[X] She needed more areas to attack. She needed to pry away more of Mordred's armour, then she could just fight head-on while still doing good.
Staring off at her opponent, Pyrrha waited for Mordred to make the first move.
Her opponent had the speed advantage, right now. At least in bursts. She had taken a moment to catch her breath after using that much speed, so it wasn't a constant enhancement, like some Semblances which increased speed.
She took too long to react to it while plotting this, but if she waited until Mordred did that again, she would just need to be close to take advantage of that moment of weakness.
Mordred grinned as she held her sword in front of her, and she started slowly walking towards Pyrrha, confident. Excited. Trying to bait an attack.
"I want to see what you're made of, Nikos." She said with a growl. "I want to see you going all out. I want to show the world everything you have. That way-"
She ran, slower than her full speed but fast enough to force Pyrrha to raise her shield and deflect an overhead sword swing immediately.
"-When I beat you-"
She lifted her left hand off her sword, reaching for Pyrrha's shield and grabbing it, before moving to kick Pyrrha in the stomach. The red-haired girl was forced to move back before she was kicked, and the shield was ripped from her arm in the process.
"-I'll be the indisputable best!"
Letting out a shout, Mordred threw Pyrrha's shield into the distance behind her, away from the fight, and fell into another charge, swinging her sword down. Pyrrha twirled her spear, shifting her grasp of it to hold it in front of her in both hands, ready to deflect blows and make for her shield. As Mordred drew close, however, she suddenly slammed downward. The ground underneath her cratered, and as red light flew upwards through the path the blade had travelled, while several rocks were thrown upwards. Flipping with her forward momentum, Mordred used her body to push out against the rocks, momentarily speeding forth even faster to clash into them and send them flying towards the champion.
Pyrrha deflected the rocks as they approached, shattering them with the twirling of her spear in front of her, and averted her eyes for a moment as the rocks turned to dust from the force. Her twirling spear created enough wind to push the dust away, and when Pyrrha thought enough had deflected, she looked forward in time to see Mordred grab her spear mid-swing and use it to swing Pyrrha around.
As she lost her footing to the movement Mordred was using, Pyrrha reached with her Semblance, kicked off the ground the instant she felt herself touching it, and used her polarity to shoot her spear forward, past Mordred's grasp and into the armour near her shoulder. It chipped at her Aura and bounced off, but it was enough of a surprise that Pyrrha could rip her spear out of her grasp.
By spinning the spear in this process, the portion Mordred was holding was pulled to the right while the other end circled to the left, slamming into Mordred's back and making her stumble. Pyrrha kept up the twirl, until the point of her spear stabbed into the gap in Mordred's armour, peeling away the armour on Mordred's left.
Prying it apart yet again, Pyrrha ignored how Mordred once again started glowing with red lightning that zapped at her, gritting her teeth as she ignored the pain to pull through.
"That's the spirit!" Mordred declared, ripping her sword to the side as she slashed at Pyrrha, forcing her to duck under it. "Go on! Gawain was talking all that good shit about your skill, was my brother just praising you to be polite?"
A laugh fell from her as she kicked at Pyrrha's spear, forcing it away, and Pyrrha started shifting it into the sword form, quickly firing the rifle form behind her in the process to force Mordred to deflect it away from her face while the red-haired girl took her sword and slashed into Mordred's left.
Her Aura was slashed into as Pyrrha used that grip to once again force her weapon into Pyrrha's weakened armour, and started tearing into it again. It shifted into javelin form to put more pressure on that armour. Mordred raise her sword again while letting energy cackle through its path, forcing Pyrrha to let go of her spear to dodge out its path.
For a moment, Pyrrha nearly reached with her Semblance to control it, keep prying away from Mordred. But as the blonde-haired warrior turned to her, she hesitated.
She had been advised to be subtle with her Semblance. She shouldn't be too quick to ruin that now.
Mordred watcher her lower her arm, then curled a fist.
"Are you looking down on me?" Mordred asked. "You were definitely going to do something there, invincible girl! You're still holding back that Semblance of yours!"
Pyrrha dashed in close to grab her spear while Mordred was distracted, and used it to pry away at Mordred's armour again. As Pyrrha ripped through it, she felt a fist hit her face, sending her flying into the distance with spear in hand.
"Give it your all or go home!" The blonde girl roared. "If you're convictions are weak, then why are you even here!"
Rushing in close again, Pyrrha twirled her spear as she sprinted in close to build up momentum with it, slamming the side of it across Mordred's now exposed stomach to cut into it, dealing a big hit to her Aura. Mordred ignored it, forcing herself further into Pyrrha's pointed spear and eating the damage to get in close enough to swing her sword, slamming it across in a blow that missed but left a trail of red that stung as it touched Pyrrha.
