Guts was having trouble sleeping, he laid on the passenger seat in the rental RV staring at the ceiling. When it was time for them to retire, Tai offered the sofa bed to Guts but he opted for the passenger seat, the girls were in the bunk beds. No surprise there. And casca decided to stay with them, taking the main bed and as for qrow he's on the driver seat, guts made sure this happened. By design he offered the main bed to casca which is at the back of the RV and had qrow in the front right next to him... with his sword at hand.
The message was clear to everyone, everyone that knew, ruby was out of the loop.
He just woke up from a nightmare but luckily without any commotion disturbing those around him. the nightmare have been recurring as of late each one more vivid than the last, the dreams were mostly the same of him being chased as a child and then being tortured by a different monster, each one varied from a grotested slug monster, elongated snake man and bizarrely monstrous succubus. each one tortured and maned him to no end all the while something is watch him with a red glowing piercing eye, a wicked grin and has more malicious intent that it'll put a grimm to shame.
That thing stares at him jeering him on. " YIELD TO ME!!! YIELD EVERYTHING TO ME!!!" despite the things that were happening to him, being vividly mutilated and all. He dreaded that thing more than anything. He never gives in despite the pain he goes through, he never gives in. He'll let the monster have their way with him as he tries to focus on his surroundings. The landscape filled with mound littered with faces and seem to be in a shallow lake of blood however he looks at a mirror image of the sky, an eclipse outlined by a red light as the image is burned into his eyes as a symbol bleed through the moon.
After that he'll wake up before seeing the full mark. He steadies his breathing as he clenches his fist regaining his composure. He grips his cloak that he used as a blanket, he can hear the rhythmic breathing and snores of those around him. He looks over to his side and sees qrow snoring with his legs up on the dashboard and his arm over his eyes while his other hand grip his flask. Guts let off a light snot as he shifts his body searching for his scroll, he checks the time to see that it is thirty minutes until five. He noticed that his hand trembled slightly. He clenches his jaw as he was still affected by the nightmare. He looks over the seat behind him seeing everyone soundly asleep. He carefully gets off of the seat, grabs his armor and quietly heads outside.
Once outside he breathes in the crisp cool air and takes in his surroundings, noting that the sun has not risen. He sees that there are people already up, most likely preparing today's events. He puts on his armor and takes his sword and sets off to the forest to be out of sight. He wants to squeeze in some training, so that he could build his focus and do a bit of self reflection, however doing this leads him to do some loathing and add his curse into it he ends up attracting grimm, hence why he goes to the forest.
Usually his training consists of him using equipment or other methods but he does not have that luxury, so he does something similar to shadow boxing. He reenact fights from his vision acting as a simulation of a situation either following the same movement he did in his vision or think of alternate outcomes in the fights. Guts only does this to vent out or reflect on the ongoing of his life, this also helps his focus. With that being said there was a lot to think about.
Beside the frequent nightmares there's also the eclipse that is coming soon, from his understanding it probably the first one in recorded history, supposedly, it will be a spectacle and a 'time to be alive'. However there is a lingering thought in his head, Nosferatu Zodd. His omen is what started these nightmares, he claims his death and ruby's downfall. She has recently become overwhelmed by the obligation she was given, he chastises himself for not being there for her as it started to take a toll, thankfully Yang stepped in and helped her. He promised Yang that he'll assist her in supporting Ruby, he plans to after resolving her problem with her after the tournament, they have the whole summer to do so.
However a little over a month ago he was visited by... something. This skull knight warns him of an unavoidable death along with his friends stating that a month later this will occur it already has and on the week of the eclipse. Despite all of his unnatural encounters he was never a believer of destiny or fate, he scoffed at the very notion of it, it merely a concept that people believe in so that they think that they meant for a higher purpose. This is a sorry fantasy that people use to escape harsh reality that they can't accept.
Guts let off an annoyed sigh as his movements were getting sharper and heavier. When training it is hard to pick a fight to simulate, because they all blend together the only way he could differentiate by the colors that the soldiers wore in his vision. These 'fights' force him to act accordingly to deal with his adversaries in large numbers and in all directions. Not that hard to get used to, especially dealing with the grimm.
Speaking of 'soldier' another thing on his mind in the matter of the tournament, more specifically his father, Qrow. he has been aloof as of late, never staying for more than a day and goes absent for weeks, however guts understands why or at least pretend to. No, the issue is that he or someone else has constructed events in the tournament. Firstly the involvement of Beacon, he alway suspected that Qrow's colleague with trying to protect Remnant included a huntsmen academy it only made sense, and beacon being the closest one, he suspects that their involvement is the reason that he and Pyrrha are here, along with assigned huntsmen acting as the tournaments security. He gets the feeling that they're here unofficially, the advisers failed to mention the huntsmen are on duty, not to mention they are the closest thing to the police. He also believes that they're here specifically for Pyrrha, she is apparently a renowned celebrity and endearing figure. Which explains her mother, he remembers that she said her mother was against her going. And the final nail to the coffin was the headmistress of beacon and Qrows apparent visits, wanting the "best of the best '' to test their mettle in a no hold bar tournament. He wants to give the benefit of doubt to qrow but that's slowly running its course, for too many things pointed out that Guts is involved in someone's agenda, and frankly the idea of that makes his blood .
However that came to a halt as Guts blocked an attack coming from behind, wanting to separate from his attack he focused his aura on his blade as he pushed his attacker off of him and sent them back in a considerable amount of distance. but despite sending them flying off they immediately recover landing on their feet. Guts gritted his teeth going into a stance. the only reason he was able to counter was because he's always on guard while training, it's when he was mostly attacked by grimm. The attacker sheathed their sword and glanced at Guts with interest.
