The man who stood before them now was tall and imposing. He had brown hair that was swept back towards the back of his head, with the exception of a single strand that hung over his forehead, and exuded an aura of power quite unlike anything the four girls had seen before. His most distinguishing feature, however, was not his hair nor his aura nor his clothing - which was entirely white and quite peculiar - but rather his eyes. This person's eyes - if one could even refer to him as that - were filled with hunger and lust for power; his eyes were those of one who desired everything in the world and much more, and would stop at absolutely nothing to get what he desired.
"So, you are Weiss' friends," Aizen stated.
Looking over, Weiss winced sympathetically as she saw Ruby, Yang, and Blake tremble under his scrutinizing gaze. The aura that surrounded her father was far from normal, and while she was used to being near him, her friends were not. That said, Weiss couldn't say that she ever felt truly comfortable any time she was near her Dad.
Aizen flashed them an amused smirk. "Your fear is unnecessary. After all, I have no intention of harming any of you, correct?"
Ruby gulped as he continued to pace forward, taunting them still with that amused expression Weiss had grown so accustomed to over the years.
Stepping forward, Weiss glared at him, and stated firmly, "If you've had your fill of taunting my friends already, Dad, I'd like to get down to business and start talking about our training. We have limited time before the festival, and I'd like to get as much done in the short period we have as possible. We're all here because we want to get stronger, not because we enjoy playing mind games with you."
Aizen chuckled, clearly amused by his daughter's monologue. "So impatient, as usual. Fine then. Let's get down to business. Follow me," he responded, walking over to the room's left wall.
This might have been a bad idea, Weiss said to herself. Sure, Dad can help all of us get stronger, but I'm starting to think he's a little too much for Yang, Blake, and especially Ruby. I made a mistake bringing them here ... or rather, I was too eager to show off, and didn't look at things realistically.
When Aizen arrived at the wall, he pressed a small square hidden button. As he did so, the wall faded, revealing a hidden stairwell. "Follow me," he said.
Ruby shot Weiss a confused expression. "Where are we -"
"Don't worry," Weiss replied. "You'll see soon enough.
The four girls and Aizen walked silently down the chamber, saying nothing as they traversed the stairwell, which was apparently quite lengthy. Weiss walked right behind her father, while the other three girls hung slightly farther back, still fearful of the man (if one could really call Aizen that) in front of them.
After traversing the long staircase, the group found themselves in a dark, dimly lit room.
"I can't see anything!" whined Ruby. "Where are -"
Ruby's statement was cut off abruptly as Aizen said aloud, "Hadō #31. Shakkahō."
Following his incantation, a bright red light appeared in Aizen's hand, flooding the light with room. Before them lay a massive, empty, iron - walled room. Once again, Ruby, Yang, and Blake gaped at the sheer size of the iron cavern before them.
Stepping forward, Aizen allowed the light in his hand to drift upwards, hanging in midair. "Very well, Weiss. I will fulfill our promise."
Turning around, he glared at the four girls, then gracefully brandished his sword. Smirking, he proclaimed, "Your training begins now."
The four girls couldn't believe what was happening.
"How," questioned an exasperated Blake. "How is he able to … move so quickly? And his speed … it's like nothing I've ever seen."
Weiss frowned. She knew her father was strong, but she had thought they would at least be able to give him somewhat of a challenge when working as a team. But apparently, that wasn't the case.
Upon entering the iron cavern, her Father had immediately attacked them, proclaiming that the best method of training was "by experience." The four girls were more than happy to engage in combat, but never had they been so completely outclassed in their short careers as huntresses. Aizen was toying with them - beating them using nothing but his his sheer speed and his sword. He wasn't using his aura, nor his semblance, nor any other special ability.
Blake lunged forward, swinging at Aizen with her weapon. However, at the last second, Aizen disappeared with a swoosh sound.
"You'll have to do better than that if you wish to land a blow," he said calmly.
"I got you now!" shouted Ruby, coming up from behind and swinging at him with his scythe. Aizen ducked casually, the proceeded to kick Ruby in the stomach, sending her flying against the wall.
