The Binks Assassination, part 3/4

With a swift, synchronized motion, the five bodyguards unsheathed their firearms, pulling the man in the pristine white tuxedo to safety.

With a graceful smile, Tia delicately lifted her mask and effortlessly stored it within her mystical ring.

"Get down on your knees!" The guards bellowed. Unfazed, she simultaneously brandished her wand and pistol.

'It looks like they did not recognize my face. I thought I would be more famous and notorious by now.'

As gunfire erupted, the corridor became a canvas of light and shadow. Muzzle flashes illuminated the mirrored surfaces, creating a dizzying play of reflections. Green-hued plasma bolts, luminous and menacing, streaked toward Tia.

Without any hurry, all of them were flung to the sides, deflected from their trajectories by the combination of Tia's telekinesis and pyrokinesis.

She took a step forward, her eyes shining.

"Damn it!"

"Fire! Don't stop!"

The two guards remained on the spot while the three remaining ones grabbed Darian by his collar and turned to run.

But Tia was already in motion. She launched herself forward, slicing through the corridor with the grace of a dolphin cutting through the water. Green plasma bolts flew around her like torpedoes gone awry, their deadly intent reduced to a harmless blur.

The three guards and the white suit vanished behind the corner.

'Shit, he is running away!'

On the move, Tia pressed the trigger of her gun twice, and the two bright blue bolts smashed into the chests of the two guards. Screaming, both were propelled backward and crashed against the metal walls, smoke rising from their seared suits.

A realization dawned on Tia. 'Those suits... they're designed to dissipate heat. Interesting. I should get something like that.'

Time seemed to stretch, yet in reality, mere seconds had passed. Covering ten meters in a heartbeat, the end of the corridor neared. Without hesitation, Tia squeezed her trigger again, directing the energy bolts straight at the faces of the grounded guards.

'Two down.'

<Basic Telekinesis VI (18%)> --> 20%

The burned viscera splattered on the walls, but Tia paid them no more attention as she dashed straight behind the corner, trailing her prey like a hungry wolf.

The instant her feet made contact with the floor, a crushing wave of pain surged upward through her body. As though she had stepped onto a live wire, every nerve alighted with searing agony. Her hair, previously flowing smoothly, became a wild tempest around her, each strand animated by the intense energy coursing through her.

A bodyguard knelt on the floor, electricity flashing, arcing, and sparking between his palm and the metal floor.

'Electrokinesis!'

Tia tried to move her muscles, but she couldn't, entirely paralyzed by the electricity streaming through her body.

Even though the electricity flashed around her as it violently surged through her, the damage was small. She could feel the energy of the attack just course through her bones, muscles, and even organs without any resistance, not producing deadly heat damage.

'Is this because of my evolved cells?' With a pulse of her mind, a large wave of energy rose within her body. The air shivered and vibrated while the surrounding temperature quickly increased.

Despite her body suffering and trashing, every cell aflame with agony, her mind remained a sanctuary of calmness.

Suddenly, the sharp sting of a syringe penetrated her skin. An immediate icy relief followed as her damaged tissue regenerated and the pain dulled, the healing potion coursing through her veins.

In an instant, a tempest of fire, coupled with a forceful surge of kinetic force, erupted from her like a volcanic blast, surging through the corridor and blasting down on the bodyguard.

The electric current relented and vanished, freeing Tia. 'Huh? He deflected it?'

She immediately raised her gun, already feeling like something was deflecting her attack from its path. It felt as if she were a river rushing down a hillside, flowing around a sharp piece of rock amidst the current.

As fast as the flames appeared, they vanished. The walls, once shiny, now bore a deep crimson hue from the intense heat, and their metal panels warped and contorted.

The man in the black suit, standing in the destroyed corridor, moved. Smoke wafted around him, birthed from the superheated, red-glowing floor around him.

He raised his head, revealing his scarred face with a grin plastered on it. "Haha, this... I love this! Blast me again!"

With a mere lift of his arm, the metal walls groaned in response.

In the blink of an eye, the metal panels tore free, hovering menacingly beside him. Arcs of electricity danced between them, their brilliance mirrored on every reflective surface around them, crafting a dazzling, almost hypnotic display.

'This is how he deflected my power! He doesn't control just electricity, but electromagnetism!'

Echoing footsteps resonated from all directions, rapidly converging on their location. Tia felt the urgency, knowing she had to act fast.

'Let's end this. I have no time to play here. The best trajectory is to overwhelm his defense with a single concentrated attack.'

Tia raised both her gun and wand and aligned them side by side, pressing them together. Energy pulsed from her fingertips, channeling into the wand. Moments later, five luminous runes materialized, encircling the wand's tip and the muzzle of her gun.

'Infuse linked with sharp. Enchant linked with speed and power.'

At the same time, the metal fragments rocketed toward Tia like a hail of massive bullets, all while being shadowed by a swirling tempest of lightning.

'Now!'

Tia squeezed her gun's trigger, and in an instant, half its stored energy was expended, firing the blinding wall-buster bolt. The corridor was awash in a radiant blue luminescence, magnified further as it coursed through the magic circle.

With her lightning-fast reflexes, her mind touched the bolt mid-flight, her eyes shining as it sped up even further, and its temperature and brightness intensified once more under the influence of her Esper powers.

'Magic, technology, and my esper power all playing together. How beatiful!' She felt the joy of improving and exploring the possibilities.

The man reacted, and the levitating metal plates, previously set on assault, swiftly reconfigured, positioning themselves as a makeshift shield against the incoming projectile.

The supercharged wallbuster bolt smashed through all of them, burning holes right through them as if they were just paper, leaving only a trail of molten metal and blue haze in its tracks.

In the blink of a human eye, it collided with the esper's electromagnetic barrier, creating ripples in the very fabric of the air.

A resounding explosion of plasma echoed throughout the corridor, forcing Tia to instinctively cover her eyes. The ensuing wave of heat and force swept past, making her dress flutter and her hair dance wildly in its wake.

'Such firepower... with this, I can probably even take one of those pesky drones in a single shot.'

The next moment, it subsided, and she opened her eyes. The bodyguard was gone—only the smoking boots with the bottom part of his feet were still left on the ground.

The entire hallway was burned and destroyed after their confrontation. With her heart still pounding with excitement, she shot forward, her eyes maniacally dilated.

Beep!

<<<>>>>

<Basic Pyrokinesis I reached proficiency 100%>

Distributing rewards:

<+2 esper points>

<Stat points gained: +2 WIL, +2 ENE, +2 INT>

<Basic Pyrokinesis I> --> <Basic Pyrokinesis II>

<<<>>>>

<Basic Telekinesis VI (20%)> --> 26%

Her force lashed around, and the doors busted off their hinges as she ran down the metallic hallway, her tendrils of kinetic energy wrapping and searching every inch of every room.

'Where did he go?' The distant steps of the reinforcement were getting closer and closer—she knew she needed to hurry up.

Suddenly, her eyes flashed, and her face warped into a grin. 'I found you, you little turd.'