And here we are again. I have a question for you guys, it has some regards in mentioning and explaining Malikai once again and his past. I have a few ideas and even another plan lined up for it, but it may or may not clash with the backstory that I had on him before. If I go for the idea, then there may be a retconning of Malikai's original backstory. He is still a past student of Beacon and another Silver Eyed Warrior, but there are some things that I want to go for that may confuse some people if I don't say that "This happened, and even though I wrote that before, it did not happen." So yes, possible retcon. I understand that at this point Malikai may not be as beloved a character as everyone else, but either way despite being dead already he has a history that is very important to this story. So basically my question is this: Would you guys be alright with a potential small retcon? Honestly, I may do it either way for story reasons, but I may change it up to at least be similar to the past one.

Beta: CrowSkull

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 86

Volume 3, Episode 5

"Team JNPR has just made their way onto the stage," Ironwood announced as he looked into the monitor on top of Ozpin's desk. His fellow headmaster looked through the windows in the back as he usually did whenever they were speaking of something important or something that was worth considering suspect. A situation like this with two Beacon teams going against each other in the Vytal Festival tournament wasn't exactly something that should have worried them, as it was a randomly generated system that selected teams from every Academy as well as the stage. That was what the public believed, anyway.

"This shouldn't have happened," Ozpin said as he looked over to Amity. "It was originally going to be Team RWBY against CRDL, not this. I wanted both of the teams to make it far in the tournament, now one of them is bound to get eliminated no matter what happens. This is most unfortunate…"

"I want to say that it was a bug and leave it at that, but the fact that this is happening during the tournament and since I already had my best computer engineers strengthen the code of the random number generator is concerning. There is only one man that could possibly break through the coding of Atlas, and it was the man who helped design it."

"Is it not possible to build a new structure of code for Atlas?" Ozpin asked.

"It is, but it would take a very long time. The reason why we were able to build this one is that Watts was there to help us along the way. His mind was unparalleled, perhaps it still is even to this day…"

"Have faith in the other minds that work with you now," Ozpin said as he walked back to his desk. "Doctor Polendina for example. Penny wouldn't exist without his spearheading of the project. He created an artificial human, in the literal sense. Technology like that cannot go unappreciated. Say, in twenty years or so, the Penny design can be perfected into the perfect machine," Ozpin nodded his head at the idea, enjoying even the way he said it. "I'll look forward to potentially having them in my arsenal in my next life."

"Planning that far already?" Ironwood scoffed. "Can't say that I blame you. With everything going on right now and everything had already happened, I am surprised that there aren't people in the streets calling for us to be taken out of office."

"The people are smarter than they seem," Ozpin explained. "Even if not all of them are… properly educated, to put it nicely. Most of them know what it means to force someone out of office. It wouldn't work too well on me for obvious reasons, but I severely doubt Atlas can find a General who can match even half your value in terms of raw determination and will."

Ironwood nodded his head gratefully. "Thank you, Ozpin. That means a lot. Pleasantries aside," James tapped the screen of the monitor. "What are we meant to do about this? If there is anything we can do at this point. The first round of the tournament is just about to start in just a few minutes and trying something is more than guaranteeing public backlash."

"We can do nothing, as of now," Ozpin confirmed. "We can't control something that the enemy has on complete lockdown. It would be a waste of resources trying to. We will control what we can, and right now our primary concern should be on the matter of the Fall Maiden."

"Cinder can wait, as long as Amber is out of her reach she is not a threat at this current moment." Ironwood nodded his head, agreeing with the wizard. "Speaking of, has she awoken yet? I know that it has hardly been enough time, but is there at least any updates?"

"I've assigned the boy to keep watch on her," Ironwood said. "I figured he'd be better off near the maiden when she awakes so that they can acquaint themselves, perhaps even get on better footing… Which reminds me," The General looked at Ozpin with a raised eyebrow. "The moment Amber saw Matsuoka, she freaked out. Why is that? Why did it seem like she recognized him, yet I know for a fact that he never even knew she existed until recently?"

"Some secrets are better left unheard," Ozpin said, reaching a handout and shutting off the computer with a push of a button. "But I suppose at least you should have an idea of why there is disdain between Amber and the Matsuokas… Tell me, do you remember Malikai Matsuoka?"

