Tia stood sentinel atop the tall building, her lilac eyes locked on the menacing swarm of drones that raced toward her, their engines reverberating like the growls of predatory beasts hunting their prey.
Then, in a blaze of brilliance, a bolt of azure light cleaved through the sky, hitting and obliterating one of the drones. It plummeted earthward, a smoldering husk glowing against the sky like a dying star.
'So this is what she was doing!'
Reacting instantly, a trio of drones broke formation and veered toward the source of the attack.
'No, this thing again,' Tia thought, her eyes narrowing as she caught sight of the ominous blue flashes accumulating beneath the hulls of the drones.
Propelled by a surge of kinetic energy, she catapulted herself off the roof's edge, surrendering to the pull of gravity as the world around her became a dizzying blur.
The night sky erupted in a chaotic light show; plasma bolts descended like blue meteors, detonating upon impact as they landed on the roof and walls of the building she just left. Pieces of concrete and steel were flung skyward.
She flung herself to the side, dragged by the invisible ropes of energy, rapidly shifting her direction as she slalomed between the explosive rain of bolts passing by her. She knew she couldn't hold like that for a long time as her energy was running out in rivers while her body was getting strained.
Yet she wasn't desperate, knowing she just needed to hold up with the backup already coming.
'I can probably take one more dosage of my potions before risking overdosage.'
Midflight, she raised her pistol and wand, putting them side by side while her eyes brightly shone.
'Infuse linked with Sharp and Enchant linked with Power and Heat.'
A torrent of mana-infused energy surged from her gun's muzzle, its raw power augmented by the radiant runes around it muzzle. As it passed through a conjured circle of magic conjured by her wand, the bolt's glow intensified to blinding levels, transforming into a cobalt streak of light aimed at one of the skyward drones.
Almost instantly, the shot reached a drone high in the sky, turning it into a firework of disintegrating metal and flames that plummeted toward the streets below.
'I have truly grown stronger!' Tia felt the joy and excitement course through her as she landed with a roll on the next roof. The foe that previously almost killed her now fell from the sky with just a single strike.
Not giving her any respite, more azure lights flashed in the sky, and the heavy bolts descended down like a meteoric swarm. Gritting her teeth in resolve, Tia suppressed the agony that ached through every muscle, transforming herself into a streak of black and platinum shooting across the roof.
Exhaustion weighed heavily on her, her limbs pulsing with spent energy. 'Now is the time to use it!'
With a swift jab, a needle pierced her skin. Almost instantaneously, her agony abated, soothed by a rush of rejuvenating power that coursed through her veins.
At the same time, the barrage of plasma bolts slammed into the building beneath her, shaking its very foundations—all the bolts slightly derailed by her power, just enough to not directly hit her.
The roof collapsed straight beneath her feet, the concrete and steel confetti falling to the burning inferno below while searing heat enveloped her, causing her hair to dance in a frenetic ballet.
"Ahhh!"
With her skin regenerating, she aimed her gun and wand once more without stopping her desperate sprint as she leaped off the collapsing building, once again soaring above the streets below.
'Haha, die!'
A radiant bolt of energy coalesced amidst spinning magical runes, ascending skyward like a comet defying gravity and striking the drone in an explosion of plasma that sent the molten metal raining down.
'Fourth down.' She counted the amount destroyed, yet, to her desperation, more than six still remained, hovering in the sky, and her gun was out of charge.
She landed on yet another roof, her legs already hurting from all the impacts. 'I hate this job...'
At the periphery of her vision, an azure beam lanced through the sky, culminating in an eruption of fire and metal as it struck down a drone. Fragments of the drone rained down like metallic hail onto the deserted streets below.
'Five down, but still no backup!' Tia clenched her fists, feeling betrayed and abandoned once more.
However, just as she started to question if they were left to die, the air temperature plummeted. Each exhaled breath materialized into a misty cloud, drifting lazily before dissipating. The drop in temperature continued, and frost began to etch itself onto every available surface, creating ice crystals.
'What?!' It all happened fast, as just a second earlier it was summer, and now it was like winter.
She watched in awe as the frost enveloped the drones, encasing their weaponry, engines, and even their sensory equipment in diamond-like tombs shimmering in the sunlight.
'Cryokinesis?'
In the next instant, the atmospheric temperature surged.
The ice melted, and the drones emitted a chorus of metallic groans and sparks, their once-rigid structures warping and contorting. As if yanked down by invisible hands, they plummeted from the sky like a flock of dead birds.
Exhausted, Tia collapsed to her knees with the melted ice drenching her clothes, her breath coming out in ragged gasps and her hair disheveled.
'No, this is a work of a thermokinesis user, and likely an ally at that.'
The air shimmered, revealing the sleek black hovercar she had ridden in previously. There, standing in its open door, was the handler. Her hair billowed around her in the wind, and her outstretched palm glowed with an ethereal light, frost and flames still dancing around her long fingers.
'So, she truly has such power. Just a single grade of difference, yet she can destroy so many drones.'