章 1796: 27
Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne
Chapter 27
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ruby hummed beneath her breath, staring at her opponent as they stood across the stage from each other, the tiles beneath her feet clacking against the heel of her boot as she tapped her foot against the ground. She hadn't quite managed to volunteer first- being the first day and with the amount of social anxiety she generally had, she hadn't been able to force herself to speak up until the first pair of students had already gone up- it was interesting all the same, to take notes on what weapons she could see and record how they were used by their wielders. A pair of Dust laced razor edged fans versus an ax that functioned like some kind of buzzsaw. The clash had been informative and cool, and for all that her fellow students were just first years, they were fighting at a level of combat beyond any of her yearmates at Signal could achieve. Bar her, of course, but Ruby was a special case anyway.
Even as much as she told Yang that she wished she was a normal girl with normal knees.
Whatever the case for her knees was, Ruby's opponent was definitely not normal. She may not have kept up with the news, but she'd be hard pressed to forget Cardin Winchester, scion of the Winchester family, and all around arrogant racist douchebag who'd started bullying just about anyone he and his gang of cronies thought was weaker than them.
The only reason why they didn't try to even touch her was because Professor Ozpin had shown what Ruby had done to those grimm during the Initiation test on those giant screens on stage when he announced Team RWBY. Well, that, and the fact that Yang glared at anyone who even came close to Ruby if she didn't have a reason to trust them yet.
Didn't stop them from muttering things just loud enough for Ruby to hear, though.
Ugh. What a jerk.
Guys like him were why Ruby preferred spending time out in the woods alone. Well, one of the reasons at least.
"Heh, this'll be easy- one on one with a pipsqueak like you? Che! Better call this one early, Prof- not gonna be much of this one left after The Executioner is through with her," Cardin grinned smarmily, resting his mace against his shoulder and letting the flanges clang against the steel plating of his armor as he sauntered forward slowly, not even trying to pretend that he was taking her seriously. Had he already forgotten how he'd spent the first day or two vaguely terrified of her? Ugh. Whatever. Well, she'd ended up with the perfect target for what Blake and Yang challenged her to do anyway- Cardin Winchester was a bully, but also a coward and an all around low skilled brute with a thug-like mentality and the subtlety of a train wreck.
So, in response to Cardin's taunt, Ruby said nothing at all. She simply took her place across from Cardin and flipped Crescent Rose out from behind her back, easily spinning the nearly hundred pound masterwork of steel and gun around her fingers as she snapped it out into its rifle form and held it at the ready, pointed off to the side. She pursed her lips, the mask on her face slowly becoming more feral and red lined as her eyes shifted- silver blending with hateful, glowing orange as she suppressed her compassion slightly and turned to Professor Goodwitch, who had not yet called the start of the match.
"Professor?" she called out, just loud enough to be heard as her ears twitched and her fingers dug into her ammo pouch, withdrawing one of her biggest cartridges and spinning it lightly in her right hand with Crescent Rose held ready in her left.
"Yes, Miss Rose?"
"How strong are the hardlight shields around the stage?"
"Enough to take anything you could possibly throw at them, Miss Rose. Please do not delay your match- are you ready?" Professor Goodwitch asked, narrowing her eyes at the massive, nearly eight inch long, polished metal thing that the wolf-girl was currently loading into her rifle as if it was an ordinary rifle cartridge.
"Just one thing left to say, ma'am," Ruby answered, smiling angelically as she turned back to Cardin, sending the bolt of Crescent Rose home with an awfully loud ka-chunk of metal against metal as her smile dropped in the next second. "Cardin, I don't want to hurt you, so when the match starts… you have ten seconds to surrender."
"Pff- and what, you think I'm scared of you? Bring it on, pipsqueak, I bet you can't even handle a gun that big!" Cardin blustered, all swagger and hot air as he took his ready stance and grinned with feral intent, his Executioner held firmly in his hands as he prepared to use it against her. Ruby, meanwhile, simply breathed, readied Crescent Rose in one hand, and aimed vaguely in Cardin's direction- not at him, but just to the side, so Crescent Rose would fire just past his ear and maybe wing a few hairs off the side of his head if he was unlucky. Or cause a few mild burns that his Aura would protect against.
"Well, if you're both ready… you have three minutes. Begin!"
