Chapter 39

No sooner had she spoken when Cardin's mace crashed down towards Aero's head. Aero kept his cool, holding his spear horizontally, he shifted his weapon to the side, deflecting the blow. Bringing his spear back, he quickly pressed the button on his weapon turning the claw into a flail and striking at his opponent.

Lowering his head, Cardin dodged the attack as the flail swung over him, planting his foot into Aero's chest and kicking him back. As the two disengaged, Aero fired the claw at Cardin. "Hmph!" Gripping his mace in both hands, Cardin swung hard at the claw coming at him like a baseball bat, knocking it to the side. Turning his attention to Aero, he charged at his with his weapon raised over his head.

Rather than press the button to recall his chain, Aero fiercely yanked his weapon backward, manually pulling it back to him. Shifting to a one-handed grip on his weapon, Aero's free hand whirled around the chain coming at him, wrapping it around his arm.

As Cardin's weapon came at him, Aero blocked it with the chain wrapped around his arm as if it were a metal gauntlet. "Huh?" Cardin was briefly caught by surprise, unable to react as Aero's weapon struck him across the face.

He staggered back before his expression became one of rage. "AAAAAAAAH!" he shouted running forward and slamming his mace down. Aero tried to block the weapon, however, an explosion occurred when Cardin's weapon touched his, sending him flying. Like a berserker, Cardin, didn't stop. Rushing forward like a madman, he swung his heavy weapon left and right. Aero moved back, on the defensive, deciding to dodge rather than block again. Jumping into the air, he feigned a downward strike at Cardin, who raised his weapon to meet it with an attack of his own.

A moment before impact, a clear barrier appeared to the left of Aero and he kicked off of it midair, changing his trajectory and dodging Cardin's attack. Cardin's weapon was met with empty air while Aero's weapon struck true, slashing his foe and knocking him down.

Cardin growled and attempted to climb to his feet, but a transparent barrier appeared in front of his chest, preventing him from sitting up. "Arrrrgh! That cheating!" Pinned to the ground, Cardin was barely able to move his weapon to defend himself allowing Aero to get a few hits in. Gritting his teeth, Cardin ignored his own safety, smashing his mace on the ground next to himself and causing an explosion. Although this ended up injuring him, it also shattered the barrier that made it hard for him to move. Seemingly having become enraged, he ran in with mad strikes at his opponent.

Aero calmly stopped each attack, shifting the chain and claw between long and short ranges, as well as occasionally wrapping it around his arm. The chain and claw mimicing a flail, whip, gauntlet, all while using his spear. His weapon shifting, and striking Cardin from short, medium, and long-range whenever needed before knocking him into the air.

"Now! "Aero, seeing his chance, fired the claw at his opponent.

"That's not going to work again!" Cardin raised his weapon to smash it away, however, two transparent barriers appeared pinning him together and briefly immobilizing him. These barriers could only last a few seconds at most, but that was all the time Aero needed, as the chain wrapped around his opponent. Yanking his weapon downward, Cardin shot towards the ground, yelling at the top of his lungs before he was slammed into the floor, a buzzing sound ringing out.

"That's enough." Glynda announced the end of the spar, looking at Aero with an odd expression.

"Dang it!" Cardin still picked himself up, pounding the ground in frustration. Aero however, appeared very refreshed from their battle. It had been so long since he had gone all out and had a really good match. Aero felt as though his frustrations had been blown away. Seeing his opponent on the ground, Aero approached him.

"You did really well." he said offering him a hand up. "You've got a lot of raw power, I was impressed when your strength blew me away earlier."

Cardin stared in at the hand Aero offered him, confusion apparent on his face. Contrary to his expectations, Aero didn't laugh in his face or try to embarrass him in front of the class despite the fact Cardin had obviously trying to make trouble for him. "You're talking to me?"

"Yeah?" Seeing how Cardin didn't move, Aero grabbed his hand anyway, pulling him to his feet. Giving him a pat on the back, he began to head towards his seat. "We should do this again sometime. Let me know if you ever want a rematch."

