The ground exploded, sending Jay flying forward. He landed face-first, skidding several feet across the grass. His armor had shattered, and his lungs burned as he tried to breathe in. He pushed himself around, happy to see his legs were ok. His heart went cold as he saw the city– or what was left of it. Buildings were toppled. Fires raged, and the entire area looked more like a dump than the place he had known his whole life. He didn’t think it could get any worse until he saw what had attacked him. A man stared down at him, his eyes covered with some sort of helmet. He was massive, almost twice the size of Jay and bulging with mechanical muscles that looked like they were meant for tossing cars. He wore a white tank top tucked into camo pants, revealing the black synthetic material that covered him from the neck down. The man held a massive weapon, resting it on his shoulder, while steam poured out of it.

  “Damn, you're tough. I've seen tanks take more damage from old Betty here,” he said while patting the weapon.

  Jay scrambled to his feet and considered making a break for it, but even with his enhanced speed, he wasn’t sure he would make it very far. It was an enforcer. Not one of the stage one or two enforcers that he normally saw around, either, but a full-blown stage three. It was the kind they only sent in when someone really fucked up, or they needed a city block leveled with no questions asked. He was fucked.

  Human: Gadge Thorton - Level 14 Warrior

  This is a candidate in the 76th Death March.

  Royally fucked. Jay pulled his gun, firing three shots, but they bounced off the man with no effect.

  The enforcer laughed. “You have to know that's pointless, right?” He walked forward, dropping the large cannon and cracking his neck. “Here, I’ll at least give you a chance. You can use whatever weapon you want to try and take me down, and I'll rip your head off with my bare hands.”

  “What the heck do you want from me?” Jay yelled.

  “Ooo, afraid to curse or something? Say ‘what the hell,’ like a man. I’ve seen you slit someone's throat. Don’t pretend like you're some type of holier-than-thou saint. I mean, I’m about to beat you to death, and you're smiling? Like, what the fuck is that?”

  Jay backed away slightly, cursing internally as he checked his Spirit reserves. They were just above half.He was happy he had reformed his armor, as he likely would have been dead right now without it, but that didn’t make his situation any better.

  “Nothing to say?” Gadge asked as he moved closer, raising his fists into a ready position. He stopped for a moment and frowned as he let out a groan. “Regina wants me to give you one last chance to work for her before I pulverize you.”

  “Regina? What does she have to do with this?”

  “She’s my new employer. Between the capital, the freedom, and getting to fight people like you, it's a pretty fucking good gig. Probably would have even gotten to hunt down those Jett or Blue Raven fellows if your ass wasn’t on the top of her list after what you did.”

  “Ok, look, maybe she and I got off on the wrong foot, but I'm sure we can form--”

  “Time’s up.”

  Gadge rushed forward at a speed Jay was only able to match by activating his Empowerment at full blast. Strike after strike rained down as Jay continued moving backwards, staying just out of range.

  Lan! Any suggestions would be great!

  “First, don’t get hit. Second, for the love of God, infuse your gun with as much Spirit as you can give it.”

  Isn’t that just going to make it regen ammo? Jay asked as he barely dodged an overhead strike.

  “No, it will also empower it. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to punch through that fucker’s armor.”

  What if it doesn’t work?

  “Dodging seems to be working. I would recommend continuing that while I look for Plan B.”

  Jay sighed, infusing his weapon with whatever Spirit he could while keeping his speed quick enough to avoid the incoming strikes. His reserves were falling too fast to manage the maneuver. He took a deep breath after dodging another swing of the man’s giant fists. He was down to 600 Spirit, and he needed to keep that up as long as possible. His will was at least close to full, so if he was forced to use Defiance. He would be okay for a bit, but he didn’t want it to come to that just yet.

  He calmed himself further, focusing on his Breathing as he began flickering his Empowerment on and off for just a few moments. He touched the ground before he leapt away once more. His expenditure stabilized, and Jay felt like it was the first day of the dungeon all over again. He was grateful for that experience and for learning how to fight while conserving energy. His gun began shaking in his hand as power continued to build. Not wanting to ruin the weapon, he raised it and released all the energy in a single pull of the trigger.

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  Despite the sound-dampening effect the weapon had, it sounded like a cannon had gone off right next to his ear. Gadge stopped his assault and clutched at the right side of his head, but there was nothing to grab onto. Everything from the middle of his nose and up on that side had been blown away.

  Holy shit, Jay thought as his ears continued to ring.

  He thought the man would just fall over after that, but he found himself mistaken as Gadge scowled at him.

  “Oh, you're gonna wish you hadn’t done that. You had the chance to die quickly. Now, I ain't gonna let you leave until you can’t scream anymore. I wonder what will break first--your will to keep going, or your vocal cords. I'm gonna really, really enjoy finding out.”