...Why was she even here?
She used her spear to push Mordred's arm up and away, allowing her a chance to get a shot at Mordred's opened up weak points, only for Mordred to suddenly barge forward without moving her legs, slamming into Pyrrha and forcing her back.
What was she getting, out of this fight? A fortune she didn't need, which she had a dozen time over at this point. Battle experience that was already more than anyone her age, to the point where she was at least on par or above most average Hunters. Fame which meant nothing to her. Glory which she had nobody to share with.
She'd seen people react to winning or losing fights. When Mordred got into the finals, she'd had a team backing her up singing he praises, celebrating with her. When Pyrrha got into the final round, she stepped into a changing room and sat, alone, while she rested. Nobody wanted to bother the invincible girl.
So why did she even keep doing this?
Mordred headbutted her, then threw Pyrrha over her shoulder and slammed her back down, face first. The red-haired girl quickly put out a hand in front of her, bouncing off the ground, and landing on her feet, only to feel Mordred barging into her back the instant she stopped.
"You might want to show off that Semblance of your soon." Mordred growled. "'Cause you wanna know a secret? This lightning flash of mine is a propulsion trick. Like a jet engine going off at a point I control. I could move around in plate casually if I used it enough. But you know what?"
Suddenly, she was in front of Pyrrha, hitting her with the hilt of her sword.
"It's even better without all that dead weight."
Ripping off the armour around her arm, Mordred threw it at Pyrrha as she moved to remove the armour on her other arm. With how much of her was already exposed, Mordred apparently wasn't going to put up with covering her arms if she had her vital areas more exposed.
"So you better start taking me seriously." Mordred grinned. "Or you're not gonna last much longer."
In a flash of red, Pyrrha felt a hand on her head, before a sudden great momentum pushed down on her, throwing her into the ground. She bounced, and Mordred grabbed her leg, spun, and threw her. Pyrrha felt her weapon slip away from her, and collided with a wall some distance away.
Pyrrha hadn't really cared about the fights beyond winning, to this point. After all, she had won a few tournaments already. May as well keep up the reputation. She was already a symbol of strength. If she kept winning, she'd be something for people to rally behind. But wouldn't someone who beat her just as easily be able to do that?
Wouldn't someone who actually cared about being the best deserve to win more?
...No, damn it, she wasn't going to doubt herself here. There were too many people rooting for her for her to let them down.
Even if they were complete strangers who'd never actually talk to her..
She needed to keep fighting. She needed to try, at least.
Standing up and looking up at Mordred, Pyrhha reached out with her hand.
Mordred wanted her to go all out. If she wanted to stand a chance, she'd have to do everything she could.
The polarity reaching for her shield lifted it up, and Pyrrha swiftly drew her hand upwards and backwards. A moment later, Mordred cried out, as Pyrrha's shield struck her in the back of the skull.
Setting off into a run, Pyrrha drew close, as her sword also flew towards her. It stabbed into Mordred's side as Pyrrha carried it around, and she grabbed it the instant she was close, twirling around to hit her in the stomach as it transformed into rifle form, before pushing back and opening fire. With a bit of concentration, she was able to bring her shield around as Mordred approached her, but Mordred being the faster of the two, she got into melee range first.
"Finally!" She exclaimed, as she swung at Pyrrha, who was forced to clash swords to keep the blow at bay long enough. "What have we got here? Telekinesis? Something else?"
Pyrrha's shield finally came around and hit her opponent in the face, making Mordred stumble back, allowing Pyrrha to take the offensive. She stepped forward, swung her sword, hitting towards Mordred's neck. Step forward, slam pommel into face. Step forward, then step back as Mordred was thrown backwards by her Semblance, blasting red lightning in her wake to force Pyrrha out of the way.
As she looked over at Mordred, Pyrrha took a moment to consider her Aura, while her shield threw itself off towards her opponent again.
She already had to reveal her Semblance in this fight. At this point, there was no point in holding back. The ground was dirt and then stone, but the walls were solid steel.
Closing her eyes and holding her hands out either side, dropping her weapon in the process, Pyrrha concentrated, pulling at the walls of the arena everywhere she could. The steel gates that had blocked their ways were ripped from their places, as several chunks of the arena walls cracked and tore and twisted and collapsed.
"You've been holding this back?" Mordred asked, with a laugh. The chunks of wall ripped off in large steel areas, and Pyrrha opened her eyes as she smashed her hands together, bringing all the steel down on her.
Holding her sword and pointing at Pyrrha, Mordred made no move to dodge.
