A/N: This is the new story that I wrote. For those that are waiting for the first one all i got to say that you are out of luck. That story was prompted by one of my friends and once I got into it, I realized how utterly screwed I was. Gamer fics are one of the more enjoyable fics for me to read and so I thought it would be pretty fun to write it myself instead I realized as writing of it continued that it was really hard, at least before the gamer system becomes obsolete with random numbers that don't really change the story all that much. I lost passion for it and writing became a chore. to add to that conundrum I am also a very lazy person and without sufficient motivation it will take a lot to push me through writing.
So here is a warning for all readers. If you want a scheduled update this is not for you. If you need to have a superbly written work then this is not for you, I am not a great writer yet. Pyrrhic Return will have irregular chapters and this probably won't change for a good while.
What I can promise you is that this story will slowly move forward, no matter no slow, and that I will try my best to change the selfless Pyrrha into something foreign so slowly that it will hopefully be a good transition.
"Semblance" is a term used to describe the projection of Aura into a more tangible form. For some this could be the ability to control objects with telekinesis. For others it could mean superhuman strength. The power associated with a wielder's Semblance is completely unique.With enough training and focus, a user's Aura can turn them into something much more than just a man. - excerpt from an Unknown source.
Everything was falling apart and nothing she had tried to do worked. Pyrrha was certain that there was something she must have missed, something that would have turned this situation around but for the life of her, she couldn't find anything to leverage against the current situation.
She wondered how had things degraded to such a degree. Looking back on her life since coming to Beacon, Pyrrha could easily see the hidden links that connected to one another and slowly forced this situation forward.
Team RWBY's disastrous first mission to Mount Glenn.
The dust robberies all around the Vale.
Increased presence of White Fang.
The criminal that snuck into the CCT.
Even the increased security thanks to Atlas.
It seemed as if every single accident that had occurred in Vale slowly built up to this singular point. Indeed as she stared at the glowing amber eyes that looked down upon her kneeling form, Pyrrha, now with additional information and seeing the past events in new light, could see the woman's hand prints all over this fiasco. Not that it mattered for much longer.
At least not for her, she could uncomfortably feel the ashen arrow that was lodged into her spine, her body not feeling the otherwise mind numbing pain that it should have felt most likely due to her spine being severed. Indeed she could not even feel the exhaustion that permeated her body throughout the fight.
Looking at Cinder Fall, if that was indeed her real name, the strongest and most challenging opponent she had yet to face in battle, the Mistralian champion had to say that she was strong, without any doubt. No matter how Pyrrha felt about her choices and ways that she used her power, she bested even headmaster Ozpin, someone that Pyrrha was certain ranked at the top of huntsmen and huntresses around the world no matter how much they disliked him personally.
She could see out of corner of her eyes Ruby, the leader of team RWBY, entering the top floor of the tower but she was too focused on herself to truly care, about her or even the destruction their fight had wrought upon the tower nor the landscape of Vale burning and teeming with Grimm. Pyrrha failed. Failed spectacularly so indeed. She had always thought herself to be destined to be a huntress, helping people of remnant against the Grimm. Every step of the way seemed to not only reinforce that idea but also remind her of the need to help other, less fortunate, people.
Ever since she realized her talent for fighting she both gained and lost many things. The time she spent honing her skills with milo and akouo cut much of the free time she had for herself and distanced Pyrrha from her peers, the tournaments that she participated in caused her to lose any anonymity and a chance for a fresh start with anyone, her need to hone her skills with milo's three forms caused her to neglect the overt uses of her semblance in favour of the hidden ones.
Even the powers of the Fall Maiden seemed to be yet another step towards the goal.
Thinking back on the fight and the way Cinder had used her flames and comparing it to her own semblance caused her to realize that she had severely limited herself to make her matches more 'fair'. In retrospection what she did was mostly to get something out of duels. Her semblance was geared more towards fighting other huntsmen rather than Grimm due to it's electromagnetic component.
The amount of time she had the fairy tale power was also minuscule compared to the other woman, it seemed obvious now that she truly didn't stand a chance fighting her alone and yet there wasn't another way.
