It wasn't that Team SSSN was dawdling, no. Sun just decided they weren't in any real hurry.
"Come on, Sun," Neptune groaned, as he and Ilia led their team, "We're gonna miss everything!"
"I will admit," Sage said, adjusting his vest, "I am eager to see these fights. Though I don't understand why they're fighting right now."
Sun grinned.
"It's absolutely simple," he said.
"You'd know that all right," Scarlet murmured dryly. Sun laughed, taking no offense.
"They gotta establish the pecking order!" Sun said cheerfully. "All henhouses do it-Urk!"
Ilia elbowed him, despite her bondage. Sun shrugged.
"What? It's how the hens figured things out in Papa Sanzang's chicken roost!"
"It still feels offensive," Ilia sniffs.
"But Sun's a Faunus too," Neptune pointed out, "Isn't it offensive when a Faunus says stuff like that?"
"I... You...!" Ilia grimaced. Sun laughed and patted her back. She pouted, but leaned into him more.
"All that aside," Scarlet said with a frown, "I don't mind not getting too involved. One, it's RWBY and JNPR: They're chaos magnets."
"That makes them fun!" Sun enthused as they rounded the corner to Training Field 12.
"And two," Scarlet shook his head, "I don't think I want to know too much about my future."
"You've got eleven different choices," Neptune stated firmly as they came in sight of the bleachers and field, "Why stress about it?"
RWBY were already in cots on the sidelines, while Pyrrha, Arslan, May and Emerald were on the ice covered field with a tall blond man they knew to be Jaune's father.
Neptune grinned.
"I bet I score with a lot of hotties, known as the greatest playboy to walk Remnant!"
"He says when Jaune Arc has a harem," Sage deadpanned.
"It's not a harem!" Neptune growled.
"It really is," Scarlet observed. Neptune snorted.
"Please, like he's gonna go from goof to playboy overnight. He's not even gonna-"
"Uncle Neptune?"
Neptune paused and looked at the source of the voice. A beautiful dark skinned girl in robes like Arslan's (though white and blue trimmed) stood there. Her hair was a bit longer than Arslan's and her eyes were a vibrant blue. She smiled warmly. Neptune blinked, but soon regained his composure.
"Ah... You must be Arslan's daughter."
"Y-Yes, I'm Petra," she introduced herself. Neptune smiled in his usual charming way, adopting a pose a male model would envy for the sheer level of boy band charisma it emitted... In his mind, at least. His teammates and Ilia thought it made him look like a butler in a host cafe who was trying way too hard.
"I'm very pleased to meet you at last-"
Petra broke from her mother's traditional stoicism with a big grin, and unleashed a tight, happy hug on the flummoxed Neptune.
"Uwah?!"
"Oh, um, I-I'm sorry," Petra apologized, letting go and blushing a bit. She took a deep breath and regained her center. "I just... I never got to meet you! This is incredible!"
Neptune blinked.
"Er... You never got to meet me?"
"Yes," Petra said with a smile and nod, "You died in the war against Salem, saving Father and Mother! They named my brother after you! You have a statue in New Atlas and Argus!"
Neptune reeled, eyes wide, face pale.
"I... I'm
dead?!"
"In my timeline, yes," Petra said. She winced. "I apologize for my lack of tact... Are you all right?"
Sun grinned and clapped his best friend on the shoulder. Sage, Scarlet and Ilia lingered nearby, Ilia staying closer to Sun per her usual. And because of the length of her leash.
"Hey, there are still ten more futures you could have become a mega playboy?" Sun offered.
"Shut up Sun," Neptune mumbled, as Sage and Scarlet looked torn between amusement and pity for their friend.
----------------
"Do you ladies want the field cleared before we start?" Nick inquired while gesturing towards the ice pillars and pockmarks on the ground.
"Could we have a moment to discuss this?" Arslan asked as she glanced to her right towards Pyrrha. The warrior nun had instinctively taken the leading position as the group had set out from the stands, but the redheaded amazon had power walked to Arslan's side and had been trying to subtly get ahead of the chocolate skinned lioness for most of the distance they had covered from the stands. She had never seen such behavior from her rival before, but she didn't have time to dwell on that now.
"Take all the time you need," Nick allowed with an indulgent wave of his hand, "I want to see all of you at your best after all."
"Thank you Brother Arc," Arslan gave a slight bow before leading the other girls a few yards away from the blond paladin and initiating a huddle.
"Why wouldn't we want a clear field?" Pyrrha asked as she positioned herself directly across from Arslan in the circle, her gaze filling with a familiar steely grit from their tournament matches.
"It depends on how May wants to play her role," Arslan answered before turning her eyes to the sniper. "Do you want an open field or do you want elevation and cover?"
"Elevation and cover," May replied after a moment of thought. "While a flat field means Mr. Arc can't hide behind anything it also means we'll all be on the same plane, meaning I won't have an angle to fire if you guys are between me and him. If I climb one of those pillars there's a chance I'll have a good angle to fire from even if you guys are in melee."
