Kirito could only stare at his pairing for the next round. Pyrrha Nikos. Kirito knew who she was and how could he not. She was on the front of his cereal box for crying out loud. Of course that wasn't where he primarily knew her from. He had looked into Beacon Academy at least a little bit during his first few days on remnant and her name had come up saying she had chosen to go there. He had then followed up on that research and found out she had multiple accomplishments including winning the mistral regional tournament for the last four years. She was definitely considered to be one of the best, if not one of, combatants in this year of beacon students, and Kirito had to fight her.
Kirito's mind began scrambling to come up with a plan. Not even paying attention to the current match happening. He had seen very little of Pyrrha's fights. Only clips that were attached to news articles. He hadn't even seen her fight during the Initiation. She had a shield and a spear he knew that much but unfortunately he was fighting on Remnant. Which meant either of those weapons also had the potential to change into something else at literally any point. He had time to come up with a plan. His fight wasn't until after Medina's but he just couldn't come up with anything. Meaning he'd need to make a plan mid-fight and it wasn't even guaranteed to work.
He felt someone nudge him in the side which dragged him out of his thoughts. He turned his head and saw Alice and Eugeo looking at him.
"Calm Down" She told him "You are overthinking the match too much. If you continue to do so, you will lose the fight before it has begun". Alice's tone was firm. She had clearly been able to understand what he was thinking.
"How'd you know?" Kirito asked curiously.
Eugeo gave him a small smile "It's written all over your face. You're barely paying attention to what's going on in front of you as well." His partner explained "Relax man, I get that Pyrrha is gonna be a tough opponent but I'm sure at the very least you can give her a run for her money."
Kirito smiled at the two. It made him feel a lot better that his teammates had his back. Well at least two of them did. Medina hadn't said anything to him. She was staring straight ahead, appearing to be watching the fight happening in front of her. However Kirito figured that she was probably in her head the same way he was. It was evident that she and Weiss didn't like each other and Kirito was worried that a loss here would hurt Medina far more than the girl would ever admit. Kirito opened his mouth to speak to Medina but he was cut off.
"Would the combatants for round two "Eugeo Azure" and "Lie Ren" please make their way down?" Glynda called to the class.
Eugeo stood up confidently, adjusting the Blue Rose sword on his hip as he did. "Wish me luck guys!" he said as he began to walk towards the arena.
"Give em hell Eugeo"
"Fight well"
Both Eugeo and Alice encouraged as the boy made his way to the arena.
The next few rounds of combat went by quickly. Eugeo fighting against Ren ended up being a fairly even match with Ren's mobility and acrobatic ability making it hard for Eugeo to land a hit. Eugeo fought smart, however, and was able to make Ren believe he left an opening when it was actually a trap. Eugeo was able to knock Ren into the air before hitting him with a barrage of Ice spikes winning him the fight.
Ruby,Yang and Nora each won their fights. Each fighting well in Kirito's opinion. Team RWBY and JNPR were definitely not to be messed with. Even Jaune, who Kirito acknowledged wasn't the greatest physical combatant, had a decent tactical mind from what Ruby had told him. Unfortunately tactics hadn't meant anything against Alice. Kirito still felt sorry for anyone who ended up against her. Especially Blake. Who was fighting her right now.
To be fair to Blake when the fight started her plan had seemed sound. She had quickly used her semblances to disappear and then attack Alice from behind. Alice had quickly adapted, however, and had been managing to block most of her as the fight had been going on Blake had realized her plan wasn't working and had switched to fighting from a range.
Currently she was firing at Alice from the other side of the Arena. The plan made sense. Blake might have been good but this decision , at least to Kirito, suggested that she wasn't confident she could take Alice at close range. They had both seen each other fight before after all. So each was aware of what the other could do.
Alice appeared to be on the back foot. She was doing her best to block and dodge Blake's shots, but even when she finally managed to close the distance. Blake would disappear.
Alice grimaced as she missed Blake for what felt like the hundredth-time. She knew that if she could just get in close enough she could win but Blake wasn't giving her the opportunity. It was then Alice realized something. Blake couldn't run if there was nowhere to run.
Alice raised her sword into the air. As soon as she did the blade shimmered before erupting into thousands of razor sharp flower petals. She pointed her sword forward and the flower petals flew towards Blake. Blake attempted to fire at the dust shots but every single one of the shots was destroyed by the flower petals. Blake quickly used her semblance to dodge but the flower petals were on her immediately. The roles had been completely switched. Just from Alice using her semblance.
Alice upped the power. The gauntlets around her hands turned into flowers as well as. There were so many flower petals that the entire arena was almost covered in the flower petals. There was nowhere for Blake to go as she narrowly managed to weave in and out of the flower petals. Her aura getting chipped down further and further.
Blake made a last ditch effort. She ran towards Alice. Using her sword to cut away any flower petals that came near to her. She eventually got close enough and went to attack Alice. Alice smirked at this, however, and reformed her sword (but not her gauntlets) and quickly used her flower petals to block Blake's attack. She then slashed horizontally and struck Blake's midsection. Blake was knocked flying and crashed into the arena wall. Alice followed the attack up by transforming her sword back into the razor sharp flower petals and launching them towards where Blake had landed. Alice kept the assault going until the call was made.
"Stop! Blake Belladonna's aura has fallen into red. Meaning the winner is Alice Zuberg!".
Kirito was in awe at what he had just watched. He had only ever seen Alice turn her sword into flower petals before. It had never occurred to him that Alice could do it with other parts of her armor but it suddenly made sense. He'd often thought it was weird that she wore so much armor considering how agile her fighting style is but it suddenly all made sense. She didn't broadcast it but with how she was equipped, every part of her body was a weapon. Kirito's eyes went wide at the realization. Suddenly the scene when he met her all made sense. Just how powerful was she?.
"Remind me never to make her mad," Yang joked. All Kirito could do was agree.
Back in the arena. Alice walked over to where Blake was. She was on her hands and knees panting. Alice's expression softened. Maybe she had gone a bit overboard on the poor girl. Alice bent down and offered her a hand. Blake stared at it for a few seconds. Before letting out a sigh and accepting the help. She really wasn't in any position to decline.
"You fought well" Alice told her "Against any other opponent your strategies might have worked." She complimented.
Blake rolled her eyes. "You don't have to sugar coat it. Even when my plan was working it was barely working." Blake explained.
Alice shook her head "Nonsense. Had I not used my semblance you would have defeated me for certain."
Kirito watched as the two of them returned their seats. There were two matches left of the current. His was once again the final match of the round. Meaning up next was Medina and Weiss. Almost as soon as Alice and Blake had returned and sat down. Both girls had stood up and headed down to the arena. Kirito looked at Alice and Eugeo. Both of them looked back with the same worried look on their faces. No matter how this match went down it was bound to at the very least be a massive blow to the pride of one of the combatants. The question was who's.
The two girls didn't even wait for Glynda's command to take their places. Each drew their weapon. Medina stepped forward and bent her knees. She angled her sword behind her as it began to emit a crimson glow.
Weiss smirked and got into position raising her rapier "Myrtenaster" and spinning the dust chamber before it clicked on the type of dust that she wanted.
From the stands the remainder of team KAOZ realized what she was doing. She was leading off with her semblance again.
"Hey, so not one to critique how she fights or anything." Eugeo began "But didn't you say her semblance drains a lot of her energy? Isn't she using it a little bit too much?" he asked Alice.
Alice shook her head "Not her energy. Her "Life Energy". The way she explained it to me made it seem as if there were some kind of distinction," the blonde knight explained. Her voice was worried. She was clearly concerned for her partner.
