Chapter 26 - Tournament is here

Sounds of cheers spread throughout the whole arena. There were hundreds of thousands of people watching on television, and even more were cheering live.

Following the absolute dominance of the RWBY team, they swept the ABRN team. The crowd was expecting even more exciting matches.

Nephrite and his team were about to face off against team bronze (BRNZ). He had already found out about and reported 'Cinder'. With Ozpin utilizing his forces, her days were numbered.

Her plans stayed pretty much the same, with minor differences. Her arrogance would bring her own doom, that he was sure of.

And now he could focus on his own fight.

"Welcome team NNPR on the stage!"

Oobleck's voice sounded, and the team headed out. It had now become necessary for him to lower his 'hearing' sensitivity due to the once inaudible cheers.

'Incredible.' He thought when he looked around. A subtle invisible pressure had now descended on the team, but they had experienced something more horrible.

"Welcome team BRNZ everyone!"

Team BRNZ stepped onto the stage.

"If anyone's aura drops below 70%, I am not cooking for a week, got it?"

"I'll break their knees!"

"Come on, you don't need to go that far, it's just food." With Nora fired up, others soon joined the hype.

Her gaze turned predatory, sending shivers down the team, BRNZ.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Begin!"

"Nora!" "Got it!"

Nora launched Pyrrha straight at the team with her hammer. With a wide swing, Pyrrha jumped on her hammer and launched herself forward. Her Miló turned into a spear.

She threw it at the enemy sniper and took on another enemy. Nephrite wasn't far behind with grenades behind his back and engaged another enemy, before jumping in the air.

"What a splendid opening! Team NNPR took the initiative, and Nolan's aura is down to 80%!" Said Port.

Jumping over him, Nephrite got to May, the enemy sniper, before she could hide in a forest. Miló was kicked from the ground and thrown at Pyrrha, who was grappling with the enemy with her shield and kicks.

May, the enemy sniper, tried to take advantage of the fact that his back was turned in her direction, but hit his shadow. Six slashes and a kick appeared in almost a split second, knocking her away while disarming her at the same time.

With her weapon in hand, he turned around in clear sight, getting ready to snipe.

After Nora shot those grenades, she and Ren engaged their enemy duo. Thanks to her grenades, Nolan was disoriented, and she slowed down her strike.

He noticed the strike in time and barely blocked it with all of his strength. 'A feint!' Were his last thoughts as the hammer brushed against his weapon and used its explosion mechanic to gain momentum, blasting him away.

"Team BRNZ is in deep trouble! And Nolan is considered out of bounds! If they don't do something, their defeat is inevitable!"

Meanwhile, Pyrrha's battle came to an end soon enough, with her Miló in her hands she backed away and turned it into her gun.

In a few precise shots, she interrupted his attack, changing back to the spear form and using its long form to knock her enemy off balance. When he was barely standing, she used her semblance subtly and knocked off his balance.

3 fights ended almost as soon as they began with Ren not falling far behind, he sprayed his enemy with bullets, and engaged him in close combat, dodging his claw swipes before returning quick slashes.

After a few bouts, a sniper bullet almost hit him in the head, throwing him off balance. Then, Ren's head kick knocked team BRNZ leader Brawnz to the ground.

"Yeeehaw!"

*Crack

"Leader Brawnz's aura is now in the red! Medics, please check that poor young lad's leg." Oobleck and the audience grimaced when they heard a sickening crunch.

With May somewhere within the forest unarmed, and Roy at Pyrrha's mercy, the fight ended with their surrender after they saw the fate of their leader. Nephrite threw the sniper rifle at May and strolled with his team out of the arena.

"Let's go team NNPR! Come on Neo why aren't you cheering!" Blizzard said and took out a megaphone before cheering even louder, they were on the lower seats spectating the fight with team RWBY.

"Jeez, you should have mentioned when you had that time of the month!" Blizzard looked at Neo and joined her and her team RWBY.

...

They met team RWBY and BRON, and Weiss dragged them off to the docks. An Atlesian ship landed, and Weiss's older, more collected copy stepped out.

With Weiss's introduction, Winter learned their names.

"You must be Nephrite, that the general often talks about. I am Winter Schnee." She extended her hand, and Nephrite responded in kind and shook it.

"Nephrite Antaeus at your service." He introduced himself, Winter nodded and stepped back a bit to talk with Weiss. Both BRON and NNPR let team RWBY be and went on their way.