"Then we'll keep the field as it is right now, and with that we have a plan," Arslan nodded in satisfaction.
"We do?" Emerald raised an eyebrow. The amount of skeptical sarcasm she packed into those two syllables was honestly impressive, yet the other girls gave her a variety of looks showing they didn't appreciate the feat. For a moment Emerald bristled and looked like she was going to say something else but she glanced towards the stands were her daughter was sitting then to the lower technical area where Jaune tended to the losers of the last match and she let any snide remarks she might have had die.
"We have the outline of a plan," Arslan amended before elaborating: "May's primary focus is on ranged combat, my primary focus is on close quarters. Judging from your weapons and from what I saw from you during Haven's combat classes you're an all-rounder like Pyrrha. Brother Arc will have already intuited those facts just from looking at us, and since we know he knows that we can put ourselves in his shoes for a moment and see what his best course of action will be."
"And we can plan around that!" Pyrrha exclaimed as the strategic gears in her mind started to turn.
"Exactly," Arslan agreed with her rival before returning her focus to May. "If Brother Arc manages to get close how long do you think you could last against him?"
"Not very," May sheepishly admitted, "His reflexes are too good and he hits too hard."
"And how easily do you think you could get away from him?" Arslan further inquired.
"It would be hard," May shrank a bit as she was being honest with her weakness.
"And that's what he'll try to exploit," Arslan theorized with a confident conviction. "May's sniper rifle is a serious threat that he has no good answers for if we can stop him from using aura blade techniques, so it's in his best interest to take her off the field as quickly as possible. As such May is now our VIP, and we need to keep Brother Arc as far away from her as we can."
"I guess that makes sense," Emerald crossed her arms over her chest as she frowned, "How are we doing that?"
"My plan is fairly simple," Arslan explained and instructed. "May? Pick out your sniper's nest and get there as fast as you can the instant the match starts. I'll engage Brother Arc in close quarters and do my best to keep him in one place, and you'll unload as many shots into him as you can. Pyrrha? Emerald? I want the two of you to assume guarding positions so you can intercept Brother Arc if I fail to keep him locked down. If I do manage to keep him locked down feel free to add your fire to May's if you see an opening."
"Are you sure you can pin him in place solo?" Pyrrha shifted forward with a questioning glint in her eyes, "He'd have a harder time getting away from two of us than just one of us. I should join you."
"And if Brother Arc managed to slip by the both of us anyways we'd have only one person on defense," Arslan shook her head, "And Emerald can't both flanks by herself."
Emerald bristled again as if she was going to claim that she could, but with another glance towards her daughter and future husband she apparently thought better of it.
"Well if only one of us can lock him in place it should be me," Pyrrha argued as she shifted her grip on her shield, a hardness taking shape in her expression. "He doesn't know any tricks that will bypass my semblance, and that gives me a significant edge against him in melee."
"That would be a suboptimal play," Arslan frowned as a subtle edge creeped into her voice. She took a deep breath and clamped down on that before she continued, "You can start your engagement with him at a longer range than I can, which means you'd be better at cutting him off than I would be if he gets away from whoever's keeping him in one place. So I'll charge forward, you'll stand guard."
"Alright I guess," Pyrrha acquiesced with a dubious tone.
May nervously glanced between the two of them, hoping the crack she had just seen wouldn't pop up again in the imminent match. Emerald also noticed the crack, and if one knew where to look they would see the gears turning behind her eyes as old instincts took note of it.
"Look, If we're going to win this we need to be team players," Arslan reasoned in the most placating tone she could manage, "And being team players means we need to assume the roles in the plan we're best suited for, and that isn't always the role we want."
"And the fact that your role is the one you want is just a coincidence?" Emerald needled as she gave her ammunition one last check.
"I will not lie and say yes," Arslan sighed, "The fact that my skills line up with the combat roles I enjoy the most is a deliberate aspect of my training. However, it would be irresponsible planning to not put myself in the role I've trained for."
"You're not wrong," Pyrrha allowed even as her voice grew sour.
"Look, I'm not planing on being a glory-hound today. If I really end up needing someone's help I'll give you a signal to join me in the melee," Arslan offered.
"What kind of signal?" Pyrrha asked.
"If I need your help I'll make this sound," Arslan then made a series of catlike trilling noises a normal human throat could never hope to reproduce. She then turned her gaze to Emerald, "If I need you I'll do this," a series of felid chattering sounds spilled fourth. She looked to May, "Now I'm not planning on calling you to the front line, but for completion's sake this is your call," the chirping sounds a cat makes when a bird is outside the window was the next sound she made. "Now is everyone good with the plan?"
Sounds of affirmation were given as the other three girls nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"Then let's do this."
The huddle was broken, and they took their spot across the field from Nick Arc.
"So what's the verdict?" The blond swordsman asked.
