Peak Performance
"Rana. Levi. Tell me what you see." Proxima's voice was capable of giving nearly any person goosebumps. "They've fallen into our scheme, Djeneba. Logically, -" Godhand was rudely, but not unexpectedly, interrupted by Firewall's loud synthetic voice. "The same thing as in the last twenty-four fuckin' runs, Djeneba! We've got 'em surrounded, so we can whop 'em to the next galaxy over as soon as we get the signal!" "Now, now. Settle down, Rana. This is the last run, okay?" Contrasting Proxima, Vanguard's voice could get nearly anyone to calm down. "Ready when you are, Djeneba."
Hiding inside the ruined city's derelict buildings were Ogunde University's top ten. Their twenty targets strolled through the city, vigilantly keeping watch and checking their surroundings to ensure they wouldn't be attacked. Not vigilant enough, thought Vanguard. A crystal javelin flew through a pitch-black, hexagonal telescope-like construction - after exiting it, it'd become three large, spiky masses covered in crystal, trailed by pathways of ice. Mirage, Inkwell and Melinoe were speared immediately, and the three explosions of sheer cold afterwards froze the students surrounding them to the ground.
"Good shit, Amariah! Alright, I've got the extras!" Over the pathways of ice slid Schism - with her, Transient and Dreamweaver. She touched her right hand to the ice, and it began to cover her entire body. She skated ahead of her two allies, jumping over Serendipity and Maestro - spikes of ice jutted out of Cecilia's body, perforating the two students.
A meager-looking man began to whisper. "...sorry. I hope you like the room I designed for you, though." What made Avalanche truly happy? Melamine knew. An undoubtedly incorrect effigy of Lauren Colt emerged from the ether, purple claws tearing into her brother.
Six seconds had passed since Ogunde University's onslaught started, and their prey began to fight back. A wave of prismatic light hung in the air in front of Juandré Lombard. He watched it crawl ahead as he stepped to the side, taking his time to walk around it. It was all futile - the three sharp nails he threw moved at a normal pace in his eyes, but to anybody else, they'd be far too fast to even register. Allegro could respond in time after breaking free of the ice, of course, but Godhand had read her ahead of time - nine invisible punches coming from thin air held her in place long enough for her, Blackjack and Crescendo to be taken out by Transient's attack.
Stonehearthe was still fragmented and unable to construct a good strategy - and they wouldn't get the chance to. The incredibly agile Baixinha managed to duck under a burst of air shot by Firenze. A spear of ice shot up from her hand, but just before he burst into blue cubes, she touched her hand to his arm. The water in his canister concentrated into a bubble of hyper-compressed water. It followed Eliana as she dashed towards Starlight - right when Eliana got close, one of Lauren's signature explosive charges shot at her, but was deflected by a blast of water fired by Eliana. The projectile blew up next to Lauren, who managed to dodge it just fine, and that gave Eliana time to get close - when she touched Lauren's torso, Stonehearthe's fate was sealed.
A projectile of starlight shot from Eliana's hand into their backline, taking out Nexus and Aonui. Eliana tapped Lauren again, with Juandré knocking her to the ground right before she could try and attack Eliana. The Witness blew up, and Popopo too - on run twenty-four, Popopo had instead swallowed the explosive charge Eliana had fired, quickly resulting in a most embarrassing death for Eliana. This time, she made sure that wouldn't happen again.
Firewall outstretched her hand, and an inferno devoured a torrent of cards. Invisible punches targeted the back of Valentine's knees, and he could only barely catch himself in time, quickly notching an arrow into his bow and sending it flying at Eliana - Juandré caught it. A wall of solid flame appeared on Rana's right, blocking and immolating jabbing appendages launched by Gilgamesh. Cecilia had changed form already, a layer of steel coating her skin. She flicked her hand forward, sharp spikes flying at Royal Flush. To guarantee he couldn't use any tricks to get out, another wave of flame immolated the cards he'd created to block Schism's attack, and the spikes pierced his heart. "Chemist, Starlight, Monarch, Gilgamesh and Delphi are left. Time for us to meddle, Pascale?" Tabari asked.
Alkahest formed in the air in an atypical curve, perfectly redirecting a volley of ball bearings back towards Maxwell. This wouldn't work, of course - but Tabari had already disappeared from sight, and reappeared behind Maxwell. A spear of ice obscured by Tabari and Cecilia's constructions exploded by Maxwell's foot, ice freezing his leg to the ground. Breaking out was no problem for him, but it gave Tabari enough time to summon a lance that pierced Maxwell's shoulder. A pulse fired by Seismic Shock hit Maxwell, causing his body to jitter and vibrate irregularly. Then, his happiest memories betrayed him - effigies of his two brothers dealt the finishing blow.
At that same time, Gilgamesh was involved in a different fight - forced into only using heatproof plants by Firewall, which the rock-covered Schism could easily crush to bits. Ayan was on the defensive, repeatedly stepping backwards and deflecting attacks with hardened plant life. A hexagonal telescope appeared, and a fireball suddenly turned into an all-devouring phoenix of pure flame, exploding into a massive blaze upon making contact with Gilgamesh. Seismic Shock's wave of red collided with one of Lauren's starlight projectiles, and it pulsated irregularly before fizzling out harmlessly. Transient threw Starlight backwards, a barrage of Godhand's invisible, disconnected punches sending her towards the ground. "Hers is the most fun to use, by far." Eliana said, touching Lauren one more time and finishing her off with an explosion.
All that was needed to eliminate Delphi was Inkwell. Melamine averted his eyes as the two fought, mumbling a quick apology. Chemist's lasers could cut through Tabari's Alkahest like butter - thankfully, Ogunde's resident acrobat and speedster could work in concert, avoiding the lasers as soon as Pascale had hit Maya with another pulse. After Juandré threw an arrow that lodged itself into Maya's shin, Eliana and Juandré could close the gap quickly, and Juandré grasped Maya by the collar, throwing her backwards into Eliana with a grunt. Eliana caught her, then set down a corrective step backwards to make sure she didn't fall over from the impact. Bismuth spikes shot out of her hands, finishing off the last of Stonehearthe's students.
As the simulation before them crumbled and they returned to the material world, Ogunde University's top ten cheered in choir. "It was only a matter of time until we'd achieve flawless victory." Levi Holt semi-helpfully remarked. "Fuck, this tech's awesome." Cecilia looked at the harness she'd just been hanging in. "I can't believe Stonehearthe's been able to play with this kinda stuff for months." "Being able to go all-out without consequences like this... I reckon that's why Foxxing's theme this year is 'Limit Breaker', no?" Eliana spoke mid-stretches, still not being used to the post-simulation stiffness yet.
Tabari clapped in his hands once, and the class' attention shifted to him in an instant. "Oi. Time to get a move on, yeah? Jet's leaving in two hours." They stepped into the hallway, walking towards their campus in concert. The clacking of their shoes on the concrete floor was perfectly synchronised. The tension in the air was palpable - the students might have been confident, but that didn't mean there was no room for nervosity. Sharp breaths and quiet mumbling interspersed their harmonised footsteps. "There might be three schools attending Foxxing, but we all know which one will pull the most attention. So, what's our goal, team?" It'd practically become a yell to them now - at once, the nine students with him shouted in sync. "Destroy Stonehearthe!"