"Shamak, in fact!"

As she uttered those words, black smoke erupted from the great spirit and engulfed the entirety of the central circle of the arena, leaving team CPRK dazed with their senses forcibly blocked by her.

Indigo and Scarlet had known of its effects, so they quickly backed off as soon as possible, nodding to their team leader shortly after to commence his plan of attack.

Subaru, with his spirit on his back, immediately began to charge forward, heading towards the ruined urban environment. He vertically scaled alongside the wall, running and jumping across the obstacles in front of him as he left the black magical fog. He quickly arrived at his destination, the ruins of a 4-story building. Before he could climb it though, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Beatrice's signal to him, telling him that the spell had ended. He had to be quick with this.

"Murak!"

Quickly uttering the spell that he had learned to cast solo as soon as his gate was fixed, Subaru began a series of jumps towards the very top of the ruin. Utilising the protrusions of concrete and rebar available on the wall he was climbing.

Meanwhile, Scarlet had taken the time given to pressure Penny just before the android could attack. Indigo threw a series of needles at Ciel and Rose filled with combustion dust to separate them, falling into the defensive as she headed towards the simulated forest biome behind her.

Kuro shook his head clear from the sudden dulling of his senses, immediately turning towards the urban environment behind him as he gave chase towards the nasty-eyed man. He immediately activated his semblance, allowing him to teleport within a small distance at a rapid pace.

Within a few moments of him parkouring and teleporting across, the boy was already on Subaru's tail. He panicked, but thankfully Beatrice had other things that would help him gain the advantage.

"Vita!"

Beatrice aimed the spell at the boy behind him, and Kuro quickly slowed down in his chase, stumbling as he tried to grab Subaru by the back of his collar. He almost fell upon feeling the significant increase of his gravity, but he quickly regained his balance afterward.

Regardless of the spirit and contractor's efforts, Kuro had found himself at the top of the building with them. Subaru immediately took hold of his whip and dagger from his belt. Within a short interval between his breathing, he gave his opponent the first strike.

Kuro managed to avoid it just in a nick of time using his semblance, shocking both Beatrice and Subaru a little. He turned to look at them and smiled confidently.

"It will take more than that to put me down, Subaru!"

Using his daggers and semblance, he quickly parried and dodged strike after strike from Subaru as he charged forward. He seemingly ignored the effects of the spell put on him; Subaru internally cursed the benefits of having a strong aura, even if magic was supposed to be more effective against people who were unfamiliar with it. In spite of that though, none of his attacks from his whip had even managed to hit the boy yet.

They both maneuvered around each other, increasing and decreasing the distance between them like a tug of war as both attempted to hit each other using their respective weapons. Their duel had finally commenced.

Kuro dodged another whip crack and teleported behind him. Subaru turned around, only to be met with a dropkick before he disappeared again.

"Subaru! From above, I suppose!"

Hearing Beatrice's warning, Subaru avoided a dive attack from Kuro with a flip, his body still aided by Murak. He cracked his whip once more, but it was quickly redirected by his opponent before he disappeared again.

A moment later, Subaru was then struck with an elbow to the side of his face. Kuro, attempting to take advantage of his apparent weakness, tried to stab him, but Subaru managed to block it. Then, Subaru countered by using the whip's pommel to strike at him. Kuro quickly teleported to the other side to dodge it and tugged the fabric of his cloak. He turned around, only to be met with a kick to the face, dazing him. Kuro once again disappeared.

He reappeared at the same place he stood the first time before they fought, "I thought that you were stronger than this, Subaru. You managed to give Scarlet a hard time there, even if it was only for a moment. I think I overestimated you too much-"

Kuro teleported again, narrowly dodging a boomerang thrown from the now annoyed Subaru. With a gesture of his palm, it quickly returned to his hand using the gravity dust infusion mechanism. For a few seconds, the boy was seemingly gone as both spirit and contractor remained on high alert.

Kuro then reappeared right behind them, proceeding to grab Beatrice without hesitation. Subaru turned to try and strike him with his dagger, only for him to disappear and reappear mid-air, falling. Beatrice was heard screaming for help. Subaru turned around, only capable of watching the scene unfold.

Swiftly, Kuro threw her to the ground using the momentum of his fall. He teleported once again, giving Subaru a hard punch and a kick to the face right after.

Subaru staggered back, eyes filled with anger as he stared at the boy, "How dare you hurt her!?"

Kuro widened his eyes. "Oh shit-" He dodged another strike, teleporting away before dodging another one.

