The Witch's Mercy
mgl1206
Know what you're doing yet?
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Glynda's thoughts drifted as she watched the fight between Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester. It was the 7th time she'd set them up, and she could hear the voices of her students behind her. The whispers that she hated him, that he'd done something to piss her off. No, that was not the truth, despite what they believed, she did not hate Mr. Arc.
She watched as Mr. Arc brought a heavy strike down onto Mr. Winchester but it was received by his opponent's mace and deflected to the side. Throwing off his balance and leaving his abdomen open to attack. An opening that Mr. Winchester was more than willing to utilize.
Was she disappointed in Mr. Arc? Yes, she was disappointed in him, after all, he had used false documents to enter her school. But that was something she would have forgiven him for, were it not for one thing.
The blow blew back Mr. Arc, sending him flying to the edge of the ring. Clumsily, he caught himself and managed to stop himself from rolling out of the ring. His aura was already below 80%, an indicator of his inexperience and inefficient use of his aura.
He had no training, and he had snuck into a Huntsmen Academy without even having his aura unlocked. It was something she ripped into Ozpin for but she could tell from his reaction that even he had not expected the boy to pull off something so foolish.
After making some distance from the edge of the ring, Mr. Arc stopped and waited for the larger opponent to charge him first. She could see that despite his fatigue, he was far from giving up. For all his faults, Mr. Arc had always been the most tenacious of all her students, and only one of two who had never surrendered in a fight. The other being his partner and mentor.
And that was the crux of the issue at hand. He was untrained in combat, in the use of aura, and in being a Huntsman in general. He was a civilian. And Glynda was terrified.
Mr. Winchester charged the smaller teen with reckless abandon, clearly expecting this fight to go as it had before. But not this time. He was caught off guard when Mr. Arc sidestepped him at the last instant and with a graceful spin -that no doubt came from his dancing background- slammed his sword onto the back of his opponent.
Losing her students was one of the few things that she always dreaded the most. Informing their parents, the grief, the anger, and the despair in their eyes hurt more than any physical injury ever could. And that was just their families. Watching their team and friends shatter arguably hurt worse. The way their eyes lost their shine, their spiral into depression, and the empty seats in her classroom.
The momentum carried Mr. Winchester forward, causing him to tumble across the ground. But true to his years of training, he recovered quickly, and unlike his years of training, she could see fury in his eyes. Something that she knew would get him killed.
That was the real reason she did this to Mr. Arc., why she had to make him hate her. Not because he was weak, not because of his transcripts, but because she didn't want to lose another student. And if that meant breaking his dreams. Then she'd be the evil witch people expected her to be. So long as he lives, so long as she doesn't have to see his team break apart in grief and madness.
Mr. Winchester charged Mr. Arc again and attacked him in a ferocious melee, but Jaune was not about to give in. He took the blows with his shield, patiently waiting for just the perfect time to strike back.
It didn't matter to her that he'd grown faster than any student she'd ever seen. It didn't matter that he was well on his way to his victory in her class. There was just no way for Jaune to catch up to his peers who'd trained for almost a decade, not with only a few months of training.
Suddenly, Jaune struck, ducking under a wild swing by Mr. Winchester, Jaune swung his sword up into a devastating slash. A strike that connected with his opponent's head, disorienting him, but he did not give his opponent a moment to recollect himself and quickly followed up the strike with a shield slam right into his opponent's throat. Lowering his aura well into the yellow range.
She'd seen them of course, Jaune and Ms. Nikos, training on the rooftops at night. Doing what should have been something that was technically her job. But her responsibilities as the Vice-Headmistress and her job of overseeing several hundred aura-powered teenagers had left her with little time to teach Jaune. And the other teachers were equally occupied with the Council not allowing them to hire extra teachers. As such, she had to get Mr. Arc to quit of his own free will. It was the only way to keep him safe.
Jaune took the initiative to charge Mr. Winchester again and attempted to do a shield bash, but it wasn't fast enough. Mr. Winchester dropped his weapon and instead grabbed onto his shield and dragged him to the ground, where he'd be an easy target for his mace.
But Mr. Arc was a stubborn man and he'd endured her attempts, and somehow had managed to thrive under it instead. Perhaps it was because he wanted to prove her wrong. But he never needed to. Glynda knew that Jaune had potential and would have made a wonderful Huntsman, one of the best even. But that was if he had been trained from the start.
But Jaune was not one to give up so readily, keeping his cool under the assault, he waited for the moment when Mr. Winchester used the burn dust in his mace. He had been paying attention and had noticed that Mr. Winchester never used the burn dust more than once at a time. Leaving him an opening to escape from the ground. An opening that had just arrived.
But maybe, just maybe, she was wrong. He had, after all, managed to kill an Ursa Major on his own with no outside training. A feat that very few, almost no one, could claim. She didn't know, maybe she did underestimate Jaune's talent and resolve.
