Here we are at Chapter 32. Time for Team RDCN to shine on the big combative stage. I do not own RWBY or Genshin Impact. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 32. Enjoy.
Chapter 32: Swift as Lightning
Team RDCN enter the coliseum amidst the cheering of the people in the stands. Ei stares in awe at the arena around her.
"It's even grander looking at it from the inside," Ei notes.
"Just wait until we get to the champion's stage," Dehya notes.
"Alright folks, it's time for our next match. Introducing four of our best first-year students at Beacon, Team RDCN!" Professor Port announces.
The crowd cheers as the girls make their entrance, with Nilou and Candace offering light waves to the crowd.
"Go get 'em, Dehya! We love you!" Dehya's harem shouts from the front row, holding up signs with her name on them.
Dehya blows a light kiss to the girls, making them swoon over her.
"You're impossible," Candace shakes her head.
"Hey, not my fault you don't have a harem of your own. Gotta please them from time to time, don't I," Dehya retorts.
"Now, then allow me to introduce their opponents. Coming all the way from Haven Academy. It's Team LILK!" Dr. Oobleck announces next.
Across from them, Team RDCN spot their opponents. Their leader appears to be a young woman wearing purple armor like a knight, with long blonde hair and lilac eyes like Yang's. On her back is a large purple lance. On her right is a boy with dark skin, green eyes and short black hair. Wearing mostly camo-colored clothing, the boy has a heavy machinegun on his back. To his right is a boy with tanned skin, long black hair tied with a red cloth, and red eyes. He's wearing red and tan clothing. Ei can spot a bow and arrows on his back. The final member, on the girl's left, is a boy with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a cowboy's hat. His attire makes him look like he belongs in one of those old western movies. On his hips are a revolver pistol and a lasso.
"Hey, no hard feelings when you lose, right?" the soldier boy, Irving, lightly taunts them.
"Sure. Just don't come crying to us when we beat you senseless," Dehya cracks her knuckles.
"May the best warriors win," Team LILK's leader, named Lavender, bows her head.
"And to you as well," Ei returns the gesture.
The arena changes around them. One half becomes a forest with leaves of fall. The second half becomes a set of old ruins. Both teams draw their weapons.
"3... 2... 1... Begin!" Dr. Oobleck begins the match.
Tea, RDCN make the first charge while Team LILK choose to fire their weapons from a distance. Ei and Candace take the front, with the former twirling her naginata around while the latter uses her shield, to block the bullets. When they get close, Dehya jumps over them with her greatsword reeled back. She slams it down on the opposing team, forcing them to jump back and separate. Lilac thrusts her lance at Dehya, but Ei blocks the strike with her naginata. It's leader vs leader here. Meanwhile, Dehya goes after the cowboy while Nilou faces the bowman and Dehya goes up against the soldier boy. Lilac fires a barrel in her lance at Ei, but Ei deflects the shots before making an upward swing to knock the lance up. She moves in close, making a passing strike across Lilac's side. Lilac grits her teeth from the attack before going after Ei. Off to the side, Nilou runs to the ruins while the bowman, Lootah, takes him with his bow. He fires a few arrows tipped with fire Dust at her, but Nilou uses the water in her canteens and her semblance to grab them in mid-air and toss them aside. She makes it to the ruins and takes cover while Lootah goes after her. He looks around, his next arrow ready to fire.
Hearing some noise to his right, he takes aim only to see a rock fall from above. Believing Nilou is up on one of the ruined structures, he looks up but finds no one. Suddenly, Nilou attacks his flank with her sword. He reacts just in time to blow with his bow; thanking the gods it's made of metal and not wood.
"How did you-," Lootah questions.
"Never underestimate water," Nilou replies.
Lootah pushes her back and separates his bow into a pair of twin swords. He charges at her and makes a few swings. However, Nilou parries his strikes as she dances around him. He swings at her legs, but she spins in mid-air over it. As he makes a downward swing with his left blade, Nilou parries it with her own. She lands on her feet, then backflips away when he goes for a low sweep kick. The two step back for some distance.
"You're light on your feet, I see," Lootah notes.
