Chapter 275
Ka ka ka (4)
IAM frowned slightly…
Was… he… okay?
Each time his thoughts even so much as brushed against the idea of attacking Blaze, his mind would instantly flood with killing intent. It wasn't a gradual feeling or something he could suppress—it was an invasive and absolute feeling.
Whenever he imagined Blaze, his mind no longer saw a person standing before him but something lesser, something disposable—like a sack of meat that could be struck down and cast aside without a second thought.
Before, killing had been a distant notion to him, something abstract that he neither feared nor welcomed. But now… now there was a change. Not only did he feel capable of it, he could sense a dark, simmering urge beneath—an unsettling pull that tugged at him.
It didn't take long for him to understand why. It was... that world—the one he had been trapped in for an unknown stretch of time. It had changed him, in ways that were subtle.
Something in him had been altered. And now, standing here, with Blaze bleeding and grinning before him, IAM finally began to realise just how deeply that world had reached into him.
Before he could think any further, Blaze seemed to lose all patience. With a stomp that slightly cracked the floor beneath him, he surged forward, closing the distance in a blur.
His piercing blue eyes locked onto IAM with a predatory focus, and his arm shot out, the air itself seeming to shudder from the force behind it. The swing came at devastating speed.
IAM barely had time to register it before the impact exploded against his face. The blow sent a shockwave through his skull, rattling his senses and throwing his thoughts into disarray. His body flew backward, sliding across the floor before slamming hard into the wall. The sound reverberated through the room.
He fell to all fours, his breath ragged, the sting of the strike still pulsing through his jaw.
A frenzy of cackling echoed through the room. "Ka ka ka ka ka ka! I was right! I was fucking right! I'm a fucking genius! … No—" Blaze threw his head back, his grin was wild and , "—I'm Blaze!"
IAM wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and slowly stood up, his expression was unreadable.
When they had first entered the room, even though he'd intended to incapacitate Blaze with KASSARA, he had still prepared himself—ready to activate his Avien the moment things went wrong. And when he saw the results of his bullet hitting blaze, his instincts had taken over, forcing the activation without hesitation.
It had been the right decision. If Blaze had landed that hit while IAM was still in his normal state, the outcome would've been catastrophic. The sheer force behind it could have easily crushed his skull or shattered his spine. At the very least, he would've been crippled for life.
But now… his level was revealed to Blaze. There was no hiding it anymore. From the way IAM had survived that punch alone, Blaze could already tell something was off—no novice or normal person should've been able to withstand that kind of blow without suffering severe injury.
The cycle of IAM's mana that passed through him carried a refined control, the kind that came only with being an experienced level ascender.
It was smoother and balanced than what a novice could achieve. It easily marked him as someone who had long since passed the stage of a novice ascender.
Blaze wasn't a fool—he could recognize what stood before him. All the evidence confirmed it. IAM was an experienced-level ascender.
And given Blaze's relationship with Ari—given how close the two were—it was almost certain that she would hear about this before the day ended. Ari was far too clever to overlook such information, and IAM had no doubt she'd find some way to use it against him when the time came.
Now, as he stared at the cackling figure of Blaze, whose laughter still bounced wildly off the room's walls, IAM began to wonder if…
No — killing him had to be a last option. He couldn't actually do it; it would be idiotic to think he could get away with it. Not only did they have access to the cameras, they would immediately investigate how Blaze died, and anyone seeing the cause of death would spot that a hot weapon had been used. Considering the small amount of people using a hot weapon as a mech, it would take an idiot not to realise it was IAM who fired the shot.
That would only raise more questions: how had he done it? How had he managed to defeat Blaze? In the end, IAM's status as an experienced-level ascender would be exposed anyway. He had to choke down the killing intent as much as he could and focus on finding a way to keep Blaze's mouth shut.
Blaze reveled in it, pacing like a predator who'd found a new toy. "Oh my! Did I ruin your plan of keeping it a secret!? Ka ka ka. Anyways — what kind of freak are you? The last time I saw you was a few weeks ago and you're already an experienced-level ascender? How did you manage to do it?"
He didn't stop there, his words tumbling out in a messy, hungry rush. "But given your age, there's no way you've been an ascender for long. Could you really be some sensational genius never seen before? How about those rumours — you the sole survivor of the Hold? Surely that has to be true, right? What other secrets are you hiding?"
IAM kissed his teeth. His deep and dark eyes fixed on Blaze's face. Without answering, he flicked the switch on KASSARA to automatic and raised the weapon, letting the silence between them thicken for a second. "Don't call me that," he said simply.
Then he pulled the trigger.
Blaze's eyes widened the moment he realized what IAM was about to do. Instantly, he activated his path method, and heat began radiating off his body in waves, distorting the air around him as he lunged out of the way.
Simultaneously, a hail of bullets erupted from KASSARA, slicing through the air as IAM tracked the fleeing figure of Blaze.
He focused on keeping his killing intent in check, forcing himself to aim low, targeting Blaze's legs rather than anything more lethal.
The rapid fire rattled the floor and walls, each impact forcing Blaze to twist, dodge, and leap, but IAM maintained his discipline, intent on incapacitation rather than crossing the line into lethal force.
But as his rounds continued to miss their mark, IAM realized something—Blaze wasn't reacting to the bullets. He was watching him. Every time IAM's hand moved to aim, Blaze would move in anticipation, weaving through the gunfire with uncanny precision.
It wasn't just luck. He had also figured out IAM's intent—he knew the shots were aimed for his legs.
The magazine finally clicked empty, the sharp click echoing through the room. IAM exhaled through his nose, his expression unreadable. Without hesitation, he reached beneath his blazer, withdrew a fresh round, and pressed the release. The empty magazine fell to the floor with a metallic clatter as he slid the new one into place.
He tossed his blazer aside to free his shoulders, KASSARA gleamed faintly under the light as he switched it to semi-automatic.
Across from him, Blaze's breathing had grown heavier. His body trembled faintly, heat still radiating from his skin but less fierce now. IAM tightened his grip, as his dark eyes narrowed. Then, without a word, he sprinted forward toward the exhausted figure of Blaze and—
[STOP]