Well, this is it. The moment we've all been waiting for. Afterall those moments of depression, strength, and happiness, its happening. After this, RWBY will now officially start its main story and our mission now begins.

I just want to say, thanks. For being with me until now, and supporting this story even when its author is shit for brains.

Still, thanks, guys. You really made the whole quarantine thing seem like a good thing.

Anyway, enough sappy stuff. Let's go.

The moment you stepped into Vale, you could tell that something was going on. It was something special that made each of its citizens feel festive and giddy.

It wasn't the numerous stalls that lined up the streets with food and merchandise. It wasn't the many people here, coming to Vale.

No, it was for a holiday.

A holiday that made an event so festive and so memorable, that many still celebrate across Remnant.

It was the day, Remnant had peace.

Today is the Vytal Festival.

Y/N could feel the excitement in the air as many foreigners are engaging in various conversations with one another. Stalls sell food and drinks to those who are interested as some sold merchandise to commemorate the event.

But the main event of the festival is what is floating above it.

High above the skies was an arena, a flying arena. Housing many audiences and a battlefield. This is the Amity Colosseum, a massive arena for battles between the Kingdoms of Remnant as well as their symbol of friendship.

It was a technological marvel, combing the resources each Kingdom offered to use under the banner of friendship. They built this to not only commemorate the day peace was established but to also house the fierce competitions it held.

Combatants were from the Kingdom's own respective schools with their own prodigies.

Vale is Beacon.

Atlas is its own academy, as well as the center of military HQ.

Vacuo is Shade.

And Mistral with Haven.

These were the most powerful and influential schools in Remnant, and now they are pitting their own students against others from other academies.

Y/N could only sigh at Amity before continuing his walk around the campus grounds. He had some time on his hands before the arena would house its first tournament so he just walked around the area.

He let his weapons become fully displayed on his back to show everyone here that he is a student of one of the academies to prevent any misunderstandings.

And now, he's just minding his own business doing nothing. With Aigis also checking the venue out, he had nothing to do right now.

"Wonder if I can go to the {Velvet Abyss} again?"

As he said it, Y/N felt something growing within him. He touched his chest and saw that it was glowing a purple hue coming out from his heart. "Guess I can. Better find somewhere private."

Y/N exited the public eyes and went to a secluded area in the forest. He didn't run that far to see that he was alone but still used {World Sense} just in case. The moment he used that skill, everything went silent for him. It felt as though the world has stopped moving to heed his command as he sensed everything near him. To the falling of leaves to even the disturbance in the air, it was as though he saw the world without using his eyes.

But it would only stretch to around 10m around him so the chance to find Salem somewhere in Remnant was small but will get bigger the longer he used this skill.

He checked his surroundings more closely to see if someone managed to bypass his senses and felt nothing. He felt no one near him.

Y/N opened his eyes after confirming and grabbed out the {Abyss Key} from his {Inventory}. The moment he did, a translucent door appeared before him. It had a keyhole on the center and glowed an ominous purple.

He slid in the key and the door opened to him.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Y/N adjusted his eyes a bit and felt the rocky boat shift in his appearance. He was back, in the {Velvet Abyss}.

"Welcome back, mister {Gamer}." A voice was heard in front of him as Rose slowly walked towards him, her maid uniform unstained.

"Rose." He greeted her back. "So... care to explain why you kicked me out of the boat?"

"Ah." Rose held her face with her hands as if to express innocent. "Because you were scared of the exit."

...Well, the truth couldn't be any blunter.

"...That hurts, you that?" Y/N sweatdropped at her sudden actions and sighed. "Anyway, what can I do here?"

"Please, follow me." Rose guided him to the top deck and gestured the table before them.

Y/N took his seat from the table and Rose sat at the other side. She fished out a catalog from underneath and presented it on the cover. "Anything on this book can be purchased by you. Items purchased will be relayed to me and the transaction may commence."

