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[IntSys]

Neon

Neon did not respond further to Trinity storming out, just staring at his exit from a distance. There was a fundamental disagreement between them, a colossal gap that could not ever be crossed. She knew well what she said, and only said them because those were techniques she had been made to perfect in torture. And of course, that was something only she knew, as with the immense pain she had punched through just then. On top of that, they were disagreeing about what effort really was - going for the optimal, shortest, and easiest path, or taking a sub-optimal, longer and harder path.

It was only natural, that she and everyone else would be on a different wavelength, she thought. Though they were all mech fighters, the world they lived in were entirely different. She had heard from veterans in the scene that fighting in the arena would make pilots understand each other more, but it seemed that for her, that understanding was realizing the sheer scale of their differences.

It couldn't be helped; that was just who he was, and what she was. She got what she wanted in the end, managed to preserve her little secret further thanks to him getting clouded by anger, and got to know more about what was behind that shiny image he had established for himself, and that was more than she could ever dare to ask for. As he vanished into the exit, she began to walk back to the spectating area calmly. Finally, she returned to her quarters as well, tending to her own matters.

[Takosher]

Combat Phase

The challengers spent a few more days socializing and getting to know one another and some of those around them, but eventually the end of the week arrived, and the time for matches came. On first blush the arena didn't seem especially strange, save for the fact that it was in a fully enclosed room. The reality of the situation came into play when the doors closed behind them, slowly casting the arena into total darkness. There was no audience in this blackened pit with them, but they could still sense the eyes of everyone in Tempest turned towards them. This was it, their first step towards godhood. All that was left was to see who would make the first move.

[IntSys]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

It did not really matter if the arena was lit or not. All that mattered was that the arena was flat. Ethereal Hunter's shape vanished into the darkness, as the doors were sealed up. That would likely be the last time in this entire battle where Neon'd be able to see the Gluttony representative.

Though it was pitch dark, Neon knew very well that it was a fight to be observed by all of Tempest. And for that, she had to set up a script to satisfy her audience.

EtHun would at first see the blue, beaming parts on Neon's gloves and shoes. And then, she projected several more neon-blue blobs of light around her, not unlike the light her gloves and shoes would give. Finally, the Erebos logo was projected right above her, in its golden glory.

"Neon Aletheia has been brought to you by the Erebos Corporation. Now, Ethereal Hunter, ready or not, here we go!" She declared at the top of her voice, setting the tension high.

Her first attack was one that capitalized on the very nature of the terrain and the movement capabilities of Ethereal Hunter. Two streams of rapid energy blasts came out of Neon's hands, forming a pair of lines that drew out a circular sector that covered her opponent's immediate movement range. It was a strategy that was only possible thanks to the complete lack of obstacles laying around the arena. From what she had observed, Ethereal Hunter's armor would provide enough of a tell when hit, and she intended to capitalize on that as much as possible.

With that, she began to dash forward, shrinking the circular sector as she went, and strafing left and right to make herself a bit harder for her opponent to aim her down.

[Twinwolf]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

Maddie was initially worried about the arena. A flat space was no good for her, none at all; she'd be running and gunning the whole way. Then she noticed the lighting - or rather, lack of it. The pitch black arena would be amazing for her ability; she usually shimmered a little when she moved at high speed, a small tell of her location that would be totally masked by the darkness. The instant the door was closed and the light died, she activated her cloaking and was on the move, dashing to the edge of the room and strafing the edge of the room so she wouldn't be in an obvious place when Neon moved. "You were waiting this long?" she asked over the comms.

Ethereal Hunter's drones were moving around as well, spreading out at random around the room. While Neon charged forward to where Maddie had been, two of them opened fire from different spots in the room, blue beams of energy lighting across the room and zapping towards Neon. While they weren't nearly as powerful as her main weapon, they would still sting - or would if Neon hadn't chosen to duck and weave, strafing rather than going on a straight shot forwards. As it was, the lasers burned themselves into the ground beside or behind her.

