Black Paladin

Chapter 20: Fun, History, and Pain

After the conclusion of Yang and Weiss's fight, as the rest of my team go to find seats, I change for my fight. I enter the ring, knowing that one of the teams from Haven is waiting for me. I emerge to see Neptune and Sun standing off-center waving to someone in the crowd.

I walk over to the mirrored side of them and say, startling Neptune, "Well then, this will be interesting."

Neptune and Sun turn, concern and fear rolling through Neptune and a subdued thrill through Sun, as they turn to one another and back. Sun opens, "Sooo… What insane feat of power do you intend for today?"

I smile, thinking about a ridiculous idea that I had been honing. I drew Duality, directly into the spear form and did something they would recognize, due to the times SSSN had sparred with Team RWBYO several times in preparation. The head of my spear began to rotate, until it was a rough parody of Ruby's extended Crescent Rose, with a small exertion of wind dust and several firm Gheist hands, I spun it in the iconic opening stance Ruby preferred.

From the crowd, Ruby called out, ecstatic, "That's mine! He's using my move!"

I waved to her and the team, a smirk visible on my face, as Oobleck announced, "And for our final doubles match, we have team SNNN and the ambitious solo fighter, Obsidian Sinclair." As he says this, the 4 variable biomes begin to go through the selection process. The 2 across from me are the ocean behind Neptune and the ruined city behind Sun. Neptune's fear is suddenly divided between the water behind him and me. Behind me the forest and the desert took shape.

Oobleck waited for the biomes to settle, and called out, "Without further ado, Three! Two! One! Begin!"

As soon as the match began, I used my mobility and some wind dust to speed toward Neptune. He draws up his spear to defend, but couldn't compete with even my poor impersonation of Ruby's signature style or the power I can put behind it. With 2 fast blows, one slash against his leg and one overhead slam that goes across his chest. He is thrown backward, ironically toward the water. My empathy is more than keen to tell me that he is indeed more afraid of the water than me. I turn, seeing that Sun isn't holding back given the 5 of him rushing me. I spin my scythe, warding off his clones, giving me a second to alter Duality back into its short sword form, as I say aloud, "It seems you have me surrounded."

Sun responds, "I do, should have targeted me first." As he finishes, his clones all rush me.

I wave my blade, now glowing a deep purple mixed with a burning red. As his clones get close, I leap, leaving a column of shadow in my wake. As his clones hit the collum, it detonates into fire, and the collum vanishes, showing Sun my deception, as I use a glyph to accelerate, slashing at him from above, holding Duality in a reverse grip, drawing a laugh from Yang as apparently, Blake didn't appreciate me playing copy cat. Sun backpedaled as I slash parallel to his staff, every attempt he makes to strike me leaving another elemental wave stopping him cold. Ice, lightning, fire, darkness, wind, but I didn't use the more esoteric elements the resources of Weiss and Beacon were able to get me. I landed a massive blow on him when he got trapped in one of my ice traps, and knocked him backward. I took a quick glance, seeing both him and Neptune pushing 70% aura.

As Sun stand I move in to rush him again, only to get shot in the back by Neptune. I feel the lightning arc across me, and for a moment I can't move. It's more than enough for Sun to hit me hard with a massive, and gunpowder enhanced swing to the head. It throws me back, nearly to the edge of the forest. I stand up as they regather themselves toward the broken city corner obviously intent on fighting back and feel my blood sing.

I draw Duality into its spear formation, as an even dozen colored glyphs form between us. Three horizontal, along the ground in a line toward them, the other 9 in three triangles, rotating and angling themselves towards the two fighters, empowered with fire, ice, and lightning. Three thick streams of lighting converging onto their left with the full force of someone who has learned how to use the power I can command.

I smirk, and charge them, using the horizontal glyphs to all but appear among them, opening with piercing strokes into the expected evasive path from the lighting bolts. The glyphs turn and flash freeze a wall into existence further to the right, extending about 6 inches thick, maybe 7 feet tall all the way to the energy shield. They stop short of the wall and turn back to face me. I snark, bordering on a growl, "Ah aha ah, no running."

I ignite the head of my spear, and advance slowly, drinking in the fear of my opponents. I coil my muscles, increasing my strength to its humanoid peak, and I fake spearing high, only to swing the spear low, taking the legs out from under them. I spin my burning spear about, and back into its scythe, coming in for a crushing final blow, only to be blocked by Sun's redeployment of his clones. A vicious series of swings from my scythe, both attacking the clones, and keeping the two people prone.

