Arc: 1
Chapter: 10
Part: 2

 Our Home, Like it or not

Normally, being attacked from all angles requires an intense amount of concentration to dodge each attack. So performing an attack like this while someone is in Body's Mind, which forces someone to rely on their naturally imperfect and impulsive instincts is a fantastic strategy. Combining the fact that forcing someone in Body's Mind puts them in a state in which they cannot block the attack, as well as the fact that such an attack would fatally wound someone.

But, Messa was not your average fighter. He had far more experience in Psynesis combat than anyone would guess. Due to that, his fighting instincts were refined to the point that he could dodge a deadly attack like that easily! Because it was supposed to be an instant win attack that had such a high chance of success, it was all that Elizabeth was working towards during this fight. So when it suddenly failed, she panicked.

Elizabeth tries to swing at Messa with a mentally charged attack, since that's what she's used to doing after trying a physical attack with her special ability. But that was a mistake. Messa dodged those attacks like it was nothing, and he immediately punished her for such reckless attacks by swiftly punching her three times in the chest! He couldn't knock her up in the air or do any incredibly fancy stuff, since he didn't have access to physical Psynesis, but because she attacked with a mental attack, he could actually punish her a fair amount.

At this point, Elizabeth was starting to get a little tired. She didn't describe herself as much of a fighter, so getting two clean strings of hits on Elizabeth, especially since one of them had her take a lot of superpowered physical hits while she was blocking for mental attacks, it's reasonable to see why. But she was far from giving up. After all, from her perspective, she was still one clean hit away from victory!

So... how do I go about winning this fight? While I'm in Body's Mind, I don't have much time to think, so...

Ah! I got it!

Messa dodges Elizabeth's physical punch, while ducking past her and escaping through the door found behind her! Messa finds himself in a dark hallway, but the light from the edges of the door he just came from is still too much light for what Messa was planning. As Elizabeth manages to open the door Messa just came through, he has already started to barrel himself through the darkness around corners, forcing Elizabeth to chase after him.

I need to stay in the darkness. Sure, I can't properly react to Mental attacks, but that's the point. I need to encourage her into using Mental Attacks rather than physical ones, since those are the only attacks I can punish. She'll be discouraged in using Physically charged attacks, because the "force field" as Isaac describes it actually lights up the area around you, thus allowing me to easily react to those attacks. Of course, this will be an incredibly risky strategy, but it's the most straightforward reason I can see winning, and I can't see anything going wrong, so might as well go for it, right?

Messa didn't have much more time to strategize past this point, since being in Body's Mind significantly removes a Psynesis user's ability to slow down what's happening in their head and strategize with their conscious mind.

The sounds of pipes starting to burst can be heard below Messa...

This feeling... Yeah, I win off of this.

After a brief, yet dramatic pause later, Messa quickly shifts his feet around, dodging the geysers of water that would have gone up and through Messa's legs! Messa had a plan, however. He would predict where Elizabeth's attack is going to be, trying to avoid it while also immediately trying to hit her before she even fully finished her attack!

Messa dodges and weaves, expecting that an attack was going to be thrown at him from that direction, and he immediately throws a heavy right hook at where he thought Elizabeth's face was! But then, Elizabeth's entire body starts to glow, as she protects herself with physical enhancements! Now any weak physical attacks won't have any affect on her at all!

But Messa didn't throw a weak physical punch. In response to Elizabeth raising her physical defenses, a burst of mental energy springs forth, turning Messa's normally ineffective attack into something much more devastating!

There was likely no way of you knowing, but just before the pipes below me bursted open, I felt my control for my Psynesis energy had been restored!

Elizabeth flies backward from the attack, and slams into the wall! After she takes a second to breath, she speaks.

"Why isn't... Hunter's ability working on your anymore?"

"As much as I want to say 'No idea' and be all sly... I think you know what happened to him."

"I..." Messa can hear the strain in her voice, "do you think... Society's Vanguard will try and hunt me down too?"

Messa takes a deep breath, readying himself to answer the question.

"Yes, bu-"

"I guess it doesn't matter, considering what I'm about to do."

Messa is confused for a moment, but when he looked into Elizabeth's stoic, determined eyes, he immediately understood what was going to happen next.

"Don't you dar-"