"I would like to personally welcome all of you to Siren Academy!" Professor Bettencourt announces to the auditorium full of incoming students. "Headmaster Ironwood was supposed to give a rousing speech, but he seems to have very important business to attend to."
Man, this guy sounds pretty peeved that he has to give this speech, thinks Yasmin as the professor continues to speak to the still-groggy students.
"Those of you in this room are some of the best and brightest from all over remnant, but you are still children; you are not hunters or huntresses," Bettencourt explains as he takes a presumably-dramatic pause. "That is why I and the other illustrious professors of Siren Academy are here, to forge you into the next generation of elite defenders. Some of you will be able to graduate as hunters or huntresses; others won't even remain in the academy at this time tomorrow.
"Today, the true tests begin. We will begin by pairing you up into sparring partners; however, your partner for your first University sparring session may not be your partner for the rest of your time at Siren. Teams and partners will be determined by a separate test later today. The sparring is so that you may cut your teeth against peers of your caliber."
Ooh, sounds fun! Yasmin feels herself smile as she considers the prospects of fighting someone who actually knows what they're doing. Hopefully my partner will actually be someone competent; wouldn't want the fight to be boring.
"Matches, along with the arena number, will be announced shortly. Those who aren't participating are free to watch the other matches or explore our campus; I hear the café is serving blueberry muffins and waffles today for breakfast!" Exclaims the middle-aged professor; he seems legitimately excited at the thought of a hot breakfast.
"A message will be sent to your scroll and you will have a ten minute window to report to your designated arena before you are disqualified, so don't be afraid to wander too far; however, if you fail to report to your match you will be expelled from the academy.
"You are all dismissed; the first matches should be announced in a few minutes," announces the professor as students file out of the auditorium into the atrium of the main sparring complex. Yasmin mindlessly follows the crowd as she attempts to find some good music to blast through her headphones before her match.
She notices a few upperclassmen leaving the building as they realize that the sparring rooms will be occupied for quite some time; others stand by and greet the new students as they walk by. None of them really catch her eye, so she sits down at a table with a sigh to wait for the first round of matches to be announced.
Almost immediately, the screens hanging above each arena light up with the faces and names of the competitors. Yasmin runs over to each of the screens, her hand brushing the hilt of the small sword at her hip. Unfortunately, she isn't part of the first round of the competitors.
Awesome, looks like I'll be here for a while, Yasmin thinks as she runs a hand through her short, white hair. She puts her headphones on and reclaims her seat as she braces for the agonizing wait.
"I hate this stupid waiting! Why can't we just have a giant brawl in one of the big arenas, it'd be so much fun!" Rozanne practically yells to her still-new friend, Lloyd.
"Calm down, Rozanne! It's only been five minutes and the first match is already done; you could be the next one in the ring," Lloyd states simply with a bit of a scowl on his face. It's way too early for yelling, he thinks. The first match hadn't been very entertaining; a blonde boy got his butt beat by a guy who was using a shortsword and a really big shield. The shield-boy really knew how to exploit the other competitor's inexperience at fighting a highly defensive opponent. It wasn't pretty.
"I don't care, I want to do something other than watch other people fight! Let's go get some food at the café," Rozanne exclaimed. She really seems to get bored easily.
Before the duo can leave, however, the new match appears on the screen above arena four. Lloyd receives a text almost simultaneously stating that he is to report to arena four to spar with some girl named Yasmin.
"Ooh look, Lloyd! You're up on screen! Let's go so you can kick some butt!" Rozanne screams as she sprints toward arena four with Lloyd hanging onto her arm like his life depended on it.
As Lloyd enters the arena, he becomes very aware of the large crowd in the stands; it's just like a tournament match. No pressure.
Opposite him, a girl with snow-white hair walks in. She's unarmored and only armed with a small, curved sword on her hip.
Weird, I've never seen a sword like that; I've also never seen someone fight using a weapon that short without a shield. Worrisome, Lloyd thinks as he begins his pre-match stretches. He pulls the bar at his hip from its loop and presses his thumb hard against the middle of the object.
The bar quickly extends and unfolds in both directions; a long blade extends upwards as two small hooks jut out just above Lloyd's hand. A large cruciform hilt unfolds downwards; after completing the transformation the sword could almost reach Lloyd's chin. He gives the large sword a few experimental swings. "Good morning, Eisen," he mutters as he rests the blade on his shoulder.
