The technique was perfect.
And deeply flawed.
Kael understood this even as Valen stared in disbelief. Orbital Deflection was the best defensive ability he had ever encountered—spatial warping that made physical contact impossible. But the limitations were severe.
The gravitational field had to be restricted to a sub-atomic thin membrane over his skin. Any thicker, and the devastating pulling forces would leak into the surrounding environment—crushing allies, destroying the battlefield, making the technique unusable in any scenario where collateral damage mattered.
Maintaining the baseline shield cost a steady, manageable trickle of mana. But the cost scaled exponentially with the kinetic energy of blocked attacks. A simple punch might cost nothing. A technique like Venom Avalanche had drained nearly eight percent of his reserves in a single instant.
For someone with a standard Flawless Core, the technique would be nearly unusable in sustained combat.
