It was already getting late in the evening when Ms. Goodwitch assigned them a dorm, gave them each their school approved apparel, and issued them personal Scrolls, capable of summoning their lockers and required to open their dorm rooms. Each of the four girls gathered their things and brought them to their room for the first time.
The room was very standard. Four beds with matching sheets, two desks with a small lamp apiece and small overhead shelves, and a single short book shelf set in front of the large window. There was one door beside the one they had came in from, leading into the open bathroom which was also light on furnishings. The light was off as Violet entered first, and she noted as she turned it on that you could control the brightness in the room. She went ahead and set it to max for the time being, but made a note of it, an idea flickering through her mind but shelved for later.
The other three were quick to file in as well. After the events of the day, even Yang seemed tired and none of them could keep a conversation going for more than a few sentences. Violet chose the bed against the left wall, resolving to wake up early in the morning and unpack then, and it seemed the others took her queue. They took turns changing in the bathroom, and were soon all lying in bed, letting themselves succumb to the dreams that clawed them into sweet unconsciousness.
Violet was the first to wake. She got up quietly to use the bathroom and changed into her new school uniform and freshened up. The uniform fit perfectly, and she couldn't help but give a small smile while she looked herself up and down in the mirror. She could make this work. It might not have gone as she'd planned, but then, not much seemed to anyway. All Violet could do was make the most out of it.
As she stepped back out into the room, she looked at the sleeping figures still lying in their respective beds. Yang laid flat on her back, snoring lightly, her hair spread out in every direction. Ruby was curled up, nearly into the fetal position, gripping her blanket tightly. Blake had taken up the wall opposite Violet's, and was drawn in towards the corner more than might have been comfortable for most people. Violet lips twinged towards a smile as she noticed the bow on her head twitching in her sleep. A small, almost imperceptible movement, but Violet didn't fail to catch it. She really would have to do something about that soon. It can't be nice having a delicate part of your body wrapped up like that all the time. Violet at least wanted Blake to be able to let loose in their dorm.
The sun was just starting to peek up over the horizon, and Violet realized she'd been staring in thought at the trio of girls for ten or so minutes. It was already seven in the morning, and with the renovations they were going to do, Violet wanted to make sure they had plenty of time before Port's first class. Blake was the first of the three to wake. Her head rose slowly up off her pillow, still looking towards the wall. Violet quickly turned back towards the desk behind her and scraped the chair back. She felt Blake's stare suddenly on the back of her head, but the intensity softened as Violet sat down and pulled up her bag of belongings, starting to rifle through them. Violet hadn't brought much with her from Atlas, only enough to last the first week of school before she'd be able to head down into Vale and buy some more permanent things. Even Blake had brought along more things than Violet had, but then again, they were probably all the things she owned. 'Did she rob a bookstore to get so many? I never pictured her running off with pockets stuffed with lien.'
There was a barely audible, "Good morning," from Blake as she let herself into the bathroom, closing the door before Violet could reciprocate. After a few minutes, Violet heard the shower turn on, and looked back towards the other two. Now was as good a time as any to get the day started. Violet left her bag sitting open, items strewn out across the desk as she stepped up between Yang and Ruby's bed. Violet pulled the curtain wide, letting in a flood of light that basked the room in a healthy glow.
Yang looked so peaceful, so serene, despite the snoring that is. 'It's almost a shame' Violet thought idly as she softly climbed up on to the other girl's bed, standing above her. The mattress dipped beneath her as she drew one foot back.
"Wakey, wakey!" Violet shouted, slamming her foot into Yang's exposed ribs. Yang awoke with a start, thrashing wildly in Violet's direction, surprising her. Between Yang grabbing at her legs, and the awkward shifting of the mattress beneath, Violet toppled off the bed backwards. She was saved a concussion from Ruby's bedpost thanks to her aura, as Ruby also bolted awake at the sound of her crashing to the floor.
"Ow! Violet! What was that for!?" Yang shouted, clutching at her side while shooting a death glare at where Violet lied on the floor, rubbing her head.
