Chapter 4: In Flight.
Miles woke up to the warm rays of sunlight that pierced through the ballroom's windows. He fully opened his eyes, removed the crust that had accumulated throughout the night and glanced at his scroll. Getting used to it had been slightly difficult in his first week on Remnant, the technology used to make it was far more advanced than his world's, but by this point, he had gotten the hang of the holographic device.
The time displayed on the scroll indicated that there was still around 45 minutes before the appointed hour everyone was supposed to wake up at. The young man sat up and lightly stretched the upper parts of his body, he was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of grey jogging pants, his shoes were placed by the bedroll. He had gotten a decent sleep despite everything, so he didn't feel particularly groggy.
It would be good to get some warming up done before the initiation.
Such were his thoughts as he finally stood up and put his shoes on. Miles had no idea how this "initiation" was going to be, but he had the faintest idea it was somehow going to be related with the team formation activity. And if Ozpin had told him to prepare, then he could surmise it was going to involve some degree of combat activity.
If that was the case, then the best way to prepare would be to stretch his muscles early on, a decent jog would do, and it wasn't like he had anything better to do for the next 45 minutes. He folded his bedroll and placed it where they had told them to yesterday. While carefully walking to said area, the former Kasatsu student noticed how the vast majority of people seemed to still be having a pleasant sleep, but he also noticed some missing bedrolls.
His suspicions were confirmed when he saw a couple of sleeping bags neatly folded and placed onto the large tray where they were supposed to leave them. Miles put his down next to the others and headed for the exit. Once outside, he took in a deep breath of the mildly cold but rather pleasant morning air. He was about to start stretching, but then someone called at him from behind.
"Hey." Miles's head turned around to see a pair of emerald coloured eyes. It was the redhead girl, she was wearing a red tracking suit and a pair of white running shoes. She approached him with a smile. "Good morning, are you going to train, too?" She had her hair tied with a high ponytail, just like yesterday, but he noticed she wasn't wearing her bronze headpiece.
He nodded his head in a greeting. "More than train, I was planning to stretch and go for a jog." He straightened himself and faced the girl. Miles wasn't short, he was actually quite tall for a Japanese person, but compared to the people of Remnant he was probably just about average. For the record, the Relic user was 1.82 meters tall and this girl was about as tall as he was.
"I wanted to be prepared for the initiation." He continued. "Knowing this is a Huntsman Academy, they could really throw just about anything our way." Plus, there was also the fact he wanted to establish a routine again. He had broken it when the war back in his world started and things like taking a morning jog became less important than gathering intel or plainly just surviving.
"I see." The girl nodded. "I'm glad to see someone else is taking all of this seriously. I only saw another young man walking out to meditate." She took a look at her surroundings for a second, but then quickly shifted her gaze towards him again. "In any case, it was good to talk to you, good luck with your jog." The girl offered him a polite smile and turned around to leave.
But Miles' curiosity was still not satisfied, and in all honesty he wanted to know more of this girl. So this time, he took the initiative. "Wait, umm…" The girl turned to face him again. "I'm Miles, nice to meet you." The girl blinked a couple of times. He saw how her smile slowly went from polite to mildly wry. The boy offered his hand, she stared at it for a second and finally decided to shake it. "And you are?"
It had been quite some time since someone had asked her that question.
Who are you? Who was she? She was Pyrrha Nikos, daughter of Archidamos Nikos. Known as the "Pride of Argus" or the "Invincible Girl". Almost considered a teenage living legend by today's standards, four-times winner of the regional Mistral tournament, top student to ever graduate from Sanctum Academy. Heck, her face was even plastered around a lot of brands and marketing due to the insistence of her family.
Yet the boy in front of her was asking her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Better yet, she could not detect any sort of deceit in his words, a stark difference from other people who had tried to approach her using a similar tactic of feigning ignorance towards her identity.
Being a "celebrity" for Pyrrah was simply an inconvenience; she came to love the part where she could inspire people, be it young or old to pursue their dreams, to become strong with effort and fight with conviction. But whenever she was in Mistral, her time could only be described as exhausting. And as she did not want people to think less of her, she had forced herself countless times to interact with people or put on a fake smile.
