Here it is the Chapter 16 finally done. I apologise that it took so long. But I really hope it will be worth the wait.
Chapter 16
On the arena, Tobaz looks at Pyrrha with a serious expression as she stares at him right back Tobaz then smirks before raising his right hand to the same level as his head and uses his left to remove his arm gauntlet.
He lets it fall off to the ground before doing the same thing to his left guard as the left guard hits the ground he drops both his hand to just hang by his sides.
He then moves his left leg forward and takes a fighting stance. Pyrrha had her shield placed in front of her ready to guard any attacks with her legs slightly wide apart and Milo is in its short blade form.
"Tobaz has removed his hand guards first after dropping his sword!? What could he be thinking?" Drakes talks to the mic as he scratches the back of his head with a confused tone.
Pyrrha wasn't that shocked at his actions she took a deep breath as Tobaz then takes a fighting stance he then moves his left hand forward.
Pyrrha looks confused before her eyes widen in realization and she then begins to change Milos mode just as Tobaz pulls his hand back and she was thrown forward as she is pulled from her right shoulder.
He then leans forward getting ready to punch with his right fist. Just as he started throwing his punch Pyrrha points her rifle forward and pulls the trigger.
Bullet hits him on his right knee. He makes a pained groan as he stumbles a little Pyrrha switches her weapon back to blade form as she makes a horizontal swing.
However, Tobaz evades by sliding both of his feet forward bending his body and quickly placing his right hand behind the ground in order to keep his balance.
He then uses his left hand to grab Pyrrha's leg surprising her. He then slides his left leg back towards him as he then raises his torso upward and begins to spin his body counter clock-wise.
He then hurls her into the air causing her to shout in surprise he then points towards her with the same palm before pulling his left hand before moving up and then down on the ground.
With a slight delay, Pyrrha was suddenly pulled from her shoulder back towards the ground as she approaches the ground she flips her body so her feet were towards the ground as milo turns back into javelin mode.
She quickly jabs her weapon into the ground with it slightly tilted forward as she then lands on her feet in a kneeling position.
She then removes from the ground and takes a throwing stance and tosses it right at him. In response, he makes a swiping motion with his right hand in front of him and Milo directory is changed.
Pyrrha reaches out with her left palm towards kilo as the dark aura surrounds her palm with milo gaining the same dark aura around it.
She then moves her palm towards her right causing Milo to arc to the right heading towards Tobaz back. However, he quickly managed to realize what she was up to and managed to dodge by jumping to his left.
He had a small smirk on his face until his eyes then widen as he feels pain surging into his body from his back as his body arch backwards slightly. "Wha.?!"
He tries to turn his head to look at what had hit him on the back. The object that had hit him on the back was one of his own wrist guards he had dropped on the ground.
"This girl... he mutters in his head as Pyrrha catches milo with her free hand. And Tobazs gaze returning towards her. "She used her thrown weapon as a distraction in order to use one of my own dropped equipment to attack..."
Pyrrha switches milo back to rifle mode and takes aim at however before she has time to pull the trigger Tobaz throws his weight back in order to regain his balance and swings his left hand in an arc towards his left and once again Pyrrha was pulled from her right shoulder and gets slammed into a side of the broken building.
A dark aura appears around the Tobaz second guard begin to float before lungs itself towards him but this time Tobaz quickly jumps to the side dodging it while shouting. "Not this time!"
just then a gunshot was heard and a bullet comes flying out of the smoke where Pyrrha crashed, heading straight at him.
His attention is turned towards the incoming attack he manages to dodge the attack by moving his head to the side but his cheek was lightly grazed by the bullet.
He then moves his hand towards the settling smoke cloud and pulled towards him sending Pyrrha towards him once again.
Two of them starts to fight from close quarters as Pyrrha manages to dodge Tobaz punch and managing to land on her feet.
After a while, Tobaz manages to land a seemingly solid blow but Pyyrha manages to avoid a serious hit by jumping back feet.
"This fight has really started to heat up! As both of them seem to be on equal footing when it comes to keeping their ground. I think this is the first time The Invincible girl of Mistral is struggling against an opponent!"
As Grey observed the battle with his arms crossed. His attention then turns towards the aura screen. Both of the contestant's aura levels are yellow but Pyrrhas is slightly lower.
"Now wonder since current situation her semblance is a lot less effective than Tobaz in the current circumstances. "He thinks to himself before moving back towards the fight."
While next to him was Auburn leaning outside the window leaning on the rail with his left hand while waving his right fist in a circle above his head while cheering for Tobaz.
As the crowd cheers start to get louder one can hear chance in the cheers as cheers for Tobaz have begun to be more hearable as more people began to cheer for him.
