The reels spun and finally landed on the two contestants for this round. "And our two fighters will be Kratos Nikos against Guts, the Black Swordsman of Shade Academy!" Oobleck announced.

The other students quickly filed off of the arena as Kratos and a boy in intimidating black armor with an absolutely massive sword, almost more akin to a giant slab of raw steel, turned to face each other. "Huh. One of the champions of Mistral, huh? You better not turn out to be some kind of weakling." Guts said

"I assure you, I am no weakling." Kratos said, readying his own massive blade.

"3... 2... 1... Begin!" Port announced, the two warriors rushing in.

Background Music: "Bleed It Out" by Linkin Park.

The two warriors rushed in and clashed their massive swords together, attempting to force the other back. Kratos came out the stronger of the two and took several steps forward, sliding Guts back a few feet. Finally, with a large push, Kratos shoved Guts back and off-balance, allowing him to swing the sword and fire a ball of electricity into Guts, knocking him back even further. Guts recovered and brought up his prosthetic right arm, firing several crossbow bolts with varying Dust tips, but Kratos easily deflected each of them, swinging at Guts again, but the Black Swordsman backed up. Kratos then prepared for a downward slice, but Guts deployed his hidden cannon in the arm and blasted Kratos in the chest, sending him flying back.

Kratos would then stop himself by stabbing the blade into the ground and readying himself as Guts rushed in and struck at Kratos several times, the former Spartan blocking each of the strikes, managing to knock Kratos off-balance and attempting to strike again, but Kratos brought up his shoulder and intercepted the strike with the Golden Fleece, deflecting Guts' attack and blasting him back with the energy from the attack, before knocking him down with another ball of electricity from the sword.

Guts got back up just in time to roll out of the way as Kratos leapt towards him and sliced at him with the massive sword. They both swung once again and locked blades, Kratos once again pushing Guts back a few steps. The Ghost of Remnant scoffed at this. "Pathetic. You would call me a weakling, yet I have been dominating this entire battle!" Kratos taunted, before Guts headbutted him, causing him to stagger back, then hit him with a barrage of crossbow bolts and knocking him back with a powerful spinning horizontal slash, throwing him back across the arena.

"Alright, then... I think it's about time we got serious." Guts said. Suddenly, he held his arms out and he began to be encased within a demonic-looking suit.

"Ahh, yes! This is Guts' Semblance. One of the most unique we've seen so far. By dawning this strange and intimidating armor, Guts becomes completely immune to pain and it's natural inhibitions, allowing him to unleash his completely unrestrained potential. However, it also comes with the possibility of damaging his body. His aura minimalizes this, but cannot outright prevent it. This is now a gamble for Guts." Oobleck explained to the crowd.

"Now, then... Come on..." Guts said darkly.

"Very well. It is time we ended this." Kratos said, unleashing his own semblance and rushing in, Guts doing the same. It almost looked like a small tornado was beginning to form in the middle of the arena wit how fast the two berserkers swung their massive blades, almost too fast for to be seen. Kratos was now surprisingly the more mobile one, dashing around guts and slicing at him, even stabbing and ripping up the ground, using shockwaves to stagger Guts.

However, despite the number of attacks Guts was recieving and his aura slowly but surely going down, he appeared completely unfazed by te damage he was taking and threw devastatingly powerful attacks, mostly just missing and nicking Kratos, but a few landed definite and painful hits, beginning to slow Team SCRN's powerhouse down, to the point Guts actually had him on the defensive. "Looks like you're no champion without your sister by your side!" Guts taunted, breaking through Kratos' guard and readying one final swing.

Kratos growled at this insult to his pride. Of course, Pyrrha had been a huge help and they won those championships together, but Kratos was still a formidable warrior on his own, the strongest among his team, who were already the strongest at Beacon. "I need no allies to be a warrior!" He snapped, spinning the sword and using his aura to activate the lightning Dust to create a dome of electricity around the two, shocking Guts and forcing his muscle to tighten from the electricity, leaving him stunned and wide open for one more devastating slash that sent Guts to the ground and sliding across it until he fell out of the arena, aura completely depleted

End Music

"And the winner is Kratos Nikos of Beacon by a combination of ring-out and aura depletion!" Oobleck announced.

"What a way to kick off the finals!" Port said.

Kratos walked up to Guts as he got onto one knee, offering his hand to help the black swordsman up. "You fought well." He said.

Guts looked up, slightly surprised, before smiling and taking Kratos' hand, allowing him to pull Guts to his feet. "To you as well. You certainly earned your spot as a champion." He said.

The two of them then left the ring and Kratos walked up to where RWBY, JNPR and the rest of SCRN sat. "Nice work, Nikos." Dante said, high-fiving Kratos.

"Well fought, my friend." Ryu said.

"What else would you expect from the team's powerhouse?" Bayonetta said.

"True, but it was all of your efforts that helped me get this far." He said.

"That was amazing, Kratos!" Jaune said, stepping up to Kratos and patting his back. "Pyrrha, wasn't he great out there?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha turned to Jaune. "Oh..." She said, looking at her brother, remembering everything Ozpin and the others had told her, wondering if she truly even knew him anymore. But she shook these thoughts off for now, knowing she couldn't tell all of them this and just gave a simple answer. "Yes... Great work out there, Kratos..." She said.

Kratos looked strangely at his sister's indifference. "Pyrrha..." He started, but then the reels began spinning again.

"And we're about to find out our next pair of contestants!" Port informed.

The reels continued to spin, until they finally landed on Mercury and Yang. "What a surprise! Yet another student of Beacon, Yang Xiao Long, against Mercury Black from Haven!" Oobleck announced.

"Well, I guess I'm up! Wish me luck, everybody!" Yang said, heading towards the arena.

