The assassin kept slicing chunks out of her, his face a wild mask of unhinged glee as he seemed to thrive and grow stronger on her pain. His magic amplified the agony, making her head woozy and making it hard for her to defend herself. Dexter viciously used his telekinesis and mind attacks to keep Andrés at bay, restraining him and flinging him against the wall despite being pierced by multiple dagger-like arcane constructs that radiated pain through his small body. After what felt like an eternity but had been only a handful of seconds, the door to her office burst open, and two of her lawyers dashed in with flash steps, interposing themselves between her and the assassin. Kraukion immediately died as his head and arms went sailing through the air, having tried to tackle Andrés.
Zeremon's shield was slashed apart in the same heavily empowered attack, leaving him wounded but still in the fight. From the door, Levine unloaded her magitech rifle into the assailant, using her fire magic to create explosive rounds and increase the propulsion of the bullets. She made use of the split second Kraukion had bought with his life to tear Andrés' arm off in a series of concentrated explosions, giving Nessyra and Dexter another opening to unleash their magic. Nessyra, using her own magitech pistol empowered with her mind magic, tore into Andrés' mind and body, finally cracking his Mental Fortress skill. Andrés finally showed some signs of weakness as he slowed down.
Before Zeremon could finish the assailant with his axe, Andrés shot them a wicked grin as his internal magic signature ran out of control, not unlike the unstable blasts Alistair created. Zeremon acted before he could think, tackling Andrés to the ground behind the desk and summoning a metal barrier from his storage alongside a conjured magical barrier to contain the blast. The explosion ripped through the Kaiakos' internal structure, leaving Nessyra, Dexter, and Levine heavily wounded. They had only managed to sprint out into the corridor and summon multiple layers of barriers to protect themselves.
Nessyra groaned as sirens blared around her. She couldn't feel one of her legs, and upon looking down, she saw it was gone. Her other leg wasn't much better off. She cursed her own overconfidence. She wasn't a fighter like her sister or Alistair. This had been a stupid mistake. She shouldn't have conducted interviews onboard the Kaiakos no matter the amount of security precautions she had taken to catch and trap spies and infiltrators. The time pressure and conflicts on the planet, combined with her own hubris, had cost the lives of at least two subordinates. Levine, who had emerged from the explosion, was still able to stand and act, likely due to her power armor made by James and her affinity for fire and explosions. Levine dragged Nessyra from the danger zone as other clan members rushed to their aid and extinguished the fire.
Nessyra gritted her teeth. "Sweep everything for hidden trackers again. Leave no room unattended! Nobody is to enter or leave the Kaiakos!" she managed.
She cursed internally, regret and anger at herself threatening to overwhelm her. Two of her most promising lawyers had died, maybe more. Both Zeremon and Kraukion had family in the clan. She would ensure their families would want for nothing for Zeremon's and Kraukion's sacrifice for the clan. They had faced a lawyer's hardest duty and did so with honor. She couldn't show weakness after their heroic acts; she needed to be strong and do her duty as well.
Healers rushed to her side, doing their best to stabilize her and Dexter. The uncomfortable sensation of having her leg regrown made her flinch as it was accompanied by even more pain. This had been far too close for comfort; if she had been a lower grade, she might have died from the wounds the man had inflicted.
"Nessyra, it hurts. I try to heal, but it hurts," Dexter's voice whimpered in her head. All she could do to comfort him was give him pets and soothing words as she, too, felt the amplified empathic pain through their connection, which seemed to grow despite the healers' efforts.
She forced herself to focus and continued ordering the people around as the healers continued fixing her.
"Lady Nessyra, we killed another of the potential workers who tried to flee from the lockdown, and he carried multiple trackers. We found three planted trackers from our first sweep, two of which were placed on other applicants. We have detained them for now," a strained voice beside her said.
Focusing her attention, she noted it was Maldoras, a Vanitix Sovereign and one of the strongest lawyers under her retinue.
