Chapter 205: Chapter 186 : Comparison (Part 2)

The venue was identical to the ones used by her fellow Mimics, save for one feature. Embedded in the walls and ceiling, spaced out at regular intervals, were special netherian panels.

Bolts, beams, orbs; no matter what form her lightning took, they were all swallowed up without resistance, with even Naturalised lightning unable to escape the starstone’s gluttonous gullet.

Ralf wasn’t surprised at the finding. Violet had explained that this room was specifically modified to house her training sessions.

Training underground was a must for the princess, especially in the current weather. Were she to fire off lightning as freely as she was now above ground, she'd invoke a thunderstorm of significant magnitude that would no doubt inconvenience the whole Academy.

The training hall was built to prevent this possibility, well, that was one of the reasons. The main reason why the Academy went out of its way to construct this room was to collect electricity. The panels didn’t just absorb electricity but also acted as perfect batteries.

Ralf wasn't clear on the process, but from what he knew, a special orange liquid and strong magnetism were used in conjunction to extract electrical energy from the netherian stones. The extracted electricity then flowed into the Academy's power grid, powering the many facilities and operations.

Violet was no powerhouse - no, such a term was insulting to her true output. In her daily hour-long Psi training sessions, she expelled enough energy to power the Academy and then some.

The Academy had expected much from her arrival, given the claim that her father could supposedly power several of Saures' major cities at once, but her shocking feat left them smitten.

As part of the Pillar factions, they weren't hurting to pay the bills. Still, Violet's presence and prowess were very much welcome. And of course, they made sure to compensate her well. At the rate she was going, she would surpass Ralf in credits within a week.

Ralf’s mind didn’t linger on the special panels - it couldn't. Upon capturing the princess, he entered a spellbound daze, much like he did with Yuki. Ray was similarly entrapped.

To say she was beautiful was an understatement but also redundant at this point.

In her Thunder Empress Armour, she was more than that. Just like Yuki before her, Violet called forth images of a divine warrior, no different to that of a Valkyrie. Instead of love and lust, the emotions she usually inspired in others, it was reverence and fear that dominated the hearts of the onlookers present.

Ralf couldn’t stare too long though, not out of bashfulness, but because she was a literal light attack given form. He quickly moved to her PA and explained himself.

He got the green light from her before getting a purple one from below. Telepathically connected, he viewed the princess as the PA did, through multiple high-speed ‘lenses’.

Violet wowed, but in a different way than the other two Mimics. In truth, Ralf didn’t need to record her training session to create a fighting character for her; he could have done so from the start. The reason being, that he pretty much knew the princess’ movelist already.

Violet was the sixth lightning Mimic since Alois, the Raven and 'Lightning King'. In the roughly three-hundred-year gap, the Mimic power had been thoroughly explored and optimised to its utmost limit.

Violet didn’t have to experiment or anything; everything was handed to her on a silver platter, perfect from the get-go. All she needed to do was copy the perfected techniques...and copy them she did, resulting in her abilities and techniques being nearly identical to her father's and his predecessors.

Given this fact and the duo's knowledge about past lightning Mimics, they knew what to expect coming into Violet's training hall. Still, expected or not, the duo - especially Ralf - enjoyed every moment of it. He liked flashy things, and she couldn’t be more flashy if she tried. While appreciating the shocking visuals, his and Ray's minds worked to analyse and unravel everything they were capturing.

They started with her multi-layered combat outfit. Skin, Psi barrier, clothes, lightning-clad metallic armour and Psi barrier; that was the order the lightning Mimic used.

The earlier Valkyrie comparison wasn't out of place. The Lightning Princess currently donned a black set of armour atop her normal clothes, the design a fusion of modern and medieval. It fit snugly on her person, the fabric and armour complementing each other perfectly.

The jet black armour was light, sleek, and had elegant engravings on them, which purple lightning settled into. Violet didn't stop there, filling the grooves and gaps between armour pieces with superficial lightning, giving the princess a violet glow. When combined with her flowing purple hair, the visual impact was devastating.