Kirito guessed watching was all they could do and hoped that Medina knew what she was doing.
Glynda saw that the two were ready and paused for a second. Eventually she made the call "Very Well. Begin!" She declared
Immediately Medina let out a yell and slashed forward with her sword. A huge wave of energy erupted for the slash and charged towards Weiss. However, just as it approached Weiss. She just stepped to the side. Allowing the huge attack to sail past her. Completely missing her.
Weiss laughed "Honestly Medina. Did you think that same old trick would work on me?" His tone was cocky. Confident "I mean honestly you used it round one. Did you really think I wouldn't see it coming?"
Weiss then raised Myrtenaster once more and pointed it at Medina. It took Medina a few seconds to realize what was happening before she suddenly looked down and saw a glyph below her feet that was beginning to glow brighter and brighter. The crimson haired girl attempted to move out of the way but it was far too late and the ground below her exploded.
Medina let out a yell of pain as she was sent flying from the attack. She flew a few feet through the air before she managed to right herself and stab her sword into the ground. Causing her to come to a stop. Weiss hadn't stopped attacking though she swiped Myrtenaster through the air. Causing five glyphs to appear behind her. She thrust the rapier forward and ice shards began to fire from the glyphs towards Medina.
Medina reacted on instinct. She slashed with her sword. Using her semblance once again to unleash a wave of energy that destroyed all the ice shards. To the untrained eye this was fine but Alice noticed how she was beginning to grow tired from the repeated uses of her semblance. Medina didn't stop. She used the cover of her semblance to close the gap between herself and Weiss. Medina attacked with a wide horizontal slash which Weiss jumped back to avoid. Medina slashed at her again vertically but again Weiss avoided it.
The frustration was evident on Medina's face as she let out a yell and stabbed at Weiss with the sword. Weiss just smirked, however, as black glyphs appeared around Medina's sword. Pinning it in place in the air. Medina tried to pull her sword free but to no avail.
"You see Medina. This is why no one ever respected you Orthinanos'." Weiss taunted "You claim to be a family of pride, one who values their skills in combat, and yet here you are not even able to lay a finger on me."
Medina let out a yell of rage and let go of her sword as she attempted to punch Weiss. Weiss ducked, avoiding the punches and thrust Myrtenaster forward stabbing at Medina. Medina's Aura took the hit for her but the girl was forced back.
"Face it. I'm better than you. I'm faster, I'm stronger." Weiss said as she used Myrtenaster once again as Medina was surrounded by golden glyphs. "And I'm smarter".
Weiss suddenly leapt into action. She leapt onto one of the Glyphs and used it as a springboard to jump at Medina. There was nothing Medina could have done. The Glyphs Weiss was using were enhancing her speed in some kind of way because as soon as she processed that one attack had happened the next one had already hit her. Weiss was a blur as she struck Medina over and over and over again. The disarmed Medina was helpless to stop her. The fight had ended as soon as she had let go of her sword.
"Enough!" Glynda called. As she did the glyphs disappeared and Weiss landed gracefully in front of Medina. "Miss Orthinanos' aura has reached the red. Miss Schnee is the winner!"
Weiss turned around and looked down at Medina. The girl was struggling to keep herself propped up let alone being able to stand. But instead of offering her help. Weiss spoke to her, "Next time you challenge me. The next time you come at me thinking that you're better. Just remember who helped you get as good as you are," she said before turning around and walking off stage.
Medina offered her no response. She just watched her go before falling forward and passing out. Immediately all three remaining members of team KAOZ ran down to the front of the class. Kirito caught Ruby's eye as they ran. An apologetic look on her face. The three soon reached Medina and reached her side. The girl didn't respond to their presence. She had fully lost consciousness.
"You idiot," Alice said quietly. She looked down at her partner sadly. She wasn't judging her but she clearly understood what had gone wrong.
"Mr. Azure, Miss Zuberg. Could you two please take Miss Orthinanos to the infirmary before the next round starts?" Glynda asked the two. "I will delay your matches until you are able to return."
The two of them nodded and each lifted Medina up. Putting one of her arms around each of her shoulders.
Eugeo looked over at Kirito "Looks like we won't be able to see your match. Sorry Man" He apologized
Kirito just shook his head, "Nah, it's all good. I'll tell you how it went when you get back. Make sure she's OK for me, yeah?"
"Good Luck," Alice told him, nodding. A smile on her face. Kirito smiled back, it was nice to know she had confidence in him.
The two then left the room. Kirito sighed as he watched them go. He couldn't imagine how Medina was going to feel when she lost. Kirito wished he could say it had been if he did Medina would probably get mad at him. The reality was the fight was completely controlled by Weiss. She got into Medina's head before the fight had even begun and used it to win the fight.
Kirito just sighed and turned to Glynda. "Well teach, since I'm already here you want to just get this over with," he asked her.
Glynda rolled her eyes at his informality. "Please refer to me as Professor Goodwitch, Mr. Kirito", she instructed. "Anyways I believe that would be for the best." She turned to address the crowd, "The final match of round two will be Pyrrha Nikos vs Kirito!"
Kirito watched Pyrrha as she began to make her way down. He still had absolutely no idea how he was going to fight her. There had to be some kind of hole in her defense. But he would have to find it during the fight.
Pyrrha made her way down to the arena and smiled at him. "Hello Kirito" She greeted "I have to say I've been looking forward to a chance to fight with you"
Kirito raised an eyebrow at that "Oh? Why is that?" He asked
"Your way of fighting intrigues me." Pyrrha admitted. "And of course your fight in round one was remarkable," she complimented.
Kirito sighed. It was pretty amazing how he had pulled off his win against Cardin. If only he knew how he had done it. It would probably come in handy in this fight. Kirito shook his head to clear his thoughts. The fight hadn't even started. He couldn't give up yet
"Well then let's see if I can keep up with "The invincible girl" Kirito smiled back. He saw a look flash across Pyrrha's face for a second at the mention of the nickname but only for a second. Kirito couldn't get a read on what that look meant though. "Good luck Pyrrha, here's to a good fight" he told her.
Pyrrha smiled back, "The same to you Kirito"
"Students ready yourselves. Combat begins in ten seconds." Glynda told then
Kirito watched as Pyrhha readied herself. She stood with her spear to her side with her shield slightly raised. Her stance was completely neutral. Kirito grimaced, there was little he could gather from how she was going to start the fight. Kirito figured that just reacting to what Pyrrha was going to do wasn't going to work. He would need to be on the offensive. The black swordsman leaned forward, angling both of his swords to the ground behind him.
"Begin!"
Kirito launched forward and slashed the Elucidator upwards to the right. Pyrrha also dashed forward with her shield raised and she forced the shield into Kirito's attack. Kirito realized that her opening move worked as both an offensive and defensive move. The black swordsman grit his teeth as he realized just how tough this fight was going to be. He slashed diagonally down with the dark repulser but Pyrrha blocked that hit as well. Pyrrhas then slashed at him horizontally with her spear. Augmenting the slash with her weapons dust features.
Kirito stumbled back and had only milliseconds before another slash came his way which he barely managed to block. Kirito only then noticed that how she was holding her spear hand changed. She was now using it more like a sword. Kirito kept trying to block the absolute onslaught of attack but it was a losing battle. Each attack was unpredictable and blocking them was becoming increasingly more difficult. He was eventually caught off guard when Pyrrha attacked with her shield again. Bashing in the head and knocking him back and off his feet.
