Chapter 25, talk about a milestone. Thank you everyone for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Speaking character wise this chapter is going to be important for several people, in one way or another but you'll have to wait to find who and why.
I do not own anything, expect the OCs baring Buruan, he belongs to neonswampy5.
Chapter 25: A Strong Man
"Boss I don't think you understand our situation." Mercury sneered into the Scroll. "We need extraction, now."
Cinder's face remained passive at her underling's pleas. Emerald had already tried begging her to pull them out of Beacon to no avail. Both of their faces mirrored the frustration building within each of them. Cinder was frustrated as well, both of them were hardened criminals yet they were begging her like five years fearing having their favorite toy taken away. She would have found it pathetic if she didn't know what the cause of their distress was. Even though she couldn't exactly blame them for being scared she still expected them to do their job.
"Is the list complete yet?" she questioned not revealing a hint of what was going on in her head.
His inability to read his boss's thoughts nearly made Mercury shout to the ceiling in fury. He hated it when she played with their lives like this. "No," he snarled shooting a glare in Emerald's direction. "But I'm pretty sure we have enough candidates for the program. Isn't twenty enough?"
"Twenty?" Cinder's voice mocked. "Yes Mercury, clearly your definition and my definition of an army are two totally different things."
"We can't get closer to the upper classmen without blowing our cover!" the silver haired criminal shot back. It's a miracle those idiots haven't discovered us already! Do you have any idea those four will do to us if they find us?"
Her lone visibly eye narrowed while a half-smirk half-frown decorated her face. "You mean if Neil gets his hands on you?" There was no helping the expression of fear that flashed through Mercury's face. "Ah what's wrong? You were the one boasting he could take him? What happened Mercury? Where did all that confidence go?"
Only a fool would have been stupid enough to give Cinder an answer and Mercury Black was no fool. All he could do was bite his tongue in protest. That and subconsciously rub his crossed legs, his prized legs. In the back of his mind the image of the scar faced knight slicing both his legs off at the knee continuously played again and again. While Mercury shivered in fear Cinder watched on with amusement. He wanted to scream she had a hand in this, she was the reason the son of the Gray Phantoms had a vendetta he was deathly intent on settling with them. Replacing the nightmare scenario in his head was the unsettling idea that she might not care if Neil chopped both his legs off then let him rot in jail. Cinder did others who could fill his position, granted they were nowhere as skilled as he was but lately that problem had been…taken care of.
There's no way she'd leave me to rot. The kick boxer feverishly thought feeling sweat gathering on his forehead. Not after everything I've done for her! Not after everything I've put myself through for her! He was barely aware of Emerald behind him, cowering to the side. She'd removed herself from this whole conversation there by eliminated any help he might receive from her, not that he'd been expecting her to do much.
"Can we at least can on you to get us out if things go south?" Mercury decided to change the direction of the conversation since extraction was no longer an option. All they could do was pray Cinder at least cared enough about them to get them out. If both of them managed to make it out in one piece was up to them.
Again, that damn smile that told them she was still toying with them. "Why of course the extraction plan is still good. You make it sound like Izaak, Neil, Olivia, and Chicahua have altered the entire plan."
Mercury had to shut Emerald up with a glare to keep her from saying something smart. The last thing they needed was angering their boss. "The only reason we haven't been found out is the fact they don't know we at Beacon. They know you're somewhere in the city courtesy of Torchwick. We had to scramble the school's register system when we found out they were here." He snarled scratching at his knees. It may have been the anxiety but he was pretty sure there was some kind of pounding happening either outside their room or inside it. Rather it was from their hearts or thunder they didn't care to find out.
"You know you two are blowing this out of proportions right?" the criminal mastermind sighed leaning back. "All you two have to do is avoid being spotted by them."
You make it sound like one of them doesn't have telescopic vision, one isn't a would-be-criminal who knows the playbook, the other isn't a genius, and the leader is a hellva lot smarter than he lets everyone believe. Mercury gravely mused. "Boss," he began swallowing a lump in his throat. "Because of recent events you do know a handful of professional teams have showed up right? I mean we're talking about big namers like teams ANTH, KOJK, CLVR, and BOOM. Team ANTH is here today, they're holding exhibition matches with the students."
"Hmm," she put a hand to her chin in thought. "That could be a problem. Ever since those four went to the headmaster the city's been losing much of its appeal for me."
"Not to mention you can't keep a leash on CuraGen anymore." The kickboxer let slip. Immediately he regretted his slip of tongue.
Flames flickered within the lone eye Cinder showed to the world. Mercury and Emerald tensed as if she was right in the room with her, ready to incinerate them on the spot. Both career criminals broke out in hot sweat. In the back Emerald squealed in fear retreating as far back as she could leaving Mercury alone. The Scroll in his hand seemed to heat up so much Mercury thought he'd drop it if Cinder's death glare didn't fry him first.
The fire died though Cinder's glare continued to hold the two in their place. "Just. Keep. Your. Heads. Down. And get me that list."
The screen went black leaving Mercury and Emerald alone. Finally free of their boss's presence they fell onto their backs letting out tensed breathes they'd been withholding. For almost half an hour neither said anything. It turned out there was no thunder outside, it really was their hearts trying to escape the inferno they'd created for themselves.
Once they finally recovered the emerald haired criminal snarled at her partner. "Are you out of your God damn mind!? Are you trying to get us killed!?"
"It just slipped out!" He defended. "You weren't much help either! All you did was sit down in the corner like an idiot!"
