Scorched didn’t waste another word. He unleashed a tidal wave of fire, a roaring inferno that swallowed the entire section of the roof.

Jayden didn’t run. He didn’t try to use his own fire—it was useless here. Scorched had a decade of experience and an Evolution Stage that made Jayden’s flames look like a matchstick. Engaging in a fire duel would only drain his stamina and leave him vulnerable. He needed a different approach. He needed to be unbreakable.

As the wall of fire rushed toward him, Jayden calmly reached into his inventory and pulled out a heavy, dark gray ring. He slipped it onto his finger just as the flames engulfed him.

Whooosh!

Scorched poured everything into the blast, the concrete beneath his boots melting into slag. For ten straight seconds, he bathed the area in temperatures hot enough to vaporize steel.

Finally, Scorched cut the feed, chest heaving. Smoke and steam billowed into the night air.

"Hmph. Stupid kid," Scorched spat. "He didn’t even try to run."

But as the smoke cleared, Scorched’s smirk vanished.

Jayden was still standing. His leather jacket was completely incinerated, falling away in ash. The top half of his tactical suit was scorched, the nanites already buzzing as they tried to repair the mesh.

But Jayden’s skin... his skin wasn’t flesh anymore. It was pitch-black, metallic, and dense, gleaming with a dull, heavy luster. His face, his arms, his entire body had taken on the exact properties of the ring he wore.

Scorched stared in shock. "W-what? That’s not possible."

Jayden rolled his neck, the metal grating with a heavy, industrial sound. During his hours of research, he’d remembered his fight with Carl at the school tournament. He had beaten Carl’s fire by absorbing the properties of steel and making the flames useless against his body.

But Scorched was a different beast; steel would eventually melt under his white-hot plasma. So, Jayden decided to up his game by using the metal with the highest melting point in the world.

Tungsten.

Earlier, he’d purchased a tungsten ring along with the lock bypass from the system’s shop. Now, Jayden’s body carried every property of the indestructible element.

"What the hell are you?" Scorched whispered, stepping back. He threw two rapid-fire blasts of concentrated heat. They struck Jayden’s chest and harmlessly deflected off the tungsten plating, barely even warming him up.

Scorched clenched his fist. His greatest weapon had been completely neutralized, useless against his opponent. Panic flickered in the mercenary’s eyes, but he was a veteran. If fire didn’t work, he’d use his fists.

Scorched surged forward, adopting a brutal, close-quarters martial arts stance.

Jayden chuckled, a deep, metallic sound, and met him head-on.

Crack.

They clashed in the center of the roof. The combat was blindingly fast and merciless. Scorched threw a right hook; Jayden caught it and countered with a devastating knee to the ribs. The fight continued like this for minutes, and every time Jayden landed a hit, the sheer weight and density of his tungsten body sent shockwaves through Scorched’s frame.

The Pioneer was skilled, weaving and parrying, but he was getting pushed back, outclassed by Jayden’s enhanced agility and indestructible form.

But Scorched was ever so resilient. Fighting with all might. He aimed an elbow to Jayden’s throat. A knee to his groin. A palm strike to his solar plexus.

Jayden blocked them all.

Then he delivered a palm strike that crushed Scorched’s guard. He followed up with an elbow that cracked his ribs, then finished the attack with a spinning backfist that sent the Pioneer stumbling, blood spraying from his mouth.

Out of desperation, Scorched roared, flames erupting from his entire body in a nova. Jayden simply walked through the flames, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him into the concrete.

The roof cratered.

"You’re..." Scorched gasped, blood bubbling at his lips. "You’re just a kid..."

Jayden leaned down, his tungsten face expressionless. "That was your biggest mistake... thinking ’I’m just a kid’." he whispered.

Out of rage and wounded pride, Scorched roared, pushing his core to its absolute limit. His flames shifted from orange to an eye-searing, violent blue. Then....

BAM!!

With a powerful blow, he slammed his fist into Jayden’s chest, launching him across the rooftop like a missile. Jayden quickly shot his hand to the ground, skidding to a halt and reclaiming his balance just inches from the edge.

Jayden looked down to see the black metal of his skin glowing red at the impact point, the microscopic structure beginning to fatigue.

His eyes widened. "No way."

Scorched flames had become hotter. Hot enough to actually cause a slight burn in Jayden’s tungsten skin.

Jayden was genuinely stunned. How relentless was this man?

Scorched stood up, his flames burning fiercely. He didn’t even give Jayden the time to recover. He rushed in and clashed with Jayden, who meet him up front.

They began another round of intense combat.

But this time, Scorched had the upper hand. He started combining his martial arts with these hyper-concentrated blasts. He was using the effect of consistency—striking the exact same spots on Jayden’s armor over and over, pouring relentless heat into the metal.

Jayden felt a sudden, sharp sting. He looked down. His tungsten forearm was glowing a faint cherry-red.