Guts took note of his attacker, firstly they're a woman. her color scheme is similar to ruby with reds and blacks. It was the upper part of a long-sleeve kemono with a red waist stash, arm bracers and pauldrons. A half skirt on top of a black skirt adorned with black feathers to the side with thigh high leg chaps and high heel boots. She had waist long black hair held by a red bandana and beaded necklaces however the most alluring thing was her mask that she wore, it was a white mask with red lines resembling a creature of grimm. Her weapon was seamlessly a red katana from what he saw up close, but the concerning part was the scabbard which was fashioned a rotating cylinder with slots illuminating color. Unsure the purpose they pose he was sure to have his guard up.
With all of that he could confidently say he has not seen her in the competition. So why did she attack, it makes sense if she was just to get rid of competition. She then started to walk in a circle with guts following suit imitating her action. She scaling me up.
"What are your intentions?" he demanded getting no response
"What are you after?" still no answer
"Who are you!?"
"..."
"... you are beginning to piss me off." he muttered lowly, gripping his sword about to make the first move as the woman tilted her head in interest. Before he can strike first she dashes forward at Guts with her sword unsheath. He responds appropriately with no hesitation, as they both clash swords as they pass by each other, guts immediately about face and counters a vertical strike given by the masked woman. He pushes her off and delivers a right hook to the head, surprising her for the sudden switch of combat. He took this moment and slashed upward making her dodge and counters with a thrust of her sword aimed at his chest, but Guts deflected it with his left arm bracer as it slid across. He then quickly flips his hand to grip on to the sword as he raise his own and brings it down shattering the woman blade.
The woman quickly jumps back and looks at her hilt seeing a small piece of her blade was lift. Although satisfied he felt that it was not over, he glances at his hand still holding the remains of the broken blade, he sees it slightly glistens. Upon closer inspection he realizes that the blade is entirely made of dust, he then sees the woman ejecting the broken piece out of her hilt and sheathing it as the cylinder scabbard rotates and clicks. She pulls her sword out revealing a blue blade in its place.
They both stare down each other, guts could feel heat from the back of his head telling him the sun is rising. The masked woman took a stance raising the blade horizontal near her head. Guts opted to not move just simply continuing to stare at her, the woman accounts this as foolhardy, taking advantage of his lack of guard she rushed forward. However she was met with her broken blade being thrown at her, she scoffs, swiping it out of the way, only for it to let off a fiery explosion. She brings up her arms shielding herself from the outburst, but it was cut short as a blade cuts through the explosions, Guts rushed forward blindsiding her. He spiked her to the air, sending her flying; she then fell on the ground letting out a pained grunt as she quickly got up to block another attack from Guts as their blades clash putting them in deadlock.
Guts' plan set off like clockwork. While in there stare down he charged his aura into the broken blade, it was similar to judeau dust infused knife in his weapon, so it should work the same result only more powerful. It would have served as a smokescreen obscuring her vision of him, allowing guts to blind side her, though he wishes that her recovery time wasn't so quick.
As both swordsmen push on one another, neither of them loses ground. Guts took a chance and clasp his hand over her blade locking it on his. The woman, shocked, tried to eject her blade only to be jerked forward as guts came in for a headbutt. He enforced his head with aura slamming it on to her. It was the only thing he can think of for both of his hand were being used. He goes for another only to cried out in pain as a kick was deliver to him from the side. The woman gives another kick from the opposite side, however Guts still held strong, reeling his head and delivering another headbutt. Seeing the guts didn't falter she kicked him again this time enhanced with aura aiming high in his ribs as guts cried out in pain failing to realize that the woman ejected her blade.
She then replaces her missing blade with a yellow and goes and attacks guts. She delivers a flurry of electrical strikes at guts. Guts had his aura up in order to heal his ribs however she was chipping it away at a graduate rate. He takes a swing at her but she leapt over him and takes a strike across his neck as she lands behind him, giving a strong push kick, launching him forward.
He rolled on the ground after the kick, he grits his teeth as he decides to take the offensive as he rushes at her, seeing this she swings her sword launching lightning bolts all hitting there mark however guts ignores the pain as his growls out, his pace doubles and readies his sword.
The woman tried to block the incoming strike but realized quickly that the force behind the sword was too much for her as it sent her backward. Guts assault did not falter as he deliver one heavy attack after the other, forcing the masked woman on the defensive staggering back in each step, her arms felt weak as each strike robs her of her strength and when thing couldn't get any worse
CRA-RR-ACCKK!!!
Even with the mask one can tell that the woman was shocked. Despite this guts did not stop as another hit resulted in the woman to quickly change blades... only this time as she tried to deflect, it broke again. She does parry guts attack, but immediately follows with another one forcing her to repeat her last action.
This went on, as every time she deflects or attempts to retaliate resulted in her blades breaking upon Guts' sword. She figured that he would have tired out, but no he was relentless not letting up. She saw that his aura shattered though the strength behind the sword did not change. He used his aura to heal the injuries I gave him. She thinks back of the kicks she landed and the lighting strikes that hit him.
Unsure on how many blades she went through and feeling her reserve depleting. She shined the sunlight to his eyes as he brought his sword up. Despite that he struck down hitting the ground. realizing the new sensation of hitting the ground, he looks around seeing that she was nowhere in sight until someone drops from above landing on his sword. It was the masked woman, as she pointed her sword towards guts making him look up at her. As he wears a hardened scowl.
"I think it best if you stop here" she spoke, panting in between breaths.
"You have no aura and I have you at a disadvantage." She pointed out, evident as she pressed her blade on to his neck and she stood on his sword preventing him from lifting it.
Guts only snickered. "Tsk, don't think that I'm at your mercy and besides there is no room to talk in a fight." causing her to be confused as she was abort to retort back
"No, this is how you use your mouth during a fight" what occurred next surprised the woman thinking that he was insane, or better yet mad. As Guts bites into the sword holding it in place, and despite the woman pushing or pulling her sword it won't budge as Guts bite into it tight to the point he starts to bleed from his gums. Guts wasn't a stranger to this, it was the same move that Griffith did to him, ever since then he thought of ways to counter it, this was the best he could think of.
