Facing the unexpected situation of seeing not her most powerful but a strong, quick and precise attack being stopped so easily, Selphira decided to increase the power she invested.
If that initial force wasn't sufficient then she'd escalate until finding the level needed for surpassing the resistance Orion was opposing.
She channeled more mana through her spear. The energy intensification making the weapon glow with increased brightness as the energy compressed into a structure already operating near its containnt limits. Ice was beginning to subli at the edges where the mana concentration beca too intense for any material to maintain a solid state.
And she pushed harder.
An application of insane force increasing as her fusion permitted the matriarch to access muscle capabilities normally blocked behind limiters preventing self-damage through overexertion. Even her now rged body with the muscles and bone of her Genbu wasn't ant to operate at these levels.
But healing bypassed those limits…
Genbu's durability wasn't the only thing reinforcing her physical structure. The light from her armor and internally controlled healing blessed water were letting her push with a strength that should shatter her own arms but instead transferred cleanly into the weapon and through it into the barrier.
The spear's tip scread against the barrier surface. Crystalline structures ground against each other generating a high-pitched wail making nearby soldiers clap hands over ears and back away further.
Light flared where the spear t the barrier. Purple and white energies clashing in space between them. Creating a corona of mixed radiation that would be lethal to anyone without Gold-rank mana density protection standing too close.
The spear's power seed to purify a good part of the barrier's corruption… But didn't achieve overcoming its function as a shield.
Regardless of how much she increased the power investnt. The barrier remained at least half corrupted and not letting her move the spear through even 1 millitre. Resistance showed no signs of yielding even when Selphira committed resources pushing her dangerously, rapidly close to the exhaustion that would co when fusion dissipated.
And Orion still waited patiently.
Watching with a predator's attention, trying to recognize the exact mont when prey committed too completely to an action course and beca vulnerable to a counterattack exploiting that over-extension…
'NOW!'
In a fraction of second when she was transitioning from full offense to balanced stance, when her guard was montarily incomplete, Orion struck with unexpected timing that was perfect in execution.
A black energy ray interwoven with the corrupt purple launched from Orion's position. Projection crossing the short distance in a fraction of a fraction of a second without giving any ti for evasion when Selphira had just finished pushing against the barrier and her power had been fully used.
The timing was beautiful in a terrible way. And the hit was not a simple blast but a precisely shaped beam optimized for concentrated power rather than area of effect. And it arrived from an angle she hadn't been watching. Exploiting the visual gap the light of her own attack had created. Path she hadn't adequately protected because all her energy had been focused there anyway.
But Orion had waited for just the mont her "offensive shield" died.
His attack impacted with insane power.
The energy transferred overloading defenses that made a strong cracking sound.
And it literally sent her flying.
Montum launched her backward dozens of ters before she impacted the ground with enormous force.
The impact wasn't a clean landing or controlled fall. It was a crash. She struck at an angle driving her deep into soil. Creating a crater that would've been just a stain in the ground for anyone with a slightly less durable body.
♢♢♢♢
In the academy, several hundred kiloters distant from where Selphira had been hit head-on by Orion, Ren and the other defenders continued fighting without rest for appropriate recovery.
The battle that had begun with energy and determination had now transford into an endurance test of who could maintain functionality longer under a pressure not diminishing regardless of how many mutants were eliminated.
The dead littered the arena floor creating obstacles that the living had to climb over or circle around. Purple blood mixing with a bit more red now. Corrupted flesh dissolving slowly into puddles that stank of wrong nature and acrid smoke rising from places where fire techniques had cremated enemies mid-combat.
And still coming…
More tunnels opening, more mutants erging. The flow sustained at rate suggesting truly massive numbers or insane sustainability by so chanism replenishing forces.
Many students were already close to completely running out of energy.
Reserves drained to the point where manifesting beasts outside the body beca impossible. Many had already withdrawn their creatures to their body since the protected mana bodies beca too expensive to sustain.
Especially those lacking two beasts to alternate between them. A rotation permitting one recovering while the other operated. Load distribution helping them to extend sustainability considerably.
Single-beast tars were expectedly hitting walls first. So they had to leave and hide in the arena top now, knowing that when they reached emptiness, they'd beco liabilities rather than assets. Dead weight other defenders would need shielding rather than combatants contributing to shared survival.
The defenders were diminishing.
The mutants kept coming.
Pressing advantage that ti itself provided as human endurance wore down against the seemingly inexhaustible enemy numbers.
Ren looked around at faces he knew. Almost everyone looked exhausted.
But at least those who were dual-beast tars had beco more efficient as they gained real battle experience that simulations could never completely replicate.
They learned to coordinate their beasts in ways maximizing effectiveness while minimizing expenditure. A refinent that arrived from necessity when the alternative was the collapse that would leave them exposed to the threat.
Few dual tars had completely lost one of their beasts. Eliminations that had occurred when errors or bad luck resulted in sufficient damage cutting the bond before the tar could withdraw the creature to safety.
They were losses weighing on morale as much as on defensive capacity. Figurative deaths serving as preliminary reminders that this wasn't an exercise but a confrontation where consequences were permanent.
And that situation also generated more weight on those who remained functional.
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