Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!

Wow, I can't think of anything to say. I haven't even seen the new episode yet. Last week's was kind of cool with the back story and all that. I still think that the whole 'maidens of each season' thing was a little too quickly introduced, so it doesn't sit too well with me right now. But that's just me.

Anyways, the last chapter was a cliffhanger leading up to a fight, so how about we get on with that?

Weiss charged towards me, rapier pointed forward. I raised my blade, stepping aside and allowing her slender weapon to slide across the metal surface of my sword.

She caught herself and spun around, charging again as I turned. She swung as I lifted Reitō no Fukushū and deflected the blow. She swung over and over, each attack I managed to block. Suddenly she leapt into the air, over my head, and landed behind me.

I quickly spun around, focusing my aura in case she landed an attack. She did, right in my side. I stumbled, and as I regained my balance she went in for another attack. Her blade poked at my aura, ultimately sending me to the ground. She leapt backwards, raising her rapier in preparation for my next attack.

I stood, raising Reitō no Fukushū and facing her. The corner of the lips curved into a slight smile, then she charged. I planted my hand onto the side of my blade, while the other stayed on the handle. She threw a flurry of stabs at me, each one I deflected with the side of my sword. As the tip of Myrtenastor hit my blade again I swung out, throwing her arm to the side. I swung downwards on her wrist. I hit her aura, but she still felt it enough to drop her weapon.

She faced me, anger plain in her expression as she raised her fists in front of her face. I swung my sword at her, and she blocked it. We exchanged blows, swapping between offensive and defensive until she hit my chest, followed by my arm. I dropped Reitō no Fukushū. Quickly recovering, I raised my fists and blocked her immediate attack.

It was clear that she hadn't had as much hand-to-hand combat training as me. I landed several punches on her, and she only managed to land a few.

I threw my first, hitting her square in the face. As she fell back, she threw her leg up, turning the fall into a backflip.

I heard a sound and glanced back. A pale blue snowflake had appeared behind me. Of course, I thought. She charged, making a beeline for the glyph. I struck up my knee, hitting her in the chin and sending her on her back. The glyph vanished, but she was on her feet soon after, Myrtenastor in hand.

She swung the rapier towards me. I blocked it with my forearm. She swung several more times, each one I deflected with my arm. Finally she stabbed. I grabbed the blade in an attempt to pull it away from her. The blade began to glow red, and my hands burned. I simply winced and yanked it from her hands. Her expression showed surprise, which I took as an opportunity. I punched her in the face. This time she didn't catch herself, and by the time she was on her feet again I had Myrtenastor in one hand and Reitō no Fukushū in the other, both pointed at her neck.

We stood for several moments, staring into each other's eyes. I was panting, trying to catch my breath, but I held my stance. Weiss, on the other hand, sucked her breath in. After a while I tossed Myrtenastor into the air and caught it by the base of the blade so that the handle was facing her. She reached out and took it, letting out a heavy breath.

I sheathed Reitō no Fukushū and turned around the leave, but stopped myself and turned back around.

I held out my hand, "Nice job, Miss Schnee"

She hesitated, then stepped forward and shook my hand, "As to you, Mister, uh, I didn't catch your name" She said

"Wintanweorth Coal." I replied, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance"

She let go of my hand and started to leave.

"Wait," I said, suddenly having an idea. She half turned towards me, but didn't say anything. "Would you be interested in being my training partner?"

She snorted in an attempt to contain her laughter, "Excuse me?" She asked, "Your training partner? Why?"

"You're pretty strong." I replied, "I could use an opponent stronger than a punching bag, and I'm sure that you could too"

"Oh?" She asked, twirling her hair, "You think so?"

"What do you say?" I asked.

"I don't know," she replied, fully turning and starting to walk towards me. "What's in it for me?"

"What do you think?" I asked, "Combat training. A punching bag doesn't return your attacks. We'd both benefit from this"

"Says the guy who just beat me"

"Says the guy who didn't get to the next round of the tournament to the girl who did"

"You didn't progress?" She asked, her voice laced half with surprise, half with pleasure.

"No" I replied.

She turned towards the others who were sparring next to us, as if deep in thought.

"I suppose I could help you prepare for next year." She finally said, "It's never too early to start, right?" She turned her head back to me and held out her hand.

This time I walked towards her and shook her hand. "Sweet." I said, "So what do you want to work on first?"

"Are we not just sparring?" She asked.

"Well no," I replied, "You won't be able to practice every type of combat in every fight. It's better to focus on one thing for a while, then test it in a fight"

"Hmph." She grunted, as if she didn't know that, "Well, what do we do first, then?"

"You could work on your hand-to-hand" I replied.

"Oh please." She said, "You've been doing that for ages. I'm fine"

"Clearly not" I pointed out.

"Excuse me?" She asked, irritation in her voice.

"I focused more on my weapon than anything else." I replied, "I've only trained in hand-to-hand for a few years"

"See?" She said, "I've only ever done it in Beacon when I needed to. You've clearly done it outside of your academy"

"I didn't attend a hunter's academy" I pointed out.

"Oh" She replied, realizing that I'd spent only a little more time than her in fist-fighting. "Well what's your secret then?" She asked.

"Practice," I replied, "come with me" I started towards the punching bags, and she followed.

So there you have it. Weiss isn't as good as Wintanweorth, but her team apparently is. We'll be seeing a lot more of Weiss in the White chapters from here on out. Probably at least. I haven't written too many of them yet.

I've been taking some time with HellFall to relax and lay low, so in the next few chapters we probably won't get a whole lot of story. However, there is a major part coming up that you all should be paying attention to (and looking forward to).

Anyways, really got nothing to say today. As usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!