A/N: Well, I promised a midweek update on Wednesday or Thursday. Here it is. Well, it's still Friday... Shut up, it counts.

Chapter Fourteen: School's In

"Speaking of huge, what in the Traveler's name is this fucking place?" I say, throwing my hands up. "I get that it's a combat school, but why the fuck do they need this much space?"

My voice echoes around the room, Honestly, it isn't even that large… but there's literally dozens and dozens just like it. In this wing alone. I haven't so much as seen another student anywhere besides the cafeteria and the dorms.

"Relax. It's just a training room, dude." Yang says.

I blink. "Training? Where are the weights? The machines? Hell, even a punching bag or something? This just looks like…" I pause, thinking. Actually, it kinda looks like a football court with the bleachers and all the lines on the floor.

"Hah." Yang chuckles. "It's not that kind of training. We have all that stuff in the gym. This place is for fighting."

"Why don't you do that outside?" I ask, befuddled. "I mean, wouldn't stray shots or, ah, semblances rip the place up?"

"They do." Yang shrugs. "I guess they just fix it or something? I dunno, the one in Signal was always back to normal in the morning, no matter how much we trashed it the day before."

I bury my head in my hands. Traveler, are the people who run this place fucking made of money? I'm half-tempted to mindfuck Ozpin into letting me peek at the school's balance sheet, just to see how much they waste on stupid crap like this. Giving up, I walk over to the middle of the… arena and glance back at Yang.

"So, we're fighting then?" I say idly, inspecting my gauntlets. "I'd imagine you brought me here for a reason, and I can see you're armed."

"Yeah," Yang says, sporting a wide grin. "You did promise me a rematch, remember?"

"Did I?" I ask, thinking back over our interactions. I might have, I can't remember. Couldn't hurt, in any case. "Alright then. So, how's this going to work? I assume you don't fight to the death, here."

"Um, no." Yang says, shooting me a quizzical look. "Tournament rules, we go until our Aura reaches 15% or step out of the ring." She points to a large ring painted in the center of the arena. Great. Limited mobility, that favors melee fighters like her. I'm fairly confident in my swordplay, but against people who are actually trained to fight like this? No, I'll stick to guns, thank you very much.

Stepping into the circle, I quickly reach under my robes and withdraw two weapons – Universal Remote and Worldline Zero. Placing the sword on my back, I grasp the Remote with both hands, raising it to my shoulder. From what I remember of Yang, she favors hand to hand but can shoot those explosive flares at midrange. With my mobility, my best bet is to let her close, then stay just out of reach while I whittle her shields down. Worldline Zero is just a backup plan, in case she manages to close with me.

Honestly, I could probably just blow her away with a Nova Bomb, but… that runs the risk of actually killing her, which is less than desirable. Maybe if she was a Guardian candidate, I could frame it as a training accident. Hm. Might be able to arrange something like that with Ruby, come to think of it.

Readying her gauntlets, Yang steps forwards as well. Above us, a pair of screens flicker on, showing our shield percentage. I'm at 100%, while Yang is sitting at… 93%? What? I know they have bigger shields than I do, but do they recharge slower or something? It must still be low from initiation. Oh well, at least it makes my end easier.

"You feeling alright, princess?" I taunt. "Not going to say it wasn't a fair fight because of this, are you?" I say, pointing towards the screens.

"Nah." Yang laughs. "I'll beat you in one punch anyway, so it won't matter."

"You just might." I mutter, before tensing. "On three."

"One…"

"Two…"

"THREE!" I shout, before twisting aside. Immediately, the space where my head was is occupied by Yang's fist. I saw her winding up for that lunge attack while I was counting down, so dodging is trivial. Leaping backward, I fire the Universal Remote, staggering her for a moment before she spins around and fires a series of flares at me.

Activating my Glide, I soar above the barrage, before a fist whistles past my cheek. Looks like Yang has taken to the air as well, using her gauntlets to propel her skyward. But unlike me, she can't control herself freely in the air, constrained to the trajectory her shots put her on. Activating Angel of Light, I loiter in the sky, waiting for her to try again.

