The clash between Vale and Atlas did not drag on for much longer after the storm of Taiyang's attack had settled across the battlefield.
The enormous cloud of dust slowly thinned, revealing the shattered terrain where the dragon's descent had struck like a falling piece of the sky. Stone had been pulverized into gravel. The ground had split into deep fractures that still smoked faintly with residual heat and energy.
At the center of that devastation stood Taiyang, or rather, the enormous eastern dragon that Taiyang had become.
Elm had not fared nearly as well.
The giant Atlas fighter's seal had triggered and she had been sent straight out of the arena.
Taiyang's dragon form coiled above the battlefield, scales gleaming faintly beneath the blood red sky.
For a moment the creature remained still, then it exhaled slowly.
The long serpentine body shifted slightly as the dragon tilted its head, as if trying to steady itself after the immense burst of power it had just unleashed. Even from a distance it was clear that the attack had taken a bit of a toll on him.
The dragon swayed in the air, a little bit. Taiyang appeared to be a little dizzy.
Still, the moment passed quickly.
The enormous dragon shook its head as if clearing away the lingering haze, then its glowing eyes shifted across the battlefield to lock onto another target.
Clover.
The Atlas specialist had been doing his best to avoid the worst of the chaos while directing his giant elemental fish through the air and ground. But the moment Taiyang's attention shifted toward him, the situation changed immediately.
Clover cursed.
"Damn. 2 vs 1 now."
He kicked off the air and landed lightly atop the back of one of his remaining elemental fish. The creature surged forward through the air like a living torpedo made of swirling water.
Behind him came the roar of wings.
Qrow's crow bodies had already begun pursuing him through the air, black feathers scattering as multiple massive birds swooped through the battlefield in relentless pursuit.
And now the dragon joined the chase.
Taiyang's enormous form lunged forward with terrifying speed, weaving through the sky with the fluid grace of a storm serpent.
Clover darted between his fish as he rode them through the battlefield, leaping from one monstrous elemental creature to another as they swam through the air around him.
Each fish twisted and dove unpredictably, trying to disrupt the pursuit.
Unfortunately, Taiyang seemed to view the situation differently. The dragon opened its mouth and one of the fish disappeared instantly.
The massive jaws snapped shut with a thunderous crunch as if they were savoring a delicious snack.
Clover frowned. He was in slight disbelief. The product of his meta rune was simply being... eaten like it was nothing.
It should also be noted that each of his fishes were massive. Smaller than Taiyang, for sure, but not small enough that his jaws should have been big enough to swallow them. Yet, the moment the dragon opened his mouth, it was like they were sucked in without resistance.
He launched himself onto another fish just as the dragon lunged again. The second fish vanished into Taiyang's mouth just as quickly.
From the outside it almost looked comical. The massive dragon chasing a fleeing specialist while casually eating his summoned creatures like a series of flying snacks.
Clover groaned.
"Oh come on."
He veered sharply toward another part of the battlefield where his teammate was still engaged. The wood controlling specialist had not been idle during the chaos.
The terrain around him had transformed dramatically. Where bare stone had once covered the ground, a dense forest had now erupted into existence.
Towering trees stretched toward the sky, their trunks thick and ancient looking as twisting roots spread across the ground like a living network.
But this was no ordinary forest. Half of the trees were actually enormous root golems.
Their bodies formed from intertwined wood and soil, each one towering like a walking statue of bark and vines. The other half of the forest was far less passive.
Roots surged up from the earth constantly, lashing outward in thick coiling tendrils that attempted to ensnare anything that entered the area.
Clover landed beside the wood specialist just as another of his remaining fish circled protectively nearby.
"Bit busy over here," the bald man commented dryly.
Clover glanced back toward the approaching dragon and the swarm of crows.
"You don't say."
The forest responded immediately.
Roots surged upward in massive waves, wrapping around Taiyang's enormous body as the dragon plunged into the wooded battlefield.
At the same time dozens of wooden tendrils lashed toward Qrow's pursuing crow forms, attempting to drag the giant birds down from the sky.
The sudden shift in terrain made things far more complicated.
Qrow reacted by suddenly transforming his largest crow body. It suddenly collapsed inward, feathers scattering as the massive bird dissolved back into a human figure mid air.
Qrow Branwen landed lightly on the ground with his giant sword resting against his shoulder.
"Well," he muttered. "This got annoying real fast."
His remaining crow clones continued fighting within the forest, ripping apart roots and crashing through wooden golems as they struggled against the dense entangling terrain.
Several of them were crushed moments later by massive wooden fists.
Qrow winced slightly. He could feel each one when they died.
The death of every crow clone sent a sharp pulse of backlash through his body. The sensation was unpleasant, like a sudden spike of pressure behind the eyes.
It no longer caused him damage the way it once had. After the brutal experiences he had endured in Belmont, Qrow had trained relentlessly to endure the strain.