Every day an ever increasing number of "admirers" would stop her on the street, ask awkward questions and generally be bothersome. It had gotten to the point where even the people she called her friends had started to simply hang out with her to get a piece of the "popularity" that came with being associated with her.
Pyrrha hated this. She hated people thinking she was only a pretty face and that the only reason she was relevant was because she was good at beating other people up. This led her to decide to attend Beacon instead of Haven.
Her father had been upset at her decision and even if she knew the old warrior only wanted what was best for her, she simply couldn't bear it anymore. Pyrrah understood Haven's greater emphasis on combat and survival. In terms of the durability of warriors, neither of the other major three Academies could compare. Her own father had graduated from Haven all those years back, but even so, she knew four years of being an "unreachable celebrity" would end up breaking her.
And at the start, Vale had been great. People recognized her sometimes, but Valeans seemed more reserved about actually coming to approach her. Most simply asked for an autograph or for a picture and quickly left her alone. Pyrrha felt free, liberated from the shackles of always having to put up a fake smile, of trying to appear as the "Invincible Girl" the people of Mistral called her. For a time, she felt content and optimistic about her stay in the Kingdom of Vale.
All of this broke, however, when the media caught up with her presence in the city. She was once again forced to dress up, hide her identity, and be a "nice, polite celebrity" when fans inevitably recognized her. She felt drowned out by the attention whenever she went out on the street to do the simplest of things, like purchasing some groceries or going out for a light jog.
By the end of the last week, she only went out of her temporary apartment to visit a private gym in order to get her usual training done.
In any case, Pyrrha found herself blinking at the question, the silence between his question and a possible answer had elongated for long enough. She cleared her throat, trying to gain some confidence and rehearsed in her head a couple of times how to properly introduce herself.
"My name is Pyrrha Nikos." She felt her once strained smile become more natural, it hadn't been so hard as she originally thought. "Nice to meet you too, Miles." The girl from Argus did not entirely understand why, but interacting with someone who did not know of her was like having a breath of fresh air after a hunting expedition. There were no hidden motives, no unhealthy expectations, simply a normal drive to learn naturally about the other person.
The young man in front of her smiled back. "Your clothes didn't look like those from around Vale. I mean, what you were wearing yesterday. Where are you from?" His posture seemed to relax.
"Well, first… Can I join you?" He raised a brow for a second, but then nodded. They both began to stretch, his form was actually quite good from what she could see. "If I'm completely honest, I have an easier time warming up with someone else." It likely was because she had made a habit of training alongside her father ever since she was little. "And well, to answer your question, I'm from the northeast of Mistral, from a city named Argus." He nodded in acknowledgement, but as he didn't say anything she continued.
"Argus in the past, before the war ended 80 years ago, was a land of warriors. Most people were either raised to be warriors or to assist such warriors, after the war ended the city began to modernize quite substantially, its focus shifted from military to a now very famous trading post." She finished stretching her upper body.
"Currently it looks more like a combination between an Atlesian city and a Valean one, with only a little Eastern Mistralean in there.." The girl sat down on the ground and began to stretch her legs, Miles followed her movements, he was paying close attention to what she was saying, it felt nice and easier to speak to him. "I come from a family that still tries to keep the flame of the older military traditions alive. My father was a great Huntsman in the past, I was trained from early to follow his steps.
"I see." Miles said as he stood up, his expression reflected a great deal of curiosity. "I frankly don't know much about the cultures of the world, most of my life I spent it in outside settlements. Vale is actually the first big city I arrived at."
Pyrrha was impressed at this, now the curious one was her. The boy's accent did sound from around Atlas, but to think how he drifted all the way from Solitas to Sanus was very complicated. She knew from personal experience that the climates were rough and the lands were crawling with Grimm. The Invincible Girl found herself impressed, but she surmised that someone with an expression as sharp as his wouldn't have led a particularly normal life.
"I don't think too much about that anymore. Ozpin said it himself." The young man shrugged. "The only way to move is forward." His eyes broke contact with hers. He took a glance at the rising sun behind one of the giant towers of Beacon.
His gaze… was full of purpose. Pyrrha nodded her head to agree. Headmaster Ozpin's speech had definitely resonated with her. Through her life she was always thought to improve, to move forward. And she did, by the time she was twelve, she was already winning tournaments against people way out of her age group.
