I hope everyone in school is currently enjoying their summer break or using the summer to get some work done. Thanks again for showing up and taking a look at the story. This one was actually one of the more interesting ones to write due to how the environment is effected during the battle. Looking back I can really see where visual media would shine during moments like this where putting some visuals into words is just so difficult while not trying to sound repetitive or boring. In case any of you get curious as to where the effect came from it originates from a time when a game I was playing bugged out completely during a boss fight. The results being funny at first followed by terrifying as I realized I stood no chance against the boss as it was.
With that little story out of the way let's see who our next combatant is.
The remaining members of RWBY and Dunstan ran up the stairs as the sound of Weiss summoning glyphs grew more distant with each step. Reaching the halfway point, they couldn't even hear the clashing of blades. Ruby could feel a pressure starting to take root in her chest. Worry over her best friend's possible situation and the inability to go back and help without jeopardizing the mission. Taking a quick look around she could see it had begun to hit the remaining members even harder. Yang kept her head up and stayed a few steps ahead of her sister. Blake's eyes were nearly glowing with a resolve that fueled her every step. Ruby had trouble getting a read on Dunstan, but even the Hunter had a look of distress on his brow. No matter the case they continued upwards towards the orchestrator of the Hunt.
"If anyone could survive a battle its Weiss. She's the most versatile member of this team with an incredible semblance to back her up." Ruby gave a soft smile at the knowledge they had gained on each other through sparring.
"It shouldn't be much further to the second floor arena," Yang said spurring the others forward.
"Anything about the arenas we should know before going up?" Blake asked wondering if the combat school had any specialized training arenas.
"Second floor is dedicated to rural town combat. Signal has a deal with the carpentry school over in Vale so they do repairs and new additions to the arena. It was mostly to teach us how not to level a town if we ever fought inside a villages limits. It was a tightly backed 8 building town last time I saw it." Yang
"Yang got banned for a semester after demolishing a quarter of the town. We may be friends with the Vale Carpentry school, but even they have their limits," Ruby said as Yang slowed down and began pushing down on her sister's head.
"What my darling little sis failed to mention is that I wasn't the only one banned from the arena that semester. Isn't that right?"
"Maybe Crescent Rose wasn't designed with tight corridor combat in mind, but my baby could cut through any wall, ceiling, or support post that got in our way."
"Which caused the 'sheriff's office' to collapse and would have crushed anyone inside the building at the time."
"It was a valuable lesson learned. How often do you see me pulling out my darling indoors now?"
"Besides for reaching objects out of your reach and when you're gushing over it."
"The point is, I have yet to destroy another house from the inside since? I know not to swing my baby around in fragile wooden buildings."
"Is that why are curtains were sewn back together?" Blake interrupted realizing the shoddy piece of furniture was likely damaged during their move into the dorms and not a leftover from the previous occupants.
"If all of you are finished I do believe we've arrived." Dunstan pushed a door open leading to the second floor stands.
The entire room was eerily quiet with the only source of noise coming from their own footsteps. Looking down on the field they could see one small houses in the center and 7 houses built against the arena wall. A wooden road divided the center of the town from the exterior. Each building was clearly labeled with each serving a key purpose to the faux-town's infrastructure. Lining the cul de sac was a clinic for the injured, a red structure for the fire brigade, and a general goods store. Each of the wooden structures clearly served as cutouts for a town and were likely completely empty except for the walls that held them up. Sat in the center of the arena was town hall. If the team didn't know any better, they would have thought they had stepped onto a movie lot. The only thing missing to complete the set would be a tumble weed to roll through the town.
"Looks like they moved some of the buildings around, but it's still the same for the most part," Yang said admiring the buildings.
"Do any of you have this ringing in your ears?" Ruby asked as she picked at her ear to see if it just had some blood in it.
"I think your hearing things, sis." Yang cupped her own ear trying to hear something only to get silence.
Dunstan held out his arm bringing the group to a stop, "A hunter is invading the tower."
"I thought Ruby and you were the only Hunters left. How can one be attacking us?" Blake asked while scanning the room for the potential threat.
"Doesn't matter now," Dunstan began, "If we can't stop whoever is ringing that bell then the person attacking us will just keep coming back."
"Won't they just reappear near one of the lanterns?" Ruby asked with her scythe drawn as the group inched closer back to back.
"If that bell keeps going off after the Hunter dies they'll just reappear somewhere nearby."
"So we just keep going upwards until we find this person." Yang smashed her fists together getting ready for the coming battle.
