99 The right thing

\"Orisa, you promised to let me handle him,\" Tiana said and pointed her battle staff at the Supreme Commander.

\"I stand by what I say because this is my Ninja Way!\" Orisa laughed even louder, causing six pairs of brows to rise up. \"-Fury!-\"

\"What in the damn-.\"

\"-Shock Strike Field!-\" -- \"-Vi Shock Fist!-\" -- \"-Hand of God!-\"

A field of floating bombs appeared all over the hall. Right after that, Orisa summoned two giant fists and threw them at four guards. Two guards didn't react on time and were hit by the fists that exploded with fire, shocking them unconscious immediately after that. Since Orisa lacked severely in raw magic power, her spells couldn't penetrate targets' resistance easily. For that reason, all her attacks contained a sequence of effects, exploding first to create a breach in the defense and then letting the shock effect reach the target's Mana circulation system. Shock Fists and Strike Mines were similar in that regard. Out of two remaining guards, one jumped backward to avoid the fist and landed right on one of the bombs, triggering an explosion with a shocking post-effect. The last guard made an empowered jump upward and was hit by a Hand of God. In a span of three seconds, all four guards ended on the floor.

\"How anticlimactic,\" she said lazily. On the inside, however, Orisa was jumping all over the room and yelling happily. The duel with Nowa and his lessons both gave her a surge of confidence and also added a good layer of tactical thinking to her combat skills. The training of past days was paying off.

\"Useless fools. I'm so tired of being surrounded by incompetent garbage! Why is this happening to me? Always need to do everything by myself,\" the Supreme Commander spat out words in a tone full of hatred and unsheathed his rapier.

\"I'm g-g-giving you a chance to surrender, father.\"

\"But why?\" Orisa exclaimed in surprise. \"We do not negotiate with terrorists!\"

\"You two are completely out of your mind if you think you can get out of here alive,\" he said and took the battle stance, swinging his rapier:

\"-Empower!-\" -- \"-Living Legend!-\"

\"-Empower!-\" -- \"-Way of the Sword!-\"

\"Okay, Tiana, prove him wrong while I'm resting on the sofa over there,\" Orisa said and casually strolled to the nearest couch, putting the backpack with the copying device on the floor. Despite her demeanor, she was nervous and restless on the inside. While she trusted Tiana and her skills, especially after the girl had taken numerous lessons, Orisa still couldn't risk it. After settling down, she slowly started stretching her Mana layers all over the room. While she was doing so, Tiana engaged in combat:

\"-Empower!-\" -- \"-Overtake Cascade!-\"

The spell was designed to turn positive effects on the target into negative debuffs one by one if there was enough power to breach the target's resistance time and time again. Due to gaining much more strength from Empower, the spell could easily rob most targets of their strength and drown them in debuffs. Usually, most people didn't bother with learning anti-personnel magic or counter-spells because their main targets were Beasts, so even a moderate amount of specialized training could turn anyone into a battle maniac.

The Supreme Commander suffered for a moment under a pile of negative effects, then dispelled them and rushed forward after cursing loudly. While being a close combat fighter, he also had several ranged attacks.

\"-Empower!-\" -- \"-Lightning Thrust!-\"

\"-Empower!-\" -- \"-Blazing Wave!-\"

Spell after spell flew from his rapier, covering his hurried advance. Tiana put up a simple barrier and took all of her father's attacks head-on. When the man got close enough to perform a melee strike, she chanted two spells without moving or trying to dodge the swing:

\"-Negative Field!-\"

\"-Guardian!-\"

A sphere of dark-blue Mana surrounded Tiana, covering an area of several meters in all directions. Unable to change his path due to inertia, the Supreme Commander stepped into the field, and his speed dropped down immediately. Orisa knew the spell. It created a multi-layered web of reinforced Mana that could hinder any movement within its radius. Since they were fighting inside the vault, it's floor began to absorb the spell, but Tiana had supplied enough Mana for it to last a few moments. A second later, her deer-guardian appeared to the left and rammed its antler's into the man's side. Tiana dispersed the Field at the same time, letting her father fly away freely.

The Supreme Commander landed on one knee a few meters away and immediately applied a healing effect. Once again, Tiana aimed her staff and turned the spell into a poison via the Cascade Overtake.

\"Ungrateful bitch, I'll make you suffer!\" her father screamed. His pride seemed to suffer a much deeper wound than his side, which made Orisa chuckle with a predatory smile.

