First person— Haru thought to himself as he and Pyrrha moved in perfect unison at each other. The fact that they needed no loud sign to start the fight showed just how used to battling each other they were, instead of waiting for each other to make the first move, they already knew what the other would be making their first move out of.
Sparks came from the ground as Haru dragged his Scythe behind him, and Pyrrha moved her shield in front of her.
Haru pulled the trigger, and the end of his scythe shot off and destroyed the ground it was pointing at. Haru brought his legs together, and used the recoil of the blast to spin around. Haru turned his scythe around and smashed the more dull end of the scythe against her shield. She spun in the same direction and drastically lowered the strength of his blow, her sword held out so that she could stab him in the head... not that it would be a fatal stabbing thanks to aura.
Haru blasted his scythe again, and he used the recoil to jump high up into the air and touch the ceiling.
Haru froze his feet with some ice mist, sticking himself to the ceiling in seconds. Pyrrha looked up at the ceiling, and her sword turned into a rifle as she spun it in her hand. She aimed at him, and Haru swung his scythe and he protected himself with the large blade. Haru stabbed the blade into the ceiling, and then he broke the ice keeping him on the ceiling. Haru perched on top of the pole of his scythe, and he got his pipe out.
Haru sucked in a single breath, before his chest expanded.
… to cause damage—, Pyrrha thought when she realized what Haru was about to use Flame Dust attacking styles against her. She got down on one knee, before she spun around and used her shield to mark a spot on the ground. She took her shield off of her arm, before she held it up high above her head just as Haru started to open his mouth in the split second that she had.
… has the advantage! Haru and Pyrrha thought in sync, unknowingly, as Haru unleashed a torrent of bright red flames down on Pyrrha from above. The flames changed shape for half a second, before they took the form of a dragon head, and then slammed and engulfed Pyrrha completely in flames. Gasps were heard from the audience at the merciless assault that was CLEARLY made to murder. Haru's attack filled the entire bottom of the arena, burning through the flooring.
Then the flames dispersed when a powerful spinning force disrupted them.
Pyrrha had her glowing white shield spinning as fast as she could make it spin, several hundred miles per hour with ease, creating an area around her... along the circle drawing she had marked earlier, where the flames didn't go. Haru dropped from the ceiling, before he sucked up Ice Dust. Haru landed inside of still burning flames and vanished, before all of the flames in the arena froze into brightly shining ice.
Pyrrha looked around, not sure where Haru was, seeing as he could control the ice.
Pyrrha stabbed the ice under her, before cracks started to fill the ice all around her. She sent a shockwave of her own aura through the cracks, and the ice all around her shattered, turning into snow. Haru was revealed to be behind her, and she turned around. Shield met scythe again, and she frowned for a moment. Her eyes widened when she was grabbed by her ankle by a glowing orange hand. The ground cracked, and Haru was sucked into a hole in the ground, while her other ankle was grabbed.
He used his Semblance to dig a hole in the ground underneath me! Pyrrha thought, her sword transforming into a spear. She got down on her knees and slammed her spear through the ground, and she looked at the board showing her aura and Haru's aura. They were both still in the green, both of them nearly at full. The ground cracked, and two large hands came up and pushed her into the air, while Haru came out of the ground. He spun in the air, and his scythe knocked her shield out of her hand... but before it got even a centimeter away from her body, she reattached it to herself with her Semblance.
The four hands all surrounded her for North, East, South, and West, while Haru himself came from below. He pointed the barrel of his weapon at her, and she stabbed the palm of an aura hand, and used that to escape from his assault. Haru blocked her own kick she sent him at with the side of his scythe, and the two broke apart from each other. They landed apart from each other, standing in the snow with matching smiles on their faces. Smiles filled with their desire to beat the shit out of each other, to have the other bowing their head in defeat.
They were rivals after all.
Haru and Pyrrha calmed their fighting positions, before they smirked at each other.
"I'm all warmed up now." Haru said as he raised his hand up, and he curled all of his fingers but his index and middle finger. The sign that he respected Pyrrha as a fighter, and the fact of the matter that she understood this after clashing with him was proven when she made the same sign as him. He had ALWAYS done that sign before they TRULY started to fight, and she had learned that it meant that he believed her to be his equal, and that he respected her as a fighter.
