Inside Amity Colosseum
"The most highly anticipated match up yet in my honest and unbiased opinion. Link and Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon have been matched up in the doubles round; we cannot forget about Mr. Arc as well."
"Of course. Some might look at him as an up close spectator but he could really disrupt the game plan Link has for his teammate."
Oobleck and Port continue speaking as Link is seen staring down Pyrrha and paying absolutely no attention to Jaune.
"Why them? And why now? What is going on?" Link inhales and shuts his eyes, angrily shaking his head
"You called it Link." Pyrrha flashed her angelic smile, "If we did not meet in the singles round then this entire tournament is rigged."
"When was this said?" Jaune asks
"I was running late and ran into Link. It seems as though he jinxed us."
"Mhm." Link nods and shuts his eyes as terrains in the arena begin to emerge: An frozen land of pure snow with one big mountain in the middle, city ruins with two crumbling buildings surrounded by rubble and scraps of metal, another forest but this one with tress much smaller than previous in fights, and a flat savannah with only one big tree and no tall grass in sight.
In the crowd
"He has that look again." Ruby's eyes squints and remain on her close friend, to her right is Yang who nudges her arm
"Yeah but last time it was just to intimidate team SLVR, he already knows Pyrrha isn't scared of him, so what does it mean this time?"
"It will be interesting to see what kind of Link and Pyrrha we'll get, they have always teased being in combat against each other and now that it's actually going to happen..." Nora stops and sighs
"Your question is will they go all out?" Blake mumbles
"Yup!" Nora picks her head up and stares at her friends in the colosseum
"My question is how will Jaune fair against Link?" Weiss frowns, "I know he has a safety net with Pyrrha being by his side but will he rely on it constantly? It's a bad move that will cost JNPR the victory."
Jaune and Pyrrha quickly get into their fighting stances, waiting for the bout to begin; Meanwhile, Link opens his eyes and looks directly at Jaune
"Make it easy for yourself and stay out of this. Find a seat in the process, it's going to be a good one."
Jaune frowns in disgust, which draws an immediately smile from Link
"I wonder what his plan is?" Pyrrha thinks, "Is it to make Jaune overly aggressive, force him to make mistakes, and take him out early?"
Professor Port clears his throat into the microphone before announcing the chilling countdown.
"THREE!... TWO!... ONE!... BEGIN!"
"RAH!" Jaune dramatically pulls his sword out of its sheath and charges at Link.
"No Jaune don't-!"
"Too late!"
Link meets Jaune in the middle and simply tugs on his shield, blocking the powerful slash with ease. Link smiles and spins in place, grabbing his sword and with a rapid slash collides his main weapon into Jaune's, sending his opponents prized possession flying wildly into the flat savannah.
"B-but how-!"
"There's plenty you haven't seen from me Jaune, want to know why?" Link's smile fades quickly, "Even I haven't discovered it yet."
Link spins again, slashing Jaune across the chest and with a slick leg sweep drops him to the ground. He lifts his sword in the air and rapidly brings it downwards, but Pyrrha recklessly jumps in between them and lifts her shield as Link makes contact with his sword, only for both of them to turn in sync and exchange the same sequence, this time Pyrrha striking with her weapon Miló in its sword state. Link notices Jaune jumping back up to his feet and speeds past Pyrrha, aiming to strike Jaune a second time but suddenly his sword with a brief black glow flies out of his hands, making it seem like the sword slipped out of Link's hands and conveniently landing right in front of Pyrrha who steps in front of it, guarding it from its owner.
"But when..." Link stops, sighs and drops his shield to the ground, "That's why she jumped in, to make contact with my sword and shield."
"Why would he do that? His defense relies entirely on his shield!" Ruby looks on worried
"Pyrrha's semblance." Weiss mumbles
"Oh yeah." Yang chuckles, "Maybe now we'll really see it in action."
Link thinks fast and quickly levels Jaune with a clean left hook to the jaw.
"Polarity may prevent many things but hand to hand certainly is not one of them, quick thinking and an incredible job adapting by Link!"
"This will definitely be a difficult one, I need to find a way to bring my weapons back into the mix." Link backs up as Jaune regroups with Pyrrha, neither hunter or huntress leaving the main area yet.
"What is our next course of action?" Pyrrha looks at Jaune
"R-right!" Jaune keeps eyeing his sword and fumbles over his words momentarily, "Spread out, keep him guessing!"
