There was nothing more valuable to a guardsman than his lasgun. In a galaxy filled to the brim with hostile xenos that towered over normal humans, daemons capable of rending the very fabric of reality into nothingness with their mere presence, and heretics who made death at their hands look like a kind mercy, it was little wonder that a guardsman's most prized possession would be the very tool used to keep such horrors at bay. While it was true that a single lasgun barely had any effect against the hardiest foes that could be found in the galaxy, a problem only highlighted by the people of Remnant's aura, the Imperial Guard's strength had never laid in the hands of a single trooper. One lasgun might have been effective as shining a flashlight on the enemy, but a million firing at once? Not even a Titan, a war machine that could stand as tall as a building or an even an entire hive city and equipped with enough firepower to level both with similar ease, could withstand a barrage of lasbolts forever despite the testimonies of some who had the fortune of witnessing such enormous mechs in battle.
Winston was one such lucky individual, although after seeing the destruction that the god-machines were capable of firsthand, he would hardly consider himself as such.
Briefly recalling the sight of two Titans fighting for supremacy in the never ending battle between the forces of Chaos and the Imperium, Pyrrha's words about such 'invincible' figures echoed in his mind. Nobody is invincible. It was a cruel reality he had witnessed far too many times and one that he was all too willing to enact on those who had believed themselves to be undefeatable. Winston fought back against the tragic memories that threatened to surge to the forefront of his mind and grabbed onto his lasgun a little tighter as he marched back down to meet his next opponent of the day.
Rather than carrying one of the few possessions that were truly his on his back like the rest of his gear that he kept safely stored away in his kitbag, Winston carried his lasgun in both hands as he returned from the locker after retrieving his beloved firearm. It had been far too long since he had felt its reassuring weight in his arms, that familiar bulk providing him all the confidence he needed to go and fight whatever threats against humanity he was ordered to face without complaint or fear of what might happen to him. His face was still concealed by the mask any member of the Death Korps could easily be identified by, but anyone who knew what to look for would have easily noticed the guardsman's once stiff and rigid pace ease into a relaxed yet purposeful march now that he was properly armed. A confidence that not even Winston knew he had been lacking was now present, one that would not falter even before the Eye of Terror and all the horrors it contained within.
Of course, as it was near impossible for anyone who didn't spend years amongst the Death Korps to notice small changes in a guardsman of unknown physique wearing a baggy uniform that concealed most everything about them, neither his team nor Pyrrha's perceived the change that occurred in the Korpsman. If they did, then none of them would have thought it came from the presence of his precious lasgun and would have attributed it to whatever effect his opponent had on him.
Pyrrha was standing in the arena waiting for Winston, her spear and shield, Milo and Akouo, already in her hands. From what he could tell just by looking at them, they seemed to be made of a metal with some sort of coppery sheen, similar to the crown she wore as well as the armor covering her torso. After his previous two fights, the guardsman presumed her spear was more than likely capable of shooting bullets or some other projectile. What exactly it would shoot out was something he couldn't hope to guess, but knowing her weapon was hiding a surprise for him would help in evading whatever it may be.
"Ah, you're back." Pyrrha said as she watched the guardsman silently take his position at the opposite end of the arena. "I'm ready to start whenever you are."
Winston was about to say he was ready too, but felt as if it would be best to do everything possible to avoid any unfortunate accidents now that he was fighting someone he might be concerned with injuring. The guardsman raised up a hand before taking a moment to open the casing of his lasgun and adjust the internal components as best as he could, lacking the tools to make any proper adjustments. Ordinarily such an act would have been dangerous and worthy of immediate punishment given the risk of damaging his weapon, but after having personally aided the tech priest who had so graciously used him as a personal assistant instead of a servitor, he knew how to safely modify his lasgun's capabilities to fit his every need.
It was with great care that he rewired his lasgun so that it would draw a fraction of the power it normally used to produce a lasbolt while still allowing the projectile to be seen in the spectrum of visible light. Though he could have configured his lasgun to mimic the effects of a Retribution Pattern Long-Las, he did not feel like assailing his sparring partner with an invisible and silent barrage of death. Lacking the proper equipment or barrel to completely replicate the effects of the Retribution Pattern capable of fully automatic fire, to mention nothing of the time and tools it required to complete such a change, Winston settled for just reducing the strength of the lasbolts he would be firing for the duration of this match. The overall process took a little over a minute, not that Pyrrha minded in particular, but the remainder of Team RWBY and JNPR were less than enthused with the extended delay.
"That's it?" Yang said, looking at the weapon her newest teammate was currently adjusting with a lack of interest. "I thought when you said Tough Guy had a laser gun it would be a little more… I don't know…"
"Sciencey looking?" Nora suggested, sharing in the blonde's disappointment.
"That's one word for it."
"It does look kinda ordinary." Ruby conceded, her enthusiasm finally starting to waver after the long wait.
"I still can't believe you all believe everything he has been saying." Weiss grumbled.
"Hey, what's your problem?" Yang fired back.
"My problem is that idiot SHOT ME and has been nothing but a complete jerk!" The heiress complained.
"You're one to talk." Blake snidely remarked as she continued to read the book she had brought along.
