Chapter 6

Lior pulled his sword out of his sheath and watched Zoe warily. He couldn't help but watch her as she stretched her arms above her head. She caught his eye and smirked at him as he quickly jerked his gaze down.
Mrs. Swarven picked a scarf up off her desk. "I am going to throw this, and when it hits the floor, you will begin," she threw it into the air. Zoe and Lior watched it drift lazily to the ground. It had barely brushed the wood when Zoe leapt into action, taking the term quite literally. She pushed off the ground, flinging herself into the air spinning a flute out of the case on her lower back.

"Lior!" Jai called. "I forgot to mention! Her semblance works on contact! Don't let her touch you!"

Lior nodded, and brought his sword up to block Zoe's downward descent. Her feet hit his broadsword, and pushed herself off of it. She landed nimbly like a cat a few feet away from him. She twirled her flute and studied him, a small grin on her face.

"'Don't let her touch you', says the genius?" She snorted. "As if that by itself would work."

Zoe leapt toward him, and Lior stepped to the side, narrowly dodging her. She flipped her grip on her flute and plunged it into his stomach. He winced as he moved away from her. He swung his sword at her, causing her to flip backwards. He lunged at her, seeing a slim chance of an opening. His sword collided wit her middle, doubling her over. He shifted his stance, bringing his sword back to strike her again.

Zoe's eyes flashed and she sprang upward. Lior grimaced and jerked himself back, but he was slightly too slow. Her fingers brushed him across his cheek and when she regained her balance, she smiled wickedly at him.

"Let's see how much you can handle," her face morphed into Laura's and she began to berate Lior with attacks.

Jai watched silently as Zoe turned into Laura. Ruth nudged her. "Whatcha thinking, Olos?"

Jai looked at Ruth out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, nothing much. Just that I think even if the rest of us lose our spars, Lior has this in the bag."

Ruth frowned. "As much as I would like to agree with you, Zoe isn't a force to be messed with. She's stronger than she looks, you know."

Jai allowed herself a small smile. "So is he. Using the different face approach on him is a bad idea, just watch."

Zoe frowned at her opponent. The illusion of the girl he liked wasn't affecting him at all. Well, that was unusual, but not entirely unheard of. He had obviously trained with her several times.

Zoe pursed her lips. I guess I should kick it up a notch. She pried though the taste of his aura that she had gotten. She picked a string and put it on.

Lior faltered slightly when he saw the image of his father being projected over Zoe. Got 'em, she thought. She sprang at him, kicking him on the side of his head. Lior stumbled momentarily, but easily regained his balance. She jerked her flute at his neck, but right before she hit, he disappeared. Her nose twitched and she flipped into the air, feeling the rush of wind fly past her face. She could only guess at what he was doing.

Lior reappeared in a crouch, his sword held in a reverse-grip. He glanced backwards at Zoe. "Did you really think an image of my father would make me forget where I am? He taught me better than that."

Zoe scowled. I suppose I'll have to just raise it to the highest level. Let's hope Mrs. Swarven doesn't mark me off if he goes insane. Once Zoe engaged the highest level of her semblance, she couldn't switch it off until she ran out of Aura. She also couldn't tell who she was.

"Think you're so great?" Zoe brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Let's see about that."

She yanked on the strand of Aura she had collected and poured her semblance into it. Lior stiffened, and his eyes glazed slightly. Zoe knew that this meant that he was seeing a full-entanglement illusion, not just a localized one.

Jai frowned, noticing Zoe revert back to her usual self and Lior's face changing. She raised an eyebrow in question at Ruth. Ruth sighed, shutting her eyes. "She calls it a full entanglement illusion. This is one that only the person whose Aura she targets can see the illusion. It also has varying degrees of psychosis."

"I see."

Lior felt the room grow colder and his vision darken. It was him. That Faunas that killed his father. Slick.

His eyes were crazed and he grinned at Lior. "Well, hello little Cassste."

Logically, Lior knew Slick couldn't be here, but all logic had left his head. Lior's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

Slick ran at him, two daggers instantly appearing in his hands. "Today is your turn to die!"

Lior felt a wave of rage rise in his chest. Slick got into striking distance and Lior lashed out at him. He used every ounce of power in him to beat on the man. Lior then grabbed him by the collar and threw him across the room. The man hit the wall with a satisfying thud, and slid down to the floor. Lior bounded over, planting his knee into Slick's stomach. He raised his sword in one hand, about to bring it down on Slick's neck-

And he was staring down at Zoe, frozen and terrified. He looked over at Jai, whose arms were crossed, a frown etched into her face. Lior looked back at Zoe and sighed. He lowered his sword. "Sorry, Jai. I forgot that it was an illusion."

