The moment I stepped out into the open in front of the shattered mayor’s building, the city answered. The members of the black cult were already there.
Ten of them stood spread across the street, black robes hanging still despite the faint currents of displaced air, their formation loose but it was clear they had been waiting for something to emerge from the ruin behind me, and at the center of that line stood the one I recognized immediately.
The level ninety who had taken me down once when I had been off balance, flanked by the two others who had fought alongside him before while the remaining seven filled the gaps, their levels sitting just below eighty-four, eighty-two, eighty....strong enough to matter, but not enough to change the outcome.
His eyes locked onto me the moment I appeared, the calm from before gone, replaced by something angrier.
"What did you do?" he demanded, the words carrying across the distance without strain.
I shifted the axe slightly on my shoulder, letting it settle into my grip as I met his gaze. "I killed your boss," I said. "I’m going to do the same to you."
"Impact Burst."
The skill triggered beneath my feet as the ground cracked outward from the point of contact, force driving through my legs and launching me forward in a straight line that collapsed the distance instantly, the air snapping around me as I closed in on him before any of the others could reposition.
"Annihilator Cleave."
My hands shifted on the axe mid-motion, bringing it up and over in a clean arc as energy surged through it, yellow light wrapping along the blade while lightning threaded through that glow, unstable and violent.
The axe came down.
His response was immediate, a black barrier snapping into existence in front of him just as the axe collided with it, the impact sending a shock through the ground beneath us as the force met resistance, but the collision didn’t end there. The lightning surged outward along the surface of the shield the moment it connected, spreading across it in jagged lines before lashing outward in multiple directions, each arc snapping toward the others behind him.
The formation broke as the chained strikes hit them, their bodies reacting to the sudden impact while the main barrier in front of me held for a fraction longer, cracks already forming where the energy had concentrated.
I didn’t give it time to stabilize.
I pulled the axe back immediately, my body already shifting forward, and I drove it down again into the same point, the second impact carrying more force than the first as the stored energy continued to feed into the strike. The shield fractured under it, the cracks splitting outward before collapsing entirely as the blade broke through and continued forward into his chest.
The force drove him down.
His body hit the ground hard, the impact carving into the stone beneath him as the energy followed through, pinning him in place as the crater began to form around the point of contact. I stepped into it without pause, pulling the axe free in a single motion before bringing it down again, the strike landing directly into his chest with nothing left to block it.
The second impact finished it.
Lightning detonated outward again, the release tearing through what remained of his body and driving the force deeper into the ground, widening the crater and leaving nothing intact beneath the strike.
I straightened slowly, the energy settling just enough to keep moving, and turned my gaze toward the remaining nine.
A faint smile pulled at my face.
"I’m going to smash you to pulp."
They didn’t wait.
Neither did I.
"Radiant Drive."
The energy surged through me as I shifted forward, the world narrowing into movement as I crossed the distance between us in a blur, the first of them raising his arm to form a barrier that barely took shape before the axe came through it.
The strike didn’t slow, the combination of force and lightning tearing through the shield and into his body in the same motion, splitting him apart before the energy discharged outward again, forcing the others to break formation further.
I didn’t stay on him.
The motion carried me through, my feet adjusting the moment I landed as I redirected toward the next, the axe already moving again as another barrier rose in front of me, thicker this time, reinforced with layered energy that attempted to absorb the impact rather than block it outright.
The blade hit, the resistance holding for a fraction of a second before the lightning surged across its surface, destabilizing the structure as I twisted the axe and drove it through, the edge biting into the barrier and tearing it open before continuing into the figure behind it.
Blood and energy mixed as the strike carried through. I moved again before the body hit the ground.
Each step flowed into the next, Radiant Drive keeping the momentum intact as I shifted from one target to another, the axe never fully stopping as it cut, crushed, and tore through whatever stood in front of it. Their responses came faster now, coordinated attempts to slow me down as multiple barriers and skills were fired at once, overlapping fields of dark energy meant to restrict movement and absorb impact.
It didn’t matter.
Annihilator Cleave broke through the first layer, the lightning chaining across the connected barriers and forcing instability through all of them at once, and I stepped into that opening immediately, the axe following through into the nearest body before I shifted again, pulling it free and driving it into the next without losing pace.
The remaining few tried to regroup, shifting positions to surround me, but the moment they spread out was the moment they lost control of the engagement, and I used it without hesitation, accelerating into one side of the formation and breaking it apart before it could close.
By the time the last of them fell, the street had been torn apart beneath us, stone cracked and broken in multiple places where the force of the impacts had driven into it, and the air still carried the fading traces of lightning.
I let the axe rest for a moment.
"You want to come with me?" I called out.
He didn’t even hesitate.
"No," he replied, shaking his head slightly. "You just go, do your thing, and come back when you’re done."
I exhaled through a faint smile.
"Fine. Works for me."
Impact Burst triggered again beneath my feet, the ground fracturing outward as I launched forward, the force carrying me down the length of the street in a single movement that cleared the entire stretch ahead, a laugh slipping out as the momentum built and carried me into the next area where more of them were already moving.
The next group didn’t get time to form up.
I hit them mid-motion, the first strike landing before they could fully react, the axe cutting through one and into another as the lightning chained between them, disrupting whatever coordination they had. The rest tried to scatter, but Radiant Drive kept me on them, closing the gaps before they could widen, each movement bringing me into range of the next target.
Four fell in quick succession, their attempts at defense breaking under the same combination of force and energy that had torn through the first group, and I didn’t stop there.
I moved again.
Another group further down the street was already alerted.
It didn’t change anything.
The pattern repeated, but faster now, my body adapting to the flow as each strike fed into the next, the axe moving with less resistance as the energy continued to surge through it, the lightning chaining more aggressively as it found targets on its own, jumping from one to another even when the strikes didn’t directly connect.
By the time the last of them dropped, the streets had gone quiet. Only the aftermath remained.
The system notification appeared as the energy finally settled.
[Level Up!]
[Level 82 -> Level 91]
[Combat Points + 500]
[Influence Points + 0]