Chapter 154 - Shallot Vs. Mercury
"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!" Port said over the broadcasting system.
In the center of the battlefield's stage, Shallot smirking confidently as he looks down the line of final fighters, a few new faces mixed in with Sun Wukong, Penny Polendina, Mercury Black, and the troubled Pyrrha at the other end of the line.
Pyrrha knows that she can probably win against everyone here but Shallot but she can only try.
"Barty, why don't you explain the rules?" Professor Port asked Dr. Oobleck.
"Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!" Professor Oobleck excitedly said.
"Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!" Professor Port said of the broadcasting system.
"Ah, yes, yes! Now, let's see who our first match will be!" Dr. Oobleck said.
The energetic doctor points out to the screens above the stadium as the roulette starts spinning, this time for competitors instead of biomes.
"Shallot and Mercury Black!" Professor Port called out.
"What!!!!" Emerald yelled out from the stands.
'This wasn't how it was supposed to go.' Cinder thought looking at the first match-up.
"Break a leg, Shallot!" Ruby yelled cupping her hands to make sure her encouragement is heard from her spot alongside RWBYS, JNPR, and SSSN.
Shallot gave a smile while looking at Mercury then looked down at his legs. Shallot
"My pleasure!" Shallot said sending a chill up Mercury's back.
"Would all other combatants please leave the stage!" Professor Port said so that the first fight can begin.
The rest of the lineup does so, and Starts starts walking up to Mercury in the middle as the floor around them opens once more, with a ring of spotlights rising to automatically fix their lights on the remaining two.
"I'll make sure our mechanic fixes you after I get finished breaking both your legs." Shallot said.
"You wish!" Mercury said getting angry.
Shallot and Mercury face the crowds one last time, then slowly start advancing on each other. Shallot grabs scythe on his back and tossed it on the ground, as the final countdown commences.
"I'll give you the first strike." Shallot said while tilting his head showing his neck. "I'll also make it interesting by not using my hands." Shallot said while walking toward Mercury.
Mercury saw the scythe on the ground thinking that he was looking down on him. Mercury walked up to the center of the ring while Shallot also walked forward with his head tilted showing his neck.
"Three! Two! One! Fight!" Professor Port started counting down.
Mercury spins his foot sending a roundhouse kick to the side of Shallot's neck. The foot landed with Shallot not moving with him smiling at him.
"Is that the best you have?" Shallot asked before sending what seemed like a slow kick toward Mercury and he jumped back.
Mercury then jumped to the side where an air blade flew right past him splitting the ground where he was standing.
"What was that?" Mercury said looking at the carved-out area of the arena.
~~~
"Just a simple kick. Don't worry though I'm only aiming for your legs." Shallot said where everyone in the stands where watching the attack.
"Is his semblance wind?" Neptune asked from the side.
"No, his semblance isn't wind. He just kicked so fast that it sent a wind blade." Blake said speaking from the side.
"Wait... what... the kick looked slow to me," Sun said not believing it.
"That's because you all weren't able to see it. He sent 60 kicks in the same place over and over again making it look like a single kick." Blake said explaining Shallot's attack.
~~~
Mercury started kicking sending shots towards Shallot from his Talaria boots. Shallot kicks out kicking the shots with his hands in his pockets while Mercury rushed in trying to send kicks while he was kicking.
Mercury started sending kicks when Shallot disappeared from in front of him and he heard a cracking sound. His foot was in the air when he felt a foot hit his boot.
*Beep*
The board showing the aura showed that Mercury's aura had dropped only a little.
"Don't worry, I have enough control to not break what I'm not trying to." Shallot said while walking forward.
Mercury ran forward jumping on his hands and started spinning sending a flurry of shots toward Shallot who was dodging them just side-stepping everything.
Shallot got close sending a kick at Mercury's foot sending two kicks quickly to his calves where Shallot here's two cracking sounds.
"It seems that this is the end." Shallot said before sending a kick at Mercury's ribs.
Mercury's aura shattered with him landing on the ground holding his ribs.
"Don't worry, if you find someone with a healing semblance, I'm sure you can get healed in a couple of days." Shallot said.
"Shallot Wins!!!" Professor Oobleck called out not really surprised.
"You can always try again but it is pointless." Shallot said while walking past him.
~~~
"Yeah, you did it Shallot!" Weiss called out.
"Is that appreciation I hear from you, Weiss?" Yang said on the side.
"What? I can be supportive also even if what you all do in the room is irritating." Weiss said.
"What do they do in the room?" Scarlet asked wondering what could be so bad that she wouldn't support her teammate.
"It time to use the plan, we can only use it now. They will at least watch him and not let him participate further." Cinder said to Emerald next to her.
Emerald nodded her head while messing with Shallot's senses giving him Hallucinations. After she did it she immediately regretted it.
~~~
Shallot was walking past Mercury when he saw from his peripheral vision with Mercury attacking from his side.
Shallot kept walking while his tail made a swift motion taking off Mercury's legs sending them flying into the air before wrapping his tail back around his waist before anyone noticed.
Mercury didn't even realize that he had lost his robotic legs when he felt something hit his face. Wiped it and saw that it was oil. He looked down and noticed that his legs were gone.
Mercury's legs fell back to the ground bouncing against the ground.
"My word!" Professor Oobleck said standing up realizing that those were legs that had just fallen. Mercury's legs at that.
There was oil leaking from the rest of the leg from Mercury and the blown away legs.
"Cut the cameras!" Professor Port called out.
The looks of surprise, horror, and hatred at Shallot from the stand didn't phase him.
'Sneak attacking is only something that a weakling does. Against the strong even if you attacked me it wouldn't do anything.' Shallot thought while walking.
"My legs, MY LEGS!!!" Mercury screamed out thinking he would have to just roll with it. He hated that he was going to have to get them replaced now since he wouldn't be able to salvage them.
"Can you shut up. I already said that as long as..." Shallot started to saw when he noticed that some Atlesian Knight-200 droids and two Soldiers circling the Hunter-in-training and raising their guns to him.
"Shallot, stand down!" The soldier called out.
"Give me a reason on why I should do that?" Shallot said while looking at them.
"Mercury!" Emerald yelled running toward him playing her part thinking that he had improvised pretty well even though both of his legs were sent flying.
"Why'd he do that!? Why he'd attacked me!?" Mercury hysterically cried.
Shallot started clapping his hands seeing this. The soldier flinched slightly while the droids train their aim on them.
"This is an amazing play. If someone didn't interfere then he would still be able to walk away." Shallot said.
"Don't move!!!" The soldier said.
"I would recommend you to get that gun out of my face before you lose an arm. I'll count to five before you lose your arm." Shallot said.
"One"
"Two"
The soldier gripped his hand on the gun tighter while the droids were waiting for orders.
"Three"
"Four"
Shallot looked at the droids while Blake was going to get up knowing that this wasn't going to end well. Those soldiers were about to be forced into early retirement.
"Five..."