Muffled voices reached Dan’s ears as he felt himself sprawled on the cold floor. He could feel the phantom impacts on his forehead as he remembered his previous encounter with the two enemy agents he hated most. He finally gathered enough strength to open his eyelids and he saw an artificial ceiling depicting a digitized skyline. He knew it was something only a training room from one of the Alpha Corp’s facilities could conjure up.

  Except, the sky was a shade of blood red that only strained Dan’s eyes the longer he gazed upon the ugly color. He slowly got himself back on his feet. Looking down, he was still shirtless with the same torn up black pants he had been wearing for most of his time as a prisoner. Looking around, the space was eerily empty. He only saw a metallic grey floor beneath his feet and a circle of light shining down on him. Any additional parts of the room was hidden in shadows around him.

  “What the fuck is this shit,” he muttered.

  “Good question, allow me to answer,” the female voice came behind him.

  Dan backed away as he saw the familiar face of Judith Blight, the Kodak agent who had kicked his ass in the Combat Games and who brought him here. Dan’s anger bubbled as he remembered her gleefully showcasing the carnage she left behind, planting explosive and gas bombs along the Combat Games’ facilities and killing hundreds if not thousands of Alpha agents like himself.

  Dan may not have known many of them personally, but they were still his people who worked for the same shard. Some of his friends Allen, Angie, and even members of Miles’ squad were caught up in that mess.

  He met Judith’s gaze.

  “You might already know who I am but in case your time in prison has made you forget, I’m Judith,” she said with a predatory grin. Up close, Judith’s features outside of the pale skin and red sclera were eerily similar to Jane’s. He remembered looking at her face for the first time when she dropped her disguise as a Prime Sword back in the final round of the tournament. Her long brown hair and her general facial structure made him think of her as a psychotic and evil version of his squad leader.

  “You caused quite a stir among the inmates. You’re nothing if not exciting and unpredictable. You even weeded out some of the incompetent guards who should have been better prepared for such a commotion,” she said. She lifted her hands from her sides. “Normally, I would have had my underlings simply throw you back in your cell and increased security around you. But, I decided to pull you out of that mess and have some entertainment.”

  “Oh yeah?” Dan spat. “That’s a bit immature of you to be playing games with your own prisoners. Aren’t you supposed to be some high-ranking bigshot who doesn’t have time for that sort of nonsense?”

  Judith threw her head back with obnoxious laughter. “Look at you, talking like a big man. Oh this is going to be so much fun. Well Dan, we’re going to get started with a little game. I’m going to make you fight a line up of opponents I have chosen. You will fight all the combatants I send your way while I spectate and have a drink.”

  “That doesn’t sound like much of a game to me,” Dan seethed. He stared intently at Judith, gathering his anger and hate.

  Glare activated.

  The agent had somehow anticipated Dan’s attack and popped out of existence. A brief whoosh reached his ears from behind him and he felt powerful arms wrap around him. Judith’s creepy soft laughter filled his right ear.

  “I give you extra points for the aggression. Very cute. But you’re not worthy of challenging me. Not yet. If you expect to make it out of this alive and to see your precious teammate again, you will play along and participate.”

  Dan looked over his shoulder and stared directly into Judith’s bloodshot eyes. “I swear to fucking god if you did anything to Li, I’ll drop your ass.”

  Judith’s laughter reached a higher pitch than the last, much to Dan’s annoyance. “Sure, sure.”

  Judith once again quickly disappeared and flashed back into existence right at the edge of the illuminated center of the fighting arena. He looked over his shoulder and said, “Your first opponent is coming up. Get ready.”

  With what? Dan asked within his mind before the agent walked into the shadows and disappeared. Somehow, not even Dan’s enhanced vision could detect anything in the shadows beyond the arena. He looked down and saw he had no armor or gear to work with. It wouldn’t surprise him if Judith was enough of an asshole to equip his opponents with weapons while Dan was left with nothing.

  A figure emerged from the shadows across from Dan and entered into the illuminated area. Dan scanned his first opponent and saw an olive-skinned man. He estimated the man was in his late twenties or early thirties. Unsurprisingly, the man held a dagger in his hand.