Guts then lifts his sword to push her off. The sudden shift of stance made her lose her balance making her fall back dropping her weapon. She tries to get up and reach for the sword however guts kicks away and stomp on her wrist she yelled in pain as she saw guts readied his sword in delivering the finishing blow.
Guts was about to strike until he realized he had intent to kill. In the slight hesitation an unknown force sent him flying back. He recovers and stands up but realizes his sword was dropped. He pulled his crossbow and aimed it at the woman who was gone. He surveys the area in search of her,only to see her gone. walks to his sword and picks it up still on alert.
"Your as ferocious as they say you are" gut about face and fires a red dust bolt at the direction of the voice, but it was deflected. She stood on a branch of a tree as she looked down on him.
"And here I thought that you lost your edge, gone soft. Especially hanging around with Qrow" she said however saying the name with distaste. Guts growled gritting his teeth at the mention of Qrows name, until everything clicks in. the white mask, black hair, mention of qrow.
"What was all this for 'raven Branwen'?" he called out. the woman's head jolted slightly as she reached over and removed her mask revealing her face. Guts eyes wide upon the reveal, she looks like yang, or in actuality yang looks like her. She also has red eyes like her brother.
"Look familiar?" she teases, guts clicked his tongue in annoyance having his sword forward ready for another bout.
"How did you know it was me?" she asked
"... i didn't, it was all a hunch. I know of the Branwen tribe and their 'bandit queen' who wears a grimm mask. Not to mention how you said Qrow's name. A dead give away, with all things considered. Now tell me why did you attack me?" he demanded
"I did not attack you, I was testing you. Like I said before I thought you went soft. But little by little, the Mad Dog revealed himself " raven smirked, as guts eyes widened she knew of his past.
"Tch, so what you're here to kill me now, to finish off what's left of the mercenaries?" he stated, he knew better not to deny it since he's dealing with her, so steeled his stance not caring about his lack of aura.
"Urgh, no I have no intention of killing you. I came to see if you worth my interest"
"Speak plain woman!!!"
"Hmph, add oblivious and hardheaded on the list" she muttered and then jumped across another branch as Guts follows. "There are forces behind the scene. Controlling the status quo and the interworking of the world. A war stirring in the shadows and whether or not you know it you are a part of it."
Guts immediately thought of Qrow and his allies, but he never thought of an opposing force. "How am I a part of this war!? Why did you seek me out!?"
"One of these forces sought out the mercenaries. Wanting them to join their faction. But they all disappeared before joining, though i do have idea what happened to them" Raven fixes her gaze on to Guts, her implication was clear to him.
"I figured that the one of the mercenaries were still be around. it'll be the Mad Dog of the mercenaries, if what the rumors state are true. But color me surprised when I find out that you were just a little boy with a sword... and that my brother adopted you, most likely to groom you into the perfect pawn." she explain
"SHUT UP!!"
"Struck a nerve... whether you believe it or not i don't care. But even if you are not that bright, you had really there's too many sequence of coincidence" she remarked, making Guts glare daggers at her.
"I lift that life behind. I have no intention of going back to it. So why the interest in me?" he growled out loose what patience he had lift
" that what I want to figure out. In what I observed you are strong and skilled. And that's not something that i say on a whim. On top of that you don't seem to have a semblance, yet you gave me trouble. Though what did I expected from the Mad Dog"
"TCH, DON'T call me that!!!" he growled
"...I came here to test your mettle... and you don't disappoint. When pushed the real you comes out. Though you did hesitate, but I am not complaining." she shrugged walking on to another branch
"Test my mettle-So you want me to join your tribe !?" he asked in disbelief
"No... not yet at least" she mutters the last part knowing full well when he will learn the truth and the deception he will not take it will.
"You're staring to piss me off, Raven. Just me being part of the mercenaries and being the 'Mad Dog' doesn't mean a damn thing" he shot back
"You're right, but I know something about you, there's much more about you. And if i know this, so does Qrow. but that's for you to figure out and I suggest you do before someone else does." she said thinking of the times that she felt a strange atmosphere around him when she was observing him especially now in close proximity.
"Anyway, I'll be taking my leave and you have a tournament to prepare." She said as she brings her sword up to swipe downward
"Why?" Raven looks at guts. "What was that?"
"Why did you tell me all of this? You could have just left. And I know you're not lying, telling half truth yes but not lying, so why feel the need to tell me this?
"... cause you're my only 'nephew' so I gotta look out for you." she said smirking as she swipes her sword below her creating a portal then jumping in as it disappears.
Slightly surprised at her semblance, he held a hardened expression and let out a sigh, it was way too early for this shit.
His neck starts to sting, as he hears heavy footsteps and growling. Without even looking he clenches his fist and spins around delivering a devastating punch to a ursa, killing it in the process. As the body slumps over and starts dissipating, Guts can't help but think on what raven said.
_______________________________________________________________________________
After dealing with Raven, Guts decided to head back to the other as he contemplated the new information. She made too much sense, though she didn't say it, he had a feeling that Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, was pulling the strings. Both qrow and raven attended Beacon, there he must have brought them in in his inner circle and probably includes Summer and taiyang, he can't speak for Summer but guts is assured that tai is not associated with that. He's retired huntsman and a teacher in Signal, who mostly focus on his daughters, as for qrow... what more could be said that hasn't been said.
He can no longer put off to the side anymore, he has to talk to qrow
Guts made it back to the rest, seeing them already eating breakfast, as he lets himself known, they all were surprised to see him in the state he's in. it just dawned on him that he has scorch marks on him, while he did healed himself he neglected to clean himself from the lighting that hit him. After making a lie up saying he was firing fire bolts in close range calming down the girls, but the adult did not look persuaded, however if guts was not drawing attention to it, they wouldn't push the matter any further.
As Guts was having his breakfast they went into depth of the tournament. In the end only six-teen participants will be competing and they will have one round each day for four days starting today and on the last day it will culminate with the eclipse signifying the end of the tournament. Though guts thought of the idea gaudy he could care less. As for the tournament, Guts was interested in facing someone specific, the one that faced Casaca the other day, he was upset that she did not make it so he decided to rectify that and wants to face him.
