Professor Goodwitch didn't seem to want to do anything but glare at him as she began the countdown for the lopsided match. Jaune spared a glance to the screen above the arena, looked past the timer and to the four bars of Team CRDL's Aura and the single one representing his own.
He looked back down to the grinning Cardin, where he was at the head of Russel, Dove, and Sky. Each of them had their weapons at the ready, seemed to view this as a guaranteed victory.
'It probably is.' He may not have had the chance to deal with Dove and Russel but he had taken on their leader in a difficult fight and he had all but entirely dominated his match with Sky. Although, both of those had been one on one. 'Not a lot I can do here if they all rush me.'
He tightened his hold on his main sword, thought about drawing another sword to his offhand but decided against it.
'Only real experience with this is against Grimm and back at the store over the weekend.' He glanced up to the timer.
Less than five seconds left.
He didn't see the point in holding back, his Aura building up around him as he triggered his Semblance and charged through the air with a shout.
Cardin slammed the Executioner into the ground just before the timer hit zero, Jaune running into a geyser of fire from the fresh Fire Dust Crystal at the head of his made. Dove's sword, Hallshott, collapsed in on itself and he took hold of the revolver with both hands. Jaune only kept his Semblance up, felt the Dust rounds slam into him, would've normally thrown him off his feet if he wasn't overcharging his Aura.
Sky shifted his hold on Feather's Edge, took aim with the polearm like it was an oversized rifle. In a way, it was.
Jaune just charged through the next barrage of shots from Sky and Dove, aimed to start off with where Cardin was standing in the front.
He-
Lightning Dust, courtesy of Russel swinging up with both of his daggers, locked up his body when he was hit by it. It threw him off despite his Semblance and Cardin grinned as he took hold of the Executioner with both hands, swung it like a bat into the currently paralyzed Arc.
Courtesy of the Fire Dust in Cardin's weapon, he was thrown back not only by the force of the swing but the blast on impact as well.
He slammed back against the wall he had started by, couldn't do much more than groan.
Even if his Semblance made the damage on the bar showing his Aura negligible, it hurt. A lot.
He dug the end of his sword into the ground, used it more of a crutch than he would like to get back up on shaking legs. He was still shaking off the effects of the Lightning Dust, grit his teeth and just forced himself to stand. He left his main sword where he had dug the end into the ground and settled on drawing his two serrated longswords instead.
Glowing blue eyes focused on the sneering face of Cardin above anything else.
If he could do absolutely nothing else, he was wiping that irritating look off his face.
He charged with a shout and his Semblance amplified his Aura, made him into a flying battering ram.
He ignored the barrage of shots from Sky and Dove, ignored the fireballs Russel sent his way by the Dust in his sword, and just threw himself into Cardin, counted on taking him to the ground before he could dodge out of the way. He let one of his serrated longswords go, batted at it with his hands to repel it away with the Gravity Dust in his bracers. He heard Sky hit the ground at least, dodge out of the way of the improvised flying buzzsaw. He focused on winding his fist back and planting an Aura backed cross into Cardin's face, couldn't deny the satisfaction he took in the way his head slammed into the ground.
He didn't get the chance to hit him again, tackled off by Russel and Dove and the two managed to keep him on the ground by the nature of it being two of them. Russel only confirmed it when he brought one of his Shortwings down on the arm he had managed to trap, Rock Dust trapping not only his arm but the only one currently with a sword in hand to the arena floor. He still managed to throw off Dove before he could take aim with Hallshott to immobilize his other arm. He grabbed Russel before he could run by a fistful of the front of his shirt and pulled him down.
The headbutt probably wasn't the best idea but it worked. His Aura made it worse for Russel than it was for him and Jaune threw the dazed student to the ground. He focused on where he spotted his other longsword, the purple glow of Gravity Dust taking hold of the bracer on his arm and the blue and gold hilt of the weapon. It pulled itself out of the wall it was embedded into and to his hand, Jaune putting it and his Aura to slash and bash at the rock over his arm. It was too slow going for his taste but it was the best idea he had.
Russel was already shaking his head as he staggered to his feet, Dove was busy reloading Hallshott with Dust rounds, and he couldn't see where Sky was.
"Surprise!" Sky swung the base of Feather's Edge into the side of Jaune's head.
His Aura took a hit, even if it was already refilled, but his head slamming into the rocks, figuratively, knocked him off his feet.
The only benefit was that his head, and his overcharged Aura, helped break his arm free of the rocks on impact.
