Round 4: Jung / Waterson vs. Walker / O'Brien

This was it. They were finally at the end.

How did they make it this far?

Perhaps it was pure luck that brought them here. Perhaps it was fate. All that Benjamin knew was that he was most likely going to die today.

As he glanced across the all too familiar entrance, his eyes spotted a rather unsettling looking girl twirling her spear and her perhaps less dangerous looking partner. There was no doubt in his mind that these two were strong. They made it this far. The boy had only survived until the end thanks to his partner's gift. With her already devastating gift and the raw, unfiltered form that he brought, the pair were almost unstoppable if he knew any better. But separate them, they were weak.

Eliza's blindness kept her wary, having to rely on barriers rather than attacks. Benjamin's gift was pointless without others. He had been told with enough training he could use his gift with just a glance, but how likely was he to accomplish that much development? It was terrifying and painful just attempting to borrow someone's gift. He would need an almost constant contact with some mundane gift to control his.

Despite the odds against them, they had survived to the final round. It was hard trying to deny himself the pride that came with it. He wanted to call it quits, return to his dorm and never deal with such a gruesome battle again. A small part of him, on the other hand, pushed him forward. A drive to win. He couldn't cop out now. Not after all of the work and effort they put into this. "Let's hope for the best," he commented, hand reaching out to grab Eliza's.

Dull green eyes stared ahead, nothing seemed to bother them as they remained sitting on nothing. She knew this area, as her gift scanned it over and over again it told her the same thing. It was the enterance courtyard. This was good, if needed she could move around and not have to worry about anything getting in her way. It was almost like she could see like the rest of them.

Her head turned slightly when she heard Ben speak. "Yes of course." She was on the last round, and just a bit away from proving she was just as strong as Cadence. She had too, she needed too. Reaching out her hand she grabbed Ben's hand. Time to get this mess start.

Matty nodded as Jules spoke to him. His hand instinctively flew behind his back to touch the quarterstaff as a bit of comfort. After the last round, he had taken it upon himself to carve the endings into point. Using his wood carving abilities on the thing helped to make it uniquely his. Now, it served to show how far he had come from the first round of the match. It seemed like so long ago that he had swung the staff without any precision. Then, it had been nothing more than a means of defense, but now, it was most certainly made for attack. He had hardened up since the first fight. A knot still made its way into his throat as he thought of thrusting the pointed end into one of their opponents. The Summer could not quite swallow it down, so instead he sought to ignore it. Soon, this violent display of power would be over and he could go back to ignoring all of the dark parts of him that seemed capable of hurting another. But, the memories would most likely stick with him

A choked sigh just barely left his lips. The thought of everything that now swirled in his head terrified him. He was horrified that even in a simulation he could find it in himself to want to harm someone else. Matty tried to tell himself once more that it was just the thought of this being a false reality that comforted him, that he should not worry about this. However, every other sense in his brain screamed otherwise. But, he looked over at Jules. As she gave a quick thumbs up, the torment of emotion seemed to subside. He remembered why this had become possible. His partner was capable of such things. He did not want to let her down and admired her will to keep fighting. That was what truly drove him on-- his desire not to fail the girl who had now had his back through so many fights. Nodding stiffly as if in affirmation, Matty also stepped into a defensive position that left his feet planted firmly to the ground. There wasn't much determination for a win there, but there was a drive to pull his weight in their final match, "Let's get this over with."

Matty nodded. He would fully tuned in this round. Balancing his attacks with that of his partner and making every hit count was at the fore front of his mind. His eyes followed her gaze and he found himself agreeing. In the last few rounds, he had been able to test his abilities. Prior to the tourney, Matty had no idea what the invisible energy was behind his hands. However, he had found that sometimes it would come if willed. Jules showed no signs of running in close, so the Summer raised his right hand. The other still cluched the quaterstaff just in case.

"Hopefully this will do something." He muttered to Jules. An invisable burst of energy aimed towards the pair to push them backwards. It was not enough to send them flying, but more really a test to see their reaction and get an idea of what they could do. If Matty could even get his gift to work for a little bit this round, it could be to their advantage.

