“This is insane,” Coleridge protested when Isaac finished explaining the plan.

“I’m starting to realize that this is an insane world,” Isaac supposed. “Being insane in an insane world, wouldn’t that be the same as being sane?”

“...what?”

Isaac patted him on the shoulder and gazed out from the alleyway. The terrorists still occupied the interior part of the courtyard, having perfect lines of sight on anyone trying to cross the larger, open, and exposed outer courtyard. But that’s where Coleridge came in.

“You ready?” Isaac asked.

After a moment, Coleridge adjusted the naval cap so it fit perfectly on his bushy black mass of hair. “I sure hope so.”

That would be the best answer someone like Coleridge could provide, so Isaac started the plan. He leaned out from the alleyway, cocked his fist back, and fired off the electric blast of the Fists of Anji. The attack rocketed towards the courtyard, electricity flaring from it as it flew. The interior part of the courtyard was too far away to hit with any accuracy, so Isaac focused his attack on a large lamppost in the exterior courtyard. Similarly to the earlier telephone pole, the lamppost buckled and groaned upon contact, and then fell over with a large cracking sound. For the moment, the terrorists couldn’t locate the source of the attack - they could only focus on the metal pole now crashing into their van.

During this moment of confusion, Isaac stepped out of the alleyway and ran into the outer courtyard in a dead sprint. Right as the terrorists noticed his approach, he leapt into the air - below him, stretching back from the alleyway, streaks of red coursed through the earth. The ground rumbled and shook, and then a wave of dirt and soil rolled up and out through the concrete of the plaza. The center of the earth wave coalesced itself into a large, flat slab that Isaac landed upon. He rode the wave to the interior plaza like a surfer out on the ocean; for some reason, Isaac wanted to jump that slab of earth over a shark.

The terrorists fired on him, but between Isaac's electric blasts and the wave kicking up debris - shattered concrete, bits of pipe, solid pieces of dirt and sand and soil - that blocked any incoming projectiles, he surfed through the outer courtyard unscathed. The wave began to die right as it reached the interior courtyard, so Isaac sent out a long electric blast and leapt off the wave right as it crashed into the brick wall ringing his destination. In the chaos, Isaac landed in the middle of the patrol and began neutralizing them.

A polearm with an axe at the end swung at him, but Isaac simply moved forward and caught the wooden handle with a superpowered fist. He twisted his hand, snapping the blade in two, then used his other hand to punch the opposing woman in the face. As she buckled, Isaac caught the axe-end of the broken handle and slammed it into the chest of a rushing opponent. That sent the terrorist sprawling to the ground as well, blood spraying. The third opponent, who stood off to the side, clapped his hands together and created a rushing cascade of thunder.

Isaac rolled out of the way - the thunder took out a large chunk of the church wall behind him. The woman who originally wielded the polearm reached for a discarded pistol, so Isaac spun and kicked her across the jaw. She was down for the count, and another roll saved him from the blast of thunder. From behind the church, another patrol emerged and rushed into the courtyard, joining the thunderclapper. Isaac tensed, but then a wave of earth rushed across and scattered the reinforcements. Coleridge sprinted across the outer courtyard, screaming, crying, shooting his revolver into the air for no reason besides scaring his opponents and making himself feel better.

Then there was another rush of thunder, not a cultivation-powered attack, but one Isaac recognized from earlier fights. The terrorist in the belltower had fired a shoulder-mounted Stovepipe rocket down onto the street; something large and most likely vehicular exploded in response. But Isaac had no time to focus on it; the thunderclapper aimed right at him, but a small streak of moving earth connected with the man’s front foot and sent his attack off-target, instead taking out a patch of grass and a wooden bench. While the man was off-balance, Isaac slid forward and delivered a superpowered uppercut to the man’s jaw, sending him crashing into the fallen lamppost. His eyes closed and he didn’t get up, but the earlier terrorist reinforcements were now regrouping and about to make a charge.

Coleridge slid a boot across the ground, creating a sand wall of his own. He looked at the wooden church roof and planted his hands on the ground; more earth erupted through the courtyard, creating makeshift stairs.

“Go, Isaac!” Coleridge yelled. He started firing his gun into the air again. “I’ll hold these guys off!”

“You’re a good man,” Isaac answered, but Coleridge was too busy shooting off his gun to hear. In any case, Isaac leapt up the earthen stairs, needing to climb up the last couple until he leapt onto the roof. The stairs then crumbled and disappeared, with Coleridge peeling off hardened chunks and sending them at the approaching terrorists. Isaac left him to his fight and headed across the roof for the belltower. Another Stovepipe whistled and Isaac heard a building on the other side of the garden groan and cry and crumble from the attack.

Killing anyone they can find. Isaac struggled to control his breathing as he arrived at the belltower, so he took long inhales and exhales while running. The sniper’s nest was located at the very top, right next to the bell, at least three stories up. There wasn’t really a path on the outside wall to climb up, so sneaking be damned, Isaac just punched a hole through the wooden wall of the tower. He stepped inside and found himself on a spiraling wooden staircase heading upwards, with the bottom of the bell visible through the hole in the center of each floor. There was movement on the top floor; the sniper whipped around at the noise and the tip of the sniper rifle's barrel, like an animal’s snout, aimed down at Isaac through the hole.

