"You ready for the duel, Weiss?" Brick asked as he gave me a rough shoulder massage in the hall outside the appointed duelling room. All my friends and everyone in the no-maj fitness club were with me as well.
"If it's fair, it'll be easy," I said. "I don't know what kinds of rules she's set, if any." Thankfully, Noir had set the date for the last day she had promised, so I'd managed to get a good amount of training in.
"You're smart, you'll be fine. If you can't wear your gloves or boots, you'll have more speed."
"Well, let's get it over with and find out the rules." I lead everyone into the room. It was circular, and set up like an arena, with elevated seating around the field. Everything was reddish orange, including the dirt in the arena, and there was an audience already.
It was easy to find the entrance to the arena, and as I entered, my friends sat down nearby. Noir was already there, and waiting. "About time you showed up, Snowflake. I hope you don't get cold feet now. That would be incredibly disappointing."
"Shut up, Noir."
A goblin came from an opening in the arena wall. "Good, good, both of you are here," he said. "Come to the middle, you two." Noir and I met him there. "Excellent. Since this is a no-maj style duel, I will hold on to your wands." We drew the requested items and handed them to him. "Now, here are the rules: passive effect magical trinkets are permitted, and no kicking is allowed in the first two minutes. I will call the match when I deem it to be over."
"Great. She can do anything. I'll just have to beat her quickly."
"Ready? Begin!" The goblin ran off and I ran at Noir, aiming to cave her face in with one punch.
Noir casually dodged my attack and returned with a series of quick body strikes, sending me back a bit. "You really think the same tricks will work again, Snowflake?"
I didn't respond, instead going back on the offense, aiming for Noir's body. As before, she casually dodged everything. "Wall, wall. Get her against the wall." With the idea in mind, I tried to get her against a wall. Unfortunately, she was too slippery. Time after time, just when I was about to get her there, she wove around me and went back towards the middle.
"Come on, Snowflake," Noir taunted before launching another flurry of light attacks at me. "I'm starting to get bored." I had to go down to a knee after her strikes. "Tired already? Now I'm just disappointed."
"Why do I feel so heavy?" I had to put some effort into standing back up and getting my arms in front of me.
"Well, I can admire the effort." Noir circled me for a bit. When the goblin announced that kicks were permitted, Noir didn't hesitate to go for the high kicks, aiming for my head. I barely managed to lift an arm up to block the first kick in time, then, with unreal speed, Noir switched and her other foot smashed into the side of my head. It felt like a freight train hitting me.
"Ow!" I could feel that my aura was getting low as I fell to the ground again, feeling even heavier.
"Do you give up yet?" Noir asked as she stood in front of me.
Somehow, I found the will to go on. "No." I managed to reach out and grab Noir's ankle. "I will not yield to you."
"Pathetic." Despite a sharp kick, I held on.
My hand went down and Noir suddenly stumbled. I looked and saw that I was still holding onto Noir's ankle, but her foot had sunk over an inch into the ground. "Passive enchanted equipment. Is she making me heavier?"
"Release me at once, you dirt dweller!"
"No!" I got my other hand on Noir's leg, and with a bit of leverage, sent her down into the dirt. With her down, I moved up and rested an arm on the back of her knees.
I enjoyed Noir's squirming until the goblin shouted, "This duel is over!" A moment later, the heaviness I was feeling disappeared, and I got back to my feet. "I declare Weiss Schnee the winner. If the duel had continued, one or both of Noir Starlight's knees would have been broken, and that is something I cannot allow to happen."
"Leave me alone, Noir," I said as I left her on the dirt while her crew came over to help her up.
"So, what exactly happened, Weiss?" Nelson asked. "It looked like you got knocked down after only a few hits."
I sat down in the middle of my group, a more natural feeling of heaviness taking hold. "Noir kept me out of the loop on the rules, and she had something that made me heavier when she hit me."
"But only passive effect trinkets were allowed," Jack pointed out. "Aaand I think I just figured out what she did. She didn't cast or attack with magic, she used magical items to prop herself up and inflict heaviness on Weiss."
"So she cheated?" Brick asked.
"No, she just kept Weiss in the dark on the rules," Nikki said. "If Weiss had known the rules ahead of time, I'm sure she would have won."
"I'll have to challenge her to a proper fight in the future," I said as I accepted a flask of water from Tim. "One with a dress code, no trinkets, no assistance, and no arbitrary rules."
"Oh come on," Lilith said. "You have to give her some kind of fighting chance." The sarcasm was definitely there.
"Okay, I'll let her have a pool noodle," I jokingly conceded.
"That sounds fair. Hey, Nelson?"
"Yeah?" Nelson asked.
"How's that trail project coming along?"
"I'm glad you asked. Let's go for a walk."
"So, how's the trail, everyone?"
