A/N: Volume 3 OP: "The World" by Jonathan Young

Chapter 8

More Matches, More Problems

Team JNPR's match went pretty smoothly to the surprise of no one that knew them. Since they hadn't been through all of the trials that Team RWBYS had, their performance wasn't nearly as spectacular but they barely got hit and cleaned up quickly. Nora Valkyrie even got to show off her Semblance when she absorbed a lucky bolt of lightning and annihilated some poor sod.

After that came Team SSSN (Sun) of Mistral versus Team NDGO (Indigo) of Shade. Team RWBYS recognized the monkey Faunus from the pier in Team SSSN which was interesting. As for the match itself, the crowd was split in their reaction. On one hand, it was a very close match with Team SSSN only barely managing to eke out a win. On the other hand, compared to the previous two bouts, it was relatively dull since both teams had skill appropriate for their grade and weren't absolute monsters.

"Man, if the rest of the competition is like this then we'll have this tournament in the bag. It'll just be a question of whether or not I can take Pyrrha," Yang Xiao Long said as she placed her arms behind her head.

"I wouldn't be making such claims just yet," Blake Belladonna cautioned. "There are also second year students in the tournament and we don't know how strong they are."

"Well, when it comes to Team CFVY, my money's on you two," Emiya Shirou said before taking a drink of water.

Yang straightened up in shock. "Wait, really? But Team CFVY's one of the top teams in second year!"

"They are but… Eh, it shouldn't hurt. They're going to be sending Coco and Velvet on to the next round. Coco is a monster at range but is almost worthless at melee; she hits like a truck but she's slow and has no real skill. Velvet, on the other hand… I'll let you find out what she can do on your own. The only thing I'll say is that she's been training with me once a week since pretty much right after the Train Incident."

"I am no longer feeling that confident about our odds," Yang said as she paled slightly.

"Try not to worry too much, Yang," Blake said as she placed a comforting hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. "I highly doubt that she's as good as Shirou and we've trained with him a few times as well. Once we take out Coco, we can team up on Velvet."

Yang placed a hand on top of her girlfriend's and smiled, "Yeah, you're right! We've been on a pretty good winning streak since the start of the school year! Nothing can bring us down!" Blake returned the smile and nodded before pulling her hand away and returning her attention to the arena.

Shirou applauded their confidence but he hoped that it wouldn't get to their heads. Their war had only just started even if they didn't know it and that winning streak couldn't last forever.

OoOoOoO

Somewhere in Vale, a TV that was showing the tournament was blaring in one corner of a bar. There was only one patron at this hour— a man who was somehow both well dressed and scruffy looking— but the bartender didn't mind as it let him focus more on the matches.

"Now that's what I call a match!" the bartender said with a low whistle. As impressive as the previous two were, nothing could top the thrill of neck-and-neck fight.

"Heh, that was a mess!" the man said, his words slurred, before taking another drink.

"Come on, man! You've been insulting every match you've been in here for except for that Team RWBY one. You've gotta admit that was really impressive!"

The man took another drink, "Sure but anyone can look impressive when going up against people that bad. I'd have been mad if they had done worse."

The bartender scoffed as he rolled his eyes, "What fight are you even here for?"

Just then, a large Atlesean airship could be seen passing overhead on its way to Beacon. The man spied the large ribbons trailing from its wings and glared at them before downing the rest of his drink and slamming the empty glass on the bar alongside enough lien to pay for it. "That one," he said as he stumbled his way out of the bar.

OoOoOoO

The remaining thirteen matches played out in a fairly uneventful manner. While they ran the gamut between absolute stomps and extremely close finishes (the closest being a near double knockout that was only won because one of the fighters had 0.1% more Aura left), none of them had been quite as spectacular as Team RWBY flexing on Team ABRN. There was absolutely no doubt as to what match was going to be the highlight of the day.

Shirou had only passively watched the fights, only focusing on them when something sufficiently interesting happened. He didn't really find the vast majority of the bouts to be interesting in any particular way and hadn't even been interested in the concept as a whole. He had come only to support his team and Team CFVY and only stuck around after their matches because he didn't have anything better to do.