"It seems that you are starting to get customed to fight while having your movements restricted..." Tobaz states calmly as he rotates his right hand slowly causing it to make a slight cracking sound.
He then turns it into a fist again. Pyrrha also takes moment to loosen up her muscles by doing few small stretches with her right shoulder before stopping and then twisting her hand which is holding Milo.
She then takes her stance and makes a small smile. "Same goes for you as well. Your reputation is well deserved." She states politely.
Tobaz smile then turns to a serious one as he then uses a different stance with slightly crouched. "Unfortunately this fight won't be lasting for much longer..."
Fingers on his hands are all hooked as his left hand was now vertically behind him and his palm was upside down.
In response, Pyrrha took a more defensive stance and took serious expression.
Back with Grey his eyes narrow before quickly glancing at their aura levels which were almost reached red before moving back to the fight while realising that
Tobaz eyes narrow before widening and suddenly swinging his right hand in front of him horizontally as a result Milo was then pulled towards her right.
In response, Pyrrha takes firmer footing to prevent herself from getting thrown. Tobaz takes this chance lung forward pulling his left fist back.
Pyrrha manages to block it with Akuou causing kong in sound Tobaz pulls his upper body back as he slides his right leg right at Pyrrhas left leg.
As result, Pyrrha's body falls forwards and creating a chance for him to swiftly spun around counterclockwise this time sending her airborne once again.
Pyrrha's gaze turns towards him And at that moment she throws Akuou straight at him like a frisbee. Tobaz eyes widen in surprise.
As it got closer Tobaz made a small grin and at that moment Pyrrha notices something from the corner of her left eye. She turns her head only to see Tobaz blade flying side first towards her.
"Topaz's Weapon?!" Grey shouts shocked in the spectator area. With no time to use her semblance at the same time as Akuou hits Tobaz left shoulder his blade's side rams into her upper body.
Tobazs body twists to the right as the Akuou then hits the ground sinking almost halfway to the ground. Grey who was watching eyes widen after seeing that.
Tobaz then falls on his back as Akuou sinks into the ground opposite to him as Pyrrha hits the ground rolls to the edge of the ring on her stomach with her head and right hand hanging.
Tobaz blade and Milo both fall down on the ground only a meter and a half away from each other below the spot she had been hit.
Silence follows as Grey looks shocked with his eyes wide before muttering. "So two isn't the limit of that..." He then closes his eyes before muttering. "It's over..."
Auburn who was still next to him had his eyes wide and confused before shouting. "Wait?! So who the hell won this!? Both of them got hit at the same time there is no way either one of their Aura is not in the red?! Are we supposed to do some sort of aura level slow-motion rewatch or something?"
As he mutters Grey turns towards him. "There is no need for that..." Auburn turns towards him as Grey turns back towards the window and place his right fist against his hip.
"One of their aura levels is still in orange." This statement caught Auburn off guard he turns to look at the aura level monitor.
Drake turns his attention towards the monitor also before gripping the mic. "It has been decided! The last semi-final matches winner has been decided..!"
Both Pyrrha and Tobaz begin to stand up on their feet. "After fierce fighting! Tobaz Drey has risen victorious by hairs breath!"
Tobaz managed to get up to his feet while Pyrrha manages to get sitting position on her knees. Her aura was in red while Tobaz was one inch away from reaching red.
He reaches out to Akuou and lifts it off the ground. "It's hard to believe but Mistrals Invincible girl! Pyrrha Nikos winning streak for the last three years has come to an end!"
Tobaz turns towards Akuou before gripping it and removing it from the ground and then begins to walk towards his own weapon and Milo.
He reaches for the weapon and uses his free hand to lift his blade and placing it on his back afterwards he picks up Pyrrhas Akuou before starting to walk towards Pyrrha who was just looking up at the sky.
A small smile graces her lips before lowering her head and beginning to stand up fully as Tobaz reaches her as she got on her feet. "That was a well-fought battle..."
She turns around towards Tobaz who had serious look on his face before offering her weapons back to her with his left hand with using Akuou as a plate to hold the Milo.
She only smiles before taking Milo with her right hand and Akuou with her left she then connects the two by sliding Milo into some sort of mechanism on the back of Akuou using it as a scabbard.
Soon as she had picked up Akuou Tobaz lowered his hand as the crowd could be heard cheering in the background.
Pyrrha places connected weapons on her back. She then offers her right hand for a handshake. Her gesture seems to have caught Tobaz off guard a little as he raises an eyebrow and looks at hand confused.
"Congratulations on your victory, well played." Tobaz looks at her hand for a minute he smirks before taking the hand and shaking it. "Yeah, that was a wonderful fight you were quite close there."
