Ch 36 - My Fate is My Own.
A/N: On a personal and philosophical level, I reject the concept of destiny, because I refuse to believe that my life is set in stone by some higher power. If it is, why bother doing anything at all, if a god or whatever says it will happen that way regardless? So the title for this chapter is partly an extension of my belief in free will and free action, and partly a play on the fact that the canon episode we're on is named "Destiny."
On a less metaphysical note, I wanna give a shoutout to another story on this site: Dark Souls: Derp Edition, by Supreme Gamer, a purely Dark Souls fanfic. It's one of several stories that finally inspired me to get off my ass, grab my laptop, and then immediately get back on my ass and start typing this. So here's me giving back to you.
Edit by me from 3 months after writing this chapter: I actually got a review from him on chapter 24, which is ironic because I put this shout-out here months before that chapter was posted. So he preempted my preempting. Therefore, I must concede defeat to you, Supreme Gamer. Much like Han Solo, you shot first.
Bonus chapter is now at 306 reviews, because Dasgun keeps leaving random punctuations and numbers instead of an actual response.
In sequel related news, chapter 8 has been completed, and work on chapter 9 (following the group of misfits I have gallivanting across Anima, rather than the band of numbskulls I have running riot in Mantle or the unfortunate sods about to upend Menagerie) is now underway.
Update 5 minutes before this chapter goes up: I basically spent a week not working on the sequel because my dumb ass decided I wanted to get every achievement for Spain in Hearts of Iron 4. One King, Two Crowns (As Bourbon Spain [IE: play the Nationalists, and then trigger the Carlist uprising to establish a Spanish Monarchy in the middle of the Spanish Civil War], own all French core states [continental France, Corsica, and Algeria if France went with the Leon-Blum proposal]) unironically gave me more trouble than the Go Ahead, Macau my day achievement that Portugal has (which involves setting up a collaboration regime in the Portuguese enclave of Macau, and then having it own all of China - which consequently means you need to kill Japan for Hebei and Manchuria, you need to kill ALL of China, AND you need to kill the UK and France for their two port cities, which needs to be done by the end of 1941 or the Americans will join the Allies, meaning you have to kill the US too). Suffice to say, I managed to conquer France as Carlist Spain with a Bourbon King, but it took a 1.6 million Spaniards (never-mind the civil war casualties), 16 million people from the Americas (not just the US) who were also fighting the fascists I had to face, and 21 million dead Frenchmen, Brits, Indians and Italians (I play with Historical off, so so the UK became fascists and allied with the Italians, who then took over France, so it was a Gwyndamn miracle I didn't end up having to fight the nazis as well, because I would have just restarted for attempt #10 at that point). It also took until 1953, when the game starts in 1936 and typically ends between 1945-48 if you're not attempting a world conquest. The three gaming sessions for that achievement alone took over 18 hours, and I'm so fed up of the game ATM that I don't want to touch my gaming laptop again for a week (consequently, this is getting uploaded from my school laptop, but the semester has been over for a few weeks, so its fine). So hopefully this next week will see a lot more work on the sequel.
I just want to point out, as a little thought experiment: If Yang had hit Mercury in this timeline and killed him, Vyliria would have jumped straight into the arena to investigate. While it wouldn't absolve Yang of murder, Vyliria certainly would have noticed Emerald trying to fuck with her head, and would have shrugged it off (she did study under a god whose specialty was illusions), and then noticed Mercury had metal legs. And it would certainly raise a lot of questions as to why no one was told Mercury had prosthetics. There would have been a full on investigation of Cinder's team, and Vyliria would have also gone on a witch-hunt looking for whoever was messing with her head (with Cinder's team being prime suspects), regardless of whether or not anyone would have believed her and Yang.
Review Response:
Skeletalrepublic: I'm really enjoying how your shifting the story. It's all familiar, but then you throw a curveball that genuinely surprised me with your alterations. Yang learning probably one of my favorite pyromancy spells in the game is nice, the effects leave me curious over if she permanently loses her aura or not, and if it's not permanent, does it also affect her semblance while in use. Patches getting in and sending a message about how their Firewalls suck massive dong to Oz and Iron really got me chuckling
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You know I'm slapping myself real hard for not considering how Emerald's Illusions would actually be affected by Pyromancy and Dark Souls logic on illusions. Fantastic work on the chapter as always.