The rest of Shirou's team, on the other hand, had a blast with even Weiss Schnee getting into it after a point. Ruby Rose was captivated by all of the cool weapons on display, Weiss started having fun once she started analyzing the tactics being used, Yang got excited whenever a beatdown happened, and Blake was a mix of all three. Between the four of them, Shirou was confident that they would have every observation needed to fight their next opponents but Shirou had made sure to analyze the ones that seemed like they could give Blake and Yang trouble just in case (not that many of them would be able to based on raw statistics alone).

"That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the Coliseum IN A CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION!" Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck said over the PA system, everyone flinching when he suddenly started shouting for no readily available reason.

As Team RWBYS started leaving, Weiss suddenly stopped as she spied a certain airship causing Ruby to bump into her. "Uh, what are you looking at?" she asked her partner as she followed her gaze up to the sky. What she was looking at was a large Atlesean battleship with ribbons coming from its wings.

Weiss stared at it with a combination of joy and fear as she said, "She's here!"

OoOoOoO

Winter Schnee was torn as to what to think regarding her current assignment. After all, it was hard to know how to feel about an assignment when you didn't even know what it was. The General had summoned her on the pretense of delivering Paladins but she was hard pressed to see how her presence would be needed for that or why the General was insistent on this particular Vytal Festival being so secure. While she wasn't particularly worried about Atlas' safety thanks to the Spec Ops, having to go that far down the chain of command was an iffy proposition.

Not that it was her place to question the General's orders, of course. While the General did allow some degree of questioning when something was confusing or otherwise unclear, Winter had long since learned how to keep her mouth shut regardless of her own opinion or confusion. The General had ordered her to go to Vale and thus Vale is where she currently was.

Of course, there were certain benefits to this assignment. For one, the warm climate of Vale at this time of year was very pleasant and being as far away from her father as possible was never a bad thing, even if he couldn't directly touch her thanks to her station. It had also been far too long since she had gotten to see her little sister without any overt need to maintain proper decorum. There were times when needing to be a proper Schnee was vexing and her dealings with her little sister was one of them. There had been countless times when Winter had wanted to comfort Weiss, especially after particularly bad encounters with their father, but doing so would have only gotten them both in trouble. She just hoped that Weiss would be able to take strength in that needed resilience like she did.

Then there was one very surprising and utterly bizarre matter. When the General had contacted her to inform her of his plans regarding recruiting one Emiya Shirou, she had been floored. The offer the General had made him was beyond unprecedented; he'd have just as much authority as she did but with more freedom. She hadn't even heard of the kid until she read the report about the attempted theft of product from the Schnee Dust Company at Vale's docks. While she couldn't even remotely understand it, if the General thought he was worthy enough for such high honors then she wouldn't question it.

As the ramp of her airship lowered and she walked out with her frankly pointless contingent of soldiers and Knights (seriously, if something bad were to happen then she would be the one protecting them ), the first sight that greeted her was both expected and welcome.

"Winter! I'm so happy to see you!" Weiss said as she ran up to her, a girl that Winter vaguely recognized as her sister's partner and leader trailing after her. When Weiss got closer, she stopped and suddenly remembered proper decorum, curtseying while saying, "Your presence honors us." Frankly, Winter thought that was going a bit too far in the opposite direction but whatever.

Winter looked around as she approached her sister and her sister's leader, examining Beacon's courtyard, and said "Beacon… It's been a long time. The air feels… different."

"Well, I mean, it is summer so, eh, the air is probably warmer," her sister's leader— Ruby Rose, she recalled— said with a shrug as she scratched the back of her head. The fact that Weiss punched her shoulder for that comment was pleasing and a good sign. There was an oddly playful aspect to the gesture and the fact that she was willing to completely shatter proper decorum to retaliate for Ruby's smart remark was telling.

"So, what are you doing here?" Weiss asked as she tried and failed to contain her excitement. Ruby, meanwhile, was rubbing her shoulder where Weiss had hit her.

"Classified," Winter responded promptly. That was an infinitely better answer than "I don't know."

"Oh, right. Well, how long are you staying?"

" Classified. " Winter was reasonably certain that she'd be leaving at the conclusion of the Vytal Festival but she couldn't really be certain one way or the other.

"Of course," Weiss said with a nod and understanding smile. An awkward silence hung in the air as both of them were frankly uncertain with how to proceed.

Ruby nervously looked between the two of them before saying, "Well… this is nice… I think."

