Chapter 8: Battle Royale

Saber and Rider stood back to back, defending themselves against the onslaught from their opponents. Assassin and the fiery Servant may have been fighting each other as well, but that was a small mercy when their relentlessly powerful attacks put everyone in the surrounding area in danger. Saber blocked Assassin's kick with her rapier. "It's too dangerous here!" she called to Jaune and Ruby. "Run somewhere safe, we can take them!"

"B-but..." Ruby started.

"Don't worry, sis!" Rider yelled, dodging a large pillar of flames that flew her way. "This is nothing! We'll see you soon, 'kay?"

Ruby looked around at the carnage. While she hated to leave Yang behind, she knew that running now was the best option. "…Okay," she said, nodding.

"Come on, let's go!" Jaune tapped her on the shoulder, and the two of them ran as fast as they could into the forest. Nervously, Ruby glanced behind her, watching the four Servants battle it out. Please make it out alright, she thought.

A bright green flash flew past her head. "Huh?" she gasped, looking in the direction it went. She heard a voice cry out-a man's voice. Ruby and Jaune ran towards the sound, and soon came upon a Faunus man in a strange uniform lying on the ground motionless. "Is he…" Jaune muttered.

Ruby saw the green bullet embedded in his head. Blood was seeping out of the wound. "He's d-dead," she stammered. A sniper! Wielding Crescent Rose, she glanced around feverishly, afraid that any moment another bullet would fly her way-and this time she'd be the target.

Breathily heavily, Jaune knelt down and examined the body. "He's a member of the White Fang…" he realized. "What's a terrorist doing here?" Another shot rang out from somewhere above them. "Whatever the case, we're definitely not the only ones here."

"Yang did say there would be other Masters coming tonight," said Ruby, remembering what her sister had told them. "Those two Servants who showed up probably belong to them, right?"

Jaune glanced wordlessly at the White Fang grunt's corpse, his face white as a sheet. It was clear to Ruby that he'd never seen a dead person before. She felt largely the same way-she could feel her dinner rising out of her stomach from the sight. Her friend pushed away the man's gun, which was still clenched in his hands, and picked up the longsword he had attached to his belt.

"Yeah…I think so," Jaune muttered, glancing at his new weapon. "We should probably get going a-" His eyes narrowed, looking at something behind Ruby. "Hey, what's that?"

Ruby looked behind her. She could see something moving through the trees some distance away. A person. While she couldn't discern much of their features, the red glow of the Command Seals was clearly visible on their right hand, even from there. "It's…another Master?" she guessed.

"Probably." Jaune nodded, uncertainty flashing in his eyes for a moment before he said, "I have an idea. Let's sneak up behind them and…and take them out. If we catch them off guard…"

"Huh? Aren't we supposed to get out of here?" protested Ruby.

Jaune shook his head violently. "No. I'm here to win, dammit." There was still a hint of uncertainty in his voice, however. Quietly, he bent over and walked slowly, step-by-step, in the direction of the Master. Reluctantly, Ruby followed after him. "Are you gonna kill them?" she blurted out without thinking, and Jaune did not respond.

When they got to the area where they'd seen the individual, they turned the corner only to find them gone. "What the...?" Jaune muttered, looking around in confusion. Ruby heard a rustling sound in the trees above, and looked up. "Jaune, look out!" she yelled.

A young girl with flaming red hair leapt down from the trees, wielding a long sword. Caught off-guard, Jaune stepped backward and parried her strike with his own sword. "Crap! What are y-" His eyes widened in surprise. His eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, wait, Pyrrha?!" Jaune gasped.

"…Jaune!" The girl leapt back in surprise. She didn't relax her shoulders, however. "Why are you here?" Now that she got a closer look, Ruby saw that the girl had bright green eyes and was wearing a strange set of Greek armour that looked really pretty.

"Th-that's not the first time I've heard that question today," Jaune gave a short, nervous laugh. "So, you're a Master too, Pyrrha? Aha…that's…actually not that surprising, now that I think about it. You always were the type of person to know everything about anything."

The redhead-Pyrrha-smiled, though she had a somber look in her eyes. "I see…I didn't think I'd ever meet you like this, Jaune. I'm…" she turned her gaze to Ruby. "And…you're…I think I've seen you around town before?"

Ruby introduced herself to Pyrrha. "I've been his friend for, uh, about a year now. I've got a Servant, too, I guess." She grinned, forgetting about the danger for just a moment. "I met my sister from another dimension, and she's really cool, an-"

"H-h-hey, wait!" said Jaune anxiously, waving his arms at her in a panic. "She's still our-our enemy, remember? Don't tell her anything about our Servants, okay?"

