A/N: Volume 3 OP: "The World" by Jonathan Young
Chapter 9
Play and Counterplay
General James Ironwood stood in the center of Ozpin's office with his arms crossed, trying to keep his anger under control. Winter Schnee was currently pacing before him, just as angry and with stung pride. Emiya Shirou was also here but he was wisely standing off to the side away from both of them.
Qrow Branwen was one of those people that Ironwood absolutely hated but was forced to work with due to their undeniable talent. As much as it pained him to admit it, Qrow was one of the greatest Huntsmen currently out there and thus one of their greatest assets. Even so, he hoped that Shirou took him up on his offer sooner rather than later. The young man was much more pleasant to talk to and should be similarly capable.
Ironwood's thoughts came to an end when the door opened and a smirking Qrow walked in followed by Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch.
"What were you thinking‽" Winter shouted as she rounded on him.
Despite his best efforts, Ironwood couldn't keep himself restrained, "If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!"
Qrow calmly pulled out his hip flask and took a drink before saying, "If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself."
"While I wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation," Glynda said in an effort to defuse the situation.
"He was drunk!" Winter shouted.
"He's always drunk!" Glynda countered. Everyone in the room looked at Qrow who was currently taking another drink from his flask. When he noticed the stares, he just shrugged and took another drink. He knew what he was about.
Ozpin sighed wearily as he took his seat at his desk, "Qrow, why are you here?"
"You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field!" Ironwood said. He was sorely tempted to shoot Qrow's flask out of his hand but he was stopped not only by decorum but also by the knowledge that Qrow would casually dodge it.
"I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy !" Qrow retaliated.
"General," Winter growled in response to such blatant disrespect for her commanding officer.
Unfortunately for her, Qrow didn't give a damn. "Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemy and I'm telling you our enemy is here."
Ironwood leaned against Ozpin's desk and said, "We know."
Qrow looked shocked for a moment but that shock was soon replaced by indignation, "Oh! Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!" Ironwood tried to say something but Qrow barreled onward. "Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this?" he pulled out his Scroll and shook it slightly, "This is called a Scroll ! It's this fantastic little invention that lets you talk to people no matter where they are!"
"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised," Winter said calmly, having managed to slip back into her Schnee mask.
"Compromised? How the hell would I be— You know what? Doesn't matter 'cause I have reason to assume you don't need to be here," Qrow said while pointing at her. "Seriously, who invited her?"
A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment before Ironwood said, "Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back at my ship."
"But sir!"
"Winter. Leave. "
"Sir, I fail to understand why I am not allowed to be privy to this conversation but Emiya Shirou is." Everyone turned to look at Shirou who just smiled and waved awkwardly.
"Winter, that's an order," Ironwood said simply with a threat hanging in his voice.
Winter hesitated for a brief moment before saluting, "Yes, sir."
Once Winter was gone, Ironwood gestured to Qrow, "Go on."
"Before that, I believe it is best if we all start from the same page," Ozpin said after drinking from his cup of cocoa. "You weren't the only one busy investigating, Qrow. Shirou, if you would."
Shirou nodded and took a step forward as all eyes fell on him. "We've identified the intruder as Emerald Sustrai, supposedly of Haven. It's also highly likely that her teammates, Cinder Fall and Mercury Black, are also co-conspirators. The thwarted Grimm invasion from a few months ago was caused by a spell that Emerald had cast."
"If you already know who they are then why haven't you done anything‽" Ironwood asked indignantly.
"On what legal grounds?" Ozpin asked as he raised an eyebrow. "As far as the public is concerned, they're just regular students. I've tried to find a valid reason to detain them but their records are flawless. It is also apparent that they had been planning this for some time since I called Leonardo and he confirmed that they're first year students."
"Yeah, this isn't Atlas. You can't just go around locking up whoever you please," Qrow added. Ironwood rounded on him and looked like he was about to strangle him when Shirou intervened with words.
"While we can't do anything overt officially, I've been keeping track of them. I don't think they've noticed my familiar so, if they try anything, Ozpin and I will know."