"Oh, very funny." Weiss retorted "Just wait until you try to fight him once. The fire dust or whatever his pistol uses has no business being used in a practice match!"
"His shovel also hurts. A lot." Jaune said, trying to help defend her.
"How did your matches go against him anyways?" Ren asked him.
"Uhh… not well." The blonde boy admitted, unwilling to go into detail. "He nearly choked me out the second time and I never even managed to hit him after three matches."
"Neither did Cardin." Ruby chimed in, hoping to cheer him up by showing he was not alone.
"Or Snow Angel." Her sister added, earning an indignant huff from the heiress in question.
"Ooh, me and Ren couldn't do anything to Pyrrha either." Nora said as she joined in. "This is going to be extra fun to watch now!"
Although Winston could hear both teams chattering about him and his opponent, he tuned them out as he made the last few necessary adjustments to his lasgun before resealing its internals. Once he was satisfied that his weapon wouldn't spill open in the middle of a battle should it happen to be jostled, he pointed it at a nearby wall and pulled the trigger to make sure he had made the proper adjustments. His lasrifle cracked off a faint red lasbolt that impacted the wall without leaving a smoldering dent in the stone like he would have expected it to with his weapon firing at full power, only charring the area of impact instead. Satisfied that the gun wouldn't accidentally kill Pyrrha should he find the need to fire it in full auto if the girl proved too difficult to hit otherwise, the guardsman gave her a nod and a thumbs-up of approval to show he was ready.
The redhead had to wait a moment for Ruby to stop squealing in delight before commenting on what exactly she had just witnessed. "I've… never seen a weapon like yours before. What was that?" She asked, uttering the same question the rest of her team and Team RWBY wanted to know.
"A lasbolt." Winston answered her. "It is stronger than one fired from a training rifle, but weaker than what Lorren's…" The guardsman let one of his hands drop down to the quartermaster's laspistol safely holstered at his hip for a moment as he faltered in his explanation, "-my laspistol is capable of."
"Wow." Was all the Invincible Girl could think to say as a smile slowly crept up on her face unknowingly. "It'll be a pleasure to see what other surprises you have for me."
"Likewise." The Korpsman replied, rapidly warming up to the girl as she refused to back down against him, unlike Weiss.
The guardsman returned both his hands to his lasgun and stood at attention, waiting for his opponent to make the first move. Seeing as how she lacked any obvious ranged weaponry, letting the girl take the initiative was the least he could allow his opponent to do. A small, nagging part in the back of his mind also told him it might be the only way he could see her fight should a couple of lasbolts truly be all it takes to conquer the 'Invincible Girl' if she was just as skilled as everyone else he had seen or fought against so far.
"So, how do you want to do this?" Pyrrha asked him after a brief silence had passed between them with neither one taking a single step to close the distance between them. "Would you like one of our teammates to count us off or…?"
The champion of Mistral left it up to her sparring partner to suggest an alternative means of starting their bout who only shrugged in response to her question. She took his apparent indifference as agreement to her suggestion.
"Hey, can one of you count down for us?" Pyrrha called out to her team, getting a nod from Nora who leaped at the opportunity to contribute.
"Alrighty! I'll start at 'ten' and you'll go on 'go'. Got it?" The bubbly orange haired girl announced.
Seeing a nod from her teammate and a salute from the guy she was even more thoroughly convinced came from space after seeing his weapon in action, she did not waste any time getting the fight to start.
"Ten…"
"So, who do you think is going to win, Rubes?" Yang asked her sister as Nora started counting down.
"I don't know. You don't really see a lot of huntsmen using rifles for a reason, even if they can shoot lasers." Ruby answered, quickly going off into her own world as she fixed her eyes back on the beautiful weapon that could actually fire freaking lasers!
"Nine…"
Yang wasn't surprised to hear her sister was unable to pick a side, even if it sounded like she lacked confidence in their team's newest member. "Well, as badly as our Tough Guy beat Weiss-"
"HEY!"
"-I don't think he has what it takes to win against a four time champion." The blonde brawler finished, before turning the question around on the others. "Who do you guys think is going to win?"
"Eight…"
"Pyrrha." Blake quickly answered, as if the fight had been already decided.
"I uhh… I think she might get beat." Jaune said, taking the rest of them by surprise.
"You don't think your own partner has what it takes to beat him?" Ren asked.
"Traitor!" Nora playfully accused, before returning to her duty.
"Seven…"
"Maybe?" The blonde boy said as he reevaluated his answer. "I don't really know how good Pyrrha is personally, but Winston did kinda beat me three different ways in less than a minute. I think he might be as good as her."
Weiss scoffed at the doltish boy's reasoning. "Oh please. There is no way Pyrrha of all people can lose to someone who can't even be bothered to have their weapon ready before class. She'll definitely win."
"So says the girl that would have lost to someone fighting barehanded if he didn't give you a redo." Yang snarked, earning a hurt look from the heiress while remaining completely unaware of the mournful sigh Jaune let out behind her.
"Six…"
"Ugh, can we not talk about that anymore?" She groaned.