Emerald was about to reply when she heard the sick sound of laughter, warped, sadistic laughter. She feared it for whoever was able to laugh in such a way was more than likely someone who wasn't to be trifled with. Adding to her dread was the fact she knew who the laughter belonged to.
"Holy shit, talk about a bad boss."
Surprisingly it was Mercury who jumped at the cackling voice. No matter how tough he tried to act it was obvious he was just as scared of the intruder as she was.
He was sitting quietly in the left hand corner of the dorm, one leg propped up and the other lying outstretched. His hood was done revealing the youthful face of the grinning psychopath. His merlot red hair was brilliant, the kind of shade most women would have killed for. It would have made him handsome if his face wasn't always twisted into such a psychotic grin that went all too well with his shining gold-brown eyes. By some twisted work of fate the shadows of the room hid the rest of his body leaving his demented face the only thing visible. They were barely able to make out the outline of him twiddling his thumbs like nothing was wrong. What scared them though, was they had no idea if he had his weapon with him or not. Even if he did it wouldn't matter much because this person was dangerous enough without their weapon, all he needed to do was touch someone and it was game over.
Emerald had come uncomfortable close to having her story ended when she pressed too far into the psychopath's warped mind, if it weren't for Cinder she would have been dead. It was for that reason that she scooted back behind Mercury.
"What are you doing here?" the kickboxer coldly questioned. His boots were just a short distance away though he knew their guest could kill both of them in the time it took him to get them on. "You know the orders, Beacon is our turf."
"Well you see me and Hoyt just got back from business out of town and I wanted to see what Vale's coolest weapons factory was like. This place is pretty cool, I'm jealous you guys get to stake out here." He said.
Mercury was shaking, he could at least admit that. Usually you could tell what a person was about to do based on the look in their eyes. The problem with dealing with a psychopath was their eyes were simply unreadable, you know something was coming but you had no idea what. That made things doubly bad for Mercury because if his lunatic wanted to keep screwing with them he had all night to do it. Of course he knew he wouldn't do anything too extreme but that didn't mean he and Emerald were safe. "Pox," he started inching towards his weapons. "How the hell did you get in here?"
Pox chuckled at his question. Innocently he placed a finger on his chin in mock thought. "Let's see now, I've been sneaking out of secret government facilities since I was eight, I've survived more fights than the babies here have ever dreamed, oh and I was trained by world-class spymasters. The first two kind of make this place look like a front yard fence. Kind of makes ya wonder why we can all have so few moles inside it."
"Because anymore and it'll make extraction worse." Mercury replied.
Pox grinned that sadistic grin that made the criminals wish they were able to kill him on the spot. "Roman told me you two were more confident than this, guess he was just bullshitting me again. I wish I could stick around to watch the fights tomorrow in person but business calls. Me and the boys in masks have a lot to do for the anniversary." He cackled as he walked towards the room. Silently he cracked the window opened and placed one foot through it. "At least my boss doesn't threaten to roast him alive, maybe once Vale's a smoldering pile of rumble you can come join us. Come on, it'll be fun."
Behind him Emerald feverishly shook her head in protest while Mercury just continued sneering. With another chuckle the mercenary was out the door, the last thing they saw of him being the black bird mask logo on the back of his jacket.
Mercury ran to the window and looked all over the place. As far as he could tell there was no sign of Pox. "He's gone."
Emerald crawled over to the freg to grab the first drink she saw. "Why?" she started. "Why of all the PMCs for us to team up with did it have to be the one with a preference for using lethal viruses, plagues, and psychos like that!? Seriously! What's she thinking!?"
Finally free to express his thoughts Mercury leaned back against the wall. "Because they're the only NGP out there with enough power to take on the entire Vale military…Atlas too if it comes to it." Mercury answered. "You saw what they did that night Emerald, that's only the tip of the iceberg." The silver headed boy shuddered. When they were first told they were going to be working with PESTILENCE, one of the highest ranked PMCs in all of Remnant Mercury was less than euthanistic, oh he would have laughed at his previous ignorance now.
Beacon had never seemed like a dangerous place to either of them before. They knew they had nothing to fear from the lowered ranked students such as those of teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY, but now their perception had changed drastically. Suddenly the place had become a private torture chamber for them.
Something was different with Chicahua and everyone around the table could feel it. It was in the way he ate, how little he spoke, and how determined his eyes were. In the morning classes it was easy to tell he wasn't all there for his eyes remained locked on something in the distance. At lunch as the group sat together they observed how Chicahua seemed to be paying particular attention to what he was eating, picking out what he believed would and wouldn't slow him down later on.
"The exhibition fights." Pyrrha voiced with a small smile on her face. "He's been preparing for the exhibitions matches with the professionals that have arrived."
"He does know these guys are professionals right?" Yang beckoned leaning over the table to get a better look at the eagle knight. "We're talking about guys who are miles ahead of us and you want to fight them?"
Breaking from his food the tallest and most well-built member of team IONC just flashed her a short smile. "That's exactly why I'm going to fight Yang. I want to know where I stand in comparison to the kingdom's finest."
In any other case the others would have called Chicahua insane for thinking he could last more than a minute with a professional Huntsmen or Huntress. Even the most talented of the bunch like Pyrrha had to admit the longest they'd be able to last against a seasoned veteran was five minutes at best. On the flipside nearly every member of team IONC had shown themselves to be extremely formidable so they weren't willing to roll out the possibility.
