The figure in black stood in the darkness, her face hidden beneath the mask. She could already see the steel, out-of-place-looking door on her target's other end of the corridor.
The blaring of the distant alarm resounded through the villa, and a figure in a grey, close-fitting suit with a scale-like texture slowly walked through the last corridor between her and her target.
The suit covered every centimeter of his skin, even his eyes and mouth.
Electricity danced and sparked around a long, curved eastern-styled sword he gripped.
'So you have finally shown up.' Tia carefully stepped back, her eyes not moving from the blade. She had already read the files she got in preparation for her first job.
'Private mercenary, freak, with the power to generate electric current, but without resistance and power to control it. Truly a deadly power for both them and their victims. They had multiple body enchantment procedures, giving them strength and agility far beyond regular humans.'
The scale-suit swordsmen bent their knees and sprung like a spring through the narrow corridor, arcs of electricity jumping from the sword, brightly shining and connecting with metal chandeliers and the ground.
The time slowed down, the girl's mind moving to push her backward without her needing to even move a muscle. She launched backward as if a car had crashed into her.
At the same time, both of her hands, the empty one and the one holding the gun, moved to aim at the swordsman.
Both figures, black and grey, flew through the corridors of white marble floors and white walls, the furniture and flooring shattering and breaking behind them.
Her eyes didn't move from the sword's reflective blade, refusing to let it get closer to her, knowing the electric current flowing through it was potent enough to fry her alive.
"Stop running!" The swordsman's distorted voice boomed again and again as he dashed straight at the retreating girl, swinging his sword again and again. Each swing created more electric arcs and sparks, the blue light brightly flashing through the corridor.
'Such an inelegant and stupid way of fighting.' A grimace of ridicule formed under her mask, seeing that the legendary mercenary was nothing but a fraud.
'A sword in this age? No matter how good you are with a sword, you will always be better with a gun. You are nothing but a trickster using your flashy moves to trick rich customers into hiring you.'
Tia pulled the trigger of her gun, and a bolt of plasma shot out. At the same time, a pulse of powerful telekinetic force discharged from her outstretched palm, the air rippling under its force.
At once, they smashed into the incoming swordsman's chest, and his body froze for a split second before he launched backward, the plasma dissipating on the surface of his suit, leaving behind only a black, seared spot.
With a loud bang, he smashed against a large mirror on the wall, shattering it into dozens of shards.
'Three minutes! I have no time for this idiot.'
The grey silhouette stood from the ground, arcs of electricity shooting from his body as if he had turned into an electric star, his laughter echoing through the corridor, "Hahaha, do..."
With fury at the annoyance, tia dropped her gun and pointed both palms at the swordsman, his sword already moving down to a defensive stance.
'Idiot? What is he going to do? Cut my powers?'
A shockwave sent tremors through the foundation of the villa as a force enveloped the sword maniac, his body freezing on the spot.
His muscles visibly bulged and tensed as he pushed against the invisible restraints, his feet pushing against the floor with such strength that the stone tiles cracked and shattered. The lightning dancing around him illuminated the entire corridor in flickering blue light as he walked slowly, step by step.
"You can't stop me! You can only delay it, but eventually, my sword will catch you!"
'And I was the one locked up and called insane... Anyway, I should call this technique furnace or something like that.'
The bright orange light pushed back the blue light, mixing together as a wide and thick stream of fire surged from her second palm, creating a slight tingling feeling on her skin.
The current of fire and telekinetic fire mixed together, creating a super-speeded spinning and rotating river of fire that enveloped the entire corridor in a searing inferno.
Sweat poured down her forehead as her mind moved, and the energy flowed through her veins that visibly pulsed and glowed under the skin hidden beneath her mask, the fire intensifying with each passing second.
The electro-sword maniac kept slowly moving forward, his suit turning red from the heat while the surrounding concrete cracked and melted under the fire's combined physical force and heat.
The fire obscured his form, except for his sword glowing with electricity as her telekinesis pushed the flames and concentrated them in a sun-like sphere of pressurized fire around him.
"Truly pathetic. Without your suit, you would be nothing! You be destroyed by your powers!"
More and more energy flowed into her palms, fueled by her frustration. The fires and force intensified, and the figure enveloped in fire stopped, collapsing to the ground while screaming as he cooked alive.
'Two and half minutes. But the greatest obstacle was eliminated' Tia stared at the door at the end of the corridor, her target right behind them.