Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!

Man, I've been writing so much more lately, it's been a lot of fun actually. HellFall just comes so easily to me, and I don't know why. No other story of mine is as easy to write as this one.

This chapter is quite a bit longer than usual, just so that we don't have to have as many Crimson II chapters. We're at 15 now, while everyone else is sitting at 7 chapters if they're lucky.

Anyways, I don't want you to read too much more than you have to, so let's get on with it!

I walked through the doors into the tournament arena, my teammates surrounding me. The crowd cheered all around us. I swept my gaze across the full seats, seeing the vast scheme of colors waving and flailing about with excitement.

Arkynshihn rested on my shoulder, held in one hand. For some reason I was feeling pretty casual today, like I'd be able to just breeze through whatever was about to hit me. Petunia stood to my right, holding her dust vial sword, Lacemeiyor, by her side. To my left Steam propped his shovel, Gold Digger, up on his shoulder, similarly to me, and Hail held her scythe, Grim Winter, like it was a walking stick, with the butt end planted against the ground.

The announcer spoke loudly into his microphone, "ALRIGHT FOLKS! HERE HAVE TEAM PHGG, WHO HAS MANAGED TO PULL OFF STUNNING VICTORY AFTER STUNNING VICTORY SO FAR! BUT WILL THEY BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR STREAK AGAINST THEIR OPPONENT TODAY?"

I averted my gaze, looking towards the far side of the arena, but saw no one.

"WHO IS THEIR OPPONENT?!" the announcer continued, "WELL LET ME TELL YOU! THE WINNER OF THE LAST SEVERAL TOURNAMENTS, YOU ALL KNOW AND LOVE HER, THE LONE WARRIOR, GUENIANNE RADIANCE!"

In that instant the gate exploded open, smoke streaming outwards and drifting slowly through the wind. A woman stepped through the grey clouds. She was dressed in both black and white, and her attire design was rather unique. She wore a black dress with sleeves going right to her wrists before puffing out into a white wool lining of some kind. The rest of her sleeves and dress running down her torso were covered by rings of wool wrapped around her body, each one puffing out. She wore a white shoulder cape with a small hood covering her head and obscuring her face. On her legs were black laced boots, making their way up past her knees by the looks of it.

She lifted her hood and leveled her gaze with each of us. Her hair was black and short, save for two white ponytails hanging out from the sides of her head, emerging from under her dark hair. The white hair was tied together at the ends in front of her neck, giving her the look of having a very pale crescent moon hanging off her head. Her eyes were cobalt blue, and her face was somewhat round. She was pretty, that I knew, and the softness of her eyes made her appear to be quite friendly too.

The smoke cleared, and I saw her reach back and draw her weapon. It was a sword with a sharp forward curve downwards before correcting itself and going straight again. The design was similar to that of a khopesh, only the curve was much more smooth. Two of these weapons hung from the back of her waist across each other, forming an X shape.

She held only one sword in her hand, standing with it as casually as Petunia did with hers.

"AND…BEGIN!" The announcer yelled.

In that instant the softness in her eyes was replaced by fierce intensity. She charged with alarming speed. I quickly gripped my blade with both hands, and I saw everyone else do the same.

This shouldn't be too bad, right? I thought, I mean, it's one on four. So what if she won all the previous tournaments, right? As I finished this thought she reached us, striking at Petunia first.

Her blade came up, blocking the blow, but for naught. The blade flew from her hands, flying over her head. As Guenianne made another attempt at an attack, I threw myself forward, sticking my blade out and blocking it. As soon as our blades collided she was gone, literally spinning through the air at an angle around me. I felt a sharp swing to my side and flew to the ground.

As I recovered I saw the black and white clothed woman clashing with both Hail and Steam at the same time. How, I did not know. She exchanged blows with each one, one-handed. Her blade swung back and forth, rejecting each attack before flitting to block the next.

I gripped Arkynshihn and charged. She projected her aura at me from behind, throwing me right back to the ground.