"Revenge," she replied darkly, but with a smile on her face, standing back up.
"W'as goin' on?" Ruby said half asleep, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
Violet smiled and grabbed both her wrists, drawing them aside to look Ruby in the face, "It's the first day of Beacon, Little Red, and we all still need to unpack." Ruby's eyes widened and she hopped up out of bed excitedly, rushing to her things like it was Christmas morning. She spent a few minutes rummaging through her things before Blake opened the bathroom door, already fully dressed with her bow securely in place. Ruby blew past her, uniform in hand, petals scattering across the floor in her wake.
"Did your family sell bouquets with all these excess rose petals lying around?" Violet asked back towards Yang, idly picking up one of the petals. It fizzled away after a few seconds, "Bad deal for them if you did."
"Our dad was a teacher at Signal," Yang said roughly, getting out of bed as well. Her aura had already healed the sore spot on her chest, but she continued to play up the pain. Yang looked around for her own things and spotted them on one of the desks, moving that way. She grabbed her things and joined Ruby in the bathroom to change.
"What about you, Blake?" Violet asked good naturedly, crossing her arms and leaning back against the windowsill. She already knew the answer, but was curious to see what lie Blake would come up with.
Blake's shoulders drew up in defense, but she forcibly relaxed herself. She kept her eyes away from Violet, though, and started pulling books out of her pack to slide on to the shelf, "I don't know. I haven't seen my parents in a long time."
'Half lie, half truth.' Violet pondered. She lied down on Yang's bed, crossing her arms behind her head on the other girl's pillow and stared up at the ceiling, "My father owns a real estate company in Atlas, but he has property her in Vale as well. He does well with it, and my older brother makes him proud." Violet turned to look at Blake, who's expression was unreadable, "That life wasn't for me, though. Board meetings and legal documents and briefings, it was always too boring to hold my attention for long."
"Well you certainly escaped it. Becoming a huntress is as far as you could get from that," Blake replied evenly.
"Exactly!" Violet said, turning back to look at the ceiling, "I just had to get away from it all and make a difference in my own way."
Blake turned away, a thoughtful expression on her face as she finished up placing her books on the shelf. The door to the bathroom opened, and Yang stepped out with her arms wide, basking in imagined praise at how good she looked. Violet decided to humor her, and gave an appreciative wolf whistle, "Thank you, thank you!"
They spent the next half an hour unloading their things, and all came to the same conclusion. Their room was crammed to the brim, taking up the majority of the floor space and forcing their beds up against each other. Ruby jumped in with her idea of making bunk beds, and after another half hour, they'd cleared a considerable amount of space. Blake and Yang would sleep on the right side of the room, Blake on the top bunk and Yang on the lower, while Ruby and Violet shared the left side of the room, Ruby above and Violet below.
Violet looked at Ruby's bunk, bolted to the ceiling with ropes, 'Where'd she even find that stuff?' and noticed it swaying slightly. 'Yeah, I'm not gonna die in my sleep, crushed by Ruby's bed.' Violet directed a small iota of power into the bolts, securing them much more firmly, all the while making sure her eyes didn't light up. It seemed Yang had at least forgotten that line of questioning for the time being thanks to yesterday's events, and Violet was loathe to bring it back up again ahead of time. 'Which reminds me…'
"It's 8:45. Our class starts at 9. We should get ready and start heading that way," Violet told the room, making good on her own suggestion and grabbing her book and notebook. She slipped her Scroll into her pocket and held the door open for them all to file out with some resignation.
"Helloooooo~!" Nora's voice sang from the hallway in greeting as the first members of team Vibrant stepped out. Pyrrha gave a small wave from behind her, and Ren only nodded. It seemed Weiss had the same idea to leave early, as the group of eight headed towards class together.
"So, what class is first?" Yang asked, pounding her fists together expectantly.
"Grimm Studies with Professor Port," Weiss answered.
