ThatKIrcguy
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Breathe Chapter 14: The Invincible Girl
🕑 Added 2024-06-24 05:05:46 +0000 UTCPyrrha tightened her guard, bringing her shield closer to her body and held her spear, ready to lunge as she waited for her opponent. She heard the sound of roller skates long before she saw her opponent and that was enough.
Bringing her shield up, she blocked a strike from a nunchuck and lashed out with her spear, just barely missing her opponent who zoomed away.
“Man, that was a close one,” Her opponent, a girl by the name of Neon Katt called out as she skated away at high speed. “You almost got me there. I guess they don’t call you the invincible girl for nothing.”
Following the rainbow trail with her eyes, Pyrrha watched as Neon changed direction and began skating towards her at high speed. Preparing her spear, Pyrrha was forced to roll out of the way as Neon swatted the ground with her nunchuck, forming a massive wall of ice that darted towards her.
“Like seriously, I don’t think I’m gonna win here, but this fights definitely going to look good on my record,” Neon said, trading blows with Pyrrha as she passed by. “Getting this far in the Mistral tournament and lasting a few minutes against Pyrrha Nikos... Atlas Academy will have to accept me now, regardless of my grades.”
“That’s nice,” Pyrrha hummed as she intently began to observe Neon.
“Uhuh,” Neon nodded cheerfully. “I bet you’ve got your pick of any Academy out there... I mean, I don’t know your grades, but they’d be stupid not to pick you, even if it turned out that you sucked at the regular course work.”
Watching Neon’s movements, Pyrrha began to formulate a plan. Throwing her spear when Neon began to near her, Neon ducked underneath it only to come face to face with Pyrrha who brought her shield up suddenly, bashing her in the face, knocking her to the floor.
Rolling to her feet, Neon attempted to gain distance, but was stopped when Pyrrha once again landed a hit on her using her shield.
A loud beep sounded through the arena, signalling that the fight had come to an end.
“And there you have it folks, our Invincible girl has successfully defended her title once more,” Razz announced. “And not even a drop of Aura lost throughout that fight.”
“That fight was awesome,” Neon cheered as she got up and dusted the dirt off her clothes. “It’s like, one moment we were fighting normally and the next you knew exactly what I was going to do and you just... i don’t know... intercepted me.”
“Ah, thank you,” Pyrrha replied bashfully. “That was just something a friend has been helping me with recently. He’s a lot better at it than I am.”
“Really? Who? Is it anyone here?”
“Ahem... Contestants are reminded that the next match can only begin after they’ve left the field,” Razz announced.
Pulling her spear free from the ground, Pyrrha sheathed it on her back. “He is here,” She nodded as she slowly began to make her way back to the contestants waiting room. “His fight was actually right before our one.”
“Right before our one,” Neon hummed as she trailed after Pyrrha. “Do you mean the skull guy?”
“That’s the one,” Pyrrha smiled fondly.
...Breathe...
Pyrrha was actually branching out and talking to other people. She seemed pretty isolated when I’d began to train with her a week ago, so it was nice to see her finally begin to open up. I wondered what they were talking about.
Her fight with Neon had been pretty impressive... not because Neon was an especially difficult person to fight... don’t get me wrong, Neon was strong, but she wasn’t quite on the same level as Pyrrha... No, the fight was impressive because Pyrrha had begun to read the flow of battle.
Instead of guessing and reacting, Pyrrha had been able to accurately predict Neon’s next move and used that knowledge to her advantage in order to end the fight.
There was also the fact that she’d used her sense of sound to help narrow down where Neon was instead of relying solely on sight. She’d understood what I was teaching her and applied them after a single week’s worth of training. It would still be a while before she truly mastered them, but it was an impressive feat regardless.
Despite the fact that we’d been training with one another for the past week, Pyrrha and I had never sparred with each other, it had always been against the Androids that Sanctum supplied us with. Sometimes we fought together as a team and sometimes we fought solo, but never against one another.
