132

Chapter 132:

Monday saw the next round of matches begin. Seeing as they consisted of the teams skilled enough to fight their way through the first round, the doubles rounds, despite featuring half as many people, were all the more exciting. With only two people from each team in the ring, there was a greater chance for each participant to show off his or her individual skills. On top of that, compared to the two biomes used in the first round, the second round featured four biomes in each match.

That said, there were fewer matches too, with each day featuring only a pair of matches. Sun and Neptune were up first, the two boys successfully storming their way through their match. Unlike the previous one, they didn't need to worry about any sore losers. After them, Yang and Nora were the next pair from Ruby's group of friends to enter the ring. Ruby watched their match, wincing in sympathy for their opponents, who were utterly outmatched by the sheer strength and tenacity of Team RYNB's two resident powerhouses.

Tuesday, on the other hand, began with a surprise.

"Wow! We're up already," said Natsuki eagerly, looking over Oscar's shoulder at his scroll.

"Yeah," said Oscar, swallowing nervously. Even if he wasn't going to be fighting in this match, he still felt nervous. After all, Natsuki would be going into the ring alongside Setsuna. Over the course of the past week, he'd become quite attached to his new friends, and invested in them. He wanted them to win, even if he had very little to do with it.

Even though they'd known it would be the case, it was still something of a surprise to be hit with the summons for their match so suddenly. This time, they didn't have a spot reserved in the final match of the round, but would have their slot assigned randomly, just like everyone else. Natsuki and Setsuna were more than comfortable with that arrangement, the pair already quite familiar with one another's skills. As such, there had been no intense training binge in the time leading up to this match. Instead, Team MNPS had spent their time enjoying the festival with their other friends, either as a group of four, or in pairs.

And now, they were going to be in the first match of the second day of the second round. It felt so surreal that Oscar's head was spinning. It felt a little strange to still count himself as a part of the team, when he'd already done his part in the first round. However, as the only member with his own scroll, Oscar was presently the only one equipped to receive the notifications concerning when their team was participating, and who they would be fighting against.

"Who are our opponents?" asked Setsuna.

"Team Coffee," said Oscar.

"Ah, I remember them," said Natsuki. "They're some of Ruby-chan's friends, right?"

"Yeah," said Oscar, remembering briefly being introduced to the second-year team. Coco had been quick to gush over how cute Ruby's friends were.

"They're strong," said Setsuna.

"We don't have a whole lot of time, so I go ahead and bring up their footage," said Oscar.

Unlike the previous round, where they'd known who they'd be up against the moment the second-to-last match had been announced, Team MNPS would be learning about their opponent at the same time as any of the other teams, just a little bit before the match itself. Even now, they had already assembled in the locker room, looking at Oscar's scroll, and coming up with a strategy.

"Let's see, if I do this..." Oscar linked his scroll to the interface for the lounge's holoscreen, which allowed him to select videos from the coliseum's library, in this case the match Team CFVY had fought in the previous round.

"They're quite the interesting group," mused Miyu. "Do we know which two are going to be representing them?"

"The roster is showing Coco and Yatsuhashi," said Oscar.

"So...the girl with the minigun (that's what it's called, right), and the guy with the big sword," said Setsuna, pinching his chin. "That's a pretty straightforward combination."

"It is rather orthodox," agreed Miyu.

"So, Coco-san is powerful at long range, and Yatsuhashi-san is powerful at close range," said Natsuki. She broke out in an excited grin. "This is gonna be fun. Who do you want to fight, Setsuna-kun?"

"I'm not sure we should assume we'll be fighting them individually," said Setsuna. "From the looks of things, they'll be at their strongest if they act in concert, and support each other."

"But is that really the case?" asked Natsuki.

"Why do you say that?" asked Oscar.

"Well, Coco-san's weapon is really powerful, but it's not the sort of thing you'd use for precise shots," Natsuki pointed out.

"I guess," said Oscar. "A weapon like that is more about volume-of-fire than precision, I suppose."

"Yeah," agreed Natsuki, nodding her head decisively. "So, if Yatsuhashi-san enters into melee, Coco-san's going to have a hard time firing into that without hitting him."

"If that's the case, then maybe their strategy is to have Coco-san attack with continuous fire, while Yatsuhashi-san remains close to her as a guard," guessed Setsuna.

"Well...I'm not sure Coco's helpless at melee range," Oscar pointed out, bringing up a playback of one of the moments from Team CFVY's match in the previous round, showing Coco clocking one of her opponents with the handbag-mode of her gun. The impact sent her unfortunate opponent flying through the air.

"Well, if she's swinging something with that much mass around, it's definitely gonna hurt," said Natsuki.

"But using her weapon for ranged fire still seems her primary mode," said Setsuna.

"If that's the case, and teamwork is their forte, then maybe breaking up their teamwork and forcing them to fight on their own would be our best approach," said Oscar, before blinking. Why am I saying 'our'? he wondered, feeling he was getting presumptuous.

"You're right," said Miyu, nodding in agreement with him, her acknowledgment making Oscar relax a little.

"Ooh! Then which one do you want to fight, Setsuna-kun?" asked Natsuki.

"I think the more important question is how we break up their formation," said Setsuna. "After all, if that's the kind of thing we can see, then they have to be aware of that limitation too. They won't allow themselves to be forced away from each other so easily."

"Um...I might have an idea," said Oscar nervously.

It took the rest of the time available to them to hash out their plan. Oscar and Miyu were to leave first, planning to join their other friends in the spectator seating. At the door to the locker room, they said their goodbyes. Setsuna and Miyu had moved off, sharing a quiet moment of affection between the two of them. Meanwhile, Oscar stood awkwardly before Natsuki.