Kirito scrambled back onto his feet and saw Pyrrha hadn't pressed the advantage. She simply stood there daring him to move. "She's testing me," Kirito thought. Kirito took a stance for a sword skill he hoped could turn the tide. He brought the elucidator up close to his face and pointed in towards Pyrrha. Before Pyrrha could even respond the sword began to glow and Kirito had been thrown forward. The speed of the skill surprising both himself and Pyrrha,
The elucidator stabbed towards Pyrrha and Kirito knew she couldn't bring her shield up in time to block it. Or at least that's what he had thought. All of a sudden he saw Pyrrha move her spear holding hand, and felt the trajectory of his attack move towards Pyrrha's shield. Allowing her to block the hit. Kirito was briefly stunned by what had just happened. Pyrrha had basically blocked what should've been an unblockable hit. He knew this feeling, the feeling of fighting an untouchable opponent and the last time he had fought one it hadn't exactly gone well for him either time. Kirito needed a new plan.
Unfortunately for him. Pyrrha wasn't exactly going to give him time to think of one. She rushed in again. Striking him with her shield and knocking both of his swords out of the way. She then attacked him, cutting across his torso three times, once horizontally to the left, once to the right and final vertical slash. Each enhanced with dust shots. Kirito needed a way to break the attack chain he was stuck in and slashed with Elucidator and pulled its trigger. Unleashing a wave of fire that Pyrrha managed to block.
Kirito was beginning to grow frustrated. Nothing he had done had been able to touch the girl. He could see why she had earned the nickname "the invincible girl". Kirito decided to go for a hail Mary. If he couldn't call upon whatever he did against Cardin. He could at least go for something else new. Kirito prepared for another skill
Pyrrha attacked again and slashed at him with her spear. Kirito blocked the hit with the Dark Repulser as both of his swords began to glow. He slashed diagonally to the right right with the Elucidator which Pyrrha blocked before slashing diagonally to the left which Pyrrha also went to block. Kirito pulled the trigger as he attacked however. Unleashing a wave of ice dust. Pyrrha jumped back narrowly avoiding the wave but Kirito's skill continued. He slashed diagonally down with both swords which Pyrrha once again had to step back to avoid before repeating the action, but diagonally upwards which successfully knocked Pyrrha's shield out of the way. Kirito let out a yell as he stabbed forward with the Elucidator. This time he was sure the hit was all but guaranteed to connect.
Until once again he felt his sword change course at the very last second and he…. Missed. Kirito couldn't believe it. How had he… How did Pyrrha? He didn't know what had happened. He didn't have time to contemplate however? as he was hit with an uppercut from Pyrrha using her shield. Knocking him into the air slightly before he fell back down. Lying flat on his back. Defeated.
"Stop. Mr. Kirito's aura has reached the red. Miss Nikos is the winner."
Kirito couldn't believe it. He had seen an opening in Pyrrha's defenses twice and both times she had managed to stop him. Where they actually openings. Had Pyrrha completely baited him both times? No, that didn't feel right. She had been surprised at how fast his Vorpal strike had been and she was completely defenseless for the last hit of the starburst streak. So how in the hell had she done it? Kirito still couldn't shake the feeling. Fighting Pyrrha had been scarily similar to fighting Heathcliff in SAO. It was fitting since he wasn't sure he had been this confused after a fight since then.
Pyrrha walked over to him and offered him a hand up which the black swordsman gladly accepted. "You fought well. You almost broke through my defenses a few times there."
Kirito smiled "Thanks. I see why they call you "Invincible" now." He completed
That same look flashed across Pyrrha's face again before she composed herself. "I see," she said, "if it is alright with you, I would like to spar with you again in the future. Your way of fighting intrigues me." She told him
"Uhh sure" Kirito responded. "Anytime". That was a weird request from arguably the best student in the year. To spar with someone who probably wouldn't be ranked outside the top twenty but he figured it couldn't hurt. Fighting against someone of her caliber could only help him to improve.
It was about half an hour later that Alice and Eugeo returned from the infirmary. They told Kirito that Medina was still passed out but the nurse had said she would be fine. She was just exhausted. Kirito supposed that was good news. Although he needed to talk with her when she woke up. Shortly after this the scrolls of the students who had made it through to round three dinged. Everyone quickly opened their scrolls to check the matchups
"I'm against Yang," Alice said. Her tone neutral. Kirito was suddenly very scared. Yang and Alice were two incredibly powerful combatants. But he wasn't scared for either combatant. He was more worried for the sheer amount of damage the two could do for the arena. He chuckled to himself. Goodwitch had been using her semblance to repair the arena after each fight. He just hoped it was going to be strong enough to repair whatever damage came from this fight.
"Looks like we're both fighting team RWBY. This round" Eugeo told the blonde knight. He held up his scroll to show them who he was fighting. The name read clearly. Weiss Schnee.
Kirito read the name and looked Eugeo in the eye "Don't let her get to you man. That's how she beat Medina." He had seen one of his teammates lose to Weiss and he was hoping Eugeo wouldn't lose in the same way.
Eugeo smiled back at him, "Don't worry. Weiss is good and I do want to win this for Medina but I won't let that distract me."
Kirito nodded slowly, "Good luck man".
Kirito then turned his attention to the front of the arena. Watching as Pyrrha stepped up to fight against her opponent for the round. Kirito just hoped the Eugeo could keep personal feelings aside and fight Weiss without worrying too much about what had happened with Medina.
Eugeo arrived in the arena shortly before Weiss did. Giving him a few minutes to think to himself. Weiss Schnee was someone Eugeo knew well. Well not personally. Rather knew of her. Anyone who used dust did. She was a celebrity. Which left the question of why she chose to be a huntress. She had her life path set for her. She could've just taken the easy life and taken a job up in Atlas with the SDC. Yet she didn't. This led Eugeo to believe that there had to be more to the girl than everyone had assumed. Everyone else just saw the princess who looked down on others, and from what Eugeo saw, she was at least partly that. But Eugeo was curious to know just what else there was to Weiss Schnee.
Weiss eventually made her way to the arena. She looked up and down at Eugeo. Eugeo began to feel slightly uncomfortable under her gaze. Eventually she looked him in the eye.
"You're Medina's teammate?" She asked curiously. Her tone was surprising to Eugeo. It wasn't accusatory or hostile. It was more curious.
"That's right. I'm the A in team KAOZ. Eugeo Azure." He declared confidently
Weiss' neutral expression didn't change, "I see", she responded. She looked at him for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on her face. "Then good luck Eugeo. I hope you'll be more of a challenge than your teammate was.
Eugeo's expression twitched slightly at that. He knew that was an attempt to get into his head. At least if she was doing it on purpose. Eugeo had a hunch that that wasn't the case.
"Same to you Weiss, I also hope you'll be more of a challenge than Blake was to Alice." Eugeo shot back
Weiss seemed surprised at that response. She apparently hadn't expected Eugeo to be able to trash talk back. Honestly Eugeo normally wasn't one for it but he figured it might get him closer to figuring Weiss out.
"Take your positions. The fight begins in ten seconds." Glynda declared.
Weiss got into the same position as her last fight. Spinning Myrtenaster's dust chamber and locking in and pointing her Rapier towards Eugeo. Eugeo responded by raising the Blue Rose sword in front of him in a defensive stance.
"Begin!"
Immediately Weiss propelled herself forward. Powered by Glyphs she propelled herself forward incredibly quickly. Eugeo however had prepared for this and she launched herself forward. He created a wall of ice in front of Weiss. The Ice Queen was barely able to stop herself from crashing into the wall and Eugeo took advantage of her stumble. Leaping over the wall and attacking her with the Blue Rose sword. Weiss blocked the hit and stabbed at Eugeo.