At the perfect moment, Jaune collapsed his shield and rolled to the side, dodging the heavy - but nonexplosive - blow of Mr. Winchester's weapon. Now with an opening, Jaune rolled back and with as much force as he could muster, swung his sword into Mr. Winchester's left shoulder and arm. The same arm that he used to wield his weapon. Sent reeling from the blow and with no weapon, Mr. Winchester was no longer in an advantageous position. Trepidation was clearly visible on his face as he realized that for the first time, he might lose.
Did she want to risk it though? Could she really get past her fear to help Jaune get stronger? She looked at him again, his face full of determination. A far cry from his usually awkward persona.
The two combatants stared at each other before Jaune launched forward in an aura-enhanced rush. Mr. Winchester was unable to do anything as Jaune's ferocious assault left him with little in the way of retaliating. Any attempt he made to try and reach for his weapon was intercepted, and any attempt to try and retaliate was parried, blocked, or simply avoided. And Glynda realized that he had been holding back earlier. He had been aiming for his weapon from the start, and with it gone, there was simply no way for Mr. Winchester to retaliate. Especially when he was no pugilist like Ms. Xiao-Long.
Glynda couldn't help but smile Jaune depleted Mr. Winchester's aura to below red, with his own comfortably in the high yellow. Indeed, despite being aware of his potential, she had still underestimated just how talented he actually was. Perhaps he was on par with Ms. Nikos in that department. Regardless, she had been proven wrong and despite her still lingering fears, she couldn't help but be excited for Jaune's growth.
"Mr. Arc wins this match. Mr. Arc. You let Mr. Winchester underestimate you and disarmed him, taking advantage of his overreliance on his weapon to defeat him. I'd provide other recommendations, but I do believe your partner has that covered." Her praise was met with silence, surprising many of the students who believed she hated Jaune. But the silence was quickly broken by a shout from Jaune's energetic teammate, soon followed by the rest of his team and friends.
"Mr. Winchester, while you performed well initially, you let your emotions get the better of you. Leaving you open to being manipulated and subsequently resulting in the loss of your sole weapon. I do recommend you practice with either a backup weapon or in CQC. Recommendations that also apply to many of you as well." Glynda stated as she glared at many of the offending students, who wilted under her gaze.
"That'll be all for today, class dismissed, and Mr. Arc?" The blonde knight looked up to meet his teacher. "Congratulations on your first win."
———
Hope the way I wrote it wasn't too weird. I was kinda going for a two story thing. Where one is what Glynda is seeing and is the fight between Jaune and Cardin while the other is Glynda's own internal thoughts and the way the fight is going is also kinda how Glynda's own thoughts change as well. At least that was the goal, not sure how well I achieved that or not.
She watched as Mr. Arc brought a heavy strike down onto Mr. Winchester but it was received by his opponent's mace and deflected to the side. Throwing off his balance and leaving his abdomen open to attack. An opening that Mr. Winchester was more than willing to utilize.
Was she disappointed in Mr. Arc? Yes, she was disappointed in him, after all, he had used false documents to enter her school. But that was something she would have forgiven him for, were it not for one thing.
The blow blew back Mr. Arc, sending him flying to the edge of the ring. Clumsily, he caught himself and managed to stop himself from rolling out of the ring. His aura was already below 80%, an indicator of his inexperience and inefficient use of his aura.
He had no training, and he had snuck into a Huntsmen Academy without even having his aura unlocked. It was something she ripped into Ozpin for but she could tell from his reaction that even he had not expected the boy to pull off something so foolish.
After making some distance from the edge of the ring, Mr. Arc stopped and waited for the larger opponent to charge him first. She could see that despite his fatigue, he was far from giving up. For all his faults, Mr. Arc had always been the most tenacious of all her students, and only one of two who had never surrendered in a fight. The other being his partner and mentor.
And that was the crux of the issue at hand. He was untrained in combat, in the use of aura, and in being a Huntsman in general. He was a civilian. And Glynda was terrified.
Mr. Winchester charged the smaller teen with reckless abandon, clearly expecting this fight to go as it had before. But not this time. He was caught off guard when Mr. Arc sidestepped him at the last instant and with a graceful spin -that no doubt came from his dancing background- slammed his sword onto the back of his opponent.
Losing her students was one of the few things that she always dreaded the most. Informing their parents, the grief, the anger, and the despair in their eyes hurt more than any physical injury ever could. And that was just their families. Watching their team and friends shatter arguably hurt worse. The way their eyes lost their shine, their spiral into depression, and the empty seats in her classroom.
The momentum carried Mr. Winchester forward, causing him to tumble across the ground. But true to his years of training, he recovered quickly, and unlike his years of training, she could see fury in his eyes. Something that she knew would get him killed.
That was the real reason she did this to Mr. Arc., why she had to make him hate her. Not because he was weak, not because of his transcripts, but because she didn't want to lose another student. And if that meant breaking his dreams. Then she'd be the evil witch people expected her to be. So long as he lives, so long as she doesn't have to see his team break apart in grief and madness.
