This was it, Yang had been pining for this since she'd first met the tall, stoic and in her opinion rude and stuck up girl who had somehow enamored herself with Ruby. Oh, she was going to enjoy knocking Atheon down a peg or two, even if she would have to share doing so with her partner.
Yang had yet to spend any real time with her partner to truly get to know the silent girl, ideally, she would have preferred to spend some time alone with Blake to truly get to know the girl inside and out. She was a social creature enjoying a good pun no matter everyone else's opinion and knew if she could bond well with her partner she hoped they would be an unstoppable pair.
With her ability to tank a ridiculously high amount of damage only to return it tenfold back to her opponent, if what Yang suspected about Blake from what she had seen during their initiation and Blake's solo match against Glynda. Being fast, agile and sneaky Blake would be able to pull off long strings of precise strikes, all while Yang would keep who or whatever they were fighting focused on her.
With a crack of her neck, Yang turned towards Blake, watching as the girl checked the ammo clip she was inserting into her Gambol Shroud. "Soooo, we need a plan for this," Yang spoke up gaining the attention of her partner. "She'll just beat the tar out of us if we don't have one."
With a slow nod of her head, Blake signals her agreement to the idea of needing a plan. "I was going to suggest the same thing, what did you have in mind Yang?" Blake kept her gaze now focused on her partner, watching as a sly smile slowly spread across her face.
"Well, we got to play to our strengths right and exploit her weakness." Yang smiles the beginnings of a plan starting to form in her brain. "Back in Peaches class Atheon got really annoyed, well I think it was annoyance I couldn't tell she's hard to read." Yang began to gently tap her chin thinking, "She also didn't seem to find my jokes punny." With a smile, Yang playfully jabbed her elbow towards Blake.
"Yang most people do not enjoy puns." Blake kept her expression level using all her willpower to not rise to Yang hinting at her puns. "Thou using puns to distract her would be useful."
"Exactly It was something I was going to do, the other part of my plan involved me getting close and punching her hard." Yang rolled her shoulders, flexing her fingers as she extended and retracted her Ember Ceclia. "In the face."
Blake gently placed a hand on her face pinching the bridge of her nose, slowly regaining her composure after hearing part of Yang's plan. "I take it your semblance would allow you to survive trying to fight her in close combat?"
"Oh, yer it does." A predatory grin spreads across Yang's face as she playfully flexed her arms, "Whenever I get hit I can hit em back twice as hard."
"That'll be very useful considering it looks like Atheon hits extremely hard." Blake mused the ghost of a smile gracing her face. "I could lay traps combining my semblance with dust."
"Awesome, so our plan I get in close and keep her focused on me while you hit her with bug bites and dust?" With what seemed like a reasonable plane Yang began to move towards the entrance to the locker room they had both been getting ready in.
"It's a good a plan as any Yang." Likewise, Blake moved to follow her partner out towards the arena.
While Yang and Blake spent their time formulating a plan, Atheon had already done so upon Glynda announcing who was going to be sparring. She had analyzed all the available data she had managed to observe on her two opponents during both their singular matches against Glynda and from recalling how they had fought during the Emerald Forest.
To say Atheon was not impressed by their displayed abilities would be an understatement, they did not hold a candle to any previous opponent she had dealt with, yet even with the myriad of predicted outcomes of the sparring match ending with her victory something nagged at the back of her mind.
Focusing in on this wayward synaptic impulse in an attempt to figure out what could be the cause of such a thought, Atheon was presented with the simple hypothesis that her opponents like Glynda had unique abilities comparable to the light.
Such a thought caused her mind to briefly freeze as the ramifications of such an idea shot across her synapses, if such a hypothesis was true then none of her predictions would be reliable and would mean her strategy would have to change to accommodate such an unpredictable and unwanted reality.
From what she could theorise on their already displayed combative skills Yang would be the primary threat considering she fought in a similar manner to those boisterous Titan type Guardians, the very thought of fighting anything resembling a Titan sent a mix of endorphins rocketing through her body. Atheon knew the best way to shut such a combatant down was with an overwhelming amount of force, something she could and would be able to deliver with cold efficiency.