"And you're skilled as well. However, I won't lose," Nilou aims her blade at him.
Meanwhile, Dehya dukes it out with Irving. Irving turned his machinegun into an axe and the two were making matching swings at each other with their heavy weapons. When their weapons clash however, Dehya has the slight edge in strength and slowly pushes him back.
"How are you this strong?!" Irving curses as he tries to push her back.
"Never underestimate a lion, dude. There's a reason they rule the jungle," Dehya smirks.
She headbutts him in the face and then throws a hard right cross to his stomach. Irving staggers back from the two blows and switches his weapon back to his machinegun form and fires. Dehya uses her sword as a shield to block the shots.
"Let me show you some real firepower," Dehya says before hitting a switch.
Flames erupt around her blade and she swings wide, sending at arch of flames at her opponent. Irving ducks and rolls under the flames. Seeing that he's at a disadvantage, he makes a bee line for the ruins with Dehya giving chase. In the center of the arena, Candace fights against the cowboy, Kapilo. Kapilo fires his revolver at her, but she easily blocks the rounds with her shield as she closes in. She swings her spear at him, but he ducks under the first swing and jumps back when she makes a thrust at him. She gets closer and makes another thrust at his skull. He barely dodges it with a little help from his revolver. He swings his lasso around at her left ankle, but Candance evades it and bashes him with her shield. He tries it a few more times, but each result ends in failure. Candace aims and throws her spear at him. Kapilo leans back to dodge it and it flies by him.
"Wow, you missed that one," Kapilo smiles.
Candace smiles back, "No, I didn't,"
Reaching out with her right hand, the gravity Dust pulls the spear back and hits Kapilo in the back of the head. On the ground, Kapilo looks up as Candace retrieves her spear.
"Maybe you should watch your back more often. You never know what surprises are waiting for you," Candace says.
Lapilo growls before swinging his lasso at her. Candace catches it with her spear, just as Kapilo was hoping she would. However, when he pulls on his lasso, she doesn't budge. If anything, she pulls him off of his feet, right into her shield. Candace uses the hardlight Dust in er shield to send him flying across the arena floor, right into a nearby tree from the forest region. Speaking of which, in the forest region, the two leaders duke it out. Lilac makes a series of thrusts with her lance at Ei, but the archon swiftly dodges them all. Ei then counters with a thrust of the pommel of her naginata into Lilac's chest. Her armor protects her, but she still stumbles back. Ei follows through by appearing behind the woman, swinging her blade at her back while spinning around her. Lilac gets stunned from the strike, barely being able to block another strike from Ei. She notices Ei's chakra, the orbs lighting up one by one. There must be something to them. All Lilac knows is that it'll be bad news for her if they all light up. Ei swings her left hand, hitting Lilac with her Eye of Stormy Judgment.
"Wha-how?!" Lilac didn't see that coming.
"Apologies, but I can't disappoint Nilou and the others. So, you must fall," Ei says, twirling her naginata around.
Lilac growls before charging at her. Back with Dehya, her skirmish with Irving brings her closer to Nilou and Lootah's fight. Nilou's blade is encased in vibrating water. She swings her water blade through any arrows Lootah fires at her. Dehya blocks an axe swing from Irving, kicking him back before noticing Nilou's water.
"Nilou, water!" Dehya calls out.
Understanding her meaning, Nilou spreads out water along the ground. The boys wonder what she's trying to do, but they don't have long. Dehya jumps up and smashes her flame blade into the water, creating a big steam cloud that blinds everyone in the vicinity. Irving looks around, changing his axe back into its machinegun form. He looks around, hoping to find any sign of friend or foe. One shadow runs by and he fires off a shot, but hits nothing. A shadow forms on his left and he fires off some shots, hitting someone.
"Ow! What the Hell man?!" it turns out he hit not his opponents, but his own teammate Lootah instead.
"Sorry, man! I can barely see anything in here," Irving walks over to his downed friend.
"Hmm, sounds like a personal problem," he hears and his eyes widen.
