Ep. 11 - Solution?, Sparring

The day after giving the gang their new armor, Weiss was embarrassed at first, though she started sticking closer to me during class and lunch. Ruby and Yang were, unsurprisingly if I were to be honest, jealous. 'I mean, they have known me for more than a month. I am pretty nice to be around and strong as hell. While that is not enough to make them love me, nor did I actively try to make them have feelings for me, I guess it was enough to create an interest. They probably don't even realize it themselves. As for Weiss, well she did find someone who she can rely on, so I guess that's pretty normal. Seeing her embarrassed face was golden though.'

Apart from the new 'state of affairs', nothing particularly interesting happened. My team and JNPR did a couple of group training sessions with the new armor. Apparently, they loved it, which made me quite happy. They are friends now, so seeing my friends happy and protected does put a smile on my face.

I was sitting in class when I thought to myself, 'Should I just take a week off and go around killing all of the future antagonists? That would take away most of the adventure out of this trip. On the other hand, these guys would be safe. Well, safer, at least.' This is something I found myself thinking quite often in the last few hours. 'Now I understand what that drawback 'Occasional Ruthlessness' was all about. Anyway, if I really wanted to do this, my best bet is actually waiting for the tournament and Beacon's fall. The majority of my targets would be gathered in Vale and I can kill them. Salem is a problem. I could just create a holding cell in my ship then leave her on a cold, remote planet. Hopefully that would put her out of commission.' I started ironing out a plan.

I continued listening to the lecture when I suddenly had an idea. I stood up from my seat and walked to the professor.

"Ozpin. I need to speak with him. Now." With that, I exited the class and started running towards the guy's office. 'I absolutely need to tell Ozpin about my idea. If Salem's immortality works like I think it does, I might be able to do something.'

After a short run, I found myself in front of Ozpin's office's elevator. I selected the floor and arrived after a few seconds.

Inside, I saw Ozpin drinking coffee and looking at his scroll. It was showing the surveillance cameras' footage.

He looked at me, waving the Scroll, which was currently showing me rushing out of the classroom, and said: "Mind telling me what happened?"

"Ozpin, how does Salem's immortality work?" I asked, not bothering with subtleties.

His face was fantastic when he heard me.

"How do you know of Salem?"

"Look, Ozzy. I need to know how her immortality works because maybe, after 20 minutes of actually thinking, I might have found a way to deal with her."

"20 minutes, huh. And I spent all of my lives trying to find a way to kill her…" he said to himself, probably, before continuing, "I don't know how Salem's immortality works. I have several conjectures but nothing certain. One possibility is that her 'being' is immortal, so until there is anything related to her in this world, she will be unkillable. That is the worst case scenario. Another possibility is that it is related to her soul, something like her being a soul only and her body is just a husk. This would explain how she can recreate her body after it has been pulverized…" He was about to continue but I stopped him.

"How certain are you about the soul thing?"

"You did hear me, right? I just told you they are conjectures. However, I'd say that one of the two possibilities I gave you is correct. If I had to say how likely it is that her immortality is related to the soul… Maybe 60% sure? This stuff is complicated, Mr. Tula." he said, after contemplating a bit.

'60%... Not much but I can give it a shot.' I thought before saying, "Maybe, and I mean MAYBE, I have a way to get rid of her if her immortality is linked to the soul. It's a ritual… to imprison someone in a special crystal. I might be able to seal her soul. After that we can just throw it in the ocean. Nobody would be stupid enough to venture into the deeps to search for a rock, after all."

He looked shocked. For a good reason I should add. He spent centuries trying to kill his ex-wife and I came up with a way to get rid of her in less than an hour. 'He must be reconsidering his life choices.'

"If her immortality really works that way… Are you sure you can seal her?" He asked.

'Hm… I can set up the ritual on a different planet or what remains of the moon. After that, I surround the location with shield generators… Maybe some physical restraints as well. Just in case, I could put some automated turrets with Arc bullets to stun her. The more I think about it, the more it seems possible.'

"I wouldn't say 'sure', but I guess 90% certain is a good estimate." I told him.