"But…" Ruby was confused. "She's your friend too, right? We can bring her onto our team, can't we? Three heads are better than two and all that?" It made perfect sense to her, and Pyrrha seemed rather nice. Surely more allies were always better.

To her dismay, however, Pyrrha pointed her sword at the two of them. "I'm sorry," she murmured, more to herself than to them. "But I have to win the Holy Grail War. I…have to do it myself. I don't want to ally myself with others only to cut them down later."

"I…" Ruby found that she could not reply to that. There could only be one winner, Ozpin had made that clear. One Master, one Servant. If they formed an alliance and survived to the end, then they'd have to kill one another. That was…too horrible to think about. And what about Jaune? I might end up fighting him too. He'd never hurt me…right?

Pyrrha prepared to charge. Nervously, Ruby readied Crescent Rose. She looks tough, she thought. Can I really fight her? Thankfully, she wouldn't have to find out.

"Pyrrha! Look out!" yelled Jaune, diving at her. "W-what?" The redhead's eyes widened in surprise as he pushed her several feet away, landing flat on her back in the dirt. A nanosecond later, a loud bang rang out into the night, and Jaune slumped over.

"Jaune!" Ruby screamed, running over to him without thinking. It didn't take her long to see the green bullet embedded into the boy's lower shoulder. The same type from before. She could still hear her friend's breathing, however, which granted her a sigh of relief.

"A sniper. Another Servant, I'd assume." Pyrrha walked over to her and gingerly examined Jaune's wound. "He's not particularly hurt, but I estimate he'll be out for the rest of the night. It would be best to get him to a safe place soon." She had completely dropped any hostility she might have displayed a few moments ago.

"Are you…letting us go?" asked Ruby hopefully.

"I suppose I am," Pyrrha smiled wearily. "He's my friend, like you stated…and he did save me when my carelessly should've gotten me badly hurt, or worse." She raised her hand, and her Command Seals began to glow like fire. "Archer. Return to me, now."

There was a flash of fire, and the red woman materialized next to Pyrrha. "Ah," gasped Ruby instinctively, flinching backwards. Archer looked at her with her deep amber eyes, which were somehow both warm and cold as ice at the same time. Ruby shivered; there was something about this Servant she decidedly disliked.

"Ruby Rose…" Archer murmured softly. "I thought I might see you here…getting into trouble was always something you could never help doing." Her eyes narrowed, and for a moment Ruby could swear that her pupils became fire itself.

Pyrrha frowned at her Servant. "You…know her too, Cinder? In your world, I mean."

"Mmm, 'know' her? That's not entirely accurate. We aren't particularly acquainted…but for brevity's sake, yes, I most certainly know who she is." Archer smiled. "I was hoping to settle things quickly with our friends down there, but it seems that will have to wait. Shall we be off, Master?"

"Yes," said Pyrrha, nodding. Archer snapped her fingers, and a ring of flames surrounded the Master-Servant pair. The redheaded Master turned back uneasily at Ruby, and said quietly: "I won't be so generous the next time we meet. I hope you'll be prepared to face us…if it comes to that." The flames surrounded them, and when they cleared the two of them had vanished.

Well…that was something. Ruby glanced over the edge of the hill, down at where her sister and Saber were still engaged in combat against Assassin. They'll be alright, she reassured herself again.

She grabbed Jaune's unconscious form and, panting and heaving, tried to lift him up. The boy was surprisingly heavy considering how skinny he looked. If he'd died, at least I wouldn't have to carry him, thought Ruby darkly.

Looks like one of them retreated, Blake noted from her hiding spot. The fire-wielding Servant had randomly teleported away from the battleground-presumably their Master had called them back for some reason. One less thing to worry about, I guess.

That still left three Servants to take care of. With Caster that makes four. And the one who just retreated, that's five. No sign of the other two…maybe they didn't want to risk fighting everyone at once. That didn't particularly concern her. What mattered was that she took care of what she was supposed to do.

She looked through the scope of her rifle and spotted a White Fang mook about ten feet from her. Quietly, she fired a stun dart into his neck, knocking him out. Looking around, she saw several others lying motionless on the ground, blood trickling from bullet wounds. Dammit. I told Caster not to kill…tch. No use worrying over that now.

Where the hell was Adam? Blake darted from tree to tree, glancing out from her cover occasionally, but she had found no trace of him. She'd hoped not to run into her old friend so early into the game, but there were still potential benefits to confronting him.

She couldn't fight him. Blake knew better than anyone what Adam Taurus was capable of, and she had no intention of facing him head-on as she was now. No, instead she'd take down his organization-their organization, once-bit by bit. Slowly and quietly…that was how Blake did things.

