chapter 8

"Again," Jaune Arc coldly ordered as he stood perfectly still on top of a board balanced on a tree branch twig. In his area of sight was Nora Valkyrie, balancing herself on a tree branch over a board near the trunk of a tree.

"Jaune, isn't this overdoing it?" Pyrrha asked as she looked worried at her teammates.

Lie Ren, the monk of the group hummed as he balanced himself on a board sitting cross-legged on a tree branch farther away from the tree but not as far away as Jaune who defied physics by using his aura to support the twig his board was on while balancing himself.

Pyrrha, while a champion fighter, much to her embarrassment, tried to balance herself on the same branch as all of them.

"Well, Aura control is often overlooked," Jaune explained. "Nora, restart breathing, your aura wavered. Sure, we use it a lot and it can recover but as hunters and huntresses, we must know how to control our aura efficiently," Jaune said, using the same magical theories he studied to increase his control.

"Ren himself has a better understanding of Aura control than all three of us," Jaune said, looking at how Ren effortlessly kept himself in control and balance despite how each wobble from either Nora or Pyrrha moved the branch, even beating Jaune's control.

"But why are you so hard on Nora?" Pyrrha asked, wincing as she saw Nora wobble and barely stick on her board and the tree while upside down after almost falling.

"She's my apprentice while you are my teammates," Jaune said as he loosened the grip of his aura on the tree to allow his board to circle around the branch. Standing perfectly still while upside down, Jaune smiled as he looked at Nora.

She was improving by leaps and bounds. It was a shame that she needed to store Dust to learn imitations of his spells.

"Nora, relax. Let your aura flow," Jaune instructed as Nora struggled to balance herself, shaking the branch. "I know you can use your aura more efficiently while moving but this is important to what I will teach you,"

"Hey guys!" Hearing Ruby's voice, Jaune chuckled as a pair of thuds fell on the ground as Nora and Pyrrha caught themselves and landed on their feet. "Woah! That's awesome!"

Chuckling, Jaune used a chantless version of telekinesis to turn himself to face Ruby.

"Hey, Crater face," Jaune teased with a smile. "Okay, cool down. Training's over for today," Jaune said with a smile. Sensing Ren jump off the tree, Jaune cut off the connection and fell to the ground before landing on the ground with no sound.

"Rather intense, don't you think so, Vomit Boy?" Yang asked with a grin as she walked with Blake.

"It's fine," Nora said with a grin. After becoming Jaune's apprentice, Nora found herself in a more brutal yet rewarding training regime. While not on the same level of stealth as Ren or Blake, she could easily hide her presence and pass their detection as long as they had no idea she was there and if she was in top condition. Not Jaune though, he always found her. "Hey, fearless Leader, what were you going to teach me?"

"How impatient," Smiling at the sarcastic yet fond tone of her fearless Leader, Jaune turned and smiled as he took a pair of things.

"That's!" Ignoring Blakey-cat's noises, Nora looked at a pair of curved things in her fearless Leader's hands. Oh, she knew about Blakey being a cat faunus but it was only due to her friendship that she said nothing. I mean, it was quite obvious.

"These are mini-lightning rods," Jaune said to them. Holding the pair of golden curved items, Nora watched as her fearless leader stuck those things on the side of his head. Wait, those were golden bull horns. "These things are made with excellent electricity conductors, can you feel it?"

Ignoring how her fearless leader looked like a bull Faunus, Nora's skin tingled as she felt the increase in the static electricity around them.

"Thunder, set," With those words, a bolt of lightning, a weak one from her experience, struck her fearless leader.

"Jaune!" Their friends shouted but honestly, what was the big deal? Her fearless leader was powerful!

"This is why you need better control," Jaune's voice cut through the lightning flash as he stood without any sign of injury as the static electricity danced around him. "Electric skin, it's a technique I discovered and perfected but it requires a lot of control. You already have an undeveloped Electric skin due to your semblance and I only need to train it. With more control, you can do it," In an instant, Lightning danced around Jaune's form. "And you can do this too," Gathering all the lightning he absorbed, Nora watched in awe as lightning gathered in Jaune's arm before he slammed it on the ground, piercing until his elbow and causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear as currents of electricity were transferred to the ground. "Electric reversal,"

"Can I do that too?" Nora asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement as dread formed on Ren's stomach. Nora was already hyper due to passively absorbing the static electricity in the air but if she learned how to do that...

"You can but you need discipline and proper control to use this or else," Without hesitation, the Blonde rolled the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt revealing several Lightning-patterned scars on his arms surrounded by several smaller ones. "You're going to get injured,"

With the reveal of the brutal scars, the excitement Nora felt was replaced with fear. Her Fearless leader whom she had never seen lose and she looked up to was filled with scars. They were the same age (A/N: not really, Nora) and he trained like this?

As a master of Alteration, Jaune has mastered the art of altering or changing magicka to his needs. He can make his skin as hard as ebony, to make his body resistant to elements, etc. But it did not come easily, he worked through blood, sweat, and tears... mostly blood from his enemies and his own sweat.

Weiss saw the scars and felt admiration toward the Blonde Doofus. Oh, he was a doofus alright, spending time reading his comics and Blake's porn amongst more childish things but his scars showed how hard he worked. In comparison to the scar over her eye, it was nothing to his.

