Chapter Seven
A quick dual recounting of the duel later, it was time to judge Weiss.
"Well, ya can't trash talk for shit," Yang pointed.
"Pot," noted Blake.
"Hey!" the blonde objected. "I can trash talk, it's just touchin' the hair that starts the Yang Bang!"
There was a moment of silence at that declaration. "Perhaps a different name for your berserker state would be more suitable," suggested Pyrrha.
"Why?" Ruby asked, confused, "It's when Yang hits a lot, and the other person gets banged around."
"Change the name, or I explain it," I ordered the blonde brawler.
She winced, looking torn. "It's a work in progress," she admitted.
"Enough about her, what about me!" Weiss demanded.
"Remember what I said about you running on a timer?" I asked, getting a hesitant nod in return. "It's apparently your leitmotif. Not only are you Dust dependent, you're also Aura dependent, your powers actively draining you. You either need to work on increasing your Aura reserves, or find a way to use them more efficiently."
I glanced up, and our Aura totals were still displayed. "At least you recover quickly." While nothing close to my apparently prodigious regeneration rates, she seemed to be regaining a bit more than one percent a minute, faster than the others had.
I had to wonder if, by using her Semblance, constantly draining and filling her reserves, she'd increased the regen rate, putting comprehensive Aura research into the giant pile of things I needed to do. Science Talent would help me pick this up quickly, at least the academic aspects of it.
"You're a bit like Yang in that manner," Pyrrha observed.
"How am I like her?" Weiss demanded with a scowl, Yang similarly displeased with the comparison.
Not seeing the correlation, I shot the gladiatrix a questioning look. "When her Semblance ran out, she was taken out of the fight, allowing her a burst of strength before being defeated in all but name. You must have noticed her blows were a shadow of what they started as, before she lost her temper."
I nodded, and Pyrrha motioned towards Weiss, "Her Semblance does not leave her weakened, but consumes Aura, which is effectively the same. I've faced the likes of both of them before. One either needs to weather the storm, like you did, Jaune, or prevent them from getting started, which would go against the point of this exercise."
From the nod she gave me, I got the feeling she thought that I intentionally hadn't blitzed them, as opposed to not being able to. I wasn't exactly comfortable with the credit I didn't earn, and thought about how to change the subject.
"You also have the same issue that Nora has, the requirement of a lead time," I added, latching on to the first thing that came to mind. "For her it's setting up the blow, for you it's casting, which means you have windows of vulnerability. At least you will if it always takes a second or three to use your Glyph, like you did now."
"Hmmmm," added Ruby deep in thought, glancing up at me, "you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"That you're gonna need to baby-sit her in combat?" I asked.
"Yes!" she agreed, pausing. "Well, no. But also yes. Nora need someone to go where she knows they'll be, right?" I nodded. "Well if she's watching Weiss' back, then when she starts makin' with the glowy, they'll go after her, and Nora'll be there to smash them!"
"Nora SMASH!" the hammer-wielder yelled in agreement, shaking her weapon like a Tuskan Raider.
I thought about it. "That'll work on human enemies, and smarter Grimm, but most of the rank and file monsters, as far as I know, just go for whatever's closest. Good idea, though!"
"Fine, I'm a target, and I can't last, and I'm just all 'round horrible!" Weiss pouted, folding her arms. "Anything else?"
"You're not a single target kind of fighter, unless it's the size of the Nevermore from yesterday," I added, ignoring her whining. "However, when it comes to groups you're probably the best one here."
Pyrrha nodded, though Weiss just looked confused. "What do you mean?"
I motioned towards the torn up practice arena. Thankfully we wouldn't be in trouble, Goodwitch coming by and repairing it later, which was kind of ridiculous when you thought about it. While there had been some damaged flooring, and a large crater, mostly from my fight with Yang, the entire space was now pitted, cracked, and fractured, with bits of rubble everywhere. Each of her dome-and-blow moves had been like a car-sized claymore mine, riddling the walls, floor, and even a bit of the ceiling with shards of Dust-made ice, which was more like cold steel, newly created as it was.
"You'll need to worry about fire lines, especially with a speedster and two acrobats as team-mates, but you could probably clear a pursuing pack of Beowulfs in about four seconds, and probably with less of an Aura cost if you just made the parts you were planning on detonating," I suggested, causing her to look at the damage she'd done with a critical eye, and finding herself surprised.
"Oh. I. . . I hadn't thought of that," she murmured.
