A Nascent Kaleidoscope.-Chapter 678:

I kind of feel like that every time I come to visit Pyrrha, there's always going to be a fight.

Not necessarily one that involves me, but just in general.

Last time it was Rin and Pyrrha's partner, Weiss. And now, here I am, standing across from her in the arena, ready to fight.

Maybe I underestimated what a 'combat school' actually meant around these parts because they seemed all too eager to break out their weapons.

Not that I could talk; I did like fighting.

You can't love Scáthach and not love fighting. It was part of who she is and, by extension, part of what I was as well.

Well, a good-natured fight was never a bad thing.

Even Jeanne didn't mind sparring.

In fact, she probably enjoyed it to some extent. She didn't like hurting people, and she didn't like killing or causing harm, but a 'spar' was a whole different concept and completely acceptable even if she ended up turning someone bloody.

"Alright, Red, looks like you're all ready with your combat mini skirt. " I took out my own sword. "But, why the peanut gallery?" I pointed to the audience we had.

That is, basically everyone that was at the table, including Specialist Schnee.

Pyrrha flushed. "It's not a mini skirt—"

"It's a skirt, and it's exceedingly small," I interjected. "Not that I'm complaining. I've said it before: show off your legs all you want; you've got nothing to be ashamed of there."

She had really nice legs.

She puffed up rather cutely.

"He's not wrong." Yang whistled.

"I still don't understand why you all wear 'combat skirts,' as you call them. One small gust of wind, and you're flashing everyone." I gestured to both Weiss and Ruby.

Weiss scoffed indignantly. "I do not flash people." She crossed her arms. "Both Ruby and I wear covers underneath."

Ruby went a bit red and pulled her hood up over her head. "There's nothing wrong with a combat skirt!"

I shook my head. "The first time you go trekking through the wilderness, you're going to abandon your miniskirt for pants. It's not a coincidence that the two people among you all that presumably have that kind of experience have their legs covered."

I was of course looking at Specialist Schnee, who was wearing pants, and even their teammate, Blake.

Granted, Blakes were shorts in combination with some leggings, thick leggings that may as well be pants. Compared to Ruby, who was wearing a nearly see-through one of the same type.

"It's a lesson that one must learn firsthand." Weiss's sister spoke up. "It's not uncommon for Huntsmen in training."

I blinked, not expecting her to answer me, just running my mouth.

Granted, I was giving real advice, but all the same.

"But seriously, why are you here?" I pointed at her.

"My sister's partner is sparring, and she has a reputation for excellence. Is it strange that I would accompany my sister to watch the spar?" Winter raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but you were very vocal about the presence of a criminal around your sister. One would assume you would take the opportunity to regain distance," I countered.

"Or it's simply all the more important I stay nearby to keep an eye on any possible criminal activity as befitting of a specialist." She replied without missing a beat.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to be a criminal even harder now."

Winter was about to respond, but something hard bonked me in the head, nearly knocking me over. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Did you just throw your shield at me?" I looked at Pyrrha incredulously as her shield returned to her hand.

"You said you wouldn't do any more crimes." She admonished me with a mildly concerned look on her face. "And don't goad the Atlas military!"

It's really hard to argue with her when she's like this.

Dammit, she has the same look as Jeanne.

Yang made a whipping noise from her end. And out of the corner of my eye I could see several of them rather amused.

"You're one to talk, Wilhelm. You're not exactly dressed for a fight." Pyrrha put a hand on her hip as she held her spear in the other.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that? My clothes are bulletproof; can you say the same about your mini skirt?"

The corners of my lips curled up because she reacted just as I thought she would. Frankly, when you say my clothes are bulletproof to someone holding a gun, they tend to have an intrusive thought.

And it's not so intrusive when I'm the one who says it.

She was quick; the sound of gunfire already echoed across the room.

But her eyes widened as a small wisp of smoke escaped from between my fingers.

My hand extended, fist clenched, I released it, and the bullet she just fired at me dropped to the ground. The deafening silence made the tiny metal clinking on the ground appear much louder than it really was.

"...No way," Yang muttered.

"So cool!" I could see Ruby's eyes shine.

The others mostly stared in silence.

