Chapter 6

"…" Jaune Arc was sitting inside a locker room, dressed in similar fashion as Shirou, just with white skintight sleeveless shirt, white armored pants and boots, and a blue waist cape.

His color scheme resembled that of Artoria, his second teacher. And she commented that he had great taste in color.

But forget the clothing for now…currently, Jaune was sweating in nervousness. Which was weird.

He has been on an extermination missions before, and even captured bunch of criminals through the missions in the guild, or Grand Order, but he likes to call it guild.

He has been to a lot of battlefields, yet why does being on a tournament made him so nervous?

Ah, yes, it's probably because he's an introvert and this is the first time he'd be expose to thousands of people. Not to mention this tournament is also his graduation.

Yes, it's no wonder why he's so nervous. If he disappoints Shirou, then he would feel like they just wasted their efforts on him.

Suddenly …

Knock. Knock.

"Um, Mr Arc?"

Jaune stood up straight and looked at the door that was suddenly opened. And a beautiful woman wearing a black suit came in while holding a paper.

"Jaune Arc, ma'am." Jaune said, offering a polite smile.

"Hmm," the woman nodded, "Please head to Entrance B, your fight will be in ten minutes."

"Thank you." Jaune nodded.

"No problem." The woman then took out a pen and signed the paper before nodding, "Very well, I shall be taking my leave. We expect you to be on time. If you weren't in the arena by the time the MC called your name three times, you will be automatically disqualified."

"Got it. Thanks for informing me."

The woman nodded before closing the door as she left.

Jaune took a deep breath before slapping his cheeks. "You got this Jaune! Remember all the pain you suffered during those times you trained with Shirou!"

With that, Jaune took his weapons, a simple looking longsword that you can find in any weapon shop.

This weapon is just temporary replacement for his Crocea Mors, that was being 'improved' and 'modified' by Medea.

Truthfully though, he preferred it if Medea-nee would just make his sword simple and not over complicate it.

A highly mechanized weapon became quite useless in the wilds for long duration of time.

Such as complicated mecha-shifting weapons, they have higher chance of malfunctioning if you are on a mission in the wild. They could be attack by Grimms and be damaged, making it completely unusable.

It is why most veteran Huntsmen preferred simple weapons such as a reinforced sword, or even something like a fishing rod. No one uses a scythe that can mechashift into a sniper rifle, that's expensive to maintain and easily damaged.

Of course, they can argue that they can cover it with Aura to make it more durable, but that would exhaust their aura much faster.

Seriously, whoever uses an overly complicated weapon is an idiot.

At the same time, on the other side of the world, a certain red riding hood who was cleaning her high-impact sniper rifle that can mecha-shift into a scythe, suddenly sneezed.

"Ah, are you by any chance Jaune Arc?" A rough voice of a male awoke Jaune from his thoughts.

Raising his head, he saw a tall and muscular man with tanned skin looking at him.

"Ah, yes, I'm Jaune Arc." Jaune replied.

The man nodded, "Good, good. It's your turn next. The fight ended much earlier than expected and they're currently cleaning the arena. Really, as expected of the reigning champion, she ended the fight in under three minutes."

"Champion?" Jaune tilted his head. Though he has live in Argus for quite awhile now, he wasn't that interested in whatever is going in the city.

"Oh yes. Pyrrha Nikos, she's about your age. A genuine prodigy. Started joining in competition when she was thirteen, and reigned as a champion for three years in a row. Undefeated. If she won this tournament, she'd be the first one to have ever held the title of champion for four straight years. She'll be making history!"

"Oh." Jaune nodded, though he wasn't really that interested. For him, saving people is enough, fame and glory was never in his list of priorities.

Besides, champion or no, Jaune doubted there is someone in this world who could even come close to the monstrosity that are his teachers.

There was one time where Shirou showed him how he casually blow up a hole through a mountain, and told him that having that level of power is a minimum requirement to be promoted to EX-rank.

Then there's Medea-nee, who seem to bend time itself and reverted the mountain back to its previous state before Shirou casually fired a railgun in a form of a bow and arrow.

Jaune, whose knowledge about Huntsmen was very limited, thought that Shirou's strength should be normal for a veteran huntsmen, that's why he was always depressed when he compare himself to him, thinking that he has no talent and very weak.

Which is far from the truth.

[And now, ladies and gentlemen! The fourth match of the day! Starting with the man who faced the champion in the finals last year! The man who's rapier-skills was so fast they were followed by thunder! Let's welcome, The Lightning Flash! Rogue Willson!]

Jaune heard the MC, along with the loud thunderous cheers of the crowd.

"Oh," the man cringed as he look at Jaune with pity, "Sorry lad, it seems like you ran out of luck. That man, Rogue, is strong and has the highest chance in facing the champion in the finals. Looks like you'd be disqualified in the first round."

"…we'll see." Jaune simply replied as he readied himself.

[His opponent! A man who competes for the first time! A D-rank Servant from the Grand Order Association! He has been into the wilds and has far more experienced than average trainee! Let's welcome! Jaune Arc!]

This time, the cheers were a little lower than the first, but Jaune was still surprised that someone were cheering for him. Though, they probably did it out of politeness or something.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune took a step forward.

'Well, time to see just how strong I have gotten after my training.'

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In a certain locker room, owned only by the champion of the tournament, a beautiful red haired young woman with green eyes was watching the TV-screen showing the arena with interest.

This young woman is Pyrrha Nikos, the reigning champion of Mistral Regional Tournament.

She knew Rogue, though she easily beat him in the finals last year, for average trainee he is still someone they couldn't surpass.

Then again, anyone who has joined Grand Order and became a D-rank Servant was far from normal. That rank is the highest you can get without having a Hunter License.

She was watching a small amount of interest, knowing full well that whoever wins this round will have a high chance of facing her in the finals.

Oh yes, she did not factor that chance that she might lose before reaching the finals. She's that confident in her own skills.

She smiled, deciding to enjoy the fight as she waits for her next opponent of the day.