Endless Evolution: Last Star

"Hm? A request for help near us?" Iren frowned, looking at her NEP and listening to her Operator.

"What do we do?" The young man with the axe asked, shaking his hand uncertainly, "I know, it's Adam Vinter, he and I just fought, but... We should help him if something serious has happened."

Iren waved her hand arrogantly.

"I'm not going to help criminals and murderers. He'll only cause more trouble. Those are my orders as a leader!" Iren exclaimed menacingly, making the others realize that this was the final decision.

Some disagreed with her, but if they worked together, they had to follow her instructions. After all, they respected Iren as their leader, for her decisions had saved their lives or led them to success more than once.

"Agh..." The girl with the staff sighed with a slightly sad face, "I hope he'll be alright. We're injured, and it'll be better if someone else goes to help him, anyway."

The axe-wielding young man nodded quickly several times, agreeing with her.

However... there was someone in the Light Rain squad who now disobeyed Iren's orders, for he was no longer her subordinate, nor was he a member of her team.

Crackle.

Romeo opened the door, ran out of the truck, and headed towards Salt Village with an obvious rush on his face.

Several Harvesters tried to stop him or at least try to find out what happened, but it was pointless. Romeo was determined to help Adam, even if he was far away.

'Are you sure? I've never seen you like this...' Romeo's Operator muttered hesitantly. Though she knew Romeo better than anyone else, today, he was acting particularly strange.

"Yes. I've already made one good decision today! I feel like I have to do it! If he's in danger, then it must be something special!" Romeo exclaimed with flames burning in his eyes.

Perhaps he was trying to forget the pain that was tearing his heart, or maybe he wanted to change, to get closer to the new self that was born today.

However, it didn't matter at all. Any Phantom coming to Adam's aid was important, and Romeo could make a difference.

Iren stared after him for a while, as a slight contempt appeared in her eyes. But... for some reason, it was quickly replaced by a deep sadness, the nature of which she didn't understand.

...

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Adam quickly swung the needle a few times, knocking away the stone projectiles. Normally, they should have been durable enough to break through any barrier, but the silver needle had no trouble breaking them into small shards.

'Shit... Even if I can get out of this ring...' Adam muttered internally, glancing around at the six Phantoms that surrounded him, 'They'll catch up to me, that's for sure, but... These six are just subordinates, the real problem is these two...'

Adam stared at Olax standing in the distance and at Tirana. Olax was not in a hurry to attack, his past actions might seem like his usual state, but he spent a lot of energy on a series of attacks and prolonged use of the dark smoke.

Olax didn't want to take any chances, Adam's grip and subsequent thunderbolt had taught him a lot. He realized that if he made a mistake, Adam could actually turn him into a handful of coals. No one wanted such a fate for themselves, pathetic and inglorious.

But... Tirana didn't care about that.

Step. Step. Step.

She stepped forward confidently, shattering the salt crystals into dust beneath her powerful, steady stride.

Oddly enough, neither she nor Olax had a Nexus, or rather, their Nexuses were not weapons like those of many Phantoms. Well, it was not time for them to unleash their full power, yet.

"Adam Vinter. You don't have to worry, we won't kill you, at least not here and now." Tirana sternly said as she approached him.

At the same time, the other Phantoms stopped attacking, giving Adam a brief respite. They didn't care about that though, as they realized that Tirana was ready to finish their mission.

They knew that Tirana wanted to torture Adam to avenge her sister, and no one was willing to stop her from doing so, not even Olax - he stood back and watched with a sly smile.

"Hmm? Not here and not now? Didn't you come here to avenge your sister...?" Adam asked in confusion. To him, that was the most obvious option.

Tirana frowned as her aura intensified, but she took a deep breath and came to her senses. No matter what her desire was, she had a mission to accomplish - that was the most important thing.

"Yeah... We're going to kidnap you, enough talking though. We only have a couple of minutes before help arrives, don't we?" Tirana uttered, looking intently at Adam.

She, like any experienced K1-Phantom, realized that in the event of danger, any Operator would immediately do dozens of different things to report the threat and help their Phantom.

However... everything required time, which Adam simply didn't have.

Lasting three minutes against eight Phantoms was just unrealistic, especially since he had spent a lot of energy fighting against Iren and then against Six-Winged Iron Stingray.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Tirana's eyes flashed as a huge flaming sword appeared in her hand. Its blade was wide, and as tall as she was, this weapon definitely fell into the category - of greatswords. However, that was only energy since it was her Order.

"Oh, apparently, we're somewhat alike..." Adam muttered, glancing down at his needle. His Nexus wasn't a weapon because he already had a weapon, Tirana was in a similar situation.

Tirana raised her sword high above her head, burning Adam with her intense gaze filled with bloodlust and deep anger.

The heat from the sword was so intense that it distorted the air, making it shake as if in a scorching desert.

Adam glanced at the other Phantoms that had stepped forward, not allowing him to leave the circle.

Then, Adam grinned, embarrassing Tirana.

"You know, to be honest, I found myself a bit disappointed in the Six-Winged Iron Stingray. This monster is like a walking distance to the sun compared to North Keeper's strength. I was expecting a bit more from Essence Monster, maybe it's even good that you took away that weak Essence." Adam shrugged, canceling the needle with a wave of his hand.

Silver threads passed before his eyes before disappearing completely.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tirana frowned, "You want to stall for time? You're not going to make it!"

Adam sighed.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I didn't use my Nexus, though... if you were watching me, you should have known that." Adam uttered before smacking the gloves against each other, causing each thread to clash and make a horrible sound like a siren's howl.

The sound waves spread around, they were powerful as if waiting for their moment for a long time.

Someone grabbed their head, someone frowned or stepped aside, no one could ignore it.

Adam immediately rushed forward, quickly breaking out of their circle.

The two Phantoms quickly tried to catch up to him, not yet fully recovered, but Adam took care of that as he instantly summoned his Spirit, unleashing the full power of his aura on them!