Just then, a window popped in front of Y/N.

(Velvet Abyss)

-Buy

-Sell

-Exchange

-Combine

-Gamble

"Combine? What does that mean? Do I just, combine weapons into stronger ones?" Y/N asked Rose to clarify it.

"Yes. The {Combine} option is only available here and with it, you can use discarded weapons or specific weapons to create new ones."

Just then, a sub-window opened to list all the weapons Y/N could combine. But he was fine with his set for the moment so he closed it and moved on.

"What do you mean Gamble?"

"It is as it states. {Gamble} will test your luck stats and give you a chance to win a rare, random item. You have free 3 spins every week and after the third, it will cost a thousand to spin again. Would you like to try?"

A window popped up and instead of the usual bland letters and numbers, a white portal appeared in front of him. "So I just... stick my hand in there until I can feel something?"

"Precisely. The moment you plunge your arm in it, the spin will start and give you a random item." Rose said with a smile.

"Then... what am I going to get? Something from the RWBY-verse? Or from different dimensions?" It would be really fun if he could have the latter since these items would be considered powerful here.

"The latter," Rose answered.

"...Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." So Y/N plunged his hand into the portal and rummaged around in there.

A few moments after entering, he felt something there and grabbed. Y/N pulled it out and what revealed was... a pistol?

{GOD'S EYE}

NAME: Mercy

CLASS: A+

TYPE: A long-barrelled revolver

INFO: One of the 4 Horsemen, Strife, made two pistols to fight. Mercy and Redemption.

Y/N nodded in awe as this pistol once belonged to Strife. He didn't expect to get one of the main weapons he used but again, he did gain War's horse as his own. So it may not be a stretch to say that can get their weapons.

He dismissed the pistol in his {Inventory} and plunged once more into the portal.

For the second gamble, he pulled out an object and saw it was a card instead.

It was the same Skill Card he would get from his dungeons so it must be good if it appeared here. He pressed Yes on the pop-up window which the card now disintegrated and went into his chest.

Y/N checked his [Skills] and saw a new one there.

[Spell Master] - Passive - LvL 1/100 - Exp: 0%

- Any magic used can now be cast by half the {MP} cost.

-[50% Magic based attacks]

'Oh hell yeah!' Y/N inwardly shouted as the skill would definitely be useful for him. Now he can spam his magic anytime without worrying his {MP} being drained!

Coughing away the excess excitement, Y/N plunged his arm one final time into the portal in hopes of getting a good item.

He then felt it and pulled out... a pair of earrings? It looked like a normal pair of earrings yet, it radiated power. There was a red circle at the top and lines are drawn downwards into a bigger circle. Kinda like how the sun would shine on the land.

Wait... The sun shining on the land? "Could it be?!"

{GOD'S EYE}

NAME: Hanafuda Earrings

CLASS: A

TYPE: A pair of earrings symbolizing the sun giving its energy to the land.

INFO: These earrings were passed down from generation to generation as whoever wears these earrings now inherits the {Breath of the Sun}.

SPECIAL EFFECT: Anywho wears these earrings are now the inheritors of the {Breath of the Sun}.

"Holy shit..." Y/N gawked at the earrings on his hand and put them on. It fit on his ears as it dangled gently there.

Another pop-window appeared before him and stated what he gained from it.

[You have gained the title {Breath of the Sun user}]

-Slash attacks are now 25% faster

-50% chance for a sword to catch on fire

[You have learned the {Hinokami Kagura} technique]

[All styles of the {Hinokami Kagura} are now unlocked for user to learn]

[Hinokami Kagura] - Active - Lvl 1/100 - Exp. 0%

-{Flash Dance} Breathing in large amounts of oxygen and focuses power into the legs, giving it a sudden surge of speed.

-{Clear Blue Sky} User spins his body in a vertical motion while slicing in a complete circle.

-{Raging Sun} User slashes two horizontal strikes to either hit or intercept an enemy strike.

