Mist of Doom

27. Tranquil Training

Mika's eyes widened. Sure, she had fought and injured a lot, but she'd hate to hurt her friends. She even hadn't gotten over her guilt of injuring Katrina with her power, although the wounds had regenerated in a blink of an eye.

"Mika, you shouldn't worry about hitting him," Katrina reminded from beside the pond. "You can't even wreck steel with your power."

"But-"

"You won't want to anger Mr. Wong by damaging this garden, child." Katrina shrugged. "Besides, I'm sure that you've punched and kicked Brandon several times when he taught you how to fight."

Well, the rabbit woman had a point, but Mika would always have a hard time getting over the guilt.

Jyuji stopped flying around Long and yelled at her, "Just attack the big snake already! I wanna know if he lives up to his bullshit."

"Long is not lying about his durability," Fenghuang reminded. "Give it a try."

With a gulp, Mika focused on her hand. Gentle heat crept around her fingers as her hand glowed. A pulsating orb of light emerged above her palm, growing bigger with each passing second. Once it reached the size of a basketball, Mika tossed it at Long.

The sphere slammed into Long's snout and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Mika saw not even a scratch on Long's scales.

"That did not even tickle me." Long twirled his whisker with a finger. "You need to train harder, little girl."

"Either this big snake is bluffing or you're pathetic, missy." Jyuji sneered. "If it's really the latter, you should just forget about stopping the mist."

Mika growled. She didn't want to let Brandon deal with everything by himself anymore; not only she wanted to protect him, but she also needed the fame from being the state's savior, too. Maybe Brandon had resolved the issue of entering Metaslica University for her, but who knew that she might need the fame for something else in the future?

"So, are you gonna stand still and lament about how pathetic you are?"

Hell no! Mika conjured another sphere; this time, it grew twice as fast and ended up at least three times bigger than before.

Then a soothing sensation crept into her head. A second later, the gigantic orb vanished into thin air.

Jyuji burst out laughing. "You're such a joke, missy!"

"Wh-what was this?" Mika stammered, her hand quivering. "I just lost my focus all of a sudden."

Long scratched his snout with a finger. "A lesson for you, little girl: never rely on anger as a source of power."

"Your anger made you an easy target for Long's Tranquility Aura," Fenghuang explained. "It is the manifestation of Long's peaceful personality."

"Hmm..." Katrina stroked her chin. "I guess that is also why the garden feels very peaceful?"

"Long's aura amplifies the positive atmosphere of this garden, rabbit woman." Fenghuang paused. "Even so, the aura itself has some positive effects to everybody. It helps one focus and recover from mild illness, and if you have a power that helps your ally, the aura will strengthen it as well."

"I never consider using any of those aside from a risky healing power. The folk in me often botches my attempt to help others with my powers."

"You should give it a try now, rabbit woman. I am certain that your folk is helpless against the sheer positivity."

Katrina reached out her hand at Mika, who gulped and took a few steps backwards. Would the aura really work? She'd heard about what would happen if Katrina's power went wrong: it would destroy her target from the inside.