That being the reason why Ethereal Blast should always be set to Long O. That way, while your other two draw the attention of the enemy or keep them pinned (as is the case with Cliff trained to light it up with Flash Chariot), Fate can get to a safe distance and let loose.

Speaking of long distance games, if you got Fate's AI trained to start up with the Reflect Strike X -> Reflect Strike O combo, you can have Cliff do a similar X -> O repeater once you pick up his Max Shockwave