[h1]Jack Orpheus.[/h1]
[h1]Oswald Connolly.[/h1]
...
[h1]FIGHT![/h1]

Oswald's morning had been simple: wake up early, run, shower, and eat. When he arrived at combat class, he paid careful attention to the fight roster. He was fighting Jack Orpheus, Diamond was fighting Amaranth Desire, a hawk Faunus, and Cobalt was fighting Gren Orchid. He figured he and Diamond had a fair shot, but he had little knowledge of Cobalt's fighting capabilities.

Deciding that his own match was all he could really worry about now, Oswald made his way over to Jack and nodded at the other boy. "Jack. Believe we've fought together in Survival class."

Jack's day was as usual, he woke early, got dressed, ate breakfast, then headed out to the first class. It was combat today, which he did look forward to to some degree. Normally as a hunter, they fought Grimm or dissident factions such as the White Fang, they were essentially monster slayers and special covert operatives and were trained for it. Rarely would they get to duel other Semblance users that were skilled as they were, though he was only a first year at Beacon. He'd heard many stories about the second years, so honestly he was looking forward to that.

Combat Class today had his opponent as Oswald... Oswald... He couldn't remember the name, but as the boy named Oswald made himself known to Jack, he recognized the face. Yes, it was Survival where he met this guy.

"Oh, yes I remember... Somewhat, I mostly just remembered your face, I never got your name then", he responded.

"It was a hell of a fight. Much less fun with one arm. Thankfully, you'll get a better fight out of me than Sapphire did. I just wanted to speak a moment before our fight. See you on the inside of the ring." Giving a wave as he walked back to his own seat, Oswald stretched his arms and made sure his weapons were ready for use.

-------------------

When the two were called to battle, Oswald swiftly made his way to the arena, sword and shield in an arm each. As he entered, he took a short breath and nodded.

It wasn't long before Jack would find himself in the arena facing Oswald shortly after their pre-battle pleasantries. He walked into the arena throwing one of his knives up and down and catching it before holding it still once he reached position. The moment the countdown for the match to start went off he closed half the distance between the two with his Semblance before sprinting at Oswald, a moment taken would allow one to notice him throwing down a Lightning Pin, and covering it with his body, another one was thrown down at his starting position. He was starting with something a little simpler.

As Jack sped towards him, Oswald took a defensive posture and waited for him to approach. Shield held up, sword at an angle, he was ready to parry an attack as he slowly circled around to the side.

Jack cracked a wider smile as he stopped in his tracks, feet forward and with the momentum of that stop, flung his arms forward forming a cross as he threw several pins in random positions on both sides of Oswald. Upon one of them landing, he dashed to the one on Oswald's left, although he only had one dagger in hand, the other holstered while his free hand set another pin behind Oswald via throwing as Jack went in for a flank attack. It looks like Oswald guessed right on this move, and his dagger met his shield, but that wasn't much of a problem, upon hearing his dagger clang against the shield, he Lightning Rod dashed twice, circling around to the back.

Grunting angrily as Jack began throwing dagger-pin things all over the place, Oswald realized that a defensive posture wasn't going to work. Spinning around, Oswald lashed out with his sword, hoping to catch Jack on the attack with a slash covering nearly 270 degrees. As he finished his spin, Oswald raised his shield in front of him and quickly glanced to the side, looking to see how much of the arena fell within Jack's pins.

Jack after dashing around to the back, didn't act immediately then in case Oswald tried anything, and it turns out he did, and keeping himself alert to a counter-attack instead of rushing in paid off. Oswald's wide slash was easily ducked under as Jack went straight for the legs with a sweeping double kick, one to take the advancing foot, the other to just as quickly take the back foot before Jack did an independent dash above and behind Oswald. His legs out front as he attempted to land on the back of a hopefully tripping Oswald and secure the win.

As soon as he noticed Jack aiming for his lower body, Oswald's front leg was hit by a brutal sweeping kick which knocked him off balance. The instant his body started to fall, Oswald started to spin, rolling out of the way of Jack's next attack before springing to his feet and attempting to retreat outside the reach of Jack's pins. He wasn't sure of their exact purpose, but he knew that he did not want to be inside the area they encompassed. Despite being forced to act more passively than he was used to, Oswald was starting to enjoy the fight now that it was warming up.