My response: Yeah, it's nice to finally be getting to the curveballs. As for power within, look at it like this: The spell drains health (in this case aura first, then health) and hurts a lot, in exchange for a fairly chonky attack boost. But Yang can push past the pain, and her semblance means that over the course of the spell, her attacks will constantly be getting stronger. Stack the both of those with consecutive hits from the Pontiff's Right Eye, and you get a LOT of damage.
Patches has probably been my second favorite part of writing this story.
Also, really? I thought I'd made it super obvious back in chapter 11. Then again, it was long enough back that some people probably forgot. Oh well, I'm glad I've caught a couple people by surprise with this at least.
CykaBlyatintensifies: Derailing from cannon, I see. Great for you!
My response: Yeah, chapter 35 basically marks the beginning of the endgame for this book, though the climax proper takes place over chapters 44, 45, and 46. So of course this had to be where I finally started properly diverging from my parallel to RWBY canon.
Rando guy that likes this FF: Hahaha! Nothing is going to cinder's plan, that nerd Tzeench won't be happy. Anyways great chapter and holy shit there's going to be a book 3? I have a feeling that book 2 will be during volume 4-6. I never really liked that but a good book can and will keep me interested durning that. Yes Neo is best girl and Roman is the (one of) best characters. So hopefully he won't get done dirty like in the show. I know Cinder probably isn't ready for the wrath of an immortal, so I wait to see when that happens. As a last note why the hell are there more favorites than reviews?
My response: I currently have five books planned for this series. I've finished book one, am working on book two (which I plan to roughly cover the time period of Volumes 4-6), have the general plot for book 3 already planned and a few scenes written out, and no real plans but one written scene (in the ruins of a place from Dark Souls) written out in advance for book 4 (basically, I have a single subplot that would take like 3 chapters at the max planned in the deserts of Vacuo, but everything else for book 4 is up in the air), and book 5 is my planned endgame (I have plans for what the final battle will look like, and a general idea of how it throws down, but that's about it). There's a bit more details on my bio for my planned stories.
Yes, Neo is Best Girl, and you can be sure I got great plans for my boy Roman and his best pal Patches.
Cinder might be part of a world the rest of Remnant is woefully unprepared for, but the conflict between Salem and Ozma is basically Tuesday for the likes of Vyliria Avalon. The False Maiden is in for a rude awakening when she'll find herself faced with the last student of the Dark Sun Gwyndolin.
And I have no idea why there's more favorites than reviews. I guess more people enjoy just reading it than reading and providing feedback. Your guess is as good as mine.
Bloodhunter101: OK, amazing chapter! And whole I could see the whole Emeralds semblance doesn't work against pyromancy flame since the chapter you mentioned it, it was still satisfying as hell watching (or reading) cinders reaction to her plan gone bad. I just have one fault with it, now I was reading another dark souls and rwby fic but it also had bloodborne in it, now in bloodborne there's this thing called insight that let's you see through illusions and the like because you only see the truth, now Emerald tries to affect the hunter with her semblance and while it kind of doesn't work it still does, the author explained this by saying that Emeralds semblance goes into the victims mind, now I haven't seen volume 8 where this is stated, but would the pyromancy flame still affect the hallucination? Anyway great chapter!
My response: Well, I did my reasoning on pyromancy flames and Emerald like this:
1) This isn't Bloodborne, so insight doesn't apply.
2) From the thing in DS1 with Quelana, what I took away from it is that pyromancy flames of a sufficient strength basically make you immune to lesser mental manipulation, and able to tell that something is up when REALLY powerful illusory magics are being used against you. My caveat for balancing purposes is that unless you're a Daughter of Chaos or otherwise family to the Witch of Izalith, the flame needs to be active to give illusion resistance (as in, light, and ready to cast - ie, your hand is on fire and ready to throw MORE fire).
3) This is V3 Emerald, who gets migraines from trying to mess with 2 people. So a well-off flame will basically slam the door in her face as soon as it lights. V8 Emerald, on the other hand, would still be able to mess with you, but you'd be able to tell someone was screwing with your mind, and could try and fight it off. And considering that Vyliria studied under a god whose specialty was illusions, she'd absolutely be able to fight off Emerald's manipulations.
