Fate's Wild Card Ch.29 (Released) (Patreon)

It doesn't take him long to decide. Besides, she's about to kiss him by being that close to his face, she's pretty much asking for it.

So, naturally, he leans forward and steals a kiss. Another free kiss from the stuck-up Atlesian.

Weiss freezes as her eyes go wide, pupils shrinking to pinpricks as her face turns completely red. Just like the other time she doesn't move or struggle, just stays rooted on the spot as he gets to enjoy her lips far longer than just a quick peck. Her hand clutches the edge of the desk.

And just like the last time she doesn’t break away, as he is the one who decides when to end that kiss. That is the moment she jumps back, blinking rapidly, her hand flying up to cover her mouth but still very much red as she looks at him with the same shocked expression.

"Y-You…"

Adorable.

So he just smirks at her, leaning back in his chair with his hands resting on the back of his head and crossing his legs.

That seems to set her off. "You—you absolute beast! You brute! How dare you?! This is completely unacceptable! Do you have no sense of decorum whatsoever?! No respect for personal boundaries?! I should have known better than to help someone so utterly barbaric and—and uncultured! This is assault! This is—this is harassment! This is a complete violation of every standard of civilized behavior! I was trying to educate you, trying to help you pass your exam, and this is how you repay my generosity?! With such—such vulgar and inappropriate conduct?!"

Pryce, despite having four pairs of ears, remains with the smirk, listening from one side and letting it pass through the other. He's just ignoring her completely, watching her face cycle through various shades of red with mild amusement. Her hands are gesturing wildly as she continues her tirade, her ponytail whipping back and forth with each emphatic movement.

"PRYCE?!"

"That’s me."

"That's it! I'm telling our team about this! And then I'm going straight to Headmaster Ozpin! You won't get away with this kind of behavior, you—you—" She stammers, apparently too flustered to come up with an adequate insult. "You insufferable degenerate!"

He shrugs. "You pretty much asked for it, sooooo..." 

Weiss gasps and looks at him with absolute disdain, shaking her head so vigorously her ponytail nearly hits her face. "I most certainly did NOT ask for anything! I was trying to help you study! I was leaning over to point out relevant information in the textbook! If anything, your complete lack of appreciation for my efforts is appalling! Do you have any idea how many students would be grateful for one-on-one tutoring from someone of my academic caliber?! And instead of showing even the slightest bit of gratitude, you—you take advantage of me and—"

Pryce rolls his eyes because he knows she won't tell a soul. She's Atlesian, and her pride and image are all that matter to them. The last thing the heiress wants is anyone knowing she's been kissed—twice now—by some street thief. So she'll keep it shut. She's just venting and ranting, letting off steam in the privacy of this soundproof study room.

Just like she was screaming the first time, there was nobody around.

It's still annoying that she has such a loud voice when angry.

Pryce then looks away, trying to find another thing to do. Maybe he could just pretend to read one of these papers until the session time runs out or just look for a pen to doodle around. Or whatever that would definitely be more interesting than just reading history books. His fingers drum idly on the desk.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Weiss demands again, her hands now balled into fists at her sides.

"Nope."

She definitely said a lot more, but he didn't listen.

Weiss opens her mouth and raises a hand, which gets some of his interest back. Obviously won't let her hit him but still wants to see what she is going to do.

Yet much to his surprise Weiss seems to cool down quick and lets out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her shoulders drop slightly as she visibly collects herself, though her face is still flushed. "Alright, you brute. Talking to you and making threats won't work on you, so let's try something new. A different approach entirely."

And she walks around the table to be on the other side and in front of him, her heels clicking against the floor.

That makes him perk up his ears and turn his head to look back at her, wondering what she wants to try now. What else can she even do? Buy him off?

I might work though.

Weiss slams both hands on the table and locks her gaze with him, leaning forward with determination burning in her eyes. "Will you actually bother to study and take things seriously if you gain something from it? Some sort of... incentive?"