"You were the one bringing it up earlier, not us." Blake chimed in, smirking at the venomous glare she received.
"FIVEFOURTHREETWOONEGO!" Nora suddenly shouted over the conversation the others were having, catching both the fighting pair below her and their spectators by surprise.
Although they had not been expecting the sudden rush from the overly excitable girl, both Winston and Pyrrha were ready to act as soon as their match had officially started. The guardsman didn't bother charging forward nor did he feel like he needed to wait to receive whatever attack his opponent would come at him with now that he had a proper weapon in his hands. It was with little fanfare that he leveled his lasgun at his opponents center of mass and unleashed a hail of lasbolts in full auto without any real care as to whether or not his opening attack would be enough to defeat the so-called 'Invincible Girl'. The way he saw it, Pyrrha must have been quite resilient if she was able to carry a round shield barely wide enough to hide her vitals behind. If a few dozen lasbolts were enough to melt her shield and lay her low, then it was better he do it now than embarrass them both by liquidating her weapons later.
Having fought opponents wielding similar weapons before, Pyrrha crouched with her shield raised in front of her and charged forward with her spear ready to strike once she closed in on the guardsman. The first few lasbolts that struck her shield were absorbed without incident as the rest grew far less accurate and hit far less often as she drew nearer, although it wasn't long before the Mistral champion winced at the burning sensation that assaulted her arm where the metal touched her skin. The girl focused her aura to ward off the worst damage her rapidly heated shield could inflict as Winston continued firing at her without any apparent care to her as she closed the distance between them.
It was only as the pain turned white hot and she was tempted to throw her shield into her opponent that the sounds of ionizing air coming from the storm of lasbolts which crashed against her did she finally let her shield fall and adopted a two handed grip on her spear before thrusting it straight for her opponent's head. The guardsman did not bother to evade or back off as the pointed tip sailed for his masked face, and for a brief moment, Pyrrha thought the battle would be over before it could even start.
She found her assumptions to be proven wrong as before her strike could hit him, she noticed Winston was no longer gripping onto his lasrifle in a way that would allow him to crack off another shot at her should she have missed. With his left hand hand gripping the stock of his weapon and his right clasped tightly against the faintly glowing barrel of his lasgun, a sight that would have earned a wince from the 'Invincible Girl' if she had time to react to it, the guardsman held his rifle out in front of him ready to receive her attack and effortlessly deflected it away from him.
He did not stand idly by as her initial thrust passed harmlessly away from him and retaliated by attempting to ram the butt of his rifle into the champion's face. It was a move Pyrrha would have expected from someone using a club or another blunt weapon, but one that she was narrowly able to dodge by twisting her body to avoid kissing the cold plasteel casing of his lasgun as her momentum carried her past him.
Pyrrha stopped herself after passing him and spun around to make another attempt at striking her opponent as she led with her spear but found that too to be blocked by her opponent's rifle with the same swift movements he had shown off earlier. She pulled back her weapon in an attempt to break the lock they held against one another's weapons yett before she could follow up her attack, she was forced to roll backwards to safety as Winston had changed his grip on his lasgun to allow him to hastily fire a three round burst that narrowly missed her head. The champion of Mistral could feel the heat from each of the rounds in the split second they passed by her, the smell of the super heated air they left behind filling her with adrenaline by the time she stood back up at a safe distance away.
As both Pyrrha and Winston took a moment to evaluate each other's movements following their first exchange, Pyrrah couldn't help but to let a smile escape her lips as the prospect of fighting her current opponent. It wasn't often she found someone who was able to keep up with her using only a firearm as their primary weapon, let alone force her to give up one of her weapons in the middle of a match, and if what she had seen of him so far was any indicator, he was as skilled as a marksman as he was a close quarters combatant.
This was going to be close, Pyrrha thought, especially if she didn't use her Semblance to its full potential. The very thought of having found someone who could make her go all out brought her a level of excitement that nothing else could match.
"Woah, that was awesome!" Ruby shouted after watching the first exchange between Winston and Pyrrha with rapt attention.
"Huh, Tough Guy's got moves." Yang hummed to herself. "I wonder if he's as good with his hands as he is with guns."
"How… who in their right mind uses their guns to block like a shield!?" Weiss stammered in a mix of shock and rage. "He should have lost the moment Pyrrha got close to him!"
"I told you Winston was probably as good as her." Jaune said, feeling slightly vindicated at how the guardsman who trounced him could keep up with his partner. "He might even-"
Ruby quickly shushed him before he had a chance to continue speaking moments before the fight between Winston and Pyrrha continued, capturing their full attention once again.
Pyrrha was good. If there was anything that Winston was able to definitively glean from their opening exchange, it was that the Invincible Girl was certainly worthy of her title. If it hadn't been for his previous experience fighting opponents possessing inhuman reflexes similar to the ones his opponent displayed, then he would have immediately fallen to her rapid assault. Even then, he had barely been able to defend himself and retaliate.