Yasmin, however, is just standing watching the scene literally unfold in front of her; she quickly pulls out her sword and gives it a quick couple of swings.
"Fighters, are you ready?" A young woman, a teacher or helpful upperclassman, calls out to the two contestants below her. Both Lloyd and Yasmin look to the woman and nod. "Then let the fight begin!"
Almost immediately, Yasmin flips her sword and pulls a trigger; Lloyd quickly spins his sword in front of him to block the red-hot shot. Just as the smoke envelops him, he hears another shot followed by a short explosion.
Dust, time to guess, he thinks as he takes a knee and raises his blade up to block a downward strike. Sure enough, he feels and hears blade meet blade; he quickly tilts Eisen to smack Yasmin with the hilt of the blade. Lloyd sees Yasmin tumble to his left as he quickly raises Eisen's hilt to the side of his head with the blade pointed straight at the recovering girl.
"And Lloyd has first strike!"
Yasmin, however, quickly gets back up and renews her assault. Lloyd thrusts his sword forward but just meets air; he quickly activates his semblance as he notices a certain curved sword flying at his throat. The left side of Lloyd's neck shines as the strike harmlessly bounces off; Lloyd takes the opening and slams his shoulder into Yasmin's chest. He quickly backs off and assumes a different stance.
"Dust dammit! That hurt!" Yasmin says under her breath as she shakes her sword hand. Lloyd rapidly closes and slams blade down, again, into thin air. He hears a crack just before he's engulfed in smoke and he starts flying. He looks up to see Yasmin press something on her sword. The sword quickly unfolds and extends into a massive blade, easily a few inches taller than the girl herself; the sword is still drastically curved forward, but the hilt is much longer and the blade extended as well.
Lloyd quickly gets up once he sees the girl closing in. She moves in for a merciless horizontal strike to Lloyd's left that he can barely guard against. The moment her sword impacts his, he feels a searing pain on his left shoulder and he is thrown to his left; he's just able to see a red glow where he once stood before it disappears and Yasmin rushes him again.
Lloyd shifts his grip so that he is grasping the blade with both hands and he spins on the ground and swings the hilt at Yasmin's legs. Yasmin is pulled down as she's hooked by the crossguard; Lloyd quickly regains his footing and thrusts at her chest.
Yasmin rolls away and rises to her feet. Both combatants stare each other down as they realize this fight isn't going to be as easy as either thought.
Lloyd is the first to break the temporary ceasefire as he strikes diagonally at Yasmin's left shoulder; she quickly parries and makes for a riposte. Lloyd easily redirects the strike and swings his blade down, though his efforts bare no fruit. They continue fighting like this for several minutes.
Strike, dodge; swing riposte. The audience may see a vicious and deadly slugging match, but to the combatants, it's almost like a dance; a very deadly dance where a misstep means defeat, but a dance nonetheless. They both land minor blows to the hands or forearms, but never anything more than a glancing strike. Lloyd had never had an opportunity to fight someone with a weapon such as Yasmin's, but it is rather refreshing.
A misstep. Lloyd is rapidly giving ground as Yasmin begins to attack with a dangerous ferocity. On one barely successful block, however, he feels that searing pain again, this time in the back of his knee. He falls to one knee and begins to panic; Yasmin is rearing for another overhead strike, one against which he probably won't be able to defend. He makes the hasty decision to tackle the woman in front of him.
They both roll to the ground and Lloyd quickly disentangles himself and jumps to his feet and slams his sword down to where Yasmin is lying. She brings her blade up and blocks the devastating blow; she quickly rolls to her feet and renews her assault.
With each block Lloyd makes, he feels a strike on the opposite side of him; it rapidly takes his toll and he loses focus as his Aura is depleted.
After a particularly hard hit sent him spinning, he turns around to see a rather large blade flying straight for the side of his face. He rapidly concentrates to activate his semblance.
This is going to suck, a lot, Lloyd thinks as the world goes black.
Notes:
Combat! Tell me what you thought of the combat; I'm mostly worried about description, so if something is unclear, please tell me. Tell me what you think of the character designs as well; I have character descriptions written up, but I'd like to leave some of it to the imagination.
This story is also on Archive of Our Own, and it will probably be updated earlier on that site.