[IC] RWBY: Chronicle of Vault.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Reload. Move. Julio's hand quickly took dust cartridges from his pocket to refill that which he had burned through. It wasn't a lot, but it could make a difference later on when he didn't have time to refill. His feet were already taking him further away from Terra, but when he knew that he was going straight for a wall, he would begin to move sideways - just in an attempt to keep on the move.

Terra's flying kick had been obvious the moment he stuck the spade on the ground. Julio quickly dove sidewards to dodge the attack and then aimed down his sights. He attempted to predict where Terra would be and then shot, the same fire-infused bullet sailed through the wind in an attempt to hit the moving target. Julio didn't wait to see the results as he went back on the move.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North
Terra landed with a crouch as the fire bullet hit him, no defence this time, he just tanked the hit as the fire enveloped him and set his clothes alight again. This time Terra didn't even stop to pat himself out as he lost aura from the flames. In a curious tactic, he removed his straw hat and tossed it at Julio to cover his field of view for the moment. Whilst he was distracted, Terra came at him like a freight train, dashing into his vicinity and finally closing the gap, aiming for his neck with the crescent end of his weapon.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio stepped back and watched as Terra took on the full blow of the bullet. It was a cliche tactic to be honest, he could see what would happen a mile away. But what he didn't expect was just how fast he moved. Julio didn't have a chance but to raise his weapon in an attempt to block the staff.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North

Terra's crescent blade didn't quite make it into Julio's neck with the rifle blocking him, but that was only the beginning and Terra was able to pull off his intended attack even if blocked slightly. Using the hook around his neck, Terra flipped his staff and flung Julio up, flipping him over himself before sending him head first into the arena floor below. Whilst he was recovering, Terra flipped his staff and completed his combo with a sharp strike across his back with the blade, precise and powerful.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio was sent to the air, but he kept a strong grip on his rifle. He can't lose it now. But he couldn't exactly recover quickly as he was heading straight to the ground at some speed. He then fell onto the ground and then a solid hit to his back was made, making him crash onto the ground again. Julio had always been thankful of his aura because he didn't feel the full bone-shattering effect of that attack. He recovered relatively quickly than before as he rolled away from his position and then aimed his rifle at him.

Another switch, the gun was now automatic. The dust chamber loaded the bullets with fire dust. Julio began jogging backwards again, his tail swaying from side to side. He then pulled the trigger and released a volley of fire dust-infused bullets heading to Terra's way. He didn't want to give up now.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North

Terra smirked at Julio's quick recovery, a little impressed with the speed at which he recovered. Terra began running a circle around him as he fired at him, the flames hot on his heels and only just missing him, creating little scorch marks on the arena floor. Once he'd completed about a half circle around him, Terra suddenly dashed at him, swinging the spade end of his weapon in an upward diagonal strike.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio stopped shooting midway, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hit him at this rate. Terra ran straight at him, lightning rounds now inside the chamber. He rolled to the right as to avoid the strike. And once he recovered, he started shooting once more, lightning rounds sailing through the air and heading towards Terra's general direction. However, it was more sprayed as to avoid making the same mistake as earlier where Terra avoided with only a small margin. That guy had fast reflexes, that was for sure.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North
Terra had no way to dodge a large spray of bullets like that, so he instead opted for a familiar defensive tactic, spinning his weapon to block the shots. Due to their electric nature, the electricity danced up the shaft of the weapon and he could see Terra flinch multiple times from small electric shocks he was receiving. But through it all, he was keeping the pressure on him, remaining close as he kept on spinning. When Julio's ammo ran out, he was immediately on the attack, raising his weapon so the spade end was behind him, making it look like he'd do an overhead swing, but it was a feint. He missed the overhead and then instead swung his spade toward Julio's legs, intent to trip or hinder him.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio hadn't expected for the lightning dust to run out so quickly, but he managed to do some damage to Terra. And added up with the earlier onslaught, he hoped that the battle was nearing the end. Although he didn't have any time to actually look at their aura points as Terra charged straight at him and was attempting to do an overhead swing. However, Julio did not expect it to be a faint and his legs were swept right under him and he, once more, found himself on the ground, but still holding on to his weapon.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North

