Bastards Ascension: A Playground of Gods
Chapter 40: Backfired

Chapter 40: Backfired

"ARRGH!" A loud scream tore through the air, the stench of burnt flesh filling the air.

Everyone who had witnessed the scene stood with petrified looks on their faces.

They had all seen the recruiter shoot the fire blaster at Kieran, but the shout wasn’t coming from him; rather, it was coming from the man instead.

The recruiter gripped onto his burnt arm, the fire blaster dropping to the floor. His eyes turned bloodshot from the intense pain.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. It all happened in seconds—he had completely failed to see exactly what happened.

He didn’t even know how it happened.

The blast from the gun seemed to have backfired. Not only that, but it grew even fiercer as it hit his arm.

The flames sank deep into his skin, devouring everything it came in contact with.

Veins, arteries, capillaries—nothing was spared.

His flesh had been reduced to a liquid state, a disturbing mixture of blood and what was once skin dripped to the floor.

But even then, the pain didn’t end. He could feel it... it was as though the flames were still wriggling inside his veins, hoping to reach new places for exploration.

"PLEASE! STOP!" the man screamed. Something was controlling the flames... these were not normal flames; the damage it caused was definitely way more than what normal flames could do.

The burning sensation didn’t stop, even as he desperately tried to stop it by scraping his hands on the earth’s surface.

Slowly, it was consuming his entire arm.

Then it dawned on him.

’The energy from the flames...’ The man became even more terrified.

He could see it, thanks to his abilities.

He had seen similar energy from someone.

Kieran turned as well, oblivious to what had happened.

They both locked gazes, and the man saw something in those deep, dark eyes. He could see flames—raging flames—burning with anger.

The flames danced in his eyes, forming an image that struck fear into the man.

The surrounding dulled away.

It was as though the space between the two of them had been shortened, and now, he was standing in front of an otherworldly entity.

An ethereal being.

A being that commanded the flames.

A phoenix.

Its body burned brightly with golden-yellow flames,

Its wings spanning as wide as an entire galaxy.

"ARRRGH!" He shouted one more time, his eyes rolling backward as he slumped to the floor.

The few who were closest to him immediately ran up to him, checking up on him.

"What the hell happened to him?!"

"It was definitely not the boy; he didn’t even react on time when the blast was shot at him."

No one understood exactly what happened.

All they saw was the blast shooting out of the nozzle of the blaster, and then rolling backward to the attacker instead of the target.

Jacob hadn’t moved a muscle; no one was able to react on time.

Kieran, who had no idea what had happened, was also quite in shock to see the man looking at him with deep fear, his hands burnt beyond recovery.

But that fear—it was a primal fear... a fear that seemed to stem from the core of his soul.

Kieran had only encountered one person who could instill such fear.

The sulfuric stench in the air from the flames made it even more clear.

’Alexa, what happened?’ Kieran asked.

’Hmph, all that noise and he couldn’t even last,’ Alexa scoffed, turning her gaze away.

Kieran sighed.

By the side of the limp body, he caught sight of the fire blaster.

From the way everyone kept staring at him strangely, he had a vague idea of what had happened.

’Attacking me with flames was a pretty stupid mistake...’ Kieran didn’t feel a sting of pity for the man.

He had ignored the idiot, and he still tried to take his life.

’Thank you for the help. But I don’t want to stand out like a sore thumb next time,’ Kieran said, avoiding the gaze of all the other recruiters who were all staring at him strangely.

Jacob stood by his side and was closest to him, and although the others who were there didn’t notice... he did.

’The mana density skyrocketed, what’s going on?’ Jacob thought to himself.

Firstly, it was quite a distance away from where they were, and the next moment, it was just right next to him.

He was a silver-ranked awakened; his mana senses were a lot sharper than others.

’How is the mana around him so condensed?’ he thought, looking at Kieran.

To the others who were there, Kieran had no hand in what happened, but to Jacob, he knew something that even he couldn’t see had occurred.

’Is it some sort of ability? No, the mana density should have reduced and not increased.’

While he was still in his thoughts, a figure came from inside the AFO building.

"What’s going on here?" he asked as he stood in front, his brows knotting as he noticed the strangeness in the surroundings.

His eyes instantly moved toward Jacob and Kieran.

"Shit! Vice President Kim!" one of the recruiters shouted.

Immediately they all turned to look at the figure.

Their faces flashed with shock, then quickly changed to looks of reverence as they greeted.

"Good day, Sir Kim."

"Good day, Master Kim."

The man stood with a straight posture, his curly black hair neatly trimmed.

He was dressed in corporate business attire.

But his suit... from just one look, one could tell that it was made from high-quality material.

And then there was the distinct platinum-colored band attached to his wrist—an insignia of power that was recognized all throughout the entire Nebulas Realm.

He calmly walked down the stairs, each step exuding confidence and carrying power.

He stopped right next to Kieran and Jacob, his eyes locked on Kieran for a few seconds before moving to the limp figure on the ground.

"I’ll ask one more time... what happened here?"

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