Tournament chapter is here! And yes, I do realise it is once again late. I do apologise but I have a decent excuse this time! I have recently earned a place at a university to study a degree in archaeology. This does mean a couple of changes.

I will honestly do everything I can to keep updates as close to one a week as is possible but the frequency will likely drop as I get to work on my loans, accommodation and course. I will be skipping an entire week for freshers because I plan to be very drunk with my new flatmates etc etc. Next, this story will be taking a backseat to my actual degree. Im not paying a stupid amount of money to not take it seriously, I have a bet to win and I intend to win it. Other than that, this will go on, business as normal.

Thank you for reading this announcement, we now return to your scheduled reading.

The week of the Vytal tournament arrived in spectacular fashion. All of Vale came alive with the hustle and bustle of the huge tourism influx. What Jaune had considered to be a busy city seemed calm and sleepy in comparison to how things were now. There were all kinds of people from all over the world, human and faunus alike. The old prejudices seemingly having been put aside in favour of everyone enjoying the tournament together. Even though it were just the try-outs it felt like the whole of Vale and the rest of the world had turned out to see their which of their students would take steps towards becoming the new champion of Vytal. The streets were decked out with huge banners in vibrant colours, all offering support to particular fighters. Not surprisingly, there were a great many with Pyrrha's name emblazoned across them. Being the four time Mistral regional champion had of course made her one of the favourites to win.

As he walked along towards the stadium following after the immense sounds and crowds, Jaune passed a great many street vendors all pedalling their limited edition tournament merchandise. Their various calls and sales pitches combined with the excited hum of chatter from the crowds all melded into one solid atmosphere which made Jaune's heart beat faster and sense of excitement grow. It wasn't perfect though, far from it. He had been driven to choose between going to watch two of his teammates, not just any two though. These were the two girls whom in the past weeks had been vying to be the sole proprietor of his affections and who he, frustratingly, had been unable to determine his own feelings for.

Life had thrown him a cruel curve ball but having followed his teammate Weiss' advice, the hapless blonde had chosen to follow his partner through the tournament over the little reaper. It hadn't been a fun decision to make but Weiss had promised that she would break the news to Ruby gently. He knew that Ruby would be upset and disappointed, he also knew that it was pretty cowardly of him to duck out of telling Ruby himself but he hated the idea of upsetting either one of the girls. Pyrrha was his training partner and coach though, she had taught him everything that he knew about fighting and so he felt as though he owed it to her to go and watch her fight. He was also a little more than curious to see how she fared against the best talent from each of the other four nations. He had seen Pyrrha demolish entire teams at once on her own but that was just Cardin and his cronies. These were the top athletes from all across Remnant, the finest of the finest who had been training for months if not years just to compete. It would be interesting to see how they would compare to the best that Beacon, the finest combat academy around, had to offer.

Following on he finally reached the main stadium in Vale. Two stadiums had been prepared for the tournament qualifiers in Vale, each for handling two micro leagues composed of half the fighters each. The two micro leagues were set to complete themselves and then the overall victors of those would move on to fight against the foreign fighters for the championship title. Sadly, Ruby and Pyrrha had each been placed in separate leagues meaning that they were each in a different stadium from the other.

Making his way in through the doors, he showed his ticket and was ushered through to the stands. He ended up in a pretty good seat around half way up the stands. Whilst it was difficult to see the actual fighters themselves, the hugs screens hung on each of the four sides of the stadium showed a zoomed in live feed of the fight. The stadium itself was a state of the art facility with an alterable environment. It was designed to test fighters to their very limits in all manner of environments and situations. Sitting back in his seat Jaune settled in for a long afternoon of entertainment. He wasn't disappointed.

Pyrrha's fight wasn't until much later that day so he was expecting a predominantly dull afternoon with a few intermittent intense rounds, he was undeniably wrong. Every fight was evenly matched and kept him on the very edge of his seat. All around him arguments broke out over which of the two fighters were more likely to come out on top and at the end the crowds roared in celebration both for the winners and losers. Refreshments and snacks moved through the stands between bouts and the atmosphere was truly electrifying with no-one in the crowd ever knowing who would come out on top in a match. There were as diverse a range of weapons as Jaune could ever have thought up in his wildest dreams ranging from boomerang knives to one fighter who came equipped with two electrically charge whips which crackled ominously and exploded in showers of sparks with every impact.