Ironwood nodded respectfully at Shirou, an action that surprised Qrow more than a little, as Ozpin said, "I believe you also had something to report, Qrow."
"Right. Your little infiltrators aren't just more pawns. At least one of them is the one responsible for Autumn's condition," Qrow said as he took another drink from his flask. This information shocked the entire room as Qrow was referring to Amber, the current Fall Maiden, who was presently in a coma down in Beacon's basement.
"Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers or Generals or Headmasters or two random guys," Qrow continued. "The people in this room, the leaders of the other two academies, we're the ones that keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about!" He marched up to stand in Ironwood's face before saying, "It's why we meet behind closed doors, why we work in the shadows. So you tell me, James, when you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet or did you just not give a damn‽"
Ironwood stared down at Qrow for a moment before taking out his Scroll and placing it on Ozpin's desk. "Discreet wasn't working," he said as a hologram of Vale, Beacon Academy, the Amity Colosseum, and Ironwood's fleet of Atlesian Airships appeared in the center of the room. "I'm here because this is what was necessary."
"Necessary? Necessary‽ You think parking your army on top of the capital of another kingdom is necessary‽ And what makes you think that , Jimmy? "
"My decision has already proven to be a wise one. If it weren't for my army's presence, Vale would have been overrun by Goliaths during the incident at Mountain Glenn."
Qrow suddenly shifted his glare from Ironwood to Shirou, his features only somewhat softening, "Well, what about you? You were there. I saw all of those fancy swords you got. Why didn't you just pull them into that bullshit Reality Marble thing?"
Shirou crossed his arms and let Qrow's agitation slide off of him. While Qrow's anger at Ironwood likely stemmed from just having conflicting personalities, Shirou could see looking in the other man's eyes that his agitation with him stemmed from a place of worry for his nieces. This was an agitation that Shirou could completely understand given not only his status as one of Remnant's secret protectors but also his assignment as being Ruby's guardian.
"The Unlimited Blade Works has a limited range so I couldn't have pulled them all in. What's more, I had just come off of nearly continuous fighting for around twenty-eight straight hours. If I had been fresh…" Shirou looked up at the ceiling and did some mental math, "I probably could have killed them all before they reached the city but the effort might have killed me."
"It wouldn't have come to that," Ozpin interjected. "Even setting aside my contingencies, if James' armada hadn't been here, I would have come to your location and aided you in any number of ways."
"See? There ya go. Not necessary," Qrow said as he turned back toward Ironwood.
"Perhaps," Ironwood allowed as he straightened his tie, "but my point still stands. Discreet wasn't working. I saw that golden explosion that wiped out one of the Goliaths before my armada got into firing range. I've had to tell my men that it was an experimental weapon I had given to an agent on assignment and then label the entire thing top secret. Can you tell me what is discreet about such an overwhelming display of power?"
Qrow shook his head as he growled in anger, "Do you not have a brain between those ears of yours? Golden explosions and the killing of a few Goliaths can be explained away and that's assuming anyone even saw them. Maybe you don't know this since you have your head so far up your military's ass but we Hunters make a career out of doing the impossible on a regular basis!"
"I think we're all missing the point," Shirou interjected before things would come to blows. "What should or shouldn't have been done doesn't matter. What matters is what has been done. General Ironwood's fleet is here and there's no taking that back so we might as well use it as best we can."
"Thank you, Shirou. You're absolutely right," Ironwood said with another respectful nod after he had taken a deep breath to reign in his anger. He now really hoped that he took him up on his offer. Qrow, meanwhile, crossed his arms and grumbled, unable to argue.
"Shirou has a point," Ozpin said. "While I do not, at this juncture, see of what use your fleet can be, there is bound to be something ."
"My fleet has already had a use beyond what we just discussed. It's given the people of Vale a greater sense of security and comfort."
"Actually, it hasn't. At least, not for everyone," Shirou once again interjected. "I've been keeping tabs on the social media and, aside from talk of the festival, people seem to be uneasy and slightly anxious. They don't know why you're here and there are a bunch of theories flying around."
