Arcane Manifest: A RWBY Story

Chapter 5: Wizard not Magician

Goodwitch: "Mr. Pendragon! If you feel confident as to talk during my class, then you must feel confident enough to fight first. Miss Schnee, I heard of your battle against the Boarbastusk today in Professor Port's class. Let us hope you're more level-headed when against an actual opponent. You two are going to be this year's first practice fight."

Pyrrha tenses slightly as she knows Emrys isn't a very 1-on-1 style combatant. But when she looks to Emrys, she sees only confidence radiating from him. He and Weiss head to their respected lockers to retrieve their gear. The first to enter the arena is Weiss in her battle uniform from earlier in the day. Shortly after, Emrys walks out with the same outfit he wore during the initiation.

Weiss: "Where is your weapon? Please don't tell me you forgot it."

Emrys: "Nope, I would lose my mind if I lost it. No, I didn't see fit to use it. I prefer to use it for serious situations."

Goodwitch: "Mr. Pendragon, you do understand that in a real fight, it will always be a serious situation?"

Emrys: "Oh! Of course, I'm not an imbecile. It's just my definition of a 'serious situation' is quite different from yours. Not to insult you or anything."

Goodwitch: "*Sigh* If this is what it takes for you to learn that lesson, then so be it. Are both fighters ready?" The two nod. "Then begin!"

The match starts, and the boards are brought up, showing both fighters' aura. Weiss draws her rapier as one of Emrys's spellbooks floats before his opening. His eyes glow a dark purple as he makes a hand gesture. Below Weiss, a purple glyph appears. Expecting the worst, she tries to summon a glyph of her own to defend her, but she's stunned when she can't.

Emrys: "Now that that's out of the way, let the fun begin."

After saying that, four copies of Emrys appear next to him. The copies look stunningly accurate, even down to the books floating in front of them. They quickly move to the outer edges of the arena; Weiss continues to try and summon her glyphs but still can't. Pyrrha notices the other students are baffled at what they are seeing; even Blake, who is ever introverted, is paying close attention. They were waiting to see what happened next, but Pyrrha knew that the class and even Goodwitch were in for a show.

Emrys's eyes change again to a deep red as fire begin to form around his hands. The copies also mimic his movements and abilities. Weiss, angered at her inability to use her semblance, rushes to Emrys and tries to attack him, but her attack goes right through him. This stunned even Pyrrha; she had thought he didn't move, but it seems that the copies did their job very well as no one knew who the real Emrys was.

Weiss: "What! Where are you...you..magician?!"

Emrys: "Sorry, Miss Schnee, but while I've already made the proper arrangements to protect myself in case of a hit, I wasn't going to become cocky enough just to let you hit me. Also, sorry about what's going to come next."

From the center of the ring, chains of fire appear and launch themselves towards Weiss. Successfully dodging some of them, they ultimately latch onto her. They obviously burn her, but her aura protects her from significant damage, but it doesn't stop them from dragging her to the center of the arena. Now restrained to the middle of the arena, the copies of Emrys disappear, revealing the real one to be directly underneath the entrance Weiss came in from. Closing his book, a tiny ember floats in his right hand, letting it go. It floats towards Weiss. Upon making contact, it erupts in a massive explosion covering almost the entirety of the arena. The force from the blast sent the students in the stands back into their seats, and even Goodwitch had to hold onto something as not to get knocked over. As the explosion dissipates, Weiss can be seen in the epicenter of the blast. Her aura had been completely shattered, and her battle dress was covered in burn marks and soot. Weiss then collapses from the explosion. Following that, the buzzer for the fight goes off, signaling its end.

Emrys: "And I'm a wizard...NOT a magician."

Goodwitch: "Ehem...is everyone alright?" The class was stunned, but no one was injured. "Good. Miss Schnee, are you alright?" Weiss slowly raises a thumbs-up as Emrys comes over and assists her to her feet.

Emrys: "Sorry about the dress. Allow me." Waving his hand over her, the soot and burn marks disappear. "There you go, all clean."

Weiss: "How? How did I lose? You didn't even use your weapon?"

Emrys: "You fought valiantly, don't mistake that. But I simply had way too many tools at my disposal, but if it makes you feel any better, I was more scared of you than you might realize." Weiss stands up straight and realigns herself to her more prim and proper self.

Weiss: "Well. I want to apologize for my words both about you being a magician and for judging you earlier."

Emrys: "Don't beat yourself up over it. I get it all the time. Just try and be more open-minded, okay?" Weiss smiles as she nods.

Goodwitch: "You two may head to your lockers and get changed."

Shortly after the class ends, team RWBY, JNPR, and Emrys walk out of the classroom. Both teams were bombarding Emrys with questions about what they had just seen. Emrys only responded with, "I just have a good semblance". Pyrrha couldn't really understand why he didn't just tell them. Yes, it was a real mouth full to explain what magic and spells were, but wouldn't it be better to explain it now instead of having to lie. Granted, she never told her team about Excalibur, simply stating, "It's a..family heirloom.". Perhaps this may be a question she might ask him later on. But even so, her mind was still thinking back to their earlier conversation.

Why? Why would he cast aside his goal of being a huntsman to help her master the Excalibur? What could she have done to earn such loyalty and devotion? Was it because he believes in fate so much that he follows it blindly? Could it be that, because of his weak outer nature, when she showed him genuine kindness, he wanted to make sure he could repay her for it? Or perhaps she thought, maybe it's because he "likes" her? The last thought truly made her confused. Pyrrha did like Emrys. His personality was eccentric, and he oozed confidence for himself and others. He treated her as a human being. Yes, it may be on the border of fanatical. But to her, the way he seemed to light up when he spoke of magic or how she supposedly could be a great hero made her happy. Happy to see him happy. But Pyrrha pushed those thoughts out of her head, they still had other classes to go to, and she had a whole four years of school to figure out how to handle her predicament.