The God of Remnant Chapter 13: A Vytal Festival Part 2
"" – Dialogue
'' – Thinking
Vale - Location
"Renewal Taekwondo" – Technique
"Without further Ado, let's get the next match underway!" Oobleck yelled into the mic as the screens began to show the stats of the next match. "This time it will be a battle of Mistral vs Atlas! On the Mistral team, we have Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilius of Team SSSN!" He announced, letting the cheers from the Mistral section die down before he continued. "And on the Atlas team, we have John Doe and Arlo of Team JABR!" He announced.
When Arlo's portrait appeared on screen, more than the normal wave of cheers began, however. The normal wave of cheers was accented by a particularly loud participation from the female population. The response was such that Oobleck had to wait twice as long before continuing.
"Well then. It seems one of our contestants has quite the healthy viewership! Ha!" Port chimed in with a hearty laugh punctuating his jovial take on the matter.
"…Anyways, they will be fighting on a stage composed of the swamp and low grass plains biomes." Oobleck announced, still a bit taken back from the audience.
As usual, when he announced the biomes, the stage changed accordingly. On one side, a dour swamp arose. The swamp had low-hanging trees and deep marshes that were sparsely covered in moss of an ominous dark green shade. The foliage was thick on top, allowing only a few speckles of light to penetrate the gloomy atmosphere.
Conversely, the plains biome was much more cheerful. The artificial sun allowed the entire field to be illuminated in a bright light that left no part untouched. The low plains' light wind did little to disturb the grass. Placed sparsely throughout the area were a couple deciduous trees, providing small spots of shade.
"Now let's have this match's warriors enter the arena!" Port said, beginning the entrance of both teams.
Sun and Neptune were the first to reveal themselves. Sun was excitedly making his way towards the center, although careful not to leave behind his best friend. Neptune, on the other hand, was walking with a style that was designed to enrapture without being obvious. Sun was sort of ruining the 'cool' atmosphere, but such was the burden of the blue-haired teen.
On the other side of the arena, the air was much more tense. First exited Arlo, with the cheers of almost every girl in the arena following him (much to Neptune's hidden ire). Arlo was a tall, lean teen with a mop of unkempt blonde locks that was messy by design. This combined with his piercing blue orbs and ears pierced with golden studs made him quite the lady-killer. He was dressed in a simple black sweater over a light grey collared button-up with jeans and black loafers.
Following Arlo, but not behind him, was the final member and leader of Team JABR, John Doe. John's walk was slow, and his face held nothing but boredom. The lethargic air surrounding the teen was almost palpable as he treads towards the center. He remained dressed in his modified Atlesian uniform, although it appeared unkempt as if straightening it out was too much effort.
As they all reached the center, Oobleck started the pre-match proceedings. "Is everyone ready?" He asked, getting only a yawn from John as an answer.
A tick mark appeared on his head. "In that case, begin!" He yelled, starting the match.
The beginning of the match went about as expected on the SN side, as Sun charged in with reckless abandon… Only to get a face full of a thin golden barrier that appeared before him.
"Huh?!" Sun questioned as he comically slid down the wall.
"Arlo." John said, getting the attention of his teammate. His answer was a piercing glare from Arlo, but he received it with a small smirk. "You handle them, I'm gonna go take a nap." He said as he walked off towards the plains, stretching as he did so.
Arlo growled slightly as he refocused on the enemies before him. A thought to resist John's order flashed through his mind, but it was squashed as fast as it arose. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to stop both of you here. No hard feelings." Arlo said as he placed his hands in his pockets.
"Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try!" Sun said as he jumped the barrier Arlo caught him on before and began to charge towards the teen once again… Only to face-check another barrier. "Again?!" He yelled incredulously at being caught again.
"Don't worry, bro! It's just not your time to shine!" Neptune said as he made himself known.
Neptune was wielding his weapon, Tri-hard, when her made himself visible from Arlo's flank. Neptune currently had his weapon in its Guandao form, and he put it to good use. Swinging the weapon at Arlo's exposed flank, Neptune was excited when he felt his swing make contact. His excitement proved momentary, however, as he felt a shock travel through his side that sent him flying.
"What the hell?" He asked nobody as he rolled to his feet a small distance away. Locking his eyes onto his opponent again, he realized that he had hit another, more compact shield like the one that blocked Sun. "Did that shield do that…?" He asked himself as he readied up once again.
"Are you guys just gonna try this until I run out of aura or something?" Arlo asked sarcastically, his frown never leaving.