"He’s actually melting it," Jayden realized, shocked. Scorched was now burning even hotter. But not just hotter. He was burning smarter, pouring consistent thermal energy into single points, overwhelming the tungsten’s thermal conductivity through sheer persistence.

The red spots on Jayden’s body began to spread. Cracks appeared in the tungsten skin, hairline fractures that would soon become fissures.

But Jayden also noticed Scorched’s ragged breathing. Sweat poured down his scarred face, sizzling as it hit his own flames The Pioneer was burning himself out, draining his stamina at an exponential rate to maintain that heat.

Jayden’s mind began calculating.

Eventually, Scorched would have nothing left. He’ll burn out. But would that happen before Jayden’s tungsten skin gave out?

Jayden decided not to find out. He had to end this now.

He dropped low, sliding under a sweeping arc of blue fire, and drove a metallic fist toward Scorched’s gut. The Pioneer’s instincts flared; he vaulted backward, narrowly evading the blow.

But Jayden used the momentum, his tungsten feet cracking the concrete as he launched himself forward. He vanished in a blur of speed, appearing directly behind Scorched for a spinning roundhouse kick to the skull. Scorched ducked just in the nick of time, throwing a flaming uppercut that forced Jayden to backflip away.

Scorched was panting heavily now, sweat instantly vaporizing off his skin. Exhausted, he threw both hands up, creating a massive, rising pillar of fire. Jayden leaped high into the air to clear it. Seeing his target airborne, Scorched tracked him, aiming the inferno upward.

Suddenly, mid-air, Jayden vanished.

He used invisibility.

Scorched’s eyes went wide. He spun wildly, flames dancing around his hands, searching the empty air.

Suddenly, Jayden reappeared right behind the Pioneer. With a lethal snikt, his knuckle claws extended from his tungsten fists, driving for Scorched kidney with lethal precision.

Scorched’s combat instincts screamed. He twisted at the very last microsecond, jumping away as Jayden slashed.

The claws narrowly missed his spine, grazing his side instead of impaling his organs. Thin lines appeared through his tactical gear, blood welling immediately.

Scorched immediately leapt away, putting yards between them as he clutched his side. He let out a breathless, mocking laugh. "You almost had me there, kid. You missed."

Jayden stood up straight, his claws retracting. He didn’t move to attack again. He just smiled, a cold, terrifying expression on his metallic face.

"I didn’t." he said flatly.

Scorched frowned, confused. Then, unexpectedly, a violent tremor racked his body. His vision blurred, and his legs suddenly felt like lead. He staggered forward, coughing violently. Blood, thick and black, suddenly spurted from his mouth, splattering against the concrete.

Horrified, Scorched looked down at his side. The shallow scratch from the claws had expanded. The veins around the wound were bulging, glowing an angry, toxic purple. It was spreading rapidly across his torso, like an infection.

He fell to his knees, blood now weeping from his nose and tear ducts. He looked up at Jayden, terror finally breaking through his arrogance. "What... what did you do to me?"

Jayden began a slow, deliberate walk toward the dying man. "Poison," he said casually. "I’ve been honing the ability for a while now. But honestly, I didn’t think a simple graze would be enough to affect a Level 62 Pioneer this much. One scratch, that was all it took to bring you to your knees. How pathetic."

"I’ll... kill you..." Scorched gurgled, trying to ignite a flame in his hand, but it sputtered and died.

"Normally, it wouldn’t kill you," Jayden explained calmly, crouching down in front of the mercenary. "A fire user of your caliber could just superheat your own blood and burn the toxin out. Like the Sabertooth flare. But you can’t do that now, can you? Because you completely depleted your energy trying to melt my armor. You gave the toxin a free pass to your heart. And now, you have nothing left to fight with."

Scorched tried to lunge with a combat knife, but his arm gave out. He collapsed back to his knees, violently hacking up more blood.

"Don’t fight it," Jayden said, his voice devoid of any warmth. "It’s less painful if you just let it happen. You see, I wouldn’t normally do this in a fight. I have a principle against using easy abilities like poison to win. I consider it a coward’s weapon."

Jayden’s eyes darkened, turning as cold as the void. "But you didn’t give me a choice. You abducted someone I care about. You hurt her. And you had to pay."

Scorched looked up, his pale face twisting in realization. Jayden hadn’t been trapped here. The kid had the speed and the abilities to escape with the girl right from the start. He stayed on purpose. He sent the girl away just to get Scorched alone in a one-on-one fight.

"You’ll pay... for this..." Scorched wheezed, his life fading fast. "Black Cobra... they’ll find you. They’ll kill everyone you love. I’m just... one of the weaker ones. The real monsters... will hunt you down."

Jayden’s expression didn’t waver. "Not if I hunt them first," he whispered.

Then with a single, lightning-fast motion, Jayden slashed his claw across Scorched’s throat.

The Pioneer collapsed, his body thumping lifelessly against the roof.

The system chimed a second later.

[High-level Evolved human defeated]

[+200 Exp Gained]