Kill to evolve: A system that demands blood-Chapter 63: Who breaks first

Chapter 63

The moment Ezren finished speaking, two of the enemies vanished again, now moving faster than before.

Blink.

Blink.

Tyce screamed, a raw, choked sound as his arm was crushed mid-block. Not cut. Crushed. One of the attackers had grabbed his forearm mid-formation and twisted it until bone snapped like chalk.

The scream turned into a cough of blood.

Ronan didn’t even flinch. He was already in motion.

Boom.

He slammed his heel into the ground, cracked the floor, and shot forward in a flash of speed, faster than before. His mind blurred from the overload of Predator State, but he liked it. Too much.

He wanted more.

His blades curved toward the white-haired man’s throat again. This time, the system whispered something new.

Target Combat Memory Locked. Trajectory Adjusted.

The strike landed.

The white-haired man’s head jerked sideways, he wasn’t cut, neither did the blade puncture him, but he’d been shoved. He didn’t bleed yet, but he blinked In surprise.

He’d finally let out a reaction.

"Better," the man said calmly.

Then he spun, a wide arc that Ronan barely ducked under and palm-struck the ground.

Gravity Suppression: Activated.

A sudden force slammed into the entire chamber. Everyone buckled, except Ronan.

He absorbed it.

His own system bent the pressure inward, compressed it, and redirected.

Crack-crack-crack-crack.

Four afterimages shot out in every direction.

Kinetic Ghosts.

Each one rushed toward a different target.

Ezren’s attacker was first.

He ducked and twisted, trying to dodge Ronan’s attack, but he was too slow. The afterimage collided with his legs and flipped him mid-air. The real Ronan followed, blades spinning. This time he aimed for joints, not vitals.

The dagger sank in.

Sssshhhk!

It wasn’t deep, but the man bled.

Blood spilled on the floor.

His system pinged in triumph.

System Notification: First Blood Drawn. Memory Sync Activated. Partial Mimicry Possible.

Ronan felt his arm twitch, and suddenly, he moved like the enemy. Exactly like him.

He turned and caught a punch meant for his head.

The white-haired man watched, silently amused.

"You’re adapting," he said. "But it’s not enough."

"We’ll see," Ronan replied with a smirk, and then reappeared behind him in a blink.

Another clash.

Sparks flew. Stone cracked. The entire battlefield erupted as the others fought to stay alive.

Jalen slammed his palm into the ground, regaining some semblance of control. His Field was broken, but his brain wasn’t.

He roared—literally roared—and red chains burst out of the floor, wrapping around the woman who shattered his system.

She flinched. Just enough.

Vex returned, flames back in full force, eyes wild. "Hey asshole. You like fire?"

She shoved both palms forward.

Volcanic Burst.

The flames turned white-hot.

They didn’t just burn, they melted through air. The fifth attacker staggered, and for once, didn’t smile.

He screamed,but not for long.

Colt who was barely awake fired three rounds.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Each bullet hit the man in the chest. He dropped.

One down.

"That worked?" Vex shouted, surprised.

"No," Aldric muttered. "He’s still breathing."

The body twitched.

Then stood up again.

Meanwhile, Ronan had entered a state.

His movements were now too fast to track.

Blink. Swipe. Blink. Strike. Blink. Feint.

He wasn’t fighting like a man anymore.

He was butchering.

Three of the seven were bleeding now—cuts, slashes, broken bones. One was missing an ear.

He loved it, but it came at a cost.

His thoughts were growing fuzzy. He couldn’t hear the others well. Couldn’t feel his own fingers anymore.

Too much energy flowing, but he didn’t stop, he couldn’t even if he wanted to.

Predator State demanded blood, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until he had spilled enough.

The other teammates where too engaged in battle to pay attention to Ronan, but the few who caught sight of him where completely dumbfounded.

"Did he become stronger than before or am I imagining things?" Roan asked, his axe over his shoulder, but no one seemed to answer.

The white-haired man stepped forward again, this time slower.

"You’re losing yourself," he said, watching Ronan.

"Shut up," Ronan hissed, voice distorted.

"Your system isn’t a gift. It’s a leash. And you’re choking on it."

The man then raised a hand.

Temporal Lock.

The air stilled, and time glitched.

Ronan froze mid-swing. His muscles stopped responding. The pressure slowly becoming unbearable.

But just then, something inside him snapped.

Emergency Override Triggered. Mental Stability at 16%. Berserker Protocol Authorized.

"LET—ME—MOVE—!" Ronan yelled.