He quickly teleported again and again, dodging strike after strike from him. Subaru was furious.

With a final dodge from the onslaught of whiplashing, Kuro then immediately teleported in front of Subaru and promptly disarmed him from his weapons, dropping it onto the ground.

He proceeded to give a kick towards Subaru, but he managed to block it. He gave a back kick of his own, but it was a miss as Kuro teleported once again. Unknowingly for the boy, Subaru, after observing his teleportation, knew where he would appear next.

He pivoted, knocking Kuro over to near the edge of the tower with a side kick. Staring at the boy's shocked expression, Subaru could only grin in satisfaction. His daily hand-to-hand training with Indigo and Yang had finally paid off.

He felt much faster and stronger than before with their help, even if it was only a slight improvement in his strength to fight alone compared to people like Garfiel, who he saw as a rising master in hand-to-hand combat Admittedly far better than Yang or that Mercury guy. Even if it was small compared to the likes of them, this increase was significant for someone like himself.

Kuro, knowing that he was becoming predictable, decided that he had to charge forward. He led with an opening slash at his face, but Subaru proceeded to sidestep it and counter with a left hook the boy barely managed to dodge. Subaru continued with an uppercut and then a punch to his kidney. Despite having aura, Kuro felt a sharp pain erupt from below his ribcage.

Kuro attempted to kick at his head shortly after he recovered, but Subaru managed to roll away and got into a defensive stance once more.

Kuro, seeing Subaru's stance, took it as a challenge. He backed away and went into his own stance as well, choosing to not wield his daggers and sheathed them back into their scabbards. He wanted to see just how far his opponent's hand-to-hand skills could actually reach.

Subaru led off with a hook punch, aiming for the boy's head. Kuro managed to parry it away and Subaru, who was still enraged from what happened to the spirit, continued on the offensive. He grabbed Kuro's head and swiftly struck the temple with his knee, causing the boy to let out a stunned shout.

Subaru firmly grasped the boy's hair and pulled himself closer before placing his dominant leg at the back of his head. Exercising his parkour skills, he used it as a platform to jump from.

Pivoting in the air, he managed to deliver enough force with a kick to knock the still-dazed Kuro onto the ground.

Landing behind him with a backwards roll, Subaru did not falter and continued his advance, "Take this you bastard!" before delivering another strike towards the recovering and shocked Kuro.

"Shit!" Kuro managed to catch the punch from him and proceeded to counter with his own. Before it could reach Subaru's face, he was met with a leg sweep that knocked him off-balance.

However, Subaru failed to throw his opponent into the ground again, as Kuro grabbed him by the collar, making both fall into the ground as they got a hold on each other's body.

Knowing his skills in wrestling, Subaru saw this as an advantage. Unfortunately, Kuro knew better.

Before Subaru could take advantage of the situation, Kuro teleported away. He promptly stood up and readjusted himself into his guard. Subaru proceeded to rush towards him, his mind still clouded by his rage. He elbowed Kuro in the face before hitting him with a jab at his jaw.

Kuro managed to grab ahold of his arm as Subaru attempted to go for another punch, "Gotcha!" He then pulled himself towards Subaru, striking him in the abdomen.

Kuro briefly withdrew and gave his opponent a quick right jab before striking him in the chest with a left hook boosted with aura before teleporting away.

"Show yourself, you coward!" Subaru yelled after recovering, his voice still filled with rage.

While looking for the boy, Subaru briefly looked at the massive aura meter display at his right hand side. It showed his aura at 20%, almost a redline. Fortunately, Beatrice's aura was at 85%, a good sign.

Almost immediately, Kuro reappeared again and gave Subaru a punch, then a kick at his jaw as he was caught off guard. Subaru pivoted and replied with a spin kick, which the boy easily caught and threw back.

"You're getting sloppy." Kuro remarked.

He proceeded to give Subaru a kick of his own, forcing Subaru to back off.

As they continued to fight, Subaru felt a connection from behind a small shed on the top of the building where their fight was taking place.

'Beatrice!?' He thought as he received a kick to his chest.

Beatrice had managed to find a hiding spot while Kuro was distracted fighting him. And through the connection, she managed to form a plan with him as he fought on. The tide had to turn, as winning would guarantee the security of his team's victory.

He was hit by Kuro's punch for the final time. Subaru then received a slice from Kuro's knife he had re-equipped. He then got pushed back against a wall with a kick to his chest. Kuro disappeared once again. Subaru's aura was at 16% now, and he was starting to get desperate.

