Fou's eyes swept over the groaning team RWBY, all sprawled on the ground after having the weakness beat from their body's with 30 kilometre runs while carrying giant logs of wood and sparring with vastly superior opponents. Magic battered their aura to submission; to make it grow, to better defend against the constant assault they were all under. Their Minds, Bodies and Souls. All forced to grow under constant pressure and rest.
And that itching feeling under his skin? It just kept building up, with each fight and spar, he felt a need to fight. He was sure Neo had caught his antsy movements after the third day. Even if she seemed to be planing something today.
"Gather round girls!" Neo clapped her hands, the team slowly pushing themselves up groaning and walking over like zombies, this had been a familiar sight since the first day. They stood at attention no matter how tired they were, chins up, just as they were taught by Neo's bootcamp. "Today I got some special for you all~" She turned to Fou and winked, the book resting in front of him, open but untouched, snapped closed and disappeared. He crouched, an ethereal blue hand coming like a stand to rest by his body.
"You've all been fighting us, but we've been holding back as this is training, not a fight to the death." She looked each one in the eye with a kind smile. "And so, it's time to showcase something like that." The Yamato blinked into existence, the Saya blocking the giant stone slab of sword coming to bisect her. "Now step back~" She gave them a feral grin and turned around, facing the vibrating Fou. Pushing on the blade, it was blasted apart into blue motes of light as he was launched back to where he started. Dust was kicked up all around him and obscured his form.
"LET'S DANCE!" He screamed, blasting forward, a long 150cm blade with blue handle clashed with the unleashed Yamato for a second. Fou's body suddenly pulled itself to the ground, dodging under the quick draw, yet he was hit by Neo's foot, launching him back through the air and into a tree. Yet not without his own retaliation, a knife bit int her calf, leaving a small cut lengthwise.
He landed on a branch with a crouch, the tree creaking as it cushioned the force of his body pushing the branch to nearly snap. His body shuttered as he dashed down, out of the way of the thrown Yamato, instantly Neo was on him, Kiritsugu's Time Alter: Double Accel allowing him to jump above her kick. A war-axe appeared swung down, moving to chop off her leg as a short sword went for her neck at the same time.
Neo only had to punch the axe's handle to push it off course, the short sword moved into a hairs' breath away from her neck as she leaned back. A Black key now logged into her shadow paused her for but a second, being able to overpower the object and break it. She used a backhand spring to dodge the tower shield of Lord Camelot from breaking her neck.
They both stood at odds, a mere six seconds, and the rest of team RWBY were engaged like nothing before. A giant 300cm long black blade appeared, easily reaching 9ft 8in long, and gave Fou an unprecedented reach as he struck with a speed that he should not have been able to use with the blade.
Neo wasn't left on the back foot through, the Yamato found its way back into her hand, she was expertly parrying the blade without taking her eyes off Fou. She dashed backwards and unleashed a Judgment cut, blue blood spurted from Fou's body, covering his pristine white fur.
"NOT DONE YET!" He screamed at her, an unhinged smile on his face as he finally felt fully alive. His mind flew through the blades he had and dismissed them all, instead he took their blueprints. He took the skill of their making, he took the very materials and energies poured into the very blades themselves. His eyes flashed over Yamato, stealing everything about the blade, even the demonic energy of the Sparda bloodline.
A blade formed in his mind as he upped the ante with Time Alter, pushing Square Accel into Quintuple Accel, the world slowing down to his eyes even more as his mind retreats into the forge. He pushed it again, Sextuple Accel. Just barely dodging another swipe from Neo, and retaliating with a Naginata.
"I need a new weapon, one without a legend." He looked around, finding the newest weapon added to his little forge. Pulling the blueprint for the Yamato forward, he copied the edge onto a new blank blueprint, then he pulled out Blake 3.0's Gambol Shroud. His eyes roamed over it, considering it before he nodded and took it with him.