"Sounds like someone's got an ace up their sleeve of you're that confident."
Nearly all heads around the table turned in the direction of the young yet oddly serious voice. The owner of said voice happened to be sitting right beside Ruby, his team taking up the space beyond her. Give or take a few things and he might have been Ruby's distant cousin, both were about the same height and silver eyes. From a female standpoint he might have registered as cute with his youthful face and red bow that mirrored Blake's in style and purpose, guys would have immediately known something was off given the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Did you have a hand in setting up the baiting pool?" The onna-bugeisha cut to the chase.
"Now that's just hurtful Olivia." He laughed in mock pain.
"Better question, why are you still eating desert for lunch Buruan?" Blake added raising an eyebrow at her fellow Faunus.
The wolf Faunus looked at the bag of mouthwatering candy that was currently being eyed by Ruby then back to Blake. His silver eyes caught wind of Yang and Weiss's disapproving gaze. "It's not like I have to worry about cavities. Ruby eats tons and tons of chocolate and you don't see her paying a visit to the dentist."
A webbed hand reached over and plucked one of the many candy bars from Buruan's stash. "I think all the sugar and crap just goes to your head instead of your teeth." His female teammate, Ndidi offered. Easily a head taller than her teammate her skin was the opposite of his Caucasian complex. Her skin was a deep dark color matted with pure black pitches that gave away her frog-like nature. Her long thick black and green-streaked hair freely fell down to the base of her neck and just above her deep green eyes. "In case you guys haven't heard he's been setting up something of a food stand during sparing matches."
"It's not like there's a school rule against it." The wolf Faunus innocently defended.
Ruby's eyes lit up and in a second she'd pulled out her wallet. With a groan Weiss swiped it away. "You know in another life you would have made a great con artist."
"Then it's like for you guys I have too much fun learned how to blow things up with you guys." He grinned.
"Between the two I'm not sure which is worse." A second male voice muttered beside Ndidi. He was maybe a few centimeters taller than her with bright red hair that grew in a right sided rotation and shining blue eyes. Unlike his teammates he gave off an air of "intelligence", making him the smart man of the group. "If you had access to the food storage I'm pretty sure you'd do that Buruan."
"That's hurtful Rad."
"Maybe but let's face it it's true. Watching us get our butts kicked wouldn't stop you from making a Lien watching it."
"Shouldn't the team leader be to blame for this? For not doing something about my supposed bad habits?" Buruan offered with a grin.
"Who says they're bad?" The reaper said patting Buruan over the head much to the boy's affection.
"Said leader regarded him with a playful smile as she leaned over the table with one hand on her cheek. "The only thing I can think of is sending you to obedience school, and I don't feel like wasting the money because you'd probably just sneak out."
Naturally being part canine Buruan was able to pull off a set of puppy dog eyes that would have made even the most stone hearted members of the table give in. "I'd sneak out because I know all of you would miss me., especially you Chun Tao"
Team's CNBR's leader merely rolled her eyes in playful amusement. "Back to the originally topic I can understand why Chicahua's excited, it's not every day you get to spar with a living legend."
Yang couldn't take it anymore. She slammed her fist down on the table startling everyone. "Who's he planning on fighting? I've heard everyone chattering about some super strong dude but nobody's told me his name or what he can do!"
"You might know if you actually bothered to listen." Weiss coolly countered.
"I think we should nominate Weiss for a sparring match." Yang said.
"Or we could sign you both up and whoever lasts the longest is the better fighter." The group Viking laughed.
The brawler and heiress regarded him coldly then snapped their heads to the side. "Like we need to know that." They both stated simultaneously.
"Adelhard Von Blau."
The many eyes of the table all moved to the resident blond knight. It was rare for Jaune to have any knowledge of any famous Huntsmen not a member of his family but when he did it usually indicated just how famous said warrior was. "His name is Adelhard Von Blau, he's going to be the sixteenth head of the Von Blau family, a warrior clan stretching back over four hundred years that has the honor of being one of Vale's six noble families with lineages stretching back all the way to the Grimm War." The blond took a quick breath then as quickly as he could he said, "Their family and my family are kind of, sort of old friends."
At this almost every mouth around the table dropped.
"Adelhard Von Blau," Neil echoed leaning back in his seat. "AKA the Knight of Brightroar, aka the Knight of Knights, aka the Cobalt Dragon, aka the Hero of Myrefall, aka Blade of Victory, aka…the LeBron James of knights." He finished with a sly grin that fell a little when he noticed Weiss glaring at him. "Any kid who dreams of becoming a knight knows who he is…and would kill for just five minutes with him."
Ndidi blinked once with her big green eyes before leaning over the table to the point she was practically on top of it. "…And you want to challenge this guy to a fight?" she asked Chicahua.
"Am and going to." He smiled proudly.
In a single leap the frog Faunus was by his side holding her fist up. "Gutsy."
"More like suicidal." Weiss sneered watching the two Faunus fist bump. "Fine, go humiliate yourself in front of the whole school, see if we care."
"The exact same way you don't care when you took the time to give each of us at least one vial of badass Dust straight from Schnee Labs?" the gray haired knight quipped. He continued smiled even when Weiss gave him something of a near death glare.
"I trust you have a plan in mind?" Pyrrha inferred. "We're talking about a man who's said to have dragon blood pumping in his veins."
Izaak snorted at the Spartan's words. "That may be true Pyrrha but Chicahua had something else pumping through his veins."
"Insanity?" Rad offered.
"Crack?" Yang put forth.
