Chapter 4
Kagutsuchi Arena- Joint Tournament- Day One
Audience's Seats
Announcer: "The Join tournament will begin shortly, but before we start the first match, we have a friendly exhibition match between the kingdom of Atlas and Novus Orbis Librarium!"
A day has past since team RWBY and JNPR arrived at Kagutsuchi, and all they did yesterday was train and get used to the thin air. And now, finally, the first day of the Joint Tournament. As the participants(or the teammates of the participants), team RWBY and JNPR get to have front row seats for free.
"So many people!" Commented Ruby, looking at the crowd.
"I heard the ticket costed a small fortune too." Said Pyrrha.
"Not everyday you get to enter a Hierarchical city." Said Blake.
The ban in actuality only involved Grimoire. The Kingdoms don't want Grimoire in their domains, and NOL doesn't want Grimoire to be smuggled into the Kingdoms, traveling ban was only a consequence of that.
?: "Salutations!"
"Penny!" Said Ruby, excited.
"Oh! Miss Polendine." Said Noel. "Sorry again for bumping into you."
"It's alright!" Said Penny.
"You don't have to shout. The match hasn't started yet, it's not that loud here." said Weiss.
"Oh! I mean, oh. I will adjust my volume for you. Is that better?" Said Penny, in a weird evenly low voice.
Announcer: "Without further ado, let's begin the exhibition match!"
Weiss was going to ask Ruby why her friend is so weird, but when the exhibition match started, Weiss immediately turned her attention back to the stage.
Announcer: "On the left comer, the Ice Queen of Atlas, Specialist Winter Schnee!"
"Winter! Yahhh!" Cheered Weiss as Winter walked out of the left gate.
"What kind of weapon does she has? C'mon, tell me!" Asked Ruby, shaking Weiss on the shoulder.
"Stop that!" Said Weiss, pushing Ruby away.
Announcer: "And on the right corner, The Hero of Ikaruga, Major JIN KISARAGI!"
The announcer tried very hard to psyche up the audience, but no one seems to be excited. There even some booing sounds out there.
Blake: "No one here seems to be happy about seeing their "hero"."
Noel: "Well… there are a lot of Ikaruga refugee migrants here, so…"
Yang: "But he's called the "hero of Ikaruga" right? Ikaruga is a place right?"
Noel: "That… it's more accurate to say, he's the "hero of the battle of Ikaruga"."
"So…"
"Long story short, Ikaruga rebelled against the Librarium, lost and their city was destroyed. Now the refugees of Ikaruga hate us, even though we still protect them." Said red haired woman in white uniform with disdain in her tone.
"Tsubaki! You're here!" Said Noel, happy.
'So this is the "besties" heiressfrom the NOL noble family.' Thought Blake.
"Makoto had some work to do. But we can see her at dinner time at the dorm we are staying." Said Noel. And Tsubaki nodded.
"So Jin's opponent is a Schnee." Said Tsubaki, looking at Winter.
"And the best swordswoman in Atlas." Said Weiss, proudly.
Tsubaki turned and looked at Weiss. 'Another Schnee?'
"I am First Lieutenant Tsubaki Yayoi." She then gave her a bow, which Weiss reciprocated.
"Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company." Greeted Weiss.
Ruby, Penny and Jaune also copied Weiss; Ren and Pyrrha gave Tsubaki a nod while the rest of them just sat there staring.
On the stage, Jin, with the wave of his hand, pulled out a sheathed sword from a magic circle in mid air.
"How…" Said Blake, shocked. Other huntsmen were also surprised.
"Ars Magus…" Said Pyrrha.
Ruby: "Ars Magus?"
"Ars Magus. A power used by the NOL. Requires a Grimoire to use. NOL claimed that it's a form of magic." Explained Penny with a monotone voice, while looking at the stage intensely.
"Oh, his weapon is just a normal katana." Said Ruby, disappointed.
"That's all you care about? Did you even see what just happened?" Asked Weiss.