With Julio tripped, Terra quickly took advantage, his aura standing below 50% now but Julio's was suffering far lower at this point and Terra seemed intent to capitalize on that as he stood over him and brought the crescent end of his blade down upon him over and over, keeping a foot stamped down upon one of his legs to stop him moving.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio was pinned. He was doomed. Or was he really? After two times of Terra smacking his staff down on his stomach, he finally formulated a formula. His tail quickly sneaked into his pocket and took out a wind dust crystal. Without any intention to aim, only to get out, he activated the dust crystal that would send a strong gust of wind aimed at Terra that would certainly make him stumble, if not fly away a short distance. It would give the monkey faunus breathing room after all and that was the main point.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North
The wind dust caused a strong gust that blew Terra back and upward into the air, giving Julio some breathing room... unfortunately, Terra made a quick move in the air and surprised him by finally switching his weapon to an alternate mode, the spade of his weapon flipping up and revealing a trigger as he aimed the shaft at him, revealing it to be a sniper rifle of his very own. Whilst mid air and falling, he fired a shot at the still downed Julio.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

It was a good thing that Julio was already thinking of rolling away, or else the bullet would've hit him. He then sat up and then stared at Terra for the shortest of seconds. So the guy had his own sniper rifle eh? He could've revealed it earlier on, when Terra had been in a distance, but Julio guessed it was part of the surprise. Because it definitely did surprise him. Guess this was the downside of having an unknown opponent.

But it at least gave Julio some experience. His lips tugged upwards revealing a small smirk. Let's see who's the better sniper, was what he was thinking. Julio began constantly moving, running around while occasionally shooting at Terra. Julio knew that he had a small amount of aura left - 25%? 20%? Heck, maybe even lower. But that wasn't the point, he needed to keep on the move, make his movements as unpredictable as possible, as to avoid being hit by another bullet.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North

Terra seemed to match his smirk, the pair of them had reached a similar mindset on how to conclude this bout of theirs. Terra too began to dash and keep mobile around the arena whilst shooting the occasional shot from his sniper rifle, trading blows and dodging where possible. The two were evenly matched in the shooting department.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Ah, so this was getting them nowhere it seems. They were evenly matched. It disappointed Julio to be honest - not only was Terra a close ranged fighter, but he was also a great sniper. It made him rethink how well he actually trained himself. Then again, given that he was more or less self-taught upon reaching Vault, he shouldn't be too irked.

Julio finally stopped, right after Terra would shoot one bullet. He didn't seem tired though and he seemed extremely focused on Terra's movement. Analyzing every single small movement. He was waiting for an opportunity.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North
Terra repeated a tactic that had worked well for him previously, leaping up into the air in a spiralling movement before turning to face and shoot at him, but this was only the start of his attack. After he'd taken the shot, he switched his weapon back to its melee mode and came down upon him in a flying kick.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio didn't take it. He moved away and the bullet missed. Once Terra had landed, Julio didn't give the guy a chance to recover from hitting the ground and immediately shot three sniper rifle rounds that are infused with fire dust.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North
Terra came down close to him, close enough he'd closed the gap between them again, but he couldn't protect himself from Julio's shots this time, taking further aura damage as his clothes were set alight again. He grunted slightly, perhaps in frustration or pain, but he was growing increasingly impatient to end this bout. He was still close enough that when he was able to rise again, he came at him, going into a swift multi thrust attack with the crescent end of his monk spade.

[Polaris North]

Julio Taiyou

Lustre Academy - Combat Class
@CadenGallic

Julio noticed that Terra was actually growing impatient. He could understand that - they were going on for a while now. This was way longer than Asher and Terrance's fight. Julio knew this would happen though, since he had to keep his distance from the enemy and thus draw out the fight. And it was an open arena without anything to use to your advantage, unfortunately enough. Perch Julio on a tree and let him snipe from there with someone else distracting the enemies and they'd be good to go. However, this fight was nothing like that.

When Terra closed the gap, Julio knew he couldn't take another onslaught. His tail grabbed a wind dust crystal and then activated it, sending Julio backwards and then he skidded to a stop a few meters away. Terra should have had his aura somewhere near his own. Only a few more. He would switch it to ice-infused bullets and aim at his hands and feet to hopefully freeze them into place even if it's only for a moment.

[CadenGallic]

@Polaris North
Terra's aura at this point was at precisely 30% and as Julio parted the distance between them again, he frowned a little bit. One again he spun his weapon to protect himself from the shots, creating ice crystals upon his weapon. When his shots ended, Terra struck his spade into the ground to break the ice.

"It's been a better fight than I expected, I respect your prowess." Terra spoke. "But now, this ends." A dark blue aura began to glow around Terra as around him, seven spectral balls of floating blue fire spun in a ring behind him, burning brilliantly in the arena. "My pain, will become yours." He struck his spade into the ground and his seven flames flew outward, all coming at Julio from all sides.