Her armoured form was a painting no artist could match, though, that wasn't her aim. The armour wasn't worn for visual flare, but rather, for practicality's sake.

Armour was usually worn for defence, but this wasn't the case for Violet. Instead, she wore armour to enhance her combat speed. The black armour set was made of a highly ferromagnetic material, which Violet could easily manipulate with her magnetism.

She could move at high speeds with coordinated EM force pushes alone, but using the armour method was way more efficient and easier to control. So, when it was time to battle at full power, she would move to don one of these special armour sets.

The duo's mind eyes left her armour and focused on the array of lightning constructs that hovered mere inches off her person. They mostly took the form of circles and half-circles, of varying sizes, the biggest being the size of a plate. These constructs mostly occupied her backside and shoulders, with a few wrapping around her limbs.

At first glance, one might pin these sights to be purely aesthetic, but again they were not. While appearing like regular lightning, the constructs were made using a pseudo-lightning, causing them to emit next to no heat. They were useless as offensive tools but excelled as defensive ones.

Working in tandem, these lightning contraptions created dozens of invisible pathways around her figure, making it impossible for lightning - even true lightning - to accidentally harm her. It was only with this assurance that she could so confidently unleash the mighty element.

One last aspect of her attire that stood out, or rather made something else stand out, was the black headwear that covered her eyes. Just like Skye and Yuki, she too fought purely with her Psi Scan. The covering was a must for her, given her frequent blinding attacks.

Still, while practical, it created a certain effect. With the bottom half of her face exposed, the duo's mind eyes were naturally drawn to her exposed lips.

Their cherry hue, fullness and supple texture combined with her poised expression made for an attractive sight. The duo's analytical thoughts were made to pause for a good while as their attention was seized by her beautiful visage.

Ray exited his trance first, a sip of his milkshake resetting his brain. He passed the sensation to his other self and Ralf came to a moment later, his mental defences a bit sturdier than before.

He refocused on the princess. Her expression remained fixed, elegant and composed, regardless of how seizure-inducing her surroundings got. Wanting to stir those calm waters, he began cheering for her just as he did for Yuki. His desires were answered within seconds. A big smile rose to his face as he watched her expression falter and her lips tug every which way, out of amusement, out of embarrassment, out of wryness, out of joy…

After indulging in his revenge for a bit, Ralf relented, joining his other self in seriously analysing the Mimic.

Observing her, the other two Mimics arose in the duo's minds; they couldn’t help but compare the three.

In terms of speed, Skye had the quickest straight-line speed due to his use of explosives. On the other hand, the air Mimic had the worse overall control, so his combat speed was the lowest. Yuki was the opposite, having the best control/combat speed while having the slowest straight-line speed. Violet sat in the middle of the two, having a faster straight-line speed than Yuki but a slower combat speed.

When it came to fighting style, Violet was again somewhere in the middle, able to do both close-range and long-range combat but favouring the latter. Though, seeing the techniques at her disposal, the duo could understand why.

*Bzzzz*

Zigzagging around the room, arcs of lightning followed in the Lightning Princess' wake, flashing in and out of existence within the span of a blink. The chasing lightning stalked Violet's beautiful form while seemingly lashing out at Psi monsters who dared to get too close. With each flashy emission, the room's concentration of nitrate increased exponentially, the air vents working at full tilt to keep up.

Lightning bolted from the princess' left hand, striking at her conjured foes, one after the other. She wasn't just spraying and praying - no, each attack landed with surgical precision, the Psi monsters becoming her private lightning rods, at least, that's what it was made to appear like.

They were all stuffed with anti-electricity and force absorption Psi, but this meant little before the Lightning Princess' barrage of projectiles. The protective aura bought them a few hits at most. The high-speed plasma shocked and jolted in equal measure, giving both pause and end to whatever it hit.