"Uh...G-good luck out there," said Oscar, not sure why he felt so nervous all of a sudden. It wasn't as though he was the one going out to fight in the match.

Obviously, Natsuki was part of it, though not in a bad way. After the past week, Oscar had come to see Natsuki as a friend, even amongst the "friends" that made up the rest of their team. Natsuki had been the one to reach out to him, to bring him out of his slump after he'd found out that he'd missed his chance with Ruby. She'd always been the first to approach him, to vouch for him, to believe in him. In fact, Oscar felt that just meeting her had helped him get a little bit more courageous.

And so, he wanted her to do well. He wanted her to win. Natsuki's enthusiasm for what she was doing was catching, and Oscar didn't mind admitting that he'd been infected. So, because he knew that was what she wanted, he wanted her to win as well.

"Thank you," said Natsuki in response, before puling him into a hug.

Oscar flinched, then hugged her back after hesitating. It was no more than what Miyu and Setsuna were doing a short distance away, although the other pair was resting their foreheads together, speaking in low tones. Finally, they parted, but not before Setsuna leaned in to kiss Miyu on the lips.

"Um...Is it all right if I do something...?" asked Natsuki, pulling back to look at Oscar plaintively. "...For luck, that is..."

"For luck...um...sure." Oscar blinked, wondering just what it was that Natsuki wanted to do.

"Great!" Natsuki grinned.

Then, before Oscar could react, she darted in. Abruptly, Oscar felt a warm, soft sensation on his cheek. His mind blanked out, and he momentarily lost the ability to think in a coherent manner. The next thing he knew, the sensation had ended. Natsuki pulled back, still grinning but now blushing slightly.

"I'll see you after the match," she declared, letting go of him, pulling away from his arms, and moving to join Setsuna, who flashed Oscar an amused, if approving, smile.

For a moment, Oscar just stood there, blinking, still trying to come to terms with what had just happened.

Miyu giggled softly, then rested a hand on his shoulder. "Come, Oscar-kun. Let's join the others in the stands."

"Um...uh...right..." said Oscar, allowing Miyu to lead him away.

Meanwhile, Port and Oobleck were doing their job in working up the crowd.

"The next match is sure to be one to watch with interest," declared Oobleck. "Team Coffee, of Beacon, is a favorite of this year's roster. Coco Adel is especially popular with her fellow students. In fact, I believe I see some mimicking her signature style amongst the crowd, even now."

Indeed, there were quite a few people who had taken to wearing a beret and sunglasses in imitation of Team CFVY's leader.

"Opposing them is the unexpected guest-team, Team Meconopsis," declared Port. "This unaffiliated team made waves in the previous round with their exceptional performance, despite their young age and their lack of connection to any Academy. We shall have to see if they can continue that in today's match."

Coco glanced sidelong at Yatsuhashi. "What do you think?" she asked.

Her teammate's expression didn't change all that much, but she thought she saw the corners of his lips dip just a little bit more than usual, indicating that he was thinking hard about the situation. "We can't underestimate them, just because they're that much younger than us. They're Ruby's age."

"Yeah, well that was a given," said Coco, looking at where the other two were approaching. "If they're from Ruby's homeland, then they've probably got a host of crazy Aura-tricks up their sleeves. We probably saw only a little of what they were capable of in the last round." She sighed, lowering her eyes. "Going with the two of us for power was probably a mistake. Maybe it should've been Fox and Velvet instead."

"No use crying over spilt milk," said Yatsuhashi. "We'll just have to play the cards we've been dealt."

They paused as Setsuna and Natsuki came to within speaking range.

"We look forward to this match," said Setsuna, bowing politely to them.

"We hope there are no hard feelings," added Natsuki.

"Polite kids, aren't you?" asked Coco, smirking. "I think I like you."

"Thanks," said Natsuki her usual exuberance returning to the fore. "We're gonna win, by the way."

Coco chuckled. "And they're confident. I think I really like you kids now."

Yatsuhashi locked eyes with Setsuna. "She must be a handful," he said.

"You are a man of great wisdom," said Setsuna, bowing his head to the taller boy again.

"Hey!" protested Natsuki, puffing out her cheeks and pouting at her partner.

"Win or lose, we are so definitely going out for dinner together, after this," said Coco with a grin. "A friend of Ruby's is a friend of ours."

"We wouldn't mind that," said Setsuna, giving them a relaxed smile.

Then the announcement came for them to get ready. The four biomes that were selected emerged from beneath the arena floor. The area immediately behind Setsuna and Natsuki was a field of tall grass. The space behind Coco and Yatsuhashi took on the form of an abandoned, crumbling city. To the right of the visiting pair, a forest rose up, while a geyser field appeared to the left. Setsuna and Natsuki drew their weapons, the action mirrored by Coco and Yatsuhashi, the former opening Gianduja into its minigun-form.

They waited tensely for the countdown to finish, fingers clenching around handles, legs bending, weight shifting...

"Begin!" Oobleck's voice echoed across the arena.

"Chiyugi."

The Mumyo Dai'On Ryu's Chiyugi was a difficult technique to counter. That was mainly because it was spatial in nature, its effects occurring at the point selected by the user. From the perspective of observers, there was nothing visible, no swinging weapons, no projectiles, nothing that would give away where the technique was aimed. Only those with skill at reading Aura could sense the converging energy, right where the technique's effect would manifest. The more skilled the practitioner, the less warning there was.

Furthermore, the higher the level of a practitioner of the Mumyo Dai'On Ryu, the wider an area they could effect, or they could produce the Chiyugi in multiple locations at once. Masters, like Setsuna's teacher, Chinmei, could maintain the Chiyugi while fighting or using other techniques. Setsuna wasn't at that level of skill yet. At best, he could produce the technique in up to two locations simultaneously, and only if he remained still, devoting his entire focus on doing so. If he was using the technique on just one point, he could still move, but was forced to abandon it, if he wanted to use any other Manifestation-based techniques.