His body moved on its own as Neo entered Proxy form, matching his speed as he went on the defensive, "OH YEAH!" Giant walls of blades shattering from the forces of her punches but giving him enough time to get more nicks across her legs and arms even as he turned into a pinball. Jumping around like a spastic puppy, both of them broke trees and created divots in the land, craters forming just from the force of Neo's heel hitting the ground and missing Fou once more.
His eyes turned deeper inward into his forge, the racks of blades, armours and shields exchange for Gun racks. He dismissed the AR-15, 16, he dismissed Kiritsugu's Thompson Contender. Then he turned back and grabbed the origin bullet, staring it down he copied its effect, and then created a new 22mm round from the origin bullet and left. He continued searching for a gun to go with this new weapon, pistols started to fly by him before- "THERE!"
Neo started to throw hands, engaging Fou in hand to hand as he grew to a dire wolf like size, rather than being around 3 ft tall standing on all fours, he shot up to a height of 7ft. A Bo Staff was firmly placed in his snarling muzzle as he used it to defend and poke at Neo, bruises lining her arms.
He stopped, the weapons no longer flying past him as he dismissed them, bringing out Alucards Jackal Pistol, the 13mm anti freak weapon. The weapon morphed in his ethereal blue hand, changing into a more revolver like form, with a curved handle and longer barrel, new engravings etched into the barrel. The magazine slid out of the handle, dropping into the waiting hand as the gun changed from a magazine type to a cylinder type. It fit right where it was supposed to on the new weapon.
Rhongomyniad appeared in her hand, the lance easily piercing everything he could throw to buy time as he forged a new weapon from old ones. She threw the weapon at him, it sailed through the air like lightning, and he could only do one thing. "RHO, AIAS" Instantly the 7 petal shield formed, holding the spear back just barely.
The sheath was all that was left, his eyes turned to Avalon. He picked it up and stared into it, asking for permission, yet the Ever Distant Utopia refused. He placed it back next to Excalibur and returned to Yamato, taking the Saya. He copied the scabbard, and altered it, growing it longer to fit the new no-dachi he made, a pattern emerged from the surface of the new Saya.
The lance priced through the first layer, blood spurted from his open wounds, then the second, then the third and with each petal that burst more and more damage accumulated on his body and more blue leaked into his coat.
A weapon yearned to be used, it called out to him and asked to be made anew. His eyes turned, seeing the Gáe Bulg glowing and vibrating, electricity dancing across its form as it was asking to be remade. "You will become the blade." He indulged the spear's request, he turned back to the furnace, burning bright, he pushed forward the Piercing Scarlet Spear to be melted.
Neo appeared, Yamato in hand once more, ready to slice him in half. He dropped the shield, letting the spear fly through the woods as he jumped into the air, a rain of swords and arrows bombarded her, blood spurted from her torso as cuts and nicks appeared from the rail gun like fire. Yet she appeared from the dust, sword ready to slice him in half again midair, the Yamato positioned to separate his head from his body.
The blade emerged from his forged, red-hot as he hammered it; imbuing it with the demonic edge, cutting power and durability of the Yamato, the causality effect of Gáe Bulg, he poured the blood leaking from his body, the sweat, the tears, and the JOY and EXHILARATION getting such a good fight.
Her eyes were locked on with a laser like focus as he whipped out his newly finished Weapon, the futuristic weapon changed; It was longer, the Saya now a Dried Blood instead of cool grey with words engraved onto the side. "Throughout Heaven and Hell, I am the Kuchiku-Kan." Underneath the engraved words was a stamp mark, "By the Beast of the Forge" The scabbard adorned with storm clouds and lightning. A hound chasing said lightning gave it a nice homage to whom the blade came from.
His blue ethereal hands grabbed the cool blue handle and pulled, blocking Neo's Blade from moving further, locked in the air. "I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROAAAAACHIIIIIIIIIING~" Neo sang aloud, her voice carrying across the field as the blades fought to push against one another, neither bale to cut the other and continued to be locked, "I AM SUBHUMANNNNNNN, YOU CANNOT KILL MEEEE!" Fou responded in kind, soon they started to fall and sensing the end of the battle was near.
