Endless Evolution: Last Star

Previously, Adam could barely block Damien's attack thanks to the threads from his Second Order, but... when Damien started using energy everything changed.

His threads were unable to absorb the amount of damage contained in just one quick attack, the task was too heavy, and the speed was too fast.

Crackle.

The ground beneath Adam cracked, but there was no sign of pain on his face, and his body didn't even flinch.

Damien stared at Adam's hand, it seemed as if Adam's grip weighed several tons, wanting to pull the black rod towards the ground.

"Oh... This is something interesting, something new..." Damien muttered with a slight smile on his face.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Adam jerked his wrist, flipping Damien around as if he were a lightweight puppet.

If Damien had been focused, he wouldn't have let Adam do it, but he was too fixed on Adam's new ability, staring curiously at Adam's hand.

Bam.

Damien's shoulder touched the floor, followed by his back lying on the cold stone slab.

"Hey, you're suddenly become so much stronger physically... But, how long will your body be able to withstand that kind of force?"

Damien asked with an evil smirk on his face. He knew better than anyone that great strength had a price to pay, either in health, energy, or time.

"Agh..." Adam took a deep breath, "Even if you're right, I can still do it..."

Crackle.

Adam clenched his fist tightly as purple energy streams reappeared, enveloping his wrist and moving towards his hand.

Damien was in no hurry to dodge, he lay on the floor, curiously watching Adam's slow but truly formidable actions.

"Hmm... The lightning bolts are an effect of his artifact, so... is it his Elemental Root?" Dahla said thoughtfully before turning to Silvana.

Silvana glanced at her, puzzled, but soon, she realized what Dahla wanted from her.

"Yes." Silvana nodded quickly trying to hide her delay, "It's the gravitation element that takes up most of his Elemental Root. But, it didn't give him any active ability before, just a balance enhancement and a slight physical gain."

Dahla was silent for a while, gently gripping her chin, her gaze fixed on Adam, who was making his attack.

"I see. Well, I wouldn't call it an active ability, it's more like a short boost with a serious side effect, but... it's a decent ability."

Silvana narrowed her eyes slightly, slowly turning her head and looking coldly at Dahla.

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

Dahla reached forward, pointing at their fight.

"Just watch."

At the same moment, purple energy flared brightly, as if Adam was clutching the star tightly in his fist.

But... in the next heartbeat, all the energy and light disappeared, seemingly leaving Adam's attack without any additional power.

That was a mistake. Sometimes, silence and serenity could bring the greatest destruction, since behind their veil they hid true power.

"Hehehe, unbelievable." Damien smirked.

Damien's green eyes went wide, he watched curiously as the air around Adam's fist shook as if adjusting to the changes in gravity.

To affect gravity all that was needed was mass, the higher the mass the greater the change. Then, with speed, mass became a brute destructive force.

Obviously, Adam's fist wasn't heavy enough to cause changes in gravity, for that would require objects with much greater size and density. Well, he wasn't an ordinary human, but a Phantom, so he had the energy to do impossible things.

'Fine, the viewing is over, it's time to leave.' Damien thought, about to bounce to the side.

He was curious to see what Adam's punch was capable of, but he didn't want to test it by getting hit.

However...

'What...?' Damien's eyes went wide when he realized he couldn't move freely.

The energy coming from Adam's fist pushed him to the ground like an invisible barrier, causing the gray concrete to crack, making Damien's situation even more difficult.

"Hah, not bad Adam, too bad your opponent is me!" Damien shrieked with excitement, channeling his energy to his legs and arms.

At the last moment before Adam's fist was about to come down, Damien slammed his palms into the ground and jumped aside.

He tried to retrieve his rod but failed as it was pinned tightly to the ground by the powerful pressure.

In a heartbeat, Damien found himself dozens of meters away from his last spot, but Adam was not going to stop, he had put too much power into this punch.

Moreover, he had another target besides Damien.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Crackle.

Adam's fist crashed to the ground, right into the center of the black rod.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The chamber shuddered like an earthquake, a trembling far more active and powerful than coming from Damien's energy attacks.

Wide cracks spread rapidly from the center, breaking the thick stone slabs apart and separating them from each other, reaching the ground level that was several meters below.

The stone fragments closest to the impact simply turned to dust under the intense pressure.

There were no explosions or energy bursts, it was pure physical power amplified by gravity, producing a monstrous force.

Douglas watching this could only shake his head with a great frown.

"Agh... This isn't an arena... Damn, the chamber isn't built for this... The fight is certainly curious, but every action they take makes my next few days more complicated."

Crackle.

Adam slowly pulled his fist from the ground, struggling to unclench it, his fingers were shaking, he needed time to regain control, but a satisfied smirk appeared on his face.

"Hey Damien, what do you think... can that count as 3:2?" Adam asked pointing at Damien's black rod that lay in the depths of the crater.

Damien directed his gaze only for his eyes to go wide. There was a similar reaction from everyone else. They couldn't believe what they saw.

The rod was broken into two even pieces.

"You broke my needle, so... I did the same with your weapon." Adam took a few steps back with a weak look.

He wanted to raise his hands, but he couldn't do it, his hands just didn't obey him, they went limp, and he could barely move his fingertips.

"Oh..." Adam took a deep breath, lowering his gaze, "So that's the recoil and that's with my hands protected by my Nexus. Well, I guess that's pretty fair."

In response to Adam's suggestion, Damien smirked and ran forward.

Adam's eyes went wide, he thought Damien was going to attack.

But, just as Damien reached the crater, he took his black rod, or rather there were two, but they were much shorter with sharp ends, then he bounced back.

"3:2, right? Fine, I agree. After all, you broke my weapon, to some extent, it can be considered as a defeat." Damien shrugged nonchalantly.

Adam smiled, hearing praise from Damien would be nice for anyone.

Then, he turned back, glancing around.

Almost half of the chamber was destroyed, there was a crater in the center, holes in the walls from Damien's attacks, many cracks and cuts.

"Damn... We did some serious damage to this place." Adam said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Damien waved his hand with a loose smile.

"Don't worry about it. The military will rebuild everything, even if we destroy the whole place."

Adam nodded, in a way as if Damien's words gave him permission, but to do what?

"In that case, I'll do it without regrets."

Damien tilted his head in confusion.

"Hmm?"

Adam smiled and got down on one knee, leaning toward the ground. He put his palms to the floor as his eyes shone brightly.

Then, the threads on his gauntlets trembled.