However, despite those limitations, Setsuna's technique was a truly effective one for this setting. It was the kind of thing most people would never see coming, and would have no way of anticipating, even if they knew of its existence.

However, Coco and Yatsuhashi were not "most" people.

Their teammate, Fox, was proficient in reading the Auras of people around him, a skill that he had used to help compensate for his blindness, a skill that he had been educating them over the course of the year and several months that they had been a team. More to the point, as second-year students, Coco and Yatsuhashi had gained a great deal of experience from the numerous missions they had embarked upon. Between those two factors, the two of them were immediately aware that the area they were standing in had suddenly become dangerous.

They immediately leapt to the side, barely managing to escape as the arena floor cracked, then caved inward into a depression. The sudden need to dodge had delayed Coco opening fire. However, as she skidded to a stop, she was already raising her weapon, the minigun's barrels spinning as she looked for her target.

Setsuna and Natsuki were blurs, practically vanishing from where they stood, closing the distance with incredible speed. Coco saw Natsuki bearing down on her and pulled the trigger, Gianduja's bullets striking, then ripping right through her body. Coco had seen MNPS' fight with NDGO, but seeing her opponent seemingly shredded before her eyes was still something she reflexively balked at. Despite that, Coco still had the presence of mind to realize that she was in danger. She was already moving, the minigun collapsing down into its handbag-form, which Coco turned to swing behind her.

Sure enough, there Natsuki was, grinning with excitement as her right-hand kodachi met Coco's handbag. Natsuki's grin vanished for a second, when she nearly had her weapon knocked out of her hand. Even knowing how much mass must have been packed into that handbag, Natsuki was still unprepared for the force behind Coco's swing. She immediately moved to brace it with her left-handed one, but the force of Coco's counter sent her flying back. Natsuki fought to regain control, hoping to close the distance again before Coco could switch her weapon back into its minigun-mode and open fire, now that the distance had opened up between them.

But, much to Natsuki's surprise, Coco instead charged after her, closing in and attacking furiously with her handbag, the power and mass behind those attacks forcing Natsuki to defend herself carefully, parrying and deflecting, rather than outright blocking, even as she fought her own confusion over why Coco would do something so counter to her strengths.

In contrast to Coco, Yatsuhashi would have seemed to be in a better position. As a melee fighter, he was in his element as Setsuna closed in on him. Upon seeing the younger boy brandishing his kama, Yatsuhashi responded with a downward swing with Fulcrum. The massive sword descended with enough force that it could have shattered the ring in a wide radius. In the past, he'd often used such an attack to clear out several Grimm in his vicinity, all without needing to strike them directly.

Seeing that massive blade descending towards his head, Setsuna kicked off the floor, launching himself up to meet Yatsuhashi's attack head-on. Swinging both his kama, he slammed them against the descending blade. With a roaring sound, a shockwave exploded outward from the two colliding fighters, the ring beneath and around them shattering. Then, with a surprised shout, Yatsuhashi found himself blown backwards.

He's so much stronger than he looks! thought Yatsuhashi, digging his sword into the ground to arrest his backwards slide, with him skidding to a stop amidst the crumbling buildings of the ruined cityscape that made up the biome directly behind him. No! I can tell he's using gravity, somehow. If it's not Dust, he must be doing it through Aura, like Ruby and Kyo can with their elemental attacks. If he uses that gravity to add impact to his melee attacks, then his physical strength isn't an indicator of how hard he can hit.

That made things difficult. Yatsuhashi's forte as a fighter was power, after all. If Setsuna could make up the difference in power, with the kind of technique that allowed him to make his blows heavier than Yatsuhashi's own, then he held a definite edge over the older boy.

Sure enough, Setsuna was already closing in at lightning-speed. With another shout, Yatsuhashi swept his sword across in front of him, launching a shining crescent of pale-green Aura at Setsuna. Setsuna was forced to avoid it, jumping and flipping to the side. His forward momentum continued to carry him ahead though, and Yatsuhashi reversed the direction of his swing, while stepping to intercept his opponent, aiming to catch him before Setsuna could reach the ground and change his course.

However, Fulcrum cleaved through the air beneath Setsuna's feet. At first, Yatsuhashi thought he'd misjudged the timing, swinging too soon to intercept his opponent, only to realize the truth. He stopped in midair!

Setsuna's direction changed without him even needing to move his limbs, his entire body's orientation changing on its own, before he abruptly flew past in front of Yatsuhashi, who jumped back to avoid the slash from the boy's kama. At the same time, Yatsuhashi turned to follow him, bringing the sword arcing up and over, then down. Setsuna's direction changed again, and he shifted away in time, Fulcrum slamming into the ground with explosive force, shattering the concrete he'd been standing on, while the shockwave smashed a nearby wall into pieces.

Setsuna's flight carried him away to taller wall, one that leaned over as part of a collapsed building, alighting lightly on it in a low crouch, holding his kama down low. For a moment, he and Yatsuhashi sized one another up, each one reflecting on the results of the previous exchange to better figure out their opponent's capabilities.

Natsuki landed amid the rocky outcroppings that made up the geyser field. All around her, orange, glowing holes in the ground spewed superheated steam in the air, the entire space feeling hot and oppressively humid.

To her surprise, Coco, who'd been aggressively pursuing her with her handbag before, came to a stop right at the edge, where the biome met the inner ring. Suddenly, she opened Gianduja back up into its minigun-mode, then opened fire.

