WARNING! MASSIVE POST INCOMING! OPEN THE SPOILER AT YOUR OWN PERIL!


[hider=Oswald v Sapphire]
As his opponent, Sapphire, jumped down to the stadium, Oswald was making his way down the stairs. At the moment, his shield was safely secured against his back. Even if he couldn't use his arm properly, he could at least manage some level of protection for himself over leaving the shield behind. Stepping into the stadium, he slowly drew his sword without flourish. Taking a good look at his opponent, Oswald slowly nodded his head as he made himself ready for the fight. "En Garde." 

As the first match belonged to her Sapphire was unable to gauge the competency of any of the other students just yet so instead took her place in the center of the stadium and watched her opponent approach. Oswald Connoly, he was about the same height as her but his build was much more imposing. This made him powerful to be sure but it also meant he was slow. No doubt he was very effective against large stupid foes like many of the grimm but against someone like her who used speed as armor well, no matter how powerful his strikes they would do him no good if he could not land them. The cloak he was wearing Sapphire regarded as a bad choice of combat gear, while it may look very impressive in an actual battle it could easily be used against him. 

The next thing Sapphire took in was his weapons. He wielded a truly terrifying looking sword that curled in on itself like a spire. She had no way of knowing for sure but it was likely built in such a fashion to allow dust ammunition to be channeled through the center. Sapphire also noticed his large shield but while it was an impressive piece of work the thing that Sapphire found most interesting was that it was not in his hands but still tied to his back. That would afford him some protection but not nearly as much as if he wielded it actively, Sapphire had no idea what the reason might be but he wasn't currently unable to use the shield, perhaps it was damaged in some way, whatever the reason this was a boon for Sapphire.

Sapphire took all of this in in the time it took Oswald to descend the stairs into the stadium. When he readied his weapon Sapphire did the same. Her daggers while useful were not suited to this kind of armed combat. Rather than releasing them from there bindings on her wrists Sapphire pulled out two sawed off shotguns from holsters on her back. She placed the buts of the guns together and they interlocked, from the interlocked ends a foot long pole with grip extended. From the live end of the weapon two blades extended straight out before folding themselves down over the barrel making the weapon resemble a high tech double sided halberd. Lastly the triggers of each shotgun realigned themselves to lend easy access from the grip. 

Sapphire gave two flourishing swings with both ends before sliding the weapon one handed behind her back so that each end was visible behind her. Neither of the strike came anywhere close to hitting Oswald they were merely meant to display her weapons power. She was ready for a fight. "You're move." She said with a smile. 

Oswald could only raise an eyebrow at his opponent's display. She was clearly not somebody to be underestimated with a weapon like that. She was his height, but much more compact, built for agility rather than pure power. She seemed confident in herself, that much was obvious. How somebody could even handle such a complex weapon, he couldn't understand.

Then again, his team leader used a god damned tank in combat, so something like this should have been expected. Deciding to tread carefully, he approached his enemy, making sure to stay out of her polearm's range. The thing had to be at least six feet long. She had reach, speed, and she looked to be in decent enough shape, unlike himself. Oswald was making sure to keep his left arm close to his side. No use getting it hurt even more if he couldn't use the damn thing. 

Making rapid circles with the tip of his sword, Oswald began stepping in and out of Sapphire's reach before making a feint at her left side, followed by a retreat outside of her reach again. For now, he was testing her reactions, and looking for openings in her defenses. Once he found something, he'd give her no pause. 

Sapphire and Oswald began to circle each other. It was not uncommon in battle especially with opponents who knew nothing of one another. Still Sapphire wished the fight proper would begin but ultimately it would be a mistake to charge in without knowing how Oswald could counter. Oswald was moving tantalizingly through Sapphire's field of reach. She didn't make an attempt to hit him when he did. He was just too far and a missed strike at that distance would leave her vulnerable. Suddenly he made strike against her left side, Sapphire moved her weapon, almost faster than could be perceived into the path of the strike while keeping the body of her pole arm diagonally over herself so as to avoid leaving herself vulnerable.

The impact between the two weapons never came. Oswald had been feinting a blow, and he was once more out of her reach. He'd merely been testing her defenses. Though she considered that she'd done a thorough job showing him that she was not unprepared. 