"What? When do we get to hit stuff?" Yang whined, her hands falling to her sides and shoulders slumping dramatically.
"That would be Ms. Goodwitch's combat class after lunch," Violet answered this time, smiling as Yang perked back up, only to sigh at Violet's next words, "Both of which are after Dr. Oobleck's history class."
The group continued to chat amongst each other, making introductions and commenting on each other's performance the day prior. They started complimenting and asking questions about everyone's weapons. Ruby was back in her element. Violet was happy to just listen in, already knowing as much as she needed about their weapons, before Ruby piped up, "And Violet's… what even was that!?'
All eyes turned towards her. Siren's fight against the Deathstalker had ended before Vibrant's, so they'd all gotten a good look at how the Nevermore had met its untimely demise. Violet shrugged. This wasn't anything she needed to hide, and it kept Yang distracted from her witch hunt. "It's a railgun. The coils inside produce a magnetic field. When I fire it, they turn on in sequence, firing the projectile through the force generated by the magnets. It takes an insane amount of lightning dust to power, causes a blow back of heat that took me months to figure out a work around to, and has to enter cooldown for about a minute afterwards while wind dust circulates out the excess heat. All things considered, the only thing it excels at killing are large Grimm. Not unless someone was dumb enough to stand there while I aimed it at them."
"Can you show me how to make the magnetic sequence thingy?" Ruby asked, wide eyes begging for Violet to say yes.
"It wouldn't work nearly as well without my semblance, Ruby," Violet laughed.
"Awww, why?" Ruby pouted. The rest turned to her with the same question on their minds. Or at least a few of them did. Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ren seemed to be following along, if still with some mild confusion. Yang, Blake, and Nora looked completely lost.
"Like I said, it generates a lot of heat. Before I fire it off, I use my semblance to transfer the weight from my greatsword down into the projectile. The extra forty pounds of mass adds some durability to it, in a way. If you tried to fire Zenith off without that, the projectile would liquefy instantly. All you would get is about twice the kick that it usually puts out exploding out the sides, and nothing would leave the barrel."
"At least we don't have to worry about someone stealing it to use against us in a fight," Pyrrha nodded along thoughtfully.
"That would certainly be a shock for them," Violet chuckled. The others that had been trying to follow along at least nodded at that last bit. Message received. Never try and fire Violet's gun.
They reached the classroom and all filed in. There were a couple teams that had gotten there ahead of them, but with five minutes left before class started they were hardly the last. Both teams took up places next to each other, Violet had Ruby on her left and Yang then Blake on her right. Professor Port was at the front of the class, writing on the chalkboard and waiting for the bell before he would start his lecture. The last team to get into the classroom was Cardinal, who took the seats a few rows behind them.
Violet noticed Ruby had already begun doodling on her paper next to her and bumped her with an elbow, "Hey, you're going to pay attention once class starts, right? You moved ahead two years. I don't want you falling even further behind."
Ruby hid away her half finished cartoonish drawing of Professor Port under the rest of her notebook and looked at Violet with a look of complete and utter innocence, "O-Of course!"
As the bell rang and Professor Port started his 'lecture', 'if you could really call it that', Ruby started zoning out. Her hand drifted towards the drawing whenever she thought Violet's focus was elsewhere, her feet drummed against the seat beneath her, her hands tapped against the desk in a poor attempt at a drum beat, and she huffed in discontentment every thirty seconds or so. Violet was so busy noticing all of Ruby's bored little ticks and antics that she didn't realize how much time had passed.
Professor Port shouted out a "Ho, oh!" and looked over the class, "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of a true huntress?"
Violet kicked Ruby's leg under the desk and gave her a meaningful look. Ruby's hand shot up, but her voice immediately wilted under the attention, "Uh, me?..."
"Well then, let's find out! Step forward, and face your opponent!" Port gestured off to his right with a wave of his hand, to an ominous looking black steel cage that began to rattle and huff.
Ruby leaned over to whisper to Violet, a quiver in her voice, "Uhm, why am I doing this!?"