Natsuki yelped, ducking to the side as the bullets streamed past. She tried to recover quickly, but her body was suddenly buffeted by a wave of heat behind her, chunks of broken rock battering her Aura from behind, sending her reeling, stumbling over the broken terrain, fighting furiously to regain her balance. By the time she'd managed to do so, Coco had already shifted her aim and fired again, firing in short bursts, rather than a single sustained one, forcing Natsuki to dodge again. However, this time, the bullets struck the ground to her right, near one of the geyser vents. Again, the ground exploded, erupting with steam and rocky shrapnel, even closer to Natsuki this time, flinging her away like a ragdoll.

Coco took full advantage of her Semblance, Hype, which enabled her to exponentially increase the potency of the Dust contained in the bullets her gun fired. However, rather than target Natsuki directly, she was instead targeting the geysers themselves, transferring the effects of her Semblance from the bullets and into the Dust that fueled the biome features themselves, triggering explosive eruptions that staggered Natsuki, the heat and rubble burning and battering away at her Aura.

Natsuki managed to recover in midair, forcefully shifting her center of gravity to get her feet back under her. She landed on a ridge jutting out over another vent, a perfect target for Coco's next shot, one that Coco was already lining up. However, even as her bullets whizzed through the air at the glowing vent, Coco noticed the fierce, eager grin on Natsuki's face, the younger girl reversing her grip on the shorter of the two kodachi, dropping down into a crouch so that she could drive the blade into the stone at her feet. A roaring wave of flame swept up, enveloping her body, as the vent exploded beneath her, the erupting steam and stone completely obscuring her from view.

"AH!" shouted Oscar, shooting to his feet, eyes wide.

"Natsu-chan's made of sterner stuff than that," Miyu assured him calmly, gently tugging Oscar back down by the sleeve of his jacket. "Her shield made it in time."

The two of them had made it to the seats before the match had started, taking the seats next to Sasame, who was sitting next to Team RASP, who were sitting next to Team RYNB. Even Jaune and Sasame had put aside Jaune's training to see this match.

"That particular blade is especially suited to defensive applications," said Sasame. "When used like that, it can be particularly difficult to penetrate, though it does burn through a fair bit of Aura to defend over a wider area than the blade itself."

"Coco and Yatsuhashi are sure doing better than I expected," commented Weiss.

"They haven't sparred against Kyo-nii for nothing," said Ruby cheerfully.

"They also have the edge in practical experience," said Pyrrha.

"Uh...aren't you worried about Natsuki and Setsuna losing?" asked Oscar.

"Eh...Just making it this far is something to be proud of," said Yang, grinning. "They're putting up a heck of a fight, for being a couple of kids Ruby's age."

"Ozpin-dono's plan might not be as effective, if they are forced to drop out here," said Sasame. "But, by doing this well, I believe their actions will have had some impact on the way the people of the Kingdoms will view the skills of the Mibu."

"It feels kinda unfair though," muttered Oscar, "making the geysers blow up like that."

"That's nothing more than classic terrain warfare," commented Ren. "Coco's weapon and Semblance are enabling her to take advantage of the arena's biome features to fight more effectively."

"Besides, Natsu-chan won't be stymied so easily," said Sasame, grinning. "If she did that, then she's likely buying time to brute force her way through."

"Brute force...?" asked Jaune, glancing at his teacher in confusion.

"Oh! Can Natsu-chan do that?" asked Ruby, looking at Sasame with wide eyes.

"She can," said Sasame.

"Do what?" asked Oscar, frowning.

"Something quite...unusual...at least from the perspective of those in the Kingdoms," said Sasame.

Coco frowned, narrowing her eyes behind her shades, watching the cloud of steam that had blossomed where her latest attack had landed, obscuring everything within it. She'd risked a quick glance at the screens hovering over the arena, which displayed the combatants' Aura-levels. Natsuki's Aura-level had dropped by nearly half. In contrast, Coco's own hadn't even dropped a quarter yet, what little she had lost being due to the use of her Semblance to supercharge her bullets.

A silhouette appeared within the steam, and Coco leveled Gianduja at it. preparing to open fire. However, her eyes widened as she saw what Natsuki was doing.

Natsuki had reversed her grip on her kodachi, but not before using the edge of the right-handed one to open a small cut on the tip of the thumb of her left hand. From there, she rubbed the blood that had welled up on the tips of each of her fingers. Holding her weapons with just her thumbs curled around the handles, Natsuki brought her fingers up to her cheeks, running them along and leaving four stripes of blood across each cheek, beneath her eyes, before trailing down to run under her jaw, then down her neck, before Natsuki finally pulled her fingers away.

The blood-red marks appeared to grow more vivid, extending even past where Natsuki had drawn them, running down beneath the collar of her outfit. Meanwhile, the look in Natsuki's eyes changed, her childlike excitement being replaced with a gaze of almost bestial ferocity.

What the hell did she just do? wondered Coco, eyes widening behind her shades.

Natsuki held her kodachi in a normal grip once again, the blades extending out to either side of her. They sparked, then were lined with flames. Then, to Coco's amazement, the flames began to spread down the handles, climbing up Natsuki's arms, before extending to envelop her entire body in fire.

Natsuki crouched down, then kicked off, launching herself at Coco with a shout. Coco gasped, trying to shift her gun to compensate. She's faster! She opened fire. However, to her amazement, the shots glanced off the flames that burned across Natsuki's body, as though she was clad in full-body armor. Natsuki closed in, swinging her right-handed blade across in a powerful slash. Coco was forced to raise the spinning barrels of her weapon to block. Upon contact, the fire that lined Natsuki's blade exploded furiously, the resulting blast sending Coco flying back.

