Lila had been throwing her icy missiles like there was no tomorrow. The Chrono she was up against didn’t have any ranged attacks, so she intended to keep him away as long as possible. That was until he started using her powers against herself.

She dove to the side as another icicle came back her way.

How the heck does he keep doing that? I feel like that makes him way too strong. He can just keep sending them back at me? Every class I’ve seen so far has some kind of limitation. What’s his?

Lila thought all this while preparing three more slugs. She had started to use up her mana reserves a little more than she intended and had opted for making slugs instead of the frosty shards. By not making them sharp, she saved a few mana points on each shot. Anything she could save, would benefit her in the long run. She could tell that this was not going to be her only fight.

She fired off the slugs, two of which landed. The remaining one was fired straight back at her as if it had reached the end of a rubber band.

It was only the one that had made contact with his hand. He must be channeling his power that way.

Lila skirted around a building hoping to flank an unsuspecting time shifter. It didn’t work. He was there in an instant.

How did he move so fast? There’s no way he made it here already.

A palm strike landed on her midsection. She was launched backwards, gasping for air. He lunged again, this time using his time magic. She froze. He capitalized. A series of strikes landed on her head and body. A moment later time resumed for her and pain raced across her entire body. She fired off two quick slugs of ice, both of which connected. He was knocked over clutching his forehead and side. Now it was her turn to attack.

Lila pounced on the wounded man with a glacial hand extended. She grasped his arms and channeled her freezing energy. He screamed in pain as his arms began to turn black, frostbite already setting in. He kicked her away causing her to lose her grip. He hovered his hands over the wounds and they began to visibly heal.

Oh no you don’t!

She pounced again, this time aiming for his hands. He seemed to realize her intent and suspended her once again. She floated in the air, watching as he retreated. All the while, she was seething.

This is the worst! I should have the advantage, but anytime I get close, he stops me. Literally!

She unfroze, quicker than she had before. It appeared the Chrono was starting to exhaust his resources. She began hunting her prey down. There was not way she was going to let him go. She had seen what direction he had gone, but he had ducked into an alleyway and she lost sight of him. She pursued him as far as she could but didn’t see any sign of him. She started to head back but realized she made a miscalculation.

Up until now they had been fighting five opponents. The two Mights, two Elementals, and the Chrono. The Mirage had been killed by their leader, but the illusion he had used included one more person. The woman standing right in front of her.

In all the confusion, it was easy to lose track of stuff. She had no idea where Alex and Cameron were. She had seen Sophia and Ethan a couple times.

How could I be so stupid? It’s not that hard to count. I should’ve known there was another one somewhere. Why did she wait so long? I haven’t seen her make a move yet.

Not leaving Lila anytime to think, the woman attacked. Lila clutched her head as a migraine assaulted her. Lila had gotten the occasional migraine before but this one was on a whole other level. She felt like an axe had been planted in her head and then attached to a car battery. She was seeing double and a lot of bright flashes. The woman started to strut forward, an obnoxious smile on her face. Blood started to fall from Lila’s nose and eyes. She had enough peace of mind to erect an ice wall between herself and the woman.

She was likely a Psion from what Lila could piece together with her shattered mental faculties.

At least she shouldn’t be able to do much to me physically. With this wall in place I should be mostly safe. I just need to find a way to stop this mental barrage. Maybe her powers take a lot of focus to use. I should disrupt her somehow.

It was hard to think. It felt like every time she started to form a coherent thought, a ball bearing hit her in her forehead knocking that thought right out of her head. Her mind felt like it was falling apart. She didn’t know what to do, so she just started firing splinters of ice from her ice wall. She couldn’t spare enough thought to aim. Each shot fired off randomly. She had no way to know whether any of her attacks were landing, or if she was just wasting her already limited resources.

Eventually, Lila couldn’t take anymore and collapsed to the ground. This surprisingly allowed her to alleviate some of the mental pressure. She didn’t know if it was because she was no longer struggling as much or if her not using mental energy to remain standing was the cause, but frankly, she didn’t care too much. She could now think, even if it was just a little.

She tried to recall all of the tools she had in her arsenal. She could use her ice powers and had an entire labs worth of weapons and armor. She had heavily sought things that would increase both her physical defense and offense, as this is where she felt she was lacking. Her shield was not much use at the moment as the mentalist didn’t use any physical attacks. Her shockwave bracelet could help but she could hit from behind her wall. In fact, most of the weapons and armor weren’t much use against a purely psychic assailant.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Her ice was the thing that was best in this scenario. Lila had only one problem. She had used up nearly the rest of her mana to form the wall. She could potentially use the ice from it, but she didn’t know how long she could preserve the wall before her resources ran dry.

Suddenly, the mental onslaught ceased and Lila let out a loud sigh of relief. She was relieved until shockwaves began to beat against the barrier. Small cracks began to form. Lila had almost zero mana to use, everything going into the preservation of this wall. The psychic across from her, seemed to have a full resource pool.

How am I going to get out of this?

----------------------------------------

Alex came crashing in at full speed. He had saved up some energy from the collision with the bouncer and instantly unleashed it on David as he approached. A flying punch that never landed as David blocked his attack, throwing him to the ground.

I definitely imagined that differently. I really need to learn how to fight.

