For a split second, Dan was stuck in a strange limbo as his body was frozen in place when he hit the wall of light. No matter the effort, he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even move his eyeballs. In the next moment, the bright ocean blue around him faded away and a completely different set of surroundings faded in.
The forward momentum from Kate’s kick sent Dan skidding across the floor. When he came to a stop, he lifted his and barely had time to check his surroundings before his body rolled out of the way on its own.
Reflex ability used. Cooldown 150 seconds.
Dan quickly got back on his feet and saw a dark robed enemy a few meters away from him. A second robed figure stood behind the one that just tried to crack his skull open. One of the walls of this place had the same ocean blue glow as the one in the tunnel.
A brief scan of the nearest enemy’s stats spat back results in Dan’s vision.
Agent: Toriko Aura
Age: 21 M
Shard: Church of Nanotology
Rank: Tier 1 | Level 24 - Practitioner
Strength: 30
Agility: 35
Endurance: 22
Intelligence: 33
Healing Factor: n/a
On paper, the Church agent was roughly equal to him in the stat categories. It was the “practitioner” moniker that concerned him the most.
The portal faded in brightness, but Dan saw something rush through the ocean blue light and tackle one of the robed figures to the ground. The wall of light completely disappeared and the wall became a normal part of the interior.
The agent standing across from him didn’t bother helping his teammate as he was grappling against a Bloodknight Dan recognized as Ada.
A glowing ball of dark blue energy whirled in the agent’s palm and he charged him. The agent was fast, quickly crossing a few meters in an instant. Dan barely swerve his head out of the path of a direct handful of energy. He watched as the ball of energy in the agent’s hand sizzled his collar and narrowly missed him.
The ball of energy left the Church agent’s palm and the attack smashed into the wall behind him. The attack burned a giant hole into the wall before the energy dissipated.
Ada’s opponent also had his own set of surprises, as the Bloodknight narrowly dived out of the path of an arc of lightning that shot out of the palm of the Church agent.
Dan grabbed the Ravager pistol from his coat and quickly popped off shots towards the Church agent in front of him. Four bullets left his handgun before it clicked empty. To Dan’s horror, none of the rounds hit their mark. Two of them frozen in mid air and lost all of their momentum, dropping to the ground and the other two slowed down and curved around the agent’s body.
Warning: Psychic field in use by Church agent.
“That's bullshit,” he muttered.
Dan felt a sudden surge of energy through his body and the familiar violet bar appeared in the middle of his vision. The bar quickly filled up with corrosia energy. The Church’s agent energy blast from earlier must have damaged the collar.
His opponent was a dangerous foe. Dan knew he had to go all out if he was to help Ada against the other asshole.
Berserk mode activated.
Dan had something in mind he wanted to try. He immediately rushed the agent, then deactivated his berserk, banking on the momentum to carry the force needed to end this in one punch. If this worked, he would conserve some corrosia.
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Whatever psychic field the Church agent had set up for himself to protect against bullets, it proved insufficient against a regular hard punch from Dan as his fist smashed into the throat of the robed enemy.
Even through his gloves, Dan felt the crunching of cartilage as the agent’s windpipe was crushed from the blow.
He dug his fingers under the malfunctioning collar clamped around his neck and tore it off, breaking the collar into two halves as it clattered onto the ground. He redirected his attention to assisting Ada, but saw the Bloodknight washout was doing just fine on her own.
Ada had skewered the second Church agent with her katana. She had the fanatic impaled and pinned to the ceiling with her sword. The agent still twitched and convulsed, even trying to conjure up more electricity in his palm before the energy fizzled out. All his limbs went slack and his head dropped.
The Bloodknight brought her sword down and smashed the dead corpse onto the ground.
Wow, that was brutal, Dan thought.
“Goddamn, nice work,” he said. “Guess you didn’t need my help after all. I wanted to wrap up my business with this guy and then back you up.”
Ada stared down at her dead enemy then lifted her head up to look at him. “I appreciate the thought. But I can tell you’re… inexperienced when it comes to these particular foes.”
“Really? What gave it away?”
Ada walked toward him slowly. Dan had no clue whether it was just him or if the Bloodknight put too much sway into her hips as she slowly sauntered over to him. She glanced down at the agent he had killed with a simple punch to the throat.
“You won your battle against this one,” she said, pointing the tip of her katana at the dead Church agent by Dan’s feet. “Though there were some close calls. You allowed him to closed the gap on you. It was lucky you didn’t get hit by that ball of energy. Only an agent with energy shields or excessively high corrosia reserves could stand up to a direct hit. Thos energy blasts will burn and melt through armor and flesh.
“Yeah, that shit was dangerous,” he said. “Felt the heat from it and it put this collar out of commission.”
Ada glanced down at the broken collar on the ground, then looked back at him. “I don’t have an extra one. And honestly, you need access to all of your other powers if you want to survive. I’d also rather not babysit someone who is arbitrarily handicapped just because he’s a prisoner. I mean no offense.”
“Relax, that collar was too tight anyway,” Dan said.
Ada gave a faint smile. “I’ll be trusting you then. I am sure you’ll find me much more tolerable than Kate.”
“The bar is pretty low honey,” he said. He almost winced at the term “honey.” Why did that leave his mouth so easily? But he quickly bruised past it. “Me and that blond bitch have some history. You’ll have to do a lot to piss me off.”
Dan finally had some downtime, or at least enough to check out his immediate surroundings. Aside from the two dead Church agents on the ground, Dan glanced to his right and saw the entire section of the building had been blown off, probably from a rocket or other explosive. Debris spilled into the room like vomit, adding to the carnage caused by the fanatics he and Ada just fought and killed. The energy attack from Dan’s enemy had burned a hole in the wall behind him, allowing a circular window of red light to spill in. He looked over Ada’s shoulder and saw the aftermath of the lightning attacks from the Bloodknight’s opponent. Charred marks on the floorboards and ceiling marked the paths of electricity. He also noticed a giant bloodstain on the ceiling where Ada had skewered and pinned the fanatic before throwing him onto the ground.
“Well, since you’re trusting me, you mind sharing with me the routes and waypoints you have on your HUD?”
Ada gave a curt nod. But a sudden flash caused both of them to flinch before Dan saw somebody in the space between him and Ada.
The tall brunette Kodak superior who kidnapped him and dragged him into this mess appeared right before him.
“Quite the carnage you and Ada dished out,” Judith said. Her arms were folded and she gave Dan the signature predatory grin. “But you’re still not at the level where I want you.”
“Oh yeah?” he said, pointing his finger at the corpse at his feet. “So me caving this guy’s throat wasn’t enough of a spectacle for you?”
Judith crouched down beside the body and pulled back the robes of the Church agent. After a quick glance at the body, she stood back up. “That’s cute, Dan. No really it is. But if you think you’ll be taking out a cult master with fists alone, you’re far more optimistic than I would like. No, you need something more.”
Ada widened her eyes at her superior. “Ma’am, are you insinuating that Dan needs the—”
Judith cut her off with a chuckle. “You know me too well, my little disciple.” She gave her a few pats on the head, which looked all kinds of awkward in Dan’s eyes.
She grabbed Dan by the coat and also wrapped Ada in her arm. Judith awkwardly brought the two together for an embrace so close that he was cheek to cheek with the Bloodknight washout. She even lifted both of them off the ground in this tight hug. Could be worse, he thought to himself.
“I’m giving Dan a new task. And you’re going to help him. Think of it as a side quest before he’s truly ready to stand toe to toe against that pesky cult master.”
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