After cutting down the clones, I turn back to the 2 people slowly getting up, fear pouring off of them, driving me forward. I draw back my weapon, to flatten the one brazenly opposing me with his metal stick. A heavy diagonal blow knocking out to the side, tormenting my fallen prey….. What?

I freeze; the aggression, the hate, the bloodlust singing in my mind, where is it coming from? I see Sun and Neptune, looking desperate, but the suffocating negative emotions driving me to violence that I was submerged in a moment ago were absent. I pull back my scythe, morph it into its more compact form, the lull in the action finally allowing me to clear my head. I clear my throat, and say, "What, scared?"

Sun comments, "You looked really intense there...like scary intent."

I file away the relief that I wasn't visibly Grimm and say, "It's a competition, am I not allowed?"

Sun smiles, "Sure, just shocking." I offer him my hand, and help him up, taking the chance to look at the board. I sit at almost 85% while Neptune is just below 30%, with Sun just over the same.

I smile as I lift Neptune up, and ask, "You too good to continue?"

Sun announces, "Of course, we're going to make the epic comeback!" I take a few steps back and electrify Duality, and twirl it once, before levitating a stick between us.

I say, "When the stick hits the floor, we begin." I let the stick fall, and the moment it hits they charge, and the weapon flies over, taking Neptune by surprise and throwing and pinning him into the ice wall, and with a buzzer, taking him out of the competition.

Sun with his nunchucks come blazing in, a blistering offense...for anyone else, I let him get close, and catch the other end of the two. Sun pauses, shocked at my move, as I rip them from his hand. He pauses and goes to deploy his clones, as I point my spear, and a cone of fire engulfs him for a moment, taking him down dangerously close to the line, as the smack of his own nunchuck coming into contact with his head followed by the buzzer signals the end of the match.

Sun stands, shocked at the nunchuck resting on his shoulder. "Did you finish me with my own weapon?"

"No hard feelings?"

Sun sighs and says, "That's just kinda embarrassing man."

"Could be worse." I say waving to Neptune, still embedded in an ice wall.

Sun laughs, and Neptune demands, "Can you let me out?"

I reach over, and the wall immediately around Neptune shatters, sprawling him onto the floor.

We leave the arena, but the events of the match weigh heavily on my mind. 'What happened?'

️ ️Emerald ️

As we close the door to our team room Cinder turns to me, with a curious look on her face. "What exactly happened?"

I shiver under her glare. "You told me to influence him, to make him afraid and desperate, to see how he would react. He reacted strangely, becoming more aggressive and violent not a typical fear response."

"And how did he seem to overcome your illusion?"

"Well...it's just a projection when someone really focuses on the details they can ignore it, and it was a fairly steep influence. Maybe the emotional response registered as external somehow?"

Cinder looked away thoughtfully, she murmurs "He is listed as an empath. Hmmmm…."

She looks back to me and smiles, "He grew more aggressive regardless, which we will need...but given the unexpected reaction, I think that plan B will be more effective. We'll use him elsewhere."

"Yes, Cinder."

"Good work Emerald." Cinder lightly stroked her hair.

"Thank you, Cinder." Emerald leaned into the contact.

That afternoon I explained the whole event to Pyrrha.

She has questions, most of which I couldn't answer, the whys and the hows elude me. I explain, "Normally I keep those impulses in check, and they have never been that strong before."

She looks thoughtful, but quickly recovers, "What do you want to do about finals? They start tomorrow."

I pause, "I have a good chance of facing either you or Yang tomorrow. If I do, I will simply forfeit the match, allow the best showing for Beacon or something. If not, I will try but not get all intense. Like I did today, not focused on shows of power or skill, just allow them to overpower me."

Pyrrha said, "These are the best from the schools, you shouldn't underestimate them."

I smile, "I'm not, I am expecting them to beat me." We look back up at the clouds and are relaxing again, as Pyrrha's scroll goes off. She opens it to find it's Ozpin. "Mrs. Nikos, could you please come up to my office. I have a question for you."

A brief kiss goodbye and I say, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She walks off, and I wonder what Opzin could need to ask her.

The next day Pyrrha seemed off. She was conflicted and closed off, and concerned, and confused. As we stood side by side among the 8 combatants, and I asked, "You ok?"

She nods, and says, "I have some things to think about."

I nod, concerned, but unwilling to pry right now.

Port announces, "Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!"

