And we are back for another chapter of this fun shit. Let's get into it right away, not much else to say.
Beta: CrowSkull
YBWR
Chapter 13- Pyrrhadice, Part 2
Pyrrha panted as she held her shield up above her head to block yet another heavy strike from her usual opponent, Cassandra Winchester. The taller and stronger girl pushed down on her shield, forcing Pyrrha down onto her knees. She heard her teammates shouting at her to move to the side, and she did so in turn. The bulky girl staggered ever so slightly as she lost her bracing on her shield, but only that. Pyrrha lunged back up to her feet and staggered back as Cassandra pushed forward, wielding her mace with both hands and charging with a smirk on her face. Pyrrha suddenly remembered the terms of this particular spar and took a look at the clock timing their bout, and scrunched her eyebrows in slight frustration. There was a reward for winning a sparring match in a short amount of time, less than three minutes if she remembered Cinder explaining correctly. Usually, her bouts with Winchester lasted for around five or six minutes each, purely because Pyrrha had a strong aura and kept getting up until she was exhausted or pushed out of the ring. This time, however, the situation was different.
"Help me out with that reward Cinder told us about, and I'll see to it that our little secret stays our little secret, eh?"
Pyrrha bit her lip as she let her front leg get swept out from across from her and exaggerated the way she fell backward as Cassandra slammed her shoulder into her chest. Throwing her to the ground and causing her to slide back until she was no longer in the ring. As Cinder announced that she was eliminated by ring out, the Winchester girl cheered in her victory, throwing her mace up into the air and catching it with the other after shouting out. "Yes! I did it!"
"Indeed you did," Cinder, bored from watching their sparring match, replied. "You will get the extra points I promised, Miss Winchester. As for you, Nikos," Cinder stared at her as she usually did with those disappointed yellow eyes of hers. "You were defeated even faster than usual, which could only mean one of two things. Either Winchester here had been holding back on you this entire time, or you somehow got worse over the time you have been in this class. I can say it to you again and again, but doing that doesn't seem to be enough. You remember the terms I gave you earlier this semester, don't you?"
"Y-Yes…" Pyrrha replied, looking to the floor in shame. "I-I can't stay in Beacon if I can't get better…"
"That's right," Sighing in her disappointment, Cinder continued as she usually did with her. "Seek aid in your teammates, your friends, or even me if you wish. That is all the advice I will spare for you this time. Winchester, don't think I am done with you just yet," Cinder said as she watched Cassandra start making her way off stage. "This is hardly a challenge for you, I can tell. Don't think that you will be able to soar through this class without so much as breaking a sweat. Next class, you will get an opponent who can actually make you work hard."
"Ah, but Pyrrha and I had a thing going on!" Cassandra complained half-heartedly, causing a good portion of the class to break out laughing at her joke. "It just won't be the same if I have to fight anyone else, and besides, who else would you put against her? It's not like anyone else would give her the same mercy that I have been showing her."
"Yes, mercy," Cinder rolled her eyes. "That is not a decision that you are able to make, Winchester. And speak another lie like that, and you'll be fighting Jaune Arc in the opening spar of our next session."
Cassandra paled at the very thought and nodded her head obediently. It was small consolation that Pyrrha got to see her bully squirm ever so slightly, even if it was only for a few moments. When Cinder flicked her chin over to her, gesturing for her to get off the stage, Pyrrha complied quickly. She stepped off of the stage as Cinder moved to stand in the center of the stage with a projector turning on behind her, and she started making her way to her teammates. However, before she could get too close to them, she stopped when she felt a familiar strong arm wrap around her shoulders, and with a nervous and forced smile, Pyrrha looked up at the girl she knew it belonged to.
"Where do you think you're going, Nikos?" Cassandra asked with her usual cocky grin and raised an eyebrow. "We aren't done with today just yet, I still got some stuff I need you to do for me and my teammates. Combat class isn't the only class that we are having trouble in, sadly, we still need you to take care of the plants we got from that stupid old man in botany class. You still want to help us, right?"
