A Simple Bet Between Friends

Chapter 44

Yang ducked back and watched the arrow fly by, only an inch away from her face. She stepped back again and watched as fire engulfed the place she had been standing. The sweat from her brow both being a mix of exhaustion and the sheer heat of the room.

The air hurt to breathe, feeling as if her lungs were on fire. Had the windows not been blasted away early on she was convinced she would have suffocated from the smoke and heat. As it was, the wind from so high up served to blow the heat into her eyes, making her wince and struggle to keep them open.

She couldn't tell if that was the power of the maiden of just this woman specifically. Yang hoped for the former, if that being the case then she would be able to tap into part of that power herself, or at least in theory. In reality she couldn't make the power do much of anything.

She fired a few shots from Ember Celica, none making it through as Cinder either batted them aside or dodge out of the way with ease.

Strangely, when the fight had first started, there was only one thought going through her mind.

Her? She's the one who killed m-Amber?

She wasn't sure what she had expected really. She'd had a general idea of what Amber's attackers had looked like but... she'd also seen Cinder before, hell she had classes with the bitch, and yet she hadn't even recognized her.

The worst part was what Yang now knew, that Cinder had been watching them since they had arrived in the school. Emerald had befriended them, or so she'd thought.

They'd befriended Ruby.

Launching forward, Yang attempted to land a strike before she could swap her bow out for her swords. Sadly she barely made it halfway before the ranged weapon was replaced with two black blades that managed to catch her fist. The force still managed to push the woman back, and she did grunt from the strain, but her aura was unscathed.

Yang stepped back and brought her leg up in an attempt to knock the blades aside, managing to hit air and nothing more. The moment her foot touched the ground, Yang twisted and fired another shot off at her opponent. The shot didn't land directly center like she'd hoped but it did score a strike on her arm, chipping away at her aura some.

Cinder spun with the momentum of the strike before striking at Yang's side. She managed to block one of the blades but the other's hilt was smashed into her face, forcing the brawler's head back.

Yang felt the strike land, felt her aura drain just a fraction, but she didn't feel what she needed to. Her semblance didn't fuel her with the same energy it had before. At the start of the fight that had been her only real way to turn any encounters. Now, however, her semblance was failing. The strikes were just enough to hurt, just enough to do damage, but they had stopped triggering her semblance.

Her opponent had adapted.

Yang reached out to grab Cinder's wrist, pulling down to create an opening. A second later she felt fire engulf her stomach, forcing her to release her grip and be launched back. She felt her semblance flare up finally but by the time she moved to use it to her advantage, Cinder was already firing arrows at her.

Yang pulled back once more, fighting the urge to rush in once more, barely managing to get out of the way in time. She growled under her breath in frustration, her eyes having long since turned red.

That seemed to be the standard for the fight. Her opponent had the edge in ranged combat, Yang was low on ammo when she had arrived at the tower, now she was out, and her opponent didn't appear to have any such limitations. Which meant melee combat should have been the best answer.