"Not unless you want them appearing behind us and then striking while we're already fighting someone else," Dunstan said. "Any takers?" They looked between each other for a moment before Yang and Blake shared a nod.
"I'll stay behind," Yang said giving a smile. "In terms of raw speed I can't compete with any of you unless I can bulldoze my way through some obstacles. Beside all that, you'd want your big strong sister protecting your back."
"Thanks Yang." Ruby gave her sister a parting hug as they ran around the arena to the stairs.
Watching her sister, Blake, and Dunstan vanish up the stairwell Yang peered into the deserted town. Silence returned to the field now that the others had left leaving Yang to prepare for a battle that might not even come if this Hunter appeared further up the tower. Walking up to the stairs Yang took a seat in front of the door and waited knowing that if anyone wanted to follow her sister they'd have to get through her first.
After a minute of waiting the sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the arena. Looking at the town a lone person wearing what looked like a replica of the outfit Dunstan was wearing when they first clashed. In their hand was an axe that seemed like it belonged in a museum. The head was overly large with it measuring wider than its user and the grip offered just enough space for a second hand to support it.
Tilting their head, a pair of greenish-yellow eyes pierced Yang causing the brawler to feel a jolt run up her spine. Yang's entire body felt uneasy just looking at the person. The more she looked at the figure the harder it was to maintain her focus on them. Blinking to give her eyes a break Yang noticed how the figure had moved a few feet closer to the arena walls. Taking in the entire sight Yang noticed how out of focus the person appeared along with some of the area surrounding them. The stark contrast putting a strain on her eyes and brain as they tried to process the unnatural sight. Like a camera lens that was out of focus.
Yang stood up in preparation of a fight just as something struck her chest. Being swept off her feet Yang dragged her hand over the ground as she descended in an attempt to keep her balance. Looking up at her attacker she saw a distorted image of the hunter mid swing. As if her mind couldn't capture the image properly and instead meshed together a few blurry frames that escaped her sight. Just like when she was looking into the arena everything around the person was fuzzy.
Raising her fists Yang held up her guard knowing something was likely coming. The moment her guard was raised Yang felt the impact of the axe head against her gauntlets. Keeping her eyes open Yang saw whatever was shrouding the hunter stop working momentarily. The handle on the axe had expanded turning it into a polearm with more than enough staff for the user to work up some momentum for a swing. The weapon giving the hunter plenty of options for mid-range thanks to its reach and close-range due to its compact form.
Knowing she couldn't do any damage while the hunter was out of her arms reach Yang ran forward blocking a swing from the weapon with one hand. Yang continued forward with her arm raised and scraping against the staff as she closed in. Drawing her fist back Yang heard the sound of metal scratching against metal coming from behind and threw her head forwards smashing her forehead into the hunter's nose as the axe was drawn back in just over her head.
For once Yang was thankful for the suit she was wearing. With the axe blade passing over her head it would have cut into Yang's hair had it not been contained in the full helmet she wore. Leaping back Yang could hear the sound of blood dripping onto the floor. The source coming from the Hunter who was using their left hand to cover their face. Blood was dripping from the cloth that covered the Hunter's nose and mouth. With on motion they gripped the bloody cloth and tossed it aside. Yang hardly recognized the girl with the attire and mask she was wearing instead of medical garbs. No longer were the girl's eyes filled with despair, but instead a burning anger.
"Your name is Citrine right?" Yang couldn't help, but feel bad for the girl's situation and was hoping to put a stop to the fight.
"So the blonde does have a brain in that head of hers. Would have thought you'd have forgotten me by now," Citrine mocked.
"Look, you can either back off or I can personally stop you."
"Do you really think you can stop me from getting up those stairs? From taking what I'm owed." Citrine lowered her now blood covered hand and grabbed the pistol from her belt.
"What could you want that's at the top of this tower?"
"You think I want something as insubstantial as an item. What I want is retribution for what was forced on me. She stole away the only peace I wanted and now I'll claim hers. Over and over again until nothing remains." Her fist tightened around the axe handle.
"You are not reaching my sister!" Yang charged at Citrine and began throwing punch after punch. Each one seeming to connect before phasing through the Hunter.
"You're her sister," she said inquisitively, "this changes everything. I'm going to pick you apart and bring what remains to that sister of yours."
Yang tried looking around for her opponent, ignoring the copy that stood before her. Looking around rapidly she saw the distortion effect moving around her and blurring anything within its sphere of influence. Throwing out a punch yang saw her own fist begin to warp before it slammed into something metallic. Pulling her arm back Yang could see the image of her arm frozen mid swing floating in the air.
