Before Sven and Nadya showed up, Kai couldn't listen to any more of the glowing man's ramblings.

While the so-called Messiah continued his babbling and floated in the air, he burst forward like a bullet, his blood-enhanced body leaving streaks of red in his wake.

But the second he got close...

Fwoom!

The air itself shimmered.

A wave of blistering heat washed over him like a furnace set to maximum.

"-Tch!"

Kai's skin sizzled. Blisters bubbled along his arms and face in seconds. His coat blackened and curled, and smoke began to rise from his limbs. Pain flared across every nerve like molten knives, but his body began mending immediately, blood cells racing to patch the damage as fast as it came.

'Heal. Heal faster,' Kai thought through gritted teeth.

The Messiah floated just metres above the ground, bathed in a golden aura that danced like holy fire. His skin gleamed like polished bronze, his eyes alight with cruel divinity. It was as if a deity had descended and taken form in a madman's skin.

"You dare approach me, filthy creature?" the Messiah said, his voice like thunder wrapped in silk. "You, an artificial anomaly. Unchosen. A parasite pretending to walk among the divine."

Kai skidded across the molten ground and rolled back, smoke trailing from his limbs. The flesh on his knuckles had already been cooked twice over.

'This heat… It's insane. Even Nadya couldn't get close with her body's natural resistance to heat. But at least I can heal through it... barely.'

The Messiah didn't move. He didn't flinch. He simply hovered in the air, arms outstretched like a saint gazing down on his flock.

"You bear the mark of the false one. You reject the will of God, and still you wish to strike me?" he sneered. "You think your defiance is strength? No... it is blasphemy given form."

Kai wiped blood from his nose, his arms already coated in red. He didn't answer. He didn't even look up.

There was no point trying to reason with a delusional zealot.

He exploded forward again, closing the distance with a sudden burst of speed, but just as he got within reach, the heat intensified.

His vision blurred. His skin cracked open and hissed.

However, he endured and slashed upwards with a whip of blood that narrowly missed.

The Messiah simply tilted his body, avoiding the strike without effort. He didn't even appear to be trying.

The heat flared once more, forcing Kai to stagger back, smoke billowing from his flesh.

'Again... I need to be faster and find an opening.'

He circled around, tried another angle, then another, then another.

Each attempt ended the same.

The Messiah floated with contempt, casually dodging or scorching everything thrown his way. His body was wrapped in a storm of heat so dense it warped the air. Kai's attacks never even made proper contact.

After dozens of failed assaults, Kai dropped to one knee, panting.

His body had healed each time, sure, but the pain was real. His nerves were raw. And worst of all?

The Messiah still hadn't lifted a finger in retaliation.

'He's not even trying… and I still can't land a clean hit. I'm burning just getting near him.'

Kai's fists trembled, not from fear, but from the overwhelming frustration of helplessness.

'What do I do now? Even if I tear the whole port down, I doubt he'll even feel it. Maybe… maybe we just try to grab some of the drugs and get out of here. Find Nyx later. Regroup.'

It was the first time in a while Kai had actually considered retreat.

But could you blame him?

It was the only feasible option, and he felt like completely outmatched by the glowing mutant whose ability truly did feel divine.

However, before he acted on that thought, a gust of wind blew past him.

He turned and found that Sven and Nadya had returned to his side, seemingly finished with the Scalpel.

Nadya was panting, her body smudged with blood and soot, but her eyes were sharp.

Sven looked worse, his legs shaky, his shirt half burned, but he was grinning through the pain, blades gleaming in both hands.

"Looks like we're not too late," Nadya said, glancing up at the glowing man in the sky who didn't even have a scratch on his body. "Guess you couldn't land an attack on him either."

Kai didn't respond. His eyes locked back on the Messiah, who was still floating above, watching all of them now with a new expression.

Amusement.

"You bring more insects before me?" the Messiah said. "Shall I show you what happens to those who gather before divinity?"

Sven smiled sheepishly at the mutant he had once completed a commission for, and as they locked eyes, there was a hint of recognition in the glowing mutant's eyes.

"I know you. The Phantom Striker, isn't that what they call you?"

"Yes, it's one of my many names, along with handsome superstar, sexy Sven, and the guy with a big..."

Nadya slapped the back of his head before he could finish the lewd joke he was about to make. Kai was surprised Sven could still make jokes despite the opponent they were facing, but he turned to him and could tell that he was tense.

He tightly gripped his daggers, and he felt just as out of his depths as the rest of them did.

But it seemed as though the Messiah didn't take kindly to his jokes.

He slowly raised one glowing hand.

The air boomed. The sky turned gold in a display of his power.

Kai stood, rolling his shoulder as fresh blood swirled from his wounds, forming a sharp spear in his palm that he condensed multiple times over.

This time, he didn't look like he was about to give up.

This time, there were three of them.

But it seemed as though that only served to incur the wrath of the glowing mutant.

Gone was the serene, detached prophet who gazed down at them with divine indifference.

What replaced him… was something frightening...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.