As the two of them shake each other's hands audience cheers even louder. "As a show of great sportsmanship, two fighters shake hands."
Drake announces as the two stop. Pyrrha before she starts to leave the arena she gives him one more thing. "I wish you good luck in the finals. I hope you enjoy it even more than this one." She then begins to walk away.
He only smirks before starting to walk in opposite direction. "There is no need to worry. I'm sure the final round will be one to be remembered years to come..."
As the two of them walked away Tobaz smirk turned into a more serious look. " Way that woman was fighting sort brought back memories... Someone whose fighting in order to match expectations of others."
He then turns his head slightly looking over his left shoulder. "Most often than not that sort of pressure can result in stress... which could affect someone's growth..."
He then turns his gaze back forward. "Hopefully this fight allowed you to get some of that weight off you're shoulders."
As the two of them entered the stairs Drake makes an announcement. "Now ladies and gentlemen of the audience we will now have a two-hour break and start the final round on the evening!"
People start to leave the stands to do their own thing while still talking about the results of the last semi-final match.
As Pyrrha reaches the top Grey is waiting for her at the top with his hands crossed and a neutral look on his face.
"That was really close fight..." He compliments as she finally reaches the top. In response, she smiles and closes her eyes as she stops for a moment.
"Close huh... Not really I was at a clear disadvantage in that situation. He had plenty of time to react to my attack while I saw his way too late."
Grey only smirked before walking next to her and both started to walk together. "I have to say what he did really caught me off guard. I had no idea attacks could be redirected like that..."
He raises his head towards the ceiling as he recalled the moment Pyrrha shield hits Tobaz's shoulder. "He twisted his body not only in time with your attack but in the same direction as the spinning motion of your shield."
He then turns his head towards Pyrrha. "As a result, it slid off his body without dealing anywhere near much damage as it could have."
Pyrrha only smiles. "Don't worry I wasn't expecting that either..." She then turns to look in his direction. "But that shows the difference in experience."
As they then continued to walk towards the exit. "Are you going to go check on Ellie?" Grey asks with a slightly curious tone.
Pyrrha lets out a small laugh. "Yes. I'm going to. Want to come along?" Grey smiles. "Might as well I can learn where the recovery room is located in here."
Two of them leave the fighters waiting area, heading to see Ellie. When they reach the room with three beds on each side and one huge window located on the opposite wall with a great view of the horizon from the mountains.
On the left wall on the second bed, Ellie is laying on her back with both of her hands behind her head and her weapon is on the small night counter on the right side of the bed and her boots in front of it.
"Hellooo," Pyrrha says with a singing voice as waves with a bright smile as she opens the door. Grey is standing behind her with his hands crossed with a serious look on his face.
After hearing the voice she blinks as she is snapped out of her thoughts. She quickly jumps on the sitting position on the bed with his legs crossed and both of his hand are leaning on them.
On her face there are three bandages, one large is located on her chin, a small one on her left cheek. She took a bright smile on her face.
"Pyrrha! Grey!" She shouts Happily as she smiles at them as they walk in and next to Ellie's bed. "You seem to be full energy? How long ago did you wake up?"
Grey makes a small smile as he stands at end of the bed, while Pyrrha is on the left side of the bed.
Ellie looks at him and answers happily but the smile on her face wavers for a little moment. "I regained consciousness around when Pyrrhas match almost over..."
As she mentions Pyrrhas match her smile disappear before giving a slightly worried glance towards Pyrrha. Grey notices and lets out a sigh.
"So you already know the outcome then?" Pyrrha only listens to the conversations with her left hand on her hip and right one just hanging down.
Ellie nods before turning towards Pyrrha. "How are you feeling..?" She askes her quietly. Pyrrha only laughs lightly as she covers her mouth with her right hand.
Ellie looks at her confused as she moves her right hand away and looks at her. "I really appreciate you for being worried about me. But losing isn't something that should upset anyone."
She then turns towards the window to look outside. "In fact, I consider it to be a good thing to lose once in a while since It can give you something that winning couldn't..."
Grey was looking at her with a neutral expression while Ellie had surprised one. "But Pyrrha. If you had managed to win this year's tournament you would have broken the previous record of longest-held champion of the tournament. Doesn't that frustrate you at all?"
Pyrrha turns towards Ellie with a serious expression. "Not really. Not even once did I enter this tournament with winning being my primary goal."
She then begins to walk towards the window. "I entered so I could face off against many different people to gain experience and test my skills."
She reaches the window and slides it open letting the fresh air enter the room along with the wind. "Especially this year. Not only did this tournament really but my skills to the test. I feel like some of the weight I have carried on shoulders has lessened..."
Ellie seems to have really been confused about that last part as she tilts her head while Grey only closes his eyes for a moment before turning towards Ellie.
