The waiting room assigned to Mistral, was quiet, save for the soft hum of the holo-display mounted on the far wall.
Only one team was left from Mistral now.
rcury lounged back in a chair, one leg draped lazily over the other, his arms folded behind his head. His half-lidded eyes followed the shifting images projected across the holo-screen as the coliseum broadcast cycled through its cara angles.
Across from him, Erald sat forward, elbows resting on her knees, chin balanced against the back of one hand. Her attention, far more focused.
They had just watched the end of the previous match.
On the screen, the nagerie team calmly exited the arena floor while the Ozpin's voice echoed triumphantly through the stadium.
nagerie had won again and had done so decisively.
rcury let out a low whistle. "Man, those guys are brutal."
The earth user had sealed the Vacuo fighter inside a rapidly forming stone do before turning the entire structure into a deadly cage of inward-pointing spears. The seal had triggered almost instantly after the strike, saving the man from becoming an unwilling porcupine.
Nearly impossible to counter once it started.
Erald watched the replay without blinking.
"Hmm they're quite strong," she said quietly.
rcury tilted his head toward her, a crooked grin forming.
"Understatent, you know?"
The screen switched angles again, now showing Rajah standing beside his teammate while the battlefield was being reset.
rcury leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"That space guy is ridiculous though.
Erald nodded faintly.
"A ta rune called Distance. ta runes really co in all sorts of different flavours, don't they?"
rcury scratched the back of his head, studying the footage more closely.
"You think we could take them?"
Erald didn't answer imdiately.
Her gaze remained fixed on the screen as the cara zood in briefly on Rajah's calm, expressionless face.
"…Easily, if they don't imdiately counter ." she said at last.
rcury chuckled under his breath.
"Confidence inspiring. Truly."
Erald shot him a flat look.
"You asked, fool."
"Whatever."
The room fell quiet again as the tournant staff began preparing the arena for the next match. Then the waiting room door slid open.
Both rcury and Erald looked up imdiately.
Cinder stepped inside.
Almost instinctively, both of them stood. She lifted one hand in a casual gesture.
"Sit down."
They relaxed slightly, though neither of them fully dropped their posture. Cinder walked farther into the room, the soft click of her heels echoing across the polished floor.
"Should I...?" Erald started to say, but she was interrupted by Cinder.
"Don't bother. They're not paying attention to us, so you don't need to use it. In any case, I'm here to tell you important information. The next match," she said calmly, "will be yours."
rcury smirked.
"Finally."
Cinder's gaze drifted back to the screen for a mont before returning to them.
"You will be facing the Vale team."
Erald gave a small nod.
"Yeah, we saw them earlier."
rcury cracked his knuckles with a faint grin.
"The sword-and-shield guy and the rifle user. They seem a little weak."
Cinder inclined her head.
"Yes. which is why I expect a win."
rcury's grin widened.
"Of course."
Cinder's expression did not change.
"After that match, however, your next opponent will most likely be the nagerie team led by the heat rune user."
Erald tilted her head slightly.
"Uh... Coppal, right?"
Cinder nodded once.
"Indeed."
There was a brief pause before she continued.
"The two of you will lose that match."
rcury frowned and straightened in his chair, confusion crossing his face.
"Uh... lose?"
Erald glanced sideways at him but remained silent.
"I thought the whole point was to win the tournant?"
Cinder's gaze moved calmly between the two of them before waving a hand dismissively, as if the matter were trivial.
"That is no longer necessary. You have already achieved the exposure we required. Your performances so far have drawn sufficient attention."
She folded her arms lightly.
"That alone will ensure that both of you are selected for the Shadow Realm expedition."
Erald nodded slowly. That made sense.
Recruiters from LUCID were already watching the tournant closely. Strong fighters were exactly the kind of candidates they would want for the expedition teams.
Winning the entire tournant wasn't actually required.
Cinder continued.
"Allowing nagerie to claim the victory will serve a more useful purpose."
rcury raised an eyebrow.
"How so?"
A faint smile touched Cinder's lips.
Erald understood what Cinder was implying imdiately.
rcury scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Ah."
Now he understood.
"Works for ."
Cinder studied both of them for a mont before adding one final instruction.
"However."
Her gaze sharpened slightly. "You will not throw the match."
rcury's grin faded a little and seeing it, Cinder's voice continued carrying a quiet edge now.
"You will fight seriously."