"I should hope so." Pyrrha said back as they dropped their hands. The two of them charged at each other, moving quickly on their feet. She stabbed at him, and he spun under it and kicked at her ankles. She jumped over his kick, before she flipped in the air and aimed a kick at the top of his head. Haru placed his hand on the ground, before he dodged her kick and returned with one of his own. She blocked it with her shield, and returned with her sword. Haru spat out a sword of ice that blocked her sword, before he grabbed her ankle and slammed her into the snow.
She reacted right before the slam and she forced him to release her ankle by twisting it, and her hands touched down on the snow. She flipped back to her feet, and Haru flipped to his. The two of them crashed their forearms together, and Haru kneed her in the ribs, and she elbowed him in the shoulder. They separated, before they spun around and crashed their weapons against each other with enough force to clear the snow underneath them, showing the ground again.
Damn! She hits hard! Haru thought with a hiss when he felt the dull throb in his shoulder.
He aimed for the ribs, and used the power behind his shorter legs to go for a softer spot... he nicked me good. Pyrrha thought with a wince of her own when she mentally thanked the fact that she had her aura to protect her from most of the damage.
Haru slammed his heel against the snow behind him, and he sent a burst of aura through it. The snow jumped into the air, before it formed over 100 needles of ice that remained in the air for a second. Pyrrha's eyes widened when Haru's Semblance activated, and started to grab the needles and quickly throw them at her. She jumped back twice, evading the first two shots of 20, before she used her shield and blocked the third, before she swung her sword 4 times in a row and blocked the fifth round.
Haru aimed his scythe at her, and pulled the trigger five times in rapid succession. She raised her shield, but was still sent back a few steps from how close he was when he fired at her.
She was even forced to jump back when he threw his scythe at her, and it barely missed her and stuck into the wall behind her.
Used her Semblance to change the direction by an inch. Haru noted, noticing that she had gotten even better at using her Semblance to make herself look like she was untouchable. Haru saw Pyrrha change to her rifle, before she aimed at him. Haru formed several shuriken of ice, before he grabbed them with all six of his arms, real and fake. Haru started to throw and knock each bullet out of the air that she fired, and the two of them continued to fire at each other.
Haru's arms moved as six blurs, and she continued to change the aim of her weapon fast enough that her rifle was blurring like his arms.
The ice shuriken exploded when they hit her bullets, and they turned into shards of ice that littered the ground.
Haru switched to only using five arms to throw ice shuriken, before he formed a 4 foot long shuriken and started to spin it. Haru stopped throwing shuriken, before he blocked her attacks with his spinning Fuma Shuriken. Haru spun around and jumped into the air, before he threw the ice weapon at Pyrrha. She ducked under it, before she grabbed it and returned it to him with even more speed and power behind it.
Haru grabbed it by the hole, and used the momentum to spin around even faster, and return the fuma shuriken even faster than before.
Pyrrha had already switched to her sword, but she used her shield to smash the ice weapon. She started to run towards him as he landed on the ground, and Haru pulled his scythe from the wall behind him now, and he blocked her weapon with his own. Sparks flew between them, and he kicked at her ankle. She moved her foot back, before she kicked at the foot he kicked with. He dodged as well, and using one of his MANY free hands he punched at her. She blocked with her shield, and she continued to block all of his punches. The two of them traded punches and kicks, with neither hitting the other.
Pyrrha grabbed him by his scarf, before she knelt on the ground and slammed him face first into the snow.
Pyrrha slammed the side of her shield into his ribs, and he grabbed her by the very front of her arm and rolled her off of him. Haru elbowed her in the nose, before he created some distance between them. He picked his scythe back up, while Pyrrha rubbed her nose and stood back up as well.
They were skilled warriors.
They needed no words, only trading blows and glances were enough for them to communicate in a battle.
"The Art of 7 Scythes! Frozen Maelstrom!" Haru said as he formed 6 extra scythes made out of ice. Haru tossed up his regular scythe and caught it with his mouth, while he caught the smaller copies of his scythe with his arms. His aura arms caught the other 4 scythes, and Haru sent a dangerous look at Pyrrha.
