RWBY: Paths of Light and Dark
Chapter XXIV: Licht v Schatten
A/N: Yes, you guys get a double back to back update for the week. Rejoice because after this chapter things will get nitty, gritty, and dark. Enjoy :)
Valethornia Academy – Trials Room
Sable looked over the report that had been given to her. So far her team's ranking had been steadily improving. Because of their mixed grading of first years and a second year they were ranked on both levels. Within the first year sector they were currently tied for second place with Team ORCJ for the doubles and team battles. Roanos had taken Malyganya from the top of the leaderboard in singles after he defeated Layla Yuki.
Sable wasn't actually able to witness the fight live but after seeing the video of the match she was actually impressed. Not only was Layla able to hold her own against Roanos, but she actually gave him a run for his money. Granted Roanos was unable to use both his semblance and primary weapon for the fight which severely crippled his combat capabilities.
The fight had been a five round set with each combatant taking two victories. During the final bout Roanos gained the upper hand early on with his size and reach. Yuki managed to get in a few hits but nothing that would turn the tide of battle in her favor. In the end she was knocked out and dropped to rank five. Viridian had risen to rank eleven and Lavi was currently rank nine.
Sable closed the update and her scroll and began to type away at her personal terminal. After typing in a string of commands the screen went black.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THE LIGHT!
The words flashed on her screen repeatedly. Sable merely began typing once more. After finishing another string of commands the flashing text disappeared and was replaced with a new message.
SISTER OF LIGHT YOUR DARK FATHER WELCOMES YOU TO HIS ETERNAL EMBRACE.
Sable attached a headset to her terminal as she waited for the line to connect. After a few seconds a hooded figure appeared on the screen.
"Father Vargas, Operation: White Dagger is proceeding as scheduled. Grim activity around the capitol city has increased by twelve percent in the past two weeks. They have even started to send some of us out to shadow professional huntsmen and huntresses." Sable spoke into her receiver.
"Excellent Sable, it seems Lady Atra choose her agent well. Your primary objective how goes the conversion of Subject Delta Twenty-two." Vargas asked. His voice was crisp and clear. He sounded young but strong.
"I believe we are ahead of schedule on that front. I make as much time as I can to single out Subject Delta for one on one training exercises. He seems to be responding well to the treatment." Sable answered.
"His power is extraordinary. The implants that were given to him have allowed us to accurately measure his potential output. He could be the Licht's key to gaining dominance with Lucidiores Umbras." Vargas smiled as he spoke
"Sir regarding the Schatten presence here, I have yet to figure out who his assassination target is. He hasn't made a move on anyone at all and seems to actually be following protocol." Sable reported.
Vargas laughed and pulled his hood down, revealing his full face. He was extraordinarily handsome; his face angular with a strong jaw. The man had bright orange-red hair with two fox-ears sticking off the sides identifying him as a faunus.
"Sable, what in the world are you thinking? Why would the Schatten dog be there for assassination?" The man asked with laughter in his voice.
"He is Schatten, isn't that reason enough?" Sable asked, confused at her leaders reaction.
"The Schatten have sent their agents to do the exact same thing we Licht have. They're looking for a new weapon to further their power within the organization. This is a race to see who will acquire the best power to further our goals." Vargas explained.
"Whomever Roanos is targeting, he is being especially careful not to show any signs of interference with them. If the opportunity should arise should I attempt to convert the Schatten target as well?" Sable asked.
"If the opportunity should arise, then yes go for it but do not place yourself in an unnecessary spotlight. It is still too early for us to be making big moves. With Operation: Burning Arrow in effect as well things will begin to get loud around the country. Keep your head down and your ears open Sable." Vargas instructed.
"Yes sir, Father Vargas." Sable acknowledged as she closed her eyes and bowed her head to Vargas slightly.
Vargas terminated the call and Sable removed her headset. She knew that converting her target was her primary goal. The thought of gaining two weapons for the Licht brought unprecedented amounts of happiness to her. She would covertly keep track of Roanos and his movements whenever time permitted find his target and steal it right from under his nose.
Smiling to herself and the righteous light her actions would bring saving an innocent soul from the Schatten Sable closed down her terminal and headed out the room to continue her mission.
Valethornia Gym
The first year students could hardly contain themselves. This was the match they had all been waiting for. Many of them had dreamed up the fight but now it was becoming a reality. The top two first year students were going to face off against one another, with their semblances allowed.
Ever since Roanos had bumped Malyganya down a rank everyone wanted to know if she would ever regain her standing. After defending second place against Crimson, Malyganya had issued a challenge to Roanos. She allowed him to pick the conditions for the match.
Now was their appointed time to fight. Malyganya knew what she was up against. She knew Roanos knew what he was up against. He could have given the condition of full equipment but decided only for them to have access to their semblances. He wanted to win without the use of Fenrir.
