Blood rushed in her ears. Ruby backstepped, cleaver at her side as she dodged the rapier's tip. The duelist stepped forward and made a paltry swipe at Ruby's face. Her cleaver was too heavy to bring up in time, so the thin blade swept over her Aura uncontested. The swipe wasn't enough to make her Aura flare, but it did shimmer noticeably.
His offhand dagger followed immediately after, shooting out as he lunged forward and driving towards her sternum. She had no time to dodge, so she dropped her cleaver. The dagger was coated in red— but not from her own viscera, rather, it had impaled nothing more than rose petals. Ruby suddenly appeared behind the duelist, both shortswords drawn and slashing in a cross against his back.
The man's Aura flared, depleted. He turned to face her as he retreated, but Ruby wouldn't let him get on the offensive again. She pushed, shortswords swinging wildly. Whenever he made a thrust, Ruby just pressed into it, batting the thin sword aside with her own blade. She scored marks on his once-shining breastplate, but his upper body was far too plated to attack with her swords. Unfortunately, he seemed to know this, and purposely angled his body to keep his less-covered legs free of her range.
Ruby pursed her lips, but a simple strategy burst into her mind before she could get frustrated. She threw her swords.
The short blades arced through the air. To his credit, the duelist reacted quickly, his rapier sweeping down to bat away one blade, but he could do nothing about the other. It sailed end-over-end before the egg-shaped pommel smashed straight into his kneecap. He howled and dropped to one knee. Ruby booted him in the face. He fell limp.
For her part, Blake also seemed to be finishing up with her quarry— a short man with a falchion and a colorfully checkered coat of plates. His flat-topped helmet closed around his entire head, with a thin slit for sight and holes on the rounded front to breathe, but that coverage didn't stop Blake from attacking his head. She nimbly ducked under a sweep from the falchion, then popped back up to strike his helm with her pommel. Ruby could imagine the disorienting sound, and shuddered.
The well-armored man stumbled back with a mailed mitt cradling his head, but Blake pursued him with rapid jabs from her daggers. Most only hit the steel plates beneath the cloth, but a fair few found purchase between them. The man was helpless against the rapid assault, and soon found his Aura flaring. He raised his falchion above his head, but his opportunity to strike would never come as Ruby sprinted from behind and firmly planted both boots into his lower back. He fell forward, limp like the others.
"Wow," Blake panted, "I had— watch out!"
Ruby ducked without hesitation, quickly grasping the fallen man's falchion.
She felt a heavy blade whizz past just above her, and popped up before he could swing again, falchion swinging preemptively to parry the expected blow.
Ruby felt immense weight against her wrist for only a moment, followed by the distinct and terrible sound of her sword breaking. Knowing the weapon would simply continue on its path, she leapt back.
"Red, that's, uh…" Blake trailed off when she saw the look in Ruby's eyes.
Weiss' eyebrows rose dramatically. One of the lone fighters had pinched that boy's cleaver after he'd discarded it against that duelist (who Weiss was pretty sure she recognized), and now had the gall to attack him with his own weapon? The cleaver rose high for another strike, but Weiss could practically feel the anger rolling off of the boy. The massive blade fell straight down, but only struck dirt.
Ruby affixed her thieving opponent with as much hate as she could muster. First he takes her weapon, then he buries it into the damn dirt? She felt personally offended. His arms wobbled as he tried to lift the blade again, but he was much too slow. Ruby charged him before he could react, wrapping her right arm around both of his elbows while she stabbed roughly with her jagged, broken sword. She struck Aura, then Aura again, then managed to make it flare with her third stab. By the time she was going for a swipe, though, her opponent had finally found the wherewithal to relinquish her cleaver and run away.
Ruby threw her broken falchion at the retreating boy, uncaring if it actually hit or not, then hefted her monstrous creation once more.
