Chapter 144: Iron Man

"I didn't think that there would be so many people."

Adam inspected his surroundings as he made his way into the arena with Hailey. This was the A tier arena, which had over 10,000 seats, every single one of which had been filled.

"Of course there'd be a lot of people! The organizers have been promoting this match for a long time, and it's a promotion match, so it's been granted special permission to be held in the A tier arena. Aside from the S tier matches being held in the main stadium, A tier matches are the highest level of competition," Hailey explained. "Also, don't you feel like you're focusing on the wrong things?"

"What do you mean?"

"The opponent you're going to be facing is someone who's also been able to maintain a spotless record in the B tier. Have you seen footage of his matches?"

"I have, he's pretty strong."

"He's not just pretty strong, he's stronger than you!" Hailey said in an exasperated voice. "In your last few matches, you've already been pushed very close to your limits. All of them were very close wins."

"You're right, my opponent's really strong, and my wins have been quite close recently."

Combatants who ranked near the top of the B tier were already quite formidable, roughly comparable with upper mid-tier level two anomalies.

In his fused state with Nun, Adam was roughly around that level at a slight stretch.

Even in the outside world, combatants of this caliber would've been viewed as mature adapters.

Previously, Adam hadn't revealed any of his trump cards because he was afraid of blowing his cover in front of Oni no Hanzou and Oni no Miko, and now, he was still holding back in order to train himself. Crushing his opponents with brute strength was never going to allow him to improve his technical proficiency.

"Your victories were close, but your opponent's victories certainly weren't! At the very least, his powers would place him in the upper mid-range of the A tier. I already told you that you could've avoided this battle, then fought three or four more opponents near the bottom of the B tier, and you could've still earned promotion..."

"That's too slow. I don't get enough points, and there's too little money on offer as well."

"You're going to regret not listening to your manager!" Having hung out with Adam for so long, Hailey had developed a good grasp on his personality, and over time, her attitude toward Adam had become far more casual compared with the respect that she had treated him with in the beginning. "Just you wait! Don't come crying to me after you get the crap beaten out of you!"

"Don't worry, I'll win for sure."

While Adam was speaking, another wave of commotion rang out within the arena as his opponent stepped onto the stage.

Compared with Adam, his opponent clearly had more support, and the spectators in the stands were loudly chanting his name. It was clear that many of them had already placed large bets on him.

"Iron Man! Iron Man! Iron Man!"

"Get him, Iron Man! Fuck him up!"

This time, Adam's opponent was a legitimate adapter, rather than a normal person boosting their neuron functions through the use of external devices.

It was clear from the tattoos on his face that he was a local adapter to Shadow City, and that was one of the reasons why he was so popular.

He had the standard deranged and chaotic disposition unique to the local residents of Shadow City, and as soon as he appeared in the arena, he immediately gulped down some type of strange beverage with a very high alcoholic content, then pulled out a lighter and forcefully spitting out the beverage into the open flame.

The flame instantly rose up to over half a meter tall, and he leaped into the ring as he cackled maniacally.

He then looked down upon Adam, who still hadn't gotten into the ring yet, and he yelled, "If you beg for mercy now, I can spare your life! Otherwise, I'm going to tear off all of your limbs and turn you into a braindead vegetable!"

"Is there a screw loose up there?"

Adam raised an eyebrow as he tapped the side of his own head in a provocative gesture, partly for theatrical effect, and also to bring his opponent down a notch.

Momentum and confidence were integral to the power of one's persona, and the difference in a pair of combatants' respective levels of confidence could have a substantial effect on their powers in the psychic world.

Having already fought in so many matches, Adam was already familiar with this type of pre-match ritual.

"How are you going to tear off my limbs? Using that big mouth of yours? Well, I've got an extra limb between my legs, do you want to suck that one off as well?" Adam sneered as he also jumped into the ring.

His provocative words were audible to everyone in the entire arena through the loudspeakers, and all of the spectators burst into raucous laughter.

Iron Man immediately erupted into a fit of fury upon hearing this. "What the fuck did you say? I'm..."

"Calm down!" his manager yelled from below the ring. "You're going to lose control if you allow yourself to get angry! Stay calm and get him back during the match!"

"You're right." Iron Man pointed a finger directly at Adam's nose as he spat through gritted teeth, "I'm going to kill you even if I get fined for it, you hear me?"

He then slid his thumb over his own throat in a slitting gesture as he spoke.

"Come kill me if you can!"

"Does he have a death wish?" Hailey was on the verge of tears after hearing Adam's constant provocation. "Just fight the match as normal, there's no need to get up to all these theatrics! These spectators are just here for a show, they don't care what happens to you! He's actually going to kill you if you keep this up! We have to forfeit this match. I'll go find the stadium employees..."

"Hey, don't do that..."

"What are you guys doing?"

Right at this moment, Shae casually made her way into the arena from outside.

"Why did you only just get here?"

"What's the problem? I went to go get some ice cream. I gotta admit, the ice cream here in Shadow City is the best I've ever had, especially that blood explosion flavor. What type of fruit did they use for that? It's got a really rich flavor. Here, I bought you one as well."

Shae offered an ice cream to Hailey as she spoke.

"Now's not time to be eating ice cream! He's about to get beaten to death!"

"Why are you such a pessimist?" Shae asked with a nonchalant shrug.

"He can't beat Iron Man!"

"I've seen the footage of Iron Man's matches. He's pretty strong, but he won't beat Adam. Don't worry."

"You..."

……

While the two of them were bickering with one another, the host had already taken the stage. This was a very important match, and he didn't want anything to go wrong, so after stepping onto the stage, he immediately began to stir up the emotions of the spectators.

"I think I heard someone crying just now. Who's crying, you ask? It's Lean Mean Killing Machine's manager, of course! The little girl's crying because she's scared that her fighter's about to die!"

All of the spectators burst into laughter once again to cut off Hailey mid-sentence. Even though she was a very professional manager, she was still just a kid, and hearing so many people laugh at her made her feel as if she were being burned at the stake, leaving her unsure of whether to respond or not.

In the end, all she managed to come up with was an indignant "I didn't cry!"

The spectators were even more amused upon hearing this.

Seeing as he had managed to successfully distract Hailey from pulling out of the match, the host hurriedly cut to the chase. "Alright, this match has been hyped up for days now, and I don't want to waste everyone's time with more talking. All of you paid money to watch these two fight, not to hear me talk, so without further ado, combatants, are you ready?"

"I can already smell blood in the air."

Iron Man licked his lips as he glowered at Adam with an intense murderous look in his bloodshot eyes.

"Is it the smell of your own blood?" Adam retorted as he flexed his neck from side to side. "Hurry up and begin the match!"

"Alright, let's get this show on the road! Switch on the projectors, and let the fight begin!"