King: Okay, explanation time. This one is like the Barron, remember that one from Chapter... 15, holy shit how far we've come. Point is, it's a mythical figure without any finalized description. Seriously, he's described as having dark hair, blonde hair, red hair, and a weird combination of all three with dark tips, red middle, and a golden crown. I just went with the version as seen in the popular MOBA Smite.

Knox: You really like that game, don't you?

King: I certainly enjoy it. But that's neither here nor there. Let's get this one running and see what happens. Hope you enjoy.

Knox: Dude, check the views.

King: Hmm? ... 6 MILLION?!

Inspiration: Cu Chulainn

/\

The viewers slowly returned to the main theater. An interesting late comer back to the seats was Emerald. She walked through the walkway, seeming uncertain. She looked up from her internal struggles to find Mercury had already moved further from Cinder. And what did Cinder seem to think? Nothing. She sat there like everything and everyone was so far beneath her that it didn't matter what they did. Like everything would fall in line no matter what they believe. She gave a glance to Cinder, uncertainty filling her mind for the fist time since the woman found her after robbing that jeweler. Emerald's head hung a little lower and she took the seat directly to her side, three rows and an aisle away from the woman she's followed so far.

Knox flickered in, "Alright! Who's ready for the next one?!"

King burst into form a little bit after, "Hang on, Knox. We're missing one."

Yang looked around the audience, doing a head count, "I don't see anyone missing."

But someone was in the theater and not among them. Someone who thought she was done with all this. The doors to the theater opened to reveal Raven as she walked back down the aisles.

This made Yang jumped to her feet in shock, confusion, and anger. "What are you doing here?! I thought to left!"

Raven rolled her eyes, "So did I…" She looked up toward the purple fireball with a glare sharp as her blade.

They could almost see the shit-eating grin on King's flame, "What? Is something wrong Raven?"

Raven felt her eye twitch before she huffed and moved to the back left of the theater and taking a seat. "Just get this over with."

"Nice to see you too…" King swung around to address everyone again, "Okay. That's everyone for now. We're hoping to expand things soon, but right now, this is our group. Now, let's get this going!"

King and Knox flickered away as the screen began the next world to view.

The world opened to show the famed Amity Coliseum floating over Beacon grounds. The Vytal Festival was in full swing and people were in high spirits as the first round of the tournament was coming to an end. Within, Team RWBY was facing off with one of Vacuo's premier first year teams, Team VILT (violet). As of the moment, Weiss dodged passed a large battle ax to land a series of light attacks before sending her opponent flying backward, knocking him out of the competition.

Ruby's arms flew up in excited celebration, "Go Team RWBY!" She giggled a bit, "It's so weird rooting for ourselves."

Yang chuckled and gave her sister a light punch on the shoulder, "Anywhere else."

Weiss's moment was cut short by a nasty club being slammed directly into her gut, knocking out the rest of her aura and eliminating her.

Weiss felt personally offended to be knocked out like that, and her angry growl made that very clear to everyone there.

The camera moved to the side to show the wielder of the weapon was a massive man dressed in a pair of tiger-stripe pants and boots; and nothing else. His torso was bare of any clothing or armor, replying solely on aura to defend it. But this also showed the man was built like a brick house. A pair of horns stuck out from the top of his head and everything about him practically screamed brute.

Port's voice rang out over the stadium, "Ooh! What a hit from Vacuo's Isshin Doji!"

Isshin grinned and turned to the rest of RWBY. Ruby and Yang were run ragged and Blake looked like she was ready to collapse right then and there.

Yang groaned, "What's this guy made of?!"

Ruby tried to stay in control of the situation, "We need to focus. There has to be a way to beat this guy."

Blake shook her head to shake of loss of balance growing in her nervous system, "Easier said than done. His team is out, but he's barely even hurt."

Mercury laughed, "Dude's built like a brick shithouse and they're all ready to collapse. They're doomed."

Though team RWBY didn't like hearing it, they recognized the facts of the situation.

Isshin smirked toward the group, "I'm being very generous to let you three have this conversation." He swung his club up over onto his shoulder, "If you'd prefer, you can rush me all at once. Do your worst. It won't make a difference."

Yang growled, her eyes turning red in anger. She wanted to knock this guy down on his ass for acting like that, but last time she tried that she ended up flat on her back instead. If there was one thing she could give this guy, he could back up what he was shouting.

