Endless Evolution: Last Star

Adam, Osana, Katrin, and Nessa, the four of them were the only survivors of both the Phantoms and the monsters.

Normally, in such a situation, they should have breathed a sigh of relief and waited for help, chatting about various not-so-important topics.

But... Nessa's head ended up pinned to the ground, and Adam was making death threats at her.

"Fuck! Let me go! What the hell are you doing? Stop messing around like that!" Nessa exclaimed, trying to get out from under the pressure, but she was having no luck.

She like Adam was seriously weakened due to her wounds, but Adam didn't have muscle damage like Nessa, and that was critically affecting her physical abilities.

"Hmm? You think I'm kidding?" Adam tilted his head, maintaining a stoic, emotionless stare.

Adam lifted Nessa off the ground and leaned her against Midnight Crystal with a sharp movement. He held her tightly by the neck, cutting off her access to air.

His eyes narrowed as if for a moment he wondered whether it was worth it to act this way, but soon his gaze filled with determination.

Thrust.

Adam's fist plunged into Nessa's stomach, her mouth opened wide in pain, but before she could cry out, Adam's palm covered her mouth.

"Don't make any noise, we don't want Katrin and Osana to come in here and find out that you're not the Phantom, do we?" Adam said calmly, his equanimity gradually instilling terror in Nessa.

Then, Adam looked away, slightly narrowing his blue eyes, steady as ancient ice.

"I'm serious... Do you think I'm not capable of this? Believe me, the current me is ready to kill you if you fail..."

Adam's whisper like a magic spell forced Nessa's mind to run on edge, driven by rapidly growing fear.

Some memory surfaced in Nessa's mind, it was the scene where Adam left Kai to die, a simple guy from the slums who had tried to become a Natural Phantom but failed...

Adam didn't know that anyone had seen it, especially Nessa, as she remained unaware of what thoughts were in Adam's head that day. What were his intentions? What was he thinking about?

Nessa didn't have answers to these questions, but pondering about it and the fact that Adam had once done such a harsh thing, made her believe that Adam was completely serious.

Adam nodded slightly, seeming to make his next decision.

Clutch.

His grip tightened, clutching Nessa's neck even tighter.

Adam didn't say anything, but from his calm gaze, Nessa realized that he was ready to choke her to death, and... it would happen soon enough.

Instinctively, Nessa's arms tightened around Adam's, trying to loosen his grip, but it was useless. With her wounds, Nessa wasn't capable of exerting even 1/10th of her actual power.

Soon, Nessa's gaze darkened, affected by the lack of air.

'No... No way... he's really not going to stop?' Nessa internally muttered, seeing that no emotion appeared on Adam's face, and his grip was just as strong.

Although Nessa accepted that Adam was serious, it was only now that she truly believed it.

Her whole body trembled with an ancient fear for her life, which could end in the next few seconds if she did nothing.

Adam narrowed his eyes, despite the danger, Nessa still hadn't gotten into her battle form. He realized he had to do something about it urgently.

'Well... I've already gone too far, I simply have no other choice.'

Adam shrugged.

He pulled Nessa to him before thrusting her sharply into Midnight Crystal.

Nessa's legs trembled, she thought she was about to fall, so she tried to grab onto something.

The best she could do was put her hand on the Midnight Crystal, which although it looked smooth from afar, had many irregularities as it was a complex object.

"Agh!"

Nessa gasped when she was almost out of air and... Adam finally achieved his goal, though by a rather radical method.

Thin streams of amber energy began to emanate from her body, covered in swollen veins.

Immediately, Nessa's hand came into motion, smacking Adam in the face with all her might. The impact, threw Adam aside, finally freeing Nessa's neck from his tight grip.

Her blow was so effective that Adam's front tooth flew out, slightly pointed like a fang from some beast.

Instinctively, noticing Adam's tooth, Nessa's hand came in motion once more, grabbing his tooth as her prey, as her trophy.

Adam fell to the ground and gave Nessa a confused look, he was glad she was able to get into her battle form, but he didn't think he would lose his tooth to do so.

Nessa wanted to say something, but...

Whooooooooooosh.

