Creative Thinking Is Everything I Have 97 I know what you are thinking

"I'm not sure it's a good idea, mister Nowa," Orisa answered and shuffled uncomfortably. "Killing my boss on the second day of my employment isn't something I would be able to brag about on my resume."

"Hah, not bad, little one. Umu! However, as your, um, boss, this is my order."

"I still think I should decline politely and with all due respect."

"You don't trust me that much? Haven't I earned enough credit after the fight in the Nava's vault?" Nowa waited for a few seconds, but there was no reply. "Umu. I understand. I see that you won't put your faith in me unless my strength is proven. Then there is only one way to do it, right?"

Orisa noticed the tone of Nowa's voice shift, and an extremely uncomfortable feeling ran through her back, making her shiver violently.

"I have no use for subordinates who do not trust me and disobey my commands. I order you to attack me, and if you fail to deliver, I will slaughter you and all your friends. Your answer?"

"Should we really be wasting resources?"

"What do you mean by that?" Nowa asked, thrown off by her question.

A door to an observation balcony opened, and a crowd poured inside, but two people standing in the middle of the arena didn't notice them. Orisa was chaotically running through her options since she firmly believed that nobody could withstand fully powered Asura Strike.

"I mean that I'd need to waste an evolved and twice-evolved crystals for such a pointless showcase."

"I don't mind at all. There is no shortage of resources here in AOG."

"By the way, what does AOG mean?"

"Your answer? I'm giving you five seconds to decide."

"Well, I don't have cores on me, so..." she said hesitantly.

"It won't be a problem, here," Nowa threw a small pouch that contained around thirty cores of various strength and tier. "Now, you ran out of time and pathetic excuses. Your answer?"

"I agree," she said angrily since Nowa's last comment snapped something inside her.

"Marvelous! Umu. Come at me."

At this moment, Orisa finally noticed the crowd that was staring at her intently, and her anger subsided a little, replaced by a mixture of confusion, awkwardness, and shyness. She tried to gulp, but her throat had turned into a desert. It has turned into a difficult situation.

"Okay, fuck it. I never asked for this, but at least now I have witnesses."

"-Fury!-"

"-Assault Seal!-" -- "-Support Seal!-" -- "-Utility Seal!-" -- "-Rotary Seal!-" -- "Attack Seal!-"

"-Asura Strike!-"

When Orisa was about to launch her spell, Nowa raised both his greatswords in front of him and chanted: "-Triple Haze Shield!-" -- "-Triple Haze Shield!-"

Familiar barriers appeared in front of him in a row one after another, but this time the barriers were large enough to cover his entire silhouette as if he had been anticipating Orisa's attack to be big. Like most of her skills, Asura started thin but grew wider as it went further.

A deafening explosion of Asura was accompanied by a blinding flash. After coming to their senses, everyone could witness the results - Nowa stood unharmed with two remaining shields floating in front of him. However, the training hall was smoking, and the floor in front and behind Nowa was obliterated, leaving a deep crater. The wall behind his back was now decorated with a hole tens of meters deep.

"Are you for fuck's sake god dammit serious?" swore one of the casters, a tall thin man in his twenties with half-moon glasses and black hair. "This bitch just went and, like, ruined the wall with my bloody enchants!"

"Language!" shouted a woman with a long blonde spiral ponytail in a white dress. She smacked the swearing man's head and added: "There are children here."

"To hell with twats. Don't you bloody see? I've spent like a month on this wall, and even this shit-eater Nowa couldn't make such a mess of it!"

"Don't judge the book by its cover, huh?" muttered Kanai, implying that the man's look was opposite to the way he had been speaking, but everyone around Kanai took it as a phrase explaining Orisa's performance.

Orisa had been chewing on her lips all this time. With a sour expression, her red lips moved:

"How did you do that?"

"Hoh? Now I have your trust?"

"Yes-yes, but how did you do that?"

"Umu. Do you expect everyone on the battlefield to explain their skills to you?"

"Seriously?" Orisa groaned and rolled her eyes. "I thought it was something like training where you humiliate me in front of everyone to then teach some useful things and make me stronger."