Kuro reappeared once more, looking down at the struggling Subaru. He twirled his knife, giving him a look of pity. Slowly, Subaru stumbled up onto his feet.

"Any last words?" He said, a hint of respect in his words.

He found his initial impression to be incorrect, for Subaru was indeed worthy enough to challenge him. Even if it was only for a brief moment, he found himself struggling to bring the nasty-eyed boy down in hand-to-hand, though he would never publicly admit such a thing.

Subaru clenched his tracksuit, readying himself to use his trump card. The tide would turn now. "Invisible Providence!"

Within the next moment, a trio of invisible forces in the shape of a hand burst forward out of his body, quickly launching a united strike towards the target in front of him.

Kuro was met and knocked back by the invisible attack, the force akin to being hit by a car, focused within a single point.

Normally, this would be capable of rupturing an average person's ribs and causing massive internal bleeding, possibly even death through the internal shockwave potentially damaging the heart. But Kuro was not an average person. People like him, who possessed extensive combat training and an aura, would not go down easily.

His body skipped across the concrete floor of the building, almost falling off. He saved himself by having his knife transform into a hooked blade as it buried itself into the concrete.

He barely hung on, panicking a little. A moment later, he quickly teleported back to the top, still slightly dazed by the attack. He quickly glanced at the aura meter; His aura was significantly damaged already by that hand-to-hand exchange, and around a quarter was removed by that attack alone.

He looked towards the kneeling and vulnerable nasty-eyed boy, who was vomiting a little, the recoil of the attack finally getting to him.

Saying that Kuro was shocked at that surprise attack would be an understatement. Just like the audience that had seen the footage from their seats, Kuro was in a mix of being quite impressed, confused, and overall simply appalled. It was the first time that both the boy and crowd had ever seen such a thing occur, even with the existence of Semblances. It felt sinister, even if he had little to no experience against it aside from that hit.

Kuro clenched his chest. Even with his aura protecting him from the brunt of the attack, he still felt a surge of pain.

"Maybe I was wrong about you," he said to Subaru, quickly getting to his stance for one final strike. "You're worthy enough to fight in this tournament, Subaru."

He launched himself towards Subaru, using the momentum of his leap to deliver a battle-ending strike with his bare fists.

Subaru tilted his head upwards towards him, before immediately shouting, "Beako!"

The great spirit swiftly appeared from Kuro's flank and with a shout intoned, "BMK, I suppose!"

The fourth original spell of the now named Pleiades series, plainly known as BMK. It took advantage of the fact that Yin magic was an affinity that could tamper with space-time. An offensive spell that shot out a bolt of pure yin magic, intended to debuff the enemy by slowing down their time to an almost full stop, just enough for their body to still function properly.

And with that in mind, Kuro immediately stopped mid-air. The act had earned a clear audible gasp from the crowd that paid attention to what had happened. The tide had finally turned to Subaru's favor.

Subaru would not let this opportunity go to waste. He stood up and grabbed his main weapon, Antares. He quickly delivered a whip crack at him. Then another. Then another. Another. Another. Another. Another. Another. Another. Another.

Strike after strike. One whip crack after another. He attacked with an ever increasing pace to the point of delivering multiple attacks every second. It seemed as though Subaru was dancing with the whip with his movements ever rampant and unrelenting, if not for the black and blue boy that stood before him being his target.

The whip maneuvered through the air as Subaru delivered the final hit, gathering momentum that will be boosted by the infusion of wind dust and delivering lethal damage to anything unfortunate enough to be caught by its fangs.

With a war cry, Subaru released the gathered energy of his weapon, and gave off the loudest whip crack he had ever launched throughout his time training with it, the noise ringing through his eardrums.

Kuro's aura meter was frozen because of the spell, but the crowd simply knew that he was going to lose with how fast Subaru had managed to score his hits. His body had not recoiled from each successful hit, for the spell did not allow it to. Soon after, with both spirit and contractor satisfied from torturing the poor black and blue boy, the spell and its accompanying effects had worn off.

The time of his body had been sped back up to normal, and his body began to jerk around mid-air, a late response to the many, many hits that were delivered by Subaru. Shortly after the final series of late recoils, his body was then quickly knocked backwards, launched into the air from the sheer force gathered in total from Subaru's barrage of attacks.

But, it seems to have worked too well. Kuro desperately yelled for help as he was knocked off the urban part of the arena, promptly crashing on the hardlight barrier before sliding down and falling to the dirt-filled ground. With one last thud, his aura shattered.