Pryce squints his eyes in mild surprise because he didn't expect to hear that. She's actually trying to negotiate instead of just lecturing him into submission. That's new.

So he decides to humor her and offers her a smile, straightening his position to properly sit. "Motivation does work wonders on me. What are you offering?"

Weiss keeps locked eyes with him for a moment before she takes a deep breath, her chest rising and falling as she seems to gather her wits. Her fingers drum against the table.

"Since you are so… obsessed with kissing me whenever I lower my guard, then if you study and pass the oncoming exam..." She pauses, her face already starting to flush. "I-I will allow you to k-kiss me. P-Properly."

She stammers the last part as she looks away, the red returning to her face in full force.

But that becomes secondary because Pryce can only blink.

Once.

Twice.

He certainly didn't expect to hear that as an incentive.

He was expecting money and would have preferred money too. Especially since she is rich.

"What?" 

Weiss clears her throat, forcing herself to look back at him with as much dignity as she can muster despite her obvious embarrassment. "You heard me perfectly well. I'm offering a… reasonable exchange. You clearly have some sort of... fixation on kissing me, so I'm using it as a motivation for you to actually apply yourself academically. It's called positive reinforcement. If you achieve a passing grade on the upcoming history exam, then I will permit one... consensual... kiss. Under controlled circumstances. With proper boundaries established beforehand, naturally."

Pryce sighs, holding his head. He should have expected that from this crazy girl, especially one who genuinely thought that babies were made by kissing and some sort of magical stork putting the baby in a crib.

Wait, how does that incentive make sense? She considered kisses as something sacred and extremely important to protect, and now she's offering one as a first option?

To him?

What's wrong with Atlesian girls?

Pryce can only groan, dragging his hands across his face, recalling back the big mess that he escaped not long ago and that whole retarded misunderstanding.

Yet Weiss seems to take that as a negative response. "Or—or we could do a little more than k-kissing! I mean, within reason, of course! Nothing inappropriate or—or beyond the bounds of what would be considered acceptable between teammates who are merely establishing a mutually beneficial academic arrangement! P-Perhaps I could also help you with your other subjects! Or provide additional study materials! Or—"

How is that mutually beneficial?

Pryce snaps his head up because wasn't that just too easy to up her offer? And seriously, why does she care so much about his grades being high? Even as teammates, that shouldn't be such an important point to constantly nag him about. Sure, she's a perfectionist and hates seeing anyone on her team underperform, but this seems excessive.

His ears flatten as he studies her carefully. There's something else going on here. Some kind of Atlesian pride thing about having a "perfect team" or whatever nonsense rich people obsess over.

But he isn't a kissless virgin to be led around with something like that. This kind of reward would definitely work with Jeanne though—the blonde would probably trip over herself at the mere suggestion and then jump in celebration before falling to her knees in gratitude.

Wait a minute….

He could use this to get some fun and also get her off his back for a while. If she thinks offering kisses will motivate him, fine. He can play along, actually study enough to pass, and then maybe she'll stop hovering over him like some kind of foreman. Plus, another venture to watch her squirm is its own reward.

"Alright." Pryce finally accepts the strange offer, leaning forward with a grin. "You've got yourself a deal."

Weiss looks very embarrassed but still nods quickly, her ponytail bouncing with the motion. "Good. Excellent. That's—that's very good. I'm glad we could come to a new arrangement." She straightens up, trying to regain some of her composure by smoothing down her skirt. "Thank you for finally taking this seriously. I expect you to uphold your end of this bargain with the same dedication I'll be showing in tutoring you."

And so they get back to studying, though the atmosphere in the room has shifted considerably. Weiss seems to be pointedly avoiding looking directly at him, focusing instead on the textbook with unusual intensity as she continues explaining the Color Revolutions. 

Pryce, for his part, actually pays a bit more attention now. Not because of the promised reward—he's not that easy—but because watching Weiss try to maintain her professional demeanor while clearly flustered is far more entertaining than staring at the wall. Every time she accidentally makes eye contact with him, her face goes red again and she has to pause to collect herself.