Ironwood hummed in thought before saying, "Perhaps you're right but it's at least making our enemies fear our strength."
Qrow laughed incredulously before saying, "You… You think they're scared of your little ships? I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made and let me tell you — they are fear."
"And fear will bring the Grimm," Ozpin said as he stood up. "A guardian is a symbol of comfort but an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's mind…" Ozpin gestured to the hologram as he said, "'If this is the size of our defenses, then what is it we're expecting to fight?'"
Ironwood glared at Ozpin and Qrow for a moment before sighing. He knew when he'd been beaten. "So then, what would you suggest we do?" he asked as he retrieved his Scroll.
"I suggest we find our guardian."
OoOoOoO
Could things get any better? Cinder Fall greatly doubted it. Fate was completely on her side, it seemed, and it was making her unstoppable. Ironwood had all of his tin soldiers running around and a fleet of airships covering the sky which put everything with him exactly where she wanted. Ozpin's goons were being as grossly ineffective as always and hadn't the slightest clue as to what their plan was or even that she was their enemy. There had been some more bumps and bruises, to be sure, but everything was going so well that it made Cinder happier than she could ever remember being in her life.
Qrow Brawnwen being here was definitely an unexpected development but that didn't make much of a difference. Sure, he was easily their most dangerous enemy in terms of combat but he was also hammered 90% of the time so they didn't have to worry about him finding them out. Even if he did, Emerald Sustrai could easily use her Semblance to send him chasing after ghosts or perhaps do something with her magecraft.
No, there was only one potential threat and that was the person who has fairly consistently been a thorn in her side from pretty much the start: Emiya Shirou. That man was among the top of his class in terms of grades and was only second to Pyrrha Nikos in terms of physical test scores (although, Mercury Black was pretty certain that he started sandbagging after a certain point). He was also evidently a magus of not inconsiderable skill. Emerald had tried to use a number of scrying methods but they all were shut down fairly quickly (Ozpin's office is protected by a bounded field which stops divination magic so scrying there was impossible).
Even with that unknown variable, however, things should still go according to plan. Emerald had made sure to cover her tracks well and they had done nothing to arouse suspicion. By the time their enemies realized who the intruder was, assuming that they ever did, it would be far too late.
Cinder heard her Scroll ping with a notification and she opened it to reveal the control app that Dr. Arthur Watts had provided. It listed every access point that was available to her thanks to the good doctor's little virus, a virus that had spread far and wide by this point.
"It seems we have a new access point," Cinder said with a devious smile as she looked at the picture of the ignorant baboon known as James Ironwood. She was currently in her dorm room along with Mercury and Emerald.
"I know that smile," Mercury said as he also smiled. "You got something juicy, didn't ya?"
"You could say that. You could also say that the keys to the kingdom have just fallen into our laps."
Emerald and Mercury both lit up in recognition as they figured out what she meant. "So, our job just became a lot easier, then?" Emerald asked.
"Indeed. Certain events will happen a lot faster now than they would have otherwise."
"That's good to know but what about tomorrow's matchups? Who're Em and I gonna be fighting?" Mercury asked. Emerald scoffed at Mercury's nickname for her but otherwise said nothing.
"You two will be fighting Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina of Team CFVY. They have some degree of clout and possess not inconsiderable skill. I want you two to annihilate them. While it won't do much of anything immediately, it will plant a seed of doubt as to the strength of their protectors in their minds to see them so easily defeated."
"We still going with Plan A?"
"We are. I'll make sure every pawn we need will make it to the finals."
"Perfect as always," Emerald said with a smile. Cinder smirked in return.
"It's a shame that Em, Neo, and I will have to bounce after I lose my leg. I'll have to miss out on all the fun," Mercury complained as he collapsed backward onto his bed.
"Actually, that plan has changed slightly," Cinder said, causing Mercury to shoot back up in interest. "When Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Pelondia fight, I want you to be in the hallway leading to the arena. If anyone tries to pass through, kill them"
Mercury's smile became savage as he said, "Will do."