James nodded his head sorrowfully. "Yes… I've only met him once, but I am aware that he was very important to your plans early on. He also had silver eyes, right?"

"Indeed," Ozpin sighed through his nose as he began. "Mister Matsuoka is like his father in many ways and the same goes in the reverse. Malikai before he became the man of a family was a very ambitious and determined man. It was hard to control him at times, which made it difficult, as you could imagine. But despite that, he was still my best agent right alongside Summer Rose. I will spare you the details and tell you outright. Malikai did not like Amber when she was still in her original body. He thought that she was a coward since she didn't want to fight for us when I asked her to. She wanted to be free from all the trouble and stay out of it, as you know. Malikai didn't understand, as he once also lived a nomadic life and didn't like it, he grew to dislike her quite a lot."

"I assume that something happened between the two?" Ironwood asked, piecing it together.

"They had an argument," Ozpin allowed. "I wasn't there to see or hear it for myself. But Summer told me that Amber lost a fight for the first time since she became the Fall Maiden, and that scared her. It was also the moment I realized Malikai had grown more powerful than I initially anticipated. I believe it was also the moment Malikai realized what his blood ties really meant..."

"Amber became afraid of him after that and refused to partake in anything that involved him. Which of course included as. I had to let her be as I was afraid that she would turn to Salem of all people for help as she was the only way that she could escape us truly. Thankfully, she got on with Qrow quite well and she was alright with him keeping an eye on her as she traveled around the world. That was about the only thing I could do for her at that point, as forcing her to do anything was out of the question completely." Ozpin explained.

"I see, that does certainly explain her reaction to Malikai's son before," Ironwood said. "Is this going to be a problem when she wakes up?"

"I'd hope not," Ozpin said. "But once she realizes that Kai Matsuoka is his own man and genuinely considers her an ally, then I would presume that she'd calm down. Kai is not his father, and although they share more traits then I think he is aware of, Kai will not hurt her."

"That is good to hear," Ironwood replied. "But will that remain if Kai finds out that his father considered Amber a coward?"

"I… I don't know," Ozpin answered with a sigh. "Hmph, the only thing I am not quite sure about nowadays is anyone with the blood of the Matsuoka's. They are unpredictable, even at the best of times."

"Are you sure that we should entrust them as much as we are now?" Ironwood asked. "It seems that they are a lot of trouble. I do not know much about them now, but considering that Malikai practically made it impossible to gain Amber as a true ally and Kai became Stone Face and isolated himself away from his teammates and caused trouble himself, it seems like they are not the best allies to have on our side."

"Even if I wanted too, Kai would just do things on his own if I won't help him," Ozpin explained. "I know I told you about the worse of Malikai and you've witnessed little of Kai's potential, but they are the best allies that we can have. They are of the strongest breed of silver-eyed warriors, and even now they continue to evolve. I know they may not seem the best now, but give Kai time to grow, mature, and learn to let go of his hatred for those who wronged him and his loved ones and you will see what I see. I promise you that."

"I trust you, Ozpin," James said with a soft nod of his head. "Even if I question your choice of allies, I still trust you. If you say that the boy is a good ally to have when I shall keep trying as long as he gives me a reason to."

Ozpin bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you, James. That is all I ask."

"There is no need to thank me. There are other more important matters than to continue wasting breath on something such as this," Ironwood explained. "There are complaints about security being too tight for what is intended to be an entirely positive environment in the Vytal Festival. People who look and act suspicious are questioned, and while so far all of them are innocent, the public is considering it an invasion of their privacy. I fear that my men make take it a step too far and earn us a hefty lawsuit that would only serve as a distraction. What do you suggest that?"

"A lawsuit right now is the least of our concerns," Ozpin said. "If people want to complain about us being safe, let them. After what happened in Mistral during the last festival I can only wonder how they even dare question the soldiers. Warn your men to not go out of line lest they want to lose their careers, but to continue with their searching."

"Yes, that is what I suspected you would say," Ironwood chuckled. "I will do as you advise. Though, there is one more thing I'd like your opinion on, something that has to do with the boy be used once more."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"I infer that the vigilante Stone Face need not die off just yet," Once Ozpin raised his other eyebrow, Ironwood explained quickly. "In the situation that White Fang or other undesirable people are discovered in Vale around this time, especially if they cause an incident, who better than one who already has experience hunting them down to go find them? I would not have him kill them, but imagine the good it will do for the world to see the vigilante working with the proper authorities. I'd imagine it'd do wonders."

