A/N: Some more action, hope y'all enjoy :)
Beta: Prince of Austria
Jaune gaped at the black-haired woman, who stood menacingly over him. There was a grim sneer on her face, one gloved hand raised in the air, fingers almost beckoning him to come closer.
"Anything to say for yourself?" Cinder asked softly, tilting her head to the side. "No? Then die." She snapped her fingers, and Jaune's mind finally caught up to him, commanding his body to dodge quickly, rolling away from the spontaneous explosion that happened right where he had been sitting. Jaune snarled, pulling out Crocea Mors in preparation to attack her... before she snapped her fingers again, forcing him to dive out of the way unless he wanted to become a fried Huntsman.
Ducking behind one of the pillars, Jaune dug into his pocket, his own Philosopher's Stone gleaming at him insidiously. Closing his eyes, Jaune took in a deep breath, silently apologizing to the numerous souls that had been condemned into making such an abomination, and drew on its power, putting his hand on the pillar.
Cinder stepped out to face Jaune, a cruel smirk on her face. "Hiding isn't going to work, you know." She said mockingly, raising her fingers again. Jaune opened his eyes, a fierce glare directed towards the woman.
"I know." He whispered, and lifted his hand, the pillar suddenly exploding outwards in Cinder's direction, blasting her sideways with an angry snarl. Jaune knew that he was at a disadvantage, and sought to even out the playing field, placing his hands on the ground and creating stalagmite-like structures, piercing through the woman. Her aura saved her though, making her bounce against the razor sharp points instead, flinging her even further to the side. Taking whatever he time he could get, Jaune turned towards the trapped Blake and touched the stones surrounding her, causing them to recede and free her.
"I need you to break the circle," Jaune said quickly, running over any words that the girl would've said. The faunus pulled a confused face for a brief second before her expression morphed into protest.
"I don't know how to break it." She said, looking back at the glowing circle. "I thought that's why you had to come and do it."
"I know," Jaune said, shoving down his boiling frustration. "But I can't do it with Miss Hot Head over here, and you can't hold off her attacks." Jaune glanced down at the stone, swearing that he could see the glow dim a little bit. "Hell, I can barely do it, and I'm practically cheating." Blake's eyebrows drew in at the comment, but she decided not to ask about it, more worried about stopping the circle from consuming everyone's souls.
"Well then, it's probably a good idea for the both of us to take Cinder on, then deal with the circle." Jaune bit his lip, thinking about Blake's plan. It was probably their best bet, but with the circle getting closer and closer to activating, the boy wasn't sure he wanted to leave it alone, even if it was for a minute or two while they fought Cinder.
The choice was taken away from them when they heard faint whistling, turning to find a dozen or so spears flying towards them, causing them to separate, Blake flipping backwards to evade the projectiles while Jaune propped his shield open, hiding behind it.
When Jaune looked back up, he could see Cinder scowling at them, but taking her time to approach the pair. Every once in awhile she would snap her fingers, making Jaune and Blake react, but the way she moved was slow, as if she had all the time in the world. Which meant that...
The blond alchemist cursed, realizing that the woman wasn't trying to kill them. All she needed to do was stall long enough for the circle to activate, and jump off the Colosseum to avoid the effects of the circle.
What weaknesses can I exploit? Jaune thought to himself, eyes darting back and forth, all while still fighting the woman, sending transmutations back and forth with her, the two of them not wanting to over commit, Jaune knowing that she would gladly take the opening and kill him, while Cinder knew Jaune and Blake would do the same.
The woman went to snap her fingers and create another explosion again, and Jaune reacted quickly, jumping backwards to avoid the blast.
Just as quickly as she raised her hand though, she lowered it, a small frown on her face as she did so, taking a step forward and creating a long spear, hurling it through the air. Jaune dodged the thing with ease, wondering why she hadn't used her signature snap-blast that she usually did. Looking down, he found his answer, a wide smile on his face as he looked back up.
He was standing inside of the circle.
Cinder didn't dare do anything wild with her transmutations while Jaune was inside of the circle without worrying about destroying the integrity of the circle, maybe even causing it to fail. Sure, the thing could also explode, but that would also put an end to her plans as well.
"Change of plans Blake," Jaune said, looking at the girl, who had unleashed a quick volley of bullets towards Cinder. She looked at him, hair whipping around as she did so. "We need to get towards the center of the circle." The doubt was clear on her face, but trusting Jaune, she nodded, sprinting towards where Jaune pointed. A faded 'no!' came from Cinder, who was quick to figure out that Jaune had found an advantage to exploit, running towards the two of them to stop them.
Jaune raised his nose towards the woman, and mirroring the stance that she had made when the two of them clashed initially, snapped his fingers, erecting a stone wall in front of both of them, taking care not to disturb the circle while he did so. An otherworldly shriek echoed along the room, and Jaune took the time to sprint along with Blake, not looking backwards as he heard the wall lower again, an infuriated Cinder behind it.