Across the field, she could see Nep and his friend working their way to the towering plate monster, uncaring even as they watched him drive his poleax's spike fully through a man's breastplate, drawing a spurt of blood to contrast the shining steel.
"He's killing people!" Ruby shouted, averting her gaze as the stabbed man cried out and fell to his back, clutching the fresh hole in his chest.
Blake shrugged, seemingly unbothered. "There's no rule saying you can't kill here."
Ruby's head whipped to her partner in disbelief. "What? These people are landed! I may not be from here, but even I know the blood feuds these people start over a death in the family!"
Blake shrugged once more. "That's not really something I have to worry about."
Ruby looked back at the plated giant, but immediately averted her eyes again when she saw him stomp the bleeding man's helmed head flat. "We have to stop him," she asserted, gripping her cleaver tightly.
Blake shrugged a third time, but Ruby could see a little spark among her amber irises. "I guess it could be fun."
Ruby was wholly shocked by the sheer aloofness that her bandaged partner showed towards the murderer in their midst, but decided to extinguish the argument that rose in her chest. Now wasn't the time to argue, especially—
Ruby brought her cleaver up quickly, barely catching the two-handed mace on the blade's broad, thick flat. The menacing flanges ground against the iron slab, Ruby's feet skid against the immense force, and her opponent only pushed harder. She pushed, then completely pulled back, forcing the redheaded boy to stumble forwards. Unfortunately, the wild swings that followed kept Ruby from repaying the attack.
"Don't even think about it," he growled, interposing himself between the cloaked girls and the plated menace as straightened back up, "House Winchester will be taking the Schnee."
Ruby looked between the lady in the stands and the redheaded boy before her, but Weiss wasn't even watching them. Rather, she was watching Nep and his friend finally engage that maniac. From what Ruby could see, though, she was looking a little green.
The mace swung for her again, forcing Ruby to block once more with her cleaver. "Blake!" She called.
The bandaged girl was on him immediately, long knives flashing from her cape to swipe across his Aura. But, to Ruby's chagrin, the Aura didn't flare— it barely even reacted to the attack. Whoever this was, his pool of soul energy was massive. Blake tried to continue her assault, but the swing of the flanged mace forced her to leap away, her cloak billowing as she landed to reveal her carmine suit of leather armor. Ruby forced herself not to be distracted by the vibrant color, but the Winchester didn't seem to have the same self-control.
Weiss' gaze was torn away from the towering plate monster as a burst of vibrant rose petals suddenly appeared across the field. She watched it speed around the boy— one she recognized from House Winchester— who had somehow been distracted by one of the other cloaked fighters that so often stole her attention. The cloud of petals moved at a blinding pace, then reformed into the other cloaked fighter, the fascinating one with that unwieldy cleaver. She watched the rose petals coalesce into the shape of a person— first the dark boots, then the black breeches, then the white shirt. The umber cloak snapped together more quickly than the rest, billowing about his body as he appeared in the air, with his cleaver falling to the ground while he swung down with a handax in his left hand and a dagger in the other. The Winchester was much too slow to react, probably due to his heavy weapon and cumbersome armor. Weiss sneered. The Winchesters were always a haughty bunch, she'd have to extend a personal thanks to this cloaked lad for humbling one of their number.
Ruby's axe bit into his Aura, but was deflected as it flashed and shuddered— a sign it was closer to depletion. Her dagger followed before she hit the ground, having planned for his Aura to still hold. The point drove once into his Aura and finally made it flare, empty. She followed up with a slash as she landed, aiming for the less-armored backs of his knees.
Unfortunately for Ruby, he had no intention of remaining still. Before her axe could swipe at his legs, she saw one of them flex and move. She tried to blink away, but her Aura was too low. His spurred heel came up before she could react.
Her Aura couldn't put up a fight against the talon. Ruby felt the prick spur catch just under her brow, then rip straight up to her hairline.