And he did.

The temporal lock cracked, not broke, but fractured.

He moved through it, shaking, twitching, grinning.

Then slashed the white-haired man across the chest.

A real wound. Not deep but real and everyone saw it.

Aldric’s eyes widened. "He landed it."

Ezren grunted. "Is that good or bad?"

The man finally looked surprised.

"Interesting," he said again.

Ronan blinked again, straight in front of him.

"You talk too much."

Ronan’s blade stabbed forward, but the man caught it with two fingers.

"Not enough," he said softly.

Then he snapped the dagger in half.

And headbutted Ronan hard enough to send shockwaves through the chamber.

Ronan collapsed, dazed, breathing hard.

Warning: Mental Degradation at 9%. Further Predator State use will trigger full Berserk Mode.

Ronan lay there, twitching.

Blood ran from his nose. His vision blurred.

But then, he smiled.

Because even on the ground, his system didn’t stop working.

Warning Ignored. Predator State, Surge Mode Initiated.

His body convulsed.

Veins pulsed like living cables under his skin, bulging with raw force. His muscles snapped taut, healing faster than they should. Heat rolled off him in waves. His broken dagger reformed, not physically, but through Phantom Forge, a ghostly reconstruction of his weapon built from kinetic memory.

He gripped it then stood.

The chamber energy dimmed for a split second.

The air bent around him like he was distorting reality itself.

The white-haired man cocked his head.

"...Now that," he murmured, "looks more like a monster."

Ronan didn’t respond.

His face had gone blank. It was like his humanity had been shelved.

Behind him, one of the enemies tried to intervene, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Ronan vanished.

A loud snap echoed.

The man’s leg twisted in a direction it was never meant to.

Screams followed.

Ezren turned just in time to see Ronan slam the man’s face into the stone wall with enough force to crater it.

Another System Ping.

Blood Density Analyzed. Resistance Patterns Integrated. Subtype Unlocked: Bone Reinforcement (Tier 2).

Bones cracked in Ronan’s arms but this time from growth.

His punches would hit like wrecking balls now.

The white-haired man moved again, now serious. No taunting speeches or mocking smirk, just violence.

He lunged forward with a blur, palm glowing with Temporal Fracture, aiming to split Ronan into pieces across multiple time-states.

But Ronan pivoted like he knew what was coming. Because he did.

Enemy Combat Pattern Prediction: 73% Accuracy

He met the palm strike with his forearm and grunted. The force still shattered bone but it didn’t stop him.

Not anymore.

He twisted his body and drove his phantom blade under the man’s ribs.

A perfect hit.

It wasn’t enough to kill. But it was deep. And for the first time, the white-haired man exhaled sharply.

Pain, he felt it.

That one moment shifted the battlefield again.

"Keep pushing!" A teammate yelled, their weapon gleaming with lightning. "He’s not invincible!"

"This guy...he might be stronger than the captain don’t you think?" One of them asked, though his eyes fixed on Ronan.

"Not possible." Someone immediately disagreed, and no one opposed that. They all knew that Aldric was recorded as the strongest system user, no way would a newbie suddenly come in to claim that spot.

Jalen’s chains coiled tighter around the hostage, glowing crimson.

Vex flared again, her flames now dancing erratically. "He’s bleeding! I’ll burn the rest!"

Just right then, the other four enemies previously pinned, wounded, or suppressed stood up again. Not slowly, but Instantly.

Their eyes no longer held mockery or calm.

They now burned with a different light.

Ezren cursed, stumbling back. "They weren’t fighting seriously yet?!"

"No," Roan said grimly, finally understanding. "They were watching and analyzing our abilities."

And now?

They had adapted too.

One of them raised his hand, and the ground warped. A reality-fold, bending space like paper.

Another burst with energy Ronan recognized: Predator energy but darker and artificial.

They had systems too, which could have been the same they had before they’d gotten corrupted.

But now, the abilities seemed to have been tampered with.

"Just how many experiments were you-all put through," Aldric muttered. "And just what exactly have you become."

"You wouldn’t want to know?" the white-haired man asked, standing again, blood running down his side. "You think you’re the only one chosen by madness?"

He flicked his wrist.

All four revived attackers merged into one formation. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Bring it, then," Ronan growled, taking a step forward. His feet left cracks in the floor. His eyes glowed brighter than ever before.

Warning: Berserker Protocol Approaching 3%. Next Surge Will Trigger Permanent Neural Overload.

His system screamed.

He ignored it.

"Let’s see who breaks first."