  “Well, this should be interesting,” Dan muttered.

  The man was shirtless just like he was and wearing the same pair of black pants. After a brief scan, Dan saw the man was a regular non-enhanced person. Even with his ripped and chiselled physique, the man was no match for an agent like Dan.

  “Is this some kind of joke?” he asked out loud.

  A spinning blue icon in the middle of his vision expanded into a brief warning.

  Posion detected on the dagger. Proceed with caution.

  The man tensed and held his dagger tightly, pointing the tip toward Dan. He knew the man was a prisoner just like him. Dan didn’t want to inflict harm on someone who was so beneath him in power. But since the man was armed with a weapon and he wasn’t, he had to take this threat seriously.

  “Alright then, time for you two to square off,” Judith said. Dan looked around and couldn’t find the source of her voice. “And Jason, if you manage to kill your opponent, you will be released from prison. No strings attached.”

  Then it clicked to Dan. That was a screwed up promise to make to the man. He had no chance of winning this fight. Not against an agent.

  Jason wasted no time and charged directly at Dan. A head on assault. The man rushed Dan while carrying his dagger low beneath stomach level. As the man approached Dan, he couldn’t help but be… unamused.

  The man’s movements were as if he was moving through quicksand. Slow and sluggish. The man was right in front of him when he attempt to lash out with his dagger. Dan raised his hand and reached for the man’s wrist.

  He grabbed the man’s wrist and stopped Jason in his tracks. The dagger never made it anywhere near Dan as he twisted the man’s wrist and forced his opponent to drop the weapon. Jason didn’t hesitate in his next move. With his free hand, the man winded it back for a punch. But even that appeared slow to Dan’s eyes.

  While still holding onto the man’s wrist, Dan spun around and yanked him forward. Jason was about as tall as he was and weighed maybe one hundred twenty kilos. And yet he was pulled as if he were a toddler. Mark tripped over Dan’s leg and face planted into the cold metal floor.

  The man had been disarmed and Dan had clearly displayed the difference in physical stats between the two. He decided to end this show and put Mark out of his misery. Dan kicked the man over onto his back and delivered an open handed strike right to the man’s forehead. He made sure to put enough force to knock the man out cold.

  “Hmm, it seems the man couldn’t earn his freedom after all,” Judith said. “Too bad.”

  Dan looked around the arena, seeing nothing but shadows around the perimeter of the illuminated center. “You’re a piece of shit, you know that? You knew this man had no chance of winning this fight.”

  A chuckle filled the arena before Judith teleported into the arena and responded. “Perhaps. But I needed to see how you would respond to someone who was beneath you in power. Get ready for your next opponent.”

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  Dan growled as his anger boiled towards the Kodak agent. “I’m not here to play games. And I’m not going to fight on your terms. Send all of your fighters in so I can have a free-for-all and get this shit over with.”

  Judith clapped her hands while laughing maniacally. “Wow, you are a riot, let me tell you.” She popped out of existence, teleporting away from sight.

  Another opponent walked out of the shadows and Dan narrowed his eyes at the armored foe. Dan’s next opponent was a fully armored Kodak agent. His opponent stood roughly a dozen centimeters taller than Dan. His first concern was the signature spikes along the agent’s upper arms and shoulders and the razor blades on his elbow joints. The agent was in full armor while Dan might as well be ass naked.

  The agent looked like a copy and paste of all the previous Kodak agents Dan had fought during the Amethyst raid and the heist. Short cropped dark hair paired with ghostly pale skin and bloodshot eyes. His opponent grinned.

  “This will be too easy,” he said mockingly. “I’m going to skin you alive kid.”

  Dan’s HUD performed a brief scan of the agent’s stats.

  Agent: Brock Splinter

  Age: 19 M

  Shard: Kodak-Cresh

  Rank: Tier 1 | Level 18

  Strength: 25

  Agility: 28

  Endurance: 15

  Intelligence: 14

  Healing Factor: n/a

  Dan decided to match the agent’s energy and see if he would maintain his composure.