But at some point she came to feel like she had stopped improving. No matter how much she trained, no matter how much she sparred against her father or other Hunstmen, she had stagnated in her growth. And while she could think of many reasons, a conclusive one never came to her.
So that would be her goal in Beacon: to seek the reason why she had stopped improving and strive to surpass her current limits, to one day be a Huntress that inspired others and made her people proud. And to hopefully learn how to deal with the pressure of being a "symbol", as well.
The Invincible Girl's eyes drifted to Miles' once more. Those eyes, she had never seen a gaze like his before, so she had to wonder… What was Miles' goal?
"Pyrrha?" When she realized it, he was looking back at her with those brown, piercing eyes. "Are you coming along for the jog, too?" It didn't take her too much deliberation to nod with a smile. The rest of the early morning was spent along cool breeze on her face, and some pleasant small talk with the boy she just met.
Breakfast had come and gone without much to mention. Perhaps the most important thing was that they officially declared the initiation to be some sort of combat-oriented activity. Glynda Goodwitch had come to the cafeteria by the end of breakfast and had given the announcement that every student had to make a trip to the locker room to gather their equipment.
She also separated groups of students and assigned them a letter. Miles had been lucky - or unlucky - enough to be in group A, same as Ruby and Yang, actually. They had been shown a schedule chart and told to be in a plce called Beacon Cliff at their assigned time. In their case, just 30 minutes after breakfast hour was over.
For a second the wielder of Soulcalibur thought of not going to the lockers at all. But in the end, he decided to tag along with the rest of the group, which was composed of around 20 people. He had been assigned a locker like the rest of his schoolmates, but there was nothing inside it, or so he thought.
The Beacon student typed down the password, which was a completely random sequence of numbers he came up with and memorized, and opened it. He just wanted to see how much space it had and maybe pass the time while everyone got ready.
"Huh, what's all this?" Inside his locker was a simple note, an intricately decorated case holding a handful of different-coloured crystals, and a belt made to secure them. The young man tilted his head in confusion, double checked if this really was his locker and looked around to see if anyone was missing any of the items. A quick scan to his surroundings did not indicate this belonged to someone else.
Miles reluctantly picked the letter and opened it to read its contents. 'This is but a small token of appreciation from the city of Vale for your efforts in stopping the Dust robbery a week ago. These A+-grade Dust crystals were provided by the shop owner of From Dust 'till Dawn, he sends his thanks. The belt is a gift from the Academy and me, I noticed your outfit lacks a proper dust holder. I wish you the best of luck on the initiation. -Ozpin'
"Holy cow! Look, Yang!" Miles heard Ruby happily exclaiming a couple of lockers next to him. She was holding a case identical to the one he had. "I told you helping out wasn't a bad idea!" Ruby was practically jumping around. The gift had surprised the red girl so much she more or less forgot about taking her beloved weapon out.
Yang chuckled and placed a hand on Ruby's head, ruffling her hair a bit with a happy look. "I still think you shouldn't have been that reckless, but it's really nice to see that your effort is appreciated." Yang then walked to her own locker and retrieved what looked like a pair of golden bracers. She adjusted them on her wrists and shadow boxed a little. "Hopefully you don't run into anything too bad that forces you to use that Dust during the initiation."
He looked down at the Dust again. 'Is this Dust really that powerful?' While the wielder of Soulcalibur understood the concept, utility, and knew the types of Dust there were, he didn't have a grasp on how much of a difference the different grades of Dust had. His understanding boiled down to knowing E-grade was the lowest and S-grade the highest.
Miles took one last glance at the letter before he safely put it away on one of the locker's side compartments. He then took the belt and carefully strapped it around his waist, also taking the Dust out of the case and placing it on the belt's pouches. The swordsman had absolutely no idea if he could make proper use of Dust, but if worse came to worst he supposed he could always shoot at it like how Roman Torchwick did.
Just after he closed his locker, the T.V screens in the room suddenly lit up. The form of Glynda Goodwitch could be seen. Why was she the one who made all the announcements? Food for thought.