The crowd cheered as they saw the footage. Prof. Port quickly ordered the staff to help the knocked out boy shortly after Oobleck commented on Subaru's narrow victory.

"Papa actually won!" Meili screamed, hugging Shaula whilst trying to contain her excitement and surprise.

Her adoptive father was always known by the people back at her home as physically weak. And the narrow victory showed that flaw quite well, with her seeing the classic way of him winning being the usage of his wits, and with a little help from Beatrice as well. But nonetheless, his victory was something to behold. It put her on the edge of her seat, even almost dropping the hotdog that was in her mouth to the floor.

"As expected of my Master, yep!" Shaula proclaimed as well, proudly huffing and puffing up her chest, earning a few lustful gazes from the men beside her.

"Those hand-to-hand techniques. Truly, he's learned well." Yang proclaimed with a sage-like nod.

All jokes aside, Subaru had vastly improved since the start of his hand-to-hand training well over a year ago. It earned a bit of fondness from the people, mainly the girls, who watched him. He eventually hit a limit before she could consider his training as done, though she concluded that he couldn't grow any stronger after that. But seeing how long Subaru managed to hold out, she felt proud.

"What was the thing that happened there though? Was that his semblance?" Blake asked the blue-haired girl. Of course, she was referring to the invisible force that had almost knocked Kuro off the building. Currently, she and team JNPR, being the only people of Remnant that knew of his origins, were the only ones that had not known of his so-called "tricks" due to them not being used so often.

Weiss chose to stay quiet and not answer her cat-eared friend, instead focusing on the fight. Specifically, towards Scarlet versus Penny, due to their section being the most active of the three separate small fights of the match.

Though now that the Ice Queen thought about it, Beatrice's new spell was something to behold and would certainly gather some interest. However, it seemed that the rest were focusing on Subaru instead. It might have been because everyone in her team already knew how capable Beatrice actually was that they were not surprised anymore.

"Was it called something like...'Inevitable Provident' or something?" Yang questioned.

"Yang, it's Invisible Providence! Plus, I don't think that's his semblance since Beatrice mentioned that there are problems regarding that, my theory is that it's their world's version of semblances! Maybe that's why he can't get one here too!" Ruby responded, now fully brainstorming every possible answer she can come up with to support her newfound conspiracy.

"Hmmm, Invisible Providence? I don't know what a semblance is, but Meili knows that it is something related to the sin of sloth!" She said before humming, trying to remember the things he told her about this certain thing in the past, "I don't remember it being that strong though. From what Papa mentioned to me, it's basically a third hidden fist...but that one almost knocked that man off the tower!" Meili answered. "It's just like how Patrasche-chan did it to Tiger Onii-san back at Sanctuary!" She continued, now all of team RWBY is confused.

"That just proves how my Master is always full of surprises, yep!" The scorpion girl responded, "As expected of Shaula's future husband!"

"A sin? Patrasche? Tiger…?" Blake tilted her head.

"Subaru's not that slothful though…in fact, he's much more active than most of us!" Weiss remarked, Ruby nodded in agreement.

So far, the young otherworldly man they came to know as their close friend for the past year had always been that way. Even Professor Glynda was surprised at how dedicated he was in trying to become stronger. Most of them suspected that it was probably because of how weak and vulnerable he was in his original "Isekai" world. But with whatever reason they could come up with, they could agree that it was certainly commendable.ven if he played it off as a routine and a not-so-unique thing for himself.

Yang ignored the small discussion between the two girls, instead focusing on her faunus friend beside her. "Looks like you found a potential love interest from another world, Blakey~. Both of you are felines!" Yang said.

"Oh shut up you!"

"I think Papa should be the one to explain to you guys about this, hehe…." Meili interjected as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

The rest of the girls could only sigh and groan from that disappointing conclusion. Shaula, however, was jumping on her seat. She wanted to see what was coming up next as her scorpion tail-esque ponytail swayed left and right in excitement.

Subaru sat down at the edge of the building with a sigh, watching the battle below unfold and hearing the crowd cheering for his team, his thoughts went off towards the poor boy that he launched like a projectile back in the arena. He wondered if he should have apologized for that, but Kuro did, in fact, slam dunk his contracted spirit. With that in mind, he came to the conclusion that it should be Kuro that apologizes, not himself. No one must hurt his Beako, not even herself and her contractor.

Beatrice soon went over to him, hugging him from behind before he picked her up for her to sit on his lap.

"Should we help the rest?" Subaru said to her.

