Chapter 35: Bird's Eye View
Beacon Training Field, Vale
"Hey! Great job there big guy, you made that look eas-"
"I said no cheering!" Umbra snapped at Leif, ignoring Mura entirely as they walked over. Their team leader was flush pale at the towering giant's anger, but Mura stepped between the two.
"Hey, I'm the one who shouted, so if you have an issue, take it up with me."
"Gladly. Fight me, right here and now-"
"Oooo sorry, but I have a competition to get to, sooooo later then?" Mura snickered, rolling her eyes. She wasn't going to give Umbra a later either, but it felt good to tease him after having to hold back. That said, if Umbra was going to take his anger out on someone, it wasn't going to be Leif, not this time.
"Fine," Umbra finally spat, anger turning into annoyance.
"Fantastic. Well, I have to report to the starting area, so if you all don't mind..." Mura trailed off, giving an exaggerated bow and turning around. Her legs skipped across the training area, oddly filled with glee despite just being shouted at. In fact, her whole mood had been largely positive since her decision last weekend to stay at Beacon, despite the chance of being discovered. While the improving mood mildly surprised even her, she saw no reason to see it as a bad thing. Her conversations with Leif and Luna had been more enjoyable than ever, her energy was at an all time high, she even felt like she could out-hyper Nora on these happy emotions alone.
'Well maybe at least for a few seconds' She chuckled to herself, recalling all the times Nora nearly blew out the lights in the dorms when Ren decides to make pancakes. Though, they were really good pancakes.
The final event of the day was the target juggling competition. Stationed in the center of a circle was a six-foot-tall white sack used for practicing combos that involved juggling a target with a series of blows. The competition was so self explanatory that it seemed Port planned to skip the rules altogether; after all, it was just a matter of who can keep the target up in the air the longest without touching the ground themselves, as well as a factor of how smooth the combination of hits was.
She began stretching her arms out while she identified her competition. A single laugh escaped her lips as it seemed Leif was going to go three for three today. Yang from RWBY, Nora from JNPR, Sky from CRDL, and Beryl from OBDN, exactly as their leader had predicted. All were a good fit for this event, maybe except for Sky and Beryl. That said, she sorely underestimated how well the rest of OBDN would do in their own events, so misjudging the tiny mole Faunus's skill wouldn't be in her best interest.
Especially considering LUMO winning the whole competition all came down to Mura winning.
No pressure or anything.
"You know, you should have gone with him."
"He didn't ask."
"Because he knew you'd say no."
"He's finally catching on then."
"That's not-never mind," Luna sighed, giving up this line of debate. Leif had left the two to go speak with RWBY, or rather, apologize to the girls for his partner's performance. While Umbra was busy looking triumphantly smug, Leif noticed Blake's unnerved expression, greatly worrying him. Neither of their states surprised Luna; Umbra's Semblance was a huge question mark, this being only the second time she had seen it in action. On top of virtually being unknown in what exactly it was, the fact that it was able to influence and change Blake's Semblance was so surprising that it was no wonder the girl was bewildered. She must have done that tactic a million times without fail, so to suddenly see the representation of her soul turned against her… it was no different than when Luna looked up at the moon and saw her own inner image reflected back.
'At least when it happens to me it's my own fault'Luna sighed, watching as Yang took the stage 'I'm shocked Umbra would go as far to-' She paused, frowning mid-thought. No, she wasn't surprised actually, it seemed to fit his usual tactics. Total surprise, undermine her confidence, maximum impact. Given the situation, it likely was his only real option to win, though that didn't disturb her any less.
"Well you should still go apologize," she quietly, yet firmly, stated. "You owe her that much." While she was sure her teammate had heard, his stoic face gave no indication of his thoughts on the matter. Instead, he seemed oddly focused on the event, or at the very least the current competitor who was set to beat the stuffing out of that bag.
BAM! Slamming into the ground, the training dummy's impact could actually be felt in the soles of her feet. As Leif guessed, Yang was the girl to beat, racking up a juggling combo of over twenty hits with ease, with over fifteen seconds of hang time. Mura could only speculate how much further the blonde would have gone if the target was capable of hitting back, which would have fueled the girl's Semblance. But lucky for her, and the other competitors, that wasn't the case. As Beryl went to get set up, waiting for a fresh dummy to be brought out, Murasaki continued to stretch her arms out.
Out of the members of Team LUMO, only her and Umbra fit the skill set needed for this event. However, taking into consideration Umbra's admittedly superior athleticism and projected competitors in the obstacle course, Leif made the call for Mura to do the target juggling. While parts of her still wanted to resist being ordered about, again her new sense of belonging kept her content. But if she was to stick around, good grades would be pretty useful.
