[Kingnoname1]

Although Saffron had been confident of enduring Justice's assault she definitely underestimated how quick and brutal it would be with three of his strikes landing before the Faunus could even react. Her semblance managed to absorb some of the impacts but being far less impact based than Justice's previous kicks it was still something. After trying and failing to roll with the punches for a few strikes Saffron quickly realised she would need a new game plan, Justice was proving himself to be a far more effective fighter than she or the announcers had expected. Letting off and air dust round not at Justice rather than to simply get herself away from her opponent's volley of attacks and to one of her hatchets lying on the ground. Quickly reclaiming it Saffron never let her eyes leave her opponent.

Knowing that she would need some help to deal with Justice in melee Saffron tried to soften her opponent up by unleashing a quick volley of her remaining three ice dust shells. This assault was followed up by another semblance boosted boomerang. Trying to by time to think as much as actually win the fight Saffron's mind was whirling as she quickly drew her recently reclaimed hatchet and dropped into a low defensive stance prepared to make Justice pay dearly for any approach.

Status
Aura: 74%(14%-4 from Justice's first three attacks reduced by semblance)
Semblance: 62%, 4% expended
General disposition: Increasing Ferocity

Attacks
Not-Quite-Supercharged Boomerang 5+2%
3x4% Ice dust shells

Hatchets
Hatchet 1: Wielded in Saffron's left hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 2: Wielded in Saffron's right hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 3: Being thrown at Justice. In Boomerang Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 4: Behind Justice. In Boomerang Form. ■ ■ ■ ■

[Mikelobmike]

Justice did his best to avoid overreaching. In this fight in particular, overstepping could cause the tide of the fight to shift dramatically. His last strike was not to the fullest extent it could have been, seeing as the previous one did not hit. The only issue was that his feet were now pointed away from Saffron. In the time it took him to get his feet in position and dodge, he was hit with two shots of ice dust.

Justice took the opportunity to breathe. Time strategizing would go in his favor, anyhow. Superior reflexes in the short term, superior intellect in the long term. "Excellent. I was wondering when you would show some fire." he said, his shit-eating smirk etched onto his face. He stopped his spinning blade, manually disconnecting the razor from the rest of the walking stick. He held the blade in his hand like a dagger, using two fingers to beckon his opponent over condescendingly.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Aura:62%

[Kingnoname1]

Without any stores of semblance Saffron wasn't able to redirect the in-the-air-boomerang to hit Justice after it missed the first time. Instead Saffron used the slight pause her opponent had graciously provided to catch it as the returned as well as reloading all the weapons still in her possession. 'Nice to see I have gotten your attention Justice, now let's see if you can get mine.' Saffron responded with a much more genuine smile on her face. The Faunus was no stranger to battlefield barbs and although there was no real malice behind her words Saffron was gleefully happy with her side of the exchange.

It was tempting to rush back in given her opponent's taunting but for Saffron this fight was about a lot more than the thrill of conflict. She had a message to make and that meant little sacrifices, turning her now reloaded guns back on Justice Saffron responded to his taunts with a cannonade of ice dust shells. Although it was still clear that the fight would be won or lost in close quarters Saffron needed to do everything in her power to give herself a fighting chance next time they crossed blades.

Status
Aura: 74%
Semblance: 62%
General disposition: Disappointed but reemerging confidence

Attacks
4x4% Ice dust shells

Hatchets
Hatchet 1: Wielded in Saffron's left hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 2: Wielded in Saffron's right hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 3: Stored on Saffron's belt. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 4: Behind Justice. In Boomerang Form. ■ ■ ■ ■

[Mikelobmike]

Justice imagined the exchange would go something like that. Saffron had remained stubbornly level-headed throughout their exchanges. This was one situation where her experiences as a faunus in Atlas would be in her benefit. Even while expecting the shots, she was quick on the draw. While dodging, he could not get out of the way of the first shot. He managed the other three fairly well, only getting scraped by the second one.

Justice could not keep dodging bullets forever. He did have a lunch appointment he had to get to at some point after the fight. Closing the distance, Justice went on the attack. One vertical swipe to the chest with his blade. Following his momentum, he turned his body and sent a side kick at her abdomen. He needed to chop down her vertical base in order to gain some leeway in the fight.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Aura: 56%
Swipe: 4%
Kick 4%

[Kingnoname1]

Try as she might Justice was just too fast for Saffron to keep him away. Unlike real life. Saffron thought to herself dryly. It took considerable self-control to not fire upon Justice as he made his approach if she could only land one, and a half, shots at a mostly stationary target she had little hope once her opponent started moving. Instead dropping into a defensive position Saffron met Justice's attack head-on, hoping to find a way to quickly disengage. Parrying the swipe with her two hatchets Saffron had no defense against the following kick which struck too fast for her to get her semblance up in time. As Justice used his momentum to strike at her again Saffron continued to rotate her hatchets so the barrels of her shotguns are still trained on Justice. Then as soon as she got a close enough shot she let off another four shot barrage, this time of air dust.

Having basically swapped sides of the field with Justice Saffron started to slowly walk backwards towards her last discarded hatchet. All the while keeping her guard tight and making sure she would take large enough steps to upset her balance when Justice came at her again. And he would come again Saffron knew that and without any more dust in her hatchets, she was strictly limited in her counterplay options. Although there was a chance Justice hadn't noticed but Saffron wasn't holding out much hope of that, beyond the normal 'expect the worst and you will never be surprised' Justice had proved himself an intelligent fighter. Sparing a half second glance up at the scoreboard Saffron steeled herself with the knowledge that despite all of Justice's skills she was ahead for at least the moment and all she needed to do was to maintain her lead.

