Thanks and shout out to GamerJay, SwapAUAnon, and Gladsome Praetorian for being the Beta Readers for this chapter.

Alright, this next chapter is gonna probably be a long one. In short, it's the "combat class" chapter where we have individual characters fight each other in Beacon's arena. Because of this, a lot of what's here is gonna be a series of fight scenes.

BlazBlue is owned by Arc System Works and RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth. Please support the official release.

Chapter 14: Trial by Combat

Ruby couldn't help but beam with excitement as she and her teammates walked to the combat arena. Combat class was her favorite class out of all of the courses here at Beacon. No boring lectures. No odd philosophical questions that they gave them to ponder over. Just her, her opponent, and her sweetheart kicking their butts.

As for her teammates, Jaune and Noel seemed to be rather apprehensive on Miss Goodwitch's class. Ruby could sort of understand that. Neither of them seemed to like fighting all that much, and in Jaune's case, he wasn't exactly very good at it since the last time they were here, he would have ended up getting the tar kicked out of him had Goodwitch not intervened.

Then again, he was pretty unlucky to end up facing Yang first. And accidentally cutting off a strand of her hair with a sword swing.

Ruby couldn't help but shudder at that memory.

"GET BACK HERE AND DIE LIKE A MAN YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

"SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!"

"Miss Xiao Long! Enough!"

So yeah, nothing but bad memories for the poor guy as far as combat class was concerned.

Ragna, on the other hand, was almost smiling. Well, smile was still a rather rough way to put it. It would be more accurate to say he was smirking. So far, the only things that interested him here either involved fighting and killing Grimm. Made sense since when he always seemed to try sparring the upper classmen. When she asked him why, he just said, "Fighting any of the other first years would be a waste of my time. I'm looking for a challenge."

Considering how strong he was, Ruby guessed that, for the most part, it wasn't just ego talking. Still, he didn't strike her as smug, just...easily bored by anything else here at Beacon if she could find a good way to put it. His opponent the first time around was some guy named Sky Lark. Ragna didn't even try and just punched him hard enough to send him flying out of the arena.

The four of them found their seats on the bleachers. Ruby decided to look around and see if she could find Yang. Sure enough, she and the rest of her team were sitting a few seats above her team. Yang noticed her and waved, with Ruby waving back. Seeing Tsubaki sitting beside her, Ruby elbowed Noel to get her attention, then indicated behind her. Noel and Tsubaki smiled at each other and waved.

"Hey, Noel, you're friend's over there." Ragna gruffly said, pointing to their far left and indicating Team BRNN's location in the sea of other students.

Blake was the first to notice them and got Makoto's attention. They both waved hello, with Makoto mouthing a greeting from her position. Noel did the same, sharing a warm greeting from her position.

Just as everyone started to get settled, Miss Goodwitch walked in and made her way to the center of the stage.

"Alright students, it's time for sparring class. Now, can we have some volunteers for our first match for the day?" Goodwitch called out.

Several students raised their hands, Ruby trying to raise hers the highest.

"Miss Rose." Goodwitch called her name.

Ruby then pumped her fist and whispered "Yes!" to herself as she sped to the side of the arena.

"Alright, now who would like to be Miss Rose's opponent?" Glynda's question caused several hands to be raised up. The only people who didn't were the members of her team, given that members of the same team couldn't fight one another in combat class.

Ruby heard Goodwitch ponder to herself before calling out, "Miss Xiao Long, please step forward." Ruby couldn't help but feel excited. She and her sister were getting to spar each other.

Yang made her way to her side of the arena and said, "Don't worry sis, I'll go easy on you."

Ruby couldn't help but smirk and fire back, "Don't hold back on my account, Yang. You'll regret it."

Goodwitch then walked to the side and exited the arena, leaving Ruby and her sister at center stage for the brawl.

"And, begin!" She called out as the arena's screen showed their Aura levels to the rest of the class.

Yang was the first to move, busting forward with Ember Celica and launching a charged punch aimed right for Ruby's stomach. Ruby was quick to dodge by firing Crescent Rose to direct her left before speeding straight behind Yang; dropkicking her in the back before backflipping away.

Remember, Yang's Semblance let's her take any damage she takes and return it back, Ruby thought to herself and what she knew about her sister's fighting style. Better to make quick hit-and-run attacks. Strike at her and get away until you get her Aura into the red.