They had time before the tournament would start so they decided to see the stand, ruby took the lead on this one and went to every stand, inspecting all the merchandise and offering maintenance advice to the vendor much to their chagrin. Eventually they meet up with Pyrrha, after the preliminaries an escort comes to pick her up and take her to vale in a hotel with her mother. With that It was time for the tournament.
Gust saw the brackets and saw he was not facing silat, his match was about to start , however he had an idea on how to fight him. He looked for Pyrrha's name, saw that she was after him, her opponent's name was familiar.
"Are you ready for your match Guts?" ruby asked, as guts turns to face her
"Yeah though i think there might be a change" he said making the girls confused
"What do you mean by that guts?" Yang asked, Guts' fight was an hour away if the fights go smoothly. "I mean you guys should go to the stands and call qrow and the rest my match is about to start" guts stated as he walked away to the arena before the girls could respond back.
"So what do we do now?" Pyrrha asked, looking at the sisters, they were far more familiar with guts. "I guess we do what he says" they all head to the stands as yang sends a message to qrow. "yang how do you supposed that Guts will change the matches" pyrrha question
"Not sure but he seems confident, i just hope he doesn't do anything extreme"
"Well whatever he does i'm sure it's fine" ruby committed, she was excited to see another fight with guts and pyrrha. Speaking of pyrrha, her first impression of her was that she was nice and surprising on the account of her understanding the tournament was illegal, so seeing her was a surprise. As for the part of her being famous she was amazed but didn't change her impression of her.
"Hey girls, so what's up?" Tai said as he sat on the stands with the others. "Guts said that his match is up" ruby explained
"Really? I figured it would have been for a while?" casca said
"Yeah... hey who's in this match?" qrow asked, having a hunch on what guts is doing.
"Um... oh I know it's a guy named Roald and-... oh" Pyrrha said upon realizing, before she could give a response the match starts as the sponsors announce the combatants, as on the left side door open revealing i figure in a turban and attire fit for the desert. silat stood in mild anticipation of the fight, when he came to the kingdom of Vale, he had expectations of the warrior that they produced. But to his disappointment he should have kept them low as he saw their art of combat to be dull and narrow minded. In the face of his hand-to-hand fighting style, they remind him of children swinging sticks. It would seem this arms tournament is no more than a "sword"-rusting farce.
If he has anything to take away from this, It is that he has a chance in facing Pyrrha Nikos, a supposed "prodigy". Though that's if she make it in the tournament
As the sponsors announced his opponent, he looked over only to be surprised. He had one of his people scout out the competition, scaling their prowess and when he saw the bracket he wasn't expecting much. However who he saw was his opponent, he remembered him being one of the bloody fights in the preliminary. He recalls from his subordinates report that in a glance he was skilled but is very blunt and head strong. He can account this when he saw his fight with the tub of lard he "fought". Though he is curious on why he's here.
"Oh! So that's where he went. Huh, i guess he wants payback for beating Casca" ruby concluded
"(sigh) he didn't need to do this. It doesn't bother me." Casca stated, as she hopes that guts doesn't get disqualified for this.
"True, but i guess it bothered Guts that it didn't bother you" tai committed as he guessed Guts state of mind.
"Heh, will if anything it just shows his conviction of a warrior." qrow said as he took his scroll out
On the other end, Guts stepped out of the entrance with his cape swaying in the wind. His appearance warrant murmurs and confusion, soon the sponsor took notice of the error. "Uh, excuse me but Roald was supposed to fight, what's going on?" he question none the loud speaker
Guts gave off a playful smirk " no need to get so wound up, this is a tournament. So from what it looked like you wanted to fight someone tougher. What do you say, wanna have a go?"
Silat was now intrigued by his boldness, and humored him. "Are you saying you're strong? Stronger than others that I fought?"
"I'd say you'll know it when you try. Right?" he said, luring him.
"I don't object, but what says the sponsors?" silat gave in, as they looked to the sponsors as they were speaking between one and the other. After a while they come to a conclusion.
"Alright! We'll allow it. Give us an entertaining fight, but do not repeat this action. Next time we'll disqualify you, we may be illegal but we still want order." he stated as they return focus the match
"See they get it." guts said
"Very well then." sailt said as his blades pop out of his gauntlets, as the blades split of revealing tree blades. "But whether this is a tournament or not, you sought this yourself." he then took a battle stance with his arms in a boxer position. "I assume you're prepared, take your stance!!"
However guts stood still as he simply unbuckled his sword, resting it on his shoulder and raising his hand in a beckoning motion. "Come on, any time" , saying in a mocking nonchalant way.
"What? You'll use no stance?" he exclaimed. "You mean to win by nursing that freakishly massive sword to keep my distance. But then, your style of swordplay can't retain my movement" he stated find him to be a fool
"Sounds pretty sensible, what's with the narrow-mindness?" Guts said making sailt narrow his eyes. " don't sweat the small detail."
"...very well" he then changed stance, raising his arms up in front of him as he sways his body back and forth. "A tournament without blood, is a rather boring thing" sailt the dashes forward, surprising Guts with his speed. He sent a flurry of jabs all aimed at Guts head, but it wasn't an issue for Guts as he dodged and evaded all the jabs, bobbing his head.
"The audience were in awe of the display of speed that they both demonstrated. Sailt then pivots his foot revealing a hidden blade and brings his foot forward letting out a battle cry as he goes for a kick at guts' head, but Guts acts blocking the kick with his hilt of the sword. Surprised, silat then reveals a second blade on his other foot, as he jumps up and spun around going in for another kick, forcing Guts to block it with his other hand. This is what sailt wanted as he used his legs to barred both of his hands. The arches his back sprung out using guts as a lift off. He was in close proximity of guts as he thrust both of his gauntlets at guts. "Engared!" he cried out. The audience were at the edge of their seats including Guts' friends.