"That is better than any plan I had, to be honest. How much time do you need?" he asked, finally seeing the 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

"I need to finalize the ritual. I can do that this evening. I will probably need a day or so to build all the restraining devices. I need to build a platform as well, to prevent the ground from cracking and disrupting the ritual. Another day for that. Hm… All things considered, a week is more than enough to make sure nothing goes wrong.

Although I can set it up quickly, I think we should wait for the tournament. If I were Salem, I would attack at that time. Most of the people working for her will be here in Vale. We can crush them at the same time." I said, considering the time I needed for all parts of my plan. I also subtly told him of the attack. He can draw his own conclusions.

Ozpin fell silent for an entire five minutes.

"Get everything ready before the second semester starts. We will wait for the tournament. If it is as you say, we will be able to take care of most enemies of humanity at the same time. Thank you. With your plan, we might be able to defeat Salem once and for all." He said, before bowing his head slightly.

"No problem. I am doing this partly for my own benefit."

'It's true, I am doing it so that my friends will be safe. It's good that they go through some battles, but it's not like I want to see them dead or without an arm.' I thought, before I remembered I kinda stormed out of the class.

"Hey, could you say something to the history professor? I think I might have pissed him off..."

He looked at me like I was stupid.

"Hey! It's not my fault I got the idea in class! Saving humanity should be more important than edited history!" I defended myself.

"Pfft! Sure, now go back to class." He waved me off while snickering.

'That ancient fuck. I need to find a way to mess with him. Something in his morning coffee maybe? Laxatives? Oh, so devilish!'

Anyway, after returning to class, the teacher looked at me with pity.

��What did Ozpin tell him? Well, no need to ask, I don't care too much about a professor's opinion to be honest.'

Once I got back to my seat, Weiss whispered: "Why did you run out of class so suddenly? I was worried, you know?!"

'She seriously is an angel once she opens up.'

"Don't worry, I needed to talk with the Headmaster about some urgent matters. Everything is fine and will be fine." I told her, putting my hand on hers.

'Oh, she looked away. Heh, her ears are red. Should I go for the ultimate chad move and 'take her temperature'? No, too much. Or maybe not!' I thought, before putting my hand on her forehead.

"Are you alright? You seem a bit red." I asked, faking a worried tone.

"Whose fault do you think it is?! Idiot."

'Worth it! Totally worth it!'

Class continued normally, though Weiss was sneakily, and unsuccessfully I will add, stealing some glances at me.

After that, it was time for the sparring sessions.

Team RWBY and JNPR donned their new armor for the first time. Hell, walking together into the arena we looked like total badasses. Or chuunis, you never know. Destiny armor was pretty different from armor in Remnant, plus it was the best of the best in terms of quality. Everything was exotic in terms of rarity, partially due to material and the adjustments I made while creating it.

'To be honest, I should probably modify their armor to make it so that it can turn into an under-armor like mine. I don't know why I didn't think about it before.'

After that day I made everyone new armor, I also made some weapons, though I am keeping them with me. Yang is the only one whose weapon has become truly obsolete. I mean, the modified gauntlets basically do the same thing 'Ember Celica' did, but better. Jaune is another one who has 'grown out' of his weapon. With his training and boost from the armor, his sword comes off as lackluster. It's still usable, but I will have him change it sooner, rather than later.

Anyway, I'm digressing. Sparring would be useful only to a certain extent to the gang, while basically useless to me. Pyrrha was an accomplished fighter, Weiss' swordsmanship was a little stiff but she is still a high-level fighter, Ruby relies too much on speed and her weapon but that makes her lethal, a one-trick pony but a lethal one, Yang tended to give in to rage but could overpower opponents at the level of common students, Nora was hyperactive but actually really good in a fight, Ren, on the other hand, had some serious skills. Jaune was the one who could learn more from the sparring sessions.

The fights were quite entertaining, at least to me. Most students couldn't even stand one hit by the new and improved armored gang. 'I will need to organize some spars against between us. If they continue like this, their skills will get rusty. Maybe some Grimm hunting might be good as well.' As I thought that my friends felt a shiver running down their spine, but it's for their own good.

I just enjoyed the show until I was called up to the stage. There was just a little problem: I didn't have aura and the sparring system is based on the aura level.

