She was fighting sloppy. Neo would have said she was on par with Cinder in raw physical combat, if you ignored the impact of semblance. She could use gun and blade better than what was basically a pyrokineticist with decent skill with her swords. She shouldn't have been able to land that half as hard.

So, she decided to test just how out of it Emerald was. When she lunged back in, Neo used her own semblance, letting Emerald get in as close as she wanted, making the fake image of herself look like she was getting hit, like there should have been a spray of blood, right before the thing shattered like glass. Right about that second, if Emerald wasn't careful she'd feel the hook of the oh too resilient umbrella's handle around the back of her neck, Neo seeming to materialize just to the side. She yanked down, and drove her knee right up.

Hard.

She could privately admit to herself that going this hard on an ally could be fun, but she just needed her dazed for a second. if she could get her there, she had an idea. Might just shut her up for a little bit.