4) Even in canon, I interpreted semblances as a residual form of magic left behind by the Brother Dark, whether unintentionally or to spite his brother was left in the air. In FATD, I'm outright saying semblances are magic that are independent of aura, hence why Vow of Silence shuts semblances but not aura. Since semblances ARE magic in this continuity, a hallucinatory/illusory semblance is the exact type of magic countered by a pyromancy flame.
Glad you enjoyed it!
ScreamingStuka: I was always wondering how Pyromancy would counter illusions. Was it a passive ability, or was it an active force, or just turns on when fire balls start get flinged. And its reaction on Emerald! Loved that part, and her groveling to Cinder. Poor girl, get someone who actually cares about you! Actually lets pair her and Illia together, that could work, so much in common.
Hahaha, Ozpin you totally deserved that. Very interested to see how the rest of the finals go with these modifications. Hopefully no dead gynoids.
And Patches, laying the groundwork for the ultimate backstab. I REALLY need to see him kick SOMEONE off a ledge, whether its Cindy, Taurus or Ironwood. Maybe Watts? So many assholes, so little time.
And yes I did see the Elden Ring trailer. I am so psyched for it, definitely on my list of games ti grab when I eventually buy a PS5. Wonder in what way Patches will appear in this one? and what incarnation of Moonlight will we get? Oh Ive got chills.
Loved the chapter and cant wait to read the next one.
oh wait, I don't have to. I did subscribe/follow/ whatever word it is, to your pateron. Forgot I actually had one so its under one of my older IDs, Talosthewolf.
Until next time!
My response: I have... VERY different plans for Emerald and Cinder, when compared to canon. And why not, I'll ship Emerald and Illia. It's unorthodox, that's for sure.
Yes, startling Oz was a fun spur-of-the-moment idea. Let's just say that there will be more than two finals matches before dung hits the fire. And when dung DOES hit the fire, I plan to have it occur in such a manner that AFAIK, is a COMPLETE first, that's NEVER been done anywhere in Fanfiction before.
As for Patches, I also want him to boot someone off a cliff, but I need to find the proper moment for it. It'll come... eventually.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own my own OC.
(Vyliria)
It was a tense atmosphere the next day, as Ozpin and Ironwood fabricated an excuse of technical errors in Amity to delay the finals by a day to see if they could identify the hostile actor. Both RWBY and JNAPR were remaining in their dorms, terrified that their (or their friends', in the case of the three women with pyromancy) own senses might be hijacked at any given moment outside the building. That said, they were taking the opportunity to get some last minute preparation for the finals… or in JNAPR's case, Vyliria got to watch Nora try far too hard to help Pyrrha.
"All right!" the ginger bomber cried out. "No more moping around!"
Vyliria had to blink a few times, because she swore Nora spontaneously changed from her normal outfit to a workout outfit, and when she gave a discreet glance to Ren, the stoic man whispered back, "Nora put on that outfit under her normal one, and changed really quick. She just does that sometimes. You learn not to question it." Vyliria cocked her head, still confused, but decided to take his advice.
"We gotta get your butt in shape for the biiiiig fight!" Nora continued, jogging in place. Vyliria noted with slight mirth that Ren was looking at his partner a bit more intensely than usual, given how the smaller amount of clothing hugged her form more tightly than her usual getup, and Nora's jogging in place made certain parts of Nora move a good deal more than usual, but she decided to save the opportunity for embarrassment for a later time. "It could be tomorrow! It could be the day after!" Nora whipped out a half-ton weight from out of nowhere, and Vyliria wondered if she had reality defying magic and just wasn't aware of it, before lifting it overhead with minimal effort. " It could be the most important fight of your entire life!" It turned out that the weight was actually too much for her, as after a handful of seconds she slowly tilted backwards before she fell to the floor.
"Uuuum," Pyrrha was cut off before she could formulate a reaction to… that. But by Ren, which was actually unexpected.
"Nora's right," he said, having spent the time Nora was being Nora retrieving a pink apron that had the words "Please Do Nothing To The Cook" on it. "You can't let your concerns about the tournament and this illusionist hold you back. You need to focus. You'll be defending the honor of Beacon Academy." Vyliria silently scoffed at that. Honor is a concept that only exists among people who decide it does. In a life or death fight, you do whatever it takes to win, because if you don't, you'll end up as a corpse at the feet of the bastard who was willing to sink lower than you. And then the prick will probably point down at your dying body. Especially if he had a numbers advantage.
