Chapter Twelve: Throwing Down the Gauntlet.

The air grew cold in the room as Oberon finished his sentence. Neo could see his sneer had somehow doubled in size and was mirrored in his eyes. He had purposefully misinterpreted her in order to get his way. And, if Neo tried to correct him, she would seem like a quitter who was unfitting of being the leader. To be honest, Neo didn't even want to be leader, but if this jerk was going to be spiteful, she was going to be spiteful back. Like hell she was gonna just let this guy win just so she could relinquish control of the title.

Thea and Rylee shared a glance between the two of them; an incredible feat, considering neither of them could see the other's eyes. Was this really happening? It'd not even been an hour since they got into their dorm room, and they were already literally organizing a fight between their own members.

'Not what I said, but if that's what you want…' Neo began, before her own smugness began to boil up over the tears which had once manifested. '…I'll happily kick your ass.'

"Tch, how crude. You stand no chance. Come this time tomorrow, you'll be regretting not backing out whilst you still had the chance." Oberon sneered, before turning back to his notes and various holographic screens. It looked like he had mapped out the entire room in some kind of holographical recreation. To Thea, the man was just eccentric and was tapping and poking at nothing. However, she didn't really want to ask what he was doing, since she'd probably end up looking like a fool to the others, since they could see normally.

Rylee wondered what he was trying to do, so they watched him from the bed which they had sat upon. He seemed to be moving things around in an almost nonsensical manner. Putting all the beds together outside of the room, then placing two of them sideways up against the far wall. Removing the bookshelves and placing that outside the room as well. Then…putting the other two beds floating in the air above the first two. Was he…trying to maximise dorm room space, somehow? Was he so certain that he was going to win, that he was already preparing for what he intended to do as leader? It seemed like it.

Neo had just decided to take a shower to have some time to herself. The bathroom was small but had all the necessities. Sink, toilet, a shower, and a couple of cabinets to house one's toiletries. Neo stripped off her clothes and bundled them into a neat pile in the corner, before stepping into the shower and turning on the water. She recoiled backwards as a spray of freezing water assaulted her senses before she rapidly adjusted the temperature and measured it with her fingers. Once it was warmer, she stepped back inside and began to wash herself. The soaps were strawberry-scented, a welcome surprise to the shortstack, so she took great pleasure in applying a generous amount of it to the sponge and scrubbing herself all over.

In the meantime, her mind had wondered to the situation which had now developed. She had noted that Oberon was especially confident in his victory. Was it an unwarranted assertion of overconfidence? Or a calculated, knowing smugness? He had only seen what Neo was capable of during the fight against the Minotaur, so it was likely he was basing his knowledge of her on that. As such, it was quite likely that he had assumed that his opponent was a reckless, foolhardy individual which needed help to climb out of proverbial holes which she had dug herself into. In truth, the opposite was true, meaning that Oberon was wrong. So why was Neo so…uncertain?

The fact of the matter was… Oberon had quite the advantage against Neo. He seemed to excel in ranged capabilities, without needing to sacrifice melee competence. If those floating hands of his could wield shields and guns, there was no reason why they could not wield swords, axes, or lances. All Oberon would have to do is prioritise defence, whilst wearing her down at range, and Neo would struggle to get in close enough without relying on her semblance. Since the battle would, assumedly, be taking place during sparring training, there would be a large audience to watch the fight so, unless Neo was exceptionally sneaky, using her semblance at full power would make it common knowledge. She was still not ready for people – especially Ozpin and the staff at the facility – to know about the extent of her semblance's capabilities. Doing so would jeopardise the safety of her newfound, easy-going life which she intended to live until she got her Huntress' License and all the nifty perks which came with it.

