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Chapter 48: Defending the Top

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Reminiscence #4

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Inside of the void, there was nothing. No light, no warmth, no people. There was nothing. In the darkness that surrounded me, I was alone and cold. Where am I? Who am I? What are these words coming into my head? Why do I know them? Why? Why?

When I turned around, I saw someone sitting there right behind me. It was a little girl with pink hair. Ah, I thought. Someone else is here too. But she was crying. She just sat there in the void crying. “Why are you crying”, I asked her. “Because it hurts”, she said. She doesn't like it when it hurts, but I didn't care. There was finally someone else.

“What hurts you?”

“They hurt me. All of them.” Ah, we're talking. I'm talking with someone. There was nothing in the void, yet here I was speaking with her. There was no substance in our words, but they rang in the nothingness. Speak more.

“Them? Who?”

She finally looked up at me. Her eyes were just as pink as her hair. “Ah..You're here too” she said with a smile. Did she finally realize that?

“If you're here, I don't have to be hurt anymore.”

With a push I fell down. I reached for her hand and called for her help, but I grasped nothing. After all, there was nothing in there. I fell further into the darkness, and I heard her apology. They had no substance like before. The coldness matched that of the void.

“Sorry.”

A bright light suddenly blinded me. I squinted my eyes. Upon opening them, I found myself staring at the same girl. No, wait. She's different. Only half of her hair was the same color. I stared at her in anger, and was about to yell, but my voice didn't work. All I could do was stare. It was after staring that I realized I was looking at my own reflection.

Ah, I am her.

From the void, I woke up in a container in some kind of black liquid. Past the glass, I saw the faces of so many people staring at me. They were so much bigger than me. Just by looking at them, I felt nervous.

“Congratulations, sir! It was a success!”

I had no basis for thinking this. I knew absolutely nothing about who they were, but I knew I didn't want to be there. Whether if it was the void or here, it was still the same. I wanted to just escape, but there was nothing I could do.

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Message windows popped up in front of Robin. He quickly glanced at the windows that he had ignored till now.

+70 Exp.

+40 Exp

…

+130 Exp. Level up!

+150 Exp.Thanks to your class, you've identified the techniques Echolocation and Piercing Bullets. Because they are similar in nature to your other skills, you are able to learn them right away.

EcholocationThis skill is a combination of both Enhance and Detect. By enhancing your hearing and correct judgement of the noises in your surroundings, you are now able to map out your surroundings using sound alone. When activated, your hearing is increased momentarily in order to understand your surroundings. Deactivating the skill returns your hearing to it's previous condition.

**Because you have two sets of ears, the image is clearer and covers a wider area. However, in return your ears become more sensitive to louder noises.

Cost: 60 Aura

Piercing BulletsThanks to your experience and class, you've understood the concept of making your bullets stronger. By encasing your bullets in a thin layer of your aura, it protects the bullet and allows it to have stronger penetration. Activating this skill will require more aura the more bullets you use it on.

Cost: 1 Aura per bullet.

= Two new skills huh? They certainly are very useful. =

“Robin! Please pay attention!”

Velvet drew his attention from the messages. Robin swiped the messages to the side, making a mental note to review them later. Currently, the four of them stood at the pinnacle one of the rolling green hills. Unlike its previously beautiful look, all the gunfire, explosions, and skills had created many pits and indentions on the earth. Velvet, however, welcomed these changes.

Thanks to the constant fighting going on for so long, the earth was loose and soft in many places. This allowed her earth magic to shine. She pressed her hands against the ground and activated her skill.

Earth Wall

Protect

Her brown aura embedded itself into the ground. At the very base of the hill they stood on, Velvet manipulated a wall of soil to rise to an astonishing height of twenty feet. Then, the brown aura encased the dirt, adding additional protection from any attempts to knock down the already sturdy walls. The feat was not easy, and it took an abundant amount of aura to do it, but it was not yet over.

“I have one more spell I want to use. Protect me during that time!”

“““Yes!”””

The other students did not just idly stand by to watch these things occur. The timer was ticking, and more than half the allotted time had past. Now was the time to race for the top, and so they did. Gunfire headed their way as the students tried to crush them.

Aura Shield

Aura Limbs

Enhance

Robin solidified a shield much stronger than the ones he had before and even spread his Aura Limbs around it in order to protect it even further. Since, Velvet was now occupied with gathering her aura, Robin was in charge of defending them. He spared no expense into making sure his teammates were kept safe.