"Of course," Pyrrha said, not having heard Vyliria's own opinion on the matter, and the Irithyllian was glad she had her mask on, because no one could see her roll her eyes. "I-"
"This blend of herbs and vegetables is filled with nutrients vital to your body's well-being," Ren interrupted, whipping out a glass of green liquid… that was sizzling… and bubbling. Even being undead, Vyliria wasn't sure she could drink whatever that was unscathed, and Pyrrha would certainly be worse off.
"Oh, that's-"
"Please, there's no need to thank me-"
"Thank you?" Nora interrupted Ren, "Euugh, that looks like slime from the bottom of a lake bed."
"I'd have to concur with Nora on that one," Vyliria finally joined the conversation, noting that Jaune was still just watching the proceedings, head whipping back and forth between each speaker. Ren just looked betrayed.
"Algae has numerous-"
"Stop," Vyliria interrupted again. "First off, algae? Granted, I eat moss, but that's been moss that's been cultivated over millennia to treat frostbite, poisons, or to act as a coagulant. Secondly, I may not be a botanist, but I know that algae, regardless of it being blended or not, that is bubbling is not safe to consume. Thirdly, Pyrrha should ultimately have the choice as to whether or not she drinks it in the first place!"
"Yeah, what is wrong with you, Ren? We're supposed to help Pyrrha, not poison her!" Nora berated Ren.
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with this," Ren argued. Vyliria kept herself from facepalming and went to speak up.
"Hey, how about we all get some fresh air?" Both Vyliria and Jaune looked at each other as they realized they spoke the same words simultaneously.
()
A few minutes later, Ren and Nora had split off, and while Vyliria wasn't keen on them wandering alone given the circumstances, she had to concede that the campus was practically empty at the moment, with everyone save some shopkeep selling cotton candy halfway across Beacon's main boulevard indoors for reasons she couldn't quite fathom. Jaune had gone off to get some of that cotton candy for Pyrrha (Vyliria had declined when offered), so for the moment, Pyrrha and Vyliria sat by themselves outside. Well, now's as good a time as any, she thought.
"What's been causing you stress?" Pyrrha's head whipped to the right, startled at the sudden question from the Irithyllian.
"Oh, it's just the tourn-"
"No," Vyliria interrupted. "It might not be helping the stress, but it's not the cause. You've been nervous since Ozpin called you up to his office at the crack of dawn yesterday, for reasons you've neglected to inform us."
Pyrrha swallowed. "I can't tell you."
"Can't, or won't?"
"I, I gave my word."
"Can you describe it in vague terms then?" Vyliria offered a compromise.
"I… don't know what to do…" Pyrrha said.
"What do you mean?" Both girls looked up to see that Jaune had returned, fluffy pink confectionery in hand, passing it to Pyrrha, and then sitting next to her, hesitantly grabbing and holding her other hand. There were a few seconds where silence reigned over the trio, before Pyrrha broke it's iron rule.
"Do you believe in destiny?" she asked.
"No," Vyliria instantly responded, with enough vitriol that her two companions actually leaned slightly away from her. "I refuse to believe that there is a higher power that has mandated every action, thought, and choice I have partaken in and will commit from my birth to the end of my days. My fate is my own, and if any god or other power would seek to change that, they will find I am quite willing to test just how immortal they supposedly are."
It was a few more seconds before Jaune found his voice. "I guess it would depend on how you view it."
Pyrrha took a breath. "When I view destiny, I don't view a predetermined fate you can't escape." Vyliria cocked her head to show her curiosity at where this was going, but otherwise didn't react. "I view destiny as some sort of final goal. Something you work towards your entire life."
Vyliria spoke again, but in a much more calm manner. "I am intimately familiar with always striving towards a purpose in my life. But trust me when I say this: There is no final goal in life, merely the goal you were unable to accomplish before you finally pass on from this world into whatever exists beyond it."
"I'd… have to disagree with that, Vyliria," the Mistralian responded.
Vyliria shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time I've agreed to disagree with someone rather than continue an argument where it was evident neither side would budge."
"What would you do," Pyrrha suddenly asked, "if something came along that you never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?"
"Like what?" Jaune asked.
"Or, what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?" Pyrrha stood up, clearly uncomfortable.