Pyrrha looked on as the hated enemy's hand came to rest upon her cheek, her mind turning towards the one person that would have stood no chance against Cinder and would have most likely died trying if it wasn't for Pyrrha forcing him away.
Jaune, sweet and somewhat silly boy that somehow wormed his way into her heart within moments of their meeting. No, she knew that what made him special for her was his utter ignorance of her accomplishments, and therefore their weight. He had no idea who she was, only recognizing her from one of the stupid advertisements needed to maintain the tip top shape of her weapons and armor. She could have allowed him to come with her but considering his skill, which given have trained less than a year, would be suicide.
As Cinder's hand touched her tiara, Pyrrha felt something leave her, traveling towards the red dressed maiden, making her bitterly think if perhaps there was more than a little truth to Cinder's words if the power would betray her so easily.
Just as the mystical power left her, Pyrrha felt a flash of heat travel all around her body increasing it's potency within moments. It seemed that the new Fall Maiden didn't want to leave anything up to chance. Indeed moments later the ever increasing heat turned almost blinding and Pyrrha thought that she felt blood within her boil.
Pyrrha thought that she would be resigned to die here, her destiny seemingly fulfilled even if it seemed as in the end she didn't accomplish much. The four time reigning champion title was a hollow one. The only thing of any distinction that she felt could be attached to Pyrrha Nikos' name was allowing Jaune Arc with a step towards the right direction. But instead she felt her whole being tugging at her, lashing out in an attempt to somehow divert the events from going in this direction.
She had been always a controlled fighter, using skills and guile to expend the least amount of energy as she beat her opponents. Even her small daily usage of semblance was controlled to make it seem as if things were going her way only by chance. Emotions didn't factor in fights, at least not for the truly strongest people. They may rage and cry on the inside but their steps during fights are methodical and brutal, it was something she picked up on and incorporated into her own style. Yet it seemed, that at the end of the road she wanted to go out with a bang.
So instead of wasting her time watching the surroundings she allowed herself to gaze inward, past the body that seemed to be at it's end, past the layer of reality that could be gazed at with a naked eye, until she touched upon her aura and yet still going further inside of her, to the root of aura, her soul and with it her semblance. She found it just like any other time she had attempted the aura meditation a molten ball of red hot steel that seemed to pulse with each beat of her heart, releasing a red vapor like substance. Unlike other times the vapor instead of blood red was more muted in it's colouring and turning increasingly transparent with each beat as if it was about to disappear. Pyrrha could only conclude that even her soul was slowly disappearing as she died but instead of looking at it she grabbed the molten steel ball within her ethereal hands and, instead of slow and steady push of aura to control her semblance, she pulled all of remaining energy, her very being, within her and used it to activate her power with wild abandon.
Usually when Pyrrha added energy to activate her semblance while meditating, she would see the molten steel becoming covered in subtle black outline just like any object that was touched with her semblance instead it seemed as if the molten ball of steel had cracked under the pressure of the energy inputted into it.
She could only watched as the cracks widened upon the core that served to show the conduit into the soul, and with each widening her body started to flash with redness of her soul, until the molten steel completely cracked and imploded onto itself throwing her soul, and with it her body somewhere.
The energy of her soul that stayed in her spot slowly drifted with the wind before disappearing, her circlet touched by Cinder stayed behind to tumble onto the floor with no body to support it.
Then the world turned WHITE.
*P*
Pyrrha wasn't sure where she was. One moment she tried a last desperate gamble to survive the unlivable event, the next she was rushing through a void filled with colorful shapes and angles that hurt her to look at. Wherever she was, Pyrrha couldn't stop as she felt herself moving forward, sometimes so fast that only a disturbing kaleidoscope of colors embraced her, sometimes so slow that she could feel and see every mind eating twist within the shapes.
She could feel her mind warping against something, as if it was accommodating something new within her skull stretching and twisting Pyrrha's self to make sure there was enough room.
It was a moment, it was an eternity, it was but few moments until the shapes and colors slowly petered out and darkness claimed her.