Everything around Yang began to warp as Citrine encircled her. Unable to track her with everything in her sight already afflicted Yang ran through the disturbance. Passing through the wall Yang witnessed her entire world begin to warp and blur until everything in front of her became clear. Turning around she saw a copy of herself frozen mid-run reaching out towards her. Yang could almost make out the worry on her copy's face. The sound of a blade traveling through the air drew Yang back as she leaped to the side avoiding the axe. By the time she looked at her attacker it was clear all that remained was another still frame frozen in time.
Walking forward towards the image Yang kept her arms up and ready for any opportunity to retaliate. Before she could think of her next move something small slammed into the back of her head and knocked her to the ground. Rolling to the side Yang dodged the axe head the smashed into the ground. Grabbing the pole Yang yanked the weapon towards herself feeling the weight that was still holding onto the other end. Using the axe, she pulled herself off the ground and forward as Citrine fell out of the distorted space towards Yang.
Pulling her arm back, Yang threw her arm forward hearing the sound of flesh being cut. With the stake stuck in her opponent's gut Yang began wailing on Citrine with her free hand. Making sure to keep her other hand hooked Yang lifted her arm to keep her punching bag in place. Reeling back for one last punch the stake was forced back into the gauntlet as the pressure behind it built up. With the hiss of steam came to a stop Yang threw her punch with the blow landing on Citrine's sternum. The stake launched forward in an explosion engulfing Yang's arm as Citrine was launched backwards. A trail of blood spilled from her chest before crashing into a wooden structure below.
"You want to run that plan of yours by me again!" Yang yelled down into the area as the dust began to settle. "Because out of the both of us I doubt I'm the one walking away in pieces."
When no response was given Yang took a running start before jumping down the hole Citrine had made through the roof. Yang's landing kicked up some of the debris as she looked around the empty room. Even as a mock up with missing furniture, the walls and doorframes for each room had been put in place. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary which brought a great comfort to Yang's eyes after having to parse the jumble of information that made up the warped areas. The only sign of Citrine was some blood that stained the ground and some splatter against a nearby wall. What could have cause the splatter was something Yang could only speculate on.
Yang stayed poised to strike at anything that made itself known for a minute, but when nothing came she lowered her fists. Stepping out the front door the wooden sidewalk creaked beneath her feet. Even the town felt empty with the lack of ambient noise that usually accompanied the field. Yang looked around at every buildings front to try and find any clue on where Citrine was hiding. Nothing was wrong with any of the buildings and all the doors were all closed. With no leads Yang got ready to head back to her post in front of the door when something creaked behind her. Whipping around she saw the building behind her vanish into a blur of color.
Yang threw a few quick jabs into the distortion hitting only the air and leaving four imprints of her arm behind. Running into the sheriff's office Yang slammed the door behind herself and waited. Staring out the Window she saw the entire walkway change in an instant along with the front facing wall. Taking a step back the floor boards beneath Yang's feet began to creak from the added weight.
"You scarred now blonde." Citrine mocked with her semblance even distorting her voice through the walls. "No matter how many time you knock me down I have to get back up thanks to your sister."
"If you think I'd just roll over and die then you have another thing coming," Yang yelled at the door.
"This isn't up for debate. You have no way of ending this fight while all I have to do is wear you down to a point where I can win. This fight ends with you dead on the floor." Yang could see the wall shift drastically as something took a chunk out of it.
Even with her sight distorted somethings remained too large to go unnoticed. As if it was being ran through a chipper the entire wall and door was swiped aside leaving behind what Yang assumed was a shower of splinters. Blinking quickly Yang saw copy after copy take shape before her, each one showing Citrine during the attack. Now besides just the distorted view, part of Yang's vision was being taken up by the copies. Yang's weapons never had any reach behind her arms and they were never designed for large sweeping attacks. If she missed her first attack she'd be wide open for a counter. Never having to fight blind she couldn't even begin to imagine a workaround for the situation at hand. Blinking would only capture an afterimage by the time her eyes opened again. Soon even the floor boards began getting chewed up forcing Yang further back into the building.
Every time she would the distortion would grow to follow after. Never fully encroaching on her, but enough to cover Citrine as she tore everything around her to pieces with the axe. Taking another step back Yang bumped into something. Keeping her eyes forward she ran a hand over it realizing it was a wooden post. Holding the triggers in the gauntlets the stakes were drawn back and the pressure began to build. Each second felt like an eternity as the encroaching destruction got closer and closer. The debris bouncing off of her protective suit and the dust beginning to hide the carnage even further. With her weapons primed Yang got behind the post and delivered a punch to it, making sure not to discharge her weapon just yet. With nothing to hold the central part of the structure up, the front wall destroyed, and most the interior gone the wood quickly buckled inwards. Without even a moment to try and escape the entire structure fell atop them. Delivering an uppercut to the rubble falling atop her, Yang triggered her stake driver. The explosion pushing back as much of the debris as it could before it along with the roof came crashing back down towards Yang. Raising her other arm, she fired her other stake driver, this time punching a hole through the falling structure and revealing the stadium lights above.