"I can see the appeal of this… but the entire reason we punished him was because of him dawning the mask." Ozpin pointed out.

"I have already considered that," Ironwood said. "I will speak to the boy myself, and if it needs be I am sure that his 'Special' Training mission has lasted as long as we needed it to, correct?"

Ozpin sighed. "I am not sure about this, old friend. Kai is not one who likes to be played or confused, it causes him to ask questions. He is smart, adaptable, if he sees a problem with this he won't listen to you."

"If he doesn't want to do it, then so be it," Ironwood said. "But if he does, I'll see that it would be worth his time."

"Do what you think will work, James," Ozpin said. "If you truly believe that this is the right thing to do, then do it."

Ironwood nodded his head, taking that as the permission that he was asking for.

"Oh boy. Oh gosh, oh fu-" Jaune stopped himself before letting out an accidental swear. His mother and four older sisters would have been disappointed in him while the younger ones tattled on him to their mother. Honestly, he almost wished that they were there now to stop him from fighting another team of huntsmen in training on live television that was being broadcasted throughout the entire world. For everyone to see…

"So many eyes… so many expectations. Oh no, I don't know if I can do this- EE!" He yelped as he felt a spank rattle against his right buttcheek.

"Don't worry about it Jauney!" Nora laughed, jumping up and wrapping an arm around his shoulders and dragging him lower so that their heads were right beside each other. "You'll do fine! I'm your partner, remember? It's me and you against the world, and the other two here are going to assist with that. You don't have anything to worry about!"

"Thank you for mentioning us," Rick said, taking it for what it was worth.

"I don't know Nora, I'm just really nervous," Jaune said as he took a deep breath. "I-I'm still not nearly as fit as all of you guys, I just don't know…"

Nora replied by taking one of Jaune's sleeves from under one of his bracers and yanked it down, revealing the chiseled muscle of Jaune's forearm that he hasn't even noticed had grown over the course of his time in Beacon as Nora's partner. "Look at this solid muscle and tell me you're not strong again!" With a pout, Nora went to Jaune's other arm and did the same there, but this time there was a deep scar that had healed just recently. "And look at this scar! You trained so hard that your ocean of aura ran out and you cut yourself on accident! Not only can you take punishment but you can dish it out, I believe in you Jaune!"

Next, Nora grabbed both of his shoulders and pulled him even further down so that their faces were mere inches away. Nora didn't stop there, she grabbed his face and smashed her head against Jaune's, touching foreheads, she screamed into his face. "You can do this Jaune! I know you can! I believe in you! Do you believe in me!?"

"Y-yeah,"

"I SAID DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME!?" Nora exclaimed.

"YES! I believe in you, Nora!"

"Good! Now believe in yourself!" Nora said as she pushed away and took out her hammer, holding it over her shoulders as she pointed an accusatory finger toward the enemy team. "Now show them how much you believe in yourself! Show them how much you believe in me! Prove them wrong, show them that you are not the weakest link of the team, show them that you are just as strong as the rest of us!"

"You know what, you're right!" Jaune shouted next, suddenly all smiles and joy as he unsheathed Crocea Mors and popped his scabbard into his shield. His dark blue eyes sparkled as his teeth were. "I am the leader of Team JNPR, and I challenge you Ren, leader of Team RWBY, to an honor duel!"

"Jaune, we are already going to fight each other," Ren shouted from the other side of the arena.

"HE ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE!" Brick shouted a second later.

Pyrrha was left a giggling mess as everything transpired ahead of them. Nora was the best hype-woman anyone could ask for. The fact that she managed to turn Jaune from shaking and nervous to confident and powerful was nothing short of impressive. She would have kept laughing at their antics if she herself wasn't so inspired.

"Well Pyr, looks like the challenges have been set," Her partner Rick laughed. "My brother can't touch Nora because of her semblance, so that means that he is probably going to focus either Jaune or me because he knows he can't beat you."