"I- Of course, Cass," Pyrrha forced herself to say. "I'll help you with whatever you need…"
"Great!" Pyrrha suppressed a frown when she was turned away from her teammates, who were giving her such hopeful looks. They wanted her to fight back, to stand up for herself, but how could she? Her hands were tied, she couldn't hope to stand up against the Winchester when she had such good dirt on her. "Then let's head back to our dorm once we're done," Cassandra continued as she had her sit down next to her and one of her other teammates. The girl that looked at her, Sky if she remembered correctly, looked at her as if she was less than human and scoffed when she dared to look back into her eyes. The nicest one she figured was the D of the team who didn't even bother to say anything to her, it was sad thinking that, but it was better than all of them ganging up on her like they usually did.
"Say, ain't there a trip to Forever Fall that we are going to go on soon?" One of Cass's teammates asked curiously. "Like, tomorrow or something like that?"
"Oh yeah, there is," Cassandra replied. "That should be fun, we just have to finish up what we have no before then, don't we? Hey Pyr, you're not busy today, right? Why don't you come with us to our dorm room so we can get some homework done together, sound like a plan?"
"Y-yes…" Pyrrha said, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I don't have anything else to do today anyway…" She regretted saying that the instant she saw Cassandra's eyes light up in anticipation.
"Is that so? Then we might as well hang out in there the rest of the day after class is over? Sound good to you girls?" No one told her otherwise, making the bully laugh mischievously as she patted Pyrrha on the head condescendingly. "Well, thanks for letting me know about that interesting fact! Don't worry, we won't have you sleeping over, I'm not that cruel."
Well, at least she admitted that what she was doing was indeed cruel to a certain extent. Pyrrha sighed internally as she listened to Cinder's lecture absentmindedly. Her mind was in another world at the moment, in just these last few days ever since Cassandra overheard her conversation with Jaune and her confession to him about her cheating her way into Beacon, she had been doing essentially whatever it was she wanted. Which consisted of doing her homework, taking care of the plant Professor Sustrai had assigned to them some time ago, and letting her win her matches against her in Cinder's class even more decisively than she had been before. Not to mention she's been practically stealing her away from her friends and teammates every chance she got. Pyrrha didn't like it, of course not, but she was terrified more of the thought of being brought up to Salem's office to explain why she forged her transcripts than she was of the thought of being a slave to do all the work of her bullies. The only consolation was that Cassandra seemed to have some degree of mercy for her as well, while she could be making her do all sorts of embarrassing things, she instead just had her do her work for her. Which was still disgusting, but she figured that it could have been worse if she were less fortunate.
Cinder's lecture was over quickly enough, and when they were dismissed she allowed herself to be pulled along by Cassandra and her teammates. As she listened to them talk and bicker amongst themselves, she caught the eye of her first friend, Yang, who looked at her with sad and pleading eyes. She seemed to try and tell her to fight back, and that she'd be there to help her if she did, but Pyrrha couldn't help but look away, ashamed to even be looked at by her. She must have been so disappointed in her, she must have thought that she was pathetic, even more so than usual, anyway. For once she was thankful when Cassandra took her back to the cafeteria to eat, where she merely sat still and only ate half of her tray before Cassandra decided that it was time for them all to return to their room to pack it up for the day. Of course, that break was only meant for them.
Pyrrha winced as Cassandra set out a thick packet of papers out in front of her, which was the work of every one of them from all of their classes. "Finish these up for us, will you?" Cassandra asked with a yawn. "Just do your best and copy the answers over to the other pages, it should be easy enough for a smart cookie like you. Imma go take a nap, wake me up when you're done, but only when you're done. Got it?"
"Y-yes… Cassandra."