When it came to Blake she would be nothing but a minor irritation, something to be dealt with once the primary threat had been eliminated, if the girl proved too much of an irritation Atheon knew she could just detain her. It was something Atheon knew she would have to analyze as to how she could still perform a detainment, considering it was something that was tied to the empowering effects of her Vault.
Thoughts for later, right now Atheon stood watching Yang and Blake take their positions opposite her. This would be over quick every blow dealt with efficiency, she had much more important things to be focusing on.
The second Glynda gave the signal to begin the duel was already firmly in Atheon's favour, unlike her spar against Glynda where she had calmly remained in place and peppered her with shots this time she opened with several well placed shots from the Torch Hammer before storming forward.
The shots forced Blake and Yang to scattered apart isolating them from each other, flicking her wrist upwards Atheon extended her arm upwards and clenches her fist. As her fist clenched sparking radiolaria tendrils slithered along the ground from were her heels touched, springing upwards and flowing around to create several obscuring pillars.
It was a simple attempt to keep the partners separate, it would make them much easier to deal with and to allow for a better analysis of their individual strengths, weaknesses and whatever their semblance could possibly be.
"Oh come on!" Yang growled out slowly rising back to her feet after diving to the side to avoid Atheon's shots. Once back on her feet she shot the taller girl a hateful glare at what she had just done. "Too afraid ta fight us together?"
Before Atheon could Respond Yang lunged forward to deliver a series of rapid jabs towards her stomach, a slowly building heat rising from Yang's hair and body. Atheon merely gave Yang and blank glace before lethargically stepping back to avoid her wild strikes.
"A simplistic strategum," Atheon responded as she swung the Torch Hammer down towards Yang forcing the girl to jump back. "You do not require the devotion of more complex synaptic impulses to counter."
Yang ground her teeth, without even realizing it Atheon was pushing her buttons slowly causing Yang's anger to rise. Watching slowly as Atheon brought herself back up to her full height Yang caught sight of her partner perched atop one of the Radiolaria walls.
Giving Blake a single nod Yang rolled her shoulders before charging forward, the snap-hiss of Ember Celica echoing about the chamber masking the sound of Blake's own Gambol Shroud as it too fired off several shots towards Atheon.
Taking a step back Atheon brought her Torch Hammer up to act as a makeshift shield, causing the shells from Ember Celica to harmlessly plink off the casing. So far everything had gone as a vast majority of the predicted duels would go, basing her next moves on these predictions Atheon found it plausible for Yang to charge forward in an attempt to engage her in close combat, a simplistic attempt to keep Atheon focused on her so that Blake might slip behind and try to deliver some crippling strikes.
Watching as Atheon take a step back as Yang swung out trying to land a solid strike Blake calmly watched, firing the odd burst from Gambol Shroud, waiting for the right moment to strike. Something about the way Atheon was moving didn't sit well with Blake, Atheon was moving earlier then someone dodging a strike should be. Surely she was not able to predict what attacks were coming her way if she was then Blake had serious doubts about them being able to even put up more than anything that would amount to a joke of a fight.
Seeing an opening to strike as Atheon brought the Torch Hammer down towards Yang forcing her to dive backward, this was the opening Blake needed. Jumping from her perch Blake dove down towards Atheon flicking Gambol Shroud to extend the sword section outward while she clutched the bladed sheath in her other hand. With two swift slashes Blake aimed for the small of Atheon's back, a powerful strike hopefully one that would heft a large chunk from her Arua.
Sadly her strike didn't land, much to Blakes horror as she was only moments from her strike connecting, Atheon pivoted on the spot a hand snapping out towards Blakes' throat with clear intent to grab her around the neck. Thinking quickly Blake snapped up a shadow clone to take the hit for her, she was astounded by the perfect timing Atheon had executed with her interception.
"Talk about letting your opponent slip through your fingers." Yang jabbed as she lunged forward again, her fist connecting to Atheon's jaw snapping the taller girls head back. Seeing this opening Yang followed the strike up with several more slams into Atheon's stomach, only to roll back as Blake shot in from behind slashing across Atheon's back, before following up with a combined salvo of dust rounds.
Each shot hit its mark slowly generating an ever-growing dust cloud obscuring Atheon from their view. Risking a glance upward to the screen above Yang felt a cold realization dawn as she saw what their strike had done to Atheon's aura level, for their effort they had only managed to impart the faintest silver of aura loss.