"That isn't-"

"Pyrrha, just admit it. He can't beat you. I don't think anyone other than Yang has the chance," Jaune said, overhearing them and turning to face them to bark out his orders. "And since you're the strongest, I want you to keep Yang at bay. She never beat you before and I'm afraid that she can probably beat anyone else on this team. Nora would be best going after Brick and forcing him to use his semblance on him. Rick, I want you to help me against Ren and Weiss. Remember our team attack?"

Rick smiled brightly. "Hell yeah, I do! They'll never know what hit em until the Shielded Tempest strikes!"

"Which is why we need to take them out before Weiss uses her glyphs. Seriously, she can control the entire fight if we let her think. You're a lot faster than me, so make sure that she can't get the concentration that she needs. I have fought Ren a few times, so at the very least I should be able to hold my own against him for a while."

"Ooo~!" Nora purred as she elbowed Jaune in the side. "Look at you taking control, kinda hot Jaune."

"E-eh!?" Jaune flushed and looked away.

"Nora, no flirting during the fighting," Rick said.

"Those muscles don't lie and neither do I," Nora laughed. "But I shall agree to that plan, my wonderful leader!"

"Did they realize that they just said that all while the cameras and mics were focused on them?" Yang asked as she cupped a hand over her mouth to stop her from laughing.

"They likely didn't," Ren said. "But their plans are sound. Jaune is stronger than he knows and my semblance isn't good to use against other human opponents. So putting himself against me is a good idea on his part."

"I'll make sure he doesn't get close to you," Weiss promised.

"Hm," Ren thought for a moment, noting how happy Nora was with Jaune and how happy he was when she hyped him up. He nodded as he made his decision. "No, I shall face Jaune on my own. You focus on distracting Rick and controlling the battlefield with your summons and glyphs. Yang, defend her from any who wish to get close."

"Are you sure about that, partner?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Ren nodded. "Don't worry, I am taking this seriously. But forgive me, I want to allow Nora and Jaune their joy, if only partially."

"Don't lie, you're testing Jaune, aren't you?" Brick asked, giving Ren a knowing grin. "He has been getting really close to Nora recently."

"Hm, you are right," Ren admitted, not even embarrassed to admit it. "Jaune's personality meshes quite well with Nora, but as her best friend, I want to make sure he has the determination and will to be true to her."

"Wow," Yang waved at her heating face as he said that. "The way you said that has even me getting all hot."

"That's actually really adorable," Brick added.

"I agree-" Weiss widened her eyes and stammered. "I-I mean that is quite noble of you, Ren."

"I caught that."

"Shut up Brick. Try not to get destroyed by Nora in the first ten seconds of the match."

"No arguing," With just a wave of his hand, Ren silenced both Weiss and Brick before they could continue their banter. "The match is about to begin."

"You are correct Mister Ren!" Professor Port boasted over the intercom. "This fight is going to begin in ten seconds! But before those seconds start to tick away, we have another stage generator to perform!"

Upon the massive screen underneath the box where Professor Port and his colleague, Doctor Oobleck were, was a massive screen that showed off yet another generator that had symbols of elements on them. Fire, ice, rock, everything that someone could think of when it came to any type of dust. Even Gravity was there, if only for a second until it was replaced by ice.

"Fire and Ice! Poetic, one might say. But put into practice things can prove to be much more chaotic!"

"Indeed Peter, an interesting combination of elements for two teams who are known to be adept in at least one of them. This is bound to be quite the entertaining show." Oobleck added.

The stage transformed and evolved around the two teams as if time was moving extremely quickly in two different spaces. A fiery landscape littered with large crystals of fire dust and an icy land which reminded Weiss of home formed right before their eyes. It was almost impossible to even imagine, and yet it was happening. It even grew to evolve further as the two landscapes became more erratic and overly unnatural. It was for show, so of course, it was going to go over the top. Either way, it had both teams looking at everything that had appeared out of the floor with awe in their eyes. Amity truly was a wonder of the world. None of them could even imagine would it would have taken in order to create something like this.

"Don't be shocked for too long, young huntsmen and huntresses! The first match to mark the beginning of the Vytal Festival Tournament is just about to begin!" Just as Port said, the timer above the screen started to tick down from ten.