“Nora!”

“On it!”

Nora pointed her grenade launcher in the air. Her weapon became enveloped in pink aura as she fired off her weapon in rapid succession. Each grenade flew into the distance and exploded upon touching the ground. Nora's weapon was made from Specialized metal, specifically for usage of Red Dust. While all Dust was explosive, engineers have discovered that Red Dust was the most volatile and proved most effective in explosives.

Aura Bomb

The pink aura embedded into each grenade suddenly burst. It made each explosion radius twice as big and twice as dangerous. In addition, Nora's class, Grenadier, gave bonus damage with any weapons using explosives. All that resulted in the students being bombarded with pink balls of doom immediately resulting in disqualification. Those who dodged either ran into other people that attacked them in their moment of carelessness or became separated from their teammates.

Decoy

Sun activated his semblance. Instead of one or two clones, he created dozens this time. Each clone of light charged forward to meet an adversary. The army of monkey faunuses fought while the real one sat in the back with his eyes closed. Sun concentrated and created more to fight as each one was defeated. Each one of them expended their aura to the limit in order to prevent the others from advancing to their position. However, as effective as they were, 4 of them could not stop the advance of the hundreds that were there.

Even though many were separated from their teammates, their goal was the same. Each member advanced forward, firing their weapons, dodging blows, and slowly but surely reaching the top. An arrow flew toward their location and enlodged itself in Robin's Aura Shield. The head of the arrow was dyed red with Dust. With a violent explosion, the force broke apart his shield which had endured thousands of bullets. Past the smoke, the three of them noticed their first adversary.

Biri Grass (Lvl 63)HP:1220/1450Aura:1110/1550

Piercing Arrow

The girl with apple green hair notched an arrow and fired another red arrow at Velvet's location. Sun pointed one of his shotgun nunchunks and fired at the tip of the arrow. The bullets caused it to explode midflight and thus Velvet was kept safe. In the meantime, Robin drank an elixir in order to replenish his missing aura.

Biri used that opportunity to fire two shots into the air, and one to her right. Sun, who jumped out of the way of the previous explosion, found himself faced with another arrow aimed specifically for him this time.

He dodged it by an inch only to realize that this arrow was a timer bomb. The explosion knocked him backwards and into the ground. Nora in the meantime had transformed her weapon into mallet form and raised it into the sky.

Rock Smash

True to its name, Nora's skill increased the power of her strike ten-fold. The force of her swing caused a tremble in the ground and a fissure to open up. Biri lost her balance and got her right leg stuck inside one of the cracks.

Nora stepped on the head of the mallet and pulled the trigger. The explosion from the head of her mallet sent her flying forward and towards her target. However, before she could get close to Biri, Robin's Aura Limbs grabbed her and pulled her back towards them. In the spot Nora would've been, two arrows jabbed into the ground with electricity running across its yellow tips.

“That was close. Thanks!”

“No problem.” Robin replied. “Are you ok, Sun?”

“Cough, cough.” Sun coughed out the gunpowder that lingered in his nostrils.

“Yeah I'm fine!”

Sun sprung up with his skinned burnt in some areas and his unbuttoned shirt charred from the explosion, but no real injuries could be seen. Five more individuals stepped up this time to join Biri in defeating them.

“..Lvl 50's and 60's. Well this is certainly getting tougher.” Sun commented.

“That's because we're in the final stages of the prelims.” Robin retorted.

The six challengers advanced without hesitation, and Robin responded in kind. He threw a Smoke Bomb in order to mess up their cooperation. In the darkness, two silver arms swept by, but knocked only one student away. The momentum caused his body to fly backwards in the air. The kid embarrassingly tumbled down the hill he had just climbed.

Hawk Eye

Biri's vision split into two. One was normal while the other looked from above in the air. She notched her bow and aimed at Velvet once more. Nora appeared at her side and rammed her mallet at Biri's side. She was unfazed and merely looked onward as another boy placed his shield in front of Biri.

Reflect

The blow was knocked away as fast as it had come. Nora fell on her butt as she lost her balance. Biri let loose another arrow, but another gunshot made it burst before it even left her hand. Robin, who had both Bloodlust and Echolocation, was more than capable of accurately aiming his shot. One of his Aura Limbs reached out and grabbed Biri who was dazed from the explosion. Within moments, her pressure points were pressed, and she was eliminated.