"Good." The taller girl lied down on her bed while her other three teammates sat around television, chatted and started playing video games. They really were a lazy bunch, none of them bothered to keep training or trying to get stronger, no wonder Cassandra was able to push them around and control them whenever she liked, for she actually looked like she kept training and certainly looked and felt stronger than any of them were.
And far smarter than she looked as well, for she wouldn't have been able to get away with everything she has been getting away with lately if she didn't at least have the brains to know when and where she was able to take advantage of the rules. Pyrrha didn't know why she was trying to find reasons to praise the girl that had been taking advantage of her ever since she first laid eyes on her, but she figured it was because she'd rather not find a reason to keep hating her. It was a coping mechanism, she guessed. Trying to look on the bright side all the time like her mother always used to tell her. Because it was better to find a silver lining rather than keep staring at the terrible side of things.
Her brain felt fried when she was finally finished with the work that Cassandra had set out for her, and it had been two hours later. The bigger girl was still napping in bed, and Pyrrha hesitantly hovered over her, wondering how exactly to wake her without getting her angry.
"Hey Cass," Thankfully she didn't have to, as one of her other teammates threw their pillow at her before she could get the chance to attempt to wake her up. "Looks like your little pet is finished."
"Eh?" Cassandra woke up and rubbed at her eyes. "Is that so? That's cool, I guess." she swung over her legs and rubbed her stomach, which growled loudly. She forked out some Lien and tossed it into Pyrrha's hand.
"E-Eh?" Pyrrha looked down at the money with a shocked expression on her face. "What is this?"
"Go get us some food," Cassandra said with a yawn. "I'm hungry; once you're done with that, I'll be done with you for today, no point keeping you around if I don't have anything for you to do anyway."
"O-Okay…" Pyrrha said slowly, and carefully. "What do you want?"
"Do I look like I'm picky?" Cassandra snapped suddenly. "Just get food from whatever is open! Just don't get me any salad, I hate salad. Get me meat, I'll let you guess. Better hope I like it."
"I'm going!" Pyrrha hurried outside the dorm and ran down the hall, stopping in the middle of a stairwell once she was a good distance away from Cassandra's room. She looked down at the money that had been so haphazardly tossed into her hands. It was a lot for what Cassandra was asking. For an instant, Pyrrha considered the idea of taking the money and running back to her friends or running away from Beacon even. But she bit her lip and slumped her head against the wall, pocketing it instead and heading down the rest of the stairs. She was a lot of things, a cheat, a liar, and a terrible friend, but she was no thief, and she would not run away from her problems.
Pyrrha went to Vale, went to the closest fast-food restaurant, bought food for four, and then headed back to Cassandra's dorm back in Beacon and knocked. When Cassandra answered, she seemed surprised that she actually went through with it.
"Well shit," Cassandra chuckled as she looked into the bag. "You actually did it, color me impressed Pyrrha," she said, once again condescendingly patting her head. "You can go now, here, I'll even give you a reward for your loyalty." She handed her one of the side sandwiches that was meant for one of her teammates. "Run along now, I'll be seeing to tomorrow for the Forever Fall trip. Don't keep me waiting, eh Pyr?"
"I-I won't," Pyrrha said, holding the wrapped sandwich behind her back. "Thank you, for the food." She said without thinking.
"Hmph," Cassandra scoffed at her. "Get out of here, Pyrrha."
The night she spent back with her own teammates was somehow tenser than it was in Cassandra's room. As soon as she returned, her teammates all stared at her with judgemental yet hopeful eyes. She couldn't help but run to her bed immediately and go to sleep, however. She just couldn't look them in the eyes after everything she had been doing, especially not Jaune, who had been so good to her and the only thing she gave back to him was a figurative slap in the face. Now more than ever, she regretted what she said to him back then on that roof. He offered her help, and she said no. She wouldn't be where she was now if she had his support, and Cassandra wouldn't be leading her to the Bullheads rather than her friends and teammates once again.