"So you can blow off some energy. It's just a boarbatusk, go play," Violet said, shooing the girl out of her seat with a push to get her moving, "You'll be fine."
Ruby nervously left to get her weapon, taking a bit longer than necessary to return. Ruby's cheeks immediately heated at all the attention she was getting from the class, all eyes turned towards either her or the cage off in the corner of the room. Violet gave her two thumbs up. Yang started cheering loudly for her little sister. Even Blake was getting into the mood, and gave Ruby a confident nod when their eyes met.
Port hefted his blunderbuss axe, and Ruby's eyes focused on the cage across the room from her. The red in her cheeks started to recede as determination grew in its place. With a mighty swing, the axe came crashing down, shattering the lock off the cage. The cage shook as the boarbatusk's bulk shot out a few steps, surprisingly spry for its size. Red eyes stared at Ruby, the target of its aggression after being locked away in a cage for god knows how long. With a sound that was half squeal, half growl, it charged forward.
Ruby fired off a shot from Crescent Rose, but the bullet ricocheted off the bones covering its front side. She was forced to dodge, rolling to her right as the boarbatusk blew past her, left tusk missing her by only a few inches. Ruby shifted her weapon to its scythe form, leveling it behind herself and lowering to the ground, readying herself for its second pass. The boarbatusk stopped ten feet away, spinning in place to face Ruby again, snuffling in annoyance. It curled in on itself, spinning faster and faster before shooting towards Ruby.
This time, Ruby utilized her semblance, waiting even longer before deftly zipping out of the way of the approaching creature. With a yelp, the boarbatusk crashed into Port's desk, falling into a heap on its back. Ruby took her chance, blurring back in, and with a single flourish, slammed the point of Crescent Rose down into the boarbatusk's stomach. It squealed in pain, then went limp, its body already starting to disintegrate.
Yang shouted, "Yeah!" from among the spectators, many of which started clapping, drawing Ruby back into the present where she was now the sole focus of the class. Thankfully, Port spoke up then, "Ho, oh! It looks like we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training! I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today!" Port then continued, listing off some pages that they would need to read before tomorrow, and excusing them from the class.
They had fifteen minutes before they would have to get to Oobleck's class. Violet, Yang, and Blake caught up with Ruby outside in the hallway as she was walking back to the locker rooms to put away Crescent Rose. Violet gave Ruby a smile and playfully hugged her around the shoulders with one arm, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"No-o," Ruby struggled out, and Violet grinned at the rosiness to her cheeks, "It was just embarrassing."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Yang tapped Ruby on the shoulder with her fist, "You did fine."
"And if that's how you react to one measly fight with a boarbatusk, then how are you going to get through sparring in Ms. Goodwitch's class?" Violet felt Ruby's knees buckle and supported her with her arm wrapped around her, "You forgot the people were even there once the fight started. I'm sure it will be the same for combat class." Ruby cheered up a little at that. She did act differently as soon as the fight started.
With Ruby's weapon safely stowed back in her locker, the four of them headed to Oobleck's class. The man was silently standing behind his desk, taking the occasional sip from his coffee mug and eyeing each student that stepped into the class. Violet gave the man a small smile and headed over to go sit with her team. On the inside, she shuddered. This was undoubtedly going to be the most boring class to have to take. 'History lessons? I watched it all pass with my own eyes…' Violet huffed, leaning forward with crossed arms on the table in front of her and resting her chin down on them. It was times like these that Violet wished she really could find comfort in sleep.
As the bell rang and the class officially started, Violet let her mind wander completely. Moments like these were why her and her brother never connected much. Peri was only interested in talking about things that Violet wasn't interested in, and when she was bored, her mind tended to wander to the extreme. Violet began to reminisce of times long gone, when she had been on adventures with different people, in different worlds, as a different person. It was enough to keep her entertained. She noted with pleasure that at least Ruby was paying attention, the fight had let out some of the girl's pent up energy, and now she was following along with the history lesson Professor Oobleck was regaling them with. The man darted back and forth across the front of the class, coffee having kicked in, and never let up on his verbal tirade.