Jai narrowed her eyes at him. "So I noticed. Put your sword back in the same position. Technically, your teammates weren't supposed to aid you at all. I'm breaking that rule, and I don't want to be caught," her gaze lightened slightly. "Good job on winning, by the way."

Lior put his sword back into position and felt time resume. He took a second, just watching Zoe beneath him, then sheathed his sword. "Good match," he got up and held out a hand to the girl on the ground.

She smacked his hand away and stood shakily to her feet. "Whatever," with Tir's help, she hobbled over to the sidelines.

"Winner of spar one is Lior Caste," Mrs. Swarven declared. "One point to team JWIL."

Quincy glowered at his girlfriend as she past him. How had she lost to some nobody first-year? With all his careful planning, she still lost? What was wrong with her?

Quincy jerked his head at Tir, telling him to go down to the floor. Tir smirked, cracking his knuckles. "I won't let you down, boss."

Ivex flicked his wrist, calling his staff into his hand. He watched Tir warily. Out of the team, Jai judged him as the least skilled, but Ivex wasn't sure. Something about the way he stood screamed experience. Tir lazily swung the cleaver in his hand. "Looks like the weak links were paired together, eh Ivex?" Tir tossed his cleaver from one hand to the other.

Ivex darkened his gaze. "At least my team leader has faith in me, dumbass."

Tir pulled another cleaver out from his back. "Misplaced, sad faith, but faith nonetheless?"

Ivex moved his staff slightly, releasing rings from it, allowing them to drift slowly around him.

Mrs. Swarven tossed the scarf. It hit the ground and Tir immediately burst into action. Switching his grip on his blades, he rolled forward. Small flecks of glass roared past him, speeding right at Ivex, who just sighed. He flipped his sunglasses down over his eyes, letting the room turn pitch black. It was a trick that he had learned about his semblance a few years ago. Darcy was the first one to notice it, actually. When Ivex tunes his focus to nothing but the attacks around him, he was much better at dodging them.

Ivex scanned the specks of light dancing in his vision. With a gesture of his hand, he sent his rings flying. He engaged the flame dust in them and melted the glass shards that would immediately hurt him.

Ivex felt Tir rushing him, and he spun his staff around, slamming it into Tir. A hand grabbed Ivex's wrist and yanked him forward, causing him to collide with something hard.

Ivex struck out with his fist, hitting Tir. Tir yelped and swung his blade at Ivex. Ivex leaned back quickly, and the blade yanked his glasses off. They hit the ground and shattered. "Asshole," Ivex spat. "You know how expensive those were?"

"If they were so expensive, they should have been more durable," Tir spat back.

Ivex lunged at him.

Jai did a couple of calculations in her head and surmised that this fight would end in a tie. Both of the boys were equally hard-headed and equally skilled. A few minutes later, her theory was proven by the two of them finishing off their spar in a fistfight, and their Auras breaking at the same time.

Mrs. Swarven frowned down at the boys. "No winner. The points right now are JWIL, 1, QRTZ, 0."

Quincy's fingers twitched. He would not lose to this little first-year brat and her team. He had no hope in Ruth. When she lost, his team would be down two points. Where had this little bitch come from? How could she be so freaking good at leading her team?

He watched Ruth descend down to the fighting ring. She seemed to feel his eyes on her, and looked over her shoulder at him. She held her middle finger up at him and smirked. Quincy felt a chill run down his back. Win, you little piece of shit.

Wenara frowned at the girl before her. She swallowed, remembering what Jai had said about this particular teammate. Ruth carefully adjusted the bag on her shoulder. "Begin!" barked Mrs. Swarven.

Wenara tensed her hands into fists, ripping the nails out of the wooden boards beneath her. She jerked her hand forward, sending the nails flying at Ruth.

Ruth mouthed something to herself and swung her purse up, scattering the nails that would cause her the most harm. She then lashed her hand behind her, touching dozens of the nails. Wenara felt them get suddenly heavier, and she gasped, losing control of them. Large nails hit the ground and Ruth smirked. "I thought that might be a problem for you," she pushed toward Wenara, her purse morphing into a mace. She wrapped it around her hand and snapped it at Wenara. Wenara barely had time to use her telekinesis to stop the mace. She yanked on it, hoping to take it out of Ruth's hand. Ruth gripped it tight and went with it, expertly perching on the edge of the ring. She launched down, her foot slamming into Wenara. She winced and skidded backwards. She managed to look up it time to see a mace swinging fast at her face. It hit with sickening pain. Oy, Wenara thought. If only Aura kept pain away too.