Just as Yang charged at her, Ruby waited for her to come close. As soon as Yang was close enough to her sister, she jumped into the air; her fist raised as Ember Celica was about to fire. Ruby saw what Yang was planning and ran forward, blurring close to the edge of the arena and turning with Crescent Rose in its sniper rifle form. Seeing that Yang's back was now facing her, she dug herself into the ground and began firing at her sister's unprotected back. Yang stumbled forward with each shot, her Aura draining with each hit.

A click indicated that Ruby had run out of ammunition, prompting her to remove the current clip. Before she could load up a new one, Yang had turned and was now charging at her; eyes having shifted red. Unlike previously, she unfolded Crescent Rose back to its scythe form and ran towards Yang as her sister fired, dodging each shot with a quickly timed burst of speed, before getting close enough to strike; she spun, using the momentum she gathered and the snath of her weapon to knock Yang away, sending her flying back before the elder sister caught herself and stopped herself on her feet. Yang cocked Ember Celica and threw two belts of concussive ammunition into the air; they perfectly landed in her gauntlets' chambers, reloading her weapons.

So far, so good, Ruby thought as she quickly reloaded Crescent Rose. She checked both hers and Yang's Aura levels. She was still in the green while Yang was now in the yellow. She just needed to keep her distance and directly attack when able before getting away. Yang hit hard and fast, so all her older sister needed was a few good hits to take her out, and she wasn't planning on giving her the opportunity.

Unlike before, Yang didn't immediately charge at her, instead walking across the edge of the arena, with Ruby doing the same in the opposite direction. She watched Yang, working to anticipate her next move. Her sister looked like she was done being reckless and was probably planning something out.

After thirty seconds of the two of them prowling the arena, Ruby made the first move, she fired three bullets at Yang, hoping to get her moving. Instead, her sister fired on them, causing an explosion that enveloped the arena in dust and smoke, blocking Ruby's view.

Crap, I can't see her!

Ruby frantically looked around, trying to see where her sister might come out from.

Then to her right, she saw a shadow rushing right at her. Quick to react, she rushed forward and slashed at it. Instead of being met with the sound of metal hitting an Aura, she instead heard the sound of crumbling stone. As her attack ended, she looked back and saw that what she slashed was actually a large piece of the arena.

Ruby had fallen for her sister's trick.

As the dust started to settle, she saw the outline of a shadow right behind her. She turned and brandished Crescent Rose to attack.

It was too late.

Before Ruby could make her move, she found herself knocked into the air and launched above what was left of the dust cloud. The wind had been knocked out of her, taking her focus away. She could barely see her sister jumping right into the air and stopping just above her. A single punch sent her flying down to the arena floor, kicking up another cloud of dust that dispersed as soon as it arrived.

"Owie." Was all that Ruby could say in a high pitched wine as she felt her Aura break from impact and heard her sister land next to her.

"Oh crap. Ruby, I'm so sorry." Yang said apologetically as she leaned down to check on her; she placed her hand behind Ruby's head and gentle lifted her upper body up. "I was only trying to knock your Aura into the red, but I may have gotten too worked up and went to far and-"

"Yang, ngh," Ruby said as she struggled to pick herself up. "It's fine. I can walk this off."

The sound of rubble moving drew their attention to the arena as Professor Goodwitch used her Semblance to lift and reassemble the pieces of the arena. Soon enough, all the damage Yang caused had been completely undone, as if there was never a battle in the first place. They then saw the professor walk up to them.

"While that was a remarkable display of ingenuity Miss Xiao Long, I strongly recommend you learn to practice restraint when dealing with opponents. You don't want to inadvertently break someone's leg, now, would you?"

"Y-yes professor."

"Good, now Miss Rose, I suggest you report to the infirmary to make sure your injuries aren't anything too severe."

"I'll handle it!" Yang said as she scooped Ruby up in her arms and rushed her out of the room.

"Yang! Wait! I can take myself there." Ruby protested as she was taken into the halls, the door to the arena now far behind them.

"Well, looks like we're minus one now." Ragna grunted out as they all watched Yang carry her sister out.

"That was intense." Noel muttered to herself as she looked down. The entire fight made her feel rather self-conscious. She had just seen her leader and said leader's sister fight with such speed and strength that she had no hope of ever achieving or doing well against. The more she watched the other students in these combat classes, the smaller she felt.

