I know this might come late, but again, I really haven't been anywhere near working on this chapter simply because I wanted to make this chapter actually not just, you know, a chapter that is nothing but filler. In order to do that, I needed to think and make this creative. So enjoy.
Weiss sat down next to Blake and Ruby, which Dante jokingly called the "losing corner". Ruby gave a sheepish expression and said "Well, I guess you were wrong, huh?". Weiss glowered a bit at Ruby but retracted. She knew that all she was doing was trying to lighten up the situation, although she still could have done better. She's a heiress of one of the most powerful companies, yet she was easily beaten by someone who she didn't even know. Then again, that could have also meant that she wasn't prepared. One thing was certain though, she needed to train harder so that this situation would never come up again.
"So, first two?" Blake asked. She still had a face that looked haggard, most likely from the fight before. In fact, she dozed off right after she asked.
"I say me and the bruiser." Dante commented. The bruiser he was referring to was Yang, and as soon as she saw who he was gesturing to, she had a savage grin across her face, intent on beating him to a pulp.
Both got into the arena in hopes of a win to write home about. Both thought that it would be an easy victory. Little did they know it would be drawn out for a while since both fighters were very stubborn.
"Soooooo...Let me guess, you're one of those people who finds pain enjoyable." Dante said.
Yang rolled her eyes. "No! Why would you assume that?"
"You don't want to know."
"Go, Yang! Beat his butt!" Ruby yelled. Weiss put her hand on Ruby's head and pushed down so that she would sit.
"Dante, you better not let this amateur brawler beat you or I will pummel you harder than she ever could!" Cordelia exclaimed. Dante nodded. His sister would sometimes make up a threat just so he would actually try. If only she knew of some of the things that he could do. He was Dante, son of Sparda, the most stylish badass demon hunter around.
Though no one else did, Jaune saw a flag next to the arena. It was obscured by some rocks so that no one could see it without focusing much on one specific area almost as if someone planned it that way. Against his better judgement he decided to investigate. Best case scenario, he would have something to signal the start of the fight. Worst case scenario, he would be in worse condition than he already was. Jaune unhurriedly went to the flag when he finally got there. It took him a while to actually get the rocks off of it, but when he did, he gasped. It had beautiful, golden insignias on it that seemed to form a dragon. The outline was red. For some reason, it seemed familiar to him, almost like a young adult when he visits his childhood home. He seized it and held it up for all to see.
Everyone else wondered what the flag was, but they all felt the same feeling as Jaune; that certain familiarity that definitely wasn't a coincidence. However, they all internally agreed that it would be another topic for later. With that signal, Jaune shouted "One, two, three!". On three, he threw down the flag, signifying that the match was starting.
On that que, Yang and Dante got ready to fight as they both crouched down and started circling around each other, waiting for the other to dare to make the first move. Dante was the first to make a move, however, with a very clumsy-looking charge reminiscent of Jaune's fighting style. Yang was ready to easily parry his attack and counter, but she didn't expect what happened next. When he got close, he vanished right in front of her in a red blur. Before she could react, she felt a hard hit against the back of her skull, sending her straight to the ground. She quickly got up, much to the annoyance of Dante, and still had that frustrating smirk on her face. "You do realize how much of an unfair advantage that is right?" Yang asked with one eyebrow raised. She stared at him and Dante facepalmed.
"If you think that's unfair, you haven't even seen half of my arsenal yet." Dante then proceeded to pull out a shotgun, and Yang followed up with shooting some of her shells of Ember Celica. Dante shook his head and kept firing (it wasn't like he didn't have infinite ammo). After a few seconds of that, he decided to zigzag through the bullets, trying not to get hit. He jumped up in an attempt to dropkick Yang in the face once he got close enough, but before he could do that, she grabbed his foot, punched him to the ground, and continued punching him. I'm getting a really weird feeling of deja vu here, Dante thought to himself. His Devil Trigger was flaring because of how hard he was getting punched. Good thing no one noticed or else they would have started asking questions, and if there was anything Dante didn't like it was too many questions.