"Oh, I see. No, you are mistaken, little one. I spend my time wisely, lending my hand only to those skilled enough to take it. As for the rest, I have a dedicated crew that should."

"So, I'm not skilled enough?" she grumbled, feeling offended. While Orisa had never thought of herself as strong, she also hadn't considered herself weak either.

"But are you?" asked Nowa calmly. "This was your strongest attack if I'm not mistaken."

"And you were expecting it. Is this fair?"

"I see your point. Very well, little one, I can spare several minutes. Come at me. Umu!"

"-Force Guard!-" -- "-Force Armor!-"

Orisa's usual set of defensive spells was followed by a barrage of walls and various other attacks from her repertoire. Nowa smashed through most of them with his swords and covered himself with a shield to block the rest.

"Umu. Uninspired, to say the least," Nowa said calmly and went on the offensive:

"-Reality Slash-!" -- "-Reality Slash!-" -- "-Twin Reality Slash!-"

"-Five-Seal Barrier!-" -- "-Five-Seal Barrier!-" -- "-Five-Seal Barrier!-"

The strongest defensive spell was almost on par with Nowa's attack, but Orisa managed to put only three of them, so the last Slash broke through, and she was forced to take it on her forearm guard. The strike was weakened by the Barrier, forearm, and body shields but still sent Orisa flying. She fell on the ground several meters farther down the hall and immediately rolled to the side, groaning and raising more barriers at the same time. But Nowa stood motionless. After watching her for a few seconds in silence, he asked:

"How did I hit you?"

"You are stronger. Your attacks are too powerful for me to block completely," answered Orisa warily, feeling there was a catch to his question.

"Umu. How disappointing. So you think it's because of the difference in our might? Then, I need to correct you on that one."

"-Arcane Field Trap-!"

Orisa sensed how a huge invisible Mana source appeared between her and Nowa. She raised her eyebrow, doubting this whole extremely obvious setup. She was about to voice her feelings when Nowa continued:

"-Drifting Minefield!-"

A spell she had seen before created numerous small and again invisible Mana sources around her. Knowing all too well how Nowa could manipulate these mines, Orisa ignored fake ones and focused on real bombs, sending projectiles and Force Walls to set them off. Nowa was calmly observing her efforts, but when she was almost done with mine-clearing, he suddenly chanted:

"-Black Hole!-"

Orisa was yanked forward towards a small black sphere hovering in the air. She knew this would be the end for her if she got hit by this black thing, so she conjured a barrier right in front of her. The contact with the wall was quite painful, and she got plastered over the barrier mid-air, but then the pulling force immediately disappeared for some reason. With nothing to keep her pinned to the wall, Orisa fell. Right into the Arcane Trap that Nowa had placed earlier.

A loud bang followed, and Orisa's body flew well over ten meters before slumping to the floor. Her lower half was burned and bleeding, and she curled into a ball, moaning from pain. A few moments later, a green healing circle, Nowa's Lupus Touch spell, appeared under her body, quickly fixing her injuries while also acting as a painkiller. Nowa was standing in a relaxed pose where he had stood from the beginning of the fight.

"Stand up," he said after a short pause and took a battle stance again.

Orisa got back on her slightly trembling feet and remade all her defensive spells. When she was ready, Nowa went with the same combination of Arcane Trap and Minefield spells. As Orisa began to shoot down the bombs, Nowa went for a Black Hole again. To protect herself from being sucked into the trap again, Orisa reacted on time and placed several barriers between herself and the Arcane Trap. The moment she switched her attention from the Minefield, Nowa pointed at Orisa with one of his greatswords and chanted:

"-Rally Point!-"

The four remaining non-fake mines that Orisa hadn't had time to shoot down rushed at her. Their combined power did less damage than the Arcane Trap, but Orisa still ended up on the floor again, bleeding and burning from the explosion.

"Again!" Nowa commanded as another healing circle appeared beneath Orisa.

"I can't bear to watch it," muttered someone from the observing balcony and left the hall. Several more people followed.