Petunia picked Lacemeiyor back up and we charged together. As we swung, her sword swung around her back, blocking each of our blades in one swipe. We stumbled back and glanced at each other, both in awe.

Spoke too soon, I thought.

Steam fell to the ground, and only Hail was left to defend herself. She spun Grim Winter about, pulling the trigger when she could and letting bullets fly, each one blocked or missing entirely. She swung, spun, and shot. But nothing worked. Guenianne blocked each attack with a single hand.

Quickly I looked into the future. I knew that if I attacked from any angle that she'd anticipate it.

I leaned over to Petunia, "We need to strike from two different places at the exact same time"

"Got it" she said, running off in another direction. I went the opposite way, and when we were both ready, charged.

She kicked out, launching Hail through the air and landing right next to Steam just as he was standing.

Petunia and I were almost upon her, but she didn't move. She knew we were coming, yet didn't budge.

I started an overhead swing, and Petunia went for an underhand. In an instant Guenianne thrust her blade towards me, the tips of my sword and hers colliding for the briefest of seconds, barely touching. I felt a sudden burst of force and the blade slipped right out of my hands and into the air. I almost fell in surprise, but kept moving. If we were to hit her, now would be one of the best times.

She spun and blocked Petunia's attack, but I came up and punched her hard in the back. She shuddered slightly at the impact, but swung her elbow back against my nose. I stumbled back, holding my face.

Steam rushed past me, his shovel in its gun state with the sharpened scoop bent backwards and spinning. He pulled the trigger, but unfortunately each bullet bounced off her back. He swung the spinning spade at her, swiping it across her upper back. Surprisingly, she stumbled forward. Petunia, who was still holding her own against her, took this opportunity and slashed her face with a flaming blade. Guenianne was on the ground now. Finally, we were getting somewhere.

We all charged her, everyone wanting to get our blades at her neck. Hail was there first, sticking her scythe in her face. As soon as she did, Guenianne slapped it away and threw her legs backwards, back-flipping into the air and landing on her feet.

We gathered as a wall, standing before her and hoping to intimidate her somehow. I doubted it worked.

For the first time I noticed the trigger under the guard of her sword, and the short barrel on the curved part of her blade. Her finger hopped on the trigger, as if it couldn't decide whether she wanted to pull it for not.

Steam and Hail charged, screaming, and we followed.

In a sudden flurry of movement she deflected each of our attacks. I heard the sound of bullets being fired. Who's, I didn't know. Where they went, I also didn't know. But as we passed her we fell to the ground, utterly exhausted. I was sore all over, my body covered in bruises. I could barely move.

Summoning as much strength as I could, I adjusted my head and saw her back to us, blade in hand and gun barrel smoking. Those are quite some bullets, I thought, allowing my head to drop to the ground.

The crowd cheered all around us, and it was made very clear that this battle was over.

As we left the arena I let out a heavy sigh. "Well, that's over" I said simply.

I saw Petunia nod next to me, but Hail and Steam walked behind me, so I couldn't tell if they made any such acknowledgement.

"Team PHGG!" Someone called. I looked up, seeing Guenianne running towards us from a ways away.

"Miss Radiance." I said, "I didn't get a chance to congratulate you" As much as I wished we had won, I was a good sport.

"Oh thank you!" She said excitedly, "Good on you guys too, you were great!"

"Well…" Hail started.

"Oh please," Guenianne said, "don't worry, I know a good hunter when I see one. You guys want to grab coffee or something?"

I was surprised. Just a few minutes ago it felt like this woman was trying to kill us, now she wanted coffee. I was confused, but the softness had returned to her eyes, and I almost felt obligated to say yes, which is what I did. The team followed suit.

"Cool, where do you want to go?"

"Um," Petunia stammered.

"Don't you have a place in mind?" Hail asked. "You did ask, after all"

"I was just being courteous." She replied, "I like SunDial personally, if you guys are up for that"

"Sounds good" I said.

