Chapter 57: Short end of the stick

Eris smirked towards Team RWBY, When she threw Ruby away they all stood still not making a move, She thought maybe they were frozen stiff and didn't expect this to happen.

Ruby landed on her feet, and steadied her stance. Their plan was to probe her skills with Ruby on the Frontline and she would use her semblance to escape.

but Eris easily took care of Ruby, throwing the rest off rhythmn. Weiss charged in, She formed multiple Glyphs surrounding Eris.

She wanted to show Haruki her progress, that next time he shouldn't underestimate her. She called this move <<Luna Quartet>> She used the glyphs as stepping platforms as she thrusted myrtenaster towards Eris.

Hundreds of thrusts assaulted Eris as if Weiss was playing the piano, Her moves had rhythm and grace. Which made Eris see through all this. She evaded every thrust without even moving a step.

Eris waited For Weiss's unrelenting strikes, Until she saw an opening, Eris held her rapier by the tip with just two fingers.

She sent a kick towards Weiss's stomach sending her toppling towards Ruby's general direction.

Ruby used her semblance to catch Weiss.

"Are you okay Weiss?"

She nodded her head as she glared towards Eris. "She was more skillful than I thought..."

Haruki on the other hand worriedly watched the battle from the sidelines. He was bluffing with Eris earlier. He doesn't have his full strength yet, and Ars and Gluttony won't even Respond.

So he can't summon anything besides absolute demise, and using Path of Shura here would be the worst possible thing he could do. His hands were tied, but if push comes to shove he would use lightning form to make Team RWBY escape and face Eris alone...

Yang cracked her knuckles as she dashed towards Eris. Fiery aura burst forth and covered her in a thin layer of yellow flames. Her eyes glowed red as she sent multiple punches towards Eris.

Eris put one arm behind her as she stood still. When Yang approached she deflected all her stiles to the side with the brittle stick she was holding.

Eight streaks of flaming might were raining down on Eris and yet she was unmoving like a mountain. She parried of Yang like it was nothing.

Thwap!* Yang was hit multiple times with the stick, she wasn't hurt badly but getting hit by a stick still stung.

Eris was calmly smiling as she parried and struck Yang, Her anger flared up as she increased the intensity of her punches.

At the same time Blake attacked Eris on her side, She swept Yang's legs and sent a punch towards her stomach. She caught Blake's weapons and she wrapped the weapons ribbon on her free arm.

Thwip!* Blake kept getting hit by Eris's strikes until Yang came from above and slammed down on Eris.

Bam!*

A huge cloud of dust formed on where Yang slammed.

Blake was the first to escape the dust cloud.

When the dust cleared, Eris was shown holding back the brunt of Yang's attack. She was gripping her fist not letting go.

She hasn't stepped out of the circle. She threw Yang away towards the direction Blake fled to.

Eris tilted her head, "Well? is this it? this can't be all he taught you now... C'mon show me what you got."

Yang dusted off her clothes and she stood up, This fight garnered the attention of many. Haruki used his lightning form to disrupt their scrolls so that no one would be recording this.

He won't hear the end of this once Ozpin hears of this.

Eris looked at the direction of Yang's Gauntlets, "It's been a long time since I felt a burning punch such as yours... How nostalgic..."

Yang was confused her semblance was hers and hers alone, So she charged once more.

Yang's will power and anger was transmitted through her semblance and straight to her fists. Her strikes grew sharper as each blow passed.

Eris continued to party of Yang's strikes, "Hehehe, I like your spunk kid... but that's not enough!"

She threw her stick upwards and struck towards Yang head on, Exchanging blows. Intercepting Yang's fist with her own.

Yang's flared up even more as her strikes grew even faster. Giving no chance for her teammates to intervene.

Although Yang was relentless on her attacks her movements were riddled with unnecessary motions when she's enraged. Haruki wanted to eliminate these faults.

The sound of impact with their fists grew progressively louder, the pause between the clash shorter...

(An uppercut from the right, then left hook... no, stop halfway and straight jab.)

Eris was reading Yang like an open book. She dodged, parried, blocked her fists.