'Huh? He's not using Yukianesa?' thought Noel.
In the Arena
"Where's you Nox Nyctores, Major?" Asked Winter, looking at Jin's sword.'Asimple katane. No, too long, a tachi, a katane for cavalry.Doesn't seem to have any special features, but I'm sure it's a Ars Armegis.'
"You think I need a Nox Nyctores to fight you?" As if I'llshow my Yukianesa's powerto a potential hostile country.' Thought Jin.
"Arrogant, Or maybe just ignorant. I can't decide." Sneered Winter.
Jin gave Winters' sword a quick scan. 'A saber. The report also mentioned that it can use Dust and also split into two weapons.'
"No more words. Let our swords do the talking. You want me to take you seriously? Earn it!" Said Jin, entering a drawing stance.
'I'm going to enjoy watching you regret.' Thought Winter, pointing her sword at Jin. "En garde."
Audience's Seats
"Is he going to draw his sword?" Asked Yang.
Right now they're just staring at each other. Winter keeps walking, circling around and watching Jin, while Jin just stood there with his right hand on his sword grip.
Blake: "It's Iaido. A counterattack technique."
"Ruby: "I do what?"
As they were talking, Winter finally made the first move, and thrust her saber at Jin; Jin deflected the thrust with the guard of his tachi, and Winter advanced and launched a few quick stabs, Jin evaded and defended the attacks with his sword still in his scabbard. When Winter pulled her sword back for another attack, Jin saw his chance and drew his sword. Winter took a step back and blocked with the guard of her saber, but even though she blocked the attack, it still left some frost on her saber guard.
"Iaido, or in the old days, Iaijutsu. A technique that focuses on quick draw sword techniques. It usually is only a part of the Kenjutsu style." Explained Penny, without taking her eyes off the stage.
Tsubaki: "There are some schools that almost only focus on Iaijutsu."
Yang: "That's stupid, why limit yourself to a single technique?"
Tsubaki: "It's a technique that only takes a short time to learn, but requires a lifetime to master."
Yang: "Well, I don't have a lifetime to waste. I mean, come on, spending a lifetime just so you can draw your sword faster?"
Tsubaki: "It's not about the drawing faster, I mean speed is important, but it's more about-"
Blake: "Timing."
"You're right." Said Tsubaki, looking at Blake.
Weiss: "Well Winter is the best swordswoman in Atlas-"
Blake: "You already said that."
"Anyway, there's no way she could lose." Said Weiss, annoyed.
Noel: "I don't know… Major Kisaragi… I don't think anyone, aside from maybe Colonel Mutsuki can match him."
"Who?" Asked Ruby.
"Yeah, about that, isn't he kind of young to be a Major?" Asked Yang as everyone ignored Ruby. Penny couldn't response because she also didn't know who this Mutsuki is.
Weiss: "He is a Kisaragi, one of the Duodecim, twelve most powerful families in the Library."
"You are knowledgeable," Tsubaki turned and stared at her. "But If you're even thinking about suggesting that he didn't earn his position-"
Clash!
When they turned their attention back to the fight, Winter had somehow pulled out a second weapon, a thin dagger, and a white werewolf like creature somehow appeared beside her, and both are attacking Jin together.
"A Beowolf? How did it get in here?" Asked Jaune.
"It's Winter's summon!" Said Weiss.
The white Beowolf swung its claws at Jin, but Jin ducked underneath it - the beast then tried to bite him, but Jin side stepped to the left of the creature and put his right hand on the beast's shoulder, freezing the beast.
'He frozeher summon with a single touch!' Thought Weiss.
But the Beowolf has already fulfilled its purpose. Winter used it as a distraction and moved in on his left side, but Jin reacted in time, and it was block… by a blue magic circle shield!
"What was that?" Asked Blake.
"An Ars Armegis barrier. You can concentrate Aura in one place to increase defense right? The Ars Armegis barrier is the more formulated version." Explained Noel.