"You got it!"
Pyrrha and Jaune go their separate ways with the latter running directly into the savannah. His teammate only retreats slightly to aim her rifle and fire multiple rounds at Link who is light on his feet and takes every course of action to dodge: outrunning, zig zagging, jumping until he got closer and closer to the powerful huntress.
"Hey." Link seemingly stops time as he places his hand on the barrel of Pyrrha's rifle
"I know this is not what we wanted yet, but do not go easy on us." Pyrrha smiles as Miló turns into its javelin state, slightly cutting as Link's aura in the process
Link ducks and weaves incoming swings and jabs from the javelin meant to distance most opponents but he tests his luck and succeeds in making Pyrrha constantly miss. Pyrrha maintains her composure and sights on Link, the javelin swiftly goes into its sword state, and her shield fluently slides into her forearm. She charges forward and applies pressure with fluid swings and occasional jabs but the story remains the same. Link lowers his stance and ducks each swing and slash perfectly until finally his perfect evasion strategy is pierced as Miló strikes Link's left shoulder.
"Well played." Link grunts and shuts his eyes in pain. He dramatically drops to one knee and sighs, "I don't feel motivated Pyrrha, I want to beat you and prove I'm the best but it doesn't feel right."
"Link." Pyrrha's eyes water but the corners of her mouth rise, "You almost got me."
Pyrrha raises her sword in the air, then brings it down with sharp speed.
CLAP!
Before the sword can make contact with Link's head, the sound of hands slapping together is heard.
"One second too soon and miss Nikos' weapon would've caused some serious damage but an amazing last second catch by Link prevents it!"
Link with both hands over his head in a prayer position catches the weapon and snatches it from Pyrrha's grasp, rises to his feet and throws his leg forward for a front kick directly to Pyrrha's midsection, catching the talented huntress right before her shield came into play and sending her crashing to the ground.
"I should have figured you would see through it, maybe if I was fighting ruby..."
Link takes Miló and swings it in the air, then picks up his shield and gets into a defensive stance, left leg back, right leg forward, shield raised, sword by his side.
"Two can play that game." Pyrrha runs and picks up Link's sword before her opponent could get to it first.
They collide their swords with Pyrrha having only a small amount of trouble with her timing; Link also had issues, his swing was too fast and had little power. After some sloppy exchanges, Link manages to get the better of Pyrrha with the speed advantage. Link uses Miló against its owner and strikes her hands, forcing her to let go of her temporary new weapon. However, Pyrrha keeps pace and spins into Link almost as if they were slow dancing instead of fighting, she winks at her opponent and steals her sword back by wrapping her hand around the blade and jumping in the air, impressively drop kicking Link in the chest in that little amount of time, separating the two once again.
"It hasn't been fast but I must say the technical skill, finesse, and adjustments have been quite impressive." Weiss smiles
"Can't argue there. The way Link fights is so inconsistent but it works to his advantage, almost like he can speed up or slow down a fight whenever he wants." Blake mumbles
"I must admit you are very correct, he's so... great."
"Whoa, did Weiss just compliment Link?" Yang snorts
"SHUSH!"
Pyrrha retreats to the savannah with Jaune, allowing Link to regroup and pick up his scattered weapons and head into the terrain of his choosing, opting for the crumbling buildings.
"It's obvious Jaune is too brash but I can't exactly take him out when Pyrrha will not leave his side." Link stays within the shadows of a collapsed brick building, narrowing his eyes when noticing his opponents entering the terrain. "Will Pyrrha blatantly show what her polarity can do or will she continue this facade that has almost everyone fooled."
"I am sure of it Jaune. The forest is too small to hide and the frozen land does not offer many spots for cover, he has to be here."
"Let's find out then..." Link mumbles and sneaks out of the brick building from its only hole in the wall.
He aims his hookshot and pierces a rusty water pipe; the lone huntsman making as little noise as possible flings himself onto the frail triangular rooftop, with some of the tiles caving on impact. Link draws his bow as Pyrrha and Jaune are fixated on the building he was just in. The former has her main weapon in its rifle form and aims inside, waiting for any sign of the opponent being inside. Jaune remains outside, sword and shield out.
"Now." Link pulls back on his steel bow, slowly peaking and noticing Jaune all alone.