Where the heck is she getting this kind of power?! wondered Coco frantically. She tried to level Gianduja at Natsuki, but was forced to change plans when Natsuki leveled her attacking kodachi right at Coco, the flames running along its blade swelling dramatically.

"Shakuran Entei!"

A jet of fire roared at Coco, threatening to consume her Aura. Coco collapsed her weapon, even as she frantically threw herself to the side, but the heat still scorched her.

"What the heck is that?" exclaimed Yang, rising to her own feet.

"It's like she's become a completely different person," noted Blake.

"She just painted herself with her own blood," said Weiss. "How could doing something so superficial be responsible for such a dramatic change?"

"Is it some kind of self-hypnosis?" wondered Pyrrha.

"At its root, you could definitely say it stems from such techniques," said Sasame, "though Chikewai is much more than mere mind-over-matter."

"What do you mean?" asked Oscar.

"Painting blood across herself is not merely for the sake of boosting Natsu-chan's psyche," explained Sasame. "Blood is actually a good conduit for Aura. In a sense, you could say that it is a form of Aura-script, something that produces a definitive effect on her body."

"What does it do?" asked Jaune.

"It rapidly burns her stamina to produce explosive power," said Sasame. "As you can see, she can generate a great deal more strength and destructive force. However, the cost is that she will run out of steam in a few minutes' time. Once that happens, she might well collapse on her own."

"If that happens, she'll lose then," said Oscar worriedly.

"Correct," said Sasame. "It is a high-risk, high-return technique, one that shouldn't be used lightly. Natsu-chan will have to defeat Coco-san before her stamina runs out. After that, she will only be able to hope that Setsuna-kun can best Yatsuhashi-san, or the ultimate result will still be the same."

As if reminding them of the other fight taking place, the sound of steel grating against stone echoed through the arena, drawing everyone's eyes to where Setsuna and Yatsuhashi were fighting.

It had been Yatsuhashi who'd made the first move, lunging forward, he leapt into the air, bringing his sword down in a powerful two-handed swing. Setsuna jumped aside, throwing himself off his perch. However, that alone wasn't enough to escape the radius of Yatsuhashi's attack, the powerful shockwave released by Fulcrum's impact buffeting his body, while the wall Setsuna had been standing on was shattered into pieces, sending rubble flying everywhere.

However, none of the flying shrapnel struck Setsuna's body. Instead, it swept up around him. Even as he tried to recover from the destructive shockwave of Yatsuhashi's powerful blow, the stones that should have hit him were swept up into an orbit around his body. Landing, Setsuna went into a roll, more broken chunks of stone and concrete rising around him, including pieces of rock that had been thrown their way from Coco's destructive actions in the geyser field.

Yatsuhashi turned about, bringing his sword around with a speed that belied his bulk, swiftly closing in on Setsuna, executing a lighter, yet faster slash, one that aimed to catch the younger boy before he could recover his balance.

Instead, Yatsuhashi's ears rang as his sword struck the stones that had now wrapped themselves around Setsuna's body, weaving and orbiting around, forming what almost seemed to be an almost solid tendril, the blade of Yatsuhashi's sword glancing off.

"Chinseirin." Setsuna rolled into a crouch. As he did, several of the stones that had been floating around his body abruptly accelerated, flying at Yatsuhashi like bullets.

With a shocked shout, Yatsuhashi turned to use the armor that covered his left shoulder and upper-arm to deflect the stones. With his right hand, he tried use Fulcrum to bat aside the stones that lanced at the areas that weren't protected by his armor. His defense was less than perfect though, and two of the flying rocks landed stinging blows on his torso and shin, sending him staggering back.

While he fought to recover, Yatsuhashi's ears picked up a whistling sound, starting out faint, but rapidly growing louder. As he did, he noticed that the stones that had been shielding Setsuna before had already fallen to the ground.

"Chinsei Rekka Suiseisho!" Setsuna was already dancing back.

Yatsuhashi looked up, his eyes widening in shock. Even as Setsuna had defended and countered his last slash, he'd also manipulated the gravity around him, using it to levitate several larger stones, and even fair-sized boulders, outside Yatsuhashi's field of vision. Now those stones fell upon Yatsuhashi like meteors, Setsuna manipulating their gravity to enhance their speed so that they were accelerated well-past their normal terminal velocity. They struck with explosive force, throwing up shockwaves and sending chunks and shards of concrete and stone flying everywhere, buzzing like hornets.

Yatsuhashi hunkered down, holding Fulcrum over his head and shielding himself as best he could. Unfortunately, that ultimately did little to protect him, and over half of his Aura vanished in an instant. After just a few seconds of bombardment, the attack was over. Yatsuhashi rose up, his body smarting from the countless hits he'd just taken.

Then Setsuna charged in again, a fresh ring of stones rising up to orbit his body. Desperately, Yatsuhashi swung downwards with all his might, aiming to catch Setsuna while he was still outside of the melee range of his kama. However, the orbiting stones accelerated, the angle of their movement shifting to deflect the line of Yatsuhashi's strike, sending his sword biting into the earth instead. Meanwhile, Setsuna charged right in, striking with swift strokes of his sickles.

Yatsuhashi reversed his grip on Fulcrum, bringing it up to deflect the first couple of slashes Setsuna launched. As he did, he noted that the force behind Setsuna's blows was a fraction of the those he'd used at the beginning of the match, indicating that he wasn't using gravity to enhance their power. The realization struck Yatsuhashi that Setsuna's control was limited, so that he could only use his gravity-control for one or two things at a time. Apparently, if he was using it to control the rubble protectively wrapping around his body, then he couldn't also use it to increase the strength of his melee attacks.