Yes, all of the pieces were falling into place just perfectly and she even had a few contingencies in place on the off chance something went wrong somewhere. Tomorrow would be the last day of peace that Vale would ever know. Their pillars of strength would be shattered beyond repair as the city's very foundation was overturned. There would be wild panic and pure pandemonium in streets that ran red with the blood of its citizens. The death toll would be staggering but that was simply what was needed. After all, when one was making the mother of all omelets, one couldn't fret over every egg.
Beacon would fall and Vale along with it. That would be the starting gun for the slow but inevitable unraveling as everything in this sick and twisted world is burned down. When it fell, a new world would be built upon the ashes of the old that was free from the chains of fate that bound everyone.
Cinder Fall would save the world whether they liked it or not.
OoOoOoO
"Gooooood morning, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else! Welcome back to the 40th Vytal Festival Tournament!" Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck said over the PA system as the crowd in the Amity Coliseum roared. "After the excitement of yesterday's full team battles, each of the remaining teams will select a pair of partners to move forward to today's 2-on-2 battles!"
"Quite right," Professor Peter Port said from the other seat. "Many people have questioned the layout of the tournament over the years but the answer remains the same. While relying on your full team and working with them is good, one must also be ready to face down enemies with just your partner at your side and then on your own. A strong team is made out of strong components."
"To begin today's matches, we have Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina of Team CFVY from Beacon versus Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai of Team CRME (Cream) from Haven!"
The two teams stood in the middle neutral area of the arena as the large screen cycled through the various terrain types. When it stopped, four quadrants of the arena started to shift as they changed to a plain with grass tall enough for a person to hide in; city ruins; a hot spring with geysers, a stream, and blue Dust crystals; and a dense forest. It was truly that kind of eclectic mishmash that only random generation could come up with.
As the arena was changing and the two teams were staring each other down, Velvet couldn't help but ponder Shirou's warning. When the matchup was announced, he had quickly pulled her aside and told her to be especially careful around Emerald. He couldn't fully explain why but he explained that he had been reviewing their team's footage from the first round and that something about her and what went on around her just wasn't sitting right. He had even gone so far as to offer her his twin swords but she turned him down. While extremely useful, those weren't her weapons. They weren't something that she created or that was made for her. Since Shirou wasn't a part of her team in any way, she knew that she had to do this with only what she'd have normally. Shirou grimaced at this but said that he understood and just repeated his warning before wishing her luck.
With that warning that she passed on to Coco, Velvet couldn't help but study her opponents more than she normally would, especially Emerald. She had watched that fight, too, of course, so she had a vague idea as to what both were capable of in a general sense but it had been clear that their team hadn't really been trying. Exactly how much they were holding back, Velvet couldn't know but the fact that they had made a point all on its own.
Mercury was the simplest of the two but also potentially the most dangerous in terms of raw physical ability. He attacked almost exclusively with kicks and he seemed to have some sort of gun strapped to or in his boots. He was fast, nimble, skilled, and also seemed to hit fairly hard. His movement speed wasn't the most impressive, though, and he had no real long range option.
Emerald was… interesting. She was definitely the faster of the two in terms of movement speed but her attack speed was about the same. Her weapons were dual revolver/sickle/kusarigama hybrids that let her specialize in strings of rapid attacks while also giving her a fair number of options with regards to combat maneuvers. She seemed to focus less on doing damage and more on breaking the enemy's guard so one of her teammates could easily get a big hit in. In terms of just her combat potential, Velvet was very much not worried since, at absolute best, her attack speed was about the same as Shirou's when they sparred and that was being generous. She was nowhere near as proficient, it seemed.
But then there was the matter of Shirou's warning. Velvet hadn't seen any signs of a Semblance when reviewing their match in the first round but that didn't mean that she didn't have one or even didn't use it. There were plenty of Semblances like hers which you can't know about without either a lot of data or being directly told. Even though she hadn't seen anything, she very much trusted Shirou's judgment and thus would heed his warning. That's why she and Coco had done some last minute preparing and planning.
"Hey! Love the outfit, kid!" Coco said to Emerald as she lowered her sunglasses to get a better look at her.