The boy with the shield jabbed at Nora with his lance, but Sun's shotgun changed the trajectory of the weapon. The boy turned and activated Deflect in order to make Sun injure himself. However, the person in front of the boy was one of Sun's Decoy. From behind, Sun shot multiple shotgun rounds into the boy's neck, and it resulted in her elimination.

At this point the smoke cleared. Nora stood up next to Sun, and they found that the other two students had backed out of the smoke. They refused to fight in such unreliable conditions, and now they were joined with more reinforcements. Many more students were now on the top of the hill after climbing up the angled sides.

= Damn. In the time we fought, more of those guys have reached the top. =

A tingling sensation filled the right side of his head. Robin tilted Pantomath so it would cover his head.

Aura Sword

Thanks to his reaction time, Robin successfully deflected the sniper bullet that came his way. His Bloodlust clearly indicated the individual laying down in the distance. They were hidden thanks to their skill, but all forms of hidden enemies were useless before Robin's semblance.

= Oh great. Now we have a sniper to deal with. =

Robin could not help but mentally sigh. Thankfully, their role was now over. A spike from the earth would've impaled the sniper if not for the shield from their necklace. Velvet opened her eyes.

Mudslide

The earth surrounding them became damp within a second. The surface then began flowing downward, anyone in the mud was swept away with it. Those that tried to jump received a Fireball to the face.

“Velvet!” Nora exclaimed.

“Thank you for waiting so long. Leave the rest to me.”

The mudslide reached even the bottom of the hill. The true purpose of the twenty foot wall revealed itself here as none that were outside could reach inside without jumping over, and all who were inside will not be able to escape what was to come.

Eruption

The ground heated up and instantly dried itself. All of the students in the mud became stuck in their position. Then, at the top of the hill, lava burst forth from the ground around them and flowed downwards. All those that came into contact with the lava had their bodies burnt without a doubt. Among the yellow and red earth, circles of blue popped up like light-bulbs.

= Wow. =

Robin could not help but be in awe at the terror of AOE attacks. Not only did Velvet efficiently wipe out the rest of their competition, she used the top of the hill to her advantage, and prevented prolong use of aura by only creating enough lava to cover the hill. Gravity did the rest of the work for her.

Now anybody who would want to confront them had to jump over the tall wall and get past the lava moat that surrounded them. This would give them plenty of time to react. Holding down this hill was going to be easy now. Robin looked at Velvet in the corner of his vision.

= As expected of an upperclassman. Calm, decisive, and efficient. I'd say she could give Diane a run for her money too. =

Velvet grinned with satisfaction on her face. Now that the other contenders were eliminated,they could finally rest a bit...was what they thought.

Glyph of Ice

However, from within the sea of lava, freezing ice formed. The two objects with temperatures on opposite ends of the spectrum collided and created steam. Robin enhanced his vision to see the person inside of the mist. Identify might not normally work in long distances, but because of who he was --what he was-- Robin knew the celebrity that stood before them.

= Well if it isn't the princess, herself. =

Standing beside Weiss Schnee was yet another familiar face. Amy, in her black and red clothing, looked at Weiss with a slightly peeved expression. She placed her hands on her hips. The ripped jeans hugged her bottom as she looked at Weiss with an accusing look.

“Watch where you're aiming that ice. You almost froze me.”

“Oh, is that so?” Weiss didn't even look at her in the eye. “My mistake. I'll try to keep it under control next time.”

A vein bulged on Amy's forehead. Weiss held two fingers and traced them over her rapier and feet. The weapon had a revolving Dust canister hidden at the hilt of the blade. With a click, the canister snapped to the Red and Blue Dust chamber, and Weiss manipulated the Dust in order to increase the abilities of her semblance, Glyph.

Glyph of Speed

Glyph of Strength

A white circle appeared beneath her feet. Everything standing above it was granted a speed bonus for a short amount of time. Likewise, her rapier had a similar red circle appear and increased the user's strength momentarily as well.

“Hey, wait a second. We're just supposed to observe!” Amy spoke up against Weiss's actions. No matter how you looked at it, she was preparing for a fight.

“Nonsense.” Weiss replied.

“If we defeat them now, they won't become a problem later.”

“Hey!”