His landing missed as Oswald rolled out of the way. Unexpected, but he can react pretty immediately to it. This was getting interesting. Surrounding someone with his pins can ensure he can continually attack from all sides, which he probably should have done and close to fight quickly, but now he had several retreating options instead. Time to give Lightning Rod a shot. Upon landing he threw one of of his knives on the ground at Oswald, but try and defend against it chasing as he might, the knife would fly right past him. Jack actually dashed twice here. First, to one of the knives in the circle he made closest to Oswald, but without phasing out of it. It immediately jumped to the knife that flew past Oswald, he could feel a sharp clang as the bolt of lightning zipped past him as Jack struck it mid-Semblance. However, within a single second, and before the sound of the clang even fully passed, the lightning bolt would rebound from behind like a deadly boomerang, aiming to strike Oswald in the back as Jack returned to the front of Oswald's vision, picking up one of the several he had thrown at the beginning of the match. As he landed, the knife he threw past Oswald kept flying until it hit the stadium's edge.

Everything happened more quickly than Oswald could react. Jack's pin landed in front of him as the speedster dashed around like a bolt of lightning. The blast of electrical energy struck him solidly in the back, and while his brigandine managed to absorb some of the energy, Oswald was forced to stumble forward. However, Jack returned to Oswald's vision, and this was the point where he decided to get serious. He was always wary of using his own Semblance in sparring matches, but Jack had forced his hand.

As suddenly as Jack appeared, Oswald was mid-swing, directly to the side of the other boy. Jack might have been fast, but Oswald had the upper hand in terms of power and versatility. If he could keep Jack on the defensive, this battle would go his way.

Jack wasn't proficient with his semblance for nothing. Time didn't literally slow down for him after all. Oswald's sudden flank was managed by a breif roll coupled with swinging his dagger mid-roll to meet the blade, landing him in the middle of all his knives. As he finished his roll, he threw the knife he had picked up before Oswald's counter-assault directly at Oswald instead. His intent was to hit, so he aimed at the center of gravity.

Jack's dodge was to be expected, and his throwing attack was also consistent with how he fought. Daggers, thrown or swung, and quick movement. Oswald had fought people like this before.

As the blade flew towards him, Oswald raised his shield to knock away the flying projectile, advancing rapidly towards Jack and delivering a downwards diagonal slash of his blade.

Oswald was charging into Jack, who was currently in the center of all his knives, he even knocked the thrown knife away, letting it bounce up and spin away... The moment was perfect. The moment Oswald's foot stepped into range for his blade to strike Jack, he instantly dashed straight at Oswald again, but it was at an angle this time. It was at the knife he had deflected. As he flew past, he didn't aim to strike Oswald directly, but instead, struck at his blade, likely knocking it out of his hand. Now Oswald barely able to wield his sword for a short moment and standing in the bulk of Jack's knives, countless flashes of lightning bolts darted all around the circle and even reaching the knife that hit the edge of the stadium, and the two he used at the very beginning, and a few times reusing the one Oswald had knocked away before it hit the ground laying down, now inactive. It was clear he wasn't aiming at all, but the gigantic barrage that Oswald had stepped into, the pure quantity, it didn't seem to matter. In moments Oswald would have suffered dozens of light and medium strikes, before Jack would stop at the knives from the starting point. Their positions were now unchanged from when they first started this fight, except Jack's knives were still around Oswald. He was panting, a little tired and unable to attack properly for awhile, but if he was given a few moments, he could recompose. Now all that was left was to see if Oswald was still standing.

While nobody could say that his idea was a good one, Oswald was still convinced that he made the right choice, even as Jack flashed around and around and around him, striking him on every side. While a good amount of the attacks necessitated the use of Aura to block, Oswald's heavy armor was enough to absorb most of the energy behind the weaker, more haphazardly placed strikes. Overall, it had been quite a beating Oswald was given, actually. A quick glance at his Aura levels showed that Jack had brought him down to about 75% of his full reserves. He figured that maybe two or three other students in their class could take that maelstrom as well as he did. Gren was the first name that popped into mind for his sheer physical presence.