"Pyrrha, you're not making any sense," Jaune said. Vyliria herself merely gave some thought to the question, even though she already knew her answer.
"Then I wouldn't do it." Jaune and Pyrrha paused, looking at her as she stood up herself, and Jaune also stood because it would be awkward if he was the only person sitting. "If it changed who you were, then you wouldn't be you anymore, so it wouldn't be your destiny, even if I don't believe in the concept. It wouldn't be worth it. When… when I was younger, I was given a goal to reach. A seemingly impossible series of tasks, but I defied all odds and pushed towards the end. But as I reached towards that end, I realized that succeeding in what I was setting out to do would result in the end of me as a person, my consciousness and very soul subsumed into an amalgamation of others who had done these tasks before me. And all I was doing by accomplishing these tasks was delaying something that was inevitable, where someone else would ultimately have to do it again after me. But, if I didn't, so many more people besides myself would suffer the consequences of my failure and my inaction. I was faced with two terrible choices, one of which would be my supposed destiny, and cost me all that I was, and the other would cost countless lives. So… I didn't take either choice. I rejected the paths that fate had supposedly laid out for me, and forged my own path. People suffered, but far less than if I had taken the second choice, and the first choice would never have to be made by another person again. And… well, I'm still here, still myself, aren't I?"
"I… I…" Pyrrha looked to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, despite, or perhaps even because, of Vyliria's words.
"Pyrrha Nikos." Vyliria's voice cut through her emotions, and even though there were unshed tears in her eyes, she looked at the Irithyllian. "I challenge thee to a duel." Damnit, she internally cursed, I thought I finally dropped the old speak.
"What?" she asked, her confusion momentarily overruling her other emotions.
"In the Blades of the Darkmoon," Vyliria explained, "when knights and knightesses were suffering from undue stress, we'd… well, we'd beat the shit out of each other in sparring matches, and the occasional duel. It may sound unorthodox, but it's surprisingly effective, so I want to help you de-stress via a quick clash of blades. The festival's been postponed for a day anyways, so it's not like your aura will be low for an upcoming match. And I also have an aura now…"
Pyrrha stared at her for a few seconds, before Jaune cut it. "Pyr? It can't hurt. And I'll admit, given how much she's kicked my ass while training me, I'd like to see you pay her back."
"I… okay," she said with a nod.
"Right, let's go to my magic classroom," the unkindled joked, referring to the training hall where she'd been teaching them over the past school-year.
(Pyrrha)
Pyrrha was beyond stressed at the moment, that was true. What with the looming decisions on taking half the Fall Maiden's power given by Ozpin, the knowledge that Amber's attackers had already attempted to throw the Vytal Festival Tournament into disarray, and had only failed because Vyliria had been extremely thorough in teaching Yang pyromancy, and the fact that everything she might know about the person squaring off against her at this moment might be a lie, she had good reason for that stress. But Vyliria seemed earnest enough in her belief that this would help, and was right in saying that it couldn't hurt, and Jaune had supported it as well, so she decided to toss her worries to the back of her mind and attempt to drown them in adrenaline from the impending duel.
Two screens above the stands winked on, Jaune fiddling with his scroll. Seconds later, two aura meters, above which were photos of Pyrrha and Vyliria (with her mask on, because of course Vyliria would do that). "Right!" Jaune said. "I synced your aura readings to the big screens, so the first person to go below 15% aura or out of the ring loses. And they said I couldn't figure out technology…"
Pyrrha giggled to herself at that, before readying Miló in its javelin configuration and Akoúo̱ and squaring off against Vyliria, who was in her combat attire and had forgone her scythes for a change, holding a black katana, which almost seemed to have a tar-like substance on it, that was frayed at the hilt. She raised an eyebrow at that last detail.
"I assure you, the frayed blade is sturdier than it looks," the Irithyllian commented. "So, is Jaune going to count us off, or…"
"Sorry!" the blonde called out. "Three, two, one, begin!"
Vyliria took off like a bullet, sprinting straight towards Pyrrha, stabbing the katana forwards as she closed. Pyrrha went to deflect the blade with her Polarity… except she didn't, and she gasped as it rammed full force into her abdomen, and she staggered back.