Eugeo dodged the first couple of strikes but Weiss managed to catch him with two strikes to his abdomen. Eugeo's aura flickered but wasn't broken. Eugeo slashed at Weiss vertically with the Blue Rose sword. Weiss blocked the hit, missing the smirk on Eugeo's face as she did. A pillar of ice erupted from the ground underneath their two swords. Eugeo quickly pulled the Blue Rose Sword back but Weiss couldn't pull Myrtenaster away. As the sword got frozen in the ice.
A look of worry appeared on Weiss's face as she tried to pry her sword from the ice. Eugeo didn't give her much time to do so as he slashed at her. Forcing her to let go of her rapier and use her glyphs to propel herself out of the way of Eugeo's attack. Eugeo was confident however. From what he had seen from Weiss' fight with Medina most of her strength came from combining dust with her glyphs. Taking away her weapon and therefore her dust drastically reduced how versatile Weiss' semblance was.
Weiss knew this and immediately put distance between herself and Eugeo. Eugeo didn't move to attack her however. He just stood between her and the pillar of ice her sword was trapped in. He didn't need to attack. There was very little Weiss could do to damage him in her current state.
Eugeo could see Weiss' mind working at a mile a minute to come up with a solution. She needed to get her sword back or else there was no way she could damage Eugeo's aura. Weiss raised a hand and called more glyphs up as she proceeded to jump between each as if it were a platform as she made her way towards Eugeo. Eugeo focused on her movements for a few seconds before realizing there was a glyph under his feet. Eugeo was thrown to the left by the glyph out of the way of Weiss' path to her sword.
Weiss made it to the pillar and went to grab her sword again but Eugeo was back on her. Eugeo slashed vertically cutting across Weiss' chest. Euge followed up with two more attacks of the same variety but Weiss summoned glyphs to block each of Eugeo's attacks. A golden Glyph then appeared below Weiss' feet as she suddenly moved too fast as if she were a blur. Before Eugeo could realize, Weiss had made it back to the pillar and grabbed onto her sword. A red glyph materialized onto the pillar. Before Eugeo could stop her the pillar exploded. Eugeo managed to use his semblance to for any of the ice chunks propelled by the explosion away from him but he wasn't exactly in a good position. Weiss had Mytenaster back.
Weiss immediately cast another glyph behind her and a large fireball. Eugeo charged towards her and leapt over the fireball. Twirling himself around in the air to completely avoid the attack. Eugeo then activated his semblance again. Causing multiple pillars of ice to erupt from the ground around Weiss. Eugeo jumped from pillar to pillar as Weiss tried to keep track of where he was. Eventually Eugeo leapt from the tallest pillar and attacked Weiss from above.
Spinning in the air and building momentum, Eugeo slashed down at Weiss. Weiss tried to dodge out of the way but was met with one of the many ice pillars Eugeo had created in her way. Eugeos attack hit Weiss. Knocking her flying through one of the pillars as she landed on the other side of the arena.
The girl staggered to her feet. Eugeo raised his blade again. Ready to continue the fight. That was until…
"Stop. Miss Schnee's aura has entered the red. The winner is Eugeo Azure".
Eugeo was briefly stunned. He had thought that the fight was nowhere near over. He had only landed one or two solid hits on Weiss and her aura was already gone. It was in that moment that Eugeo figured out Weiss' weakness. While the semblance was incredibly powerful and versatile. Her aura itself was a lot more fragile than most others. It finally made sense. Why Weiss' fighting style involved so much speed and grace. It was to make sure she got hit as little as possible and using as many glyphs as she did throughout the fight can't have helped the Aura drain either.
Weiss slowly walked to the middle of the arena and met Eugeo there. The ice queen didn't speak for a few moments before she looked him in the eye.
"It would seem I... underestimated you." Weiss told him "To think someone else in our year would have such a mastery of their semblance." An impressed smirk made its way onto Weiss' face and it was the first time Eugeo thought he'd heard Weiss praise someone.
Eugeo feigned surprise. "Now Miss Schnee, correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like a compliment," he told her with some humor in his voice.
"Take it as you will, Eugeo. Either way, thank you for the excellent battle." She responded before walking back up to rejoin her team.
Eugeo watched her go before letting out an exhausted sigh. It seemed that he had gotten on Weiss' good side for now. Which was an upside alongside his victory in the fight. Still he was surprised at how fragile her aura had been. Was it because she had been using her Glyphs too much during the fight and therefore had run out of aura much faster? Eugeo wasn't sure but he was at least hoping to have a chance to discuss it with her in the future.
"Nice work man" Kirito congratulated Eugeo.
"Excellently done Eugeo" Alice complimented.
Eugeo gave the two a smile as he returned to his seat. "Thanks you guys, she didn't make it easy for me. She is quite good with her semblance."
Alice looked thoughtful for a second, "Well, her semblance is hereditary, just like Medina's. It makes sense that she has a lot of practice with it since she's not the first one to have to figure it all out."
Kirito nodded in agreement. Although something was bothering him and Alice's mentioning Medina brought it back up. He was worried for his teammate. Losing to Weiss, especially in the fashion she had, was bound to have some kind of effect on her. Kirito wanted to talk with her about it at the very least. He then realized that there was technically nothing stopping him. Due to the fact that he had lost to Pyrrha he had no reason to stick around other than supporting his team of course.
"Hey guys" Kirito began out loud. Getting the attention of his teammates "Since I've got no real reason to stick around, I'm going to head out for a bit and check on Medina. As long as you guys are OK with that?" He asked, wanting to make sure his teammates wouldn't mind his absence.
Alice almost immediately agreed to the idea. "I think that's a good idea. She could probably use someone to talk to right about now."
Eugeo nodded in agreement "I'll text you updates on how the fights are going. Now go do your job. Leader," he told Kirito with a bit of a teasing undertone.
Kirito chuckled and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Sorry to ditch you guys. I promise it won't be a habit.
"Honestly." Alice sighed while shaking her head, "We've given you permission. Now go before I throw you out."
Kirito, not wanting to see if the blonde knight had really meant that threat or not, quickly got up and made his way out of the classroom. He was glad his teammates were understanding but he did feel bad for not being there to support them. Kirito promised himself at that moment he'd at least get back to watch the finale with them.
It had taken Kirito about twenty minutes to make it to the infirmary. Mostly because he had almost completely gotten lost. Eventually he'd ran into one of the professors "Professor Peach" in the hallways and she'd pointed him in the right direction. He'd eventually made it to the infirmary and after explaining the situation to the nurse she'd be more than happy to let him check on his teammate.
The black swordsman walked through to the back of the infirmary and saw Medina lying on one of the beds. He looked around but he couldn't see Cardin anywhere. He walked over to where Medina was lying and noticed that she was awake and sitting up in the bed. Leaning against the headrest but she just appeared to be…. Staring at the ceiling.
"Hey Medina" Kirito greeted calmly as he took a seat next on one of the chairs next to the bed. "How're you doing?"
She turned her head to look at him and sighed. "I've… been better I won't lie," she chuckled. Though it was empty. She clearly wasn't happy with her loss and Kirito didn't blame her.
"I figured as much. If it makes you feel any better I lost too. So I figured I'd come and make sure you're doing OK." Kirito told her. Trying to keep a smile on his face.
Medina just snorted "It doesn't. Make me feel better I mean. You were against Pyrrha Nikos though. No one thought you were going to win."
