CHAPTER 4

JAUNE ARC POV

He poured his Aura into Pyrrha and the unconscious girl greedily sucked up all of it until he realized that he had filled her with his aura.

He remembered that Jaune had a Semblance that allows him to empower others by giving them his aura.

He wasn't sure if he'll get the same Semblance as he and Jaune were technically different people with different souls and personalities but it appears that he gained the same Semblance as Jaune.

Which was a good thing as he might be able to help out his teammates during particularly bad situations. Especially with his large Aura reserves.

He and the other other girls watched in silence as Pyrrha's eyes finally fluttered open and she looked at him in confusion before understanding dawned on her.

What he didn't anticipate was Pyrrha looking at him with love and adoration in her eyes before she hugged him.

"Aah… Are you alright Pyrrha?" he asked, wondering why she would react like this.

Pyrrha separated from him and gave him her gentle smile "Yes. I didn't know that Unlocking your Aura will take such a toll on me. Thank you for… whatever you did."

He nodded "Don't think too much on it. This is what partners do." And he did indeed plan on being a better partner for her than the original Jaune ever was.

He gave her the Javelin/shotgun/sword and the shield, getting another love filled gaze in return before they got up and continued moving through the Grimm infested forest.

Before they could get too far however, he felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket.

He took it out and then froze at what was displayed in the scroll.

An image of Pyrrha Nikos with the bold letters below proclaiming 'Captured' were displayed on the front page.

But when did he-

He remembered discreetly covering Pyrrha with his Shroud from under the cape so that she won't fall down during mid battle.

Did that count as him covering her with the shroud?

That would explain the love in her eyes whenever she looked at him.

But… he didn't want to capture her like this.

Not when she lost her consciousness because she was trying to help him.

The mere thought that he had unknowingly enslaved a girl who had been trying to help him twisted his guts.

Sure, he wanted to get her to fall for him eventually. But not like this.

He silently sighed to himself and started following the three girls.

Just because Pyrrha was enslaved to love him now doesn't mean that he would start treating her like shit.

He would have to make it up to her somehow.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of rapid footsteps coming in their direction.

Footsteps that he has come to recognize by now.

"Incoming!" he shouted, warning the three girls who seemed to have not heard the distant footsteps if only because they didn't have sharp Dragon senses like him.

Credit where it's due, the girls instantly went into guard and took positions around each other without any words.

"I hear them." Pyrrha said a second later and then the shrubs around them shook before a group of Beowolves descended upon them.

All three girls instantly started firing at the Beowolves and he felt to urge to kick the original Jaune for not preparing any ranged attacks before the Beowolves finally reached them.

The girls quickly changed their weapons to their melee form and started fighting the Beowolves, dispatching them one at a time with ease while he brought out his shield and struggled to not suffer any damage.

By now he had understood that his role was to simply stay alive until the girls dispatched the Grimm.

It hurt his pride as a man to know the fact that he was basically hiding behind girls. One of them even younger than him but he was not stupid enough to allow his pride to get in the way of his survival.

In the end, they usually left a Grimm alive for him so that he would be able to fight against it and learn how to survive against the Grimm.

The plan seemed to have worked as fighting (read surviving) against the Grimm and seeing the girls fight so far had taught him how to block, dodge and attack the Grimm.

The reason he was learning so fast was probably because of the Martial Talent and the reasons why he was not pancaked by the Grimm was likely because of the Body Talent.

Something that he wasn't going to complain about as those Talents will allow him to survive and then thrive in this Grimm infested world.

He blocked another strike from a Beowolf, bracing with his entire body rather than just his wrist as he had tried to do during the first wave.

He stepped back and dodged the other Beowolf trying to sneak up on him from the flank and then stepped to the side as the first Beowolf pressed his attacks.

Unlike the other girls, his movements were clumsy and more than a little awkward but after fighting against the Beowolf for a while, he finally began to see the patterns they used to attack and was able to read them without problem.

He saw Pyrrha use a deflect, move and slash maneuver and continued blocking the Beowolf's attack until he saw a similar opening and tried the same maneuver himself.

The move was clumsy and the cut in the Beowolf's Abdomen was barely deep enough to cause it any trouble but he was learning.

He lips tugged into a smile before he once again joined the fight.

This might not be fun but he had a feeling that he was off to a good start.