Jaune noticed that Noel looked rather sad and asked, "What's wrong?"

Noel looked to Jaune with an embarrassed expression and looked away before saying, "I-it's nothing, really."

"We all know that 'nothing' means something, kid. So just spit it out." Ragna bluntly told her.

"I," Noel stuttered before she partially turned her head to Ragna, "I just...Ruby just blitzed all over the field and Yang was so strong. I guess I kinda feel insignificant. I mean, Ruby can snipe and she's much faster than I am. And I know that you're super strong just like Yang is, not to mention I needed Jaune to save me at initiation. So..."

And she petered off, not knowing how or if she could finish. Ragna just raised an eyebrow in what she assumed to be contemplation. She looked down again, only to feel a hand on her shoulder and saw Jaune smile at her.

"Noel, you really shouldn't feel so down about yourself. You have one of the coolest weapons here. Uh, no offense Ragna." Jaune stopped to apologize to their taller teammate. Ragna didn't even respond and just put his arms behind his head and leaned back.

"Now where was I? Oh, right. You got to show off what you could do at initiation and you even saved me from the Boarbatusk and the Death Stalker. I mean, if you didn't start shooting at it when you did, I probably would have flown off into the sky."

"He he." Noel turned red as she scratched her cheek. It wasn't so much her precisely shooting to get the monster to fling him off its tail. It was more like the sight of the giant bug freaked her out so much that she just unloaded everything she had at that moment on it hoping to kill it. What Jaune was praising was really just dumb luck on her part.

"Look at it this way, kid." Ragna spoke up, eyes closed in his relaxed position, "Even if you suck shit, you're still better than scrawny over here."

"Ragna!" Noel cried out, "That was mean!"

"Noel, it's fine, really." Jaune said as he shook his hands in front of him, trying to diffuse the situation, "It's just Ragna being Ragna is all." He then muttered, "Not like he's wrong anyway."

Before Noel could say anything, Goodwitch's authoritative voice called her and the others back into reality, "Mister Winchester, step forward."

Noel looked and saw the tall, armored figure of Cardin Winchester walk to his side of the arena. He had a smug smile plastered on his face as he rested his mace on his shoulder.

"Any volunteers to be his opponent?" The professor called out, which was followed my multiple students raising their hands. Noel could hear Makoto even loudly saying "Pick me! Pick me!" in the background.

"Miss Nanaya." Goodwitch called out to the squirrel faunus, "Take your place in the arena so we can begin."

Noel saw Makoto borderline skip her way down to the arena center as her tail swished back and forth. She seemed rather excited, but Noel couldn't really tell why. Either way, she wasn't going to discourage her friend's exuberance. Instead, she nervously yelled out, "Good luck, Makoto!" And waved to her friend. Makoto turned and waved back before giving Noel a thumbs up. To her side, Noel saw that Ragna was now sitting straight, albeit with his arms crossed, as he was now intent on watching the match with the rest of them.

As the two opponents stood face-to-face, Glynda raised her hand and yelled out, "Begin!"

Cardin was the first to attack, charging with his mace raised overhead to slam down on Makoto. Makoto, for her part, rushed quickly and met his charge head-on with incredible speed. In almost the blink of an eye, she was right below Cardin in a crouching position.

The next thing Noel saw was Cardin being sent flying into the air as Makoto had just uppercut him in his chin. The attack itself was a strong one, having sent Cardin's Aura from green to yellow in one hit.

As Cardin grunted and picked himself up, Makoto just casually bounced in a boxing stance, punching the air as if all of this was just a warm-up.

"C'mon. Try harder." Makoto said, sounding like she was trying to rile her opponent up.

Cardin stood up fully and muttered something loudly. Noel couldn't quite make out what it was, but she was pretty sure it was something along the lines of "squirrel-tailed freak".

At that point Noel knew that Cardin was as good as dead.

Once more, Cardin rushed towards Makoto, this time with his mace on his right with the intent on batting her to the side. Rather than charge like she did last time, Makoto just stopped bouncing and stood still with her arms crossed. When Cardin neared her, he swung straight for Makoto's head.

Instead of the result the jerk was expecting, he found that Makoto had blocked the attack with her tail.

"So," Makoto said loudly in an even tone, "Ya wanna repeat that 'squirrel-tailed freak' comment?"

