The students expected there to be a fight, or rather maybe some fights today in combat class, but they expected it to be between themselves (whether that be inter-team fights or sparring against another student altogether). They didn't expect there to be a fight involving a well-known team leader from another academy.

Ruby couldn't contain her excitement. "Squeals. I can't believe I get to see Hedge's fighting style live! I always watched them on TV thanks to the Vytal Festival."

Yang: "While I may not be gushing about it like Ruby, I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see him fight live. Plus, he's about to fight hand-to-hand." She looks over to the red reaper. "Something someone still needs to learn."

Ruby's excitement turned into that of fear and nervous laughter. "I...I don't know what you're talking about, s-sis..."

Blake looks over to her partner. "Is it really that bad?"

Yang: "You don't know the half of it." This got both Blake and Weiss thinking just how badly it could actually be, while Ruby on the other hand wished they never saw how badly she could fight without her precious weapon.

Back to the center stage of the arena, Professor Goodwitch prepped the aura readers for both of the combatants, and everyone got to see how much both of them had. Cardin's was nothing to scoff at, being at a simple 450, however when everyone looked at Hedge's aura level, they were surprised. Both boys looked up to wonder what they were murmuring about, and they saw Hedge's was 3 times as much as Cardin's, 1400.

Hedge: "That's what happens when you train for so long, not to mention it being necessary for me to do because of the drain I get every time I use my semblance, even greater drain if I take off my bracers." He looks down at said accessories on his wrists and ankles, thinking if he even needed to remove them to teach this kid a lesson. "Nah. No need to go THAT all out." A grin appears on his face.

Cardin: "So what if you have that high of an aura reserve? It won't matter against me."

Hedge: "Big talk, Cardin. Why don't you show me what you're made of then? I'm ready by the way, Goodwitch."

Cardin: "As am I," though he says it while growling.

Goodwitch: "Very well. Begin!"

Hedge decides to let Cardin make the first move. "Let him think he has control over the flow of the fight. Then systematically take him down. No one said I couldn't have a little fun while I'm here." Cardin did just that by running in, mace above him going for an overhead swing. Hedge notices the intent, and jumps back to avoid the impact, said impact leaving behind a crater thanks to the fire dust crystal embedded at the head of Cardin's mace.

Hedge: "Come on now, thought you knew better than to telegraph your attack?"

Back in the stands

Ren: "I see what Mr. Badnic is trying to do."

Nora: "What's that, Renny?"

Pyrrha: "It appears he has determined that Cardin has a bit of a temper problem, so he's taunting him. Trying to make him fight irrationally and then capitalize on those mistakes."

Nora looks over at her partner again, to which he nods his head with a smile to confirm what Pyrrha said was right.

Arena

Cardin goes in for a three-piece swing on Hedge, which dodges the first two, but the third, which is a downward diagonal strike from Cardin's right to left, is blocked by Hedge bringing up his left arm, his bracer clanging with the mace, which softens up the hit to his aura, since it was a metal-on-metal clash, but Hedge didn't stop there, as before Cardin could react, Hedge counterattacked with a straight fight to his chest, knocking the big knight pretty far away from him. What everyone didn't expect, was just how much damage that one punch had done to Cardin's aura. 15% of Cardin's aura had been chipped away, and the tall boy was feeling the after effects of said punch, trying to catch his breath. What everyone else noticed as well, was that small sparks of yellow electricity had been running over Cardin's body. The reason? Hedge had imbued some of his semblance into that punch to enhance the strength behind it, but to also add on a damage over time to Cardin's aura, which was slowly ticking down thanks to the lightning.

Hedge: "A tip, and this goes for everyone, never leave yourself wide open. This goes for both out on the field, and in a tournament-style fight. Otherwise..." He points to Cardin's struggling form. "That happens."

Cardin: "Do you enjoy hearing yourself talk?!"

Hedge: "I'll be honest with you, that honor belongs to one of my teammates." He remembers just how much Zion likes to talk a lot, and also likes to pull pranks, namely on Leonidas. Leonidas has learned to ignore some of them as he knows that Zion is only joking, but there have been some times where the Atlesian has gone a little too far.

Cardin: "Shut up and fight!" He rushes in, anger shown on his face, just wanting to shut this Faunus up. He tried to go again for the over head strike, only this time, jumping up in the air to try and enhance the force behind it.

Hedge: "You never learn do you? Fine, time to wrap this up." Sparks make themselves known over Hedge's body as he taps into his semblance, and as Cardin gets closer, Hedge reals back his right arm, makes a fist, and slams down on the arena floor. This in turn unleashes a pillar of electricity to spew out and it engulfs Cardin, stunning him midair.

Next, electrical spears appear out of thin air above Hedge, as he orders them to strike on Cardin, exploding on impact, which knocks him further into the air. Hedge doesn't stop there, as he activates his hover shoes, teleports to above Cardin, and delivers a double-handed over head knockdown strike, sending the boy smashing into the arena floor, bringing his aura below the knockout threshold, though with the after effects of the lightning dust on him, his aura keeps ticking down and evidently it does end up being fully depleted.

Hedge hovers back down, deactivating his semblance, the sparks around him disappearing. Everyone looked at the aura readers again, and took note that although Cardin only hit Hedge once, albeit it was blocked, his aura on the other hand said anything than just that. The attack that took the most of his aura was the electric pillar, and while Hedge didn't have much else to use, aside from his electrical spears, it was the only logical attack he could think of in the spur of the moment. Hedge's aura was at 75%, still in the green.

The bell rings, signaling the end of class. "Remember everyone. Use your opponent's weaknesses as your strength to beat them. As for out on the field, utilize all of your tools to best the Grimm. Hesitation can lead to injury." Hedge was stating this as he was heading to pick up Chaos and Destruction. "Or worse." He finishes his speech with inserting his swords back into their sheathes, and leaves the classroom, while Goodwitch heads over to Cardin to check on him and fulfill the agreement of his and Hedge's wager.