"As if!" Sun interjected. "We're gonna catch you off guard one of these times and then knock you out! Unless your partner has something to say about it." Sun yelled out indignantly, airing out their entire plan.
"Dude! That was our whole strategy!" Neptune pointed out, getting a sheepish look and a small 'oops' from the offending faunus.
"Yeah, right. My partner thinks you guys are so weak that he's rather nap than deal with you." Arlo explained with extra venom on the word 'partner'.
"…What was that?" Sun said as his hair shadowed his eyes. "He thinks we're that insignificant that he can just catch some z's while fighting us?!" He asked with rising anger at being so heavily underestimated.
"Sounds about right." Arlo acknowledged with a shrug of his shoulders. "What are you gonna do about it, though? You can't even get past me." He pointed out matter-of-factly.
Letting out a low growl, Sun called out to Neptune. "Oi, Neptune! Change of plans! You follow my lead!" He called out as he began dashing towards Arlo.
Getting the message, Neptune nodded as he began to charge him too, but from the opposite direction.
'trying the same thing, but from multiple angles to split my focus? Not bad, but not good enough…' Arlo thought as he simply surrounded himself in a barrier.
This turned out to be what the duo wanted, however, as Sun simply kept running past Arlo as Neptune's attack landed. Arlo briefly turned his head to acknowledge the retreating form of Sun as Neptune experienced the recoil of hitting Arlo's barrier again.
"…ugh…Not gonna stop him?" Neptune asked as he resisted the urge to hold the aching area of his back where the recoil struck.
"Not at all, that's John's problem now. Which just leaves me to take care of you." Arlo said as he turned towards the suddenly nervous Neptune.
'Ah… Maybe we should have stuck together after all…' Neptune thought as Arlo moved for the first time in the match.
-In the Stands-
In the stands, the entirety of teams RWBY and JS were spectating the battle. Only half of team JNPR was present because Ren was still being healed, and Nora being Nora decided to wait for him. Mori and Seraphina were allowed back quickly enough to spectate the match because their wounds were minor, and therefore easily healed.
"What's with that guy? Just walking off right at the start of the match like that!" Ruby shouted in indignation at the brazen disrespect.
"Honestly! What's his problem?... Though, I wouldn't mind taking his place if it meant being on a team with that hunk…" Yang added as an afterthought getting looks of disapproval from everyone else around her. "What?" She said looking around at the negative reception. "You're telling me you wouldn't?"
"Ahem... Looks aside, that blonde guy is pretty impressive as well. He hasn't shown his weapon or moved around that much, but he's managing to completely shut down Sun and Neptune." Weiss pointed out.
"That reflection effect looks pretty hard to handle too… Surely there's a way to overcome it?" Pyrrha asked absent mindedly.
"There is." Seraphina jumped in to answer. "Arlo's semblance is powerful, but not unstoppable." She cryptically answered.
"uh… do you wanna explain why?" Jaune asked at the vague answer.
"Nope. This is a competition, remember? Figure it out on your own." She said with a competitive smirk that caused Jaune to smile nervously and give a small chuckle.
'suddenly, I'm really hoping that I don't have to fight her…' He thought amidst his nervous habits.
-Back on the Field-
The situation just kept getting worse for Neptune.
First, his partner left to go challenge the other member of the enemy team. This alone wasn't strictly an issue, though. It showed that his best friend trusted him to be able to win and would normally have been a very cool thing to do. The problem with it was he was making no progress on his own.
Second, the barriers. Neptune didn't know how much aura this guy had, but the number of barriers he'd made and blocked with was insane! Neptune had hit every single one with the heaviest hitting variant of his weapon and they all stood up to it. Not to mention the recoil damage applied every time he hit one. As a result, his opponent's aura was at a healthy 80 percent while he was left at an increasingly worrying 60.
Finally, the area they were fighting in. Arlo was gradually pushing Neptune back. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem at all… except that he was slowly being pushed towards the swamp section. It was almost like he knew-
"You're afraid of water, aren't you?" Arlo asked suddenly, catching Neptune off-guard. The sudden question almost caused him to be hit by a small offensive barrier that barely missed his head.
"Why… would you think that?" Neptune asked, taking the small reprieve to catch his breath from the seemingly endless assault.
"Just a hunch, really. Ever since we started, you've been careful not to get too close to the swamp side. Not only that, but you've also been carefully eyeing your distance to it ever since I started pushing you back." Arlo pointed out, airing out his observations to a surprised Neptune.