Right now, all that mattered was that Oswald was, yet again, in the arena wielding only one weapon. This time, however, he wasn't wounded, it was only temporary, and he wasn't fighting an injured opponent he couldn't truly size up.

No, Oswald knew what Jack was capable of, and that was a hell of a lot of unpleasantness. For the moment, his blade was too far out of the way to go to it, even with Jack panting and seemingly unable to move. He'd put a lot into such a barrage of attacks. He looked like he'd need a few seconds to recompose.

A few seconds he didn't have. Instantly, Oswald was on him, fist and shield flying in his favored offensive style, turning the heavily-armored fighter into a storm of steel, marked with cuts and the signs of years of wear and tear. To most people, the key to winning was to hit more than your opponent did, or get better hits in. Against Oswald, there was only one way to win: don't get hit in the first place. A blade or shield being swung by someone like Oswald was enough to rend limbs from Grimm nearly effortlessly. Even an armored punch was enough to crack the bones of the Soulless beasts.

So, he turned Jack's strategy against him, making careful use of his Semblance to ensure the other boy was never out of striking range for long.

Looks like he was going to need something heavier... Which he didn't have, but he had other ways. Oswald's recovery wasn't immediate, he had to lower his aura shield after all, but it was swift. He was probably going to need imbued strikes. With both daggers in hand he held them in a way that let him deal damage while parrying at the same time. He held ground as best he could, while trying to match his breathing to his movements, it was working a little, but it would take a little longer before he could mount a counter-attack. He knew with this kind of Semblance, he couldn't simply run, he needed to make best use of Oswald's lack of sword.

He didn't have the strength to withstand or block a hit, so he made use of rotating movements to redirect as much force as possible, while maintaining his own position and stance. It took far longer than normal, and his arms were beginning to feel sore from parrying Oswald's onslaught, but the moment he recomposed himself, there was a single flash of lightning on the next parry as he made an independent dash to Oswald's backside, barely two steps from his original position. Both his coat and his dagger imbued, increasing the strength of the single strike to a sharper edge, and his coat allowing him to leave behind an after-image. He kept his dagger at the ready, in case he had to rinse and repeat the whole parrying and dashing thing again. He was low on stamina, so he couldn't use his Lightning Rod anymore, not unless he wanted to put himself in a much more incriminating position, so he vied instead for a more efficient approach, using imbued strikes and tiny micro-dashes and positioning himself around Oswald rather than away. Oswald was far sturdier than he had thought, and that cost him the advantage he had earlier.

Had Oswald started this kind of tactic early, he probably would have a much worse chance at this, after all, it would've been harder due to his sword's reach. He can deal with the shield, it was easier to stay out of reach of that, or avoid it, since it was slower than his sword due to it's shape. His fists were faster definitely, but it was bare fist and arm grinding against a blade each time Jack successfully parried.

Oswald had underestimated Jack's recovery, it seemed. The other boy was quick, much quicker than Oswald could hope to be, but he was also worn down from the liberal use of his Semblance earlier in the fight. Jack had corrected that tactic, now making much shorter dashes to move himself from Oswald's reach. Every time he tried to predict the speedster's movements, Jack was already out of the way when an attack reached where he was a moment ago.

The imbued strikes weren't helpful, either. Each blow was individually powerful, slowly wearing even Oswald's impressive Aura reserves down. He needed his sword. Making sure he knew where it was before moving, Oswald let out a bellowing roar before sprinting towards his weapon. Jack was already carving at him more than he was willing to take, so running wouldn't have put him at much of a disadvantage anyway.

Oswald was making a mad dash for his weapon, this wasn't the best course of action for him. Especially since lightning travelled faster than being on foot, in any case, he could not afford to let Oswald reach his weapon. He two-pronged his chase attack, hurling a random couple of knives at the backs of his legs, before dashing forward. Having fought him this long, and dealt many strikes to him, he had a pretty good idea of where to strike in order to do as much damage as possible, but it was difficult, since his centre was always so well guarded, but now with him running... He can capably fulfill his role, imbuing his dagger for what would hopefully be the final blow. If his strike were not true, the knives at least would hinder his movement somewhat, and his dash would place him in-between Oswald's sword and Oswald himself, putting him in the position to control possession of it. His eyes were fierce and his smile had long faded, it was clear he wasn't playing anymore. He looked the image of the role he filled out on his team.