Guts eyes shot wide, as he took his sword and swatted silat away sending him flying then tumbling into the barrier of the arena. Silence filled the air when cheers broke out, guts returned his sword on his shoulder and pointed at sailt. "You might wanna stick to street performing"
In the stand qrow was laughing his ass off. "Ha ha ha, oh man guts knows how to put on a show"
"Hmm, i'm sure that he underestimate me so he did the same to Guts" casca stated knowing that the fight was not over
"True but he'll pay for that mistake, because if anything guts hates when people underestimate him." yang said crossing her arms
"Yeah!!! Whoo you showed him Guts!/oh man that was great!"Both tai and ruby cheered, all the while Pyrrtha smiled at the cheers, gut was truly remarkable.
Back in the arena Silat stood back up and brushed himself off. Now annoyed he glares at guts as he pulls out two rings, causing casca to worry. "Hm, here I'll wash away the shame from what you did," he said as he started spinning the rings around his fingers, as he does, guts noticed that they were building up speed and glowing?
That might be his semblance. guts guessed being on guard.
"Now i wonder if you can defeat these rings"
"Tsk, so you next feasts ring tossing? You really are a street performer, but you stink as a fighter." guts said
"Oh no, these aren't just rings, for once they fly off of these fingers. They'll take off your head and be halos for you" he finishes off by flicking his arms sending the rings flying sending them in the opposite direction. Guts turns his head looking back and forth following the rings as they get out of the arena
"What're you up to?"
Silat jets out his hand forward with a thumbs down "your doom!"
Far off the rings start curving heading towards their target, as ruby sees them "their changing direction?!" she gasp as everyone else looks back at guts who wasn't aware of their arrival
"guts!!" Yang yelled out, but to no avail. As they approach guts right at his head. With guts noticing them but not reacting. They finally reached Guts but did not make contact.
Silat's eyes widened along with the audience as Guts caught both rings, one with his hand and the other with the grip of the sword as he kept them spinning. Guts let a breath of relief, continue to spin the rings.
"Impossible!!! You mean to tell me you judge the paths at the same time?" Silat exclaimed in disbelief, looking upon guts. "Not at all. It's like swatting flies, I would've been more in trouble if they were more" guts said looking at the rings, as silat looks on.
"Let's see... like this?" guts then flicks his launching the ring only for them to fall short. "Whoops"
"Ha ha ha, god guts is just toying the guy" qrow laugh
"Urgh, that was way too close for comfort" yang complained with her hand on her face.
"yeah" ruby mutter
In the arena silat had enough of the mockery as he threw out his hand launching the three blades. Guts swatted then with his left arm using his shoulder guard and anticipating for the other three from slats other gauntlets he swatted those, however he failed to notice another three blades coming at him forcing him to hastily dodge. Soon three more were launched at him once again he evaded but caught one that was about to land and his leg. He looked at it as he saw the end of the blade illuminate, it flew off of his hand and went to silat who recovered his blades.
"Their magnetic" Guts concluded. Silat will send out his blades and as he sends out the others he recalls the first ones. Guts now had to finish the fight, he began to deflect the blade with his sword as they were being sent out, but despite this as guts sent them flying off they immediately came back to silat as it was a never ending back and forth. Guts then switches to single handed and pulls out his crossbow with red dust bolts loaded in and fires back, as he runs to the side taking cover in the cement barricades. He changes the bolt clip to ice dust, he grabs a rock, throwing above silat as it falls on him guts fires a bolt at it making an ice glacier fall on him. Noticing the large shadow around him, Silat's eyes widened looking up, seeing the ice was going to plummet him. He jumped out of the way as the ice crashed on the ground.
Guts took the initiative and went toward silat thinking at best he only has three blades with him. He swings his sword but it gets parried, silat recalls his missing blades throwing a smoke bomb along the way. Guts coughed as he waved his hand clearing the smoke.
"I tried to give you 'more' buts seems i need to up the ante" silat said getting Guts attention. He then shot the blades to the ground however it was connected to energy constructs ribbons. Silat semblance allows him to make solid light constructs however he needs a conduit to focus his construct and give shape to whatever weapon he needs. He began to twirl his arm winding up the ribbons as he raised them above him
"Are you sure you're not a street performer?" guts mutter under his breath, raising his sword
Silat then flung the ribbon forward as they unraveled coming toward guts, he had half a thought to dodge as he barely made it, resulting in his cape being pierced. He notes that the caped was reinforced so if it was pierced that's a problem, also if looked closer the shape of the ribbon is of the blade making it more like a whip blade. Silat launched the second set of whips as it grappled on to a barricade as it sliced it into rubble.
So far guts could only evade the whips as they were wild and unpredictable going into different directions. He runs in serpentine, behind wooden posts and barricades to block the whips, however he can't be doing this forever as he is clearing the arena.
He looked around think of his next move as he looks at the stand seeing if anything gives him an idea, then he sees his friends all with looks of antisipation of worrying. Then he saw qrow with his scroll out as he saw a reverse mirrored image of himself, he was recording him. His breath hitched as his mind went back to this morning on what was discussed.
Within the stands qrow was watching the fight through his scroll, so when he saw Guts look at him, he looked up to see his face, it was one the lost faith in him. Qrow slowly lowers his scroll as he locks eyes to his son, feeling a wave of disappointment hit him.
"Guts!!" ruby cried out, snapping qrow out of his trance as he looked up, his eyes widened in dread.
Hearing the cry of ruby he turns to look the opposite direction, as he was instantly ensnared by the whips. He cried out in pain as the whips tightening and slicing on to Guts cutting into him. He put up his aura and brace for the worse as he was brought up then slammed down releasing guts, as bounce on the ground. That slam made his aura flicker threatening to shatter. He looks to himself and sees that the armor did the job taking the brunt of the slashes, but the open gaps and the spaces with no armor was where most of the damage was. He feels something warm trickled down his cheek, as he was bleeding
He got on one of his knees breathing heavily, the cuts ached on each movement. that moment of vulnerability cost him dearly. He looks up to see silat standing still with both of his arms twirling, winding up the next attack.