Ruby's remark apparently kicked Weiss' brain back into motion as she suddenly exploded with excitement. "You're going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas! Vale, too. The government and school are completely separate! Can you believe it‽ I—"

"I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its… bureaucracy . That is not why I came," Winter said, cutting Weiss off. Really, she was glad that her little sister liked Beacon so much but it wasn't like this was her first time here.

"Right. I'm sorry."

"Nor did I come here to watch the tournament but it was good to see you handle it like a proper Schnee, even if it was a tad flashy."

Weiss preened under her sister's praise and this was one of the many situations in which Winter wondered how life would have been if she had been allowed to interact with her little sister as she wanted to.

Winter looked around at her contingency of guards and ordered "Leave us." Once the soldiers were gone and the Knights had stepped back, she sighed before giving her little sister a warm smile. "How have you been?"

"Oh, splendid! Thank you for asking. I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class! And the rest of my studies are going wonderfully, too! I'm—"

Winter wasn't entirely sure what happened next. She had moved to slap her sister for her foolishness when there was suddenly a flurry of rose petals between them and she found her hand blocked by a raised forearm.

"Is slapping family a common thing in Atlas?" Ruby asked plainly as she gave Winter a flat look.

Winter withdrew her hand and was torn between a hundred different emotions and a hundred different responses. Before she could properly choose one, her sister lashed out. "Ruby Rose! You should stay out of matters that don't concern you!" Weiss shouted, her face red from anger and embarrassment.

"But this does concern me. You're my best friend and partner. I'm not going to let someone slap you for answering their question even if they're family."

Winter finally managed to settle on a response at Ruby's rebuttal. Her sister had picked her friends very well and had gotten lucky with the partner assignments (the fact that Beacon leaves those up to chance was beyond frustrating).

"Miss Rose is right. That was uncalled for," Winter said after clearing her throat. Ruby looked very pleased with herself while Weiss was shocked. "I should have been more clear. I don't care about your ranking , I care about how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?"

"I'm probably eating better here than I did at home, I haven't really picked up any new hobbies, and, um, well, there's Ruby," Weiss said, various emotions mixed in her voice at the end.

Winter shifted her focus to Ruby and gave her a proper look. While she had seemed carefree and lackadaisical at first, after the attempted slap, she was now a bit more subdued and on guard. Her demeanor was still casual but it was now obvious that there was a beast inside her waiting to get out. It was a feeling that she only saw in veteran Hunters and soldiers. The fact that this was coming from a 15 year old who was barely halfway through her first year was beyond interesting. She'd have to review the incidents she was involved with in greater detail later.

"I see. So, this is the leader you wrote of. I suppose she's acceptable," Winter said with an approving nod.

Ruby's demeanor relaxed as she reigned the beast in; not completely put away but further inside. "Thank you. I think."

"Greetings, Ruby Rose. I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister," Winter said with a nod, choosing her words carefully to see if she could tease something out.

Ruby looked surprised as she said, "Oh! Uh, yes, of course!" She then gave a salute and attempted to curtsey while saying, "The honor is in my… court!"

While Ruby's reaction wasn't all that noteworthy (if cringeworthy), it was the very light blush dusting her sister's cheeks that she was interested in. One might think it was from embarrassment at her leader's behavior but the blush had come before Ruby even spoke. If this turned out to be something, their father would die of apoplexy.

Good.

Still, she'd have to find some reason to get Ruby to start learning proper etiquette. The heart was there but the attempt was honestly worse than doing nothing. She would no doubt need those skills at some point in the future.

"I have business with the General and your Headmaster but, seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?" Winter asked. This was partly out of curiosity as to the living conditions at Beacon in general and partly out of curiosity to see what they did with their room.

"Really?" Weiss asked, some excitement coming back to her.

Winter started to move toward Beacon's main building, two of the Knights and her sister following her, "Yes. I wish to inspect them and make sure that they are up to my personal standards."

"Of course. Just so you're aware, the bunk beds only look unstable."

Winter's face screwed up in confusion as she said, "Bunk… beds?"

Ruby debated whether or not to go with them but she figured that she wouldn't have to protect her partner from any more slaps and would just embarrass her with her clumsy attempts at etiquette. "I'll catch up— I mean, I will… reconvene with you both… at a later…" Ruby wracked her brain, trying to find the right word. She tried to recall everything she had heard Weiss say to try and find something before landing on a word that felt right, "juncture!" It probably wasn't right.