-{Fake Rainbow} User can evade oncoming attacks multiple times, creating afterimages to confuse the enemy.

-{Burning Bones, Summer Sun} User creates a circular slash in front of him to defend against any frontal attacks.

-{Fire Wheel} User leaps behind an enemy and spins in the air, slashing at their backside in a circular motion.

-{Sunflower Thrust} User thrusts the blade into an enemy.

-{Solar Heat Haze} User slashed enemy with a distraction of not landing it, but actually does.

-{Setting Sun Transformation} User flips into the air and delivered an upended sword slash.

-{Beneficient Radience} User spirals into the air to deliver a powerful slash to his opponents.

-{Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance} User dodges enemy strikes and advances head-on to deliver multiple strikes on the enemy.

-{Flame Dance} User slashed enemy horizontally and vertically in quick succession.

-{Thirteenth Form} User now performs all the previous styles in rapid succession on an enemy, completely annihilating their body and burning them away from existence.

Y/N's eyes nearly bulged in shock as these earrings have granted him the styles used against {Muzan Kibitsuji}. "Holy shit... I got some good luck with me."

He exited the {Gamble} option and went to {Exchange}.

[Exchange]

-Allows you to sell one of your skills/items for a new one.

List:

[Assassin] > {Persona Magic}

[Tank] > {Persona Magic}

Y/N pressed on one of the lists and showed him what skills he could have for purchasing it. While he was a fan of those types back then, now it wasn't all that appealing to him anymore.

He then went to the {Buy} option and showed him the list.

[Golden Fleece]

TYPE: A golden armlet that protects its user from physical or magical attacks.

CLASS: B

INFO: A powerful relic created by a nymph to heal grievous wounds. It can transform into a golden armlet with the power to counter even the deadliest of blows.

COST: {10,000$}

[Rebellion]

TYPE: A bastard sword with a skull engraved on it.

CLASS: A+

INFO: A demonic blade wielded by the demon general, Sparda.

COST: {Rebel Knife}

"Well, guess there's only one thing I'm buying then."

[You have bought [Golden Fleece]}

[Would you like to equip it?]

[Y/N]

He pressed No and the armlet was now in his {Inventory}.

Seeing nothing else to do, Y/N sold a few of his equipment to Rose and headed back.

Just like before, the fear of the deep was traumatizing him to not leap below. But unless he wants another kick, he has no choice.

With a deep breath, Y/N was ready. He jumped in and fell to sleep immediately.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The moment he escaped, Y/N opened his eyes to see he has not moved an inch since he visited the {Velvet Abyss}. He checked the time and noticed that the tournament is about to start in a few minutes.

So he hurriedly ran back to where the team would eat. He also cast some {Illusion Magic} on his earrings since it would look weird to his friends and that he is concealing them for another purpose.

When he made it, the live feed on his Scroll was online with live events to what is happening in Amity.

So he took a seat nearby and opened the Scroll, revealing the spectacle before him.

________________________________________________________________________________

https://youtu.be/SWacdFlVs3s

________________________________________________________________________________

"Is anyone else hungry?" Ruby hunched over and clutched her stomach.

"I may have worked up an appetite." Blake cooly replied with her arms behind her head.

But it melted away as soon as her stomach growled loudly, which made her face flush a bit.

"Gee, if only there was somewhere on campus to get food around here." Weiss sarcastically said with her shrugged arms.

As soon as the match ended with their victory, RWBY went to the festival grounds filled with tents and stalls selling a myriad of food. "Oh, wait."

Ruby clamped her hand on her shoulder in a somber tone. "It's okay, Weiss. I forget the fairgrounds too."

She knocked her Ruby's arm away and was angered by it. "I was being facetious."

And so was Ruby, who was annoyed by her partner's attitude. "Wh-Gah! Well, if you were so hungry, why didn't you say so?!"

