Andrea stood with her hands on her hips looking at the magical barrier in front of her. It crackled with sparks of lightning, flashed with blades of wind, and contained fast moving drops of water. The look of it was appropriate for the class of "Storm Invoker."

Cody Sloan stood on the other side. He didn't look concerned though he warily observed Andrea. His expression was one of inconvenience, though of what, Andrea wasn't sure. She gave him a big smile.

"I'm really not looking to fight you," the man said. "I've killed plenty of people before, but that was always part of combat. This situation just isn't right."

"Then you didn't eliminate any of those soldiers the others were talking about?" asked Andrea curiously.

"No! I have my morals," the man answered with disgust. "I made it clear to Victor that I would join him in leaving Earth but wanted minimal casualties. I was away from him when he told others."

"Then that makes this easy. Surrender."

Sloan looked to the edge of the wall, where Rexus had tackled Adam. He swallowed hard and then shook his head.

"I've seen what your 'leader' does to people who fight him," said Sloan, referring to Abrego's merciless death. "I won't be surrendering but I also don't want to have to hurt a girl to get away."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. We've all been hurt before when fighting and will be again. Besides, if you do surrender, I'll put in a good word to Darling and I'm sure he'll listen. He's trying to give humans as much of a chance as possible."

Sloan let out a sigh. "It's just all bad choices from here on. But I'll trust in myself and my team over the mercy of killers and youth."

"Oh well. I tried. Then you will be facing this 'Lightning Queen'!"

Sloan scoffed. "What makes you a queen?"

"Because Darling is the king of the world."

"He's not my king."

"To borrow from Tom, not your king yet!"

"Then show me why I should listen to you," said Sloan with a frown. The storm wall in front of him gained in intensity. The lightning sparks increased in size, the wind became faster, and the water droplets became sharper.

Once more, Andrea smiled at him.

"[Manipulate Lightning]," she said casually, then held up her hand. As her fingers wiggled, the sparks of lightning in his wall squirmed around. Sloan watched with his jaw dropped as she moved the lightning into an arch. When the edges of it reached the ground, she used [Lightning Merge] to combine all the sparks. The wind and water stopped appearing within the doorway she had made. Easily, she stepped through, to come within a few feet of Sloan.

"H-how?! My level is higher! My stats must be higher!" he insisted.

"Oh? What is your intelligence at?" Andrea asked teasingly.

"214! I've been min-maxing it to get it that high."

"Sorry to hear it," she responded with mock sympathy. "Naturally my intelligence being 276 would overwhelm your spells. And if you were min-maxing, then that means you aren't anywhere near my 121 agility."

"A mage's agility can't be nearly that high!" he snapped.

Andrea shrugged and then rushed towards him, her fist surrounded by lightning as she declared, "[Jolt]!" Sloan didn't even have time to move, only to scrunch his face in surprise as Andrea belted him in the stomach. With a load grunt, Sloan popped backwards, belt over from the strike. His leather dispersed a little of her electric charge, and his passive reduction of the elements related to storm further reduced the damage he suffered, but it was still enough for his body to stiffen from the current.

Straightening up, Sloan now had hesitation in his eyes.

"How are you so strong?"

"There are other ways to get stats besides leveling. Tom wasn't just talking crap that levels aren't everything." Andrea sighed. "Now that we know how much weaker you are then me, how about surrendering?"

His brow creased in a frown and Sloan took a step back. "No, what I said before still stands."

"Stubborn!" exclaimed Andrea. Then she stepped forward again, but Sloan was already casting.

"[Wind Burst]!"

A gust sprang up under Sloan's feet and he ran. Andrea let out a heavy sigh and then began running to chase. With agility as her class's secondary stat, she would have had no trouble catching up without spells. His [Wind Burst] seemed like a good skill as he was able to stay in front of her as he dashed away.

As they ran along the wall, he would try to cast [Air Step] to get higher, but she was quick enough to cast [Volt Cutter], shattering the solidified air he created. As he fell, Sloan would tsk and then keep running.

The chase began to turn into more of a fight. They were running past where Carmichael's group had been standing, away from where the Sentinel Army's troops were watching from. Sloan didn't want to endanger others or get double teamed by her friends. He was having a hard enough time getting away from the girl chasing him, and this felt like his only chance to escape, especially as he saw his comrades fall in their own fights.

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Andrea wasn't quite huffing from the exertion. There had been too many days of fighting for her not to be in splendid fitness, especially with stats helping. It was still tiring and, quite frankly, boring for her to chase this guy.

He began shooting wind blades at her and mini tornadoes that threatened to spin her off her path. She managed to block the wind blades like she was skeet shooting, using her [Jolt]. A good [Volt Cutter] or [Static Shield] were enough to disperse the tornadoes, or to allow her to bounce off them.

A few times she would get close enough to the running man that she would use [Discharge] to cause her shield to burst outwards, hitting him with bits of lightning that caused him to stumble. In those cases, he would recast [Storm Wall] to block her, allowing him to get further ahead.

"This is boring," she complained. "Is there really nothing more you have?"

Realizing that she had been taking it easy on him, Sloan stopped running and faced her. Andrea slowed down to watch.

"I was serious about not wanting to hurt you, but if this is really what you want, then I will show you some of my stronger spells."

"Ok," she responded cheerfully. "If they are enough to get you away then I swear I won't chase you anymore."

"You'd better honor that," Sloan said, getting an emphatic nod from the girl. He reached his arms out and felt the air around him. Inside this base there was always a slight breeze, unnaturally uniform. For the first time, Sloan wondered if the base had climate control. But that didn't matter now.