Even Pyrrha was a bit taken aback.

I tilted my head. "What's wrong, Red? Are you giving up already?"

My 'mocking' words seemed to quickly kick her from her stupor.

She has the mentality of someone wanting to keep pushing forward to get stronger. If something small like this was enough to make her fall, then I would have severely underestimated her.

She shifted her gun back into its spear form.

Spear, sword, and gun all in one.

I wasn't a fan of Mechashift weapons, to be honest. Oh, on the surface, I absolutely thought they were cool. But for combat, I was…less enthused.

Not that I couldn't understand the application and the rise of them in this world.

Long range, mid range, short range—she had it all covered in a single weapon.

There was no heads-up to start or judge or referee here.

Our auras were apparently synched up with the big screen to the side so everyone could see aura levels, but that was about it.

They tended to end spars when Aura reached a lower threshold.

Without warning, three more shots were fired off by her at me, her weapon shifting quickly from gun to spear to sword, and she immediately charged at me.

I tilted my head to the side to avoid the first, then ducked the second, and for the third, I used Mirage to deflect it.

It didn't cause Pyrrha to pause this time; she already knew that bullets weren't going to cut it.

At least, 'normal' bullets in this sense. They replace gunpowder with Dust here, and these work off the most basic principles.

But they had special Dust bullets that provided a myriad of effects that were essentially magic in the most blunt application.

Her shield came flying at my face again, and I knocked it to the side, but she followed up by swinging her sword at me.

I blocked her overhead swing, and she shifted her sword into a spear and swept at my feet. I stabbed Mirage into the ground to deflect it, and her spear bounced off from the impact. She let her whole body spin with the force, catching back her shield that returned through the use of her Polarity Semblance and swung it at my face.

Her movements were very fluid, well practiced, and not empty like someone without real experience.

Though, I wasn't going to let her have it so easily.

I caught the broad side of the shield with my palm and then used a good bit of strength to throw her back.

She didn't try to fight the overpowering force but let her body twist into it, flipping back and dispersing the momentum with a roll, shifting her spear back into a gun form and firing another shot at my head in the same action.

I held my sword up in front of my face, letting the bullet smash into the flat of it, but as soon as it connected, I realized she played a little trick.

The bullet exploded in a burst of ice, covering the upper half of my body.

Cheeky.

I could see through the clear ice that she threw her spear at me with full force, even backed by using her polarity to cause it to shoot off like a bullet in speed.

Well, I suppose I should also use my 'Semblance.'

I opened a portal in front of me and one in front of her.

Her spear entered and was redirected right at her.

The ice in front of me shattered just in time to see her eyes widen in surprise.

To her immense credit, she dodged by throwing herself backwards, hitting the ground hard in a panic.

I opened another portal further back, catching the spear that was moving towards the wall, then redirecting it once more to another freshly opened portal above her as it now came from above as she lay with her back on the ground.

She quickly held her shield up, deflecting it to the side, barely missing her and impaling into the ground.

She jumped to her feet, grabbing her weapon back and swinging it to her gun, but instead of shooting at me, she dislodged the cartridge and scattered the bullets into the air.

Ah.

Clever girl.

Rather than use her gun to fire them, she shot them all at me individually with her Semblance. Granted, she lost quite a bit of throughput behind it, but not all those bullets were for the kid that needed stopping power to be effective.

Well, I wasn't going to be outdone so easily.

I opened an equal amount of portals as they all came at me, and an equal amount all around her.

The bullets came right back at her through my portals, but she was prepared this time and began to dodge while throwing her hands around, sending them right back at me.

It became a game of tag, and she was moving beautifully to avoid a single hit.

Every so often, she needed to use her shield or sword to deflect one, but they were never the 'special' bullets.

Was she using her polarity to notice the differences in each bullet even if she couldn't track them with her eyes? She was already using her Semblance to dodge them despite that as well.

She reached behind her back and grabbed another cartridge for her gun and tossed it through one of my portals.

I blinked because I didn't realize what she was doing until her weapon shifted back to its gun form, and she swung it in an arc and pulled the trigger.

There was one bullet still in the chamber that she hadn't used, but the barrel was never pointed at me. I followed the arc of the bullet she fired as she curved it midair and accelerated it towards the cartridge that fell out of a portal in front of me.