Pyrrha reached into her red-hip cape, showing that she had a with an ammo cartridge, she inserted the ammo into her weapon, before she pointed it at Haru. She had to admit, the sight of a person with 7 blades weapons was freaking scary, but she only held excitement in her eyes.
The two of them rushed at each other, and Haru swung the 3 scythes on his right side, and 1 on the left. He stabbed at Pyrrha's crotch with the 5th, and the 6th came at her head. Haru swung his neck at her, and the last scythe aimed at her heart. Pyrrha turned around and thrust her back at Haru, pushing him down to the ground while blocking the 3 scythes aimed at her ribs. Pyrrha winced when she felt the pole of the scythe hit her between the legs, and while it hurt no real damage would come of the blow, and her shoulders were hit by the poles of the other scythes.
Pyrrha smashed the scythes when the two hit the ground, and Haru spat his scythe out and wrapped his arm around her neck.
An eye for an eye.
Pyrrha smashed the back of her head, which had armor on it, into Haru's face. Now they BOTH had bleeding noses, and he let go of her. She rolled off of him, before she straddled his waist. Pyrrha raised her fist above her head, and she slammed it into the side of his head. Haru was stunned for a second, but she herself undid her damage and brought him back to his senses with another punch to the face.
Haru sucked in on his pipe, and her eyes widened.
Haru's chest expanded, and Pyrrha was launched off of his body when a torrent of flames slammed into her chest. She smashed into the ceiling, before Haru got up and she landed in the snow. She stood up, before she noticed that her weapons were in front of Haru. Haru noticed her weapons as well, and he placed his hands on them and froze them solid while sucking in Ice Dust. She clicked her teeth, before she took up a martial arts stance.
She would have to break the ice to get her weapons back.
She noticed that Haru's weapon was in front of her, so grabbing it she tossed it behind her, and into the stands... She heard a shout of surprise, and she turned around and looked to see that she had nearly stabbed Jaune in the dick with the large scythe.
"Sorry!" Pyrrha yelled out in surprise, while Haru snorted at her.
He didn't take advantage of her having her back turned to him, despite his life as a ninja he did have a sense of honor. Haru wouldn't attack her while she was apologizing to somebody she nearly neutered horribly.
He WOULD prepare for his attack though.
Haru closed his eyes and he sucked in on his pipe.
Taking plenty of Red Dust, Haru started to breath out a fine mist on the ground. Haru covered it up with snow seconds later, and Pyrrha turned around.
"I'm surprised you didn't attack me." Pyrrha commented truthfully, feeling this needed to be saId, while Haru nodded.
"The temptation was great, I should have stabbed your ass with a sword of ice." Haru admitted to her, and she let out a light laughter with a wide smile on her face.
"I forgot, you still have a weapon, and I don't... despite being one of the most dangerous weapon users I know, you don't only use a single weapon." Pyrrha couldn't help herself but analyze him, and Haru moved towards her and sucked in on his pipe. Pyrrha reached down and grabbed handfuls of the dust that created snow. She threw it up into the air and used the snow to block a moderate sized fireball. Steam filled the area, and Haru on the other end of the steam summoned his arms to defend his face when Pyrrha's fist came out of the steam. She hit his defence, and then kicked some snow into his face.
Haru grabbed her next punch by the wrist, where he could negate part of her superior strength, and he slammed his hand into her elbow.
"Ah!" Pyrrha let out the first cry of pain in the entire fight so far, before she used her armored arm and blocked a punch from the aura arm. Pyrrha yanked her arm from his grip, before she swung her body and used her ponytail to whip him across the face. Haru rubbed his eyes out of his body's natural response to something being in them, before Pyrrha kicked him in the stomach. Her kick connected strongly, but Haru grabbed her leg with 2 of his aura arms. She was punched in the jaw with the 3rd arm, before her fist was grabbed by the 4th one.
Haru's arms circled around her hips, before he turned her upside down so that his head was touching against her lower back... with her butt mere centimeters away from the top of his head.
Then Haru slammed her face into the ground, and her body shuddered when her neck bent to the side painfully. She twisted around on her head, before she wrapped her thighs around his face. She used her arms and lifted them up, before she threw him off of her via her legs. Pyrrha looked at the now glowing snow under her, and Haru tapped the snow the second he touched the ground.