Oberon, meanwhile, had been carefully planning his victory from the beginning. He was the kind of man who had a plan for everything; including the unlikely event in which he would need to do battle with his fellow academy student. He had carefully studied each of his team members to assess their weaknesses and strengths, and how to best exploit them when it came down to the wire. That was done as practice, though. After all, the Vytal Festival wasn't far away, and he intended to bag the winning position. Whilst he had studied Thea and Rylee previously, he only had vague knowledge of the newcomer. It didn't matter; he had seen her in action once before, so he had a rough idea of what she was capable of. Seemed she had some kind of illusion semblance and a weapon which was, all things considered, just a sword cane which could be used as a shield as a last resort. As long as he kept his wits about him and exercised his control over the battlefield, he was sure that Neo would make a reckless decision which he could exploit to gain a victory. However, this wasn't just a win which he was after. No, no. It had to be a crushing, near-flawless victory which would prove his abilities as a leader, as well as prove just how lacking his opponent's skills were. Only then would his title as leader remain unchallenged and the team could just focus on moving forward under his keen and watchful eye.

The day had passed quickly from that point onwards, as the team's minds raced with a mixture of bewilderment, tactics, doubt, and hope. Barely anyone spoke to each other and, instead, merely focused on themselves. Thea had gone to the bathroom to shower and apply new bandages. Rylee focused on polishing their armour and maintaining Sunderstorm. Neo was now wearing her pyjamas and lying in bed, with her hat and neck scarf sitting on a small bedside table, so they were never far away.

Oberon was now laying on his bed, compiling notes and attempting to research more about the newcomer. Whilst he had had an idea as to who the other two were, due to their lineage and renown in Vale, Neo was new to him. He'd never heard of her and had assumed that she'd come from Atlas or Mistral. Searching the name: 'Neopolitan' just corrected his spelling to the name of the ice cream, much to his annoyance. Whilst he could just ask Neo about her past, he was hoping to find out more, purely in hopes that the wide world of the web could help uncover some kind of weakness. However, for the first time in ages, he had come up entirely empty-handed. That being said, he did not intend to give up so easily…

The morning came, and Oberon was still tapping away with all six of his hands. A single beam of sunlight came streaking through a small gap in the curtains, driving the young man's attention towards it. His eyes were groggy, and his skin was paler than usual. In his drive to learn, he had only deprived himself of sleep. But…his labour had borne fruit. He had come across a single lead. Someone who matched the description. The runaway daughter-turned-criminal of the Vanille estate.

However, he could not finish his research because he was interrupted by Rylee, who must've been an early bird. They sat up, stretched, and then got out of bed, before approaching Oberon with an expression so concerned that it permeated from their helmet.

"…Did you…stay up all night?" they quietly asked, almost in disbelief. "Are you feeling alright?"

"It would not be the first time. Don't concern yourself with me." He replied, dismissive of the knight's worries, before bookmarking the pages he was currently looking at, and sitting up fully. He glanced to the time. It was 6:30 am. Not really much time to get some sleep, even if he had wanted to, unless he were to skip out on the most important meal of the day. Damnation. How could he have been so careless?

He figured that, since he was deprived of the option to get some rest, he would just have to power through. And so, the first order of business would be to have a shower and, thus, give Rylee the privacy of changing without anyone looking at them. That was probably why they were up so early to begin with.

When he emerged, the rest of the group was stirring, and Rylee had finished their preparations.

The rest of the day felt like a blur in Oberon's head, since he was half-asleep and juggling information whilst being deprived of finishing his research. He had tried to finish during lunch but ended up almost falling asleep. He spent the remainder of the lunch break chugging coffee and obsessing over his weaponry.

When the time had finally come for sparring lessons, Oberon had fanatically planned out his strategies with particularly cruel and brutal methodology. He was first to volunteer to engage in combat, with Neo raising her hand immediately afterwards, showing that she had no intention of backing down. His hands were quivering in anticipation, and he probably looked a little insane, whilst Neo looked cool as a cucumber. It was odd, since she was usually very emotive but, right now, she looked dead serious. It almost made him shudder with fear, instead of bloodlust.

