Setting: Marble Valley

The sound of their battle echoed throughout this landscape. With no other forms of life in this desolate corner of the continent, the presence of both parties was quite profound. Flames rose to the sky and winds raged. Gunfire and lasers were heard and seen, and metal colliding with metal resounded.

Brenton produced a wildfire of flames at Zelts and Silver that danced around them and trapped them in a ring of fire with flames too tall for them to see through. Zelts had his wingblades in his arms, reeling them back to create a strong enough gust to blow the flames away, but he and Silver were taken aback when Alexandrite rushed through them, covered head to toe in red crystal armor. Fire danced across her armor until they died out and she wielded her halberd which was also encased in crystal, making it harder and appear more menacing.

She brought her massive polearm down to strike Zelts and Silver quickly kicked his friend in the side, activating dust when he made contact to make Zelts lighter, and knocking him out of the way of the attack. Alexandrite missed so she followed up with a few quick blows aimed at Silver since he was the closest target. Three swings as she advanced on him and Silver was forced to back away. He avoided each attack by ducking and weaving away until he reached the flames behind him. She raised her weapon to attack from above, knowing Silver would try to take to the skies for safety, and brought it down on him.

This made Silver remember the time she and the Ravagers attacked Fortuna, specifically his battle with her. There was no way he could block her strikes and remain unscathed. She attacked with all her might and this was no different. With the air cut off as an escape route, Silver just rolled to the left to avoid the devastating blow that cracked the stone beneath. As he did, he felt his body pressed against the flames. He was too close for his liking and it only felt worse when Alexandrite grabbed one of his ankles. Silver tried to shoot her but she lifted off the ground and over her head before slamming him into the rocky floor.

The wind was taken out of him and she was ready to impale him with her halberd, but Zelts returned and blocked the attack, using one of his wingblades as a shield while striking her armored body with the other. His attack didn't do much as it let a long crack run down from her chest to her left leg, so Zelts pushed her away with his shield half. Alexandrite was forced to let go of her weapon and an idea sparked in Silver's head.

Alexandrite felt the thrill of battle facing these two. Every encounter with VRSZ was enjoyable for her. The battle was so great she hoped Brenton wouldn't interfere yet, but knew he was bound to join her. Her eyes were locked on Zelts until a blur shot up over him. She found Silver and he was holding her halberd which was still encased with her crystal. Now that she wasn't holding it, the crystal would crumble away in a few seconds. He had his body position to throw it at her and his sudden attack stunned her. Silver hurled the weapon at her, using Gravity to increase its weight to make more of an impact, and it connected, hitting Alexandrite's right side. The halberd broke through the crystal armor surrounding her torso and arm as it made contact then landed behind her. She howled in pain from the blow that grazed her body but dealt massive damage to her aura. The rest of her crystal armor started cracking. Protecting herself with her semblance was her greatest defense and attacking with them boosted her offense. Now she knew which was superior.

She kneeled while her adversaries stood over her. Though she loved battle, she preferred if she won. Zelts had his wingblades at the ready until fires came and washed him and Silver away. It was only a matter of time. Marching through the flames was the lizard faunus who commanded them. Brenton kept moving until he was by Alexandrite's side. She looked to him with a miffed expression. He scoffed at her for enjoying this and helped her up. Neither of them had to say it. They needed to fight together.

Zelts and Silver's aura took a beating when they were caught in that flamethrower. It carried them out of the fire ring and would've taken them further if Zelts didn't blow them away with his wind. The battle was taking a toll on them both.

"No point in holding back anymore," Zelts said to himself before activating Conversion. He absorbed all the dust weaved into his clothing, draining every last ounce of power. His eyes shined a shimmering gold like always, but they were brighter than usual and he felt his entire body surged with power.

"This is the final battle, so why not go all out."Zelts turned to Silver with a serious expression then said, "Silver, you might want to back up. I'm about to go really cut loose and I don't want you to get swallowed up in this."

He slowly walked over to the two enemies then he noticed Silver walking beside him. "As you said, this is the final battle. Why wouldn't I fight by your side? Do you think I can't weather the storm with you?"

A flicker of amazement flew through Zelts's face then it was tempered with amusement. He shouldn't have expected any less from his friend. Silver changed Fenrir into its sniper form and Zelts charged into battle with his body's strength increased by Conversion.