Luckily for him, while Pyrrha had displayed near superhuman abilities, they were well within the realm of tangible possibility for a mortal to both repeat and react to. It was strange to see such rapid movements from a normal human, albeit one augmented by Aura and whatever effect it had on her physical capabilities, but much less striking than his encounter with a band of knife-eared xenos dressed up in the most ridiculous attire he had ever seen. It hadn't been too absurd for some of the civilians he had been serving with at the time to put a name to them, but Winston felt that associating a juve's entertainer with those nightmarish dervishes of death did not do the threat they posed justice. Thankfully those xenos were just as vulnerable against lasbolts and autogun fire as most things were.
If only the buggers weren't so damn hard to hit and annoying to chase after, then they might have proven to be a pleasant distraction from wearing down the local concentration of Chaos worshipers who had just as much trouble keeping the Harlequins from eviscerating them as he did.
It truly was fortunate that he was only fighting one opponent capable of evading close range lasfire this time instead of a partial troupe, similarly to how Winston still had his mask on so Pyrrha couldn't see the mildly bewildered expression hidden beneath it as he struggled to appear confident in his chances of victory. As for the girl herself, she didn't look nearly as scared as he expected her to after having narrowly avoided three lasbolts to the face. If anything, she almost looked amused if that growing smile of hers was any indicator.
It appeared he wasn't the only one who found some satisfaction in their fight after all. Pyrrha really was the champion the others were making her out to be after all.
"I didn't expect you to use your rifle to defend yourself." She told him, still holding her spear raised as Winston held his own weapon ready to line up a shot or block her next attack depending on her next move. The guardsman was keenly aware of the shield she had dropped before attacking him, the girl's other weapon radiating a faint heat that Winston could feel from a few feet away to his side. "There aren't a lot of huntsmen-in-training who are able to react to a close threat once they run out of ammo or if their target comes too close."
Winston didn't bother responding to her, their fight was still ongoing and he was not yet ready to break his focus away from taking down his opponent for any reason, but could not stop himself from scoffing underneath his breath because of how damn impressive she made something so mundane sound. The cadets of this planet didn't know how to use their guns as bludgeons? Were they inexperienced, lacking the proper nerve to get some blood on their hands, or were they just that bloody stupid? Anyone should be able to figure out that firearms of all shapes and sizes are as good for bashing up skulls up close as they were at ventilating them from a distance after feeling just how heavy some of the larger varieties were.
Well, anyone with a bit of common sense that is. Why civilians would think a 'proper' rest, three meals a day, 'fashion', and other meaningless drivel were something everyone would know instead of how to stay alive on a battlefield was beyond him.
Pyrrha apparently heard his unintentional reply, adopting a confused look on her face as she wondered what exactly the guardsman laughed at. Noticing the change in his opponent's demeanor, Winston felt it was all too appropriate to see how much she had let her guard down in trying to talk to her enemy by rapidly cracking off a shot in her direction. The faint crimson trail the lasbolt left behind as it sailed straight for the Invincible Girl's face seemed as if it would carry on until it hit its intended target.
Winston was only mildly surprised when his opponent, who had already pulled her head back out of his line of fire with unnatural grace, showed off her incredible reflexes once again as she deflected the lasbolt with the flat blade of her spear. Had he not witnessed the unusual xenos he had the misfortune of fighting once before achieve the same feat previously, he might have been too stupefied to move after witnessing yet another inhuman feat. Instead, rather than be frozen by inaction after his first plan of attack failed, the Korpsman let experience guide his hand as it moved over to the fire select and adjusted the knob from 'semi-auto' to 'full-auto'.
Sure there was always a chance that she would be able to evade the relentless but far less coherent barrage of superheated destruction that would be headed her way as easily as she could swat away a single lasbolt, but when faced between one shot being guaranteed to miss while a few dozen would at least have a chance to strike his target, he hardly needed to think about which option to take. The extra weight he felt from the four spare power packs tucked inside of his trench coat as well as the rest which were secured to his kitbag made the decision even easier as ammo conversation wasn't anything he needed to be particularly concerned with for the first time in a long while.
The same could not be said for Pyrrha.
Sensing what the guardsman was doing, or perhaps seeing it as the only reasonable course of action he could take, the Invincible Girl strafed around Winston as he tried to shoot her down. The red headed champion was able to stay just ahead of the Korpsman's line of fire as he tried to get a bead on her until she was once again able to close in so she could use her spear once more.
Rather than going in for another quick stab like she had previously, the Mistralian champion tried to sweep her opponent's feet out from under him with the shaft of her weapon as she aimed for her swing just below his knees. Winston was given no choice but to leap backwards to avoid getting tripped up, the alternative being left at her mercy or try seeing if his aura would prevent him from losing a leg, and landed on his back as Pyrrha took full advantage of the opening she had created.
She thrust her spear at his chest but found herself striking the stone floor of the arena as the guardsman spun safely to the side out of harm's way before firing off a few lasbolts from a prone position in her general direction. Whether it was because of the sheer volume of lasbolts he had fired off since the start of their match or the will of the Emperor himself finally deciding to aid him, one of his shots managed to clip her upper chest in the exposed window of flesh above her armored corset.