I was eagerly anticipating our match in this tournament. Out of the few fights that I’d already had, none were that fun, the only one that was enjoyable had been when I’d fought Arslan earlier, but it seemed she was an outlier. If I hadn’t been in this tournament, I could have easily see her having gone all the way to the final round.
“I hope our next contestants are ready to give it their all because it’s their match next,” Razz’s voice blared over the holographic display.
Looking up at the display, I was disappointed to see that I wasn’t going to be one of the next contestants. Throughout this tournament, it seemed my toughest challenge was all the waiting I had to do between rounds.
“It shouldn’t be too long now,” I muttered to myself. “This tournament can’t last that much longer.”
...Breathe...
As it turned out, the tournament could go on for a few more hours. Different contestants had been called in as the rounds progressed and I’d even gone in for another few fights as the number of people competing was whittled down.
One thing that I was infinitely glad for was the fact that this tournament only spanned a single day. I didn’t think that I would be able to handle it if I had to come back here tomorrow and do this all over again. There was one thing I was absolutely certain about, I would never be competing in the Vytal Tournament. They could offer me anything to compete and my answer would be a resounding no.
Stepping out into the arena for my next round, I winced slightly as the roar of the crowd briefly overwhelmed my senses. That was another thing I would be happy to do without. Having people watch me fight and cheer loudly had been a stressful endeavour, I don’t think I’d ever get used to it.
Stopping at my side of the arena, I raised a brow as I spotted Pyrrha walking up to her side. “Wait, is this the fina...
“Welcome to the final round of the Mistral Regional tournament,” Razz announced loudly. “I’m your host Razz and if you’re just tuning in, then where’ve you been? You missed the entire thing.”
I guess that answered that question.
“Well, you’ve missed all but the last fight,” Razz admitted. “And what a last fight we have for you today. On one side, we’ve got the Invincible Girl herself, Pyrrha Nikos. Did you expect anyone else, she’s not called the vincible girl after all.”
Pyrrha gave a tight smile and I felt my eye begin to twitch at the announcers bad joke.
“And on the other side we’ve got our very own dark horse of the tournament. Coal Calavera, a contestant that no one expected to succeed has somehow made his way through several rounds without showing any signs of stress or exhaustion in battle,” Razz continued. “Seriously folks, this kid just came out of nowhere and he’s been dominating this tournament.”
Dark horse? That’s an interesting title. I wonder if it’ll stick as a nickname or if the public will try and give me another one like how Pyrrha got hers for being seemingly untouchable in battle.
“I can’t think of better contestants for a final round than these two. The Invincible girl versus this... Indomitable kid. Who will win? Find out... right now!”
With the match started, Pyrrha and I rushed towards one another at high speed. Our blades collided in a flash of sparks as the sound of metal on metal echoed through the arena.
Moving faster, our blades collided several more times as we both fought on even terms with one another as we both pushed to gain the upper hand, only to find that we were dead even.
“You’re reading my moves perfectly,” I hummed as our blades locked together, fighting for dominance. It took her time to read Neon’s moves earlier, so this was likely her learning how I fought during our week of training together.
“So are you,” Pyrrha replied. Bashing my sword to the side with her shield, she lunged forward with her spear poised to impale me.
Sidestepping I jumped forward, gaining some room. I noticed that through our brief exchange, all we’d managed to do was trade places. If this match was going to end any time soon, one of us was going to have to step things up a notch.
“You saw my first fight today, right? The one with Arslan?” I asked, taking a stance.
“I did,” Pyrrha nodded.
Positioning her shield in front of herself, Pyrrha lunged forward, seemingly intending on bashing me with it.
Sidestepping once more, I swung my blade downward, only to find her sword rapidly expanding into a spear. Twisting my body out of the way, I took a glancing blow to my stomach.
-50AP
Grabbing onto Pyrrha’s spear with a single hand, I rushed forward and landed a kick against her chest that sent her flying backwards.
Rolling in midair, Pyrrha landed on her feet.