"Let's do this." She said, the red light engulfing her and arcing around her. She pointed her sword at Pyrrha, and as the steel projectiles smashed around her.
It flickered for a moment, before an explosive sound rang out. Mordred was thrown backwards, as she jetted back, the red lightning condensing into a single arc that smashed through the steel flying towards her, narrowing in on Pyrrha.
Eye's wide, Pyrrha threw as much steel as she could between her and the beam, and started running. Mordred twisted her sword as she watched, wiping out masses of metal in droves as she cut through. More and more smashed into Mordred, even as the red lightning struck Pyrrha, who raise her sword at the last moment to try an divert some of it away from her.
The world went red, and the world exploded. Pyrrha's concentration broke, and the steel collapsed all around the arena. A horn blared in the distance, announcing the end to the match, and for a moment, Pyrrha stumbled to push some steel off of her, looking up to the sky. The barrier above the arena faded away, showing the cheering of the crowd, while a large sign displayed their faces and Aura level.
Both current competitors were below ten percent Aura.
"Ugh..." Mordred complained, pushing off a steel pile off of her. "Keep forgetting how much that hurts..."
Groaning and looking up, Mordred saw the screen, and frowned.
"...Close." She muttered. "Too close..."
"Look at this, folks!" The announcer declared. "Both fighters have fallen under the point of disqualification! Analysts are examining the readings to play back the exact moments of Aura loss for each, to determine the victor, as we speak!"
Pyrrha looked up at the crowd, watching them cheer and chant and scream.
So many signs listing her name above them, so many people cheering her on, expecting her to dominate this fight as she had every over. Win or lose, she'd taken down so much of the mystery around her. She wasn't untouchable anymore. Her Semblance was revealed. She'd come so close to losing. And now-
"-Now, ladies and gentlemen, turn your eyes to the replay to determine the victor!"
There was a slow motion, scene by scene replay on the giant screen above her, showing two camera feeds, one of her and one of Mordred.
Mordred was being pelted by smaller steel fragments, and the larger ones smashing into her and throwing off her aim with her red beam attack. Pyrrha, meanwhile, had been given a heavy hit all at once.
There were bars next to each camera, showing how much Aura each fighter had. Mordred was at thirty percent, twenty, fifteen percent, fourteen-
The red lightning struck Pyrrha, and she went from twenty-nine percent to nine percent in a heartbeat.
She'd lost.
And the crowd went wild.
It was almost funny. They cheered the same regardless of who won. Mordred would be going backstage to meet family and friends, and Pyrrha would smile and wave for a camera and answer questions for strangers.
...Forget about it. Stand up straight. Smile. Go talk to the de- Victor.
Walking over steel chunks, Pyrrha smiled, and offered a hand to Mordred. "Good match."
Mordred grabbed her hand, shook it rapidly for a moment, and gave a joyous grin. She'd looked like she'd never been happier.
"Haha!" She laughed. "Now that's what I'm talking about. I bet everyone was blown away by that!"
"I'm sure." Pyrrha confirmed. "That was... Impressive."
"Hey, follow me." Mordred declared, turning around and pulling Pyrrha's arm. "It'll take everyone a bit to get from the seats to the victory room, and I've got some fizzy drink we can share until then."
Pyrrha blinked, but nodded, and followed along.
Well, she seemed nice.
They walked through the entry/exit gate, with the cheering crowd behind them, and Mordred pushed through a side-door into her room.
"Here." Mordred declared, still laughing as she opened a small fridge and passed an open can to Pyrrha. "This is the good stuff."
"Thank you." Pyrrha confirmed, nodding.
Mordred got another, chugged down her drink, crushed the can, and threw it into the trash in the corner, laughing all the while.
"Man, I feel great!" She declared "Ay, sorry about beating you there, but yeah!"
Pyrrha nodded at her enthusiasm, looking down at her can.
...She was feeling bad about losing a match she wasn't even sure she cared about, when her opponent was this overjoyed about winning?
"Shouldn't we go see the tournament officials?" Pyrrha asked.
"Ah, sod them." Mordred dismissed. "It'll be all 'Oh, we need to make sure you're not hurt' this and 'Smile for the cameras' that. Let's just sit around for a moment, hey? Enjoy a drink. Enjoy the quiet before it all starts. Have a little fun. Don't you agree?"
Pyrrha looked down at her soda can, and thought about it for a moment.
[X] ...Mordred's right. It doesn't even matter that much anyone. She should just enjoy the drink and talk with her for a bit.
[X] Mordred was happy, she didn't need Pyrrha being a bit upset and ruining her mood. She should go, see the officials.