To her horror and by some terrible coincidence, her teammates were assigned to the same Bullhead that Cassandra and her team were on. And to rub in that extra salt, Cass made her sit between her and one of her partners instead of sitting with her own teammates. Jaune, Nora, and Ren all watched in intense silence as Cassandra and the rest of her team spoke and bantered with each other as if nothing was wrong with this scene. There was one other random team assigned to their Bullhead at the same time, but of course, they were keeping to themselves in their own corner of the ship. The pilot had warned them to stay in their seats since they may see some turbulence while on their way to the Forest of Forever Fall, and that she would have to fly at high speeds in order to make it there on time to make it back and bring the next batch of students along next. It was a short ride, but the ten minutes she spent sitting with Cassandra was some of the most nervous minutes of her life. Every glance she stole at her own teammates were met by the trio-stare from all of her teammates, which silenced her back into her seat. She knew that they all meant well, and if she just gave the word they would just take her back and protect her from Cassandra and her torment, but she knew that her secret would get out as well, which would only lead to her imminent expulsion from Beacon.
She was actually glad Cass and her teammates hurried off the ship as soon as they landed so they could go marvel at the Forest of Forever Fall, and she couldn't blame them. Everything was red, even redder than her hair was. The only thing that wasn't red was the bark on the trees, and it made for a beautiful sight. She could have stared at it for hours, or journeyed around for days, and still be at shock. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw that Cassandra and her teammates seemed to have started walking away, seemingly forgetting about her. Her heart leaped up to her throat as she saw Jaune stop in front of her, if only some several feet away from her. He looked her in the eyes, his hand slowly stretching out toward her.
"Come on, Pyrrha," he said with that kind smile of his. "Let's go see the forest, I'm sure it will be fun for all of us."
For a moment, Pyrrha forgot that she was at Cassandra's mercy.
"Sorry Jaune Arc," Cassandra said as she noticed the two of them together. "But Pyr would rather hang out with us for this trip, ain't that right Pyrrha? We wouldn't want an accident to happen if we were apart, I would be devastated, right Pyrrha?"
"I-I…" Pyrrha flinched as Cassandra once again wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Yes… perhaps…"
"Perhaps? Perhaps what?" Cass egged her on. "C'mon, you want to say it, don't you? C'mon, say it, I promise I won't get mad."
Pyrrha clenched her fists tightly, her teeth grit and her eyes scrunched closed as her shoulders squared up to her neck. But she couldn't do it, she couldn't release her pent up anger. She couldn't risk losing control of her emotions at a time like this.
"Yes… you're right… I wouldn't want to worry you." She said robotically.
"Hah!" Cassandra shook her head and pulled her along as she made her way back to her teammates. "Heard it yourself, Jaune Arc, she'd rather be with us for now. Don't worry, not a hair on her head will be touched, you have my word on that. It's against the rules to hurt the other students unprovoked, right?"
Jaune merely hummed, scowling at the taller girl as she made away with his partner. Pyrrha's heart jumped in her chest again when she saw Jaune take a step toward them, but got stopped by Ren and Nora before he could do something that he would regret later. He quickly turned around in a snap, though his shoulders were tense. He clearly was about to do something and would have if he weren't stopped.
"He almost got in trouble… because of me." Pyrrha thought to herself. "I'm so pathetic…"
"Aye, what's with the long face?" Cassandra asked, picking her chin up. "Don't look so depressed, you're gonna need energy if you're meant to sap those trees as Cinder explained to us earlier. Ain't that right girls?" Her teammates all echoed their approval. "That's what I expected. Alright, let's all find a good spot to chill and Pyrrha here will make sure we fill up all the jars we need to,"
Pyrrha struggled to catch the glass jars as they were haphazardly tossed at her. There being five of them made it impossible, and she needed to bend down on her knees in order to pick them all up. Once she got them all up in her arms, she had to follow Cassandra and her teammates as they all just walked off, expecting her to follow her.
