Weiss Schnee
"The Valkyrie is often compared to the Harbinger titles in power... but its unique in that it dosent belong to a group like the Harbinger or High Wizard titles..."
Both contestants slowly stepped out onto the arena. Winter walked with her usual grace and military rigidness, while Nora looked to almost bounce with every step, she looked happier then anything.
Weiss wasn't sure how this would go... Winter was her sister and someone she respected greatly, but she was being pit against an opponent Weiss couldn't read. She had no clue what the Valkyrie was capable of... and even worse she had no clue what magic she would use.
"Her eyes are a lie..."
One of the most painful parts about fighting the Valkyrie... their eyes were a random colour, regardless of Affinitys.
"I feel sorry for you Leo-" Weiss glanced to her right as her father spoke. "-It seems that Mistral is out first this year." That... actually surprised Weiss. She had never heard him speak about any of his children with such confidence besides Whitley... speaking of the Prince, she didnt actually know where he was. The only 'guest' of her father's here was her mother seated in front of them... well, her and her bottle of wine.
"Shut up Snowball." Carmine's voice was different then usual, rather then being overconfident or snarky it sounded focused. She didn't even revel in the attention she got from speaking like usual, instead keeping her gaze locked on the arena. "You have no idea what she's capable of."
Jacques scoffed. "And how could you possibly know that-?"
"Because i have no idea what she's capable of." Her gaze still remained locked on the arena, unable to look away from the fight about to take place. Weiss felt herself grow nervous, the situation not looking good for her older sister, and growing worse by the second. Carmine hadn't even been this focused for Qrow and Pyrrha's fights...
"Though... she probably already knew what they were capable of..."
Port announced the contestants and Winter drew her blade, moving into an airtight stance. Her saber was similar to Weiss's own rapier, they were both designed to best make use of their ice Affinity and acted as both a wand and a sword.
Nora casually held her warhammer over her shoulder. The weapon looked heavy to say the least, being hit by it being swung by anyone would most likely hurt. But it wasn't being swung but just anyone... Nora exuded such a carefree attitude, it was impossible for Weiss to figure out if that was because she just didn't care... or because she knew exaclty what she was doing.
"Let the battle commence!!"
Yang Xiao Long
"This kid is gonna be the death of me..."
Being eight months pregnant wasn't exactly the greatest condition to be in, and Yang found herself constantly comparing her condition to Blake's own when she had been pregnant... or even worse Weiss's condition. Faunas never left their mastery form without exception which included being pregnant, and Weiss was a Dragon... that comparison just plain wasn't fair.
And yet, in her infinite wisdom, she decided it was a good idea to see the Vytal festival live instead of just watching from the comfort of home... oh well, at least Sun and Celica were having fun.
The kids were both dressed in white clothing and had Light Blue war paint smothered on there faces, they had only met Winter once at Ruby and Weiss's wedding, yet they apparently liked her enough to cheer for her. Though they were switching colours every match, Celica was getting really good with magic for her age.
Blake was still stuck at Beacon for the moment, but she'd be here in time for Ruby's match later... hopefully. Yang herself was dreading that fight, as much as she believed in her sister... Carmine was a monster to put it lightly. Yang had watched the last festival and could remember seeing her fight... it still made her shudder.
"No one should be able to spam high level spells like that..."
A sudden gasp from Sun made her turn her head, but he was looking past her at someone else. "Uncle Neptune!" The colour drained from her face and Sun rushed over to greet the man.
"Hey kiddo, how you been?" Yang awkwardly turned to face him, he wasn't wearing his armour so that left him in a red jacket and fairly nice looking pants... an outfit that was all too familiar to her, but gave off a different energy now that he was older.
"I've been good! We watched your fight!" Sun meant well, but his words only wounded Neptune's pride and he was left with a slanted smile.
"Oh? Did you like it?"
"You were so cool! That monster thing was awesome!!"
Celica sat awkwardly next to Yang, and she gently rested a hand around her daughter... She really hadn't liked looking at Dagon. "Is summoning that thing... safe?" Yang spoke carefully and with worry, but it only served to make Neptune shoot her a glare.
"Yeah. Why wouldnt it be?" His words took on a much different tone as he spoke to her, and even Sun took a step back.
"I just... h-how did you tame that thing anyway?" Depsite everything... she didn't want him to have made a deal he would regret.
Neptune let out a sigh before turning to Sun and smiling again. "Anyway, I gotta go meet up with some friends. I'll catch you later little dude." He pat Sun on the head gently before turning and walking away.
"Wait! Neptune!" Yang tried to stand, only to quickly be reminded why being pregnant sucked... after Sun helped her up, she quickly told them to stay in their seats before 'chasing' after Neptune. Luckily he wasn't walking too fast and she managed to keep sight of him while continuously calling out for him to stop.
Neptune actually listened surprisingly and turned to face her as she caught up. "Yang... i really don't want to talk to you."
"Then why did you stop?" Her breaths were heavy now... even barely rushing hadn't been a good idea.
"Because you're pregnant, and I'm smart enough to know that you wouldn't have stopped till I did." She glanced away with guilty eyes before steeling herself and setting her gaze on him once again.
"Neptune... what kind of deal did you make?"
"I didn't give anything important if that's what you're worried about." She didn't trust that for a second.
"Tell me what exaclty."
He shrugged. "Just my soul." Her eyes flared with worry and she reached out to try and grab his hand.
"Neptune-"
"Why do you care?" He yanked his hand away from her reach. "After everything you did?"
"I-" She was interrupted before even having a a chance to speak.