Wenara jutted her wrench at Ruth's middle, but missed. Ruth nimbly flipped over Wenara, planting a hard kick on her back. Wenara flew and slammed against the wall. She felt the wood beneath her bare fingers. She yanked it up, sending it soaring in Ruth's direction.

Ruth spun her mace around and it collided with the wood. She flipped something on the handle of the mace, and dozens of sharp projectiles shot at Wenara. Wenara tried to focus and stop all of them before they could reach her, but one made it's way around her defense. It enlarged right at the last moment and crashed into her. She landed hard on the ground and felt her Aura waning.

Wenara shoved the large projectile off of herself and stared at Ruth. She brushed her hands off and switched on the electricity in her wrench. With her last burst of strength, she hurled her wrench at Ruth, carefully maneuvering it around all of Ruth's counterattacks. It hit Ruth, and she stumbled backwards a bit. Her head jerked up and she grinned at Wenara. She snapped her fingers and suddenly, Wenara was underneath a large shard of glass, presumably from the last fight.

"Winner is Ruth from team QRTZ," Mrs. Swarven declared, clapping her hands twice.

Ruth took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. She walked over to Wenara and held her hand out to her. "Need help getting up, Wen?" She smiled. "Good match, by the way. You're really good at this!"

Wenara smiled back and took Ruth's hand. "Thanks, you weren't that bad yourself."

Jai gave Wenara a fist bump as the other girl walked by. "You did your best, good job Wen! We'll have to work on your endurance, but other than that, magnificent!"

Wenara grinned at her team leader. "Yeah yeah," she clapped a hand on Jai's shoulder. "Just go and finish this little feud, J. Kick the boy's pathetic ass."

"Language," Jai mock-frowned at Wenara over her shoulder as she made her way to the ring. She rolled her shoulders in their sockets, trying to loosen up. If she won today, she would be well on her way to keeping her promise to Coli.

Promise me Jai! Promise me you'll be the best Huntress Remnant has ever seen!

Jai tightened her ponytail, closing her eyes. She watched the scarf in her mind's eye, ready for when it would hit the ground.

She heard the scrape of Quincy's feet as he began his dash. She listened to the air around her. Would she be able to beat the fourth-year that the whole school was scared of? Doubtful. Would she try her hardest. You bet your last Lien she would.

A man in a dark coat sat at a desk in a darkened room. A computer was illuminated on the desk, security footage of Haven blazing brightly across it. He was leaning back in his chair, taking in the scenes before him. The girl one of his minions had warned him about, alongside two others they had warned him of.

Jai Olos. Wenara Rojas. Lior Caste. And then the unaccounted for boy. As far as I'm concerned, he is nothing.

He made his fingers into a tent and studied the current match against the fourth-year team. The Olos girl was doing surprisingly well. She had managed to last twelve minutes with the fourth-year boy, and was still going. "She must have a high Aura…" he murmured to himself.

The door to the room opened and a Faunas with curled goat horns stood in the door way.

"Yes, Nicholas?" the man asked, not glancing up at him. "Did you have something important to tell me or are you here to waste my time?"

"She's going to Tara's house in three days, sir."

The man pressed his tented fingers against his mouth, keeping his eyes on the girl on the screen before him. "I see."

Nicholas walked over to the man's desk and looked at the screen. "Ah, the fight where she loses to Quincy. I forgot that was today."

The man shot Nicholas a look. "Spoilers? Really Nico-Pico? How outstandingly rude," on the screen, the Olos girl held her hands in an 'x', finishing the fight without having her Aura break. "Impressive."

"She is a lot like her sister."

"Her sister is, and never was, a concern to me," the man stood up from his chair, his signature black coat swirling about him. "That Olos girl on the other hand, is quite the concerning one. Do you even know how high her Aura capacity is?"

"I can't say I do, sir."

The man slammed his hands down on the desk. "I am the best Huntsman alive. Why does this little girl have an equal amount of Aura, Nicholas?"

Nicholas tensed momentarily. "W-well sir, she is Samuel and Akani's child. A perfect blend of the two of them."

"Samuel Olos," the man spat. He began to pace his office. "Always his face appears in everything I do, and ruins it. Why is that, my Faunas?"

"Well-"

"That was theoretical!" the man snarled. He took a deep breath and regained his composure. "In three days time, I can begin her descent to madness. I will feel calm after that," he gazed at his screen, watching that infuriating Olos girl by her team. "Three days of peace for you."

A/N: The intense villain arc begins! Or, as intense as I can make it, considering my lack in skill for writing battle scenes, (see above) but I shall try!

Announcement, this will be the last chapter of 2022. I will see you again in January! Happy Holidays to all! /Kronos\\