"The loss must be believable and earned. If you allow them to win without resistance, it will raise suspicion, understand?"
Erald nodded imdiately.
"Understood."
"Do not mistake this for permission to act foolishly." Cinder regarded them both for a mont.
rcury raised his hands again in mock surrender.
"Wouldn't dream of it, boss."
Cinder turned toward the door but before leaving, she spoke one last ti.
"Win the next match."
Her amber eyes briefly flicked to the holo-display, where nagerie's fighters were still visible in the replay feed.
"Then make the final battle convincing."
With that, she stepped out of the room.
The door slid shut behind her and silence returned to the room.
rcury leaned back in his chair and let out a slow breath.
"Well."
He glanced at Erald.
"Guess we're not winning the tourney after all."
Erald's gaze returned to the holo-display where Rajah's team continued to appear in the broadcast replay.
"That was never really the point, you know?"
rcury grinned.
"True."
He stood, cracking his neck as he stretched. His eyes glead slightly as he watched the arena feed.
"Still, since we're gonna lose later, we might as well make the first fight fun. How about you use the Tree of Fire, this ti?"
Erald stared at him, seemingly a little annoyed.
"You don't get to na my illusions."
"Hey, if you don't na them, I will and we both know that at the very least, I have a sense of style."
She rolled her eyes.
.
.
The Vale team stepped out first.
They had perford decently in their previous battle, though Jaune had never considered them among the strongest fighters remaining in the bracket.
Still, they were competent.
That alone made their opponents concerning.
From the opposite entrance erged the Mistral pair.
The gray haired boy Jaune had seen earlier walked out with his usual relaxed posture. Beside him walked the green haired girl whose expression remained distant and quiet.
rcury and Erald.
Jaune had learned their nas earlier from Cardin's introduction.
For a brief mont nothing happened, then, the match began.
At first Jaune thought sothing had gone horribly wrong.
The two Vale fighters suddenly began jumping and rolling across the arena floor in wild, frantic motions. The rifle user stumbled backward while firing round after round of ice bullets into the ground around him. Frost spread across the stone floor in wide patches as the rounds shattered on impact.
"What are they doing?" Nora asked in confusion.
Jaune frowned.
The rifle user kept firing ice rounds at his own feet, as if desperately trying to put sothing out. His movents looked panicked, almost desperate.
The sword and shield fighter reacted a little differently.
Instead of jumping around like his teammate, he slamd the butt of his weapon against the ground and summoned a strange set of condensed light armor around his body. Plates of faintly glowing energy ford around his arms, chest, and shoulders, creating an additional defensive layer over his gear.
Jaune hadn't seen that technique earlier during their previous match. However, sothing about the situation was clearly wrong.
The Vale fighters were not attacking their opponents. In fact, they were not even looking at them, striking wildly at empty air instead.
It was clear that the green haired girl's ta rune had sothing to do with either illusions or so type of mind control. More so the first option rather than the second. Aura was a defense against the mind so... more than likely illusions of so sort.
"They're fighting sothing that isn't there," Jaune muttered.
Ren nodded slowly.
rcury, the gray haired fighter launched forward with terrifying speed. His first strike landed before the Vale fighters even realized he had moved.
rcury's kick connected squarely with the rifle user's head, angling the attack in such a way that it sent the boy flying across the arena floor. The impact alone was enough to activate the protective seal around his body. A flash of light erupted as the seal triggered, ejecting him safely from the battlefield.
The crowd gasped.
Before the sword and shield fighter could even react, rcury had already closed the distance again.
The armored fighter swung his blade toward what he probably believed was another incoming threat. Unfortunately for him, the attack passed several feet away from rcury's actual position.
rcury slipped past the swing effortlessly.
He unleashed a veritable gunfire of kicks that struck the armored fighter's head with brutal precision.
The impacts triggered his seal almost instantly.
The entire match had lasted less than fifteen seconds. For a mont the stadium fell into stunned silence.
Then Ozpin declared the result.
"Mistral wins."
Jaune leaned back in his seat slowly.
"...Well," he muttered. "Yet again, that was incredibly fast."
Yang sighed.
"Again? I was hoping that the match would be a little longer."
"Hmm, too. Also, the way the Vale guys were reacting was way different from how the Atlas team was reacting. That girl, her na is Erald, by the way—its pretty much confird that she has so type of ta rune that involved illusions."
"Damn. Powerful counter. Don't really see that type of rune all that often either. Much less on a ta rune." Yang, shook her head.