Out of respect and experience, Brenton did the same, activating Boost to increase his own physical might then rushed out to meet Zelts, the man he considered a rival. Alexandrite used her semblance to give herself new armor. The color reflected her ever-changing eyes which were blue. Blue armor covered where the red armor was breached. She followed behind Brenton but took a step back once her armor was attacked. The crystal around her neck and above her chest was cracked. The source of the crack was still in the armor where she felt the impact. A bullet. Her eyes turned to Silver who was kneeling and had his rifle aimed at her.

He was not going to let her do as she wished. The power of his ammunition was stronger in rifle form. He could get through. Pinning her down and shattering her defenses was what he could do to help Zelts who was engaged in another elemental duel with Brenton.

Ebony and Monochrome made their way to Violet and Remus with Zinnia attacking from a distance with her segmented blade. In a flowery flash, Violet vanished from sight and Remus teleported away, both getting out of the enemy's view. This wasn't a problem in Ebony's mind. Monochrome had thermo-vision to track heat sources. Finding either would be-

Monochrome fell to the ground with Remus on top of him. He grabbed his sword and impaled the droid's back. The durable metal alloy of Monochrome's exterior only allowed the blade to pierce through and nothing more. It was unable to go deeper and hit anything vital. Monochrome discharged electricity to keep Remus at bay and the Cobalt used Checkpoint again.

Ebony glanced behind her to Zinnia and they locked eyes, communicating with just a look. Zinnia extended her whip-sword and swung it across the ground, covering a massive span of the battlefield. Ebony jumped above it and listened while she landed. She heard it. The sound of feet falling back to the ground. it came from her backside between her and Zinnia. "There you are!"

Ebony did turn her head. She quickly and subtly aimed her scabbard rifle at the location and fired. Her shot reached the spot and was deflected to the ground with the sound of metal ricocheting. She found Violet's location. Ebony pursued her adversary who didn't break her semblance after being found out. She changed Trois Reines to spear and attacked with wide swings for a better chance of hitting Violet and made sure to put more focus on her hearing. Since she couldn't see Violet, she needed to hear her in order to fight her.

As Ebony attacked around her, Violet backed away but every time she did, Ebony got closer to her position. Even if she removed her presence, she couldn't stop herself from making sounds. The faintest noise alerted Ebony who was slowly reaching her and if Violet continued to use her semblance to this degree to hide her presence, she'd drained her aura. Being smart was her best tactic.

Remus danced around the battlefield while dealing with Zinnia and Monochrome, teleporting around to keep them disoriented, but it was barely working. Monochrome was barely fazed and Zinnia had a caliber of focus that prevented her from falling for his tricks. She followed him as he used Checkpoint in succession, but her focus was mostly on Ebony. Keeping her safe was her utmost priority in this conflict. She felt his presence and could almost see the attack coming, but her body didn't react as quickly as her mind wanted. Zinnia raised her sword and it clashed with Remus's who performed a downward strike from midair, but he put more power in his attack and his blade connected with Zinnia's shoulder. The damage was minimal since Zinnia backed away, but she felt humiliated for her mind being too divided in this situation.

Many of her peers called her the Paragon. It was time she started living up to that name.

After Remus landed the hit, Zinnia grabbed the segmented part of her blade and wrapped it around Remus's arm and sword. She pulled the hilt back and tossed it forward and the rest of the blade followed with Remus at the end of it. He was taken for a ride and sent flying toward Monochrome who had its salvo of missiles at the ready. Five missiles were let loose and Zinnia flung Remus into the air. They made contact with several explosions that consumed the Blue Flicker.

"It can handle the rest," Zinnia told herself while she ran to her friend's battle.

The smoke from the missile barrage cleared but Remus wasn't there. Falling from the sky was Monochrome, damaged from its own attack and standing where it once stood was Remus. He was relieved it went smoothly and knew he would've been finished if he didn't learn Round Robin. He also knew how strong Monochrome's weaponry was, so he figured it did a number on itself. When he got a good look at the droid, he could see it was badly hurt. Its exterior was dented and burned. Monochrome crashed to the ground and Remus ran to pursue it. He leaped in the air above the downed robot and had his sword ready to run into its head, but a whip-sword came by and slashed at his neck, forcing him to fall to the ground. Zinnia was back and her face showed her attention was all on him.