Isshin huffed, seeing them not charging him. He already knew Yang was a hot head, which meant that his provocations weren't going to work much longer. He grinned and swung his club back to his side. "You won't come to me, then? Then I'm coming for you!" He ran off toward the group, the camera moving up to show the attack, and team RWBY's subsequent dodge, from a downward angle. Team RWBY was doing everything they could to keep the giant man at a distance, slowly chipping away at his aura.

Isshin grabbed an opportunity to counterattack one of Yang's flares by using giant club like a bat and send the flare straight into Blake's torso. This knocked Blake's aura into the red and removed her from the competition.

Blake recoiled seeing the events leading to her knock out. She figured this man as a brute like Cardin, but he's proven to be smarter than he seemed. Not only blocking but reflecting an attack like that, a flare no less, took a great amount of calculation. Even if it proved to be his semblance, he'd still need to predict both her and Yang's movements and plot out how best to counter.

Yang turned to Ruby and then up to the scoreboard. There was no way they were going to chip down his before he knocked them out first. Their only option was a ring out. Yang took a deep breath before twisting her heel and charging forward. With a fist reared back, she fired a shot into the man's gut and knocked him back just a little. She started to rush attacks and pushed him closer to the edge of the arena. Unfortunately, this soon proved to be him humoring her. Her planted his foot and swung a heavy blow to Yang's head.

Yang's turn to recoil at the obviously painful strike.

Yang would have fallen back if not for Isshin grabbing her arm and pulling her back before lifting her by said arm.

Isshin grinned, "Did you really think, after this entire fight, that you could knock me out that easily."

Yang looked back down toward him with a grin of her own, "Maybe. Or maybe I was keeping you at range."

Isshin raised an eyebrow before his head suddenly flew backward and his body recoiling with it, dropping Yang in shock. He barely caught himself before realizing that Ruby's scythe doubled as a high impact sniper rifle. She fired more shots to the same point of impact just fast enough to keep him off balance. With his footing ruined, Yang pushed herself off the ground and tackling into his gut and finally knocking him out of bounds.

The theater erupted in cheers from the Beacon students for team RWBY's victory. Even if it wasn't their version of the team.

Port's voice returned to the stadium, "An incredible turn around brings victory to Beacon's Team RWBY! However, this is only the beginning as now, after a short break, the doubles round begin. Can they keep this momentum going, or is their narrow victory here indicative of their chances? Time will tell."

The screen transitioned to team RWBY collapsing onto a set of seats at one of the food stalls. Each of them was groaning from the injuries and painful reminders of the previous battles. Blake went so far as to have her head fall onto the counter.

This got a few chuckles out of her team and friends.

Ruby took a breath before smiling, "Well, at least we made it to the next round!"

Weiss rubbed her cheek, the point of impact after being tossed like an ice-themed ragdoll, "Let's just hope that's the worst it gets."

Blake turned her head toward the heiress, "You just jinxed it."

"You can't actually believe in that nonsense."

"I'll believe whatever I have to not have that happen to me ever again."

Yang pat Blake's shoulder, "If it makes you feel any better, you can sit out the next round."

"Good." Blake returned to her previous position.

Yang sighed, "So, I feel like I've still got fight in me. So, who's coming with me to the next round?"

Ruby and Weiss turned to each other, neither really excited about the idea. In the end they settled it with a silent argument, resulting in Weiss being the unwilling winner. The heiress sighed, "I suppose I am."

Nora laughed the scene, falling back in her chair.

Ren shook his head, "Not exactly the best way to decide."

Weiss just sighed in annoyed embarrassment.

As their meals arrived, they just chose to enjoy the food before even thinking of the next round. As Weiss moved to pay for the food, however, a thief snatched her wallet from behind and started to run off. Weiss jumped her feet and called out after him, prepared to run after him and subdue him with her glyphs.

Roman rolled his eyes, "Amateur. True, crowds are great for finding marks, but he clearly needs to work on picking better ones."

However, to her surprise and the shock of many, a spear flew from the sky and directly in front of the thief. The crook had no time to react and ran face first into the steel and flopped onto his rear. Weiss ran up and retrieved her possessions before the festival security arrived to take the thief away.

The spear's sudden appearance caused many to jump in surprise. Ruby was just amazed at the weapon, but not for what it was. Rather, it was for it wasn't. Unlike Pyrrha's weapon, this spear had no mecha-shift function or trigger boosted propulsion. The spear was just a spear, meaning the wielder had to have thrown it through power alone.

Weiss huffed as she watched the thief being taken away. "Good riddance." As she turned to return to her group, she found herself face first into a man's chest.

The man stepped to the side, "Sorry about that."