Violet's lightning attacks came in two varieties: Psi-induced lightning attacks and Naturalised lightning attacks.

The former was self-explanatory. She’d transform her Psi to mimic lightning or a pseudo version of it and fire it out in whatever form she wished: an orb, a bolt, a beam, etc. In its Maintained state, the lightning was under her complete control and could bend and twist through space at her will.

This was deadly but nowhere near as deadly as the latter type of lightning attack, for unlike the former type, which was supersonic, the latter type moved at the speed of lightning, meaning one-third the speed of light.

Violet couldn’t just belt out lightning-speed bolts or beams at once though, trying would just result in wild arcs of lightning. A small preparation was needed. Several lightning rings emerged beforehand, all varying in shape, and would create an invisible EM barrel of sorts.

It was with such Psi contraptions that she could accurately aim her lightning strikes. Once formed, Violet drove her aura through the mechanism and unleashed her desired attack. The series of techniques had a lot of variety, as the duo could vouch for. She could fire intermittent bolts here and there or opt for a sustained laser-like attack. She could also adjust the thickness or shape of the beam, and even charge up her beams to increase the blasted plasma to absurd temperatures.

It was a fearsome technique. The heat and force were troublesome, but even more so was its ungodly speed. Psi was naturally very fast, but it couldn't compete with true lightning.

For instance, If Violet fired a Naturalised lightning bolt at a netherian-less elite powerhouse with their Automatic Aura active, they would die, simple as that. Their Psi wouldn’t be able to shift into place fast enough to protect them from getting zapped.

Another thing that made such attacks deadly was their extreme range. Given that the lightning transitioned into its natural state, she could snipe targets from kilometres - potentially hundreds of kilometres - away if she was at the right elevation.

Her beams and bolts were noteworthy, but the Lightning Princess' arsenal didn't end there.

Swoosh!

On the move, Violet's attention moved to the sturdiest of the bunch, a Psi ogre. It chased after her relentlessly, moving with a speed and finesse a real ogre couldn't match. Still, it was far too slow to catch Violet, even in the confined space. She continued her slaughter while focusing on the volleyball-sized orb hovering an inch off her right palm.

'How far should I charge it up?' she questioned, still pouring pseudo lightning into the orb's confines, its heat rapidly rising at each passing second. 'I'll just stick with stage 2, visually, it doesn't look any different.'

Thinking this, Violet went for it. Her airborne figure, just inches off the ground, turned around and she aimed her palm towards the ogre, before firing the crackling sphere of lightning.

Electrosphere: Stage 2!

Colliding with the Psi ogre, the orb exploded, unleashing a purple storm of devastation, clearing out half the room of Psi monsters in but a moment. It would have eradicated them all if not for the netherian panels, which greedily ate up the lightning.

The duo were awestruck at the display and also struck by a feeling of Deja Vu. They were reminded of Skye's plasma orb and for good reason. The two spheres' natures were nearly identical.

Violet used her orbs mainly to act as heaters but they were far more than that. Electrosphere was a strong contender for Violet's strongest technique. First, she created a hollow sphere of EM energy and then filled it with a special pseudo-lightning before having it become Naturalised.

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This special lightning had a strong tendency to clump up. Using this property, Violet fashioned a volleyball-sized orb. She then had her EM waves rile up the mass, artificially raising the plasma’s temperature higher and higher. By continuing to fuel the fire through this method, she could have her orb reach astounding temperatures.

She divided Electrosphere's heat into five stages based on the time taken to charge, with the fifth stage reaching temperatures well over a hundred thousand degrees Celcius.

Just like her beams, orb attacks varied depending on her aims. She could fire quick bursts of small orbs or charge up and launch large orbs bearing inferno-like heat.

The latter was the thing to watch out for, and a common tactic lightning Mimics used in the past. They created Electrospheres at the start of the battle and then stayed evasive as they charged up. Once the Electrosphere reached the final stage, even blocking it perfectly with a specialised barrier would result in death.