"So, what if I am?" Neptune asked with a false confidence, changing his weapon's form to its trident and assuming a battle stance.
"Nothing, I just wanted to suggest that you surrender. I'd rather not have to use your fear against you like that." Arlo suggested in a polite manner.
"As if! I've just been letting you push me back, so if you think I'm gonna let you get me into that water, you've got another thing coming!" Neptune boisterously announced, intending to stand his ground from then on.
Shrugging his shoulders, Arlo let out a sigh. "Don't say I didn't warn you…" He spoke.
"What's that supposed to mean" Neptune shot back but his voice rose a few octaves upon realizing a definitive fact.
He was not on the ground anymore.
Looking back at where he was standing previously, he noticed a golden wall was standing vertically. His mind connected the dots almost immediately.
Arlo had placed a barrier right below him while he was distracted and rotated it by 90 degrees when he refused to surrender. He had done it fast enough to send him catapulting back… right towards the watery floor of the swamp.
Neptune screamed.
-With Sun-
It took Sun little time to find the leader of team JABR.
The grass of the arena was low enough that anything protruding out of it was almost immediately apparent. The relaxing form of his target was one of those things.
The black hair and grey uniform stood out from a mile away. Even from the distance that he'd been forced to approach from, Sun could tell that his eyes were closed.
"Hey! Get up and fight, you lazy bastard!" Sun yelled at John's resting form.
"And why should I do that? I believe Arlo was more than enough to handle you weaklings." John said calmy without even opening his eyes.
Sun growled at that. "Why you… I'll make you eat those words!" He yelled as he ran and jumped, intending to land next to the prone boy. While he was in the air, Sun brandished his weapon.
Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang were technically two weapons with the ability to link up into one greater staff. Both were a set of nun chucks that were red in color and had intricate gold bands intermittently wrapped around their length. The chain that bound each stick to the other was golden in color as well. Each stick also possessed barrels so that they could be used as guns in between swings to be devastating in effect.
The last part was a feature he was going to use to his full advantage as he held them in their collapsed form as he descended on John. As he approached the ground, he raised the nun chucks above his head and after a moment, swung down when he reached the ground.
The result was a set of gunshots going off as he completed his swing. This managed to kick up a small cloud of dust, obscuring his vision of his target. Not willing to wait for the dust cloud to clear, Sun swung several more times, making the dust cloud larger with each swing as he released his pent-up rage.
Finally exhausting his anger and his ammo capacity, a slightly panting Sun waited to take in the fruits of his labors. "How's that for a weakling, huh?" He said to the cloud.
"Unimpressive." He heard from right behind him. Spinning to confront the threat, Sun was surprised when a powerful fist crashed against the side of his jaw.
Feeling his head snap to one side from the force of the blow, Sun's head was swimming. The combo didn't end there, however. John proceeded to press his advantage and punch Sun again in the same place but on the opposite side, causing the monkey faunus to see more stars than before. To finish his assault, John planted his leg between Sun's shaky ones and landed a powerful gut punch that sent Sun skidding back.
Not being given a second to recover until now, Sun's body finally caught up with all the damage he had sustained. This culminated in him being forced to bow on his knees as he struggled to draw in a breath after the heavy blow to his respiratory system. Soon, he was able to hold it in no longer and ended up vomiting some fluid onto the arena floor.
"Know your place and give up, you damn weakling. Next time, I won't give you the choice." John said as he turned to find another place to rest, upwind from the monkey faunus' emptied stomach contents.
"running away already?" Sun said between heaves as he raised his head up to stare at John.
Having stopped in his tracks at the goading of the monkey faunus, John turned to him with a simmering rage burning in his amber orbs. "and after I was considerate enough to let you go too… Oh well," he said as he began walking towards Sun's shakily standing form once again while cracking his knuckles ", don't say I didn't warn you."
-With Neptune-
Having been given a precious few seconds of airtime to process his situation, Neptune did the best thing he could think of.
He screamed.
Unfortunately for him, screaming did nothing to the still water that lied at his landing point. The screaming did, however, activate something else in Neptune's favor.
As he drew closer to the murky darkness that was the swamp water, the still liquid began to grow violent. The previously sitting water rapidly went from forming small ripples to having large waves form in the depths. The oddest part of the phenomenon was that the water was moving away from a certain point, Neptune's landing zone.
This was due to Neptune's semblance, Water Attraction. Despite the name, the semblance allowed Neptune to have complete dominion over any water he came into physical contact with, giving him the ability to repel or attract it. While he could slightly control it from a distance, it was only in situations of extreme stress.