Of course Nephrite slowed down and waited for a beautiful show that was about to happen. He activated his sense of sight to the maximum every few seconds, soon enough a bird landed nearby and without anyone's notice Qrow appeared.

As soon as he saw Qrow's weapon, multiple alarms sounded in his mind. As if it could end him any moment if it wanted to.

Like in his style, he broke off a few robots and approached the Ice Queen. Nephrite and the two teams took care of civilian passer-by in case anything happened. They wanted to stop the inevitable brawl, but Nephrite stopped them and told them to just enjoy the show.

Like in the show, Winter initiated first contact, and team RWBY cheered on with camp Winter manned by Weiss and team Uncle Qrow with Yang and Ruby in the lead.

Winter's speed was frightening, as her instant acceleration was faster than his regular speed. With his linear increase in strength so far, he estimated Winter's pure speed to be around Physique 100-150 maybe even more.

Others could at most see their movement and exchanges only when they stopped for a split second after their weapons collided, before disappearing again.

Nephrite could, however, with the Grimm Tide he couldn't see much of the strong huntsmen and huntresses utilizing their pure speed, as they had to hold the lines without letting many Grimm in.

He was quite confident in his judgement now, and could estimate their power. It was clear, though, that Qrow was just playing around, and the feeling of death was still lingering.

His sixth sense told him that Harbinger could kill him, like a Grim Reaper coming for his victim. An instant death, no struggle, nothing would be able to save him.

Although the feeling persisted, he brushed it off. If such power was available at no cost, wouldn't Qrow be able to end the hidden war on his own? Or at least eliminate every pawn that Salem had.

He was quite confident in the fact that it could kill anyone except Salem. The feeling itself wasn't the overpowering presence or pure strength like the one Jerry possessed.

It was more of an inevitability.

The fun didn't last long though, as few justice branch members appeared and tried to stop the fight. Of course, Winter and Qrow blasted the students away. But Qrow knew who they were and withdrew his weapon when he saw Ironwood with Ozpin in the distance.

"A pity. I wanted to see more." Nephrite muttered to himself.

When the fight was over, he wanted to leave with everyone. It was a lunch break before another match, after all. Alas, Ozpin wouldn't let him eat in peace.

"Student Nephrite, please come with us to my office." Ozpin said. Nephrite nodded and bid others goodbye.

They left Qrow behind for a few minutes, as he had a reunion with his nieces.

...

*Ding

It took him 30 minutes to reunite with his nieces, and Nephrite didn't know if he should laugh or cry after seeing the irritated Winter.

Qrow appeared in his typical style, drinking some mysterious alcohol that Nephrite could smell from 5 meters away.

With Qrow's appearance, a minor argument ensued...

"And who invited her? Also, what's this kid doing here?" Qrow pointed at Winter, and then Nephrite.

The general dismissed Winter.

"This is Nephrite, a bright student."

"Oz, you can't be serious, he is just a kid!"

"He was the one who found out about 'them' himself, didn't you Nephrite?" Ozpin said, and looked at Nephrite.

'He sure isn't some pushover.'

"Indeed, I had my hunch after I saw what she was capable of, and it sure wasn't a semblance. At least that is what my instinct told me. Maidens aren't they? After I read those books that Oobleck gave me, my horizons were broadened, and the possibility of magic isn't so impossible now."

"I risked my life, and even a kid knows what's going on? Seriously, Oz?" Qrow just looked at Oz with a judging gaze.

"I apologize, Qrow, but right now we have an enemy on our grounds. From what I have gathered, the half-maiden in question is called Cinder Fall from Haven Academy. Moreover, after further investigation, almost every Huntsman in Anima has gone radio silent. Something isn't right."

"Did you contact Leonardo?"

"Indeed, he said that everything is fine, and he had to send huntsmen to rural areas as Grimm were too active there."

"Something isn't right!" Ironwood said and almost slammed his fist on the table.

"If I may, is it possible that Leonardo betrayed, or is being forced to do something?" Nephrite said, when he saw his chance.

Ozpin sighed and said. "I will look into it. Nephrite, what I am about to tell you will change your view about this world."

Nephrite was 'introduced' to the inner circle...

...

"It's almost time..." Cinder smirked to herself when Mercury reported Qrow's presence. Since she wasn't able to hack and give Watts direct access, he was forced to begrudgingly hack from Atlas to get into their mainframe.

After he almost got caught, Cinder gained her access. Though she now owed him a favour and not a light one...