The question had always plagued the young man, was he as powerful as he was because of the boost Fenrir gave him or was he naturally a gifted fighter. Once and for all his question would be answered. The large teenager climbed into up onto the ring and stood silently as his challenger approached.
Malyganya had a look of determination on her face that spoke volumes of the confidence she had in herself. She stood at the opposite end of the ring for a few moments before walking towards the center. Roanos followed suit and soon the two rivals were only half a foot away from one another.
"Das Licht Hündin hat beschlossen, den dunklen Hund von Chaos zu Angesicht" Roanos spoke, glaring down at Malyganya.
"Dunkle Hund von Chaos, Sie waren immer die dramatische Roanos." Malyganya replied using the same language.
The spectators looked between the two combatants with confusion.
"What language is that?" one person asked.
"They both speak it, does that mean they grew up in the same place?" another voice questioned.
"This is so fucking cool. Two warriors speaking a foreign language about to fight." A girl's voice squealed.
"Roanos is suuuuch a dream boat." Another girl cried out.
"Malyganya is going to kick his ass. Besides she is way prettier than he is." A male voice shouted.
Even as the spectators riled themselves up with their opinion of the better fighter, Roanos and Malyganya both drowned out the noise from their jeers and shouts. All they focused on were each other. One of the instructors walked up and stood in the ring before going over the rules.
"This will be best of three round match. The conditions set are that only hand to hand combat and use of semblances are allowed. Fighters will continue until the end of a round or the match is stopped by an instructor. Now I want you two to keep it nice and clean. Gauge your Aura levels and don't be afraid to call it quits should you feel yourself in danger." The woman told them looking first from Roanos to Malyganya.
The air became dense as they both began to release their Auras. The malevolent flaming violet-obsidian hue of Malyganya clashed against Roanos dripping and oozing blackish purple. Malyganya's eyes transformed to their pitch black state while Roanos' eyes glowed purple.
"Fight!" The instructor exclaimed as she jumped backwards off the mat.
The two combatants took no hesitation in doing so. Striking out with their fist both Malyganya and Roanos punched each other with the full force of their abilities
The resounding shockwave sent everyone around them flying backwards. Immediately alarms went off as various safety measures went into effect. The first safety measure was a pillared force field that surrounded the ring locking both Malyganya and Roanos inside while also containing their immense power. The second line of defense was the gymnasium splitting apart with the ring in the center as the floor receded away. The students who were spectating immediately ran back to avoid falling into the hole that separated the arena from them.
Within the ring Malyganya and Roanos stood with their fist on the other's cheek. Both students were grinning and neither refused to budge. It was Roanos who took the initiative and pushed out against Malyganya. His target was smaller and physically weaker than he was but she had augmented herself with psychokinetic energy which now put them on a near even playing field.
Striking out Roanos caught Malyganya with a swift left right combo to the face before smashing his fist into her stomach and lifting the small young woman off the ground. Malyganya however wasn't about to let herself be thrown. Grabbing onto Roanos's forearm the young psychic twirled her body over his limb while kicking at his face and upper torso.
Each impact was magnified by the psychic energies Malyganya was covered in. Roanos staggered back but quickly recovered and delivered a punishing blow to the side of Malyganya's face. She hit the mat, hard and bounced into the air with a sharp cry of pain. Grabbing Malyganya by her ankle Roanos slammed the teenage huntress-in-training around in a circle that circumferenced his body.
Malyganya guarded her body throughout the assault while gathering latent energies in the air. Once she had accumulated enough particles she began to condense tighter and tighter. Before long she had formed a sphere of pure dense matter using her telekinesis Malyganya slammed the orb into Roanos. She was flung off to the side and hit the force field which kept them contained. The energy field reflected her back into the ring with surprising force.
The sphere of matter dropped as Malyganya lost control of it. She and Roanos both got to their feet and steadied themselves. No words were spoken. No words needed to be spoken. They charged one another and let out battle cries in unison.
Malyganya struck first with a left hook followed by a right hook before finishing with a left cross. Roanos took the blows but paid back in kind. He punched Malyganya, square in the face and followed up with a kick to her side before swiftly kicking at her with the opposite foot and connecting it to the side of her head.
Malyganya stumbled but refused to fall as she rushed in. This time electricity jumped from her as she began to manipulate the electrons in the air. She enhanced the static electricity around them and began to fling bolts of energy at Roanos. The large man released a surge of his dark Aura which literally swallowed Malyganya's attack.
Clenching her teeth in frustration Malyganya rushed in and began to beat on Roanos with electrically charged hits. Roanos' Aura swirled around, as if it was sentient and began to block the arcing trails of electricity that threatened to envelope him. For each strike Malyganya made Roanos landed one of his own. For each bolt of lightning that struck the sentient aura delivered a strike of its own.
