RWBY: Son of Salem

Marek's POV

I stood in the middle of the arena as I waited for my opponents.

They walked onto the stage and crossed their arms. "One guy?" the girl scoffed. "This'll be a piece of cake."

I smirked as I made dust dance around my fingers. "Don't be so sure." I told her.

"3..2..1, begin!"

The guy rushed me as I jumped over him, kicking him in his back and making him stumble forward.

I landed on my back and rolled out of the way as the girl brought her sword down. I kicked the blade, causing her to lose her grip on her weapon.

I kicked her legs out from under her and slammed my heel on her chest as the other guy brought his mace down.

I blocked it with the flat side of my blade as I used fire dust to wrap around the handle, causing it to heat up.

He dropped his mace as I got back to my feet, swinging my blade into the girl as I kicked the guy back. I kicked the back of her knee and spun around in a circle, kicking her in her face and draining her aura.

"She won't be getting up anytime soon." Port said with a wince.

I turned to the guy and twirled my weapon. "One on one." I smirked.

He grit his teeth as he rushed me.

I brought my sword down as he dodged to the side, stomping on the blade, causing me to let go. I jumped back as I held my fists up.

He rushed me and started to send punch after punch. I blocked each attack and grabbed his wrist, jumping over him and wrapping his arm around his own neck. I kicked the back of his knee and slammed my heel into the back of his head, draining his aura.

"Marek wins!" Port announced as I picked up my weapon and left the colosseum.

Velvet rushed up behind me. "You were great!" she yelled as she hugged me.

"Thanks." I smiled. "Sorry about Coco and Yatsuhashi's loss."

She waved her hand back and forth. "They're not too beat up about it."

"That Mercury guy wasn't messing around." I continued.

"Be sure to win one for Beacon." she said as we walked to the seats.

"Sure thing."

We sat down next to each other as we watched Weiss and Yang's fight against Flynt and Neon from team FNKI.

"They're good." I said as I watched the fight.

Weiss had just tackled Flynt into a lava geyser, depleting her aura as Flynt came out with barely enough to continue fighting.

"Damn, dude." I watched as Yang started to go all out, giving them no room to recover from her attacks.

And before I knew it, the match was over.

"Don't piss off Yang." I said to myself.

"No kidding."

They walked off the stage as everyone waited for the single rounds to begin.

A half hour later

I stood on the stage along with everyone else who made it to the singles round.

"Barty, why don't you explain the rules?" Port said.

"Uhh, it's quite simple Peter." Oobleck said. "Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place."

"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare." Port added.

"Ah, yes yes. Now let's see who our first match will be!"

The randomizer started spinning.

It landed on Mercury and...me.

"Marek and Mercury Black!" Port said. "Would all other combatants please leave the stage."

Everyone but me and Mercury left the stage.

"Time for a rematch." I smirked. "Don't back out this time."

"Heh, you wish."

"3..."

I readied my sword.

"2..."

Mercury started to slowly walk towards me as I did the same.

"1...fight!"

I swung my blade at Mercury as he ducked under it and kicked my chin, knocking me back.

I rolled backwards as Mercury smashed his heel into the ground.

I swung again and knocked him back as I switched to the assault rifle, taking a few shots before switching back to my sword.

He rushed me and kicked, knocking me back. He started to spin around while kicking, shooting white orbs out of his boots with each kick.

He continued to do this until there were countless white orbs.

I rushed him and tried to attack but he ducked under my swing, kicked me into the air, jumped up and kicked me back into the ground as the white orbs crashed into me.

I felt my red eye start to glow as my blue eye darkened, the red veins on my face spread as my fingernails sharpened and grew.

I got up and rushed towards Mercury as he walked away, taking him by surprise.

I slashed with my right hand and swung my sword with my left before letting go of my weapon and attacking with my claws. I kicked him back and ran towards him, hitting him in his gut before lifting my heel up and smashing him into the ground.

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

"Marek wins!" Oobleck said.

I wiped my brow as my eyes and veins started to go back to normal, along with my nails.

"Better luck next time." I said with a smirk as I walked away.

"There's not going to be a next time, freak!"

I turned around as Mercury lunged at me. I kicked his kneecap hearing a loud popping noise as he fell to the ground.

The colosseum filled with boo's.

"Agh!" he held his leg in pain. "My leg! My leg!"

"That's what you get, motherfu-" I was cut off as I was surrounded by atlas androids and 2 guards.

"Stand down!" one of them yelled.

"What?!" I asked. "This motherfucker attacked me!"

"Mercury!" Emerald rushed to his side.

"Why'd he do that?!" Mercury yelled. "Why'd he attack me?!"

I looked towards the replay screen and watched as I walked passed Mercury, as he was getting up, before turning around and kicking his knee, breaking his leg.

"What?" I stared at the screen in disbelief. "But...he-" I looked to the crowd and saw nothing but looks of disgust. My eyes landed on teams RWBY and JNPR. They were holding their mouths and staring at me in shock.

I scanned the crowd and saw Velvet looking at me the same way.

I looked towards the ground as I felt something that I hadn't felt in awhile, alone.

End of chapter 16