Hikari was blown back and crash-landed, but quickly recovered, rising to her feet with her weapon at the ready—

"Game over."

—and then something blew past her with an almighty [i]CRACK,[/i] a blinding flash of electricity briefly crossing her vision. Behind her, a section of wall was almost blasted apart as white-hot lightning scorched its surface.

Meanwhile, several meters in front of her, Honami Tokiko lowered her Tesla Cannon, shaking her head.

"If I'd been aiming for you, that could have been bad, don't you think?" The concrete was still smouldering where the blast had struck, fragments of debris scattered about the point of impact. Even if it hadn't been intended to actually hit Hikari, that power was real. 

"Your barrier was strong enough, and you even recovered well after it broke." The mad scientist's eyes narrowed. "But that's not enough. All you did when Eve kept coming at you was hunker down, and that gave me plenty of time to prepare a follow-up attack for the moment your barrier broke. Knowing the limits of your own defenses isn't just about 'knowing how many hits you can block,' but also 'knowing that you can't win just by playing defense.' If you let yourself be predictable, you'll get driven into a trap. And then..." She gestured at where her Tesla Cannon had struck the wall, illustrating her point.

"So let's try offense! Time to test out that hammer!" Tokiko grinned, her voice suddenly turning cheerful. She pointed at her own archetype. "Eve-chan here is really tough, so you can hit her as hard as you want."

[i]"EHHHH?!"[/i] The monstergirl's eyes went wide, her expression suddenly fearful. "Wah!"

"What? No! Don't be such a wimp!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Okay, [i]fine.[/i]" Tokiko looked back towards Hikari. "Uh, maybe hold back a [i]little[/i] bit when you hit her..."

[@VitaVitaAR]