Eliza blinked, why weren't they making a move? Her sense didn't tell her anything, nothing was moving towards her and Ben. Then there was something she couldn't tell exactly what it was but even so she considered it as a threat. The pink haired girl quickly reached out with her gift, grabbing the space around the knife and stopping it in it's tracks. Though she didn't expect the second push of force from the other student. She slide back a bit not releasing her grasp on Ben but her gift lost the connection with the knife and it fell to the ground with a clang. "Ben, can you attack them?"

The weak throw, the tentative blast of energy. They were trying to scope him and Eliza out.

His partner had already given away a tidbit of information as she caught the blade mid-air, stopping it with her gift. Before he could react, the blast of energy shifted the pair backwards. It wasn't nearly strong enough to knock them over, but enough to give them an idea of what the boy could do.

"There's no use hiding it I guess," he muttered, his grip on the pink-haired girl's hand tightening. With an image in his mind, he began to manifest her gift. The earth shift, shaking even Ben and Eliza a bit. As he closed his eyes to concentrate, cracks began to form on the ground. A sharp line struck through the middle of the arena, splitting the earth in two beneath Juliette and Matty's feet. Ben pulled Eliza to the right with a quick tug, taking cover behind a tree as the earthquake spread.

The fountain fell to pieces, crumbling as it fell into the forming canyon. There was no doubt that the front most of the entrance was crumbling into the hole as well, but his image had not gone much further than that. Hopefully, with the shaking earth and the splitting hole, one of them would lose their footing and fall. The only downside to his plan was the time it would take for the hole to form and stop. With enough common sense, anyone could avoid falling in.

Matty watched as the ground began to crack and split the earth below him. The earth under his left foot began to crumble and panic rose in his chest as the dirt began to loosen. He stumbled away, heart still pounding at the near fall. Whatever power this kid possessed was certainly something. There was a brief pause as he recovered his sense of focus. Now him and Jules were separated. Even if they weren't close together, they still had to work as one to take out the pair. They seemed to be clinging to each other for some strange reason. As he ran from the crumbling earth, Matty made sure to keep his gaze on them both, watching for any signs of a next move. He wouldn't allow himself to be given in to something as simple as falling. Now, he had to be better than that.

He ran a wide arc around the pair, the adrenaline now pounding in his veins and causing his ears to ring. Despite all of that, he was zeroed in. There was only a split second where he managed to nod in Jules direction. If she caught on, they could attack at the same time. Initially, his plan was to attack from behind them. However, the Summer did not want to waste anymore time. Once he was quite a few feet off to the side, Matty raised his palms. There was no way that the power would be specifically focused, but a wide blast would work. Of course, it would be exhausting as well, but it had to be done. As soon as he was just out of Ben's sight line, Matty focused every ounce of his being on throwing the kid as far as he could go. He could picture the motion in his mind. And in what could only be described as a powerful, albeit invisible, amount of energy went towards throwing Ben away from his partner. Matty's eyes squeezed shut for a brief second as he threw all that he could into the move. The further the better.

They were separated for now but she wouldn't let it continue to be this way. She would put barriers down so she could get back to her partner if she had too. She would even use her gift to bring him back to her if she had too. She clenched her teeth focusing her gift into letting her know what was going on, so she could see the finer details. So their opponents split up and were sitting on two opposite sides, and they were trying to take out Ben. She wasn't going to let that happen.

She couldn't protect him from everything but she could stop the spear, which she did. Letting that fall to the ground, she quickly took broken pieces of the Entrance and threw them at Jules, while making her way back to her partner.

Ben, much to his dismay, was blown away from his partner despite all he tried to hold on. This loss of contact would make his power all the more clear.

As Juliette came rushing toward him, Eliza stopped her in her tracks. The spear was out of commission for Jules right now as the crumbled pieces of the school came rushing towards the Asian. With the momentary cover, Ben rushed forward, meeting his partner halfway.

Without a second thought he shot a pillar of stone towards Matty. If they could defeat one the other would be easy to beat. It as long as they worked to separate Ben and Eliza, their chances were equal.