"I'm honestly surprised that anyone can dodge the Urumi this long" he complained as guts pushed himself up he didn't bother putting up his aura or use it to heal him, he wanted to focus on the fight on hand. " But however much you run you'll end up like everything in here, but your skin will be sliced like an apple skin" he warns as his winds up becomes faster.
Guts rolled his shoulder pushing the cape behind him as he stared silat down, an idea dawned on him as he licked the blood off of his cheek. Guts reels his sword back as he widens his footing and lower his stance. Silat notices the stance and calls him out. "What're you doing? Knowing you can't run, you come and face me?"
Guts remained silent as silat continued. "It is impossible to stop urumi with your sword! Someone as skilled as you should know that!... Have you thrown the fight?!" he stated as gut still remains silent, as his eyes are fixated on silat. As for silat he sees guts' eyes and acknowledges him. "So be it!! I accept this challenge of yours!!" he said as he raised his arms above him wounding up the attack ready to unfurl his attack.
Guts mustered the sufficient strength to perform his next attack as the whips were released heading right towards him as it sliced everything in its path. Guts tightens his grip and pivots his foot unleashing an upward swing releasing enough force to halt the attack as it picking up the dust around them. This shocked silat as his whips were flung upward and disrupted his light construct, dissipating. Suddenly guts explode out of the dust cloud appearing above as he swings his sword down at silat. Silat reacted by recalling his blades and making a x-formation above him to block the incoming attack.
The hit clashed was there was a short struggle before silat's defense broke from the sheer power behind the swing, the sword slammed into his head knocking him unconscious and shattering his aura, the force was enough to leave a cut on his forehead. The impact also revealed his face showing he had a dark complexion narrowed eye and slick-back hair.
Knowing that he secured victory, guts begin to make his way out of the arena as the announcer calls out guts win. Before guts could exit he looks up in the stand seeing his friend applauding though he appreciates it he turns his focus on to qrow who gives an uncertain smile. He looks away and leaves the arena, healing his wounds.
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Guts was now washing the blood off of him as he didnt want the others to see him as a bloody mess. He made his way to a wash station, the mirror that it offered showed him that the cuts on him stop bleeding so he ceased his aura. His aura reserves were shortened and did not recover from this morning.
Raven ... Qrow, never met more elusive people, well except for griffith.
He wanted to hold off from talking to qrow until after the first round, but now he needed to talk to him. He can't just jump the gun, he couldn't not when he needs the full story.
Guts started to walk away until he saw the other searching for him. "Oi over here" he said rather flatly, he was surprised at how exhausted he sounded. which is strange, physically he feels fine and he experienced much worse, but he's probably 'mentally' exhausted with what happened this morning. He internally sighed and met them halfway.
"Guts are you ok?" Yang was first to ask, getting close to him to inspect him for injuries. She traced her hand over his left arm seeing scars. she went to his neck and continued to his face, she could feel the subtle scars, realizing that guts did not heal all the way. She sighed, Guts didn't really care much on looks, her hand was still on the side of his face as a hand reaches her pulling away
"Yang is fine. i just lost focus in there" he explained hold on to Yangs hand, there she realized what she did and what guts was doing as her face flared up but kept her composure. " I saw you look up at us, did we distract you?"
"no, like i said i lost focus" he shook his head taking a quick glance at Qrow who looked away. Yang stares at Guts, determining his claim. It is not like Guts to lose focus during a fight, she noticed while watching the spars between Guts and her father that he could hold a full conversation and answer critical questions on the behest of her father. Her dad stated that guts can handle a mob of attackers, but he wants to improve Guts critical thinking. He never falters in his movements when talking to him, she even sparks conversation with him and still remains focused. So something threw him off the loop.
She let out a sigh, knowing him he will never admit what made him lose focus. "Well if you say... and your injuries you still got scars.
"I applied enough to stop the bleeding, that's all. The scars don't bother me much." he said
"Still though..." she committed as they stared into each other's eyes, tai let off a fake cough getting their attention, making Guts pull away from yangs hand. "What we should take away with this, we were worried about you guts, and sorry if we got you off your game" he apologies with the other nodding
"Oi, it's not your fault it was on me, so quit making those faces. Pyrrha you've got a match coming up, so i suggest you focus on that." he said changing topic
"O-oh, right. Though with that being said. You perform will in you match" pyrrha complimented
"Yeah you did well, but you shouldn't have done that Guts. you could've lose you position" Casca said,
"It's fine, it was a chance I'm willing to take."
"Guts, guts, guts. Can you tell me the specific weapon he used? Was that his semblance or part of the weapon? Does it use dust-"
Ruby! Ruby! I didn't have a chance to look at his weapon, I was too busy fighting him"
"Oh right" she chuckled in embarrassment
"If it's alright with you guys I'd like to talk to qrow in private. We'll catch up later." guts said bluntly, catch them off guard.
"Yeah, there's also something I like to talk with guts, so we'll use the RV to talk." qrow said, finally saying something. Tai read the underline. "Sure we'll see you later, come on girls let's look around" at first tentatively the girls then left guts and qrow.
Tai and the girls went off looking through the stands, with Ruby taking the lead looking around to each stand with tai following behind. Casca was also following but taking her own pace looking, yang was trailing behind looking back at guts as both qrow and guts started the walk to the RV. During this time she failed to notice pyrrha standing next to her, hoping to spark conversation. The other day she couldn't have a chance to talk to her, so she's hoping she could
"You really worried about Guts," Pyrrha said, disrupting Yang's thought. "Wha- oh yeah i guess you can say that." she said dismissively
"How long did you know each other" pyrrha asked
"Hmm, pretty much for my whole life. We met when we were seven"
"Huh, and how did you meet? I'd imagine that he has been the same since then" she guessed, she only came to this from the pieces of information that guts mentioned. "Well...at first I didn't start off well, I kind of hit him." she admitted, cringing at their first interaction
"What?? Really!?" Pyrrha asked in complete bewilderment "What made you do that?"