Kirito chuckled at that. At least she was honest with him. "I guess. I gave it my best though, as did you. Even Eugeo struggled against Weiss."
Medina's eyes shot up and looked directly into Kirito's own. "Eugeo fought her!?" She almost yelled. Kirito had expected this would be her reaction, though, so he wasn't all that surprised.
"Mhm. Weiss gave him a run for his money but he managed to take her down." Kirito explained to her. He wasn't sure how she would take it but he could only hope that it would be positive.
"I… I see, "she said. Her tone was empty. Her surprise from earlier was gone as she seemed to sink further into her bed. "It's good that he was able to win. I assume Alice has continued to win as well?
"I don't know. She hadn't fought yet when I left." Kirito told her. She didn't have much of a reaction to that. An awkward silence fell between the two. Kirito knew what he wanted to ask her but he didn't know if now was a good time. He figured he should at least extend an olive branch though. Just in case she did want to talk. "Hey so. I might be overstepping here but I'd like it if we were all on the same page. " Kirito began but Medina cut him off.
"You wish to know why I was so desperate to defeat Weiss, correct?" She asked. Kirito only nodded in response. It was obvious to him that the topic would have been on her mind. Medina sighed "I… don't really want to get into all of our history. Especially not now."
"You don't have to" Kirito told her quickly. Not wanting to further upset her, "But it's clear to me that Weiss hurt you in some way. Or something happened that made you two hate each other. You don't have to tell me Medina but I think you'd feel better if you did". He meant what he said. He'd been through a lot already despite his young age and while he was bad at it. When he eventually talked about what was wrong he did tend to feel better afterwards.
Medina didn't respond for a while as she contemplated his words. She just stared in front of her emerald eyes unfocused as she thought for a few seconds. Eventually she seemed to find her words "It's… been so long now. Since me and Weiss started hating each other. Three years at the very least." She began. Her voice was uncertain as she struggled to figure out just what she wanted to say.
"You two had been friends for a while then," Kirito asked. He wasn't going to push her to talk but he was going to try and at least encourage her to speak about what was bothering her.
"I guess so. The Orthinanos and the Schnees are both powerful families in atlas. So naturally myself and Weiss would often find ourselves at social events for the elite. The two of us were often the only children of our age as well so we just kind of were friends by circumstance. I think I was six when I first met Weiss." Medina looked to the window to her right. She got up out of the bed and walked over to it. She gazed out the window and was silent for a while. Whatever she was trying to say was clearly difficult for her. She stared for another few seconds before continuing. "Eventually we began to hang out outside of those events. Not doing anything special. Just to hang out or meet up to talk. We were friends by circumstance but we eventually grew to have a bond deeper than that. Or at least that's what I had thought."
Kirito kept silent as Medina spoke. It was clear to him that Medina and Weiss' backstory ran deeper than he had initially thought. Just how much deeper remained to be seen. He was honestly more surprised that the girl was opening up to him. This was definitely the most he had heard her talk outside of combat since he had met her. He was glad he supposed, a part of him was worried that she was never going to talk to him.
"It was shortly after we had both begun training to become huntresses. I had always known I was going to be a huntress , as all we Orthinanos do, but Weiss deciding to be a huntress was a surprise. After all she could've just had a cushy job up in Atlas and been done with it. We began to train together routinely. Weiss was teaching me new techniques and helping me figure out ways to use my semblance more effectively in combat. She was learning so fast. I was honestly a little bit jealous of her." Medina continued. Taking fewer and fewer pauses to find her words.
"However, it started when she was around ten but got worse over the years. She became more. Angry, Violent, closed off to the world around her. Naturally while she was helpful in training me. Her frustrations seemed to come out more than ever when we trained. When she was thirteen it got worse. She would berate me and almost anyone around her. She tried to pretend that she was fine. That nothing was wrong. It wasn't long however before that anger and hostility turned personal. One day she began to insult me, and not just minor jabs like it had been before, These insults were personal. She went after whatever she could. My family, How I fought everything. Our "Training" sessions. Where nothing more than her taking whatever problems she had back home out on me"
Medina's voice had raised now. She was talking faster and tears began to form around her eyes. Kirito could tell she was dumbing down the story as well but he understood. Medina had witnessed some who she thought was her closest friend suddenly turn into someone who hated her and there was nothing she could've done to stop it.
"Worst of all. I figured out after a while that most of this anger towards me was coming from her absolute bastard of a father. He was telling her things about me. I fu… I know he was. There were things she said that could have only come from HIS mouth." Medina explained. The venom in her voice as she talked about Weiss' father was obvious. "Eventually during one session, I couldn't take it anymore. I began to yell back. I… said a lot of things I shouldn't have but I was too angry to care. Our argument escalated and escalated. Eventually, what was meant to be a sparring session turned into a full blown fight. What's worse. If we hadn't been stopped I could tell that we wouldn't have stopped until the other was unconscious and that's in the best case scenario… Worst case..." Medina didn't finish the sentence but Kirito could guess what she was saying. There was a reason fights at Beacon stopped when the opponent's aura fell into the red.
"By the time Weiss' sister stopped us the training room was destroyed. Turns out when a Schnee and an Orthinanos go all out it gets pretty destructive." Medina chuckled darkly "The worst part. After the fight Weiss refused to speak to me. The last thing she said to me was that someone like me should have never been her friend in the first place. The first time I spoke to her after that was in the ballroom. The night before the Initiation. " Medina finished before turning back to Kirito. Kirito remembered the interaction. Weiss had seemed surprised to see Medina. Medina looked him dead in the eyes "There you have it. It's obviously a very abridged version of it. After all, mine and Weiss were friends for years but yeah. That's why losing to Weiss hurts so much. Because somewhere deep down it makes me think she was right. About everything she said. About my family, about me. I just saw red during our fight. I had to prove her wrong. I just had to. I couldn't let myself believe anything she said was right".
Kirito paused for a few seconds to take in the information. The hatred between the two definitely made sense now. Medina having been treated the way she was by Weiss definitely wasn't okay. Still Kirito figured there was more to it than just Weiss suddenly started hating Medina.
"I'm sorry that you had to go through all that Medina." Kirito told her, "If it's any consolation. I think you're excellent in combat and I don't know much about your family. I've only heard good things. The black swordsman doing his best to comfort her at least a little bit.
Medina just shook her head, "Apologies, don't fix what happened then. Not from you and not from either me or Weiss either. I just don't understand what led to all this. What could have happened to Weiss that just led to what happened?" She asked. The question was rhetorical. She wasn't looking for an answer. Just thinking out loud.
"Would you like to fix things? Between you and Weiss I mean." Kirito asked cautiously. He didn't want to upset the crimson haired girl. Just maybe give her a gentle nudge to continue the conversation.
"No!" Was Medina's immediate response "Maybe? I don't know, OK!" She yelled. Kirito doubled back at the sudden ferocity. Medina looked at him before taking a deep breath and calming down. She looked like she didn't know how to feel. She once again looked him in the eyes "You're my team's leader so I won't lie to you. I owe you that much at least. I do regret how things ended between myself and Weiss but it's too late now … isn't it?" Medina's tone was filled with regret. Kirito didn't know if Medina still
Kirito shook his head, "Even with how Weiss was treating you and with everything she said. You still cared about her didn't you?" He asked. Obviously he wasn't condoning how Medina had been treated nor was it Medina's job to fix things. Weiss was the one who had initiated everything but he could see that Medina missed her and from what he had been able to gather from his interactions with Weiss. She wasn't the kind of person who would just start being shitty towards her apparent "friend" for no reason. Kirito just knew there was something more going on but there would be no way to know without asking Weiss herself.