Once the collapse had finished Yang was stood at the center of the destruction nearly untouched. The leftovers from the building surrounding her. Raising her head Yang saw Citrine impaled by the remnants of the wooden structure. The wood piercing her and the ground as blood began to cover its base. She would occasionally struggle in an attempt to break free only to open her wounds further. Cautiously approaching a piece of wood shattered beneath her feet alerting Citrine.
"You think you've won. Just because I've been stuck like a dying dog doesn't mean I can't still bite you to death." Citrine tensed her arms causing the wooden stakes holding her in place to shake for a bit before going still.
"Stop struggling you're only going to make your injuries worse." Yang raised both her hands to show no intent on doing anything violent.
"Why, just so you can watch me die slowly. You seem to forget that only one of us is immortal!" Citrine yelled as she began to violently pull at her limbs and scream.
The wood could be heard cracking under the strain as Citrine whipped her head back. Yang stood frozen as she saw Citrine stick her tongue out for a moment before her jaw slammed shut severing the organ. Yang's gaze followed the falling tongue until it hit the ground. Looking up she saw the amount of blood that began to pool beneath Citrine. All the thrashing around had widened her wounds enough to move her limbs a few inches in each direction. Yang had no idea what to do to help her opponent once she stopped moving. Placing a single hand on her Yang leaped back as the body began to dissolve into a pale mist.
Yang felt tired after the fight and nearly fell over once she relaxed her muscles. Yang sat on the ground taking in as much air as her suit permitted with its filter. Her heart continued to pound away in panic over what she had just witnessed and the sight remained burned into her mind. Resting a hand on her knee Yang stood up as an axe head hit her in the gut. The impact throwing her into the ruble. Without a moment to rest Citrine jumped forward with her axe raised. With debris on both sides Yang raised her weapons just as the axe fell. The blow causing some of the wooden planks beneath Yang to shatter and push her deeper into the houses remains.
"I told you already, I can't be killed." Citrine stomped her foot into Yang's gut causing her to lurch, but Yang continued to keep her guard up. "All of this is thanks to your sister."
Citrine delivered another kick only for Yang to grab the foot and throw Citrine off. Pulling herself free Yang immediately raised her arms up to catch another swing of the axe. Sparks flew from the clash as Citrine delivered strike after strike in an attempt to catch Yang off guard. When the onslaught came to a halt Yang saw Citrine run past as her entire world faded into a blur of colors. Losing all sense of depth and shape Yang looked around for some sign of reality to only find more of the distorted vision.
"Sorry, but I can't play around with you any longer. I do have to meet your sister after all. Maybe even pay your teammates a visit if they're along the way." The voice came from everywhere in the warped area.
"You stay away from them!" Yang yelled back in anger.
"I just know we'll have so much fun. I might even get to take my time with them if they don't put up too much of a fight."
Yang felt the embers of her anger turn into a blazing inferno as everything around her began to heat up. The heat further distorting everything around her as steam began to build up in her weapons. Lowering her arms Yang stood in place keeping her gaze locked forward. After a few seconds the axe nailed her side causing Yang to flinch slightly, but she continued standing. No immediate follow up came after the attack leaving Yang to her thoughts when another blow hit her back trying to throw her forward to success. Each strike stroking the flames that fueled Yang. Standing her ground Yang continued to wait feeling her aura drain with each hit and turn into something more volatile. When the axe tried to cut into Yang's gut an explosion of flames erupted from her.
The axe stayed in place for a moment as Citrine tried to cover her eyes from the sudden blast of light and heat. Getting ready to retreat and find another angle to strike from she noticed the light getting stronger and brighter. Trying to focus on the object she failed to immediately realize that the source was moving towards her at blinding speeds. In her fear citrine turned to run only for something akin to burning iron to grab onto her arm.
"Let go of me!" She yelled using her axe to attack what had a hold of her arm. Each strike would try and dissuade the monster that held her arm in a vice, but each hit only increased the already scolding grip's heat. After the first few the beast began to swat away her efforts at freedom with its own hand. "Let go, let go, let go, let go, let go, let go!"