"I'll try not to get blood on it," Emerald said casually.
"You sure about that? We have quite a few tricks up our sleeves that'll leave you needing a tailor," Coco countered.
"It'll be your blood I'll have to worry about," Emerald shot back.
"Oooo, I like her!" Coco said appreciatively. Throughout all of this, Velvet was uncharacteristically silent as she was calmly observing every single move, every single twitch the two made. While she had watched the footage of their fight over and over in order to set up Photographic Memory, her Semblance, the chaotic nature of the fight and the camera constantly focusing on different people meant that what she had was fragmented at best (she had been too far away when the match had actually happened to get anything). While she would have done something like this even without the warning, it made her focus on getting it going ASAP. Her instincts were telling her that she'd surely lose otherwise.
"It's a good day for a swell battle!" Professor Port said over the PA system. "Combatants all set? 3… 2… 1… begin!"
(A/N: Play "I'm the One" by Jeff Williams)
The two teams immediately sprang back as the fight started, Coco and Velvet going into the hot springs while Mercury and Emerald disappeared into the tall grass. Coco pulled an oblong object from one of her pouches, a Dust grenade, and fed some of her Aura into it before hurling it into the grass. There was a large explosion as fire emanated out in every direction, obliterating the grass in the immediate area and setting the edges aflame.
They barely had time to recognize that their opponents weren't there before Mercury materialized in the air above Coco, coming down on her with a plunging ax kick. While Coco was caught flatfooted, Velvet was not as she channeled the skills of Fox Alistair, Lei Ren, and Yang Xiao Long to intercept Mercury's kick with one of her own, redirecting the blow away from Coco. Mercury was too skilled to let this faze him as he used the momentum Velvet gave him to aim a roundhouse kick at her head with his other leg. Velvet bent forward at the waist, letting Mercury's leg just barely sail over her back and leaving him open to Coco coming in with Gianduja in its purse form, catching him in the side with the deceptively heavy weapon and sending him flying.
They barely had time to even blink before Emerald was on them, coming at Coco with a blindingly fast series of slashes that the other girl was just barely able to keep up with, blocking what she couldn't dodge with Gianduja but still taking the occasional glancing blow. Velvet rounded on Emerald, debating on breaking out Anesidora already, but she stopped dead as Mercury charged at her with a flying kick. Instead of dodging, Velvet channeled her Aura into Anesidora as she lashed out with a right cross. Right before Velvet's fist impacted Mercury's boot, a blue, translucent version of Sharp Retribution, Fox Alistair's tonfa-like weapons, appeared over her arms. The two attacks collided with each other causing Velvet to recoil back as Mercury flipped in the air to land on his feet.
Over with Coco, she was still locked in a war of attrition with Emerald and it was one she was losing. Emerald was barely hitting her but she was hitting her and it would only be a matter of time before she slipped up. Needing to change the situation, Coco leaned into Emerald's next attack instead of away, letting the other girl's hand collide against her shoulder to give her enough time to fish out another Dust grenade. Emerald immediately sprang away but that proved to be her undoing as the wind Dust detonated, sending her flying while Coco simply slid back. While Emerald managed to recover easily enough, it bought Coco enough time and distance to transform Gianduja into its gatling gun form and get it spun up. Instead of shooting at Emerald, however, she swung the weapon around and unleashed a torrent of hellfire at the distracted Mercury.
Velvet was currently locked in her own stalemate with Mercury. He was even faster and more skilled than he appeared to be based on the first round but that was more than fine; so was Velvet. What's more, Photographic Memory was filling in the pieces as she was starting to get an increasingly better read on the man's fighting style; the longer their exchange lasted, the worse his position was becoming. Right before her hard light copy of Sharp Retribution broke, she caught Coco aiming at Mercury from the corner of her eye. Instead of dodging Mercury's next spinning kick, she instead countered it with an uppercut just as Sharp Retribution shattered. Instead of hitting her side, Mercury's kick caught her in the chin but she rolled with the blow and quickly brought out a copy of Jaune Arc's shield. Mercury was too off balance to dodge as he was pelted by a rain of bullets with the stray shots that would have hit Velvet instead hitting the shield.