There was a SunDial close by, so we just walked there. We claimed a small table by the window and ordered our beverages. When our steaming mugs were set before us Guenianne started talking.

"So," she started, "whenever I fight someone I like to give them tips, so long as you're all cool with that"

Again, I was surprised. I wasn't really sure about Guenianne. First she was kind, then she was scary, and now she's kind again.

I simply nodded, and everyone else, again, followed suit.

"Cool!" She said, clapping her hands together, "So, something I noticed about all of you was how quickly you seemed to charge into battle. Sometimes brute force works, but typically you will want to plan out more than two steps of an attack. Gazini and Petunia, you had the right idea with that double team, but don't just charge straight. Charge in a zigzag pattern or start running from closer by, just to make it less predictable or catch your opponent off guard. You get what I'm saying?"

We all nodded. I think we all knew that, but it was hard, especially in the heat of battle, to think clearly enough to make a more complex plan of attack. Nevertheless, it was helpful to know that we were getting there.

"Also, you've got to move faster, and more together. Don't just charge in at random times. This is the reason I fight alone, because of how hard it is to synchronize with everyone else. It's a good skill, though, if you intend on fighting as a team. Your one-on-one is really good, for most of you at least. Most of you held your own pretty well when it was just the two of us. But otherwise you guys were great. You just need to pick up the pace and be in synch a little more"

"Quick question," Hail started, "how is your aura shield so strong?"

"That comes with practice." She replied, "The more you use your aura, the stronger it gets, and the longer you can hold it up"

"What about your speed?" Hail pressed, "How did you fight both Steam and I one-handed, and know the others were behind you?"

"Again, it comes with practice." She replied, "As for knowing who was behind me, I simply felt it. My aura stretches quite a ways from my body, so I sense any disturbances around me most of the time. Plus I'm always anticipating back attacks"

"And what about when you knocked Arkynshihn out of my hand?" I asked, referring to when she'd barely grazed my sword and sent it flying.

"Oh, that." She said, smiling, "It's a secret"

I glared at her, trying to make her tell us.

She seemed uncomfortable at that, so she told me. "Okay, it's my semblance. I have increased knockback with anything I touch. So I activated it when our swords touched and there it went"

I nodded. It made sense, and she'd used it in a very clever and somewhat subtle way.

"I'm curious." Petunia started, "Have you ever lost?"

"When I was first learning, all the time" She replied.

"I mean, after you became the best in the world"

"Oh yes." She replied, "I've lost plenty of times. A few years ago my winning streak in the tournaments was broken, actually"

"By who?"

"I believe her name was Livie Sasha. She fought alone as well"

There was a brief pause.

"So what's with the two swords if you only use one?" Hail asked.

"I grew up fighting with two swords," She replied, "but I'm trying to get better one-handed. So I guess you could say that when I pull the second one I reach my 'final form'" She giggled at her joke, but none of us joined her. I tried to force a laugh, but it came out awkward so I stopped.

"Miss Radiance," I started.

"Call me Guen," she said, "it's short, sweet, and less formal"

"Okay, Guen." I continued, "I'm working with the military, and we're recruiting strong hunters for a major threat, a-"

"Okay"

"…What?"

"I'll join"

"I didn't offer"

"But you were about to, right?"

I paused, "Yes"

"Then I'm interested"

"O-kay. You want to drop by the base? We'll get you registered and stuff"

She smiled, "Sounds good."

So there you have it. I'm sure most of you don't really remember Guenianne Radiance. She was mentioned very briefly earlier on in part 2. I really like her, though, she's pretty cool. Fun fact about her, the name Guenianne is a name that I made up by combining two names, one which means black, and the other meaning white. Unfortunately I don't remember exactly what names they were, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to figure out.

I was originally going to end the chapter after the fight, but I wanted to cut down on Crimson (like I said), plus I'm planning on making my chapters longer from now on, if I can. And I didn't want a whole chapter to just be a fight.

And that's it. As usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!