OoOoOoO

Weiss couldn't believe that this was happening. Her big sister, the only person in her family that she actually liked, was here at Beacon and Weiss was showing her her dorm room! She hadn't expected to see her sister at all until after she graduated so this was very much a pleasant surprise.

Not that her visit was going at all like she had hoped in any way. She had very much deserved that slap for defaulting to talking about things that their father would be interested in instead of what a family member would be. It was hard to treat her sister as a sister when she had a lifetime's worth of experience telling her not to.

Ruby's reaction to Winter trying to slap her was something that was shocking in the moment but obvious in hindsight. Of course Ruby wouldn't want to see one of her friends get hurt while she did nothing about it. She hadn't expected to hear something approaching venom in her voice, though, nor was she expecting Winter's proud reaction. It was heartening to know that Ruby cared that much about her but why did Winter seem so pleased?

Any further thoughts were expelled from her mind when the head of one of the Knights came soaring into the middle of their group.

"Hey!" she heard a man shout. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, Ice Queen !" The group turned to see a well dressed man with slicked back black hair with lines of gray toss the body of the Knight he just decapitated to the side. The slur in his words and the unsteadiness of his gait made it very obvious that he was drunk— a state she had seen her mother in countless times.

The other Knights around Winter raised their rifles at the man but were stopped when Winter raised her hand and ordered, "Halt!"

"Excuse me! Do you have any idea who you are talking to‽" Weiss yelled indignantly as she marched up to this ruffian. A part of her regretted getting close as he reeked of alcohol.

Imagine Weiss' surprise when he shushed her before placing a hand on her face and pushing her away while saying, "Not you." Weiss' offended shout was ignored as it startled a nearby raven away. "You," he said deeply as he glared at Winter. "Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. I guess you're here, too."

"I'm standing right before you," Winter replied plainly even as her body started to tense.

The man squinted at her as though trying to see her from a distance before saying, "So it would seem."

"You realize you just destroyed Atlas Military property."

The man looked around at his surroundings, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he said, "Oh, oh I'm sorry. See, I mistook this for some sort of... sentient garbage."

"I don't have time for your immature games, Qrow ," Winter said as she took a step closer.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Weiss asked in surprise as she looked between the two of them and returned to her sister's side.

She was completely ignored. "Geez, you Atlas Specialists think you're so special, don't you?" the newly identified Qrow Brawnwen asked sardonically.

"It's in the title."

"Well, you know what you really are? A bunch of sellouts. Just like your boss."

"I'm not sure what you think you're implying, but I've heard enough," Winter said, heat rising in her voice.

"Oh, I heard, too. I heard ol' Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin."

"Ozpin?" Weiss was horribly confused by whatever was happening but answers weren't forthcoming as Winter pushed her away.

"Weiss, it's time for you to go."

"Listen to big sister, Weiss. She'll protect you. Just like Atlas is going to protect all of us, huh?"

"If you won't hold your tongue then I will gladly remove it for you!" Winter said as she drew her sword. Weiss immediately moved away at that.

"Alright then," Qrow said as he slicked back his hair before entering what could loosely be described as a defensive stance. "Come take it."

Tension hung heavy in the air as the two of them stared each other down, a solid four meters between them. Winter shifted her back foot and that was the starting gun as she disappeared from Weiss' view and only reappeared after Qrow tilted his head to dodge her thrust. Winter followed that up with a rapid series of stabs so fast that she seemed to have multiple swords but Qrow was very casually weaving through them all with a casual smile on his face. When Winter stopped her assault, Qrow bowed at her just in time to catch her vertical slash with the sword on his back.

Qrow then squeezed the trigger on his weapon, causing it to extend to its full length as he pushed Winter's saber away. He then tossed it in the air with a twirl and caught it with his left hand before adopting a fencing stance, a cocky grin on his face. Winter humored him by entering the same stance, the two of them poking at each other's defenses, before they both dropped the act and went at it.

Weiss would be hard pressed to describe what happened next in any detail even after she activated her Aura. She was straining just to try and keep up with their movements as they kept disappearing and reappearing elsewhere, staying just long enough to exchange a few attacks before vanishing again. A bit of a crowd had formed by this point but they were staying well away from clashing blades.

"What's going on‽" Ruby asked as she pushed through the crowd to stand next to Weiss.

"Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!"

"Oh no! Who would do such a thi— That's my uncle! " Ruby said excitedly as she got a proper look at the fighters.

