“Well, our day just got worse,” Li said coldly.

  Judith had caught up to them even this far away from the city’s walls. In any other circumstance, Dan would have just accelerated his strider and ram whoever was dumb enough to stand in front of his hover tank. But this was Judith Blight, the woman who was insane enough to infiltrate the Combat Games and kidnap him and Li while bombing the shit out of the tournament, leaving hundreds if not thousands of Alpha agents dead.

  The notification that popped up in his HUD of an incoming call from Judith filled his body with more chills than the air conditioning within the strider.

  “Wow,” she said, stretching the vowel. “Look at all the trouble you have caused for Kodak. I’m lucky all the damages you caused in the past few hours won’t be coming out of my personal account. But playtime is over now. Dan Orion, you will either step out of the tank, or I’ll split it in half and take you out.”

  Dan knew the waves of cutting energy from Judith’s golden blade were bad news. He wasn’t in the mood to find out how durable the strider’s light armor was against such an archaic attack. The crescent-shaped attack that missed earlier and carved its mark in the desert stretching hundreds of meters was still on his mind.

  When Dan didn’t respond, Judith pressed further. “Remember that skyscraper that got cut up and collapsed by our resident cult master? Well, he used the same type of attack as I just did. Imagine how damaging it would be to a tank.”

  Adam cut in through a private channel. Simultaneously, Judith flashed out of existence, evading a shot from Adam’s anti-materiel rifle.

  “Kid, all three of us know that surrendering is not an option,” he said bluntly.

  “I’d rather die than bend the knee to Kodak,” Li said.

  “It’s not in my blood to roll over and take whatever crumbs my enemy promises me,” Adam said. “Plus, if a Kodak agent asks you to surrender, you will wish you just died in battle instead.”

  Dan nodded to himself. “Then I guess we’re all in agreement. Let’s crush her right now while we have the firepower. No fucking way am I gonna go back to jail.”

  Even with his expanded view thanks to the strider, Dan had a hard time tracking where Judith had teleported herself to. He kept his tank on the move, gliding swiftly across the wasteland. Always moving, always keeping his eyes out for that glowing blade of hers.

  Dan remembered the other two figures who had accompanied Judith. Assuming they were also Bloodknights, Dan highly doubted they would see either Natalia or Ada again. The team had left Natalis humiliated after he stole his Conservative back in the city. And Ada… Dan simply hoped that he wouldn’t have to fight her. He admitted that in some strange way, he would miss her. But stating that out loud might draw some nasty side eye from Li.

  Wherever her two Bloodknights were, they had disappeared. Dan kept strafing his strider in circles and figure eights while also scanning his environment.

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  “I hope you guys aren’t getting dizzy from all this strafing,” Dan said through the channel.

  “Landing my shots might be annoying, but this is necessary,” Adam said. “Pulling an opponent like Judith is no laughing matter. She’s a tier four at least. Whatever she’s doing to hide her true stats ain’t fooling anyone.”

  Dan groaned. “So there’s actual substance to go with her bragging. Great.”

  “She’s survived a previous encounter against Michael Cynosa,” Adam said grimly. “And we all just saw that attack from her just now.”

  In the midst of his strafing, Judith popped up again in Dan’s peripheral vision.

  “There you are,” Dan seethed.

  He squeezed both triggers on the wheel. His enhanced view marked Judith’s form with an orange square while the green circles of his missile launcher hovered the orange icon. He sent a brilliant red beam along with a series of missiles toward the lead Bloodknight. Dan pushed aside the absurd fact that he had to justify using more missiles against one lone agent compared to the trio of enemy tanks.

  The beam smashed into the sand and caused an explosion of sand. Chunks of grit blasted outward in all directions followed by four missiles that landed in roughly the same area and blew up the desert, sending up more showers of sand. Dan strafed his strider, evading a brief shower of dirt.

  “Why do I get the feeling that none of that worked?” Dan said through the private channel.

  Against an enemy who could teleport and could summon a blade that could chop down a skyscraper, he knew the fight hadn’t ended just now. He was proven correct when he saw Judith’s form flash in his peripheral vision on Adam’s side.

  The skull-faced agent sent a hypersonic slug from his anti-materiel rifle towards Judith. And once again, the Bloodknight swerved out of its path and the slug smashed into the sand far behind her.

  Adam fired more slugs at the sprinting Bloodknight but hit nothing but either air or sand. Dan’s heartrate spiked when he saw Judith hop onto the side of the strider, clutching the spikes on the side. The expanded view gave him a seat high above the ground to watch as she grabbed Adam by the throat and casually toss him off the tank.

  Dan steered aggressively with the wheel, attempting multiple sharp turns to throw her off the strider. Judith stayed firmly attached to the outer hull of the tank like a stubborn bug. He abused the hell out of his steering wheel so much that he feared he might accidentally snap it off because of his enhanced strength.

  The expanded view the tank granted him felt like a curse at this moment. He watched as none of his moves could shake off the lead Bloodknight. Judith shuffled her way to the back door of the strider. With her enhanced strength alone, Dan saw and heard her punch her arm straight through the metal door behind the strider. The attack sent a jolt through his body as lightweight alloys proved no match for the raw strength of Judith.

  Through the expanded view, Judith had little ground or even leverage to work with. And yet, her arm strength alone proved sufficient enough to not only punch a hole through the strider’s back door, but also rip the entire thing off its hinges. The desert’s dry heat hit the back of his head.

  Dan squinted and watched as Li got up from his seat, a mere speck in his expanded view of the entire desert landscape. The stealth specialist raised two pistols at the Bloodknight and fired. He saw the tiny muzzle flashes from the back of the tank and heard the shots directly behind him.

  The battle was over in seconds as Dan simultaneously watched Li’s form get tossed out of the tank and heard him hit the ground outside. His connection to the strider tank and the expanded view of the environment abruptly ended when the helmet was ripped off his head.

  An armored hand grabbed by the shoulder and gloved fingers caressed his neck. Dan gathered up all the courage in himself to slowly turn his head and meet Judith’s gaze head on. The lead Bloodknight’s bloodshot sclera and golden irises stared back at him. Judith flashed him the same infamous slasher smile before her hand grabbed him by the back of the neck. Dan was yanked out of his seat as Judith dragged him out of the tank.

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