The soldier bounced from foot to foot, agitation increasing.
The man seemed determined to shake loose any prefight jitters that could appear. Or had appeared. Whichever.
The Huntsman cocked an ear, listening to the announcements, barely audible in the entry tunnel.
Janus Rogo's face twisted into an irritated scowl at the mention of his name. Fear and animosity.
Can you blame them?, the question rose, unbidden.
He shook it off.
Killed a lotta people.
He shook that off, too.
Whole lotta innoc-
The mercenary's gauntleted fists bounced off his helmet. The sudden shock brought him back to here. To now. He channeled his focus into that.
Malina Nahualli. He'd heard several pronunciations of her last name, some sounded closer to accurate than the others.
He'd spent the past few hours getting to know her, at least as well as he could from broadcasts of her recent match and a bit of cursory investigation. A young Valish Huntress. Younger than him, at least. She lacked some of the hot-headed, or brash attributes a solid portion of her peers commonly demonstrated. Her fight against Siu was an excellent example of reasonable, cautious tactics- Ones Janus himself favored, even. She'd held back, prodding at her opponent, attempting to grasp their limitations and show... Well, not her own abilities, but a snippet of them. A misdirection, almost. She was clever, trying to put herself in the mind of her opponent. Impressive, though not unexpected.
Her weaponry had caught his eye, as well. Her ranged abilities were, at best, limited. The pins she'd fired from her tail would need a great deal of fortune to not just penetrate his aura, but the armor beneath it, as well. Her usage of Dust was the more direct, notable threat. Channeling its effects through her staff gave a surprising amount of control, of variety, of potential in her attacks. Shards, orbs, blasts. She'd demonstrated all of those in the opening moments of the fight and it was undoubted that she could produce more variance, as well. The staff, though he hadn't seen all the forms, seemed to lack any dedicated projectile mode. It was an effective channel, sure, and a promising weapon in-close, but definitely not insurmountable.
The tail, he ruminated, was interesting. It showed up in most of the images of her from the old Beacon Academy yearbooks and she demonstrated a particular adeptness with its use. She was comfortable with it. It was as much a part of her as... Well, as any Huntsman's weapon. He spun his rifle, converting it to its spear form, barely conscious of the act. An extension of her body, of her soul. Her Aura would protect it, he had to assume, or it wouldn't be seeing use on this stage. Still, it was an angle, a vector for attack, one that he had to be prepared for, and one he'd seen before. Somewhat.
Her semblance had been noteworthy, too, though for a different reason than expected. The similarities between the two were what had caught Janus' eye. Any Huntsman worth their salt could evaluate an opponent and their Semblance, their Aura, but in this case, the similarities gave a touch of insight that others might miss. His semblance, dubbed Thrust[/b] many, many years ago, allowed for a constant blast of pressure in most directions. A jet of concentrated air, a steady stream of wind, or a heavy rush of force. He grinned as the memory floated up, his old team discussing the more accurate name for his semblance. Whoosh or NYOOOM[/b] had gotten a fair few laughs.
The spear bounced off his thigh. Still bouncing. It'd been spinning idly in his hand, though he'd yet to notice until that faint -tink- of metal on metal.
FOCUS
Her semblance was an apparently more limited version of his own. Perhaps it was constrained by her relative inexperience. Perhaps it was a hardwired limitation. Or perhaps it was just an act, and her abilities weren't what they seemed? That last one seemed unlikely, slotting in the rear of his mind, while he evaluated what little he'd seen. Concentrated bursts of force, the bursts being key. Unlike his own Semblance, it wasn't a constant stream, it was a fast moving burst of force. The applications were similar, too, seeing her use it to maneuver around the field, but it wasn't quite the tactical multitool of his.
She's skilled, he thought, but not invincible.
Her lack of range, the limited amounts of pressure she could apply to him, would cripple her. It wasn't much different than with Budonoki, in his mind. Keep distance, wear down with the Tyrant, attempt to avoid close combat. If he could keep her off-balance through the match, it would be simple enough, barring any unforeseen complications....
A buzzer in the room rang. A light illuminated. The match was set to begin. Almost immediately, the soldier stepped off, confidently advancing down the entry ramp. There were cheers, a dull, faint roar. Certainly quieter than that for other matches, though. There was something else, too. Something softer, quieter, lying just beneath the crowd. A sea.
Topic: Huntsman 1v1 bracket- Semifinals: Malina Nahualli vs. Janus Rogo (Read 15679 times)