"You've got some secret technique you've been saving?" her younger sister said.
With all eyes on him Chicahua puffed up his chest with the same full tilt grin he always wore before a fight. "You'll just have to wait to find out my friends. I promise you a fight for the record books and I never break my word."
About four hours later…
Laying eyes upon Adelhard Von Blau really made the students question Chicahua's sanity. As each of them sized up the knight they each considered talking the tribal boy out of his foolhardy objective. Even Pyrrha was having doubts about her rival's ability to keep up with such a man.
Six foot four of muscle and power hidden well by an armored plated combat jacket Adelhard stood as what some would say was the modern day image of the lone swordsman. His darkish-blue hair fell to the base of his neck in a wild yet at the same time extremely attractive way. The bangs fell by the side framing a handsome face surprisingly free of scars. Most enticing were his eyes, a shimmering bright green-blue mix that was extremely rare. His combat coat fell to his knees, being a silvery white with blue outlines. Armor plates on his shoulders and the forearms reflected all the light around them giving the illusion they were constantly shining. What he wore it beneath it was hard to see at a distance but it could assumed it was a second set of armored clothing in case his primary coat was ever lost. The black combat boots he wore seemed to be steel toed though no one knew if they were just for show or not. Similar plating seemed to cover his knees as well as being woven into his navy blue pants. Like most Huntsmen he wore an elaborate belt, a single line of white and blue that held his sword behind his left hip.
If his appearance wasn't enough the fact he stood so proudly at the head of his team, three more confident warriors made up another man and two women was enough to make every student go weak in the knees. There he stood before them, the leader of team ATHM, one of the strongest teams to ever graduate Beacon Academy.
And he was tapping his foot in anticipation over who was brave enough to challenge him.
There had been three exhibition matches between the students and the visiting Huntsmen and Huntresses. None of them had lasted any longer than six minutes.
Adelhard had been waiting patiently for one student to muster the will to face him and it showed on his face. When not one came forward he continued to sigh. He couldn't blame them, his name alone was enough to get them to back out of whatever dare the teenagers and young adults have cowed each other into. The fourth years, students who were practically full-blooded Huntsmen in all but name had not sent one of their own out for they looked at him with the same fear their juniors did.
As another fight ended he found Glynda standing beside him. "I told you one day you'd be hating that fame of yours."
"Trust me, I've hated it since freshmen year." He chuckled. "Class started less than twenty minutes ago and not one person has stepped forward to fight me or anyone from my team."
"Can you blame them Adelhard?" Glynda chided. "Even I'd be hesitant to fight you in a sparring match."
The knight let out a snicker that turned into a full blown laugh. It increased in volume as he observed the way the witch's face seemed to redden. "Whatever happened to that hot headed girl swinging around a cattle prod who was willing to fight everything that moved?"
"And I ask whatever happened to that bubbling idiot who got knocked halfway across the Emerald Forest after trying to kill a Death Stalker bare fisted?" she fired back.
Once the fight came to an end Glynda stepped onto the arena with Adelhard trailing behind her. As usual the entire crowd seemed to shutter at the sight of the Knight of Brightroar standing tall waiting for them. I wonder if anyone would complain if I said they could bring their whole team to fight him.
THUMP!
Just as Glynda was about to open her mouth to speak she felt the arena floor shake at the sudden impact. Behind her spectacles she watched with wide eyes as Chicahua Valiente stood proudly before the two of them with his eagle wings spread out. Oh it figures it had to come from THAT team. The female blond chided rolling her eyes. "Mr. Valiente? I assume you're not doing this just for show are you?"
Shaking his head all the way the walk up he faced Adelhard with his orange eyes practically brimming with fire. Stepping just in front of the older knight he spoke his challenge in a voice seemed with his usual confidence. "Adelhard Von Blau, son of the House of Von Blau, Descendent of the Dragon," he began tightening his fists. "I, Chicahua Valiente, son of the House of Valiente, crown prince of the Texcoco Tribe would like to challenge you to a one on one battle!"
It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the amphitheater in that instant. Teachers, students, guests, and pretty much everyone else stared with slack jaws at the young man who had just so brazenly challenged one of the strongest Huntsman in all of Vale. More than half of them had to slap themselves or those next to them to confirm that this wasn't a dream.
Once they recovered enough they reacted in the only way to be expected.
"Go back to the jungle freak!"
"Get out of here!"
"Stop wasting everyone's time animal!"
Chicahua paid them no mind, even when they started throwing things at him. His attention was solely on the man who stood before him.
Adelhard held the teenager's gaze with keen interest. This is him, he thought with a mental smile. This is the student I've been waiting for. After all this time I've finally found him! On the outside he lowered his head so low it looked like his hair was covering his face. Then he opened his mouth, "SILENCE!" Every motion and every sound around them came to a stop at the booming of his voice. Those that knew him knew whenever he raised his voice in such a manner it meant he was serious, and those that didn't quickly found that out. "From one knight to another I accept your challenge." He said smiling at Chicahua.
His face lit up like he'd just won the lottery. With a hearty thanks he stepped over to his side of the arena while Adelhard moved to his. Just before he did so he leaned in and whispered into Glynda's ear. "You've got a good student there Glynda."
"If you want a challenge you chose the right one." She muttered.