Nora sprung up to proclaim, "There's Jaune!" It had almost become a game to her at this point.

"It's fine. I wasn't watching where I was… going…" Weiss took a step back and finally got a look at the man she'd run into.

The man standing before her was the very picture of power. His loose fit pants were paired with armored boos reaching up to his knees. His torso, however, was bare save for an emerald-green cloth with golden accenting wrapped up over one shoulder, meeting the rest of its form at his waist. His shoulder was adorned by a flowing, bright blue tattoo of a running hound. His blonde hair was slicked back away from his forehead and into a braided strand on one side of his face. He smiled and waved off her apology, "It's fine. No harm done."

Yang couldn't help but whistle in appreciation and amazement at the version before them. The version wasn't a muscle head, but definitely had definition. However, Weiss's reaction in that world just made her need to tease the Weiss sitting next to her, "Looks like the Ice Queen is the one with the crush this time."

Weiss rolled her eyes and just ignored it.

Jaune stepped around Weiss and retrieved the spear from the ground, revealing a set of barbs at the tip of the weapon.

This got Ruby's mind working in overdrive, both interested in the weapon and scared of the connotation of those barbs. She knew large protrusions, or teeth, on a weapon were used for catching incoming attacks and breaking the weapon. However, these barbs were too small and the only thing they could really be for was maximizing damage dealt.

Weiss watched him retrieve the weapon and walk off with a wave. She had planned to thank him for helping catch the criminal, but her team's shouting distracted her long enough for him to disappear among the crowds.

Said crowd also acted as a transition back to the arena. Port's voice rang out over the viewers, "And we return for the doubles round! This is where things start to get truly difficult for many. You don't have your full team backing you up anymore, and if you and your partner aren't prepared you can be easily overrun. Now! Let's get started with the first match!"

Oobleck's voice soon joined him, "After the randomization of the teams, we have our first match. First, representing Beacon Academy's team CFVY! Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Daichi!"

Coco swung her purse/weapon over her shoulder while Yatsuhashi sat in meditation.

Coco grinned, "Made it to the second round. Not too bad, considering the usual competition."

"And in the opposing corner, representing Atlas Academy's team ORNJ (orange), Roan Amaril and Jaune Arc."

The camera moved to show this version of Jaune standing beside a young woman in a pale red combat dress, dark leggings, boots, and a yellow scarf.

Roan gave Coco and Yatsuhashi the once over before turning slightly to Jaune, "Any ideas on how handle them?"

Jaune glanced between his opponents before smirking, "Here's an idea. I'll fight the big guy. You can handle the fashion show over there."

Coco shrugged, "Not exactly an insult. At least he can appreciate that I look good."

The Coco on screen raised an eyebrow behind her sunglasses, "Oh? You sure you don't want to face me yourself. Yatsu might be too much for you."

Jaune cracked his neck and rolled his spear shoulder. He chuckled as he spoke, "Tell you what, if you can beat Roan and you'll get your chance."

Roan did not appreciate that comment.

Sun cringed a bit, but kept his smile, "Dang. Does he not have any faith in his teammate?"

Nora scoffed, "Well, obviously! She's not us~!"

Ren sighed, shaking his head slightly.

The environments were selected as city ruins and mountain region. As the two structures snapped into place, a countdown began before the fight was kicked off. Roan gave a sideways glance to Jaune. She could see Yatsuhashi was a powerful short-range fighter and it would be in their best interest to deal with him first, and given her ranged abilities she was clearly the best option to fight him.

"She's not wrong." Coco was rather nonchalant, "Though he's tougher than he looks."

When the timer rang out to start the fight, Roan grabbed a tube from her back and fired a heavy slug into Yatsuhashi and knocking him back into the city area. She immediately moved to pursue the larger man.

Coco watched this happen and snapped her weapon into form as Roan ran passed her, "So much for that…!" She was interrupted as Jaune's spear flew passed her head.

Roan's charge was halted by said spear hooking into her scarf and pinning her in place. "What the hell?!"

This surprised everyone involved in the viewing.

Ruby jumped up toward the screen, "Why did he do that?!"

Jaune slowly walked passed Coco and grabbed his spear from the ground. With his other hand, he grabbed Roan's collar and pulled her toward his face, "I made it clear he is MY opponent. Stay in your lane, or I'll bury you in it!" He pushed her away and toward Coco before walking into the false ruins.

Everyone just looked at this Jaune like he was crazy. Not only had he more or less attacked his teammate, but now he threatened her to top it off. Safe to say they saw a terrible teammate.