Slowly the dust began to settle the silhouette of Atheon becoming visible, she had not moved at all. Her head still looking upwards from Yang's punch into her jaw, it sent shivers down both Blake and Yang's spins. Why hadn't she moved? Something was not right with this, yet if they didn't act and gave Atheon time to react it could spell defeat.
"Well if you're going to stand there all emotionless, I'll have to strike up some motivation." With a grin Yang again shot forward her fist raised ready to strike, she drew closer and closer to Atheon She shot the fist out aiming to land a hit in the abdomen in an attempt to wind Atheon and bring her to her knees.
Millimeters from making contact Yang found her fist caught within Atheon's free hand, slowly mounting pressure Atheon began to squeeze the first her head moving down to bring her gaze on Yang. What Yang saw in Atheon's eyes caused the blonde brawler to pale in horror, gone was the calm calculating gaze of superiority that the girl had held replaced with pure cold precision on a singular task.
The task of beating Yang and Blake into the ground.
The time for data collection was long since passed, Yang had worn out her usefulness as a subject for analysis the moment she had struck. The puns had just grated Atheon's synapse, now she would show this impotent blonde mockery of one of the accursed Titan class Guardians that had raided her vault the folly and error of her actions. Sparring Yang no words Atheon tightened her grip on the brawler's fist earning a pained yelp from the girl before wrenching her from the ground and high into the air before slamming her down hard into the stone floor of the arena.
Not letting Yang utter even a moan of pain from the violent and rapid impact with the ground Atheon slammed her from of her foot hard into the prone blondes chest, the impact triggering the temporal shockwave. While on a much more toned down scale as to avoid extinguishing Yang's life the force was still enough to shatter the girl's aura sending her slamming into the arena wall, with the major threat and irritation dealt with Atheon turned to face Blake.
While Atheon had been, in Blakes on mind brutalizing Yang she had not stood by watching slack-jawed. She had darted about the arena creating several shadow clones of herself, hoping that such an action would give her time to close the gap and strike.
Tactically such a plan saw sound, even by Atheon's standards yet it had one glaring problem. The shadow simulacra Blake had created were simply that, shadowy after images lacking complex detail. Such a sight sparked a simple hypothesis within Atheon's mental processes about Blakes control and use of her semblance, yet this was something to analyze at a later date.
With a singular motion, Atheon snapped her Torch Hammer up to unleash a series of well-placed shots towards Blake, her first shot slamming into the ground before Blake halting her momentum forcing the girl to attempt to keep her momentum in the opposite direction. Something Atheon had predicted, with the second shot landing behind Blake forcing her to stop.
If Atheon had delayed her third shot by even a microsecond longer Blake would have had sufficient time to dodge, but with cold efficiency drawn from logic simulated predictions, Atheon's third shot slammed home bathing Blake in the all-encompassing bath of entropic energy sapping the girl's aura.
With an eruption of purple energy, Blake crumpled to the floor like paper her aura unable to take the sheer force of the shot.
While most would stand and celebrate such a victory Atheon saw no benefit to doing so, she had gained useful data from the exchange, yet somehow something nagged at her. Stepping away from the arena towards the exit, she paid no mind as began to Glynda move between Yang and Blake checking them for injuries, nor the shouts of both congratulations and shock from the stands above.
Her mind focused inwards on the hollow feeling resonating inside her mind, running systematic mental simulations of the possible cause for such a feeling all point to a singular point along the time nexus of the last several minutes. The moment Yang had connected a hit, something she had not predicted or planned for, an action that had hurled Atheon into a frenzy of rush analysis and haptic response similar to when those accursed Guardians had assaulted her throne.
To have such a sickening feeling once again pollute her mind left Atheon feeling chemical imbalances similar to that which had been triggered by her previous night's dream. FEAR something she never wanted to experience again, yet this time the fear was not the same dread of being erased from existence, but a fear more inward, doubtful about her own abilities. Was her capability for simulation slipping?
At present Atheon could only theorize on such a distressing concept, it would be something she would seek to correct. Though it would have to be at a later time as currently, her body had other nutritional needs that require more immediate attention.