  Of course he doesn’t need half his head… of course not. Why the fuck would he need half his goddamn brain to keep living? What a stupid assumption, Jay.

  He barely had time to move as the man’s arm shifted into a cannon-like structure. Massive balls of energy impacted the ground he was just standing on. His Empowerment was back on full blast as he dodged energy shot after energy shot. He began charging his revolver once more. Just as the weapon was almost fully charged. He jumped forward and began raising it towards his target when the shots stopped coming. The man burst into motion far quicker than he had been just moments before. Jay’s eyes went wide, and he tried to change directions, but it was far too late.

  “Gotcha,” Gadge said, a smile spreading wide on his face as he held Jay’s robotic hand in one of his massive fists.

  Oh, fuck–

  Vertigo swirled through his mind as he suddenly found himself flying through the air. Gadge swung him by the arm, aiming to slam him into the ground. Thinking quickly, Jay let out a burst of Spirit just as he was about to make contact, slowing his momentum and stopping the brunt of the impact. It still hurt, but it was far better than the alternative. He lifted off the ground once more as the large man made to repeat the motion, swinging him towards the dirt, grass, and rocks of the park again. This repeated three more times with Jay using an explosion of Spirit to stop himself from getting splattered each time.

  Shit, shit, shit! he thought as he watched his Spirit dip lower and lower.

  If he’d had more time and wasn’t close to losing his breakfast. He might have been able to come up with a better plan. He didn’t have time, though, and he was pretty sure he would see that meal again any second now. With nothing else coming to mind, Jay put his pistol back into storage and pulled his knife into his free hand. He swung it up and through his robotic arm, severing it just below the elbow and sending him flying off. He crashed into the ground, hard, sliding to a stop several feet away before kicking himself back to his feet.

  Gadge laughed as he used Jay’s severed arm as a back scratcher. “Uh, that itch had been bothering me for hours. Thanks for giving me a hand.”

  Jay ignored the laughing giant as he quickly ran through his options. He didn’t really have any great choices. The city was in ruins. Even if he could outrun this guy, he doubted he could completely get away. Talking this through had probably gone out the window with the right half of the man’s forehead. Although he was positive he was outmatched,, the only option he could see that had a slight chance of success was to fight. A white aura began radiating off of Jay as he pushed his Spirit Consumption to almost 200 per second. His body ached, and it felt like his limbs were trying to rip themselves apart as the energy coursed through them like a raging river. A burning sensation began radiating across his body, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. He needed to move now.

  Jay kicked off the ground and flew toward the large man like a bullet. He bridged the gap in less than a second and lashed out with his dagger, tearing through the left side of the man's chest. Gadge let out a pained grunt, but reacted quickly as his right arm split in two. A roaring chainsaw blade pulsing with blue energy slid forward as the arm closed again, locking it into place. Jay dodged a wide sweep from the weapon, but he didn’t flinch. The man was moving far slower than he had been before. It burned so badly, and every second felt like he was going to burst from the pressure, but Jay was finally faster than the enforcer. He smiled as he clamped down on himself with his will. He wanted this fight to continue. He wanted to push himself further. To do that, though, he needed his body to stay intact.

  **Skill level increased: Will Control 1 - 3**

  The burning lessened, and he felt the constant sensation that he was going to explode from the power raging within him decreased slightly. He dodged another sweep of the massive chainsaw, this time moving in closer and lashing out with his dagger once more. He infused as much Spirit as he could into his blade and felt the weapon start to vibrate dangerously. He used his will to squeeze the weapon back into shape, but it didn’t stop what came next.

  The blade made contact with Gadge’s skin and exploded, sending Jay flying back once again. He recovered quickly and tried to raise his arm into a defensive position, but it didn’t move. It was only then that he saw it. The top half of Gadge was completely gone, leaving a pair of still-standing legs and a rumbling chainsaw several feet away. Jay looked down as he deactivated his will and Spirit. He blinked at the blood pouring from the mangled stump ending just below his left shoulder.

  Well, fuck.

  Jay lowered himself to the ground and summoned the health injector that he had gotten from the loot box in the dungeon. He hated that he had to use it this early, but at the end of the day, that didn’t matter. He was alive. He had been attacked by a stage three enforcer and survived. His entire life, he had been terrified of those things. Ever since he’d seen the first reports of a stage two ripping a man in half for looking at him the wrong way, and barely getting a slap on the wrist for it. He had made sure to stay as far the fuck away as he could. Now, he had just killed a stage three.

  He laughed as the injector appeared between his legs, and he slowly pushed it into his thigh. It was a weird feeling to watch his mangled stump regrow. He felt each and every nerve take shape and position itself. That was nothing compared to the feeling when a metallic material began spreading from where he had severed his mechanical arm.

  “What the heck?” he muttered as he flexed his robotic fingers, finding them just the same as before he had sliced the limb away.