-Legend 26-
Supremacy: The Omega
-Pt.3-
….
"The Red Witch; The Steel Witch; and The Carbon Witch. That is who stands in front of us now."
A silence, reverent, though not heavy, permeated the dressing room of Team Cinder then.
"The stories mention a fourth Witch," Emerald said, following Pyrrha's speech. "What happened to the White Witch?"
"She was felled in battle against a powerful Fallen Archon," supplied Cinder. "Legend has it that he is still alive somewhere. But The Vanguard refuses to confirm or investigate." She was silent a moment, thoughtfully chewing her bottom lip. "Just as well though. Would much rather face a trio than a quartet."
"Yeah well, from the looks of it, Red Wing looks to be flexing solo. You saw what Qrow did to Lilysteel."
"If that is their intent, then it's a coin flip as to whom we face." Pyrrha called to her Ghost then. "Luckily, with the information Mercury managed to secure for us, we can at least be within a shout when it all goes down."
"I am curious though," said the Vanguard captain then. "How did you manage to get through all that black ink?"
Mercury tapped his nose. "A good journalist never reveals his sources."
A knock sounded on the door. "Five minutes, Team Cinder!"
Pyrrha stood, adjusting her long ponytail. "Alright then. Let's get to it."
And the four of them, headed by the Vanguard's greatest Defender, made from the room and down a series of populated and buzzing corridors. Black Ghost cameras swarmed about them as they made the walk: Cinder charging Solar Light into a glowing band around her arm; Mercury checking the Arc channels on his gauntlets; and Emerald spinning her level-gold HawkMoon by its trigger guard, her Gunslinger eyes locked on everything and nothing.
Here, in the darkened staging area, the noise from the crowd bled proper into the air around them. The riot of their combined voices shook the walls and trembled through the ground. Emerald grimaced as she did what she could to muffle her hyper-sensitive Hunter ears.
"I assume there is to be the appropriate amounts of bluster and fire for your teams' entrance, Cinder?" did Pyrrha ask of the Warlock.
"Will there ever be," was the response.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, representing The Tower, Earth's finest Guardians, here is Fireteam Cinder!"
And Cinder, with a precise motion of her arms, called forth twin trails of blazing pillars. From the stage's partition, down the gangway, and encircling the ring that was to be their battlefield, did the flames nearly reach the sky.
"Wooooo! Burn it down, Cinder!" The Earth supporters were as riotous as Cinders flames as they bellowed their approval of the spectacle.
"Hold on to something, Nikos."
And in the blink of and eye and a breath of fire, did the four of them burn into existence in the ring's center, with an accompanying flare of Solar Light.
"Cinder! Cinder! Cinder!"
"This is the last chance for Earth. They gotta do this!"
"And now, please welcome their opponents! I give you, Fireteam Redwing!"
From a fold of existence unseen or unknown, did The Night Witches make themselves apparent at the ring's opposite end.
"There they are…" breathed Emerald.
"It's just the twins. Where's Taurus?" Cinder's eyes alternated between both of their potential opponents.
"Traveler only knows." Mercury ground his fists together, Arc energy sparking from his knuckles. "Not like I'm complaining though."
Shaxx beckoned the two teams forward. Pyrrha obliged, her charges fanning out behind her.
The two Branwens shared but a glance between them. And, at the end of their very nonverbal conversion, did Raven Branwen make her way to the ring's center.
"The Steel Witch it is then," Pyrrha said. "Betelgeuse, pull up the relevant data."
"Working on it."
"Now then, have the two captains agreed on the terms for the battle?" Shaxx said for both their and the crowd's benefit.
Pyrrha looked Raven in the eye as best she could, the grim and immutable countenance of the woman's mask the only thing meeting her gaze then. "I would venture you're fine with a three-on-one, miss Branwen?"
"You're very perceptive."
Pyrrha turned to Shaxx, smirk firmly in place. "We agree to the terms."
The crowd roared.
"Good luck to you," Pyrrha held out her hand, but Raven was already turning away, reaching for her sword.
As she and Team Cinder reported back to their side of the ring, Pyrrha was already rallying off instructions. "Mercury, adjust your barricade output, use the rally variant. The one thing we must do is keep her at a distance."
She turned to Cinder. "Your self-resurrection is primed, I assume?"