"All students from group one must report to the Beacon Cliff shortly. I repeat..." After the woman repeated herself one more time, the went dark. Miles saw his schoolmates begin to hurry. From the corner of his eye he could see the Schnee girl, who now held a rapier on the right side of her waist, talking to Pyrrha, who politely responded. Though the redhead's smile seemed slightly strained.
Miles also spotted Blake, the ribbon girl; as well the pink and green couple from yesterday. Just to sour his day, the bully from the speech was in his group, too. He could only pray to whatever god Remnant had that he didn't end up in the same team as him.
It was a small breeze that graced their faces, and a wave of expectation that filled their hearts.
Miles was standing on a platform near Beacon cliff, overlooking the vast green of the aptly called Emerald Forest. Next to him were nineteen other individuals, kids that would eventually become the defenders of peace in the land of Remnant. Knights not only in name, but in sacrifice to the people and the righteous cause. Hunters, or rather Huntsmen in profession and vocation.
The reality of Hunters had always felt like a cold bucket of water to the van Astrea. Why was it that children were the ones who were meant to bear the weight of the world on their shoulders? To be raised to fight in a world that has run out of solutions and can only stick to what was known decades or even centuries ago.
The same applied for the reality of the people next to him, the future Huntsmen. And although he pondered for an explanation quite oftenly, the answer was simple and raw. Perhaps even inescapable.
It was because the adults, the experienced warriors of the world; even in their expertise, skills, and knowledge… were fated to eventually meet their end in battle. With this mentality, they passed the baton onto the next generation of warriors, and that one passed it again. It was a cycle that had never broken back in his world. And Remnant was much of the same.
Perhaps back on Earth, someone would one day put a halt to the darkness that spread throughout the land and create a new world where people could live their lives without worry. Perhaps Minato, the young boy with the dream of being a Paragon of Peace could do it, or maybe it would be the ones that would come after him. Maybe one day they would know not the illusion of peace, but actual peace itself.
In this world, however, it would be up to him.
Miles looked at his side. And up to them.
"Greetings." Ozpin walked towards the group wearing a rather neutral expression. "I hope all of you had an adequate morning, and I expect all of you to have prepared for what comes now." Miles could see many of his group slouch slightly. Most hadn't even warmed up prior to this, but he supposed Aura could compensate for that.
"I am aware that every single one of you has trained for years. And while motivations may vary, it is safe to say that the culmination of your abilities will be displayed here." The man looked down at the open scroll he held on his left hand. "This initiation has two main purposes: the first is as a test. Your skills and performance will be evaluated."
The man took a glance at them to get a grasp of their reactions. "Do keep in mind that our instructors will not intervene should grave danger come your way, and it will. Your own safety is in your hands. No doubt shall be accepted, lest you seek your own death." The man looked down at his scroll for a second before continuing. "I suppose this leads me to my second point."
While Miles disagreed with the Academy's decision to not send help over to those who had their lives at grave risk, he decided to wait and hear everything Ozpin had to say before drawing a conclusion. "The second purpose behind today is the formation of teams." Miles could see Ruby visibly paling from the corner of his vision. Others, like the pink girl who had a… grenade launcher - he probably should've expected something like this by now - strapped on her back got excited.
"It is important to note that your team will be the people whom you will spend the rest of your days here at Beacon. I have faith that you will be paired with someone who will come to learn to trust you with their life." Glynda silently whispered something at the man.
"Hm, I forgot to mention that the person who will be your partner will be the one you first make eye-contact with upon landing." He saw Ruby almost collapse. The red girl glanced at Yang's direction with clear panic in her eyes, she also turned to look at him for a second, Miles could only gesture at her to keep paying attention with his hand.
Now, this whole selection process was something the swordsman could not agree with. Why leave it to chance? Wouldn't it be better if teams were formed based on the compatibility of individuals? Miles found himself slowly starting to disagree with Ozpin's methods more and more, a small frown forming on his features.
"As for all details regarding your objectives during this test, they are simple: after landing as safely as you can in the forest, you must first find a partner, as simple as that. Then, each pair must make their way to the northern side of the forest." Miles thought it wouldn't be too difficult to get that done. Professor Bianchelli, his former Survival class teacher, would probably be disappointed in him if he couldn't do something as simple as heading north.