Violet was dimly aware of when Oobleck started asking the class questions, the most familiar of which finally coming about as he turned to Cardin, "Mr. Winchester, what advantage did the faunus have over General Lagoon's forces?"
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal, than a soldier," Cardin replied with obvious disdain. There was a general intake of breath around the room, the students and even Oobleck appearing uncertain about where to take the conversation from there. Oobleck sipped his coffee and looked like he was about to say something before Violet interjected.
"Trash like you would judge someone before you got to know them," Violet surprised herself as she spoke. She hadn't been paying any mind to the conversation, and knew what Cardin was going to say ahead of time. Something about it irked her more than she thought it would, though. Perhaps it was the years spent with Henna that fueled her rage, but the comment had made her angry. Violet turned around to glare at Cardin as he spoke, "What? You got a problem?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Violet fumed.
"That's enough," Oobleck interjected, "Ms. Regalia, do you have the answer?"
Violet thought back to the Battle of Fort Castle, and what parts of the battle likely hadn't been put into their textbooks. She could see the reason, plain as day, and smirked. 'This oughta get under his skin.'
"While General Lagoon was an idiot for attacking the faunus at night, he still had the edge due to both better weaponry, and a vast amount of soldiers at his disposal. Bullets don't need to see in the dark to kill you, after all, and with his soldiers laying down a heavy amount of suppressive fire on the walls of the fort, the faunus were essentially boxed in. Fortunately for the faunus, they weren't idiots. They had already captured two separate reconnaissance groups from the previous week, and outfitted themselves with their clothing to sneak into General Lagoon's ranks. When they were successful and captured the General, they forced the soldiers to stand down. One brave group of faunus changed the tides of the battle, and won them the day."
Violet continued quickly before she could be interrupted, wanting to push her final point home, "The books won't mention this because they were written by humans, and for them, it's better to make the battle sound like it was lost by the humans because of a simple mistake that can be corrected, and not won by the faunus for their ingenuity and courage. Even when they lose, humans still write the history books."
"May I ask how you came about this information, Ms. Regalia?" Dr. Oobleck asked, not disbelieving of her, just genuinely curious.
Violet had to lie, but what she said before was still the truth, "One of my maids was a faunus whose grandfather was at the Battle of Fort Castle. It's secondhand knowledge, but I trust her more than I do these books."
"Indeed, I cannot blame you. The victors have a history of, well, rewriting history, and humanity did prevail in the end," Dr. Oobleck gave her a smile, "Perhaps we could speak another time, and you could divulge any other information you have that might prove to, educate," he looked at Cardin as he said it, "our students more effectively."
Violet laughed at Cardin's expense, but didn't turn around to acknowledge his glare, "I would love to teach you a lesson." She obviously didn't mean Dr. Oobleck.
Cardin was positively seething with rage as the bell rang. Oobleck called up to him, telling him to stay after class, and Violet left with her team and team Siren. Violet didn't fail to catch the approving look that both Pyrrha and Blake were sending her way. She hadn't really planned on any of that to make them like her more, Cardin had just pissed her off.
Their group headed to the lunch room, a few comments were said at Cardin's expense as they walked. It took a bit longer for Violet to notice Weiss hanging back, doubt creeping across her face. "What's up?" Violet asked, slowing down to let the others pass and sidling up next to the girl.
"Did you really mean those things you said? You almost sounded like a faunus supremacist, back there," Weiss said, looking askance at Violet, confusion clear on her face, "Are you a faunus?"
"Would I have to be, to think people deserve respect, no matter what extra parts they might have? We're all still the same in here, Weiss," Violet ended by pointing at Weiss's chest, right about where her heart would be.
"But, groups like the White Fang-" Weiss started before getting cut off by Violet.