Pulling from my knowledge of the show, I guessed, "Hmm, wherever you trained had you fighting single opponents, didn't it?"
She started to shake her head no, before pausing. "Mostly, though Winter would provide summons when she was available."
"Winter?" I asked, knowing but trying to get everyone else on the same page.
Weiss brightened. "Yes, Winter Schnee, my older sister! She's a specialist in Atlas' military, and works directly under General Ironwood himself!"
Yang opened her mouth to make a joke, but caught my warning look and small head-shake, thinking better of it. "And, summons?" I prompted.
The heiress nodded. "Oh yes, she used the Glyphs to summon Beowulfs for me to practice on!" Seeing everyone's look, she quickly added, "Not actual Beowulfs, Semblance creations. White and blue instead of black and red, and under her absolute control."
"Of course she could," snarked Blake.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Weiss snapped, good mood gone in an instant.
"It means Blake's fighting me next," I said, cutting off the hidden Faunus, seeing the 'Atlas used Faunus slave labor = Glyph summons are slave fighters' comparison coming from a mile away.
Blake frowned, but leapt off the stands, landing next to me as I stood and following me as I ambled over to the arena, or what was left of it. "Why are you defending her?" the cat Faunus hissed.
"Because judging someone by their family isn't right, or else I'd be a deadbeat that knocked up a grieving widow and split when she got pregnant," I quietly asserted.
She hesitated, before speeding up. "It's not the same," she offered before moving to her side of the arena, not allowing me to respond, causing me to roll my eyes.
Taking my time to walk over, I felt the internal click of a fully refilled Aura, having gotten used to it. I prepared myself mentally, because this fight was going to suck.
Blake was speed in action, not positioning like Ruby was, and if she started using her weapon's kusarigama setting, a sickle on a rope that she could fire the gun component of to make it swing incredibly fast, all I could do was hunker down. There was a reason I was trying to save her for second to last, but I didn't have an excuse to do so, which meant I was very thankful it'd ended up this way.
I wouldn't've had a hope in hell of hanging in long enough to make a good showing of it, let alone winning, if I hadn't.
With my sword and shield at the ready, she pulled her weapon off her back, the sharpened 'sheathe' of her weapon turning it into a cleaver, and charged me, running in like Ren had. However, instead of Ren, she moved directly at me, and I caught the barest hint of her form wavering. I guessed that meant she was ready to leave a semi-solid clone behind, while she was propelled away from it in the direction of her choice.
Knowing it was coming, I let her step into range with a wide swing, her sword hitting my shield as I started to counter attack, her form rippling as she dumped herself out behind her clone, landing and springing high in the air to hit me from above while I hit 'her'.
Taking a page from Yang's book, I turned my counter into a rising slash, which met her own blade's downward swing, her momentum carrying her up and over my head. Using our blade-lock, she pushed herself up and away, but when she was only a few feet distant she cloned herself again, pushing herself forward in another attack instead of fully pulling back, trying to catch me off guard. It was a tricky attack, but I knew she was a tricky fighter, which was why I barely caught the blow on my shield.
She twisted past me, hitting the ground and spinning in a low slash that caused me to jump. She pounced on my locked trajectory, darting forward, blade arcing for my legs. My shield wasn't in position, so I crossed swords with her, or rather her clone, as she popped off to the left and went for my open side.
I kicked out at her, catching the blade on my foot, but given that I was wearing sneakers that didn't really help. Feeling the phantom pain of having my foot sliced in two, I still managed to propel her far enough away to land safely myself. One, I need boots; two, I hate Jaune, I seethed. The boy was wearing less armor than I did when I'd played football for god's sake!
Blake circled me as I considered my situation. Dropping my weapons like I did before would be dumb, the extra range Blake's weapons gave her was an undeniable advantage, and I lacked any sort of real gauntlets to fight with. Then again, playing defensive wasn't exactly working either!
She darted in again before I could think more, turning on a dime right before she hit me and dashing to the left, sliding low with her cleaver. Not thinking, just reacting, I surged forward, blade low to catch her own as I slammed her with a shield bash.
I didn't hit anything, but I didn't expect to, not stumbling as I ran through the hazy form of the clone, Blake having sent herself high with her creation and obviously seeking to come down at me from above, blindsiding me.
That was made more difficult for her by the fact that I wasn't there, not having stopped as I continued to run, taking a wide turn as I didn't stop. I had endurance to spare, and power for days. Why the hell wasn't I using it?