"Once there, you must seek an abandoned shrine that holds a set of relics. You and your partner must take one of them and make your ways back to the top of the cliff. Once you have completed all of this, the test will be over and you will be aptly graded. Are there any questions?" Miles glanced at his side, nobody was raising their hands. Gas began to pour out of each of the launching pads they were on.
"Excellent. Now take your positions and prepare for launch" Said Ozpin, fixing his glasses and pressing a button on his scroll. Miles felt the world shift around him, as well as the emptiness of freefall assailing him. His schoolmates also flew in the air as they were all simultaneously launched into the forest.
"Birdie, noooo!" He also heard that for some reason.
Ozpin began to check if all the hidden cameras within the forest were working properly. Initiations such as this always had a trick: the element of randomness wasn't as random as most thought. Ozpin, with the simple press of a button could manipulate certain things in the environment, potentially making two students form a pair.
The headmaster never entirely intended for pairs to be made by chance. He was aware that some people simply were incompatible, combinations that would only hinder the growth of both students involved, even potentially spelling tragedy for the parties involved in the long run. Some, however, while he saw as slightly incompatible, he considered to have a higher growth potential if paired together. It was manipulative, yes, but it would push his future students to try and give it their all during the first phase of the test, while also keeping their nerves high and letting them adapt to stress faster.
The hardest, and most random part of the selection, without a doubt, was the launch. While all the pads were arranged to secure the most proximity between the pairs he expected to be formed, there always existed an element of uncertainty. Afterall, not even he could control the winds at his whim to direct the students where he wanted to land, at least not anymore.
Amber could have easily done it.
"Gh!" The man froze for a second, he was quick to realize his hand had begun to tremble as the agonizing expression of said woman entered his memory… The blood on her clothes, the fragility of her broken limbs, the despair on her once bright eyes.
I can't believe I still slip up like this…
Ozpin innardly sighed, trying to calm himself. He did not want Glynda to notice his distress. Remembering what had happened to the Fall Maiden made his blood boil, forgotten emotions such as wrath filled his mind. But it also made his blood freeze with fear.
Shaking those awful thoughts away, the headmaster opened his mouth to speak. There was a time and place to grief for the past and plan for the future, said time wasn't now. Plus, something else that had been on his mind for some time now, so he might as well clear it up. "Glynda?" He called out to the woman, who was also checking various cameras using her scroll. She responded without glancing up to meet his gaze.
"Yes, Ozpin?" There seemed to be a slight hint of disappointment in her voice, likely due to her lack of approval regarding the student's 'stylish landings'.
When will Glynda learn to accept they are chil- no, no, that is not the matter at hand.
The man quickly focused once more, he despised when emotions made him this sloppy. "I have a question." The huntress finally turned to him, it was rare for Ozpin to ask things seemingly out of nowhere, so her expression was filled with curious expectation. "There was this boy, Jaune Arc. I did not see him yesterday nor today, do you have any idea why he was unable to arrive at the school?" If he remembered correctly, the application was still ongoing. Even with the boy's… shady background, he should have still made it.
Glynda's expression became neutral again, if slightly annoyed, which was quite odd. She fixed her glasses and pressed some buttons on her scroll. "Yes. I terminated his status as a potential student." She stated, matter of factly.
Ozpin felt himself stumble with his words a little. "M-May I know why you did so?" It had been quite long since the last time he of all people stuttered. There was an array of potential reasons why she did so already formulating in his mind.
Maybe the boy's family prevented him from coming, or perhaps...
Glynda quickly interrupted his train of thought. She did seem mildly intrigued as to why the headmaster wanted to know, but her response came as logical as it so often did. "The afternoon after we decided to accept Mr. Astrea as an applicant for Beacon, I took it upon myself to review all the applications we had again, simply to make sure all was in order." She showed her scroll to Ozpin, it displayed Jaune Arc's file, the words 'REJECTED' were displayed in red across said file.
The woman quickly continued. "It took me no time to come across Jaune Arc's application papers, and even less time to discover that all of his transcripts were blatantly faked." Her tone held a tinge of disdain. Ozpin more or less understood her current position, the huntress was one who upheld the values of honesty and order above anything else. In her eyes, young Jaune Arc had disrespected the system, Beacon as well.