"Judging by your current condition? No, I suppose! Now give Betty headpats for her hard work, that spell took a long time to prepare and drained a lot of mana, in fact!" She said with a huff.

He chuckled, "Alright alright, you did a good job. I'll give you extra sweets for this, and permission to slap that boy as hard as you can once this match is over!"

Beatrice could only accept that offer with a proud nod and a prideful huff. Subaru then proceeded to think about the recent upgrade of his sloth authority. He felt the same amount of recoil after its latest use, however, he managed to spawn three invisible hands instead of one. He began to think of ways that could be possible.

After a short brainstorming session, he concluded that it might be the buffed Od that was granted to him thanks to the lust authority, and his now purified dragon blood aiding in reducing the recoil, granting him the ability to summon three hands instead of one. It was the most logical explanation for him, at least. He certainly knew that he was not Echidna, who he saw as an expert in witch factors and authorities.

But now, he should really come up with a name for the lust authority.

For Sloth, he had called it Invisible Providence, as its unseen and transparent nature granted it that name.

For Greed, Cor Leonis, as someone who has the power to take someone's burdens away, they must have an ever-vigilant heart like that of a lion.

For his part of Gluttony, he wasn't sure, as he has yet to unlock it.

But for Lust. He is ageless, and he has the Dragon's Blood inside him, making him into some sort of child of a dragon, possibly even the Divine Dragon. He could really only call it one thing, "Timeless Guardian, that is what I will call you for now."

If Scarlet were to describe the current situation she was currently in, it would be similar to her time facing Neo in a duel years ago.

She had to admit, Ironwood and his scientists totally knew how to make a worthy fighter on her level.

The original plan was to immediately go on the offensive against the android opponent in front of her due to the threat she possessed. But right now, Scarlet was struggling to even fight back.

It was almost as if her android opponent, Penny Polendina, was made with the purpose of fighting people like her.

She had managed to dodge and weave through onslaught after onslaught of attacks delivered by literal flying blades controlled by the android for quite a while. Scarlet herself had managed to retaliate successfully a couple of times. But in spite of her efforts, it was still not enough. If this kept on going, she would eventually lose due to attrition.

She really wished she could go all out to end this fight quickly. But due to the spine implant and the old wound on her back, she just couldn't bear the burden that would come with and after it.

With an internal, disappointed sigh at her own condition, Scarlet sent several crescent-shaped blades of pure aura and energy conjured from her very being towards the android. As they flew towards Penny, she backed off to recuperate and restrategize.

It was a technique that she developed from her semblance, Crimson War Goddess, aptly named "feedback". She had developed it just around a month after team Nebulous was formed, courtesy of Subaru's imaginative mind and the versatility of her semblance.

It used the stored energy from the hits she took and combined it with her aura, allowing her to release a shockwave of red crescent-shaped wind blades like the one she fired earlier. They could either be controlled or fired in all directions, and in this case, they were homing towards the android in front of her like a barrage of cluster missiles.

Said homing attacks managed to hit Penny several times, lowering her aura down significantly before she managed to dodge and block the rest with her blades. Although she had succeeded in her efforts of avoiding losing more aura, the wind blades she dodged had impacted the arena around her, with the gathered dirt and dust blinding her a bit.

Scarlet maneuvered through the obstacles behind her with grace and speed, before retreating to the center of the urban biome. She then heard a loud whip crack behind her, surprising both her and even the other opponents present below.

Within the next few seconds, a person could be seen flying off the building behind her and into the edge of the arena. The aura meter presented above concluded that Kuro was knocked out of the match with 0% of his aura left. Following that, a gasp and cheer could be heard amongst the crowd.

She smiled, happy for the pair's narrow victory above. Suddenly, Scarlet's skin began to tense. Something- an attack was coming from her left!

But it was too late for her to react. Penny knocked her back and caught her off guard with a headbutt to the side of her head, aided by the android's supersonic charge.

Scarlet found herself dazed, and she briefly glanced at the aura meter in her moment of stupor. Her aura was now at half, but thankfully she managed to gather her composure. She looked at her opponent, ready to engage in combat once more, only to find out that her swords were now gone.

They were left on the ground, in front of Penny's feet. The android quickly kicked them to the side, sending them somewhere far away from either of their reach.

"Alright! That's it! I'll fight you for realsies now!" Scarlet yelled.

In truth, she had been serious in fighting her from the very beginning, but at the moment she was fairly pissed.

Penny went into her stance, her blades flying in a circular formation behind her back. Scarlet, using her semblance, summoned a sword and shield before getting into her own guard.