Jaune walked into the city and found Yatsuhashi waiting for him in the street. Jaune grinned and placed his spear onto his shoulder, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Yatsuhashi remained fairly stoic, "You have an odd way of addressing your teammate."

"She knows how I get when she ignores me, too. I'd think getting to know me makes it clear she shouldn't make me angry."

Penny tilted her head slightly, "He does not sound like a good teammate."

Winter's eyes narrowed, "And certainly a poor representation of Atlas Academy."

Yatsuhashi's brow raised slightly, "I must admit, you aren't what I imagine when I picture an Atlas student."

Jaune scoffed before laughing, "That's because I'm no student of Atlas. Sure, I go to the school, but I'd hardly call myself Atlassian. No," Jaune grinned and spun his spear around his shoulder and neck before the spear finally came to rest in his hand, "I'm something different." He held up his spear and pointed it toward Yatsuhashi, "You face the Hound of Uldan! But enough talk! FIGHT!"

Jaune charged forward with spear at his side to crash the tip against a guarding Yatsu. However, Jaune used his position to leap over Yatsu's guard and kick him across the top of his head, causing the larger man to stagger. Where Yatsuhashi was strong, Jaune was precise. His spear was like the wind, block it all you want, it will simply flow around you soon enough. Jaune was a fierce fighter that was actually pushing Yatsuhashi back through the streets of the ruins.

Coco tilted her glasses a bit and whistled, "Damn. Getting Yatsu to back up is an accomplishment on its own. But let's see how he handles the big guy's semblance."

Few among the viewers actually knew what Yatsuhashi's semblance even was, so they watched intently. Even though at the back of their minds, they knew there was every possibility that this wasn't the semblance of their version.

Yatsuhashi chose his moment as Jaune started to charge. His eyes started to glow for a moment, soon followed by Jaune's eyes glowing the same color. Confusion soon spread across Jaune's face and he slowed his charge, looking around as though something was wrong.

Emerald watched, though half-heartedly for the moment. She wondered if the ability was like her own, illusions.

Yatsuhashi took a hard step forward and reared his weapon back. He was well within Jaune's guard now. He wasn't taking too many chances. The effect will still last for another second, more than enough time to land a heavy blow and possibly send him out of bounds if he was lucky.

Lucky, however, he was not. He soon found himself blasted back by a strange gust of air. Enough to lose his footing and prevent his attack. He looked toward Jaune, confused, as he felt everything around him heating up. Enough sweat fell from his brow was falling over his face that he was forced to wipe it away.

Coco's eyes went wide, "What in the world was that?"

The glow in Jaune's eyes faded and he turned back to Yatsuhashi with a smirk, "Cheeky. You wiped my memories for a second."

This got a few realizations, but also a few a bit scared. It was the kind of ability that didn't matter if you knew it was happening or not. He would simply wipe away all your memories and capitalize on the moment of confusion.

Jaune didn't seem that bothered, though, "Unfortunately, that won't really work so well on me. See, I've got a lot of pent up aggression, and if I forget how to keep it in then I have no choice but to vent."

"What an upsetting turn of events for the young Mr. Daichi!" Port exclaimed, "Mr. Arc's ability allows him to super heat his body hot enough to cause his sweat to evaporate and the area immediately around him to sear. A technique he refers to as Venting."

The camera moved to Jaune, showing steam flowing off his body from the heat he was producing. After a moment, the steam disappeared as he got a handle on his Venting again.

Ruby thought about that one for a moment before chucking a bit, "I swear Yang does something like that."

Tai met her train of thought and grinned, "Oh! Like the hair glowing thing when she gets mad enough."

"Yeah! That's it!"

Jaune chuckled and swung his spear over his shoulder again. "That said, it'll be annoying to have that happen again. I'll have to forgo my usual fun and deal with you quickly."

Yatsuhashi knew plenty of first years that gave themselves too much credit, so he didn't react to that. He did, however, block the incoming spear. Jaune had used this as a distraction to get under Yatsuhashi's guard and grab him in a tight squeeze with locked arms. Yatsuhashi looked down toward him, more surprised than anything, but soon grew concerned by Jaune's mad grin. A rush of steam ripped through the air around them as Jaune Vented at point blank. Yatsuhashi was being cooked inside his armor with no real way to shake Jaune off. His aura was taking chip damage as he tried to wrestle Jaune out of his hug of heat, but the rising temperature began to take more aura with each passing second. Yatsuhashi's struggles started to weaken and soon he collapsed from heat exhaustion, his aura depleted.