Trying to take advantage of that, Yatsuhashi quickly brought his sword down in another strike. Even if his opponent was too close for Yatsuhashi to put his full power into his swing, the leverage granted by his superior height and weight should have been enough to break through the barrier of Setsuna's Chinseirin, before the stones could shift speed and direction enough to fully deflect his slash.

But, much to Yatsuhashi's surprise, Setsuna dove into a forward roll, bracing his shoulders against the ground, while kicking up with his feet, catching the descending sword on the metal-shot soles of his geta, the flaring kicks angled to deflect Yatsuhashi's sword away. Setsuna continued his roll, going past Yatsuhashi's left side. Rather than swing with his sword, Yatsuhashi turned to his left, leaning down and reaching out for Setsuna as the younger boy came back onto his feet.

The stones that had been orbiting around Setsuna's body clustered together, before exploding out at Yatsuhashi, like an oversized shotgun blast. At the same time, Setsuna had lowered his right-handed kama down and out to the side, preparing for what seemed to be a powerful swing. Yatsuhashi grimaced, his body wracked by the pain of impact from the countless stones. But he powered through, managing to reach out, his hand briefly brushing against Setsuna's shoulder, before he was sent staggering back by the force behind the gravity-powered stones.

Setsuna froze, blinking in confusion for a second. What was I just...? He could remember exchanging a few blows with Yatsuhashi, before suddenly finding that his position had changed, and the protection of his Chinseirin was gone.

Got him, thought Yatsuhashi, with a small feeling of triumph. His Semblance had taken effect, erasing the last few seconds of Setsuna's memory. He'd known that Setsuna had already been setting up his next attack with that last maneuver. However, using his Semblance, Yatsuhashi had made Setsuna forget what that next move was.

The hesitation, as Setsuna struggled to remember what he was doing, would buy Yatsuhashi time to strike a decisive blow. Already, Yatsuhashi had recovered his footing, raising his sword to bring it down upon his befuddled opponent. However, Yatushashi lurched, his footing shifted. He grunted uneasily, feeling as though he was being drawn towards Setsuna.

The kama in Setsuna's right hand remained poised in its previous position, levered back for a powerful swing, the kind of attack such a short weapon would rarely be used to execute. The air around that kama turned black, as though the weapon was sucking in all the light in its immediate vicinity. As Yatsuhashi's sword descended, Setsuna brought his weapon around, the black energy congealing around it transforming into a powerful blade that flew out, striking Fulcrum.

The force behind the attack caught Yatsuhashi completely unprepared, the wave of gravitational power completely overpowering the force of his own swing, pushing Fulcrum back against Yatsuhashi's chest, before launching the boy's powerfully-built body upwards and out, in a wide arc that sent him flying clear out of the ring.

How? Yatsuhashi exclaimed mentally, even as he crashed down on the metal plating surrounding the ring, the buzzer announcing his defeat. He shouldn't have remembered what he was doing.

In the meantime, Setsuna relaxed his stance for a moment, looking at his kama. Oh...that's right...why did I forget that? A shudder ran through his body, and he threw a wary look Yatsuhashi's way. Was that his Semblance? If that's the case, then that's a pretty scary ability. I was completely unprepared for that kind of attack. He glanced down at his kama again. My training paid off though, thank God. But that was too close for comfort.

He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "The world is wide indeed," he said softly, before smiling to himself. "Coming outside was definitely a good idea."

He was brought out of his reverie by the roar of an explosion across the ring from him, the sound forcefully reminding Setsuna that his was not the only fight taking place...or the only fight that had been taking place, the buzzer sounding over the fading echoes, announcing the end of the match.

Coco jumped and flipped with all of the agility at her disposal. Much to her chagrin, she had to admit that his kind of evasion was not really her forte. Her greatest strength showed through when she was on the offensive. Being forced to dodge was not something she enjoyed. However, it was all she could do to keep from being overwhelmed, and then burned to a crisp.

Blasts of flame rushed at her in torrents. Fireballs flew her way like cannon-shots. The latter Coco could at least counter, batting them away with deft swings of her handbag. However, the former she had to dodge. Their heat was intense, and she could sense it burning at her Aura, even as she avoided the flames themselves.

Natsuki's persistent and ferocious offensive didn't help matters. Her demeanor was like that of a wild animal, but she still fought with incredible skill and technique, her body flickering in and out of sight, always seeming to drift closer. Even when Coco's attacks did connect, they were stopped cold (ironically) by the fire that lined the whole of Natsuki's body, which felt as solid as steel.

Natsuki leapt up, launching more flames downward at Coco, who went into a series of backflips to escape, her evasions sending her out of the inner ring, and into the tall grass of the plains biome.

Oh crap! Coco realized she'd made a serious mistake.

Her opponent was a fire-user...

...And Coco had dodged right into a giant mass of kindling.

Sure enough, the flames from Natsuki's swords immediately set the grass alight, igniting with the fires licking at her own body as she stepped into the grass herself. The fire spread quickly, sweeping across the grass. Coco extended Gianduja into its minigun-mode, and turned in a complete circle, keeping the barrel low as she fired, using the bullets to mow down the grass in her immediate vicinity. The flames continued to spread, but burned lower in a circle around her, keeping her from being completely immolated.

Then Natsuki seemed to materialize out of the fire, her body flowing and warping in the air, her sword cutting a path for Coco's body. Desperately, Coco brought her weapon's barrel up to block Natsuki's slash, before trying to train it on her, already firing. The bullets trailed through the air, before piercing Natsuki's body, but her image simply rippled, distorted, then vanished. A second later, she reappeared behind Coco, her kodachi seeking the older girl's back.