Taking in the orb's destruction, the duo couldn't help but sweat a cold sweat. They had many cards up their sleeves, but none that could handle the technique's power.

After unleashing a few more Electrospheres, Violet ceased ranged combat and traded her orbs for lightning swords. Dual wielding them, she flew around the room in a spiral, carving dozens of lines through space.

Raiken's Blade functioned on the same principle as Electrosphere; as seconds passed, the temperature within the blades rapidly rose. By the five-second mark, the glowing swords instantly obliterated any Psi monsters they made contact with.

Following the swords, Violet summoned lightning whips and then spears, all of which went out in an explosion of frenzied lightning. The princess remained unscathed in the aftermath, lightning snakes slithering around her dazzling form. Her foes, not so much.

Clearing the room for the nth time, Violet's speedy form ground to a halt at the centre of the room. She crossed her arms, waiting for the Assistants to summon more opponents. The Assistants did their duties and seconds later, dozens of Psi monsters surrounded the beauty.

The monster collective broke out into a dash, not rushing in yet, but choosing to circle the princess. Seconds later, several Psi goblins leapt at her, coming from all cardinal directions.

To their approach, Violet remained unmoving. With a thought, invisible rings of force exploded out. The EM force pushes stopped the Psi goblins dead in their tracks - no, more than that, it blew them away, turning them into bowling balls and their fellow monsters into pinballs.

Strike after strike, Violet continued, the air parting with a roar at each EM force expulsion. Eyeing the expelled force, the duo reckoned that the princess' EM force pushes were on par with a Rank 6 Telekinetic's.

Violet narrowed the technique's area of effect with time, causing the Psi monsters to go from being blown back to being blown up. Like moths to a flame, the Psi monsters rushed toward their demise. The last of the lot, a Psi orc charged at Violet's front. The princess didn't rush her attack, even as the Psi monster's weighty fist neared.

Bam!

The punch struck her chest and pushed Violet back several inches, leaving a small crack in her Psi barrier. That was it. Mimic barriers were known to be incredibly sturdy and Violet's was no exception. Tanking the hit, her palm glided to the Psi monster's chest. The world seemed to ripple as a loud boom rang out. The Psi orc, no different from a glass dropped from high, shattered into thousands of tiny shards before vanishing as a blue mist.

Out of targets, Violet was forced to wait again. She didn't mind and used the time productively, bringing the objects in the corner of the room to her side.

Her EM abilities didn't end with pure force emissions. Using the same mechanism, she could also propel objects, no different than a railgun. It wasn’t just ferromagnetic materials either, Violet could accelerate anything, displaying this feat at this very moment.

With a thought, a large ice block was forced to jump. On its way down, Violet's Psi wrapped around it and then...

A sonic boom later, the blueish ice block raced towards its target, smashing it to bits. The sight repeated itself several times in quick succession until all seven ice blocks were at the walls. The hardened ice blocks had met with the Assistants' protective Psi so were mostly intact, allowing Violet to reuse them, and reuse them she did.

When asked about the presence of the ice blocks, the kind PA explained that Violet and Yuki were in a collaboration of sorts. Yuki created these ice blocks for Violet's practice and in return, Violet would melt all the ice Yuki would create during her training session. Ralf was happy to hear this, his friends getting along brought a smile to his face.

[You really want me to perform it?] Violet asked, wearing a troubled expression.

[You don't have to if you don't want to...but if you do, it'll definitely make my day.]

Violet's reservations fell by the wayside as she met with Ralf's starry eyes shining with the light of expectation. [....Fine, I'll make your day then,] she said, the Transmigrator's face growing bright in response.

The princess re-equipped her headwear to avoid being blinded and took a breath, gathering the moxie needed to see his request through to the end.

Had another requested her to do something so ridiculous, so embarrassing, she would never entertain it. Ralf though....she just couldn't bring herself to turn him and his smiling down.