It was time she went on the offensive, her ankle was smarting somewhat but Sapphire paid it little mind. She held her weapon with both hands and charged Oswald, no doubt he would think she was attacking him straight on which in this particular situation was a poor tactile choice, instead just when she was within range of him she stabbed her weapon into the ground using it as a pole vault, she jumped at the last moment her momentum carrying her over Oswald's head. The landing was jarring and she let out a gasp of pain as her ribs objected to the stress she was putting the damaged one under. Rather than landing perfectly as she intended, the pain caused her to over shoot slightly and fall on her knees. She was however still within range of Oswald and so swung her weapon out behind her in an arc intending to sweep his legs.

As Sapphire started to charge Oswald, he took a guarded stance, his sword held securely in his hand, angled diagonally to deflect any incoming blows. When the girl vaulted over him, Oswald turned to face where she was landing, only to falter when he heard her gasp of pain. He managed to notice the leg sweep just in time to jump over it before closing in on Sapphire and making a diagonal swing upward from his right side to the left, following with a horizontal slice left to right. After his two-swing combo, Oswald made a rush at Sapphire, intending to body-check her.

As expected Oswald jumped Sapphire's attack, it had been feeble and hastily executed, it was not surprising it had not worked. Sapphire knew she was in trouble. Many of her favored tactics involved acrobatics which she was starting to realize would be next to impossible till her rib healed. Of course Sapphire could push through it, do the move anyways but she knew as well as anyone that there was a time to push through the pain and a time to let the pain push you. If she pushed her ribs too hard there was a chance she could do serious muscles and skeletal damage to herself. While in some fights that might be worth it in order to win a simple introductory sparring match was not one of those circumstances. Sapphire needed a new tactic.

For the moment though she was on defense. Her overbalance had put in her a vulnerable position and while Oswald seemed to hesitate to attack someone in pain he spared not a moment executing his own blows. Just before a diagonal strike from his sword made contact with Sapphire she spun on her knees holding up her pole arm to block the attack. Knowing this put Oswald in a perfect position to attack since her block had stopped the sword directly in front of her face, Sapphire flipped her pole arm around the sword pushing it away from her. Oswald countered immediately with a horizontal slice aimed at her head. Sapphire changed the angle of her weapon to watch the strike that was coming and used it to push the sword up. It required much less strength to redirect the momentum of a blow away from the target than it did to stop it altogether. The sword missed Sapphire's head by inches. 

Sapphire considered briefly using her semblance to disappear from his field of view but reconsidered almost immediately. That was a desperate tactic given that using it actively would leave her temporarily blind afterwards, if she tried it and it failed the match was lost to her.  

Once his two swing combo was complete Oswald charged, his intent appeared to be to body-check her. In his position it would not have been her first choice. Sapphire was currently in a position of weakness. She couldn't get to her feet without exposing herself more and blocking swings from her knees was difficult. The smartest thing to do would have been keep on the offensive with his weapon till she was unable to counter and forced to try something reckless. 

With the few seconds it took Oswald to cover the distance between them Sapphire got to her feet swung her pole arm up and fired three shots from the firearm part of the weapon. The rounds weren't anything special, no specific dust to augment them but they would stop something as big as Oswald in his tracks and even if he managed to dodge them he'd crash into the extended edge of her pole arm.

Sapphire had managed to defeat the two strikes he'd thrown at her, which was about as much as could be expected. What he hadn't expected was her retaliation while he was charging her: the guns. On her polearm. Right. The first shot slammed into his gut, staggering him, and the second forced him to the ground while the third went over his head. Quickly rolling to the side, Oswald kept up the offensive, even if he'd been hit hard. He couldn't afford to be put on the defensive without his shield. 

As he stood up, Oswald made another feinting slash, this time to Sapphire's right side, followed by a straight thrust towards her gut. He had made a mistake with his charge, and he had to make up for it by keeping the pressure on her. After his thrust, he went immediately into a quick four-strike combo, starting with the same two-hit combo he'd performed before and adding a downward horizontal thrust and a second thrust. All it would take was one or two solid hits to turn the tide in his favor dramatically.

Two of the three shots collided with Oswald and Sapphire found herself cursing that she hadn't used dust ammunition. The shots had been essentially a basic block, a way to force Oswald off the attack. She hadn't actually expected any of them to hit merely force Oswald to cease his charge in order to dodge. If she'd realized he was actually [i]that[/i] slow she would have packed fire or electric rounds into the gun.