Before the battle started Chicahua caught sight of his friends: his teammates, teams RWBY, JNPR, CVFY, SSSN, and CNBR. Each and every last one of them were cheering for him but none more so than his teammates. Izaak and Neil shot him large grins he knew was there way of giving him luck and Olivia…she was smiling though it was different than that of the others. It was that rare smile she only gave him when he was facing someone she knew he had little chance against. Every time he got it Chicahua could feel his heart flutter.
Chicahua had to admit that Adelhard's sword was one of the most finely crafted weapons he'd ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. He could only imagine what Ruby was thinking as she eyed the weapon from through the monitor. To be fair anyone with a taste for battle would have been loathed to admit the sword known as Dracheträne was not just a sword but a work of art, even as it was busy trying to separate his hands from his arms.
Around five feet of steely death with a faint blue flame like pattern etched into the blade cleaved the air around him as if it were butter. Every time the blade came so close his eyes could make out every detail he found himself falling further and further in love with the weapon. The blade's guard seemed to be some freakish collection of claw like extensions stretching out, deflecting the sword gave him better look at the guard. It was plum of fire, the six extensions resembled claws or flickers of flames branching upward with a deep blue gem at the center of it. The handle was rather simple yet Chicahua found he would have given anything to hold it; so much so he'd almost lost his hand when Adelhard made a horizontal slash that he quickly turned into a downward swing. The two handed handle's grip resembled dragon scales ending in a three pronged shape that reminded Chicahua of a short stubby trident.
Chicahua fell back avoiding an upward slash that would have blinded him in his eye if he hadn't been quick enough. Rather than attack again Adelhard rested Dracheträne over his shoulder. "Are you finished checking out my weapon? I'm sure she appreciates the attention your eyes have given but I'm sure she'd rather have your sword's." He chuckled.
Chuckling himself Chicahua twirled Sprekelia twice. "Yes, I think from here we need to let our swords do the talking for us." That smile, that self-assured smile was standing before Adelhard in the blink of an eye. "Here's our hello."
The power behind Chicahua's swing brought a smile to his face. Raising Dracheträne into a vertical position to block the attack he saw the shield coming in from the other side. Knocking the teenager away Adelhard spun once, swinging his sword with him. Six black objects rotated in the space above his head. I see, so the shield contains throwing knives. Flickering his eyes back down he saw Xolotl coming at him at a speed at remarkable speed. Fast as a blur he knocker the saw shield away then with both hands he angled his blade to meet the incoming saw tooth sword wielding by Chicahua.
CLING!
They broke away from each other then clashed again, and again, and again. Chicahua moved back alerting Adelhard to the fact Xolotl was more than likely on its way to returning to its owner, after cutting through Adelhard that is. With a small smirk he threw his left arm out. The grinding of metal against metal resounded throughout the whole chamber while Xolotl spun out of control. Chicahua surged forward, his hawkish eyes narrowed into focus slits. Flipping his sword into the reverse grip he aimed it at the eagle knight's charging form.
Countless faces watched in suspense as Dracheträne's blade extended forward with the speed of a bullet. This was it, thought many watching the blade extend in slow motion, this was when the hotheaded Faunus would get put in his place for taking on an enemy light years ahead of his level. Even those who bore Chicahua no ill will knew he was about to have his prized fight ended.
Sitting quietly in their sits nine faces grinned at the screen.
CLINCH!
For a second Adelhard was stunned as Chicahua spun around the extending blade, the tip burrowing itself into the ground.
"You'll have to be a lot faster than that to beat my eyes Adelhard." The teenager grinned.
Instantly the sword retracted to its original five feet, Adelhard spun three hundred and sixty degrees, both hands on his sword. Both their blades collided with a force that sent shivers down their spines. "Noted." Adelhard went on the offensive.
Chicahua was able to block every slash before Xolotl returned to him. Adelhard was fast, one of the fastest swordsmen Chicahua had ever encountered; his eyes had only a second to take note of each slash. He knew what he had to do, the problem was every time he took care of one slash another was coming to end the battle. He waited, falling back with each step, until Adelhard aimed at his right side ribcage. Adelhard saw the shift in his eyes but it was too late to pull his beloved sword back. Sprekelia caught Dracheträne between two of its obsidian teeth and didn't let go. Now that he had Adelhard locked Chicahua swung Xolotl, the saw shield screamed for the dragon blood that pumped within its target's veins. The owner of said veins said nothing as he removed his left hand from Dracheträne's handle to meet Xolotl with a closed fist.
"Tough knuckles." Chicahua noted looking him in the eye.
"The gloves help." Adelhard admitted.
Both men ran over the calculations in their hands, there was only one thing they could do. Breaking off from each other Chicahua unfolded his wings and then launched himself directly at his target.
Planting both his feet down Adelhard held up Dracheträne like a baseball bat. The flame like pattern on the blade glowed before the entire blade was engulfed in blazing blue fire. In the span of five seconds the Faunus was within striking range of the human who immediately swung his sword down. A seven foot arc of blue fire shot from the weapon only for Chicahua to once again. Shock manifested on the veteran's face until he saw Sprekelia extending towards him. With one swing he deflected the attack though Chicahua had taken the chance to get some distance between them. In two quick steps Adelhard had closed that distance. The young knight couldn't attack, Sprekelia couldn't be recalled in time to parry the glowing silver blade coming for him. Luckily he didn't need his sword. Xolotl happily met the diagonal slash that would have bisected Chicahua from his shoulder to his hip. The shield didn't sizzle or begin to melt as most weapons did when meeting Dracheträne's edge. Adelhard pushed down but Chicahua didn't give, at least not in the way the elder knight wanted him to. Shifting his feet he fell to the right with Chicahua bringing the now full assembled Sprekelia down on top of Adelhard's back.