The two stood upon the stage, with their Aura gauges displayed upon a large screen above them. Neo pointed her parasol at him in a particularly threatening manner, as if she were a fencer or a duellist, and he was her target. He stared right back at her, into those mismatched eyes of hers, unflinchingly. He only shook from the coffee, lack of sleep and, perhaps, a sprinkle of madness. His hands were buried in his coat pockets, and his additional hands were hiding within his satchel.

The satchel was, of course, his weapon. He'd made it, himself, and it was a work of art. A specially designed artifact which was, essentially, a 3D printer on steroids. It could make simple objects from processed dust, metal, cloth, plastic, and rubber in the blink of an eye, and more complex ones in only a few moments. Furthermore, it could store various items which could be withdrawn at any time. It, of course, would struggle to make particularly complicated weapons like ones which could fold, transform, or use large quantities of dust, but it was still possible as long as he could internally visualise the details. His weapons would always be weaker than anything made with quality materials, or something which one had poured great effort into, but he could easily make up for that with quantity. As such, his weapon was dubbed: 'Limitless Potential,' and it paired perfectly with his semblance: 'Control Manifold.'

Glynda kept her eyes peeled on these two, as they were involved in slaying the Minotaur of the Labyrinth but kept a closer eye on the shorter one. It was evident that Ozpin saw great potential in her, and she intended to nurture that talent to the best of her ability. She counted them down… and prepared to feast her eyes on the newest generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses in the making.

As soon as the battle began, Oberon immediately pulled out his trump card. All four hands emerged from his satchel, carrying a blanket similar to the one which he had caught Neo with after the battle with the Minotaur was concluded. It was red, as it was laced with unstable fire dust. Before his opponent could even react, the blanket was upon her, and the hands took great pleasure in wrapping her up tightly in a suffocating bind. He watched it flail and struggle, and the blade failing to pierce the slash-proof and puncture-resistant material. Oberon laughed maniacally as he reached into his satchel and withdrew a bow and arrow. The tip of the arrow was already burning with flames, and the shaft of the arrow was covered with volatile, explosive dust which would inevitably cause a colossal explosion as soon as the flames touched it.

"End of the line, you hat-wearing freak of nature! Your ice cream is melted, and your goose is cooked!" He cackled, as he loosed the arrow. The arrow pierced straight through the blanket, reacted with the fire dust, and immediately immolated. Just as things looked dire, it suddenly exploded, leaving only a smoking crater in the stage, where Neo had once been standing.

Glynda was horrified. She had not expected this student to bring such ordinance to a friendly sparring match, let alone be laughing with such…villainous audacity. Not to mention the complete disappearance of the student which Ozpin had his eyes on. What in all of Remnant was she going to tell him? 'Sorry, your star-in-the-making was smothered by a blanket, set on fire and then exploded. Guess you'll need a new one.' No doubt, she'd be the one on the receiving end of a whipping for once, since this all happened under her direct supervision.

Rylee was awestruck by the sudden display of violent efficiency. Hold your evasion-based enemy in place and finish them off with one, massive attack which they had no hope of avoiding? They could not help but be just as impressed as they were disturbed. Then, Rylee slowly turned to face Thea, who was watching without a hint of emotion on her face.

"Is it…is it over?" The knight asked.

"No." Thea calmly replied. "The battle is yet to begin."

In that moment, all eyes turned to the monitors, to reveal that Neo's aura had only slightly depleted, despite the fact there was no girl to be seen. And then, dramatically, she walked through the smoke without so much as a burn upon her. Oberon's eye twitched. How in the world had she managed to survive such an intense hit? Unless…he had only managed to defeat an illusionary clone of hers.

And then, Neo signed something to him. Since he was the only one in the room who knew sign language, its meaning was lost upon anyone else.

'Looks like that blanket obscured your vision; the wool was pulled over your eyes.' And then, that smug look began to surface on her face. Oberon did not appreciate his opponent making puns at him whilst he was too surprised to make a retaliation. His irritation took the form of laughter which he simply couldn't stop.

