Dan dived toward the nearest vehicle, narrowly dodging the paths of incoming gunfire from the enhanced cultists. Kate and Adam scattered as they exchanged shots against the horde of cultists enhanced by their psychic commander.

  He pressed his back against the vehicle, a Kodak jeep and peered out with his nailgun. He fired the archaic weapon, keeping the insane recoil under control as stake-like projectiles ripped through the air and tore apart the throats and faces of two cultists. Both flopped to the ground and the corrosia energy that empowered them left their bodies.

  Dan watched in awe as the cult master levitated off the ground and floated over his followers. The Kodak agents opened fire at him, their bullets doing nothing as the cult master’s psychic filed redirected the projectiles away from him. Dan saw the red flash from the cult master’s eyes and watched with a mix of fascination and horror at the man’s version of the glare attack.

  While Dan’s best version of the glare was setting his enemies on fire, the cult master clearly lived up to his name with his much deadlier version. A Kodak agent who had peeked out of a wrecked car firing upon the cultists froze and dropped his rifle. He let out a gutteral scream before his armor burned and turned to ash in just a second. The agent’s body then burned away in layers. His skin, then muscles, bones and internal organs until nothing was left but a charred outline of where an agent once stood.

  All of which happened within seconds. The agent had been disintegrated thoroughly in record speed. The entire street was nothing but hectic, uncontrolled chaos as shots, explosions and corrosia-based attacks from the cult master filled the air.

  Judith herself had been significantly weakened since her first fight against the cult master in the underground bunker. She summoned her golden blade and chopped down the onslaught of cultists that both charged her directly or teleported to the adjacent roofs to rain down energy attacks and gunfire from elevated positions. Judith still cut down any cultist bold enough to get within melee range of her while also dodging and weaving through attacks from multiple angles.

  While the lead Bloodknight still proved to be a dangerous threat, it was clear she was being kept at bay and couldn’t do much against the cult master.

  Dan peered out from cover and blasted away with his nailgun. Numerous nails blew apart the heads of several followers and they all flopped onto the ground, never getting back up again. At least he learned that damaging the head of a cultist prevented them from being resurrected by their psychic commander.

  The cult master blasted arcs of electricity out of his palm and zapped a Kodak agent that attempted to reposition himself to another vehicle. The Kodak agent fell to his knees, his armor hot with haze and smoking. The agent fell face down onto the pavement and didn’t stand back up.

  Numerous grenades soared toward the levitating cult master. Three grenades swerved and missed the powerful Church agent while one grenade smashed and exploded against the psychic field. The cult master was obscured by a cloud of smoke which he quickly waved away with a swing of his bronze blade. The explosion had been nullified by the psychic field. Though it wasn’t in vain.

  Dan looked back and saw it was Adam who had launched those grenades from a launcher he had looted from the transport. The Kodak agent blasted two more grenades from his launcher directly at the cult master. The two grenades soared through the air and exploded against the psychic field of their enemy.

  The smoke cleared once again and Dan saw a strange faint bubble of energy become visible surrounding the cult master. Then it popped with an audible crack. If his psychic field was down, this was their chance to land direct hits on him that would put him down for good.

  The cult master turned to face Adam and Kate and held up both hands. In one hand, he gathered up energy then shot out a rapid series of blasts past Dan. Kate narrowly dodged the smattering of dark blue energy before one bolt smashed into her upper arm. The blond screamed as she hit the ground.

  A blurry haze enveloped around Adam and the agent couldn’t move. Then Adam levitated off the sidewalk and was suddenly pulled rapidly toward the cult master. Dan knew he wound’t have another opportunity to strike while this powerful enemy was preoccupied.

  Dan broke cover and drew his Conservative.

  Warp dancer activated.

  He sped past the cultists still firing on Judith and the other Kodak agents who still remained. He spared a glance at the remains of the team. Kate was still in the back writhing from the hit to her arm. Judith cut down three cultists with her golden blade while ducking beneath a burst of gunfire from a rooftop cultist. The individual rounds of the burst still hung in the air, cutting through space in slow motion. Natalia, one of Judith’s subordinates, had lobbed the heads off one cultist with her katana.

  Any cultist that stood in Dan’s way to the cult master was beheaded. He robbed them the opportunity to be resurrected by their psychic commander. Dan chopped through nine of the cult master’s followers before he found himself underneath the levitating freak of nature. In his warp dance, Dan still saw Adam being pulled in by the cult master’s telekinesis. This was the same nonsense that a lower-ranked Church agent used to pull him up to the collapsed building. Dan was lucky he countered with his glare ability and released his enemy’s grip on him.

  In the extreme slow motion, the cult master readied his bronze energy blade to impale Adam. Admittedly, Dan wouldn’t miss the guy if he got impaled and died here, but the cult master was the bigger threat in this situation. He hopped on top of a nearby van and jumped again, launching himself into the air. He aimed his sword directly at the cult master’s heart from behind.

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  By all accounts, this move should have ended the fight and Dan would walk away killing a power enemy and reap the rewards of a massive experience bonus and bragging rights with his peers. So when the cult master abruptly turned around and locked eyes with him while Dan was still in mid-air, he immediately knew this was a bad idea.

  Somehow, Dan’s moves had slowed by a substantial margin. He wasn’t soaring through the air ready to impale his Conservative into his enemy. His body only hung in the air like the rest of the bullets. But with Dan’s warp dance, it should be him who had the speed advantage while perceiving everyone else as slow.

