Prompt: A scene from a minor character's perspective

"The next match will be Penny Polendina of Atlas VS Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon!"

Professor Port's voice boomed throughout the Vytal arena.

Ciel Solei sat her legs crossed, and her posture perfect. She watched as her partner Penny took the stage.

Arrival time, fifteen seconds after being called. Perfect punctuality. Ciel thought proud of her teammate. Since being made the leader of Team CPPR she had worked her hardest to turn her team into a finely tuned machine.

Was it so wrong to want order and stability in their lives? But no, her classmates did nothing but tease her.

"Oh look, same food, same drink the same everything." Neon had mocked her back at the academy. "Isn't that just like Clockwork."

Clockwork. Ciel hated that name, just because she was strict her classmates treated her like she was some kind of machine…

But that didn't matter she shook her head. What mattered right now was Penny.

Her partner had a friendly smile on her face as she waved at her opponent. Pyrrha Nikos…

The four-time Mistral Regional Champion. The Mistralian Native was considered a shoe-in to win this year. But Ciel was sure that Pyrrha would meet her match in Penny.

Ciel wasn't one to be easily impressed but Penny; she was something else. She was born to fight.

A ghost of a smile formed on her face.

"She was combat ready." she whispered.

The fight began, and her partner let out a flurry of dancing swords. Even after all this time, Penny was just as breathtaking to watch as her first time witnessing it. An unstoppable whirlwind of blades and lasers.

Ciel's eyes narrowed. Pyrrha Nikos was defending valiantly, however…

"Her head isn't in the fight at all." She muttered under her breath. The Mistrali girl, a veritable combat veteran was only barely deflecting Penny's strikes.

It couldn't be, could it?

The Invincible Girl was finally breaking. Ciel had no idea what could cause such a paragon of martial prowess to lose her nerve, but she could see plain as day the panic and uncertainty in Pyrrha's eyes.

Penny raised her hands over her head. Her many swords poised to strike.

"This is where it ends." Ciel sighed. While happy that her partner was about to take the victory for Atlas, she had hoped it would be a more even match. Some would cry foul that Nikos wasn't at the top of her game. But that was what happened when you let emotions get the better of you.

With a wave of her arms, Penny's swords flew towards her target.

Fear...pure unbridled fear filled Pyrrha's eyes. She waved her arms, sending out some kind of shockwave sending Penny's swords back at her.

Her partner gripped her chest in pain.

"Penny!" Ciel stood from her seat. Something was wrong. What kind of attack had Nikos even unleashed? A moment later the wires that controlled her partner's swords wrapped around their wielder entangling her. She's about to become trapped by her own weapon. She has to act before.

The sickening sound of tearing metal filled the nearly silent Coliseum. Where was the sound even coming from?

The answer soon came as she watched in horror as the wire dug deeply into Penny, the aura that should have defended her failed to activate. With another metallic rip, her partner's body was torn to shreds before her.

Ciel stood frozen. Penny...her partner had just been dismembered...how had this happened, why had this happened?

Why was there no blood?

Millions of questions and more raced through her mind. And her analytical nature provided no answers.

So she did the only thing she could.

Ciel Solei fell to her knees and wept.

She had broken down completely.

Like Clockwork.