Adrian touched his ribs where Jas’s punch had landed before looking at the blood on his fingers.
His expression changed.
Before this mont, he’d been treating Jas like the weak boy from the past who used to flinch at raised voices. Now he understood Jas could hurt him.
Adrian’s fire beca hotter and more controlled while the flas around his fists burned brighter. The street started heating under his feet until the asphalt softened and cracked. People watching from outside felt the temperature change and moved farther back.
Nobody stood openly near the fight anymore.
So hid behind parked cars. Others ducked behind shop walls or street corners. A few retreated into nearby buildings while keeping their phones pointed toward the street.
The influencer kept filming, but from behind a parked delivery truck instead of standing in the open.
The crowd’s tone shifted from excitent to panic.
"Move back!"
"The street is burning!"
"This is getting bad!"
The livestream comnts flooded in faster than anyone could read while confusion and fear dominated the feed.
[LIVE STREAM: 306,118 VIEWERS]
@IrishNews: Why is Adrian getting serious?
@DublinLocal: Move back!
@ChallengerWatch: The street is burning
@FloorFeed: Jas hit him but this is bad
@LocalCitizen: Soone call TRB already
@TowerGlobal: Why are two Ganners fighting?
@NewsWatcher: He keeps asking about Derek
@ConfusedViewer: Who is Derek?
@StreamWatcher: This is insane
Adrian said nothing while his eyes stayed locked on Jas. His tone was cold and angry without needing loud words.
He rushed forward.
Jas tried to keep up while using everything he had.
He drew his sword from its sheath before positioning himself between Adrian and the civilians still hiding nearby. The blade felt familiar in his hand because he’d trained with it through five floors and multiple fights.
Jas commanded his remaining skeletons to form a wall between Adrian’s flas and the people behind cover. The skeletons did not crawl out of bodies or rise from graves because there were no corpses here.
They ford from Jas’s mana.
Bone-white fras knitted together from dark mist and death energy before solidifying into skeletal warriors with empty eye sockets glowing faint green.
The skeletons positioned themselves as a barrier while flas washed over their bodies and forced the crowd to stay back without getting burned.
Jas kept his eyes on Adrian while Adrian burned through the first skeleton with a concentrated blast of fire.
CRACK!
The bones blackened and collapsed into ash.
[SUMMONED SKELETON DESTROYED]
[SUMMONED UNDEAD SKELETONS: 4/5]
Adrian closed the distance before Jas could summon another one.
Jas fired a Necro Blast to interrupt Adrian’s approach.
[NECRO BLAST ACTIVATED]
[MANA COST: 10]
The dark energy bolt scread toward Adrian’s chest.
Adrian blocked it with fire while the impact forced him to adjust his footing for half a second. Jas used that opening to swing his sword in a diagonal arc aid at Adrian’s shoulder.
CLANG!
Adrian caught the blade with his fire-wrapped forearm while flas seared along the steel. The heat traveled up the sword and burned Jas’s hand through the grip, but he didn’t let go.
Jas twisted the blade free before stepping back while his AGI 37 let him move faster than most Level 14 challengers. But Adrian had more experience and better reflexes from fighting on higher floors Jas hadn’t reached yet.
Adrian pressed forward while burning through another skeleton.
[SUMMONED SKELETON DESTROYED]
[SUMMONED UNDEAD SKELETONS: 3/5]
Jas realized the gap clearly.
He could fight Adrian now, but he couldn’t beat him yet.
Adrian reached Jas before he could retreat farther.
Adrian’s fire-coated fist slamd into Jas’s ribs while Jas tried to block with his shield.
THUD!
The impact drove through the shield and cracked bone beneath Jas’s armor. The force sent him sliding across the street until his back hit a parked car.
BANG!
The car’s door dented inward from the impact while the alarm started blaring.
Jas gasped for air while his ribs throbbed with sharp pain. He pushed off the car and raised his sword defensively, but Adrian was already on him again.
Adrian’s next punch ca low toward Jas’s stomach. Jas blocked it with the flat of his blade while the heat scorched the steel and sent sparks flying. The force still rattled his arm hard enough to make his grip slip.
Adrian wasn’t fighting like a random thug throwing wild punches.