Oswald seemed to realize immediately that he could not afford to go on defensive. If Sapphire got him on the run he was finished, without that big shield that was still strapped to his back he wouldn't be very capable in the department of blocks. The sword he wielded while impressive was not built to defend. This was no doubt why he carried the shield in the first place.  

Sure enough he launched right back into attack mode. Sapphire had managed to push him off guard for a couple of seconds but it wasn't good enough. He slashed towards her and she realized it was a feint only just in time to block a stab to her abdomen, the sword striking one of her shotguns as she spun the polearm in a huge circle very fast to effectively create a wall.

Oswald apparently hadn't learned any new tricks, his next attack was a direct mimic of his earlier combo. Sapphire jumped back out of the way of the first strike and ducked under the second. From that position there were only a limited number of attack possibilities available to Oswald, he chose a downward thrust which Sapphire only had enough time to move her head out of the way to avoid being hit. This unfortunately put her in a position that left her open to further attack. Oswald sent another stab in her direction and in feet of desperate will Sapphire dropped her weapon and latched onto the blade with her hands stopping it inches from her face.

Her aura protected her from any physical damage though if she'd not had it her hands would be raw and bleeding right now. Even so the force of the strike sent a jarring shock wave threw her that agitated her rib. Sapphire winced but did not loosen her grip on the blade. Her aura was depleting the longer she held it, her polearm was in reach but she needed more space to wield it effectively. Of course that was what Morpheus and Phobator were for, combat in such tight quarters that her main weapon was ineffective. All this ran through her head in less than a second. 

Sapphire shifted her wrist upward slamming the leather bracelet that housed Morpheus into the edge of the blade, responding to the shock force applied to it the dagger assembled itself quickly shooting into her hand and just as she'd planned at the same time the blade pushed through the empty space of the spire sword. She was close enough to the end of the sword that the opening was big enough for the blade but no for the handle. 

Sapphire hit a button on the side of the dagger and let go of both it and the sword. She'd activated the rocket booster in the pommel of the dagger. She took a step back smiling, "Gotcha."

With any luck the force of the dagger flying off would be enough to wrench the sword from Oswald's hands leaving him defenseless but then again he was much heavier than Sapphire, it would certainly disrupt his fighting technique but Sapphire couldn't know if it would in fact disarm him or even put him off balance.

Sapphire dodging most of his combo of attacks wasn't too surprising: most of what he had to offer wasn't enough to get this girl. It was only because of how many different attacks from different directions he'd sent at her that he'd managed to put her in the position she was in now. He had to say: it didn't look good for her. Holding his sword by the blade had to be cutting into her aura. Whatever she was going to do, it had to be fast.

As the girl under him stabbed her daggers into the gaps of his sword, Oswald realized too late that she was going to disarm him. Even more weapons, and these ones rocket-powered? Oswald had to step up his game. He was getting embarrassed in front of his entire class by this girl. If he had both his arms, this would have been a much more even-sided fight, but life wasn't always sugar and tits.

As the dagger's rocket activated, Oswald grunted and slashed his sword downward, taking a guarded leap backwards. When the dagger didn't dislodge itself, and instead continued to propel his sword in an awkward direction, Oswald shook his head and sighed, throwing his sword to the side. "Dammit, I can't fight with that thing throwing off the balance. Fine, Miss Rode. You want to get smacked in the face by my shield? Be my guest." Reaching behind him, Oswald narrowed his eyes and grabbed his shield, sliding his arm into the straps and making his way towards Sapphire, ready to fight anew, a primal growl coming from his chest. He was done testing her, and ready to fight. 

As he got over to her, Oswald begun a haphazard combination of attacks, less focused than before and with more force behind them. He was making sure not to lose himself in any one strike, but without the protection of aura, any single hit would easily crack bone. Some attacks were slashes with the edge of the shield, sometimes he bashed, and sometimes he kicked at Sapphire while he was between strikes. Only one thing remained constant: he did not stop attacking. That was his way: a relentless storm of steel.