Reaching out to the wind, hoping he could take control of it, Sloan used [Turbulance]. A gust of wind blew in front of him. The wind didn't just blow forward, like standing in front of a powerful fan. The air current jerked and changed angles constantly. Andrea felt herself not only pushed back but also jostled around.

She cast [Static Shield] to protect herself, but the lightning empowered shell that formed around her was also shaken around, failing to stop the wind from reaching her. Sloan wasn't done either. He called out another spell, [Hurricane], and the powerful winds caused by [Turbulance] began to spin around them both, taking up a large area that extended from the wall.

Andrea nodded as if she was impressed, even as she was jostled about and her hair blew all over. Sloan looked at her satisfied expression and got mad, as if she were mocking him. He shaped the hurricane, narrowing it into more of a cone. Dark clouds formed above the cone, lightning shooting down but avoiding the moving air. The wind became denser as water and debris were picked up and carried along with it. He was avoiding including lightning in it due to what Andrea had already done.

"Anything else?" called out Andrea.

Sloan frowned even harder. His spells had done massive area damage when he had used them. There should be plenty of power in them to hurt even someone with higher stats, figuring Andrea didn't have high vitality along with her absurd intelligence and agility.

Just for effect he threw a few more [Wind Blades] into the swirl, hoping that the girl would back off.

"Let me go and I won't hurt you with this," he yelled over the blustering wind. "I swear it."

Andrea looked to the left and right, admiring the storm. Not only did it feel powerful, but Sloan was doing a great job controlling it. He really was avoiding hurting her, seeming genuine in his declaration about morals. It's too bad he won't surrender, Andrea thought.

"[Power Boost]," Andrea said.

The noise was too much for Sloan to hear the words over the storm he had create when she spoke softly, but it was obvious that she was using a skill as she flashed with its activation.

"This is my first time using this spell," she yelled with a bit of excitement. "I wanted to save it for a big moment."

Andrea made a bunch of ridiculous arm gestures while doing a little dance. It was like she needed to build suspense to increase its power. Sloan watched, unsure of what spell she was about to use. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled to control the storm he was maintaining.

Once Andrea finished her little ritual, she announced loudly, "[Queen's Handmaiden]!"

Lightning flashed around her. It sparked outward and then pulled to a single point near her. The blinding white of the bolts condensed. They formed a ball, then arms and legs grew. The mass of lightning reshaped into a copy of Andrea's form. It moved around, imitating the dance that Andrea had just finished.

Once the lightning clone had finished forming, it looked at Andrea who smiled at her like a queen bestowing a gift on her subjects. The figure nodded in understand and walked into the swirling wind. The lightning sputtered a bit when the water droplets hit it, but the handmaiden ignored that and reached its arms to the side. They stretched further than a human's could have reached, almost doubling in length.

With the lightning figure taking up as much space as possible, its head turned around and looked at Andrea. It nodded once.

"[Discharge]," ordered Andrea.

The lightning figure crackled and then detonated. Lightning forked out into the wind, disrupting the air currents. The whirling winds were blown out of control and the storm shuddered and then broke, Sloan's control over it stopped. Wind, water, and debris were flung away, and the air became subdued.

Sloan looked pained as his concentration and control were broken. He stumbled backwards, breathing heavily. Then he looked over his shoulder to the only path there was to escape.

"[Wind Bur…" he began to say but Andrea was ready.

"No, you don't! [Speed of Light]!"

As she flashed from the skill use, Andrea shot towards him like a lightning bolt. She arrived right in front of Sloan, and then cast, "[Jolt]." Lightning connected from her hand to Sloan's stomach, where his armor was already scorched from her punch. This time it penetrated, thanks to the [Boost Power] she had used earlier.

The man seized up. His body went straight and then his limbed convulsed, lightning crackling along his fingers. The stun effect from the spell kicked in and Sloan fell to the ground, his body shuddering from the current.

"[Along the Flow]," Andrea used the skill to pull the electricity in his body to where she touched his shoulder. Then she used [Manipulate Lightning] to shape it into a leash. Looking into the distance along the wall, everyone else looked like ants with how far she had gotten.

With a sigh at the hassle, she began dragging Sloan with her.

"Guess I played around too much," she muttered, not excited about the walk back.

***

Rexus's tackle had been solid and violent, but Adam noticed the man didn't seem to have a lot of strength in it. He didn't resist as he was sent flying over the wall, releasing the body of Willis Abrego that had been in his hand. It would be better to have this fight away from the others, to prevent interference and to keep them safe from any tricks the commander had planned. If he had been involved with the mind witch, then there was no doubt a few nasty surprises were waiting.

As Adam fell, he tried to turn his ailing body to land. However, he had forgotten about the blades sticking through his midsection. Normally it would have been hard to ignore them, but with the pain he was feeling from his damaged soul, plus the struggle he had to keep his soul from ripping apart while near Gregor, the blades slipped his mind.

With his muscles being prevented from flexing properly by the embedded objects and the weakness, his fall was less than graceful, and the impact was a violent mess. One of the swords was dislodged but sliced through his hip flexor as it came out, while the other chopped further into him. His shoulder was also smashed into the ground.

Adam groaned as he tried to stand. It took a lot of squirming and pushing to get himself onto his feet, and more struggle to stand up. Rexus was about twenty feet away, arms crossed as he watched. The commander's smile was large, and his eyes glinted of death.

"Look at you, kid! You can't even stand. With all the trouble you've given me and the disrespect, I'm sure going to enjoy taking you apart," said Rexus as he began walking towards Adam.

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