Link fires an arrow aimed for Jaune's head, but it's miraculously shot and destroyed midair by Pyrrha's precise aim. He frowns and reveals his position by standing up completely and firing another arrow, this time aiming low for Pyrrha's leg. She kneels with her shield and blocks it, leaving Jaune to fend for his own. Within just five seconds Link's bow turns into its crossbow state, then to the rifle. Two shots are fired at Jaune, who stands firm with his shield, but the rifle shots had more speed and power than the arrows and the impact knocks Jaune off his feet.
"You're mine now!" Link leaps off the rooftop, raining down on Jaune with a double foot stomp ready for his chest.
BOOM!
Pyrrha is nearly forced to crouch all the way down as she stands in front of Jaune, shield raised and completely blocking the impact. Link smirks and kicks off the shield landing back on his feet with a fluid flip while Pyrrha falls backside to the ground.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune frowns and points his sword at Link, "I've had enough of your games."
"Then show me you mean business!" Link leans forward and smiles daringly
Jaune lets out a roar and runs at Link full speed but before he can even make it halfway, his opponent was gone.
"What the-!"
SLASH!
Link strikes from behind, not even giving Jaune a chance to react or turn as his attack staggers him; However, Jaune turns to find no Link again.
"Keep up with me." Link appears behind Jaune again
Jaune angrily turns, falling for the same trick yet again. Link's speed was too much for the novice huntsman as he continued to take slash after slash. When he turned east, Link was west, when turning to find his opponent, he was already behind him on the opposite side and finally after frustratingly taking multiple hits, Jaune plants his feet and spins in place with his sword fully extended, hoping to finally catch Link and strike for the first time.
"It seems that Link has really gotten into Mister Arc's head, he is slashing at absolutely nothing!"
"Huh!?" Jaune frowns in disgust, professor Port's words were precise; Link landed all of his offense but Jaune couldn't even get anything going, their auras showed it as well. With Link's being at a eighty-four, while Jaune's plummeted all the way down to fifty-five
"Let's just face the facts Jaune, you started way too late and you should be at a lower academy right now."
"Y-you..." Jaune tightly grips his sword and shield
"No wonder Cardin had his way with you last semester." Link laughs, "And Ozpin made YOU the leader, what a jok-!"
"SHUT UP!"
Jaune attempts the same approach for a third time with a direct charge: One slash, blocked! A direct stab, also blocked! A surprising shield bash, side-stepped. Link managed to always stay one step ahead and his game plan was coming to fruition.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha's voice was heard as she jumped back into the mix, coming in between the two huntsman's just as Link was going to make contact with his sword right to Jaune's midsection, blocking his sword with hers.
"Alright, I think it's time to get rid of one of you." Link puts his sword away and growls.
Suddenly, he reaches out to Pyrrha, grabbing her by the shield firmly on her back, then launches her over his head, but not very far as she quickly landed on her feet. Link brings up his left hand, aiming it at Jaune.
"Stop!" Jaune nervously looks at the board, his aura surely going into the red if he takes the triforce slash, "If you aim for me, you leave yourself exposed and Pyrrha will make you regret it!" He looks back at his teammate with a worried look in his eyes
"R-right!" Pyrrha's sword and shield fluidly move to her hand and forearm once again.
"Good point." Link considers the predicament he is in, in front of him is Jaune the weaker of the two who is nearly finished and behind him is Pyrrha, his biggest threat with a big opening to attack if he targets her partner. "I'll take my chances!"
"No!" Pyrrha rushes forward without thinking and fails to spot the grin on Link's face
Link shoves Jaune and turns to Pyrrha who leaps and slams into Link with a heel strike to the head, but Link took the attack willingly as well as shield launched with immense power to the chest, it was slightly blocked by his arms in an x position, but the damage was visibly done.
"What's his plan?" Pyrrha frowns and runs at Link once again, her shield Akoúo̱ perfectly flies back into her left forearm almost as if it were a boomerang.
"Pyrrha stop he's-!"
"Too late!" Link reveals his left hand was aimed at her for quite some time, Pyrrha running right at him in a straight line only made it easier to catch her.
Pyrrha acts quick and attempts to back flip away from Link, knowing the beam of light when fired has a range limit but unfortunately for her, there's triforces already in front and behind her now.
"Who said I was the one who fought with their emotions again?" Link chuckles whilst the triforces slowly rotate in place, withstanding all offense from Pyrrha in her attempt to break free, "Give it up Pyrrha, a man three times your size with unimaginable strength couldn't break free from those."
