Chapter 8

"On one side, the prodigy of Sanctum, Pyrrha Nikos!" The announcer shouts, causing the person in question to suddenly take on a gloomy expression, however it vanishes as quickly as it came and she smiles, waving for the crowd, "And her opponent, the mysterious boy who quite literally came from nowhere; not sharing anything other than his first name; Ira!" The crowd cheers, but not nearly as much as they did for Pyrrha; being that she is well known throughout the city while I am just some passer-by, the reason is obvious.

"With one already being well accomplished, hailing from our very own city, she has quickly flown through the tournament with the crowd at her side throughout it all. The other having come out from nowhere, defeating his opponents with ease, he has quickly won over some fans within the crowd. Who will win, anyone can say; whether Contestant Ira can beat Pyrrha like he has all the others, or will he fail to stand against the polished techniques that gained her the title of 'Prodigy of Sanctum.'" the announcer comments as we ready ourselves, Pyrrha readying her shield as a guard against my speed probably and gun pointing towards me. "Without further ado; let the finale of the tournament, BEGIN!"

'Okay think, can I beat her? She was meant to have won 4 years in a row before she joined Beacon, so if I beat her now, will that stop her?' I think to myself, counting on my fingers the years until Beacon 'No, it should be fine, we still have 5 years, if there is a tournament every year that means she has 4 more after this one, plus this way I can test her to see how far she has come, she may even be better than me for all I know.'

Noticing me thinking to myself without equipping my sword, Pyrrha pauses, "Um, shouldn't you take up your sword, do not worry I won't attack until you are ready." Always the kind hearted girl, in shouldn't really be surprised why Neptune has a crush on her, in fact it's a bit weird Jaune didn't.

"Oh, yeah, but couldn't you have attacked and beaten me, in a real fight you really shouldn't wait." I ask, surely that was a huge opening.

"Maybe." She says with a pondering look, "But this is a tournament, not a real fight, we are here to test our skill, not survive. I don't want to win this so much that I would do something underhanded."

"I guess you wouldn't." I chuckle as I unsheathe my sword, this is going to be way different from the other matches, I can already tell, "But remember, hands above the belt." I say with a smirk, getting a light chuckle in return. Getting into my usual stance, I continue, "Let's put our skills to the test then, shall we Miss Nikos?"

"What's this? It seems that after some back and forth between the contestants, Ira has already unsheathed his blade. It seems he can't take our city's champion lightly!" The announcer comments as the fighting commences.

Dodging the sudden shield bash with a side step to my right, away from her sword I quickly take a step back, she had swung her shield to the left after noticing I dodged, with its edge inches from hitting me.

'Definitely better that the other's' I confirm to myself before redirecting a sword thrust away from me; she is quick and can respond to the changing situation efficiently. A good plan as well, doesn't let me have the time to attack or counter, considering all my matches ended with quick, rapid thrusts, except the last one, it's a well thought out strategy.

Dealing with both her sword, she quickly regains her balance instead of stumbling forward, she must have used her semblance to correct herself.

"Amazing, Pyrrha has went for a full offensive strategy, not allowing her opponent to have a moment to spare, having to block both Miló and Akoúo̱ with only his thin sword. Can he last until she tires, or will he be the one to falter?" The announcer shouts as she keeps attacking, forcing me to play the defensive. After a while of this however, she stops and quickly retreats, taking up a defensive stance.

"Not bad, possessing skill and speed, a strategic thinker, and can keep calm under pressure." I say to myself looking at my blade that I had just thrust out with, before returning to my default stance. It's my favourite stance, so it is almost always my go to. It gives off a refined, calm atmosphere; something I find matches my usual demeanour. But admittedly, it isn't always the best option, sometimes you need to be a little more….wild.

"Thank you, however I could say the same for you, able to deal with both my sword and shield for so long without even getting out of breath." She replies back.

With a light bow to her comments, I charge in, this time going on the offensive. Instead of thrusting, like she was thinking I would do, a kick hits her shield, sending her sliding a good meter or two. A hand then grabbing the top of the still held up shield I pull down as I jump, moving her shield away from blocking her body. Twisting my body to be parallel with the ground, my knee connects with her temple, sending her to the side, releasing her falling shield.

Getting up again I see she is a bit shocked, after all I had just changed my fighting style completely, from relying on refined and dignified techniques, it changed to a wilder, more untamed technique, using every opportunity to attack. She notices her shield under my foot, and feeling a slight pull, I kick it towards her. It seems she didn't broadcast her semblance even at a young age; I am doing the same though, except I haven't used it in the tournament at all.

Noticing she has again entered a defensive stance with her sword out front, a

Clang!

Resounds throughout the arena after my sword struck her shield with a heavy impact, surprising for the type of sword I am using. Due to its slightly odd nature of being a mix between a sabre and a rapier it is good for not only thrusting attacks but slashing ones as well.

"Amazing, it seems as if there is a completely different person in the ring compared to before! The mysterious, yet refined swordplay of Ira has changed into an untamed wild barrage, yet even then it looks beautiful as he flips, steps, jumps and twists around Pyrrha, not giving a hint from which direction the next attack is coming from, it looks as if he is dancing around her, rotating his body it looks as if he isn't even affected by gravity. And the left hand that was always behind his back? Its seems to have become just as active as his right, as the sword finds its way switching from left to right as he flip and sails through the air!"