Just as he turns, he gets double-slashed by a combo from Nilou and Dehya. The Faunus finishes it up with a hard uppercut to his chin, sending up flying up and then down to the ground; his aura depleted. Lootah fires some arrows for revenge as the fog dissipates, but Nilou slices them down. She then conjures a few water spears and fires them at him. Lootah dodges all but two and collides with some ruin rubble. He gets no breaks though as Dehya comes in and swings her sword, sending him crashing through the rubble, his aura out as well.
"Wow, in a matter of seconds, Team LILK is down to half their team. Team RDCN are well on their way to victory now," Port announces.
Kapilo looks up, seeing the video of his teammates getting taken down and curses. This is not looking good for them. Worse, he's been having a rough time against his opponent. He hasn't been able to get a single hit on Candace in their fight. Reloading his revolver, Kapilo fires off more shots. Candace closes in while blocking the shots with her shield. Kapilo swings his lasso around, but Candace pins it with the pommel of her spear.
"I think that's enough of that," Candace smirks.
Just as Kapilo aims his revolve again, it gets shot out of his hand by an arrow made of water. He looks to see Dehya and Nilou approaching.
"Ah crap," Kapilo sags in his stance.
A few seconds later... "And Kapilo has been taken out of the game. Team LILK is down to just their leader now," Dr. Oobleck says.
Lilac looks up to see her teammates eliminated, "I figured we'd have a hard fight, but I didn't expect it to be this one-sided,"
"If you consider surrendering, I will accept it. You've been having a difficult time against just me. How well do you think you can fair against all four of us?" Ei asks.
Lilac looks around, just as the rest of Ei's team join them.
"Four against one, huh? Not very sportsman-like," Lilac notes.
"Don't worry. We won't interfere. We're just here to keep you from running away," Nilou says.
"Come, Lilac. If you do not wish to surrender, then let's finish this," Ei twirls her naginata around, her chakra at full strength.
Lilac takes a breath and readies her lance, "Fine by me. I've never been one for giving up without a fight,"
Lightning sparks around Ei's blade and body. She readies her weapon for one final strike. The tension rises in the arena as everyone awaits their next move. As soon as a leaf falls from a tree and hits the floor, the two female warriors race forth at each other. Lilac thrusts her spear at Ei, but the archon slides the strike along the staff of her weapon before making a powerful swing with her blade. The strike is too fast for most to see with the naked eye. Ei ends up behind her opponent, who falls the ground a moment later; her aura depleted.
A bell goes off, "And that's the match. The winner is Team RDCN of Beacon Academy. That makes three teams from Beacon moving on to the doubles round. Ei and her teammates show off their skill and power in spectacular fashion," Port notes.
"Yes, yes, but will it be enough to take them all the way to the top? We'll have to wait and see after a brief break for everyone. Please leave the arena in a calm and orderly fashion. More fights to come later down the road," Oobleck adds.
Everyone starts leaving the arena as today's fights are finished. Team RDCN exit the arena to find Teams RWBY and JNPR waiting for them.
"Nice work guys. That's three wins for Beacon now," Ruby cheers.
"We'd expect nothing less," Ren nods his head.
"Thanks, everyone. They were more skilled than we thought," Ei says.
"Please, we had them easy. Besides, if you went all out, you probably could've taken them down all by yourself," Dehya notes.
"Where's the fun in that? I thought I was using a good amount of my strength," Ei replies.
Truthfully, Ei was holding back quite a bit. Had she unleashed her full power, her opponents probably would've been lucky to survive with major injuries. But, that would've exposed her godhood to the world, and she's trying to avoid all that attention. She has enough to deal with as is.
"Well, there's not that many team fights left. Soon, the doubles rounds will begin," Candace says.
"Who are you guys sending in?" Ruby asks Team JNPR.
"We'll be sending Ren and Nora since they're such a great pair," Jaune says.
"Well, we chose Weiss and Yang," Blake says.
"We're gonna kick some butt!" Yang smashes her fist.
"And do it in perfect form," Weiss curtsies.
"What about you guys?" Ruby asks.
"We decided it before hand, but we'll be sending in Dehya and Candace. Their past as old friends means they have more experience working together than Nilou or me. It'll improve our chances of reaching the finals," Ei explains.