Both teams of Beacon got into their ready stances and slowly started making their way to each other as the timer continued to tick down. Weiss prepared a glyph with her left hand as her right held Myternaster out toward her foes, already dialed onto ice dust as her team was placed on the ice plane of the arena. Ren kept a solid stare on Jaune as he started walking away from his own team. Jaune, noticing this and understanding what it means, broke off from his own team as well to meet him. Nora called good luck to him as she transformed her weapon into its grenade launcher form and held it at her hip, getting ready to fire it as the seconds ticked below five. Yang smashed her fists together and gave the ginger a challenging grin, which was reciprocated completely by Pyrrha as she stepped past Nora and readied her sword and shield. Which only left the Violet twins. The blue half keeping to the back as his hands and sword crackled with blue electricity as Brick kept an eye on him and Nora while he did the same. They kept an eye on the timer as it ticked down more and more. Becoming painstakingly slow to their perspectives as it got closer and closer to zero.

Once it did, they knew it. For Nora unloaded an entire magazine of pink grenades in their direction.

"Stay close!" Weiss warned as she weaved a glyph with her off-hand, creating a massive blue-colored glyph which spun in a wide area in front of her. Protecting her teammates as it defended them, if only barely, from Nora's first barrage. However, the smoke that came from half of them revealed to them that only about half of them were actually explosive and potentially damaging to their aura. As Weiss let down the glyph, the smoke surrounded them quickly.

"Don't spread too far apart!" Weiss shouted through the smoke as she stood her ground. "We can't afford to get separated too quickly-" From the corner of her eye, she saw something blue burning through the smoke. On gut feeling alone, Weiss craned back behind her and narrowly dodged a spear of lighting which would have stunned her on a direct hit. Spinning along with her hasty dodge, she spun on her feet and pointed Myternaster in that direction, spinning the dial and shooting a stream of flame in that direction.

Rick Violet crashed through it as a bolt of blue lightning, a competitive grin on his face as he darted from spot to spot before her and quickly closing the distance between the two. Weiss grit her teeth as her muscles tensed when she was forced to block and deflect a powerful strike from the admittedly stronger boy.

"I don't think we've ever fought before," Rick remarked as he bounced back and forth on his feet. Blue lightning crackling from his entire body. "Surprised?"

"How did you move that fast?" Weiss questioned as she stood her ground, keeping her ice blue eyes on the second Violet twin. "You don't have a speed semblance, and yet you're just as fast as Ruby!"

"Semblances evolve the more you use them, Weiss," Rick said with a boisterous laugh. "Just think about it, you have your glyphs and they can do a hundred different things, even though its just one semblance. I can generate and control the flow of electricity," He explained, waving his hands across each other to show off the crackling lightning between them. "So why can't I use that to boost my speed at the same time? I can say now with confidence that I am literally just as fast as lightning."

Rick crouched down low and placed a hand on the icy floor. Weiss realized something important then and there, ice was made out of frozen water, and water was confutable. Rick Violet looked up at her as an electric grin stretched across his features.

"Can you keep up?" He challenged.

"Hmph," Spinning her dial once more to a different kind of dust, Weiss took a wider stance and still stuck to her guts. "I deal with your brother on a daily basis, if you think I can't handle a faster opponent, then you are severely mistaken."

Weiss stabbed Myrtensaster into the ground, forming a glyph in the shape of a clock beneath her. Rick immediately knew what that meant and dashed forward to try and stop her, but it was too late. To Weiss' perspective, Rick Violet went from moving just as fast as Ruby, to moving at a relatively normal speed for a huntsman. Which was still extremely fast, but at least now she could keep up.

"Time dilation," She said as she easily dodged Rick's first desperate attack. "I've not been slacking either, Rick Violet. Now tell me, can you keep up?"

"Oh," Rick's smirk became more intense as Weiss dodged and deflected his strikes. "You became much more interesting all of a sudden, and here I thought I had this in the bag."

Weiss replied by dashing up into his face, slashing Myrtenaster across his chest and slicing into his aura. Rick responded by reaching out and grabbing her wrist, twisting it and trying to disarm her. Weiss flipped with the maneuver and jabbed her feet into his chest, kicking him away and keeping her sword. The moment she landed, however, she felt her muscles seize as a torrent of lightning kept her stuck in place. She looked down and saw a flow of lightning flowing through the ice and up into her body. When she looked back up, she was helpless as Rick smashed his shoulder into her body and tossed her back.