  “I don’t skin my opponents. But if I did, a weakling like you wouldn’t be worth the effort,” Dan said.

  The agent’s grin vanished. “What’s that? What the fuck did you say?”

  “You’re an agent with advanced hearing,” Dan spat. “Don’t make me repeat myself. Or how about we stop talking and get this fight over with?”

  The agent bared his teeth at Dan and immediately rushed him. “When I get my hands on you, you’ll regret running your mouth!”

  The agent’s movements were noticeably less sluggish compared to his previous opponent. But to Dan, that wasn’t saying much.

  Dan side stepped the agent as he threw his fist and hit nothing but air. He wrapped his leg around the agent’s ankle and grabbed him by the neck. Putting all of his strength into his left arm, he pushed as hard as he could and forced his enemy back. The agent lost his footing and tumbled backward.

  The fight had only started and Dan had left the agent flat on his ass.

  Without hesitation, Dan shoved his knee right into the agent’s nose. He reeled from the sudden attack and as he was distracted from holding his bloodied nose, Dan spotted a combat knife held in its sheath along the agent’s torso. He reached for the knife’s handle and swiped it off the agent.

  By the time the agent recovered from the blow, Dan pointed the tip of the combat knife right at the agent’s face.

  “I think you’ve embarrassed yourself enough today,” Dan said. “Get the fuck out of my sight, punk.”

  “You…” the agent seethed. “How dare you.”

  Dan’s enemy foolishly tried to reach for his wrist and disarm him. But he was faster. He rammed the combat knife through the agent’s neck, stopping him cold. He forced the knife in until it sunk up to the hilt. Rivulets of blood streamed down the agent's armor from his neck and he fell back to the ground. Dan let go of the knife and stepped away from the dying corpse.

  This agent wasn’t even a challenge to Dan. He made short work of him without relying on his berserk or glare. He was simply the superior fighter.

  “I see,” Judith’s disembodied voice said. “Well, Adam did warn me of this. A run of the mill tier one is no match for you. And with your corrosia abilities still in your back pocket, you have a habit of punching above your weight class. But don’t worry Dan, you will meet your match soon enough.”

  “Is that so?” Dan replied. “Does that mean you’ll come out here and face me instead? Let’s cut the bullshit and throw down, you and me. We didn’t get to finish our fight during the last round of the Combat Games.”

  Judith laughed as if Dan was a comedian. “You would like that, wouldn’t you? Maybe some day. But even if I did give you weapons and armor, you have no chance against me.”

  “You wanna bet?”

  “There’s no need for a wager,” she said, her tone an icy calm. “Your next opponent will prove my point. You see Dan, I’m not a normal Kodak agent as you’ve already seen. I’m part of a special sect within the shard. We call ourselves the Bloodknights. You're about to fight one of my washouts. But even a candidate who falls short will put you through the wringer. And you will soon learn the power we wield.”

  Shortly after Judith’s drivel, Dan’s third opponent walked out of the shadow perimeter beyond the illuminated section of this arena. He blinked as he saw a female Kodak agent staring at him blankly. He performed a brief scan of her stats and felt sweat streaming down his back.

  Agent: Ada Havoc

  Age: 19 F

  Shard: Kodak-Cresh

  Rank: Tier 2 | Level 33

  Strength: 42

  Agility: 48

  Endurance: 37

  Intelligence: 38

  Healing Factor: n/a

  Supernatural: Acolyte

  It wasn’t just the fact that his next opponent was a tier two, just like Kate and Adam. Dan eyed the supernatural stat at the bottom of Ada’s numbers. She was also a wielder of the supernatural abilities.

  Dan scrutinized his opponent and saw she didn’t wear the same typical Kodak armor. Her armored plating lacked the spikes and razor blades along her limbs. He spotted a strange insignia along her torso depicting two centipedes in a spiral pattern like a DNA helix.

  “Like our little logo?” Judith said. “It gives some much needed pizazz compared to the rest of the shard.”

  The female agent across from him gave only a blank neutral expression. She featured the same pale skin and bloodshot eyes as any other Kodak agent. Her hair was short cropped, not even reaching her shoulders. Dan was expecting more taunting or boasting or even a predatory grin that never came. The agent appeared to be bored.