"Come on, Pyrrha! You didn't think I'd use an ordinary weapon against you, right? My collection of soul-transposed arms are made from no ordinary metals." In hindsight, Pyrrha did admit that it was a mistake to assume that someone who was aware of her semblance wouldn't take steps to counter it, but hindsight had to wait, because her opponent was already attacking her again. While she couldn't use her semblance on her opponent's weapons, she could use it on her own, and sped up her own reaction by having Polarity carry Akoúo̱ into the way of the katana, as such an angle that she parried the strike, leaving Vyliria wide open, before she stabbed Miló forward in a riposte to take a sizable bite out of the Irithyllian's aura. Undeterred, Vyliria cast a black flame at point blank range, sending Pyrrha back long enough for her to recover while dealing quite some damage in return. Pyrrha found herself on the defense once again as her opponent charged in… sheathing her weapon?
When she got to melee range, Vyliria whipped the blade out, in a flurry of strikes that were too fast for the eye to follow, trailed by a purple energy that Pyrrha could best describe as a laser, the blows far too numerous within such a small timespan to block more than two of the strikes. Pyrrha backstepped, but Vyliria just sheathed her weapon again, drawing it not a half second later before slamming the dark-coated weapon onto the floor, a wave of purple-black energy erupting out in a straight line from the point of impact, and catching Pyrrha unaware. The Mistralian sheathed her weapon and drew forth the catalyst for her own magic, crying out the tale for a lightning stake as she closed with Vyliria, who narrowly rolled the miracle, avoiding harm.
What she don't avoid was the metal of Akoúo̱ to the face-grille, tossed courtesy of her semblance, and returned to her hand in the same manner even as she slammed a second lighting stake down on the staggered woman. Recovering quickly, Vyliria kicked towards Pyrrha, who narrowly blocked the foot with her shield, but gave Vyliria enough time to dismiss the katana, drawing forth her staff and conjuring a flurry of farron flashswords for Pyrrha to contend with. While she intercepted most of them, two of the half dozen swings clipped her arms and her aura, and she certainly didn't expect Vyliria to give a full spin and slam the wooden staff itself into the side of her head. Ears ringing slightly, she stumbled back, only to be slammed by a crystal soul spear, before recovering her poise, and reengaging.
Vylria swapped out her staff for a black glaive, that resembled a guandao, parts ornately carved, and with a spike on the bottom of the shaft. Holstering her talisman and drawing Miló, shifting it to its xiphos configuration, she struck Vyliria, who poised through her blow with one of her own, the glaive descending in an overhead strike that hit Pyrrha's shoulder. She blocked a swipe from the side, and Vyliria blocked a sword strike with the shaft of her weapon, before spinning with her weapon twice, both hits striking Pyrrha, and finishing with an overhead slam. Pyrrha recovered quickly enough, rolling out of the way of a jumping attack. She landed a pair of blows on her opponent, and then caught the glaive on one of the indentations of her shield, using her sword in conjunction with her semblance (on her own weapons, as she couldn't affect her opponent's) to lock the weapon in place, and blindly kicked under Vyliria's guard.
The kick landed right between the other woman's legs, and Vyliria violently yanked her weapon free as she screamed, stumbled back, and doubled over. But why would-, Pyrrha thought, before the realization hit her like a truck. I forgot she was intersex, and I just kicked her in the testicles. "I'm sorry!" she shouted, even as she heard Jaune sucking in his breath in the background.
Vyliria looked back, up, and Pyrrha could feel the anger wafting off her. "Gods, that fucking hurts!" She shouted in a voice that was still several octaves higher than her norm, before running forwards, attempting to slam the glaive onto Pyrrha once more, but she twirled around it and slammed Akoúo̱ into the side of her head, and followed up with two slashes from her sword, before the Irithyllian retaliated with another cast of black flame, and attempted to follow up with a horizontal sweep of the glaive, only for Pyrrha to leap over the weapon and Vyliria, placing her shield on her feet before kicking off of it with her feet and her semblance, Akoúo̱ slamming into Vyliria's back and causing her to stumble forwards, and even as Pyrrha called it back, she shifted Miló into it's rarely used rifle configuration, quikcly emptying all five rounds in the magazine at her opponent. The first three struck her torso, but the third was intercepted by the glaive, and the fifth ricocheted off a gauntlet and landed a few feet from a Jaune who yelped at the near-impact, mostly in surprise due to his aura.