Glynda, who was overseeing the whole thing, furrowed her eyebrows looking at her Scroll. 'She probably noticed that my aura meter is empty. What will she do now?'

Surprisingly, she continued as if nothing was wrong. Well, nothing WAS actually wrong: my Guardian shields are better that any aura thing out there.

Anyway, I stopped thinking about useless things and looked at my sparring partner. He was a pretty big guy, probably around 6', just a little higher than me. He was pretty lean though. Tall and lanky, I'd say. His weapon of choice was a bow. Since he wasn't using a gun, I decided to use my sword. It would be the first time I use it. I took out my S ball and activated it. It turned into a flaming 'Raze-Lighter'. You might be thinking: 'Pretty overkill to use against a normal bow.' You're right. Absolutely right. But, the thing is: all of my weapons are overkill against students. Most of them have some form of armor-piercing, making Aura useless. I can at least use the flat side of my sword to incapacitate my unsuspecting victim. Please ignore that, I meant sparring partner.

With my weapon out, my friends' eyes were glued on me. During the Initiation, I only used a shotgun, while I used a hand cannon in Port's class. This is the third weapon I use. Ruby had probably seen me use 'Thorn' the night of Torchwick's attempted heist, but that didn't count. At any rate, Glynda signaled the start of the match and I held my sword close to my body. My plan was quite simple: show of force. I will deflect the arrows with my weapon and close in on him. I might toy with him a bit, depending on my mood in a few seconds. 'Is my drawback acting up again?'

My opponent took a step back and started firing arrows at me. I started moving my sword casually and stopped all arrows. My Exo brain is fantastic, I could literally see the trajectory of each arrow. I could also just guess it, but why do more work when it is already done subconsciously? The guy started strafing while firing arrow after arrow. After about ten arrows, I blinked behind him and tapped his head with the flat side of the sword. Before he could turn around, I blinked back to my original position. I glanced at the rest of the students and they were quite stunned, many jaws hanging… Glynda on the other hand was calmly watching the exchange, that was until she saw I took half of my opponent's aura by tapping his head gently. Heh, her face was priceless.

My opponent started firing arrows again. I decided to switch it up, so I started slowly walking towards him while knocking down arrows. After a few seconds, I was in front of him and tapped his head again. With that, I took another 30% or so of his aura, making it go in the red. I turned around, stored my weapon and walked towards my friends like a boss. 'Hah… That felt nice for my ego, though he never posed a threat at all.'

Glynda then snapped out of her daze and announced my victory. The archer guy looked demoralized, though I think he realized I was a monster and didn't take this loss to heart. Some sparring sessions later, the time was up. We had some more time until dinner, so I was thinking about finalizing my plan to get rid of Salem. That was until I felt someone tap my shoulder. Turning around, I found Pyrrha with a scary look in her eyes.

"Hey Tula, mind sparring with me a bit?" she asked.

"How could I refuse? Maybe you'll actually pose a challenge!" 'Fuck, I said that out of reflex. Well, she IS one of the few that might actually pose some resistance.'

Luckily she didn't take it badly, rather she was raring to go. Like that, the gang and I went back to the arena. Ren proposed he acted as an announcer, to give a more 'official' feel to our spar. I didn't mind and so did Pyrrha, so he operated his scroll. Then, he noticed my aura meter. Apparently, they were too busy watching me dominate my opponent to look at the aura meters during the sparring session.

"Wait a moment Tula. Why is your aura meter blank?" he asked me.

'I told them my material creation thingy was my semblance. I need to bullshit my way out of this. I am sorry to do this, but until I keep my origin a secret I can't tell them.'

"Oh, that. Apparently my aura can't be picked up by these meters. The headmaster already knows and said he ordered some custom-made one. I don't know when it will get here though." I said calmly. 'I am becoming a master at lying. It's pretty useful though.'

"I see, as long as you guys can spar safely, I guess it's fine."

"Don't worry, Ren. I've got everything under control." I said, giving him a thumbs-up. Must have been out of character for me since he looked at me strangely.

"Let's move on. Get ready!" he said. 'Much appreciated.'

Pyrrha had her new armor on and was using her rifle and shield. I, on the other hand, decided to change it up a bit. I took out my HC ball, turning it into a 'Last Word'.