Remus parted Delta into two swords, knowing he needed to go all out to defeat her. He dashed to the side and ran faster and faster until he was just a blur. Zinnia stayed her ground and tried to keep track of him, but she lost him very quickly. Waiting for him to strike was foolish. She moved from her position, moving across the battlefield so she wouldn't remain a sitting duck. As a precaution, she activated Armaments and imbued her whip-sword in her aura, but she realized there was another method to slow Remus down

"Ice would work… but-" she could feel the heat from here. Brenton and Zelts had already begun their battle and the heat it created was stifling. "Stone would be best,"

She pulled out cartridges of dust and placed them inside her wrist weapon before aiming the gun barrel. Zinnia fired repeatedly at the ground around her, creating pillars of rock around her and the battlefield. Impairing Remus's speed was complete. Now all she needed was to land a hit.

Something ripped through the air around Ebony jumped back to avoid them even though she wasn't sure where they landed. Having invisible knives thrown at you was just terrifying. This statement passed through Ebony's mind before she landed, but her placement was off. Her feet were slipping. Appearing in front of her was Violet who was in the air and had her foot out for Ebony to take. She kicked her, but Ebony blocked it with the polearm of her weapon. Still, her feet gave from the force of the blow and she was pushed backward, but she placed one arm out and landed on her hand, flipping back onto her feet while using the momentum to swing her spear forward to Violet who deflected it with her kukris.

She felt it with her hand. Violet made Enigmas with ice dust invisible and coated the floor with it. Ebony couldn't help but be impressed with Violet's ingenuity. It made beating her all the more worthwhile. Back on her feet, Ebony pressed forward to strike, using the reach her spear gave her, and she clashed with Violet's kukris again, but she noticed they were invisible instead of the wielder. She wondered what advantage that gave her. Violet moved into Ebony's space and led with a slash of her invisible knife and Ebony jumped back to avoid such a simple attack, but it wasn't enough. She created enough berth to avoid the length of the kukri, but she still felt the blade slice her aura. Violet moved in for a second strike but she felt the air leave her lungs as she was knocked away. Her aura level went down considerably. Ebony was glad she had her scabbard rifle in her other hand and that she learned how to fire with just one hand, but she needed to figure out the length of Violet's blades and how she increased it.

"Either ice or earth dust. Then enough force can shatter it,"

Violet sucked in some air and landed on her feet and dashed toward Ebony who did the same. The two leaders of both teams continued their bout. Ebony had to figure out what dust Violet was using and Violet had to be wary of the rifle. It was during this fight that Violet realized how skilled Ebony was. Initially, she believed Zinnia to be the biggest threat, but her opinion was beginning to change. The art of deception was a weapon for Ebony and she was deceptively strong.

Three more shots and Alexandrite could feel her armor breaking apart. She was down to one knee with her eyes on Silver who kept her pin to the ground. Her view of him was obscured by emerald flames. She turned her head to find Brenton with his arms wreathed in blue flames that he sent toward Zelts who was surrounded by golden wind until he expanded it with his wingblades to act as a shield. The collision created more colorful flames that flew upward into the sky. They were dangerous, uncontrollable, yet dazzling to watch. Malevolent beauty described the emerald flames perfectly.

It was a spectacular battle and Alexandrite was desperate to participate, but Silver did his best to keep her at bay by penetrating her armor and keeping her fixed in place as she mends it with more aura. This was delaying the eventual depletion of her aura. She knew it, Silver knew it, and so did Brenton who watched in the midst of battle. He landed on the ground and found Zelts flying through the air. He descended to bring both his blades down on the King of Flames but missed when Brenton jumped to the left. He positioned himself between Silver and Alexandrite where she spun his body and carved a circle in the ground with Oathburner. Sapphire flames rose and birthed a tower of fire that rose high into the air.

Silver lost his mark and changed Fenrir back to twin guns. He shot the ground around him with bullets filled with earth dust to form a wall around him. The tower collapsed and the fire spread through the ground. Silver bunkered behind his wall as the flames spread everywhere. He could feel the intense heat on the other side and wait for the fire to be expelled to die. He watched from the sides as the flames coming through got smaller. This was his chance. He quickly jumped to the top of his wall and aimed his guns to fire, but he was met with a newly armored Alexandrite. Clad in green crystal, she brought her halberd down with a downward strike and the attack hit Silver. He was struck on the shoulder and the force behind the attack caused the stonewall beneath him to crumble. Silver fell to the ground with little aura remaining as Alexandrite stood over. him. She raised her large spear to end him but he refused to be the first to go down.

Bang!

Silver fired point-blank at the Bedazzled Behemoth's face. A bullet penetrated the armor around her forehead. It cracked but did not give. The most that attack did was surprise her and it halted her attack.

