99 The right thing (1/2)

\”Orisa, you promised to let me handle him,\” Tiana said and pointed her battle staff at the Supreme Commander.

\”I stand by what I say because this is my Ninja Way!\” Orisa laughed even louder, causing six pairs of brows to rise up. \”-Fury!-\”

\”What in the damn-.\”

\”-Shock Strike Field!-\” -- \”-Vi Shock Fist!-\” -- \”-Hand of God!-\”

A field of floating bombs appeared all over the hall. Right after that, Orisa summoned two giant fists and threw them at four guards. Two guards didn't react on time and were hit by the fists that exploded with fire, shocking them unconscious immediately after that. Since Orisa lacked severely in raw magic power, her spells couldn't penetrate targets' resistance easily. For that reason, all her attacks contained a sequence of effects, exploding first to create a breach in the defense and then letting the shock effect reach the target's Mana circulation system. Shock Fists and Strike Mines were similar in that regard. Out of two remaining guards, one jumped backward to avoid the fist and landed right on one of the bombs, triggering an explosion with a shocking post-effect. The last guard made an empowered jump upward and was hit by a Hand of God. In a span of three seconds, all four guards ended on the floor.

\”How anticlimactic,\” she said lazily. On the inside, however, Orisa was jumping all over the room and yelling happily. The duel with Nowa and his lessons both gave her a surge of confidence and also added a good layer of tactical thinking to her combat skills. The training of past days was paying off.

\”Useless fools. I'm so tired of being surrounded by incompetent garbage! Why is this happening to me? Always need to do everything by myself,\” the Supreme Commander spat out words in a tone full of hatred and unsheathed his rapier.

\”I'm g-g-giving you a chance to surrender, father.\”

\”But why?\” Orisa exclaimed in surprise. \”We do not negotiate with terrorists!\”

\”You two are completely out of your mind if you think you can get out of here alive,\” he said and took the battle stance, swinging his rapier:

\”-Empower!-\” -- \”-Living Legend!-\”

\”-Empower!-\” -- \”-Way of the Sword!-\”

\”Okay, Tiana, prove him wrong while I'm resting on the sofa over there,\” Orisa said and casually strolled to the nearest couch, putting the backpack with the copying device on the floor. Despite her demeanor, she was nervous and restless on the inside. While she trusted Tiana and her skills, especially after the girl had taken numerous lessons, Orisa still couldn't risk it. After settling down, she slowly started stretching her Mana layers all over the room. While she was doing so, Tiana engaged in combat:

\”-Empower!-\” -- \”-Overtake Cascade!-\”

The spell was designed to turn positive effects on the target into negative debuffs one by one if there was enough power to breach the target's resistance time and time again. Due to gaining much more strength from Empower, the spell could easily rob most targets of their strength and drown them in debuffs. Usually, most people didn't bother with learning anti-personnel magic or counter-spells because their main targets were Beasts, so even a moderate amount of specialized training could turn anyone into a battle maniac.

The Supreme Commander suffered for a moment under a pile of negative effects, then dispelled them and rushed forward after cursing loudly. While being a close combat fighter, he also had several ranged attacks.

\”-Empower!-\” -- \”-Lightning Thrust!-\”

\”-Empower!-\” -- \”-Blazing Wave!-\”

Spell after spell flew from his rapier, covering his hurried advance. Tiana put up a simple barrier and took all of her father's attacks head-on. When the man got close enough to perform a melee strike, she chanted two spells without moving or trying to dodge the swing:

\”-Negative Field!-\”

\”-Guardian!-\”

A sphere of dark-blue Mana surrounded Tiana, covering an area of several meters in all directions. Unable to change his path due to inertia, the Supreme Commander stepped into the field, and his speed dropped down immediately. Orisa knew the spell. It created a multi-layered web of reinforced Mana that could hinder any movement within its radius. Since they were fighting inside the vault, it's floor began to absorb the spell, but Tiana had supplied enough Mana for it to last a few moments. A second later, her deer-guardian appeared to the left and rammed its antler's into the man's side. Tiana dispersed the Field at the same time, letting her father fly away freely.

The Supreme Commander landed on one knee a few meters away and immediately applied a healing effect. Once again, Tiana aimed her staff and turned the spell into a poison via the Cascade Overtake.

\”Ungrateful bitch, I'll make you suffer!\” her father screamed. His pride seemed to suffer a much deeper wound than his side, which made Orisa chuckle with a predatory smile.

\”-Empower!-\” -- \”-Piercing Throw!-\”

The man threw his rapier after empowering it with Mana. Tiana didn't even bother trying to dodge. Instead, her guardian stepped forward and took the hit. As it disappeared, the weapon fell on the floor with a loud noise, and all its power was absorbed by the floor. Her father was on the move again, and his fists were glowing red. He lunged forward, screaming:

\”I'll fix you with my own hands!\”

\”-Rising Smite-!\” -- \”-Falling Smite!-\”

The first golden fist hit the man from below, and the second one caught him mid-air, smashing the Commander into the floor. He yelped from pain, swearing and spitting on Tiana's footwear. His daughter stood motionless, calmly observing him from above.

\”You think… you've won?!\”

The Supreme Commander pulled a dagger from his belt and tried to ram it into Tiana's ankle, but the girl calmly smacked his hand with her staff. A Falling Smite spell calmed the man substantially. He was lying on the floor, panting heavily.