Sapphire watched with satisfaction as Morpheus propelled Oswald's sword up in such a way that he was unable to continue to use it adequately. Right before she'd activated the booster Sapphire had dialed up both the power and the duration of the rocket. Seeming to realize that her weapon had effectively rendered his inoperable Oswald tossed the spire sword to the side Morpheus' booster pushing it rather incessantly into the corner with loud clangs.

For a moment Sapphire thought victor was hers, he was weaponless there was nothing he could do against her. Of course hope was not something that came often to Sapphire and it was ill advised when it was. Oswald pulled his shield off his back with the same arm that had been wielding his sword and Sapphire realized with a sinking feeling that she'd made a mistake. His shield wasn't damaged, the only other explanation was that his shield arm was injured. That must be it, just like she'd taken rib damage during the initiation ceremony so had he. Oswald hadn't wanted to risk injuring his arm further that must be it.

Faced with the prospect of fighting against a whole new kind of weapon just moments after getting acclimated to Oswald previous one Sapphire needed a new tactic. She snatched up her polearm getting to her feet with practiced ease and agility. A large shield like that used as a weapon wouldn't be deterred by a polearm it was too narrow. Therefore Sapphire twisted the grip of the her weapon causing it separate into two smaller ones. The blades shifted position so that now she appeared to wield two very lethal looking sickles.

Oswald had seemed to abandoned his strategic and well thought out style choosing instead a very rash and chaotic method of fighting. The advantage to it was that it kept an uncomfortable amount of pressure on Sapphire to defend but it moved so quickly that if you made one slip up you were already three moves ahead and unable to correct the mistake.

Sapphire used her sickles to deflect the deadly looking shield. Sometimes Oswald attacked with the sharp edge of the shield while others were straight shield bashes that Sapphire found she simply had to dodge, there was no simple way to block them. The thing that Sapphire saw most clearly was the kicks that he made between his strikes. Those she considered his weakest move. With such a heavy shield those kicks would put him off balance.

As Sapphire continued to defend valiantly strike after strike only barely keeping up with each new blow she looked for an opening. She knew her time was running out and unable to find a suitable moment to strike decided instead to make one. While she blocked the shield with one sickle she loaded a dust round into the shotgun portion of the other weapon. The dust was electrically charged, not as was most common to send a high voltage attack at the enemy instead this round was much more akin to a flash bang. It would fire thousands of tiny sparks that shone so brightly they blinded anyone looking as well as emitting a high pitched sound from the release of a pressurized gas deafening the target. It only lasted for perhaps ten seconds but that was enough time.

The next attack that came this time a strike with the edge of the shield Sapphire caught on the blades of her sickles, she held it there for just a moment before leveraging the gun loaded with flash ammunition using the shield as a pivoting point. She managed to get the barrel on the other side of his defenses and fired.

Without waiting to see if it had working Sapphire spun very quickly three hundred and sixty degrees all the way around to dislodge her sickles from the shield before he slashed with the blunt end of one of them at his injured arm, he'd been holding it stifling with his hand straight out. His wrist must be injured, that was what she targeted. It was time his injuries started to work for her as hers had been working for him.

As each blow continued to rain on Sapphire with no move to counter on her part, Oswald began to wonder what her game was. The fact that she'd had it in her to block this much was impressive, but this couldn't last. Even having broken her polearm down into two weapons, she was barely keeping up with him. That much he attributed to her speed: she was fast, but it seemed she could also recover quickly from his blows. Plenty of Grimm had fallen to this shield alone for lack of endurance.

When he noticed Sapphire loading a round into her sickle, it was too late. He was already committed to his next attack, which she had blocked with the barrel of her weapon sticking out just over his shield. Oswald managed to duck his head in time to avoid getting his face shot up, but the loud noise going off so close to his head dazed him enough that he didn't realize that Sapphire had gone after his arm until he was already clenching his teeth and groaning from the pain. First, she used some sort of disabling round, then she'd hit his broken wrist? Damn, this girl held nothing back, even in sparring.

He liked that.

All he could hear was a high-pitched ringing noise, all he could feel was the bone in his wrist protesting with all its might, but he could still see. As long as he knew where she was, he'd be fine. Taking a few unsteady steps back as he limply hung his injured arm at his side, Oswald kept his eyes locked firmly on Sapphire. He was surprised that she hadn't gone further than that immediately, but it was possible that she wanted to see what his response to such an attack would be.

