Round 4: Jung / Waterson vs. Walker / O'Brien

Eliza felt herself being thrown backwards by something, at this point she just assumed it was his gift. She quickly created a curved barrier behind her to cusion the impact, but it still took her breath away from her with a sharp gasp. The sharp staff grazing her skin creating yet another wound on her body. She took a short moment to recollect herself. Her opponent had fallen to his knees. She needed to act now even if her cuts were killing her, and her body weakened. She could still keep going.. she had something to prove.

Using her gift she grabbed the sharpened staff and ran over to her enemy, aiming the point at Matt she put her weight behind it hoping to shove it into the boys stomach and end his part of the fight. She hoped this would be the case but she wasnt sure.. She needed to get back to Ben.

Ben yelped as she flipped them over once more, the girl taking her position on top. Under normal circumstances his face would flush red, but right now, he couldn't afford to think that way. There was no time to react as she slammed her head down against his.

A loud ringing filled his ears as his vision went blank and the world turned into a dizzy mess. As his head tried to make sense of what had happened his grip loosened slightly. Despite the disorientation and the loud ringing in his ear, he managed to gain his vision back for a moment.

With a shaky hand he grabbed her hair, tugging downward. His grip on her arm wasn't as rough as before, but hopefully she would be shocked enough that she wouldn't slip out before he could reach Eliza again.

Matty was still concious enough to notice the blind girl as she charged towards him. He threw himself to the ground with another groan as the spear nicked the side of his stomach. Too close. Hearing Jules words was enough to get him paying attention again. No matter the exhaustion or the pain, he would not give up on his partner. The summer barely heard what she said, but his intent was close enough. His legs swung out as he fell with the intent of knocking her to the ground. With one hand Matty reached out to wrestle for the staff, with the other he tried to grab her arm and yank her to the ground. Despite the fact his hand was not in reach, he could feel his gift wrapping around her arm and attempting to pull downwards. With her close, things seemed a bit easier even as he was drained. Trying to grip the staff, he went to twist it around into her as he tried to knock her to the ground.

Occ: take the shittiest shitpost

Eliza felt herself fall to the ground with a thud, and a huff escaping her as she did. She could feel him trying to take the staff back, but she wasn't going to allow that, using her gift as extra leverage she tugged the staff free before scrambling back up off the ground, using the staff to support her. She gritted her teeth. She needed to get back to Ben.

Deciding to ignore Matty for now she throw the sharp staff at him in attempts to distract him while she went back to Ben. Using her gift sense she found her friend and the enemy. She could only assume Jules was the one on top. Using her gift she attempted to push the girl away from her partner, and hopefully at this point she could reunite with him for now and finish this fight. If they could finish off Matt then they would have the upper hand.

The instant Jules brought down her knife, his hand shot up, aiming to grab her wrist. Panic shot through his body, sweat covered his brow, and the world around him fell silent as an impending doom seemed to take over his thoughts.

His palm was sweaty as his grabbed the girl's wrist, barely stopping the knifes path. He felt the tip drive into the skin of his neck. A sharp hiss escaped his lips at the pain. His arm shook as he tried to hold her back, but he was only barely strong enough. He had always been weak, and it only occurred to him now how much of an issue that was for his survival. In the tourney or outside.

Benjamin winced as the knife shivered from his shaky grip. Yet, just as he began to form a call for help, it seemed Eliza was one step ahead of him. She threw away her fight with the other boy for a moment to run towards Ben, her gift throwing Jules off of him in the process. The blade left his neck and the boy inhaled sharply, feeling the weight of the girl and fear for his life leave as quickly as it came. He rolled further from the enemy, pushing himself onto his knees before reaching out to meet Eliza. His fingers slipped slightly as the touched hers, but he managed to land a firm grip and tugged himself onto his feet with her help.

It didn't take him long to adjust to the more familiar gift. Without much though he molded the earth beneath Juliette, forming it in a way that would wrap around her and hold her down. But from what he could see her reflexes were strong and his attacks were slower than before. After everything that had happened this match, his body was growing tired. Each use of his power only exhausted him further.