Makoto then proceeded to grab Cardin by his armor and lifted him off the ground with one hand. She then used her tail to repeatedly deliver physical blows to his face over and over again. Noel knew from watching Makoto fight that her tail was strong, each attack carrying half the force of one of her basic punches, which were nothing to sneeze at. By the final punch, Cardin's Aura was down to almost 1%.

With his Aura completely drained, Makoto unceremoniously dropped him and let him fall to the floor in a slump, leaving him to struggle to pick himself up.

"Well done Miss Nanaya." the professor praised as she walked to the arena to meet the two combatants. "Mister Winchester, maybe next time you'll think twice before you needlessly anger your opponent."

"Tch. Whatever." Cardin loudly winced out as he limped back to his seat.

"Now, Miss Nanaya, please take your seat."

Makoto walked back to her seat with a smile and pep in her step. As she passed by Noel and her team, she gave her a high five before rejoining the rest of Team BRNN.

"Alright. Now, while I'll call on volunteers, I would like to see the more...docile among you show an interest in this. It's all for your own improvement." Glynda said as she checked her tablet. "Now, who wants to be part of our next match?"

Amidst the many students that raised their hand, Noel felt that Glynda was calling for her to volunteer based on her statement. She didn't participate in the previous combat class since they had ran out of time to continue with matches. It was mostly because these fights involved sparing in front of the other students and, well, Noel wasn't very good with crowds.

"Miss Vermi-"

"I'll do it!"

Noel looked and saw that Jaune was now standing up with his hand raised high.

"With all due respect Mister Arc, I believe I was calling Miss Vermillion to the arena."

"I-it's okay, he can take my place. If t-that's fine with you professor." Noel stuttered.

Professor Goodwitch simply sighed and said, "Very well, but you'll be fighting in the next match after this one to compensate. Mister Arc, please enter the arena."

Jaune turned to her and gave her a thumbs up before walking down to his side of the arena. At that, Noel realized what was going on.

He saw that I was too scared to go up there and took my place. Noel couldn't help but be touched by the kindness of Jaune's gesture.

"I wouldn't rest easy kid." Noel heard Ragna say, "I'd say Jaune just bought you a minute before you have to face the crowd. Maybe an extra thirty seconds at most."

"Y-you don't know that." Noel nervously said, trying to argue in Jaune's favor, "He can last longer."

"Miss Schnee, please enter the arena." Goodwitch called out.

Noel and Ragna's eyes followed the heiress' rather dignified and confident steps toward the arena. As she entered, Ragna said, "Scratch that. Scrawny's only got thirty seconds."

"Ragna," Noel said as she tried to keep her voice low, "Can't you just be encouraging of him for once!"

"When he actually starts being competent in a fight, then maybe."

"Begin!" Glynda's yell signified the start of the fight. Jaune kept himself behind his shield as Weiss drew her rapier sword and held the guard close to her face.

The two students just stood for a moment, as if gauging the other's movements.

Jaune was the first to attack. He kept his shield up as he drew his blade and charged directly at Weiss, who simply caught the attack with her blade and redirecting him with his momentum to push him in his continued direction. This allowed her to be right behind him to slash away with an attack that sent him rolling to the floor. Jaune, thankfully, was able to walk off the pain and roll to get back to his feet quickly.

Noel silently cheered for her partner, but even she could tell that Weiss far outclassed him in pure bladework. The most he could do against a swordswoman of Weiss' caliber was play the waiting game and look for openings, and the Schnee Heiress wasn't giving him any.

Before Jaune could do anything else, Weiss was on him, jabbing his shield in an attack that pushed him back before following up with a downward strike, which Jaune was thankfully able to block with his sword.

Jaune, through great effort, was able to push Weiss off him, but Weiss then held her saber with its tip pointed upwards, causing a yellow glyph to appear beneath her feet.

Weiss then blitzed forward and slashed away at the blonde before appearing behind her and slashing at him again, and again at his side, and again at his front. Whatever she did to speed up, even Noel was having a hard time keeping pace with how fast she was moving. All Jaune could do was swing wildly in a vain attempt to try and hit his opponent.

Just as Weiss moved to land her final strike, Jaune's luck improved and instead of getting slashed with the tip of her sword one more time, Weiss found herself speeding headfirst into Jaune's swung shield. The attack knocked her far back, almost reaching the edge of the arena as Jaune, nearing exhaustion and due to the recoil of his attack, fell on his butt and gasped for breath.