"Since when did this become a deathmatch?", he muttered.

"Ahh, dammit!" Oswald shouted as Jack's knives hit the backs of his legs, causing him to stumble for a moment before Jack's attack came. Instinct took over as Oswald's shield arm swung to block the attack, but Jack's speed was too great. He felt the blade bite into his Aura as his shield moved towards Jack's attacking arm still. While normally he'd be worried about the consequences of smashing his shield into someone's arm at full-force, Jack had enough Aura to prevent anything more than an ugly bruise. Besides, this was a good fight.

The fact that Jack was still between Oswald and his sword wasn't much of a deterrent to the armored fighter. He could still make his way forward if he needed to, it would just be tougher.

It looked like Oswald was hell-bent on continuing. He stepped right into Oswald, jamming one dagger into Oswald's shield arm joint, while the other pressed onto his neck. The way he was using his daggers now was much dirtier, and simpler. He had only used slashing up until now. If Oswald continued to ignore him, he would start going for debilitating wounds and puncturing instead. To a heavily armed opponent, slashing wasn't an issue, but stabbing was a different story.

"This is a good fight, but neither of us are risking our lives in a silly spar", he pointed out.

Feeling the steel rapidly cutting into his Aura, Oswald groaned and looked Jack in the face. "Unfortunately, you're right." He spoke as his free arm launched itself upwards to push the speedster's knife from his throat. Even in a fight to the death, his Aura would have given him a moment or two of reprieve. To take care of the blade in his armor, Oswald flicked his wrist hard, sending his shield towards Jack's arm while his free hand braced itself to parry any further attacks.

"So we are agreed? You can lower your weapons", he said, or... Weapon, his free arm and shield. Jack took a spaced step back to see if this really was the end, which he hoped. Both combatants were starting to move into dangerous territory, where they would really be risking their own health to simply keep fighting. This wasn't what this class was for.

Oswald sighed and looked up at the display which showed their Auras. His was unpleasantly close to red after the trick Jack had pulled. On the other hand, Jack was only faring somewhat better. "I'll surrender as soon as I need to. I don't need to just yet."

Raising his shield to cover his torso, Oswald ran towards Jack, intending to bowl him over with the force behind his charge.

Jack with one hand held his collar up higher, whilst holding his dagger, covering up half has face as Oswald charged him down. If he wasn't going to end it, then he himself will. He knew his intention, it was to power through and grab his sword again, however, it was a last ditch effort, and with his attention faced forward, he was more vulnerable to attacks that were outside of his line of sight.

Jack charged back, but his intentions were different. Oswald didn't use a tower shield, and both their running speeds combined would make his next attack far more difficult to react to. As he neared range, he slide along the floor in a sliding kick, swiping Oswald's legs before using his Semblance to dash to Oswald's legs which were stuck with a few of his pins, stepping on them and ensure he falls before holding his back down, and delivering an ending blow with his dagger, imbuing it to ensure this is the end of it.

Oswald, with as much momentum as he was carrying, had no hope of stopping himself from falling once Jack had ruined his balance. He stumbled for a step or two before Jack forced him to the ground, stabbing him in the back as he fell. He didn't even have to look up at the display: he knew he'd been beat. He just waited there for Goodwitch to make the call.

For once, it seemed, the huntress had not been disappointed. Her tone was more congratulatory than simply matter-of-fact as she said, "An excellent display of talent for first-years. This match goes to Mr. Orpheus, but both of you will be receiving full scores." After making a few notes for future improvements on her clipboard, she spoke again, addressing not only the fighters but the others as well in a didactic manner. "For a minute there I was worried. These fights are precursors to those you will be facing as hunters. While they may seem like games, in order to play hard you must practice hard, and you two realized that in the end. Time for the next match-up."