The spur ran up her flesh like a plow through dirt, opening a sickening furrow that immediately poured stinging blood into her left eye. She started to cry out, but the spurred boot silenced her when it slammed into her face, the thickest part of the heel stomping her nose with a distinct crunch. Ruby fell backwards, back arching as she held her broken nose and screamed.
Weiss' stomach turned, dread filling her as the one fighter that was actually appealing fell to his back. He wasn't unconscious, thankfully, but he was a sitting duck for anyone who wanted an easy victory. She desperately turned to her father, but he wasn't even watching the tourney— he was talking up some woman!
Ruby bit her lip, forcing her cries to stay in her throat. Tears welled up in her eyes.
'I can take it!'
'If you could, you wouldn't be crying.'
Ruby growled, pushing herself back up on her elbows. She bit the tears back— she wouldn't cry, it was just some pain! She could takeit! Ruby shut her left eye as the stream of blood tried to blind her.
Blake threw herself on the plated boy, knives desperately shooting out as she hoped to strike a gap in the armor— but she found none. He lunged forward, breastplate deflecting her stabs as a smirk rose on his lips. Blake tried to swipe her knives at his face, but he grabbed her wrist and wrenched it away, twisting the knife out of her grip before he yanked her towards him.
Weiss watched the other cloaked lad yelp and stumble directly into the Winchester's mace, his indigo Aura immediately flaring as the air evacuated his lungs. Weiss cringed, hand sympathetically covering her own chest.
Weiss watched him fall to his knees, desperately gasping for air as he clutched at his chest. The Winchester laughed as his pale Aura visibly resurged. He reached down to the lad— the one he just winded, that is— and yanked him up by his hood. He clawed and swiped weakly at the noble, but the Winchester just batted the knives out of his hands, then wrapped his gauntleted hand around the boy's throat.
Blake choked as she fruitlessly clawed at the hand around her throat, feebly kicking into the man's thick breastplate. His other hand began to pull back her hood, intensifying her panic.
He ripped the hood back, revealing Blake's bandaged face, her bright amber eyes, and her shimmering violet hair pulled into a long, tight braid. "Ha!" He guffawed, hand tightening around her throat as the other went to the side of her head, where he proceeded to rip the bandages away.
Weiss gasped as a long, pointed ear sprung out of its restraints, the appendage reaching straight back at least a handspan before ending in a sharp tip. The creature in the Winchester's grip writhed and struggled against his choking grasp, but he hardly seemed affected.
"Ha haaaa! I knew it!" He got in its face, probably close enough for the thing to feel the spit off his words. "Another shim for my mantelpiece!"
Everybody, even the fighters in the ring, turned to watch the spectacle. Weiss cringed, imagining the grisly process of preparing a fay for decoration. Animals as they were, their humanoid features were much too distasteful to decorate her own palace, though Jacques did sometimes try. She watched the creature wriggle and squirm, clearly growing weak before—
Ruby acted without thinking, moving so quickly that she didn't even register herself retrieving the cleaver until she'd already cleft his arm. The useless limb immediately released her friend, and Ruby rushed to catch Blake before she could hit the dirt, ignoring the screaming man behind her. She cradled her head, observing the girl. She'd never seen features like Blake's. Her face was long and sharply featured, her eyes large, nose pointy, and with cheekbones so accentuated they almost made her look gaunt. Her hair's color had a twinkling, undulating quality, giving it an uncannily fluid appearance. Most noticeably, though, were the long and pointy ears on either side of her head. Putting all that aside, Ruby shook her. "Are you okay? Blake!"
Blake's chest suddenly heaved as she filled her lungs again. "You didn't have to…" She mumbled between hacking coughs, "I could've… I…"
Ruby fumbled for something to say, something to comfort Blake, but the boy she'd disarmed yelled over her thoughts.
"What the fuck are you all waiting for!" He shouted, gripping his shorn, spouting limb, "Get them!"
AN: ruby's a durable lass, huh? well, for now, that is