That proved to be a mistake, as he feared in hurting her by slashing at her with his sword. She recovered the instant she was off the ground and landed on top of a glyph which kept her suspended in the air. Rick looked up at her with shock in his eyes, obviously not expecting nor remembering that she could do that. Weiss looked down at him and spun the dial on Myternaster, pointing at him the moment spears of ice surrounded her body.

Rick crackled around the arena as he did his best to dodge every single spear, and did so correctly. He couldn't get closer to her, however. With her up in the air and away from the smoke she would be able to get him the moment that he got in the air to try and catch her. He couldn't dodge mid-air, at least not effectively enough to rely on. Which meant that there was only one thing he could think of.

"Let's see who's trained their body more," Rick said as even more lightning crackled off of his body. Creating blue sparks that melted the ice with each step he took. "I'll outlast you and throw you out of the arena Weiss. Sorry, its time for me to go all out!"

Nearby, Pyrrha and Yang stood off from each other. Their first engagement led to them being forced away from the rest of their teammates. Closer to the fire land but not quite there yet. Pyrrha noted to keep her away from there, as she knows how Yang's semblance worked. She didn't want to risk passively strengthening her opponent, and so she planned to keep her in this part of the arena.

"I'm gonna have to beat you this time, Pyrrha," Yang said as she cracked her knuckles. "Sorry for holding back all those other times, I didn't want your team to be so demoralized it'd be unfair when this match started."

"You're saying you didn't end up a sweating, exhausted mess every time we sparred together?" Pyrrha sniped back.

"Oooh, that is the most damage you've done today so far." Yang laughed. "Good on you Pyrrha, now, I was never much of a talker during a fight and I don't plan on starting now." Taking a stance that Pyrrha recognized but had not seen Yang use just yet put her on guard. She held her shield in front of her body and her sword low, next to her back leg. Fighting against a strong opponent who mainly used their fists as weapons required a flexible stance. Using her spear against Yang only enabled her to rush her, and she was fast enough to close the distance before she could shift her weapon into its rifle form and back.

She'd beaten Yang countless times as Miss Goodwitch also pitted them against each other very often when it came to selecting opponents to battle in front of everyone during class. Since Pyrrha was the strongest by quite a large margin, the only ones who could take her on were always Kai and Yang. And she has only regularly lost against the former.

That didn't mean Yang wasn't a difficult opponent. Every time they battled, she improved each and every time. She knew a huntress in training after all, even if the popular opinion was that she was more brawn than she ever was brains, Pyrrha knew first hand that it was not true. She has witnessed and experienced her growth for herself, and if there was anyone who could catch her off guard and eliminate her it would be Yang.

Pyrrha prodded first, jabbing her sword forward and forcing Yang to hop back lest she gets clipped. In turn, Yang reached out and lunged into her guard, throwing a fist toward her stomach to stun her. Pyrrha didn't allow it, she sidestepped the punch and trapped the arm between her arm and leg. Then proceeded to smash the hilt of her sword into Yang's face, stunning her as Pyrrha jumped up and wrapped her legs around Yang's arm. Forcing her down to the ground in a reverse armbar. Yang smashed her free hand against the ground and forced herself back up before she could go flat on her chest with Pyrrha putting her arm into a submissive state. Yang bit back against the pain and shoved her arm forward and into Pyrrha's chest. Pyrrha felt her lungs squeeze and coughed, forced to let go and roll away lest Yang get the upper hand on their grapple. Yang lunged, committed to not let her get a single breath to herself. Ember Celica struck and ignited against a bronze shield. Creating a shockwave that shattered the layer of ice that they were standing on.

The shockwave drove them both away from each other. Yang rolled her almost injured arm and let out a chuckle mixed with a relieved sigh while Pyrrha simply took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

A chuckle escaped her lips a moment later.

"That same trick won't work on me twice," Yang boasted, remembering an earlier sparring match with the redhead outside of class.

"Evidently," Pyrrha agreed. "It seems that I will have to try something new on you, something I haven't done in quite some time." Dropping her shield, she stomped on it and it stabbed into the ice. With great force, she could rip it back out, but Yang, even while surprised, knew that she was too honorable to do that. Pyrrha loved a good, clean fight, and if she wanted to do something, she was going to do it her own way.