A sigh was heard behind them as they turned to see Y/N there. "Even after that, you're still bickering?"

"Y/N!" They all called out his name in joy, his face was a calming matter for them.

"That was a great fight. Well done winning that tourney."

They all blushed at his praise and started playing with their hair.

"Y-You don't say..." Ruby covered her's with a cloak.

"Why, thank you." Wiess huffed her chest in pride, trying to get rid of the blush.

"Aw, shucks! You shouldn't have." Yang grinned at the praise.

"It was very kind of you to say that." Blake shyly looked away.

"Anyway, let's eat. I'll pay." Y/N decided to treat the girls after that battle since they needed it more than him.

"Oh, I know just the place!" Yang then placed herself at Y/N's side and started tugging him. "Come on!"

He sighed at her antics as they followed Yang to the stall she said. Weiss was about to follow suit until her Scroll vibrated on her hip. Picking up the device, it seemed that someone wanted to contact her but it was someone she wanted to part of.

It was her father, Jaques Schnee.

She angrily glared at the device before putting it back, leaving it unanswered.

"Hey! Might be hard to eat without this." A voice called out to them as the group saw it was Emerald, holding a wallet with Lien on it.

Ruby recognized the wallet and frantically searched her outfit to find it. "No, no, no, no!"

She laughed a bit from how cute the reaction she got from Ruby. "Good to see you, Ruby."

Sighing in defeat, she took her wallet from Emerald and puts it away. "Oh! Thanks, Emerald! Oh. Guess I dropped it. Girl pockets are the worst!"

Yang then saved her sister by dropping in the conversation. "What's up, Em?"

"Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!"

"Thanks! Y/N told us the same thing." She pointed at her crush who only waved at her.

"I heard your team also do well on their round," Blake commented on Emerald's fight as well.

"You know, I feel that we haven't seen your other teammates." Weiss brought up an unrelated topic and was ignored.

"How'd they do in the fight?" Yang asked Emerald regarding what happened.

She tilted her head up to the sky and tried to remember what exactly happened...

________________________________________________________________________________

Emerald jumped back a bit while also firing a couple of rounds at her opponent before jumping more and shifting her weapons into melee mode.

Mercury wasn't far behind with him shooting another round at his enemy.

Cinder in her alternate outfit kicked her opponent to the other side of the arena as he slid to where their 4th member was.

It was a small girl in pigtails with black and white clothing and still revealed a couple of her skin outside. She closed the distance to the guy Cinder kicked and saw that her eyes were a dull shade of green.

She blinked at her opponent as the color changed from the green into a pair of heterochromatic eyes. One white and one brown. She grinned at him before stomping her boot at his face.

________________________________________________________________________________

Emerald nodded in satisfaction and replied. "Really well."

"That's great. Uh." Ruby congratulated her and her team as she fidgeted a bit. "Why don't we all go and get a victory food together?"

She faked a surprise and only smiled at Ruby. "Oh, gosh, that's so nice of you. But my teammates are all kind of..." Emerald trailed a bit and looked behind her.

The group all looked who it was and saw Mercury... sniffing the inside of a boot the shop keeper sell. The weird thing was that... did he look perplexed by it?

"... introverted. Really socially awkward."

Yang nodded in acceptance, knowing that Ruby would do the same to weapons. "Ooh, yeah. I could see that."

"So, yeah. Looks like Merc and I are going to move on to the doubles round. What about you guys?"

Ruby felt a bit prideful and explained it to her. "Well, as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision."

Yang killed the mood with a straight answer. "We put it to a vote"

That deflated Ruby a bit so she tried to back it up. "Yes. So... But I decided that we should all put it in a vote."

Blake now destroyed the moment. "We voted for Weiss and Blake."

Weiss was now filled with pride. "I will happily represent Team RWBY."

Yang shared her excitement as she punched her fist with some strength. "Yeah! We're gonna kick some butt!"