"Huh, I'll be damned, he actually landed a solid hit." Ragna said, praising Jaune's fighting for a change, even if it was halfhearted.

Noel was also impressed by the attack. She looked to the large monitor and saw that it was also a pretty devastating hit. The attack had managed to knock Weiss' Aura down to half in a single blow, likely thanks to the momentum from her speeding up combined with the amount of force Jaune was pushing into his attacks.

"Enough." Glynda called out. Signaling the stop of the match.

Wait, huh? Noel thought as the professor took center arena.

"Mister Arc's Aura has entered the red. Since these matches utilize tournament style rules, this means that he's no longer able to continue." She then gestured to the screen, and sure enough, Jaune's Aura was now at 20%.

"That's...okay...teach...I...can still..." Jaune sputtered out between individual gasps as he laid on the floor.

"Mister Arc, while you're determination is admirable, you should learn not to expend all your energy. Gauging your Aura will let you better learn to take defensive strategies." Miss Goodwitch advised as she called the students off her stage.

Weiss was the only one to leave the arena, a hand to her face as it was still aching from Jaune's last attack. Jaune just laid on the arena, still drained and unable to move.

Ragna sighed as he suddenly got up and walked to Jaune's position. He picked him up and hoisted his teammate onto his shoulder, carrying him back to their seats and setting him down on the bleachers.

While trying to get himself in an upright position, Jaune caught his breath and muttered, "Sorry I couldn't last longer, Noel."

Noel, rather than talk, just nodded and gave Jaune a grateful smile, letting him know that she was okay and that he didn't need to apologize.

"Miss Vermillion, please enter the Arena."

Goodwitch's voice called to her, making Noel tense with fear. She was going to have to fight in front of a crowd. A large, scary crowd. And none of her team would be up there with her to ease her nerves.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see that it was Ragna this time. He looked her directly in the eye and said, "Look, try pretending that the only people that exist are you and whoever the hell you're fighting. I don't know shit about nerves, but give it a shot and see if that'll work."

"I...thank you." Noel sincerely thanked her teammate as she walked slowly to her spot in the arena. Once she arrived, Glynda called for an opponent to volunteer and after a few moments called out, "Mister Ren."

Out from the bleachers walked that quiet guy in green from Blake and Makoto's team. She heard the orange-haired girl from their team shout "Break her legs Renny!" as he walked down.

Just pretend no one's there. Noel thought to herself as she tried to take Ragna's advice. Just pretend it's just you and you're opponent.

As he took his place and drew his twin guns, Noel did the same and drew Bolverk, pointing the barrels straight at him as she tried to psyche herself up.

The professor called out, "And beg-"

Just before she could begin the match, the sound of a swinging door stalled her and Noel (and most of the other students) found themselves turning to see Yang had just returned. "Sorry to interrupt. The doc said that Ruby had to stay to make sure nothing was too damaged for her Aura to patch up and I wanted to stay, but she insisted I come back, so here I am." The tall blonde said as she awkwardly waved at them all. "Anyway, don't mind me, just continue."

Miss Goodwitch, despite seeming a tad miffed at being interrupted, simply continued and shouted, "Begin!"

Pretend it's just you and your opponent. Noel repeated that in her head as she took aim and fired upon Ren, who proceeded to dodge each bullet with a myriad of ducks and rolls before returning fire himself.

Noel dodged each bullet as best she could, spinning, jumping, and pirouette twirling around each bullet before, during her last spin, she combined Bolverk into shotgun form and fired close to her opponent.

Ren dodged the first scattershot, albeit barely, as a few bullets grazed him and damaged his Aura, before running and jumping onto the barrel of her shotgun. He then proceeded to jump once more and spin kicked Noel in the chest, knocking her away and sending her to the floor. She felt a good chunk of her Aura go with her as she dodge rolled to the side to avoid another hail of fire from his pistols.

"GO REN! GO REN!" The cheering from the orange-haired girl disrupted her thoughts, causing her to lose focus and see the crowd of students. All of them felt like they were watching her.

Noel froze, her posture became more awkward as she felt herself shiver from the attention of the crowd. Her mind went blank as she struggled to figure out what to do next and...

Pain enveloped her front as she felt Ren fire upon her before he ran forward and struck at her again with a cross slash using the blades on his pistols. The attack knocked her onto her back as she felt her Aura drain even further.