"Are doing the only thing they can to try and change their lot in life. What do you think would be the result of poor education, blatant racism, and denial of any faunus representation in the systems of government that create laws specifically catered to keeping the faunus down?" Violet tried to help Weiss hear the truth in her words, "The only faunus in a position of power I know of, outside Menagerie, is Headmaster Lionheart in Haven, and he only got there because he had the full backing of Ozpin."
Violet could see the uncertainty twisting Weiss's face. Weiss looked at Violet, sadness in her eyes and asked, "Do you hate me for being a Schnee?"
Violet gave a warm hearted laugh and smacked Weiss lightly across the back of her head, "Were you not paying attention? I meant it when I said you shouldn't judge someone before you get to know them. Call me an optimist, but I don't think you would go cheap on security and send faunus to risk their deaths in the Schnee mines just to protect the company's precious profit margins."
Weiss's face became resolute as she stared ahead, "No. No I wouldn't."
"Well, there you have it. If I might suggest, the next time you get the chance, maybe talk to a faunus. Get to know them. Their dreams and ambitions, their life experiences… You might be surprised by how logical it all sounds when compared to what they've been through."
Weiss smiled at her and nodded, "Thank you. I… I just might do that."
It wasn't until then that Violet saw Blake's bow twitching wildly.
Lunch passed uneventfully, everyone seemed to be excited about their first combat class with Ms. Goodwitch. Ruby made the mistake of revealing that she'd met Ms. Goodwitch before Beacon, and ended up having to field questions from around the table. Sure, they'd all seen Ms. Goodwitch around the school and at initiation, but to see her fight?
They quieted down once lunch ended and they left for combat class. They opened the doors to be greeted with a small half-coliseum. The raised seats looked down on the arena stage, lit from above by several spotlights. Off to the side of the stage, two separate doors each led to their respective girl's and boy's locker rooms. All the various first year teams filled in only a small portion of the available seating, the excess reserved for when students from other kingdoms visited for the Vytal Festival and Tournament.
Once they had all settled down in their seats, Ms. Goodwitch herself stepped out of a back room that connected to the stage. 'Probably leads to her office,' Violet thought absentmindedly. She giggled when all the assembled students leaned forward, on to the edge of their seats, but stopped when she felt herself pressed up against the rail in front of her as well. 'This is where the fun begins.'
Ms. Goodwitch gave them a rundown on how the sparring sessions would work. She pointed to the large screen behind her, where currently only her aura bar showed, "Once a fighter's aura has reached the yellow, the spar is over. Anyone can demand a fight once per week. Aside from those, I will be delegating out the matches, trying to find good combinations of opponents to help both students learn from the experience. The record of your performances will be catalogued, and at the end of the semester you will be given a grade that shows your current standing compared to the rest of the class. Are there any questions?"
A few hands raised slowly, but none were nearly as fierce as the hand that Cardin shot up, as he physically stood up from his seat as well.
"Yes, Mr. Winchester?"
"I want to fight her," Cardin said vehemently, pointing a shaking finger in Violet's direction.
Violet laughed and said aloud so that the whole class would hear it, "I've never seen someone so eager to sign their death warrant. Would you like to write your obituary out in advance, too?"
"You think you're so tough!?" Cardin's face turned beet red as he seethed with rage.
"No, I just think you're that weak."
Cardin looked like he was ready to throw himself over the seats to get to her. The rest of team Cardinal tensed, raising a hair from where they sat. Violet felt more than saw the rest of team Vibrant do the same. 'That would just be a massacre,' Violet mused.
They were all interrupted by Ms. Goodwitch's voice from the arena below, "Very well, Mr. Winchester. It sounds like the two of you need to solve this little spat in the arena. Both of you suit up. I want you back out here within the next five minutes."