"Ruby was the first to meet him and she then screamed. When I went to see her I saw him with a sword. So without thinking i punched him" she retells, leaving out how she tackled him and pummeled him.
"But im sure that guts had no ill intent"
"Yeah but he was dirty, mean looking, had a weapon and beady black eyes... basically we didn't have a good first impression" she explained
"Ok, so what happened next?" Pyrrha knew that there was more
"After i...punched him, me and ruby ran away after a little bit a grimm found us. I thought we were going to die until guts came out of the bushes and fought it. After a while he killed it but he got hurt real bad. So we took him to our house and patched him up. As a thanks my dad invited him for dinner and since then we became friends, I was kind of embarrassed. I beat him up but he still saved us, but he didn't hold a grudge against me."
"He sound like a good friend to have" pyrrha admitted, she herself would have liked a friend like that
"Oh yeah, there's no doubt about and he still continues to be a good friend" Yang furthered thinking back how she endangered both Ruby and Guts in her search for her mother. She then remembers how she found guts bloody, motionless, and unresponsive, her heart ached of the memory.
"Yang? Yang!?"
Yang shook her head "s-sorry, what were you saying"
"I asked how you feel about Guts?" pyrrha asked
"Wha... what do you mean by that?" she stuttered as her face started to have a tinge of red
"I mean do you have feelings for guts? Romantic ones?" she specified plainly get the point across
"w-w-w-WHAT!?" Yang yelled, her face completely blushed, Tai and casca looked back to see what the commotion was.
"I mean from the short time i see you two, you're always trying to comfort each other and showing affection too" she explains as yang is left agape 'affection' she thought as pyrrha continues. "You're probably the most guilty party with your small 'freakouts' and how you enjoy your time with him. But it not just you, guts has feeling for you two"
...what?" yang said
" yeah while guts is not as expressive as you, he does show he cares for you. It is subtle but he has small cues that he shows whenever anyone worries about him, especially you. My guess is that he doesn't want to burden you. There also is how he acts around you, he looks comfortable" Yang was taking all this in. she always had assumption but having an outsider perspective to confirm gives her hope
"So you think that guts has feeling for you"
"Probably, his nonchalantness is due to that fact that he probably hasn't realized yet." pyrrha stated as now yang imagine guts acting bashful around her, the sight would be funny. But now she has to be confrontational about the matter as well " so pyrrha" she drew her attention
"Are you interested in guts?" yang question, there was a moment of silence, before laughter broke the tension. "Ha ha ha, oh my god yang, did you think that I have feelings for Guts?" Pyrrha asked genuinely, Yang answered in her silence as she was now thinking that she embarrassed herself.
"Yang. I don't have feelings toward him. Guts is probably the only true friend I have."
"Because of your reputation?" Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise, did they always know?
You know?
"Only yesterday and that another reason why i worried, you being big shot fighter Guts might be interested in you, also on how you were getting along with guts" yang admitted
"Yang.." Pyrrha placed her hand on Yang's shoulder. "I enjoy guts company but i never had feelings for him and besides he not my type, i'm into... 'sweet' guys" yang felt a sense of relief as well as guts having affection toward her.
"So.. do you really think that guts share the same feeling as me?" she asked wanting to hear it over
"There no doubt he does"
__________________________________________________________________________
Qrolw was walking behind guts, making their way to the rv. there was an eerie silence between the two. None of them spoke since leaving the group. He sees the back of his son leading the way, he couldn't believe that guts change in a short time both in shape and skill. He had a sense of pride in him, seeing guts be in his element, it was like a spectacle of source. Not saying that it is the only thing that guts is good at but it is one of his strong suits. But he knows that his pride is misplaced for one he and guts train a handful of times and everything he knows he learned from himself. Second his leave of absence, he can't help but feel that guts resent him for leaving. He wasn't alone, but he's probably the only one that could talk to him about anything.there also the job. Ozpin revealed his finding on guts saying he believes that guts is a reincarnate like him and wishes to see if it is true by putting him through stressful situations. in this case battles and fights, because apparently whatever was guts life back then was one of battel. That made qrow upset that he is experimenting on guts, guts maybe as a person of interest but he is still his son and wants what's best for him.
However, Guts might not see him as his father anymore. The face he made when he saw him with his scroll was one of betrayal and disappointmentHe doesn't know why but he never saw Guts make that face; it was almost alien.
Soon they arrived as guts opened the door letting qrow go through first. Guts follows suit; he then unbuckles his sword, setting it next to the door. Qrow sits down on the bench seats then looks at Guts who is still lingering on his sword just staring at it. He heard him breath in and out as he turned and leaned into the counter.
They both stared unsure how to start when qrow decided to take initiative "um.. Listen about the fight i-" guts halted him, although he originally wanted to talk to him about the dreams and eclipse, he needed resolve this matter
"Qrow" he said coldly, making the huntsman flinch. "I spoke with raven" Qrow's eyes shot wide open upon hearing the name. He shot up and grabbed Guts by the shoulders.
"Are you sure? Was it her? What did she want? What did she do?" qrow said sporadically holding guts tightly, guts kept his composure as he prys qrow off of him giving him a stern look telling to calm himself
"Sorry kid, but why didn't you tell me."
"She came this morning, she wanted to test me through combat, my guess is that she want me to join her"
"What!! qrow exclaim
"She said that i impressed her and she knows who i am'' Qrow jolted he was hoping that raven wasn't interested in him. "She knows that i'm a mercenary and that i was the 'Mad Dog', she also mentioned that i'm part of a 'shadow' war. That there are factions warring with each other behind the public eye." he glanced at qrow seeing him unresponsive, guts was giving him a chance to become clean.