It didn't matter if the drones missed though. Keeping away from the electric blue blobs of light that marked Neon's position, Ethereal Hunter loaded a round and pulled back the bowstring to begin to charge it up; as good as the dark was for her, the unpredictable movements and the fact she could only see Neon's extremities would make for a hard shot, and she had to prepare for it. "Good luck to you too," she said cheerfully over the comms, really hoping her voice didn't sound as stressed as she felt.

[IntSys]

Neon Aletheia vs Ethereal Hunter

"It wouldn't be right if I had just fired at you without a word, now, would it?" Neon joked in response, though it quickly became clear that her opponent had managed to escape from the sector in time. That wasn't much of a problem though, as it meant that her opponent was located in the area not covered by her. With a rough estimation, she changed her direction of fire quickly, instead shrinking down again from her left and right, in a much larger sector. The two lines continued to sweep towards each other, and were dense enough to catch her opponent should she try to make a breakthrough.

The drones' shots weren't much of a concern at that point of time, even though they had missed their mark. She was fairly sure that none of them could have been from her opponent's own railgun just yet. But then again, even if they had been, there wasn't much she could be doing immediately about it either.

With that, she began to focus her shield around her core. It would be a battle of suffering, but it wouldn't be a new one.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Midas vs. Sycophant

Though Celica loathed to admit, she was walking into a fight that was stacked against her. She knew about Greed's selection process, and knew that whoever came out of it would be strong, without a doubt, and of course she would have to fight against them in the first round. But with her spark and natural edge, she had thought it would be relatively simple to take down such a seemingly forward and barbaric fighter. Of course, that was before the doors closed behind her, shrouding the arena in a total darkness lit up by the fighter's themselves.

That didn't bode well.

Initially, Sycophant stood out in the darkness, its red outlines glowing for a second before shutting off, followed up by relative silence from the animalistic mech, the only sound coming from it being a small tapping sound that echoed through the entire arena. She'd wait for her opponent to make the first move. Patience was a virtue, and patience was easily one of her strongest traits.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Raguel vs Unequivocal Soul

Caridin strutted into arena as the doors closed behind him, completely unconcerned by the unnatural darkness that had engulfed them. A Scalpel. He had remembered it well over this last week. It had proven somewhat... difficult to stop functioning entirely on reflex and instinct, but he felt he had made at least a little progress. More than he had when he faced off against Arcturus, at least. Perhaps that was precisely what he'd needed, to be put into a situation where victory was impossible by just blindly charging in... a situation where he had to emulate a scalpel to have any hope. A situation not unlike now, honestly.
    He already knew charging blindly into this darkness was a terrible idea. But, even though He might not be able to see his opponent, the same was true for his opponent being blind here as well... presumably. And operating under that assumption, while its true his attacks might give him away... that wouldn't matter so long as he kept on the move, and made sure to do so in erratic fashi-
...
...
...
"What in the actual feck?" He'd just now noticed, as he'd reached to retrieve his hilt... his hand, his arm, they were.... completely visible. Not as if he was glowing, he never really glowed much unless his spark's charge got going. No, this was as if... he were standing out in the open in some random place illuminated by Tempest' ambient light, rather than in an artificially darkened arena. He looked down at the rest of his mech, and lo and behold...

The rest of it was fully visible too.

"Ah sheista, ye've gotta be fecking kidding me," he sighed under his breath, "How... why? Ah forget it. Fine, Stealth is outta the question then. New plan..."

Not letting himself get hung up on this very massive disadvantage, he adopted a tight Fool's Guard. Immediately, Judgement flared to life with the crackling heat and intensity of barely contained laser, and just as quickly, the radiance given off by said barely contained laser dimmed immensely, to the point it was barely stronger than a flickering candle flame. Barely a second later, Caridin performed a swift upwards stroke, engulfing Judgement in renewed, destructive radiance that immediately leapt off the blade in the form of a small sphere that propelled itself high over the arena.
     And then, the sphere burst into countless falling motes of light covering the whole arena, each one giving off a massive amount of light compared to when the sphere that'd spawned them had formed. This was, of course, only thanks to him sacrificing most of their destructive potential in exchange for this amplified illumination. The lad had no illusions of trying to dispel this unnatural darkness outright though, he simply wanted to create something to easily reflect off of his opponent.