Turning to face her, I rushed forward, swifter than I had before, having seen Ren, and now Blake doing it, the odd style of movement making a bit more sense, and with a bit of the explosive power of Yang's ground-eating strides I closed in on her far faster than she expected, her eyes going wide as she suddenly found out that she was now having to defend herself.
Swinging furiously, trying to make each move flow into the next, I was only the slightest bit successful, but as she fell back, making clones to get away, I followed, keeping the pressure up. Every time I'd hit her I'd step through the blow, every shield bash ready to strike through a clone, and the eleventh hit did it, the shield slamming into her as she cried out in shock, sending her flying a good twenty feet away.
Was this the trick? I wondered, as I closed, Blake scrambling to her feet and slipping her weapon out of its 'sheath', dual wielding the blades, cleaver and katana. Complete aggression? She tried to move in to attack, and I blocked both swings, dual wielding in my own way, her form wavering as she ducked past me, almost running into my legs, her sheath slicing across my thigh but not hitting hard enough to stop me, nor hard enough to be sent flying when I charged past.
She followed after me, going for my back, and I launched myself, pushing my wings from my body to flare outwards and tilt back, sending me upwards in a loop, pulling them in as I came back at Blake, humanoid again.
We met, and, running with my idea, I plowed into her, clone dispersing, not bothering to block her blow as she popped to the left, outside of my sword's range in my right hand. Instead of trying to desperately dodge or block I twisted around, accepting the painful slash across my back, using the energy to move me, and spun as hard as I could.
Her eyes widened as she blurred backwards, jumping forward to slash again as I spun around even faster, riding the momentum from the last turn, and caught her with the blade of my sword before she could touch me, only for it to be another clone as she dodged back once more, darting in for another strike.
Having a feeling it was a trap, I didn't bother to block the blow but instead took two more steps forward as I spun with literally dizzying speed, blade whistling through the air as I hit the Blake hidden behind the clone as she stabbed forward, the same copy that screened her from my view hiding my own move.
With a thunderous crash I slammed into her, sending her flying hard enough to crack the wall when she hit, carving off even more Aura. I had to take a few steadying steps as my head spun from the maneuver, having new appreciation for Nora's skill with it. Glancing up, she was down to 72% Aura, while I hadn't dropped below 90%, or at least having regenerated up to that.
Blake stumbled a bit, falling bits of wall all around her, shaking her head and sending gravel flying. Watching me carefully, she slowly bent down, picking up her weapons, putting the sheath away while she flipped the katana back, mecha-shifting it to a smg.
I took a few steps towards her and she bolted to the side, hosing me down with bullets, but I protected myself with my shield, mostly, the few bullets that hit me feeling more like firm pressure than grievous injuries.
Chasing after her, she ran, leaving behind clones when I got close, until she literally ran out of ammo, swearing to herself as she glanced upwards. I did too, noticing that she'd only managed to shave off five Aura after a minute of sustained gunfire and three magazines of bullets, her own only Aura recovering a single percent in that time.
She popped the magazine out, slammed a new one, her last, if I had to guess, in, and charged, weapon shifting again. Recognizing the kusarigama, I swore internally as her weapon flew past my head while I dodged. I half wanted to grab it by it's ribbon, but I didn't have a free hand to do so with, and spun around when she yanked on the ersatz rope instead. The motion fired the weapon behind me, sending the folded sword-blade sickle returning at high speed towards my back, like a very heavy arrow.
The weapon sparked off my shield, and bounced off, spinning to the side. Blake twisted and yanked the ribbon again, firing the weapon to send it screaming in at me so fast it was hard to see. It closed in a tight arc, one which I barely threw myself out of the way of, but I wasn't the only one to play the 'keep going in case you missed' game. Blake smoothly redirected the weapon, spinning it up and around to come down from above, and as I reflexively raised my sword to block it.
That was a mistake.
Her weapon's ribbon wrapped around my blade, using it as a fulcrum, arcing downwards like the reaper himself swung it. The folded sword-tip slammed into the top of my head with a crack, striking me so hard that I staggered at what would've been an instantly deadly blow had I not had Aura.
I tried to yank the weapon backwards, wrapping the ribbon around my blade, to rip it out of her hands. However, it took half a second to get a grip on the ribbon, and she leapt to the side, riding the force of my pull as it dragged her around easily. She pulled out her cleaver, pulling on the ribbon herself to come in close, fast, and slash at my back as I tried to turn to face her, but I wasn't quite fast enough.