Cardin rushed off to the locker room to grab his things. Violet stood and gave a smirk to her teammates and Siren, before heading to the changing room as well. She changed into her fighting attire and stuck Zenith to her back. When she stepped back out, Cardin was already there standing on the opposite side of the arena, his ridiculous mace resting at his side in a white knuckle grip. Violet grinned anew at the flicker of uncertainty that crossed Cardin's face when he noticed the massive greatsword strapped to her back. The doubt only increased when Glynda turned to Violet and said in no uncertain terms, "I hope it is understood that your gun form will not be allowed during any of your spars in this class, Ms. Regalia."
"Like I would waste a shot on him, anyway. Do you know how much it costs to make compact lightning dust?"
"I would assume it isn't cheap, Ms. Regalia," Glynda replied tightly and stepped back, "You will begin at the sound of the buzzer. Prepare yourselves."
Cardin raised his mace up threateningly, at which Violet just scoffed and pulled Zenith off her back. Violet's weapon had at least thirty pounds on the mace, and she could move Zenith much faster than he could his weapon. Just as a demonstration, she gave it a few flourishes, making sure to showcase how truly weightless it must feel for her. Cardin tensed and shifted his body, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Violet made herself light-of-foot.
The buzzer went off, and Cardin charged forward through the intervening ten feet that had separated them. 'Your biggest advantage is the range that you can maintain with your greatsword. It has a longer reach than most other weapons. Always keep your enemies at bay until you want to close the distance.' Pepper's instructions rang through Violet's head once again. She kept a close eye on Cardin's movement, paying attention to the rhythm of his feet. Cardin at least wasn't inept enough to leave himself wide open in his opening move, but he was trying to close the gap, thinking to overwhelm Violet quickly.
The instant Cardin stepped within range of her greatsword, she lashed out. He was caught midstep, incapable of backing off, and was instead forced to throw his mace up between them to shield his chest from the greatsword's path. Violet dumped the weight back into Zenith right as it connected with Cardin's mace, the resulting 'clang!' knocking his guard wide open as his arm was pulled back by the weight of his own mace, forced to do so if he wanted to keep his grip on it. Following up with her momentum, Violet spun and arced Zenith high above her head before lashing downwards. Cardin tried to recover, his front foot pushing off to get back out of Violet's range, but she simply stepped further into the swing. Cardin yelled as he threw his other hand up, taking the brunt of the hit to his forearm and getting flung backwards. 'Don't back off when you have them on the run.'
Cardin had the battle sense at least to turn his fall into a roll, managing to get his feet under himself and start to stand, but what he lacked was awareness. His eyes had been off Violet for too long during the roll. His head came up, eyes widening as Zenith slammed against his chest, Violet having followed up her move with a calculated lunge meant to catch him right at that moment.
Cardin backed off, recovering from the sudden onslaught, now in a defensive stance, warily keeping his distance from Violet. His aura was already in the orange. One or two more hits, and he would be out of the fight. Violet considered her prey. His stance was awkward, imperfect. Violet could tell that he wasn't used to being beaten back, but was likely used to being the one doing the beating. As such, he didn't have much practice in defending himself.
Violet withdrew all the mass she could from herself and her greatsword, bending her knees in preparation for a dash into his guard. Cardin sensed the change, and shifted to keep his mace between the two of them. Violet lunged at him, bringing Zenith down towards Cardin's head in one hand. He brought his mace up, using both hands to stop the greatsword on the metal haft. His face turned into one of confusion, though, as Zenith lacked the power it had before. Violet let that arm remain high, keeping his attention on the big threatening sword above him as she dipped under his arms.
Violet transferred the weight from her entire body and Zenith into the left jab she slammed into his stomach. Cardin's breath exploded out, his arms going limp as he brought them down to clutch his abdomen. Violet took that moment to slide Zenith down his guard as she slipped past him, and with another burst of weight into her greatsword, slashed it across his back in one heavy swing that sent him reeling forward onto the ground.
"Stop!" Ms. Goodwitch called out, stepping in to make sure Violet didn't continue the attack. She needn't have worried. Violet took that moment to put Zenith on her back and turned to face the roars of her teammates and team Siren. 'Lesson learned, I hope.'