She could see the battle still raging below. All three Servants were extraordinarily powerful…it made Blake wonder how exactly she was supposed to win against any of them, especially with how comparatively weak Caster was.

Suddenly, her cat ears twitched, picking up a sound from far away. Blake whirled around, brandishing a combat dagger as it met a familiar red blade. "Looking for me, sweetheart?" asked Adam.

Panicking, Blake leapt backward, firing her pistol at him. Adam casually deflected two of her shots, though the third dart embedded itself in his shoulder. "I didn't think you'd be brave enough to show up tonight," he said calmly. Blake couldn't make out his expression from behind the mask he wore over his eyes, but his lips were twisted in a sinister, unhinged scowl. "I figured that running away was the only thing you knew how to do, dear."

Blake put her pistol away and drew her daggers. "…You thought wrong. I'm here now," she snarled. An empty statement, and she knew it, but she had no other choice. She lunged at Adam, trying to use her agility to her advantage as she attempted to land a blow. Futile, of course-Adam himself had taught her those techniques.

Effortlessly, he knocked her blades out of her hands and kicked her in the stomach. Before she could react, Blake was lying on the ground, with Adam's blade at her throat. Slowly, he ran its edge across her throat.

"Does it hurt? Good," Adam rasped. "You'll suffer a lot more before I'm done, though. I promise I won't kill you-not until you feel every bit of pain that you inflicted on me when you betrayed us. Because unlike you, Blake, I don't break my promises."

"Gh…" Petrified, Blake lay there, unable to move or cry for help-not that it would've helped. Caster, are you paying attention? Emerald was a shady sort of person-the type who'd betray you and leave you for dead at a moment's notice if you weren't careful. I could really use a bit of help right now.

Right on cue, Adam suddenly looked up. Frowning, he glanced behind him, at something that wasn't there. A green bullet whizzed by his head, surprising him. As a result, his grip on Blake loosened, and she took that opportunity to break free of his grasp. I suppose I'll have to thank Caster and reprimand her when we get back, she thought grudgingly. Adam was quickly recovering from his shock, and she had no time to think.

Blake did the only thing she knew how to do. She ran.

Saber swung Myrtenaster, sending a wave of ice shards flying at Assassin. The quick-footed Servant dodged out of the way and leapt at them with a dive kick, which Rider blocked.

"Hey, not half bad. Maybe you guys are worth something after all," Assassin quipped.

Rider gritted her teeth. "You bet I'm at least good enough to put you in your place, pretty boy!"

"Ohh, feisty," he laughed, doing a playful little jog on the spot. "Well, let's see if you can handle m-"

Assassin paused, his arrogant grin turning into a confused frown. He turned to look behind him, and scowled. "Ooooor maybe not. Looks I'm being called back…my Master sure is great at being a kill-joy, I'll give him credit for that." He wagged his finger condescending at the two girls. "But make no mistake, I'll be looking forward to our rematch. Till next time, ladies-ciao!"

"W-wait!" Rider yelled at him, but Assassin propelled himself upward with his gunboots and quickly leapt into the forest, out of sight. "Dammit! Next time we meet, he is SO gonna pay!"

"Calm yourself. That wretched hot-headedness of yours will be the death of us," said Saber coldly. She glanced around. "Hmph. It looks like no one else is around."

"That's what we thought last time," Rider pointed out.

Saber glared at her. "At any rate, it's best we clear out as fast as possible. Let's find our Masters; hopefully they made it out safe."

They found Ruby just outside the forest, dragging Jaune's motionless form with all her might. A cloth of her red cloak was wrapped around his shoulder. Saber ran over to her Master. "Is he alright?" she asked Ruby anxiously.

"U-uh, I think so," said Ruby hesitantly. She gave a brief explanation of what had transpired in the forest, including their encounter with Pyrrha and Archer. "Well, that's good to know," said Rider. "Know your enemy, right? Or uh, frenemy, I guess. Pyrrha's cool, I'd hate to have to fight her."

"That doesn't matter right now," said Saber briskly. "Let's go home now, everyone. We can form a plan then, and if anyone asks we'll say Master slipped on a banana peel and hurt himself."

Rider summoned her motorcycle and mounted, with Jaune slumped over her shoulders. She grimaced. "You don't think he'll get motion sick in this state, do you? Last thing I need is him vomiting all over me."

No one humoured her with an answer. "Well, it's a legitimate concern," she sighed. "I'll go on ahead. See you guys there." With that, she revved up her motorcycle and rode off into the night.