I let out a sigh, this is just what I’d been worrying about. “Then you should know that my Aura regenerates quickly. That blow that you worked so hard for didn’t amount to anything. My Aura has already finished regenerating,” I explained. “If you’re going to have any chance at winning this fight then you’re going to need to stop holding back and fight to your fullest capabilities.”
Winning because I’d simply outlasted Pyrrha wouldn’t feel like winning at all. Sure there was the bet with Jasmine to consider, but that was taking a backburner to this fight. I wanted Pyrrha to give this fight her all, to give it everything she had and to force me to respond in kind.
Seeing Pyrrha rush towards me with her spear poised to stab, I brought my sword up to block it, only to find that I couldn’t move it properly. “That’s new,” I muttered as I dodged the strike. It seemed that I’d forced Pyrrha into using her semblance.
Pyrrha’s spear transformed back into a sword and our fight began anew, only, this time each one of my swings had been slightly altered. It hadn’t been enough to be massively visible, but it had been enough to make a difference.
I was no longer able to counter her moves with my sword perfectly. My swings had been altered just enough for her to gain the upper hand. She was slowly forcing me back... However, it wouldn’t be enough for her to win this fight.
“You know, I’ve been in quite a few fights against Grimm of all different kinds. All that experience has helped me grow stronger and I’ve learned something very important,” I began. “The one who will inevitably win is the one who adapts faster.”
Holding her shield at the ready, Pyrrha lunged forward with her spear.
Sheathing my sword, I latched onto the spears shaft and tugged Pyrrha towards me, throwing her off guard. Stepping forward, I mimicked Arslan and snaked my leg between Pyrrha’s limiting her movement.
Pushing my free forearm in front of her, I stepped forward and gave a heavy push, separating her from her spear while throwing her backwards.
Briefly palming the spear, I gave a quick glance to Pyrrha and threw it to the other end of the arena. Not giving her a moment to recover, I rushed forward and proceeded to engage her again, only this time I didn’t use a weapon she could control.
Pyrrha retreated as she attempted to gain a foothold, raising her shield just in time to stop one of my punches.
“You’re copying that girl... your first opponent,” She realized.
I offered her a smile as I copied Arslan’s movement. “Absorb what is useful,” I began, throwing a punch that Pyrrha proceeded to block with her shield. “Discard what is useless,” I continued. Grabbing onto the shield, I gave a twist, separating it from Pyrrha’s forearm. “And add what is specifically your own,” I finished, giving a harsh kick that she blocked with her arms.
Throwing her shield in the opposite direction of her spear, I turned back to an unarmed Pyrrha. “I hope that’s not all the fight you have in you, otherwise this fight is going to end on a boring note.”
Pyrrha looked lost for a moment before her eyes gained a fire to them. “No it is not.”
“Good.”
We met once more at the halfway point between ourselves in a flurry of fists. Partway through or fight, I began to compare Pyrrha to the stories I’d once heard about the Spartan warriors and how they would fight until their weapons and shield broke, pick themselves back up and continue to fight with only their hands. Not stopping until they’d either won the battle or they’d died.
Stepping to the side, Pyrrha’s fist ghosted across my face.
“Not going to use your sword?” Pyrrha asked suddenly.
“If I did, you’d just use your magnetism Semblance to control it again,” I replied.
It was clear that neither of us were going to make any progress in a hand to hand fight. Pyrrha’s skills were focused on fighting with her shield and spear sword while my own were focused on using my sword, neither of us had much experience when it came to fighting without a weapon, we were simply relying on honed reflexes and our superior speed and strength to carry us through.
I’d been able to disarm Pyrrha by using the few moves that I’d learned by fighting Arslan, but I don’t think the few moves that I’d learned in that fight would allow me to gain an upper hand, unless...
Changing my stance to a wider one, I suddenly swiped downward in a surprising move. Pyrrha who’d grown used to my current attack pattern had been taken off guard and found herself unable to block.
“What?” She began, startled.