After a moment, he continues, "Barty, why don't you explain the rules?"

Oobleck begins, "Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!"

Port comments, "Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!"

Oobleck continues, "Ah, yes, yes! Now, let's see who our first match will be!"

The roulette starts spinning and after a moment, the screens stop with...

Port announces, "Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!"

Ruby cups her hands yelling, "Break a leg, sis!"

Port requests, "Would all other combatants please leave the stage!"

The remaining 6 of us watch from the locker room as the match begins.

Yang smiles, saying "You better not go easy on me."

Mercury laughs, "You wish."

Both brawlers face the crowds one last time, then slowly start advancing on each other, arms raised defensively until their hands can almost touch, as the final countdown commences.

Port announces, "Three! Two! One! Begin!"

Immediately, Yang activates her semblance, glowing slightly as she throws a punch. Mercury spins his foot to meet it, the impact launches him back. He closes the distance quickly and kicks center mass, but she leaps over it and fires off a round with Ember Celica that he avoids. Close combat ensues momentarily, Yang getting in a point-blank round on her opponent at the cost of mercury landing a powerful blow on her. She stands firm while Mercury shoots himself into the air to get farther away from her, before looking up and smiling.

Yang doesn't relent for a second, launching shot after shot only for Mercury to dodge each of them, sliding around the stage on clouds of air until he attempts to come down on her with his leg. She blocks and pushes away the attack, but he goes under her shotgun burst and manages to land a kick on her, though she still lands in a crouch, now grimacing.

She launches forward with a double blast and continues landing blow after blazing blow on him, right up to when he roundhouse kicks her in the back and attempts to hit her with his heel. She gets out just in time and punches the ground trying to get him, but he leaps out and twirls to get a hit on her. One of his kicks seems to pass over her, but then he brings it down hard enough to shatter the steel underneath, which Yang narrowly rolls backward to avoid.

They exchange kicks after this attack until Mercury hits her backward, and he rushes forward only to receive a fist to his chin, then his torso, knocking him painfully on his stomach. He gets up right as Yang starts raining down fire again her explosions expanding slightly, causing him to somersault back until one explosion causes him to get knocked off of the stage.

He saves himself by firing his boots downward and flying back in front of his enemy, unleashing a series of kicks that she deflects with her arms. She ducks under one attack only to receive another as Mercury jumps into the air to knock her back, and he follows it up with a shot from his boots. Yang avoids it effortlessly, not noticing it still hanging around behind her.

Switching tactics, Mercury starts shooting his foot out in every direction, each kick into the air accompanied by a silvery blast that is barely even aimed at Yang. She dodges each one coming her way and gets in close through the circling barrage of shots, fighting with their fists again until Mercury kicks her into the air and knocks her right back to the ground, followed by the dozens of swirling shots that now converge right on to Yang.

When the blasts stop coming down on his opponent, Mercury gets up from his crouch and grins to himself, dusting off his outfit and seeming as happy as can be until the smoke from behind him erupts into flames. His momentary shock turns into another smile as he turns around to see the brightly glowing Yang slam her knuckles together and come at him.

Screaming, she lands a punch that sends him back, and she rushes up avoiding each kick and even taking one with no effect to pound him with 2 massive hits. He has enough time after the first strike to let out a pained groan before she hits him in the stomach, his Aura sparkling up to try and defend him from the last hit to the face by the upset blonde. He lands on his back as the buzzer sounds over the roars of the audience.

As Yang lowers her fists and closes her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief before raising her arm in victory, Port begins, "What a way to kick off the finals!"

As the stage lowers and is level with the stadium floor again, Oobleck announces, "Yang Xiao Long wins!"

Cheers ring out from the stadium, and Yang wipes her brow with an arm and she addresses the humbled Mercury, "Better luck next time."

She starts circling the crouched-down Mercury, and as he stands Mercury, she turns abruptly.

Yang scowls as she swings viciously downward, hitting Mercury in the leg, still containing the energy from their fight. The second she does so, there is an audible sound of something shattering. Everyone is in shock as Mercury reels from the pain. I fall to the ground, the tidal wave of negative emotions overcoming me, actually bringing me to my knees. As the footage plays, I can only watch, nearly crippeled by the pain.

Oobleck exclaims, "My word!"

Port demands, "Cut the cameras!"

Yang berates the fallen man, "That's what you get, you little- Huh?" she stops just as she notices the Atlesian Knight-200 droids and two Soldiers circling her and raising their guns.