Before Yang could weaken him enough, Dante gripped her arm hard enough to almost crush it and flipped it around on her, making it so that he was the one throwing hooks at her. Little did he know that he was slowly fueling her Semblance and it was about to explode. After a few seconds, fire erupted from Yang. Her eyes were turning red and her hair was becoming even more gold than before. Before Dante could react, he was grabbed by his jacket and thrown into the side of the arena. A loud crack was heard.
He quickly got up and dusted himself off. He wagged his finger.
"Is that all you got?" Yang then responded with a quick rush at Dante. This was what he wanted. When she threw her first punch, he struck a pose and took all of the damage like a sponge would take water. Confused for a second, she kept swinging only to have the same effect. It wasn't until she heard three words that she realized her mistakes, "Game over, kid!". With that, Dante performed a palm strike that seemed to have all of her power behind it on her abdomen which not only knocked out her aura, it had enough strength to knock her out and won him the match.
"What did you do to my sister!?" Ruby yelled. All she wanted to know was if her sister would have any major side effects because of it or if she would be fine.
"Nothing serious. She should wake up in a few minutes at most… I hope." Dante replied.
The tourney continued. They had a vote on who should fight who and it was ultimately decided that Pyrrha and Cordelia would be the next contestants in this tournament. Both women walked up to each other in the arena and stared each other down, waiting for the first sign of hostility or fearfulness. It was eventually seen that neither word described either fighter so they got their weapons and started on the dropping of the flag. They clashed spears with the goal of trying to overpower the other and after that didn't work, Cordelia headbutted Pyrrha hard in the head and proceeded to hit her with the blunt end of her spear. Pyrrha went skyrocketing away from Cordelia as she felt the full effect of the strike.
She got up with a groan and proceeded to transform her sword into a javelin and throw it. Cordelia blocked it with no trouble and charged forward, but when she swiped, Pyrrha just barely used her semblance to make it seem like she had missed, although she didn't fool Team RWBY or Jaune and Nora.
Cordelia kept trying to hit her but to no avail. Pyrrha finally got tired of playing this game and bashed her shield against Cordelia's face, making her feel a little disoriented. Pyrrha used this advantage and kicked out Cordelia's legs. After a few seconds of being pummeled by Pyrrha, Cordelia grabbed Pyrrha's arm and started to pull her down. When Pyrrha hit the floor Cordelia got on top of her and started throwing hooks at her face. Most of them were blocked however the ones that weren't hit hard. After a while of just being on the defense she kicked Cordelia off of her, grabbed her weapon, and sliced at her but before she could do that she was blocked by Cordelia's spear. The others were amazed by the amount of speed Cordelia projected in that moment.
What Cordelia received, however, wasn't a pat on the back. It was a sharp crack from her jaw after having been slugged in her cheek. Cordelia managed to get up. When she touched her chin, she could tell that she had broken it. After taking in the moment she noticed that Pyrrha was glowing red. So it seems as though I am actually getting through to her, Cordelia thought. Unfortunately, she knew that she couldn't take much more damage or she would pass out.
Seems as though I did manage to get her endurance down. Then again, my aura just ran out itself so I can't exactly go on for much longer myself, Pyrrha thought to herself. Without a second thought, both competitors grabbed their weapons and went into a full sprint at each other. Once they got close, Cordelia dropped her weapon and jumped, grabbing Pyrrha and flipping herself over, causing Pyrrha to hit the ground and be knocked out. But as soon as Cordelia finished the move, she also passed out and neither of them got up.