Only a nod came from the woman as she loaded her level purple hand cannon, The Water Star.
"And Emerald?"
She lofted her HawkMoon. "I can overload my Golden Gun; channel everything through the barrel at once. It'll fry my hand cannon, but it'll knock the bitch into next week."
Pyrrha nodded as she cast a look to their opponent, who stood firm in the ring's center, Dark Drinker resting upon her shoulder.
"That's a lot of Void energy coming off her," Emerald mused. "And her Semblance is...what exactly?"
"She a hybrid," Pyrrha said, again checking her scroll. "Ludicrously rare. The only other that come to mind is that 'Sunslinger' girl, Yuna." Her eyes narrowed analytically. "Raven possesses the traits of Titan and Hunter both. She's a 'Strike Dancer'."
"Solid," from Mercury.
"Guardians, on your marks!" called Shaxx.
The crowd flared into an anticipatory riot as Fireteam Cinder faced off against Raven Branwen.
"And now, let the semi final match...begin!"
…..
Blake Belladonna, as much by choice as by circumstance, was alone in the VIP skybox rented out by Pyrrha Nikos. Her view of the battle raging below her was excellent.
"Branwen's swordplay is as ferocious as ever! She scored the down, but will she go for the crest?"
She took a sip of champagne then, polishing off the glass. Reaching for the bottle on ice just beside her, did she measure off another glass. The flute halfway to her mouth, did she suddenly pause her motion. She grinned Cheshire-like as she said, "You know...you could just say 'hello' like a normal person."
The target of this statement was not made apparent for several moments longer. And then at once, was The Carbon Witch by Blake's side.
"There isn't the first thing normal about me," did Taurus say then. "Or you for that matter."
Blake sipped her champagne again. "Your teammate is giving a fearsome account of herself, I see."
"As she does." Adam had removed his decoratively intimidating mask at that point. The face behind it, though mauled and disfigured, was still one Blake thought wholly beautiful.
Adam then split his attention between the conflict in the ring, and the Blade Dancer beside him. "Everyone is here for a fight, but you're the only one dressed for the ballroom."
His sole remaining and functioning eye traced a course over Blake's slim, black-clad form; from the elegant open-toe stilettos; up the length of an immodestly exposed leg; to the prim pile of silky hair fashioned in a hive upon her head.
"Well, there is to be a party held after the tournament concludes, as well as your victory ceremony, if the three of you will be bothering to attend."
Adam nodded rather absently at this, his eye reversing the course it took previously. "You look amazing, Blake."
Blake sipped her champagne again.
Adam, though already close, made the distance between them all the more intimate. He took her unoccupied left hand, and gently placed a kiss on the back of it. "You always look amazing…" He then left a trail of these same kisses along her arm, over her shoulder, up her neck, pausing as he approached the final destination of her mouth.
She didn't stop him.
Blake was aware of two things at that moment. The first were the very welcome attentions of the man that she had not seen in roughly four years. The man that she had not actually officially ended her relationship with. The second was that her scroll was ringing upon her empty seat.
But that wasn't very important right now.
…..
Pyrrha Nikos was in the fight of her life.
Which was fairly incredible seeing as she was doing no actual fighting whatsoever. But her hands were full non-the-less with trying to direct a young and fiery Guardian team in a fight that even they had trouble believing they could win.
"Mercury, don't engage her at close-"
A swipe of Dark Drinker saw the Titan consumed with Void energy.
Raven made a move for the crest, but was halted by the Solar Grenade that barred her path then.
CLOUGH! CLOUGH! CLOGH! Cinder unloaded her Water Star as she moved in to revive her teammate.
"Pyrrha, I'm going for it!" Emerald raised her HawkMoon, aglow with Solar Light.
"Negative!" was Pyrrha's swift response. "Don't play your last ace just yet!" She looked to see Raven still pinned by Cinder's suppressive fire (both literally and ballistically). "Wait for Cinder's Rez, and regroup."
Her magazine empty, Cinder made to reload her weapon. Just as swiftly, did Raven appropriate her new target.
"Ah, shit…" Emerald loosed HawkMoon at the incoming Guardian, who swatted the rounds out of the air as she approached.
Projectiles failing her, Emerald prepared best she could for close-quarters combat. Knife in each hand, she met Raven's attacks.