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Isaac scrambled forward as the rifle fired. From this close and what must’ve been heavy modification, the bullet slammed through the wall behind Isaac and took the entire section of wooden wall with it. The bullet also created some sort of invisible shockwave that made the world spin in circles. Trying to head up a spiral staircase also wasn’t doing Isaac any favors. But he could play psychological warfare, too - he fired off an electric blast that struck the bell in the corner. The blast, stronger than any hammer, knocked the bell backwards, forcing the sniper to roll out of the way. When the bell reached the peak of its swing, the interior clapper continued to move and struck brass. The sound roared and made Isaac’s teeth chatter, but the sniper was right next to it. No more gunfire came as Isaac reached the top floor.

The top floor, like the rest of the tower, was circular, a thin walkway stretching around the edge, the swinging bell dominating the center. The bell temporarily blocked Isaac’s view of the other side; when its swing moved itself out of the way, Isaac studied his opponent on the other side of the floor, who was busy doing the same thing. He wore mottled military fatigues across a thin, agile frame; he held the sniper rifle in his hands, with the loaded Stovepipe and several rockets behind him. He was the same height as Isaac, with a leaner build, and a pair of goggles stretched across his spiky blonde hair.

There would be no time for names. The bell struck again, and then swung back down, blocking the two opponents’ view of each other. When it swung out of the way once more, the man had his sniper rifle up and Isaac had his fists up. The electric charge met sniper bullet in the middle, deflecting each other so they went flying out through the wooden walls. Much to Isaac’s surprise, the man charged and jumped across the gap, flipping the sniper rifle in his hands so he gripped the barrel with both of them. Red lights swirled up the rifle as energy coalesced over it, forming it into a makeshift sword powered by cultivation.

Isaac had to slip away down the walkway as the man landed on his side with sudden speed. He moved quickly with his sniper rifle sword, swinging it rapidly but with precise control. Since it was surrounded by Rddhi, though, Isaac did have an advantage. Unlike a normal sword, Isaac could raise a superpowered fist and block the incoming attack, Rddhi-on-Rddhi cancelling each other out. He did exactly that, the swing of the sniper rifle sword coming to a complete halt, leaving his opponent’s torso open to attack. But before Isaac could do so, the man spun the rifle around in one hand so the barrel now faced Isaac. Right as the rifle fired, Isaac delivered a quick palm strike to the gun that sent another bullet out through the wooden wall. All the walls started to creak by this point, but the sniper and Isaac still went at each other relentlessly.

The man clenched his fists and the cultivator sniper rifle broke apart and transformed, the metal pieces coalescing into hard gloves around his hands. He caught Isaac with a lucky strike to the stomach; the blow stung, forcing Isaac to stumble backwards away from the following attacks. Isaac fired off an electric blast, but it came nowhere near his opponent. Instead, it struck the bell, sending out a large gong as the bell swung hard again. The man moved to punch Isaac’s head off, but he deflected his fist and the two met each other in a flurry of strikes and punches and kicks. Isaac grabbed the man’s collars and headbutted him; the blow staggered both of them, but Isaac timed it just right so he would recover right as the bell swung backwards them.

Isaac stepped backwards, dragging the man with him, right in line with the bell. The man was caught and his eyes widened, but then narrowed; the metal gloves slipped off his hands and slid up his body, wrapping itself around his head as a helmet. The man whipped his head back and then slammed it straight into Isaac's head, returning the favor, knocking both of them to the ground. In the flurry of grappling and grasping, Isaac fired off an electric blast that narrowly missed the sniper and instead struck the bell. Having been hit so many times, it started to spin wildly, clanging and clanging, the noise and confusion and all the fighting breaking apart Isaac and the man as they threw each other off themselves and caught their breath in time to the ringing bell.

The roof screamed as the wooden panels and beams snapped apart from all the fighting. The bell went with it, completing its swinging arc and then flying through the side of the tower, crashing through the wide roof below. This made the entire tower groan and creak; nails popped out of the splintering wood as the whole structure started to collapse. The destruction kicked up the loaded Stovepipe and several rockets. The man leapt through the open air, cradling the rocket launcher, turning so he could fire it right at Isaac.

But Isaac was already on the move. He brought his arms across his face as he burst through a wall into open air. He twisted and turned, cocking back his right fist, and launching the electric blast before the man could fire the Stovepipe. The blast beamed through the tower, catching and igniting a tumbling rocket, which ignited the other two falling rockets. The man had Isaac right in the sights of the Stovepipe, but the ignition and subsequent explosions melted his finger before he could pull the trigger. The man looked at Isaac with a wry expression that said something like ‘damn, you really got me’ before the explosion engulfed him completely.

Compared to jumping off a burning airship, a three story fall was child’s play, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Isaac had jumped out right over the main roof of the church, the ominous hole where the bell had fallen through gazing up at him. He angled himself next to it, bending his knees, readying his cultivation-strengthened legs, and slammed into the wooden roof right on the edge of the hole. His legs absorbed the shock as he moved into a neat roll that unfortunately took him tumbling down the slanted roof of the church. His hand found an exposed wooden plank and grabbed on tight to it, stopping right before the roof dipped into open air, where the concrete courtyard below promised a much harder fall.

At least Coleridge seemed to have the fight on the ground under control. Isaac pulled himself to his weary feet, his legs battered but not broken. The church belltower had collapsed completely, and there was little chance of capturing and interrogating a vaporized man.

Isaac called down to Coleridge to recreate the stairs back down to the courtyard.