"No shield?" Yang asked, more confused than shocked. "How is that going to help you at all?"

"Come find out," Pyrrha said as she held her sword in one hand, hiding the other behind her as she faced Yang in a sideways stance. Yang shrugged her shoulders and rolled them, then clicked Ember Celica back into place. Pyrrha wanted her to attack first this time, and Yang knew just the way to do it.

She thrust her fists forward, firing off flare after explosive flare toward Pyrrha. The champion evaded them all and even managed to avoid the explosions that would follow after. One landed beneath her feet but with a flick of her hand, the flare was magnetized to a different part of the arena. Yang's eyes widened as she realized what that meant. Pyrrha really wasn't holding anything back, not even her semblance.

Pyrrha took that moment of shock and forced herself into her guard. A shoulder jabbed up into her collarbone and an elbow smashed into her stomach as she was stunned. Yang coughed out air and brought her arms up to defend herself. But right as she did that Pyrrha dropped down and slashed at the back of one of her knees. Causing that leg to bend forward and stagger her. Wildly off-balance, Pyrrha spun around and with a crushing kick to her upper back Yang was sent face-first into the ice and flipped over herself as she rolled away. She only stopped when she hit one of the walls of ice that Weiss had created to stop Rick from having so much room to run around in. Accidentally saving her from spilling off of the arena. Yang winced as she rubbed her back and cracked her neck. After checking her aura, she found out that she was at seventy already while Pyrrha was still comfortable above ninety percent. That was bad, Yang grit her teeth as she pushed herself back up to her feet. Afraid for her hair, she ran her hands through it to check if anything was out of place, though even as she face planted into the ground, she couldn't find any.

Did Pyrrha intend that? She knew that Yang loved her hair more than anything, but that was crazy to think about. Knowing that it would only piss her off if her hair was damaged in any way during a battle, she decided to avoid it entirely.

That in itself was enough to set her off. Yang realized just how outclassed she was. Was Pyrrha really holding this back this entire time? Was she ever taking her seriously? Yang knew that Pyrrha wouldn't do that, and yet as her eyes opened they were no longer a light purple, but a deep angry red.

Flames burst around her body and her hair caught fire. Pyrrha watched as she stomped through the ice to get to her, simply waiting and looking like she expected her to come at her as she was now.

Yang didn't speak, she didn't want to say anything that she knew would be hurtful. Instead, she reloaded Ember Celica and fired them off behind her. Propelling herself forward into a violent spin that had her screaming in rage as she went to strike Pyrrha right in the face.

Pyrrha waved a hand across her body and Ember Celica diverted its path on its own. She missed wildly, hitting the ground a good seven feet away from her desired target and feeling the shock of striking the hard icy ground instead of another person. She felt that arm shake even as she reeled it back. Her teeth grit as she saw a flicker of red hair. But she pulled back right as Yang's aura exploded outward once again. Fire licked at her skin and melted the ice all around her. Pyrrha stared at her, surprised that she could go even farther with her semblance.

Yang had taken much damage during their fight, but it shouldn't have been enough to pose so much of an issue at that moment. Pyrrha was prepared to deal with her amplified strength, but not when it reached levels beyond what she thought was possible.

The blonde brawler was surprised herself, not realizing just how much power she had stored up this entire time. She knew how and why though, the second she started to think about it. Vernal. She never used her semblance against Vernal, but Dad always told her that her semblance can store up power for as long as she could hold it, and she could release it whenever she wanted. And somehow some way, she knew that this was thanks to Vernal for all this power that she had stored up.

With an excited roar, Yang let it all out. She shot forward like a bullet and crashed into Pyrrha in an explosion of fire. Pyrrha's sword bent as she held back Yang's first haymaker and the strength behind it. Not willing to test the strength of her sword any further, Pyrrha pulled back and used the momentum Yang provided her to gain herself a lot of distance between the two. When Yang struck again, Pyrrha tried to divert the metal in Ember Celica once again. However, while Yang's attack did slow down, it did not divert as she expected it to.