He knew that his rampaging attack style wouldn't work now. His left arm was completely useless at this point, and his shield could only do so much. His sword still had that damned knife in it, and there was no way he could pull that out during the fight. He could ditch his shield and go hand-to-hand, but with only one hand, that was hardly a good idea. His best bet would be to force her to lose those weapons. The blades he could deal with, but more than a few shots would have him beat, especially if she had more trick rounds up her sleeves. He was not looking forward to finding out.

Unsteadily making his way towards Sapphire, Oswald raised his shield to block any shots she might take during his approach, watching her arms carefully. As he approached, he returned to his more measured style of fighting, but made sure to leave few openings for Sapphire. At this point, he was hurt a lot more than she was, and letting himself go like that again wouldn't be a good idea. He needed to be able to pull back at any moment to avoid getting something like that last shot.

The attack was a huge success, while Oswald had managed to shield his eyes in time to avoid being blinded her flash round had effectively stunned him. The blow to his wrist seemed to do a lot of damage. When she made contact he groaned with pain clenching his teeth no doubt to stop himself from crying out. This was the time to go in for the kill. Her enemy was disoriented, they were injured, now was the time to strike.

Looking at Oswald Sapphire remembered something from long ago, something her father had said. [i]"No leniency for the injured, no mercy for the enemy."[/i] She didn't want to be like that, someone whose only thought was the battle, destroying the opponent in whatever means necessary. This was a sparring match, the worst that a loss could mean was a bad mark. There was nothing at stake here. Sapphire had gone at him as though her life depended on it.

She gritted her teeth, the moment had passed, Oswald had recovered. She'd missed her shot. Some part of her cursed herself for letting the chance to end this slip by but another part one a lot like her mother smiled at her saying [i]'that was the right choice'[/i]. 

Sapphire raised her sickles ready for round two. Oswald was unsteady and he seemed to realize just how much of a mistake his berserker style of fighting had been. He changed up his tactics, each move appeared more thought out. It was almost amazing how he could play offense in such a way that it actually acted as a defense. Sapphire countered each calculated move knowing that two or three good hits would put her out of the game for good.

It became clear after a matter of seconds that a frontal approach wasn't going to do Sapphire any good. His shield was large and it was effective as a defensive tool. Rounds she fired bounced off it and each slash she made only contacted the cold steel and not the player.

Her only option was to get around him. She didn't have enough space to use her polearm as to vault over him and she didn't have the time to reassemble it. Her other option of course was Phobator. Her combat boots were specially designed with a catch on there outer sides that Morpheus and Phobator could be clipped into. The catch wrapped directly around the activation mechanism for the rocket boots and there was a pressure pad under the sole of the boots were her big toes rested that would cause the catch to contract activating the boosters. In this way she could use them to gain greater altitude on jumps. They weren't powerful enough to do more than augment her jumps and kicks but it was helpful for more complex acrobatics.

The problem was Sapphire had never tried any of these sorts of tricks with only one of the daggers. In practice she'd never foreseen a situation were she might not have either Morpheus or Phobator. If she was ever going to learn now was the time to start. Sapphire was fairly certain she could adjust her landing so that her right side would take the brunt of the fall so that her left broken rib would be spared an impact.

With no time to contemplate the vast number of things that could go wrong with this plan Sapphire fired three fire dust rounds at Oswald buying just enough time to slap the bracelet that held Phobator causing the dagger to jump into her hand. She had to reassemble her polearm to free up her hands for the movement but it did not matter. This weapon was far more suited to moving through the air. Sapphire clipped Phobator onto her right boot.

Sapphire back off from Oswald quickly in order to take a running leap over his head. At the last second just after take off she pushed down hard on the pressure plate activating Phobator's booster. Sapphire nearly lost her balance as the rocket fired but managed to execute a spin as she jumped that kept the booster from propelling her off course. As she flew her left rib was compressed far to the point that she let out a scream of pain but even so as she was flying she managed to fire three more fire rounds at Oswald as well as a strike to his head. She didn't hold out much hope that any of these would actually hit given that she'd aimed them threw tears of pain.

Sapphire's landing did not go at all the way she'd planned. If fact you couldn't even really call it a landing. She managed to touch down feet first but her legs buckled from the force sending her spilling across the stadium, rolling over and over till she finally came to a stop against one wall. Somehow her polearm had landed only a few feet away and she managed to grab in quickly before rolling to face Oswald the firearm of her weapon out.