"Ars Armegis?" Asked Ruby.
"Ars Armegis. Also known as just Armegis, is a weapon or armor that uses Grimoire. The combat form of Ars Magus." Explained Penny.
What a walking, talking encyclopedia, thought almost everyone.
"I heard about it before. I'm so glad to be able to finally see it first hand." Said Pyrrha.
"Well, Winter and I can do the same with our Semblance." Said Weiss with pride.
"Yes. The Glyph used by the Schnee is quite similarly to our Ars Magus. But Ars Magus can be used by almost everyone. And in the end that only means that we can do almost everything a Schnee can do." Commented Tsubaki.
'Almost everyone?' Thought Blake.
Weiss turned her head away form Tsubaki with a "Humph". "Well I don't need a Grimoire to use my Glyph."
While Winter's sword was stopped by the barrier, Jin thrust with the butt of his scabbard at her throat; Winter parried Jin's attack with her new dagger while thrusting with her saber at his face - Jin tilted his head and avoided the thrust, and immediately drew his sword and slashed at Winter; Winter blocked the slash with her dagger, and tried to cut his foot, but Jin's already jumped back, and at the same time, fired a sword of ice to cover his retreat, it worked, as Winter was forced to stop and strike down the ice sword.
Tsubaki: "Jin!"
"Winter is wining!" Said Weiss, excited.
"No." Tsubaki regaining her cool.
Ruby: "What?"
Arena
'My right hand… so cold, even with my gloves. Even if I can block his attack, I can't defend against the cold Aura he is emitting.' Thought Winter, looking at Jin's gloves, and tightening her grip on her sword.
'However, I too, amused to, and trained to resist the cold.'
"Sorry about your pretty face." Mocked Winter.
Even though Jin dodged the thrust from earlier, it still left a small cut on his cheek.
'My counter attack failed twice. My Mikiri… I still have a lot to learn.' Thought Jin.
"I'll admit, I underestimated you." Said Jin, as some blood dripped down his cheek.
Winter was stuned, she did not expect that response, she was expecting denial first, then anger, the usual stages arrogant bastards go through.
"And now." Said Jin as he drew his sword. "I will no longer hold back." And froze his sheath, covering the sheath with a layer of ice, turning it into a second sword.
'Now he can match me strike for strike.' thought Winter.
Winter began to summon dozen of Glyphs, and from each Glyph, Nevermores made of ice flew out and attacked Jin from every angle. Jin stabbed the ground with his sword and tall razor shaped ice spears shot up from the ground and destroyed the first wave of the giant ice birds; he then repelled the second wave with both his swords. Using a Glyph, Winter charged in with incredible speed and thrust when Jin's back was turned, but Jin reacted in time and deflected it with his sheath. Winter smiled and tried to stove the sheath away, only to find that she couldn't. Shocked, she looked to the right, and saw her saber stuck on Jin's sheath, frozen. Jin attacked with his Tachi, and Winter immediately parried with her dagger, and at the same time, they kicked each other in the abdomen, and both were sent flying to the walls of the arena.
Audience's Seats
"Both fighters are out of Aura! It's a draw!" Said the announcer.
"What!" Said Weiss as she looks up at the screen, and indeed, both combatants' Aura level were under fifteen percent.
Ruby: "When did their Aura get so low?"
"I need to go to the Major now. Sorry guys." Said Noel as she stood up and left.
Tsubaki: "You really thought anyone is going to win?"
Blake: "Oh, I get it now…"
Ruby: "What? I don't get it"
Yang: "This whole thing was staged!"
Tsubaki: "It was a demonstration, not a real match. We just got caught up in the moment and forgot."
Weiss was embarrassed. How could she of all people forgot that it was only a demonstration.
"And not quite." Said Tsubaki.
"What?" Asked Weiss.
Tsubaki: "The conclusion has already been decided, long before the match, but they were serious in the beginning, at least Jin was."
Weiss: "If this was a real fight, Winter would've wiped the flood with him."