One of the soldier's demands, "Yang Xiao Long, stand down!"

Yang asks, generally confused, "What!? Why!?"

Emerald yells, "Mercury!" as she rushes over to her partner's side, comforting him.

Mercury cries hysterically, "Why'd she do that!? WHY'D SHE ATTACK ME!?"

Emerald calls out, "Please, somebody help him!" to the paramedics coming over with a stretcher, "Can you do something!?"

The 2 exchange glances and one responds calm-ish-ly, "We need to get this boy to a hospital. Grab a blanket."

They get Mercury on the stretcher and rush him off, Emerald following right behind. Yang looks on with a horrified expression, her lilac eyes now almost colorless.

Yang attempts to explain, "You don't understand!" pointing at Mercury, "He attacked me, I swear!"

The guards lift their guns higher as she moves, "Stow it! You've already caused enough of a scene!"

Ironwood explains as the 5 of us listen in from the bunk beds, "I'm sorry, but you've left us with no choice."

Yang explains gain, "But he attacked me!"

Ironwood is still pacing around the room, not looking at any of us, "Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise."

Weiss gesturing to her teammate, explaining, "But Yang would never do that!"

Ruby standing up to defend her, "Yeah!"

I comment from Blake's usual perch, still slightly reeling from the negative emotions in my range, "I can firmly say that she isn't lying."

Ironwood turns around as Yang sighs and places her head in her hands, "You all seem like good students, and the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did... under normal circumstances." Ruby sits back down, all discontent with that statement, "What I believe and hope this to be is nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline. When you're out on the battlefield, your judgment can become clouded in an instant. Sometimes you see things that simply aren't there. Even after the fight is past…" with that last statement, he looks to the right while rolling his right shoulder.

Yang continues, "But I wasn't-"

Ironwood angry, and firm "That's ENOUGH!" as the room falls silent, he continues, "The sad truth is, whether it was an accident or an assault, it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that... you are disqualified."

Yang's shock turns into a miserable understanding and she looks to the ground, and Ironwood begins to leave.

I follow him outside, and ask, "General, is team RWBYO disqualified, or is Miss Xiao Long disqualified?"

He turns to me, still cold, "I suspect it is team RWBY, however as you registered as an independent, it is complex. As such it is a question for Headmaster Ozpin."

I walk back in as Yang asks, "Blake?"

Blake turns her gaze away, earning a shocked look between Ruby and Weiss.

Blake begins, "I want to believe you…"

Ruby demands, "Huh!?"

Weiss demands, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yang's eyes widen, tears form, and genuine pain erupts through her, "Blake?"

Weiss demands again when Blake looks up at Yang, and then back down, "How can you say something like that? Yang would never lie to us!"

Blake glances at Weiss, then takes a deep breath before starting "I had someone very dear to me change…."

I interrupt, "Blake, Yang is genuinely appalled that she did this. Unless you think she can hide her emotions from me, which no one has ever been able to do, then she is genuine; she is also crushed that her partner could think something so appalling of her." I stand next to Yang, give Blake a withering stare for her statement, and ask Yang, "Is there anything you want us to do?"

Yang wipes her eyes of tears, then turns to look at Blake right in the eyes, and says as calmly as she can, "I saw him attack me, so I attacked back."

Blake nods, "Ok."

Yang looks down, "I think I'm gonna rest up."

Ruby waves us all out of the room, leaving Yang to wallow.

We all walked into the hall.

Weiss shook her head and sighed, "This is a mess…"

Jaune follows the sound of an opening door as he peeks out of Team JNPR's room, with his team peering around the edge in concern, "She doing okay?"

Blake says, "She's doing the best she can."

I say, "I think that she just needs time."

Ruby holding her hands up, "I heard Mercury and his team rushed back to Haven to be with his family. So, until they land, no one can really question him about what happened."

Ren says, "If there's anything we can do, please don't hesitate to ask."

Ruby looks down, "All right then. If that's the case…" turns her gaze up again, "Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha looks to Ruby as she gets herself seated on a bed, "Hm?"

Ruby holds her clenched hands up as she tries to put on a grin, "You be sure to win one for Beacon, okay?"

Weiss nods as she and Blake also smile sadly, while I frown, "It's what Yang would want."

Pyrrha turns her head away before coming back with her attempt at a confident look, "I'll... do my best."

Ruby says excitedly, "I'll be sure to watch tonight in case you're picked!"

Pyrrha's smile dips down into worry as she looks away.