It was eventually decided that it was a tie and that both of them were eliminated yet they still had a while to go with the tournament. Next up were Rock and Serana, the final match of the second round. The winner of this match would fight Dante in the finals and neither of them were going to let this be an easy win for their opponent. Both got into the arena and readied their weapons. Rock pulled his pistol from hip, blowing the barrel in a taunting demeanor. Serana brandished her blade and rubbed her fingers across it, unblinking and with determination in her eyes. The match officially begun when Serana delivered a lightning spell, however, it was easily dodged. Rock responded with an overhead slash and catching Serana off guard. She fortunately blocked it before it could cleave her in two. She kicked him away and growled. Rock planted his sword into the ground and went sliding for a few feet until it landed just at the ring's edge. He managed to get his balance back and with his gun he shot a few rounds at her. Serana crouched down so that she was prone on the floor. This was simply a delay as he shot more at the ground, causing her to jump. Yet before he could fire more rounds, she shot another lightning spell. "You know, you are really irritating to fight against." Serana said.
"I get that a lot." Rock laughed as Serana scowled at him. He quickly regained his composure and ran at her full speed, waiting for her to react, which she did, though it wasn't what he was expecting her to do. She dodged the slash from his sword and proceeded to cut his arm. He managed to cut her cheek as well, making what Rock would call a fair trade.
"Seems as though I actually might have to try." Rock said with a smirk. He then fired an entire clip near her and prior to her reaction he managed to stab her leg, causing her to fall. Serana screamed in pain as her leg started to bleed heavily.
She managed to grab Rock by his hoodie despite her injury and she proceeded to send her other leg into his face. Rock stumbled back a bit and got hit with a full blown lightning spell before he could do anything to defend himself. Thankfully for him, he had a healing factor so he had nothing to worry about. Serana simply groaned and whispered to herself. "Why do I do these things to myself?" However, she had more important things to worry about than her actions.
Serana tried to get up. Before she could get all the way up, she fell back down. Rock stood where he was and tapped his feet waiting for her to get up. Serana was grumbling to herself, barely audible. "Do you want me to help you up?" Rock asked with a raised eyebrow. Before she could say yes or no he grabbed her hand and began pulling her up, waiting for the match to continue. "Now don't get me wrong, I would like to see your face on the floor defeated, but hey, since you possess good sportsmanship, I might as well return my end of the bargain and help you up." Serana hesitated, but she looked up and smiled at him as he got back on her feet. "How about I strike a deal?" Rock began. "We have 5 seconds to gather our bearings and then we start again… well, that is if you can walk."
Serana tried walking, but just setting her left foot on the floor caused immense pain through her leg so she tried her best to not put much pressure on it. Once the five seconds were up, Rock ran at Serana and tried to go for a lunge. Serana blocked it and fired a lightning spell. He was expecting this and he dodged it, thinking about what he could do next. Serana pulled out her dagger, jumped low to the ground, and stabbed through Rock's hip causing him to collapse. I guess this is karma, Rock thought. He got up and turned around to see Serana on her hands and knees. She was breathing heavily. "Out of breath?" Rock asked her. Serana didn't answer. Rock walked toward her and leaned down with his hand open behind his ear. "What's that? You're gonna have to speak up." Serana didn't answer. "Silent in defeat, eh? Here goes nothing." Rock ran into the ropes of the ring, dashed toward Serana with the momentum from said ropes, and grabbed her by the chin. "Good night." was all Serana heard before she was punched across the ring, knocked out.
After the match was over, they tried to clean the arena for the final match. However they couldn't get rid of most of the blood stains in the arena. With Dante saying "What, do you need a magical mop to clean it off? There is no way that you can't clean off blood that recent!". Even when Dante did it, the blood still didn't come out. After a while they just said screw it and started the match.
Okay, Rock thought. He only has a shotgun, two pistols, a sword, and gauntlets. This should be easy. Oh, boy, was he proven wrong. The first thing that Dante pulled out was Lucifer, a weapon that looked like it was more like a shoulder pad than an actual weapon. Although Rock didn't see it, Lucifer had glowing swords on his back and to top that all off he had a rose in his mouth that he used to detonate said swords with. Rock stared at him with his thoughts being crushed by the thought that he could have even more weapons at his disposal.