David began pummeling Alex, each hit sending him deeper and deeper into the ground. An Alex shaped hole that was not cozy at all, it hugged him in all the wrong places. Alex struggled against the assault, but it was relentless. Finally, he was able to fling his tormentor away from him, netting plenty of ammunition from the attack. Ammunition he was going to use to fire right back at his assailant.

First, Alex needed to free his companion. He wasn’t sure if Cameron could breathe with his head underground, but he did know from recent personal experience that it was bound to be uncomfortable. He bounded over to the his ostrich associate and plucked him out.

“Welcome back my friend. Will you help me beat the living crap out of this douchebag?” Alex asked with a wide grin.

“With pleasure.”

David, unwilling to allow this team up, was already rushing towards them. He smacked Cameron away and grabbed Alex by the shoulders before they even realized he was there.

“Do you have something against Cameron? I feel like he is being targeted. He is usually the one you hit first. Wait, do you just not find me as big of a threat?” Alex said with a hint of shock and hurt in his voice.

David had an amused look on his face.

“You’re not super good at fighting to be honest. If I can get him out of the picture, then you are much easier to handle.”

“Is that so?”

Alex went in for a head butt, which David saw coming. He extended his arms, bringing Alex just out of reach. The only damage anyone received was Alex with a bit of whiplash.

“Yes, you are rather predictable,” David taunted.

Without preamble, Alex cocked his foot back and launched his furious wrath. It connected, with no resistance, to David’s fruit basket causing David to bend over in immense pain. Alex grabbed his body and swung him backwards into the ground, followed by a swift kick in the head.

“Can’t believe you just let me suplex you! Guess I’m not that predictable,” Alex said feeling absolutely no remorse for his shameless tactics.

Cameron returned looking extremely downtrodden.

“Why the long face? You’re doing fine. You were able to hold him off alone for a long time while I was…” Asked trailed off not wanting to divulge his decision regarding the bouncer. “Dealing with the other guy. That couldn’t have been easy. This dude is strong.”

Alex’s reassurance did little to brighten Cameron’s mood.

This guy takes everything way too seriously. We need to help him relax. When this super stressful battle is over, we’ll figure something out. Well, I guess we need to finish the tutorial too. And then, we will be superheroes back on Earth so there’s that as well. This is going to be harder than I thought. Maybe I need to relax. That stressed me out way too much. Alex thought to himself.

Alex was about to ask Cameron for ideas on how to relax, when Cameron’s face made him stop. He had no time to react as an extended palm reached out and touched him. Immediately, Alex was frozen meaning that, yes, the Chrono had arrived to the party.

Without delay, David capitalized on the turn of events. He spring to his feet, launching a super powered upper cut straight into Alex’s jaw. Alex didn’t move, which shocked him. He was shocked again as he realized that he could still think.

Why can I still think? Am I not frozen? Does he…

His thoughts were cut as time unfroze for him. The biggest pain he had felt in his entire life instantly surged through his face and head. Alex flew skyward hundreds of feet and when he landed, the impact could be heard for miles.

----------------------------------------

Ethan and Sophia both heard the crash and sprinted over, worry evident in their faces. In a matter of moments both had arrived to see the astonishing scene.

Dust flew up everywhere. The whole city had already been ruined before, but this clearing had been left mostly unscathed. Now, multiple buildings had been smashed through, craters and crevasses pocked the entire area. In the middle was where the dust originated, a massive chasm. Sophia and Ethan met up on the perimeter of the clearing exchanging anxious looks.

“What just happened?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know. I just finished fighting that stupid pyromancer and rewarded myself with a little break. I didn’t realize the situation was this bad. I shouldn’t have stopped. Someone could be hurt.”

Sophia slumped while surveying.

Why do I always do this kind of stuff? They have probably been fighting this entire time without any breaks. Why do I only think of myself? Sophia berated herself mentally.

“We need to go help. Last I saw, Cameron was with Alex. I don’t see Alex anymore. I think that probably means he’s in that hole. Also, there’s a new arrival to the fight,” Ethan said pointing at the Chrono.

Sophia was shocked at the sheer volume of words Ethan had just used. She stared at him with raised eyebrows and an open mouth for a second before shaking her head and turning back to the fight.

“Let’s level the playing field then,” she said with a grin.

----------------------------------------

Cameron was worried. Alex was out of commission and last time he had faced off against David alone, he had been manhandled.

At least he seems more tired now. That should at least mean that his resources aren’t infinite. Then again, I’m nearing exhaustion. Plus, there’s that guy who froze Alex. He must be a Chrono. I can’t let him get close to me.

Cameron squared his body, preparing himself. He had no intention of going on the offensive. He would take a more defensive approach and wait for backup. He needed to keep the Chrono in his sights at all times. He couldn’t allow him to get the jump on him. The results could be catastrophic for the team and for him.

It appeared that they didn’t want to charge into the fray immediately either. Cameron didn’t delude himself into thinking he had the upper hand. He would take the reprieve that was offered in their current stalemate.

After a few minutes Sophia and Ethan entered Cameron’s peripheral vision. The two newcomers, dispelled the tension that had been building in his entire body . Cameron nearly collapsed in relief. The brief intermission had allowed him to recover some strength, but it was now over. It was time to end this.