"Well my fight is next. And this time, it's going to be a real fight." Said Yang.
Back stage
"What a circus." Said Jin, trying to leave as fast as he can.
"Major!" Called out Winter, walking towards him.
"What is it, Specialist Schnee?" Replied Jin, stopping and then turning half way towards her.
"That was quite the performance. I'll admit, I also underestimated you." Said Winter with a smile, holding out her hand, waiting for a shake.
"Yes, a performance, for a pointless monkey show, for a bunch of monkeys." Said Jin, ignoring winter's hand.
"Excuse me!?" Said Winter, who couldn't believe she just heard that.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more important things to attend to. Good day to you."
And he just left, without even looking back, leaving behind a dumbfounded Winter.
"WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS!"
A random bar in Orient Town
"Knew he wasn't such a bid deal." Said Qrow, sitting in front of a bar, looking at the small TV attached to the ceiling.
"A draw? I was hoping that… whoever that women was could kick that "hero"'s butt." Said one of the customers.
"Fucking NOL "hero"." Said another.
"It seems that hero isn't well liked here." Commented Qrow.
"This bar has a lot of bounty hunters and Ikaruga refugees regulars." Said the middle age bartender. "You are… from Remnant I take it?"
"What gave it away?"
"You clearly know how to fight, but your weapon is not a Ars Armegis."
"How can you tell? Form what I'd seen, Ars Armegis looks just like any other weapon."
"Seithr residue. If you focus your Aura on your eyes, you can see them."
Ah.
"Thanks for the tip, which I will be returning."
Kagutsuchi Arena
Announcer: "The Winner is…. Yang Xiao Long!"
"Yeah! Yang!" Cheered Ruby.
"She just powered through everything with brute strength, like a gorilla. Zero defense, zero strategy!" commented Weiss.
"Hey if it works…" Said Blake.
Announcer: "And That is the end of the first match of the tournament. We'll take a short break, the next match will begin in thirty minutes. So stay tuned folks!"
With a great leap, Yang jumped from the arena on to the audience's Seats, everyone except Rudy immediately dodged out of the way, and Yang landed in front of Ruby with a "hero's landing".
"What are you doing! We got stairs for that." Said Weiss.
"Yeah whatever. Now let's go do some sightseeing!" Said Yang with a dismissive tone.
"Yes. I'm actually quite interested in the Heritage Museum-" Suggested Weiss.
"Let's go to Orient Town! I heard that not only is the food there great, but also cheap!" Interrupted Yang.
"Yeah! Food! We couldn't go sightseeing yesterday because we needed to train, we're finally free!" Cheered Ruby.
Weiss looked to Blake, expecting support.
Blake: "I'm… actually quite hungry."
Blake actually wanted to go check out the used bookstore around here, to see if there're any books on history or mythology that are forbidden in the kingdoms of Remnant, but she can go after lunch.
"Don't you need to check on Sun?" Asked Yang with a smirk.
Blake: "No! He's just a friend."
"What? Did I say he's not?" Asked Yang with a bigger smirk.
?: "He's fine."
They turned to the voice, and saw Neptune.
"I just saw him. He just wanted some more training for tomorrow. He will be representing all four kingdoms of Remnant against the NOL representative after all. So don't worry. Why don't we all go and get something to eat. I need to get him some takeaway anyway."
Jaune look over to Neptune and Weiss. He wanted to join them, but Pyrrha's match is coming up.
"You can go with them if you want." Said Pyrrha, suddenly. Jaune knew she was thinking of him when she said that, but that only made it harder.
"No. My place is here. With my team."
Ruby looked over to Penny. "Penny, do you want to come with us?"
Penny looked at Ruby with a sad face. "I can't. I need to stay here and gather more data."
'And it's not like I can eat anyways.' Thought Penny.
"Oh… okay…" Said Ruby, disappointed.
Orient Town- in front of a Chinese Restaurant- Afternoon
"That was so good!" Said Yang.