"We'll fight with the field as is," Arslan answered.
"And you're all ready?"
"We are."
"Aright! Let's get this match underway then!" Nick glanced in Nora's direction and gave her a big thumbs up.
The gong rang out to begin the match, and everyone
moved.
----------------
Everyone's Aura was back to full, and so Jaune sat down on the bleachers. The kids scooted some distance away to join their other siblings, probably feeling the awkwardness and not wanting to get involved. Jaune couldn't blame them: He didn't like it when his parents fought either.
Yang and Weiss took his sides this time. Ruby and Blake stood there for a moment, under increased scrutiny from their fellow future brides. Blake then moved towards Jaune's lap, but Ruby elbowed her aside. She glared at her team and sat down on the blushing Jaune's lap, imperious as a queen... Before she pouted.
"I'm not talking to
any of you," she groused. Blake's ears flattened, while Yang and Weiss both looked abashed. Jaune coughed, but per many times previously, he hugged Ruby from behind. He bore with the aura of feminine envy and outrage as well as he could.
"I mean, you guys got really close," he said encouragingly, "And I know my dad. He was having a great time!"
"That helps?" Yang asked dryly. Blake scowled at her and then Weiss. She crossed her arms under her chest.
"We did have a workable plan," she said.
"Well, it didn't work," Weiss said airily.
"It didn't work because you two-two
poopheads wanted to show off!" Ruby cried.
"Ruby!" Yang scolded, though she still looked guilty.
"You were all rather distracted by more than the fight," Winter finally spoke. Jaune almost jumped: The Atlasian Specialist had moved to a seat behind them completely silently. She raised an eyebrow.
"It's not good to let your emotions dictate how the battle goes," she said.
Yang scowled.
"Hey! My passion is how my Semblance works!" She beamed and squeezed in closer to Jaune. "You like my passion, don't you Jaune?"
"Er, well, y-yes," Jaune said, uncomfortably aware of Ruby's presence on his lap.
"And that helped us how?" Weiss deadpanned. Yang snorted.
"Who was the first to get Aura broken?"
"You-You slattern!" Weiss hissed.
"What does that even mean?!" Yang demanded.
"It means she thinks you're a slut," Blake deadpanned.
Yang's eyes burned red.
"Oh does she?!" She snarled, as Weiss winced and held herself behind Jaune. Ruby glared with Yang, while Blake smirked just a bit.
Winter stared intently at Jaune. Almost like she was assessing him. Her initial meeting with him had been... Awkward, to say the least. They knew eachother so little.
What would the man she... They married do? He asked himself. He coughed nervously. He squeezed Ruby's arm, and looked at the others.
"Let's not do this, okay?" He asked with a gentle firmness that felt
right once he found it within himself. Ruby flushed, but nodded.
"Yeah," she murmured. She still glared at the others though. Yang sighed and rubbed her bicep, as Weiss coughed.
"Sorry Weisscream," Yang muttered.
"Sorry Yang," she said softly. "And Sister, for being so...Improper in front of you."
They looked at Ruby and Blake. Ruby huffed while Blake smirked slightly.
"I don't have anything to apologize for," Ruby stated.
"Neither do I," Blake said.
Yang and Weiss scowled. Jaune held in a sigh.
Winter chuckled.
"I've heard worse with the Specialists, believe you me," she said gently. Her eyes had an approving look in them as she assessed Jaune. He hoped she approved.
"Well," Blake said, moving towards Jaune's back, "I do hope the others put up a good fight against your father-"
She paused as Winter moved behind Jaune, and hugged him from behind. Weiss' eyes nearly bugged out, as though her sister had transformed into a Grimm Beowulf. Blake's jaw dropped. Yang and Ruby stared.
"Well, um, ahem," Winter said, her arms arranged awkwardly around Jaune's shoulders, "I've... Never actually done this before. Um... How am I doing?"
Jaune coughed violently, his face bright red.
"I uh... F-Fine?"
"Well," Blake mused, "Where am I going to sit?"
"Find somewhere else," Ruby huffed, "I'm not moving!"
Despite her cold appearance, Winter was definitely...
Warm and
full and-Okay, yeah, not gonna think about those. Or Yang's...
Those. Or Ruby's...
Anything...
"ARC!"
"What?!" Jaune yelped, casting eyes to the source of the shout. Neptune stood there with Petra. The blue haired young man gaped in shock and horror that was so overwrought, it was like a Mistralian boy band lead posing for a cover. Sun, Sage, Scarlet, and Ilia lingered behind him. Sage looked slightly embarrassed, Scarlet sighed, Sun continued to grin, and Ilia looked rather awkwardly at him, then Blake.
"You... You...!" Neptune cried.
"Uncle Sun! Uncle Neptune! Uncle Scarlet! Uncle Sage! Aunt Ilia!" Shouted the various children. Neptune gaped at them, as Petra smiled and shrugged. Sun laughed and patted his shoulder.