The matches wore on through the day and into the evening until eventually, when Jaune didn't think that things could possibly get more exciting, the lights in the stadium cut out leaving the whole audience in near pitch black, the sun having set long ago. There was a confused murmur which swept through the crowds. There were cries by many that it was just a power cut, yet they were disabused of that notion when two single beams of light shot down into the centre of the arena. They began to swirl around, changing colours until one turned solidly red and the other, gold. Pyrrha's colours. A drum roll began, slow and subtle at first but rising in volume until it rumbled around the whole stadium. Jaune felt his heart almost stop within his chest as his excitement and that of those around him peaked. An announcer's voice thundered out, catching them all by surprise.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The voice began "We thank you for your patience and after an exciting day of incredible fights we are proud to present the one you have been waiting for!" The crowd's applause and cheers roared louder than ever before as the announcer stirred them up into a frenzy. They were going crazy.

"It is the fight of the night, the bout between the four time Mistral champion and loved cereal Mascot Pyrrha Nikos and little known Arakido Simio, third year student at the illustrious Beacon academy! Let's bring them out!"

He was answered by rapturous applause from all around the stadium, droves of people were up on their feet in their excitement, eagerly anticipating the dramatic emergence of the two young fighters. Jaune couldnt help but think it seemed a little unfair since the other fighters before hadn't been given such a lavish introduction but the rest of the audience didn't seem to agree with him The two spotlights flew to one end of the arena and focussed in on the entrance from which Arakido emerged. That was when Jaune got his first decent look at his partner's opponent as the live feed screens zoomed in on his face. He had long shaggy black hair which hung messily over his face, through a gap in the locks Jaune could see a single cruel red eye. Jaune could see a sense of malice burning within the boy.

"Here he is everybody, Arakido Simio! A relative newcomer to the tournament circuit but blazing trails today with a total of six victories through knockout and five through aura exhaustion!" the crowd gasped in surprise as they looked closer at this mysterious fighter. He stepped into the arena and sat himself cross-legged on the floor in waiting. The lights cut out again and focussed in on the other entrance, there was another drumroll as once more the lights cut out. The snapped on again shortly after merging into a single beam of bronze coloured light.

"And here she is folks, the one you've all been waiting for. Four times champion in Mistral, an undefeated warrior and winner of your hearts. Give it up for the one and only invincible girl Pyrrha Nikos!" The crowd went crazy as she stepped into the beam of light and waved, on the screens Jaune could see that the light was doing nothing to hide the growing shade of red on her cheeks, most likely brought about by the embarrassment of her introduction. Pyrrha never was one for boasting. To Jaune, the light was a rather flattering one for the champion, making her eyes sparkle in a way that sent his knees to jelly. It was still incredibly hard for him to believe that she could ever feel anything romantic towards him, the blonde goofball of Beacon but it filled him with a sense of great pride to know that she did. Contrary to what he may have expected, he felt rather protective. He knew of course that she was an incredibly talented fighter, yet he still felt fear that she may be hurt in the upcoming bout.

Jaune watched on in anticipation as the two fighters stepped into the ring. Everyone in the stands fell silent as they waited to see just what the two fighters would do. To Jaune, all thoughts of Ruby were fogotten as tensions racked up and his brilliant blue eyes focussed on the two tiny figures in front of him. Both Pyrrha and Arakido stepped forward and shook hands, the universal gesture of goodwill between fighters. Seemingly the moment the contact was broken, the floor split open leaving two platforms beneath the fighters. Once the floor had drawn away, another was risen into place, the environment for the fight being revealed. Much to Jaune's surprise it was Ice that rose through the floor. Constructed through the use of dust, it was rough and jagged. Huge ice hillocks formed and jutted up towards the sky above like so many frozen daggers. Jaune took a sharp breath in knowing that Pyrrha often struggled with ice.

He had been ice skating with her again since their date and even though she had come on leaps and bounds, he was unsure whether or not the champion was ready to engage in active combat against such an opponent. Win or lose, it was certain to be an interesting fight unlike any other that day. Looking to the giant screens, the champion seemed as impassive as ever. If she was nervous or afraid then she was certainly doing a great job of hiding it. She stood confidently, her armour gleaming slightly under the brilliant lights of the stadium so that she seemed to glow. Her lips were fixed in a confident smile and her viridian eyes were narrowed on her opponent. With an air of confidence she stepped off of her platform onto the now frozen surface of the arena. Her opponent matched the gesture, albeit with a little less grace than the red haired victor.