"And at a fair price." Said Neptune.
"I never want to go back again." Said Weiss.
"What? Why?" Wondered Yang.
"Did you even see that place! It was filthy and noisy! People talked loudly without consideration for other people around them! And that fish soup on the table next to ours reeked! How did I know it was fish? Because there's a huge fish head popping out of the soup! And its eyes… they were looking at me! And not to mention there were smoke, steam and oil everywhere!" Complained Weiss.
"As long as there are no pests running around, or in the food, I'm good." Said Blake
"And that cat faunus sitting next to us ate like a pig! No, calling her a pig would be an insult to the animal! Foods were flying everywhere!"
Blake's eye twitched when Weiss said "cat faunus", but she agreed with her about that girl's eating manner.
"Alright, I'll admit, that was unpleasant. But then again, you guys were the people who had a food fight." Reminded Neptune.
"Please. Never. Mention. That. Again." Said Weiss, looking straight at Neptune's eye. "I can't believe I behaved like a five-years-old."
Even Blake shivered at that dark history, but not for the same reason as Weiss. Even though she was caught up in the moment, she still can't believe she wasted food like that.
'It's horrifying how fast I adapted to the comfortable academy life.' Thought Blake.
"Come on, that was fun! Don't you think so, Ruby?" Said Yang as she looked behind her, and then looked around her. "Ruby?"
Ragna POV
He was sent by the Kaka elder to find a doctor in Orient Town.
"There's sighting of a monster in the level near the village lately. Few of my people have already been attacked. It would give me a peace of mind if you could go and get her." Said Totokaka, the Kaka elder.
The elder also sent Taokaka with him, since she knew the doctor and her way around the town. Tao, he almost forgot about her, he met her once, years ago, when he and his master visited Kaka Village. Somehow she is more annoying than she was when she was a kitten.
'Didn't think that was possible.'
When they got to the clinic, the doctor's assistant told them that she was out. Ragna wanted to return to the village immediately, but then Tao ran into a Chinese restaurant and began ordering food, so Ragna had to sit there and wait for her to finish eating, and then pay for her bill.
'With how fast she was eating, I'm surprisedthat she didn't choke.'
Calling Tao a messy eater is an understatement. Ragna had to move to the table behind her just so he wouldn't get food all over him.
After they left the restaurant, Ragna noticed they were being followed, and quite sloppy too. He told Tao to return the village first, and he took a different path back, to see who this person is following, and of course, it was him.
'Bounty hunters? Knew I shouldn'thaveleft the village in broad daylight.'
He only wanted to return the favor to the Kakas, for housing him. He needed to make things even, so he would owe no one nothing, but now it might be his undoing.
Once he turned a corner, he walked in front of a manhole, stomped the ground with so much force that the manhole cover flew off the ground, while the cover is still in the air, Ragna kicked and sent the cover flying. But then instead of entering the sewers, Ragna kicked some can down the hole. As the sound of the can hitting the ground echoed in the sewers, Ragna jumped towards the building in front of the manhole, created a blue magic platform under his feet in midair, and using the platform to jump again, landing on the rooftop.
'Now to see what you look like.'
And then, they came…
'What the… it's just some little girl.'
Climbing down the sewers, was a teenage girl, maybe around fifteen in black clothes and a red cape.
'What a waste of my time.' Thought Ragna. He was thinking about confronting his stalker, find out who they are, now however, he has lost all interest. But just he was about to leave, he suddenly sensed something.
'What? What is this feeling? Something in the sewers? The feeling of hunger? It's so menacing,even the Azure Grimoire is reacting to it.'
He then remembered what the Kaka elder told him. "There's sighting of a monster in the level near the village lately. Few of my people have already been attacked.'
"We call it, Arakune."
'Damn it!' Cursed Ragna, and jumped down from the rooftop.
To be continued
Before anyone comments on Jin can do this, Winter can do that, know that Jin and Winter only had a mock battle, not a real one.