He swung all but blindly in his daze with both swords, wide waves of his Aura launched from the blades in the best he could do to get distance. He swung again and again, managed to send Sky tumbling over the ground on his back, keep Russel from getting off the ground, and put Cardin back down on his back. He didn't see Dove on the ground or anywhere in front of him.
He turned and swung on a feeling and threw Dove onto his back with another wave of Aura.
He was trying to take aim with his sword/revolver even from the ground when Jaune elected to stomp down on his head.
He also drove one of his longswords between the armor Dove wore on his chest and his shoulder, pinned him to the ground using the thick padded shirt he was wearing underneath.
"Divide and conquer." He stomped down on Dove's head again as he spoke his plan to himself and, to avoid getting shot in the back, kicked Hallshott out of his hand and across the floor. "That's what I'm going to do." He drew one of his shorter swords from his back and threw himself away from the currently trapped Dove and towards Sky next.
He didn't want him to get the chance to take aim with Feather's Edge and shoot him, decided to cut out the distance between them by throwing his shorter blade towards Sky. He wasn't really aiming to hit him, more wanted Sky to throw himself out of the way in a panicked dodge. When he stepped back into place to take aim again, he just called the blade back to his hand. It slammed into the back of Sky's head on the return trip.
He didn't get the chance to capitalize on this new opportunity he had made because Russel swung both Shortwings at him, a sudden gale throwing him off course and making him slam into the ground. He missed the return of his shorter sword to his hand but he was already getting back on his feet.
He couldn't afford to let himself stay down, let himself get overwhelmed.
He had to keep the pace up, keep the rest of Team CRDL from making use of their four on one advantage anymore than they already had.
He once more used his shorter sword as a projectile, flung it at Russel only for another gale to throw it off course, send it flying into the air. Jaune immediately called it back to his hand as he rushed forward, reached Russel before the mohawked student could manage to attack him. His serrated longsword lashed out and, with a healthy dose of Aura added to the swing, knocked his opponent off his feet. He caught the returning shorter sword and slashed down with it, unleashed another wave of Aura that only drove Russel into the ground of the arena.
He planted his boot in the back of Russel's head, mimicked what he had done to knock Dove out of the fight for a while when he decided to give him a modified curbstomp.
It was brutal, but it was effective and that's what he needed right now.
He was tempted to deliver the same to Russel's twin weapons, at least break the mechanism that allowed him to shift to another chamber of Dust, but settled on simply kicking them away like he had down to Dove's Hallshott.
'Sky. Where is he?' He had to keep shifting his focus, couldn't concentrate on one of them too much, looked for another of his opponents. The blue haired student had been ignored since he was rather certain that he had knocked him silly when his sword slammed into the back of his head.
He spotted him and Cardin regrouping and Winchester noticed, swung the Executioner at him to send a fireball his way.
A wave of Arc from his shorter sword dealt with it, split the projectile in half. He charged forward towards the two a moment later, was already going over ways to separate them, to take out Sky and then start the brawl he envisioned this would turn into between him and Cardin.
Sky tried to attack with Feather's Edge, his bullets useless with his always rising Aura letting him tank the hits, and him trying to close in on him, keep him at a distance with the reach his polearm gave him, failed just as quickly. Jaune closed the distance faster than he could try and keep it, avoided the attempt to hook his serrated longsword with his halberd. Although, he considered it a good enough idea to copy.
He adjusted his sword as it slid down the polearm and sharply pulled back, hooked the back of Feather's Edge head between the teeth and ripped the weapon from Sky's hands.
He also pulled him into a punch, Jaune shifting his hold on his shorter sword to land the blow. He hoped it took Sky out, kept him out the fight, because the Executioner promptly slammed into his back. He felt the heat of the fireball through his Aura as Cardin made use of the Fire Dust Crystal in the head, ended up blasting him into the stunned Sky and sending both tumbling over the ground.
Jaune could at least recover.
"Fuck…" He threw a stunned Sky off of him, didn't try to untangle his longsword from Feather's Edge. He struggled to get back on his feet, meet the grinning Cardin on his feet at least.
"You know something Arc?" Cardin rested the Executioner on his shoulder, preparing another shot from the glow coming from the Fire Dust Crystal at the head of the mace.
"What?" Jaune took hold of his second shorter sword, drew it from his back. Despite his still full Aura, the fight was beginning to wear him down. Keeping his Aura maxed out, working his Semblance like this, wasn't exactly something he was used to.
"I'm enjoying this. A lot." Cardin laughed. "I may just become a model student after this. Who knew it could be so much fun?"
"…Shut up…" Jaune let his shoulders fall, let exhaustion sweep through his body for a moment. He let out a ragged breath, gave himself a moment to rest if Cardin was going to run his mouth like this.