The audience was split on who they cheered for. The match could go in either's favor, both of them are talented, to say the least. Nonetheless, the match was started with no delay. Dante waited for Rock to reach him and when he did, he jumped and started spinning around, leaving all of those red swords in the air, levitating above him. After what felt like a minute, Dante threw his rose at one of the swords and watched as all of them detonated around Rock, sending him flying. Miraculously, his clothes had no damage dealt to them.
Dante then pulled out another new toy. It was in the shape of a suitcase. It had what looked like a snarling wolf with a gem on its forehead. surrounded by wings with cracks in the center on the front of it, and it had weird yellow energy that looked like circuits. Dante proceeded to spin around, transforming it into one of its many forms which resembled a missile turret mounted on his shoulder. Sure enough, he did fire missiles out of it and as Rock saw it coming, he squeaked. After all of the dust was cleared, Rock said "Man, I swear you, are overcompensating for something… I mean, no one carries these many weapons." Dante responded with "Don't worry, this is my last toy, so you are safe from any surprises."
Dante switched back to his sword, Ebony, and Ivory. The two quickly got into a sword clash, however, this wasn't decided by power. It was decided by who had the better tactics. As the clash continued, Dante stopped it and ducked, kicking his leg out from under him. In response, Rock fired a few rounds, with one managing to hit Dante right in the head. Everyone gasped. This fight was going in a direction that no one was expecting. Before anyone could do anything to stop the fight, they saw Dante just shaking his head. Sighs soared across the crowd. The only one who wasn't surprised was Cordelia, as she had already known he would be alright. The crowd ultimately decided that they would question him later, with Weiss saying "We… will question you later."
The fight continued again in full pace with Rock continuing to be on the defense and Dante being on full offense, showing no sign of stopping. After some time, Dante pushed Rock against the ropes and managed to switch to Gilgamesh, kicking Rock in the ribs and causing him to get trapped between Dante and the ropes. Dante kept kneeing him in the stomach. Finally, he threw Rock halfway across the arena which caused his hood to fall down. His hair was as white as Dante's and his eyes were green. His hair was not too long nor too short. It was just above his eyebrows and combed a little to the left. He looked about 15 years old. "This of all things causes your hood to come off?" Dante asked with a questioning stare. "Are we going to fight or what?" Rock started, breathing heavily. He looked like he was injured; shortly after, he got back on his feet as if nothing happened. The fight seemed to be unceasing as both parties kept going. Their stamina decreased by zero and any injuries that they did get were easily healed.
The final confrontation started when Dante started with a stinger and then stopped himself half way to do a round trip. Rock shot a few gunshots to slow the sword down. It succeeded, however, as he was doing that he didn't notice Dante jumping into the air and as he looked up to see him, Dante smirked and started to spin with Ebony and Ivory out. He then started shooting. Rock was pelted with bullets and when the shooting finally ended he was covered in bullet holes. He fell and he hesitated, finally saying "I give up." Dante, already knowing what he should do he put his hand out and said "You did good, kid. Keep going and maybe you can catch up to me someday." Rock smiled and responded with "Didn't seem like that to me. It seemed to me like you had the upper hand the entire time." Unbeknownst to the both of them, they remembered the same event from long in their past with the same words mentioned those many years ago. All the crowd knew was that Dante won the tournament. Everyone celebrated with claps and cheers. Eventually, they went back inside. "How was it?" Ren nearly asked when he witnessed the blood-soaked combatants come through the door. "I'm not even gonna...Hey! Stop looking at my cards!" Farkas laughed.
So I finally make my return to the realm of this fanfic. To be honest, I was kind of burned out and filled with writer's block so much this chapter that it took me way longer to complete this then it should have. Although, I am glad that this took me a lot longer to complete because I feel a lot more content with this chapter than normal because I realize that I am not the best writer and that I kind of felt like this story has kind of, you know, been going at a snail's pace, which I plan on fixing. I hope to see you later for the next chapter.