Blake says, "Sorry but, I think I've had enough fighting for one year."

Weiss nods once, "Ditto." and after a moment passes before she asks, "Coffee?"

Blake smiles, "Tea."

The other three members of RWBY walk down the hall, and Jaune closes the door when he sees Ruby disappear behind the corner. Pyrrha continues to look forlorn, and I ask, "Are you ok?"

Nora suddenly gets up in Pyrrha's face, grinning madly, "You heard the lady! No more moping around!" backs away to the other side of the room, now clad in pink workout clothes and sweatbands, as she points to Pyrrha, "We gotta get your butt in shape for the big fight!" as she starts doing random exercises - running in place, pushups, jumping jacks - while she continues, "It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be the most important fight of your entire life!" she culminates this demonstration by lifting a barbel, holding it in the air and sweating profusely before falling backward.

Pyrrha smiles a little in bewilderment, "Um…"

Ren asks from another part of the room, "Nora's right." Pyrrha looks to him in his pink apron, "You can't let your concern for Yang hold you back. You need to focus. You'll be defending the honor of Beacon Academy."

"Guys, calm down, she just needs to relax." I say, sitting near her.

Pyrrha nods, "That sounds-"

Ren cuts her off as he holds a glass filled with a green liquid making bubbling noises in front of her face, "This blend of herbs and vegetables is filled with nutrients vital to your body's well-being."

Pyrrha says, "Oh, that's-"

Ren steps away, smiling, "Please, there's no need to thank me."

Nora looks at her partner with a disgusted face, "Thank you? Ugh, that looks like slime from a lakebed!"

Ren turns away from her, cradling his creation, "Algae contains numerous spectacular properties. See for yourself." lifts it towards her mouth.

Nora sips it and immediately regrets it, face turning the same sickly green as the healthy sludge, "BLEGH!" she goes straight over to the trash can and vomited heavily, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? Ugh…"

Ren gestured, "Me? You're the one that wasted perfectly good juice."

Nora says, "We're supposed to help Pyrrha, not poison her!"

Ren demands, "There was absolutely nothing wrong with that."

Nora puts her hands on her hips as she resolutely states, "If it looks the same coming up as it does going down, then there's something wrong!"

Neither of them notices as Pyrrha's smile at their antics, though Jaune and I do.

Jaune comes over and places a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, how about we all get some fresh air?"

Pyrrha looks up at Jaune, who grins at his troubled friend.

I watch as the two of them walk off, wondering what has her so down.

Shortly after they left, I went up towards the headmaster's tower. I hit the intercom and asked, "It's Obsidian Sinclair. I would like to speak to headmaster Ozpin about the tournament."

After several minutes, the elevator opened, and the intercom buzzed, "Please come in."

I entered the elevator, and after a minute the elevator opened. I walked out and saw Ozpin and Ironwood. I pause, and ask, "The elevator let me up, I can come back later."

"It's fine." Ozpin said, "James mentioned your earlier conversation. I understand that you might ask about your continued participation in the tournament."

"Yes. I wanted to forfeit."

Ironwood looked shocked, "Really?"

Ozpin looked pensive, "Mr. Sinclair, do you understand the consequences of your actions?"

I nod, "I understand, after Yang, I feel that I shouldn't continue. It would be an insult."

Ozpin nodded. "I accept. I'll take your name off the roster immediately."

I nod, and I bid my leave. I feel confusion from Ironwood. I feel something very strange from Ozpin, something I can't pin down.

We all head toward the arena, a thick cloud of anger still hung over the city, growing denser when the arena filled with people. It wasn't quite painful to be in, but it was stressful all the same. I sat in the front row, with JNPR, Blake and Weiss. They seemed surprised to see me. I explained, "I told Ozpin that I was done. After Yang, it felt like an insult to continue."

JNPR, Blake, and Weiss all looked somber, and Jaune nodded. We all turned to the arena as Oobleck, "All right, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!"

The sound of the roulette plays, and after a moment, Port explains "It looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina from Atlas…"

And after several more seconds, the wheel turns and turns and goes black. "That can't be right." There is a commotion audible in the booth, before over the loudspeaker, "It would seem we have a technical difficulty. It will just be a…"

The wheel began to spin again, and it landed on my face. "Obsidian Sinclair from Beacon!"

AN: This is slightly shorter than normal, but the next one will be a doozy.

AN2: Sorry for the wait. I had believed that this chapter was up a while ago.