Using his semblance without realizing it, Neptune rapidly displaced the water away from himself as soon as his body grazed the water's surface. This caused a medium circle of repelled water to form around Neptune, allowing him to land on the muddy bottom. Still breathing quickly from almost having too close of an encounter with his hydrophobia, Neptune suddenly remembered he was in a fight. It was only then that he remembered an important detail.
He had dropped his weapon when he was hopelessly (but coolly) flailing through the air.
Rapidly looking around to find it, he locked onto the trident stabbed into the ground. Scrambling to get up with a little difficulty due to the slippery mud, he quickly made his way to the weapon. Upon reaching the weapon, however, his hand was repulsed by a golden shield that appeared around the trident. Looking up at the source, he was unsurprised to see the standing (and clean) form of Arlo looking down on him.
"Surrender." He commanded from the high ground, metaphorically and literally.
After weighing his options, Neptune let out a sigh. 'Sorry, bro.' He thought to his friend who had faith in him to win. "I surrender…" He said as his head hung low at his defeat.
"Neptune Vasilias is out by surrender!" Oobleck called out, eliminating him.
Hearing the announcement, Arlo released his hold on the barrier around Neptune's weapon and turned to leave when he heard a peculiar noise. Turning around to assess what it was, he saw the water beginning to fill the space that Neptune still occupied. Eyes widening slightly, Arlo turned at stuck his hand out towards the panicking Neptune before he could be crushed by the rapidly displacing water.
A couple seconds passed before a golden ball arose from the water, the transparency of the ball revealed Neptune and his weapon held securely inside. Pulling his arm towards him, Arlo willed the orb to stop at ground level and disperse, releasing Neptune onto dry land.
Undoubtedly shaken and still downcast, Neptune had one question. "Why save me?"
Arlo's answer was almost immediate. "Because it's just a tournament? Look, I don't know what this all means to you, but it's not that serious to me. My partner might disagree, but I don't want to see someone suffer pointlessly." Arlo said, extending a hand to the kneeling Neptune. "So how about we shake on it and put this all behind us?" He offered.
Gaining a slight look of shock that quickly formed into a nonchalant smile, Neptune accepted the hand.
"Deal!"
And that's when they heard it. A sickening crunch followed by a scream that shook everyone in the arena to the core.
-With Sun-
-A few minutes before-
At seeing the approaching figure of John, Sun put his hastily crafted plan into action. Leaning back slightly so that he was sitting on his feet, Sun brought his hands together as if praying. After doing this, he slowed his breath down to a crawl and began concentrating as hard as he could.
John paused in his approach as he saw the odd form his opponent had taken. His curiosity at its purpose was answered a few seconds later when two golden clones formed from his opponent's body. A small frown of annoyance formed as the clones rapidly approached him from opposite sides.
The clone on his right lashed out first with a sweeping kick that John did a short hop over. The clone on the left seemed to be waiting for this opening, however as a punch came flying at his face during his short stint in the air. Reacting quickly, John put his arms up in a cross guard to absorb the blow.
'that significantly weaker than it looked like it should've been… Could the clones only have a portion of the original's power?' He thought to himself as he dodged another swing. Testing his hypothesis, he allowed a swing to catch him on the cheek. Satisfied by the lack of damage, John began his counterattack.
Seeing that one of the clones was sending a kick towards his midsection, John dropped his stance slightly to receive it. Catching the kick with his body, John held the leg in place with his left arm and raised his right elbow to counter.
Even though the clone was an aura construct, the crunch of its knee was audible to everyone as the clone wordlessly writhed in pain before dispelling. The second clone appeared to suffer some sort of side effect from its ally dispersing as the aura maintaining it became shaky, causing it to become translucent.
Not letting his chance slip by, John dashed up to the slightly fading clone and thrusted his fist at its chest, satisfied at the crunch that accompanied him piercing the construct. He was still reveling in the feelings of victory when he was interrupted by Sun's labored breathing.
Looking over at the faunus, John found that his hair and tail (which were glowing during the use of his semblance) were losing their luster. The faunus himself also looked worse for wear as he took ragged breaths and was sweating profusely.
'likely a side-effect of his semblance.' John mused to himself as he marched up to his exhausted opponent.
"hah… Do your worst- "Sun began but was interrupted by the toe of john's foot colliding with his mouth, sending him sprawling back onto the floor.