“Alpha Beowolf,” I said, much to Pyrrha’s confusion. Crouching down, I grabbed onto the ground and briefly tensed my muscles before launching myself towards Pyrrha at high speed, landing another hit on her. “Ursa Major.”
I’d fought plenty of Grimm out in the wild and learned their attack patters so that I could better kill them and now I was using those memorized patterns to my advantage. Pyrrha on the other hand didn’t have that much experience when fighting Grimm, having mostly trained against Androids.
Catching Pyrrha’s fist in one hand, I held on tightly and caught the other. Dropping down, I leaned forward and brought my leg up over my head towards Pyrrha’s own. “Death Stalker,” I muttered as my foot collided with Pyrrha’s face.
Standing back up, I winced as Pyrrha stumbled backwards. That last attack had been a mistake. Although I had inhuman control of my body, I lacked the flexibility to properly pull off that move and ended up overstretching. It wasn’t too much of an issue as my Aura quickly healed the strain, but pulling an ass muscle hadn’t exactly been a great experience.
Hopping on my leg to test it, I nodded when I didn’t feel any pain. Fighting with an injury that limited my mobility wouldn’t be fun at all.
“What an amazing fight, ladies and gentlemen... to see the Invincible Girl pushed so far. I’m on the edge of my seat and I know you all are too,” Razz announced, suddenly. “With the way the fights going, we might just see the resurgence of sudden death, something that we haven’t seen since the final round of Pyrrha Nikos first tournament. A suitable send off to our Invincible Girls final regional tournament.”
“Sudden death?” I asked. Although Jasmine had explained the rules, she hadn’t mentioned, probably not thinking it was important.
“It’s a precaution if the fight goes on for too long. Boundaries are put in place to disqualify anyone that passed them and the losing Aura threshold is raised to half a person’s Aura instead of a third,” Pyrrha explained, taking a short break to regain her balance. “A time limit is also implemented and if it’s exhausted, the winner is the person with the most Aura.”
“I see,” I nodded. If it went into sudden death, I would likely be the winner by default through having my Aura constantly regenerating. “We should probably end this fight before that... and to do that, you’re going to have to stop holding back.”
Taking a deep breath, Pyrrha briefly shut her eyes and reached out with her hands before they snapped open. Her shield and spear raced towards her from the ends of the Arena that I’d disposed them in.
If this had been a proper fight to the death with a Grimm or bandit, I likely would have ended it already by using my Sun Breathing, but it wasn’t. This was a tournament fight without much at stake.
The absolute worst case scenario here was that I lose and end up spending a month at Sanctum Academy and while I likely wouldn’t grow as much as I would fighting Grimm in the wild, I would be able to learn more about dust.
I was taken off guard as Pyrrha charged towards me at a much faster rate. On reflex, I unsheathed my sword and blocked the incoming thrust, finding the blow to be much heavier than earlier. She wasn’t done there, however.
Swiping at me with her spear, I blocked with my sword and found myself being flung to the side at high speed. Unlike before, where we’d been on relatively even ground, Pyrrha was now overpowering me with her blows.
It was odd. She hadn’t been using her Semblance on my sword like she’d done earlier, I would have noticed it. This was something else.
Skidding to a stop, I dodged to the side of Pyrrha’s sudden spear lunge and grabbed on, only for her to effortlessly shake me off. Bringing my blade down on her as fast as I could without any Breathing Technique, Pyrrha brought her shield up and bashed my blade to the side.
She wasn’t just stronger, she was faster too. What was going on? Had she been holding back physically as well as limiting her Semblance... her Semblance. Ever since she’d grown faster and stronger she hadn’t been using it on me.
“I see now,” I chuckled. “Instead of using your Semblance to slow me down, you’re using it to speed yourself up.” She was using it to control the metal armour that she wore along with her spear and shield.
Pyrrha only narrowed her eyes in concentration. It seemed that she didn’t have much experience using her Semblance in this way. It had been quite a while since I’d been faced against an opponent that was stronger and faster than me.
Rushing forward, I pushed my body as far as I could go without using a Sun Breathing technique, eagerly meeting Pyrrha’s enhanced state.