CLING!
"Not so easy getting through the dragon's scales is it?" he laughed still with his back turned to Chicahua.
"That just makes this all the more fun." Chicahua joked watching the blue light coil around Adelhard's sword. With his wings he managed to avoid the eight foot energy slash Adelhard fired off. With Sprekelia he parried the next four he sent out; then he parried the blade itself when Adelhard took the opportunity to join him in the air.
Adelhard kicked him down to the ground while a whirlwind of blue energy formed around his sword. "Here comes the Dragon's Gust Chicahua! Let's see if you can weather it!"
It was rare to see an energy slash of such magnitude such as the one Adelhard fired at Chicahua. Eye-witness accounts have said the Dragon's Gust has been strong enough to bisect Death Stalkers and three Qilins in a row. Surely such an attack would have been enough to down the sword and shield wielding first year in the path of the attack.
Grounding his teeth Chicahua gripped Sprekelia with both hands before swinging the saw-tooth sword from left to right. The energy slash collided with the macuahuitl causing sparks of pure energy to fly. Grunting in effort the eagle knight deflected the attack making it crash into the ground beside him thus sending pieces of tile and earth jetting out in all directions.
"My turn." He muttered filling Sprekelia with his aura.
An energy slash similar to Adelhard's flew from Chicahua's sword only instead of blue it was a blazing orange color. It collided head first with him creating a thick cloud of smoke. Shock rung through the crowd at what they'd just seen. It grew when Adelhard fell from the smoke, not a scratch on him.
"B-But…how?" Blake whispered looking at the Aura meters of each combatant. It wasn't the fact that both had barely exhausted one-fifth of their Auras but that there was no visible damage on Adelhard's body. "I've seen Chicahua's slashes split Ursa and Gigadeaths in half so how…how is it that didn't do a thing?"
"It's the jacket." Ren clarified with both hands clapped together beneath his chin.
"Now that you mention there is something worried about that armor," Yang said. "What the hell is it?"
"The kind that's infused with Dust." Neil answered chewing on a Hershey bar. "That jacket Adelhard's wearing is infused with Dust, not to mention the plates are made from a type of metal made to resist attacks, not adamant like my swords and Izaak's axe but something close to it. Makes wounding him a major pain in the ass."
"A literal armor of dragon scales." Chun Tao confirmed. "Getting around that won't be easy."
"Why can't we just say Chicahua bit off more than he can chew and call it a day?" Weiss exclaimed
"Because he can still chew through more." Olivia hotly countered.
Adelhard had to give Chicahua even more credit, he'd barely reacted when his attack failed to do any damage. You were testing the waters weren't you kid? He thought parrying an overhead strike. He fought back, hacking away with more strength than before yet the seemingly stone and metal weapons his opponent wielded continued to block his attacks. The shield didn't give no matter how fiercely Dracheträne struck it, at best all it left were scorch marks that left no lasting damage. It's just like back then, weapons that look like they belong in an Indiana Jones movie being able to stand up to the best of modern weaponry.
At the moment Dracheträne came down once again Chicahua pressed Xolotl forward, its orange center glowing bright orange for a split second. Blue and orange collided when they met, a sound like gears turning being produced.
Paralyzed my sword arm! Adelhard realized bracing himself.
Like a gust of wind Sprekelia came in from the side hitting the middle of his sword. Adelhard nearly lost his grip on his sword but managed to regain in just in time to prepare for Chicahua's follow up: a Stinger.
His wings were tucked in though up close he could have sworn they were spouting flames like rockets about to take off. Chicahua jetted towards thrusting his weapon towards his chest.
CLING!
"Shit!" the teenager cursed.
"A beat followed by a Stinger," Adelhard commented. "I'm impressed." He surged forward bringing his sword across Chicahua's chest. He'd finally drawn first blood and now he was ready to end the match. "A nice match kid, you got my blood pupping but it's time we ended this!"
Excitement flashed in the predator eyes of the Faunus. "Not yet! I'm having too much fun to stop now!" Rebounding from the bleeding wound across his chest Chicahua brought both Sprekelia and Xolotl up together to meet Dracheträne's overhead attack. "Now that I've blocked the dragon's tail I will take it!" he yelled kicking Adelhard away. Putting one on top of the other Chicahua spun forward, becoming a tornado of orange flames and wind that quickly jetted towards Adelhard.
Adelhard met the attack and was pushed back. Sparks flew from where his sword made contact with the macuahuitl and saw shield. He jumped back and launched another Dragon's Gust at the orange twister. Fire, wind, and smoke exploded from the point of impact.
"I don't believe it." The Knight of Brightroar muttered just as the orange tornado surged out of the smoke.
Screaming his people's war cry Chicahua met Adelhard's sword in force. He pushed him back, Adelhard felt the push back and grunted in effort to keep from losing his balance. Once he had both feet firmly on the ground he roared and shuck the teenager off. Dracheträne burned bright blue fire. Sprekelia and Xolotl blazed to life with the flame like Aura of their owner.
CLING! CLANG! CLING! CLANG! THING! CLING! THANG! CLING! CLANG! THING!
To the two dueling knights nothing else existed but the rush of battle propelling them to swinging their arms as hard as they could and as fast as they could. The gaping mouths, the pointed fingers, their Aura readings, and the energy exploding from their repented clashes didn't matter in the least to them. The only thing that did was making the other go down.