Medina thought over Kirito's words for a few seconds before letting out a pained laugh. "Even now. I should hate her. She humiliated me today. She hurt me like no one ever hurt me before during our big fight. But you're right. I don't hate her." She sighed "Truth be told. I wasn't exactly the greatest friend to Weiss either. I knew something was wrong. Everytime we met up there was this look in her eye. Like she was desperately keeping something in and just wanted help and I couldn't even help her with that. I just ignored it because it made things easier to do so".
Kirito paused. Choosing his next words carefully, "It's not your fault. You not helping her doesn't justify Weiss treating you that way." Kirito told her "But I can't help but think from what you've told me that there's something off here. You and Weiss are best friends and then one day she starts treating you like garbage and if her father is as bad as your hatred of him makes him seem then he almost definitely has something to do with it . Judging by what I know of Weiss, something isn't adding up here." Kirito told her and he meant it. He hadn't known Weiss for very long but she definitely didn't seem like the type to turn on someone for no reason.
"Now I'm not the best person when it comes to this type of thing and I don't claim to be either but if I can suggest anything, it couldn't hurt to just talk with Weiss. I won't pretend it's gonna be easy. A lot of raw emotion will probably come out. But if you're right and something was bothering Weiss that she wanted you to help with all that time, the only way to figure it out is to ask her". Kirito hoped what he was saying made sense. Truth be told he wasn't sure if telling Medina to talk to Weiss was the best idea but it was the only way for her to get closure on the whole thing. If they didn't sort things out between them soon it was going to keep eating at Medina .
Medina seemed to be mulling over his words. She didn't say anything for a good while. Kirito received a few texts while he was thinking about how the tournament was going. Apparently the round had finished and the tournament was down to the final five combatants left. Eugeo, Alice, Ruby, Pyrrha and Nora. Five names that Kirito thought it made sense to see in the top five. Kirito hadn't seen Nora fight before but judging from his introduction to her, she seemed… good at what she did. Whatever that was. Kirito wondered how a single elimination bracket would work with only five combatants left but that was down to Glynda to figure out.
"You might be onto something," Medina finally said. Dragging Kirito's eyes away from his scroll. "I think. I think I'd like to speak with Weiss, if anything, just to draw a close to everything we've been through." She explained. Her voice was uncertain but she looked determined to do it.
"You don't have to do it anytime soon," Kirito reminded her. Giving her a reassuring smile. He knew it had to be difficult for her to admit that that was what she wanted to do. "Just do it whenever you feel ready and if you want I'll be right there with you."
Medina seemed surprised that "You'd… be there with me?" She asked. She seemed confused. She didn't seem to understand why Kirito would want to help her with something that she viewed as not being his problem.
Kirito nodded "Of course. I might be your team leader, honestly even saying that feels weird to me, but I'm also your friend Medina. I know you've been… reluctant to warm up to me and Eugeo but we truly just want to get along with you and work as best as we can as a team" Kirito told her. Trying to get across as best he could that he was being genuine.
Medina looked at him for a few seconds before, for the first time, he saw her smile. "You're so annoying you know that," she told him. It wasn't an insult. It was just her way of dealing with being surprised.
Kirito couldn't help but chuckle at how blunt she was. "It's one of my better qualities", he told her. "So I take it you're gonna stop giving me and Eugeo the cold shoulder now". He at least hoped that she would warm up to the two of them a bit over time.
Medina nodded "I will do my best. If you two could be a little less annoying it might help though."
The two shared a laugh at that before Kirito's scroll dinged again and he looked at the messages and his eyes went wide. Medina looked at him curiously as he did. It was a text message from Eugeo. The finals matchup for the tournament was decided. Both Eugeo and Nora had been knocked out by Pyrrha and Ruby had been knocked out by Alice. Meaning that the final round fight was going to be between Alice and Pyrrha.
A massive smile made its way onto Kirito's face. "Alice made it all the way to the finals. All right!" Kirito cheered as he showed Medina the message from Eugeo.
Medina smirked "I knew choosing her as a partner wasn't a bad idea. Even if she did come with you two attached."
"Ouch" Kirito feigned being offended. "Are me and Eugeo really that bad?"
"Not at all" She told him but refused to elaborate. Kirito shook his head. It was an improvement over being ignored, he guessed. "Who is she fighting against?"
"Pyrrha Nikos. Who else?" Kirito explained to her. "I hope Alice can take her on though. She might be the only one of us who can."
Medina nodded "I'm sure Alice can do it. I wouldn't have picked her as a partner if I didn't believe her to be one of the best fighters in our year."
Kirito nodded. Finding it interesting, Medina had chosen Alice as her partner rather than how himself and Eugeo had partnered up. "Anyways, I'm gonna head back to watch the finals. You wanna come with me?" He asked. He knew Alice would be happy to see Medina there.
Medina hesitated for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I think I would like to take some time for myself to process. If that's OK?" She asked. Rubbing her shoulder as she spoke.
Kirito nodded "I get you. Don't worry about it. I'll text you how Alice does," he promised.
Medina smiled at him, "I appreciate it and Kirito. Thank you. It felt good. To get things off my chest." She told him. Her face showed genuine appreciation.
Kirito gave her a reassuring smile before turning around and running out of the room. If he didn't get back to the combat class quickly he would miss the fight and there was no way he was gonna miss Alice fighting Pyrrha. It was bound to be one hell of a fight.
Kirito let out a sigh of relief as he had made his way back to the combat class. Pyrrha and Alice were both standing at the front of the class but it would seem that the fight had not begun yet. Kirito made his way over to where his friends sat, and Eugeo was the first person to notice his return.
"You made it!" Eugeo called over to him. A grin on his face "I thought I was going to have to come and find you to drag you here".
Kirito laughed as he sat down "I told you I'd be here. I wouldn't miss this fight for anything". He meant that as well. He was genuinely looking forward to seeing those who had proven themselves to be the strongest fighters in their years of beacon students going all out fighting each other.
Eugeo smiled at him before lowering his voice. "How's Medina? Was she awake when you got here?" The worry was evident in his voice.
Kirito nodded "Yeah we talked, it's not my place to tell you about what we talked about but let's just say I understand why she and Weiss don't exactly get on now," the black swordsman explains. Throwing a cautious look over at Weiss. Who wasn't paying attention to her teammates and instead seemed to be lost in her own world.
Eugeo nodded "I see. We should go pay a visit to her as a team. After the fight, of course," Kirito agreed with his teammates' suggestion. It would be good for Medina to see she had her team backing her up.
"Hey guys, pay attention, it's starting," Yang called to them. Kirito sighed as he turned his attention to the front of the room. Ready to watch what might be the best fight of the semester.
Alice Zuberg didn't know how to feel as she stood there. In the finals of a tournament to determine who was the strongest of the first year students. While her first round had been somewhat of a dud. Alice was sure Jaune had something about him that justified his admittance to Beacon but his actual combat ability was lacking. Every other round Alice had been against highly competent fighters. Coincidentally all members of team RWBY. Ruby,Blake and Yang. Each of them fought well but Alice had been able to overcome them. The only opponent that remained was Pyrhha Nikos.
Just like how Alice had knocked out most of team RWBY. Pyrrha had knocked out over half her team. Beating both Kirito and Eugeo. To Alice that made this fight just a little bit personal. Partly because she wanted to avenge her teammates' losses, and partly so she could tease Eugeo and Kirito for it later. Alice was forced to shove the thought to the back of her mind as Glynda spoke.
