Sorry for the slightly longer wait guys. This chapter is gonna be a bit... surprising, I think. Enjoy!

Second Song

Chapter 11

Untamed Hatred

Terra

"This Flow is… really fucking difficult!" Asuka strained as she tried it out, struggling to regulate and control the movement of her aura around specific parts of her body in time with her actual attacks. "That because you can't relax~" I teased her as I danced around her stiff and clearly telegraphed attacks. "You're naturally full of fast-twitch muscles, but you're focusing too much on your Flow. You can't exactly hit me like that."

"Fucking noticed!" She shouted, moving to throw a choppy roundhouse kick at my head. I smoothly slipped under it and almost casually walked up to her exposed back and thrust my hip out into her behind, a yelp and a *THUD* letting me know that she fell on her face. "Dammit!" She gasped, rolling onto her back and all splayed out on the wooden floor, covered in sweat. She wasn't the only student having trouble either, others completely passed out trying and failing to contain their aura while using Flow. Professor Jaune had been teaching the class Flow today, and there were… varying results. Riot and I, having already been constantly practising it since the previous week were naturals, though I was pretty happy that I seemed to be the best out of the four of us. Wolfram was a bit shaky at first, but he was slowly getting better and better. For some reason though, Asuka was having a bit of a difficult time trying to get it down.

"Why the fuck…" She gasped, doing her best to sit up, "Is this so hard!?" Riot was standing a bit way from us, rapidly shifting his weight and throwing punches while using Flow. Even while practising, he called out to Asuka. "I warned you about getting used to just letting your aura constantly burst from your body! You've gotten so used to that now that control is gonna be harder to pick up!" She flipped him off and struggled to her feet, getting back into her fighting-stance with a shout of "Again!" I grinned and held my hands up in my own stance, bouncing on my toes. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, doing her best to keep a tight hold on her aura. "There we go. Concentrate and relax," I encouraged. I could tell from how bunched up her muscles were, she wanted to just charge and lash out with a blistering combination, but she managed to force the urge down and slowly stride towards me. Her moves were slow, the jab to my face quite obvious enough for me to dodge. Still, her Flow was surprisingly disciplined, even as she moved into another roundhouse kick and a follow-up hook-kick.

She started to get more creative even as the pace picked up, doubling up on her attacks and throwing out new and interesting strikes, at one point jumping up and shooting both of her knees at my face. As soon as she landed, she suddenly gasped for air, more sweat dripping off of her. "D-dammit… my mind just… can't keep up," She wheezed, "It's like… trying to control four extra limbs at the same time!"

"Your pace was a bit low, but that was your best try so far. You lasted for a minute and thirty seconds." She grinned at that and gave a thumbs up, obviously encouraged by the improvement. "You said that your mind couldn't keep up with your movements?" Wolfram asked her as he sat down. She nodded, both of us curious at what he had to say. "Well it sounds like you have an issue regarding your mental reaction-times. It's kind of funny considering that you're a speed-type," he teased, earning an embarrassed huff from her.

"Seriously though, have you considered doing basic reaction or multi-tasking drills?" Her eyes went slightly wide as she took it in. "I figured," He nodded, "You're more reliant on natural instincts rather than active thinking, but just that alone won't help you advance. Trying to do both types of drills should help your ability to think at a higher speed and with greater flexibility, which would certainly help you out when it comes to better coordinating your movements and actions with your thoughts and intentions."

"That's… actually a pretty decent idea," She nodded, "Thanks." He gave her a thumbs up and she returned it with a confident grin, getting back to her feet and wiping the sweat from her face and opting to practice Flow with her own movements. "Glad I was able to give some reliable advice," He sighed as he went back to his own practice, while I just raised a brow.

"You sure about that? She's very heavily based on instinct, so who's to say she's going to follow through?" I asked with a small smirk.