As the announcer finishes speaking all that it one breath, a horn resounds, "And the winner, having seemed like a changed man, or rather boy, is Ira!" He shouts.

Landing on the ground, I stand straight looking refined once again and sheathe my sword. Turning around to the collapsed Pyrrha, I offer my hand, which she accepts and stands up.

"Thank you, I wasn't expecting such a change, I couldn't even keep up." She says as she looks at the board above, seeing her aura dangerously low. "But I don't think I could have been able to beat you even if I knew." Saying in a sigh, "It seems you weren't completely right with your earlier comment."

"I disagree, fighting well and dignified, you kept calm, you just, as you said, couldn't react. You fought beautifully, and if you had used your semblance a bit more, I wouldn't have even had a weapon to fight with." I say to her, of course I had went in knowing that she might not have developed that habit and might lose my sword, I still had a few options to fight if she used her semblance, one of them being my own semblance. She might not have won, but she done an amazing job, I was relieved she wasn't weaker than what she should have been; if she keeps this up she should be just as strong as she was in the show.

"So you could tell what my semblance was? I didn't even catch a hit of yours" She chuckles, "Still, you don't seem like you feel you would lose even then."

"I didn't use mine. But whose to say what would have happened if we did? it could have went either way, don't you think, 'Prodigy of Sanctum'?" I say with a teasing smile, resulting in another chuckle.

"It's Pyrrha, you can call me Pyrrha." She replies, she doesn't seem to like the nickname from the announcer.

"It's a pleasure, Pyrrha. You can call me Ira." I say, before walking off the stage.

"The pleasures all mine…" She says in a low voice before walking off the stage as well. "Weren't you the one with the guitar this morning?"

'Has everyone in Argus seen me busk?' I think to myself.

###

"And so, the winner of the tournament is…" The announcer says, standing in-between me and Pyrrha, "IRA!" He holds up my hand, resulting in the loud cheering of the audience.

Being led backstage after it's over; I am met with a middle-aged man with hair all around his face like a lion's mane.

"Good show, my boy, good show!" A hearty chuckle resounds from the man.

"I don't believe we have been introduced." I say, eyeing the man suspiciously.

"No, I don't believe we have, Leonardo Lionheart, Headmaster of Haven Academy, at your service." He replies.

"Ira."

"Oh I know who you are Ira, after that match, I'm sure everyone in Argus right now knows of you." He says, while chuckling, "To get straight to the point, how would you like to join my school?"

"…." What? I am too young to be joining a huntsman academy, and the skill I had shown out there was nowhere near the level of what a first year at Beacon normally possesses, there must be something up his sleave. My face must show a puzzled expression as he corrects,

"To be clearer, I mean Sanctum, then my academy." He says with another hearty chuckle, 'he seems livelier than he should' I think to myself. Perhaps this is him scouting me for a certain witch, I cautiously reply,

"I don't have enough money to pay for my admissions." The old 'I don't have money excuse', I have no intention of going to Haven, it's best to let him down now and get him out of my hair.

"No need to worry, having to wave the fees is nothing compared to having someone of your skills enter." He seems to have thought of everything, let's go a different route,

"How can I be sure you won't make me pay them back when I graduate, or blackmail me knowing that I owe your school?" the untrusting homeless child ploy.

"Ha Ha Ha" He chuckles, "Very well, how about a contract, if at any time you think something like that is happening, you can leave, no questions asked and you won't owe a single lien, how about it?"

"Deal." It's a win-win for me, I can attend his school, see how the schooling system works, get some knowledge of areas I might not know and then leave and go to Beacon. In all honesty, it wasn't the good idea to suggest that on his part.

"Excellent! I'll go draft up the documents, remember school starts next month." He says before walking away with what looks like a secretary.

"It seems we'll be classmates." Pyrrha says as she walks up to me.

"Isn't he the headmaster at Haven? How can he submit someone to Sanctum?" I ask, not quite sure if what he said was true.

"Yes he is, however Sanctum is a preparatory school for Haven, almost all students who go to Sanctum are shortlisted, as long as it is within their ability, to go to Haven." She replies, it wasn't explained in the show, and considering the distance between Sanctum and Havan it seems a bit odd, but there were schools like that in my previous life, heck even some preparatory schools were on opposite ends of the country.

"I see, so it's like that…" I say while thinking to myself, "Does that mean you are going to Haven?" I continue in a joking manner, already knowing the answer,

"Yes, I plan to." Pyrrha replies as if it was obvious.

….Huh?

Or so I thought.

A/N

Another cliff-hanger?

Okay, so Ira's fighting style; typically it looks refined and dignified, like a high-class fencer, minus the long lunges and squat stance, his legs are almost fully straight, with a slight bend to be able to react. However sometimes when he that isn't enough, he will switch up his style, becoming slightly unchained, with a more wild fighting style. I envisioned the wilder style, with his rapid flipping and switching sword hand, to look like Tatsuya in the Nine schools competition when he was facing the Crimson Prince and shooting down the barrage of magic circles as he flips and switching the gun between hands, except Ira uses a sword instead of a gun.

Anyway, thanks for reading.