Emerald didn't let this assault on her partner last for even half a second before charging at Coco again but that was more than enough time. Before she reached her, Coco swung Gianduja around to aim at her and watched as Emerald casually flipped over the stream of gunfire. Coco smirked as Emerald fell right into her trap. As Emerald came at her with a double overhead slash, Coco let go of the back of her gatling gun. While this meant releasing the trigger, it still fired for a fraction of a second longer which was more than long enough for Coco to infuse her bullets with her Semblance, Hype. Only a few shots hit Emerald but those supercharged rounds hit her shoulder like a truck, causing her to spin out and lose her grip on one of her weapons. Coco then let go of her weapon completely and ducked into Emerald's path, using her own out of control momentum to flip her over her shoulder and sending her deeper into the hot springs portion.
The instant Coco's assault on Mercury ended, Velvet lashed out with Jaune's shield to catch him in the chest with a shield bash before summoning Crocea Mors. While Mercury managed to recover in time to block the sword with his shin, he was forced to tumble backward before leaping away into the ruined city section as Velvet had tried to catch him in the throat with the edge of the shield. While useful, Jaune's skills were absolutely no match for Mercury and Velvet couldn't make up the difference on her own so she dismissed them and charged at him while summoning Fulcrum, Yatsuhashi Daichi's greatsword. Mercury smirked at her bringing out such a slow weapon and was ready to unleash highspeed hell on her only to blink in confusion as Velvet tossed the weapon into the air. He followed it with his eyes for half an instant before ignoring it and carrying on with his spinning roundhouse kick. Instead of running into the attack, Velvet sprang into the air after Fulcrum. Seeing the next attack coming, he readied to parry and punish such an obvious attack only to once again be caught off guard as Velvet summoned Magnhild, Nora Valkyrie's weapon, and slammed it into Fulcrum's hilt, launching it toward Mercury like a falling star.
Mercury's eyes went wide as he tried to shift from a parry to a dodge but he was just a fraction of an instant too slow as the hard light sword pierced his Aura and skimmed off the metal of his boot leaving a gouge in it. As the sword shattered against the ground, Mercury leveled a glare at Velvet as she came plunging down with Magnhild. Right before the maul connected, Mercury disappeared in a burst of high speed movement. Velvet's eyes went wide as she sensed more than saw the next attack coming but she was still recovering from the whiffed attack and thus was caught in the back of the head by Mercury's snap kick. She went tumbling deeper into the ruined city as she dismissed Magnhild and brought out StormFlower, Lie Ren's weapons, as she slid to a stop. She was immediately put on the defensive as Mercury was nearly teleporting around her, lashing out from every conceivable angle. The only reason she was able to keep up at all was because Photographic Memory had reached the point where she could predict his next attack.
Velvet spun around and brought StormFlower up in a crossguard against the expected ax kick only to be surprised as Mercury wasn't there. She just barely had time to register Mercury coming out of a broken window with a flying kick before she was caught in the side of the head by it. As she started falling to the ground and Mercury was flying over her, he twisted in the air and caught her in the same place with that expected ax kick, causing her head to bounce off the ground and make her see stars.
Velvet's body moved on autopilot as she rolled out of the way of Mercury's stomp before coming up on her feet right as StormFlower shattered. She created some distance and contemplated her options only for Mercury to halt and look in shock at something behind her. Velvet wasn't foolish enough to take her eyes off of her opponent so she quickly moved to the side in a quarter circle until Coco came into view, Gianduja primed and aimed. Velvet let herself relax ever so slightly as she went through all of the strategies she had with her leader but something felt off. They had gone in opposite directions. Coco should have been coming in from opposite Mercury instead of opposite her. Right after making the revelation, her instincts screamed at her and she threw herself to the side in time to just feel something brushing off of her Aura instead of striking it directly.
