In a brief moment of shock, my stealth skill is lifted, and I'm completely visible on the open top floor of the observatory, facing off against a black-armored knight with unique magic swirling around his body.

If I had more time to analyze and compare, I'd like to see if the energy coming out of the sonar has similar properties to the knight's armor. At a quick glance, they feel and look awfully similar.

However, I don't have the time to run tests.

The static rumbling voice that I heard only mumbles of before pierces through the open air to hit my ears at full blast.

"Who... are you?... Intruder..."

The heavy footsteps of the Sector 2 leader make deep indents and cracks in the floor as he walks closer. The swirling energy stays close to his armor at all times, not even a tiny wisp of it drifts away.

I don't take this moment to respond but reach down and throw a crate of mana crystals into my item storage. This opens a spatial magic portal right in front of my enemy, but revealing this one trait is the least of my worries. I turn around and air-step upward out of the observatory roof, grinning that my plan has worked out well.

I'm very excited to see what unique skills and items a stronger Sector leader has available to him. At the same time, I'm a bit nervous to face this oddball one-on-one. The power gap may be much bigger than I imagine.

A moment later a human-sized hole in the top of the observatory cracks open, blowing metal and stone in all directions as the energy-covered man follows me into the sky.

I open up my telepathy link as the morning sun hits both of us with its golden rays; giving all of my teammates a message.

"The coast is clear. Lydia and the Sector 4 leader are alone on the bottom floor in the center room. I'll keep the bigger threat busy."

The sensation of my teammates moving toward the opposite side of the building lets me know they received my message. I turn off my telepathy and activate all my buffs while taking out my fire sword and wind dagger to fight.

I want to take him out quickly, but I also need to stall him long enough for him not to get involved in the rescue mission going on behind us.

"Let's see what you're made of!"

With the golden red streaks of my buffs coming off my body and the black flames starting to dance on my blade, I air-step down toward the abandoned town at full speed. The armored giant behind me is gaining distance much faster than I thought, somehow accelerating faster and faster the closer to the ground we get.

Both of us make it all the way down the cliffside in a matter of seconds, and I duck behind a few of the village huts for cover, charging up my blades with enough mana for a proper strike.

The atmosphere is not mana-dense at all... I can get a few strikes off, but my plunderer skill can only take in as much energy as my surroundings have to offer. There are small traces of mana in the air, but not nearly enough to charge my blades up to full multiple times in the heat of battle.

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This is the reason I grabbed a crate of crystals on my way out, it should be enough to keep me going as long as I use them conservatively.

While going over my possibilities, a loud crack sounds, making the flat sandy ground of the town shake, making me grip both my blades tighter. The static-filled voice of the man ripples through the air, making himself known.

"Who are you...? Association? Black Ops? Or a Private Mercenary?"

I grit my teeth and dart behind a different abandoned hut as the armored man comes closer. His grey and white twisting energy making the air crackle and let off high-frequency squeaks and static sounds.

I can feel the man's footsteps approach, so I jump out from hiding and release a wind and fire blade directly at his torso. These attacks are strong enough to make any Ranked-Up Floor Boss evaporate before they even know what hit them.

To my surprise, the man doesn't even attempt to move. The black and white mana blades hit him straight on.

The sounds and eerie feeling of static grow as both blades of energy sink into the ball of energy surrounding the man. They completely disappear before my eyes...

It doesn't make any sense.

Even the mana readings from the two blades disappear behind a veil of distorted energy, just like my intimidation wave; and just like the status of the man behind the black metal suit.

He turns my way, then a blade of fire and a blade of wind exactly like my own come flying out of the man's aura.

I jump high into the sky using air-steps to dodge, but the lines of houses left behind in my wake are all sliced clean in two, erupting into black flames after the fact.

He copied my skills, or so it seems.

The ear-piercing voice rings out through the now flaming town.

"A dual element wielder... Rare one, aren't you... My guess is Black Ops..."

He releases more waves of fire and wind up in the air straight toward me. They seem brighter, denser, and more amplified than before, almost like he is mirroring my attack but imbuing more energy into it, making it his own.

In response, I throw up a pink barrier of mana, using my manipulation skill burning through hundreds of MP to block the incoming strikes. The overwhelming buzz of mana on mana fills the air and explodes on impact, throwing me back down to the desert floor. Uninjured, but a bit frazzled at the events that just took place before my eyes.

He keeps taunting me while slowly making his way over to the untouched section of the village where I fell.

"Whoever you are... whoever sent you... it does not matter... I'll be killing you and leaving shortly anyway..."

I let out a barrage of attacks, bringing my MP down to 0, but letting a few of the mana crystals fall out of my spatial magic dimension to touch my skin and be absorbed to force out more. I zip around the town quickly and quietly at my top speed as the Sector 2 Boss runs through buildings without a care in the world. I'm much more agile than my adversary, but in pure speed and resilience he's got me beat no matter how it's looked at.

Every attack I throw at him is absorbed into the suit of armor that's surrounded by the grey glow.

He doesn't even carry a weapon, the person just absorbs every one of my attacks and throws that back at me with ease.

After over a full minute of playing cat and mouse, the entire village goes up in flames. My breathing starts to get very heavy from narrowly avoiding my own attacks being thrown back at me.

I whisper under my breath.

"It has to have a weakness."

Right now, the Sector 2 leader seems to just be playing around with me as its prey.

He's making small talk, and only using my own attacks against me.

It seems his defenses can absorb any mana-imbued strike I throw at him. Elemental aspect or not, it doesn't matter the skill, he can absorb it and throw it back at the same or even higher intensity. Nothing I've managed to attack with has even scratched the surface of these mysterious defenses, my battle plan needs to change.

I should use his overconfidence to my advantage and strike while he's still mocking me with a lowered guard.

The powers I've made known to him are only a fraction of what I'm capable of. However, more tests need to be conducted before I can go all out or put myself in real harm's way.

Sitting back against a building split in two, covered in my own black flames I put away both my mana-imbued weapons and pull out the glossy black blade. I whisper under my breath in an inaudible tone.

"We'll see how well that armor of yours defends against Demonic Energy."