Pyrrha stood solidly, little sign of movement between her body and the ice underfoot. Across from her Arakido seemed a little less sure of his footing. That was good, perhaps he wouldn't hold the advantage after all. The screens went black and displayed three black circles. One by one they turned amber as the match countdown began. The instant that the third circle lit up they all shot to green and a klaxon sounded.

Without skipping a beat Pyrrha shot behind an ice formation just as two dust rounds zipped in her direction. Thankfully, the ice had been formed using raw dust and as such was far more resilient than its all natural counterparts. The bullets embedded themselves in the ice that she had ducked behind. Looking at Arakido she got her first look at his arsenal just before he too took cover behind one of the ice formations. From what she had seen, he seemed to fight with twin daggers with small bore firearms build into the hilts. It had been hard to make out for certain but she was confident that she also observed two rings set just below the crossguards for the purposes of performing fast spinning manoeuvres with the weapons so as to utilise both the ballistic and bladed sides. It was a versatile setup and one which she had yet to come up against. Fighting in the Mistral tournament, the fighters had all utilised variations of the traditional weapons as opposed to creating hybrids.

Dashing out from behind her ice formations, Pyrrha made a short sprint to another so as to prevent her opponent from out-maneuvering her. 'To stay too still for too long was death' as her coach had always told her in training. To begin with, she spent the beginning of the match relocating from cover to cover and trying to work out the weaknesses to her opponent's weaponry. It was always better to fight with the mind and then the fist. Unfortunately Arakido seemed to have himself more or less covered. The daggers were most effective at close range of course, so getting behind his guard was most likely a foolish venture, besides, if she brought herself out into the open he would be able to snap shoot at her while she closed the distance. Whilst Akoúo̱ was a good and solid shield, it was not impervious to damage and would over time, she had little doubt that in charging him, he would be able to shoot it to pieces and by extension her.

So the direct approach wouldn't work, yet neither would the stealthy approach. The huge screens around the stadium were, unfortunately, offering a live feed of the entire fight and as such it was entirely possible for her opponent Arakido to track her every move with them. She had assumed that he was the calm and calculated type after looking into his red eye. It contained a great deal of malice and hatred, yet also fear. It seemed that he feared her, most likely due to her track record. The announcer had said that he was a newcomer after all.

Pyrrha groaned in frustration, unsure of how to proceed with the battle. Aside from a few brief and one-sided exchanges on gunfire in favour of her opponent, she had succeeded in maintaining her distance from him. Flicking her eyes up to the screen, she saw him making a headlong dash for her own position. Leaping out, she raised her shield just in time to catch another two rounds from his daggers. They buzzed through the air like angered wasps and buried themselves in the cold metal of her shield, jarring her entire arm and numbing it somewhat. In her free hand, she mecha-shifter Miló into its javelin form and lunged forward in a sharp jab. In the split second that she launched it, she could see Arakido's eyes grow wide as he realised the mistake he had made. The tip of Miló connected solidly with the centre of his chest with a dull thud and launched him backwards. The crowd cheered for the first blow being struck. If it hadn't been for his aura, the spear would have pierced his flesh and quite possibly have torn its way straight through his chest.

Arakido quickly recover and lunged again, a little slower this time so as to allow himself time to manoeuvre out of the way. His one visible red eye seemed to glow ominously as he approached. Sensing the change in his approach, Pyrrha once again raised her shield. Her intense viridian eyes peered over its rim as she watched him approach. Once again the air filled with clicks and whirs as her weapon shifted into its xiphos form, a much more suitable weapon for close quarters fighting than either the javelin or rifle.

He launched a fierce flurry the moment he was close enough, adopting an acrobatic combat style as he darted from side to side in an effort to force her back. To an extent he was successful as Pyrrha took several steps backwards before noticing a pattern in his attacks. In accordance, she waited for her moment and when the time was right she swung her shield out in a bashing attack. Just as expected he slammed straight into it with a loud clang. The audience gave an empathetic gasp as he rag dolled back and slid along the ice a ways.