He took inventory of the fight so far, where Team CRDL was at.
Sky was out, Dove was still checking his teeth, and Russel was pinned. He just had Cardin to deal with for now.
He hadn't landed many shots but they had been heavy ones if nothing else. Cardin had the most Aura of his team at around 70%, Sky had dropped to either around 50% or less, Dove was just below Cardin as 65% or so, and Russel was more or less the same as Dove in terms of Aura.
His was still at 100% courtesy of his Semblance, would stay that way as long as he could keep it up.
He could do this.
Cardin dropped the Executioner on the ground, unleashed a line of flaming geysers that Jaune used a combined wave of Aura from both of his sword to interrupt, throw himself towards Cardin with a burst of Aura from his feet. He wielded the two shorter swords more as one sword than as two, swinging them together to block Cardin's heavy swings from the Executioner. It was working but it left him open, was one viable with one only opponent to deal with. His Aura continued to rise faster than Cardin's crushing blows could remove it, the blows he failed to stop, the burst of flames from the head of his mace, damaging but something he pushed through.
His Aura remained strong so he could afford it.
"I hate that Semblance of yours!" Cardin let his irritation show, managed to slip past Jaune's guard with a feint. He spun on his feet with deceptive speed for a student his size, used the opportunity to deal a heavy two-handed blow to Jaune's side. He released another burst of flames at the moment of impact.
He didn't break Jaune's Aura but he sent him flying, added more bruises to however many he was already nursing from the fight so far. He also succeeded in sending his two shorter swords flying from his hand, Jaune unable to keep hold of them. Cardin kicked both to the side, had seen Jaune call them back already and wasn't trying to be in the way.
"Dove! Get Russel!" Cardin gave his order as he approached the Arc. "Get Sky up next!"
"R-Right." Dove grabbed the blade keeping him pinned by his hands, trusted in his Aura to keep from cutting them up when he did so. He tried using the teeth on one side of the weapon to help work it out, used them as handholds to get a better grip on the blade. It was working, was gradually work but he was steadily wriggling the blade out.
Jaune noticed from where he was picking himself up off the ground, blue eyes more annoyed than any pain from taking the latest blast of fire from Cardin.
He couldn't manage to get back on his feet before Cardin swung the Executioner with one hand, grinned when Jaune couldn't dodge the fireball he sent towards him. It nearly burned out the Fire Dust Crystal at the head of the mace but it was worth it in his eyes to teach the Arc a lesson.
He was thrown off his feet and, this time, his tumble over the ground was stopped when he slammed into the wall again.
He was propped up on his feet from the blast only because of the fact that he was partially embedded in the wall from the force of the impact.
"…Fuck…"
He didn't so much pull himself free as he just fell out and to the ground, could barely throw out his arms to try and brace himself.
Dove managed to, with some help from a not as out of it as before Russel, to free himself from the sword keeping him trapped. Russel had also retrieved his weapons, one of his Shortwings leaking frost after he had frozen the longsword to the ground in a sheet of ice. Sky was still on the ground courtesy of Cardin's blast powering Jaune into him but he wouldn't be out for long.
Jaune managed to get up to his feet at least as Cardin did inventory on his team at a glance, seemed satisfied with at least two of them being up.
"Come on already! Hurry up!" Cardin still barked out a demand to the two of them, glanced to the head of the Executioner. "I'm about to have to change this thing out."
Jaune struggled more than he would like to draw his last sword from the harness hanging from his back, managed it with no small amount of effort.
"This doesn't change anything." Jaune was talking to himself more than he was talking to any member of Team CRDL, focused on taking hold of his hollow sword with both hands wrapped around the blue and gold hilt. He held it upright in front of him, stared at the white sheathed sword inside. "Come on and fight me dammit!"
His Aura grew around him, a bright golden light.
He launched himself forward with his Aura once more, didn't see the point on delaying this any longer. Cardin met him with the glowing head of the Executioner, aiming to slam him into the ground with a powerful, Fire Dust backed, overhead swing using both hands. Jaune managed to avoid it, sidestepped the blow as best he could. He knew the blast was still coming, likely a geyser of flames at his feet, and so made his one shot at the moment count.
He came in with his hollow sword from the side and swung up, caught Cardin in the gap between his chestplate and his aim at the red sash he wore. He hit dead on, released a massive blast from his Aura to knock Cardin away. It was more than half of his already rapidly recharging Aura but it was worth it for nothing else than to see the look on Winchester's face when he realized what was happening.
He was powered back in a golden flash, had the chance to experience what it was like when Jaune had slammed into the wall earlier.
