How Things Changed Forever.. PART - II

CH 48: Of Course It's You...

The match got intense the moment it started.

Rampage slammed into Dranzer, metal screeching against metal. Kai didn't flinch. His boots stayed rooted, blindfold snug across his face. Dranzer clinked off the jagged arena, off to a smooth start.

The crowd roared.

Another hit. Hulk wasted no moment. Rampage came crashing in, relentless.

"Rampage's gonna chew him alive!"

"It doesn't look good for RedEye!"

Kai said nothing. He counted the rhythm. The seconds. The strikes.

Then—Dranzer's motion faded from his ears. Too faint.

Kai grimaced. Hulk had thrown in pebbles into the dish—he could hear the gravel crunch. It scattered the sound field, made it harder to pinpoint Dranzer. Smart. Underhanded. Begrudgingly effective.

Then that hum—low and sharp, unnatural. The blade seemed to have illegal modifications. Kai recognized the buzz instantly. Rampage was pumped up for brute force, pushing its motor past legal voltages.

He breathed deep.

This was an underground match. No rules. No complaints.

Dranzer spun erratically now, barely keeping balance.

2 minutes in.

A crack. Rampage slammed into its side. The crowd screamed. Someone yelled, "Dranzer chipped first!"

Kai said nothing, though his fingers twitched in barely contained fury. How dare Hulk chip his Dranzer?

But he stayed focussed. His heartbeat stayed slow.

3 minutes.

"Dranzer," Kai murmured.

Dranzer exploded into motion—red-hot, furious.

But not just that.

The bright light of Dranzer emerging helped him hide something more. Kai's fingers flicked and something deep inside Dranzer's core changed.

His own ingenious creation.

Reverse spin.

Illegal in the league. BBA banned the technique entirely—too unpredictable, too dangerous for regulated arenas. It threw off balance, risking damage to both blades beyond repair. But here? It was perfect.

Dranzer's rotation reversed silently.

Rampage slammed into it.

Instead of shattering, Dranzer absorbed the impact, spinning into the hit, not away from it. Like taking a punch and turning it into momentum. Rampage's force fed directly into Dranzer's attack ring. Hulk wouldn't even realize what was happening—just that his hits were suddenly too soft.

Then came his counterstrike.

Dranzer retaliated. Full force. The dish groaned. Pebbles flew.

The mood shifted instantly.

"Dranzer appeared first!"

"Rampage chipped! That's 30k gone!"

Kai stayed quiet, analysing Rampage's path by sound alone. His smirk curved just barely.

Rampage lunged.

"Bad idea," Kai said.

Dranzer ducked low—then shot up hard, catching Rampage underneath. A perfect uppercut. More cracks. Another chunk of metal sheared off.