Emerald giggled at the enthusiasm they had. "Well, if Mercury and I see you down the line, don't think we'll go easy on ya."

The duo all shared the same confident smirk Emerald had and gave their own. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

With the conversation about to end, they prepared to go their separate ways. "Alright, well we're going to catch some more fights"

RWBY and Y/N also left with Ruby waving at her. "Have fun!"

Emerald gave hers as well. "See you later!"

And now, Team RWBY and Y/N left Emerald alone as they made their way to the food stall. Y/N looked back at where Emerald and Mercury reconvened and glared at them slightly. 'I'll put you two to the ground, damn fanatics.'

The two slightly shivered as the cold chill of death loomed over them. They turned around to see that the chill was gone and RWBY was out of sight. Seeing no one there, the duo just shrugged it off and went about their way.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At one of the tents set up by the manager of the place, Team RWBY and Y/N sat at the stools it provided and ordered their food. It was a simple shop, named {A Simple Wok}, and was managed by the chef there.

"I'll have the regular please." Yang ordered and instantly, a large bowl of noodles slides in front of her."

"Ooh... I'll take the same." Ruby ordered the same as Yang and the large bowl was right there.

Weiss was a bit concerned with how big the proportions were and tried to order her own. "Do you have anything with a low-salt..." She didn't even get her order through as the same bowl was now in front of her.

"I'll take what they're having, extra spicy for me." Y/N ordered his as the chef presented him a bowl of noodles with chili extract.

Blake nodded at the chef and instantly, he went back kitchen and whipped up a special one for her. The bowl prepared for her was about the same, only with fish being everywhere on it.

Before Y/N could pull out his money, Weiss held his hand and shook her head. She fished her credit card out and gave it to the chef.

Yang saw what she did and was in awe for her. "Aw, Weiss! What's the occasion?"

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round."

Her joy was immediately ruined when her card was harshly thrown back at her. Weiss looked at the chef in shock before he pointed at his register as it spelled out to them: DECLINED.

"What?! How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance." Weiss grumbled a bit.

Blake was now panicking and slowly puts her bowl closer to her. Y/N held her hands and smiled as he fished out the Lien to pay for it. "I got you."

She happily replied with a side hug on his arm, a smile plastered on her face.

"Maybe I can help?" RWBY all turned to the side and saw who said it.

Pyrrha, along with her team, approached the tent at the side. A bit further back was Aigis trailing behind them.

Ruby flings her arms up high in delight for she saw another of her friends today. "Pyrrha!"

"Aw, you don't have to." Yang declined her offer as she jabbed at Y/N. "He's paying."

"Oh." Jaune was confused for a moment before asking him. "Mind if we join?"

"Yeah. The more the merrier, as they say. Right?" Y/N agreed as Team JNPR sat at the side.

Aigis walked around them and sat at the stool beside Y/N.

And now JNPR and Aigis ordered their bowls of noodles.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later on, each student held their stomachs and the bowls they ate were now empty. Some had faces of satisfaction, while others tried very hard to not hurl it up in one go.

Ren, being one of the people affected by the sickness, asked Y/N. "Are you sure it is wise to eat before a fight?"

The chef quickly dashed around them and grabbed their bowls to quickly disappear into the kitchen.

"Maybe? I often heard that a warrior should have a hearty meal before a fight." He replied back, thinking of all the times Po constantly ate and still had the energy to fight.

Nora belched out loudly and patted her stomach with pride and delight.

Jaune wasn't feeling that good as he groaned loudly and rest on the table. "Uugh... If I barf, I'm blaming you."

"Ooh!" The pink bomber had an evil grin on her face as a devilish thought entered her brain. "Aim at the enemy!"

"Nora, that's disgusting." Ren reprimanded her but also felt it rising up. "But if you feel the urge..."

Jaune didn't hear anymore and understood what he meant. "Got it..."

"Father."

"Don't. For the love of God, please do not do that. At all." Y/N sternly said to Aigis with a glare.