"Hahahahaha! Did you really think that was everything I had? Oh no, little doll, I have much more in store! Ahahahahaha!" He laughed, as his hands reemerged from his satchel. Two submachine guns, one shield, and a lance floated out, one by one, and took their turns to ominously float above Oberon, all whilst Neo purposefully waited for him to be done. If this man was to learn his lesson, he would need to have no excuses for his failures.

The bullets began to rain down upon her as the guns fired and began to fly towards her, aiming to flank her on both sides, so she could not use her parasol to block the hailstorm. In the meantime, the shield and lance interlocked with one another to stand in Neo's way and prevent her from getting closer to Oberon. Since she needed to get up close and personal to deal any damage to Oberon, this was a rather tricky situation to be in.

Focusing down the guns would be complicated, due to how they flew around like a swarm of angry hornets which boasted a surprisingly effective burst of damage, and attacking the shield and lance combo would likely break her before she broke through their defence. And so, the only option would be to try and get around Oberon's many hands and at the man, himself.

She launched herself forwards, towards the shield and lance, whilst zigging and zagging to avoid the gunfire as much as possible, before batting the lance to one side with Hush. The lance pushed heavily against her, aiming to knock her off course and off balance, whilst the shield rammed itself forwards, attempting to shield bash her. In a split-second decision, she used the force from the lance's shove to propel herself out of the way of the shield, nimbly roll forwards and avoid the incoming shots from behind. She rapidly closed the distance between herself and Oberon and lunged forwards with Hush's blade extended. To her surprise, however, she felt it strike something solid, but she hadn't the time to look, as she was forced into hasty evasive action as those guns fired at her from behind.

Naturally, Oberon had been expecting to be forced into melee, so he had a hand in his satchel, prepared to pull out a shield at a moment's notice. The lunge was obvious, but too quick for him to dodge out of the way of, so he pulled out the shield and intended to use it to defend himself from his own bullets which he now fired from behind Neo. It seemed that he had underestimated her speed, because she had rolled out of the way and towards his side. As she stood up to deliver her strike, Oberon withdrew his other hand from his satchel and produced a large, black morningstar. Carrying the momentum from his quick draw, he smacked Neo across the face with it, shattering the illusionary clone of hers which she had left behind. The real Neo hooked his leg from behind with the handle of her parasol and yanked it backwards, sending Oberon tumbling to the floor. He quickly rolled over onto his back, only to find himself staring his adversary in the eyes as she placed one of her heeled boots directly over his jewels with a particularly threatening aura. Somehow, that foot between his legs was even more threatening than the blade she was pressing to his throat.

As much as Oberon wanted to try and continue the match, his guns had run out of ammo, and his shield and lance hands were too far away to aid him. He lacked the martial prowess to use the shield and morningstar effectively from a prone position. It was clear that Neo had bested him, despite his best efforts. Neo then smiled with satisfaction, removed herself from him, and withdrew her blade. She reached a hand down to him, offering to pull him up, whilst Glynda announced that the match was over and began trying to piece the stage back together.

Oberon stared at that extended hand with a look of distrust. How could he be assured that she wouldn't try a dirty trick after he had been so rude to her? But then, he moved his gaze to her face and saw that, behind those deceitful eyes, there was actually someone worth respecting. Not just anyone could best him, after all, and she had done so without taking much damage at all. He took the hand and was helped up onto his feet. As they walked back into the stands, Neo signed to him: 'So…what was that about me being a hat-wearing freak of nature?'

Uh oh. He should have known that girls tend to remember everything and hold grudges. And he was in a team of them. There was no way that they would forgive his attempted coup and insults he had hurled at Neo so easily. His plans to sweep the rug from under them had, in turn, been pulled from underneath him, instead.

"…In my defence, I was not in the soundest of minds when I said that." He muttered, sheepishly.