Ethan was subconsciously using something similar to Elara's Physical Augmentation as he fought the masked woman. He had so much mana while assimilated with Spark that, to keep up with his unusual opponent in close combat, he had begun using the excess energy to strengthen his body.
While it wasn't nearly as efficient or powerful as Elara's ability, it was enough to keep him in the fight against a woman who had yet to reveal the full extent of her own abilities. More importantly, Ethan was beginning to understand her fighting style.
'She's not trying to keep her distance.'
That was important.
Her hypnosis didn't work on him, so the logical decision for her would have been to retreat and find another way to control the fight from a distance. If her greatest advantage was manipulating the minds of her opponents, continuing to fight someone immune to that ability made little sense.
Yet she wasn't retreating.
Instead, she was deliberately fighting him up close, unusually so.