"Fuuh!"

Yang pushed forward by pressing her weight on her strike, but after a brief moment suddenly retreated.

Her rapid movement gave the illusion of the floor under Yang had slipped away. The distance she had retreated was the exact distance for her fist to reach Eris.

She gave Eris a right hook, her arm arced, aiming at Eris's right side.

"Not so fast kid!"

Eris didn't Dodge or parry, but stepped closer to Yang before her blow could land. She charged forward not stepping out of the circle. With the intent of shoving her away.

"Guh!!"

Yang was thrown away as Eris's palm hit her shoulder.

Weiss and Ruby saw this opportunity and charged towards Eris on opposite sides,

Fwoosh!*

Eris twisted her torso and parried both their strikes. She Flipped Ruby towards Weiss and kicked towards them.

Weiss used her glyph to redirect her kick away from them. Eris regained her balance and picked up her stick that was a few inches away from them.

She confronted The scythe and the rapier with just her stick. The three's silhouette blurred, the arcs drawn by their weapons in mid-air clashed against each other.

They almost scraped the shoulder of Eris but their weapons were flung away from their hands.

Their weapons couldn't reach her at all...

Because of her youth and feisty personality, Weiss showed both frustration and peace of mind at the result.

She was expecting that she has improved in this past few days. She was no longer her arrogant self. She now understood that there are Titans that stand tall among others. Their strength and skill unrivalled.

And she was once more forced to face the reality of the situation, Ruby on the other hand didn't consider the difference in experience and ability of her opponent. That's why she was seen and appeared childish before Eris.

The clashing of their auras and blades were stinging the spectators skin. For them it was like a show of skills. A performance. They were in awe by the sheer skills the girls were showing.

Blake joined in on the fun, The three of them pressed Eris to give Yang some breathing room.

Eris parried off their strikes, And countered with a strike from her stick.

"To be so skilled at such a young age... I'm looking forward to your future..."

The three nodded at her words, but they were still uncomfortable to be unable to manage to get even a single strike in.

Eris Sword arm was fast, it's patterns difficult to read. Weiss tried to match this however this wasn't enough...

She might have been able to defeat a normal soldier or an elite Hunter with that skill... but not Eris.

Eris did not miss the small gap in their attacks from their own impatience, she barraged them with strikes of her own.

Her strikes blew past Ruby and Weiss, They spun in midair finally landing on the ground with a thud.

Eris turned to face Blake, She released a little bit of pressure towards the young gal, but Blake faced it head on unflinching.

Haruki engraved it on her when they were young to not falter in front of immense pressure. She was probably the longest 'student' of Haruki.

Her style was a little similar to his, with just minor alterations. That's why Eris found her strikes a little familiar and couldn't help but grin.

The intent on Blake's weapon grew sharper and sharper, Different from all of her teammates.

The two didn't move an inch, they both stared at each other, their bodies moving ever so slightly, searching for something in their opponent.

They each prepared to counter the other by just looking at their movements.

Eris stick was slightly lowered, and Blake took half a step backwards.

Swish!*

Eris stepped in, close to Blake.

Her movement was extremely fast, Blake took a swing towards Eris's direction. However, it didn't have enough momentum to stop Eris, she simply moved aside.

Swish!*

The stick was aimed towards Blake's neck. It was instantaneous, probably Haruki would be the only one there, who could counter that.

Yang once more jumped into the fray, And sent a punch towards Eris.

Eris was smiling as she intercepted her strike.

Yang received enough damage to seriously wound Eris, but Eris parried it off like it's nothing.

Eris used the tip of her stick to stop Yang's second punch.

*Crack!*

The stick broke but Yang was sent flying back once more. Blake on the other hand tried to strike again.

Eris foresaw this and brought out her weapon, it drew an arc towards Blake's Head.

She closed her eyes, thinking that she would get Hurt.

*Clang!!*

Haruki blocked the blade with absolute demise. Blake slowly opened her eyes, and what she saw was a familiar back. The one that saved her all those years ago.

Her big brother Kaz...