"She explains that the mercenaries were going to be one of these factions, also saying that I'm someone of interest. I never regard myself as remarkable but to say that significant enough that she would be interested too that alarming there also how she said you know this as well. Usually I would have called her nonsense bullshit. But lately a vortex of coincidence have piled up"
"Kid ther-"
"no ! let me finish then explain" qrow stayed silent as guts continued. "I was always understanding of your position, I never forgot how you said that you were one of the world's guardians and how you watch out for any dangers. Well over time i figure with a large claim there has to be some backing and who better than Beacon academies headmaster ozpin"
The color of Qrows face face disappeared. "How did you.." he trailed off. "When Glynda Goodwitch came to visit, I thought nothing about it, except for what she said that the recording they received was enough for me to have early enrollment. I don't remember sending any recordings or that the schools are obligated to send any. Not only that but apparently she was the one that got pyrrha involved in this tournament. Now why would an academy professor send a girl to a shay event?"
"wait guts now your ju-"
"NO!" he snapped, cutting off qrow. "Not finished, pyrrha mentioned that she was allowed to go if she had all around security and that is where that huntsman came in" qrow couldn't believe gut manage to piece together all of this. Now he understood why Guts reacted the way he did. "The other day we met up with judeau he explained to us that Ozpin assign huntsmen to be acting security for the tournament, he also mention seeing you going in and out of Ozpin office solidifying my assumption and then there's you" he said with a layer of venom
"You came to me and convinced me into going to the tournament. You were at the stands recording me recording my fight even back then. Tell me something, were you just grooming me to be a soldier, huh!?"
"NO Guts!! Gods no. do you think that i would do that after saving the girls" qrow exclaim his heartache on the fact that guts would ever think that
"Then what is qrow!? Why is Ozpin interested in me? Why did Raven insist me to be a variable player? What is it that deems me a part of the war? And furthermore, who is the enemy?" guts let off in rapid succession.
Qrow grits his teeth seeing the frustration in Guts face, he was not prepared for this, it never occurred to them that Guts would have pieced things together. He never liked the idea of using guts or dragging him into this. He cursed his sister for filling Guts' head with ideas, but he blames himself that he could be straight with guts and tell him enough. But now guts is aware of the greater picture and feels betrayed that he was being used
"Guts.I know that it seems that i lied to you,but you have to believe me that i would never steer you to a bad spot. I wished the best for you." guts remained silent "and you hit all the marks on the spot, but i can't tell you what you want not yet anyways at least. You have to trust when I say that I have always been on your side.'' He tries to reach out for guts, only for the onyx eyed boy to back away from him.
Guts clenches his fists and his face contorted, trying to hold back the anger, the frustration. Guts pushed qrow to the side and exited the rv with his sword slamming the door hard. Qrow only stared at the door as he let out a rough sigh and dragged his hand on his face. He was reprimanding himself for giving Guts a half-ass response. He only said that because it was something that Ozpin would have said. He had to take a better course not his usual ways, though it made things worse. His scroll ranged off but he didn't bother answering, he stood exhausted resisting the urge to drink.
__________________________________________________________________________
Guts reached the forest a good distance. He was beyond pissed and didn't want to draw in grimm at the tournament. To vent out his frustration he hacked his sword at anything trees, boulder, foliage. He wasn't doing anything particularly but he was expecting to see grimm on their way.
As he continued to hack away, he ceased as he quickly pulled out his crossbow and fired a red dust bolt. He waited for the bolt to hit its mark but nothing happened. He waited for something until his bolt came back to him, he swatted it away with his sword with it still letting off an explosion
"Impressive, though it is expected from you" a voice called out as guts turn to see silat with no cloth covering his face, coming out of a tree with others. They are both identical and wore togas with a cloth draped over their shoulder, though they looked identical they bore different markings on their foreheads.
Guts aimed at silat ready to fire he could assume that he wanted payback for beating him. "Lower your arms not here to fight." silat asked motioning his people not to move, while guts didn't lower his weapon but was willing to listen. Silat took note of this and continueds.
"I'll be quick. I acknowledge you as a worthy adversary... However you have shamed me in your victory as well as leaving a scar forever reminding me of my failure" guts could see where this is going. For one he refuses to heal his scar wanting it as a declaration, and second...
"So in a much later date we will face each other; however this time the end result will be death, for that to be the only way to compensate for my failure. At best it will be after the tournament when I face you whether you win or lose it matters not" he declares as guts simply stares at him. "We take our leave now. For it seems that you'll be busy dealing with pest, until then farewell"
They leapt in the trees and disappeared as grimm came charging at Guts surrounding him. He lowed his weapon and started to violently shake, clenching his jaw. He blackout Silats rambling as his mind went back to qrow, he was absolutely livid. Without a notion of warning he sent his gun flying, getting it embedded on the grimm's skull killing it. As he let the grimm in close proximity he spun around decapitating the grimm, as he yelled out in frustration. He breathes heavy as his neck stings looking up he see more incoming, now impatience he dashed toward them as he hacks away, getting his mind out of the today events
HAPPY NEW YEARS
A/N: SORRY FOR TWO REASONS ONE WAS THAT ERALY PUBLISHING I MEANT TO PRESS SAVE. AND TWO I WANTED TO RElEASE THIS CHAPTER LAST MONTH BUT POWER WENT OUT FOR LONG PERIOD OF TIME . WITH THAT THANK YOU FOR YOR PATIENCE AND SUPPORT
I SHOULD'VE ASKED MUCH EARLIER BUT CAN YOU GUYS FOLLOW THE FIGHT SENCE WELL. I FEEL THAT SOMETIMES I OVER EXPLAIN THEM SO PLEASE GIVE FEED BACK IF YOU CAN FOLLOW THEM
ALSO I THINK IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING BUT GUTS AURA IS BLACK ( GO FIGURE) BUT I CHECKED A LIST OF ARUA COLORS AND EACH CHARACTER HAS THERE OWN NO ONE SHARES THE SAME COLOR, SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I SAW THAT NO ONE HAS BLACK