There – with a crack, she discharges both gauntlets, flying towards me. Disengaging Glide, I drop like a stone, passing directly below her. She twists in surprise, trying to get a shot off at me, but my actions are too fast and unexpected. Boots hitting the ground, I slam a hand forwards, sending a wave of flame and kinetic force towards Yang before she can do the same.

Still suspended in the air, Yang can do nothing as she's sent sailing across the arena. But she manages to prevent herself from ringing out by slowing her roll with a shot from her gauntlets. How much recoil do the damn things have, if it's enough to send her flying like that? And why isn't she blown off her feet whenever she fires them normally?

An explosion jars me out of my pondering, as Yang fires a shell into the floor in front of me. Dancing backward, I barely avoid the spray of shrapnel and stone, the tiled floor cracking beneath my footsteps. Sinking to one knee, I manage to squeeze two more shots off at her before she closes again. Fuck this, she's too quick to kite and I'll never get the chance to reload. Dropping Universal Remote, I quickly switch to Worldline Zero.

Stepping to the side, I manage to avoid one gauntlet, as the other crashes into my side. Spit explodes from my mouth as I gasp, coating the inside of my visor before Ghost wipes it away. Fuck, she hits like a truck. Looking to the side, I can see that almost half my shields are gone from that blow alone, where hers are hovering at around 70% even after three direct hits from the Remote.

Ducking under another attack, I blink forwards through Yang, before spinning around and laying a powerful vertical slash over her spine. She stiffens, before lunging towards me, batting aside another strike with one gauntlet while trying to blast me with the other. My shields soak up another hit, dropping to 24%. I need to buy time for them to regenerate. Maybe get her talking.

Disengaging, I blink to the edge of the arena. Tapping the tip of my sword against the floor, I nod briefly to Yang. "You're a much better fighter than I gave you credit for." I say evenly.

Yang seems to preen under the praise. "I told you I was going to take this seriously."

"Then, I suppose I should too?" I ask, glancing back towards my shields. Just a few more seconds…

"You haven't been?" Yang faux gasps, hand to her forehead. "You wound me."

"That's what I'm trying not to do." I grump, shifting slightly. I can see my shields begin to creep upwards again. "But… your shields are a good bit tougher than I thought. Let's see if you can handle this."

Leaping into the air, I give her no time to react as I squeeze the handle of Worldline Zero. Dropping into a Tesseract, I crash against Yang, knocking her back with a good quarter cut out of her shields. 40% left. Reaching out, I slam a grenade against the floor before jumping away.

Without warning, the grenade explodes into a plume of Solar energy, a pillar of fire lashing about wildly as it burns. Yang flinches, her arms raised to ward off the heat and light. I rush forwards, ready to Tesseract her again. But before I can make it, Yang's eyes snap open. Wait… they're red? Oh, shit –

I rock back as a fist drives itself into me, bones snapping as lungs collapse and my heart explodes inside my chest. Falling backward, I slump to the floor as a buzzer sounds. Yang seems satisfied, up until she notices the blood seeping out of my robes.

"URS!" She screams, throwing herself at me. Gauntleted hands rip my robes open, as my own feebly try to pry them away. She gapes at the indent in my chest, broken ribs poking through tattered scraps of skin. Already I can feel myself growing tired, as my brain slowly shuts down from a lack of oxygen. Blood bubbles up my throat as I try to speak, to no avail. Letting my head crash back to the floor, I close my eyes and surrender to the Light.

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCKWHATTHEFUCK!

"Urs!" I cry, looking at the aura monitor. Empty? How – I hit him… three, four times! Racing over to him, I rip the bloody robes away, batting his hands aside when he tries to stop me. I –

What? I… my hands shake, as I stare at the massive hole in his chest. I barely hold in a scream, as I see bone poking through the mass of blood and raw flesh. He…

"Urs!" I yell, bending over him. "Hang on! I'll, I'm going to go get help!"

He doesn't respond, just lying there on the floor. Fuck, fuck, fuck, please please please don't be dead. Placing a hand on his chest, careful to avoid placing any pressure on the wound, I try to feel his heartbeat.