The Invincible Girl let out a yelp of pain and flinched from the explosive heat that struck her aura, giving Winston just enough time to scramble back to his feet and silently thank his opponent for choosing to wear armor that exposed such a valuable target. Had she been wearing a flak vest like him, then she likely would have been able to shrug the shot off entirely with whatever additional protection her aura provided her. The guardsman held no illusions that her lack of preparedness was the only reason the fight hadn't ended with his defeat in that moment, silently thanking the Emperor that he might just be able to prove the Invincible Girl's earlier words true if he could continue his momentum in their fight.
Unlike Weiss who had immediately lost the will to fight after suffering a hit from a single lasbolt or Cardin who's combination of aura and armor had allowed him to ignore being shot, Pyrrha did not yield nor did she continue attacking the guardsman head on either. With a simple flourish of her weapon, the spear in her hand started to transform into a simple rifle, one that was directed straight towards Winston who had been expecting something like this to happen.
It was a simple trick, but not one that the Korpsman found surprising nor one he had been entirely prepared to deal with. He had no doubt that in a firefight between the two, as his opponent had already proven herself quite capable of evading his lasbolts without her weapons and knowing damn well that he could not match her graceful movements and escape unscathed, he would have no chance of coming out on top in a simple exchange of gunfire and lasbolts.
Quickly looking for cover despite knowing there was none to be found in the empty arena, Winston's eyes latched onto the nearby shield that Pyrrha had discarded earlier and he ran over to it just as heard the first few shots of her rifle echo around him. The guardsman had just enough time to prop up her still scalding hot shield with his right arm and use it to guard himself as Pyrrha's aim finally fell on him. It was slightly humiliating, cowering behind a shield in a fight against a juve of all things, but given the precise circumstances of fighting a juve psyker, he supposed such an insult against his regiment's reputation could be allowed. Even then, reputation mattered little in the face of defeat.
Winston waited for the sound of gunfire to stop before risking his head and peering over the edge of the shield he was hiding behind. Sure enough, he was struck by a bullet that impacted his helmet and failed to do anything more than leave him with a light headache. The guardsman didn't bother defending himself with his aura as he had full confidence his carapace helmet was strong enough to protect him from the primitive small arms fire of Remnant when similar helmets could occasionally protect their wearer's against bolter rounds. Losing his match because of a broken or low aura would have been unacceptable, and seeing as how the single round hadn't killed him either, the fight was still able to continue.
Standing up with Pyrrha's shield clutched in one hand and, using the small divot in the shield's mostly rounded edge, Winston was able to steady his lasrifle in his other as he wielded it one handed to unleash yet another torrent of lasbolts against her. The Invincible Girl was caught off guard by the immediate reprisal and suffered yet another lasbolt impact, this one skirting against her bare shoulder, but she did not let the pain slow her down and quickly danced around the wave of superheated death he continued to fire at her.
For a moment, Winston thought their fight was going to end right then and there. His opponent had seemingly used up her last trick, he held onto one of her weapons, and he had full reign of the arena to do whatever he pleased at the moment as he tried and failed to pin her down with lasfire. It would only be a matter of time until he landed enough shots on her to come out victorious, and sure enough, the only thing helping him hold the advantage over his opponent soon left him.
A small red light embedded in the power pack he currently had inserted in his lasrifle lit up at the same time the torrent of lasbolts came to an end and Winston cursed himself for his carelessness as he saw what had happened. He had foolishly forgotten to keep track of the charge remaining in his power pack and ran out of ammo, a fatal mistake in a real battle, but one with far less dire consequences in a practice match. Despite the far less deadly results his mistake entailed, the Invincible Girl fully intended to make him pay dearly for it.
The redhead ran forwards as she transformed her weapon back into a spear and, seeing that he had no time to reload, the guardsman slung his lasgun onto his back and pulled the entrenching tool off of his belt just as she came close enough to resume her earlier assault. Winston was able to meet her first slash with her own shield and deflected it harmlessly to the side as he riposted with the sharpened forward edge of his entrenching tool in an effort to make her back off. The champion was able to easily step aside from the heavy head of her opponent's weapon and lashed out with a kick in response that Winston was able to block and immediately regretted in doing so.
In a move that defied all reason to the guardsman and caught him completely by surprise, he found himself flying backwards through the air as the simple hit launched him several feet away before coming to a rolling stop once he was finally back on terra firma. The force from the blow shouldn't have been enough to throw him off of his feet, as Winston had far too much experience getting thrown around in a melee for his own liking to know what it would take to send him and other humans flying through the air, but it had happened nonetheless. How Pyrrha had managed to accomplish a feat that only an Astartes or Ogryn should have been capable of was beyond him, but the simple exchange only served to prove that any extended close quarters battle would inevitably end in his defeat.
The guardsman was barely able to rise to his feet before he was forced to withstand yet another attack from Pyrrha, this one knocking his stolen shield loose as her spear almost pulled his arm off with it. How a relatively small opponent was capable of performing such an incredible act of brute strength was beyond the Korpsman's knowledge, but that wasn't to say he couldn't assume how it had happened. Having already watched one of his teammates summon glyphs out of thin air and another practically warp around after turning into a blob of rose petals to unleash a surprise attack, he knew that Semblances were capable of changing a battle from a simple test of skill to a contest of transhuman powers he could never win. Exactly what kind of Semblance could send a person like him flying through the air or rip a metal shield out of his hands and neary take all his fingers with it, Winston had no idea, but he was certain whatever Pyrrha's Semblance was, it could certainly do it. All he could do about it was hope it wouldn't prove to be his undoing.