Her stern eyes relaxed after a couple of seconds, she wore a confused pair of green orbs instead. "How he got past all the other filters and reviews we had, is a mystery to me." The huntress closed all related files and promptly went back to checking on the students, silently ending their conversation for the time being.
This complicates things…
"I see." The grey-haired man simply nodded and went back to his own scroll. Jaune Arc's case had caused a certain fascination in the headmaster ever since it first came to his attention, but by all means, Glynda was in the right.
Jaune Arc could only be described as a fraud if one only went by what was written on his transcripts, but in all his inmortal knowledge, Ozpin knew that more often than not, secluded individuals could end up being the greatest of heroes. He believed Jaune Arc, only son of the current Arcs, to hold that potential.
Now that Glynda was aware of his case, though, there wasn't much he could do to intervene with the young man's situation. The fate of the boy had been decided the moment his lies had been unraveled by someone else than him: Jaune Arc would not attend Beacon Academy, ever. His life in Vale and whatever implications being a student of his institution could have had, were now lost.
This, however, did not mean that he could not attend one of the other three main Huntsman Academies. The faintest of frowns plastered itself on Ozpin's features as he gave some thought to the boy's situation. Atlas was simply out of the question, the young Arc was not destined to be another soldier of James and Ozpin wasn't even that sure the boy would survive the strict Atlesian training regiments before getting expelled if his aptitudes were as "unpolished" as he guessed they were.
Shade was also not within the realm of possibility. It wasn't because of the current protectionist state of Vacuo, but because the Headmaster knew for a fact that sending the boy to Shade would be akin to handing him a brutal death on a silver platter. Vacuo's Academy was known for the gritty rule of "survival of the fittest'', and it was almost literal. If you could not keep up, you were simply considered Grimm fodder, nothing else.
So only one other option was left…His brown eyes finally went back to the scroll, only to see how an unexpected but very interesting pair had already formed.
It seems like I will have to give Headmaster Lionheart a call later today.
The feeling of freefall was one you never forgot. The wind against your face, the emptiness in your stomach, the tension you felt from the chemicals your brain released in order to try and warn you of the danger you were in. Miles could more or less understand why some people were obsessed with skydiving, the sense of freedom you felt whilst in the air was exhilarating.
But a man back in his world spoke certain words of science: "what goes up must come down".
The wielder of Soulcalibur, along with his other schoolmates, had been launched into Emerald Forest at great speed. Some used clever tactics to quickly land, others extended their time in flight in order to head north and get closer to their objective. He had been of the latter group, positioning his trajectory towards the most efficient route and letting the force generated by the launchpad to do its thing. Gravity, however, was an unrelenting and invisible force, and Miles already felt its pull bringing him to the ground.
The young man took a deep breath and turned his body so his back faced the trees beneath him. To anyone else, this would've seemed ridiculous, but to him it was simply the easiest way to land. Miles extended his right arm forward, his Relic quickly appearing in his extended palm as per his call. Now he found himself with a simple choice, and he had to decide quickly: throw his sword to his left or his right.
His "landing strategy" was likely rather bland compared to some of his schoolmate's. He would rely on another of Soulcalibur's basic skills: point teleportation, or as he prefered to call it Point Warping. This ability, just like Sword Duplication, was simple, but extremely versatile. In a nutshell, it allowed Miles to teleport to his sword if it was within fifty meters of him. In most cases, he would throw it at opponents and catch them off-guard with an attack, or in later phases of his Awakening, he would create various warping points in order to confuse and deal with stronger foes. But perhaps most important it was a great escape and mobility tool.
On paper, the ability sounded overpowered, and it was extremely strong, but it came with three simple limitations. The first was that no matter how much Miles trained and practiced, prolonged use of warping always resulted in negative effects on his body, as the forces which made all of the molecules he was composed of disappear and reappear in another location caused a serious toll on him. The results of this normally were nausea, migraine, and heavy fatigue, but by now he was confident enough to be able to warp repeatedly through various battles without collapsing at the very least.
