Endless Evolution: Last Star

"Oh, that's interesting. Looks like sending Prago was the right decision." The man in the dark military suit muttered, standing in the center of the spacious room and staring at the main, largest screen.

Dozens of people were working right now to resolve the incident with the dark Phantoms. However, it was only a small group at first, but soon, with the appearance of an anomalies cluster and Thunder Demon, everything changed.

Douglas sighed heavily, looking at the screens transmitting information from the Phantoms' NEPs.

"Agh... Well, now it all depends on individual performance... Thunder Demon, Jade Lady, and Obsidian Armadillo... In a way, they're lucky it's daytime, and the first one didn't show up." Douglas said with a serious look, "Otherwise, they would already be dead..."

Douglas was obviously talking about the strongest monster of the Purple Threat Level. As the head of the Fort Norton, he had seen thousands of battles against all sorts of monsters in his long career.

Probably he knew better than most Phantoms what monsters were capable of, especially the strongest of them.

Strangely enough, the weakest of the three in the current situation was Jade Lady. Sure enough, she was at the third rank, while Obsidian Armadillo was fifth.

The thing was that Obsidian Armadillo was easy to run away from, but if one had to fight him, it was extremely difficult to break through his armor, almost impossible for K1-Phantom.

Well, that was why Prago, who definitely had the strength to do so, came out against Obsidian Armadillo.

"Hey, I had a tough fight before, and I just used Second Order, so... how about we attack each other until one of us falls?" Prago suggested, pointing his halberd at Obsidian Armadillo.

It was unlikely that Obsidian Armadillo understood what he was saying, but such strong monsters were smart enough to understand everything by emotions, tone of voice, and gestures.

Thus, the first thing Obsidian Armadillo did was curl up.

Prago frowned, Obsidian Armadillo realized that fighting against Prago was deadly.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Obsidian Armadillo trembled as cracks appeared in its dark crystals. A thick purple mist emerged from the cracks, covering the entire Obsidian Armadillo in a dense substance.

Prago raised an eyebrow, dashed forward, and brought his halberd down on Obsidian Armadillo with all his might.

As soon as the blade reached the mist, it slowed considerably, to the point where it soon came to a complete stop without ever touching a single crystal.

Prago frowned heavily. Sure, it was his simple attack, but he couldn't even get through the outer layer of defense of the Obsidian Armadillo, let alone the main one.

"Any ideas?" Prago asked, touching his earbud, "I could use Third Order and kill him, but then I'll just fall without strength and be useless."

'Well... Considering that lightning bolts are useless in this case, you'll have to take your chances. If you don't want to waste all your energy, you'll have to open him up like a tin can and gut him.' Adelia said confidently, directing her Phantom.

Prago nodded as he looked around.

"Yeah... I probably should hurry up."

...

Bam. Bam. Bam.

The Ladies dropped to the ground like living projectiles, trying to wound Tirana, who was running away from them. It was the second time she had called upon her sword which was her Second Order, so the only thing she could count on in this situation was her Nexus.

But... What was Tirana's Nexus? It wasn't a weapon, in that she was like Adam with his needle.

'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I came here to quickly grab Adam Vinter and get back to the Lower Ring! Why the hell do I have to fight against Jade Lady now?! Fucking Phantom!

Not only did he defeat our K2, but he's giving me so much trouble!' Tirana internally exclaimed furiously, dodging the Ladies.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Thanks to their sturdy bodies, the Ladies simply put their swords in front of them, folded their wings, and swooped down on Tirana at full speed. The salt crystals couldn't harm them, after falling, they quickly recovered, flew up into the air, and attacked again.

'Considering that she can recover her subordinates, it makes no sense for me to waste my strength on destroying them...' Tirana pondered, 'I don't know if Adam Vinter will survive, but I must take my revenge... and fulfill my mission. I can't waste all my trump cards on that bitch!'

At the same moment, Tirana stopped abruptly, sliding across the salt surface. From the abrupt stop, her clothes fluttered, especially the chain around her neck with the golden cross and encrusted rubies.

Tirana's eyes glowed brightly when the cross burst into scarlet flames, releasing massive streams that headed for her back.

In a heartbeat, the flames transformed into two unstable wings covering Tirana's back like her loyal defenders.

"Let's see how strong your wings are." Tirana whispered, gazing intently at the Jade Lady.

She hadn't noticed it at the time, but as her wings appeared, Tirana's veins swelled, forcing her to focus solely on her opponent.

Her wings came in motion, turning her into a fire flash that ended up right in front of Jade Lady.

Jade Lady's eyes went wide, only to see a flaming sword coming down on her at great speed.

...

Random streams of wind swept across the salt lands, causing salt crystals to rise and fly between Thunder Demon and Adam.

One hit from Adam, was enough for Thunder Demon to realize who was his enemy and he was completely satisfied with this scenario.

Sometimes, the wait was actually worth it.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

The sphere inside Thunder Demon's chest quivered vigorously, as energy traveled towards his throat, causing his maw to glow brightly as if holding back a powerful explosion.

Adam's pupils narrowed, for he had already seen this attack before.

The moment Thunder Demon opened its jaw wide, unleashing an electric blast, Adam had already dashed to the side, hiding behind the salt hill.

However... barely a pile of salt could stop such power...

Adam's eyes went wide, staring at the bright blue flash that swept across the hill of salt in front of him, easily burning through it and heading towards Adam at breakneck speed.

'Adam! Dodge!' Silvana exclaimed.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Electric shocks passed across Adam's eyes as his body arched down towards the ground, allowing an electric ray to sweep right over him.

Adam glanced at Thunder Demon, dark smoke coming from his maw as if from overheating.

'Wait... This isn't the same attack he used against the centipedes... He could control the ray then, but now it's more like a quick and deadly energy shot. Fuck...' Adam frowned, realizing that he hadn't seen Thunder Demon's entire arsenal yet. The monster had only shown a fraction of what he was capable of.

Then, Adam and Thunder Demon looked at each other. Oddly enough, the monster grinned contentedly, pointing at Adam's feet with his long finger.

"Agh...?" Adam was puzzled.

In a heartbeat, electric shocks covered Thunder Demon's legs, and the monster's silhouette blurred, disappearing from Adam's field of vision due to excessive speed.

Whooooooosh.

A massive four-fingered paw came down on Adam's face, sinking its sharp claws into his skin, revealing a massive silhouette with electric blue eyes, behind it.