The world seemed to freeze as Judith watched Qui Lin in midair. She was surrounded by at least ten stone warriors all with swords pointed at her. At that moment, the transparent purple rings with symbols around her hands seemed to glow brighter, and then fire erupted in her hands.
She at once used her flames to propel herself out of the spot in which she was going to be impaled from all sides. As she flung herself higher into the air, she wasn't given enough time to react, before two things happened at once.
First, the Recoil of her attack had taken effect, and a considerably larger flame than the one she used to escape the stone warriors' clutches appeared a few feet in front of her and burst toward her.
Expecting this, Qui Lin bent backwards so as to avoid the onslaught of her Alkalis. The second thing to happen were three stone warriors, who had kicked against the other of their kind when they collided, and used the force of their kick to launch themselves higher into the air and toward Qui Lin.
The closest stone warrior to Qui Lin had taken a vertical swing at her with his sword. Anticipating it, she grabbed his arm and directed the flow of his swing to her side, making sure it missed her entirely. To follow up Qui Lin rammed her right foot into the stone warrior's head, so it flew toward the left and crashed into the wall with a powerful thud.
Two more stone warriors were still propelling toward Qui Lin in an arc, as they all began to fall. Standing below Qui Lin were the stone warriors who didn't become airborne. They had dashed to the point where Qui Lin was going to land and all raised their weapons toward her, ready to impale her once she fell.
Not eager to die today, Qui Lin grabbed one of the airborne stone warriors, right after evading its attack. Then blasted the other airborne stone warrior in the face right before it could attack her. With that strike, the stone warrior was sent flying, but not destroyed.
Not forgetting about the other stone warrior in her hand, she pulled him in front of her and in an instant, her Recoil blew up the stone warrior's head. Following this, Qui Lin spun herself and sent the stone warrior she crashing into his peers.
Like a bowling ball and a stack of pins, the stone warriors scattered onto the floor, creating enough space for Qui Lin to safely make it to the ground. Landing gracefully, Qui Lin once more was not given a chance to breathe, as another stone warrior which did not succumb to the fall dashed toward her with its sword outstretched.
It took several swings at her, which she easily dodged. Bending low, Qui Lin knocked the stone warrior off its feet and accelerated its fall with a literal flaming punch, which shattered it into tiny pieces of rocks.
This time, her Alkalis had no Recoil, because it was a manipulated form of fire which was not exactly used as an offensive measure, but rather, a boon to her attacks.
Qui Lin erected herself, then became aware of her surrounding. The stone warriors had surrounded her, but she wasn't done yet. With a grin, she flung herself forward and the stone warriors gathered her.
Their swords swung frantically, as they tried to put an end to her. But with each dodge, Qui Lin rammed her heel into a stone neck, sent a flame rocketed elbow into a stone abdomen and slammed a powerful fist into a stone helmet.
In the span of twenty seconds, it was all over and all the stone warriors were scattered across the floor as pieces of stone debris.
"Is that all you've got?" Qui Lin asked with an ironic smile, then — ignoring Judith, who she noticed was present ever since she made it into the hallway — she turned to a man, who Judith hadn't noticed was standing at the far corner.
Upon seeing him, Judith's eyes lit up, when she realized the man was General Zin Ho, Qui Lin's right hand man and her love interest.
Suddenly, Judith became very apprehensive. Because anytime this man was around Qui Lin, she always seemed to be more aggressive, which meant that if she was in a frying pan before, now she was in the fire.
General Zin Ho smiled from underneath his circular hat, which had covered his face as he was looking to the ground. He raised his hand and a transparent yellow ring circled his arm, and in an instant, the pieces of stone littered across the floor began to vibrate. A second later, the pieces of stone all came together, and bit by bit in a rapid manner, they climbed on top one another, until they rose high into the air. In a span of a couple of seconds, an enormous stone warrior was formed.
"Have fun." General Ho said, while pulling his hat and resting himself on the wall with his arms folded.
With a grin, Qui Lin jolted backwards just before the giant stone warrior had slammed its fist into the spot she was standing on moments prior.
Not wasting any time, Qui Lin summoned a ball of fire in both hands, which she slammed into one another, combing them both. Then she poured a considerable amount of Mana into her flames, so it grew. But as the flames grew, she pressed it together so it shrunk once more.
"Here we go." General Ho said with a bit of irritation when he sensed what she was about to do. And Judith likewise felt the need to take cover because she knew for a fact what Qui Lin aimed to do.
But somewhat eager to see it for real, she found herself frozen in place.
As Qui Lin stood there, growing and compressing her ball of fire, the stone warrior dashed toward her, ready to slam her into a pulp.
Heavy quakes vibrated the ground as it ran toward her, but once it got too close for comfort, Qui Lin made a 180 facing her back against the approaching giant stone warrior. Then opened her palms, like she was about to blow a kiss to a lover. Except instead of a kiss to escape her palm, flames exploded in an outward manner from her palms and toward the open space.
The ferocious flames carried for a second or three, then it finally stopped. As Judith watched, she couldn't help but gasp when she saw the giant stone warrior's fist above Qui Lin, ready to pound her to a pulp.
And rather than dashing forward to escape its radius of attack, Qui Lin sat, and what followed, was a mighty and ear deafening explosion. The Recoil had returned the attack ten fold.
Following the powerful flames, was an intense light and an equally powerful shock-wave. Which had burst from the point of the flames and toward every corner. The shock-wave was about to slam into Judith, but just stopped in front of the threshold.
As Judith felt the shock-wave disperse, a yellow light emitted in front of her, so she knew the room was encased in a Barrier.
But despite this, the Barrier couldn't hold back the vibrations of the blast, which Judith felt the foundation of the building shake to its might. Statues fell, the glass table shattered and several support beams even began to crack.
The flame carried for several seconds before it finally quelled. Judith stopped shielding her eyes and returned her sights to Qui Lin. Upon doing so, she couldn't help but be astonished when she saw that it was only the legs of the stone warrior, standing behind Qui Lin, leaving everything else in the plane of atoms.
Upon seeing this, Judith's eyes widened, as she was reminded once again just how powerful Qui Lin actually was.