"But Jaune... you didn't have your aura unlocked when we met," Pyrrha worriedly said only for her eyes to widen as she covered her mouth. "I'm Sorry!"

"WHAT?!" All members of team RWBY and NR shouted as they looked at the Blonde who rubbed the back of his head while chuckling nervously.

'There goes one of my secrets,'

"So, Ozma, what is it?" Jaune asked as he looked at his fellow mage. The revelation of his status as a mage a week ago was enough for Ozma to stop researching him.

"Indeed," Ozma or Ozpin said. "So you wish to travel to the sanctuaries,"

"Yes, I am also a scholar, believe it or not," Jaune said with a smile as he looked at Ozpin. "I want to know more about the magic the sanctuaries use. While I can open a portal to enter there, I don't want to risk anything," Remembering the horrors of Oblivion, the young Divine Crusader shackled his dread. To think that he only explored the Deadlands and some realms.

"I can grant you access," Ozma said. There will be no use in manipulating Jaune. After all, he had accessed the recording and saw how he effortlessly took care of Qrow, one of his best operatives, without a sweat.

He was not also keen on having a powerful mage as an enemy. A mage of their caliber fighting would change the landscape of Vale itself and he knew he would lose. Why risk Salem getting an ally by his actions when he can keep him as an ally by telling him the truth? He could only release his full power inside the sanctuaries. However, while he possessed more power in his final form than Mr. Arc, something tells him that he would be killed before that happens.

"There are some people from the sanctuaries that wish to see Remnant," Ozma said as he looked at Jaune. "I want you to look out for them, I have already briefed them about their new status,"

"Interesting, go on,"

"They are the current generation of war maidens,"

"Other than the professors and third-year students and above, you are the only one that we can trust to contain and/or eliminate them when needed,"

"Will I get paid?"

"You will,"

"These are their files," Ozpin said, handing Jaune four folders.

"Eleonora Viltaria, swordswoman, enchanted sword... dragons?" Opening more of the folders and analyzing them, the Blonde whistled.

'Viralt, dragon tools... are they worthy to use it?' Jaune thought to himself as plans upon plans formed in his mind to test these war maidens. Dragons were powerful, he knew. He saw the battle between Mehrunes Dagon and Akatosh at the Temple of the One, he fought many dragons during his travels, befriended some of them, and debated in friendly terms with the gray one during a trip to the throat of the world. Which is something else due to his affiliation with the Blades.

"This one is their leader," Handing Jaune another set of folders.

"Seven in total, seven fighters, seven dragon tools," Jaune said as he formed more plans. He can theoretically seal their tools away or trap them in a way. Send Lucien Lachance while they sleep, poison them. Steal their tools.

Jaune panted heavily as sweat poured from his entire body. Hidden underground per his request, the Blonde tried to keep his calm. He saw it. The image the underking had given him. Transcending Akatosh, the Underking had warned him. In this secret place, he sat and meditated.

He wanted to understand, he needed to understand.

He was not there personally but he saw it.

"The tower... The tower walks!"

Then the gloom gathered

Darkness growing

In Alinor, the red blood flowing

Beside the sea, where the tower walked

The dragon broke and time was lost

In their white ships with their red sails

In Long-lost homelands, the souls wailed

Imperials cheered, The dominion failed

It (didn't) happened happened

Reality crumbled

Time was fractured and mixed into one.

The Altmers were (not) killed

The Summerset Isles were (not) conquered

Tiber Septim defeated (lost against) the Dominion

As timelines merged into one for a single moment, knowledge flowed in the Blonde's head.

You are not the hero

Panting heavily, Jaune opened his eyes and saw him.

Pelinal Whitestrake, not him... himself.

When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world

When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped

When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles

When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls

When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn.

Our world has drowned in seas of red

And yet the Wheel keeps turning

And I was dead and you were dead

And yet the Wheel keeps turning

Gritting his teeth, the Divine Crusader growled as his mind worked. He remembered it.

'The adventure of Imperial Battlemage Ocato to rescue emperor Uriel Septim,'

'The Warp in the West'

'The events of the adventures of the Nerevarine according to reports from spymaster Caius Cosades,'

'And my Adventure in Tamriel,'

Jaune knew that this was no ordinary poem. It was a prophecy.

'The Snow tower...' Blue eyes widened in horror. No, 'The throat of the world... king? who?! It couldn't be?! Paarthurnax!' The revelation of his friend being in danger combined with the knowledge of the Brass-walk tower's power...

"Calm yourself, Fahdon," A voice erupted from the black sword on his lap. A sword he was given carved from the flesh and bones of his friend "My brother will not be beaten easily,"

"Thank you Boziikkodstrun," Jaune whispered to the jagged curved double-edged sword on his lap. A lone eye opened in the red diamond on the guard. Taking breaths similar to the rise and fall of the flames, the second Divine crusader opened his mind's eye and studied all his previous fights, looking for mistakes to correct, for strategies to improve.

Grabbing the sword, the young man stood up and with a breath, danced through the night with the blade.

Flowing through stances with each swing and movement the blade flowed like a swallow in flight.