"Uhhhhh," groaned Ruby, clearly in pain.
"We need a coordinated attack," Yang said. "Blake, Ruby and I will distract him; while he's preoccupied, you deliver the final blow!"
"Hold on a second! The final blow? You want me to kill the guy?"
"Well, you don't have to stab him in the heart or anything! Just … injure him .. badly … or something!" responded Yang.
Blake rolled her eyes. "Fine then, let's do this."
Ruby and Yang turned to each other and nodded, then rushed head on at Aizen, who was still smiling, Raising his sword, he prepared himself to confront the two girls. However, at the last second, Ruby used her unmatched (or so she thought) speed to swerve to the right, reaching the right wall and planting one hand and foot on the massive iron face. Flexing her leg muscles, she prepared to launch herself back at Aizen.
"I'm still here, ya know!" shouted Yang, still running at Aizen, whose attention had temporarily been drawn by Ruby's move. Jumping into the air, she brandished her fists. "YYYAAAHHHHH!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, extending her right gauntlet towards Aizen, punching at him with all her might.
To nobody's surprise, Aizen was effortlessly blocked the blow with his sword. Then, faster than the eye could see, he slammed the hilt of the sword into Yang's stomach, sending her flying.
Now, however, Ruby launched herself towards him, scythe raised and ready to strike. "I'm not gonna lose!" Ruby said, a determined look on her face.
Aizen casually flicked his sword towards her, blocking the blow as she swung her scythe. Much to his surprise, however, Ruby flipped her scythe, and in one swift, graceful motion, yanked his sword towards her, trapping it using the back of her weapon. Aizen frowned and tried to pull the sword back, but it wouldn't budge.
"Now Blake!" shouted Ruby.
Seemingly from nowhere, Blake appeared behind Aizen. Jumping into the air and raising her sword, she prepared herself to strike him, aiming for his shoulder. The blow would not be fatal, but would certainly be enough to incapacitate any human being.
"We've got you now!" Blake proclaimed.
To her surprise, however, Aizen just smirked, unphased by the sudden turn of events. He didn't look scared or worried in the slightest - rather, his expression was the same as it had been the entire battle - smug and confident.
What happened next shocked the three girls to their very core.
Rather than attempting to dodge Blake's attack, Aizen reached up is left hand and caught the blade of Blake's weapon as she swung it downwards. How he was able to do this, none of them knew - to catch a blade seemed unimaginably difficult, let alone physically possible.
Then, calmly, Aizen said aloud, "Hadō #33. Sōkatsui." Upon completing the incantation, a blue flame emerged from Aizen's hand, flinging Blake and Ruby back with tremendous force. Both girls gasped from the pain, shocked and unable to come to terms with what had just happened.
"But … how?" asked Yang, at a complete loss for words. Utterly defeated, the three girls simply lay on the ground, exhausted and injured.
Aizen scoffed, clearly unimpressed by the girls' maneuver. He glared at them for what seemed to be an eternity, relishing in his victory and taunting the fallen huntresses with his smug facial expression. The three girls quivered under his oppressive gaze.
Then, the man turned his head towards the far end of the room, directing his attention to the lone figure that stood there, unmoving. He gazed at her, analyzing and scrutinizing her every aspect.
"All this time, and not once you've attacked me. Why? Are you afraid of being hurt?" he asked to only remaining member of RWBY.
Looking him directly in the eyes, Weiss replied, "No. I'm not afraid."
"Then why have you not yet made your move?"
Holding his gaze without faltering, she replied, "I was simply waiting for the opportune moment. If I had just rushed in with everyone else, I'd have suffered the same fate they did. No, the only way to beat an opponent like you is to wait for the right opportunity before striking."
"And besides that," she continued, "I have an advantage over you that the rest of my teammates don't."
Aizen raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"
"I know your weakness," she stated flatly.
"My weakness? Then what, pray tell, ismy weakness?"
