Back inside, the room was quiet except for the faint crackle of fire around Adrian’s hand and the muffled voices outside.
Jas stood across from him while forcing his breathing to stay even.
Adrian noticed the fear in Jas’s eyes before smiling because he rembered it from the old days when Jas used to flinch whenever he approached.
"You know well enough to know I hate repeating myself," Adrian said while the fire around his hand intensified. "You should also know that if I ca here personally, it ans I’ve already done my findings. So I’ll ask one more ti." He paused while letting the silence stretch. "Where is Derek?"
Jas said, "I don’t know where Derek is. Stop asking stupid questions."
The answer was dangerous, but Jas refused to lower his head like before when Adrian had made him apologize for existing.
Adrian’s expression changed slightly because the old Jas would never have answered him like that or called anything Adrian did stupid.
"Interesting," Adrian said while stepping closer. "The Tower really did change you." The fire around his hand flickered. "Or maybe you’re just better at pretending now."
Jas didn’t move.
Adrian didn’t reveal everything he knew yet about Roman, Dock 7, or the lackey he’d tortured and killed. He only pressed Jas with his presence and the weight of their past while letting the fire around his hand burn brighter until the heat beca uncomfortable even from several feet away.
"Derek ca to weeks ago," Adrian said. "Asked for help looking into soone. Then he disappeared. Roman disappeared. Everyone who went with them disappeared." He tilted his head. "You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?"
"No," Jas said.
"No?" Adrian laughed once. "Just no? Not even going to ask who Roman was or where Derek went looking?"
Jas stayed quiet because answering would only dig the hole deeper.
Adrian stepped closer. "You think one Floor 9 clear ans you’ve changed?"
Jas said nothing.
"Clearing one floor and getting famous doesn’t erase the old days, Jas." Adrian’s voice was cold. "I still rember the boy who couldn’t look in the eye. The one who ate alone because nobody wanted to sit with him. The one I shoved into lockers whenever I felt like it."
Jas rembered those old days clearly.
Adrian used to find him during lunch and knock his tray out of his hands before walking away laughing. He used to corner Jas in empty hallways and ask him questions he knew Jas couldn’t answer without getting mocked. He used to light small fires near Jas’s desk during class when teachers weren’t looking just to watch him flinch.
The worst part wasn’t the bullying itself but the way everyone else acted like it was normal because the Ganners were untouchable and Jas was nobody worth defending.
Jas had no strength back then. No money. No one to protect him when Adrian decided he was today’s entertainnt.
For a brief mont, Jas felt like that boy again while his body rembered the fear before his mind could reject it.
But this ti, his hands didn’t shake.
This ti, he’d survived worse than school bullies because he’d faced monsters that wanted to tear him apart, death floors where one mistake ant permanent death, corrupted ogres that could crush skulls with their fists, and dark magic that tried to consu entire teams.
"You don’t know anymore," Jas said.
Adrian laughed because he still saw Jas as the sa weak boy who used to flinch at raised voices and apologize for things he didn’t do.
Jas decided not to give Adrian the fight he wanted inside the building because too many people were outside recording and too many phones were pointed at the glass. If Jas fought carelessly here, it would beco public evidence, public scandal, and possibly a problem for Team Zero when the dia started asking questions about why the Necromancer was fighting a Ganner heir.
Jas turned before starting to walk toward the exit. "I’m done answering."
For a second, Adrian let him pass while watching him walk away.
Then he grabbed Jas by the shoulder before Jas could reach the door.
The grip was familiar because it reminded Jas of the old days when Adrian would stop him like this in school hallways before shoving him into lockers, mocking him in front of others, or forcing him to listen to whatever insult ca next while other students pretended not to see.
Adrian leaned closer while his breath was hot against Jas’s ear. "Clearing a floor doesn’t an I can’t beat the shit out of you like I did in the old days. You’re still that scared little boy who couldn’t fight back. The Tower gave you powers, but it didn’t give you courage."
Jas’s jaw clenched.
"Nothing to say?" Adrian asked while tightening his grip until his fingers dug into Jas’s shoulder hard enough to bruise. "Where’s that famous Necromancer confidence now?"
Adrian channeled fire into his other hand while the fla wrapped around his fist until it burned bright and violent. The heat between them intensified as the air shimred and distorted.
The temperature in the room spiked.
Jas could feel sweat forming on his skin even from several feet away because Adrian wasn’t holding back the power anymore.
Jas turned while ready to summon his skeletons or activate Death Chain, but Adrian moved first before Jas could react.
His burning fist slamd into Jas’s stomach.
The punch was brutal.
Fire and force exploded through Jas’s body at the sa ti while the impact drove the air from his lungs instantly. The heat seared through his shirt and burned his skin where the fist connected. His feet lifted from the floor as the blow drove into him with enough power to crack ribs before the force sent him flying backward through tables and chairs that splintered beneath him.
Outside, people scread.
"OH SHIT!"
"He actually hit him!"
"JAS!"
The influencer’s livestream shook as the crowd stumbled back while the viewer count spiked to 15K and climbing. Soone was crying. Soone else was calling ergency services. Most people just stood frozen while watching through their phone screens.
Adrian’s burning fist drove into Jas’s stomach.
BOOM!
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