"...Of course."

Pyrrha, one of the lucky few who wasn't sick, stood up from her seat. "Well, we should be off."

"So, you think you guys are ready?" Ruby asked her sister team.

Nora replied happily as ever while gesturing her teammates. "Of course! We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, one's basically ninja, I can bench five of me... Jaune. We trained all year, our weapons are awesome,Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh... Jaune!"

"...Are you gonna take that?" Ren asked his leader who didn't lift his face from the counter.

"...She's not wrong." He weakly replied, already feeling the sickness rising up more.

"I'm kidding, he knows I'm kidding." Nora continues to explain further but... "Don't be so nervous! The worst that can happen is we lose, that is just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures, our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status, we won't be able to show our faces in class, no one will sit with us in the cafeteria, Ren and I have no parents, we have no home left to go to, we'll be officially renamed Team Lose-iper!"

Her mad laughter was now breaking down into sobbing and crashed to the counter. She then looked at Y/N with comedic tears on her face and begged. "Y/N! Can you do that thing you did at us back then?"

"Sorry, Nora. Rules say that no one else can help the team after they enter the tournament. Can't help you there."

She crashed her head back into the counter.

Pyrrha offered her confidence to Nora and Jaune and placed a hand on their shoulders. "Don't fret. If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines, and not, well, ...murderers."

"Yeah, don't sweat it!" Yang gave hers as well. "We've all faced worse before."

Blake listed off the many enemies they have fought before the festival. "Let's see. Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath..."

"An ally lost to the darkness..." Y/N gave his list to Blake.

Ruby put the light side of it all. "And that's all while we're still in training! Oh, imagine what it would be like to graduate!

"Maybe then I'll be able to pay for the meal..." Weiss grumbled under her breath as Y/N patted her shoulder.

The intercom came alive as Port's voice boomed on the speaker.

[Would Team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately?]

It was then interrupted by Oobleck's voice on the intercom.

[Yes! Like they were scheduled to... several minutes ago."

"Well, it looks like this is it." Pyrrha motioned her friends as they prepare.

JNPR all left to the arena, with Nora still depressed and Jaune looking sick.

"Go get'em!" Ruby cheered them on as they slowly walk to the airbus.

As they left, Y/N felt his Scroll going off and picked it up. He saw it was Ozpin who was calling him and answered.

[Hello? Ozpin?]

[Ah, Mr. L/N.]

[What is it? Is it regarding my fight in the arena?]

[I'm afraid not, young man. It's something more... private.]

[OK...]

[Don't worry about your fight. I have a special friend that wants to fight you and I assure you, she is quite strong. You will have your fight on tomorrow's exhibition match.]

[Ah, thanks for that. What about Aigis?]

[I'm afraid Ms. Polendina is unable to fight. It appears that her entry to this match was prohibited by the Council.]

[Of course...]

[Meet me at my office after the tournament. And do keep it a secret, especially from other people.]

The call ended shortly after as Y/N put his Scroll back.

"So, Y/N. Are you gonna fight in the arena?" Yang asked him, wanting to know how he fights with others.

"Oh yeah! You only have Aigis as your teammate." Ruby turned to him as she was excited about his fight as well.

"Don't worry. Ozpin just called me about that. He said that I'm going to fight an exhibition match tomorrow." Y/N replied before sighing and looked at Aigis. "Unfortunately, Aigis cannot fight in the tourney."

"Huh? Why?" It was Weiss that asked him.

"It seems that the Council decided to step in and declined her reason to fight." Y/N sighed harder as RWBY all gasped.

"WHAT?!"

"Believe me, I know. But what can you do about it?"

"I guess... still." Blake only offered her condolences at her friend.

"Yeah... Come on." Y/N then stepped off the stool and walked to where the airbus was. "Let's watch JNPR's match. I want this day to end with a blast."

Seeing no other way right now, they all agreed and set off.