Once again.

Clever girl.

It collided with the cartridge and exploded.

With it, a follow-up of all the bullets that had been going back and forth all came at me again.

I wanted to see how she would react if I didn't let her close the distance and let her see that her long-distance method wasn't going to work, but it seems even I underestimated her here.

But, unfortunately, I wasn't going to let her win.

I let my other swords flash out and deflect all the other bullets out of the air. They had already seen me use my sword on camera, so I didn't care to hide it.

All of that led to her entering close range again with her sword as I grabbed Ascalon out of the air as it was the closest and was 'forced' to fight her on these terms once more.

She kept her shield up, almost like a Spartan, shifting between sword and spear, taking an aggressively defensive method of attack, as ironic as those words put together were.

Though, she was having trouble keeping away all my swords that were attacking her at various angles.

I did feel her trying to pull at them with Semblance, which was impressive in and of itself considering the control I had of them, but I reasserted control rather easily.

Instead, I noticed something peculiar.

The sweeping of my swords at her had become…distorted? Their arcs in the air were causing them to fly off course every so slightly.

"...what are you hiding behind your shield?" I noticed that she had been keeping her shield up, uncharacteristically defensive, when she was more of an aggressive fighter.

I sent a kick at her shield, and she went sliding back across the ground, throwing her spear at me with full force as she did.

I used my sword to swat it away, but then I saw what she was holding.

She flipped her shielded arm over to see one last bullet floating above it, but that was not the aspect that threw me for a loop.

I understood now.

The magnetic field around her had become extremely distorted when I wasn't paying attention.

She held her other hand over it and smiled at me.

The bullet spun rapidly enough that arcs of electricity sparked in the air around her fingers.

She made a railgun with her Semblance.

Well then.

The windows in the room shattered with a thunderous boom.

I quickly grabbed the nearest sword and swung it at the bullet, deflecting it to the side as it continued through the wall and out into the sky.

Thankfully, the room was situated so that it shot off out into the empty waters as I traced its trajectory.

I looked back at Pyrrha, who looked very tired and haggard. Sweat dripped down her forehead, and her breathing was heavy, but she looked very pleased with herself.

"I finally made you move."

I blinked, looking down, and realized I hadn't moved from the spot I was standing until she used her makeshift railgun against me.

Then I looked at the screen that showed her aura, and she was low.

Semblances use Aura as fuel, and she apparently drained almost all of it on that little stunt. It must have been difficult for her to get everything right using her polarity when she was just working through it on feelings.

"Woo, Pyrrha, that was amazing!" Ruby hooted, running up towards her into a hug.

"Holy crap, when did you learn to do that!?" Yang added.

"As expected of my partner." Weiss was flustered, surprised, and maybe even a tiny bit fearful, but she regained her normal demeanor quickly.

Blake was quiet, which seemed normal to her, but her eyes kept looking towards the damage, the hole through the building, and then back at Pyrrha.

Winter was…interesting.

Her expression was hard to read.

Pyrrha looked up at me as I walked over to her, and I simply wrapped her up in a big hug. "I'm proud of you."

She had a rather adorable smile.

"Miss Nikos, you show exceptional skill for someone your age. Have you considered joining the Atlas Military after graduation?" Winter approached as well.

"I—Um, thank you, but I have no plans to join Atlas for now." Pyrrha quickly gave what seemed like a rehearsed reply.

Considering how famous she is, she must have a lot of experience politely turning down offers.

Winter seemed nonplussed, as if it were expected. "If you ever change your mind, the Atlas Military will always welcome you."

And a polite, neutral acceptance of her rejection.

"If you are finished, however, perhaps a second spar would not be remiss?" Winter looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

I scrunched my nose because she was basically telling me she wanted to fight.

I only fought with Pyrrha because she asked, and we're friends.

Hell, I only came over to Beacon to catch up with Pyrrha. I did have other things I came to Remnant for, not just catching up with everyone. No reason I can't mix business and personal matters.

Hell, I had to see Roman and the others for the work I needed done anyways.

And while I wasn't exactly counting my minutes or being cautious of my time spent, I didn't want to waste my time fighting something I didn't care about.

