Vertiya was up at the crack of dawn the next day. Granted, she was not one who tended to sleep much, but even still she had noticeably less rest than usual, and for the first time in a long time, she was nervous. Even when battling the Nevermore she kept a cool head, and in both the forest and the aura trial she was more than capable of staying calm under pressure. But fighting a whole team with a group of people she had only really 'befriended' a couple of days ago? Vertiya was troubled by it.
"You look troubled."
Vertiya had been unfocused, looking out of one of the many windows in the room, and as such had not realised Pluto was there next to her with his arms folded. There was no trace of alcohol in his breath, oddly enough, and he was as far as Vertiya could see completely sober.
"Let's just say I'm a little nervous about the upcoming stage, and I don't usually get nervous," Vertiya explained, looking up to Pluto. He was a tall kid, and the beard really aged him well, making him look quite a bit older than just eighteen. "That being said, you look oddly… sober, considering how you were yesterday."
"Well, other than the fact living on the sea did give me quite the tolerance, my brew isn't exactly what most people consider as proper alcohol," Pluto explained to her. "It actually consists mostly of stored up aura, so in a pinch, I tend to get through the whole thing. When it's in weapon form, though, my hammer can steal aura from other people in a fight, or similar to your brother's semblance convert life essence from Grimm into aura. Makes for a potent beverage."
Converting aura into a drink was definitely another thing Vertiya had never heard of, nor would have thought of, but it definitely worked for him so she wasn't going to question against it. "Well, as long as Yimesz wakes up without a hangover I can't complain," she said, shrugging. "I'm curious, though, why go from the sea to here?"
"Well, I've always been a lover of adventure, and I was fairly certain that becoming a huntsman would lead to that. Plus, if I actually knew how to defeat the Grimm of the sea, they wouldn't be so much of a problem," Pluto explained, shrugging. "Made the decision a little late, but I guess General Ironwwod must have seen some potential because, after all, I'm here."
Pluto definitely had a backstory that Vertiya could only have partially anticipated. Sure, she got the sea vibes, the adventure, and so on, but the idea for the weapon, reasoning behind coming to a huntsman academy, and just general maturity was far past what she expected. She was about to ask more, but a familiar voice stopped her from doing so.
"I am gonna need some more of that drink some time Pluto. I'm not even hanging! This is incredible!"
It had gotten to around midday before the inevitable came around, and Vertiya, Yimesz, Pluto and Ruzovi ended up alongside the other 28 left. Vertiya had neither seen nor spoken to Fen since the race trial a few days ago and was interested to see what other team mates she'd acquired alongside the Russian who, as far as Vertiya knew, used a shield of some form, but before she could scour the whole crowd, the familiar voice of General Ironwood echoed through the room as per usual, and she with the others resigned to watching him.
"Congratulations to all of you who have made it to this stage. Out of the hundreds who applied for Atlas Academy this year, you are the final thirty-two, and that is commendable. However, as I said, we only have space for sixteen, and as I am sure you are all aware, this is the final stage. As previously mentioned, eight teams will go into this stage, and only four will come out," Ironwood started to elaborate. "I do hope that the last two days between the aura stage and this one have been used by you all to get comfortable with your new team mates, learn battle styles, and coordinate potential strategies."
There were varying reactions to this statement. Vertiya was quite comfortable – she'd been doing that exact thing after all – and there were a few people who were equally satisfied at hearing this. Other teams, however, were muttering at this point, and it was pretty clear they had not put quite as much effort into preparing.
"One final point: because we are not hosting a Vytal Festival for quite some time, we do only have one battle environment fully set up at the current moment in time, and therefore you will all be using it. As such, because we don't want any teams to get unfair advantages, you will not be able to spectate the fights, nor will you be able to speak to anyone who has completed the fight until your team have finished theirs. The teams that will be competing against each other will be randomised, because as far as I and all the staff at Atlas are concerned, you are all at the same level, and all capable of graduating from this academy."
After saying this, General Ironwood pressed something on his scroll, and pictures of each of the eight teams started scrolling, both coming to a halt at the same time.
"Well, Venim Achilles, Rooch Jestyr, Titania Stone and Crystal Xerdius, you will be battling against Karmin Farkas, Tristov Icus, Emeric Marion and Fen Yīnghuā. If the eight of you could follow me, we shall begin shortly," Ironwood called out.
Vertiya of course knew Fen, and had been introduced to Tristov back in the forest, but Karmin and Emeric she did not recall, nor did she recognise any of the names of the team she was against. However, she did get a quick view of the teams, and she realised that one of Fen's team was the rather savage character from the first stage who appeared to finish off the Grimm he was paired with by ripping it apart. How Fen was going to work with that, Vertiya did not know, but either way she suddenly felt a little better about the team she was with. At least they all listened.
Vertiya couldn't help but feel like it was starting to become a trend. She was the last person to be called up to take on a Grimm. She was half of the last pair to make it to the centre of the forest. And now, sat with Yimesz, Pluto, and Ruzovi, she was one of the last two teams to take on the final stage. The wait was uncomfortable, and held out in silence with the exception of Pluto's drinking, but the tension was eventually broken when General Ironwood came back into the room for the fourth and final time.
"I am fairly certain you all know who you are facing, but for the logs of the school, I do have to run it through the system," Ironwood explained, pressing his scroll again, with the teams that were scrolling merely staying the exact same. "Plutonine Hawkrest, Vertiya Hylae, Yimesz Hylae, and Ruzovi Saffyer, you will be facing off against Emba Byrrhon, Pechus Irus, Hylliang Kestenyav, and Peter Wheatey. Please come with me."