The second one consisted of a timer. In his normal state, as well as earlier and later phases of Awakening, Miles could only warp up to five times in succession before the ability became disabled or entered a cooldown state for around 20 seconds. This was likely a defense mechanism his Relic had so that he wouldn't kill himself by warping around excessively and dying of fatigue. This rule also applied when he warped with someone else, which he was able to do. Every other person he warped with would increase the number of warps by one, with the maximum being four. Warping with more than one person imposed a heavier toll on Miles and his Anima reserves.
Which leads to the third limitation, and perhaps the most obvious one: Anima. Warping had a set cost of Anima, which increased exponentially when he warped with other people or when he warped in very, very rapid succession. In the past, Miles had run out of Anima in crucial moments and lost perhaps his greatest means of escape, which would have cost him greatly if one of his classmates hannd't intervened to save him at that moment.
It only took a second of deliberation. Miles had been a pessimist for most of his life, more often than not subconsciously starting the day with his left foot, both literally and metaphorically. He wanted to change that, he wanted to try and see the positives of the world more often. This incidentally was the mentality the Relic user had towards his death.
So right here, right now, he chose right.
A sword rapidly descended through the forest. A black grip with a silver pommel, an also silver guard with the shape of a wing and a black and white blade. Some would call it magnificent, others would say it was a miracle of blacksmithing, a sword not made by humans, but by beings who humans of old could not even wish to comprehend. This was once the blade that belonged to perhaps the strongest knight of King Arthur's Round Table, chivalrous knight and a perfect example of the values of knighthood: Sir Lancelot Dulac.
It was certain to say that legends changed depending on which world told them. Maybe in other worlds the sword came to be called Arondight, in others perhaps, Sir Lancelot was said to wield Caliburn or even Excalibur itself. But in Miles' Earth, only one blade could ever be linked to the once perfect Knight who became a traitor of Camelot. A sword of Balance, both shadow and sister of the divine Excalibur. Both light and sister to the demonic Hellcalibur. A sword made to corrupt and purify.
Soulcalibur, the Sword of Soul's Balance.
As it finally crashed into the ground, it dug itself into the stump of a fallen tree, raising a small cloud of dust from the impact.
A certain girl who had yet to find a partner was heading north, holding her trusty hoplon shield in her left hand and her red spear on her right hand witnessed how this blade seemingly fell from the heavens. With a quick and trained motion, she jumped back and placed her shield on her back, taking a knee and switching her spear's shape into a rifle. She took careful aim and held a steady position.
When the dust cleared, her eyebrows shot up in surprise, she lowered her rifle and stood straight. It was then when emerald met brown. She didn't see when the boy managed to get to the sword, but to her it mattered little. Pyrrha finally let a smile appear on her face.
"It's nice to see you again, Miles. Or should I say… partner."
Thus, a new pair was formed.
Hello, guys!
So, to be honest I am kind of ashamed this chapter took me so long to finish. At the start, I planned it to cover all of the Emerald Forest arc, but I decided to cut it here and leave the part I was working on for the next chapter. College has been pretty rough lately, that combined with other hobbies I have left me with little time to write, but I promise I'll try to pick up the pace during summer break.
Speaking of the chapter, I really wanted to add a little more of backstory and personal problems to Pyrrha. I like how she is portrayed in the original show, but I always found her slightly on the more shallow side of the cast (and most RWBY characters are pretty shallow already). In case you're wondering, she'll have a bigger role in this fic considering Miles partnered up with her so I only hope I can give justice to the character in the future.
I know a lot of you are going to hate the fact that I sent Jaune to Haven, but it's just... To be perfectly frank, Jaune's character is a singularity in the world of RWBY that doesn't make any sense to me at all, the fact that he doesn't have any knowledge of something as basic as Aura is baffling to me, more so considering he has a family of Huntsmen and wants to one himself, though I do understand why the writers made him as clueless as he was. I certainly don't hate the character(I actually think in recent Volumes he is one of the best) and he'll definitely have a role to play in the future, but for now he'll have to grow independently from the Beacon cast.
With all of his out of the way, I want to thank everyone again! Please keep in mind that I'm not a pro writer or anything like that, so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated (spelling or grammar errors included pls). Summer break is close, so if nothing bad happens, I should be able to uptade this story in about two weeks or so, expect next chapter to be a big one! Have a great day, everyone.