"See? You're fine in those other timelines!"
"Yeah!" Xia enthused, "Though... It's kind of weird to see you with hair!"
"Oh, totally," Nicholas added, shooting a little grin and wink to his mother. A look Weiss returned with gusto.
"With hair?!" Neptune cried, covering his head with his hands.
"Isn't that better than dying?" Sage asked.
"At least I died heroically-WITH HAIR!" Neptune moaned.
"Seriously? You dated
him?" Yang asked Weiss. Weiss flushed, and nestled a bit closer to Jaune.
"It was a youthful indiscretion!"
"It was two months ago," Blake deadpanned, settling on sitting next to Yang and reaching across to grab Jaune's hand.
"Still counts!"
Further talk was put on hold as the gong rang out to begin the match, bringing everyone's attention to the field.
----------------
May turned and sprinted towards the most sturdy looking ice pillar and swung her rifle around into its' ax mode to use it as a tool for her ascent. The young sniper made good time going up all things considered, but the action would be well underway once she reached the top and was ready to start shooting.
Emerald took a defensive position on the side of the field closer to the stands her daughter and the other family members were watching from. Pyrrha took her defensive position on the other side.
And Arslan? Arslan shot forward, a snarling roar placed somewhere between a lion's, tiger's or a jaguar's spilled from her lips. The warrior nun channeled all of her anxiety, all of her excitement, and all of her other rolling feelings into that roar, making it reverberate across the training field and cut through the noise of the crowd in the stands. Funneling all of her feelings into that roar centered her emotionally, leaving her in a mostly zen headspace that would let her use her semblance
Pneuma with near maximum efficiency.
She deployed her weapon from her sleeve, keeping it in its' dagger form as she prepared for the clash as she had already envisioned the blond swordsman either catching her weapon or batting it aside leaving her open to attack, and that was something Arslan didn't want to risk at this juncture of the battle.
Now on paper the idea of engaging Brother Arc in a straight sword fight was a terrible idea. His bastard sword had a significant reach advantage over her dagger, and on top of that the man out massed her by a significant margin. Fencing against him with those severer disadvantages was a recipe for a quick defeat, and Arslan wouldn't have even considered attempting it without her mastery of Pneuma.
Nick thrusted at her with Nogg and Arslan was able to parry it with her dagger, though the differences in reach meant she wasn't able to properly counterattack at their current distances from each other. Arslan opted to use the opening of her parry to step closer to the blond swordsman, and Nick responded by swinging Nogg around to strike at her head. This she blocked as she stepped in again, and as Nick helicoptered Nogg around to hit her on the shoulder Arslan flared her aura to tank the hit, allowing her to step close enough to stab her dagger into the man's sternum making his aura flare in turn.
She was now too close to him for him to swing his sword around like normal and so Nick did his best to backpedal away from her, but Arslan wasn't about to let him do that. She advanced with his retreat, slashing and stabbing with each step. She managed three solid hits and two glancing ones, and a vicious grin broke across Nick's face as he grabbed Nogg halfway up the blade with his off hand and shifted his rhythm to go on the offensive.
The man's half-swording technique was admirable. With one hand on the handle and the other on the blade he had effectively shortened the length of his weapon to match the uncomfortably close quarters fight her dagger was designed for. Half-swording at this close range also meant that Nick was striking with Nogg's crossguard and pommel as often as he was the tip of his blade. Arslan in turn punched and kicked as often as she slashed and stabbed. The two combatants' auras flared with each impact in a bout that looked more and more like a knife fight than a sword fight with each passing second.
More than once Nick threw out an attack meant to drive Arslan back and create distance between them, and Arslan took each of those hits instead of ceding ground. And that wasn't all, as Arslan didn't hesitate to let herself get hit if it meant striking Nick in turn. Many mighty blows rained down upon her, her aura visibly flaring with each hit.
Up in the stands her seemingly unusual strategy stood out, and Neptune grimaced with some worry.
"She's really strong, but she's never been as much of a tank as she supposes," he muttered, "She's better using her speed-Why is she taking those hits?"
Logos frowned a bit, leaning forward. He then nodded in approval.
"Ah-She's deploying her Aura as a shield for brief moments," he said, "Reinforcing her defense but preserving her Aura reserves by only projecting enough Aura to stop a blow-And no more."
"It's not just that," Ruby's eyes glowed slightly as she watched with more than just her normal vision, "She's only projecting her Aura in the areas she's going to get hit, and nowhere else."
"What? How?" Yang exclaimed with bewildered surprise. "To do something like that at the pace of this fight is absurd!"
"It's the semblance we share in action," Petra explained as awe at her mother's performance filled her voice. "Pneuma gives the user near perfect control over their own aura so long as they can keep themselves emotionally centered. This not only allows us to master complex aura techniques significantly faster than normal, but also allows us to use our aura so efficiently that every technique we've mastered only requires a minuscule fraction of the aura it would normally take to pull it off. What mother's doing here? I'm still learning how to do that," Petra breathed in amazement, "Her control is incredible!"