"Then I'll make you set her free!" Jaune stands behind Link, panting hard with his weapons drawn.
"I give you credit where it's due, you never give up. You'll never reach the level of a Pyrrha but your big heart is undeniable." Link turns and sets all his attention on Jaune.
Jaune initiates the fight once more but his fatigue and aura loss make themselves clear as Link finally stops toying with him. He collides his sword with Jaune's shield but like a flash he spins and slashes Jaune across the chest. Jaune stumbles and nearly loses his footing; Determined never to give up, he faces Link and swings his sword like an axe. The powerful but wild strike is not dodged, instead Link stays put and blocks it with his shield, wanting to show his dominance over the novice JNPR leader.
"How about something you're familiar with?" Link overpowers the taller opponent and shoves him back.
He closes his eyes, exhales and takes off just as rapidly as before. Link appears behind Jaune and strikes with a powerful two handed slash to the back, then plants his feet into the ground and disappears again; seconds later he was in front of Jaune, striking his head with the hilt of his sword before disappearing again. Next was Jaune's right, he was met with some quick one handed strikes, only to next show up on the opposite side, delivering a more powerful strike to the stomach.
"I recognize those now!" Ruby gasps, "They're similar to the moves in his combinations for the triforce slash. Just much slower and methodical!"
"You're right." Weiss nods, "Despite the slower nature, they are still very fast strikes, Jaune doesn't even see him coming."
Link signals the end by kicking Jaune towards Pyrrha, the poor JNPR leader can barely stand as his opponent lands one last big strike going from his midsection, across his chest and all the way up to his shoulder. The impact sends Jaune off his feet and flying right into Pyrrha, crashing through both triforces like a stone thrown into a window: shattered glass. Pyrrha out of instinct extends her arms and catches Jaune, going along with him for the ride as they fly through the destroyed city terrain and back to the main arena platform.
"Just like that Jaune Arc of team JNPR is eliminated! All her teammate could do was watch and now Miss Nikos is all on her own."
Link looks up, his aura was down to seventy-six, Pyrrha was still in peak condition at eighty-nine, meanwhile Jaune is drained all the way down to nine.
"Now that he is out of the way." Link runs towards them and stops just a few feet away, watching as Pyrrha rolls Jaune over on his back, "Let's give the people what they really want to see."
"Okay!" Pyrrha narrows her eyes and rises to her feet, weapons sliding back into each hand.
Link reaches into his bag of projectiles and pulls out the pendant given to him by Ray, exhales and gives it a light kiss.
"Please don't let this be more mind games." Pyrrha's eyes water
"No. The more we've gotten to know each other recently it's made me..." He stops and frowns, "Makes me wish I told Ray how much more I appreciated her, it feels like I barely did."
"You can't..." Pyrrha shakes her head and rubs her eyes, "You can't make yourself believe that, Ray knew how much you loves her, she knew how much she meant to you."
"I hope so." Link sighs and puts the pedant back in his brown pouch, "Not a day passes where I don't imagine her alongside me, learning from you the most talented huntress Beacon has to offer, it makes me sad and, in some ways... enrages me."
"Link." Pyrrha looks around nervously, "Do you still blame yourself?"
"Of course, I do not have any other excuse." Link grabs his sword and shield again, "I'm tired of people telling me it wasn't my fault, because it was! I said I would protect and defend her, putting my life first if it went that far but when disaster struck, I was the only survivor."
"Was it your intention to let your emotions out during your match? So far your mind games have been brilliant but now..."
"I knew they were not going to win me the fight but I hoped to at least get rid of one of you before I unleash these pent up emotions on the remaining fighter." Link's eyes flash gold for a millisecond, but for the first time ever, he resists the demon completely.
"There I must do everything I can to not be on the receiving end whilst winning for my team." Pyrrha takes one step forward, readying herself for takeoff.
"Good. For once you'll see more than a counter fighter." Link lunges forward and jumps in the air, coming down on his opponent with a dashing strike
Pyrrha, light on her feet hops to her right, avoiding a hard strike. She rushes Link with tremendous speed, Miló in its javelin state and aims for Link's chest and midsection; Each jab no matter how powerful or fast were blocked by the resilient shield. Link meanwhile has his left arm extended, sword slightly above his head; he slams his shield into the final javelin strike which slightly stuns Pyrrha and whips his arm across, nearly connecting with a powerful slash if not for Pyrrha's shield which took all the impact and then some. Pyrrha skids across the main platform and upon her slowing down, there are multiple arrows with steaks of gold aura flying at her. She sidesteps and zig zags before transforming the javelin into the rifle, leaping in the air only a few inches and firing the weapon directly into the ground, sending her flying into the air.
