Brad's flames

'So that is your power, huh?' Kai snickered. He was hoping that pushing Brad, would lead to him revealing his power. Now he had one less unknown. That would make his escape plans easier.

But right now, Kai had to focus on the fight. While Brad used his ability, Kai couldn't do it. Not in an obvious matter anyways. He didn't want them to use it against him later. Even if Brad was the first one to break the rules, others would obviously side with him rather than with Kai.

Kai fastened his blood flow. He could feel his blood starting to boil.

At that moment, Brad attacked Kai. Kai tried to block the punch with both of his arms. When Brad's fist reached Kai's arm, it scorched his skin. His flames were unbelievably hot. A brief contact was all it needed to inflict so much damage.

Kai quickly backed off. He had to wonder how Brad was still alive in that tremendously high temperature of his flames. But Kai didn't have time to worry about others. Brad's attacks didn't stop there. Every time Brad hit Kai, his skin and flesh got burnt.

Kai couldn't stay on defense anymore. He had to counterattack, otherwise he would be reduced to ashes.

Kai blocked one more punch, ignored the fierce pain and went for a hit. But before he could reach Brad's body, Kai hastily retreated his hand. The whole skin and some flesh on it got burnt just from the short contact with the fire surrounding Brad.

Kai's body was now incomparably sturdier than before, but even then, it didn't stand a chance against Brad's flames.

This wasn't good. Without a long-range weapon like a spear or sword, Kai would have difficult time reaching Brad.

Kai once again went on defense. He had to think of a countermeasure against Brad's flames. But as he was lost in thought, Kai reached the wall. Now he was the one with no way to retreat.

"F*ck!" Kai cursed and got momentary distracted. Brad used this chance to land a hit on Kai's head.

Kai's left ear and a lot of his hair and skin got incinerated. He could feel himself getting dizzy from the immense pain. He was about to lose consciousness from just that one attack.

Kai completely dropped his guard and looked at Brad with his hazy eyes. Brad wasn't thinking straight right now. He was blinded by rage, so he wouldn't stop until he killed Kai.

Kai couldn't even think in that moment. He just let his instincts take over. His eyes turned bloody and he could feel his blood hardening under his muscles, making them tougher.

Brad attacked once again, but Kai didn't even bother to defend this time. He went on the offense and threw a punch at Brad.

Brad's strike landed on Kai's abdomen, but it only burnt the skin. It couldn't damage the now strengthened flesh. Kai's punch now was also able to get through Brad's flames and struck him.

Even though Brad was still in maddened state, he looked slightly disturbed. Because of that he stopped attacking for a moment. Kai didn't wait for him to recover. He once again started pummeling Brad.

Brad soon lost consciousness, as he couldn't take any more hits. He was now seriously beaten up. Normal person might've died from this amount of damage, but he was an ability user. He was sturdier than normal people, so he would be fine in few days.

Kai looked at his fists. They were burnt through all the way to bones. Even though they were hardened, they couldn't take the high temperature for long. Few more punches and his hands would've been beyond recovering. If Brad didn't faint now, Kai might've lost.

Kai smiled slightly and felt his mind going blank.

***

Jeremy just stood there dumbstruck. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Brad used his power, but still gotten beaten up by Kai who didn't even use his weapons of blood.

'What kind of monster is he?' He looked at the passed out Kai with terrified expression.

'Should... should I kill him now?' Jeremy thought that, but he was in no state to do that. He was paralyzed by fear, he couldn't move an inch.

***

Kai woke up on the bed of the room he was assigned. He stretched his arms towards ceiling and looked at his hands. They were mostly healed now. There was still some skin missing, but it would grow back soon enough.

He then looked around the room. He was alone.

"Sigh..." After confirming there was no one else with him, he sighed and looked back at his fight with Brad.

Fighting Brad without using blood weapons was a bad idea. Kai almost died. But on the other side, Kai found out Brad's power and learned a new way to use his blood.

Kai tried to strengthen his muscles with blood again. They didn't look much different, but they were definitely sturdier.

*Creak*

"Oh, you're already awake."

While Kai was playing with his muscles, Arthur entered his room.

"You're really impressive. To heal only after a day of sleep. Brad is still asleep. He is in a serious state, but he will recover."

"..." Kai didn't say anything in response. He didn't know what Arthur was thinking, so he chose to stay silent.

"Haha, I'm not mad. You just proved once again that I was right about you. You are necessary to me."

"You even won against Brad in his flared-up state without using your power. That's amazing." Arthur looked at Kai with weird smile while saying this.

'Could he know that my power isn't only making weapons?' Kai didn't really try to hide that fact. But it was pretty hard to tell from outside, since he was using his blood to strengthen his body from the inside. Well, if you thought about how Kai can control his blood, it isn't the hardest thing to figure out.

"Haha, it looks like you don't want me here. Now that I know you're fine I will leave. We will talk about this incident in details at later date." Arthur stood up and left as abruptly as he entered.

"..." Kai couldn't get used to Arthur. There was something really unsettling about him, but Kai couldn't really tell what it was.

For now, Kai survived another day. Feeling somewhat relieved, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.