Seeing as both of us were ready, Ren started the countdown.

As soon as the match started, I started running to the right, while Pyrrha started shooting me. To assert dominance, I started firing… towards the bullets. First down, second down, the third was way off mark so I left it alone. Let me tell you, wrong move.

I soon discovered that her rounds could ricochet. Maybe it was just the right surface. Either way, I had the impulse to duck but that would mean staying in the same position for enough time to get shot again. I decided to roll to the left.

After getting up, I said: "Nice shot, didn't expect that."

"Thanks, you have some pretty good senses to actually dodge that."

'She's right. Most Guardians, even Crucible veterans, can't always dodge a ricochet round. She's got some mad skills to pull it off.'

"Let's continue, shall we?" I asked, lowering my body a bit. A hit wouldn't matter. Even if my shields went down, my body wouldn't be harmed, but it was about pride here. Nothing more, nothing less. This was probably my memory as Tula-28 acting up though.

Pyrrha didn't respond. Instead, she changed her weapon to its javelin/spear form and charged at me.

'Ok, now this might be a problem. While I am not worried about myself, my bullets will probably hurt her. Well, no pain, no gain… Right?'

With that thought out of the way, I reloaded quickly, as having all six shots would be ideal. I then shot her while moving forwards. She dodged by a hair's breadth.

She thrust her weapon, which I knocked off course by hitting the shaft with my hand. I shot her again, which hit her shield. That caused a dent in the thing.

'Sorry Pyrrha, I will give you and the others your new weapons after this.'

As a side note, we attracted a lot of students, who started looking at our spar, not that I noticed, I was actually enjoying this.

Pyrrha trying bashing me with her shield, which I used as a trampoline to put some distance between us. As I was in the air, I fired another four shots. Two were center mass, while two were left and right. She took the best course of action and did a very acrobatic but not incredibly practical somersault backwards.

"That was cool." I said while reloading. I am being very lavish with bullets, but I like to have as many as possible in store. Wouldn't want to reload at a crucial time, after all. To be honest, during this spar I noticed that the ammo display on my HUD was basically useless when using Hand Cannons.

She took her stance again, while staring straight at me, not that I could see it since she had her helmet on.

I decided to put her in difficulty a little, just to see how she would react.

"My turn." After saying that, I blinked to her right and fired two bullets. I wasn't close enough to not give her time to react, but it definitely turned the difficulty up a few notches. She managed to defend the second bullet with her shield, while the first one hit her side. As I expected, the bullet took away a decent chunk of her aura. 'I expected more damage. Must be because of the armor. Good thing she's protected.'

She let out a small groan, as the bullet had quite a lot of power. She then threw her javelin at me, while she started running herself. The distance was quite small, so it wouldn't take much for her to arrive.

I let go of my gun, freeing my right hand. I caught the falling weapon with my left, firing a shot at Pyrrha, while I grabbed her javelin with my right. I threw it back at her.

She managed to not only defend the bullet, but also catch the javelin the same way I did.

A "Damn, you're good." might or might not have come out of my mouth.

We continued our exchange of blows, more like dodging of blows, for another five minutes, roughly, then I managed to catch her off guard with a kick. It threw her off balance, creating an opening which I used. The first time I hit her with a bullet, I noticed I took about a tenth, probably a little more of her aura, therefore I went ham on the trigger and planted six shots on her stomach. 'Ouch, that will cause a bruise for sure.' I thought.

"Winner, Tula!" 'Oh hey Ren, kinda forgot about you there!'

The students that came to watch started clapping while I extended my hand to Pyrrha.

"You alright? Sorry about the last shots." I said, while helping her get up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hurts a little but nothing serious thanks to the armor. You're damn good!" she said, massaging her stomach a little.

"Thanks!" then I looked at her shield, riddled with dents from my bullets. Hell, there where a couple of hole as well. "Do you mind coming to my room with the rest of you team after dinner?"

"Sure, I'll see you later. I want a shower and some ice." She said.

With my first serious spar out of the way, I went to the lockerroom to shower, then to eat.

'I wonder what they will think about the new weapons. Am I spoiling them too much? Am I creepy? Nah, probably not. Probably.'