Pyrrha wasn't ready to concede the offensive however and darted forwards, her feet struggling at first to gain purchase on the slippy surface of the ice. The moment she began to move, Miló once again began to shift, switching back into its javelin form. Grasping at the shaft of her weapon with both hands, she brought it around in a wide arc as though to impale her opponent. His eyes once again seemed to grow wide with fear as he rolled out of the way, not a second later her spear buried itself where his chest had been. Following the offensive, she used Miló as an anchor to pivot her body around, thin powder kicking up from the ice as she went. Using her momentum she wrenched Miló from its place in the ice and brought the base of its haft around to collide with the side of Arakido's head with a loud crack. Once more the audience groaned empathetically as Pyrrha dropped into a crouch behind her shield, the point of her spear resting just against the rim as she took pause to regain her breath. This was all too easy... It hardly seemed as though her opponent were fighting with even a fraction of his potential especially given that he was a third year student. Having seen how team CFVY had fought, she had expected something of a similar intensity to keep her on her toes.

Looking up at one of the screens, she read that her aura was roughly half depleted while that of her opponent was hovering dangerously in the red. It was honestly surprising that they had lost so much aura after what had felt like relatively insignificant blows. Yet when she looked again, she realised that her aura was draining steadily and that she couldn't feel the chill from the ice surrounding them. Their auras were burning constantly to protect them from the cold, since she had yet to be knocked to the ground and he had spent a fair amount of time in full contact with it, it made sense that his aura would be lower. She watched him suspiciously as he climbed slowly to his feet a short way away, panting for breath. Perhaps the fight would resolve itself is she went on the defensive?

The champion wasn't really given much of a choice, Arakido was on his feet in a flash and upon her before she could fully react. It was only by sheer luck that she was able to contort herself around his strike to avoid taking a heavy hit. She frantically moved backwards to avoid being hit full force by his relentless onslaught. Locking eyes with him she tried to gauge his attitude and read his movements. Every few seconds she would catch his eyes flit up to the huge aura readout screen and then back to her. So that was it, he was trying to force an end to the fight through attrition? That was fine by her. Whilst he was certainly faster than she had expected, she had mostly recovered from his sudden attack and was forming a solid defense.

Her foe seemed to realise this, in his eyes she could see his desperation growing. It was then that he did something which she couldn't have anticipated. Cocking his arms back he launched his weapons at her, effectively disarming himself as she deflected them calmly off of her shield. She looked at his with a cautious expression as she slowly advanced, not dropping her guard for an instant. Yet even as she did he began to glow, his aura flaring up around him. His face was plastered with a psychotic smile. To her surprise he only glowed brighter and brighter, and she could feel heat coming from his direction. Whatever he was doing it sent bad vibes right through her.

Keeping her shield raised, Pyrrha began to back away. In front of her Arakido was glowing too brightly to look directly at. Up in the stands, Jaune's heart filled with dread. That guy seemed to be emitting pure energy, way more than he should have been able to judging from the read outs, this was bad. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. Down in the stadium, Pyrrha felt her heart begin to beat wildly as fear crept into her. Just what was this guy doing? She had never encountered anything like it before. Around him even the icy formations seemed to shimmer and much to her surprise they began to melt. He turned to look at her, his eye glowing with malevolence. He seemed to be laughing as though it were all some big joke that only he could understand the punch line to.

Blast shields were raised in front of the crowds, entirely shutting the two fighters off from the outside world. Just why were they raising the shields? What was this boy about to do that had everyone so scared? Jaune began to panic as all eyes turned to the giant screens to watch the live feed of what was happening. As Jaune's blue eyes met with the screens, Arakido through his arms out, Pyrrha dropped down and ducked behind her shield. The whole stadium shook as there was a blinding flash and a barely muffled explosion from behind the blast shields. The live feed went totally black only to be replaced with static. Jaune's heart skipped a beat as the feed was restored once again even as the crowd around him cried out in anguish. The entirety of the fighting pit itself was destroyed having been converted into a giant crater. There was no major debris as all of it had been melted or disintegrated in the blast. In the centre of this new crater stood Arakido, he was sagging as he stood, looking like he might fall at any moment. Yet there was no sign of Pyrrha at all. As the dust began to settle once again, eyes scanned all around the stadium for any sign of her, the red headed champion and hero to the people. Dismay turned to sorrow, then into anguish and eventually blind rage. The audience began chanting in a frenzy at Arakido, naming him 'murderer' and 'monster' yet to Jaune that wasn't even close to covering it. He had lost his partner and best friend. Just what would he do now? How could his team move on, how could they recover from such a major and traumatic loss? It wasn't fair and it wasn't right. To Jaune it felt as though there were a warping in his world.