And Judgement's light was already dimming again in preparation for it.

[AzyWng]

Midas vs Sycophant

The arena had a simple enough gimmick, if admittedly one that Aleks wasn't familiar with. He could try to use this to his advantage - move his mech as silently as he could, try to sneak up on his opponent. There were two problems with this tactic, however:

• Being sneaky wasn't his specialty. Several pieces of his equipment were purpose-built to make noise, and he didn't have anything to reduce the amount of noise his mech made - or to hide the light from the jets of the integrated rockets. If he did anything besides stand still, his opponent would be able to hear it and respond.
• Being sneaky was boring as fuck.

Besides, Aleks already had a better idea in mind...

Celica could hear the stomps as Midas moved forwards and to the right, nearing one of the arena's walls - probably. Was hard to tell in the darkness.

Then, the music began to play. The sounds of what must have been tens of dozens of party poppers and confetti cannons firing off in rapid succession filled the air, joined by the sounds of metal against metal as Midas banged its shield and hammer against one another - all of it echoing in the pitch-black arena. Over the cacophony Aleks shouted, "I'm not here to waste time skulking about in the dark! Come over and show me what you can do!"

[Chevaleresse]

Wandering Dragon vs. Ruby Darter

Pitch darkness. He'd experienced something like this before, a place he had no hope of navigating, and prevailed. Ookami might say something about the arena and the fight it held being a metaphor for his own growth. On a more practical level, it presented an issue, but not an insurmountable one. All he had to do was make contact once. He summoned his mech, feeling the familiar weight of the Broken Fang in his hand. Tarmo couldn't see it, but he could feel the slight difference in the air as the helmet closed about his face. The fighter activated his onboard comms.

"Ruby Darter. I've heard about how you got here. I expect the same fight anyone else would give me." With that said, he switched his microphone off, then took what looked like an approximation of a sprinter's stance. The mech lit up with a flash of blue light as the capacitors discharged, sending energy surging through the frame. He faded into the darkness just as quickly as he appeared, flinging  himself towards his opponent's likely starting position with blade in hand.

[DragonRage]

Wandering Dragon vs Ruby Darter

A pitch black arena.  Not as bad as it could be, but not amazing either.  It would be all too easy to slam into a wall with an ill-conceived movement.  But on the other hand, Elspeth mused to herself, she did have a ready light source.

Throttle up, prime the engines, throttle down, work the pedals...  Ruby Darter's engines turned over and with a quiet buzz the mech started lifting off, just in time to hear Tarmo's message.

"Hey!" She fliped her own microphone on and left it on, "None of us came here to lose.  But why would I give you the same fight you'd get from other people?  That sounds boring, and totally not my- HOJEEZ!"  Her complaints were cut off as Tarmo lit himself up, and then hurled himself forward!  Elspeth slammed the accelerator down and yanked her sticks up, throwing the Ruby Darter into a climb.  She swore she could hear the whisper of Tarmo's sword passing beneath her mech, though who knows if he actually got that close, and she carefully maneuvered toward a more central location, where the arena should be tallest, giving her the most room to maneuver.

"You're a fast one.  What should I do with you..."  Precision bombing was out.  Neither of them could see a thing.  But bombing indiscriminately could burn through the Ruby Darter's bomb load before a decisive blow is struck.  "Oh!  I got it!  Plumduff-normal, coming up!"  Elspeth threw a few switches and levers, little splashes of glow in the dark paint letting her see her controls despite the lack of lighting.  Gears and motors whirred and clicked in the mech's tail as it queued up a single high capacity bomb and three of the smaller general purpose explosives.  "Bombs away!  Hehehe!"  She called out as she pulled the release lever back with glee, sending four impact-fused explosives back to where she knew her previous position was.  If Tarmo actually aimed there, great!  Maybe it'd hit him.  If he hadn't, well, she didn't spend a lot of bombs on this, so she'd be no worse off, practically speaking.