She didn't bother checking on her Aura. Odds were that it was too low to continue. As she struggled to pick herself up again, she contemplated on if she should just forfeit now. Not like she could deal with the crowd watching her and...

"Go Noel! You can do it! Keep going!"

"Get up you damned idiot!"

Noel froze as she heard Jaune and Ragna's voices loud and clear as they cheered her on. Suddenly it felt like the only people in the crowd were just her teammates. Through their encouragement, she found herself gaining strength and began picking herself up, focusing on not just her opponent, but also on the voices of her team that lifted her spirits.

As she got up, she could see Ren running towards her once more, intent on slashing away the remains of her Aura while she couldn't fight.

She proved faster, as she quickly blocked his blade attack with Bolverk. A surprised expression was on his face as the metal clanged against each other.

With newfound confidence, Noel took her second pistol and aimed right at Ren's face, firing at point-blank range. Her opponent was knocked far away and landed on his back, but was quick to use that momentum to roll to his feet.

The two of them were now staring each other down. Ren holding his twin pistols in a cross-guard while Noel held Bolverk at her sides. Both watched each other as to anticipate the next move. Despite her regained boldness, Noel could feel that her Aura was on its last legs, and considering the point-blank shot her opponent just took, so was his. The next move could very well determine the fight.

Noel and Ren both ran right at each other as fast as they could. As they neared, Ren spun and aimed a powerful kick directly at her head. Noel swiftly got to her knees and bent low, sliding right beneath his attack. In that second, she recombined Bolverk into its shotgun form once more and pointed it right at Ren's undefended back. The close range shotgun blast sent him flying away, knocking him right out of the arena. Noel could hear him groaning in pain as she holstered her guns.

"Way to go Noel!" She heard Jaune clap out. Hearing this also made her aware of the crowd again, and she regained her awkward demeanor from earlier as her face heated up.

"Boooo-OW!" Noel looked up and saw the orange-haired girl that was cheering for Ren earlier rubbing her elbow while Makoto gave her an angry glare. She didn't need to think too long on what happened.

Glynda walked up as Ren picked himself off the floor and made his way back.

"Well done Miss Vermillion." The professor praised, "Though, as a recommendation, I suggest you learn to deal with crowds."

"I, uh, t-thank you." Noel said as she gave a slight bow before rushing back to her seat as fast as she could.

Well, that was quite the match, Pyrrha thought as both gun wielding students returned to their seats.

So far, she had spent her time analyzing and trying to understand the fighting styles of the individual students from other teams, though she had a hard time without personally fighting them herself.

Shaking her thoughts was Miss Goodwitch calling out for a volunteer for the next match. Pyrrha raised her hand high, hoping to fight at least once today, as many other students did the same.

"Miss Nikos, please enter the arena." Glynda called out.

Pyrrha turned to her teammates and said, "Wish me luck, guys."

"Best of luck, Pyrrha," Tsubaki said.

"Yeah, you're gonna kick ass!" Yang exclaimed. She then turned to Weiss and asked, "What up, Snow Queen, you're not gonna wish her luck?"

Weiss simply said, "It's Pyrrha, she doesn't really need good luck. She'll win easily."

Well, being wished good luck would be appreciated, Weiss. Pyrrha thought to herself as she walked down to the arena.

"Any volunteers?" Glynda's words were met with very few people raising their hands. Pyrrha couldn't help feel frustrated by it all. She didn't really mind who her opponent was so long as they got to have a nice, friendly spar. Unfortunately, not many people in her age group wanted to do so, mostly because they were convinced they'd never win.

"Mister Ragna, step forward." Glynda called as the tall, white-haired swordsman of team RNJR entered the ring.

She and Ragna stood across from each other, both of them having drawn their weapons. Ragna held his blade behind him in his right hand with a reverse-hand grip. Pyrrha opted to keep her shield at the ready in her left arm while she firmly held Milo in sword form in the opposite hand.

"Begin!"

Ragna and Pyrrha both charged at each other; their blades clashing when they met at the center. Sparks flew off where they met as the blades slid off one another. The clash soon became a contest of strength, one where Pyrrha was finding herself overwhelmed as Ragna used his sword to push her away, sending her back a few feet.