Coco had already collapsed her weapon back down into its handbag-mode, and she countered by swing it around, knocking Natsuki's slash away. This time, there was no explosion of flame on contact, and Coco was able to maintain her position. But she wasn't able to counterattack before Natsuki vanished again.

And so it went, Natsuki flickering and rippling around Coco, dancing in and out of sight, her movements and the heat of her flames serving to distort her position and movement. However, she'd switched out powerful attacks for swift, light ones, almost as though she were probing Coco for weaknesses. It seemed like a poor strategy to Coco. She had no idea of how Natsuki had gained such an explosive level of power, but experience had taught the second-year student to intuit certain things, namely that such a powerful boost couldn't last forever. Sooner or later, most likely sooner, whatever power was fueling Natsuki would run out, and she would be left in a weakened state.

So then why was her opponent wasting time with such tentative attacks?

Because Natsuki's form was so distorted and indistinct, Coco was unable to notice that all of Natsuki's attacks came from her right-handed kodachi. In the meantime, the blade held in her left hand always moved on a separate track, leaving faint lines of light behind it as it swung through the air. With each attack Natsuki made, she also left a line of Aura behind, those lines intersecting with one another, forming an unusual formation around Coco.

Finally, Natsuki appeared to fully materialize from the flames, appearing directly in front of Coco. Her swords no longer blazed, and the flames that had surrounded her body had also disappeared. Coco tensed, figuring that Natsuki's boosting technique must have petered out. However, her eyes widened when she watched Natsuki swing her left-handed kodachi lightly through the air in front of her, the tip of the blade trailing a single remaining line of faint light. It intersected with another. Then, with a flash, the air between them was divided by a plane of hard-light energy. Looking around, Coco saw similar planes appearing, all of them formed between a series of intersecting lines, surrounding her in a barrier that had the appearance of a semi-transparent, multifaceted jewel.

Those attacks must have been distractions to set this up, thought Coco. But why? What does trapping me here do at this stage?

The barrier looked fairly thin, not strong at all. In fact, Coco suspected it wouldn't take much effort on her part to break out. As final gambits went, truly, this was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Maybe it's the best she could do with what she had left. Is she trying to buy time, while her friend finishes with Yatsuhashi?

The buzzer sounded, and Coco looked up with wide eyes to see Yatsuhashi launched out of the ring by a wave of ebony energy. She realized that her time was running out. However, she was right in ways she didn't realize yet.

The grass that Natsuki had ignited continued to burn, including inside the barrier. However, now, the flames were beginning to burn lower and less intensely. It took Coco a few extra seconds to notice. When she did, she began to panic. The flames are burning the oxygen! Is she trying to suffocate me?

That realization made it clear that Coco needed to break out of this barrier, now! Turning to one side, she transformed Gianduja into its minigun-mode and used Hype to enhance the bullets she fired in a brief burst. The barrier looked weak, but Coco wanted to be sure. To her relief, the barrier shattered like a thin sheet of glass.

But Coco's relief was short-lived.

"Kaho Enbu."

The next thing Coco heard was the sound of roaring flames.

Natsuki turned away from the barrier, as the sputtering flames within suddenly surged with new life, intensifying into a powerful explosion, the remainder of the barrier concentrating its force back inwards, before it broke completely. Inside those flames, the shadow of Coco lurched as she was caught in a tremendous explosion, one that sent shudders running through the entire arena.

Up above, the buzzer sounded, signaling Coco's defeat through Aura-level.

Natsuki sighed, then slumped tiredly. The lines of blood drawn across her face and neck evaporated, leaving no trace behind. Her body sagged, and she took a few stumbling steps, before turning back around towards Coco.

Her opponent had collapsed in the center of a circle of charred ground. The surging flames had burned away everything flammable in the immediate vicinity, so she was relatively safe. Still, Natsuki would feel better if she could move Coco to somewhere less-threatened. But Natsuki was finding it hard to move, her limbs feeling like lead.

"Let me do it," said Setsuna, arriving next to her. He strode into the flames, slipping his arms under Coco's body and hefting it up, before carrying her out of the grass biome and into the inner ring, where he gently set her down.

"Did I overdo it?" asked Natsuki worriedly, slumping into a seated position beside him.

"I don't think so," said Setsuna. "Whatever injuries she might have taken, Miyu can handle. She'll be here soon."

"Right..." said Natsuki.

The two of them were so fixated on their concern for Coco that they hadn't even heard Oobleck and Port announcing their win.

"Wha-what just happened?" asked Pyrrha, blinking in shock.

"A backdraft," said Sasame.

"Oh! I get it!" said Weiss. "That's...a scary way to fight, honestly."

"I don't get it," said Jaune.

"By enclosing the area around Coco in a barrier, Natsuki created a space where the fires she set rapidly burned through the available oxygen," explained Weiss. "Coco realized this, but there was another threat. When oxygen enters an oxygen-depleted environment, while the fires are still burning, it rapidly ignites, the ignition is boosted by partially-combusted particles in the air, resulting in an explosive burst of flames."

"So she either suffocates...or blows herself up..." said Yang. "Dang! That's kinda mean."

"I suppose it can be," said Sasame. "But it shows how formidable Coco-san is to force Natsu-chan to use such a technique."

"I guess so," said Nora.

"Besides, Miyu-chan is on her way to heal Coco-san," added Sasame, "so it won't be an issue for much longer."

Everyone, save Ruby, glanced at the pair of empty seats, where Miyu and Oscar had been sitting before. Only Ruby and Sasame had already noticed the pair's departure, but hadn't seen any point to commenting on it before now.

"So they made it into the quarterfinals," observed Blake softly. "I know that, since they're Ruby's age, it shouldn't be so remarkable...but it is."