Coco and Velvet were stunned silent. They'd never seen Yatsuhashi fall onto his back. Sure, he'd lost fights before, but he always stayed on his feet, propped up on his sword if it was necessary, but never falling onto his back.

Jaune released his defeated opponent and walked over to his spear, moving his foot under the shaft of the weapon and kicking it up to his hand. He looked over the mountain area and saw a series of bullets flying up over the rocks.

The camera ran over to meet Coco as she unleashed a torrent of bullets toward Roan. The Atlassian jumped behind a rock to take cover, but Coco's chain gun was too powerful and ate into the rock, forcing her to dive to the side and keep running. Roan's launcher was great for range, but rapid was not a good word to describe it. "This is Arc's fault! If he hadn't stopped me from fighting that big guy, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Maybe if she communicated that idea, she wouldn't be in this situation," Blake snarked.

Coco let off the trigger for a moment and let her gun rest, "You're not going to beat me unless you start fighting back."

"You're barking up the wrong tree there, Fashion Show." The sudden arrival of a new voice forced Coco to turn to see Jaune walking up toward them.

"You beat Yatsuhashi?"

Roan popped up from her new rock of cover, "Finally! Now help me win this already!"

Coco got a little nervous. Her weapon might be good for crowds of Grimm, but people are smart enough to spread out and make her weapon less helpful against them.

Jaune huffed and stabbed his spear into the ground, sitting on a nearby rock, "Nah. This is your fight. I'm not getting between you."

Nora frowned, "Did they have some kind of fight? Why wouldn't he help her?"

Ren shrugged, "It might an honor thing. I've heard some people refuse to fight two-on-one with the advantage."

Coco raised an eyebrow at their antics, "Um… are you two okay?"

Jaune scoffed, "Focus on your opponent's actions, not their squabbles."

Ironwood had to give that one a quick nod, "He's not wrong. In combat, the enemy squabbling with themselves is to your advantage."

Coco shrugged and leveled her weapon toward Roan again, opening fire. Though she chose to keep a sideways glance toward Jaune. She didn't trust him to stay put while his teammate was being pressured. Surprisingly, though, he made no motion to move to help her. Coco returned to tracking Roan, keeping her aim ahead of the runner. Her weapon wasn't accurate, but this ensured she chipped away plenty of aura from her fire. That said, she didn't track where Roan was running to. Roan had run off to Jaune's seat and a stray bullet tagged Jaune and knocked him off the rock.

This got a few people to laugh. Given how capable this version of Jaune was, it was ludicrous to think he'd get hit so stupidly.

As Coco paused, seeing what happened, though mostly requiring a cool down period of the weapon's barrels, Roan skidded to a halt beside Jaune. "There! Now you got hit! Your stupid code means this is your fight now!"

Ren nodded, "So it was a personal code."

Roan continued shouting as Jaune pulled himself to his feet, "Now, get to it and fight her, damn it!"

Jaune brushed off some dirt, the angle of the camera obscuring his eyes. "Fine then. I'll fight her."

"Finally!" Roan turned to Coco as she got the chance to load her weapon again. "Let's get this over…" Jaune's shadow loomed over her a moment, "with?"

Jaune now stood a full two feet taller than before with his muscle structure resembling something more akin to a monster. His eyes were a glowing red and filled with pure and unadulterated anger. The steam from before was flowing out en masse.

Everyone shrunk away from the scene. Something about this change in Jaune terrified them. Likely something in his eyes.

Jaune grabbed Roan by her throat and lifted her off the ground, her feet kicking to try and free herself. When Jaune spoke, there was an unholy reverberation to his speech, "Then get the fuck out of my way!" Jaune tossed her up to change his grip to the back of her head and slammed her face into the rockface, knocking her aura out in one move, and cracking the mountain's surface apart a good twenty feet up. The camera hung on Jaune's tattoo to reveal the running hound had shifted to a blood-red, charging Beowolf.

Everything was silent for a moment.

Yang gave a nervous chuckle to break the tension if possible, "At least I'm not that bad…"

It didn't really work.

Coco was just stunned, her glasses threatening to fall from her face.

Much of the stadium was in a similar state. Not even Port or Oobleck, who were supposed to be commentating, could bring themselves to say a single word.

Jaune took a breath and his body returned to normal. His tattoo faded back to its normal form as if the steam took it away. He calmly walked to his spear and pulled it from the ground.

Coco shook her head slightly and glared toward Jaune, "What the hell was that?!"