Before she could make another move, Ragna jumped high into the air and raised his sword overhead, clearly intent on slamming it down upon her. Pyrrha saw the attack and threw her shield upward to knock her opponent down. Instead, Ragna batted the shield aside with one hand and continued his downward strike. Seeing that there was no time for attack, Pyrrha instead rolled out of the way and retrieved her shield.

Suddenly, a powerful wave of force and gust of wind pushed on her back and knocked her forward. Pyrrha rolled with the sudden force and turned around to face Ragna. She found that he was now standing in the center of a large crater, picking his blade up and hefting it onto his shoulder.

Pyrrha lifted her shield and shifted Milo to rifle mode, taking fire at Ragna's exposed flank. Her opponent responded by rushing towards her one more, raising his sword to block her shots. The sheer width of the blade kept most of her bullets off him, but a few managed to strike at his knee and shoulder, getting absorbed by his Aura and dealing damage.

As he neared, he swiped at her, prompting Pyrrha to bend backwards to dodge, lightly manipulating the blade to keep it off her. Ragna then brought the blade overhead once more and brought it down on her again. In the blink of an eye, Pyrrha sidestepped the attack and used the sword as a jumping off point, kneeing Ragna's face and causing him to let go of his weapon, making him stumble back. The gladiator followed up by sweeping his legs and knocking him to the floor. But Ragna easily jumped off and recovered, backflipping away and getting distance.

Pyrrha briefly checked on hers and Ragna's Aura levels. She had only taken minor damage while Ragna's Aura had just entered the yellow. For now, the odds seemed to be in her favor. He was deprived of his weapon and she was still at near full vitality. Still, she couldn't let her guard down.

Instead of making another attack, Ragna cracked his neck then his knuckles before saying, "Not bad. Looks like that rep. of yours isn't all smoke and mirrors after all."

"I'm glad that I'm providing you a challenge." Pyrrha stated curtly.

"Guess I'm gonna have to take off the kiddie gloves if I'm planning on winning." Ragna stated, looking like he was about to charge again.

Pyrrha prepared herself and shifted Milo back to its rifle form, preparing to fire. Instead of running straight at her, Ragna lunged for her, but what drew her attention most was that now his right arm was coated in a dark aura.

The same aura that he had when angered back on the first day.

The aura's sudden appearance distracted Pyrrha enough that she almost didn't fire on her assailant. Thankfully, she came to her senses and unloaded two more shots into Ragna's undefended left, doing more damage, but not deterring his attack as he forced himself forward.

As soon as he reached, he threw his shadow-coated punch, which Pyrrha was able to block with her shield, but some of the aura moved past the shield and briefly made contact with her. As it did, she suddenly found herself overcome by this unsettling, creepy feeling. For a fleeting moment, it felt as if her life was in danger, that she was on the verge of death just from contact with this black shadow.

Before she could assess this, however, Ragna threw a left hook coated with the same dark aura aimed right at her face, the unsettling feeling that came over her having distracted her from blocking or counterattacking. The attack sent her flying to her left and she landed on the floor far away from her opponent. She felt her right ear ringing from that last hit.

As Pyrrha tried to get up, something felt...wrong. She felt...heavier, like she was submerged deep underwater. When she managed to stand, she saw that Ragna, rather than follow up on his attack, had instead went to retrieve his sword and re-armed himself. He turned to her and held the blade in his usual reverse-grip and charged at her once more.

Pyrrha moved to deflect his attacks, but she found herself struggling more than previously. Each sword swing of his felt as if there was more weight to it, or rather, her strength had fallen. She found it harder to use her Semblance, and she felt heavily exhausted; her limbs felt heavier, and her movements were more sluggish. Even standing felt like it required more effort on her part.

Ragna's last attack knocked her back as she landed on her feet. She gasped for air, struggling to catch her breath. She looked to check on her Aura levels and was shocked with what she saw.

Her Aura had been knocked down by more than half, leaving her at 30%. But what truly shocked Pyrrha the most was that Ragna's Aura had somehow increased. It went from yellow back to green, standing at 76%.

B-but that shouldn't be possible. Pyrrha had never seen someone manage to recover their Aura mid-combat at such a level before.

Before she could ponder on this any further, she heard Ragna charge at her again, this time with his sword coated in the dark aura. Not wanting to get hit with the attack again, Pyrrha focused all her efforts on defense as Ragna came at her with a low sword slash before shifting to a downward strike. As Pyrrha blocked the attack with her shield, she could feel the dark aura assaulting her despite her efforts to prevent it. She could feel herself growing weaker, as if death itself was closer.