"Screw you too Terra!" Asuka shouted at me, though the lack of actual anger made us chuckle. After steadying himself, Wolfram thought for a moment before he came to a conclusion. "I believe that she'll go through with it. They might fight differently, but Asuka and Riot are both similar in that they're capable of picking up on skills that will allow them to rapidly improve. Put that in tandem with Asuka's natural talent and new willingness to learn, I have no doubt that she'll do her best." My eyes flicked over to Asuka, and a giant grin split my face as soon as I realized that she heard him. Her cheeks and ears had turned a bright red, her movements a bit jittery and her face twitching as she fought as hard as she could to fight off a smile.

"Keep up the good work class!" Professor Arc called out, we've only got ten minutes left, so push yourself for another five!" As if in response to that, Riot's pace started to spike up, strikes tearing through the air as his focus sharpened, eyes narrowing as if he was able to see someone physically standing in front of him. His foot lashed out with an audible *WHOOM*, a gust of air-pressure actually forcing us back a step. As he reset, his head suddenly snapped to the side like his was punched in the face hard, stumbling back and glaring hard. He side-stepped, but his body crumpled as if someone drove a sledgehammer into his ribs. "Umm… the hell?" I muttered.

"It's a more advanced kind of shadow-sparring," Asuka said as she sat next to us, a surprising look of sadness in her eyes. "It's not just him throwing out attacks, he's trying to think up of any and every opening that he makes, and he punishes himself for it." He had put his guard up, but something seemed to blast right through and knock him back. "Who the hell is he imagining then, to give him an ass-kicking like that?" I chuckled.

"His father."

I stopped laughing. I noticed the anger, no, the seething hatred in Riot's eyes. For a split second, I saw it: the rough image of the Headmaster, and where Riot's attacks were being aimed. Temple, ears, neck, floating-ribs, femur. It didn't seem obvious to anyone just glancing at him, but it was pretty clear what was going on: each attack was meant to inflict agonizing pain and cripple his opponent. He wasn't like an enraged Asuka either, his power was always aided by strict technique and high precision. It wasn't the first time I had seem him so focused in a combat-based setting, but to see that kind of raw hate in his eyes made me wonder how someone our age, how someone as nice as he was could look so hurt.

"Time's up!" Arc called, much to everyone else's relief. The smouldering look in Riot's eyes vanished and he breathed out gently, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead. "Good job you all! Don't worry if you weren't able to get much progress with your Flow, but make sure that you practice it. As for the last five minutes of our class, you've got two options." This caught everyone's attention. "You can either rest it out, cool down and get changed or…" He grinned cheekily before he flared his aura, much to all of our surprises, "Test your Flow and power against me. If you can hurt me through my aura, then I'll immediately give you a passing grade for this semester." Nearly everyone got fired up, excited murmurs passing through the hall and several students stepping up to the challenge. Asuka, despite how tired she was, was the first one to dash in front of him, a massive grin on her face as she clenched her fist. "You've only got one shot, so use it wisely!" Arc said as he grinned back, his aura tight around his body.

"All I need is one shot!" She laughed, her fist trembling as her Semblance activated with an explosion of steam. She closed her eyes, and I knew that she was focusing intently on her aura before her body burst into action. "HAAH!" She turned into a blur and shot straight into the Professor with a sharp *BANG*, the floor shaking before everything came to a stop. She was suspended mid-air, her fist planted solidly on his chest. He hadn't even budged an inch, wearing a big, shit-eating grin on his face. "Not bad! Great speed and velocity, but your Flow was lagging behind."

"Dammit," She sighed as she landed, shaking out her probably sore fist. The display of explosive speed and power that would normally render everyone else airborne and probably outside doing next to nothing on Professor Arc put a lot of people off. 'Points for everyone who still wants to try though,' I thought with a small laugh as I walked up next. Thinking for a moment, I got into a basic stance and started to bounce o my toes, making myself as light as possible. 'I don't have the same raw power as Asuka or Riot… but precision is where I shine! I'm no slacker at close-quarters combat, but I think I've got a new trick up my sleeve. Time to see if this works.' I twisted my body and shot my own fist forward, though I made sure that the knuckle of my middle-finger was pointing out, acting like a spear. 'Spiral your aura, and direct it to the point of impact!' I twisted the muscles on my wrist, forearm, bicep, triceps, and back, perfectly synching up the spiralling motion with the flow of my aura as it flooded into my knuckle. *TWACK!* It was a strange sound, and a rush of hot and dull pain ran up my arm. Nothing was broken but the feedback was almost like trying to break a steel wall with a wet noodle. "Ooh, that's a pretty neat technique you've got!" He applauded, still unmoved, "It's a bit uncontrolled still, but it's got a load of potential. I don't really suggest using it against someone during combat-class though, something like that could punch right through aura if you aren't careful." I nodded, happy with my performance.