Vertiya and the rest of her team got up, as did the other team, both of them following General Ironwood through a door to a rather astonishing sight. They were met with an impressive scene: laid out in front of them was something resembling a glacier, with various ice spikes coming out of the ground which seemed to be made of pure ice, a structure that resembled a small cave, and even a body of water on one side. Pluto grinned upon seeing the water, and Vertiya knew why now – he'd been raised on the sea, and aquatic combat was bound to be his strength. The four of them went round to one side of the landscape, whereas the other team went round to the other, before getting into a starting position. Vertiya quickly made out what weapons each of them used: Emba wielded a large disc resembling a Frisbee that was twice the size of her, but with nothing in the middle; Pechus had in his hands a whip; Hylliang sported a pair of nunchucks which looked like they morphed into pistols; and Peter had in both hands a giant broadsword, with attachments that made it look like it changed to form a rifle. Vertiya started flipping a pair of cards in her hand, looking up to see images of everyone with an aura level underneath, before a bell rung through the arena.
Almost immediately when the battle started, Emba threw her disc out, causing it to bounce off each of the ice spikes in a pinball-like fashion. Pluto dived out of the way and Ruzovi merely bent underneath it, but Vertiya, who was not expecting such a quick start, was slow on getting a card to counter the circular blade that was rapidly approaching her, but her lack of reaction was made up for by Yimesz meating the blade with his fist, redirecting the blade back at the other team. Emba easily caught the disc again, but in the brief chaos, the other team had vanished into the ice.
"You, sis, need to wake up a little," Yimesz told Vertiya, but the grin on his face showed that he wasn't saying it in a truly serious manner. "I told you not sleeping all the time would catch up on you."
"Oh for the love of-" Vertiya started to retort, before ducking behind an ice spike when a barrage of rifle shots came flying her way. "Right, Pluto, take the water. Yimesz, Ruzovi, stay on the ice, but watch out for a surprise attack. I'm gonna go… act support," Vertiya said, with a sigh on the last bit, as she activated her semblance and turned invisible. Sure, Vertiya did not tend to use a particularly aggressive style of combat, and her favourite card was pink, but she preferred being at the very least hands on. However, none of the other three had the support capabilities that she had, so she knew in some scenarios she'd have to be the one to take the initiative.
Upon hearing a deafening crack, Vertiya moved. Pluto, who of course didn't have an actual boat, and simply used his hammer to crack off a large part of the ice, and had taken that to the water instead. Once he was on the water, he swapped his weapon to cannon form, before firing a barrage of cannonballs onto the battlefield, drawing a lot of attention and giving Vertiya cover and an audible distraction to allow her to get into where the enemies were. Sure, Vertiya knew how to be quiet, but with a cannon firing in the background, she didn't have to take quite as much caution and could therefore move with more haste, and sure enough she found the first of the opposing team, Hylliang, hidden behind one of the ice structures. Dropping behind another spike as her semblance wore off, Vertiya threw a pink card up in the air above Hylliang, before throwing a red card at it, creating a flare in the sky that revealed his location. Hylliang spotted the flare, but he was a little too slow on spotting it – the ice spike he was hiding behind had been smashed completely, and Yimesz had landed a hard punch on him. Hylliang was back up on his feet quickly, though, and the two ended up engaging in a rather fast paced brawl.
Vertiya was about to pop her semblance again, but before she could the ice spike that she'd been using for cover got yanked away from her, and as she turned she realised Pechus had taken a hold of it with his whip and pulled it out of the ice, leaving her both open and vulnerable.
"Well, if it isn't Ironwood's favourite student," a female voice said, which Vertiya soon noticed to be Emba, who had appeared next to Pechus. "Wonder what will happen when we knock you out of the running. Might even get a bonus of some form."
"I'd be more concerned about you knocking me out if I actually remembered who you were," Vertiya said with a bit of snark, chucking a yellow card at Emba. Emba rolled out of the way of it, but she had quite the grin on her lips when she returned to a standing posture.
"Ooh, feisty. I like it," Emba responded, resting her free hand on her hip. "Sass isn't going to get you out of this situation though," she added, and in one slick move Pechus had whipped towards Vertiya's legs, taking her feet out from under her. "See, you need fighting skill to be able to get through something like this. Which looks something like this," she continued, doing a stylish flip in the air before bringing the blade down towards Vertiya.
Vertiya had just about stopped the attack with a quickly placed brown card, but that wasn't what had gotten Emba off her. Ruzovi, who had managed to get over to Vertiya, had caught Emba in the side with her bo as Emba was bringing her disc blade down on Vertiya, knocking her off to the side.
"You need a team to get through an academy, not just individual skill," Ruzovi said, aiming her staff at Pechus who was repositioning, and Emba who was getting back to her feet. Vertiya pushed herself back up to her feet as well, getting a few more cards in between her fingers.
"A team, hmm?" Emba mocked, as she started spinning her disc in her hands. "You're not a team yet. You're just four individuals who happen to be fighting another four. And if you don't believe me, look at how the fighting has spanned out."
Emba had a point. Peter had jumped onto Pluto's block of ice in the water to stop the cannon barrage, and was battling him; Yimesz and Hylliang were still going at it on the other side of the landscape, and that left the four of them standing there. "Well, that tends to happen when you've only been together for two days. But we're still enough of a team to kick your asses," Vertiya retorted.
"Pah," Emba scoffed, Pechus to her side starting to circle his whip in the air. "I'd like to see you try."