Thousand Mile Judgement, that was a name of, The Chariot, leading the ragtag group of rebels against the Inception itself. – The Inception, Book of the Quintet Court.
In the fights that followed Tisha took the time to test out her new ability Suspension. It seemed to have a cool down period of just about ten seconds which was much shorter than Neuter Sensation and lasted between a couple seconds to five seconds at the maximum on an opponent.
At first Tisha believed that it was based on the overall power of the target. And that seemed to track with the Skeleton Warriors being paralyzed for the longest duration while the Dark Knights were barely affected for a second much like Olga.
But, this was proven wrong when the Mages were also barely affected by the paralysis and she was sure they were weaker than the Swordsmen who were affected by the full five seconds. She could guess based on their abilities and fighting capability that it more likely had to do with Varos than physical strength. She would have tested this out on other members, with their consent of course but they had been moving at a breakneck speed with Olga’s lead.
She also tested its range which was just about fifty meters making it paradoxically very powerful for interrupting the Skeleton Mages mid cast of their spells. The paralysis completely stopped movement including their chanting this caused an interesting effect with the forming sigils.
Tisha had expected the sigils to blow up in their faces, however they simply fell apart with a shattering sound, like a smashed windowpane. The workings of magic interested her, so far she had not seen much variety from the Mages they had fought, they mostly used the basic fireballs and interesting green orbs of energy. She realized that the green orbs did not come with sigils unlike the fireballs. Which was interesting.
Speaking of which, there was a limit to her Suspension. She was unable to use it against inanimate objects. She could not stop fireballs in the air as an example. Nor could she stop flying weapons, something she realized after a Death Knight threw its huge blade at her. She had barely managed to get her neck out of the way of the gigantic weapon as it sailed above her slamming into the walls of the hallway. That had been a lesson to remember.
With its short cool down she could use it reliably to constantly lock enemies down, however it still use a decent amount of Varos so she had to pace herself to not drain her stamina in fights. Olga’s might made this a non-issue however as she crushed everything quite easily. Honestly Tisha was worried about the Spectral Rider she had mentioned back in the cavern, apparently she had actually had to try against it and considering how easily she dealt with Death Knights it had to be really powerful.
She was also able to pick up on the abilities of the other members of their little group. Mel’s Ricocheting shots had a decently long cool down so she could not use it that often, as opposed to Damon`s Artifact which had a very short cool down. He could repeatedly boost it with Varos vastly increasing the power of his blows and his ability to block attacks with his shield.
Finch`s blades came out in waves of five at a time giving him good ability to play the keep away games when combined with his cloak’s slowing mist. It was a powerful combination allowing him to whittle down enemies and it also had a very short cool down. With his newly acquired portal, he could now create sneak attacks on top of that.
Olga had still not used her Nails very much thus her abilities were still quite unknown to Tisha. Her Armaments ability was already explained very briefly by the woman herself in their earlier introduction. Tisha had noticed that whenever she was hit with an attack with her Armament active, for an almost imperceptible moment a golden sheen flashed around her body almost like an incredibly thin barrier covering the body.
As they advanced a sudden shock went through Tisha’s body and she quickly glanced at her smart watch under her jacket’s left sleeve. It was fifteen minutes to eight pm. She was meant to be meeting Jake at eight to- She stopped, remembering the situation she was currently in and if the Authority was not lying for whatever reason, time here should be moving faster than on Earth. She hoped so, today was her weekly gaming session with the one person she considered an actual friend.
It might not seem very important, but Tisha was always a punctual person and on top of that the one thing she struggled with was making friends. It was not that she did not know how. In fact anyone who knew her on Earth would say that she was friendly enough and willing to help others. She had always had a somewhat quiet personality but still got involved in events and with her pretty face she could even be called popular. However, the feelings people felt towards her was not mutual. It could be seen as somewhat sociopathic with how she behaved on the outside but, she simply did not take much interest in people, and it was something that Tisha knew was not normal. People were apathetic to others, that was normal, but she almost took it to an extreme.
