to you, surprisingly faster than Yang" he admitted

She turned on him her brow twitching violently

"What do you mean, surprisingly?"

"W-well I-I mean" he stuttered quickly raising his arms instinctively for self-defence, let it be known that hell hath no fury like a Schnee scorned.

The Schnee Heiress raised her clenched fist, and Jaune quivered beneath her gaze promising pain unending, all their friends could do was silently pray for their friend's survival

Thank goodness Goodwitch was there to prevent our heir of fire from returning to the proverbial Bonfire, but that didn't stop the heiress from exacting some semblance of justice

Jaune would spend the rest of his life with a mild case of gynophobia, and would twitch at the sight of women, particularly white haired ones and Red haired ones too.

Later that day

To say that lunchtime conversations that very same day would be an understatement, particularly with Weiss and Yang being both uncharacteristically shy towards our blonde goofball, their collectives prides in high combat class achievements being slightly humbled by the Heir of Fire.

Unfortunately Yang took the defeat harder than most.

"I still can't believe you broke your arm in that fight!" Yang complained childishly "and Goodwitch let you off lightly too, I should've won from that!"

"It was all a mind game wasn't it!" Weiss yelled in accusation "That wasn't real blood wasn't it? It was an illusion ability to throw me off, Answer me this instant!"

Jaune shielded himself from view hiding behind the shadow of his fellow male teammate scrunching into himself as he took hasty nibbles from his sandwich

'I must admit Jaune, these 'fighting' styles of yours are proving to be just as dangerous to yourself as well as towards your opponents' Ren commented idly poking at his salad "I wouldn't be surprised if the Academy doctor blacklisted you for continuous self-mutilation"

Jaune admitted " I guess I went a bit overboard with my choices, those two characters I copied were popularly difficult opponent's in-game, Sorry"

Ren smiled turning to address his fellow (only) man on among their little group

"You shouldn't apologise Jaune, your semblance has only been active for a relatively short amount of time, all of us have trained and learned to use our abilities in combat when we were a few years younger, and in fact you should explore this semblance of yours as much as possible"

Pyrrha too smiled obviously listening in on their little exchange and decided to pitch in her own two cents

"I agree with Ren, it took us all some time to adjust ourselves to our unique abilities experimenting with it even outside combat classes, that being said"

She continued

"You mustn't become too reliant on the bonuses offered by your unique abilities too much, as you saw with Yang, your mimicry that time cost you a great deal of stamina and nearly cost you the match by pumping too much effort in maintaining that semblances bolstering effect, it took a miracle for you to block that final punch from Yang and end the match with that sword thrust"

"This is going somewhere isn't it?" Jaune asked rhetorically

"And that's why I propose some more exercises in the afternoon!" the red-haired champion finished off completely ignoring Jaune's attempt at a rebuttal

Jaune paled slightly remembering his promise a week or so ago about continuing training with Crocea Mors more rigorously whenever their sessions came up and with the random occurrences following he never made up for that lost time.

He swore he could see a slight grin on Pyrrha's face, one just vaguely hiding malicious intent

"And no running away this time" she added almost a little too sweetly "Self-harm is also out of the question as well"

'I think I peed a little' he thought

The other patrons at the table had their thoughts on other things

'Wow'

'Blunt, like every pencil I owned in pre-school, good on you Pyrrha confidence is key'

'Didn't expect you to be so forward'

'Finally!'

'If Jaune doesn't get the hint I swear to God.'

Among other exclamations of elation, our poor protagonist slumped in his seat dreading every passing minute before classes ended for the day

'Please be gentle' he whispered to himself as he readied his grip on Crocea Mors

'What was that Jaune?' Pyrrha called from afar

'Nothing~!' he answered back a little too hastily

'If you say so' the champion sang back, twirling her spear in hand as she readied Akouo in her opposite arm

Whereas Jaune just fumbled uselessly with his sword and shield combo, raising his eyes to meet Pyrrha's he bit back a scream of utter terror as his partner approached him slowly an evil grin slowly stretching across her face.