"What the heck was that!?" Riot asked in a childish, extremely excited tone, practically bouncing on the spot, "I felt your aura twist and pinpoint right at your knuckle when you hit him. All that extra force was like a freaking drill: you could punch a hole through almost any defence if you practice with that move!" I grinned as he mimicked to move, quickly picking up on how to use his aura in the same manner that I did, though where mine was like a needle, his would be like an exploding tornado. 'That'll be… interesting,' I thought.

"Might at well give it a try," A voice sighed. Ringo casually but rather quickly walked up to Professor Arc, a relaxed look on his face. The four of us were quiet, and for good reason. Ringo was pleasant enough, but just walking around the dude put us all on edge. Not necessarily in the bad way, his vibe was just… naturally dangerous. Distracted in thought, I jumped when I heard a shockingly similar *TWACK* that my own punch had, though mixed with the same sound of a solid sounding and otherwise normal punch. "Very interesting use of your Semblance! I'm impressed by your creativeness, but you shouldn't just rely on previous people's works." He sighed and nodded, though it was pretty obvious that he was pleased with himself. He walked off and saw my surprised look on my face, a small smile on his own as he idly thumbed his watch. 'Hmm,' I wondered.

"My turn!" Riot shouted, literally bounding over to the professor. "Hahaha! Nice spirit kid, but can you back it up?" It was like someone let a grenade loose in the room, the air immediately exploding as sheer wind-pressure pushed everyone back. I had to shield my eyes, but aside from the shouts of surprise, I could see what was happening. Riot's aura was surrounding his body like a giant white bonfire, halfway to the ceiling and roaring with power, just about managing to keep it contained. Professor Arc though… his own pure white aura was like a giant wall, insurmountable and unbreakable. The feeling only intensified as it suddenly contracted right around his body Riot's eyes turned sharp, aura violently spiralling around his arm. 'He's going to use his own version of my new technique… let's see it then!'

"HAAAH!" He roared as his fist tore through the air and exploded on contact. Instead of a single, concentrated point of impact, Riot's aura literally exploding from his fist in a giant spiralling burst. Arc was actually pushed back, his feet skidding across the floor as he was pushed from the center of the room right up to the wall before the spiralling-effect faded away. A hole was torn through his shirt, revealing his untouched skin underneath. "You're packing a lot of power in that punch Riot!" The professor congratulated with a smile, "But I can tell that it's an incomplete skill. Honestly, I'm not surprised that you've been able to pick up on a lot of aura-manipulation techniques early with all of your previous practice. Enhancement, Enveloping, Flow and now Expulsion on the fly." Riot was practically beaming with joy, utterly happy that someone was able to see how much work he had put in. "However, you still weren't able to get through to damage me. I think we know that if you actually went all out, then that might be a different story." The claim made almost everyone's jaws drop. Jaune Arc, the Immovable, said that he could've been hurt by Riot? It was nearly unthinkable for everyone else.

Nearly. Everyone had reviewed the Initiation footage at this point, and even if we were on the lower end of the spectrum, it painted a target on our backs. I didn't mind really. Riot bit his lip, looking a bit hesitant before he said, "… I mean… I didn't really want to wreck another building on accident sir." The silence permeated through the class before Arc burst into laughter, ruffling Riot's hair with a smile. "I guess that's fair enough kid! Still though…" His smile turned knowing, though his face was kind. "Everyone has something to overcome. It's your job as the next generation of Hunters and Huntresses to make peace with every part of yourself, no matter how much you might dislike it. Once you manage that, I don't have a single doubt in my mind that you'll all become far stronger." Riot still looked hesitant, but he ultimately nodded in agreement. "Well, class dismissed. Make sure you all keep your practice up and have a great day everyone!"