\"-Empower!-\" -- \"-Piercing Throw!-\"

The man threw his rapier after empowering it with Mana. Tiana didn't even bother trying to dodge. Instead, her guardian stepped forward and took the hit. As it disappeared, the weapon fell on the floor with a loud noise, and all its power was absorbed by the floor. Her father was on the move again, and his fists were glowing red. He lunged forward, screaming:

\"I'll fix you with my own hands!\"

\"-Rising Smite-!\" -- \"-Falling Smite!-\"

The first golden fist hit the man from below, and the second one caught him mid-air, smashing the Commander into the floor. He yelped from pain, swearing and spitting on Tiana's footwear. His daughter stood motionless, calmly observing him from above.

\"You think… you've won?!\"

The Supreme Commander pulled a dagger from his belt and tried to ram it into Tiana's ankle, but the girl calmly smacked his hand with her staff. A Falling Smite spell calmed the man substantially. He was lying on the floor, panting heavily.

\"I thought it would feel nice, but… You know, looking at a father trying to kill his only daughter certainly doesn't bring you joy,\" Orisa muttered uncomfortably.

\"Shut your filthy trap, fiendfood!\" the man exploded and tried to stand up, which earned him another Smite.

\"Stop this pointless struggle and g-g-give up, father.\"

\"Don't call me that, you abomination.\"

\"There is only one abomination here, and it is you. You could have served your people, your land, and your house. Instead, you only brought shame onto Kavenfenn. Although, the name w-w-was already beyond salvation…\"

\"What do you even know, stupid bitch?! I'm the head, I'm the house itself. And I'm the Supreme Commander, whatever I want is what this world needs!\"

\"Are you saying this w-w-world needs an usurper w-w-who abuses his power to satisfy his puny pride? You care not for your people, only for yourself and this ugly, sullied bloodline of yours.\"

\"Pathetic excuse of a Noble, you clearly know nothing about our glorious family.\" He slowly turned on his back, still lying on the floor, and looked Tiana in the eyes. \"We are the ones who upheld the world on our shoulders, who guided the peasants and filthy fiendfood to the glorious future. The only house capable of withstanding the test of time.\"

\"Yes, by trampling the rest…\" Tiana uttered bitterly.

\"Phah, indeed, you are pathetic. Soft, stupid, shortsighted, utterly useless like your mother.\"

\"Don't you…\" Tiana clenched her hands around the staff.

\"Oh, I so wish she'd die sooner. I would have found a normal, appropriate wife a long time ago and wouldn't have been punished with such disgrace of a daughter.\"

\"How could you… W-w-when this is over, I-.\" Tiana was trembling from anger.

\"When we are through, I'll make sure that I'll lock you somewhere deep where nobody would find, and you'll rot there, disgusting brat.\"

\"Tiana, stop listening to him,\" Orisa tried to guard her friend, seeing how Tiana began to shake. Her face turned red, and sweat was rolling down her brows.

\"And your fiendfood pet, I'll-.\"

\"Stop...\"

\"I'll make something good for her specifically.\"

\"Stop...\"

\"Oh, I'll take my time and first will make her a soldier's plaything.\"

\"You..!\"

\"When they are through, I'll slowly-.\"

\"Stop!\"

\"I'll slowly chop her in front of you and feed her to Beasts like a proper fiendfood she is.\"

\"Tiana, stop!\" Orisa ran to her friend, but she was too late.

\"-Blast!-\"

From a point-blank range, Tiana's spell turned the Supreme Commander's rib cage into a bloody mincemeat. He coughed once, tried to raise his head to check his body but couldn't. A dumbfounded covered his face like a mask as he drew his last breath.

Shaking violently, Tiana took a few steps back and fell on her knees. Orisa dropped by her side a second later and hugged her trembling friend. Tiana was still clutching her staff. Her clothes were drenched in sweat. Orisa forcibly turned Tiana's head to look into the girl's eyes. They were wide open, but she wasn't looking at Orisa, her gaze went somewhere further, somewhere beyond. Orisa heard the girl slowly mutter:

\"I did the right thing… I did the right thing… I did the right thing…\"

Not knowing what to do, Orisa took hold of Tiana's shoulders and shook the girl, trying to bring her to her senses. She wanted to call Tiana, but her friend's gaze suddenly focused on Orisa and turned sharp. She looked Orisa in the eyes said with a strong, clear voice:

\"I did the right thing.\"