In the midst of their maelstrom of steel they locked eyes and grinned.
You live up to all the hype.
In my humble opinion you've done your ancestors proud.
No, not yet. Not until I've drawn blood for blood!
His muscles tensed seeing the energy infused blade coming at him, his wings removed him from the ground in one might flap. Adelhard fired off an energy slash to keep him from escaping. Xolotl was swing forward, six black objects coated in layers of red energy met the slash at key points, defusing the attack.
Some twenty fifteen feet now separated the two warriors; before Adelhard could close it Chicahua struck first extending Sprekelia to its full length. The parrying of the attack let loss a gust of air so powerful it made an impact against the force field surrounding them.
He wasn't done.
The swings came faster and faster, becoming more powerful with each hit and miss. Adelhard was swinging his arms like a mad man to parry each one.
CLINCH!
The heir of the Von Blau family felt the sting on his left arm.
CLINCH!
From his left leg came a sharp message alarming his brain it had taken a worse blow.
CLING! CLING! THING! CLING!
"What…is that?" Ruby questioned unable to comprehend what it was she was looking at.
"I…never knew he could do that." Velvet whispered awe-struck by what was happening before her.
"Be happy you're not on the receiving end of that." Sun nervously chuckled rubbing his backside like he was reliving a painful memory. In fact he was watching Sprekelia continue to "feed" off the heat of battle.
Each segment of Chicahua's whip-sword was burning red. What had started as a small glow had turned each piece into a miniature object of pure heat and power with every impact. It didn't matter if the attack hit Adelhard or not, what did was that it connected with something. Too late did Adelhard realize what Sprekelia was capable of. He had to break off.
"Blood for blood." Came the eagle's knight's voice.
Something had changed in his voice, it sounded much deeper than it should have.
Within the span of two seven seconds Sprekelia was a full sword again and Chicahua was coming at Adelhard with the speed of a rocket.
The veteran Huntsman raised his sword. The young tribal warrior's sword flashed.
SLICH!
Glynda watched the exchange with a ghost of a smile on her face. "Well what do you know, an eagle's talons can pierce a dragon's scales.
Blood spilled from the wound across Adelhard's left shoulder. It wasn't deep but it was certainly worthy of notice. Behind him Chicahua kneeled in the ground, his sweat forming a small pool below his face. He said nothing as his opponent took the time to examine his wound.
"You know…I came here hoping someone to would have a set of balls big enough to take me on." The Huntsman admitted.
…
"I'm glad it was you son of the Texcoco."
The two knights faced each other with joyous grins on their faces.
"You've earned this Chicahua."
"Finally, now I can make my ancestors proud."
Chicahua's grin persisted even as Dracheträne changed shape right before his eyes. The blade broke down into a mass of shifting diamonds while the handle elongated until it was nearly six feet in length. The blade reformed, now looking like a proper spearhead.
The seventeen year old jumped just in time to avoid the spear space where he once kneeled. Catching the other end with his hand Adelhard spun once so the weapon was now resting on his shoulders. He aimed it at Chicahua and once again the weapon elongated with its peed providing all the force it needed. Stopping the spear was different from the sword; the spear was made from thrusting which made blocking a deadly gambit.
Chicahua was able to knock the spear away three times before it rammed into the center of Xolotl, sending him on a crash course with the force field. His wings screamed in pain at the sudden contact. The spear retracted, for the second time Dracheträne changed shape, this time into a weapon he knew Cardin would spend long nights dreaming about.
The blade disappeared completely, or more rather, it amassed around the guard which was morphing itself. In a flash the metal had formed a sphere around the claw like spikes that once made up the sword guard. A long chain connected the handle to the red and silver mace that cackled with blue energy.
"Oh well now that's just typical!" The teenager exclaimed jetting out of the way just in time.
The force field distorted and screamed kicking back the mace. Adelhard twirled the weapon around for a few minutes to let the weight of it sink in, then he hurled it at Chicahua. "Now this, is the dragon's tail Chicahua! Can you stop it?"
Chicahua stopped it, when it wasn't able to graze his flesh leaving him with a bruise or a burn. Sword and shield once again worked in tandem to deflect the medieval. It rose into the air then came down, bringing Chicahua with it. His back hit the ground while Dracheträne was recalled in order to be transformed. Looking up he saw the spear heading for him. Kicking himself back up he deflected it with Xolotl only to find a nasty surprise waiting for him.
Catching the spear in his hand and morphing it back into a sword Adelhard said only two words. "Dragon's Gust."
Chicahua crashed through the floor, tearing chunks of it out on his way into the wall. On the monitor his Aura took a nasty hit, not falling into the red but now he was at half strength.
Hundreds of eyes watched with baited breath for Professor Goodwitch to call the match. Forget Aura for surely no student could survive such a blow.
"Now that," came Chicahua's voice from the rumble. "I'm going to be feeling in the morning. Mind if I return the favor."
The spear was chosen to meet the frontal assault attack used by the eagle knight. Swinging from the bottom left to the upper right Adelhard knocked Chicahua's Stinger off course so he could begin his own assault. The thrusts came too fast for him to avoid while off balance. Blood came through the teenager's clenched lips, it finally came out upon the faithfully meeting of Xolotl and Dracheträne's mace form.
Once again the Chicahua's back met the force field surrounding the arena.
"Someone please tell me I didn't just see that!" Coco shouted. "How in Oum's name did he just do that? A sword? A spear? A mace? Can someone tell me exactly what that thing is?"