It was with this new threat fresh in his mind that Winston started to defend himself with all of his might as Pyrrha took full advantage of her opponent's change of weapon. The guardsman's entrenching tool was far lighter than his lasgun, meaning that while it was easier to orient it how he needed to in order to ward off the pointed spearhead the champion tried to pierce him with, it was far harder to stand his ground afterwards and retaliate as he struggled to hold her back with every attack he blocked or parried.
Every simple thrust left him stumbling backwards as he felt both his weapon and his whole body pushed back as he blocked them, rapid swings at his limbs leaving his fingers feeling numb as he felt his entrenching tool nearly pulled from his hands. The constant back pedaling away from Pyrrha in his attempts to regain his distance from her left him off balance as he felt something pull one of his feet back towards her ever so slightly.
Whatever she was doing to him, as subtle as she thought she was being, was felt in full by the guardsman who grew increasingly frustrated as he tried to keep up with the champion and slowly started to falter against her relentless assault. All while Winston was desperately trying to keep his opponent from landing a single meaningful blow that could disarm him or penetrate armor and aura alike, the two teams who were spectating the battle from above were cheering at the spectacle he and his opponent were putting on. Whatever they were saying to each other, and perhaps even to him and Pyrrha as he fought, were barely audible to the guardsman as he absorbed himself in the clashing of plasteel and steel that continued to ring out as he struggled to defend himself.
What had at one point looked like it would be a quick and painless fight turned into a slow but steady burn that left Winston losing ground as his reactions became duller and his opponent's weapon came closer and closer to ending the fight with his defeat. The guardsman could see that he was not the only one starting to grow weary from their battle as he could hear Pyrrha's breathing slowly becoming more and more labored despite her assault never slowing down and the strength behind each attack never wavering, while he could no longer put the same effort into withstanding her constant offensive.
It was one of the many repeated sweeping strikes that Pyrrha threw out against the guardsman which managed to finally change the temporary stalemate they found themselves in. The champion was able to land a hit against the guardsman's entrenching tool that caught the head of the weapon and ripped it out of his hands and almost taking him with it. Winston stumbled to the ground after losing his entrenching tool but was able to partially stop himself by rolling to a forceful stop. He thus narrowly avoided a thrust that had been directed towards the ground where he would have ended up if he used his momentum to carry him further.
It was a small mistake on Pyrrha's part that left the tip of her spear stuck in the ground, forcing her to take a second to pull it free but one that Winston was able to make the most of. The Korpsman did not bother trying to reclaim his weapon or reach for any of the ones tucked into his trench coat or the lasrifle dangling from his back, but instead dashed forwards and wrapped both of his arms around the champion's waist as he positioned himself behind her as she pulled her spear up.
Winston knew it was a risky gamble to try using his opponent's momentum against her as she liberated her weapon, but it was one that paid off tremendously. Pyrrha was shocked to find herself being lifted up and over the small guardsman's head as he picked her up and threw her overhead onto her back as he came crashing down alongside her. It had been quite some time since Winston found himself in a position to pull off any grappling move due to finding himself rarely fighting human sized and shaped opponents with his bare fists after joining up with the 483rd Death Korps Siege Regiment, but he was pleased to find that after years of letting his skills go to waste he still was able to pull off a flawless suplex.
The unexpected move had not only managed to give Winston the breathing room he wanted in order to take hold of his lasgun once more and swap out his drained power pack for a fresh one, but had also taken Pyrrha completely by surprise. The champion had let go of her weapon when she had smacked against the floor, finally feeling the minutes of constantly applying pressure to the guardsman through the overuse of her aura and her own relentless assault take effect as she sluggishly rose to one knee in an attempt to stand back up before her opponent could act while she was unarmed. It was just as she finally raised her head to see how much time she had left before her opponent was ready to make the most of her moment of weakness that she saw it was already too late. The Invincible Girl saw her defeat almost as clearly as well as the inside of the lasgun barrel pointing down directly at her face, its wielder standing calm as his finger rested against the trigger ready to end the fight in an instant.
All Winston needed to do was pull the trigger to end the fight, just one simple little twitch of his finger to come out victorious against one of the best human opponents he had ever fought. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not only was he opposed to shooting an ally in the head as if he were executing a traitorous heretic, even if she would likely survive without any lasting damage thanks to her aura, he had too much respect for the girl who had proved that the people of Remnant might not be entirely incompetent as he had started to fear.
It was this respect that prevented him from firing and gave the girl staring up at him a moment to surrender gracefully rather than suffer a particularly painful defeat, or maybe even continue their fight for a little while longer if her Semblance was capable of pulling off some sort of surprise he couldn't anticipate.
If he had only known just how right he was, he would have cracked off a lasbolt between her eyes and been done with her. Instead his hesitation, offered in respect to someone he did not expect to fight so fiercely, proved to be one of the greatest mistakes he had ever made.