A moment of silence was spent between them. One that threatened to break within a second as they eyed each other. Within a second, Scarlet found herself charging forward. She blocked the initial onslaught of the android's blades using her shield, and weaved through another with her ever graceful but shockingly aggressive speed.

Scarlet fired wind blade after wind blade as she advanced, trying to close the distance as Penny backed off as soon as she found herself to be in a vulnerable position.

Penny countered by sending her own swords to target her legs. With swift speed, Scarlet managed to dodge them all with relative ease and continued her advance.

The Crimson War Goddess then, with strength, threw her shield towards the android. It managed to strike Penny in the head, disorienting her a little as it flew around to hit her again on the other side of her head.

The shield plummeted to the ground after it lost momentum, almost immediately dissipating into mere particles floating in the air. Scarlet glanced at the aura meter once more. They were equal in aura count now.

Taking that into account, Scarlet immediately sent another wind blade that managed to hit the android before striking downwards. Penny managed to dodge the second blow and countered with a kick to her face. The android then recalled her swords and knocked Scarlet towards the side of a building. Scarlet's aura was at 40% now, with Penny still having 50% left.

'No wonder something felt off,' Scarlet thought, immediately standing up as soon as she was given the opportunity to do so. It was rather smart of the android to use that tactic. She smiled a bit, though she knew that the fight had to end quickly.

Penny maneuvered her blades and pointed them towards her in a circular formation. It soon began to dance and spin, conjuring a ball of energy at its center, much like how an atlesian laser would actually act before firing.

Scarlet quickly realized what was going on: Penny was charging up a beam attack.

"Oh no you don't!"

A large beam of brilliantly pure energy was fired by the android, moving closer and closer to her. Scarlet, using her semblance to the absolute highest level that she could handle, blocked it with the buffed summoned sword of hers.

A power struggle commenced between them, one that had the potential to explode into a supernova of pure destructive energy that could easily destroy them both if it were to end badly. Scarlet struggled to hold on to her ground, her heels dug into the ground while Penny used all of her power to push her back even further.

The War Goddess knew that she couldn't last long in this current state for much longer. She had to take a risk, try to think of a way to counter this attack. Calculating the possibilities of the plan she managed to think up, she took said risk and acted on it.

Using what little freedom of movement she had while trying to win the power struggle, Scarlet decided to move her legs towards the right side. Little by little, inch by inch, resulting in her managing to maneuver around the beam and let it fire off into the distance. As she gazed at Penny's shocked expression, Scarlet grinned savagely. The plan worked out perfectly.

Using the stored energy the summoned sword had gathered after countering that beam, Scarlet went into her guard position and fired off a single destructive green tsunami of said energy; it proceeded to tear the concrete road apart as it sped up towards her opponent.

Penny found herself quickly knocked back by the attack, skipping and violently rolling across the ground before crashing into a ruined building within the urban biome, causing it to turn into a pile of mere rubble and rebar. Shortly after, the dust cloud created by the impact had disappeared and Penny's aura promptly shattered.

Scarlet de-summoned her replacement sword after that, immediately moving to obtain her actual weapons that she found were right next to a ruined building beside her. She picked them up-

"Scarlet!"

She heard a voice calling from behind. In response, she turned to look at who had said her name.

Penny emerged from the rubble, unscathed thanks to her aura protecting her from harm. She dusted off her clothing before speaking again.

"Congratulations on your victory! Let's be friends after this!"

Penny waved at her like she hadn't crashed and destroyed a ruined building in the first place. It earned a chuckle from her recently former opponent, the War Goddess. Subaru was right, that girl was indeed quirky.

Indigo ran through the forest canopy of the arena, jumping across a log before arriving at a clearing. Her fight against the two opponents chasing her was more difficult than she had initially thought.

"It must have been due to stress," she said to herself, finding some time to ponder about it as she waited for her opponents to arrive.

She shouldn't have been angry at Ozpin right before the fight. And she should've told Subaru about what was going on with her. The young man deserved to know what had transpired. But it had to be done. What had happened in the past, stays there, she had thought to herself. Ozpin clearly needed a lesson in trying not to be so secretive towards his allies.

Although her choice had resulted in her becoming more cold and aggressive in her words and actions, she resented that fact. And those flaws had appeared within her own actions in this fight as well.

Due to her recklessness, she spent a significant amount of aura in performing unnecessary maneuvers.

Due to her aggressiveness, she didn't pay attention to her surroundings and it resulted in her opponents being able to get a jump on her.