"The battle will begin in ten seconds. Good luck to the both of you and congratulations for making it this far."
"Good luck Alice, may our battle be a grand one?" Pyrrha told her. A genuine smile on her face as she got into her well practiced stance. She stood with her spear to her side in its sword form with her shield slightly raised.
"Same to you Pyrrha." Alice agreed as she gripped her sheath and drew the fragrant olive sword. The golden blade shimmering under the overhead lights. She stood in a neural stance, facing Pyrrha sideways on. Her sword raised and pointed towards Pyrrha.
"Begin!"
Both combatants shot forward incredibly quickly. Meeting in the middle with their blades crossed. The two didn't allow themselves to have a blade lock however quickly breaking away before striking again. Alice slashed vertically towards Pyrrha while Pyrrha met the slash with a horizontal one. The sword struck each other and sparks flew. The two attacked each other again. Alice stabbing towards Pyrrha which the invincible girl blocked with her shield before trying to bash Alice with her shield. Alice blocked the hit with her sword before she attempted to stab at Pyrrha again but as she did her sword burst into flower petals. Catching the invincible girl of guard as she couldn't block the hit completely and was partially hit by the attack. Knocking Pyrrha back a few feet.
Alice didn't let up, however, and just as Pyrrha regained her footing the flower petals from Alice's sword smashed into her pack knocking the girl forward and Alice's gauntleted hand punched into Pyrrha's stomach winding her. Pyrrha looked at Alice in surprise before her eyes narrowed. Pyrrha jumped away from Alice and changed her weapon into its spear form. Alice reformed her sword and rushed towards Pyrrha. She slashed horizontally towards her but Pyrrha moved the hand holding her sword to the left and Alice felt her sword move in the same direction. Causing Alice to narrowly miss. Alice was briefly stunned by what had happened and Pyrrha took full advantage of her position and bashed into Alice's side with her shield before spinning her spear and slashing at Alice three times across different parts of her body.
Alice stumbled back and Pyrrha pressed her advantage. Alice blocked a further few slashes from Pyrrha before slashing horizontally down at Pyrrha. Pyrrha raised her shield to block but Alice smirked as she did. Her sword's blade suddenly burst into flower petals as the hilt of the sword made its way past Pyrrha's shield before quickly reforming as the slash connected. Pyrrha was knocked off her feet by the powerful slash but she managed to flip back onto her feet. Her aura flickering as she landed.
Pyrrha threw her shield at Alice, and the blonde knight managed to block the shield, knocking it back in the direction it came from. Pyrrha jumped in the air and caught her shield before throwing her spear down at Alice. Alice blocked the attack by slashing horizontally with her sword but Pyrrha caught the spear as she fell down and quickly slashed across Alice's chest with her spear. Using the spear's dust features, Pyrrha was able to greatly enhance the power of her strike. Pyrrhas followed up with more and more slashes in various directions across Alice's chest.
Alice knew she needed to break the lock she was trapped in. Her sword blade once again turned into flower petals but this time her gauntlets did too. Alice thrust her hands forward and caused a huge amount of flower petals to slam into Pyrrha's front. Pyrrha was once again knocked off her feet but this time she was unable to right herself as she landed on her front. Pyrrha barely had time to process what had happened as the mass of flower petals almost slammed into her. Barely missing as Pyrrha rolled out of the way. Pyrrha jumped to her feet and changed her weapon into its rifle form and fired five shots at Alice.
Alice recalled all of her flowers and used them to block each shot before sending the massive amount of flower petals towards Pyrrha once again. Pyrrha leapt forward avoiding the attack and rolled back onto her feet. Pyrrha closed the gap between herself and Alice and swung her spear at her. Alice tried to reform her sword but couldn't do it quickly enough. Alice was able to dodge Pyrrha's first few attacks but was caught up in the next few after. Eventually her sword reformed and she slashed at Pyrrha striking the girl across her chest. Pyrrha stabbed Alice striking her in the shoulder. Before jumping back and giving herself some space between the two.
Pyrrha threw her shield at Alice again. Alice responded by using her semblance and creating a cone of flower petals in front of her. Knocking the shield out of the air and onto the floor. Pyrhha charged at Alice but found that the cone of her semblance that Alice had created was much harder to move through than Pyrrha had thought. Pyrrha did her best to move through it but she was only able to take a step before Alice upped the power of the cone. Knocking her back two steps. Pyrrha wouldn't be defeated like this, though, and she threw her spear. Using her weapons dust capabilities to give it extra propulsion power. Alice hadn't expected the spear to make it through and the weapon slammed into her chest.
Pyrrha closed the gap between herself and Alice, picking up her shield and spear as she did. Pyrrha shifted her spear into its sword form and slashed down at Alice. Alice brought her sword up and blocked the hit before slashing vertically at Pyrrha. Pyrrha raised her shield to block the strike and then slashed horizontally upwards and Alice. Alice took a step back avoiding the attack before slashing vertically to right at Pyrrha. Spinning around as she did and adding power to her swing with momentum. Pyrrha raised her shield and blocked the attack but she was still forced back a few feet by the attack.
The two of them continued in this fashion for a while. Semblances, dust and many other things were forgotten in favor of pure swordplay. Alice would strike and Pyrrha would respond and strike back. Eventually though something had to give. After one of her own strikes Alice converted her sword and gauntlets into flower petals once again and launched another powerful volley forward. Pyrrha, having learned from past experience that she couldn't block the powerful hit. Opted to dodge the hit. Jumping to the side and rolling to the left she had expected to see Alice's sword swinging towards her face as she stood. Panicking Pyrrha thrust her spear forward, the strike slamming into Alice's stomach as Alice's sword made contact with her own face.
Both combatants stumbled back. Each running low on energy and having exhausted most of their techniques in a desperate bid to outdo the other. Both sides knew that they were about one strike away from defeat. For a second neither move as they each took a second to try and figure out what their plans for their final stands were. Until each combatant got into a stance.
Pyrrha changed her spear into its sword form and raised her shield in front of her. Angling her spear behind her. Alice held her sword down behind her and faced Pyrrha. Placing one foot behind the other and leaned forward. Preparing to dash. Both combatants stood still for a moment, each daring the other to move first. Both were aware of how much weight the timing of this next strike held.
Something had to happen eventually, though, and as quickly as they had initially, both combatants dashed towards each other. To everyone in the audience it had appeared that they had both dashed past each other. Both stood as though they had made an attack though. Both combatants stood panting for a moment and neither made any attempt to move as both of their auras flickered after their attack. The silence was broken by Pyrrha speaking
"You fought well," she said.
"As did you?" Alice responded.
And then Glynda made the call.
"By a very narrow gap in Aura. Alice Zuberg's aura has fallen into the red zone. Pyrrha Nikos is the winner!"
All the students watching the fight erupted into applause and cheers as the finals ended. Alice fell down onto her hands and knees. She was completely exhausted. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Pyrrha had done the same. The constant back to back battles on top of having to fight an incredibly strong opponent in the finals had drained them both completely.
"You… are incredible" Pyrrha called over to her. "It's rare I see someone as strong as you"
"I'm incredible? You should try fighting against you sometime. You're amazing."
Despite their exhaustion both girls smiled. Satisfied with the battle they had just had. Alice in particular was surprised. It was rare that she got to all out against a human opponent and Pyrrha had provided more than a satisfactory challenge. Her only regret was that she didn't win. Something she planned to fix the next time they thought.