The brunet huffed, his breath uneven. At least he was with Eliza again.

To his surprise, Eliza turned and ran. His eyes had never left the staff, so he managed to catch it in his right hand. It shook slightly and almost tumbled to the ground, but he had it. He watched his opponent's unseeing eyes focus on Ben as she turned and ran. Matty took a second to heave himself up onto his feet, but he did it. With a slightly awkward gait due to the variety of cuts and bruises on his body, the boy ran after her. He was a step behind and made it just too late to keep them from reconnecting. The staff flew from his hand as he threw all of his weight forwards. They had been distracted, focusing on reconnecting. It had to hit somewhere decent, given it was aimed for the center of their backs.

"this match needs to fuggin endStay away from her!" He shouted. At the exact same moment, he felt the energy surge through him once more. Even if it drained him, the more he played around with his gift, the more natural it became to use. Of course, he was still far from mastery. The attacks were wild and filled with emotion. There was not real focus. Matty. He felt himself push at the ground underneath them, throwing all he could into using his gift to push at their legs and try to throw them back or distract them. If they lost focus, Jules would be freed. He would not let her stay on the ground. Given that they were in close combat now, she was more free to get hits in. Her partner would not let that get taken away.

Eliza found her hard ground beneath her thanks to Matthew's gift, and soon after the girl was on top of her, she could tell something was in the girls hand, but she didn't know what. Panic set inside the girl that was more experienced than the two boys on the field. She was tired but she had something to prove so she wasn't going to give up that easily. With her panic her gift grabbed different parts of the girl halting Jules movements as best it could, and pulling on her in all different directions with a whole lot of force, anything to get the girl off of her. "Get off of me!" The blind girl screeched.

Once again, Ben found himself knocked off his feet. A groan escaped his lips as something sharp and heavy landed in the middle of his back. The breath in his lungs was knocked out, leaving him gasping on the ground. He felt something warm trickle down his back as pain filled mind. To the best of his ability, he reached around, albeit shakily, and grabbed onto Matty's broken staff. With his eyes closed tight, he tugged, pulling it out from his flesh, a low scream stuck in his throat as he clenched his teeth.

When he was free from the spear, he huffed, his thoughts distracted by the immense pain that came from his now gaping wound. H-He needed medical attention. And just a few steps away, fighting with his partner was his quick fix.

With a grunt, he pushed himself onto his legs and grabbed onto Juliette. His shirt was soaked in blood and his body was growing weaker, but he needed to push himself. Perhaps her healing ability would restore some of his energy. His blue eyes burned with frustration and discomfort as he waited for her gift to activate. While the pain still remained, he felt the wound begin to sew itself back together. There was a sense of relief behind her gift, and once the wound was no longer open, he let go. There was no need to hold on once he was mostly healed. Instead, he changed his grip to Eliza's arm, ready to attack once he regained his thoughts and strength.

Matty watched as Jules held the other girl to the ground. And on top of her was now Ben. His eyes focused and noticed the blood that dripped from the boy. A sickened feeling rose in his stomach, but he swallowed it as he looked at his partner. They were both focused on her. He couldn't let this just happen. Bending over, he quickly grasped the broken spear that had just fallen to the ground. Like their earlier match, it was destroyed. For a moment, he stood there with heaving sides. But, he had to step in. It seemed like pure luck neither was focused on him at the time. The three were wrestling each other. Holding out a hand, he felt the space around Eliza and did all he could to try and still her movement from underneath Jules. Now was the perfect time for a good hit from his partner. Eyes focused on Ben, the boy realized what he was doing. He's using her gift!

"I told you to stay away!" Matty launched himself at Ben's side, throwing all of his body towards him to try and knock him off of Jules. The splintered staff in his hand lunged out to his side and Matty brought the weapon up and down repeatedly. There was no precise moment to the move, he just hoped to do some damage and free his partner... and maybe take out Eliza along the way. When did I become so stupidly ambitious? Fire seemed to roar in his head, but he clung onto this reality. Things were getting close to the end, and one of them had to win.