"What an amazing escape for Miss Nikos, despite her athleticism it would have been nearly impossible to avoid ALL of those arrows."
Pyrrha aims her rifle and fires multiple shots as she descends, Link backs up as the first shot lands directly on his right leg, then sidesteps as a bullet strikes and sends debris into his face, he turns around and rolls as he successfully dodges almost all of the bullets.
"I have to get her down quicker." Link frowns and reaches for his hookshot
He aims and fires it directly at Pyrrha, she acts quick and blocks the piercing blade with her shield, then takes Miló as it turns into its sword state and shreds through the chain connecting the blade and hookshot
"Great." Link growls, tosses the hookshot back into his bag of projectiles and sprints at Pyrrha before she even touches the ground
Pyrrha finds herself on the back foot as Link blitzes her with two quick slashes, one is dodged but the second lands. Link jabs forward and aims for Pyrrha's midsection but she evades just in the nick of time. Link slashes wildly at his adversary who ducks and emerges right beside him; the former smirks and spins in place, bringing his sword back across his body and targeting the later's back. Pyrrha gasps but jumps and elegantly backflips over the spinning slash just as it the blade was about to make contact. Pyrrha sighs in relief and attempts to look at her aura, but Link is already right in front of her with both hands clutching onto the hilt, sword in the air, shield still on his right hand, he brings the sword down on Pyrrha who needed both sword and shield to withstand the force of the strike. Pyrrha pushes back as the two struggle to gain superiority despite Link being the stronger person.
"You left yourself... open!" Link brings his left leg up and sidekicks Pyrrha right on her stomach.
"Ahhh!" Pyrrha is promptly send flying back and crashing onto the cold platform, rolling momentarily until coming to a halt.
"Hm." Link grabs his boomerang and exhales deeply, his eyes flash gold as he launches the boomerang full force at Pyrrha, aura streaking behind it.
Pyrrha stands and shields herself in time, the boomerang collides against the shield, but the force and speed knocks Pyrrha off her feet whilst the boomerang returns to its owner. Link looks up at their auras on the jumbo-tron, fifty-five for him and forty-two for her respectively.
"If I can keep her guessing I can end the match with some aura to spare, let's do it." Link draws his sword and shield and runs at Pyrrha, who suddenly turns to her right and gasps, but something was off... the rest of the audience gasped as well but in a very delayed manner.
"My word what on earth is Mister Arc doing? He is already eliminated and cannot participate in any more combat; his safety is very much at risk right now!"
"What?" Link stops running at his opponent and looks around but none of the attention is on him, it's on Pyrrha and Jaune... who was still on the ground in his eyes
"Jaune you should be resting." Pyrrha nervously looks at 'Jaune'
"I can't let you fight him alone Pyrrha, we're a team."
"I can still win it for us Jaune there is no need to put yourself in anymore danger, you performed admirably."
"I don't know what the hell is going on, but she's left her guard down... this is my chance to finish it right now! I normally would not approve of striking while Pyrrha's back is turned but she's my toughest opponent yet, whatever chance I get to defeat her I'll take."
Link puts away his shield slightly crouches into a stance; he puts his sword back in its sheath but holds onto the hilt with his left hand. The triforce on his left hand lights up, followed by the rest of his weapons and parts of his clothes that have dust in them, but something was wrong... he didn't take off immediately.
"What's happening?" Link shuts his eyes and suddenly all of his emotions pour in, the sight of Amber unconscious with the horrific scarring on her face, Ray begging not to die as she fell in Link's arms, and Ruby's seemingly lifeless body also falling into Link's arms at the time. "N-no! Why now?" But little did he know that the demon's facial markings were already covering his face and spreading down his neck
Meanwhile
"What's he doing?" Mercury mumbles as Emerald tried to focus despite already holding her head in pain, "Wait a second, he's about to-!"
"We're re-adjusting the plan." Cinder firmly speaks before leaning into Emeralds ear and whispering more a couple of words.
"B-but I don't know if-!"
"Unless you cannot handle it." Cinder glares at Emerald
"I can handle it Cinder; you can count on me." Emerald looks at Link then back at Pyrrha and Jaune, her eyes begin to twitch in a very unstable way.