Mr. Winchester charged Mr. Arc again and attacked him in a ferocious melee, but Jaune was not about to give in. He took the blows with his shield, patiently waiting for just the perfect time to strike back.
It didn't matter to her that he'd grown faster than any student she'd ever seen. It didn't matter that he was well on his way to his victory in her class. There was just no way for Jaune to catch up to his peers who'd trained for almost a decade, not with only a few months of training.
Suddenly, Jaune struck, ducking under a wild swing by Mr. Winchester, Jaune swung his sword up into a devastating slash. A strike that connected with his opponent's head, disorienting him, but he did not give his opponent a moment to recollect himself and quickly followed up the strike with a shield slam right into his opponent's throat. Lowering his aura well into the yellow range.
She'd seen them of course, Jaune and Ms. Nikos, training on the rooftops at night. Doing what should have been something that was technically her job. But her responsibilities as the Vice-Headmistress and her job of overseeing several hundred aura-powered teenagers had left her with little time to teach Jaune. And the other teachers were equally occupied with the Council not allowing them to hire extra teachers. As such, she had to get Mr. Arc to quit of his own free will. It was the only way to keep him safe.
Jaune took the initiative to charge Mr. Winchester again and attempted to do a shield bash, but it wasn't fast enough. Mr. Winchester dropped his weapon and instead grabbed onto his shield and dragged him to the ground, where he'd be an easy target for his mace.
But Mr. Arc was a stubborn man and he'd endured her attempts, and somehow had managed to thrive under it instead. Perhaps it was because he wanted to prove her wrong. But he never needed to. Glynda knew that Jaune had potential and would have made a wonderful Huntsman, one of the best even. But that was if he had been trained from the start.
But Jaune was not one to give up so readily, keeping his cool under the assault, he waited for the moment when Mr. Winchester used the burn dust in his mace. He had been paying attention and had noticed that Mr. Winchester never used the burn dust more than once at a time. Leaving him an opening to escape from the ground. An opening that had just arrived.
But maybe, just maybe, she was wrong. He had, after all, managed to kill an Ursa Major on his own with no outside training. A feat that very few, almost no one, could claim. She didn't know, maybe she did underestimate Jaune's talent and resolve.
At the perfect moment, Jaune collapsed his shield and rolled to the side, dodging the heavy - but nonexplosive - blow of Mr. Winchester's weapon. Now with an opening, Jaune rolled back and with as much force as he could muster, swung his sword into Mr. Winchester's left shoulder and arm. The same arm that he used to wield his weapon. Sent reeling from the blow and with no weapon, Mr. Winchester was no longer in an advantageous position. Trepidation was clearly visible on his face as he realized that for the first time, he might lose.
Did she want to risk it though? Could she really get past her fear to help Jaune get stronger? She looked at him again, his face full of determination. A far cry from his usually awkward persona.
The two combatants stared at each other before Jaune launched forward in an aura-enhanced rush. Mr. Winchester was unable to do anything as Jaune's ferocious assault left him with little in the way of retaliating. Any attempt he made to try and reach for his weapon was intercepted, and any attempt to try and retaliate was parried, blocked, or simply avoided. And Glynda realized that he had been holding back earlier. He had been aiming for his weapon from the start, and with it gone, there was simply no way for Mr. Winchester to retaliate. Especially when he was no pugilist like Ms. Xiao-Long.
Glynda couldn't help but smile Jaune depleted Mr. Winchester's aura to below red, with his own comfortably in the high yellow. Indeed, despite being aware of his potential, she had still underestimated just how talented he actually was. Perhaps he was on par with Ms. Nikos in that department. Regardless, she had been proven wrong and despite her still lingering fears, she couldn't help but be excited for Jaune's growth.
"Mr. Arc wins this match. Mr. Arc. You let Mr. Winchester underestimate you and disarmed him, taking advantage of his overreliance on his weapon to defeat him. I'd provide other recommendations, but I do believe your partner has that covered." Her praise was met with silence, surprising many of the students who believed she hated Jaune. But the silence was quickly broken by a shout from Jaune's energetic teammate, soon followed by the rest of his team and friends.
"Mr. Winchester, while you performed well initially, you let your emotions get the better of you. Leaving you open to being manipulated and subsequently resulting in the loss of your sole weapon. I do recommend you practice with either a backup weapon or in CQC. Recommendations that also apply to many of you as well." Glynda stated as she glared at many of the offending students, who wilted under her gaze.
"That'll be all for today, class dismissed, and Mr. Arc?" The blonde knight looked up to meet his teacher. "Congratulations on your first win."
———
Hope the way I wrote it wasn't too weird. I was kinda going for a two story thing. Where one is what Glynda is seeing and is the fight between Jaune and Cardin while the other is Glynda's own internal thoughts and the way the fight is going is also kinda how Glynda's own thoughts change as well. At least that was the goal, not sure how well I achieved that or not.
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