Ren, observing the fight, nodded in approval. His own Aura control had led him to develop a similar technique, and he was now seeing a potential refinement or evolution in action. He was keen on talking with Arslan after the battle... Assuming Jaune didn't take up too much of her time.
Still this impressive display was something that could not be maintained forever; it would only be a matter of time before Arslan slipped up and took a hit she wasn't ready for. If she wanted to win the duel she would need to change her tactics.
Winning the duel wasn't her goal. Keeping Nick Arc in one place was her goal.
The sound of gunfire echoed across the training field as Pyrrha and Emerald each finally managed to draw a bead on the blond swordsman that wouldn't hit the chocolate skinned warrior nun. Not all of these shots hit their target, both girls were trying hard to not hit Arslan after all, but enough of them did to split Nick's focus. The swordsman tried to twist so Arslan was between him and the two huntresses firing at him, but Pyrrha and Emerald were far enough away from each other that he couldn't completely block both of their angels of fire.
This twisting about gave Arslan just enough breathing room to shift the rhythm of aggression by degrees into her favor. What was once block-block-attack-block-block became block-attack-block-attack and was starting to become attack-attack-block-attack.
Then the first sniper round thundered across the training field. May had finally reached her sniper's perch and had found her opening to join in.
Nick swung his sword to block that bullet instead of Arslan's next thrust, letting her land a solid hit on his sternum. More shots from Pyrrha made him twist away as he blocked Arslan's next slice only for another sniper round to slam into his shoulder. Emerald opened again fire thanks to the changing angle of the tussle, landing a hit before Nick blocked her second shot with Nogg leaving him open for a slash to his bicep. A third sniper round came in that Nick then deflected with his sword, leaving him open to another jab from Arslan's dagger.
The Golden Lion of Haven Academy felt a grin tug at the corners of her lips. The impromptu team she lead was in a good position now, if they could keep this up they could win!
It was at that point that someone made the mistake of trying to win a little harder.
Pyrrha heard a series of catlike trilling noises. If the crimson haired champion had been slightly less eager to jump in she might have noticed a few oddities surrounding the call, such as it having zero variation from the example call Arslan had given in the huddle and how it sounded like it came from only a few feet away instead of more than a dozen yards down the training field. If she was less enthusiastic in her charge she might have noticed how Emerald had glanced at her like she had just committed herself to a snap decision. If she had put less enthusiasm into her war cry she might have noticed how surprised Arslan was at her sudden arrival.
Suddenly inserting herself into the melee forced Arslan to backpedal a few steps, removing the lioness from her place inside Nick's guard. Swords clashed with Pyrrha adopting an aggressive cadence taken straight from her most difficult tournament matches. She struck high, then low, then high again with Nick blocking each strike even as he danced so Arslan was between him and Emerald's line of fire. He moved his head to the side to dodge one of May's sniper's rounds even as he outright parried Pyrrha's next strike and swung Nogg in what would have been a devastating counterattack. Pyrrha subtly tapped into Polarity to insure that Nogg hit her shield Akouo even as she spun her blade Milo around in a swing aimed at Nick's shoulder. When Nick attempted to bat her blade aside with his free hand she used Polarity for a fraction of a second to adjust Milo's alinement so his hand met the edge instead of the flat, nicking away at his aura as he sent her swing wide.
As Pyrrha whirled her shield around to bash at the blond swordsman as part of a twirl the man leaned back away from the bash before thrusting Nogg at the young spartan's core. Pyrrha subtly flexed Polarity to nudge the thrust off course but as she did so Nick flared his aura just enough to overpower that nudging, landing a solid hit against her breastplate.
Pyrrha staggered for a moment in surprise realizing that he had somehow grokked the trick she pulled with Polarity after only two exchanges, something that (as far as she knew) had eluded every other opponent she had faced up to this point. Would the man be able to overpower less subtle application of her semblance? Only one way to find out.
She pressed the attack again.
Arslan in the meanwhile wasn't going to let this unexpected usurpation by her rival just slide. While the sensible thing to do would be to effectively tag out and let Pyrrha fight him solo for a bit the lioness instead vented her frustration with a low and guttural growl. Somewhat centered again she too pressed the attack, going at Nick from his left as Pyrrha was already attacking from his right.
Emerald took this time to replenish the ammunition of her revolvers while doing her best to keep a sense of smugness from her face. It was time to see how deep the crack she noticed during the team huddle went. May in turn frowned as she adjusted her calculations to account for shooting into a three person melee.