And in the very first second of the match, Ruby pulled the trigger.
And Cardin's world became fire and noise and shock and blinding light that made him scream as something burning hot and painful ripped past his ear and scraped against his aura- and before he could even process that first instant of combat, something exploded behind him with an almighty force of heat and pressure that shoved him forward and left him off balance to the point where he was barely standing and-
And then the sound of Crescent Rose firing finally hit with an utterly deafening-
KRA-THOOOOOM
The sound echoed and echoed, and Cardin stumbled back- blind, deaf, struck utterly dumb and whimpering as his aura flashed over his body and he struggled to stay standing. Through the ringing in his right ear, and the pain burning in his left, he could faintly hear Ruby counting down slowly, barely able to see through the haze of tears in his eyes to see her loading another shell .
"-ine… Eight… Seven… Six…"
"I-I surrender!" Cardin yelped, wheezing slightly as he raised his hands- having not even noticed the moment that he dropped his weapon, dropping to his knees and trying not to look too pathetic as he shook his head and forced his aura to recover from the instant blinding and scorching he'd just faced- what the hell had just hit him in the back!?
"Miss Rose!" came the voice of Professor Goodwitch, sharp and just barely losing her normal strictly kept cool and disciplinary tone as she almost gawked at the sheer amount of destruction that a single shell had caused- never in all her years had she seen one student's weapon cause quite so much destruction- and against hardlight shields that were rated against blows from ancient grimm, no less! She'd personally tested them out herself! But no, a single one of Ruby Rose's shells had punctured the hardlight shield, erupted into a massive explosion, and blasted through the reinforced outer wall of the building with so much force and heat that it left scorch marks, shrapnel, and assorted rubble littered all over the floor, walls, and ceiling- to say nothing of what it did to the hardlight panel itself! The frame had warped from the impact, and then the entire thing had shorted out and started smoking as the sheer force of the oversized bullet impacted it like an artillery shell.
That kind of firepower was usually reserved for gunships!
"Hm-? Oh! Sorry about the panel! And the wall! I really didn't mean to break both of them like that it's just that you said that they could handle anything I threw at them and I recognized that those were Atlas Military grade shields and I thought it would be fine and I just wanted to scare Cardin a little but I mean-" Ruby paused in the middle of her ramble, poking her fingers together and looking to the side, her ears drooped down and tail lying limp as her cloak hung down around her shoulders- lifeless for the first time the entire class period as she tried to head off any scolding she might receive. "Sorry…"
"What. Was that?" Goodwitch asked, reining her voice in slightly until it was a harsher, more authoritative tone- not too loud, but simply asking and brooking no argument as she strode forward, hands on her hips as she loomed over Ruby with something resembling irritation on her face. It may or may not have been from the smell that was now emanating from Cardin's pants. "Those shields are rated to withstand the strongest feather blast an ancient Alpha Nevermore could produce- they've stood up against rampaging giant Ursai! How on Remnant did you manage to punch through a panel- and not only that, break through the reinforced wall beyond!?"
"U-um… an experimental cartridge I made that's… designed to kill Megoliaths through the skull plate?" Ruby halfway asked, wincing a little as she shrank in on herself more, Crescent Rose removed from where she'd stowed it away and now clutched in her arms like a teddy bear as Ruby tried not to cringe away too hard- Cardin slowly shuffling away to change his pants and get out of his armor before anyone noticed the mess he'd made from the sudden, overwhelming fear of getting actually shot by something that ridiculously overpowered. "I um… already made some that can kill regular Goliaths… s-so I figured I should… um… try and make them stronger to handle even larger, more powerful grimm?"
For a long moment, Professor Goodwitch was silent, as if completely unsure of how to take that statement- almost entirely frozen as she processed the fact that one of the smallest, most delicate looking girls in the class casually fired the equivalent of a small artillery cannon capable of theoretically killing a Megoliath with one hand .
"... I'll forgive your mistake just this once, Miss Rose… but… just… from now on, never use anything larger than .50 bmg in this class ever again," she sighed, palming her face after a moment and walking away slowly. "You are dismissed, Miss Rose. Please return to the stands for the next match."
"O-oh… um… okay!"
Notes:
Sadly, this is not the last we'll see of Cardin.
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