"In some ways, we did weigh the scales in our advantage," said Sasame, bringing the fingers of her hands together. "The Manifestation techniques of the Mibu are outside the ken of most fighters in the Kingdoms. As Ruby-chan's friends, you've received a more detailed level of instruction than most, but you can still be easily blindsided by the things our people can do. By taking advantage of that blind spot, our...representatives...have been able to gain an edge over the other participants."

"That sounds a bit like cheating," commented Nora.

"It's no more or less what Pyrrha used to do with her Semblance," Weiss pointed out.

Sasame nodded. "In true battle, facing an opponent with unknown qualities is the norm, more often than not. One can try to use intelligence gathering to learn someone's abilities, but there will always be the risk of something that you didn't know. Therefore, the ability to adapt, when the situation does not go as expected, is the most critical skill of all. Truth be told, Coco-san and Yatsuhashi-san did very well in that respect."

Coco groaned, as Miyu helped her up into a sitting position. "Damn! You kids play for keeps."

"My apologies for my teammate getting so rough with you, Coco-san," said Miyu, channeling some extra Aura into Coco's body to restore her strength.

"Eh, that sort of thing happens," said Coco, letting Miyu help her to her feet. "At least I can say I went out with a bang."

"That's putting it mildly," said Yatsuhashi, smiling wryly.

Coco blinked her dark-brown eyes, then shook her head slightly. It took Natsuki an extra second to register the fact that she was seeing Coco's eyes, rather than the darkened lenses of her shades. She gasped, whipping her head around to see the section of scorched earth, where her technique had decided the match. Sure enough, there was the warped frame and broken lenses of Coco's signature sunglasses.

Immediately, Natsuki was distraught, whipping her head around to look at Coco with eyes that were beginning to tear up. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to break your glasses! I'll buy you new ones-Wait!-I don't have any Kingdom-money! Oooooooh...What do I do!?"

Coco laughed, then reached over and fondly ruffled Natsuki's hair. "Take it easy kiddo. No harm, no foul. I may like my shades, but I'm not so stupid as to not have spares."

"It's a hazard in this line of business," added Yatsuhashi. "Something like that is bound to get broken, sooner or later."

"Oh...Okay," said Natsuki, before she began to wobble in place. "Whoah...Hey...uh...Miyu-chan, can you boost me too?"

"Nope," said Miyu, already turning her attention to give Yatsuhashi some treatment for the bruises he'd accumulated over the course of his fight against Setsuna. Technically, she didn't really need to do anything. Yatsuhashi had been defeated by ring-out, so he had plenty of Aura left, and none of his injuries were the kind that it wouldn't be able to heal over the course of an hour's rest or so. "It's your own fault that you're tired, Natsu-chan. Since you don't have any injuries worth healing, there's no point in spending my Aura on you."

"Hmph!" grunted Natsuki. "Meanie..." She turned, then grinned, before half-lunging, half falling in the direction of Oscar, moving to hug him around the collar from behind. "Oscar-kun! I'm tired! Carry me, please!"

Oscar grunted, his face turning red as Natsuki hugged her body against his back. But he still hooked his arms under her legs, and hoisted her up.

"You shouldn't spoil her like that," chided Setsuna with a playful smirk.

Natsuki turned her head to stick out her tongue childishly at Setsuna before resting her chin on Oscar's shoulder. "Oscar-kun's super-nice, unlike you guys. Also, his back's really comfy. I could take a nap."

"At least wait until you get cleaned up," said Miyu firmly.

"Fiiine..." groaned Natsuki.

Coco couldn't help it. She broke out laughing. "Dang! I like you kids. We're still on for dinner tonight."

"That sounds wonderful," said Miyu.

The sound of footsteps drew Coco's attention to the entrance to Team CFVY's locker room, where the remaining two members of their team were approaching. Fox was wearing a relaxed smile. Velvet was smiling too. However, Coco could easily see that Velvet's smile was more than a little forced. The drooping of Velvet's ears also betrayed her faunus-teammate's true feelings.

"Well, see you guys later," said Coco, giving Team MNPS a wave over her shoulder as she and Yatsuhashi went to rejoin their teammates.

Miyu and Setsuna watched them go, their expressions faltering slightly. "Velvet-san looks crushed," observed Miyu. "I feel bad about that?"

"In a scenario like this, the path forward is tread by treading on the ambitions and dreams of others," said Setsuna. "No one entered this tournament with the intention of losing."

Miyu let out a breath. "But...when you consider your opponents to also be your friends, victory can be a bittersweet thing."

Meanwhile, Coco came to a stop in front of Velvet and Fox.

"Looks like you ended things with a bang," said Fox, flashing them a slight grin.

"I used that joke already," said Coco.

"Dang it."

Hearing a sniffle, Coco turned to look at Velvet, her expression falling as she saw Velvet doing her best to keep a smile on her face, despite clearly holding back tears. "Hey, Vel...sorry...We did our best, but..."

"It's...it's all right," said Velvet, swiping at her eyes. "I...I'm fine, really..."

Coco sighed, smiling ruefully. She reached out, resting her hand atop Velvet's head, between her rabbit-ears. They locked eyes for a second. Then Coco moved her hand to Velvet's shoulder, pulling her closer, and wrapping her in a hug, while letting Velvet rest her face against her shoulder. Coco held her tight, while Velvet's body quaked with sobs, which she kept as muffled as possible.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up," said Yatsuhashi, gently patting Velvet's shoulder.

"That's right," said Coco. "They might've took our chance at the finals, but they're good kids. Let's make sure, the next time we see 'em, we can greet 'em with a smile," said Coco, rubbing a hand up and down Velvet's back.

"O-okay," said Velvet softly.

With that, the latest match in the tournament came to a somewhat subdued end.