Though her charge was on the receiving end, Pyrrha found herself marveling at The Steel Witch's technique.
She was not fast.
But she was powerful.
Fighting from a right-handed tail stance, was she able to subtlety move her body and sword to meet and evade her opponents strikes, while always being in position to deliver her own in response. Her blows were calculated; weighty and purposeful. Already was Emerald's paltry guard overtaxed from the onslaught.
"Little-help-here!" she cried to her teammates, barely avoiding oblivion at the edge of Raven's sword.
"Mercury, set a barricade and unload on her!" Pyrrha cried through her Ghost.
Rally barricade in place, Mercury charged his Trolley Problem fusion rifle (Arc affinity) and loosed its bolts upon his target. Cinder joined his side, hand cannon cracking.
"Are Team Cinder looking to overwhelm the Steel Witch with pure firepower? Oho! How will she respond?"
Raven's response...was to vanish from sight entirely.
There were 'ooohs' drawn from the crowd as The Steel Witch all but disappeared.
"Traveler dammit!" Cinder primed her shotgun, Binary Dawn (Solar affinity). "Emerald, talk to me!"
Her Gunslinger eyes, while telescopically sharp, had no hope of piercing Raven's veil. "I don't...I don't know!" Emerald cried, her body on a swivel. "She might be-"
Her body was consumed by The Void as Dark Drinker crashed through her chest.
Cries of agony rose from the Earth supporters as Raven claimed Emerald's crest.
"Alright, stay calm," Pyrrha said. "Prepare as best you can for her attack."
Cinder and Mercury stood back-to-back, their weapons darting about along with their eyes.
"Aha, the patient spectacle of a Witch on the hunt. I love it!" did Shaxx say.
"He is so not helping…" Mercury grumbled.
Cinder's senses, currently heightened in her state of jeopardy, began to tingle ever so slightly. She turned to her left, and there, was she able to just barely see a plume of dust kicked up from the floor of the ring. "There!" she cried.
Raven dropped her camo as she engaged her targets.
Pyrrha watched the new battle play out, her eyes barely able to process the blaze of sword and guns. "Do what you can to put distance between you and her!" was her cry then. "Even the two of you can't take her like this!"
This dire instruction went unheeded. Partly because Raven's strategic and persistent attack pattern made breaking off near impossible for the two.
Mercury ducked and rolled under a horizontal strike from Dark Drinker. He and Cinder had Raven from both the back and the front.
"Cindy, let's go!"
Mercury charged, Arc lightning blazing from his fists.
Cinder closed in, cloaked in Solar Light.
Pyrrha watched as The Steel Witch readied herself. She widened her stance, Dark Drinker trailing to the ground.
"Cinder, Mercury! Don't-"
Raven Branwen unleashed the full and awesome power of her terrible weapon then. Her left foot planted as a swivel, did she vigorously whirl her body, spinning the Dark Drinker in a ring around herself. Her two assailants were promptly eviscerated by the vortex of razor-sharp Void particles generated by the mighty blade.
The crowd's reactions were torn between agony and exaltation then.
"Behold the Void mastery of The Steel Witch!"Shaxx roared then. "But alas, it's not over just yet!"
While Mercury's crest was indeed claimed, there was one more obstacle keeping Raven from gathering the final piece for victory.
Cinder's Ghost, its broken shell twirling about its Guardian's spark of Light, was still floating in the place she was struck down. Everyone in the arena knew what this meant.
"Shit. She has to time this right…" Pyrrha breathed.
Raven stalked a patient circle around her quarry, waiting for the moment to strike.
The crowd's screams of anticipation slowly revved into crescendo as a countdown began on the screens.
10…
9….
8…
"She can't wait forever or she's gonna forfeit!"
7…
6…
5…
"She's gotta pop! She's gotta pop!"
3...2...1…
"NOW!"
Cinder erupted into being in a blaze of Solar fury.
This fury, was soon rendered moot. In but a single swipe, was the Warlock felled again, her crest tumbling free.
"And that is the match!" Shaxx exclaimed. "Your winner, Raven Branwen of Team Redwing!"
Pyrrha expelled a knowing breath, hands on her hips.
"Not much that was going to change that outcome," Betelgeuse said to her.
"Too true, my friend," Pyrrha said to her Ghost.
