"Tsk, that hurt!"
The bishop clicked his tongue and covered his chest, which had been pierced with a large hole. If it had been just a little more off-center, his heart would have been shattered. A modified human wouldn't die easily unless they were decapitated or completely assimilated by energy, even without a heart, because a modified human's body is maintained and functions by pure energy.
Even so, a shattered heart greatly affected his fighting strength.
Although the bishop's normal state was far stronger than the Red Guardian's, the Red Guardian was extremely dangerous when he assimilated energy and entered his peak state. This was why the bishop had said earlier that it was not easy to take down another modified human.
He had originally intended to just stall the Red Guardian, but who knew this bodyguard would be so resolute? Playing the game of burning his life force. If he also assimilated energy, the bishop could have killed the Red Guardian, but he cherished his life like it was gold. The bishop could betray humanity for his life, so how could he risk his life for someone else?
The red-armored warrior had vanished; it was evident because the golden pure energy had disappeared. Even though the wearer was gone, the red armor still stood tall, its arm tightly gripping the spear. It was a testament to the unyielding will of the Red Guardian.
"The Supreme Council member's fate is unknown, and I've acquired an armored suit. This harvest isn't bad."
Despite the suffering, the acquisition of an armored suit was enough to compensate for the damage. With this, his research could go much further.
But before he could get to the armored suit, he felt the sound of air being torn behind him. Someone was trying to ambush him.
The blade in his hand swung up, and the bishop turned to block the attack. The person who had ambushed him was a large blue figure, a Blue Warrior wielding a greatsword.
"You bastard!"
A roar of anger came from the other side. Another Blue Warrior appeared, standing in front of the Red Guardian's armor. As modified humans, their eyesight could see the dissipating energy particles that were invisible to the naked eye. This meant that both of them knew that their comrade had sacrificed himself.
The other Blue Warrior took out a large hammer, his demeanor full of murderous intent. The bishop felt a headache coming on and was thinking of a way to quickly deal with these two to get his hands on three armored suits when a third Blue Warrior appeared from another direction.
"Where... is... he?"
The bishop was a little surprised. The third person was that person. He was a little reluctant to act now.
Sasha was consumed by a wave of fury. Hearing that the convoy had been ambushed, she immediately set out to rescue them. But when she arrived, all she found were the ruined, battered convoy and the survivors. The council member was nowhere to be seen, and neither was he.
According to the survivors, after cleaning up the fanatics, Noid had gone to this area. Sasha and two other modified humans also arrived immediately. All they saw was a Red Guardian who had sacrificed himself and vanished, and that terrible, grotesque creature.
To the bishop's surprise, Sasha attacked first. The greatsword slashed horizontally, and the bishop tilted his blade to block.
Clang!
The force was so strong that he had to take two steps back, and his wrist felt a little numb. He was terrified of Sasha's strength, but her attack was not over yet.
Continuous strikes of immense power and speed followed. The bishop could only struggle to defend himself. Sasha was using a greatsword, but she was so fast that he couldn't even switch his weapon to its whip form in time.
The other two Blue Warriors wanted to help, but it was not necessary to intervene right now, as the strongest person among them had already acted. Although they were furious, saving people was the most important thing, so they both began to help and evacuate the surrounding people.
"That guy? Is it the one in black? He's pretty good!"
Clang!
The bishop was pushed back ten meters, facing a Sasha with a greatsword in her hand, her heart filled with rage. He still mocked her, and the two began their next exchange.
Sasha's stats were around 3.2 two years ago. Now, after undergoing a rigorous six-month test to become compatible with the strange cube, her stats had jumped to 3.4. The bishop's stats were 3.5, but he had just gone through a difficult battle with the Red Guardian and was wounded. Even after recovering, Sasha was still giving him a hard time.
"Sasha, why do you care so much about him? Have you fallen in love?"
His response was a solid punch from Sasha to his face. Following that was a close-range slash of immense power that forced the bishop to his knees. Then came another punch. This time it came from behind, smashing his face into the ground and creating a 20-centimeter-deep crater.
"This... hurts! It hurts a lot..."
The bishop dodged, gasping slightly. He was too surprised by Sasha's fighting prowess. Back when he hadn't betrayed humanity, Sasha wasn't much stronger than a regular modified human. But over time, Sasha now possessed a strength that was almost on par with his.
This made the bishop's heart stir. One must know that the reason he was so much stronger than many regular modified humans was because the research on modified fanatics left behind by previous bishops had opened a new path for him.
By using himself as a test subject, the bishop had successfully created the perfectly modified fanatics, combining them with the body of a modified human. It was only through a lot of effort that he became this terrifying bishop.
With Sasha, his possessiveness began to emerge. At the same time, he felt hatred for Noid, the person Sasha was looking for.
Sasha didn't pay any attention to the bishop's changes. She just wanted to split this disgusting armored suit in two and then interrogate him to find out where Noid was.
The surrounding walls and small structures collapsed. Sasha and the bishop's speed had surpassed the speed of sound, and there was a continuous, terrifying sound of their weapons clashing. A five-meter radius around their clash was filled with smoke and dust.
Clang!
The bishop was pushed back again, but this time Sasha was not as gentle as before. She was pushed back half a step herself.
"Sasha."
The person in front of her called her name again. Her face remained unchanged, but she was already suspicious. Who was this person?
The tone of his voice, his fighting style, and someone in her memory had many similarities. It was buried deep in a corner of her memory that she had put away.
The bishop no longer wanted to fight. He turned and ran. He didn't even want the Red Guardian's armored suit anymore, because he had found something more interesting.
Sasha wanted to chase him, but he was too fast. This wasn't an open field that was easy to observe, so she could only return empty-handed.
...
"Hey, is he still alive?"
"Looks like he's dead. He's not moving at all."
"This one is still alive; his heart is still beating. Should we take him back?"
"Are you crazy? What for? I don't have enough food."
"I'm so hungry. All the places around here are out of food."
"There's nothing of value on him. This thing looks like armor, but we can't take it off."
"What do we do now? Should we... just leave him here?"
The sounds stopped for a few seconds.
"Alright, fine. Bring him back, but remember to tie him up as a precaution. Then let old man Kaular talk to him."