Nothing. Nothing at all. No breathing either. Oh, god. I… I fucking… I choke back the urge to vomit. I did this to him… I…

No, he can't be dead. Not like this. There's got to be somebody who can help him, a healing semblance, something! Standing up, I sprint over to the door, sparing one last glance to his body lying on the floor.

Slamming the door open, I race out into the hallway. "HELP!" I shout, running out of the training room. "ANYBODY, HELP!" I hear somebody cry out in the distance. Yes!

Hold on, Urs! Help's coming!

Opening my eyes again, I suck in a ragged breath. "Ow…" I mutter, placing a hand on my thankfully dent-free chest. "That really fucking hurt."

Ghost beeps at me, before vanishing once again into my armor matrix. Sitting up, I look around the training room. "Shit," I mutter, rubbing a hand over the front of my robes. "I… lost?"

Before I can so much as stand, the door slams open. The thing's seen better days, it honestly looks like it's about to fall off the hinges. Striding into the room comes a figure in a white coat, along with Glynda Goodwitch and a rather frightened-looking Yang.

"Here! He's…" Yang trails off, looking at me. "…Right here."

Goodwitch snaps her head to the left, giving Yang a withering glare. "Miss Xiao-Long, our staff here at Beacon do not appreciate having our time wasted. Mr. Urs looks perfectly fine, and certainly not on the verge of death. Doctor?"

The white-coated figure steps forwards, showing itself to be a woman holding some sort of… medical instrument. A pair of brown, doglike ears draws my attention. One of those Faunus I've read about? Quickly walking over to me, she runs it over my body before consulting some sort of screen. "His aura's full, Glynda."

Goodwitch seems surprised by that. "How? I thought you said you were sparring, Miss Xiao-Long?"

I'm tempted to interject with some sort of joke about being quick to get (it) up, but I doubt Goodwitch would appreciate it. Or Yang, given how shell-shocked she looks right now. Oh, yeah, she doesn't know I'm immortal. Which means, as far as she knew, she just killed me. Whoops. I'll have to make it up to her later. And think of how to explain that I'm still alive.

"I… um, I mean, we were, but…" Yang's hands shake, as she gestures towards me. "He wasn't like this when I left, I mean, he had a hole in his chest and wasn't…" She trembles. "Wasn't breathing."

Goodwitch looks like she's about to blow a fuse. Looks like I have to step in and bail Yang out. "She's not lying," I say quickly. "But it wasn't as bad as it looked. Just knocked me out for a moment."

Goodwitch turns her head sharply towards me. "Then how is your Aura full, Mr. Urs? And how was Ms. Xiao-Long able to injure you through it?"

"I…" I trail off, thinking. Do I even want to lie here? Doesn't really do me any good, and what are they gonna do, not believe me? Big deal. "My shields aren't as large as yours. But they regenerate much faster. I'm fine now." I stand up again, to emphasize my point.

"That's… unusual. Is this related to your semblance?" Goodwitch asks.

"Among other things." I shrug. Semblance seems like a good excuse for damn near anything I don't care to explain, so why not roll with it.

She makes a noncommittal noise. "Very well. There will be no punishment for Ms. Xiao-Long today, then. But in the future…" She says, fixing me with a pointed stare. "…I expect you to brief all your sparring partners on what to expect from here on out. I am not eager to be dragged halfway across the school again by another student claiming they killed someone."

"Ah, yes… I'll try to avoid that." I say sheepishly. Damn, am I actually getting away with this?

Goodwitch huffs, before turning around and striding off. The… doctor? Nurse? The medic follows closely behind, ears twitching violently.

"Well…" I say slowly, looking at Yang. "That was a thing."

Yang sniffles. Oh, shit. Looks like she's about to fucking cry. I am not prepared to deal with this shit. What the fuck do I do? Apologize? Worth a shot.

"Sorry about that." I say. "I, ah, didn't expect you'd be that strong."

Yang murmurs something. "What was that?" I ask.