"This is more sap than we realistically need for this assignment…" Pyrrha noted out loud as she followed a good distance away. "Why do they need all these jars…? Oh, whatever, I'm sure I won't have to worry about it for long. I'll just keep bearing with it for now… I'm sure they'll get bored of me eventually."
Pyrrha sagged to her knees as she spilled out the five full jars of sap in front of Cassandra and her teammates on the ground. Her fingers were sore and the metal tools that Cinder had provided for them had broken on the last few saps of the last jar. She was just glad that she was finally done, it was difficult to get started as she didn't quite know what she was doing until the third try on the first tree than she figured that the thicker and older looking trees would be better to sap from. It wasn't necessarily hard, just tiring. She tried to use her aura to make it easier to poke through the bark and into the flesh of the tree, but she didn't have that kind of control. Yet another thing she would have to work on if she wanted any hope of staying in Beacon past the first semester.
"Well, well, well," Cassandra crowed as she hefted up one of the jars in one hand. "Has a little bit of weight to it too, no wonder it took you so long, Pyrrha, I was just about to send my partner here to look for you."
"I did it…" Pyrrha said, sighing loudly as she pushed herself back up to her feet. "Can I go back to my team now? Please… I've done everything you asked."
"Hm… not quite yet," Cassandra said after putting nothing but a second of thought into it. "There's just one more thing I need you to do, and once you do that, then you're good to go for let's say… eh, fuck it. Forever!" Pyrrha dared to look hopeful. "You see, we gave you five jars when we just needed four, one for each of us. But we gave you five for a reason, and it's not so you can have one to turn in yourself. Tell me Pyr, do you know what lives in this forest?"
"G-Grimm?" Pyrrha stammered.
"Right, yeah, gonna need to be a bit more specific than that." Cassandra sneered.
"I-I don't know… all I know is that this forest is supposed to be Grimm infested."
"Ah, well, I guess I can't expect you to know all of the answers," Cassandra let out a disappointed sigh. "Manticore, Manticores live in this forest. Grimm, of course. When they get huge they can be really dangerous, but when they're young and tiny they are just really annoying, but those stingers on their tails can hurt quite a bit if you're swarmed by them." She explained. "They also appear to be really attracted to this sap here, I don't exactly know why, since they don't need to eat or drink to survive, but I assume it must smell good to them just as it does for us. So, do you know what that means?"
"I-I…" Pyrrha felt fear grip her heart. "You want me to… cover myself with this stuff?"
"What?" Cassandra looked offended that she'd even ask something like that. "No! Of course not, what do you think I am, crazy?"
Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief, of course, she should have known, Cassandra was cruel but she wasn't sadistic.
"I want you to throw that jar against your partner," Cassandra immediately said after. "I want to see if he wasn't just bragging about having the most aura reserves in the entire world."
"Jaune?" Pyrrha stammered. "No… please, don't make me do that, it's…"
"Hm? What was that?" Cassandra stood up and loomed over her, cracking her knuckles and looking down at her with a smirk that just dared her to talk back to her again. "Do you want to say something, you little redhead?"
"It's… cruel." Pyrrha let herself say. "It's unfair… please, I'll do anything else."
"Fine, I'll have some mercy on you. I want you to throw that on any one of your teammates, you must have a favorite and a least favorite, right? We're only human, after all." Cassandra explained, shoving her back. "C'mon, it shouldn't be too hard to find them, lets go."
"N-No," Pyrrha whispered. "No!"
"Eh?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow as Pyrrha moved in the opposite direction. "It's a little late to be growing a spine now, Pyrrha. What do you think you're-"
CRACK!
"Cass!" Cassandra's partner cried, dropping down to his knees beside Cassandra who had her hair and face and chest covered in shards of glass and red sap. "Shit, are you okay!?"
"Ugh, that little bitch!" Cassandra exclaimed, jumping up to her feet and stomping toward Pyrrha. "That's it, I was being nice to you now, but now I'm gonna- oof!"