Now, she had to pay the price. Her aura count had been lowered to the point that there was a likelihood she would lose. Thankfully though, she had managed to damage theirs significantly as well, making it an equal exchange.

But alas, she blamed herself completely. Not even faulting Ozpin, who was clearly the one that forced her to be this way. She was going to be the architect of her own demise if she kept this up. Not her opponents.

Maybe she needed to talk to someone about her current problems, but most of them really didn't understand the important matter at hand. And the ones that did know she tends to hate.

She paused her current train of thought as she heard the rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs from behind. They've arrived.

She turned to face her immediate pursuers. Her gaze sharpened beneath her mask as she went into her guard.

Ciel arrived first from above with a downward strike of her hard light blade. Indigo managed to block it, and countered the Atlesian girl with a hard kick before backing off. It sent her into a dazed state, allowing Indigo brief respite.

Suddenly, a piercing sound burst through her ears from behind. An attack was coming!

Indigo, relying on her reflexes, managed to narrowly dodge a thrown spear from behind her. The assailant, Rose Goldenhall, maneuvered around her, quickly picking up her weapon from the ground before facing her off.

Indigo reentered her guard, gripping her weapon tightly as she anticipated their next moves. Both Ciel and Rose nodded at each other before moving onto their guards as well, preparing to either strike or dodge the white-haired assassin's attacks.

A brief silence followed between the assassin and duo. Slowly, they circled around another, simply eyeing each other quietly. It ended with them switching,now at their respective, opposing positions. Noticing this stalemate, Indigo came up with an improvised plan.

Within the next moment, she made her move. She quickly reached for her belt and threw two of her dust needles, conjuring fog as it impacted towards the ground in an attempt to distract them.

She spun around and fell back towards the treeline, into the central part of the arena. She guessed that one of them would at least be affected by the smoke, and thankfully she was indeed right. Her clear plan was to separate them using that fog she had brought forward, creating some breathing room for her to manage her cards easier.

Her fight against these two, even if her mood was hindering her now, was a worthy one for sure. Goes to show how even a person with her amount of skill could still struggle against two opponents fighting her at the same time. As such, separation tactics needed to be applied.

With a quick internal nod, she then headed over towards her destination; an ambush spot she had mentally marked at the beginning of the fight.

Ciel advanced through the smoke, cutting tree after tree using her hard light sword to maneuver more easily through the thick foliage. She quickly caught up to Indigo, only to find that her opponent was not not in her presence whatsoever.

Briefly, Ciel looked at her surroundings of the frontal clearing of the forested area. No apparent signs of her enemy nearby. In the face of this, however, she did not falter.

A mere moment later, she immediately found herself caught in a dust explosion, knocking her back towards the ground. Ciel went to stand up, before she was met with a kick to the face and a slash she barely managed to parry.

Indigo threw another smoke needle to the ground and quickly disappeared into the fog. Ciel was a tough one to beat for her, especially when she did not know her actual semblance. However, she had a plan now.

Indigo went in from behind and launched an attack at her most vulnerable spot, that being her back. She struck true, her weapon getting a clean hit on her opponent and she attempted to attack once more.

Ciel spun around and countered the next attack before she was met with yet another kick, but this time she stood her ground. Ciel went in for her first initial strike against her, but was abruptly countered by her opponent.

Indigo dashed around her, probing around to find a weak spot to effectively exploit. Ciel remained vigilant and countered her every move, but she's struggling to keep up with each block and parry that she had made.

Indigo's speed was faster, and her style was much more versatile than her opponent's. She quickly reminded herself of how Subaru commented on her style being similar to a character known as Darth Maul. From his brief description, it seems that she's more defensive than him. But she did agree.

Ciel, compared to her much more experienced opponent, was relying on the pure brute strength and weight of her blade, not being capable of matching the assassin in speed. But she understood that Indigo's versatility, although high, had detrimental drawbacks. From what she observed, the wasteful use of her aura could be placed as the one prime example of that.

It was a clear weakness she could exploit, but currently she was struggling to even try to think up a plan. Her style being too rigid and predictable proved to be one of her glaring weak points.

Indigo had managed to force her to use not-by-the-book tactics, something that she was unfamiliar with, halving her effectiveness in countering her. And due to her recklessness and Indigo's experience in underhanded tactics, entrapments, and ambushes that were used on both of them, she was certainly at a disadvantage.

The fog that was surrounding them was quickly swatted away once they struck blades against each other for the final time, like mere thin clouds of dust blown by the wind. And out of nowhere, Rose arrived towards the scene, interjecting in their duel before they could speed it up.

