Dan wasted no time opening with his first move. His feet already hit the floor running toward the crates and weapons to his right.

  Glare activated.

  One of the Church agents combusted into flames and fell to his knees. He keeled over without any screaming or resistance. The other five agents drew HoA rifles seemingly out of nowhere and began blasting green radioactive rods at him. He dived next to a crate and grabbed the nearest weapon he could find.

  Behind him, Ada activated her warp dancer technique and waded through the barrage of green tracers. The Bloodknight washout left afterimages of herself as she dashed toward the opposite side of the church. It drew some of the heat away from Dan as he got off the floor and crouched next to the crate.

  The new weapon in his hands was a nail gun, the same model he saw during a previous heist. He was shot in the shoulder by one of these things and it hurt like hell. Only his berserk mode prevented him from going into shock and helped him power through the pain.

  He needed an extra power boost for what he was about to do.

  Berserk mode activated.

  Dan broke cover and dashed out into the middle of the church. He was caught off guard by the loud noise and insane recoil of the nailgun but quickly acclimated. Giant stake-like projectiles soared through the air and found their mark on one Church agent, ripping through his robes and shooting jets of blood out of him before he flopped backward.

  Their rifles appeared to be semi-automatic judging from the delays in between shots. Still, running at them directly was a dangerous endeavor.

  He charged the group of Church agents at the sanctuary, moving in a zig-zag like pattern while ducking and jumped to avoid getting hit by the radioactive rods. Even one hit would be bad news to him. One green rod slashed past his left side arm. The projectile was mere inches from a direct hit and he saw his coat sizzle from the near miss. A hot sensation penetrated his armor along his arm and he knew he couldn’t afford to take a direct hit. His nailgun roared as more nails left the barrel and caused the Church agents to scatter. Their firing pattern was briefly interrupted and Dan wasted no time in closing the distance.

  He set his eyes on the nearest agent and rammed his dual bayonets into him. The blades easily shredded straight through his grey robe. Dan squeezed the trigger and blasted nails into his torso, killing him as the archaic projectiles blasted through his backside.

  It took more force than he thought to rip the bayonets out of the Church aganet’s body. By the time he did, he had wasted too much valuable time as he saw two of the agent turn to face him. The third remaining agent still faced away from Dan and continued blasting the other side of the church, presumably at Ada.

  He dropped the nailgun and rushed toward the next Church agent. His berserk enhanced form smashed into the nearest agent, sending him flying and slamming into a wall. Dan quickly picked up the pace again, narrowly rushing ahead of the green vapor trails from the next fanatic. He drew his combat knife from it sheath and rushed in for a straight jab to the throat.

  In the next second, his knife hit nothing but air as the Church agent flashed out of existence. He had the same teleporting move that Judith and Li had.

  Reflex ability used. Cooldown time: 150 seconds.

  His body ducked without him thinking, avoiding a lethal radioactive rod from behind. Dan could feel the sweat dripping down the side of his face and down the back of his neck at how close that round was from blowing off his head. Without looking back, his let out a low kick and hit something behind him. He flipped himself back onto his feet and saw the Church agent on the ground after failing to shoot him from behind.

  The agent raised his rifle at him but Dan quickly whipped his knife at him, knocking the weapon out of the fanatic’s hands.

  He witnessed a brief glint in the Church agent’s eyes. The agent held out his hand and an unknown dagger materialized out of nowhere. From a mere second of observation, the dagger was an all-consuming black and a faint but audible hum buzzed from the magical weapon.

  Even after a kick to the shin, the Church agent rushed Dan with renewed strength. Dan narrowly swerved his head out of the dagger’s path. His bare face felt the heat radiating from the otherworldly blade forged out of dark energy.

  The fanatic followed up with a series of slashes, forcing Dan to backpedal. A lucky slash easily cut through his coat and through his armor as if he was wearing paper. He briefly glanced down and saw the shallow cut deep into his torso. The red dragon pattern on the lapel and outer pocket of his coat was interrupted by the same slash.

  After dodging more quick jabs and slashes from the Church agent, Dan finally grabbed the wrists of the agent. Seeing his corrosia levels at half capacity, he powered down from his berserk mode. He squeezed both wrists and forced the Church agent to let go of the dagger. The bizarre weapon fell and impacted the ground, the blade easily burning through the carpet and penetrating the floor before it disappeared.

  Dan twisted and broke one of the fanatic’s wrists. To the Church agent’s credit, he didn’t cry out in pain, instead grunting as if he had tripped and fell. He winded his arm back and delivered an open-handed strike against the agent. He felt bone crack through his gloved palm before the Church agent fell backwards and down the few steps from the sanctuary.

  He spared a glance in Ada’s direction. The other Church agent who faced away fro him and charged toward the Bloodknight’s position along with another agent Dan hadn’t seen before. Dan watched the brief battle between Ada and the two fanatics. She used her warp dancer and moved in between the two agents. In one smooth motion, she swung her sword high and lobbed off the head of one fanatic. She then spun on her heel and shoved her katana through the chest of the other agent.