With Vale eliminated, the remaining teams in the Rank 1 bracket grew noticeably smaller.
Vacuo had already been knocked out earlier.
Now Vale was gone as well.
That left only one team from Mistral, one from Atlas, and three from nagerie.
Jaune glanced at the tournant board displayed above the arena.
nagerie really was dominating the competition.
The next match began shortly afterward.
Compared to the chaos of the previous fight, this one felt almost straightforward.
The girl with the Stellar Rune stepped onto the battlefield alongside her teammate, the one who could summon animal companions.
Auberyn.
The Atlas team that faced them fought well enough. Their coordination was solid and their techniques were disciplined.
Unfortunately for them, nagerie's team proved overwhelming.
Auberyn's rune shimred faintly as ginat starlike hands of of light gathered around her body. The power radiating from her presence alone felt oppressive even from the stands.
anwhile her teammate summoned several animal constructs that charged across the battlefield with surprising ferocity.
The Atlas fighters attempted to counter the assault but their efforts quickly fell apart under the pressure.
Within a few minutes both Atlas competitors had been eliminated.
Another victory for nagerie.
Jaune watched the scene with slight amazent.
Every ti a nagerie team stepped onto the battlefield they seed to dominate their opponents.
The final match of the tournant soon followed. This ti the nagerie team consisted of the heat rune user Coppal and his partner.
Their opponents were the sa Mistral pair that had just defeated Vale.
rcury and Erald.
The arena quieted slightly as anticipation spread through the audience.
Jaune leaned forward in his seat.
This fight would be interesting.
The match began.
Almost imdiately Erald's illusion rune activated again.
Coppal's teammate reacted poorly.
The unfortunate guy began swinging wildly at empty air, clearly trapped inside the illusion just like the Vale fighters had been earlier.
rcury took advantage of the opening without hesitation.
He launched forward and struck Coppal's teammate with a barrage of powerful kicks that activated the man's defensive seal almost instantly.
One fighter eliminated within seconds. The arena now held only three competitors.
Coppal stood alone against rcury and Erald.
Strangely enough, Coppal did not appear nearly as disoriented as the others had been.
Jaune narrowed his eyes.
Sothing was different.
Coppal still attacked the air occasionally, which suggested that he was also experiencing Erald's illusion. However, his movents seed far more controlled than the previous victims.
He swung his weapon several tis at empty space.
Yet sohow he still managed to block rcury's incoming attacks.
Jaune watched closely.
rcury's kicks struck toward Coppal from several angles, but Coppal's reactions remained frighteningly accurate. Even when the attacks ca from unexpected directions he still managed to intercept them with surprising consistency.
"How is he doing that?" Nora asked.
Ren studied the battlefield carefully.
"He can't see them clearly," Ren said quietly. "But he can sense them."
Jaune noticed sothing else then. Thin streams of steam were rising from rcury and Erald's bodies.
At first he thought it might have been dust from the arena floor.
Then he realized what it actually was.
Heat.
Coppal's rune was heating the entire battlefield.
The temperature continued rising as the fight progressed.
The stone beneath their feet began to shimr slightly.
The air itself looked distorted.
Coppal moved with terrifying speed as he fought against the invisible threats around him. Even when rcury struck from behind, Coppal reacted quickly enough to twist his body aside and counterattack.
The ground grew hotter and hotter. Eventually the stone floor began to soften.
Jaune stared in disbelief.
The arena surface was actually starting to lt. By the ti the match reached its final monts, the entire battlefield looked like it was boiling.
Heat shimred everywhere. The stone had partially liquefied under Coppal's relentless rune output.
rcury attempted one final strike.
Coppal countered with a burst of heat so intense that both rcury and Erald's defensive seals activated simultaneously.
Two flashes of light.
The Mistral pair vanished from the battlefield. Silence fell across the arena broken by Ozpin's voice declaring the end result.
"nagerie wins."
The crowd exploded with cheers.
Jaune slowly leaned back in his seat, still staring at the arena floor where the heat continued to warp the air above the stone.
Earlier, when he and Pyrrha had discussed strategies for defeating Coppal, Jaune had suggested using his plunder ability to steal away the heat.
Now he felt a little foolish. Watching that battle had made one thing painfully clear.
Coppal's rune was far stronger than Jaune had originally imagined.
Trying to take that kind of power might not have been clever.
It might have been suicidal.
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