"NO ST-!" Link opens his eyes but for the first time since Vale was attacked by Grimm, the demon was in control.
"Yes." The familiar dark voice chuckled as he remained in the same stance; meanwhile, not too far away from them Pyrrha is still frantically speaking to 'Jaune'
"Jaune you're hurt and nearly depleted of aura, why are you speaking like this?"
"Ngh!" Jaune walks forward and stumbles into Pyrrha's arms
"I need to get you out of harm's way." Pyrrha turns to glance at Link, but her eyes widen with shock and fear as she saw the demon in person.
"DIE!" The demon speaks as Link takes off with incredible speed, for the first time ever he is visibly seen running towards his opponent for his deadly twilight slash
(NO!)
Link fights for control with the demon to the point where the bright golden aura that surrounds his body flashes bright than ever before. It was blinding to the naked eye, and the sound of a swift flash was heard right as Link was going to strike Pyrrha.
"Now!" Mercury nudges Emerald's arm
"S-shut up!" Emerald narrows her eyes as far as she can before suddenly passing out, her head violently slams back against the seat.
"Emerald!" Mercury looks at her with concern but a tiny smile forms when he sees Cinder's wide grin
"An added bonus to our master plan, job well done." Cinder nods
"NO! SOMEBODY STOP LINK BEFORE HE CAUSES SERIOUS DAMAGE TO MISS NIKOS AND MISTER A-!" Professor Oobleck stops speaking the flashing light is amplified times a thousand by Emerald, "What on earth is going on down there!?"
Link strikes with the twilight slash right to Pyrrha's back and is directly across from Pyrrha and Jaune, stepping foot into the frozen land despite the match being over in his head.
"Close call, I took control right as the demon struck, if he were to have chosen the power applied, he might have killed Pyrrha." Link looks back and Pyrrha slumps to her knees, then drops front first onto the ground right next to Jaune, but something's horribly wrong as the audience gasps in horror.
"Why are these camera's still on, cut them immediately!"
"What's going on?" Link steps back onto the main platform, but the second he took a step towards the unconscious Jaune and fallen Pyrrha, the four terrains are withdrawn and the entire platform is set back to normal, then out of nowhere Atlesian Knights are seen rushing towards the three along with two human Atlesian soldiers.
"Link of Beacon! Stand down immediately!"
"W-what!?" Link grabs his shield and spins around frantically, his eyes are fixated on the tron as it replays the events that just transpired, "Wait, J-jaune!?"
The footage shown reveals Jaune being in Pyrrha's arms when Link executed the twilight slash, striking both of the team JNPR members at the same time with murderous intent, but before the strike was seen the flashing gold light blinded everyone in attendance and those watching from the comfort of their home's, academies, bars, etc. The blinding light faded and only Link is seen standing in front of Pyrrha and Jaune who were both already on the ground, leaving people to assume he's nearly killed his opponents.
"But I saw Pyrrha go down with my own eyes, Jaune was already out of the picture to, how the-! NO! WHERE IS THAT LITTLE MANIPULATOR?" Link spun like a maniac, desperately looking for Emerald, but before his search could be completed, the Atlesian Knights and two soldiers got closer
"Lower your weapons!"
"Grr, Atlas military..." Link growled and gripped his sword tightly, the urge to fight Atlas military again nearly crosses his mind, until he feels a warm hand over his
"Don't do it." Ray's majestic voice rings throughout Link's head, "Don't give them any more firepower to use against you, please."
"Ray." Link opens his eyes, but unfortunately his friend is still long gone while he is still in this chaotic situation, "Okay!"
The Atlas soldiers remain in their circles around Link and direct him towards the exit, but Link stops and looks at the footage one more time. Seeing Pyrrha front first on the ground completely motionless pulls on the heartstrings of an already emotionally damaged person.
"I swear I held back! She isn't in critical condition, right? Pyrrha!" Link slams through two Atlesian Knights and races towards her, falls to his knees and reaches out to turn her over, but more Atlesian Knights are called in, they also surround Link with their weapons pointed right at the crumpled boy.
"We will not ask again!"
"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Link looks around the colosseum, his eyes searching for Velvet, Ruby, Weiss, any of his friends, until the Atlas military soldiers and knights seemingly tower over him. The one man team puts both hands over his temples, then runs his hands through his hair as he being to shake erratically.
(Yes, I am alive lol.)