*BOOM!*
Pyrrha jumped out of the way of the explosion seconds before it happened, and the two of them collided again. Their forearms hit each other, before they grabbed each other by their belts... awkward places to grab, but they copied each other in kicking the other's shins. Haru headbutt Pyrrha in the chin this time, and she elbowed him in the eye. They both recoiled, before Haru jumped back and sucked in on his pipe. He spat out two kunai of ice, before he moved towards Pyrrha.
She stomped on the ice behind her, and freed her weapons from their prison. She attached her shield, and her sword landed in her hand.
Haru threw one kunai, and she shattered it with a mighty swing of her sword, and she blocked the stab he made for her with her shield.
She was tripped though when Haru kicked her ankle, this time he used her own shield and made her ankle her blindspot for an attack. She recovered in time to notice that Haru had his aura arm bringing his Whirling Rose back to him. Haru pointed the scythe at her and pulled the trigger.
*Click*
He was out of ammo, Haru jumped back, and while he was in the air he switched out the old cartridge for a new one. Haru switched his scythe into its sniper form, and he looked through the scope at Pyrrha. She switched to her rifle mode, and the two of them shot at each other at the same time.
Sparks exploded in the middle of the air between them, but Pyrrha was knocked back when his more powerful shot destroyed her shot and continued onto hitting her. She landed on her butt, and she switched into her sword form. She pointed the sword up at Haru when he moved in front of her, and he pointed his sniper rifle at her. The two of them grinned at each other, he was inches away from her face, and the tip of her weapon was touching his throat.
"This match is over, the match between Haru Rose and Pyrrha Nikos... is without a winner. In a normal duel, the duel would continue until a person either ran out of aura, or fell into the red. While Haru and Pyrrha are both tied with each other in the Green, we are out of time... the results of this duel are a draw." Glynda commented from the middle of the audience... where it was semi-safe. The second Haru had unleashed the first torrent of flames, she had moved into the crowd where the flames didn't go.
Haru and Pyrrha's match had destroyed the entire stadium, and her Semblance wouldn't let her repair all of the damage.
Some of the floors were scorched and melted beyond what her Semblence, Telekinesis, would allow her to fix.
Now I understand... you don't have her speed or strength, but you have more skill than Pyrrha. You can adapt on your feet, and you have skill... you also know her style very well. You have absurd amounts of experience and skill for somebody your age. Glynda thought as she looked at Haru. She had been watching the fight very closely, and she had noticed that Haru didn't miss a beat. He would often adapt wordlessly to his surroundings, and he would take advantage of moments by preparing his next move instead of attacking directly.
What he lacked in strength, he made up for in talent.
"Good match... looks like this is our 5th Draw." Haru said with a grin on his face as he offered Pyrrha two fingers. She looked at his hand, and his fingers, before she smiled at him and took his fingers with her own. He pulled her up to her feet by her fingers, and their fingers stayed connected for a while.
"Well, I guess we still have our 6th fight to look forward to." Pyrrha said honestly, glad that they didn't have to give up fighting each other in the near future.
"Lets hope that next time we fight, we will be fully recovered... I think you broke my ribs again." Haru complimented her strength, though she had gotten him in the ribs more than a few times. He didn't wear leather armor over his torso like she did, he couldn't wear armor. He needed to take in as much air as possible to spew his flames, and armor would limit how much his chest could expand.
"I broke more than that... and I think you broke some stuff of mine." Pyrrha admitted with a grown on her own.
The lights started to turn on around the room, in the stands where the lights were dimmed down so as to not distract the fighters with the faces of the audience, and the surprised faces of everyone around them could be seen.
Those that had never seen a Haru/Pyrrha fight before... were completely stunned.
Despite all of the high-level fighting, both Haru and Pyrrha only had about 1/10th of their aura missing.
They could have gone on MUCH longer than the fight had lasted, it was the time limit on this fight that had ended their battle before it could reach its true end.
The fact that despite what they just did to each other, they walked side by side to go get some treatment for their minor... to somewhat NOT minor injuries, showed that they were not only rivals... but good friends.
They did know one thing.
Nobody was looking forward to fighting either a serious Haru or Pyrrha after seeing that.