"Zelts!"

Like summoning a storm, the wind stirred around them. The Golden Wind never turned a blind eye to his teammates in peril. Above all, he was the shield of Team VRSZ. Zelts created a massive tornado that eclipsed the flame tower Brenton created. He put more power behind this attack. It was necessary to protect Silver and keep Brenton at bay. The violent golden tornado was too strong for Brenton to get any closer or do anything to stop it. His flames would be blown out from this distance and if he got any closer, then the tornado would suck him in. The safest thing for him to do was to retreat out of the tornado's range. Brenton did so and wondered if Alexandrite would be able to withstand it.

Falling back, Brenton found Monochrome in a small crater, Zinnia fighting Remus, and Ebony fighting Violet. This was not the plan Ebony envisioned and he planned to correct it while Zelts and Silver were busy.

Zelts controlled his tornado and moved it to Silver and Alexandrite's location. The windstorm was breaking apart the rocks around them and sent them flying around the area. It was dangerous, but Zelts had faith Silver could weather it.

Gravity was a blessing. Silver kept his semblance active to make his body heavy enough so the tornado couldn't scoop him up. The same couldn't be said for Alexandrite who was lifted off her feet then swallowed up by the wind. She was tossed and spun around endlessly inside the storm so much that she couldn't tell what was up and down or left and right. The intensity of the storm was beginning to rip her armor apart. It was shredded until only shards were left on her skin. The Bedazzled Behemoth was helpless against Zelts's elemental might.

Besides stones and herself, there was something else inside the tornado. Flying along the current was Silver with Fenrir in both his hands. He didn't have enough aura to withstand the tornado, so he needed to end this now. He fired volleys of bullets at Alexandrite, hitting her with each shot. He didn't stop until he reached her and when he was close, Silver changed Fenrir to escrima sticks. Winding both his arms, Silver clotheslined Alexandrite, knocking her whole body back, and he grabbed her arm. He kept his grip on it and lifted it until he was above her and she was on her back just below him. He wrapped her arm and one of her legs in his arms then sat on her back. Silver activated Gravity, increasing his and Alexandrite's weight as much as he could, then they plummeted to the ground.

Zelts ceased his tornado. The massive windstorm began to disappear and he gained a clear view of Silver and Alexandrite fall. They crashed and a huge crater formed from the impact. The dust cleared and he could see his friend sitting atop Alexandrite whose aura broke apart from the fall. She laid in the ground unconscious. There was nothing else she could do. Silver had a smirk but he felt his aura break apart as well. He couldn't use his semblance and no longer had any protection. He fell backward and landed on the ground spread eagle. He was heaving and taking in deep breaths.

"You alright?!" Zelts asked as he ran toward his friend. His eyes still glowed gold but his voice carried all the concern.

"Never… better," Silver managed to squeak out. His body was aching but he had to get over it. He had to balance himself to get on his feet, but he stood tall. "See?"

He wasn't sure how he looked but it seemed to be enough to convince Zelts he was okay. Zelts turned away and said, "Good. Let's join the others. This fight is far from over."

Silver couldn't see it, but he felt like a smirk worked its way onto Zelts's face. The gunslinger walked forward with his friend.

Zinnia's adrenaline was pumping as she countered another of Remus's blows. Her blade cloaked in aura was more than enough to handle his strikes, but his speed made it impossible to know where he was. It was only her instincts that helped her guess where he was going to attack next. She scanned the immediate area but didn't find Remus, though the sight of Brenton was a surprise. His aura was exuding from his body and she knew what he was going to do next.

She leaped high into the air and watched as Brenton unleashed an enormous amount of flame that washed the floor. Zinnia could see nothing but fire around her as she landed on one of the stone pillars she made. Perched on her new vantage point, Zinnia waited. This was enough to flush Remus out. Her instincts took over, and she swept the area with her whip-sword, slashing apart all the other pillars so her adversary did not possess a foothold. She narrowed his means of escape and she figured out where he was.

"Above!" she looked up and found Remus trying to land on top of her.

She got her sword ready but Remus vanished from her sight. It wasn't from Checkpoint. Swooping down from the sky was a badly damaged Monochrome who tackled Remus away. It pushed Remus to the ground and stayed airborne. The Blue Flicker got back up and had a big grin on his face.

Remus couldn't care less about Monochrome, but Zinnia Underland and Brenton Drake were different. He couldn't ask for better opponents. He gripped both swords in his hands as his adversaries came his way. Smile unwavering.