Orisa stood up and took her tattered jacket off, leaving herself in a ripped shirt and half-burned pants. Her face was red from the humiliation, eyes burning with defiance, fists tightly clenched. 'This is a critical point for my path. I won't bend, I won't break, and I will make you regret,' she thought while glaring at Nowa.

Without further confirmation, Nowa raised his greatswords and went for the same set of spells. Orisa focused as best as she could, sharpening her senses. Under Nowa's command, half of the bombs flew towards her, and Orisa shot Block Walls in all directions to intercept bombs. A Black Hole appeared above her head, pulling Orisa upward towards the spell while the rest of the bombs slowed down and continued to travel to the spot on the floor. She placed a barrier between herself and the hole above, which immediately disappeared and reappeared on the floor below her, yanking her body downward. She made it in time to place a Wall, but several more mines that had been flying towards the floor all this time hit her and exploded a moment later.

Orisa ended up on the floor again. It hurt a lot, but her pride had been damaged beyond even that. Nowa was clearly toying with her, and this gap in strength and speed made her grit her teeth in frustration and resentment.

"Poor kid. Nowa should have gone easy on her, especially for the first time."

"How did I beat you? Do you still believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with this outcome? Knowing your opponent is important. To execute a plan in combat, you need to create a situation where you limit his actions and escape routes to one or two, and that's where your real attack should happen. Visualize your opponent's movements, his defensive, and offensive moves, and lead him into the trap," Nowa narrated aloud as if teaching everyone present. "You are clearly not suited for such training."

More people left the balcony. Only her squad members, Tomika, and the woman with the blonde ponytail were still standing there. Orisa glanced at them but couldn't make out their expressions. She straightened herself, took a deep breath, and pointed at Nowa with her right hand. After several seconds of delay, she waved him in a provoking manner to come at her.

"Hoh? Interesting," he said in a clearly unamused tone and went on the offensive again.

When multiple mines appeared around Orisa, she dug one of her Mana layers into the floor and anchored herself to the ground. Without stopping for a single moment, she conjured three Multiplying seals and started shooting simple projectiles through them in all directions. Thanks to the Seal, there were so many of these projectiles that most mines were destroyed in the barrage. Nowa commanded the rest of his bombs to fly towards Orisa while also summoning a Black Hole in front of her. She was anchored to the floor, but the pull was so strong that she still dropped on her knees. Orisa was expecting this and covered herself in a spherical barrier when the rest of the bombs were about to hit her. This move was extremely inefficient in regards to her Mana pool, but she didn't care and only wanted to shut Nowa down by proving her worth.

"Umu. You were not harmed," he said after smoke from the explosion had dispersed.

"Good job, dude! I believed in you, yay!" shout Kanai in excitement, and the rest of their squad followed, cheering on Orisa.

"It is good to see you overcome the same pattern of four simple spells after the third attempt," Nowa continued, killing the mood instantly. He waited a bit to let the phrase sink and said: "You can come at me now. However, I won't stay on the defensive as well."

"Yay, show him! I know you can do better than this!"

More irritated than cheered by Kanai's yelling, Orisa got back on her feet and took a moment to think the situation through. In theory, she had lots of options to defend and attack, but in reality, her arsenal was limited to just a few because of Nowa's strength and speed. She wouldn't be able to overwhelm him with strength or speed, which led to two obvious choices - a surprise attack or an overwhelming amount of independent strikes from multiple directions. Their strength was irrelevant since the goal was to prove Nowa that she wasn't dead weight.

Orisa launched into a barrage of attacks while also stretching forward the Mana layer she had been using to anchor herself to the floor. It was hard and went slow since the floor didn't have mancircuits. Nowa counterattacked with a few lazy Slashes that were met by Orisa's Barriers but otherwise was idle. When her Mana layer went far enough and ended up beneath Nowa's feet, Orisa launched a distraction barrage of various attacks and used this layer:

"Palm Push Strike!"

Nowa made a small sidestep, and Orisa's spell shot into the air, barely missing its target. When the last of her attacks landed harmlessly, an uncomfortable silence landed on the training hall. Seeing that Nowa stopped as well, Orisa hung her head in disappointment, lazily going through other ideas in the meantime.