They pushed off each other, landing on the ground away from each other on opposite sides of the clearing, they waited as the dust slowly dissipated, showing off their forms to Team 3.0. Fou was covered in splotches of Blue, even if he grew to a new size, that didn't absolve him of his wounds.
Neo was in remarkably better condition, her wounds while not heavily bleed were many, a death by thousand cuts the best way to describe seeing her body littered by small and tiny nicks across her arms, legs torso and neck.
Fou's sword was treated to its first breath of air. Red electricity covered it and crackled as it seemed to vibrate with the want for blood. "Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken~" Neo started, challenging Fou. "I've even forgotten my name!" They started to slowly circle each other, waiting or the right moment to end this final clash. "I don't know the season or what is the reason~" They stopped, positions swapped as they crouched and readied their blades.
"I'm standing here holding my blade!" He called, as if it was the single to start, they dashed forward. Meeting in the middle of the cleaning, Fou seemed to have the upper hand as he pushed down on Neo while she reinforced the Yamato with another hand. Team 3.0's jaws had dropped by this point as they bore witness to what is in all actuality… A fight to the death, both fought with the ferocity to kill, a determination that 3.0 hadn't known they would need to kill their Grimm counterparts.
The grinding noise from their blades fighting for purchase stopped as they pushed off each other and slashed, moving forward with all their speed, only to get another *Ting* from their blades clashing against one another. They stood with their back against each other, the wind was slow as night drew nearer. It was the cackle of the campfire 3.0 had set up, and tended to that set them off once more.
They turned and clashed, seeding dust into the air and obscuring them from Team 3.0, the pressure from their clash sending dust out in all directions and blinding team 3.0 from seeing the end result of their fight. It was only both panting that allowed them to know they both still lived.
When the dust startled, they were treated to a fascinating sight. Fou had his new gun out, pressed to the underside of Neo's jaw. It was a piece of art, on the side of the revolver was engraved, "Fortune Favours the Gambler, Yukio" with the same maker's stamp underneath.
However, neo was not at a lost here, while their blades were locked and a gun was put under her chin, she too had a back-up plan, the claws on her hands from her Proxy form were pointed directly at Fou's head, ready to lobotomize him when he fired. They stood there staring at each other with feral grins before bursting out laughing and falling to the ground, leaving Team 3.0 to look at each other in confusion.
"God damn! That was fun, I would love to go another round sometime." Fou spoke up; His new weapon, Fortunate Destroyer, now placed safely in his inventory. He continued to roll around as he slowly shrunk.
"Yeah for sure. I gotta introduce you to that Owl girl too. She loves to spar. But! That can wait until after the saving Remnant stuff!" Neo exclaimed while dusting herself off as she stood, her wounds closing faster than before and leaving smooth skin behind.
"Alright, I just regret that I didn't go steal Devil Sword Dante, would've made this whole fight much more poetic." He lamented, the blue on his fur slowly draining back to white. "Well, I believe you should leave the girls with a couple words of wisdom, eh?" He nodded to Team 3.0, Ruby practically vibrating, but still waiting to erupt.
"Eat ass, smoke grass and sled fast? Oops, wrong crowd. Words of wisdom though… Ah! Weiss, focus on your legs. Ruby, focus on your arms. Yang, don't lose control when you get mad. And Blake, get faster. Boom, how was that?" Neo posed as if she were a professor, a blackboard appeared behind her with her words as she slammed each section with a ruler.
"Solid advice if a bit lacking in the explanation, works though." He shrugged, trotting off back to sit in the shade of a tree, a book appearing before him as he laid down.
"Alright RWBY, enough slack, time to get back to training~" The team looked mortified, after all, it was the first time they had such a good break in the past 4 days. "The safe word is Lancer-Ga-Shinda!"