Putting every ounce of strength she could muster into her shield, she pushed Ragna's assault away and managed to get some distance. The foreboding feeling of death was gone now, just like before. However, she felt herself grow even more exhausted, all from staying under that dark aura.

So that's his Semblance, Pyrrha realized as she gasped for air and tried to fight off the fatigue, That aura drains anything it touches. Weakening his opponents while strengthening himself.

Pyrrha checked their Aura levels once more to be certain. Sure enough, she was down to 21%, just barely above the red, while Ragna's Aura had further increased to 81%.

At this point in the match, Pyrrha knew that she had no chance at winning. If she exerted herself any further or tried anything, it would most likely end in failure. She only had one option left. Steadying herself as best as she could, she sheathed her weapon and looked to Miss Goodwitch.

"I yield."

The professor nodded and called the match in Ragna's favor. Her opponent, for his part, sheathed his weapon behind him and started walking back to his team while the professor used her Semblance to patch up the damage done to the arena. Before he could get very far, Pyrrha managed to walk up to him and held her hand out, "Good match." She said, the fatigue she felt slowly fading.

Ragna just stood there and looked to her hand for a moment before hesitantly reaching out and shaking it, responding, "Uh, thanks."

Just then, the bell rang and signified that class was over, "Well, I'm afraid that will have to be the last match for today." Professor Goodwitch said, "For those of you who participated today and found themselves lacking, learn from the losses on what went wrong and how to improve. For those who succeeded, don't take your victories as a sign that you don't need further improvement. Revise what you know and le-"

"I'm back!" The door slammed open and Team RNJR's leader, Ruby Rose, stood in the doorway. "They said I'm all good and set to return to class. So what I miss?"

"Uh, sorry." Pyrrha loudly said from where she stood as she rubbed the back of her head, "You kind of missed everything."

She heard a loud whine from Ruby as Ragna walked off with the rest of his team. She saw the students stand up and prepare to leave, so she did the same and went back to her team.

When she got back to them, they were all staring at her wide-eyed at her, especially Weiss.

"What?" She asked, genuinely confused.

After a few moments of stuttering, Weiss composed herself and said, "S-sorry, I just...I didn't think it was possible to see what I just saw."

"To be honest, I'm actually rather glad." Pyrrha said, "It's nice to have someone who can challenge and even best you in a fight. I think it gives you a goal to aspire towards."

Weiss remained silent, having a confused expression before cycling to an understanding expression. Tsubaki spoke up, saying, "So, something that I'm having trouble understanding is how his Aura increased during the battle."

"When I was fighting, I felt myself growing fatigued and drained whenever that black aura hit me." Pyrrha explained as they walked out of the room, "I believe his Semblance allows him to drain the Aura of his opponents on contact and amplify his own."

"Well that explains why we didn't see him use it against any Grimm." Yang said, "If it only drains Aura, it wouldn't work on anything without it."

"Hmph, so he's not only a brute, but a leech as well." Weiss haughtily said as she crossed her arms, much to Pyrrha's ire.

"Weiss, enough." She said, defending her opponent, "Like it or not, Ragna won fair and square on the backbone of his own abilities. His Semblance may be...disturbing, but I see no reason to judge him for it."

That seemed to quiet Weiss on the matter, though it seemed pretty clear that she wasn't happy about it.

As her team walked away, Pyrrha couldn't help but think back to her fight and the feelings she had when Ragna's Aura made contact with her. For as much as she didn't want to, she couldn't help but find it creepy. It felt like the attacks went deeper than just draining her Aura, but she couldn't understand why. Maybe if she fought him again, she would be able to better understand. She'd get her chance soon enough.

Okay, wanted to start my hand at some fight scenes between some students. Also wanted to practice writing for one v one fight scenes using this chapter. Decided on having Yang and Ruby fight on a whim.

Now, I don't know if canonically there is a rule saying that members of the same team cannot spar each other in the official combat class, but I decided to just go with that here.

Also, I kinda realized how much it would make sense for Glynda to be the combat instructor. The students are very likely to cause a lot of damage to the arena in their fights, so having her on immediate standby to clean up and patch up the arena is pretty smart.

Also, special thanks to SwapAUAnon for the help in describing the affects of Soul Eater on the opponent.