More importantly, Cardin's Aura dropped below the threshold. A moment later, his Aura meter flashed red and a buzzer sounded to announce his elimination.
"Mr. Winchester, until the remaining three members of your team fall below the threshold, you may continue. Mr. Arc, due to his low Aura, you are not to use your weapons or your Semblance against Mr. Winchester." Professor Goodwitch ended her announcement, Jaune's Semblance already refilling his Aura.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" Jaune felt the weight of the sword in his hand as he let the end rest against the floor, bowed his head. "There's jut no winning here or something?" He dragged the sword back up to his hands and took note of where Dove had rushed over to the downed Cardin, Russel dragging an unsteady Sky to his feet.
Jaune let his frustration fuel his next strike, unleashed an equally as powerful wave of Aura towards Russel and Sky, aimed to at least knock the two out of the fight now.
Russel noticed in time to stab one of his Shortwings into the ground, a rock wall erupting from the ground with the blade as the source. His Aura attack still blew the wall to pieces but it was nowhere near as effective in taking out the Auras of the two as he had wanted. From a quick glance to the screen, Russel dropped to just above 50% from his hasty use of Dust and his Aura while Dove's was mainly untouched courtesy of his teammate's quick thinking.
Jaune simply swung at the two again, unleashed the same massive wave of Aura against the two, tried to keep up the pressure if nothing else.
He missed when a shot to his back threw him off target enough for the attack to go wide, Jaune staggering but not falling to the ground from it. He turned with a glare in his blue eyes to where Dove held his revolver in both hands. He took aim while Jaune decided to let his frustration guide his next action, threw his hollow sword before Dove had the chance to fire.
Was it an effective strategy? Somewhat. He knocked Dove to the ground if nothing else, didn't give him a chance to fire whatever Dust round he had loaded in Hallshott.
"I'm getting real sick of this…" Jaune held out his hand to the side, a purple glow taking hold of the hilt of his main sword and calling it to him. With his other, he reached out to his hollow sword and called it back to him.
From where she was watching, 'Eleanor' gave Glynda a light nudge.
Shock, guilt, briefly came over her face before it was ruthlessly suppressed, was buried under stoic professionalism. She didn't nod, didn't react in a way the students could see from their seats. At her side, the Disciplinarian twitched in her hand.
Jaune's fingers just missed grabbing hold of his incoming two-handed sword, the angle off just enough for the hilt to slam into his chest instead, sent him partially spinning on his feet. He failed to grab his hollow sword either, the blade slamming into his gut and dropping him to the floor with the wind knocked out of him.
His Aura took a minor hit but his swords ended up colliding in midair. Maybe it was from the active Gravity Dust not deactivating, maybe it was from sheer bad luck, or maybe it was an outside force. What mattered was that the tray in the hilt of his two-handed sword dropped as if he had triggered it to with the pressure sensitive lock built into the hilt. The Lightning Dust he had loaded inside scattered as the remains of the shattered vial fell out of place.
Jaune, with the visible glow of Aura around him, could only watch in something approaching slow motion as his Semblance helped trigger the Dust filling the air.
The only reason he wasn't screaming in the middle of the near supercharged electrical storm was because the Lightning Dust locked up his body before he could scream.
The effects of it, as the electricity quickly ran through him and into the floor of the arena, were obvious.
For a moment, he was still standing, almost seemed fine. If one ignored the smoke wafting off of him.
For a moment, it looked like he would recover, that he would call one of his fallen swords to his hand and continue the fight.
He dropped to the ground. His Aura, courtesy of his Semblance supercharging it, hadn't dropped below 75% but the fight was clearly over. Instead of his Aura giving out, his body had simply failed from the supercharged shock.
"Team CRDL, this match isn't over." Glynda was amazed that her voice could be so steady. "I was clear when I laid out the rules: This match will continue until one team's Aura level drops below the acceptable threshold." She looked to Eleanor once she finished, saw the slight nod from the amber eyed woman. "As only Mr. Winchester has reached that threshold, this match is not over."
At what she was saying without saying, Cardin, even if he was less than all there from that last hit by Jaune, could only grin.
"Yes ma'am." His team seemed to catch on too, shared his grin.
This was the fun part.
AN: Alright, well, that's it. This set of chapters may actually be rougher or more disjointed than normal but the original idea I had for this bit was just kind of randomly changed. I felt that if I didn't update this now, it would likely be a few more weeks/months from now that this story would be updated again. Kind of just going to roll with the changes I've made to the plans for this story and see what happens next.
Review if you want.
PM if you want.
Peace.