[Twinwolf]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

"You know, fair enough." Maddie internally shrugged as she slowed down to take a survey of the situation. Neon had saturated the area she'd started in and her immediate movement range if she'd waited for Neon's charge. Now she was going full bullet hell and circling the flat arena, giving her nowhere to run if she was limited to horizontal movement or the level of vertical in a normal jump. But to saturate it, she had to slow, and the volume of fire clearly outlined the other woman.
Maddie had an idea.

Staying a good bit ahead of the left curtain, she kept on charging her bow and something else while she was at it. Meanwhile, one of her four drones, lined up on the other side and started 'charging' a shot of it's own; she'd be sure that even when she fired Neon wasn't sure which one was her. The remaining three continued to pepper Neon with fire, possibly scoring some minor hits on the armor, if nothing majorly impactful. Nearly charged... nearly charged...

[IntSys]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

Neon made an effort to evade the drones' blasts on the spot, though some of them still managed to get to her. Inaccurate as the fire was, the best the drones could do was to "hit," but whether those were effective hits or not, Ethereal Hunter might just never know.

Neon set off some simple light projections around the spots where she were hit, notably the lower body. A little positive feedback to make her opponent feel like she had shielded the shots. In meantime, she continued to narrow down her bullet curtain patiently.

"No wonder why you get so many fans," Neon continued the chit-chat, "you can't really get this kind of suspense from most of the fighters in the scene, after all."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Midas vs Sycophant

Above Sycophant's small tapping, Celica could hear Midas beginning to move, large stomps and clinking metal filling the room as they moved. If not for the fact that the sound echoed through the entire arena, it would've been easy to pinpoint his location. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, but she could still guess where he would go. Presumably to the edge of the arena, in order to prevent her from getting behind his shield, from what she had seen in the brief moment before the darkness settled in. Again, problematic, considering the shield was arguably the biggest worry she could see. If the back wasn't an option anymore, then she'd have to-

Suddenly a loud cacophony rang out through the arena, a mixture of music, cannon fire, and banging metal causing Celica's entire thought process to be thrown out the window as she quickly slammed her hands against her ears, her mech retracting itself ever so slightly as if to protect itself from the sounds. Gods, this was his idea of luring her out to fight him directly? Why did he even have an automatic music player on his mech?! At the very least she could say that they're impatient. That was good... Impatience was something she could exploit.

Resigning herself to the fate of having her eardrums assaulted directly for the next few moments, Celica removed her hands from her ears, moving her Mech once more to the walls, body low to the ground and silent compared to the rest of the noise. At the same time, she activated her direct communications, not bothering to get into a shouting match with her opponent, "Forgive my rudeness, but if you want me to come fight you directly, flooding this place with sounds isn't the best way to go about it. It's a bit... Disorienting" Celica stated in a cheerful, if understandably annoyed, voice.

[Twinwolf]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

"The light show's pretty cool too." Maddie said as the bow finally reached full charge. She stopped to aim, as did the drone that had mirrored her. For a moment, the only sound was that of the curtain of energy attacks, rapidly narrowing the range that Maddie could possibly be in. Soon, one way or another, it would hit her...

CRACK

A deafening crack split the air as the railbow launched it's shot, screaming towards Neon at the origin of the two beams. Two identical looking and sounding shots from different sides, the Ethereal Hunter's decoy magic masking her drone's standard energy beam as a railbow shot. At the range, it would be a split second reaction for how to dodge, and if the real one hit her it wouldn't just leave a scratch.

[IntSys]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

Though Neon already had much leniency with "dodging" EtHun's attacks, her narrowing down the possible positions of her opponent also had the added benefit of making sure that she would be seeing the shots themselves as soon as they were fired, rather than reacting to the sound they'd make. And that made it possible for her to perform a complete evasion, and send a message that she was genuinely trying to react to and dodge her attacks. Hopefully, she'd be able to maintain this kind of position for the majority of the match.

She leaned forty-five degrees backwards in reaction, letting the pair of shots fly right over her shoulders. Her attack did not falter, however, as she continued to keep up the streams of fire. "I'm glad you like it. Let's see if I can make it prettier..." More light projections appeared around Neon, making her look increasingly like a cloud of blue fairies.