The Paladin, despite his tattered appearance, bellowed with a voice that resonated across the battlefield, betraying no hint of his injuries. "Haha, your sorcery is no match for the true power of courage!" he proclaimed, his tone infused with unwavering conviction.
Tia wasted no time in responding. The world seemed to blur into streaks of color as she harnessed her kinetic powers, her movements swift and fluid.
'Only idiots do monologues on a battlefield.'
As she sped up, the array of guns still orbiting her unleashed another volley. Beams of energy, vibrant and bright, shot toward the Paladin. But around him, shields of radiant light flickered into existence, repelling each assault with an ethereal shimmer.
'Let's see how resilient your mind is.'
Tia's focus shifted inward, channeling energy to the core of her mind. A warm sensation radiated across her temples and forehead. The chaotic battlefield around her seemed to slow, each moment stretching out as she reached out with her mind.
In the distance, she sensed the Paladin's consciousness—a presence crackling with energy like static from an antiquated machine. She pushed against it, extending the ethereal tendrils of telepathic force. Yet, as they neared his mind, they were halted by an unseen barrier as unyielding as steel.
"No witch shall desecrate my sacred thoughts, you tot!" The Paladin's voice thundered, brimming with defiance.
Tia wasn't surprised, not hoping for much from a level-one ability.
In an instant, he turned into a blur of light and metal, charging towards her like a racing car crossbred with a tank.
Tia's perception of the world shifted into overdrive, and her surroundings became a whirl of colors and shapes as she tapped into her kinetic powers. Her body moved and sped even further, the chilling air blasting against her skin.
"I need to keep him at bay," Tia thought, her eyes tracking the Paladin's swift approach. The ground itself seemed to tremble beneath the heavy thud of his armored strides.
Harnessing her telekinetic prowess, she unleashed a barrage of fiery blades. Forged from her offensive ring and glove, each blade blazed through the air like a scorching missile, their intensity rivaling the firepower of her guns.
Guided by her heightened magical intuition and a mind honed by countless battles, she directed the blazing projectiles with lethal precision.
Her magic-intuition and enlightened mind allowed her to guide the energy with ease.
The Paladin halted his charge and raised his hammer high, summoning a radiant barrier of light around him, his heavy metal shield placed in front of him like a wall of metal and light. The air crackled as Tia's fiery blades struck the barrier, each impact sending fiery ripples and sparks cascading across its luminescent surface.
'Beating up paladins in a battle of attrition is impossible.' Tia mused, recalling her past experiences.
Paladins were not using their own energy; instead, they were using their devotion and faith to extract energy from their deities. As long as one kept believing they would never run out of it.
'I must shatter his defenses with brute force, faster than he can recover,' she resolved. With the red-eyed noble's watchful gaze upon her, giving all the assurances she needed, Tia clenched her jaw, determination etched on her face.
The energy swirling around her intensified, becoming a whirlwind of raw, controlled power.
'This needs to be like the incident with the baron—only bigger and more precise.' She focused, channeling all her might into a decisive strike.
The syringe pierced her skin repeatedly, each puncture allowing the potent mixture from her potions to merge with the surging energy within her.
As if gravity were reversed, her body lifted off the ground, her hair whipping around her in a wild, untamed dance. The purple radiance of her power became so empowering that it became visible, and her eyes turned into glowing stars.
The energy, bringing waves of euphoria with it, made her warp with a broad grin.
She no longer cared, her only goal being to destroy the annoying paladin.
With a ferocious scream, "Die!" Tia unleashed the pent-up energy into her glove. Agonizing pain coursed through her as if every cell in her body was ablaze with the unrestrained power surging within her.
The energy, amplified by her glove and ring and bolstered by the potent potions in her veins, catapulted her temporarily to an E-rank level of power, capable of leveling a small building with a single, focused burst.
Meanwhile, the Paladin, shrouded in his radiant aura, charged forward, not caring about the onslaught of plasma battering him, the scorching molten metal from his armor trailing in his wake, his senses honed in on Tia's impending attack.
The distance between them quickly shortened, with only half of the original remaining.
"Die!" Tia's shout rang out once more, her voice a mix of pain and fury. The overwhelming energy threatened to consume her mind, which was now wholly focused on channeling the immense power without succumbing to it or inadvertently causing her own destruction.
(Empower -> Enchant) -> (Empower -> Control)
As the quartet of magic runes flickered into life around her glove, a semblance of stability returned to the raging energy, and the turbulent purple maelstrom that enveloped Tia calmed down.
"Die, you heretic!" The Paladin's battle cry cut through the air as he surged forward with astonishing speed, reminiscent of a high-performance sports car. He plowed through the snow, leaving a tumultuous trail of dust and ice in his wake.
Only a third of the original distance remained between them.
Despite the energy storm overwhelming her senses, Tia's resolve crystallized. She understood the necessity of concentrating every ounce of her power into a singular, devastating strike.
(Empower -> Enchant) -> ((Empower -> Speed), (Empower -> Strength), (Empower -> Heat))
With the final set of runes igniting, the intricate runic structure blazed with intense luminosity, forming a dazzling spectacle. The brilliance of the runes, however, was momentarily eclipsed by the approaching Paladin, his figure now almost entirely enveloped in a blinding white radiance.
With a maniacal gleam in her eyes, Tia thrust her gloved hand forward. In that instant, a surge of energy, drawn from her energy-storing cells and deep within her mana core, coursed through her and joined the energy already surging around her.
It flowed through the intricate enchantments of her rings and gloves, magnified by the runes she had cast.
With an explosion, a devastating torrent of kinetic energy, interlaced with searing flames, erupted outward, expanding rapidly into a lethal wave of fiery annihilation.
The intense heat scorched Tia's skin, which miraculously healed and then burned again in a continuous cycle, fueled by her evolved cells and the potent potions in her bloodstream. The pain was absent in her frenzied state, her eyes reflecting the unbridled madness of her berserk fury.
The fiery torrent with an earth-tearing bang smashed into the quickly approaching light, the shockwave sweeping across the plains.
The sphere of flames, now sharpened and solidified by kinetic force, expanded explosively, obliterating everything in their path with a force rivaling that of an aerial bomb, surpassing even the destructive capabilities she had witnessed in her battle against a military drone.
As the flames receded and the dust settled, Tia collapsed to her knees, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Every fiber of her was burning with the aftermath of her monumental exertion.
[Novice Runic Spellcraft (65%)] -> [Novice Runic Spellcraft (85%)]
"You did well; now you can rest. We will talk once you wake up. There are still a few hours remaining from the day you mentioned, but I will take care of the rest." Then a warmth enveloped her, but Tia only closed her eyes, too tired to even care.
(AN: Phhh, dang, today I wrote words equivalent to three usual chapters. It was tiring, but also fun. Anyway, this filled the missing gap nicely, I think. I will also edit that chapter from yesterday, but you don't have to reread it as it will only connect better to this.)