[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Y9sJ6mj.png[/img]
[/center]

Half a dozen elements of Callie’s mind reacted at once.

Most immediate was the self-castigation – that she had been careless, that she should have made her portal [i]above[/i] Mei and the deck, out of reach of a close combatant.

Then came the aghast anger at the fact that the sword had, seemingly effortlessly, sliced through the barrel of her rifle – and the twinge of worry as she immediately identified the impossibly sharp weapon as a Noble Arm.

Another thought noted that she would soon crest in her altitude and, logically, begin falling immediately afterwards – and that having her primary means of mitigating falling temporarily disrupted was a significant problem.

Yet another considered the man’s…  [i]Remark.[/i]  That one spiralled and spiralled through her head, warping everything it touched.

[color=f7941d][i]Was that why Mum – the ‘Malik’ – Myron has to know – I [/i]must not[i] – ‘similar’, how does –[/i][/color]

All surged up in Callie’s mind - but then another overpowered every one of them, containing them and bringing her to focused fury.

[color=f7941d][i][b]Stop this.  Get him away![/b][/i][/color]

A flurry of thought and motion.  Callie dismissed Charter; her portal did not vanish; she winced as her body took the strain of the manifestation directly.  That confirmed that it [i]was[/i] an Arm.  Just as importantly, it left a gap in her portal perfectly sized for her to raise her pistol sidearm and –

“His Noble Arm is a sword whose power is to render himself invisible and intangible –”

The sword vanished.  The portal remained open.

– BANG!  Callie near-[i]growled[/i], reholstering her pistol.  [color=f7941d][i]Thank God he can’t – oh, God,[/i] could [i]he force it open further?[/i][/color]  Increasingly desperate, she wracked her brain for paths out of her situation – throwing away the rifle would only put the portal out of reach and drain her; trying to interfere with the space around the portal might result in the severance of one of her limbs; calling for help might…

Might work.

It cut at her being.

“He can be kept out with Noble Arms –”

[color=f7941d][i][b]Now[/b] you say![/i][/color]

Callie resummoned Charter to her hand, flicked the telescope out like a nightstick to maximise her reach, stretched out the remains of her rifle to reorient the portal for the best angle to strike – then [i]slammed[/i] her Arm down where the flat of the blade had been.  If her portal was held open by a sword, let the sword become a lever and the portal a fulcrum; with them both (and hitting hard and enough times), she hoped to wrench the weapon from her assailant’s hand.