Her blade missed the edge of my shield by inches, slashing into my shoulder painfully, the shield that would've hit her missing by inches as she hit the ground and immediately leapt again, forcing herself up at an odd angle. It wasn't odd a moment later, though, when, yanking on the ribbon around my weapon at the correct angle to pull it off completely, she landed a couple dozen feet away and started to send her weapon spinning with a smug smirk.
Fuck, I thought, knowing what I'd done wrong. I hesitated when she brought it out and lost initiative. Glancing upwards, she was at 73%, but I was now at 70%, even if it did tick up by one. The head-blow had been nasty, and the slash hadn't been much better.
She circled, giving me time to think. Aggression worked. Stupid amounts of aggression worked. Why did aggression work? But the answer was obvious. She'd been taught by Adam Taurus. The Ox Faunus. He'd either taught her to compliment himself, or, more likely, had taught her so he could take her down if she challenged him. Either way, I knew I didn't have the crimson-haired man's skill with a blade, but I didn't need as much when I had a lot more toughness and a boatload more power.
I snorted, shaking my head slightly. It wasn't something I could use against her often. Hell, it was something I wanted patched ASAP, but I could use it here. Hopefully losing to me would cement the need to fill that gap in her training before it was too late.
Blake's step faltered for a second, indecision flashing across her features for some reason before she shook her head as well, steely determination taking its place.
"I think I've gotten you figured out," I told her, trying to taunt her. A calm Blake was a Blake that could probably kick my ass, and I was going to need to pull out all the stops to make this work.
"Oh?" she asked, curious, continuing to pace as we circled each other.
I nodded, trying to figure out attack and counter attack strategies. I couldn't block her weapon, at least not with my sword, and I couldn't forget about her 'sheath' either. "Your Semblance, your weapon, it's all about getting away. Face it, Blake, you're a scaredy cat."
Her step faltered, her weapon going out of it's well practiced spins, and I charged, closing the distance between us in a second, weapon slashing upwards in as close to an iaijutsu strike as I could manage.
I started to hit something, but then my blade passed through the clone.
Blasting through it, my charge having barely paused, her cleaver slammed into my shield and I let it go, reaching out with my free hand and grabbing Blake, who turned to smoke in my grip.
Fuck, she can do that even when grabbed? I thought as I leapt forward, like Yang had, well within the range of her spinning weapon, constantly making her choose do I get stabbed or do I dodge?
I stayed on top of her, and she blocked my sword with her own, only to get punched in the face for her trouble, not able to make a clone fast enough and sent sprawling. Launching herself to her feet, she danced backwards, sending her weapon spinning at full speed, but it had a pattern to it, and I was able to get inside it, but in its path.
Which is exactly where I wanted to be.
Taking the risk, the ribboned sickle wrapped around my torso as her eyes went wide, but didn't bury itself in my side, sparking as it hit my small chestplate. Blake tried to yank it loose, but I grabbed the ribbon with my free hand, running towards her at full tilt, grinning as I closed, glad my other assumption was proved correct. She couldn't clone when hanging on to someone else.
She met my blade with her own, and while she was more skilled, I was quickly closing the gap, our blades pounding out a rapid beat of metal on metal as we traded blows at point blank range. She twisted, striking my weapon to the side and stepped in with a slash, which I accepted, most of the force spent on my armor as I slammed my head into hers, my horns far harder than they looked.
Stumbling backwards, she swung wildly, but missed, and I stepped forward, sword coming in hard. She let go, leaving a clone behind while I was still wrapped in her weapon, but spun away herself as she stumbled, still trying to get her bearings.
Taking another step in, having over-extended what I thought was the match-ending blow and needing to recover, I came in for another as she left a clone behind herself, not running but charging me in a rush, cleaver slamming against my stomach as hard as she could, which only lessened my own momentum as I slammed into her at almost the same moment with my own blade, sending her flying, bouncing bonelessly across the broken ground as the buzzer sounded, echoing oddly.
Looking up, I found Blake's Aura was down to 36%, but mine was down as well, to 44%. Focusing on the screen, feeling my blood pumping through my veins, I searched my side of the display for the 'winner' icon, but it wasn't there. It was, however, on Blake's.
Even as some part of me raged at having lost, I had to laugh, a deep, belly laugh that echoed over the quiet hall. I'd expected to lose going into this, knowing victory was a long-shot, was it any wonder that I did, in reality, lose? The fact that it was so close was a testament to how far I'd gotten from these fights, though, short of working with Pyrrha, I likely wasn't going to be getting these kinds of gains again, the gulf between me and the rest of our teams swiftly closing.