For a brief moment, Pyrrha panicked. She had never been beaten before, at least, not since winning her first tournament and becoming a world renowned celebrity all across Remnant. As pleasant as it would have been to no longer need to hold up the reputation she had built upon her invincible status, the champion was far too exhausted and worried to think of anything other than how much danger she was in as an instinctual fear rose up from deep within her and silenced every other thought she had.
Pyrrha had seen the large patch of bandages covering Weiss' shoulder and had already withstood a few lasbolts of her own that still burned long after being shot. Those two hits had been glancing blows and they still felt agonizing with all of the protection her aura provided. Now she was looking straight down the still faintly glowing barrel of the weapon they had come from held barely a few feet away from her face. Anyone would have experienced a small moment of absolute terror in such a position and Pyrrha, despite being someone who was one of the best huntresses-in-training in the world, was still very much human.
She could have given up, surrendered since Winston clearly had every intention to shoot her but had yet to actually do so. Maybe he was waiting for her to do so, or perhaps he needed time to prepare his weapon after running out of ammo earlier. She didn't know and was too afraid to find out if she was wrong. Although the Invincible Girl had lost her weapons, she still had her Semblance and had every intention of using it in order to defend herself.
At the start of their fight she had used her Semblance's ability to control metal, Polarity, she called it, to carefully put a little more force behind each of her strikes like she typically would. She had tried to redirect some of the guardsman's own attacks with his lasgun, particularly when he was shooting at her, but for some reason couldn't grab ahold of his weapon with her Semblance. She could feel something small inside of it try to move, but not enough to benefit her in any meaningful way while she tried to keep the use of her powers subtle. The public didn't know what her Semblance was, and as secrecy was as powerful a weapon as any other at her disposal, she did not intend to expose herself in a simple practice match.
Subtlety was quickly thrown out the window however, as the fight started to drag on and Winston proved to be a trickier opponent than she had first anticipated. She didn't know who had trained him or how he had become skilled enough with both a rifle and a shovel, of all things, to wield them as skillfully as the professional huntsmen she had practiced with back in Mistral before enrolling in Beacon Academy, but she could tell that her opponent had experience in holding back people like her. He wasn't too terribly well versed in fighting them as his inability to counterattack once she started sticking inside the effective range of his lasgun, but more than enough to withstand an assault that even a professional huntsman would have struggled to withstand.
In an attempt to catch him off guard and break the stalemate they had entered, she had tried to put in even more power behind her weapons by using her Semblance to make them move faster and even push back against Winston's own in an attempt to overpower him, but even that proved to be futile. If anything, that had only served to wear her down faster as she slowly but surely overexerted herself during the course of their battle in an attempt to break through the Korpsman's guard and end the battle quickly. She never expected him to use a wrestling move on her once she managed to finally disarm him, similarly how she never thought her first loss would leave her staring down the barrel of a gun whose owner had every apparent intention to shoot her.
To say that Pyrrha was afraid would be a severe understatement, and it could hardly be surprising that the huntress-in-training did everything in her power in order to prevent herself from getting shot. Winning or losing was a trivial matter at this point, the only thing running through the teenager's head was a burning desire to not take a lasbolt to the head and she had every intention of seeing her desire fulfilled.
Mustering all the strength she could rely upon with her Semblance, she reached out to find any piece of metal on the guardsman's person that she could affect in order to throw off his aim. Ordinarily, she used her Semblance as if it were a fine tool which allowed her to carefully pick and choose exactly what she would be moving and where it would move to, but she was no longer in a state of mind to act with such careful precision. With only a scant few moments to act and not thinking about anything other than her own protection, no, survival, Pyrrha reached out to any and every piece of metal she could sense and pulled on them as hard as she could.
The effects her semblance had were immediate and incredibly satisfying to witness, for both her and her friends who had fallen silent once it had appeared the guardsman's triumph seemed certain.
Winston was roughly thrown to the ground as his lasgun was pulled out of his hands and directly at the champion's feet, as were his entrenching tool, bayonets, and several other miscellaneous pieces of metal she did not bother to look too closely at. Believing that she only had a few precious moments to act before the guardsman would rise back up and continue his assault with the same constant vigor he had displayed all throughout their fight, Pyrrha got back on her feet and quickly retreived her spear, thinking it was only a matter of time until she was back to trading blows with her opponent.
And then she heard a shrill, ear piercing scream that chilled her to her bones.
Pyrrha didn't know who amongst her team or Team RWBY had let out the terrified shout, but her heart almost stopped as she looked back at her opponent and saw the reason behind it. Winston himself didn't look any worse for wear as he brought himself up onto his knees despite having landed face first when she had used her Semblance on him, although she couldn't help but feel there was something wrong when looking at him that her mind refused to acknowledge. Her gaze slowly fell to the lasrifle he had dropped, and that was when the champion noticed that there was more than just a few weapons laying at her feet. Her stomach threatened to revolt as she saw the guardsman's lasgun resting close enough for her to touch, although it wasn't the weapon itself that threatened to make her sick at the sight of it.