Still, while she could embarrass herself in front of him, other people were a different story. With a command, her PA and the Assistants were cleared out of the venue, all ordered to take a two-minute break.

Violet took another breath as all unwillingness escaped her being. The princess moved to the centre of the room and then slowly fell into the stance he had shown her previously.

*Bzzz*

As she did, the surrounding winds picked up speed and lightning snakes flickered into existence, her clothes and hair fluttering wildly in the vortex. Amidst the crackles and swirls, the sound of a suppressed squeal echoed out. The sound motivated the lightning Mimic and in the strange stance, she began reciting the ‘incantation’ Ralf had just taught her, doing it exactly as he did it.

“Ka…me…”

At the first syllable, a ball of lightning formed between her palms. Recalling the details of Ralf’s request, Violet added several useless but flashy additions, expanding the size of the white-hot sphere with each syllable spoken.

“...ha…me…”

Extending the pause for effect, she twisted her body and thrust her palms forward before roaring the final syllable, releasing the twisting vortex of plasma from its prison.

“...ha!”

The massive cone-shaped beam lit up the room in a dazzling white and purple as the air screamed at its mere presence. The charged-up beam lingered for a good few seconds before dissipating into thousands of glittering specs of short-lived light.

Holding the iconic pose for a few seconds more, Violet broke form and subdued her wild aura. She removed her headwear and sought out Ralf's reaction. The princess wasn’t disappointed; his expression beamed no less than Heaven's Judgement, her strongest attack.

"How was I?"

"Perfect, you nailed it," Ralf flashed her a smile and thumbs-up, fully satisfied at the recreation.

"Glad you liked it. It was embarrassing to do, but also pretty refreshing," she said, sporting a refreshing smile.

”Pretty and refreshing, indeed," Ralf nodded as he approached, his steps giddy. "You're amazing Violet, so cool and flashy, it's no wonder the Radiant Church worships your family as demigods, honestly, I'm feeling the urge to drop to the floor as well," he said, mimicking Jeff's fanatism to a tie.

Violet's lips tugged up. The princess had received no shortage of compliments and looks of adoration throughout her life; she was mostly indifferent to it all at this point, with a few exceptions, Ralf proving to be one of them. His smiling face did something for her.

'Drop to the floor, huh...on one knee or two?' Shaking her head at the question, she refocused on Ralf's voice.

"I've got more than enough footage to work with, a shame I can't see Heaven's Judgement, but it is what it is."

"Anything else you want me to recreate?" The princess asked, up for more; shouting was strangely cathartic.

"Hm, I have a few things in mind," Ralf replied, two ideas instantly popping up in his head, the first involving her drawing a lightning sword from her chest and the second involving her sprouting a lightning tail and getting on all-fours.

'I don't know about those,' he quickly dismissed the racy images, not wanting to make his new friend - or himself -uncomfortable.

"...but we'll have to do that another time. I've eaten up quite a bit of your training session already, plus," Ralf gestured with his head at the venue's entranceway, the sounds of the Assistants' footsteps coming from the corridor beyond.

Violet got his point and nodded, though her shoulders couldn't help but drop slightly. "Another time then."

Ralf noted her disappointment and sped up. Closing in, he dropped his palm atop her lowered head and began ruffling. Violet accepted his touch without issue, her face breaking into a soft smile.

"Yep, another time. We have all the time in the world to do all sorts of fun things together, princess. For now, we part. You keep being awesome over here, I'll be off."

He ended his ruffling at the words and turned before striding off.

"I'm off to that vixen's lair. Pray for me, Violet, for my soul and body...but mostly for the latter; it might not make it back the same.”

“Ahaha, will do.”

The Transmigrator smiled, Violet’s giggles were music to his ears. “I’ll trust you on that. See you later, Lightning Princess.”

Exchange ending on a positive note, Ralf headed to his final destination.

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