Cardin stared blankly at Aero's back, he frowned, wearing a thoughtful expression on his way back to his seat. "Hey, don't sweat it." Dove lightly elbowed their leader, keeping his voice a whisper. "We'll get this guy back later. Punk just got lucky this time, it won't happen again."

"No." Cardin firmly shook his head, before looking at his team. "We're done."

"Are...are you okay? You didn't hit your head too hard right?"

Cardin glancing over at Aero sitting in his seat and taking notes like nothing had happened. "I don't feel like it anymore..."

*********************

"How did you do all that?!" Nora asked whispering loudly. She glanced at the teacher, making sure they weren't being watched. "You beat up Russel and Cardin all by yourself, and you...froze them?!"

Aero nodded. "Sort of. I didn't freeze them exactly, instead, using my barriers to press against them from the front and the back to halt their movements. You likely didn't see them because they're transparent and are hard to see from a distance."

Nora just gaped at him with her mouth open while Ren asked the obvious question. "How long have you had your semblance?"

"For years." he said raising a brow, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Whaaa? But earlier you said-"

"Wait..." the three of them turned to Jaune, who had spoken up, wearing a frustrated expression. "Are you telling us, that all this time you were this strong? That at any moment you could have fought like you just did? That you were always capable of using your semblance..." His eyes bored into Aero's as if demanding an answer. "Is that what you're telling me?"

"Yes?" Aero looked at Jaune confused by Jaune flaring up. "Why does that matter?"

Jaune didn't respond, turning away from Aero, he ignored him and began paying attention to Glynda's lecture. Even after the class had ended, and the students packed up readying to leave, he refused to even look at him. Silently leaving without another word.

About an hour later, as the last student had left the room, Ozpin leisurely strolled in, while Glynda was still working on grades. The woman looked up, faintly smiling as the headmaster handed her a cup of coffee. Immediately taking a sip of the hot drink before setting it on her desk.

"Thank you, I don't know how we'd survive without this stuff. Still..." the woman put down the papers she was grading, turning her attention to Ozpin. "I'm assuming you didn't come here just to give me that."

The headmaster chuckled. "I might have some other time, however, in this case, you are correct. Glynda, what do we have on Aero Cairn?"

"Mr. Cairn?" Glynda raised a brow before tapping her holopad and pulling up his profile. "Honestly, quite a mixed bag of information, most deal of his data seems to conflict with itself."

"Really?" Ozpin asked raising a brow. "Is the information wrong?"

"No, it's been double-checked and it's not wrong per se, it's just not consistent. Why do you ask?"

"I'm likely overthinking it, however, it doesn't hurt to check any oddities. I recently had an interesting conversation with the young man this morning, and he seemed rather off. "

"That should come as no surprise, something is very unusual about that boy. And it's been apparent since his exam." clicking on one of the links, she pulled up the data turning it towards him. "Aero's grades in his combat school before Beacon were good in both the physical and mental aspects of his time there. However, while taking this school's entrance exam it has become abundantly clear that his performance does not match that which was shown at the school. I do realize Beacon's standards are higher, but there is absolutely no excuse for this."

"I see, quite the mystery indeed." Ozpin said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Hardly!" the woman remarked, with a scowl. "If you ask me, he's intentionally putting on a bad show in an attempt to drop out. He refused to show up for last year's exam, and tried to run away from this year's too. It's a wonder Mr. Cairn is even here. If I hadn't seen his performance in today's sparring session, I would have thought that the Aero Cairn that attended Signal Academy and the one currently attending Beacon were two different people."

The headmaster raised a brow at this. "A different person?" he asked thoughtfully, seeming to be speaking to himself.

"Sir?" Glynda looked at Ozpin. "Did you want me to keep an eye on him?"

Ozpin was silent for a moment longer, seemingly lost in thought before smiling. "No, I don't believe that will be necessary for now."