"Damn you Riot, I swear that I'll catch up to you!" Asuka raged playfully, punching him in the shoulder. He laughed sheepishly and he rubbed his shoulder as we walked out of the door, right back to his usual shy self. "I don't really doubt that you'll catch up Asuka."

"Eeeh!? So you actually think I'm behind then!"

"N-no, I mean-!"

"Don't hide it you cocky bastard!" She growled, putting him in a headlock and grinding her knuckles into his hair. Funny thing was, she had to hop up to do it, all while he kept walking like nothing was happening. I snickered and Wolfram did his best to compose himself, his posture dignified as he struggled not to laugh. "Really though," I sighed as I calmed down, "That was our last class for the day, huh?"

"You're right," Wolfram said, slightly surprised. "Strange, the day passed by surprisingly fast. I'm quite shocked that I don't really have anything planned."

"Not everyone wakes up with a plan for every day, nerd," Asuka teased, "Let's just wing it and do whatever the hell we want! Hell, we can do nothing if we wanted to, since we managed to complete all of our essays."

"A-actually, I need help with something," Riot spoke up. This made our eyebrows shoot up: Riot was always one to work hard on his own, but for him to need help? This was new. "Wolfram, you're pretty good at weapon-making, right?"

"I'd like to think so, yes," He said before an excited spark flared in his eyes. "Are you finally thinking of making a weapon? Because I'd be utterly glad to help you."

"Well… yeah," Riot answered after a moment. Immediately, Wolfram whipped a notebook out of nowhere. "Good, because I've already written own about thirty different weapons that should suit you. Gauntlets, Greaves, arm-blades, elbow-spikes, claws…" As he was rapidly firing choice after choice off, Riot's eyes spun from the number of choices.

"N-no, nothing like that!" He said as he put a stop to Wolfram's rambling. "Don't get me wrong I'm grateful that you went out of your way to come up with weapons for me, but… I'm not looking for a brawling option." Wolfram was silent but curious, as were the rest of us. Riot breathed in and looked him dead in the eyes. "I want a greatsword." That surprised us.

"Damn, I was betting a scythe or some kind of polearm," Asuka hissed disappointedly. I didn't blame her either, it was pretty much the exact same line of thinking that I had as well. "A greatsword? But you excel at hand-to-hand! Why…" Wolfram trailed off as his eyes narrowed, Riot fidgeting under his gaze. Wolfram suddenly went about poking and prodding Riot, much to the poor guy's surprise as he yelped and twitched. "Dense bone-structure, extremely high muscle-fibre count, yet malleable…" He grabbed his wrists and kneaded them for a moment. "…Rock solid joints capable of withstanding sudden impact, and flexible for other unorthodox movements. Quads and calves, full of fast-twitch fibres great for explosive and sudden movements." He stopped and looked up at Riot, glaring, but not in an angry way. He was fascinated. "… You've been training to use a greatsword for a long time, haven't you?"

"...Yeah. Yeah I have," He answered honestly, "I know that as strong as I've become, that strength can be turned against my body if I overwork it. I need a weapon that'll be powerful enough to crack through the toughest defence without having to stress my body so much."

"This is going to be so much fun!" I had never seen Wolfram so excited, but it was a pleasant new side to him. It was pretty funny seeing the surprise on both Asuka and Riot's face. "Your build is literally perfect for a weapon like this! There's such a wide array to choose from, and all of it falls under my specialty!"

"Uh, specialty?" Asuka asked.

"Swords! I like weapons in general, but swords and bladed things are what I'm best at. Enough of that though I'm already -!"

"I've actually already decided what I wanted. Sort of. I just wanted your advice on it…" He trailed off as he stared at something behind me and I immediately turned, feeling a vague sense of hostility. "Ooh great, it's team hype!" I rolled my eyes and sighed. Diego Brando was… overbearing at times. It wasn't that he necessarily went out of his way to find someone to pick on. If you were in his way and he didn't like you though? That was a different story. Best part was, he didn't like anyone. "I'm nearly impressed that you've managed to last this long, constantly skirting at the bottom of the rankings."