'Don't worry Jaune' she sang 'I promise I won't be too rough'

'Wait she actually heard me?! SHIT' he screamed backpedalling quickly, hiding behind his shield

'Come now Jaune, I taught you better than that!' closing the distance quickly before slapping the back of his thigh sharply eliciting a high pitched yelp of surprise scampering backward like a startled rabbit he made it his goal to put as much distance between him and his 'trainer' as far as possible.

'Now to make up for your past few weeks of sword and shield abstinence, we'll be going all out today, tomorrow and very much into next week' Pyrrha said as her shadow began to loom over Jaune's cowering form.

Jaune quivered, mumbling incomprehensible prayers as she approached

Spear twirling in hand Pyrrha's pace began to pick up, from a leisurely stroll to lengthy strides gliding towards our unfortunate protagonist shield in front of her breast and spear at her side, my dear viewers he never stood a chance.

AN: If Jaune were a Shadow of Mordor/War Orc/Uruk (doubt he'd be an Olog-hai anyway)

Jaune Arc

Fiery Machine Commander

Promoted to Huntsman Leader by Ozpin

Strengths:

Immune to Fire

Immune to Execution

Immune to Curse (No Darksign here, at least I hope not)

Blood Brother: Lie Ren

Devoted Master

Possessive Master

Vengeful Master

Enraged by Nevermores

Last Stand

Class Traits: Commander

Defender wields a shield capable of blocking frontal attacks and blocking projectile fire (if he were skilled enough to)

Fanatical Gang: Allies become enraged when their leader is attacked (happens a lot)

Bodyguards: Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos

Tribe Bonus:

Dark Tribe: Uses deadly weapon/s to deal a series of strikes that must be countered fast

Bonuses:

Grimm Slayer: can execute enemy Grimm (not like there are friendly ones anyway)

Flame Weapon, wields a fiery weapon that can set struck enemies on fire

Gang of Hunters- Leads a group of Hunters

Iron will cannot be dominated (Questionable in the face of Pyrrha Nikos and his own family members)

Thick skinned- Greatly increased Health

Weaknesses:

Dazed by Acrobatics

Dazed by Romantic Advances

Dazed by Nora and Nora things

Sickly: Heavily damaged by Forever Fall Tree Sap and Flying Vehicles

Soft Headed (For REASONS!)

Clumsy

Craven- Flees in Terror when faced with higher level enemies

Terrified of Spiders (Oh wait that's the author)

Fear of Betrayal

(Behind her back) Fear of Pyrrha Nikos

Grimm Fodder- takes increased damage by Grimm Attacks (pretty sure everyone has that one)

A/N

After that quirky little tirade it's time to address the elephant in the room, that being my massive hiatus and for that I am most sincerely sorry for not keeping Heir of Fire on the move and that cliffhanger was a dick move and uncalled for and for that I am sorry again for that, I'm not going to pull a 'this is my first fic' card because that just makes me sound self entitled to less criticism.

An explanation for my hiatus, the reason I failed to update my stories was mostly due to the allure of the freedom of graduating from high school, I spent many days lazing about at home, hitting up Nioh on steam and general procrastination and laziness, a poor excuse and once again I am sorry.

I Hope you Souls/borne fans will be satisfied with Lady Maria of the Astral Clock-tower fight in all it's visceral bloody glory despite this chapter's comparatively short length and I will try and strive to keep writing for you my viewers.

As for the next Soul/borne mimic to come, I am unsure as of the moment but suggestions are always welcome on the reviews, to be honest great story concepts come from a lot of your suggestions, and I am considering creating off-shoot based chapters based off of your content.

Once again thank you for your patience, Sorry for my lengthy disappearance, no this story is most certainly not dead and I shall see you all in the chapter of Heir of Fire

Cheers

Thiriston