Acknowledging the sorry state of his opponent and the now bleeding nose that he sported, John casually approached the spent teen. Stopping next to him to see if he even had the energy to try anything, John was disappointed to see that he was barely conscious, likely from the repeated blows to the head and the strain of his semblance.
"Weaklings like you, who are all talk and crumble faster than anyone…" John began as he brought his foot up "Are the ones I hate the most." He said as he brought his foot down onto Sun's left elbow.
The crunch was highly audible and the scream that followed afterwards was even more so as the poor monkey faunus clutched the shattered joint in agony. The gasps and otherwise shocked exclamations of the crowd served to deafen them to the boy's screaming slightly, but his piercing wails prevailed still. It was then that a call came over the intercom.
"Sun Wukong is down due to low Aura levels. Thus, Arlo and John win!" Oobleck called amidst the chaos.
Oobleck's call did little to distract the audience however as all their eyes and negative emotions were targeted towards the boy nonchalantly walking towards his exit.
John Doe would receive no cheers upon his exit.
-In the Stands-
"Why would he do that?!" Jaune asked in an indignant tone. "Sun was clearly down, and his aura was close enough to the limit that he couldn't even block that!" He pointed out angrily at the cruel action he'd just witnessed.
"I agree, that was highly unnecessary, and he'll probably need a while to recover from that…" Pyrrha added, disappointment in her fellow man greater than her anger.
The reactions of team RWBY were varying in their intensity but were evident. Ruby simply covered her mouth with both hands and her eyes were wide at the blatant lack of sportsmanship. Weiss had a deep frown on her face with clenched fists. Blake had a neutral expression on her face, but one look at her clenched and trembling hands told all. Yang was the most obvious as she had a deep frown and was almost audibly snarling at the disrespect her friend was shown.
Seraphina was about to voice her own opinion but a feeling of dread from her left stopped her. Looking over, she was met with the completely blank expression of Mori, one she was learning to be a worse sign than his angry one, as he stared at the retreating figure of John. John seemed to feel something too, as he paused briefly in his exit to send a glance up at their place in the stands. Unless Seraphina's eyes were deceiving her, John's face was one of worry before quickly morphing to a confident smirk as he continued his departure.
"Mori, you should calm- "
"Seraphina." Mori interrupted. "If we end up fighting him and Arlo during the team portion, you had better finish him before I finish with Arlo." He warned. "Because if you don't, I'm going to kick his ass all the way back to Atlas." He finished with the same blank expression, even after John exited the field.
"You don't have to worry about that because I'll knock some sense into him way before you finish with Arlo." She said haughty tone.
"…Is that a challenge?" Mori asked with a competitive edge to his voice.
"Whoever wins their fight first wins?" Seraphina said as she stuck her fist out to him. "As long as you can keep your cool for that long." She added.
A small smile formed on Mori's face as he firmly met her fist with his own.
"You're on!"
-GoR-
After a ten-minute break to allow everyone in the arena to process what they had just seen and give them time to forget about it, the tournament continued.
"Next we have our final match of the day. This is going to be between Seungah Park and Ilpyo Park of team IJSS and Scarlet David and Sage Ayana of team SSSN!" Oobleck announced to lukewarm reactions due to the last match.
"Ahem." Port began. "They will be fighting on the ice and ocean stages!" He announced as the stages began to change.
The ice stage was the first to be revealed and true to its name, it was an icy wasteland. The ground appeared to be made of solid ice and there were several glaciers that stood out among the flatlands. These structures were large enough that they resembled the rock formations from the previous mountain stage.
On the opposite side, the ocean stage arose to take its place. The ocean stage was just that, an ocean. Its depths were such that the bottom wasn't visible, but it was shallow enough that rescue wouldn't be an issue.
Following the format of all the matches before it, after the stages rose; the doors rose as well to allow the fighters to enter.
On one side, the two who entered were Ilpyo and Seungah, walking side by side. Ilpyo had a small smile on his face and his hands in his jacket's pockets as he marched towards the center with a grace few could copy.
Seungah was a girl of above average height, standing just a couple inches shorter than the slightly above average Ilpyo. Seungah had long brown hair that was tied into a high ponytail that fell to her upper back. She was dressed in a sleeveless grey dobok that was lined in red with white pants to finish the outfit. She, unlike Ilpyo, was walking in traditional martial arts shoes. The expression on her face was as neutral as she could get it, but she couldn't quite relax as much as her partner.
"Calm down a little, Seungah." Ilpyo said supportively as he noticed his cousin's slightly nervous gait. "The stage may be slightly less than optimal, but just follow my plan and we'll win." He reassured with a smile directed at her.