"You should have known that I can sense Mana as you do," Nowa said calmly, but Orisa felt his voice switch to a slightly less disrespectful and displeased tone. "Try again."

When Orisa prepared herself, Nowa threw one of his greatswords at her without any warning. She sensed a Mana layer attached to the sword and was ready for it to be pulled back to Nowa after she would block it. What she wasn't ready for was an explosion that he channeled through his sword after it got stuck in Orisa's shield. Perhaps due to the distance or lack of preparations, the explosion hadn't had much power to it, so Orisa ended up more scared than hurt.

The sword fell on the ground. The loud bang jolted Orisa back to reality just in time to sense Nowa rushing towards her from the side with his remaining greatsword. Bearing in mind some lessons that she had already learned today, Orisa placed a spherical barrier around the sword just in case, and mere moments after she had done so, the sword exploded again, this time harmlessly.

Nowa pulled the lying sword back while swinging his remaining sword at Orisa. He was faster, which left it pointless for Orisa to try and dodge. To stop the sword, she made several compressed barriers that she had used in the fight with the twice-evolved panther. She used her remaining Mana layers to counter-attack with two Palm Push Strikes. While Nowa's sword hit the shields, he also blocked Orisa's retaliation strikes with the other weapon. Right at that moment, she used Flip right under his feet.

The spell flung Nowa into the air. Despite his armor, he made an elegant twist and landed on both feet.

"-Hand of God!-" -- "-Hand of God!-"

Two giant palms smashed the floor, forcing Nowa to sidestep again. He ended up at the same spot where the fight had started. As if slightly offended by such an outcome, he went on the offensive, throwing numerous Reality Slashes at Orisa. In the middle of the barrage, he also used a spell that Orisa hadn't seen before:

"-Niggurath Hoof!-"

A giant hoof appeared above Orisa's head, and at the same time, Nowa also summoned his signature Minefield, filling the air around her with invisible bombs.

"-Safe!-" -- "-Safe!-" -- "-Safe!-" -- "-Safe!-"

"-Fog of War!-" -- "-Fog of War!-"

A stack of shields appeared above her head, but Orisa didn't stop there and conjured a double Fog to cover herself and her Mana.

Nowa stopped for a moment in confusion. He thought he had taught her that he can sense Mana well. Despite the fog, he could still locate her position and even saw that she made a round barrier below the stack of shields. Shrugging in disappointment, Nowa commanded his mines to fly at Orisa. The hoof and the bombs hit at the same time, although the hoof was stopped by the last of her stacked shields.

A loud and bright explosion followed, spreading the fog all over the hall. Nowa sensed two thick Mana sources inside the fog. They appeared inside the shield that had apparently saved the girl from his bombs and rushed towards him from both sides.

"Hoh? A decoy and a real one to confuse me inside this fog?" Nowa wasn't amused by such a move but still gave Orisa one point for trying.

Both Mana sources closed on him, but Nowa lazily swung his greatswords. To his mild surprise, both targets exploded in a freezing torrent. At the same time, he heard a familiar chain for spells:

"-Assault Seal!-" -- "-Support Seal!-" -- "-Utility Seal!-" -- "-Rotary Seal!-" -- "-Attack Seal!-"

"-Asura Strike!-"

"Umu, this is a good plan, little one," Nowa announced, covering himself with six Haze Shields. Another blinding and deafening explosion occurred, amidst which Nowa heard another chant:

"-Palm Push Strike!-"

From the start of the last fight, Orisa hadn't made a single step, so she retained that one Mana layer stretched throughout the floor. Her previous attacks had forced Nowa back to his starting position as well. Right at the spot where her Mana layer was waiting.

When the smoke from Asura cleared, everyone in the hall noticed armor around Nowa's left leg ragged, and a thin stream of blood painting the floor below his foot in red.

All present inside the room understood very well that Nowa hadn't used even half of his strength, but still, Orisa's efforts were commendable and deserved loud cheering and applause that were running throughout the hall at the moment. Nowa put his greatswords away into his back sheath and said with his public, deep and mighty voice:

"I expected nothing less from you, little one. Good work. Umu!"

Chapter end