It was the severed arm still clinging tightly onto it that nearly made Pyrrha throw up, the sleeve of its former owner's trench coat graciously covering up the gore she expected to see dangling from the limb she had torn off.
Her rapidly mounting nausea and terror did not stop her from glancing up at the guardsman she expected to see bleeding out in front of her. She half expected to see him on the ground passed out, and perhaps she would have found that to be far more comforting than seeing Winston reaching for something on his waist before pointing it towards her and dropping it on the ground in an apparent daze. Pyrrha couldn't quite focus on what exactly it was that he had dropped, unsure if it was one of the many weapons at her feet or something else, as her attention had instead been drawn to one of the many loose bits of metal spread out on the arena floor.
The item that had specifically caught her attention was a finger, and another frantic look at the hand the guardsman was looking at in confusion revealed that it wasn't the only one he was missing. In fact, aside from a thumb that was definitely not supposed to bend that way, he didn't have any more fingers attached. The world seem to freeze for Pyrrha as she watched the guardsman look at his crippled hand in apparent befuddlement, before the both of them looked at where his right arm should have been only to find a reddish-purple stump with a metal clamp just before where his elbow would be.
On one hand, Pyrrha was relieved that she didn't rip a real arm off of Winston as she had initially feared. On the other hand she ripped off his arm!
As Winston's team and her own ran down into the arena to try and help, Pyrrha found herself frozen in place, unable to move or speak as she tried to make sense of what she had done. The world around her seemed distant and unimportant to her, even as her own partner came up to her and said something that she was in no condition to listen to. All she could do was fall to her knees and wonder how everything went so wrong.
Special thanks to Tireless Traveler for beta reading this story!
Author's Corner:
Remember when I said that the action was going to come to a grinding halt a few chapters ago? Missing an arm and most of his fingers will probably make it a bit harder for our Krieger to get into any fights. I only say probably because, well, this is a Death Korps Guardsman we are talking about. I don't think I need to explain any further than that.
Now, for those of you wondering how Pyrrha could accidentally make such a mistake, disregarding that something comparatively similar but far less excusable happens in canon, I approached the subject with this mindset:
Pyrrha's Semblance can affect any metal that can be polarized. Winston's lasguns, as previously stated, are designed with metals that cannot be magnetized as that would run the risk of unintentionally turning his lasgun into a grenade while holding it. As Winston is gripping tightly onto his lasgun with an arm that can be magnetized and affected by Pyrrha's Semblance, and Pyrrha likely wouldn't know or be able to tell the difference between the two with just her Semblance when they are so close together and she is panicking…
Well, to put it simply, accidents can happen to the best of us.
I'd love to say more, but I think I've rambled enough as is and I haven't even gotten to the comments yet.
Comments:
vincentburns343: (Winston's height)
The previous chapter isn't the first mention of Winston's approximate height. Remember previously when Winston was musing how he was barely shorter than Ruby, who herself is approximately 155cm/5'2"? While that might be short for your average guardsman, I don't think that is quite worthy of Krieg's lesser known "eugenics correction methodology", especially given how badly the galaxy is in need of guardsmen. Besides, we all know that abhumans have their own niches to serve in despite being loathed by most of humanity. Who's to say the Death Korps wouldn't find such specialties for their own troops?
TheCommissar13: So, I feel the need to make this known about most Warhammer weaponry. They do not use magnetic metals…
Nice to see I wasn't the only one to remember this little tidbit of information. It's funny to see how much potential a seemingly meaningless little detail can have on a story or event when used to its full potential. In this case, we have a literal Checkov's Gun.
And yes, for those of you who were wondering, this isn't the first offhand comment a character has made that will come into play in a later chapter.
Teo Char: I was wondering about the special power of our guardsman. I think a walking corpse would be a nice name. Makes him feel no pain and allows him to fight despite his fatal wounds.
Oh, don't worry. I already have something I feel would be quite fitting planned out for him, Semblance name and all. Everything will be revealed in due time.
"Ggkcc": (On the hurt/comfort genre, our Krieger's 'vulnerability', and implications regarding age )
I too like a good fic that rebuilds a damaged character back to a healthier state of mind, especially those that aren't jaded or outright misanthropic at the start. With that said, while our Krieger has plenty of reasons to lay down and wait for the sweet embrace of the Emperor, he does not see it that way. While there are some obvious cracks starting to show, he is still acknowledging what has happened, and only just.
As for the age of the RWBY cast… the current student cast is 17 old for all of them, save for Ruby who is 15. Before anyone even thinks of throwing out any accusations, I am VERY AWARE of possible unfortunate implications regarding Winston's ambiguous age… and everything else for that matter, moving forwards. The characters will be aware too, once they start asking the right questions.
kingbean777205: (On more Imperial arrivals from the W40K universe)
Sounds like a good idea, but not for this story. While I could easily pull a GW and unashamedly steal their Darktide roster for this fic and create a laughably blatant copy/reference in the same vein as Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau (1st edition example 'character' for those who are curious), I won't.
Besides, there's a lot more to the galaxy than just the Imperium. Try not to forget that Winston isn't the first character from W40K to arrive on Remnant if the inquisitorial rosette Ozpin possesses is any indicator…
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all again in the future!