As the first three shots thudded against his shield, Oswald tried to close the distance that Sapphire had opened between them, but on foot he was too slow, and he had no plans of showing anybody his semblance just yet. In a fight like this, it was a last resort. Sapphire relied on close range tactics just as he did. Had he been fighting someone primarily suited to long-range combat, he'd handle them as he always did: get in close enough to Close, then whack them over the head from behind with his shield. Almost always worked.

While he moved towards her, Sapphire had managed to reassemble her polearm, grab her other dagger, and then...attach it to her boot? What the...?

It was only once Sapphire jumped over him that Oswald realized she was using the dagger as a boost for her jump. With only one, it seemed like a bad idea. Rolling out of the way of the haphazardly aimed aerial attacks, Oswald watched his opponent gracefully maneuver herself out of a major predicament into a less fatal one. With her back to the wall, she had little room to take the sheer force from his attacks, but at the same time, she was almost trapped in a corner. He'd heard the saying far too many times to take the situation lightly.

Deciding not to give Sapphire any more time for tricks, Oswald pressed on to her, intending on pressing her to the wall and breaking her guard there. It seemed her left side was the weak one, just as his own was right now. He had to assume that she'd suffered some broken bone, as that was the second landing that she'd fumbled, and quite painfully at that. It didn't seem to be her leg, so perhaps a rib? She seemed to have full mobility in her arms, and a spinal injury would likely have had more serious consequences. He noticed no cast or other obvious marker, so he couldn't be sure. If he could find where she was hurt though, he'd pay her back in full for the previous attack.

As he reached Sapphire, Oswald took a careful strike at her with the shield, following up with a second and a third attack, dutifully watching where she was moving herself, and attempted to compensate to prevent her from cornering herself. He started to focus on her chest and stomach when he attacked, watching to see where she'd injured herself. Once he knew that, he could take full advantage of it.

Sapphire was fighting a losing battle and she knew it. The first two strikes she managed to deflect with her polearm, only barely managing to redirect the force of the blow to miss her. At it's full six feet her polearm was just enough to keep Oswald at bay. Problem was she was getting weaker and currently in a disastrous tactical position. If she could buy enough time to get to her fee she might be able to put the fight back on her grounds but it was looking slimmer and slimmer by the second.

Three more attack from the shield she managed to stave off before one lucky one hit her polearm at exactly the right angle to slide down the shaft. She shifted her weapon letting loose a fire round at point blank into the shield. Sparks showered both of them but the round didn't give enough of a shock to the shield. While she'd managed to shift its trajectory slightly it wasn't enough. The shield grazed her broken rib and despite everything Sapphire let out a shriek of pain. Oswald's shield was made of something very heavy and he knew how to swing it.

In that moment Sapphire realized she was desperate enough, she'd considered using her semblance before but had dismissed it out of hand as a finishing move whether it ended with her winning or Oswald it would have meant the end of the match. Now faced with imminent defeat Sapphire saw no other choice. She closed her eyes, drew in a measure breath and let it out as a huge exhale of air. With that breath her semblance came to life.

The essence of it was that it caused the minds of other to write out any information regarding her from there field of senses, everything except touch. Used normally people simply wouldn't notice her or remember that they'd seen her but now she was using it actively. In it's active state Sapphire had to consciously block every single indicator that she was there.

She could hear, feel, and smell them all inside her head. She could hear the sounds she was making reverberating back at her as she stopped Oswald's ears from experiencing them, the sight of her vanished from his vision and became what felt like a bubble of pressure inside her head. She had to act quickly. Sapphire had been practicing but she'd never been able to hold this up for very long.

Sapphire used her polearm, braced against the wall to push herself out from under Oswald's gaze and she stood up shakily aware and conscious of every sound that he wasn't picking up. It wouldn't hold much longer. Sapphire split her polearm into two sickles again. Despite the pain coursing threw her ankle, chest and back Sapphire got around to Oswald's back. It was time for one more jump.