  “Now, let’s get started,” Judith said. “Ada, rough him up, but don’t kill him. I’ll still need him alive.”

  For an opponent who had a significant stat advantage, Dan immediately powered up to his berserk mode. Red static and energy spilled out of his body and roiled around him. But Ada still gave no reaction.

  That’s not a good sign, he thought.

  Ada finally made her move and rushed Dan first, just like his previous two opponents. As expected from a second tier, Ada’s moves didn’t have the same sluggishness. She moved with speed that was at least equal to Dan in his berserk form. The two met and clashed, with Dan grabbing Ada by her wrists.

  She was strong. It took everything Dan had to keep her wrists restrained as she attempted to worm her way out of his grasp. She managed to exert a sudden burst of strength by forcing her arms apart and smashing her forehead against his. Dan staggered back but regained his composure from the attack. Ada blurred into motion and circled around to his left side.

  Dan held up one of his arms and blocked a kick aiming for his side. The force of her kick almost forced him off his feet but he held firm.

  “Well, this might be tougher than I thought,” he said.

  Ada kept silent as she backed off and created some distance between the two. She no longer wore her blank expression. Instead, she stared intently at him with a furrowed brow. Then she made her move.

  At first, Dan didn’t comprehend what was happening in front of him. Ada appeared to be rushing him again from the front, a direct attack. Then the female agent’s body began twitching while in motion. Arcs of dark blue lightning trailed behind her feet. Multi-colored afterimages trailed behind her as she moved.

  Dan had no idea what the hell he was looking at. He glanced at the corrosia bar in front of him and saw he still had two thirds of his energy left. If this was supposed to be a hallucination, it certainly wasn’t caused by him pushing himself too far.

  Ada’s trailing form of afterimages then split off into three different directions. To Dan’s eyes, she had somehow split herself into three individuals and all three came at him from different directions.

  “What in the fuck?” Dan shouted.

  Two Adas came at him from opposite ends, one of them preparing a roundhouse kick while the other raised her arm for a simple hammerfist. Dan brought up both arms and prepared himself to block both attacks.

  But where did the third one go?

  Dan’s thoughts were interrupted as he felt a sudden but precise impact against his lower back. He staggered and almost lost his footing from the sudden blow. His berserk and healing factor already brought the sudden pain down from blinding to tolerable. He spun around and still saw the three Adas and their trailing after images.

  The sight of three identical copies of the same person staring back at him while also leaving behind colorful afterimages in motion was trippy to say the least. Dan wondered if this was what an overdose of hard drugs was like.

  All three of them rushed at him, each preparing a different attack. Dan stared intently at the trio and tried conjuring up his glare ability.

  Warning: Glare effectiveness reduced to 0%.

  Dan stood frozen like a deer in headlights as all three Adas crossed the distance. Two of them came at Dan with fists, only to disappear and phase through him like ghostly apparitions. The real pain came from the third enemy. Ada delivered a strike to his chest and Dan coughed up blood from the hit. Pain spread throughout his torso from her strike and suddenly it became harder to breathe.

  The doppelgangers and trailing afterimages disappeared and Ada was back to being one single individual. Dan’s sudden crash to the floor deactivated his berserk form and he laid on the cold metal, wheezing and coughing up more blood.

  Ada calmly walked up to him, but she stood there, staring down at him with the same blank expression. Judith decided to suddenly pop up again. The agent bent over and gave Dan a predatory grin.

  “That’s enough. I think you got a sufficient taste of the caliber of warriors I’m training within the Bloodknights. Ada over here is still a beginner, and though she fucked up her final test, I’ll be giving her another opportunity to become a full Bloodknight.”

  Dan’s blood ran cold and he shuddered even as he laid on the floor in pain and coughing up more blood. He couldn’t believe that Ada was still a trainee by Bloodknight standards.

  “Well, all good things must come to an end. Now Dan, I need you to take a nap,” she said. Judith winded up her fist and slammed it down his face.

  Ada’s face still remained expressionless even as Dan got the daylights knocked out of him.

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