Ducking under her spear swipe, I lashed out with my blade, aiming to hit her where it would be awkward for her to block, only to hit air as she darted forward. She was moving faster than before. It seemed that she was slowly growing more comfortable with her current state.
Feeling my senses scream at me to move, I dodged to the side, only to feel Pyrrha’s spear collide with my back, sending me tumbling forward at high speed.
-500AP
Slamming my palm into the ground, I spun myself around as I began to come to a stop, only to find Pyrrha upon me, her spear reared back, ready to launch another heavy blow.
Pyrrha was currently stronger than me, faster than me and had disarmed me in her last blow. In short, she’d driven me into a corner. An excited grin came to my face.
“Sun Breathing: Flash, One Step”
-50AP
In a burst of speed, I rushed past Pyrrha and came to a stop at the initial point at which I’d been struck. Finding my sword laying in the dirt, I reached down and picked it up, turning towards Pyrrha who was looking around in a confused manner.
“Over here,” I called out, waving my sword. “I just had to fetch my sword before we could continue.”
Pyrrha turned around, her eyes widened with confusion before once again narrowing in concentration. Her spear transformed back into a sword and she rushed forward at high speed, kicking up a cloud of dust behind her.
She was planning on using her full strength in an attempt to end this fight as quickly as possible. It would only be respectful for me to respond in kind.
Widening my stance, I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for my next move, waiting for Pyrrha to come close enough.
“Sun Breathing: Burning Bones, Summer Sun.”
-500AP
Pyrrha lashed out with her sword at high speed, but I was already moving. Swinging my sword in a spiral motion, by blade collided with hers, knocking it to the side. Completing the spiral, I struck her several more times as she passed by.
A loud beep sounded through the arena as the match was called. Looking up, I found that I still had about three quarters of my Aura left while Pyrrha’s had gone into the red, dropping to one tenth, well below the limit for the match to be called.
Sheathing my blade, I noticed that the stadium was eerily silent.
“It... It seems that we’ve got a new champion,” Razz announced in disbelief. “Coal Calavera... The Invincible Girl’s streak has been broken... who would have guessed. Let’s just get those final moments on the high speed camera.”
The large holographic projection that displayed the Aura levels for the fight changed to a slow motion video of our final blows, Pyrrha’s attempted strike and my sword batting it away.
“Yeah, that would do it,” Razz muttered in disbelief. “There you have it folks, the new champion for the Mistral Regional tournament. Coal Calavera.”
There was the soft sound of clapping, before it began to grow and before I knew it, the entire stadium was cheering loudly. As it turned out, it was definitely something I could do without.
Turning my attention back to Pyrrha, I quickly made my way over to her.
“You doing alright?”
“I’m fine,” She replied, looking tired. “Just a little sore. Your last move really hit hard. I thought your Semblance was Aura regeneration, but it seems that it’s amplification.”
I suppose it would look like that from someone that didn’t have any knowledge on Breathing Techniques.
“You know, you’re really strong, I honestly don’t know how you do it.”
“But you beat me,” Pyrrha replied, looking confused.
“Not that,” I shook my head, strength comes in many different forms. “Them... the crowds. It’s... nerve wracking having them all cheer for me. I just... This is the only tournament I’m ever going to compete in, I don’t think I could deal with all those people watching me... and you’ve done this four times now.”
“Oh,” Pyrrha hummed in surprise before offering a sincere smile. “Well, you get used to it.”
Yeah, I don’t think that’s something that I would want to get used to. I’d grown to really enjoy fighting, but having a crowd watch my every moment... yeah, no.
“So what happens now?”
“Now?” Pyrrha asked. “Oh, now they’ll be handing out medals to the top three competitors and they’ll probably ask each of us for a few words.”
“...Great.”
Comments
HunterWithPatience
Well done, I enjoyed this chapter very much. An incredible fight, I cant wait to see how coal handles the press, and I can't wait to see what kind of a weapon he will get.