Nick swung Nogg in wide arcs meant to create distance as he backpedaled, keeping both girls in front of him even as they advanced. Arslan shifted her dagger into its' rope dart configuration and hurled it at the man. Nick nocked the dart off course while Pyrrha rushed forward in an attempt to take advantage of any gap in his defenses the deflection might have caused. A gap had not been created. Nick deflected her strike and caught her shield with his off hand when she tried to swing it into him, and the only reason he didn't pull Akouo right off of her arm was because of how strongly she surged Polarity as she pulled away.
Returning her weapon to its' dagger form Arslan did her best to make her way inside Nick's defenses again, a task made significantly more difficult by the fact that the man was now wise to her strategy and Pyrrha's own efforts were getting in her way. With every other attack Arslan attempted she had to pull back because Pyrrha was there attempting her own attack. Pyrrha in turn found herself having to pull back every other attack as well as the chocolate skinned warrior nun got in the way of her own attacks.
After five such exchanges the two rivals locked gazes and glared their frustrations at each other, yet instead of fostering resentment or bitterness a sense of understanding flowed between them and their eyes widened in epiphany. The two of them had clashed so often in the arena that you would be hard pressed to find anyone who knew the other's fighting style better. The two of them turned their focus away from what they were planing on doing and towards what their rival was about to do.
Pyrrha would charge in using her shield to block as she thrusted low, and so Arslan would throw her rope dart high to distract Brother Arc. Arslan would rush in and try to catch Nick's sword in a bind with her dagger, and so Pyrrha would shift her sword into its' javelin configuration to stab at him while he couldn't deflect. Pyrrha would try to catch his sword with the notches of her shield and so Arslan would try to dance around him to kick at his knees to put him off balance.
As the two of them pressed on their rhythms came closer and closer together, and Nick's grin grew bigger and bigger to see it happen. The two of them were making it difficult for him to launch and effective counterattack as each girl moved in the gaps the other provided. Then May's sniper fire rejoined the equation, and the blond swordsman found himself purely on the defensive.
He blocked a swing from Pyrrha's sword, he defected a strike from Arslan's rope dart, he moved his head out of the path of May's next shot, he sidestepped Arslan's attempted kick, he caught Pyrrha's sword in a bind just long enough to push it out of alinement before he redirected a punch from Arslan with his off hand and ducked a bit to go under a shot from May. This whirlwind of motion remained in one place in spite of his best efforts to disengage, and joyous laughter started to escape the man's lips.
Another sniper round ripped through the air and Brother Arc was forced to block this one, leaving a massive hole in his defenses that Arslan immediately zeroed in on. The chocolate skinned lioness coiled her body and sprung forward with her dagger outstretched ready to drive it into the blond swordsman's exposed-
CRACK!
-Pyrrha had seed the exact same opening at the exact same time and moved to exploit it in the exact same way at exactly the same moment. The two rivals collided headfirst into each other and fell to the ground in a tangle of dazed limbs that could do nothing to stop Nick from charging away down the training field.
Up in the stands Xander sighed, "I should have seen that coming."
"What do you mean?" Julian looked his way.
"Mom and Aunt Arslan have always fought so well together... Unless Dad was involved," The redheaded boy muttered. "Then they just start stepping on each other's toes."
"Oh, you too huh?" Petra asked in interest.
Amethyst frowned, her Aura flaring a bit. Ash and Ashley yelped and scooted away from her. She grinned.
"Oh! That's MUCH better! Now I can follow along!" She looked over at Ash. "Is-Is that how you make your senses work better with Aura?"
"Maybe with a little less flare?" Ashley asked sarcastically.
"It's really astonishing how fast she figured it out," August murmured, his eyes glowing gently thanks to his Semblance, "Though her control needs a little more... Finesse."
Jaune chuckled in pride, and shared his smile with Amethyst. She blushed proudly.
Back on the field Emerald confidently strode into Nick Arc's path, shifting her revolvers into their sickle configuration. With a smirk she flexed her semblance, and Nick Arc's world became more interesting.
The blond swordsman saw another Emerald step out from behind the first, and then two more Emeralds stepped out from behind those two. Four became eight, eight became sixteen, sixteen became thirty-two and so on until a hundred Emeralds stood before him, each brandishing their weapons, Thief's Respite, in a different way. Some had their weapons in their holsters with their hands resting on their handles like they were gunslingers in an
Old Vaquero film. Others had Thief's Respite in its' kusarigama form casually twirling the twin blades around on their chains. Most still brandished the weapons as sickles, each adopting a different combat stance as each and every Emerald sized Nick up.
The hundred Emerald's all charged with variety of different war cries, each moving about to have a unique angle of approach towards the blond swordsman. Nick's eyes narrowed as they darted back and forth as the Emeralds closed in from almost every possible direction, quickly picking out which ones would get to him first. The man's muscles visibly tensed, and then he
moved with blinding speed.
Nick flipped Nogg around and grabbed it with both hands on the blade, one hand close to the tip and the other close to the crossguard. He then spun around with a scooping motion towards one of the few directions the hundred Emeralds weren't charging from, driving Nogg's pommel into the real Emerald's navel.