"I WANT ONE!" Ruby, Buruan, Ndidi, and Nora all shouted at once nearly deafening the group.
"It's a sword, a sword with a blade made of nanites." Izaak explained bringing the group's collective attention on him. Both his hands were clapped together, no doubt for his teammate currently holding his ground against the assault of sword, spear and mace. "There're still in the testing stages but there exists weapons whose bases are made of nanites. Given the right programming and Aura manipulation you can make them form anything of relative size and strength. That's the other thing that made Adelhard such a stand out student during his days at the academy. He was able to create that weapon, Dracheträne, through a fusion of his family sword and nanotechnology. He did that almost ten years before hardcore nanotechnology was given any real thought. They called him a genius when he did so, his family called him a heretic."
"Chicahua's boned isn't he?" Buruan muttered slowly feeling his appetite leave him. He'd been supportive of his fellow Faunus but after seeing what his opponent was capable of he now know there was no hope of him winning the match. The worst part is that guy hasn't even brought out his Semblance yet.
"Of course he is, doesn't mean Chicahua's going to just give up." Neil chided.
Carefully Weiss looked at the remaining members of team IONC. "He knew he didn't have a snowball's chance of winning didn't he?"
"It took you that long to figure things out Weiss? I'm disappointed." Olivia shook her head not taking her eyes off the fight. "You think he's that arrogant? Maybe a little wild and crazy but even he knows when h's biting off more than he can chew."
"It was never about winning you guys." Sage offered. He'd been watching the fight closely without saying a word unlike the rest of the group. "Chicahua didn't want to fight Adelhard to beat him in front of everyone."
Pyrrha quickly picked up on the green haired teenager's words. "He did it…so he could see how much higher he needed to fly…and show us how high he could fly."
The depth of Pyrrha's words hit the group like a block of ice. All together they refocused their attention on back on the fight, each of them viewing Chicahua in a new light. Jaune especially kept his eyes on the two figures; he felt something resonating in his chest as he watched Chicahua draw blood from his opponent even when he had to take hits in return. Adelhard's attack was one thing he noted Chicahua seemed to choose when to avoid and when to take.
His Semblance! The Arc realized catching his breath. Chicahua's Semblance is all about absorbing energy and that Dragon's Gust…On the ground Chicahua met one of Adelhard's Dragon's Gust before it could fire. Though they were miles away from each other Jaune could have sworn he could see the fire burning in Chicahua's eyes, a fire that seemed reflected in his adversary's eyes. He kept attacking and parrying, no matter what damage he took in return. "Twenty-two minutes." Jaune whispered with a shiver. You've lasted longer than the rest of us put together. You've coaxed an honest to God smile out of a man who could kick all our asses with one hand tied behind his back. And…on top of that you…The spear sent Chicahua flying half way across the arena but he retaliated by throwing Xolotl. The saw shield flew in a zig-zag pattern that Adelhard couldn't follow. It slammed into his right shoulder giving Chicahua just enough time to get in his face. Jaune seemed to see the macuahuitl cut into Adelhard's chest just as the mace slammed against Chicahua. Both flew across the floor only to pick themselves up and go at it again. The ringing, the ever present ringing caused Jaune's heart to race. Yeah…I know now, you're pretty strong Chicahua. Way stronger than I ever thought I was.
Chicahua knew it was time for him to end things, his body was telling him enough through his wounds. Despite that he wanted to keep going. He didn't want the fight to end. "You're everything the stories said about you!" He called to Adelhard.
"And you are everything I wanted out of you!" He was coved in a dozen of cuts, his shoulders and right side having the worst wounds of them all. They were undeniable proof that this teenager was able to stand toe to toe with him on equal footing. "I'm glad I got to fight you today Chicahua!"
"Who knows! Maybe one day we can do this again!" He was on his feet now, wings proudly pounded the air.
"Survive the Grimm, your classmates, and everything this academy throws at you and we will! That goes for every student in here!" Adelhard yelled raising Dracheträne into the air. "You kids want to learn how to do this you're going to have to survive this place first!"
Brave Bird had been activated, and its effect was stronger than ever. The tribal markings on Chicahua's body were concentrated lines of fire over his burning body. His wings had become nothing more than torches shaped into bird's wings and Sprekelia was the same, only in the shape of a seven foot long sword. His eyes stood out in the human shaped blaze glaring down Adelhard.
Raising his sword high above his head Adelhard called up his Semblance. Beneath his feet the ground cracked with ethereal light shining through. He breathed in and out as Chicahua sped towards him, a mass of heated energy intent on knocking him down. It was because people like you fought in the war we didn't win. Why I think we didn't deserve to win.
The bird of fire met the sword of light in a titanic collision that shook the entire amphitheater. All eyes were pulled back when until the light died down enough for them to see. What they saw was Chicahua lying flat on the ground with Adelhard still standing. The monitor showed the elder knight still had half his Aura left while Chicahua had none. The arena floor was scorched and cracked like a meteor had made impact. The force field crackled then fell, at last unable to withstand the sheer amount of energy being thrown around.
Glynda took a few steps into the center. After surveying the damage she raised her hand. "The winner is Adelhard Von Blau!"
The second she'd finished the announcement Chicahua's partner was at his side. She could hear the two of them laughing like one of them hadn't been through one hell of battle. Glynda found herself chuckling. "Today's youth…" she muttered watching the rest of team IONC join them followed by the rest of their friends.
Happy New Year's everyone! Looking forward to 2016!