"Thank you, Maldoras. Please ensure every applicant is under strict guard. Shoot them if they turn hostile. We can't allow the Kaiakos to take even more damage." She paused. "Once the third team completes its sweep and my assistants finish with the last of the applicants, we will jump the hell out of here."
Maldoras saluted, sweat pearling on his pale yellowish forehead, shouting, "Yes, ma'am!" before storming off to relay orders.
Nessyra let out a sigh of relief as the healers finally managed to stop the agonizing pain left lingering by her injuries and the assassin's odd pain constructs, which had further aggravated the pain of all her wounds. If that man's core concept had been pain, his mastery had been mediocre at best and quite narrow as well. It was a good thing he was dead before realizing his potential, though the cost had been high. His core concept had most likely been what allowed the assassin to power through the combined efforts of her and Dexter to split his mind, giving his mental fortress a ridiculous pain resistance boost. The man had not even flinched when his arm got torn off. They had gotten the followers they needed and made some connections, but the trip had otherwise been a disaster.
Once her leg had grown enough to stand, she picked up Dexter, who, fortunately, had been relieved from his pain before her. Watching him in pain had only increased her own suffering, as even after the assassin's death, his skill still amplified any kind of pain. Dexter looked at her worriedly, but she gave him a reassuring smile, which calmed him down.
She strode toward the bridge, and part of her now regretted not accepting some pirate hunting contracts from the Aegis Coalition because she sure would love to blow some of the bastards up right about now. Putting her misgivings aside, she entered the bridge, which grew quiet as everyone looked at her with a mix of worry and admiration. She returned the stares with determination, flexing her leadership skill to lift morale and squash any lingering doubts as their gazes also grew determined. It was time to go home.
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Alistair tried to grasp Riseth with his telekinesis, but despite his best efforts, she managed to escape again by turning ethereal. Frustration built up as he saw her slip through his grip. Sotarr sat in the stand and gave them short commentary while analyzing their skills, which was slightly unusual as Sotarr was usually quite busy and only gave them a set of instructions and checked up on them afterward.
"Alistair, your telekinesis and kinetics alone are unsuitable for opponents able to turn ethereal." There was a pause that left Alistair worried as there were a lot of opponents that were able to turn ethereal in one way or another, and he needed a method to deal with them. Sotarr seemed to pick up on his worry and reassured him. "You need to improve your skill to force your opponents to stay corporeal. You have an incredible force affinity advantage there. I recommend you use it," Sotarr suggested, his voice echoing through the arena.
Sotarr then explained how Alistair's blasts being enveloped by force was a very good thing, presumably a premeditated gift from the system, as the force bubble wasn't truly necessary to contain the kinetic energy but could both be used to ensure the attack hit incorporeal opponents and increase the force and therefore the power and damage of the blast. This meant that while the Blast Master title was still useful, particularly for its passive boosts to all blasts and allowing for a variety of blasts with different concepts, Sotarr recommended he pick up and develop a handful of specialized kinetic skills.
Sotarr was usually a patient master, but Alistair noticed his frustration as he groaned, "Celestrina almighty," while watching Alistair and Riseth clash in close combat.
Riseth had the advantage of three weapons attacking, making it incredibly hard for Alistair. He tried to fend her off with his poleaxe and shield but was driven back, ensuring she didn't land too many clean hits and robbing her of momentum to empower himself, exploiting the change of pace. While Riseth still managed to break through his defense occasionally, Alistair's freedom of movement made her attempts to restrain him moot, and he benefited from the close-quarter exchange far more than she did, gaining energy as she expended hers. However, it was clear that both of them lacked proficiency with their weapons or a proper combat style in general.
Once Alistair felt he had stored enough kinetic energy, he converted it into power and threw Riseth off balance, robbing her of her momentum. With a swift push, he struck one of her blades aside with his poleaxe and aimed for her sternum. Before it could make contact, she turned ethereal and stepped away with Flash Step. In response, Alistair summoned his battle spheres, which bombarded her with kinetic blasts as he gave chase. He tried to act on Sotarr's advice, doing his best to prevent her from turning ethereal, though with little success as he couldn't quite grasp the technique.