  Wow, she’s a beast, he thought.

  Dan didn’t play spectator for very long. His ears picked up a strange distorted and reverberated scream behind him. His body screamed at him to jump forward and he listened. H In mid-jump, he glanced over his shoulder and confirmed the move had saved his life. A moment longer and he would have been impaled by a Church agent from behind.

  Where the hell did he come from?

  Dan’s feet barely touched the ground before the last Church agent rushed him. His blade was yet another weapon with strange properties. It appeared to be a straight-bladed sword with a blade that easily exceeded a meter in length. The blade itself radiated dark violet energy. Regardless of where it moved, the trail of violet energy followed it. As if the strange sword wasn’t enough, the fanatic was equipped with a second sword placed on his back.

  He quickly spun to meet his next opponent and just barely ducked under a sweeping slash aimed at his neck. Dan didn’t need anyone to tell him that getting hit by that sword would ruin his day. He glanced down and saw an HoA rifle on the ground. The agent charged him and he quickly scooped the rifle off the floor and shot a series of radioactive rods at the agent.

  The sword fanatic sliced one of the rods out of the air while the other two seemingly missed thanks to the psychic field. Due to the blade’s extra reach, the Church agent draw his arm back for a jab beyond the ideal range. But this gave Dan the opening he needed.

  He crouched low and rotated his top half, narrowly avoiding the edge of the blade. He smashed his fist deep into the agent’s abdomen. The agent coughed up spittle from his mouth and dropped his longsword. Dan followed up by drawing his Ravager pistol and blasting the agent in the head several times.

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  The fanatic flopped backward and collapsed onto the floor. The church fell quiet and Dan let out a deep exhale celebrating his victory over these Church agents. Dan glanced down at the strange sword and he picked it up from the ground. He lifted the sword and could immediately tell the difference compared to the regular Kodak katana. The weapon was noticeably heavier than any sword he had wielded. Just like what he saw during the fight, the blade itself had a violet trail the followed the blade, a contrast from the electrical current that ran through the regular katana.

  “We’re clear,” Ada said. She carried a robed adversary in one of her arms before dropping him. A few more low-level acolytes appeared. They were hiding underneath the pews in my section. Cleared them all out while you were taking on the last agent.”

  “Nice work,” Dan said. He grabbed the hilt with both hands and performed a few practice swings with this new sword.

  He swung the blade toward one of the pews in his row. The sword sliced through the top corner of the bench as if nothing was there. The piece slid off the pew. He walked over to one of the numerous crates on one end of the church. He didn’t swing his blade at the crate. Instead, he merely lowered the edge of the blade into the top of the crate. The blade easily sunk itself through the metal lid with barely any force applied.

  “Holy shit, what the hell is this thing made of?” he whispered. His HUD chimed in with a stat readout.

  The Bloodluster

  Manufacturer: Zealot Forges

  1.05 meters in length

  Description: A blade heavily inspired by the Japanese ninjato design. A corrosia-enhanced blade, this sword feeds on the deaths of its victims, resulting in gradual increases to its cutting power against armor and flesh. One of the numerous swords built to compete against the viper fang sword.

  He took the blade out of the crate. Dan set the longsword aside and scanvenged more ammo for the HoA rifle from the fanatics’ dead bodies. He then picked back up the longswoird and sliced open the tops of some of the crates to check for more supplies they might make use of. Dan looked inside one crate and found an assortment of grenades. His eyes lit up like he was staring down a box of candy.

  “Ada, check this out,” he said. “We hit the jackpot.”

  Dan immediately reached down and grabbed some basic frag grenades along with numerous other grenade types that might come handy. He grabbed a few additional flashbangs and concussion grenades, grabbing enough for himself and for Li the next time he saw him. After shoving the grenades into his inner coat pockets and pouches, he stepped aside and allowed Ada to grab her share.

  Dan walked over to the Church agent who wielded the sword and crouched down beside him. He saw the sheath of a second sword on the back of the dead agent. He grabbed it as well.

  The Conservative

  Manufacturer: Zealot Forges

  0.94 meters in length

  Description: A lighter and less destructive alternative to its brother, the Bloodluster. While not as dedicated to slaying foes, a practitioner will be hard pressed to notice this blade falling behind its contemporaries. Using corrosia and other mysterious forging techniques by the Zealot Forges, this blade exceeds the cutting power of the basic Kodak katana and transcends conventional oscillating processes.

  “Good shit, good shit,” he muttered.

  He thoroughly checked the body of the fanatic and wasn’t able to find the sheath for the longsword. He checked the belt the Church agent wore underneath the robes and saw some kind of magnetic lock that was powerful enough to attract the blade of the longsword to it. Dan rolled the corpse onto his side and tested something out.

  The blade itself attached to the magnetic lock on the belt. Dan tried shaking and rattling the corpse and the longsword remained solidly in place without shifting. He then grabbed the hilt of the sword and gently lifted the blade off of the lock. To his surprise, the blade easily parted ways from the magnetic lock.