"Alright, I get the gist of it... But I really would have wanted to see two of you face off against each other..." Ellie looks at the ceiling again while placing her hands behind her head.
Both Grey and Pyrrha look at her for a moment. Soon afterwards Grey smirks before opening his mouth. "If that's something you are upset about then there is nothing to worry about since you might see that yet."
Both of the girls eyes widen in confusion to stare at her while making a confused "huh?" sound at the same time. Grey then looks at Pyrrha. "After this tournament is over do you people return back to the Sanctum?"
Pyrrha turns towards him sully with a curious expression before responding. "We go back towards the sanctum day after tomorrow why do you ask?"
Grey closes his eyes as moves his hand to hang to his sides. "You see when I was looking at the fight between you and Tobaz I was truly impressed by both skill and experience you showed that I felt it would be a waste to be only able to fight one of you."
He then opens his eyes makes eye contact with Pyrrha then points his right finger at her. "That's why Pyrrha Nikos I challenge you to duel after the tournament is over."
Both Ellie looks at him with shock before turning to a smile. "That really is surprising..." Pyrrha says calmly.
Ellie then leans towards Grey before starting to shout. "But why?! Isn't that really sudden?" She askes utterly confused.
Grey turns towards her. "It's not sudden for me Ellie..." She then turns towards Pyrrha. "To be honest when it comes to the actual fighting experience I'm most likely the one who has least of actually fighting experience..."
He crosses his arms. "My first real fight was against a huntsman in the Wind path. And second, was against a group of bandits which had some really strong leaders..."
He then sighs. "Actually one of those fight I had to manage to win last one of those fights was because of a surprising advantage that I had unknowingly."
Ellie's jaw had dropped while Pyrrha's eyes are widened. She then moves her left hand on her hip and scratches the back of her head with the right.
"That is actually even more surprising considering what I have seen today," Pyrrha states with clear shock while Ellie mutters. "That is some scary talent right there..."
Grey only looks at her for a moment before looking back at Pyrrha. "So in order for me to get more experience, it would be a great idea to fight as many different opponents..."
He then lowers his head a little. "So... What do you say Pyrrha do you accept the challenge." He askes with a serious tone with Ellie turns a curious glance towards Pyrrha.
Pyrrha looks at him for a second with a serious expression creating a moment of tension before she smiles. "Of course I will accept." She states before walking so there is only one foot of distance between the two.
"Do you have location taught up already?" Grey only smirks. "There is a wide area located outside of the city that I used to do some training and practice. We can meet there in the middle of the day."
Pyrrha only raises her right hand in response. Grey looks at her hand confused for split second before shaking it. "Then it's a deal."
As their hand separated Ellie moved to the back end of the bed and leaned on it with a question. "Can I watch from the sidelines?"
Grey and Pyrrha turn to look at her with a smile. "If you want to then go ahead I doubt Grey wouldn't mind."
Pyrrha states before turning towards him for confirmation along with Ellie. Grey only nods causing Ellie to grin. "By the way Ellie are you okay to leave this place?"
Ellie looks at him for a moment before tilting her head. "Of course I wasn't that much injured during the match just knocked out. My aura only reached zero and received a few burns and scratches from the explosion."
He then smirks before turning towards the exit. "Then how about before the final round begins we go eat something. I rather not fight with my stomach completely full."
Pyrrha expression turns serious before. "Wait a minute Grey!" Grey stops and turns towards her. "What is it?"
Elli had begun to place her boots back on her feet taking her weapons placing them behind her waist. And turns towards Pyrrha.
"Shouldn't you try to figure out how to counter Drays Semblance. If he so much touches you you will be in major trouble."
Grey looks at her before turning back towards the door. There is no need to worry." He has a serious expression on his face as he stares at the exit. "During the fight, I was able to get a decent read on his semblance and how it works."
He then straightens his left hand horizontally with his palm open and facing upward. Afterwards, darkness started to flow from his side palm and raise upwards.
"I already have a secret weapon on making sure that that ability won't be able to touch me." He then closes his hand as darkness returns back to him and he moves he now closes his fist and moves it in front of his chest and look at it.
"Now all I can do is enter the fight with the assumption that three isn't that ability limit and give it all I have." Then moves back to his side and walks to the door.
Before exiting he turns around with a smile. "So do you have anything else to say or does someone want to eat something and then kill some time before the finals?"
He then leaves the room and in no time Ellie says. "I do." and then rushes after him Pyrrha is the only one left before she places both of her hand on her hips with a sigh.
"I guess I was worried over nothing." She then holds her chin for a moment with her right hand while wondering about that Secret Weapon that Grey had mentioned before then walking out of the room and following the two.
To Be Continued