"What‽"

"Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cheered.

Not wanting to have things be too one sided, Weiss added her own cheers, "Teach him respect, Winter!"

A change happened when Winter managed to nail Qrow in the face with the butt of her sword. Qrow looked at her with a maniacal glint in his eye, causing Winter to use a glyph to jump away as Qrow came at her with a two-handed vertical slash that left a massive crater on the ground where she had been standing not a moment before.

Qrow then charged forward and intercepted the shocked Winter where she was landing. Qrow's sword effortlessly sliced through the thick lamppost as Winter just barely got her sword up to block only to get blown away. She recovered and slid to a stop just in time to be forced on the defensive as Qrow was on her once more, his strikes coming fast from all angles despite the size of his weapon.

Winter thought she saw an opening in Qrow's attacks and tried to counter with a thrust only for Qrow to make a half spin, letting her sword spark against the side of his before he elbowed her in the face and followed that up by backhanding her with his sword.

Winter staggered away and instinctively threw up a glyph between them but Qrow simply flipped over it before bringing his sword down on her head. Unable to dodge, Winter brought up her sword in both hands and activated a localized gravity glyph that affected only her. While she managed to successfully block the attack, the force of the impact rattled her teeth and annihilated the ground beneath her.

With a grunt of effort, Winter pushed Qrow away and parried the shots from his gun as he had casually flipped with the push and lowered the blade to reveal the barrel. When he landed and flicked his weapon closed, Winter charged at him with all of her speed, intent on skewering him on her blade, only for Qrow to leap a good five meters into the air with a backflip and land on the top of a row of connected pillars that circled half of the courtyard.

Winter growled and lept toward the pillar with the aid of a glyph, only making it about halfway before needing to run up the rest of the way with a string of gravity glyphs, parrying more gunshots along the way. When she reached the top, Qrow backed up and let her land before waiting for her to launch her counterattack. Winter charged at him, lashing out with a series of spinning slashes that were easily blocked, before pulling the trigger on her weapon and pulling out a second sword.

Qrow's eyebrows raised with interest as he was truly put on the defensive, giving ground as his sword blurred to just barely keep up with Winter's twin sabers. Winter went for a pincer cross slash but Qrow used that very brief opening to leap away to the opposite side that was even farther away than the pillars were tall. Winter took that moment to deploy a summoning glyph as Qrow started shooting at her again, the shots being blocked by a flurry of countless crystalline birds that started circling her.

As Winter sent the birds at Qrow from multiple directions, he just gave an amused smile as he flicked his sword closed and entered a ready stance. Moments before the lead bird touched him, he became a blur of movement as he started cutting down every bird that was sent at him. Winter stared in shock at this for a moment before regaining herself and placing herself under time dilation. Using her enhanced speed, Winter shot toward Qrow, leaping off of a series of glyphs to close the distance, and went for an overhead slash with both of her swords.

Despite having been in the middle of a swing to destroy the last summoned bird, Qrow was still casually grinning as Winter's swords came scant centimeters from his face before he disappeared. Winter's attack continued on and cut through the upper quarter of one of the pillars causing some debris to fall as she bounded off another glyph and came at Qrow with a cyclone of slashes.

What frustrated and confounded Winter to no end is that, despite her increased speed, Qrow was still keeping up with her although he was clearly putting some effort in now. She quickly debated her options and suddenly leaped backward, another summoning glyph appearing before her to launch a massive bird at him. Completely unperturbed, Qrow focused his Aura into his sword before swinging it to launch a shockwave that cut right through the bird. While utterly stunned, Winter's instincts let her bring her swords up in a crossguard in time to block the attack and get pushed higher into the air off of the pillars. She barely had time to even breath before she was forced to bring her swords up over her head to block as Qrow was suddenly above her and launching her into the ground.

Winter managed to stick the landing, using a localized gravity glyph to lessen the impact and lept backward as Qrow hurled his weapon at her, the blade sticking in the ground at just the right angle for him to land on the hilt. Winter growled as Qrow just stood there with his arms crossed looking oh so superior. She'd had more than enough of this man was going to bring this fight to a decisive end.

Winter recombined her swords as a glyph appeared under her and a massive one appeared behind her. Energy started to be pulled through the glyphs and into her sword, the weapon glowing with power and steadily increasing in brightness by the moment. Qrow could have very easily stopped this but he was curious to see what her strongest attack looked like so he simply hopped off his sword and kicked it up into his hands.