"It's nice," Zane said. "A good break from being cooped up indoors, I tell ya. Not all that intense, but it's still good. Probably shouldn't count it towards the daily hour, though."
"Yeah, it's too easy for that."
"Aw man. . ." Tim and Taylor groused at the same time.
"Still, fresh air is good."
"Hey, Nelson?" Phoebe said.
"Yes?"
"Why is it just a dirt trail?"
"Honestly? Just doing this much was exhausting for me. Yeah, I know it's a big trail around the school grounds, but I don't have the magic to properly surface it. I'm also kind of hoping the rest of you would be willing to surface it as a team exercise?" The question was asked with a nervous smile and a nervous laugh.
Nikki sighed and shook her head. "Really, what happens to the trail will come down to whoever takes over next year. If you want to abandon it and let nature reclaim the ground, that's fine."
"More importantly, it's almost time for lunch. Who wants to race back to the castle?"
ELSEWHERE, FAR FROM HENWAY
"Welcome, Autumn," Salem said to her disciple.
"Hello, my queen," Autumn said with a bow. "May I ask a question?"
"You may." Salem managed to hide her amusement at being called a queen. "I will not hurt you for asking a question."
"Are you really Salem from RWBY?"
"So you noticed. No, I am not her. I have her appearances and have taken up her name, but I am not truly her. Come with me." Salem led Autumn through the stone door and into the cave, which now bore more resemblance to a small castle, and was illuminated by a number of magical lanterns. "You will have time to admire it later."
"Sorry, my queen." Autumn rushed the short distance to catch up with Salem. "What will I need to do for the ritual?"
"Just follow my orders."
After a few twists and turns inside the castle, they came to their destination: a small room with an altar in the middle of it. The room, like everything else, was well lit, allowing Autumn to see a witch, bound and gagged against a beam on the wall. "Who's she?"
"She will be the source of your magic. Her name does not matter, and she will not be missed."
"Is she a criminal?"
"This one is a serial rapist from the Western Quarter."
"But I thought women couldn't-"
"Yes, women can do that. She forced herself upon many unwilling victims for her pleasure. Is that not the very definition of rape? Clear your head of such silly misconceptions. We are here to give you magic. I will handle the difficult part. Take up her wand."
Autumn found the wand on the altar and picked it up. It felt and looked like a fancy inert stick to her.
Salem moved the bound witch from the beam and onto the table, where she started to violently squirm about. "Shh. If you struggle like that, it will be much more painful." The witch's struggles continued and Salem sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't do that." The ancient witch picked up a short 2x4 from her side of the altar and whacked the struggling witch's head, knocking her out.
"Was that really necessary? Why not use a sleep spell? And where did you get that?"
"Casting anything on her would taint the ritual and affect you. And sometimes, the no-maj methods work best. What I did won't affect anything at all." With her wand, Salem drew thin lines across the witch's clothes, chanting the whole time. After a minute, the lines started to become red, and blood seeped out. The red fluid soon took on a life of its own, moving down to the altar's surface and rushing around to Salem's side. The witch became paler and paler as the blood flowed from her body.
Once the witch was fully drained of her blood, and thus dead, Salem presented a golden goblet to Autumn. "You must now, while holding her wand, drink her blood."
"Like a vampire?" Autumn accepted the goblet and looked inside it. There was a lot less blood in there than what the witch bled out, but it could have been magic making it all fit.
"Take a breath, and drink until the goblet is empty. Do not let your lips leave the edge."
The no-maj girl did as she was told, and took a breath to calm her nerves. "This is for me to get magic." It wasn't long before Autumn had her lips on the goblet, and she was drinking the blood.
For what felt like a short eternity, Autumn's world was nothing but the scent and taste of blood as she did her part. Finally, all the blood had been drained, and as she slammed the empty goblet down, she took a deep breath, like she had just come up from being underwater for so long.
"Good job, my disciple."
"So, what happens no - I don't feel so good." Autumn stumbled around in a daze. She felt like she was about to burst into flames at any moment as the arcane forces wracked her body from within.
She started hyperventilating, and leaned over the corpse in the room. Just as she started to feel better, the power she had consumed made one last protest, setting her left eye and the inside of her throat aflame for a few seconds before finally settling down.
Before Autumn passed out from the pain, she looked at the wand still in her hand and saw a few sparks of magic, bringing a pained smile to her face.
Salem looked at the unconscious newly minted witch, and made a note in her book. "Ritual is incredibly volatile. Do not use again, and do not promise magic to no-majes." With the note made, Salem picked the woman up. Her body felt very warm, and her clothes had been badly damaged from the magic.
"Well, Autumn," Salem said as she laid the witch in a bed made just for her. "I'm not sure which of us had the harder side of the ritual now. Still, it's time for you to rest and heal. You will be very useful in the near future."