He targeted Jas’s ribs, shoulder, legs, and stomach with calculated strikes ant to break him down systematically. He wasn’t trying to kill Jas yet because he still needed answers about Derek.
Adrian grabbed Jas by the collar before slamming him into the damaged car again.
CRASH!
The window shattered while glass rained down around them.
Adrian’s face was close enough that Jas could see the fury in his eyes while fire flickered between his fingers near Jas’s throat.
"Where is Derek?" Adrian’s voice was quiet and dangerous.
Jas coughed while tasting blood. "I told you. I don’t know."
Adrian tightened his grip until the heat from his hand started burning through Jas’s shirt.
Jas added through gritted teeth, "Maybe Derek finally annoyed the wrong person."
That line made Adrian snap.
Adrian lifted Jas off the ground before slamming him down onto the car’s hood.
BOOM!
The tal buckled beneath Jas’s weight while the hood caved inward and the car alarm scread louder.
The crowd scread from behind cover.
"OH MY GOD!"
"He’s going to kill him!"
"WHERE’S TRB?"
Alia watched from behind a shop wall while trembling with one hand pressed against the burned mark around her neck. Her voice shook when she whispered, "Stop. Please stop."
Mia held her back. "Don’t go out there."
The livestream spread fast while clips of Adrian burning Alia, threatening civilians, and punching Jas through the wall circulated across social dia.
More viewers joined every second because the footage was too shocking to ignore.
The public didn’t know the full story about Derek or Dock 7 or Roman. They only knew Adrian had attacked first, burned a woman’s neck, threatened a room full of people, and was now beating Jas in the middle of the street.
[LIVE STREAM: 612,704 VIEWERS]
@GlobalNews: Adrian burned that girl
@WitnessAccount: Jas is defending himself
@LegalWatch: Why is TRB not here?
@IrishFeed: He keeps asking about Derek
@TowerNews: Is Derek missing?
@ConfusedViewer: Who is Derek?
@DublinCitizen: Adrian is going too far
@LocalWatch: This is assault
@ChallengerFeed: Soone stop him
Ethan and Mark weren’t smug anymore.
They hid behind a parked van while their faces were pale with fear. Earlier they’d wanted to see Jas humbled after he’d showed up at the gathering looking successful, but now they realized Adrian wasn’t just bullying Jas.
He could burn the whole street down.
Mark’s voice shook. "We need to leave."
Ethan nodded but didn’t move because leaving ant running past the fight.
Adrian dragged Jas up from the destroyed car while Jas’s legs barely held his weight.
Jas’s face was bloodied and bruised. His ribs were broken or cracked. His shoulder burned where Adrian had gripped him earlier. But his eyes were still clear when he looked at Adrian.
Adrian noticed that pain wasn’t breaking him fast enough.
"You used to know when to lower your head," Adrian said while fire danced around his free hand. "You used to apologize when I walked past. You used to make yourself small."
Jas spat blood onto the street before saying nothing at first.
Then his voice ca out quiet and steady. "That boy is dead."
The line wasn’t shouted. It wasn’t dramatic.
It was just cold fact.
Adrian’s expression darkened.
Jas tried one more counterattack while summoning his last skeleton between them as a distraction. The skeleton lunged toward Adrian’s left side.
Adrian burned through it without looking.
[SUMMONED SKELETON DESTROYED]
[SUMMONED UNDEAD SKELETONS: 2/5]
Jas fired a Necro Blast low toward Adrian’s feet to break his footing.
[NECRO BLAST ACTIVATED]
[MANA COST: 10]
The blast hit the ground and exploded upward in a spray of dark energy and broken asphalt.
Adrian stumbled for half a second.
Jas closed the distance while driving his fist into Adrian’s jaw with all the strength his STR 34 could deliver.
CRACK!
The hit landed clean.
Adrian’s head snapped to the side while blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
But Adrian had expected this counterattack because Jas was predictable when desperate. Adrian grabbed Jas’s arm before it could pull back, then channeled fire directly into Jas’s shoulder.
Jas gasped in pain while the sll of burning fabric and skin filled the air.
"Ahhhh!"
Adrian leaned close. "Where. Is. Derek."
Jas didn’t answer.
User Comments
0 comments from readers