Now he could sacrifice his crow clones far more freely.
Nearby, Taiyang's dragon form coiled and twisted against the thick forest that had erupted around them.
For a moment the enormous body struggled against the entangling roots.
Then the dragon dissolved.
Golden scales faded as Taiyang's human form dropped lightly onto the forest floor beside Qrow.
He rolled his shoulders once.
"Yeah," Taiyang said. "Big forms aren't helping here."
Qrow glanced toward the trees.
"Understatement of the day."
Not far away Glynda Goodwitch stepped forward. She had been watching the battlefield shift with a calculating gaze.
Now she raised one hand slightly. The air shivered and exploded. Invisible blades of telekinetic force erupted outward like a tidal wave.
Hundreds of slicing arcs tore through the forest in an instant.
Tree trunks shattered and root tendrils split apart like fragile twigs.
Even the towering wooden golems were carved into splintered fragments as the storm of invisible slashes ripped through the battlefield.
The wood controlling specialist barely had time to react before the forest around him began collapsing in pieces.
"Not ideal." Clover remarked.
With their terrain advantage shredded and their opponents now directly fighting together, the balance of the fight shifted dramatically.
Three against two. And not just any three.
Qrow, Taiyang and Glynda.
The battle did not last long after that.
The two Atlas specialists fought hard, but the combined pressure quickly overwhelmed them. Taiyang and Qrow closed the distance while Glynda's telekinetic attacks denied them any opportunity to regroup or rebuild their defensive terrain.
Within moments the protective seals embedded on them activated. A burst of light surrounded both Clover and the wood specialist.
Then they vanished from the battlefield as the arena's systems ejected them safely from the match.
Only one Atlas fighter remained.
The speedster.
She had been battling Raven moments earlier, but the moment she realized her teammates were gone she made a quick decision. Her body blurred with a crack of lightning.
She ran.
The speedster shot across the battlefield like a bolt of living electricity, abandoning the ruined forest behind her as she raced toward another active combat zone.
Specifically the chaotic melee where the remaining kingdoms were still clashing.
Vale's fighters did not hesitate. They chased after the fleeing speedster and plunged straight into the larger battle unfolding across the arena.
By this point the wider war between kingdoms had grown even more chaotic.
Menagerie had already lost two fighters. The only reason the remaining members had not been eliminated entirely was because the alliance between Mistral and Vacuo had fallen apart.
With Menagerie weakened, both kingdoms had apparently decided that their former partner was now a greater threat than the injured team they had been attacking.
So the two sides had turned on each other.
Explosions of sand and fire erupted across the battlefield as Vacuo and Mistral began fighting in earnest.
The arena had become a sprawling kingdom wide brawl.
And now Vale had entered the chaos.
From the spectator stands high above, the unfolding spectacle was nothing short of incredible to watch. Among the Vale spectators, the reaction was particularly enthusiastic.
Several Vale operatives sitting together near the observation deck burst into loud cheers the moment Taiyang, Qrow, and Glynda won against Atlas and joined the main fight. A few of them even stood up and exchanged quick high fives, grinning as the camera feeds shifted to show Vale diving into the chaos.
"They're cleaning house," one of them said proudly.
"Atlas went down quick," another added.
Nearby, Jaune stood with friends, his gaze fixed on the battlefield screens. His attention shifted constantly between the massive display panels that showed the arena from multiple angles.
He talked with the others casually, occasionally commenting on the action, though his eyes rarely left the fight.
The scoreboards above the arena updated rapidly as fighters were eliminated. At that moment the standings looked like this:
Mistral: 100 points
Vacuo: 100 points
Menagerie: 100 points
Vale: 300 points
Atlas: 0
Atlas had fallen far behind after losing multiple members earlier in the battle and it was likely that they were going to lose. However, the moment Vale entered the fray, the entire rhythm of the fight changed.
Taiyang wasted no time in attacking.
Even before the different teams could fully adjust to Vale's arrival, Taiyang had already been gathering energy. His body drew in motion from every movement he had made over the past several minutes, every strike, every step, every violent burst of momentum stored inside his Kinetic rune.
The air around him began to tremble. Several fighters across the battlefield sensed the incoming danger immediately.
His fist came down like a falling meteor and the impact detonated across the arena floor in a thunderous shockwave that split the battlefield apart. The kinetic energy he had accumulated exploded outward in a massive burst, ripping open a long fracture across the terrain and blasting several fighters away from the central area.
Dust and debris surged upward in a towering wave. For a moment the battle lines were forcibly separated, but instead of calming the chaos, the strike only made things more intense.
The battlefield erupted again seconds later.
Qrow had already shifted back into motion, constantly transforming between his human and crow forms as he darted through the battlefield. Massive pillars of sand shot upward from the ground around him as Vacuo fighters attempted to trap him in their shifting terrain.