"Break a leg, sis!" Ruby said excitedly.

"We're rooting for you." Dante said.

"Try your best not to lose, Yang. I'm your twin, if you lose, it makes me look bad." Bayonetta said. Yang rolled her eyes at this, but both sisters smiled at each other. "Good luck, sis. You know I'll be rooting for you." She said.

"Give it your all and hold nothing back." Kratos said.

"You got this!" Nora said.

"Fight well." Ryu said.

"Do your best." Ren said.

"Win it for Beacon!" Jaune said.

"You can do it, Yang." Pyrrha said.

Soon enough, Yang and Mercury were on the field. "You better not go easy on me." Yang said, smiling.

Mercury laughed darkly at this. "You wish." He said.

Both brawlers faced the crowds one last time, then slowly started advancing on each other, arms raised defensively until their hands could almost touch, as the final countdown commenced.

"Three! Two! One! Begin!" Port announced.

An intense battle ensued and, after narrowly withstanding a devastating onslaught of blasts, Yang managed to defeat Mercury with final, massive hit.

"Yang Xiao Long wins!" Oobleck announced while the stage is enclosed by the stadium floor again.

"Yeah! You did it, sis!" Ruby cheered, splaying her arms in excitement.

"Way to go, Yang!" Blake cheered as well, giving a standing ovation as Weiss pumped her fists.

However, Yang suddenly circled Mercury as he got back up, then once he did, she shot him in the leg. "What?!" Team SCRN shouted all together.

"No!" Bayonetta shouted on her own.

"My word!" Oobleck gasped, getting up from his chair.

"Cut the cameras!" Port told someone off-screen

The looks of surprise, horror, and hatred at Yang cut to a view of Mountain Glenn, where two Goliaths near a ruined hamburger joint and a pack of Beowolves up in the construction beams of an unfinished building all looked towards the Colosseum floating near Beacon.

"My leg, MY LEG!" Mercury cried, still grasping his injured body part, rocking back and forth.

"That's what you get, you little- Huh?" Yang started trash talking, but stopped just as she noticed the Atlesian Knight-200 droids and two Soldiers circling the Huntress-in-training and raising their guns to her.

"Yang Xiao Long, stand down!" A soldier ordered.

"What!? Why!?" Yang asked, not having a clue what's going on.

"Mercury!" Emerald called out worriedly as she rushed over to her partner's side, comforting him.

"Why'd she do that!? WHY'D SHE ATTACK ME!?" Mercury cried hysterically.

Yang received a disgusted scowl from Emerald, only now looking up at the screens above her to see the footage of what just transpired. Bayonetta shook her head and growled at what happened. "This can't be right. Yang would never do this. They must've done something to her!" Bayonetta said.

Dante held her close to calm her down. "You know I'm on your said, Cereza, but there's nothing we can do to prove it. At least right now, but we will." Dante said.

It took a moment of staring at the images until Yang finally understood what she did and her gaze turned up to the wide-eyed, terrified faces of Blake, Weiss, and Ruby. She looked around at the guns aimed at her and the people cursing her name, still not knowing what just happened or what will come next.

Bayonetta put a hand on Ruby's shoulder as the youngest sister began to shed a few tears. "Ruby, you know Yang would never do something like that. Something else must be going on here." She told her.

"I know, but... everyone's mad at Yang now... And she's going to be in trouble... I don't want anything to happen to her!" Ruby cried, hugging Bayonetta tightly as her older sister held her close.

"This can't be happening... Not to Yang... Not to our team..." Weiss said.

"It's not." Dante said, putting a hand on Weiss' shoulder.

"Dante..." She said.

"Something's happening here. I don't know what it is right now, but we will find it and we will clear Yang's name." Dante told her.

Weiss was shocked at this, but smiled at her brother. "I know you will." She said, before they all looked back down at the scene with uncertainty.

Mercury was still cradling his injured limb, Emerald kneeling beside him and Yang in the center of a ring of security, all with rifles aimed at her. "Please, somebody help him!" Emerald called out in distress. Paramedics come over with a stretcher, lowering it to Mercury. "Can you do something!?" She asked.

There was a rip in the leg of Mercury's pants and skin and blood were visible through the rip. The paramedic observing the leg exchanged a glance with his coworker. "We need to get this boy to a hospital. Grab a blanket." He said.

They got Mercury on the stretcher and rushed him off, Emerald following right behind. Yang looked on with a horrified expression, her lilac eyes now almost colorless.

"You don't understand!" Yang told the guards, pointing at Mercury. "He attacked me, I swear!" She explained.

The Atlas security guards lifted their guns higher in response. "Stow it! You've already caused enough of a scene!" One of them ordered.

Ryu quickly stood up at this. "Where are you going?" Dante asked.

"Something isn't right... When Yang hit Mercury, that wasn't the sound of bones breaking. I heard metal hitting metal." Ryu said, hurrying to a nearby exit to catch up with the retreating paramedics.

"We already know they're up to something. I need to make a call." Kratos said, leaving as well.

Dante and Bayonetta looked around the crowd and saw Cinder and Azula looking down at the scene, still smirking despite their teammate being injured, going unnoticed by the rest of the crowd, who continued to shout angrily at Yang. "Whatever you're up to, we'll find it... And we'll make you pay for it." Dante said quietly.

"They've just made this personal. They'll learn the lesson I've taught so many others. Don't fuck with a Witch!" Bayonetta snapped.


A/N: That's another chapter done. I'm sorry that it's so short after all the waiting I put you through, but I still hope it was worth it and you all enjoyed it. But I can promise you, the next chapters will be better and will come out on a more regular basis. And I hope you're ready, because from here is where the story will really break away from RWBY's original story line and will become more of it's own thing. So look forward to that next time!