"No. You don't get to care. First Blake steals my best friend from me and takes him all the way to Vale only for it to turn out that she's been leading him along the whole time!" Yang withered a little under his gaze, and the yelling wasn't helping. "Then worst of all. He dies saving you. It's your fault my best friend is gone, and I don't care that it's been a long time... I don't care that you named your kid after him... twenty years, forty, a hundred... I'll never forget."
"Neptune... I..." She wanted to make things right... she always had. But how could she even start...? Yang didn't have anything to offer him... she didn't have any way to help him...
"The contract with Dagon... R-Ruby could break it... she has that whole curse breaker thing..."
She just had to tell him about it... she could make all of this better...!
"Neptune-!" She was interrupted as a wave of mana pulsed through the whole Colosseum, the feeling made her want to collapse and vomit at the same time, and the only thing she could compare it to was the first time she had felt Ruby's presence as a Dragon.
Yangs legs gave out and she would have hit the floor if not for Neptune catching her and only letting her go once she was securely on her feet. "T-thank you..."
"Don't mention it..." He practically grumbled out while looking to the arena, they couldn't see it from here... but that's where the pulse had come from. "You should get back to your kids." He turned away without another word and continued walking... Yang let out a sigh and did the same, moving in the opposite direction back to her family.
Weiss Schnee
"Holy shit..."
"Woah! I can't believe you dodged that!" Nora's voice was incredibly excited, and her enthusiasm didn't match suit with anyone watching the fight. Winter was practically crouched against the ground and bleeding in a few different places, her sword barely still in her hand as the arena floor crackled with leftover remains of electricity.
The sparks didn't look like enough to do any damage, but Winter stood as soon as she could to get away from them. She looked dishevelled to put it nicely, and her expression was shaken to put it the same way.
"Dodged...?" Her voice trembled as she spoke, and Nora nodded happily.
"Well, yeah! The barrier didn't activate afterall! So you probably avoided most of it!" She said it so calmly, like it was just a simple fact and not an undiscovered result.
Winter in her full form was quite hard to damage. She became practically made out of ice and snow when she went full elemental, so trying to damage it was difficult. The only ways to do so, were to use anti-magic, or use elemental attacks that dont mix well with ice.
How unfortunate that lightning was on that list.
"Alright! You ready for another one?!" Nora readied her hammer for another swing and Winter visibly tensed again.
"She can use that again...?" Weiss spoke with disbelief, and the only other person in her booth still able to talk through their own shock was Carmine.
"Her Affinity for lightning... my best guess is its three." She spoke calmly, like she was analysing her rather then watching something terrifying happen.
"Thats-"
"Higher then Death's wind Affinity... if you don't count his berserker eyes." She smirked. "And Lightning is a stronger element then Wind too... Mistral really brought a monster this time."
Weiss looked down at the screen once more... Nora probably had nearly as much mana as a Dragon, and using lightning spells constantly at that level... how long could she spam finishing move scale attacks like that for?
Not to mention...
"She's not even transformed yet either." Carmine finished Weiss's thought. "Lion! What is she?"
Leonardo jumped a bit and nervously looked around, unsure if he should give that away... but with everyone now looking at him expectantly... "She's.. a Raijū..."
"Yep... that'll do it..." Carmine grinned once again and glanced at Weiss. "She's practically on par with a Dragon... and that's without counting her busted Affinity."
Weiss opened her mouth to retort, but she stopped as the sky darkened. Her eyes widened and she turned back to the arena, only to see the dark clouds swirling above the fight again. Winter readied her blade and charged her own mana... Weiss could only tell because she'd seen this technique of Winter's before, but she couldnt feel it's pressure at the moment. There was too much of Nora's mana swirling in the air to feel anything else.
A comical cackle of a laugh sounded from Nora as she pulled her hammer back readying a swing, Winter prepared a large barrier of ice above herself but she seemed to be preparing to dodge anyway. The hammer came down and hit the ground, the sound being completely covered by the large cracking of thunder as the spell went off again.
A lightning strike with effects more akin to an explosion rather then a simple movement of electricity. It didn't appear for more then an instant, it was there in a flash of light then gone the next moment. Winters barrier was completely annihilated and the strike connected to the ground creating a blast of force and smoke. Weiss couldn't even tell at first if Winter had escaped... but it wasn't looking good.
"Hmm... where did you go??" Nora called out to the cloud of smoke, and with a wave of her hand the storm clouds above the arena disappeared in less then a few seconds. The smoke cleared and Weiss's panic grew when Winter was no where to be found.
Nora rested her hammer against her shoulder again and took a step closer to where her opponent last was, but before beginning her next step Winter appeared behind her in a flash of light. She was even bloodier then before, but determination was the only thing her expression showed as she slashed at Nora's throat.
Before her blade struck the woman's skin, a barrier formed and stopped the sword mid-swing.
"W-what...?" Winter stammered her words out as she attempted to move her sword, the barrier produced by the arena keeping her body locked into place as Nora turned to face her again.
"What just happened...? Winter should have won!" Jacques slammed his fist against the armrest of his throne and while his rage was only his own, nearly everyone else shared in his confusion.
"Clever girl..." Carmine grinned as she spoke, and Weiss only listened to her to get some insight. "That lightning wasn't just disappearing... you were putting it into the ground on purpose..." She sounded like she was taking notes for their later fight and the very thought of it made Weiss want to slap her. Carmine had completely forgotten about Ruby at this point.
But Weiss understood what she was saying... Nora's magic was still in the ground, it had moved to attack her all at once when Winter moved in for the final blow. After the confusion died down the crowd stood with cheers and roars of excitement... Weiss couldn't share in their joy. Her sister had just been defeated... and...
She glanced at the still sleeping Ruby with a sigh... it was her turn.
"Clover...?" She nodded to her guard and he moved over to wake the Queen Consort without further instruction... Weiss found herself praying that Ruby would be safe.