The three members of Team Cinder were revived by their Ghosts as the Earth supporters in the crowd played them off with a standing ovation.
The Branwens had already left the arena.
"And so, our Grand Finals match is set. Team Vector and Redwing will soon join the battle that will decide the victor of the Supremacy tournament!" Shaxx boomed to the assembly. "Only one team can claim Supremacy! Who will it be? Be sure to refresh and prepare yourselves, for the action is sure to be nothing short of spectacular!"
30:00...
29:59…
29:58…
…
"Dude, that ruled!"
Ruby's statement blended then with the post-match ruckus that had broken out after Raven's victory.
"It was quite the display, wasn't it?" Weiss said.
Ruby did a stretch and a hop. "Good thing there's intermission, cuz it's time for a bathroom break!"
"See you when you get back…" Weiss said this only after Ruby had made it somewhat out of earshot. But, Ruby's hearing being what it was, she turned back to Weiss, a small smile upon her face, before joining the stream of spectators off to the comfort area.
Weiss plucked idly at the grass beneath her as she said. "Hey, Yang…"
"Yeah, what's up?"
A small hesitation.
"You are with that Faunus girl, ja?"
"Best believe it!" Yang said proudly. She frowned at her scroll then. "It would help if she would answer my damn calls though…" She looked to her teammate. "Why do you ask?"
Weiss's teeth fiddled around with her bottom lip for a moment. "Well, it's just that...um...how did you...uh. What I mean to say is...umm…"
"She wants to know how to court a female."
Weiss's face caught fire as she looked to her Ghost. "Windig!"
Windig twirled her snowy shell. "Well somebody had to say it!" She floated right up to her Guardian's crimson face. "Seriously, the eyes you have been making at her are adorably unbearable. The sooner you woo her, the sooner it can stop being awkward."
"Haha! Weiss likes my sister! Weiss likes my sister!" Yang sung.
Weiss all but buried her face in the grass underneath her.
Yang sobered her teasing as she said, "Honestly though; my blessing is the last thing you need if that's what you're asking."
"Well, no. It's just…" Weiss paused to gather her chagrin-addled thought. "It's just that I've never...uh…"
"Had a crush on a girl before?"
"On anyone," Weiss answered. She smiled with adoring rue. "I never would have thought my first attraction would be to someone my own sex…"
"Well, believe you me," Yang said, slinging an arm around the lovesick girl's shoulders. "Anyone out there, boy or girl would trip over themselves to have you. And Ruby is most definitely smitten."
Weiss allowed her smile to widen only slightly as she said, "Do you...do you think I have a chance?"
Yang actually did a double take. "You kiddin'!? The chances of Ruby rejecting you...don't even mathematically exist!" She pulled Weiss just a bit closer. "Here's the deal. After the Supremacy finals, you're gonna shoot your shot."
"Do...what?"
"Ask her out," Yang said plainly. "Your Ghost is right; you two have had eyes for each other since forever. It's time for you to take action, Schnee!"
Weiss nodded, the motion becoming perpetual. She looked to her teammate. "Danke, Yang."
Yang smiled. "Pretty sure that means 'thanks'. And you're definitely welcome." She hugged Weiss tightly. "Now go and bag yourself a Blade Dancer!"
"Huh what about Blade Dancers?"
Crimson bloomed over Weiss's face again as she resumed her staring contest with the grass.
"Oh...nothing…" Yang said with a wink. She looked to the giant screen. "Shaxx is ready to go again! It's almost time!"
Ruby settled in next to Weiss, who, eyes still averted, scooted just a little closer to her.
Yang smiled at the two sidelong.
And there on the screen, Shaxx made to usher in the final round of the Supremacy tournament.
….
-End of Legend 26-
…
A/N:
This was supposed to be the last chapter; the semi's and the grand finals. But because I want to keep my comeback pace up, and have these be readable in one sitting, I split it up again. The next chapter will be the grand finals of Vector vs. Redwing. The chapter after will be the rookie battle royal (which I can safely guarantee will be one bloody chapter).
I definitely want to wrap up this tournament arc and again progress the actual plot, but I found myself enjoying choreographing these super Guardian fights. Let me know what you guys think overall.
And as always, if you liked what you read, a like or follow would be greatly appreciated. If you didn't like what you read, I thank you reading this long. See you again.
-B.D. Skunkworks