The gears on the side of Qrow's weapon started to turn as the blade started to separate into distinct segments and bend backward into a vaguely familiar shape. He stopped the transformation, though, and reverted his weapon not only to its sword form but its reduced form and sheathed it, a smug smile on his face as he beckoned the confused Winter to attack him.

While Winter wasn't sure just what game he was playing, she wasn't about to let this opening pass her by. She shot off like a bolt of lightning, her sword radiant with power as she lashed out with a thrust that would take Qrow's head off only to stop mere moments before the blow landed by Ironwood shouting "SCHNEE!"

Winter immediately about faced and put away her sword as she snapped to attention. "General Ironwood, sir!"

A rather furious General James Ironwood was currently storming toward them with Penny Polendina at his side. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"He started the altercation, sir!" Winter defended herself. Internally, she flinched as she realized that "he started it" was something children would say on the playground.

Qrow casually put his hands behind his head as he said, "That's actually not true. She attacked first."

"Is that right?" Ironwood asked as he leveled an accusatory glare at Winter. She tried to search for something to defend herself with only to look down in shame as she realized that he was right. "And you ," Ironwood looked past Winter to point a finger at Qrow who looked around in mock confusion. "What are you doing here ?"

Qrow began to speak but he was cut off by Ozpin appearing along with Glynda Goodwitch. "Now, now, everyone. If you can wait a little longer, there are sanctioned fights happening in the Colosseum tomorrow and I assure you that those will have better seating… and popcorn," Ozpin said as he swirled his mug of cocoa.

"Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess," Glynda said to the crowd before leveling a glare at Qrow, Winter, and Ironwood.

"Let's go," Ironwood said simply as he started to make his way toward Beacon's main building with Winter a step behind him. Penny waved at Ruby before following after.

"Uncle Qrow!" Qrow was forced to take a half step back as a red missile plowed into him. Ruby hugged her uncle as tightly as she could until Qrow pushed her away and had her hanging from his outstretched arm. "Hi. It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me‽"

Qrow gave a good natured smirk to his niece as he said, "Nope." Ruby returned his grin as he patted her head.

"Qrow! A word, please," Ozpin said as he turned and started to walk back. Glynda quickly got to work using her Semblance to repair at least some of the damage done.

Ruby dropped from her uncle's arm as he leaned in and whispered, "I think I'm in trouble."

"You did kinda tear up our courtyard," Ruby pointed out.

"Yeah, I did." Qrow gave Ruby a wink and a fist bump before walking off. "Catch ya later, kid."

Weiss walked up to stand beside Ruby with her arms crossed, "And suddenly your recklessness makes sense."

"You're just mad because he whooped butt," Ruby said as she playfully cuffed her partner's shoulder.

Weiss vaguely recalled Ruby having said that her uncle had been the one to teach her how to use a scythe. Given how deadly Ruby was with Crescent Rose and how Qrow had been performing with his weapon not in its true form, Weiss could barely begin to imagine just how strong Ruby's uncle was and how he far outclassed her sister. Even so, she still had her pride.

"That was a draw, at best!"

Ruby grinned, very clearly not buying it.

A/N: And here we have one of the more same-y chapters of this volume. It's a little frustrating but there honestly isn't that much I can do about it that I didn't do. All of the changes brought about by Shirou's presence have basically no impact on Winter and Qrow and their interactions so there's no reason for them to play out differently. As you have just read, perhaps the biggest change to the chapter was in Qrow VS Winter. In canon, that fight is one of the very rare instances of clearly defined power scaling as Qrow wasn't taking Winter seriously at all (motherfucker blocked one of her attacks by bowing). As such, given the heightened power scaling of RoF, I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to show what that looks like. This is especially true for Qrow who is the strongest person on the good guy side right now.

I hope you now have an easier time understanding how Shirou lost to him back before the story started and how impressive his near victory was, even if it was only because Qrow was taking him even less seriously than he was taking Winter. With that being said, if Shirou were to fight Winter right now, Shirou was handily win. It wouldn't even be all that difficult. He still can't beat Qrow (not reliably, anyway) but he can force him to actually take him seriously from the start.

Well, that's all from me. I'll see you next week for one of the more interesting changes I made early on as established at the beginning of this chapter!