They were all still better fighters than me, in terms of skill, I just had a giant advantage called 'I'm A Fucking Dragon' on my side. An advantage which, against Ruby, and now Blake, hadn't been enough.
Speaking of whom, I looked over, and the girl laid in the crater that Yang had made. Well, she still had Aura, so she was bruised, at worst, and I slowly made my way over, feeling pain in my head, back, thigh, and stomach where she'd hit me the hardest. Sheathing my weapon, I unwrapped her kusarigama from my chest, and came to stand next to her, as she stared balefully up at me.
"I think this is yours," I quipped loud enough for the others to hear, dropping the weapon on her, handle first, which she caught easily. "I don't see why you're mad," I told her, stepping to the side so she could see her status as the winner.
"Scaredy Cat?" she whispered back, tensing as I dropped down into a squat.
I smiled down at her. "The best lies are gilded with truth," I told her, just as quietly. "If you freak out every time someone calls you catty, Blake, they're gonna figure it out real fast. Pretend you didn't like the insult, and that way Yang will repeat it, so if anyone does call you a cat, or remarks on your cat-like behavior, it'll be amusing, not indicative of a badly hidden secret."
"Badly!" she hissed, easily loud enough to carry over to the stands, and I nodded, trying to figure out how to spin this. Ah.
"Yes, you didn't do that badly. Hell, neither did I!" I replied happily, and just as loudly. "Discretion, Kitty. Get some," I warned, quietly, still smiling. I offered a hand, but she rolled over, slowly getting up on her own, the repeated sword strikes to the side appearing to have maybe cracked a rib.
Eh, with Aura she'll be fine in a few hours anyways. The only thing it didn't really work on was potent poisons and the loss of limbs. Weiss' scar was indicative of taking a blow far past what she should be able to handle normally. Ironically, the nature of those wounds meant that one still had Aura leftover, as it kind of pierced the protective field instead of 'breaking' it like it would normally, the extra damage cushioned by the breaking effect. That way truly 'you're screwed' hits gave the user a chance for one, last, desperate attack, instead of being reduced to mortal levels with no injury, only to die seconds later anyways.
Unfortunately, this wasn't some great knowledge hidden in the depths of Beacon's libraries, it came from an insultingly simple 'Your Aura and you!' pamphlet, with the same rabbit that was on my sweatshirt showing you how it worked. Given the only people who awakened their Auras were supposed to be Huntsmen and Criminals because 'it made you extra tasty to Grimm, just like a bowl full of Pumpkin Pete's', whatever that meant, the choice of infantile language had been. . . odd.
Sprains, bruises, and fractures, however, were common enough when fighting, but those were all things Aura could also heal easily, an odd kind of symmetry to it. That didn't make it hurt any less, though.
Collecting my shield, I stiffly walked over as Ruby was geeking out over Gambol Shroud. "And using the ribbon to trigger it is sooo cooool!"
Clearing my throat, I stiffly sat. "Okay, that fight was a bitch and a half. Your Semblance is a pain to fight against one on one, Blake, though you're used to mostly fighting Aura-less enemies like the Grimm, right?"
"Uh, yeah, the Grimm," the Faunus girl laughed awkwardly. Atlas Robots also didn't have Aura, but the only one that could have the excuse of fighting them here was Weiss.
I nodded, moving on, "So you're the Weiss of our team."
"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, annoyed.
Weiss opened her mouth to complain as well about this characterization, but I spoke first. "Mass combat specialist. Her with her Glyphs, and you with the kusarigama." Blake looked at me questioningly. "Curved blade on a rope," I explained, miming her swings. "As long as you don't let them get close, you could carve a bloody path through the Grimm. Well, if they had blood," I corrected.
"And her weaknesses?" Weiss demanded.
"You can't handle a single, strong, and determined foe," I told her, without missing a beat. "Of those of us here, your worst matchup here would be Yang."
"And mine?" the blonde asked.
"Me," I stated. "Or Pyrrha. Not sure about her style, haven't seen her fight." I looked over to the woman in question. "Never watched your tournaments, sorry."
"It's quite alright," the redhead deferred, smiling warmly.
"Either way, someone who can react and handle your strength is bad for you, Yang, Ruby's overwhelming speed's a close second. But Blake," I said, turning back to the cat-girl. "You are, objectively speaking, a better fighter than I am. Your fighting style is just really unsuited to power fighters."