Status
Aura: 70%(-4% from the kick)
Semblance: 62%
General disposition: Confident

Attacks
4x4% Air dust shells

Hatchets
Hatchet 1: Wielded in Saffron's left hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 2: Wielded in Saffron's right hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 3: Stored on Saffron's belt. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 4: Behind Saffron. In Boomerang Form. ■ ■ ■ ■

[Mikelobmike]

In Justice’s haste to get within close range, he did not keep himself at a distance suitable to dodge her blasts. Two air blasts to the chest pushed him a few feet back, causing him to roll backwards to get to a vertical base. Justice had to come up with some change in form. At the current moment, he had given up a significant lead.
Flipping the detached blade in his hand, he hurled it over Saffron’s head. Hoping the distraction could cause a momentary lapse in concentration, he ran forward and used his momentum to aim a knee strike just below her mandible.

[Kingnoname1]

Managing to get a fair distance away Saffron sensed her last discarded hatchet with her echolocation and reached down to retrieve it, only taking her eyes of Justice for a tiny moment. It was enough however as her opponent’s weapon stuck just as her defences faded delivering a savage blow to her head sending her stumbling. Hearing Justice coming Saffron steadied herself against the coming onslaught taking the kick on the hafts of her hatchets and trying to spin the Beacon student off balance. Not disengaging again however Saffron followed up this attempt with a quick combination; feinting left, striking low followed by a double strike coming from the right.

Although Justice definitely had the advantage in these close quarters spars Saffron still knew she needed to show she could hold her own. Not only to make Justice question his approach but also to show the audience she wasn’t just running away, that this wasn’t going to be a fluke and she was going to win by skill and strength alone. Still the reality of the situation meant Saffron needed to hold most of her weight on her back foot, in preparation to disengage but it did leave her considerably off balance.

Keeping her empty hatchets out Saffron was hoping to draw Justice into a false sense of security, after which she could pounce on any miss positioning by her opponent for crippling effect. This was helped obvious by Justice actually being in a quite secure position and Saffron being the one who had to constantly back out.’Might as well make it part of the plan.’ Saffron continued to think to herself dryly. There was a second stage to this plan as well, using any breaks in the fight Saffron would continue to use her echolocation but this time find any sort of hidden traps around the arena. The other stadiums had them so it wasn’t unreasonable to assume there would be some here as well, that was Saffron’s hope anyway.

Status
Aura: 61%(-9% from the blade)
Semblance: 62%
General disposition: Distracted

Attacks
3x5% Hatchet strikes

Hatchets
Hatchet 1: Wielded in Saffron's left hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 2: Wielded in Saffron's right hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 3: Stored on Saffron's belt. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 4: Stored on Saffron’s belt. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■

[Mikelobmike]

Plan for any possibility. That was the strategy that made Justice able to hold his own against the stronger, faster fighters. Have a strategy in mind in every eventuality. The thing he forgot to take into consideration was his own failings. His aim was off. The blade fell short of where it was meant to go, stopping as it connected with his opponent. Rather than a graceful, calculated knee strike, the displacement caused him to walk directly into the opponent’s game plan.

Three hatchet strikes to the upper legs caused Justice to fall backwards. That was not a mistake he could afford to make again. He had been getting predictable. There was a pattern to his attacks. Swipes followed by kicks to the extremities. He needed to pull out his desperation strategies.  The blade of his weapon was behind her, and there was no way he was going to get around her to get it.

Thinking quickly, Justice stood up and aimed his weapon at himself. The blade would hopefully deliver a powerful blow to the opponent’s rear flank. As for himself, attacking the limbs again had a high likelihood of failure. Instead, he opted for a full-force kick to the groin. His veneer of sportsmanship had faded, he was not going to be outwitted by this ingrate.

[Kingnoname1]

Continuing to slowly back off towards the nearby hidden dust crystals Saffron was completely caught off guard by Justice's weapon striking at her from behind. The force of the blow caused the Faunus's guard to drop leaving her exposed for Justice’s follow up kick. Managing to get her semblance up in time Saffron was never the less sent tumbling backward a couple meters before she steadied herself again. Rolling on to her feet Saffron tried to subtly swap her hatchets around, taking the loaded ones in hand getting ready for the climax she could feel was rapidly approaching.

Justice was too far away to risk using her last set of shells given his speed, Saffron knew her opponent wouldn’t give her another opportunity to reload again so this was going to be her last chance. Feeling the absorbed energy course through her body Saffron’s quills bristled as the anticipation grew. Spending a few precious moments to ensure a solid base cost Saffron any chance for a counter attack and the coalescing soft brown aura around her legs made clear her next move.

Dropping her arms to her side Saffron sacrificed defense for speed as she set up in a sprinter’s start. She might have to endure another one or two of Justice’s vicious attacks but after that, she would have her opening to end this.

Status
Aura: 49%(-9% from the blade, -9/3% from the kick)
Semblance: 56% 6% Stored
General disposition: Focused and determined

Attacks
None

Hatchets
Hatchet 1: Stored on Saffron's belt. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 2: Stored on Saffron's belt. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 3: Left Hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■
Hatchet 4: Right Hand. In Hatchet Form. ■ ■ ■ ■

[Kingnoname1]

Mike concedes.