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The metal man flew back, leaving his arm behind--which she discovered was not merely coated in metal but actually made of it, extending partway into the muscle tissue.

Her three opponents rallied together on the other side of the room, stepping carefully so as not to be too close to one another and thereby render her job easier. For a hesitant moment, they merely looked at her, and she stared them all down from beneath her harsh eyebrows.

“This doesn’t have to get any uglier,” Charlie tried. “We are not going to hurt your children. If you would just come with us--”

The wave made them scatter as it annihilated the table down the center and punched an isosceles hole into the wall. The ceiling shifted from the impact, and Mariana tossed a grenade after Charlie while pressuring the thin man. She threw a distant punch at thin air, feigning another wave attack. The thin man took the bait and dove right, and Mariana used her other hand to throw a follow-up punch, this time using her power. Her rifle was ripped to pieces as that was the hand she’d held it in, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice, because the path blasted forth and obliterated the thin man completely.

The short man barreled into her, trying to knock her off balance, but Mariana managed to grab him and bring him along for her tumble across the floor. She rolled over him and pinned him down. A burning hole pierced her back and set her on fire again. She ignored it and took the opportunity to remove the metal man’s head from his neck. He still had plenty of blood on the inside.

She yanked her flaming overshirt off and threw it aside. Her long hair had caught fire as well, but that didn’t matter so much. When she stood back up, Charlie was no longer in the room. She queried Shenado with a look.

‘He is retreating,’ the reaper said.

Surprising, but wise. She didn’t have time to question it, though.