"What the fuck was all that!?" She shouts, eyes turning red again. "You… you were dead! I… I don't care what you said to Goodwitch, I fucking staved your ribs in! How did you get back up from that?"

"That reminds me…" I mutter. "One moment." I say, looking apologetically at Yang. Muting my external speakers, I quickly whisper a command to Ghost. "Ghost, get into their security systems. I want all footage of the training rooms gone. Pop the entire server if you have to, just make sure it looks like an accident."

"Sorry," I say, turning my speakers back on. "So… where do you want me to start?"

"…You said it was related to your semblance, earlier."

"Pardon?" I say, confused. "What was?"

"All this… stuff, you can do." Yang says, waving a hand in frustration. "You keep saying it's magic, and… a semblance can't do half the things I've seen you do. You can fly, summon fire, and apparently come back from the fucking dead. What are you?"

I smile. "I wasn't lying, when I said it was magic." I say. "Though, I simply call it paracasual force."

"And what the heck is that?" Yang asks.

"Have you ever thought about Aura? About semblances?" I ask suddenly. "Where it comes from, how they work?"

"I, uh… no, not really." Yang admits. "They teach you a little bit about it in Signal, but nobody really knows anything."

"What the fuck is a signal?" I mutter. "Never mind. What you call Aura is simply a manifested form of paracasual force, specifically the force called 'Light'. Not to be confused with visible light, which is what our eyes see." I clear my throat. "Light exists in all living creatures, though only in incredibly tiny amounts. And somehow, you people have managed to figure out a way to kindle that tiny spark of Light, to transform it into a raging bonfire."

"The ritual." Yang says, eyes widening. "It's how most of us unlock our Aura."

"Yes," I say. "Unfortunately, whoever came up with it fucked up. Or maybe it was on purpose, I don't know. It certainly lights the fire, and it even works on people whose spark is normally too small to be kindled. But it also limits it, constrains it. Hence why you only have one, singular ability – a semblance. And all the rest of your Light, denied an exit, gets channeled into your shields."

"…So, you trade more powers for less aura?" Yang asks.

"Sort of." I hedge. "It's a bit more complicated than that, but essentially yes. A Guardian goes through a different, much more invasive process, which opens our bodies to the Light in a way nobody else could replicate."

Yang is silent for a moment. "I don't really know if I believe you." She says slowly. "But… you were dead one second, and fine the next, so I guess I don't have a choice." She looks up, sharply. "Were you actually dead?"

Hm. Should I tell the truth? I don't think it really matters, but this, in particular, could bite me in the ass if she spreads it around. Safer to lie, I guess. "Not really," I say. "Mostly unconscious while my body healed. It'd take a lot to actually kill me, though."

Yang frowns, eyes sweeping over me. Silently, she steps forwards, before dragging me into a fierce hug. "Don't fucking do that again, man." She says, voice shaking. "I really thought you died."

"I'm… sorry?" I mutter as I disengage before she can break another rib. Why would she care so much? If I had struck her down instead, sure I'd have been a bit upset, but… She seems genuinely horrified.

"You'd better be!" She says, slugging me in the shoulder – but gently, I notice, as though she's afraid I'd shatter like glass. "But…" A grin creeps across her face. "Looks like it's my victory."

What!? Bitch, I wasn't even fighting for real! I'd have blown you away with a Nova Bomb if I didn't think it'd kill you. You know, maybe that's my problem. I'm fighting as a Warlock. Warlocks aren't famous for their skill at close-quarters, but instead for their incredibly powerful supers. I mean, fuck… as a Titan, I'd probably have enough strength and durability to tank her hits, and Hammer of Dawn has the finesse I'd need to put her down without injury. Rematch. I need a rematch!

"Okay." I say. "You got me." I pause, smirking as a confused expression slips across her face. "This time. I've won once, you've won once, so how does a tiebreaker sound?"

"Oh?" Yang says, leaning forwards. "Even after all that, you think you can take this?" She uncrosses her arms, gauntlets raised into a parody of a fighting stance.

I smirk. "You'll never even know what hit you."

A/N: Next update Monday afternoon, as usual. Nothing further to report.