  Dan still didn’t particularly like this design. The blade was out in the open and could accidentally cut anyone and anything that it touched.

  He took the magnetic lock off the fanatic’s belt and contemplated his options. While both swords were lethal based off their descriptions alone, Dan knew that having two swords was overkill. He didn’t even consider himself particularly skilled in swordplay other than simple jabs and slashes. Just carrying a basic combat knife around was no longer sufficient against his new enemies. But it would be a hassle to carry all of this extra gear without help. He placed the scabbard of the second sword along the side of his coat around his hip.

  As for the sword and its magnetic lock, Dan glanced at Ada who still rummaged through the metal crates. He knew this move might come back to bite him in the ass later on. But if the cult master was supposed to be much stronger than the fanatics they had just fought, everyone needed to be armed to the teeth.

  “Hey Ada, when you’re done, come over here,” he said. He waved the longsword in the air. Just to be sure, he gripped the hilt tightly. If he was dumb enough to let the sword slip out of his hands while waving it like an idiot, he could accidentally slice off an earlobe. “I got a gift I want to give you.”

  Ada looked up from one of the crates. She swiped a few more mags for her pistol before waliing over to him.

  “A gift,” she said with genuine confusion.

  “I got two badass swords from this guy, but I can’t carry both of them without tripping over myself.” He extended his arm while carrying the longsword. “Want it? It’s a free upgrade.”

  Ada didn’t respond for a moment. She looked at Dan, then at the longsword, than back at him. “But I’m your enemy?”

  “For now, you’re an ally, even if it is out of necessity. I don’t know about you, but these guys didn’t make it easy for me. And they’re apparently supposed to be shrimp compared to the asshole we’re hunting down. We all need to be armed to the teeth if we’re going to take the fight to that cult master.”

  Ada continued staring at him as if he spoke a different language. But then she smiled. “Alright then. I will accept your generous gift.”

  “Take this magnet too. Put it onto your belt. This thing doesn’t have a proper sheath so be careful if someone is walking beside you.”

  “How strange,” she said. “I understand. If we do eventually come to blows, I’ll give you the first strike.”

  “Never expected such honor from a Kodak agent, but I’ll take it,” Dan said, handing off the sword and the magnetic lock to Ada.

  The Bloodknight placed her katana back into its sheath and grabbed her new sword. She placed the magnetic lock on her hip and performed a few practice swings with the Bloodluster. Dan watched as every swing of the blade left a violet trail. On Ada’s last swing, he swore he heard some distorted screech come from the sword.

  Ada glanced at him. “You heard that too?”

  “I did,” he said. “I’ve never heard a sword scream before. But then again, this is gear from the Church of Nanotology. Who knows what those fanatics are cooking up in their factories.”

  Dan grabbed the hilt of his new sword, the Conservative, and drew the weapon out of its scabbard. He too also performed some basic jabs and slashes in the air and also practiced chopping apart some pews and opening metal crates. The blade itself also seemed to cut through most materials with ease.

  His excitement over the new gear was cut short when something suddenly flashed in front of his sword swings. Judith popped up in front of him, casually blocking his new sword with a brightly glowing blade of energy.

  “Well, congratulations on raining on the parade. And you got yourself a new sword,” she said while staring into his eyes. She glanced up past his shoulder at Ada. “How very generous of you. You got my girl a gift as well. How romantic indeed.”

  “No thanks to you,” Dan said, stepping back and taking his blade off of Jusith’s strange glowing sword. He scrutinized the strange blade in Judith’s hand. It wasn’t a viper fang sword like Jane’s. The entire thing glowed a brilliant gold, even the hilt itself. Then the blade shimmered away and disappeared from her hand.

  What the hell was that, he thought.

  “Well, you wouldn’t learn a thing if I stepped in and did all the heavy lifting,” Judith said. She walked over to him and patted him on the head. “Plus, it’s always fun spectating a struggle.”

  “Oh I’m sure it is,” he said flatly.

  “You did decently against our foes, though if you have to overly rely on your berserk mode to keep up, then you won’t have what it takes to be useful in an extended battle against the Church.”

  Dan kept his mouth shut. While Judith was still his biggest enemy, she seemed to be genuinely offering his some tips and feedback.

  “You saw their psychic fields at work. That means regular guns won’t always be a reliable tool against them. But, with your new corrosia-enhanced blades, you can get around that pesky ability once you get up close. Maybe it’s time you take your swordsmanship skills more seriously.”

  He gripped the hilt of the Conservative tightly. With this new enemy, the rules of engagement have clearly changed. Now he had to account for his enemies having strange powers at their fingertips. Guns, especially up close, were no longer the be all and end all against Church agents.

  “You at least have a functioning brain going for you, so now we need to get your power level up. You’ll have the ideal baseline strength and speed that you won’t need your berserk mode as often,” Judith said. “And some more variety in your corrosia abilities wouldn’t hurt. But that lack of versatility will soon be fixed.”

  She stared down at him and flashed him her signature grin. “I promise.”

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