Victory was bittersweet.
Once upon a time, she had been obsessed with it.
After she won her first tournament, a thirst had awoken within her.
A thirst for that same euphoria that she had felt that day.
The euphoria of a challenge.
The euphoria of triumph.
And so she sought it.
She trained every day whenever she could find the time.
And she entered every tournament that she could.
And she won.
And she won.
Until she was at the highest battlefield.
The place where she would be able to fight the strongest opponents.
The place where she would be able to prove her strength.
And the place where she would achieve a euphoria greater than any other.
The Mistral Regional Tournament.
She fought many worthy opponents.
The challenge was so daunting that many times she felt she might lose.
But in the end, they all fell to her blade.
She took the victory from them all.
And when she received that dazzling gold trophy, it was the happiest moment of her life.
However, it didn't take long for her to come to a striking realization.
What did she do now?
For what did she train now?
Where were the stronger challenges she desired?
Where could she obtain that euphoria next?
Nowhere she realized.
A grander stage would be locked away for years atop Amity Colosseum, and there was nothing in between.
So unable to think up any other alternatives, she reentered herself in the tournament cycles.
And she demolished.
No one even came close.
Gone was the unknown underdog who swept through the cycle and snatched victory.
Now there was only the champion who crushed those beneath her.
Those that had been inspired by her to hope.
Those that had been inspired by her to try.
And those whose dreams were shattered by the one who created them.
An enviable position, to be sure, but she enjoyed none of it.
Gone was the challenge.
Gone was the excitement.
Gone was the euphoria.
Now she only went through the motions.
And so she decided to try to fill the emptiness inside her.
She had neglected social interaction during her training, and so was friendless.
Perhaps if she had friends to talk with, to smile with, to laugh with.
Perhaps then she would be happy.
She became determined to try to make some.
And for the first time in a long time, she realized that she was excited.
She was sure this would work.
But she was rejected.
She was no longer herself.
She was now the champion, the invincible girl.
Everyone either admired her or hated her, but none knew her.
They knew only her image, and no one would be friends with the girl underneath.
She decided to kill that image.
If she left the tournament scene, then surely her image would inevitably die out.
But when she told her parents this, they became furious and forbade it.
The parents who had started out as merely happy to see their daughter succeed had become absorbed in the money and fame.
As a result, she remained lonely and empty.
Until one day, an opportunity came in the shape of a letter.
Her parents had told her to apply to all four hunstman academies even if the whole world knew she would go to Haven.
They said it would prove her superiority if she were accepted by them all.
And she was.
And destiny came in a letter from Beacon Academy sitting at her doorstep.
Everyone had assumed she would pick Haven.
But now, she flew to a land where she would leave behind her cursed moniker, and only she would remain.
And as she flew above the oceans of Remnant, she pondered on the thing that had once been her sole goal and that she now wanted none of.
Victory had given her the greatest time of her life but also the worst.
And in the end, there was only one way she could describe her feelings towards it.
Bittersweet.