Endless Evolution: Last Star

At the same moment, rings of golden light emerged from their palms, like the echoes of a bright sun exploding.

Electric shocks passed across Adam's eyes as he abruptly found himself a few meters away. Rings of light swept forward a moment later as he disappeared.

If Adam had delayed even for a second, the light rings would have burned him like holy flames, leaving not even a handful of ashes.

"Holy shit..."

Someone muttered, looking at the molten wall - the extremely strong materials couldn't withstand the heat as the temperature was so high that the concrete began to melt, flowing down in thick streams.

There was dark smoke coming from Krana and Trana's palms, but their hands were not injured, just very hot - enough to leave a burn on a normal person upon touch. Phantoms could withstand much higher temperatures than normal humans.

"Hah, sounds like someone's surprised, doesn't it?" Krana smirked, swinging her scythe, holding the weapon behind her back.

Adam only narrowed his eyes.

Trana pointed to his eyes, which still had electric shocks among them.

"You're not the only one with an active artifact." Trana smirked.

"Artifact...?" Adam muttered as his eyes went wide from how he hadn't realized it for so long. Adam completely forgot that the other Phantoms had artifacts besides him as well.

However, Adam had a good reason for that, because, until this point, he hadn't seen the other Phantoms use artifacts. To be exact, among the Phantoms that Adam had fought against.

He could only keep a close eye on his opponents, the most evident among them was Mirna.

"Yes, an artifact! As you can see, we have the same ones too!" Krana said proudly. It seemed that, unlike her sister, she was happy to be a twin.

Krana swung her scythe, pointing it at Adam, and said:

"Many artifacts only work as passive reinforcement. However, that doesn't mean that these artifacts are weaker, they just don't give powerful active abilities, but instead make the Phantom itself stronger." Krana explained.

Adam nodded.

He knew what Krana was talking about because his artifact combined both passive and active abilities. In his case, it went in stages, from lightning-fast reflexes to a crushing thunderbolt that could melt even the strongest metal.

"Fine, but you couldn't hit me with your attack. I'm sure it wasn't the First Trait of your Artifacts, so... You can't keep doing that all the time." Adam narrowed his eyes as he rushed forward.

Electric shocks traveled through his legs, making him even faster.

"Hah, you don't even know what you're talking about!" Krana laughed as her eyes shone brightly with golden light again.

Trana did the same, heating her palms vigorously.

Adam's eyes widened for a moment, he was ready for another attack from the twins.

But... Krana and Trana weren't going to use the same trick twice. They realized that if Adam could dodge the first time, he would do it even easier and faster the second time.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Krana and Trana swung their arms, running their palms over the blades of their scythes, causing them to shine brightly.

Silver threads wove around Adam's arm as he used his second grip to increase the power and speed of his attacks.

However, there were two opponents against him, and he only had one weapon. In order to defeat Krana and Trana he had to act much faster than them!

"Let's see what you can do!" Krana exclaimed before rushing forward.

Clash.

Golden sparks flew aside as the light blade, and the snow-white needle collided.

Strangely enough, Adam was slowly overwhelming Krana, she had to take a step back and lower her trembling arms slightly to withstand Adam's onslaught.

If they were to fight 1 vs. 1, the winner would've decided quickly enough, but Krana always had a loyal ally!

"Sister! I'm on my way!" Trana uttered as she appeared behind Adam, aiming the tip of her scythe, right at his neck.

Adam's pupils narrowed as he tilted his head back, letting the hot blade sweep over his nose.

For a moment the world seemed to stop when he saw his reflection in the golden blade - the heat from the light contrasted strongly with his cold and collected blue eyes that constantly sparked with electricity.

If it wasn't for his artifact, he might not have been able to dodge such dangerous attacks so effectively. Adam always did it at the last moment, and it gave him a significant advantage!

Whooooooooooooosh.

Adam turned sharply, throwing Krana's arm aside and knocking her off guard for a moment while she regained her balance.

Then, toward the end of the turn, Adam's backside palm smashed into Krana's face, throwing her aside.

"Sister!" Trana exclaimed worriedly. Unlike her older sister, she didn't have enough composure to continue attacking Adam when her sister was hurt.

"You idiot! Don't stop!" Krana shouted despite having just received a powerful punch to the face.

Bam.

As soon as Trana shifted her gaze to Adam, his fist plunged into her stomach, damaging her even more than Krana.

With that, Adam threw the twins to different parts of the room, leaving only him left in the center.

There were scarlet marks on the white floor from the fallen blood clots, but none of them belonged to Adam.

Krana and Trana were the only ones hurt, nothing seemed to help them - not their abilities, not the power of the artifact, not even Nexus Traits.

"Well, well, I honestly didn't expect him to be so strong." Edir smirked slyly, popping a handful of caramel popcorn into his mouth.

Lola nodded as she reached out for the popcorn, intending to take just one piece.

Tap.

Edir slapped her hand quickly as if chasing away a pesky fly.

"Ouch!" Lola shrieked, rubbing her palm with a frown on her face, "What the hell? You shared a milkshake with me before!"

Edir nodded, his face was calm, without any emotion.

"Yeah, but that popcorn is mine. Don't put your hands in other people's food. If you want one of these then go ahead and order it. Just say it's for me, and they'll make you whatever you want." Edir waved his hand.

Lola puffed up her cheeks, but she didn't bother to leave. She was much more interested in watching the fight unfold than leaving to get popcorn or a milkshake.

"Sometimes I don't understand why they even call you prisoners. You do what you want, and you get what you want. It's more like you're guests at some hotel." Lola muttered, resting her hands on the railing, and putting her head on top of them.

Edir chuckled evilly.

"Hmm?" Lola gave him a questioning look.

"You're right, but you're forgetting one nuance. To get popcorn or even be able to watch the fight from above, you have to be strong! Strength comes first!"

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

As if in resonance with his words, Krana and Trana slowly rose from the ground while their auras grew intensely. They were finally ready to unleash an aura attack on Adam.