Taking a breath to calm herself, she returned a smile back to Ilpyo. "Thanks…"
On the other side of the arena, the two final members of team SSSN made their entrance as well.
These tow entered in sync as well, although they both seemed to be in a more agitated state than their opponents. They were not agitated with each other, however…
"First, he runs off to Vale without us. Then, he neglects training with us to mess around with some girl he met, and he finalizes that with losing in the first round? Our 'leader' isn't much one…" Scarlet David complained to his partner, Sage, who nodded in agreement.
Scarlet was a man of average height that had red hair that came down over his right eye, with a complete undercut. There are several red markings around his left eye. He wears a green, mulberry, navy color feather earring on his left ear and has a red military pelisse-like jacket draped over the left side. He also wears a gray bandanna around his neck. On his right hand, he wears a fingerless glove, and on his right bicep, he has a gray band. He wears a white sleeveless shirt and light gray pants. He also wears a pair of long, brown, laced boots. Around his waist, he wears a brown belt and a slightly slanted gray belt that his weapon holster is attached to.
Sage is a teenage boy with dark skin and gold eyes. His hair is sage green, and he appears to have tattoos of wings on his chest and tattoos of Roman numerals, matching those on his sword, around his neck. He wears a white long coat with asymmetrical sleeves, a green wing design like his tattoos and no shirt underneath, displaying his tattooed chest. His jacket also has a golden pauldron on his right shoulder and a golden cuff around his left wrist. He also wears a pair of black pants fastened by a white belt with a yellow buckle. He also carries a large grey great sword that he seems to wield with one hand.
Once the fighters had made their way to the center, Port announced the beginning of the match.
"Let the match begin!"
At first, nobody moved. That is, until Ilpyo began calmy walking up the opposing team. He kept his hands in his pockets and calmy walked towards them with a smile still on his face. Seungah stayed back and pulled on two fingerless black gloves that appeared to be her weapon, other than that; she remained still.
'What the hell is he doing, just walking up to us like that? Does he have some sort of plan?' Scarlet thought, carefully eyeing the calm gait of Ilpyo. 'regardless of his intent, he's too far for his partner to help him if we attack.' He concluded as he and Sage shared a look before they charged him, Sage in front and Scarlet a couple steps behind.
Going for a wide horizontal swing at the defenseless boy, Sage was surprised when he hit nothing but air. "Huh?!" The normally silent boy voiced, such was his shock at the disappearing act.
'Ssamsu Taekkyeon: Bo Bup' Ilpyo thought as he reappeared between the two fighters.
Scarlet was similarly surprised when he saw the boy reappear between him and Sage. Reaching for his cutlass to engage the boy in a close-range battle, he wouldn't get the chance as a swift knee caught him in the chin as Ilpyo silently called his technique.
"Ssamsu Taekkyeon: Facial Strike" He called as Scarlet was sent stumbling back a couple steps from the contact.
Recovering from his shock, Sage spun around in order to attack the exposed back of Ilpyo and rose his sword for the effort.
"Are you sure you have the luxury of attacking me?" Ilpyo asked without turning to face him.
As if Ilpyo had eyes in the back of his head, he swiftly moved to the left to evade Sage's stumble from the powerful punch Seungah sent into his cheek. Deciding not to let Sage off that easy, Ilpyo thought the name of his next technique as he executed it.
'Ssamsu Taekkyeon Modification: Foot Facial Strike' He thought as he struck Sage's head with his foot in a high kick that sent him stumbling back towards Seungah. Seeing as how that freed him up, Ilpyo re-engaged the still-dazed Scarlet.
-In the Stands-
"Mori… Those moves…" Seraphina began upon witnessing Ilpyo's attacks.
"They're not the same as mine, if that's what you're thinking." He answered, catching the attention of the others.
"Really? his teleport moves, and that kick looked almost the same as the kind of moves you do." Jaune pointed out in reference to Ilpyo's Bo Bup and Facial Strike.
"Yeah, they look too similar to not be related but they're not the same." Mori admitted "The set-up for his moves is slightly different, and it feels slightly more basic than my taekwondo… I wonder what it could be…?" Mori wondered more to himself than anyone as he continued to watch Ilpyo's movements with great interest.
-in the Arena-
'These guys are too dangerous together!' Scarlet thought as he saw Ilpyo approaching him again. "Sage, let's split up!" Scarlet yelled to his partner as he leapt back into the ice biome, using his semblance, glide, to lengthen his airtime. This had the effect of carrying him further into the ice biome than a normal jump would've, causing Seungah and Ilpyo to separate as Ilpyo followed him.