Over and over Jaune replayed the last few seconds before Arakido's attack in his head. He remembered the fear in her eyes as she ducked down behind her shield in a Vain attempt to save herself. Yet seemingly to no avail. How could a person survive an explosion so intense that it melted rock in a mere instant? Just what kind of technique was it that Arakido had employed? What was it that had finally finished off the great Pyrrha Nikos? Quite without realising, the blonde found himself joining in the chants with the rest of the crowds. He too was baying for the boy's blood, the one who had taken his partner away. His intense blue eyes bore into the figure on the screens with equal measure of both malice and hatred before a dust cloud hid him from view again. These were qualities that Jaune had never experienced to such a degree as he did now.

"Ladies and gentlemen please... take your seats" The announcer's voice rang out again, taking many of the enraged audience entirely by surprise. Thankfully they all complied, seating themselves again. "It gives me no great pleasure to inform you that it would seem that Miss Pyrrha Nikos has been killed. Thus, by the rules and regulations of this, the Vytal tournament, Arakido is hereby disqualified from the contest for knowingly and willingly using deadly force. Furthermore he is recognised as having used a move classed as disallowed. Im sure I don't need to impress upon you the magnitude of what we have all just witnessed. Today is a great loss to the sporting world and out condolences are with the family and friends of Pyrrha Nikos. As a mark of respect to one of the greatest young athletes of this age, please bow your heads."

Jaune was about to comply when he caught a flash of movement on the screen. The Dust was clearing, granting them all their first clear view of the damage to the stadium. As more and more eyes flitted to the screen, a collective gasp of surprise rippled through the crowds. There, not far from the epicentre of the crater was Pyrrha! She was curled up into a tight ball behind her shield which still glowed orange with heat. The Champion's aura flickered weakly around her as she slowly stood again. A quick slash with Miló severed the straps holding it to her arm, leaving it to fall to the ground helplessly at her side. Arakido's eyes grew wide with horror, as step by painstaking step Pyrrha approached him. Each pace that she took was slow, unsteady and unsure as though she were remembering how to walk after years of being unable to. Her footfalls were the only sound echoing around the stadium as she approached. Her eyes held a hostility that Jaune had never before seen and it chilled him to his very core.

Walking towards her opponent, Pyrrha mecha-shifted her weapon to its javelin form, adopting a two handed grip. It was then that Jaune saw the horrific burns to her shield arm. The skin was withered and blistered, oozing clear liquid as her body fought pointlessly to try and heal with the little aura she had left. She stopped in front of Arakido and with barely more warning than a flash in her eyes, she lashed out with the butt end of the haft of her beloved weapon and struck the third year solidly in the side of the head, sending him sprawling, unconscious. The crowd cheered as she glared down at his twitching, unconscious body.

"Ladies and gentlemen! In a shocking turn of events Pyrrha Nikos has returned, seemingly from beyond the grave and knocked her opponent unconscious. Her winning streak remains unbroken and she is our winner!" The announcer yelled out, joy and incredulity in his voice as Pyrrha slowly stalked her way back into the tunnels leaving Arakido to be collected and dealt with appropriately by the authorities. Sh collected her shield along the way, seemingly uncaring towards the heat of the metal currently giving her first degree burns to her hands. Jaune bolted up in pure joy and left the stands as fast as he could heading down to the changing rooms. He briefly flashed his ID to prove his connection to the champion but didn't stop running. He ran down corridors until he burst into the changing rooms. He spotted her brilliant red hair and in a flash he had crossed the distance to her and flung his arms around her in a tight hug, afraid to let go lest he lose her again. Tears of joy formed in his eyes and rolled freely down his cheek, dripping onto her leg but she didn't care as she hugged back. Jaune's aura flowed over into her and began to patch her up as she sighed in relief as the shrieks of pain from her wounds was silenced. She could feel her leader's relief and concern flowing through his aura as it healed her. Jaune looked at her shield with a smile as it sat against the wall, wisps of smoke and heat haze still rising off of it. He felt overcome with gratitude towards this shield. She had survived by a miracle and she had won.

There it was and thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it and if you did then let me know in the reviews, I really do read them all. Favourite and follow, you won't regret it as we move into the meat and gravy of the plot. Get ready for that.

Disclaimer: My writing software recently took a dive so I have no idea how riddled this is with missed apostrophes etc. I hope its okay and Next chapter will be all good again as I plan to fix the issue soon.