"Fuck you!" Pyrrha screamed as she charged into her waist, knocking her down to the ground. Her anger finally boiling over, she clawed and slapped at Cassandra's face and forearms. "Every single day! For a week! You kept on tormenting me! Why!" Pyrrha shouted through angry tears. "What did I ever do to you! Why do you hate me so much!?"
"Get the fuck off!" Cassandra screamed back, shoving Pyrrha off of her and pinning her to the ground, smashing her cheek into the red grass. Her face was red with scratches and slaps, her eyes were red with anger. "Fat lot you bitches did to help me there!" She shouted to her teammates. "C'mon, this little bitch thinks she can just get angry and beat us up now, let's show her just how pathetic and weak she really is."
Cassandra reeled her fist back, encased in a metal gauntlet, and threw it down at Pyrrha's face. It stopped just centimeters away from her cheek, Cassandra struggled to push it down further and struggled even harder to pull it back. "What the hell…?" She asked, pulling with both hands on her metal gauntlet, which was encased in a strange black aura.
Pyrrha was just as shocked as she was. But right now, there was only one thing she was thinking. "Get away from me!" She screamed, throwing her hands toward Cassandra and her entire time. They were all thrown back in various directions, but Cassandra was thrown the hardest, wearing a full metal suit of armour. Her back crashed against a tree, and she landed awkwardly on her foot, twisting it and crying out in pain as she fell back to the ground.
"W-what?" Pyrrha looked at her own hands, thinking about what just happened. "What was that…? What did I just…"
"Agh!" Cassandra screamed, tears edging her eyes as she held her ankle which was bent too far in one direction. "Fuck, FUCK! This hurts!"
"What the hell did you do!?" The one named Sky cried out. "You damn freak! Shit, we've got to go get help-"
"We've got bigger problems here!"
"What- a Grimm!?"
A roar echoed out through the forest, Cassandra was right when she said that there was Grimm Manticore living in the forest, she just made the mistake of assuming that the smaller and mostly harmless ones would appear instead of one that was almost just as big as a Bullhead. Cassandra and her teammates took one look at it and ran away in fear.
"Wait!" The supposed leader of the group cried out. "Don't leave me here! I can't move!" When she looked back at the Grimm, it was staring directly at her, its mouth frothing with saliva and its glowing red eyes staring death into her soul, Cassandra pushed herself against the tree as tightly as she could and futilely tried to wipe the sap off of her face and armor. She realized that there was no use, and when the Manticore went to stab her through with its tail, all she could do was huddle up and hope that death came swiftly.
A loud metal clang was heard as the stinger of the Manticore stabbed not into human flesh, but into Pyrrha's shield as she stood in front of her bully and tormentor with a terrified look on her face. Cassandra watched her with shock in her eyes as Pyrrha's aura flushed all over her body, giving her the strength she needed to hold back the tail, though only just barely.
"W-Why?" She couldn't help but ask. "Why did you save me?"
"Argh!" Pyrrha roared as she pushed through with her shield with all her might, causing the tail to fly off to the side and strike a nearby boulder, shattering it into pieces. "It's because I am a huntress in training!" Pyrrha screamed at her. "And that means we have to protect people who can't protect themselves from the Grimm! I won't let you die, Winchester!"
Pyrrha, although terrified, charged at the Manticore, dedicating her heart to the protection of someone she was desperate to try and hurt moments before. Cassandra watched out with tears in her eyes, hoping all of her hope into Pyrrha so that she may slay the Manticore and save her life as she had just promised.
Jaune chased after the girl who ran up to them, screaming about a Grimm and that Cassandra needed to be saved. Immediately, he thought that Pyrrha was in danger as well, and without thinking, he, his teammates, along with Yang and Weiss while Ruby and Blake ran off to go tell Cinder about it. As soon as they were grouped up, they ran in the direction of the sound of fighting. In the distance, he could barely see it, but he saw that slow blur of red, battling a massive beast of white and black, while the one person he could admit to hating sat at the foot of a tree, cheering Pyrrha on in hopes that she would win against the Grimm. She was injured, somehow, and in such a way that it didn't make sense for a Grimm to be the one to do it. He felt a morbid sense of pride for Pyrrha, knowing that she must have finally found the guts to protect herself.