Returning to the bout with Seungah and Sage, Seungah sent a fist towards Sage's head that he managed to dodge. Seungah changed the fist into a palm strike as soon as it missed, however and slammed it into Sage's ear.
Not taking much damage from the hit, Sage brought his leg up and kicked Seungah in the side, sending her skidding away from him as he regained his breath. Seungah didn't give him time to recover, however, as she hurried to close the distance between them. Deciding to use his reach advantage, Sage swung his sword in a downward arc in hopes of catching her before she could reach him, but the oddest thing happened.
Sage's eyes widened when he swung down onto where he saw her, and the blade passed through her body. It was only when her fist met his face that he realized he'd made a fatal error in underestimating this girl.
Seungah used the punch she'd landed to send Sage flying parallel to the ground. While he was rapidly descending to the floor, Seungah jumped above him and aimed a well-placed elbow above his head. Between the force of gravity and Seungah's strength, Sage's head left a dent in the floor of the arena. Getting up from her dive and assessing the unmoving state of her opponent, she just waited for the announcers to make the call.
"Sage Ayana is down by knockout!" Oobleck called, eliminating him from the match.
"Exactly as planned." Seungah remarked as she let out a breath of relief before settling down to watch Ilpyo's fight through the monitors.
-With Ilpyo-
Scarlet David thought he was strong.
Between his team's numerous achievements and ability to participate in the Vytal festival, he might've been right.
But this guy was stronger. Every time he tried to reach for his weapons, he was being shut down by a swift kick to the arm. Every time he tried to run, he was shut down by a grab that was followed by a punch or throw to send him off balance.
'He's not going to let me do anything! I can't even draw my weapons.' Scarlet thought to himself as he assessed what he could do about the monster standing before him. Upon seeing his opponent approach, Scarlet put his hands up to mount whatever defense he could without his weapons. Spreading his legs to lower his center of gravity, he resembled a sumo wrestler in posture.
Seeing his opponent raise his arms, Ilpyo decided what move he should use to finish this. Feigning to the left, Ilpyo dove for his opponent's right arm. Grabbing it in both hands, Ilpyo brought up his left knee and sunk it into Scarlet's face. Not ending it there, Ilpyo used his right leg to trip up Scarlet, causing them to both fall over. This had the effect of slamming Scarlet's head into the solid ice with the entirety of both of their body weights as well as the force of Ilpyo's kick.
'Ssamsu Taekkyeon: Leg Lock!'
The match was called before Ilpyo even climbed off him.
"Scarlet David is down! Ilpyo and Seungah Park win!" Oobleck announce, calling the match.
Upon the match's completion, the audience burst out into cheers upon seeing the spectacle of a match. None of this registered with Ilpyo, though. He just calmy looked to where he knew he would be sitting and placed a gentle smile on his face.
'Let's have a fun match.' Ilpyo thought as he locked eyes with Mori before retreating from the stage with his cousin in tow.
-GoR-
With the final match completed, the announcers announced that the next set of matches would be declared shortly. Most of the crowd stayed, eager to see the breakdown of the next day's matches.
The announcement didn't take long, however, it would come from an unexpected source as Ozpin's face soon populated every screen in the arena.
"Greetings, everyone. I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon Academy and I will be announcing tomorrow's matches." He declared, getting silence as a response as everyone waited with bated breath on his next words. "As you all know, these are all randomly selected match ups so let's get right into it."
The match breakdown went as follows:
Ilpyo Park and Seungah Park vs Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren
Mori Jin and Seraphina vs John Doe and Arlo
Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc
Naturally, upon just seeing the two members of JNPR's names listed there was confusion. Ozpin didn't let this last, however, as he spoke again to dispel it. "You all may be confused as to why Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos aren't fighting. This is due to the uneven number of teams that we have advancing, thus it was decided that one of the teams would advance without fighting on the second day." He calmy announced, silencing any protests from the crowd before they could begin. "With that, I wish those who will be competing the best of luck and I wish you all a good rest of your day." He concluded, cutting the feed.
After Ozpin's announcement, everyone in the arena began to filter out. It would be almost half an hour before the arena would be empty.
-GoR-
After being able to exit the arena after a short delay, Mori and Seraphina were making their way through the fairgrounds. Team RWBY had split off from them to enjoy the stands and other attractions since they didn't have anything else to do. In a similar vein, Jaune and Pyrrha left to go visit their teammates in the infirmary and then strategize for their future bouts. This left Mori and Seraphina by their lonesome, different thoughts going through both of their minds.
