STARLIGHT ZONE ― BLAKE BELLADONNA

━━━ .4 JAUNDICE

4: JAUNDICE

━━━ [Y/N] WATCHED JAUNE CHARGE AT,

Cardin Winchester again whilst screaming. His, rather peculiar fighting style let Cardin land a heavy blow to his chest with his mace, knocking the wind out of the blonde.

Which did make [Y/N] wonder, how did someone like him pass selection?

Now only armed with his sword, Jaune continued to try and attack but was blocked by Cardin's mace hilt. Their weapons locked and Cardin forced himself up, towering over a struggling Jaune.

"This is the part where you lose," Cardin snarled.

Jaune rasped, "Over my dead-"

Jaune was cut short when Cardin's knees hit him in the gut, making Jaune drop his sword and fall to the ground, withering in pain. Cardin raised his mace and was about to slam it down on Jaune. Before he could do so, the lights came on and the buzzer sounded off.

"Carding! That's enough." Glynda interfered.

Cardin backed away, reluctantly, obviously disappointed that he couldn't finish Jaune off as he wanted.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match." Glynda explained as she turned her head to Jaune as he pulled out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?" Glynda continued.

"Speak for yourself," Carding muttered.

Glynda turned to the seated and standing students, Yang punching the air in anticipation; Weiss, shaking her fists with an excited smile; Ruby shaking her entire body with enthusiastic energy while squealing softly; Mammon smirking with excitement written on his face; Jirou and [Y/N] smiling with excited eyes, and Naoto's body grew tense.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

The bell rings, and the students start to leave while Pyrrha continues to frown sadly. Jaune, who was still sitting on the floor, hung his head in shame. Mammon used his hoverboard to fly down from the high seats, while Naoto used his grappling hook. Jirou and [Y/N] had no other choice and ended up running towards them to catch up with them.

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After [Y/N] and the rest of their team came into the cafeteria, so did the rest of Team JNPR and RWBY. While eating their lunch, Nora was telling an unbelievable story to her audience.