"That's a Manticore!" Yang shouted as they got close enough to see exactly what Pyrrha was fighting. "What the hell is a Manticore that big doing this close to the edge of the forest!?"
"I don't know, but it looks like Pyrrha is fighting it." Jaune pointed out the obvious, watching as Pyrrha used all the skills that he knew he had in order to dodge, block or even tank hits as the Manticore tried to kill her. Her weapon was in its spear form, which was ironically the form that she knew the least. Although it seemed to be working, she wasn't just being a punching bag, she was hitting back and making the Manticore bleed, which made it switch its target from the sap-covered Winchester over to her, marking her as the greater threat which needed to be destroyed.
"We have to help her!" Weiss exclaimed, brandishing her Myrtenaster and preparing to lunge in.
"No, wait," Jaune said, stopping them both before they could jump into the fray.
"What!?" Yang shouted. "Why the hell should we wait!?"
"This is her fight," Jaune said, recognizing the look Pyrrha had on her face. She had the face of a warrior, her teeth were bared and her brow was scrunched over her eyes. She wanted to kill the Manticore, no, she needed to kill the Manticore. She could have just run away like Cassandra's teammates had, but she stayed. She needed to prove something not to him or anyone else, but to herself. "If her aura gives, we jump in, let her handle this."
As Jaune held back Weiss and Yang, Pyrrha fought for her life. She wasn't skilled or very good at what she was doing, a professional huntsman would have killed this thing as soon as it appeared, but she knew the basics. Use her shield to block attacks, and poke at it with her spear. It had been working so far, as the Manticore was bleeding black blood all over the place from the random puncture wounds dotted around its entire body. She just found herself growing more and more frustrated as the Manticore continued to roar and snap at her. She just needed to kill it, and everyone would be safe! No longer would she allow herself to be so weak again! But in order to do that, she had to kill it!
Come on… these light attacks aren't working! I need something stronger, something that would kill it instantly. She mentally gasped as she remembered something. She did have a strong attack that she used before, she hadn't tried it since then, but what if…?
Pyrrha bashed her shield into the Manticore's face and dashed backward. While stunned, the Manticore scratched at its own face in an effort to somehow 'unbreak' its nose. In that split second, Pyrrha dropped her shield and raised her spear over her shoulder, and reeled back as far as she could.
Jaune watched on and focused his gaze, holding out a hand and activating his semblance and amplifying Pyrrha's aura, which in turn amplified her strength and rejuvenated a portion of her stamina.
Feeling this, Pyrrha let out a loud roar and threw the spear as hard as she could. The Manticore looked up just in time for the spear to pierce through its skull, instantly being killed and evaporating to black dust.
Cassandra watched as the panting Pyrrha felt her aura finally give out in a flash of red, and she turned around just in time to drop to her knees directly in front of her. "Hey," Pyrrha said, smiling at her. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah…" Cassandra couldn't believe it. "That was- That was amazing, Pyrrha. Thank you," she added, tearing up again. "Thank you, you saved my life!"
"Hah…" Pyrrha felt her eyes roll to the back of her head, exhaustion taking hold as her vision started going black. "That's good."
And there we go. Pyrrhadice done. I just wanted to get this part of the story over with quickly as I didn't want a pretty well-known plot to drag out too long anyway. Hopefully, I have done the reverse role aspect of this story justice and made some things more different and unique from the original show. Hopefully, I'll just have to see what you all think.
Gonna go on a bit of a marathon for another story of mine that I will be publishing on Amazon once I am finished with it, so you most likely won't get another update for about a week or so. Just letting you all know.