Chapter 146: Who's the Real Iron Man?

Inside the psychic arena, Iron Man was rubbing his own red-hot head as he shook off the remaining molten steel off his body, then slowly began to approach Adam.

"You've used up all of your tricks now, right? You should be able to pass on without any regrets now!" Iron Man sneered in a mocking voice, much like a cat toying with a mouse that was on the verge of death.

He wasn't in a hurry to kill Adam. Instead, he wanted to vent his fury. He wanted to get payback for all of Adam's pesky provocation and for embarrassing him in front of so many people.

Of course, that was only the reason that was presented on the surface, but it wasn't the most important reason.

Everyone was here to fight matches, and some trash-talk was inevitable, but no real vendettas ever arose just from trash-talking alone. His main objective for doing this was to establish his dominance and send a message to everyone.

He knew that if he wanted to stand out after being promoted to the A tier, then he had to draw more attention to himself by displaying both power and personality.

He had chosen to make brutality his foremost personality trait.

Only with a personality that stood out would he attract sufficient attention, and therefore be able to earn more from his matches.

"Get over here. It's time for me to carry out my promise and tear your limbs off one by one!"

Iron Man abruptly accelerated as he spoke, charging directly at Adam as he reached out with his massive steel hands.

Using his Observation ability, Adam was able to easily predict his opponent's attack, and he sprang up into the air, leaping onto another steel furnace, then reverted back to his base form as he withdrew Nun into his body.

"Has he given up?"

Many of the spectators were aware of Adam's ability to transform, and Iron Man had naturally also gathered this information prior to the match.

It wasn't particularly remarkable to see an adapter capable of transforming. There were certain adapters with mutation abilities, and those abilities were used to enhance their bodies.

Generally speaking, rescinding such an ability meant reverting back to a weaker form.

"It's not gonna help even if you beg for mercy now. I already said that I'm going to tear off all of your limbs, and I have to go through with it. Otherwise, people will think that I only make empty threats in the ring."

Standing under the steel furnace, Iron Man cracked his metallic knuckles one by one, and the spectators outside were all of the opinion that the match was as good as over.

All of the spectators who had placed their bets on Adam were kicking themselves for allowing themselves to be fooled by his spotless record, while Hailey was begging Shae to tell her what other trump cards Adam had up his sleeve.

"I know he likes to hide his true power, but there's such a huge gap between him and his opponent. Is his trump card really going to be enough to allow him to win?" Hailey asked in a concerned voice. "Iron Man's physical resistance is far superior even to what the footage of his previous matches suggests. Even molten steel isn't able to melt through his skin, what could possibly break through his defenses?"

"Just wait and see."

Shae was intentionally teasing Hailey. The more agitated Hailey became, the more Shae focused on her ice cream, and she refused to tell Hailey where her confidence was coming from.

Hailey felt like a cat on a hot tin roof, sweating profusely as she stared at the projector with an anxious expression.

……

Inside the psychic arena.

After reverting back to his base form, Adam was standing on the scorching steel furnace, looking down at Iron Man from above.

"Let me ask you a question."

"Go ahead."

"Are you really planning to kill me?"

"I never go back on my word!"

"I see. In that case, I won't hold back, either."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting now? Do you really think..."

All of a sudden, Iron Man's voice trailed off midsentence as he noticed Adam undergoing a transformation.

His body began to swell rapidly in size, and bandages that looked as if they were made from steel began to appear all around him. Within the span of no more than just a few moments, he had already transformed into a giant mummy.

"You've got more than one type of mutation?"

Iron Man was astonished to see this, and the disinterested spectators were also reinvigorated.

"Let me see what this new form of yours can do!"

Iron Man sprang up into the air as he spoke, then threw a punch straight into Adam's face, sending him flying off the steel furnace.

In the face of an unknown opponent, Iron Man didn't dare to get cocky, and after sending Adam flying back through the air, he immediately sprang forward in pursuit, barreling straight into Adam in mid-air before straddling him as he continued to rain down punches.

His fists came crashing down in a relentless and ferocious barrage, and every single one of his punches struck Adam in the face.

His attacks were so devastatingly powerful that the concrete ground beneath Adam's head was being violently pulverized.

"He doesn't seem that strong in this form, either."

"It looks a little clumsy."

"Is it not able to retaliate?"

The spectators were also quite stunned to see this.

At the very least, Adam had displayed impressive speed in his first form, and he was able to retaliate using his sharp claws and the waves of sewage that he was capable of throwing up, but in this second form, it seemed like he was nothing more than an oversized punching bag.

While the majority of the spectators were completely perplexed by what they were seeing, Hailey noticed something interesting.

She rubbed her eyes to wipe away the tears that were blurring her vision, then carefully peered into the projector, scrutinizing the parts of Adam's body that were withstanding his opponent's attacks.

As a result, she saw that even though the ground beneath Adam's head was being shattered by the force of his opponent's punches, neither his face nor the back of his head seemed to have sustained any damage.

Inside the psychic arena, Iron Man was also beginning to develop the sense that something was not quite right.

Not only was his opponent's head not giving at all under his punches, his fists were beginning to throb with pain.

"Is this a damage reflection cyberhex?"

Iron Man was quite a seasoned fighter, and as soon as he realized that something was wrong, he immediately sprang up into the air, jumping back to several meters away from Adam before inspecting his own fists.

As a result, he discovered that his fists were riddled with small indentations, as if they had been struck repeatedly by a hammer, and two of his fingers were already slightly warped.

"What kind of ability is this? This is a damage reflection cyberhex!"

For the first time, a hint of panic appeared on Iron Man's face.

Adam slowed stood up from the ground, then dusted off his own head as he remarked, "Is it possible that you exerted too much force in your punches and injured yourself as a result"

"I exerted too much force?" Iron Man thought back to the sequence that had just transpired, and he realized that he had indeed used his full power in all of his punches due to the unknown nature of his opponent. "What does that have to do with how my fingers got injured? What kind of ability did you use?"

Iron Man was clearly trying to coax information out of him, and Adam duly obliged.

"Is it possible that your fists are too soft, while my head is too hard?"

In terms of defensive prowess, Iron Man had never encountered another opponent of the same level superior to him.

Unbeknownst to him, he wasn't even on the same level as Adam in his current form.

Iron Man wasn't very fast. In fact, he wasn't even as fast as Nun, and his abilities were also very limited. Essentially, he was a downgraded version of Mummy. His combat prowess was at about the peak of level two anomalies, but he still hadn't reached level three territory yet.

In contrast, Mummy was a bona fide level three anomaly, with defenses that rivaled most level four anomalies and even some level five anomalies.

"My fists aren't as hard as your head? What kind of nonsense is that?"

For a fighter like Iron Man, his greatest fear was to be defeated in the area that he excelled in the most.

This type of defeat was an irreparable blow to one's confidence, the most crushing and comprehensive type of defeat possible.

If someone had beaten him by leveraging their abilities, then he could pass off the defeat as a result of his carelessness.

If someone had beaten him with an all-out attack, then he could've said that he would've had a chance at winning had he just dodged the attack.

If someone had beaten him by taking advantage of the environment, then there were even more excuses that he could've made.

However, being defeated like this in a contest of defensive prowess was something that he was completely unable to accept.