'So I'd better not lose' She firmly determined, watching carefully as Beryl took her turn. The tiny Faunus sized up the target dummy looming over her before grinning, settling into a stance before letting out an intense shout. Glowing a dark purple, the rings on her middle fingers slammed into the underside of the dummy along with her punch. Mura was shocked by just how far up the dummy soared, closely followed by the Faunus herself, who quickly punched the ground, the pair of rings still glowing purple.
"Wowzers, wouldn't want to be on the other end of those punches," Nora commented, letting out a low whistle.
"Ditto, didn't even realize she had rings with gravity Dust," Mura murmured in agreement. Beryl's weapons were unique in that they weren't really weapons so to speak. Her fighting style was basic, best summed up as 'punch stuff', but the real power was the Dust rings she wore on each hand. Each was infused with a different type, though up until now Mura had only seen three rings in action. Her index finger rings were being put to work now, earth Dust, strengthening her punches, suspending the training dummy in the air for hit after hit. However, keeping that sort of Dust usage going constantly had to be taking immense toll on her Aura, meaning the finale had to be coming soon.
Sure enough, five strikes later, the spectators watched as Beryl pulled herself to the dummy, using her Semblance to stick herself to her target. As the bag slowly rotated in the air, the Faunus waited until it was between her and the ground before delivering her final attack. Mura assumed she would do one last solid hit to knock it to the gro-a sudden explosion put a quick end to that theory as the whole crowd oooh'd at the spectacle. The dummy slammed into the ground with frightening speed, Beryl successfully landing seconds behind it with her trademark grin on display.
"Way to go partner! That ought to shock the competition!" a loud voice was heard from the stands, accompanied by groans by Nick's teammates. While the comment seemed a bit out of place, the context was made clear as Mura approached the stage to take her turn. Carefully looking at the damaged dummy Oobleck was pulling away, she saw to her surprise that it looked damp around edges of the scorch marks.
'Water and lightning, clever' she realized. The rings on her ring and pinky fingers were infused with water and lightning Dust respectively. While she was clinging to the dummy, she must have been soaking it with water, before zapping it with her final blow. Beryl definitely wasn't someone to underestimate. But only time would tell if her score could beat Yang's performance. But if all went according to plan, it wouldn't matter if it did.
Murasaki planned to sweep them all.
"You can begin Miss Zenith the moment I get clear. Good luck!" Professor Port explained as he set down the fresh dummy before retreating hastily. Smart move-she wasn't going to waste a moment.
"Seriously, you need to go apologize to her, she was really shaken."
"No."
"Ummm guys?"
"Come on man, what is it going to take?"
"I'm not apologizing."
"Guys!"
"Just talk to her at least-"
"I won't."
"GUYS!"
"What?"
"She's-" a loud bang ended her sentence as Mura's performance began, putting an end to the male's bickering. The dummy was already in the air, having been lifted off the ground from simultaneous cannon shots, before getting slammed into by Dawn as Mura spun around. Then Dusk. Then Dawn again, followed by Dusk in a rhythmic pattern. With each hit, Mura continued to gain momentum, spinning faster and faster.
"So this is what she's been working on by herself all this time," Luna remarked, amazed at her partner's skill.
"Considering she is used her Semblance to lift the target off the ground before her first shots, and continuing to use it to lessen how strong her blows need to be, it's very impressive," Umbra agreed, saying more words in one go than he did in entire days though regret immediately showed.
"Was that a compliment?" Leif snickered.
"You tell her and I'll kill you."
"Might just be worth it," Leif laughed, Luna joining him as Mura continued climbing up higher and higher.
Dawn.
Dusk.
Dawn.
Dusk.
With each swing her arms felt heavier and heavier as Mura approached her limit. Her Aura couldn't be stretched much further, barely able to keep herself and the target moving upwards. At this point she was as high as Yang as was, with a fairly good bird's eye view of the field below. While the view was sorely tempting, she needed to stay focused, lest she be crushed by the heavy dummy above her.
'Time to wrap it up' she decided, lessening her Semblance. The bag rapidly slowed it's upwards trajectory as Mura wrapped her arms around it, similar to how Beryl did before. However, unlike Beryl's elemental combination, the LUMO member opted for a simpler approach. Releasing the dummy and letting them both fall to Remnant for a second to build up speed, Mura indulged herself for a brief moment to look around.
It was totally worth it.
The CCT towered above her, as did most of the buildings, but the archways that spanned outwards from the school were barely much higher than her. A bit of relief filled her that she wasn't acrophobic, otherwise being this high up would likely have put her in a state of sho-
She blinked several times, staring at the closest arch in the distance.
A man on top stared back.
While he wasn't close, her eyes could still faintly make out his general features. Far more recognizable however was the stark white and grey uniform of the Atlas Military.
Her mind went blank, her feelings numb, all she could do was stare agape in shock until a sickening crunch sent shockwaves of pain through her body as darkness overtook her.