'Illusions. So that's her Semblance,' Velvet thought as she summoned Ember Celica and began trading blows with Mercury again. 'That must mean that Coco's been knocked out. I didn't hear the announcement nor did I hear any footsteps so it must be near perfect illusions affecting both hearing and sight.' As Velvet came to this conclusion, she followed her instincts and dodged to the side as she felt something— likely Emerald's weapons— catch her in the side. With the situation now almost certainly being a two-on-one and with her physical senses being worthless, Velvet decided that it was time to stop playing around and bring out the big guns.
After buying herself just the slightest bit of room by shattering Ember Celica on Mercury's leg, Velvet threw her arms out to the side and closed her eyes while calling out the weapons of the person whose skills absolutely outstripped Mercury's. She gripped her hands around the hilts of the hard light copies of Kanshou and Bakuya before turning into a blur of movement. With her eyes shut and her hearing blocked out, she focused everything on her instincts and the stolen experience of Emiya Shirou to react to everything. Even when Mercury poured on more speed, Velvet was keeping up and parrying his attacks while also somehow predicting and parrying or dodging Emerald's. Emerald even went so far as to hide Mercury with her illusions but that did less than nothing as that brief pause was more than long enough for Velvet to round on her and tear into her with a blindingly fast series of attacks that rapidly drained her Aura.
Even though they were but a pale imitation of the real thing, Emiya Shirou was a man who could face down Servants and go toe-to-toe with Saber Alter. When going all out— or close enough to it— people like this were child's play even if Velvet was physically inferior.
Velvet broke off her assault on Emerald to spin and parry Mercury's flying kick before turning that spin into a thrust kick that caught Emerald in the solar plexus and caused her to stagger back. She then entered into a deadly dance with Mercury, his boots being countered by Velvet's translucent blades, and it was a dance that Mercury was losing. He couldn't land a single blow against Velvet while she was regularly hitting him with glancing blows that still packed a punch. He was seriously reconsidering his idea of killing Emiya Shirou once the fun started. If Velvet simply copying his skills was like this, the real thing must be an absolute monster.
Mercury slowed his attacks down just a hair to catch Velvet's blades against his boot as Emerald came in from behind with a double horizontal. The plan backfired, however, when Velvet performed an impressive backflip to go over Emerald which caused her attack to hit Mercury instead. As Velvet came down, she brought Kanshou and Bakuya down on Emerald's shoulders and tore down her back. With one last spinning slash to the side, Emerald was sent tumbling into the wall of a nearby building.
"Emerald Sustrai is out! It's now just Velvet Scarlatina versus Mercury Black!" she heard Doctor Oobleck say over the PA system. Her eyes snapped open to glare at Mercury who was looking more than a little nervous. Her Aura was dangerously low but so was Mercury's. This fight would be settled in the next exchange one way or another.
The two of them disappeared in a blur of movement, clashing in the middle with a series of attacks delivered with enough speed and force that the shockwaves could almost be felt by the closest members of the audience. With her sight and hearing restored, Velvet knew that victory was hers. Mercury was hanging just on the threshold of red and there was absolutely no way he'd be able to land even a single hit on her now.
As Velvet went to counter Mercury's desperate snap kick with a rising slash that'd surely finish him off, Velvet's confidence shattered along with Kanshou and Bakuya. With nothing to stop it, Mercury's kick caught her in the arm and made her stagger to the side. Her guard now broken, she was powerless as Mercury disappeared from view only to reappear behind her and catch her in the back with a dropkick empowered by gunshots. The siren of her Aura dropping into the red was just adding insult to the injury as she was sent tumbling out of the arena and onto the grass below.
"Velvet Scarlatina is out! Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai are the victors!"
A/N: Hoo boy! Pretty intense chapter, huh? It made absolutely no sense how, in canon, they set up the whole idea of partners but then just completely ignored the concept so I made it a rule that the pairs in the second round had to be partners. It also gives me a very good reason to replace Weiss with Blake in the Flynt and Neon fight which not only spices it up but also gives Blake a chance to really show off. I hope you'll look forward to it.
