BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Amber focused again on her battle. When the dust from the explosion cleared, the second Vindicator was much closer, using her water powers to form a trident of compressed water that moved with the solidity of steel. She thrust it toward Amber, who warped away, leaving behind an enormous cloud of corrosive fog.

But the woman wasn't stupid; she knew Amber Joyce had that kind of power and protected herself with armor entirely made of water.

The water armor absorbed the fog Amber released, creating a dangerous mixture. The corrosive particles became suspended in the liquid shield, turning the Vindicator's defensive barrier into a deadly weapon that could melt anything it touched.

Rick intercepted the Vindicator from the side.

"Stay away!" Amber said.

"She absorbed my fog; it's still in my armor!"

"Roger that!"

A piercing whine announced one of Emily's bullets. It slammed into the Vindicator's chest, striking the water armor. The mana bullet erupted in a flash of energy, then shattered, its force spent against the liquid shield. The woman stood unmoved.

"Nice try!"

Blows flashed between the two. Amber's every strike required a warp to avoid being killed in the following seconds. Her warps were a mirror image of the Vindicator's following attacks.

The woman's sheer speed pushed Amber to the edge, requiring rapid jumps to survive each blow traded.

For the Vindicator, Amber's endless teleportation made the fight a disorienting hunt. Her attacks met empty air, forcing a constant, frustrating race for a target that refused to stay pinned.

But that wasn't the only battle going on.

"The other two are flanking us," Mira said. Splintered Wood and With Mask were circling, trying to attack from behind.

"I see them," Allan said.

He used his aura and went to White Mask; Benedict followed. The man was strong, stronger than any human they had ever fought against, and now that Gwen wasn't with them, the battle turned much harder.

While Ben and Allan engaged the two in melee, Martha attacked from a distance with her vines. Long tendrils burst from the ground, trying to ensnare the man or to pierce his chest.

But she always failed, simply because the man was too strong. Ben and Allan couldn't stop him, but the Vindicator couldn't stop them either because of how much mana they were using.

Getting close to Allan was basically suicide, while Ben would be hard to kill given the armor. The vindicator didn't know about his regenerative powers.

This also added a complication because every time Allan got close, the man had to escape while at the same time targeting his attackers. Luckily, he could fight from a distance, but either the opponents avoided the blow, stopped it outright, or Martha intervened.

The woman then expanded her plant to intercept the man, creating a tangled maze of poisonous vegetation.

"Be careful!"

At the same time, Mira, Gwen, and Floyd were fighting against Splintered Wood.

That slowed their approach. Floyd lashed out with his tail whip, tagging Splintered Wood with his energy negation brain crystal power, causing the man to stumble mid-stride but not stopping.

Now that they were fighting against these people, they understood how incredible Erik's feat had been when he did the same both at the law gate and on Maynard island.

They were not only strong but also well-experienced. It was to the point it looked like they could see several seconds into the future.

The truth was, their extensive fighting experience allowed them to anticipate what to expect from their opponents and easily infer the type of attack that would be made.

"How can he still fucking move?!"

Benedict couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Focus, Floyd! All powers can be countered using mana!"

That was a skill people learned to try to imitate the natural mana armor thaids had. It didn't work in exactly the same way, but it made those who use the technique able to fight foreign mana invading them or to lessen the burden of mana-powered attacks.

"If he knew how to do this, why didn't he do it earlier?"

"Are you fucking stupid, Floyd?"

It was simple. The man didn't know who he was fighting against, and there were three melee fighters back then. Now the situation was better for him, but it was still dire. He was fighting against people who could not exhaust their mana, so he had to play this smart. And he was, to quite frightening degree.

"I'll try to make him focus on me," Gwen said. "You focus on dealing damage."

She charged, leaping with mana-enhanced strength. The Vindicator sent a blast of wind to push her back, but her armor's weight and her own power allowed her to push through. She grabbed his ankle, using her momentum and strength to drag him down.

The Vindicator retaliated with a fire blast that could have easily destroyed a building, and that, for sure, would have killed anyone else. But not Gwen. Her armor held.

Though it smoked and cracked. The blast reached her, but its impact was minimal, and her regenerative brain crystal powers were already healing her wounds.

She kept her grip, resisting the pain, and pulling the man into range for Floyd's attack.

The tail flashed. The man erected a hasty earth and stone armor around himself, but with that much mana available, there was a limit to what he could do, and Floyd's mana tail was sharp to absurd degrees.

It was too much for the man's own mana to keep the armor on.

The bladed part of the mana appendage went through the armor and struck the Vindicator right in the chest.

Blood sprayed from the wound, but he also had healing powers. The gash began closing immediately, but Floyd's poison was also spreading.

The Vindicator grabbed Floyd's mana tail.

"AAAAAH."

Pain tore across Floyd's body as the Vindicator yanked him forward with terrible force, using the Mana tail as a tether. Floyd's feet kicked off the ground, his body flying against his will.

The Vindicator whirled, using Floyd's own momentum against him. He slammed Floyd with such force that it knocked the wind out of his lungs.

The Vindicator's boot hooked on his ribs before Floyd could even react. The force of the kick sent him tumbling across the battlefield like a rag doll, leaving a trail of broken ground behind. At last he stopped face-down and battled to breathe.

"FLOYD!"

All of that happened in an instant.

"Mhmp. You aren't so cocky anymore, are you?"

With terrible force, a Mana bullet whistled through the air and landed on the Vindicator's head, scattering brain matter and blood in a large arc. Emily stood far away, her rifle still smoking from the deadly shot. Gwen turned to Floyd, who lay still on the ground, his body ravaged and unconscious after the ruthless attack.

She then turned to Rick.

"Rick, heal him!"