"Riseth, while it's good to have some close-quarters options, your core concept and its branches lend themselves more to a disabler and support role. You need to manipulate your opponent and interfere with their skills. That is the next step you should take, and Alistair, with his high resistance, is a good target to practice this on," Sotarr instructed.
"And Alistair," Sotarr continued, "your core concept is Kinetics. You should be much more formidable in close combat. Your defensive skills are good but need refinement and focus. I'll give you some body enchantment manuals to get you on the right track later. Riseth shouldn't be able to push you in close quarters at all. While practicing evasion and minimizing the damage you can't convert is beneficial, it shouldn't be your goal. You should be able to absorb a near-endless amount of physical punishment. However, your current rate of conversion is lacking. Your offense is even worse; it lacks power and the ability to hit opponents. You need to work on that."
As they continued fighting, Sotarr remained mostly quiet, offering occasional instructions on which skills to improve, change, or phase out if they were less suitable. The most surprising recommendation was regarding Alistair's flight skill.
"It's a good thing you improved it to work underwater; from now on, that should be its primary role. Your affinity for Telekinesis is far superior to your flight affinity and would grant you much better mobility overall. If your next evolution comes with wings, make sure to use your body enchantment to refine them with telekinesis for mobility and utility purposes," Sotarr advised.
The next big surprise came when Sotarr critiqued the Freedom of Movement enchantment. "Your armor is well-built, but Freedom of Movement is something that should be a skill, not an enchantment," he said, his tone measured. "The armor can be salvaged by a proficient enchanter or by letting it integrate another enchantment replacing Freedom of Movement. You could repurpose the enchantment to empower your own skill rather than substitute for it. I suggest, if given the chance, you swap it out for something more suitable as soon as possible."
He glanced up, his gaze intent. "And make sure to train that skill. It's not as crucial as acquiring a few properly specialized kinetic combat skills or a telekinetic mobility skill, but it's definitely one you should aim for with your next skill selection since you're lacking in skills that can be directly improved. Also, you should consider refining that Kinetic Wave skill and turning it into a specialized combat ability. As for that unselected Death from Above skill, with a lot of focused effort and intent, you could transform it into a solid telekinetic mobility skill."
Sotarr's expression grew serious. "Whatever you do, do not integrate a flight aspect into your current Telekinesis skill. That could limit its growth by ruining its specialization, pulling it into many directions and functions."
He then turned and gave Riseth a list of skills and tasks to work on before asking them to fight again. Alistair's task was to prevent Riseth from turning ethereal, while Riseth had to manipulate his Battle Spheres to attack him instead.
Alistair and Riseth bowed in thanks before facing each other again. From an outside perspective, it might have seemed like Sotarr was simply pointing out their flaws, but this wasn't the case. This training was for him to see them fight and use their techniques in combat so he could create a proper curriculum. Sotarr started by giving them single tasks and explanations to address knowledge gaps crucial for advancing through the grades. One of the key lessons he had drilled into them was the importance of keeping combat and utility skills separate. Mixing them, he explained, diluted the potential power of combat skills and made their improvement much harder. Skills could grow like trees, and the more branches they had, the more they had to grow alongside the trunk or core of the skill. This understanding was essential for maximizing their abilities.
Their training was suddenly cut short as both Riseth and Alistair were alerted to the return of the Kaiakos, who had apparently taken significant damage and suffered some losses.
"Go and check on your people," Sotarr said. "I have other matters to attend to and will create a combat style for each of you, as your current combat style is... lacking. I'll also create a curriculum for you to complete, tailored to address issues and gaps I noticed and enhance your strengths."
With those last words, he disappeared, leaving them to check what had happened to the Kaiakos and its crew.