Like an electric shock, a powerful pulse traveled down her arm, running through her entire body.

Adam and Nessa simultaneously looked at the same place - at her hand that was attached to Midnight Crystal.

As they anticipated, after Nessa entered her battle form, began to release energy, Midnight Crystal reacted. Its energy found a point of contact, filling Nessa's body.

But... What would happen next?

When the Phantoms absorbed the energy from Midnight Crystal, it was stored in their internal space so that they could later use it to create the Key.

However, Nessa didn't need the Key. She was trying to follow the path of monster development since she was a Hybrid and was closer to monsters than Phantoms in terms of power system.

If Plague Reaper won their battle, he would absorb the energy from Midnight Crystal and begin his evolution, so... as the winner, Katrin tried to do something similar.

She wasn't completely a monster, so her path was unknown even to her, Nessa only hoped for a positive outcome and that her body would accept and adapt to the new energy source.

Every second the energy became more and more, but it didn't go into the inner space as it happened in Katrin's case, since Nessa had no inner space.

"Wait... If this keeps up, I'm just gonna get torn apart!" Nessa exclaimed, looking down at her hand.

White energy streaks appeared under her skin, like a bomb ready to explode. With each heartbeat, the white streaks grew larger and larger, running through her body like new veins, actively pulsing which only increased her anxiety.

Nessa gulped, eventually she decided to remove her hand from Midnight Crystal. She didn't know how much more energy her body could absorb before something bad happened.

But...

Nessa just froze in place.

"W-why...?"

Nessa's eyes went wide as she stared at her hand, which without her will, only clutched tighter to Midnight Crystal.

Her body wasn't obeying her mind and... if such powerful instincts could be useful during battle, now they posed a deadly threat to Nessa.

"Fuck! Adam, help me! Get my hand off this thing!" Nessa exclaimed with real fear in her voice.

Now, she realized that Adam's actions earlier were just a bluff to get her into her battle form, but death by overloading energy was very real. Especially when it was energy from Midnight Crystal!

Adam nodded realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Nessa had already absorbed so much energy that her entire body was shining brightly and her skin seemed to be translucent.

Step.

Adam stepped forward, rushing to the aid of the one he was going to kill a few seconds ago, but... no sooner did he take the next step than he was blinded by a vivid flash.

The light was so intense that Adam had to shield himself with his hand, covering his face. He could only see what was happening through the gaps in his fingers.

Nessa's eyes shone brightly like two ghostly lanterns, and all her energy went to her other hand, where Adam's tooth was firmly clamped.

Then, Nessa's body shook vigorously, and a colorful flash burst out from her fist like an amber star that could easily become the main one in some great constellation.

Bam.

Nessa fell to the ground. Her body no longer needed the energy, it had absorbed more than enough and fulfilled its purpose.

"Damn it!"

Adam quickly ran up to Nessa checking if she was alright.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Strangely enough, Nessa was fine. She just passed out, breathing evenly, her body wanting to start the regeneration process soon.

"Good, I hope she made it, she took a risk for a reason, right?" Adam muttered, feeling the blood in his mouth, crimson droplets slowly falling onto his tongue, bringing a metallic taste.

"Well... I think I should get it back so I don't have to go through the complicated treatment." Adam scratched the back of his head, opening Nessa's fist.

He wanted his tooth returned, sticking it in place would be a lot easier than growing a new one. Enjoy more content from empire

"Agh...?"

Adam's eyes went wide when he didn't see his tooth, Nessa's fist was empty...

He blinked a few times, not realizing how it happened. He was sure he'd seen Nessa grab his tooth in flight, it certainly hadn't fallen to the ground to disappear in the dust.

At the same moment, Nessa opened her eyes.

But... she didn't see Adam, instead, she stared with admiration and utter bewilderment at the vast darkness, in the center was the most majestic thing she had ever seen in her life.

A massive snow-white tree floated serenely in space, a sign of great power that could only be wielded by those who were chosen by fate itself or... forcefully took that opportunity into their own hands.

Towards the tree's center, an amber star slowly descended, inside was the fang of some beast, no... it was not big and sharp enough, it was more like a human's front tooth...