With a spear crossing between their vision and blades, Indigo promptly drew back and said, "Amplify, 10%."

She hastily threw a gravity dust needle, intended to target the interjector. Rose managed to dodge it. And in turn, it resulted in Ciel being knocked back instead, crashing and destroying a boulder upon impact. Ciel's aura was brought down to 15% from it, knocking her out of the match.

Indigo decided to improvise on her plan as she advanced towards her opponent. She began her assault with a leg sweep. But Rose managed to sidestep it, replying with a stab from her spear aimed at her head where her mask was . Indigo rolled away from that attack, promptly charging at her again shortly after.

Indigo then kicked her in the face, immediately going for a downward strike next. Rose responded with a counter and a slice aimed at her neck. Indigo redirected it and caused it to slice at her own instead, knocking her away.

Rose balanced herself from that knock back, caressing her neck briefly. Fortunately, there was no blood. Recovering for a moment, she came up with an idea on what to do next. With a grin, she yelled, "Help me will you, Vin!"

Rose activated her semblance, calling out to a supposedly imaginative friend of hers. Not too long after, a red dot of light, reminiscent of the colour of her aura, conjured itself in front of her. It stunned the spectators, specifically Beatrice and Subaru, as they watched from above on their recently conquered ruined tower.

It was really akin to a quasi spirit in appearance. But in honesty, it was only a figment of Rose's imagination manifesting into reality. A sentient companion she had conjured by herself. That is her semblance, and it certainly was a unique one.

The red dot, simply known as Vin, blurred towards Indigo as if it moved by its own command. Then it abruptly exploded into a brilliant brightness, similar to that of the sun itself, once it closed in on Indigo's face. It was akin to a flashbang that shone with a rose red hue, stunning the spectators that dared to watch.

Shortly after, Vin disappeared from the arena and Indigo found herself dazed and blinded by that sudden attack, moving to cover her eyes even with her mask helping her. With the advantage, Rose moved to strike the assassin, aiming her initial stab at her abdomen.

She proceeded to give a rapid series of stabs and slashes towards her opponent, lowering the temporarily defenseless Indigo's aura with each successful attack. Her wrath conjured and seeped into her spear that had turned into a sword for her onslaught of attacks.

From above, Subaru hoped that Indigo would at least find a way to win her own duel, as he could not intervene himself due to his low aura and Beatrice being so insistent on spectating them.

Scarlet could only stand and watch from a distance, ready to intervene. But as she was about to go there with her swords in hand, her eyes had noticed something amidst the duel.

Indigo blocked more strikes and blows. The effects of the flashbang had disappeared. Beneath her mask, she gave off a disappointed sigh, "beginner's luck."

Instantly after, the tide of battle had turned. Rose was met with a smack from the conjoined hilt of Indigo's sword, knocking her off balance. Indigo then proceeded to kick her in her kidneys before she began to deliver a series of brutal strikes, swiftly slicing away at her aura.

Rose desperately tried to block and counter, and had managed to do so for a few times, but it was ultimately futile. She was outmatched in skill as Indigo had decided to go full force on her, and had only managed to ever really land a few hits in with the help of her semblance guiding her.

With a final smack to the face using the sword's hilt that Rose tried to block, Indigo promptly gave the final strike of the round at her opponent. A straight, aura boosted jumping back kick to Rose's abdomen, which proceeded to knock her back towards the dirt covered ground.

The speakers began to blare as soon as Indigo deactivated her blade. Doctor Oobleck began to speak of their victory, speaking about being at the edge of his seat as he watched the two sides fight. Indigo chose to ignore it, instead deciding to go over to her team to celebrate their victory.

Even if her mood was still not in the stage of being genuinely enthusiastic and proud about something, she was happy that at least something had gone right for her after her most recent outrage towards Ozpin.

She removed her mask before she placed her sword hilts above her waist. She observed her team gathering around the center of the arena, celebrating their victory with laughs and joy of triumph. A somber, but equally proud smile revealed itself on her sweating face.

Seeing her comrades in the state that they were in now, it was truly something she would cherish forever.

"All is right in the world, at least for now."

A/N:

I'm finally back from break! It was a small hiatus, but it was worth it, it gave me time to actually do some irl stuff without having to constantly worry about writing my story. As a gift of my return, here's a 7.5k word chapter that focuses on the entire fight between Team NBSS and CPRK. Thanks to the beta-readers that helped me flesh out and iron this chapter, greatly appreciated!