"Brando, what do you want?" Wolfram said, a little bit tired. "If you're just here to antagonize us then I strongly suggest you leave. Nobody is in any mood to start a fight on such a pleasant day." Diego snorted and rolled his eyes at him.

"Oh please, don't make it sound like I went out of my way to run into you. You aren't even worth that kind of attention. You're all just a bunch of C-grade characters riding off of the coattails of your rich parents." A shiver ran down my back and couldn't help but glance at Riot. His face was blank, too blank for someone normally at emotive as he should've been, but his knuckles were bone-white in his clenched fist. "Oh screw off Diego," Asuka snapped, "You know damn well that we'll catch up and kick your team's collective asses! Riot's already kicked Crystal's ass during the initiation too y'know?"

"Please, I don't give a shit about the rest of my team! If I wanted to, I could take all of you down by myself!" His arrogance faded a bit as a faint look of respect gave way. "Okay, well… maybe Valentine could do the same. But I could still beat him within an inch of his life if I wanted to, the patriotic bastard." He refocused his attention back on us, his scowl forming back on his face. "Still, stay the hell out of my way. If I see any of you anywhere near my ranking, I'll be sure to beat you so badly that you'll quit Beacon altogether!" His face twisted into a taunting sneer as he walked past us, his hands in his pockets. "It's not like I'm holding my breath for a miracle like that to happen though. With how often you're pushed down, it's almost like the headmaster is trying to get you kicked out."

"Don't say that." Riot was suddenly beside Diego, his hand gripping his shoulder tightly, aura pooling into his joint and muscles. He gasped and buckled under the grip as Riot's eyes… 'Good Gods…' The whites of his eyes were pitch black as his face looked absolutely savage, his teeth bared like an animal. Like a predator. "He can try, but I'm not going anywhere. An arrogant bastard like you could never stand in my way when I get to the top." Diego looked frozen for a moment before he suddenly snarled back. His body grew slightly bigger, more muscular as his human hands turned into… scaly claws? He gripped Riot's fist and with a lot of effort pried him off, baring his own sharpened teeth. "You don't get to touch me!" He twisted and a *BANG* echoed throughout the walkway, Riot skidding backwards a couple of feet. There was a visible dent in the middle of Riot's shirt, right where his solar-plexus was, but he didn't look like he had noticed at all. "You've got some damn nerve-!" Diego roared before a hand suddenly grabbed his arm.

"That's quite enough Diego," Ringo said calmly, patting his teammate on the shoulder. "Wouldn't be good for any of us to start a fight out in the open and attract any… undue or unwanted attention." My eyes flicked up to the Tower where the Headmaster resided, and my blood ran colder as I realized that he was right. If he caught wind of this… Diego huffed and calmed down, his body reverting back to normal. "Tch! You better watch yourself Rose. I'll beat your ass when sparring comes around, mark my words!" He shook Ringo off as he stormed away from us, muttering angrily as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Haah, that was a bit close," Ringo sighed, a small grin on his face.

"No freaking kidding. Thanks for the save dude," Asuka said, both of them shaking hands. His gaze shifted from Asuka to Riot, a sudden wave of disappointment overcoming his features. "Oh. That's a shame. The look in your eyes before was wonderful, but it seems that it's faded away now." All of us turned around to Riot, and I was caught off guard. Before, he looked ready to maim and outright kill Diego, but now, I'd never seen Riot so terrified. He was staring at his hands, his entire body trembling in raw fear. "…R-Riot, you okay?" Asuka started, walking up to him.

"Don't touch me!" He practically shrieked, leaping away from her. He was hyperventilating, panic setting into his body and tears pooling in his eyes. "Please get away from me! I-I didn't mean to- I…!"

"Woah-woah-woah, calm down Riot! It's alright, things just got a little heated, that's all!" Asuka coaxed, her voice uncharacteristically soft as she slowly walked towards him. "I-I promised! I promised that I wouldn't harm others with it, and I just broke that promise!"