She looked confused, before her eyes widened in realization, then narrowed with anger. Her growled "Adam" was only understandable because I knew what she was likely to say. At my inquiring look, she answered, "My. . . Mentor. He fought like that. Better than you, though."
"Well if he's a combat instructor, I hope he's better," I pointed out, even as the sisters both frowned.
"But, don't you get really good fighting against the guy who taught you how to fight?" Ruby asked, confused. "I got really good fighting Dad and Uncle Qrow. They still beat me, but I was waaaay better against them then I was against the other teachers."
Only Pyrrha seemed to know why that could be, and directed a sad frown towards the brunette. Glancing towards me, she saw that I understood as well, which provoked a look of confusion, but also a commiserating nod.
"There's also the issue that you can't clone if your weapon gets caught, at least not do that and keep your weapon. Is it a range limit?" I asked.
Blake hesitated, before nodding. "It is, but also if someone has a better grip on something than I do. I also need to have a good idea of what it is if I'm going to Shadow it."
Shadow means make a clone, I realized. Someone's a Naruto fan. Or, maybe it's just a coincidence. "So you can't grab an enemy's weapon, Shadow, and run off with it?" That got an embarrassed nod. "Try it and failed?" Another nod. "I'd try the exact same thing."
"And?" Weiss demanded. I shot her a look, wondering what her problem was, but she wouldn't meet my eyes.
"She can't take trash-talkin'," Yang offered.
"Pot," Blake reiterated.
Yang just grinned, "Yep, and I'm callin' the kettle. . . Blake!"
"Oh god," I groaned. "That's so bad it hurts!" Yang's grin just widened, completely unrepentant.
A half second later, Nora erupted with raucous laughter, and we all turned to stare as she gasped for breath, barely getting out, "HA! Cause Blake sounds like black! GENIUS!" and devolving back into laughter.
I waited for her to finish, popping open my second drink as the pain from my injuries slowly lessened and my Aura refilled.
It took her four minutes.
"Ha, Blake!" Nora giggled to herself, wiping tears out of eyes. "So good."
"I. . . try?" Yang replied, obviously unsure and a little uncomfortable.
Ren shook his head, "She gets like this. Blake," he started to say, ignoring Nora's "Blake! HA!", "You didn't use your mini-scythe close in. Is that because you don't know how, or because you didn't get a chance."
The Faunus blinked, "I. . . hadn't really seen the need. If I need a melee weapon, I can shift it to a sword, or use my sheath."
The not-a-ninja nodded, "If you feel the need, I can offer my assistance. It's similar in nature to a weapon I trained with, before settling on my StormFlower." he patted the weapons that were resting in holsters on his thighs.
"Your maneuverability is fine, as is your power," I told her, reflexively rubbing the top of my head, which had gone from a dull throb to a slight itch. "Speed is good as well, you just need to patch a few holes, and refine everything, and you'll be good for solo fights."
"Solo fights?" she echoed.
I shrugged, "Yes? Team tactics is gonna take training, because I don't think any of us have worked in four-man squads, let alone in this squad. We probably want to work with Ruby's team as well. Things can get crazy, and being able to mesh well with them will really help, even if it's just one team coming to the other's aid, which, given Ruby and Yang, we're likely going to do anyways."
"You know it!" Yang agreed with a firm nod.
"There might be more problems with your fighting, Blake," I told her ignoring Nora's muted, "Ha," "But I'm not good enough to tell. Pyrrha might, though."
"Your stances could use some work, you need to practice swinging your weapon when its path is disrupted, and you don't use your weapons in tandem properly, striking with one at a time, or together," the redhead rattled off, Blake looking at her in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry! I thought it was obvious."
"And to her, it is," I laughed, waving towards Pyrrha. "I'm team lead, but I know I'm not an expert in every field, and will defer to those that have knowledge I lack."
Blake looked at me for a long moment, before nodding in agreement. "Smart."
"I try," I smiled. Feeling the familiar tingle of my Aura topping itself off, my pain gone, I winced. "And now, you get to see me get the absolute shit beaten out of me, because I need to learn how to fight with more than strength, we need to see how she fights, and I need to get a better handle on her capabilities." Standing, I smiled at Pyrrha, who was looking at me fondly. "Ready?" I asked.
She lightly leaped down the thirty feet from her position at the top of the stands, casually, as if she were stepping off a flight of stairs. "I am. Are you?"
"Fuck no, but that's never stopped me before!" I offered, smiling as she covered her mouth, laughing at me. "Let's do this thing!"
The professional gladiatrix fell into step beside me, "Yes, lets."