Endless Evolution: Last Star

The tall pillars of purple flames gradually thickened, making the ring of fire impenetrable to ordinary monsters. The anomalies were growing stronger and stronger, causing new artifacts to appear, wanting to cover everything with their flaming inferno.

The wind was the only one who could roam with impunity inside the flame ring, sweeping over the dusty ground, making the hair of the few who had managed to survive until now tremble.

Whooooooooooooosh.

A wind stream blew through the ruined Fume Cathedral, passing beside Osana, who stood farthest from the battlefield.

Her long pink hair rippled before her eyes as she cast a glance at Fume Cathedral.

Although this majestic structure had been partially destroyed due to Midnight Crystal, the Fume Armors hadn't gone anywhere. They still stood in the darkness as well, unwilling to engage in battle.

As long as Plague Reaper was alive, he was a lord by their rules since he succeeded in subjugating Fume Throne.

'So... Even in such a situation, he won't use their help, right?' Osana pondered while looking at the motionless monsters lurking in the shadows.

Then, her gaze traveled to Plague Reaper standing not far from Midnight Crystal. He was facing a battle against the last two opponents, his condition was not the best, but Adam and Katrin were also at their limit.

'Hmph... He won't ask Fume Armors to join the battle, his pride won't allow him to do so. I'm sure with that kind of character, he came out victorious from impossible situations. But... now he should renounce his pride, that way he will definitely win.' Osana internally muttered as her eyes grew deeper.

'How ironic that he won't... What saved him before and made him so strong, may now destroy him... However...' Osana glanced at Adam and Katrin, 'For that to happen, we must survive, otherwise my musings are just an insignificant void.'

Step.

Adam stepped forward as a thin trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Though he hadn't heard Refesa's comments about each of them, but he was experienced enough to realize that his body was already beyond its limits.

Adam couldn't take another reinforcement after Katrin used her enhanced seed on him.

But... eventually, he entered Resonance and there was no stopping it.

The trickle of blood was just the first sign that his body was gradually breaking down. It was under intense pressure that could only be sustained for a very limited period.

'Adam... I think you understand your limits better than I do, but... I'm sure you can fight in this form for two minutes at most, then you'll just break.' Silvana said nervously, biting her lip.

Adam nodded calmly.

"Yeah... I guess so. So my time will end about the same time as hers..." Adam muttered, glancing at Katrin.

Droplets of blood were still dripping from her severed right arm, but she wasn't paying attention to the pain at all.

"You ready, right?" Adam asked.

Katrin nodded.

"Sure. I've got a minute and a half of enhanced form left, you can barely be in Resonance much more than that time."

Adam took a deep breath.

"Well, so either we win in two minutes or we die together. That doesn't sound cool, but we have no other choice."

Katrin gulped, her death getting closer with every passing second.

There were still Light Yellow Monsters inside the flame ring, but they stood too far away and it was unlikely that Plague Reaper would allow Katrin to kill them and get a new Initial Gene.

Their only option was to kill Plague Reaper and finish off some random monster in a few seconds so Katrin wouldn't die.

It seemed like too little time, but the stronger and more exhausted the fighters were, the faster the fight could end.

One successful attack was enough to blow Plague Reaper's head off his shoulders or have his scythe cut Adam and Katrin apart.

Step.

Adam lifted his foot, taking his first step.

As soon as his foot touched the ground, he felt a slight pulse of pain go through his body, reminding him that he wouldn't be able to hold on to that kind of power for long.

Then, his body shuddered, transforming into a lightning bolt that disappeared quickly to emerge elsewhere.

A second later, Adam's needle rained down on Plague Reaper, slicing through thick streams of wind in its path.

Plague Reaper reacted immediately, his hands coming into motion spinning his scythe.

Clash.

The black blade collided with the silver needle that collapsed from above.

Plague Reaper's eyes went wide as an unaccustomedly powerful recoil went through his hands, traveling to his feet and disappearing into the ground.

From the simple strike, there was a powerful ringing sound as if two giant steel bells struck against each other.

"Rgha..."

Plague Reaper growled, holding off Adam's next attacks that seemed to only get stronger.

Whoooooooosh.

Unfortunately for Plague Reaper, Adam wasn't his only opponent. Katrin had lost an arm, but as the support, it wasn't too much of a problem for her.

If Adam had lost his right arm during the fight, his firepower would have been reduced by a third or even half, because without two arms it was simply impossible to fight Plague Reaper in close combat.

However, Katrin could hold her staff with her left hand, as well as use all of her abilities without restriction.

Thus, when the third strike struck Plague Reaper, many spiked roots emerged from the ground.

Unlike the previous times, Katrin had used her First Order, the roots were much thinner, yet stronger and faster, and the spikes were more like needles arranged on massive harpoons to plunge into the flesh and permanently bury into the enemy's body.

"Adam! Retreat!" Katrin exclaimed as the roots became even more numerous.

Thanks to her artifact, Katrin could freely control how much energy to put into her attacks. Sure, other Phantoms could also do something like this without the artifact, but they had limitations while Katrin did not.

Moreover, thanks to the artifact who controlled the amount of energy she used for each of her abilities, she didn't have to spend a lot of energy just to activate her Order or Nexus.

Thus, if she used little energy and summoned only a few roots with her First Order, she didn't have to wait until she recovered to use the Order again.

And... it worked the other way around.

However... now Katrin was in resonance and her enhanced form, energy continued to flow out of Evolution Tree in massive streams.

She had so much power that she could create her roots almost indefinitely. But, would it be enough to kill Plague Reaper in the one minute she had left?

Whooooooooooooosh.

Adam abruptly jumped aside.

Plague Reaper immediately tried to get out, he started chopping down the roots with his scythe, but Katrin knew he would fight.

So... when Plague Reaper cut a few spiky roots, a shiver ran through his body as he stopped.

The blade of his scythe had almost cut the redbud growing from the black smooth root.

Before Plague Reaper could realize what was happening, he was already in a cage of spiky roots, which were intertwined black roots with explosive blossoms.

"You took away my dream, my hand, and possibly my life... The least I can do in this situation is kill you, erase you from this world..." Katrin whispered in an ominous voice before striking the staff on the ground provoking a massive explosion, previously even a third of that power was impossible for her.