'Ilpyo… When we talked, he seemed to know a lot about my taekwondo… but how? Did Grandpa know about him?' Mori thought to himself, now considering the possibility that he and Ilpyo might be more connected than he initially thought.
Seraphina was also thinking about their future opponents, but her thoughts were more on the two members of team JABR. She decided to voice her thoughts, however. "Hey, Mori." She began. "About our match tomorrow…"
"Hey, what's that?"
"What is an Atlas security unit doing here?"
"Who could they be guarding and why would they be in a place like this? Don't people like that have servants for things like this?"
Seraphina's attempt to start a conversation was interrupted by the curious mutterings of the crowd ahead of her and Mori. They seemed to be reacting to a unit of Atlas soldiers that were approaching their position. She didn't have to wait long to see the unit in question as the crowd parted to let the pure-white paratroopers through.
Upon spotting Seraphina, though, they seemed to have gotten where they wanted to go as they stopped right in front of her. Seraphina didn't have to wonder why this was for long, though, as a familiar voice permeated the suddenly quiet air of the fairgrounds for all to hear. This combined with the parting of the soldiers to reveal who they were guarding made Seraphina's eyes widen in surprise and the slightest bit of repressed fear.
"It's wonderful to see you, Seraphina. It's honestly such a shame that we haven't been able to meet since you left for Beacon." The calm, ever-civil voice of her mother, Narisa, uttered.
"Mother- "Seraphina tried.
"Although it seems you're not alone." She said, bringing attention to Mori, who was silently observing the obviously important encounter. "Though, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak with my daughter. Alone" She said in a tone that didn't sound at all like she cared what he said.
Casting a glance at his partner and seeing her give him a nod, he relented. "No problem! I'll catch ya later, Seraphina." He said as he clapped her on the back before taking off in a random direction.
"Such a nice boy." Narisa said in a tone that said she meant anything but that. "Now, shall we move to a more… private location?" She asked, beckoning Seraphina to enter the security detail.
As Seraphina entered the detail and saw the soldiers close around her, she had no idea that this would be a microcosm of what is to come.
-GoR-
"Oh, Ren! Let's eat there! It says they sell unlimited pancakes at all times of the day!" An excited Nora suggested as she dragged her totally-jut-a-friend to the restaurant.
After spending most of the say in the infirmary, Ren was finally cleared for release. The electrical burns left by Remi's large attack were far greater than the actual damage done to him, so fixing the cosmetic damage wasn't a big deal. After getting minor treatments and being given time to recover his aura, he'd be in fighting shape in time for his match tomorrow.
To celebrate his release and their victory, Nora and Ren decided (Nora decided, Ren just followed) to eat at one of the fairground restaurants instead of the cafeteria. They had been wandering the area for nearly half an hour and Nora had 'decided' on four restaurants so far before finally settling on this one.
'IRHOP…' Ren though as he pondered the acronym that formed the name of the joint. 'Inter-Remnant House of Pancakes… How fitting.' He thought as Nora essentially ragdolled him into a table for two.
Ren didn't start paying attention until an automated voice asked him what he would like. He didn't think much of it, except for the fact that the waitress was extremely short. Upon ordering, the waitress smiled and assured them their food would be out soon. It was then that Ren noticed the second odd thing about their waitress.
She had heterochromia.
Chapter 13 End
Dun Dun Dun!
AN: Here we are at the end of yet another entry into this little hobby of mine. Honestly, I'm surprised and thankful at the amount of support this story is getting so, as usual, I'd like to deeply thank you all for your support.
One thing I'd finally like to say is: Here's your Ilpyo fight.
It's been a while since I teased his introduction (Like chapter 6 or so…?) and since then, I've done nothing but think about the proper way to incorporate him into the story correctly. I honestly didn't think I'd last until he'd be introduced, but here we are. If you're afraid that he'll fade out after this arc, don't be. Ilpyo's popularity was an unexpected but welcome side effect of my way of blending the GoH and RWBY universes, so I'll utilize him in part 2 of this story if you all want to see that.
I just want to apologize to anyone that may be fans of team SSSN because unfortunately, they won't play much of a role for a few chapters yet. Sun will be instrumental in Blake's character development, so I'll use him there but honestly the rest of them go on to stay at Shade Academy in canon and I'm not inclined to change that.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, so I'll see you all next time on the next chapter of The God of Remnant.
-Mango G