The scooping motion continued lifting Emerald up and forcing all of the air was forced out of her lungs. The action ended with Emerald held aloft folded in half balanced on Nogg's pommel. Thief's Respite clattered to the ground as the green-haired girl desperately gasped with bulging eyes.
".....how.....?" She managed as all the other Emerald's vanished from Nick's view.
"You overplayed your hand," Nick quickly explained as he started to spin, "It would have worked better if one of the you's was the real you, once I realized the others were fake I just looked for the one spot you were trying to keep me from looking at and there you were."
With that Nick brought the spin to a halt, tossing the dark skinned thief a considerable distance where she hit the ground and rolled; only coming to a stop once she had rolled out of bounds.
Up in the stands the eliminated girl's daughter was given sympathetic looks.
"Sooo, I'm guessing that's pretty bad, huh?" Amethyst asked with a severe wince.
Ash and Ashley sighed.
"She always bit off more than she could chew," Ash grunted.
"Seriously, she would have slapped the back of our heads for making a mess up like that," Ashley huffed.
"Mom would do worse though," Ash opined.
"Oh yeah," Ashley nodded.
Back on the field May rapidly switched out the ammunition of her rifle. Once the new magazine had slotted into place she flipped the switch that allowed for semiautomatic fire; with nobody between her and Mr. Arc she didn't have time for precision and needed weight of fire if she wanted to stand a chance. Pyrrha and Arslan were still disentangling themselves from one another after all, so nobody would be able to help her if she failed to slow the man down.
She fired three shots at him in rapid succession and he dodged the way she hoped he would. In a matter of seconds the man was taking cover amidst a section of icy ruble that he undoubtedly thought would give him an avenue of approach where she couldn't shoot at him. Now she just needed to disabuse him of that assumption.
May's eyes glowed faintly as she channeled her semblance, letting her clearly see the man's location within the ruble as he moved through it with surprising speed an grace. She needed to act quickly. May aimed at an ice pillar next to the rubble and fired. The bullet ricocheted off of the pillar down into the icy rubble, grazing Nick's shoulder. Having found her range May unloaded her ammunition into the ice pillar as quickly as possible, sending a literal hail of bullets raining down on Nick's location.
Every ricocheted shot landed in the moving area she aimed for, keeping Nick in the splash zone as he ran even though not every bullet actually found their target. Still a significant number of them did hit the man and took noticeable chunks out of his aura, staggering him more than once and slowing his approach.
Unfortunately it didn't slow him enough and he was soon clear of the rubble charging towards the pillar she was perched upon at speeds surprising for a man without a movement based semblance. Fortunately May wasn't caught off guard and it didn't take any real effort to adjust the lead on her shots to match this unexpected burst of speed. Unfortunately she didn't have another good angle to ricochet her shots from, leaving her to shoot directly at the man giving him the opportunity to deflect all of her bullets with his sword.
And deflect those shots he did, his blade a while of motion even until he jumped halfway up the pillar and drove Nogg into the ice as his first anchor point to climb up the frozen structure. May hissed in frustration as the man's jump had bee perfectly timed for when the last bullet left her magazine, meaning the moment of vulnerability of the climb was the same moment she needed to reload. Even as she ejected the old magazine and inserted the new one she could tell the man would reach the top before she'd be ready to fire, meaning she was at a crossroads: try to fight the man tall enough to outreach her ax on a platform waaaay too small for such a fight or...
"Just run away, Mom!" August shouted from the stands in a way that cut through the din of the crowds and the battle.
"You can do it, sweetie! Whatever you choose!" Saia shouted encouragingly. "Nick! Don't hurt her too badly!"
...Yeah fleeing was good. May jumped off the opposite side of the pillar the instant Nick reached the top, flipping her rifle around and switching it into ax mode to dig the blade into the ice. This slowed her descent just enough that she could comfortably hit the ground running as soon as she reached the bottom.
Her feet moved as fast as they could carrying her away from the pillar in the general direction of Arslan and Pyrrha, who had only managed to get to their feet a few moments before. A mighty thud from far too close behind her let her know that Nick had already joined her on the ground by simply jumping down not really needing to do anything to slow his own descent, prompting the young sniper to try running twice as fast as she normally could in the hopes that the man wouldn't be instantly right behind her.
She didn't create enough distance fast enough. Her hearing combined with a feeling in her gut told her Nick had already closed the gap between them and was swinging his blade at her right side. Adrenalin made her aura surge as she spun around and just barely managed to block with the shaft of her ax, yet the impact was still strong enough to send the girl sprawling on the ground.
May rolled as she tried to recover, and managed to get to her feet in time to block Nick's next strike. Unfortunately her footing was still unsteady so she was sent sprawling again. Fortunately she landed in a crouch that let her get back to her feet almost immediately and with much better footing this time, letting her block and deflect Nick's next two attacks.
