Ah. Well then. Chalk that emotional reaction up to piloting error. The solution was straightforwards. All she needed to do was breach the containment and -

Now [i]that [/i]was a headache. Ouch. What was wrong with that? The enemy had committed to a gimmick strategy. A [i]meme build[/i]. Something that looked impressive and unexpected but was in truth a simple tactical dead end as soon as it was understood. Simple weight of fire would be sufficient to breach the shield and cause an implosion. She had no obligation to defend the pilot from her own stupid -

This is a degenerate tactic. It is [i]gamey[/i]. It is the same ritualization that made the Knights of the Evercity so weak, the Huntresses of Hybrasil so weak. When battles are to first blood then everyone forgets how to take a punch. This is a way to steal power while putting the onus on their opponent to not enable their suicide. There is no reason to play along -

I could destroy the tournament authorities in seconds if they [i]dared [/i]-

I can win under this limitation. There is no doubt.

The Aeteline turned. It ignited its blade.

And it went for the throat.

Solarel and the Aeteline have long built a reputation for tactical precision and operational deception. They have deliberately concealed the fact that they can also, if required, fight a conventional battle to the same extremely high level as anyone else. It's her ultimate maneuver, to approach an opponent who is primed to see tricks behind every shadow and use the hesitation of that to execute a devastating conventional takedown. She had gone out of her way to avoid showing this throughout the tournament - it was the secret she was masking behind layer after layer of adaptive strategy and highly engineered takedowns. Here it was unleashed in a sudden blinding clash. 

She supposed she did not need the secret any more. Mirror knew the full extent of her capabilities. 

If battle was conversation, this was a monologue. There was no meaning in these strikes, no communication. Not externally. Everything she was saying with this she was saying only to herself.

[Fight: 10-2 from frightened. Inflicting a condition, taking a superior position]