Matty's sides heaved. The effort from his last attack had felt him fairly drained. However, he barely managed to keep his eyes open as the events unfolded. A huge pillar came hurdling in his direction and the corner caught his shoulder as he stood, knocking him back words. Immediately, pain seemed to overwhelm his nerves. But, there was no time to focus on that. He forced himself back up onto his feet without hesitation. The boy had been beaten up enough to know how to take a hit, even a heavy one. His bullies back at school had been creative in their methods. As he stood, pieces of stone pillar were shaken from his shirt. His hair was a mess and the cuts and bruises on his body made him look like a wreck. From hitting the ground so much, he had also managed to pick up smudges of dirt. In short, Matty looked a lot rougher than he had come in.

The adrenaline pounded in his veins. It did not quite soothe his anxious heart, but it channeled it into something else. His eyes were filled with a strange combination of numbness, and fire. This was the time to stop defending. It was time to fight back. For a split second, he closed his eyes and remembered the first time he had truly stood up for himself. The other kid had flown straight across the room, and that was with no idea or any sort of intentionality. When his eyes opened once more, they focused on Eliza. She needed to be taken out. There was a clearly some sort of reason they needed to be together. So, they had to be broken apart. As his partner's weapons flew through the air, Matty chose that time to attack.

He took a deep breath. This would truly weaken him. If he accomplished what he hoped, it would give them a chance. But, it would be at the risk of leaving him tired. A more experience student could have handled it. The summer was no where near that. Breathing slowly in an attempt to force the worries back, Matty's eyes bore into the other pair. This had to work. His yell seemed to echo through the stadium as he felt the energy tear through his body and shoot towards his opponents. One hand focused at Ben, hoping to toss him a short distance, the other at Eliza. For her, his target was the stony entrance of the academy.

Eliza gritted her teeth as objects came flying towards her and her partner. Quickly she stopped the ones head for Ben. She promised she would protect him. She felt the sharp sting of the throwing knives cutting into her skin but neither of them seemed to have sunk in, the blood running down into her skin. And then there came another push separating her from Ben completely for now, using her own gift to stop herself from flying too far. "You aren't taking him from me!" She growled

The pink haired girl decided to attack Matt, and get him away from the situation so she could get back to Ben without issue, well the girl seemed like less of a threat than the boy did, yeah she had knives but if she made contact with Ben then whatever gift the girl had was his too.

Using a greater amount of energy she shoved the boy back hoping to toss him against a wall. If she could take him out then it would make it easier on her and Ben. They had to do this, they had to.. She needed to be strong like Cadence.

There was a surprising amount of attention directed towards him as the match went on. With a gulp, he watched the knives fall to the ground. Beside him, Eliza hissed in pain, blood clearly running from the fresh wounds. Before he could react and regroup, the girl tackled him down, sending them both rolling away from their partners.

He felt his leg catch on a pile of rubble, sending a shock through his body from the impact. Grunting in pain, he grabbed Juliette's arm, staring at the damaged leg. Before he could react properly to the wound, he felt a wave surge through his body. Without any sound, he watched the scraped skin heal over, leaving a peal of dead skin behind. The pain that normally would have left him limping subsided to a soft numb.

"R-Regeneration?" he exclaimed, blue eyes flashing to the Asian girl who's arm he held. No wonder she survived this long. But how could he attack without Eliza?

With a quick tug he flipped them over so he sat on her chest and pressed her arms down on either side of her. If he could hold her down long enough to regroup with his companion, things could continue. He had no intention of hitting this girl with his own fists, especially knowing they would have no lasting effect. If she had the intent to hurt him, all he needed to do was hold on to her arm for dear life.

Distracted by the amount of effort it had takken to throw them, it was no surprise when Matty sailed easily through the air. He was slammed into wall. An involuntary grunt of pain left his lips. His sides heaved as he fell to the ground. The Summer looked up. He stared at Eliza. The one advantage he seemed to have was an obliviousness to his gift. And he barely knew how to use it. Shoving people backwards was as far as he had come. Matty slowed his breathing and tried to focus. As he briefly closed his eyes he noticed he could feel the energy of his power.

Tapping into it for a moment, he could faintly sense the space around Eliza. One more time... he almost had to convince himself. It was be draining. Especially in his weakened state. Matty suck in a breath, not daring to breath and he used the force to throw her back to the ground, trying to do damage and stun or pin her in one. At the same time he threw his sharpened staff forwards. All he could hope for was something as he felt all the engergy drain from his body, and his knees hit the ground.