"What the hell is going on?" I whispered to Wolfram, the sight of Riot so distraught really unnerving me. "I believe that using his Semblance, whatever the situation, is something of a traumatic experience."

"Riot, it's just your semblance acting up, please calm down," Asuka said softly, closer to him now. "Nobody really got hurt, and everything is alright." He still looked like he was on the verge of having a heart-attack, so my body just moved on its own. 'Time to do something pretty stupid!' I dashed right at Riot in a full sprint, catching both him and Asuka off guard as I literally tackled him to the ground, tightly wrapping my arms around him (Pretty difficult since he was built like a marble statue). Everyone stood silent and shocked as he fell onto his back, Riot staring open-mouthed at me as I casually looked up at him.

"W-what the hell are you doing!?" He choked out, blushing a bit as I rested my chin on his chest with a grin. "Dude, calm down. You're alright."

"Please get away from me," He started to panic again, "I-I don't want to hurt anyone-!"

"Hurt me then," I cut him off bluntly.

"…huh?"

"Since you're so dangerous, hurt me then," I taunted with a grin, holding back a laugh at how dumbfounded he looked. "See? You're a big softie, and we all know you wouldn't go out of your way to hurt someone." That seemed to calm him down, a gentle breath of tension leaving him and everyone else in our vicinity. I rolled off of him, relishing the embarrassed blush on his face as I helped him up, dusting his clothes off. "You're alright Riot." For a brief second, everything was alright. Riot was the shy, kind hearted guy with the sheepish smile. It didn't last.

*BANG*

Riot was sent crashing into a fountain, stone and water splashing in the blink of an eye. Stand right in front of me, his body radiating with the unwavering intent to kill was Headmaster Oscar, his eyes blazing with fury and his scowl so twisted, some teeth were bared. "I knew it would only be a matter of time before you revealed your true nature," He growled, briskly walking past us and towards the downed Riot.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Asuka roared, leaping right at Oscar with her fist cocked back. He didn't even spare us a glance as he waved a hand in our general direction, snapping, "Stay out of this." It was like a giant hand slapped the four of us away like flies, the air knocked out of us as we landed a safe distance away. Even then, it felt like someone had encased our bodies in stone: just trying to stand was like lifting a building. "B-bastard!" Wolfram coughed out, struggling to his feet with the rest of us.

"It was foolish of me to wait for the opportunity for you to lose control. However, now that I see a simple argument is enough cause for that to awaken, I know that I should've slaughtered you like an animal the moment you were born." Though I could only see Riot's feet, I could tell that he wasn't moving. He was completely vulnerable to someone who was about to kill him. "I won't let you destroy the peace that I worked so hard to create. I won't let her come back."

"G… get up…!" I called out weakly.

"This is where you die, you abomination!" Oscar shouted, raising a glowing hand over his prone form.

"GET UP RIOT!" I screamed.

(Cue Music: Doom Eternal OST, Slayer Gates, Extended)

A flash of light… no, something opposite the concept of light itself was torn from Riot's body, blasting Oscar back a few paces in a ten-foot high pillar of pitch-black rimmed with a bloody red hue. A hand gripped the broken edge of the fountain and he rose. Veins bulged across his entire body, his explosive muscles straining against his torn shirt. The whites of his eyes were once again pitch black, his face twisted into an animalistic snarl. Where his hair was once black with red tips, it seemed to have grown slightly, all of it glowing a bloody red right down to the root. "Oh God's no…" Asuka breathed, her eyes wide and full of worry.

"Now what… might that be?" Ringo asked, a tinge of excitement in his voice.

"That's Riot's semblance," She said simply as Riot crouched down, hunched over and tightly wound up like a bomb ready to explode. Oscar's eyes were wide, his jaw hanging open for a moment before he scowled, regaining his posture and ready to fight. "What kind of Semblance is that?" Wolfram asked, all of our eyes glued to the war that was about to take place.

"…Hatred."

To be continued…

Another setup for another all-out war! This something I've been building up to for a long time now, so get ready for the next chapter. Round one, Riot vs. Oscar! Hope you all enjoyed and see you next time!