"And I told you to stay off of him!" Eliza roared at the other two. She wouldn't go down she couldn't. She had something to prove to Cadence. Using her gift, Eliza finally got her shit together and pushed Jules off her and then some. She stood up, stopping Matthew's swinging with her gift, and then shattered it into different pieces so he couldn't hurt Ben anymore.

Once again, Ben was knocked off his feet. This was getting tedious. While the pair fell to the ground, the staff was stabbed into his side, sending a shudder through his body and a low scream from his mouth. He inhaled sharply as it was pulled away, but before Matty could stab it down once more Eliza stepped in, shattering the staff in his hands.

While the pain still shocked him, at least there wouldn't be another piercing wound from that blasted thing again. He clutched onto Matty, eyes shut tight and body shaking from the agony he felt. Why him?

As his hands made contact with the boy's skin, he felt a wave of power surge through him again. Something about it reminded him of Eliza's gift. The ability to move something just with his mind. And it occurred to him. Not far from where the four tussled there was a gaping hole in the ground that Ben had made just earlier that day. Having seen the boy's gift in motion, he knew the gist of how it worked.

He wasn't nearly strong enough to lift the boy and throw him directly in the canyon, with or without the gift, but he could toss him in that direction. And that's what he attempted to do. Activating Matty's gift, he put energy behind his push and threw him towards the ravine.

Matty felt his swinging stop. His eyes widened as he watched helplessly as the staff was splintered and fell to the ground in pieces. At one point, he had been stuck by the destruction of his lovingly craft staff, but this time he wasted very little time dwelling on it. Of all things he should have been caring for in the moment, that was not one. However, before he could attempt to do anything to react, the boy felt himself being lifted by an invisible force and thrown. He hit the ground awkwardly, no doubt adding to the various bruises that already colored most of his formally white skin. Blood dripped in several places. Everything seemed to ache. The summer barely registered any of these things as his left foot slipped off the edge and into the giant split in the earth. For a moment, his heart pounded in his ears as he scrambled to pull all of his body back to solid ground.

One of Jules knives glistened one the ground and he wrapped his hand around it as if picking it up would help to protect him from the rest of this match. He held it tight. His sides heaved and his head hung for a brief moment before he returned his gaze to the three students quite a ways off from him. There was no more time for dancing around. He was beyond shocked that the other team also appeared to share Jules godly stamina. But, he was fading. The longer this went on, the higher the chance he would fall back simply from the collection of wounds already afflicting him. That would not be anything glorious and it would mean a loss for their team. Jules had fought so hard for the both of them and he did not want to watch that all go to waste now. She had saved him from imminent death, helped encourage him to use the strange power he now possessed, and she took whatever attack came her way. The girl was strong, and she deserved a partner who at least attempted to show equal strength.

Think... think you idiot... Now being tapped into recognizing the power that flowed through him, Matty could feel it and knew he would have to use all he could once more, most likely for the final time this round. He flinched as the sound of rocks clattering down the side of the split ground caught his attention. An idea began to form, but his stomach turned at the thought. This would certainly be a final move. It counted on a lot. Ben and Eliza had not rejoined hands. There was still time to keep that from happening. And with the shot sending him towards the hole, there was no doubt they would be focused on the enemy more in their immediate area than on the one struggling to not fall to his death. Lastly, it placed a lot of trust in Jules. She would be needing to keep them distracted. With a second to spare, he could pull this off.

Matty struggled to push down the terror that rose in his chest. Every sensible instinct in his body screamed not to do this. But, there was not sense here in the tournament, only survival. He took on deep breath in an attempts too calm himself, but it hitched in his throat. His eyes locked on his targets once more, and hopefully for the final time. Acting quickly, the boy sent a soft wave of energy to push Ben over and even further away from her partner. Then, came the more complicated part. He felt the unknown energy surge through him. Instead of pushing this time, though, the goal was to pull this time. In a split second, without so much as time to blink, he pulled Eliza into him. His arms opened wide, ready to pin her close to him. And, trying not to think too much about how insane what he was doing was, Matty stepped off the side of the gorge and thrust the knife forwards with as much force as he could manage. Everything seemed to spin as he went down... down...down...