It's almost cute, in an annoying, stuck-up Atlesian kind of way.

"And the turning point came when—" Weiss stops mid-sentence, setting down her book with more force than necessary. "Will you stop smirking at me like that? It's extremely distracting and making it very difficult to concentrate!"

"Can't help it. You're adorable when blushing."

"I am trying to ensure you don't embarrass our entire team with your abysmal academic performance!" Weiss huffs, crossing her arms. "The least you could do is show some appreciation for my efforts instead of sitting there with that insufferable expression on your face!"

"I am showing appreciation. I'm actually listening."

"You're—" Weiss pauses, her mouth opening and closing as she processes this. "You're right. You are listening. That's... that's good. Excellent, even." She picks up her book again, her posture relaxing slightly. "Then let's continue. We still have three more sections to cover before this study session ends."

Pryce actually picks up his pen properly this time and starts taking notes. Not detailed ones but enough to show he's making an effort.

Weiss notices, and despite herself, a small, satisfied smile crosses her face before she quickly hides it behind her textbook.

--------------------------------------------------

Pryce misses a slash before the butt of the weapon hits him in the stomach and forced to stagger back, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. He lets out a pained grunt, his aura absorbs most of the damage, but it still hurts like hell.

But he recovers quickly, blocking Cardin's follow-up swing by holding his blade with both hands. The mace crashes against his blade with enough force to make his arms shake, sending vibrations up to his shoulders, but he pushes the weapon off and capitalizes on the brief opening, kicking Cardin square in the chest.

His classmate stumbles backward creating some distance, and just like he's been taught, Pryce capitalizes on the new opening. He pulls the trigger of his gunblade, and the recoil propels him forward faster than his legs ever could. Using that momentum, he spins mid-air and lands a direct hit on Cardin's shoulder pad; the blade cutting through the air with a sharp whistle.

The force drives Cardin down to one knee, dropping his weapon with a metallic clang.

"MATCH!" Pyrrha yells from the sidelines.

Pryce relaxes his stance and sheathes his sword back into the back sheath, hearing the magnetic click before he extends a hand. Cardin wheezes, catching his breath before taking it firmly and getting up. He rolls the shoulder that was hit, doing some weird movements with that arm a couple of times.

"Lucky hit," Cardin says with a grimace. "There won't be a next time."

Pryce just punches his chest plate with his fist. "Sore loser."

Cardin just punches back with a laugh. "Whatever, rabbit. You got me this time."

Pryce had obviously cashed in on Cardin's offer for a spar but used the chance to get Pyrrha to oversee it so she could take notes and then use them to help him train and identify where to improve. It was a smart play; get practical experience and professional feedback at the same time.

And since he was properly prepared this time, he didn’t forget to load his gunblade, and that made all the difference. Being propelled and dashing way faster than using just his legs was amazing. First try at that, too. The feeling of acceleration, the wind rushing past his ears, then it was even addictive. No wonder Ruby did a lot of that.

Although rationally he couldn't do that all the time or he would blow all his money on dust ammo.

Pyrrha walks up to them with her scroll in hand, already reviewing the footage she'd recorded of the match. "Thank you for your time, Cardin. That was an excellent match."

Cardin just waves dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Next time I won't lose, though. Gotta figure out how to counter that dash thing." He grabs his mace and heads toward the exit, still rolling his shoulder. "See you around, Nikos. Rabbit."

That hit must have really hurt. 

Then Pyrrha turns to Pryce, a pleased smile on her face. "Congratulations on your victory, Pryce. That was well executed, especially considering it was your first time using that technique in actual combat."

"Thanks," he says, feeling a bit of pride despite himself.

A rematch for that loss. And this time, he won.

"May I see your weapon?" Pyrrha asks, extending her hand.

He hands over his gunblade without hesitation. She takes it and once again starts doing some testing of its weight and balance, her movements practiced as she shifts it between different grips before taking a proper stance—not the style she talked about, but his stance.