She took a short leap her legs wrapping around Oswald's chest while she braced her arms against his shoulders. She knew the moment she touched him her illusion had shattered but she didn't let go of the field just yet. If she did her eyesight would go with it, at least temporarily and she couldn't afford that. Sapphire placed the live ends of both guns against Oswald's shoulders and angled them so the blades of the sickles formed an X over his neck and underside of his jaw. "Concede the match or I swear on the barriers of Vale I will fire, tell me your aura can take an explosive round at point blank." Of course firing it like this she would get just as injured as him but if he didn't give in she was just crazy enough to actually pull the trigger.

Sapphire managing to deflect some of her attacks didn't deter Oswald, and even the shot to his shield failed to halt the man as his shield got Sapphire where she'd been injured. So it was a rib. Figured. Just as he went to make another attack, Sapphire disappeared. Oswald couldn't believe what he'd seen. The girl had just...disappeared!

Only a moment later he felt a weight on his back and she appeared again. Or, her weapons did, crossed over his throat. She was threatening to blow his head off? Damn, this girl was something else. Not many people would have it in them to even make a bluff like that, especially at point-blank range with explosive rounds. "It could definitely take one, but two to the face? Nah, you've won." Dropping his shield with a limp arm, he chuckled and called out. "I forfeit the match!" Now speaking more quietly, he continued. "Thanks. Haven't had a fight like that in a while. And feel free to stay up there if you'd like. That hit to your rib wasn't much, but I heard that scream. How bad is it?"

Sapphire gave a sigh of relief and uncoiled from Oswald stepping on the floor once again. Soon as she did every pain and ache she'd received in this fight as well as those from the forest flared up again each demanding her attention. She let her semblance fail and her eyesight faded along with it. She was in a world of darkness now.

"I'll live, that's the important thing." She said in response to Oswald asking after her condition. "If I'm lucky I'll get a week or two before we have to do more serious training but I'll be fine in a couple of days." There was too much noise, the students talking loudly, reverberating off the walls. Sapphire had some experience navigating blind but not enough to pinpoint her seat in this situation. This might be a good time to start trusting someone. At the moment though Sapphire only wished her little sister Demetra were here. She always knew the right thing to say and she'd guided Sapphire around when she'd first discovered the after effects of her semblance. 

If Sapphire was going to be able to function in a team she'd need to rely on someone to at the very least guide her to where she could sit down and unless she wanted to yell the need for help to the audience Oswald was her only choice. "Oswald, the aftereffects of my semblance leave me in... a vulnerable state. I can't see. It'll wear off soon enough but in the mean time I... I could use a hand getting back to my seat."

"...very well then," Ms. Goodwitch had been keenly focused on this particular skirmish, watching it like a hawk. Though her stoic exterior underwent no change whatsoever, there was a slight note of disappointment in her voice. Did she regret seeing the duel end? "You should both at least check in at the infirmary after that. Ms. Rode, I will write you a pass excusing you from next period. You did quite well considering your previous injuries." Some of the students were undoubtedly stunned that their instructor had actually issued a compliment.

Oswald nodded at Sapphire and quickly threw one of her arms over his shoulder, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Alright then, here we go. Off to your seat. I'm sure someone can handle our weapons for us." After he finished speaking, Oswald started to walk.

Sapphire nodded at Ms. Goodwitch the corners of her mouth hinting at a smile. Sapphire had gauged Glynda as the type of instructor that relied more on the stick and much less on the carrot and while the compliment was by no means over enthusiastic Sapphire knew it was as good as she could expect.

After asking Oswald for help Sapphire was surprised when he threw her arm over his shoulder and wrapped it own around her waist to support her. Her injuries were not so extensive that she needed to be carried. She was blind, not disabled but she supposed she should consider this some sort of kindness. It would create more of a disturbance than it was worth to try and have her position readjusted so Sapphire settled for both of them somewhat awkwardly limping back to the bleachers. When she slid back into her seat, her hands touching the back of it first just to reassure herself that it was still there, Sapphire imminently untied the laces of one of her combat boots with haste yanking the thing off her foot. Her twisted ankle felt like hell, it was throbbing worse than ever now but that was nothing to the pain she was feeling in her chest.

Sometime maybe ten minutes later Sapphire's sight returned and the pitch black color faded from her irises and eyes. She'd only missed two fights and now was ready to enjoy and analyzed the rest of them. After that Sapphire planned a visit to the infirmary out of necessity. She did not like the place but she did need to have her wounds seen too.
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