Relic of the Future: Chapter 100

Yang gasped, catching her breath on one knee with a fist planted down. Her whole posture screamed of near collapse. Her pants came out raspy and raw as she glared up at the bastard standing cockily in front of her.

"You really think I'm going to fall for that?"

Ass. She'd only been half pretending. Groaning, she stood up, muscles aching and aura hovering around one third, close to that all-important red zone and her time to retire from the fight. Looking up, she saw him around seventy-five, close to yellow but still in the green. Still green after ten minutes of fighting against the four of them.

Son of a bitch…

"Emerald, go right in. Sun, support me. Jaune flank left and I'll go straight in."

"I can hear you saying that," their instructor pointed out. "You should really come up with hang signals or pre-planned strategies with code names. Something I can't understand."

"Yeah well, you should get a shave!" Yang yelled, charging in. It wasn't the snappiest comeback of her life, but come on, she was half dead. Luckily, playing distraction only required that, so even though her reckless assault earned her a fist in the stomach, she knew she'd done her job.

Sun's foot planted on her back as he used her as a vault to go over, swinging at Jaune's head. If he left footprints in her hair, he'd pay for it. Jaune brought his sword up to block that but Sun wasn't done and twisted one foot around, kicking at the back of his head. That was also blocked by the same weapon, the distance between the attacks not too great.

That wasn't the point, though. It was all about the timing. Sun kept his sword arm busy while Yang, even with spit and air driven out of her, reflexively bent over his other fist and gripped on for dear life. Emerald and Jaune came rushing in from the flanks.

"Got you," Yang hissed.

"You have. But I'm afraid it won't be enough."

Yang yelped as her feet were wrenched off the floor and she was hurled to the side, sent crashing into Emerald, who thankfully got her weapons down in time that the collision was the only damage. They went tumbling to the floor – but that didn't save him. Their final teammate slashed at Jaune's back, carving his sword down it with aura sparking.

The green bar above dipped down a good five per cent, changing to a vivid yellow. Yang let out a ragged cheer.

It soon died away when Jaune, without even flinching, spun, snatched the younger Jaune's sword by the hilt, twisted it out his hands, snapped said fist up into his jaw and then swatted Sun away with Jaune's own sword before he could land and dodge. The four scattered around the ring, but even then he wasn't done, something Yang knew and was already scrambling to avoid.

Most teachers let you make all the moves and just counter attacked. The whole point, or so they said, was to let you learn how to do things properly, so it wouldn't make sense for them just to stomp you or you wouldn't master anything. Jaune Ashari agreed with that on principle but had always told them that would only apply to the basics with him. Once they had those down, he would be teaching them what real combat was like.

That was why when he drew out a handgun and opened fire on their downed bodies, Yang wasn't nearly as surprised as some of the audience was, gasping in horror. Not all of them of course. Some of them were ASH themselves or had teammates who were and so had gotten used to such methods being par for the course. They just nodded knowingly as Yang and Emerald scrambled away from gunshots that tore up the ground around them.

"Pin him down!" Yang roared.

Jaune charged in with a yell. Shouting in battle was a bad idea, but when your goal was to announce your presence to spare your allies the attention, it was allowed. Or at least not scorned. The two Jaune's traded blows for a brief moment. A very brief moment. It must have been all of four swings before the elder disarmed the younger and savagely kicked him away.

That was still enough time for them to recover and begin a new assault. Jaune had bought them that chance. Yang, Sun and Emerald circled around and attacked from every direction, careful to alternate heights so that if Jaune somehow dodged, they wouldn't harm one another. Blades, fists and a staff whistled and cracked in the air, parried, diverted, dodged and sent back in equal measure. It was a mess of steel and flashing aura, some of it theirs, some of it his.

Yang was the first to fall. Her aura had already been low, since as the hardiest alongside Sun, she tended to try and take damage to spare Emerald. Sun followed, knocked back and out with his aura dipping red, his nose leaking a little blood as well. Suddenly reduced to two on one, it was only a matter of time before Ashari disarmed Jaune and brought him low, then snapped Emerald's weapons aside and brought his sword against her neck, forcing her to yield.

Sure. You force her to yield but knock me around like this. Totally fair.

Jaune Ashari grinned. "Good fight. You all did well."

"Oh sod off," Yang groaned, achily forcing herself up. "Your aura isn't even at fifty."

"It's at fifty-two and that's impressive." He sheathed his sword and worked his shoulder muscles to loosen them up. "I'm a huntsman, Yang. I've got much more experience than you, plus I know how the four of you fight and what your Semblances are. That's why I was careful not to trigger yours. Taking me down to almost half in your first year of Beacon is incredible. Had it been any other huntsman, I think you would have won – and that's no small feat."

Tch. Yang grinned and shook her head. No wonder he never gave me enough damage at once to get a proper shot off. Cheating bastard. Of course, you weren't trying if you weren't cheating – ASH Gym motto.

—Relic of the Future: Chapter 100