The two combatants continued to brawl and for them time lost all meaning. At this point neither one of them cared about the leaderboard. This was personal. Everything that they had held onto in their past, everything that they had bottled up from their failures, and everything that threatened to rip them apart because they just couldn't contain it was released in the raw primal fury of combat.
Roanos roared and slammed his knee into Malyganya's face. She didn't flinch as a torrent of flame erupted from her palms. The fire engulfed Roanos's body. He tried to protect himself with his aura but the blinding light of the flames made the dark aura shrink from the glow. Filling a telekinetic sphere with different energies Malyganya fired the orb at Roanos.
The explosion was so great that Malyganya had to shield her eyes. When everything died down Malyganya moved her hands away and saw Roanos charging her. She didn't have time to react as he lifted her off the ground and tackled her body into the energy field. They were both thrown back by the force and tumbled over one another as they fought for control. Roanos's slightly superior strength won out in the in as he mounted Malyganya's small and lithe form. Malyganya immediately brought her arms together and began to block the onslaught of blows Roanos brought to bear upon her.
Grabbing Malyganya's arms Roanos ripped apart her guard and tried to pin both limbs with one of his hands. Malyganya attacked with telekinetic strikes. These invisible blows forced Roanos to roll off of Malyganya lest he take too much damage. Once Malyganya had driven Roanos a safe distance away she stopped her attack and fell to one knee.
Her brain was throbbing painfully in her skull from excessive use of psychic abilities. She could feel her aura was already half depleted. Roanos looked no better than she did. His skin was patch-worked with burn marks from the fire and lightning attacks. There was bruising from melee they clashed with and his Aura was also low. It didn't ooze and move around as much. Roanos was nearing his limit for semblance use just as she was.
Roanos looked at Malyganya with pure hatred. Here she was standing toe to toe with him. His question had finally been answered, and he hated it. The one thing that made him better than Malyganya was Fenrir, not his own skills but he wouldn't stop now. Not when there was still fight left in his body. They may be fighting on even footing but she hadn't beaten him, there was still a chance that his skills were genuine and not left up to the boost from his weapon.
Roanos took a gamble and began to release even more of his power. His Aura grew back to its original size and began to slither about erratically. Malyganya saw her opponents power surge and smirked to herself. Clenching her fists the young woman cried out before an explosion of power erupted from her body. In her left hand Malyganya carried a silver-white orb while the right hand held a dark violet-black orb.
She knew that this ability was her trump card. She knew that if she failed to defeat Roanos soon he would overpower her and win but she also knew that Roanos's ability had a time limit as well. She had seen him use it before with Fenrir. She was certain without the symbiotic weapon to help regulate the flow of energy that Roanos's time in his empowered form would be severely cut. Everything would be determined within the next two minutes.
Roanos made the first move that would begin the climax of their battle. Sliding across the ground on his aura the large teen sent tendrils of energy rushing towards Malyganya. She guarded herself by making a telekinetic wall and countered by blasting Roanos with black lightning. Her attack was mostly absorbed and deflected by the tendrils but it didn't matter because Malyganya was already closing in for melee combat.
Sending her twin orbs of power to satellite around her body Malyganya began her attack. She punched right, the white orb blasted from the left with white fire. She kicked left and the black orb sent streams of lightning pouring forth. With each attack she the opposing orb followed up. Gone was her desire to guard as Roanos' counter attacks began to cut into her body.
Roanos felt the flames lick at his flesh and the lightning sting at his muscles but he pushed through the pain. Wrapping his hands in aura Roanos clawed out at Malyganya, he left deep laceration on her arms and torso. Felling his power suddenly begin to drop Roanos clenched his teeth in anger and leapt back a full step as he gathered the remainder of his energy and turned his aura into a spear while the rest was gathered into his free palm.
"SHADOW, DRINK HER ANGUISH!" Roanos exclaimed, the first words he had spoken since their battle started.
His spear stabbed into Malyganya's abdomen and began to draw her towards Roanos and the orb of energy in his free hand. Blood spurt out of Malyganya's mouth as she tried to clench and fight through the pain. As she was drawn closer Malyganya brought her two orbs together and forced them to merge.
"I know my course, and you are in my way." Malyganya spoke through gritted teeth as she came closer to Roanos.
"Licht. Schatten. Neither side is entirely right. That's why I choose to use them both." She continued this time speaking softly.
"Dichromatic Maelstrom!" Malyganya cried out as she and Roanos both slammed their orbs into one another.
A/N: And that's a wrap, so here is what I'm going to do. I will be impartial to the winner of this match by having a blind poll on my profile. You, the readers and fans will decide its outcome. I've already got a chapter written for either outcome and once the poll is closed I'll let the results be seen so no one can claim I did the story injustice.