OCC: TIMe TO CASH IN ON DAT SUICIDe PACT COON

Eliza panicked when she felt something grab her, it wasn't the same as human arms or anything but she could feel herself being dragged backwards, using her gift she tried to halt the pull only to sense Matthew near by and nothing below her. With a quick panic she formed a barrier under herself knocking her breath away as she collided with it. She didn't know how big it was or if Matt was on it to. She hoped not.. But she didn't know how she was going to get out of this canyon. She gritted her teeth as she tried to focus down on Ben. She couldn't let him die. She wouldn't. She would get back to him eventually.

Ben was pushed backwards, away from the canyon, albeit lightly. But for him it was enough. His stamina was waning. Fast. He couldn't hold on for much longer.

As he felt strength return to his knees, Eliza was torn from her spot, dragged towards the gaping hole with the invisible pull of his gift. His arms instinctively reached out towards them, only for the pair to disappear into the deep ravine. "No!"

His throat was dry as he turned towards Juliette, eyes wide in dismay as she oh-so-casually sliced off her finger and tossed it into the hole with their partners. His hand clasped over his mouth, holding in the vomit that rose from his stomach. He gagged, coughed, and spat out what seemed to be whatever was left of his breakfast from that morning. T-This girl was insane. No, she was beyond insane. She even told the boy to... to eat it.

"W-What's wrong with you?" he muttered unintentionally, voice hoarse and blue eyes filled with horror. Everything in his body screamed to run away, but he couldn't help sit and stare at the disturbing girl as if his body was frozen.

Fully expecting it all to end, the boy was shocked as he thudded against a hard barrier. Eliza landed right next to him. Her quick thinking had prevented both of their imminent deaths. He still felt insane for the suicide mission. Worse, the exhaustion had become unbearable. His head was spinning and the unconsciousness called to him. Matty tried to hang on. His hands found the knife and he barely managed to push himself up into a sitting position instead of awkwardly laying down as they were. The other two were out of sight. Panic rose up inside him as he looked down at the depth of the chasm. Thoughts could barely form in his head. It felt like he would pass out at any moment.

But, Jules shout managed to reach him just in time. He looked up to see something spinning through the air. Matty had caught her instructions and barely had time to think only do. Striving to stay alive just for this one final thing, the boy reached out to grab the small object. It almost fumbled out of this fingers, and he almost lost his place on the small barrier, but he caught it. With his heart thudding in his chest, Matty looked down in his hands, "What the fuck..." It was rare he cursed. But, there was a severed finger in his palm now. This was clearly his partners. And she wanted him to... eat it?! His eyes widened and he hesitated.

Time was running out. He trusted Jules, but this was insane. It's just a simulation. Trust her, you idiot. Don't mess this up. His eyes squeezed shut for a brief second as he threw the finger in his mouth. A sickening crush accompanied the overwhelming salty taste. The urge to vomit was overwhelming, but he forced the bile back in his throat. One hand flew to his mouth and he slowly swallowed the damn thing. It was down.

The strangest thing began to happen. He felt the aching, the sensation of his very exhaustion, melt away. Confusion was clear on his face. Matty looked down to where there had been a heavily bleeding cut only moments earlier. Now, it was nothing but a scar. Power seemed to flow through him once more. It was as if the intensity of the battle had never happened. Despite it all, a wild grin appeared on his face. Mostly, it was a grimace, but either way, he was back.

"Holy shit..." He muttered as he flexed his hands and turned around. Power flowed through his palms once more. Jules had blessed him with a redo. Matty felt brand new and ready to continue, in contrast to moments earlier when he had been on his knees near the point of falling into nothing. The boy turned to Eliza, any hints of a smile falling away. They still had to end this. His palms raised as he felt the space around her frame, and he sent as much of the energy as he could towards her and sending her straight for the wall of the hole.