Then she begins explaining where he was failing or committed mistakes in his form. "Your footwork was too wide during the initial exchange, which left you vulnerable to being pushed off balance. See, when you plant your feet like this—" she demonstrates, adjusting her stance, "—you're creating too much tension in your hips, which slows your reaction time. Try keeping them shoulder-width apart instead."

She continues, pointing out several other issues. "Your guard dropped slightly after blocking Cardin's mace. That's a natural reaction when absorbing a heavy impact, but it creates an opening that a faster opponent would exploit immediately. You need to train yourself to keep your guard up even when your arms are shaking from the impact. Additionally, your recovery time after the dash attack left you vulnerable for nearly two full seconds. In a real fight against Grimm or a skilled opponent, that's more than enough time to be struck."

His ears twitch as he mentally catalogs each correction.

"And for the dash attack," Pyrrha continues, her green eyes lighting up, "you should angle your blade like this—"

And the gladiatrix pulls the trigger.

Much to his surprise, she performs the exact same dash attack he just used, but executes it with far more precision and control. The blade glows briefly as dust energy propels her forward, her form perfect as she spins through the air. And she even traveled a lot more distance than he did—easily twice as far, landing with barely a sound before rising smoothly from her finishing stance.

"Wow."

Pyrrha just smirks as she walks back and hands his weapon back, looking rather pleased with herself. "Once again, I've had a lot of experience with many opponents. Years of it, actually. You get to memorize many techniques to not be caught by surprise after all. The key is in how you angle the blade when you pull the trigger—if you tilt it just slightly more forward, the recoil propels you further with the same amount of ammo."

She truly is a genius in combat.

It goes without saying that Pryce has learned plenty to think about from his professional partner.

"GUYS!"

That loud cheerful voice can only be from one girl.

They both turn to see their team leader bouncing with excitement, Weiss walking beside her with considerably less enthusiasm and what looks like mild exhaustion on her face.

Pyrrha greets them with a wave. "Hello, Ruby. Weiss. How can we help you?"

Pryce raises his hand in acknowledgment.

"That's us!" Ruby says, practically vibrating with energy as she skids to a stop in front of them. "So! The academy just announced two team activities for us, first years! And we get to choose which activity! Isn't that awesome?!"

Pryce's ears perk up with interest.

"It's either a quick retrieval mission in the Forever Fall Forest or participating in team fights against other first-year teams!" Ruby continues, her silver eyes sparkling. "How cool is that?! We get to actually do stuff as a team outside of class!"

That surprises him. Why make them choose and not put one after the other? Seems like a waste to only do one when they could do both but on different dates.

"Of course we have till the end of the day to decide otherwise it will be assigned to us by the teacher's choice, but I couldn't decide this alone so I decided as your team leader that this should be up to a vote," Ruby explains before she clears her throat and raises her hand high. "I vote for the retrieval mission! It'll be like initiation so it should be very easy! Plus we get to work together in the forest and maybe see some cool Grimm and—"

Weiss nods in agreement, cutting off Ruby's rambling. "I concur. A retrieval mission would be more practical to show all of our abilities as a team instead of just our combat exploits, and I would prefer to not reveal our full capabilities too early when the Vytal Festival is months away. Strategic advantage is important, and showing our hand now would be foolish."

Vytal Festival?

Pyrrha tilts her head and crosses her arms, considering for a moment before speaking. "I actually prefer team fights. It would give us valuable experience working together in a controlled environment where we can learn from our mistakes without the unpredictability of Grimm encounters. Plus, we'd get immediate feedback from our professors and could analyze our performance afterward. It's a safer learning environment."

So that leaves him to decide. Great. No pressure.

"Wait, what happens if it's a tie?" They don't have a fifth member to be the tiebreaker after all.

"It's a coin flip, duh," Ruby says, pulling out a coin from her pocket and showing it to him like it's the most obvious thing in the world, her smile bright and innocent. "Heads, retrieval mission. Tails, team-fight! Super fair, right?"

Ah.