Vyliria took her left hand off the glaive again, pyromancy flame crackling to life as she reared her arm back and a chaos bed vestige sailed forth. Pyrrha barely rolled out of the way of the massive fireball, and shifted Miló back into its javelin configuration, before tossing the weapon at the Irithyllian, already pulling out the sunlight talisman as the weapon hit her opponent.
With the bite of a lance yet the speed of a sparrow
The maidens of the Lord smote them with their Lighting Arrows!
Two of the projectiles sailed forth and struck Vyliria, before she pulled out a slab of metal that straddled the line between medium shields and greatshields, with a crest she didn't recognize emblazoned upon it. Contrary to the fact that metal is supposed to be a conductor of electricity, this shield seemed to all but literally laugh off the next three bolts that struck it. Then again… it was metal… and so Pyrrha used her semblance and yanked it out of the way, even as she said:
The wyrmkin flew against the armies of the Lords.
Into a cloud of greatarrows and a forest of swords,
Yet even as the everlasting dragons flew down and drew near,
The warriors of Gwyn threw forth their Great Lightning Spears!
The bolt struck Vyliria full force, who dispelled her shield and glaive, and called forth a silver straight sword with a cross guard, along with her repeating crossbow, which was promptly cocked and fired a barrage of explosive bolts at Pyrrha, who narrowly ran ahead of the detonations, holstering her talisman and calling back her weapon, using her semblance to trigger the mechashift mid-flight to get it back to its xiphos form. Vyliria flicked the straight sword, and lighting crackled along the blade as she closed, Pyrrha barely rolling out of the way as she slammed the blade into the ground, getting shocked by a followup swipe but blocking the second with her shield, retaliating with two swipes of her own, before spinning and batting Vyliria's sword aside with Akoúo̱, and stabbing the Irithyllian with Miló, assisted by both her Polarity and her momentum.
A buzzer sounded. "Pyrrha wins by aura depletion!" Jaune called out. Both combatants stopped, and glanced at the screens displaying their auras. Pyrrha's was at 16%, and Vyliria was at 14%. Pyrrha breathed heavily, the exertion finally catching up to her, in disbelief that the duel was so down to the wire, at the fact that someone had actually almost beat her for the first time in years.
"Damn," Vyliria said, more surprised than annoyed, and Pyrrha noted she barely sounded winded, which actually slightly irked her. "Well, that was fun. I'll just say that if I used my scythes, or the Moonlight Greatsword, I'd have probably won that." Pyrrha wouldn't dispute the statement. She knew the Irithyllian well enough to know that this wasn't her being a sore loser, but just stating the honest truth. The Mistralian probably would have lost had she faced the weapons in question, even if she hadn't heard of the second one.
"Moonlight Greatsword?" Jaune asked.
"A favored weapon of mine, and quite legendary back home. A large teal greatsword, with moonlight bound to its blade, which is able to be unleashed as projectile attacks or to augment strikes with the blade itself. I've been saving it for a special occasion, but nothing's felt right yet," the Irithyllian explained. She turned to Pyrrha. "Are you feeling any better?"
Pyrrha opened her mouth, and then paused. Honestly? "Yes, I do feel a lot better."
"I said it would work. Nothing like beating the crap out of one's friends to deal with stress!" Vyliria became pensive for a moment, seeming to mull over something in her head. "Hey, Pyrrha, can I ask you something?"
"Yes?" she responded.
"I was bored a few days back, so I read the rules on the Vytal Festival Tournament. You haven't fought in any of the singles rounds yet, correct?"
"That's correct," the Mistralian replied.
"So then even though you were selected, you can substitute someone else on the team to take your place, since you haven't actually had a match in the singles yet, right?"
"Yes, but… only Nora could take that spot, because you can't have someone who wasn't in the doubles but was in the teams matches substitute."
"But I was in neither."
Pyrrha blinked. "What?"
"The way the rules are written didn't account for a five person team participating in the tournament. To my knowledge, we're the first five person team to do so. There is a loophole in the wording that would allow myself to take your place," Vyliria said.
"But why-"
"You have stated that you are upset that the world doesn't view our victories as ours, but yours. And if you partake in the finals and win, that will only perpetuate the opinion. But if I were to do it, that belief would be shattered." She took a breath. "Look, you're stressed, and I'm worried that it's bad enough that it will affect your performance. This removes one form of stress from you, and I clearly just evidenced that I'm your equal in combat, so you don't need to worry about me doing worse than you."