Every now and then lately, I've been considering changing how I upload chapters. Right now, I wait until I'm finished writing the volume before uploading the chapters once a week. I've considered changing to a post-it-when-it's-done format that basically every other fanfic follows but this chapter cemented my opinion that the way I'm going about it is best. The opening conversation between everyone was massively changed and expanded literally two days ago. If I did a standard upload schedule, that wouldn't be the case and the chapter would be much worse off for it. Since each volume also tells a complete story, this means that you'll never be left hanging too badly in the event that something happens to me.
Anyway, on to the actual contents of the chapter. We've got Shirou's younger age and interactions with other students to let him stay a step or two ahead of everyone regarding certain things, the reveal of Cinder's motivation, and a showcase of the result of all of that training Velvet did with Shirou. What's nuts about that last one is that her hardlight copies of K&B aren't nearly as strong as the real things (obviously) and she also lacks the thing that makes Shirou really scary to fight in terms of skill: Eye of the Mind (True).
For those who don't know, Eye of the Mind (True) is a skill honed on countless battlefields grasp the nature of the opponent's abilities as well as the battlefield itself and use that information to predict an opponent's moves while calculating the path to success. Even if the chance of success is only 1%, the greatly boosts the chance of that happening. This skill is what's being described by Ruby's narration all the way back in V2C1. It's one of the reasons why Shirou sometimes just kinda knows what's going to happen next in a fight. In a lot of ways, one could argue that it's a superior skill to Instinct and heaven help you if you fight someone who has both.
In case you're curious, what Ozpin likely would have done is head out to Shirou et al's location, feed Shirou some of his blood to restore his prana, and then have Shirou hand him several Caliburn IIs while he breaks them and lets them fly using Archer's bow. He'd then have to hypnotize everyone there sans Shirou to keep the extent of his abilities a secret.
Now for reviews!
ahsoei: An interesting idea but it'd be ultimately pointless. Qrow is already fully aware of what Shirou is capable of and there's no reason for him to show off to Winter. What's more, there's a whole lot of people watching and showing off in front of them would be counterproductive.
Batthan the Dark Knight: She would react with mild interest and that's it. She knows next-to-nothing about Shirou other than that he has security clearance greater than hers.
spartan-140: She is which is pretty amusing. Maybe I should have put a note somewhere that Shirou found Winter's voice to be familiar but not only is there no place for it, the vast majority of people wouldn't get it.
claudiojuarez621: He appeared at the beginning. That being said, there are several chapters where Shirou either makes a small appearance or even doesn't appear at all. In fact, there's a string of four chapters near the very end where he doesn't make a single appearance.
Anyway, that's all from me so I'll see you next week! Have an interlude inspired by Nhobdy over on AO3!
Interlude 12
Yang Finds Out
Before V3C4
"What was getting your Magic Circuits activated like?" Blake Belladonna asked her young leader.
"It was… incredible. It's like… You know that feeling you get when you have your Aura unleashed? It's kinda like that but… Oh jeez… I dunno… different. Like… Like… Everything just kinda clicked into place, ya know?" Ruby Rose explained even as she struggled to find the words.
Blake thought back to not only having her Aura unleashed but also all of the books she read where the hero awakened to some unique power and nodded, "I think I understand what you mean. How did Shirou do it, anyway?"
Ruby looked around nervously for a moment before saying, "Um… So, Shirou used this thing that he called an athame— whatever that is— that was in the shape of a dagger. After charging it up, he kinda… um… stabbed me with it."
Blake's eyes widened in shock, "He stabbed you?"
"Please don't tell Yang!"
At that exact moment, the door to Team RWBY's dorm was slammed open with such violent force that it was a miracle that it didn't come off its hinges. Standing in the doorway was none other than Yang Xiao Long, her eyes red and hair faintly glowing as she radiated more rage than they had ever seen on her before.
"Yang! Don't do anything, it was the only way to—"
"EMIYA SHIROU!" Yang bellowed in a voice so loud that it caused Blake to flinch. "YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"
Elsewhere in Beacon, for some inexplicable reason, Shirou decided that it'd be a good time to visit Vale for a bit.