Tears began to stream down her face from the pain that was now running up her arm. Scared to even look at her own arm in fear of the damage she would see. Soon the attacks turned into feeble attempts as she sluggishly swung her axe with what little energy remained. Eventually even her attempt to break free ended as she limply hanged from her damaged arm.
"Please let me go." Citrine weakly begged as her now blackened arm was the only thing holding her up on her feet.
With no warning her arm was freed from Yang's grip and Citrine fell to the ground. Too weak to even try and stand up, she protectively curled herself around the damaged limb. A shadow was cast as Yang stood over her. The heat around her beginning to subside. Yang raised her right arm to finish the job when Citrine smirked.
"You can kill me as many times as you want it won't change a thing. I don't know how much aura you have left after that last showing, but you won't survive another encounter with me. You can either finish me or I can do it myself." A laugh escaped Citrine's lips at the thought of the brawler's inevitable loss.
"You really don't know what I was doing do you? You may have your immortality, but I have my friends."
"What good can friends be? They left you behind as a lamb to slow me down. So tell me what your so called friends can do."
"I know for a fact that one of them really hates the sound of bells ringing and would go to any length to silence them and I know the others wouldn't mind helping him in said endeavor."
Citrine's eyes went wide when she paused and listened for the sound of her sinister bell tolling away further up the tower. The silence that filed the arena felt deafening to her as her heart rate began to spike. Soon the only thing she could hear was the pounding of her own heart as panic filled her.
"No, this isn't how this was supposed to happen. We had a deal. Why are you abandoning me now after I'm so close to my goal?"
"Sorry, but I have some friends that need my help." Yang brought her weapon down and leveled it with Citrine as the stake fired forward and tore through Citrine's chest. Yang watched as the pale mist over took her opponents body one last time before taking her back to wherever she originated from.
With no time to waste Yang ran out of the arena and to the door she was guarding. With the threat of someone following behind them gone she opened the door and began her climb. Yang ran up the stairwell as quickly as she could Yang rushed passed the firing slits that lined the walls. Each one letting in the red glow of the moon as she continued up the spiral. Reaching the sealed doorway, she pushed them open to see Blake in the center of the arena floor on one knee. Her sword was sunk into the ground and being used as a crutch to keep her up. The entire field was damaged with cuts from Blake's and her opponents weapon.
Standing before her was a man in a black trench coat with red trimmings. The mask he wore was easily recognizable as something only the white fang wore. His weapon was sheathed and he was looking at the latest intruder to enter the stands.
"Another one of your human friends, Blake? I was right about you. Your time in their society has made you go soft." The man said turning to face his new opponent while ignoring his downed one.
"Leave her out of this Adam. This fight is between you and me," Blake said, getting back up and holding her blade out.
"She became a part of this the moment you decided to befriend her. It was always us or them Blake and you chose your side. I'd say I'm disappointed, but you were free to make your own choices in life. Unfortunately, you chose poorly and now your friend has to pay the price." Adam drew his blade and began to walk forward towards Yang.
Since no wiki or anyone I asked could give me a answer I decided to measure the dueling arena used in 'PvP'. I mostly wanted to know how big they were to scale Signals tower appropriately, but it got really out of hand as I tried to figure this out. If you want Signal's Tower scale check out the next paragraph. So I used the shot of the arena descending after Penny's death to count the tiles going across as a starting reference since it gives us a full view of the arena. Counting the tiles the arena is 40 tiles long from end to end. Then taking the shot of Pyrrha looking over Penny's body I found that Penny from the knee down is just about the same size as a tile. I say 'just about' since that part of her leg is a bit smaller than the tile so I rounded up to a nice 1.5 feet. Using basic math we find that the octagon is composed of 1400 tiles meaning it has an area of 200ft^2. For those of us who use actual measurements that the rest of the world can understand that is 640.08M^2. In terms of length the dueling arena is 60ft long or 18.22M.
Point is that in my story each arena in Signal's tower would have to be about 25m(82.02ft) to fit all the stuff I wanted in it and we'd logically need 5M(16.4ft) going around the arena to fit 10 rows of bleachers for viewers to sit from. A walkway going around the bleachers so people can access the stairs. Take into account the stair case that has to about 3m(9.8ft) wide to comfortably fit multiple classes coming and going we have Signal tower at a whopping 45m(147) wide and 90m(295.2ft) tall or 30 stories. If you want something to compare this to Signal's tower is about double the heigthof a Roman Coliseum and about a fourth of the width.
Tune in next time when I try to find a solution to the inevitable heat death of our universe.