"Don't think I'm out of options, boy." Cinder spit out, before her stone glowed bright, her other hand turned inwards, fingers clawed.
Air coalesced in front of where Jaune was running, slowing him down a little, before it picked him up and flung him towards Cinder, the boy tumbling as he did so.
Thinking quick, Jaune focused, and collapsed the ceiling in between the two of them, stopping himself with a pained grunt, and also creating a barricade to stop Cinder from advancing. Picking himself up, he touched the rubble the moment Cinder did, the two of them battling to transmute the debris into something advantageous for the both of them.
Knowing that just fighting over this would take too much time, so Jaune let Cinder turn it into what she wanted—but changing the composition enough without her noticing.
The rocks and plaster turned into water, splashing all over them and spreading over the floor, Cinder smiling predatorily at him now that her path was clear. She took a step forwards, before slipping, falling flat on her bottom.
Jaune grinned, glad that his change from water to oil was effective, and pushed himself well out of the liquid, before whispering to himself quietly, placing his hands on the edges of the oil.
"Forgive me," Jaune said to himself, and to the stone in his hand, before he lit the whole room on fire, the oil on Cinder lighting up as well, making her scream in pain. Jaune focused on drowning out the screaming and clapped his hands once, this time borrowing something from Cinder, creating a concussive explosion outwards, blasting Cinder back through one of the walls, sending her out of the Colosseum with how powerful the blow was. It was a double edged sword though, also striking Jaune and sending him backwards, where Blake caught him, falling underneath his weight.
"Thanks," He groaned, standing up on shaky legs. With Cinder preoccupied for a little longer, Jaune could use this time to disable the circle, staring at the edge of the inscription that he was on. Using that as a reference point, Jaune made a map of what places to damage and alter, setting out to destroy the circle.
Each alter didn't take any longer than thirty seconds, but with a dozen of them that Jaune needed to do, he needed to do them fast. As the humming of power grew louder, Jaune tried to focus on the sounds of Bullheads leaving the stadium, hoping that as many people could be evacuated as possible.
"Okay, three more and it should just... stop." Jaune said, wiping his brow. Blake nodded silently beside him, hand gripped tightly on Gambol Shroud. The boy finished the altar, moving onto the second one.
"After this, I want to take a twelve hour nap," Jaune said firmly, eyes focused on what he was doing. Blake made a noise of amusement, crossing her arms.
"Can you really sleep for that long?" Blake said in a doubtful voice, tilting her head to the side. Jaune glanced up briefly, smiling at her before getting back to his task.
"Sometimes. After I've saved hundreds of people from dying." Jaune said conversationally, standing up as he surveyed his work. Nodding, Jaune turned to her, a grin on his face. "I tend to celebrate after I've done something like that."
"Oh?" Blake said, playing along. "And how does that celebration usually go?" The two of them walked up to the last spot that they needed to change, Jaune crouching down to get ready to change the circle. He shrugged, a small smile still resting on his face.
"I dunno. Lots of food. Drinks. Happy times with... with friends." Jaune blushed a little, but continued talking. "Maybe a—a kiss," Jaune said, his voice getting quieter and quieter. "A kiss from a girl." Blake's ears perked up behind her bow, although Jaune didn't see them.
"Oh." She said quietly. "Is that so?" Jaune felt heat rising under his collar, and was quick to backtrack.
"I mean, only if the girl would be willing to, to kiss me that is. It's totally fine if she doesn't, that's just what I thought a celebration should be like and—"
A hand from Blake stopped him from rambling, making him look up at Blake. Her smile was soft, but it was there, to Jaune's elation.
"We'll see." Blake whispered. It was all she said, but it was enough to make Jaune's heart flutter, and a stupid grin break out on his face. He nodded eagerly before returning to his work, ready to end this once and for all.
Of course life couldn't ever be that easy, as a fireball whirled past Jaune's head. The boy jerked in surprise, almost scratching all the work that he had done, and turned to look at the scarred Cinder, snarling in anger.
"It's over Cinder!" Jaune called out, hand hurriedly finishing the last task. "You can't stop this!" The woman didn't reply, turning deadly silent. She drew up to her tallest height, her presence almost looming over them.
"If I can't have this," She whispered, deadly quiet, "Then no one can." She knelt down and sunk her hands into the circle, warping the integrity of the transmutation beyond recognition, making Jaune's eyes widen. Without further thought, Jaune jumped and tackled Blake, furiously drawing on the Philosopher's Stone to surround them with debris, transmuting it into a soft ballistic gel, hoping it would be enough as the world around them rocked, the circle exploding and destroying the Amity Colosseum.