The third attack was a spinning thing that hooked under her ax's beard and ripped it from her grip, sending the weapon flying through the air a good ways. It landed within the bounds of the arena, but that didn't exactly help her with Nick right in front of her spinning his sword around for another swing.
With a startled squeaking noise May backpedaled quickly as Nick swung and thrusted at her with Nogg, the young sniper barely avoided getting hit by the skin of her teeth. Running backwards was of course less than ideal and it only took a half dozen steps before she was tripping over her own feet sending her careening through the air...
...she didn't hit the ground though.
Arslan was now there, scooping the sniper up and running off with her while Pyrrha engaged Nick directly with an old Argusian war cry. The chocolate skinned warrior nun effortlessly slung May over her shoulder while dashing towards the sniper's lost weapon, snatching it up without stopping as she barreled towards another of the ice pillars. When she reached the icy construct she channeled her aura through her feet and started running up the vertical surface like it was a floor instead of sheer wall of ice. Within moments she had reached the top with May and deposited the girl on the perch that could be found there.
"You good?" Arslan asked.
"Yeah," May managed to nod as she took her weapon in slightly shaking hands while returning it to rifle mode.
"Good," Arslan commented before turning and launching herself from the top of the pillar, tossing her rope dart out ahead of her to spear the ground. Channeling her aura through the rope to make the dart act like an anchor allowed her to pull herself down through the air at speeds faster than she could fall, and as she impacted the ground she flared her aura again to soften the force of the impact.
With that she ran to join the melee between Nick and Pyrrha, sending aura through her rope again to harden the dirt around her dart into a stone that was pulled free from the ground as she ran. Spinning that stone about as a flail she hurled it towards Nick as her opening move in this part of the bout. The blond swordsman still noticed it coming in spite of Pyrrha's best efforts to keep him focused on her, leading to him smashing the aura fused stone with the pommel of his blade.
Pyrrha tried to take advantage of the opening this move caused, and she managed to land two solid thrusts before the man twisted in a way she wasn't ready fore and grabbed her forearm and swung her at Arslan. The warrior nun caught the crimson haired champion and set her on her feet before charging forward as she shifted her rope dart back into a dagger. It only took a second for Pyrrha to reorient herself and join her rival in the charge.
The two of them reached the blonde swordsman at the same time and they once again tried to move in synchronous support of one another. Pyrrha struck low as Arslan struck high. Pyrrha struck high as Arslan struck low. A dagger and two swords met in a dance of steel that once again put Nick on the defensive, and May's sniper rounds joined in again.
As Nick deflected a bullet from May's gun Arslan and Pyrrha once again saw an opening they could exploit, but neither of them dove in as they sought to exploit it this time; they weren't going to embarrass themselves by knocking their heads together again. Arslan heaved a deep breath as she channeled her aura through her arms and out through her hands in a technique that created a pseudo-fireball of pure aura energy that she launched at Brother Arc's chest. Pyrrha shifted Milo into its' rifle mode and fired off three bullets laced with fire dust.
The two of them once again proved to be in sync in the most unfortunate way: the timing of their attacks lined up perfectly, meaning Pyrrha's bullets hit the tightly bound ball of destructive aura energy that Arslan had thrown. This caused the pseudo-fireball to detonate violently with enough force to blast back all three combatants.
Only Nick stayed upright while Arslan and Pyrrha were sent sprawling onto the dirt of the training field. And with that Nick decided it was time to end things, throwing Nogg towards the ice pillar May was perched upon embedding the blade in the icy construct at what he considered a comfortable jumping hight. With that he rushed forward, only slowing for a second to lean down and grab both Pyrrha and Arslan by their ankles before they could get back up resulting in him dragging the two of them behind him as he barreled to his destination. Once he was a few yards away from the pillar he leapt into the air towards the embedded Nogg, letting his aura tank the bullets May was hailing down upon him.
At the apex of his jump Nick threw Arslan and Pyrrha forward, and while this reduced his forward momentum a bit it still wasn't enough to keep him from reaching the place where Nogg stuck out of the ice. As for the Golden Lion of Haven Academy and the Invincible Girl? The two of them tumbled through the air towards the edge of the field. Both of them attempted to right themselves and land before they went hurtling out of bounds, with Arslan throwing her rope dart at an ice pillar and Pyrrha harnessing polarity to grab her own shield to spin it in the way she wanted to go. The two of them proved to be in sync in a bad way once again as the both tried to move in the same direction causing the two of them to collide in the air and tumble to the ground, only rolling to a stop once they were out of bounds.
Nick hit the pillar at the same time the two rivals hit the dirt, pulling Nogg free and scrambling up the icy tower as May emptied her current magazine. The sniper girl gulped as she realized there was only one course of action available to her as Nick crested the summit.
"I FORFEIT!" May shrieked before he could land a knockout blow, "I SURRENDER!"
Nick sheathed his sword, and Nora rang the gong to end the match...
