Endless Evolution: Last Star

Damien was going to attack and end their fight with a few quick and non-injurious strikes to make Adam admit defeat.

But... after a few steps, he stopped, not because he was confused by something, but because of Adam's bewildered face.

"Hey... Adam, is everything okay?" Damien asked with slight concern, raising an eyebrow. In all their fighting, Damien had never seen Adam like this, it seemed as if he had lost something and didn't know why or how to find it.

"I'm not sure... Is it okay that I can't use my First Order again?" Adam glanced at Damien with a hopeful look in his eyes.

However, although Damien was one of the strongest Phantoms, he was not an omniscient being. Each Phantom had its abilities, unique capabilities, and challenges they faced along the way.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

Damien scratched the back of his head, with a thoughtful look.

Then, he sighed and wanted to say something. He wanted to suggest to Adam to use more energy so that Evolution Tree would understand his order, but then his gaze caught on one detail and everything became clear to Damien.

He saw the two objects that recently were one, trembling slightly, almost unnoticeable even to Phantom's eyes.

"Hah, don't worry." Damien smiled, shaking his head and showing that Adam had nothing to worry about.

"What...? What are you talking about?"

Instead of a direct answer, Damien simply raised his hand, pointing at something behind Adam.

"Turn around. It's not nice to turn your back on your loyal partner at such a crucial moment."

"Agh...?" Adam was puzzled. He didn't understand what Damien was talking about.

'Partner...?' Adam internally muttered. The first thing Adam thought of was Silvana, but as soon as he turned around he immediately realized what the issue was and how stupid he was.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The halves of the needle trembled, as did the recesses in his gauntlets that were only suitable for elongated and thin objects.

"I see... Hah, how curious... A few seconds ago I was just lost, but now... the right information filled my mind." Adam whispered with a slight smile on his face as his eyes sparkled brightly.

At the same moment, the needle parts turned into white-hot flashes and reached the gauntlets in an instant.

The needle parts continued to be a blob of energy, filling the recesses in Nexus like molten metal being poured into a weapon forging mold.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

A powerful pulse traveled through Adam's entire body. Energy began to emanate from his fingertips, traveling upward as a semi-transparent snow-white trail covered his gauntlets like the glow of a falling meteor.

"Well, well, before you could only use your needle as an unusual mix between a spear and a sword or throw it like a harpoon, but it seems it's time for something new, doesn't it?" Damien said with a slight wave of his hand.

Adam with sparkling eyes full of joy and calmness slowly nodded, his gaze directed to the recesses in his gauntlets.

'Yeah... Damien's right. K2 is indeed a different level altogether. The abilities are no longer separated like unfamiliar entities, they work together, absorbing my experience and adjusting to my needs as my personal arsenal.'

It was still his First Order, but there was no needle in his hand, there was no way Adam could have ever imagined such a thing being possible before.

This opened up both new possibilities and obstacles for Adam. Now, getting the energy from the needle, putting its parts inside his gauntlets in his hands was the concentrated power from his First Order and Nexus.

Moreover, the Second Order was still active, reinforcing his body with threads and giving him accurate vision.

"Well... I don't know if it's fair or not, but I think you can handle it." Damien smirked tightening his grip on the black rods before rushing towards Adam.

Step. Step. Step.

In just a few steps Damien appeared in front of Adam, he moved like a flash, a shadow striving towards its goal.

"What...?" Silvana gulped, fear in her eyes, "He's going to fight against Adam using rods when Adam has no weapon?!"

Tap.

A powerful palm fell on her shoulder. Turning around, Silvana saw Douglas behind her, who was looking at Adam with a serious face.

"Hm? Are you saying Adam doesn't have a weapon? Come on Silvana, you're a smart girl, doesn't that look like a weapon?" Douglas said leaning slightly and extending his hand forward.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Douglas was pointing directly at Adam's gauntlets, then he raised his hand slightly, causing Silvana to glance at Adam's face, to see his gaze.

"Oh..." Silvana gasped quietly.

Adam's eyes were calm and confident, as was his stance. Now, he no longer needed to come up with complicated moves, techniques, or tactics on how to utilize his various abilities.

All of his power was literally concentrated in his hands, in his fists and everything was decided by mastery alone.

Whoooooooosh.

Damien attacked, bringing the rods down directly on Adam.

In a heartbeat, Adam took a step back, his left hand raised, knocking the nearest rod away with the back of his palm. The second rod whizzed right before his eyes as his right hand clenched into a fist and slammed into Damien's side at high speed.

Bam.

It was an accurate hit that Damien couldn't dodge because the distance was too close.

But... Damien didn't even flinch, he didn't seem to feel any pain even though the blow was powerful enough.

Adam's eyes went wide for a moment, he had no time to think about it so soon he was back in the fight with renewed vigor.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Damien attacked quickly and accurately, he didn't hold back using his mastery to the point where Adam was constantly on the verge of losing and had to be at full power to avoid critical wounds.

Adam could easily put his gauntlets under attack when the needles were in them, they were much stronger thanks to the energy cover and could withstand Damien's direct attacks.

However, Adam's endurance and body strength had limits.

"How strange... I guess I'm wrong since I'm just an ordinary human, but it seems to me that Adam fights more effectively than Damien, doesn't it? I mean, he's hit Damien many times already, but Damien hasn't been affected in any way. That shouldn't happen..." Silvana muttered, she was worried about Adam.

Dahla shook her head. It was rare to get any comments from her, but this time she decided to intervene.

"The thing is, Damien isn't exactly fighting fair."

"What...?" Silvana's eyes went wide. She didn't understand what Dahla was talking about since Adam had to fulfill special conditions for Damien to use fewer restraints on himself.

This fight wasn't fair, but not for Adam but for Damien!

"Energy Control." Dahla said briefly, "If Adam's fist slams into Damien's chest, Damien simply concentrates the energy into a single point in an instant, greatly reducing the damage he takes. He's been using this technique all fight, the most notable use was recently when he cut a sound wave with energy-filled rods."

Dahla continued narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah... Damien has lowered his power to the lower limit of the K2-Level, but... Phantoms begin to learn point energy control by reaching K2, but only at an initial level far from what Damien is capable of. It's obvious that Damien possesses this ability perfectly."

"But... how to win then...?" Silvana muttered in a trembling voice.

Dahla shrugged her shoulders.

"The answer is simple: you can't."