Jaune just turned to her, perfectly calm again, "That was my Semblance. Most people think that Venting is my power, but that's not quite true. That is a biproduct of my actual ability, something I learned to keep it in check. My power is the ability to build up and store emotional outbursts, particularly my rage. I learned to let all that out as steam, or I can build it up and unleash my full power. I call this Riastrad. It's a blind rage where friend and foe are just words. I attack whatever is in the area regardless of allegiance. I lose myself to my anger and the only thought going through my mind is to kill."

Tai took in a sharp breath, "That's… actually pretty scary." He knew Yang's semblance had a similar idea where, if she gets angry, she can lose sight of her objectives. However, she has never been that bad, so long as you leave her hair alone. Even then, you just get punched, and usually just one.

Jaune leveled his spear toward Coco, "And I turn. That beast is my power unleashed and made physical. But enough talk. We're here to fight."

Coco readjusted her glasses and leveled her own weapon. "Alright."

As the barrels started to spin, Jaune threw his spear and snapped the weapon from her hand and pinning it to the ground. Jaune stepped closer to her, "No weapons. Just to be fair."

Coco growled and tried to pull the spear out from her gun, but the barbs were holding it in place in the ground. She had to give up and ball her hands into fists. "So long as you don't do that Venting or Ria-thing you did before."

"It's only fair." Jaune brought his fists up and took up a fighter's stance. Her footwork was excellent as her fighting style required good grounding and stance work to fight back against her weapon's recoil. Her arms, however, were sloppier and possessing an open guard. She never fought unarmed before and sparing matches with Fox didn't count.

The stance just made Tai cringe from the sight, "Do your teachers not teach you how to handle a fight without your weapons? Her stance should at least look better, even if she isn't a good hand-to-hand fighter."

Coco looked away to hide a blush of embarrassment. She wasn't that good at hand-to-hand. One could say she was terrible at it. She enlisted Fox to help her, but without her purse/gun, she often foundered.

Jaune saw the stance and raised an eyebrow, "You're not a very good fist fighter, are you?"

"Shut up! You're the one that told me to focus on the fight." She charged forward to punch him, though Jaune moved to block the hit with his hand. This proved a slight mistake as Coco's fighting style was less predicable and hit harder than he anticipated. Coco was able to knock back his hand and punch Jaune clean across the jaw.

Coco let out a sigh relief seeing her at least accomplish that much with her fist.

Jaune staggered back and shook his head. "You're stronger than you look." He moved to the side and landed a heavy punch into a block. However, Coco's footing kept her on her feet and in place from the attack. "And tougher too." Jaune pushed off Coco with a kick hopped back, keeping his eyes on her.

"Thanks for the compliments," Coco didn't let it show, but Jaune's punch hurt her a lot more than she was letting on. She learned to handle heavy recoil across her entire body, but never had to handle an attack like that. If she wasn't careful, he'd knock her aura out with just a few more big punches.

Jaune cracked his neck and adopted his stance again. "Don't push it." He charged forward and leapt up with his knee striking her guard and knocking it out of place. His arm was reared back, and he punched her head back and downward toward the ground. He lands and starts a rush of attacks. The punches were weaker than before, but there were significantly more of them. The rush began to grow more brutal over time. Instead of knocking her guard away, he would just punch into it. With one last punch to her gut, knocking her onto her back, the fight was ended as Coco's aura hit the red.

Coco sighed. She knew she didn't stand a chance without her gun, but it was still hard to watch something that brutal.

For the first time since returning, Raven finally spoke. "I have to admit, that was more brutal than I expected anyone to act."

There were only a few people that heard her, but most chose to ignore her.

Port called the end of the match as Jaune pulled his spear from the stone. He picked up Coco's weapon, which snapped back into purse form. "I admit, despite knowing you had no chance, I respect your commitment to the fight." He tossed the weapon over to her and spun around on his heel and waved, "See you around, Coco."

Coco leaned up, watching him leave. She wasn't sure what to think of this man.

The last shot of the world was Jaune walking away from the arena with spear over his shoulder.

"Yikes…" Coco slumped back into her chair, "That was crazy."

Velvet nodded. "It was… definitely something."

Emerald had long since lost interest, though the transformation of that version did keep her thinking about Cinder's own transformations. Nothing on a physical level like his own, but more her emotional work. She seemed so confident and commanding, but she also seemed more apathetic to both her and Mercury. Even though the entire reason Emerald followed her was because she promised her somewhere to belong. A decision must be made, and Emerald finally had her answer.