But Qrow was never still long enough. One moment he was a man leaping through the air with his sword flashing a deadly arc, the next he was a giant crow splitting apart into multiple bodies.
Several of his crow clones shot forward like black torpedoes, slamming directly into enemy fighters with explosive force before bursting apart in storms of feathers. Every time one of the clones was destroyed, Qrow felt the backlash ripple through him, but he barely slowed down.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Taiyang had shifted back into his dragon form once again.
The enormous eastern dragon soared across the battlefield like a living storm.
And standing atop his head was Raven.
At some point during the chaos, Raven had conjured enormous shadowy arms around Taiyang's dragon body. Massive clawed constructs formed from dark energy stretched outward from his sides, giving the already enormous dragon an even more terrifying silhouette.
From a distance it almost looked like the dragon was a very large golden centipede rather than a dragon.
The visual alone drew a lot of attention from the spectators. Among those watching, Yang and Ruby both wore expressions that were noticeably less impressed.
Ruby blinked slowly as she watched the scene unfold.
"…Is she riding him?"
Yang crossed her arms. Her expression tightened slightly.
"Don't say it like that Ruby."
"Say it like wha-oh. Sorry."
Jaune stood nearby, watching the fight from the corner of his eye while also glancing briefly at Yang. He wisely chose not to comment.
He knew better.
Yang's relationship with her biological mother was… complicated. Raven rarely acknowledged Yang directly, even when they were in the same place. Most of the time she acted distant and detached, like Yang was just another person in the room.
But Jaune's special sense had noticed something others hadn't. Every now and then, when Raven glanced at Yang, her emotions would fluctuate in ways that didn't match the calm exterior she presented to everyone else.
Small flickers of tension. Hesitation. Something that felt strangely unstable. Jaune could sense it clearly.
Still, he never mentioned it. That was something only the two of them could work through. Family issues were rarely simple.
Take his for example. His father was a terrorist trying to wake up a sleeping god that wanted to end all life on the world.
Well...
Perhaps his might be more complicated than Yang and Ruby's.
In any case, he kept his thoughts to himself and returned his attention to the battle.
Down in the arena, the clash between kingdoms continued escalating.
Eventually the fighting began to thin the field. The last Atlas fighter, the lightning fast speedster who had escaped earlier, found herself cornered during a brief clash with one of Menagerie's combatants.
The battle was short but brutal. Both fighters moved at extreme speed, their clash unfolding in a blur of strikes and counterstrikes.
In the end they eliminated each other almost simultaneously. The Atlas speedster landed a final strike that triggered the Menagerie fighter's protective seal.
But her own seal activated only a second later.
Both were launched from the arena together in flashes of light. Atlas was officially out of the match.
Not long after that, another major clash occurred. Qrow had been battling multiple opponents when a new fighter from Mistral stepped into the fray.
She was strikingly beautiful, her movements graceful and precise.
But the powers she wielded were anything but gentle.
Glass formed around her like liquid crystal, shaping itself into strange geometric constructs that hovered in the air. At the same time streams of fire twisted through the battlefield while sharp metal shards floated beside her like obedient blades.
Three elements moved under her control simultaneously.
Glass, fire and metal.
Qrow barely had time to react before the attack came. The glass constructs around her suddenly burst outward. Dozens of jagged shapes shot toward Qrow from every direction.
Several of them pierced straight through his body before he could fully evade.
They didn't cause lasting harm due to the arena's protections, but the moment the constructs pierced through him the system recognized the lethal blow.
His protective seal triggered instantly. A burst of light engulfed Qrow. Then he vanished from the battlefield.
From the stands, several Vale supporters groaned loudly. The Mistral fighter didn't stop there.
Moments later she clashed with Glynda Goodwitch as well.
Glynda's telekinesis was powerful enough to match the woman's elemental control for a short time, invisible force colliding with glass and metal in violent bursts across the battlefield.
But the Mistral fighter's techniques were simply too versatile.
Eventually a barrage of molten metal and razor edged glass broke through Glynda's defenses.
Her seal activated soon after.
Still, Glynda did not leave the fight without retaliation.
One of her final telekinetic strikes slammed directly into the Mistral fighter's side, injuring her badly enough that her movements slowed.
That injury proved decisive.
Moments later Taiyang and Raven closed in. Taiyang's dragon form crashed into the battlefield again, while Raven's shadow claws lashed forward with lethal precision.
The Mistral fighter's combination of glass, fire, and metal simply could not penetrate Taiyang's dragon scales.
Within moments her protective seal activated as well. By the time the last clashes ended, the battlefield had finally begun to fall quiet.
The scoreboard above the arena updated one final time.
Vacuo: 400 points.
Menagerie: 200 points.
Atlas: 100 points.
Mistral: 300 points.
Vale: 500 points.
The crowd erupted once more.
Vale had won.
Creation was theirs.
.
.
AN: I screwed up the point system. Just ignore it. Vale won, nuff said.