  “I see you,” the cult master said. “Very surprising, very unexpected. Not many warp dancers exist even within the Church. It’s my favorite move.”

  Dan’s eyes widened at his enemy. The cult master’s warp dancer technique was countering his own.

  “You match the description Michael Cynosa gave me. So you’re the young upstart I’ve heard of. Quite an impasse we found ourselves in, child. Empowering my followers and battling against the rest of you has taken more of my corrosia than I care to admit. That woman who calls herself Judith has been an especially difficult one.”

  He still couldn’t comprehend that his enemy was having a conversation with him even during the warp dance. And how the hell did he know who Michael was? Why was Michael in direct contact with a high-ranking member from the Church?

  “Even I know if I continue, I will overextend myself. So I must end this quickly. But you intrigue me. I will spare the waning seconds of this battle and dedicated my time on you. I will not bother asking what an Alpha agent is doing working together with Kodak scum like this. I knew Michael was withholding that particular detail from me. But nevermind that. Make peace with your final seconds. Know that you were sent into oblivion by Leonardo Atreus. You should be proud.”

  Time resumed back to normal in abrupt fashion. Instead of impaling Adam, the cult master simply threw him into the front of a nearby building. Adam smashed through brick and glass, disappearing into the structure.

  Warp dancer disabled by outside interference.

  Dan was still in midair and attempted a thrust motion with his Conservative. But the cult master stared at him, ready to meet the attack with his own. The cult master swung with his glowing bronze blade. Dan barely had enough time to swap his attack with a last minute block. The bronze blade smashed into the blade of the Conservative and the force sent Dan flying back down to the street.

  He kept his footing, his boots grinding against the pavement as he was forced back by the cult master. While the battle between the followers and the remnants of the team, the cult master squarely focused on Dan.

  “How the fuck do I attract such psychos,” Dan muttered to himself.

  Dan watched with stunned silence as the cult master rushed him with his version of the warp dancer. The cult master dropped to the ground and blitzed across the road in a zig-zag pattern. He left behind multi-colored afterimages of himself as he approached Dan.

  While he wasn’t completely helpless, Dan’s moves felt like he was underwater. Even while pushing himself to move, he was under the disorienting effects of his enemy’s warp dance on top of the massive speed increase.

  Warp dancer activated.

  Dan swerved his head out of the path of the bronze energy blade. Had he been any slower, his life would have ended there. A strong and unrelenting hand snatched him by the neck.

  “What a shame. I know talent when I see it. You would have made for a worthy disciple under my tutelage.”

  He couldn’t break free no matter how much he struggled. He lifted his arm that still held Conservative, but the vult master grabbed gis sword-wielding arm by the wrist.

  “You’re not the first freak to promise me free mentorship,” Dan spat. “And how the fuck do you know Michael?”

  “Defiant to the bitter end,” the cult master said. “What a shame indeed.”

  The grip around Dan’s neck grew tighter as he couldn’t draw in any more breaths. But the cult master’s grip loosened when Dan saw a blur of movement behind his enemy. A sword that had a familiar purple trail cut across the cult master’s back. The cult master immediately dropped him and spun on his heel.

  Dan saw the fading afterimages of a familiar female Bloodknight who had come to his aid.

  The cult master groaned from the cut to the back. But somehow, instead of being angry that someone attacked him from behind, he was now even more intrigued.

  “Another warp dance user,” he said. He began laughing and summoned his bronze blade into his hand. “So who else wants to play and spend their last moments with Leonardo Atreus?”

  Dan watched as Ada’s more refined version of the warp dancer allowed her to zip around the battlefield, easily eclipsing his version through sheer elegance and grace of movement. The cult master moved quickly on his feet. He clashed blades with Ada.

  To his surprise, Ada stood her ground instead of getting knocked back like what happened to Dan. Ada’s Bloodluster sword was more powerful than Dan’s Conservative. So much so that the Church couldn’t manufacture a proper scabbard for the sword.

  But even with how strong Ada was, this cult master was a far more experienced opponent and had displayed a wide variety of powers. There could be plenty more techniques the cult master had in his arsenal that Dan still hadn’t seen.

  Both Ada and the cult master danced around each other using their warp dances, trying to find a weakness to exploit in the other. Trailing afterimages and dopplegangers of both agents overwhelmed the street in front of Dan. He didn’t like their odds of survival if they couldn’t find a way to take down this asshole.

  A risky flash of inspiration crossed Dan’s mind.

  Since his first discovery of the warp dancer, he hadn’t once bothered to use his berserk mode. The warp dancer already provided him a massive speed increase without the strain on his body. Combined that with his baseline tier two stats, so far he hadn’t encountered any enemies tough enough to warrant the use of the amplifying effects of the berserk. Until now.

  Dan couldn’t come up with any theories on what would happen if her were to blend both the warp dancer and berserk together. But against an enemy like the cult master, this was his only chance to experiment. Dan checked the corrosia bar on his HUD and saw he was at half capacity left.

  Berserk mode activated.

  Arcs of red electricity roiled throughout his body. Thanks to his recent level up and the increased supernatural ranking, he transitioned to the berserk mode near instantly. He then put the next step of his ridiculous idea into action.

  Warp dancer activated.

  The fast-moving trailing afterimages of both Ada and the cult master grinded to a halt as Dan’s perception of his surroundings significantly improved. Even in this state, Dan’s own movements were supercharged as he sprinted toward the cult master.

  The cult master barely had time to turn his head to see Dan charging at him from his side. He pulled his Conservative back and lashed out with a fast swing.

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