Son of the Branwen

Chapter 8: Jaundice

Hawk cringed at the sound of metal smashing into metal as he watched the combat class continue. Unfortunately, Jaune had to go against Cardin as a demonstration for how tournaments work. Cardin was standing there with his mace resting on his shoulder with a cocky smile while Jaune was struggling to get up. Jaune managed to stay standing, despite being so exhausted, and got ready to attack again. Hawk sighed wanting to look away. It's been a few weeks since they started classes and Jaune hasn't even improved a little.

Hawk: "This isn't a battle. It's a slaughter."

He muttered while watching. He noticed that Pyrrha was thinking similarly due to how worried she looked. Weiss, Yang and Ruby were looking extremely pumped up as they watched. Weiss looked over and took Hawk's hand, giving a small squeeze which he returned with a smile to her. After their first date, Weiss wanted to have another one which Hawk happily agreed too. After the second date, Hawk asked her to be his girlfriend, which she happily accepted. Within the few weeks that they have been at school, they became one of the more recognized couples in school.

Jaune charged forward again but Cardin smashes him aside with his battle mace, knocking the shield flying out of Jaune's hand. Jaune groaned but charged once more and the two combatants clashed, their weapons locking together. Cardin sadly had more energy than Jaune did, as he pushed himself so he was standing above Jaune.

Cardin: "This is the part where you lose."

Jaune: "Over my dead-!"

Cardin thrusted his knee into Jaune's gut, knocking the wind out of him as Jaune collapsed to the ground. Cardin smirked as he raised his mace over his head, ready to smash Jaune to bits. That's when the buzzer went off and prof. Goodwitch walked onto the arena, tapping at her tablet.

Glynda: "That's enough Cardin!"

Cardin growled but left Jaune alone and walked to his side of the arena. Prof. Goodwitch kept tapping at her tablet, bringing up the results of the battle on the big screen. It showed a picture of Cardin and Jaune, and had a aura bar to represent how much damage they took. Cardin's barely moved from the green while Jaune's was bright red and nearly depleted.

Glynda: "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."

Goodwitch looked over at Jaune who was still on the ground and slowly recovering. Hawk sighed sadly when he noticed Cardin smirking smugly towards him. Hawk glared at Cardin, and probably would have made some rude gesture if the professor wasn't right there.

Glynda: "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?"

Cardin: "Speak for yourself..."

Goodwitch gave him a warning look before addressing the rest of the class.

Glynda: "We still have time for one more match. Do we have any volunteers?"

Cardin: "Professor."

Everyone looked at Cardin as he practice swung his mace. Hawk had a suspicion what he was going to do.

Cardin: "I want to fight again. That fight with little Jaune wasn't even a warm up. I want a challenge."

Goodwitch sighed but checked his stats to be sure. Cardin had already fully recovered from the battle, not that there was much to recover from.