"You would have to tell all the other finalists everything you can do so they know what's you and what might be the illusionist."
"I… might have had this idea last night, and spent two hours typing a document on my scroll detailing all that, and then planned all this specifically to show you why this is a good idea."
"That's-" Pyrrha found herself interrupted by Vyliria once again.
"Look, we can go to Ozpin right now. If you can't tell us about this problem that's eating at you, then at least I can remove any problems I do know about from your plate." She turned to Jaune. "I used that expression correctly, right?"
"Uh, yeah, you did. Sorry, I'm still just processing the fact that you planned all this," Jaune responded.
Pyrrha raised a finger to show she was thinking, and took a few moments to think of the offer. And she couldn't see any downsides to it. It would remove a major source of stress, and she could focus solely on the dilemma of whether or not to take Amber's aura via the machine she was in. Vyliria was prepared, and clearly demonstrated she had what it took to win. And she was right about Pyrrha wanting the tournament to bring fame to her team instead of her. As she made up her mind, she felt part, but not all, of the weight upon her soul be lifted. "I accept your offer."
"Great!" Vyliria said. "Let's go see the Headmaster before it gets any later then." Pyrrha looked at the windows, and realized that the sun had almost completely set, and hurried to follow as the Irithyllian was already setting off, Jaune shortly joining them.
()
A/N: I really, really, really bet you weren't expecting to read Pyrrha and Vyliria square off when you started this chapter, nevermind from Pyrrha's POV. And I bet you really weren't expecting Pyrrha to win, especially when Vyliria basically bypassed her semblance entirely. But Pyrrha isn't Mistral's best tournament fighter, dubbed the Invincible Girl (RIP) for no reason. Even in canon, she actually gave Cinder a decent run for her money, and if it wasn't for the raw power differential, and Cinder's literal magic, I firmly believe Pyrrha would have beat Cinder hands down, even though her weapons were made of glass. On the other participant in this fight, I wanted to show that for all the undead badassary Vyliria has, she's not invincible, and she only reached this skill level by dying literally more times than she could count.
Anyways, I also wanted an excuse to show off Vyliria using some of her other weapons, namely the Frayed Blade, Black Knight Glaive, and a Silver Knight Straight Sword, because even if you can't get it in DS3, I'm not bound by game mechanics, and living in Anor Londo and Irithyll means you can get your hands on one. She did say earlier in the story that she was proficient with other weapons, so I wanted to showcase that. But those aren't the only other weapons she has, so keep that in mind. And according to one of the wikis, the Black Knight glaive resembles the Chinese guandao (thank Gwyn this is a book so I don't have to worry about butchering the pronunciation), and a quick search on the internet has revealed that it does in fact, bear a strong resemblance to that weapon. You learn something new every day.
Also, Vyliria got kicked in the balls. Ouch. As a person who does, in fact, own a pair of them, I can attest to the fact that blunt force trauma to the scrotum is an exceedingly painful experience.
Fun fact: In DS3, the Izalith staff does the most physical damage of any staff in the game. Some guy actually played the whole game just using bonks from the staff (as in, physically bludgeoning enemies with a long wooden stick, not casting any spells whatsoever). This guy actually beat every boss this way, and as the highlight of his stream (search Dark Souls 3 - Staff R2 Only (All Bosses) [channel is Gomp] on Youtube if you want to watch it), he actually got Iamamish, another DS3 youtuber, as his Spear of the Church, and when he recognized the challenge run, actually played along with the challenge, instead of curb stomping him. I thought that I'd make a small reference to that by having Vyliria actually wack Pyrrha with the staff itself. I also found it kinda funny.
I'm totally making up rules for the Vytal Festival Tournament by the way. But I had this planned from before I started writing, so this is what I had to do. Given that (AFAIK) we don't really get rules (like, as in a full-on rulebook) for the tournament in canon, I'm claiming artistic liberty.
This chapter originally had 3 more sections planned. But I realized that the word count was at a nice spot, and that those 3 bits could be made to stand on their own, and if not, I could come up with an extra section or two.
(remove any spaces and underscores, replace any (slash) with a "/" or ".", because FFN is annoying like that)
www_. deviant_art (slash) vyliria
http_s : _(slash)(slash)www.p_a tre_on.c om (slash) joecola