"Too tired," I dismissed.

"Your aura is still rather full."

"I have post-Pyrrha exhaustion." Her shield bonked me in the head again.

"Don't say it like that!"

"I'm sure her future spouse will understand it very well."

"Neh!"

I had to do a double take because she sounded almost exactly like Jeanne there, maybe a pitch lower.

She was covering her exhausted red face with her hands.

I miss Jeanne; I hadn't seen her in several days.

It doesn't help that I can't really send messages…for the obvious reason. And yeah, I could call, but, well…my whole situation with Asgard over there.

Didn't want to have my face pop up even on screen for now.

"Are you afraid?" Her lips curled up as if to mock me.

Could you make your intentions any more obvious?

"Yup, very afraid." I nodded.

She didn't seem to expect that response from me.

Hello, Miss Specialist, I'm Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg. Good luck on trying to shame me into getting what you want.

"Why won't you spar with me?" Winter asked, frowning.

"Why do you want to spar with me? I'm a criminal, remember?" I pointed out. "You want to associate with a criminal? That seems unbecoming of an Atlas Specialist!" I shot right back at her.

Well, I didn't find her insufferable or anything. As for one of those very stern rule types, she was…amicable, I suppose.

We just found ourselves on different sides of the fence.

"Professional curiosity."

"Meh."

She furrowed her brow. "Fine. You mentioned your friend before. The supposed 'Best Swordsman.' Bring him. After I beat him, you will spar with me."

Oh?

Hmm.

Part of me just wants to be like, "No thanks," and go about my day.

But the other part of me kind of wants to see her arrogance shattered.

I took out my Scroll and sent Ozpin a message.

Wilhelm: Mind if I bring a friend over?

Ozpin: Are they a criminal or do they have a criminal history?

Wilhelm: No.

Ozpin: Will they endanger the school or the students?

Wilhelm: No.

Ozpin: For what purpose?

Wilhelm: Shatter Specialist Schnee's pride.

Ozpin: That's a dreadful way to convince me. However, go ahead.

Ozpin: Oh, and Mr. Schweinorg, please relay to Miss Nikos that Professor Goodwitch will be having words with her about her creative use of her Semblance and the damage to the training hall.

That's an oof for Pyrrha.

I shouldn't be surprised that Ozpin is watching me. Hell, he probably already knows what Winter just said to me and was just playing along.

That means tactical approval!

I had to switch to my Kaleidophone and then message Sasaki.

Wilhelm: Hey, busy?

It took a few moments longer for a response this time.

Sasaki Kojirou: I am not particularly busy with any important matters for the moment. Do you require assistance with something?

Heh, he took to modern technology rather easily.

I know he likes to watch videos on his phone when he's being lazy.

Wilhelm: Got a woman here who doesn't believe my claims about your skill. How would you like to come over and give her a demonstration?

Sasaki Kojirou: How fun. I would be more than happy to participate.

I wasted no time flicking my hand, knowing to track his location with the Kaleidophone despite not knowing where he was at the moment.

Sasaki stepped through the portal, wearing the same thing he normally does; a burst of cold air followed him before I shut it.

"Greetings, my friend, it's been a while." He extended his hand, and I took it happily.

"Since Asgard, huh?" Well, we've seen each other, but we haven't really done anything since then.

He just nodded politely. "So, tell me, where is this little bird you wish me to fight?"

Winter gave him a scrutinizing look, and his eyes also fell on her.

You know what?

I take it back; this is a perfectly fine way to waste my time.

I can put off my work for just a teeny bit longer.

Now, I wonder if I have come across popcorn somewhere.

[Line Break]

A/N

Pyrrha trains hard and gets some gains. Her Semblance is Polarity, so she should logically be able to create a rail gun effect if applied properly? A railgun is basically just a magnetic accelerator. But she's still a novice at it, so it tanked her aura to do it as she did.

I'm doing better, the pain isn't so bad that I have to take pain medication every day now, which is good. The bad news is that a pipe may have bursted in my house. I had to shut my water off and it's been off since Friday. Thankfully, it seems to be streaming only a little out into my garage, so probably the best case scenario there.

It's always something.

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