About ten minutes later both Pyrrha and Alice had managed to make their way back to their seats and had been overwhelmingly congratulated by their teammates. Most of them said that it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen and while maybe not THE coolest. Kirito did admit it was impressive. He was surprised at how well Alice had fared against Pyrrha. Of course he had had faith in her but his own fight against Pyrrha had made him skeptical but seeing her fight down there had definitely dispelled any doubts he had.
"Ehem" Glynda coughed from the front of the class. Gaining all of the students attention. "Well done to everyone. Each of your performances admirably. However, I'm sure that you are concerned that your performance may not be good enough to admit your team into the Vytal festival. Allow me to clarify. Your rank is not set in stone. Performing well in combat class will allow you to raise your individual ranking but poor performance will allow it to fall."
Kirito let out a sigh of relief at that. As it was likely that team KAOZ would only have two members in the top fifteen. Eugeo and Alice. So if they wanted to enter the tournament they would require at least one more of their team to make it into the top fifteen.
"Your rankings will be sent to your scrolls. Please check them and work to do your best to either raise it or maintain it. That is all. You are dismissed."
Everyone's scrolls dinged as Glynda walked off stage and everyone rushed to check their own ranking. Kirito pulled up and was immediately taken to the rankings page. The top two were no surprise with Pyrrha at rank one and Alice at rank two. Eugeo was ranked fourth which made Kirito smile. Two members of team KAOZ were in the top four. Kirito could only hope that would hold as the semester went on. Kirito scrolled down the list until he finally found his name. He was ranked sixteenth. One place outside of the top sixteen. Kirito sighed. That figured. He'd need to work hard to get himself into the top fifteen so that team KAOZ could compete. Medina's rank was one below his own. At rank seventeen.
"Kirito come on, let's get moving. I'm starving, '' Alice said, dragging him out of his thoughts.
Kirito nodded as all of team KAOZ got up to leave. Kirito couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed by his rank but also a little confused by it. His only loss was too Pyrrha who won the whole thing. So his rank should've been at least a bit higher right?. He decided to think about it later. Right now he wanted to focus on celebrating with his team. They'd probably go get Medina and then grab dinner at the cafeteria. Despite his disappointment Kirito couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his face.
Despite his exhaustion. Kirito found himself unable to fall asleep that night. His thoughts wouldn't stop swimming. He was thinking about the STL. Specifically trying to figure out why he was here. It was a question he'd been trying to find an answer to since he arrived on remnant and he'd found nothing. He hadn't been able to contact Kikouka nor had he been able to find some way of contacting anywhere on the outside. Kirito knew that making it into Beacon was part of his plan to make it out. That becoming a huntsman would probably open up a lot of doors for him. But his lack of progress was beginning to bother him.
Kirito sat up in bed and scanned the room. The rest of team KAOZ were fast asleep. All of them were completely exhausted after the long day of fighting. Kirito threw the bed sheet off himself and quietly got dressed. Maybe going out for a walk would help him sleep. He knew Beacon Academy had a curfew but walking inside the dorm building probably wouldn't get him in all that much trouble.
Kirito quietly slipped out of Team KAOZ's room and began to walk down the halls. Team KAOZ's room was only one door down from team RWBY and JNPR's. A fortunate coincidence in his mind. Kirito figured he'd try and head for the roof of the building. It would probably help him to think.
It only took Kirito a second to find his way to the roof but that wasn't what surprised him. What surprised him was that someone else was on the rooftop. Someone wearing a red cloak. Kirito smiled as he recognized who it was.
"Can't sleep either huh?" The black swordsman asked them as he sat down. The view from atop their dorm building was truly breathtaking. The girl looked over to him and gave him a small smile.
"Yeah" Ruby said quietly, "I just can't stop thinking about just being here at Beacon. About being the leader of team RWBY. My fight against Alice," she told him.
Kirito nodded understandingly "You don't know if you deserve it?" He asked. It was a feeling he was familiar with as well. He still had no idea why Ozpin had chosen him.
"Something like that. Weiss seemed to think so early today but apparently she had some kind of a change of heart but she made a lot of points. I have two years less training than most other students here. I'm younger and have way less experience. So why did Ozpin make me the leader? I asked him and all I got was some cryptic stuff." Ruby lamented "Weiss seems to believe I can do it now but I'm not sure if that matters if I don't think I do."
Kirito paused for a few seconds before responding "I guess all we can do now is our best. I have basically no memories and yet I'm the leader of Team KAOZ. I don't know if Ozpin thinks he's funny or something but giving up now would be letting the rest of the team down. Besides I don't think giving up is either of our styles" Kirito told her.
Ruby smiled at him and gave him a small. Uncertain nod. "Right" she said slowly
The two fell into a comfortable silence as they both stared up at the fractured moon. Just enjoying each other's company. The two shared the same doubts about everything. Their positions at beacon academy and their futures. Still neither of them would give up. They would do their best to keep moving forward. No matter what.
Roman Torchwick sighed as he heard his scroll ringing. It was the middle of the night. There was only one person who would be calling him at this time. He was so done with this shit by now. But what choice did he have? If he didn't follow orders he was dead. If he continued to he just got dragged even further into this mess. So he answered that call
"Roman Torchwick. Criminal extraordinaire who I have the pleasure of speaking to." He answered sarcastically. He knew exactly who he was damn speaking to.
"Roman" A smooth female voice came from his scroll. The voice was sickly sweet. Like a poison. "How is our operation going?"
"Oh great, just great!" He told them, "Robbing all the dust in Vale has been a breeze, especially when I don't know what it's for". He hoped how done he was with everything was getting through in his tone. Because he was so god damn done.
"That's good and for your sake I hope things continue to be good." If she had heard his complaints she had ignored them. "Speaking of your task. I'm afraid I'm going to need you to be doing a little bit more for me."
Of course she needed more from him. She always did "Of course you do. Whatever can I do for you?" the orange haired man asked sarcastically as he lit a cigar and took a long drag from it.
"My employer has… taken an interest in a particular individual. One who you have met and has fallen into Ozpin's care." The voice told him.
Roman exhaled before responding "Oh I've met them?" He asked curiously
"Indeed you have. The boy you met on the night I had to bail you out during your little encounter with Goodwitch."
Torchwicks interest was piqued at that. "The kid?" Of course he remembered him. The kid had had a lot of nerve talking to him the way he did. Any chance to get back at him just sounded delightful. "So what does your employer want me to do with him? Please tell me they want him… dealt with?" He asked hopefully.
The voice on the other end laughed, "I'm afraid not. She just wants information on him for now. I'm sure you have someone who can handle that. Correct?" It wasn't a request. It was a demand. One he couldn't refuse.
Torchwick grumbled disappointedly, "Fine, Fine. I'll get someone on it". He didn't know why the sudden interest in the kid and quite frankly he didn't care for now. All he wanted was to be done with this mess.
"That's good Roman, very good. I will contact you again soon". The voice told him before the call dropped.
Roman sighed as he stared at the scroll for another few seconds before pocketing it. He took another drag from his cigar before he looked at a small figure standing in the room with him. A girl with pink and brown hair and eyes of the same colour.
"Neo my favorite girl. I've got a job for you."
Authors note 04/12/2023
Hi everyone. Bet you weren't expecting another chapter so soon. Truth be told, chapters eight and nine in planning were all one big chapter but the word count of the chapter was shaping up to be easily quadruple that of the average chapter. So I decided to split them up but found myself with the motivation to finish this chapter so here it is. Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you when I get chapter ten out!.