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She struggled to remember the faces and names of people that did not give a large first impression and it was to the point that it was hard for them to be registered as human to her. Not that she saw them as animals and not necessarily lesser to her, but she did not see worth in others. She also knew that if others knew this side of her, theirs views about her would take a turn and so she of course kept it to herself. As a kid Tisha had wondered why she was like this, but then looking at her large family in general she realized that it was not limited to her. Rather she was likely the most normal person.
Still, she was not normal enough and she resolved herself to having a life with no one she could consider a friend, it was not so bad really because she could make friends. Or people that thought of her as a friend and what was the difference really. That was until she met Jake.
If she was honest the circumstances of their meeting had faded in her memories over the years, she doubted it was that eventful but was sure he remembered. The man’s memory was impeccable. But she did know that after their meeting they had in truth had not become quick friends. At first he was like the others, a forgettable existence that blurred into the world. That was until one day.
“You still don’t remember me huh? Oh well, wanna play some games?”
When most kids realized she struggled to memorize anything about them, they eventually pushed her away, understandably. How could someone be friends with a person that seemingly did not care at all for them? He had been the one person that really tried and stuck around and on top of that he wasn’t under the impression most others were that she just had bad memory. He knew how she truly saw or rather didn’t see others and yet he still wanted to be her friend. She had accepted and he had been the person that had introduced her to video games, anime and manga as fun hobbies. At a certain point in their typical gaming sessions she had realized that she could remember him. Everything about him, his name, his pale, plain face and sandy coloured straight hair and the clothes he typically liked to wear. It was almost like a veil had been lifted from his being.
She knew that she had actually acknowledged him for a while, it just had not occurred to her yet and when it did she felt an emotion she had not until that very day that she turned thirteen. Happiness, not a fake smile that she gave others to simulate it but the genuine feeling. He had baked her a cake having remembered her birthday something that her family did not care about.
Again, his perceptiveness was incredible he had known that she had recognized him for a while now but had not quite noticed yet and told her as much.
From then on, they had truly become best friends and he even helped her with her…disposition. Reminding her of people and things and getting her away from her family to do things together until they reached adulthood. They had kept the Wednesday gaming sessions ever since and it was irreplaceable for her. She would not forgive the Authority if she missed it.
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Olga was enjoying this, she had received the message to wait at a certain time and she would receive “A chance at revenge”. She told the rest of the group that she might be away for an unknown amount of time and so they should be laying low. She had known a little about this Overworld and its existence before she had arrived here and even about Varos but had not really expected this level of change to her physical body. It was fun seeing her usual combat style bolstered by her increased abilities. But it was even more fun seeing the others around her use their new powers to the best of their abilities.
The one she enjoyed watching the most was the dark-haired girl, the system given name “Robin” was apt. She still could not quite place where she had seen that flighty but aggressive martial arts but she definitely recognized it from somewhere. The girl was obviously strong and had the most fascinating Artifact of the group. But beyond that, the emotions and personality she displayed was at least partially manufactured. When Olga met people for the first time they were given the impression of a boisterous and overbearing person but did not realize that she was in fact quite perceptive. She was not the most knowledgeable, but she could easily figure things out and could figure people out. What she could barely glean from the little bird caught her eye.
Mel was typical, someone who saw others as beneath her unless they brought her a benefit, this led to her being reckless with others around her. Olga had already had to block one of her shots that had pierced a Skeleton’s skull and nearly took out Damon in the process. The scathing look she had given the blondie had nearly made her piss her pants right there much to Olga’s amusement.
Damon was honorable to a fault. It matched his Artifact and Armament to a T. He did not hesitate to throw himself in front of others to protect them and despite being slower than Robin and herself he still made the effort to keep up with them and draw the enemy’s attention to himself. She found him almost adorable, making her go out of her way to tease him at every opportunity.
Finally, there was Finch. The kid…he was almost exactly like her deceased little brother. Not in looks, but in mannerisms and behavior. He had a look in his eyes that she recognized due to her…operations on Earth. The boy was an orphan, her feelings of protectiveness over him compelled her to invite him to her crew back on Earth. And she would do whatever she can to ensure that he survives this, kids really should not be in this kind of situation and yet he put on a brave front. Commendable.