Glyph of Ice

A blue circle appeared beneath Weiss's body. A white beam burst forth from the tip and headed towards Robin and company. Velvet responded by sending a Fireball to meet the ice beam. Steam rose from the collision of their strikes. Through the steam, the blur of Weiss's body could be glimpsed traveling on top of the bridge of ice that was created.

Two elongated limbs stretched itself to destroy the bridge, forcing Weiss to jump into the air. Apparently, her Glyph had physical substance as she stood on top of one of the white circles in mid-air. Robin jumped into the air to swing Pantomath upward while Nora did the same swinging her own weapon downward from above.

Aura Sword

Weiss's rapier, Myrtenaster, became clad in white aura, the reach extending to about a meter long. Thanks to her Glyph of Strength, Weiss was able to deflect both of their attacks with a single swing. However, alone she was nothing more but a target to them. Velvet surrounded her with a dozen of Fireballs and let them loose. Weiss was unable to block them all and succumbed to the damage. A blue shield popped up from her necklace.

= Huh? Wait a minute, that's not right. =

Robin's vision clearly indicated Weiss burning in the flames, yet two silhouettes were obviously still moving. Realizing their situation, Robin proceeded to protect both himself and his teammates.

Glyph of Speed

Aura Shield

Robin ejected a shield of silver around himself and successfully blocked Weiss's attempted to stab him. He then shot Pantomath at the air next to him. The bullet destroyed the floating orb of flame that was nearby and shattered the illusion that was messing with him. Upon observing his teammates, Robin realized they were attacking nothing.

Glyph of Strength

“Don't even bother.”

His Aura Limbs grabbed Weiss and restricted her movements. In the corner of his eye, two more flame orbs approached to attack him, but under the protection of his shield, they just exploded outside. The source of these attacks was Amy who was aiming down the sights of her rifle. Robin took this opportunity to shoot all the other orbs floating around Sun, Nora, and Velvet.

“Whoa! What was that!” Sun shouted.

“Where did she go?” Velvet questioned.

“She's right here.” Robin stated. The princess in her combat skirt was trapped in Robin's Aura Limbs unable to move an inch. The moment she had been caught, Robin had pressed her pressure points.

“That was an illusion made by Amy over there. She probably used the steam as cover to send her flames forward while we were distracted by Wei--”

Animosity surrounded Robin, and he was forced to jump backwards as the ground beneath him broke apart to reveal a drill tearing through the earth. Somehow, the drill actually cut through Robin's Aura Limbs and released Weiss. The guy that appeared caught Weiss in his arms and retreated as quickly as he appeared. Both him and Amy jumped over the wall of earth that surrounded their hill and left.

“...um...what?” Nora asked.

“I have no clue.” Sun replied.

= … more importantly, how did my Bloodlust miss him? =

“...” Velvet looked onward silently.

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“Let me go! Do you know who you are touching?! Let me go!” the girl named Weiss yelled at her teammate. He probably would have complied but she was unable to move anyway, so releasing her would accomplish nothing.

“Didn't I tell you two to not fight? We already have a pedestal to ourselves.” the upperclassman said.

“I tried to tell her,” Amy spoke up in defense. “but she wouldn't listen to me.”

“The least you could've done was help! I only lost because I was alone out there you stupid animal!”

“Now look here, princess! If it wasn't for me, you would be disqualified already! Don't think you can possibly defeat Robin by yourself. That's impossible.”

“Oh? Who is this Robin?”

“The one who was holding Ms. Schnee here hostage. Wasn't that why you retreated, Simon?”

“..Interesting..”

Simon put Weiss gently on the floor now that they have reached the top of their own hill. That wolf faunus was that powerful? Simon was surprised he had dodged his surprise attack so cleanly, but he had assumed that was because of the other individual in their group. Fighting in their turf by himself while she was watching was equivalent to suicide.

Simon glanced at both Amy, Weiss, and the last girl that stood at the top of their hill. Even though he left for a moment, she had already knocked out any challengers that appeared by herself.

“...Looks like this year has a bunch of promising newbies. Haha, this tournament is going to be fun.”

The rest of the time period was very simple. All of the powerhouses had already established their foothold at that point, and any that tried to oppose them failed miserably. As the full time of an hour was completed, a horn blew to signal the end of the preliminary round.

Yeah..so I apologize for the late update. On the other hand, it's long! Hope you guys enjoy! Next update will be later this week!

EDIT : update will not be this or next week. I have exams.