"Well, while all this tournament talk is good, how about we leave for the day. We might be able to catch some of the shows at the fairgrounds," Pyrrha says.
With that being said, they all leave the coliseum and head to the fairgrounds. They end up going in different directions after that, but decided to meet up for dinner as a way of celebrating all three of their teams making it past the first round. Ei and Nilou end up going off with Weiss and Ruby while everyone else goes in other directions. As they walk, they pass by Lyney and Lynette doing another show.
"And for our next trick, we would like a volunteer. How about you, young lady with the red cloak?" Lyney points at the passing Ruby.
"Huh?" Ruby freezes mid-step and turns to the stage.
"Yes, you, young lady. Please step right up," Lyney says as Lynette walks down, takes Ruby's hand, and escorts her onto the stage.
While still confused, Ruby just goes along with it. She always like magic shows anyway.
"Yes, thank you, thank you. Now, what is your name miss?" Lyney asks.
"Uh, I'm Ruby Rose," Ruby scratches her head.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Rose. Now then, let's begin our next trick," Lyney pulls out a queen of hearts card from his hat. "Now then, we have here a regular queen of hearts card, like any other. But, with help from our friend, Ruby Rose, we'll magically change it into something else," Lyney explains.
"Oh, what do I do?" Ruby asks, getting excited.
"Now, what we want you to do is to hide that card in your hands. Then, think of something or someone you'd like to see on the card as its new image. With our magic and your thoughts, we'll make that image into a reality. Now, hold the card in your hands," Lyney explains. Ruby keeps the card in between her hands, obscuring it from the audience's view. "Next, close your eyes and think of what you want to be on the card," Ruby closes her eyes. "Now then, once I say the magic word, open your hands. 1... 2... 3... Abracadabra!" Lyney swirls his hand over Ruby's.
Ruby opens her eyes and opens her hands. Within, the queen of hearts has changed dramatically. Instead of the usual queen, it shows the image of Weiss Schnee in a royal outfit. What's more, the heart symbols have switched with her Schnee emblem.
"Wow, even I couldn't see that coming. The queen of hearts as become the Ice Queen," Lyney says.
"Hey!" Weiss shrieks.
"The card is yours to keep. Enjoy and have a nice day now, Miss Rose," Lyney and Lynette bow to her.
"Thank you," Ruby walks off the stage, holding the card like it's a rare prize. "Weiss, you see. I thought of you, and you ended up on the card. Magic really is amazing," Ruby says happily.
Weiss wants to say something but knowing that Ruby was thinking of her, and her image ended up on the card only made her silent and blush. How is it that Ruby can do stuff like this without flinching?
"L-L-L-L-Let's just get moving! We'll be meeting up with the others soon," Weiss walks off with the others following behind her.
Lyney and Lynette watch them leave, glad that Ruby likes their gift.
"I wonder why she gets so embarrassed sometimes about being in a relationship. I mean, I'm not embarrassed at all about being with you, Nilou," Ei wonders, motioning to their intertwined hands.
"Maybe it's because of Weiss' upbringing. She didn't have an easy childhood. Still, I think it's pretty amusing seeing them together. I'm not embarrassed about being with you either, Ei," Nilou replies, moving a little closer to her girlfriend.
As they walk, Weiss gazes up upon seeing an airship fly by. She stops, causing Ruby to walk into her back.
"Huh-wha, hey, what's wrong?" Ruby asks.
Weiss watches the airship head for Beacon. She knows that ship anywhere.
"This isn't good," Weiss mutters, her blush gone and replaced with a frown.
"Why? What's the matter, Weiss?" Ruby asks, getting worried.
"It's Winter... my sister. She's here," Weiss says.
And that's the chapter. Okay, so I used one of my OC teams from my RWBY KEPL story. I apologize because I didn't really have the time to think up another OC team, so I went with Team LILK. Again, I apologize. Anyway, Team RDCN made it to the doubles round, but now it seems Winter is here, and Weiss isn't exactly happy about that. We'll find out why in the next chapter, along with meeting one of my favorite Genshin Impact characters. Until then, Please Read and Review.