Pyrrha minimized the damage by twisting her body along with the strike. Which may have saved her a large portion of her aura as Pyrrha smashed into the fiery lava lands that were the other landscape of the arena. She felt her hands burn as she pushed her aura into them to get back up to her feet. Already, she was beginning to sweat. This was exactly not where she wanted to end up, but it was something she had to deal with. Yang's physical strength was now beyond the strength of her magnetism, which was something she didn't think was possible. With a realizing grin, Pyrrha knew what she had to do.

The others wouldn't be able to handle this super amplified Yang in her current state, and right after those two first blows, she wasn't sure she could as well. Perhaps she could tire her out, prod at her aura until it was too low, or try and force her semblance to overpower hers. But the fact that they would be eliminated if either of them went under forty percent aura made that impossible. She was already at sixty already. Any more strikes and she'd be disqualified.

This was why when Yang dashed in front of her again, flames igniting around her body, and even drawing more power from the scorching heat around them, Pyrrha dashed in as well and countered Yang directly.

Before Yang knew it she was in a full nelson, and even though she was much stronger than Pyrrha was, she couldn't get out of it. She found out why as she looked up from the corner of her eye and saw that Pyrrha was not only using her own physical strength but also the strength of her semblance as well. Which proved to not only match but even overpower Yang, if only for a few moments.

Yang's eyes widened as she was lifted off the ground. Pyrrha walking backward as she held Yang while she kicked her legs violently and tried to free herself. "What are you doing!?" Yang cried out as she had no footing to stand on. "Let go of me!"

"I will," Pyrrha said with a desperate laugh. "Don't you worry, I am just taking you for a walk is all."

"Oh, dear! Of all the things I could have imagined this was at the bottom of the list!" Port announced over the intercom.

"Indeed! It seems like Miss Nikos plans to take Miss Xiao Long out of the fight entirely, even if it costs her remaining aura to do it! How inspiring!"

What!? Yang quickly put together what that meant and flailed even harder. Pulling down and even managing to get her feet back to the ground as Pyrrha lurched forward. Her heart sank as she realized where they were, right at the edge of the arena. "I won't… let you!" Yang growled as she pulled back as hard as she could, straining her muscles so hard that veins were popping out everywhere they could.

"I don't… need you to let me!" Pyrrha growled back as she tried to pull her off the stage. Putting in just as much effort as she was. "Nora! Now!"

Yang's eyes widened as she looked ahead of herself. Brick was nowhere to be seen, but she saw Nora through the heat waves resonating from where they stood. Her hammer back in its grenade launcher form, and a grenade already heading their way.

"This is a concussive one, enjoy it, Yang! And sorry Pyrrha! Your sacrifice will not be in vain!"

"You planned this!?" Yang screamed as she watched the grenade get closer and closer.

"Indeed," Pyrrha replied. "We knew you had some tricks up your sleeve and planned accordingly. Brick can't beat Nora, we all know that. And he won't be fast enough to stop that grenade." She explained.

"Without their help, you would have bested me," Pyrrha admitted as the grenade landed in front of them. "Well done Yang, you've surpassed me."

"Pyrrha Nikos and Yang Xiao Long have both been knocked out of the ring!" Peter announced to the audience as two, blaring horns went off at the same time. "But the fight isn't over yet, there is still six more competitors evenly split across both teams! Let's see how they do with their strongest members being taken out of the equation!"

"Ah… so that is what you had planned," Ren said as he watched as Nora went back to chasing Brick, and Weiss was still having her hands full with Rick. "Very smart, I didn't expect that from you. To use Pyrrha like that was… very surprising."

"Yeah well, Nora always calls me the strategist of the team," Jaune said as he scratched the side of his face. "I guess she was right, this time at least."

"You don't take compliments well, do you?" Ren asked. "No, don't answer that. You may have managed to avoid me for this long, but not anymore. Face me, Jaune Arc. From one leader to another, let's see who holds the stronger will."

"Oh wow that's um… really respectful," Jaune said as he scratched his ear again. "Should I say something like that to or-"

Ren charged at him.

"OKAY, WE'RE FIGHTING!"

Well then, plans had changed once again. I was going to write the rest of the fight but I changed my mind. More content for later, and after those most recent events I figured that this was a good spot to leave it off at. Whelp, next time it is then. I hope you all enjoyed it and I also hope you don't hate me for ending it like that Lol. At least not too much.

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