Weiss paused, almost as if for dramatic effect, remaining silent for a few seconds before answering. Then, she she smirked openly, her face taking on an expression that resembled Aizen's own characteristic, smug look.
"You're overconfident," she replied.
Taking action, Weiss snapped her fingers, causing a white glyph to appear in front of her. At the same time, Aizen's hand - the one he had used to block Blake's attack - began glowing uncontrollably.
"What?!" he exclaimed confusedly, eyes widening ever so slightly. "What did you -"
Aizen fell silent as his hand suddenly stopped glowing. Silence enveloped the room once more.
Continuing, Aizen asked, "What did you -"
Without warning, a monumental red explosion burst forth, engulfing Aizen in massive dark red flames. The explosion was colossal - the mere sound of it nearly blew out the four girls' ears, and produced a tremendous amount of smoke and debris. Weiss covered her ears and fell to her knees, shocked by the force of the explosion.
Damn, she thought to herself. I was expecting the blast to be strong, but not that strong! Just how powerful are you, father ...
Though the explosion only lasted a couple of seconds, copious amounts of smoke covered the room for the next few minutes, preventing anyone from seeing what had happened. The four girls coughed uncontrollably, but none of them could hear Weiss' father cough. Did I kill him? Weiss thought to herself. It can't be ...
"Did she … beat him?" asked Ruby, a shocked look on her face.
"How?" asked Yang. "When did she …"
"How clever," said Aizen's voice, resonating through the room as he emerged from the smoke. His hand was slightly bruised from the explosion, but otherwise he was relatively unscathed. Weiss scowled, feeling equal amounts of relief and frustration upon hearing her father's voice - relief that her father had survived the explosion, but frustration at the fact that she had barely been able to scratch him. "You got me - I must say that I'm impressed, Weiss." He clapped, but whether he was mocking her or actually praising her Weiss could not say.
"What did you do?" asked Blake.
Weiss' eyes narrowed. Then, she explained, "I knew that your attack combination would be stopped by my father. With his reflexes, speed, and skills there's no way any sort of direct attack - no matter how clever - would be able to hurt him, let alone defeat him."
"So," she continued, "I decided to plant a glyph on your blade before you carried out your attack, Blake."
Blake's eyes widened. "So you …"
"Yes, I planted a glyph on your blade, knowing my father would catch it with his hand. The glyph was then transferred to his body, and was able to detonate, injuring him."
Weiss glared at her dad. "I figured that you would overlook the possibility of me planting a glyph somewhere because of your overconfidence. I've seen it happen many times before in the times we've trained together."
"Okay, that much makes sense to me. But what I don't understand is why the explosion was so powerful. I'm not tryin' to insult ya, Weiss, but there's no way a huntress of our level could pull off a move like that. So just how did you do it?" she inquired.
This time, it was Aizen who weighed in. "Isn't it obvious?"
Yang, Blake, and Ruby shot him confused glances. Weiss rolled her eyes at her father's remark. I swear he can be so difficult sometimes. It's almost like he does nothing but play mind games and tricks on those around him …
"The glyph Weiss used to injure me was no normal use of her semblance. The glyph was designed not to use the power of the user, but rather to feed off of the power of the target. When such a technique is used, the more powerful the target, the more damage the technique does. In my case, because of the vast amount of energy I possess, the spell did a high amount of damage."
Yang, Blake, and Ruby gaped openly. "Wow Weiss, I had no idea you were so … smart," Ruby remarked.
"Yeah, great job Weiss!" Yang chimed in. Blake smiled at her.
"Yes," remarked her father. "I am impressed. You truly are my daughter …"
Silence enveloped the room once more. Then, turning on his heels, Aizen walked out of the chamber and towards the stairwell they had entered through. Pausing at the entrance, he said to all of them, "That's enough training for today. Rest tonight, and we'll start again tomorrow morning. Come prepared to fight me again, and this time don't expect that any tricks like the one used today will work more than once."
Aizen then disappeared down the stairwell, leaving the four girls alone in the massive iron cavern.
It's gonna be a long weekend … Weiss said to herself.