Endless Evolution: Last Star

Snow Follower's swing of his katana was enough to seriously wound Nessa, so... when his katana shook from the overabundance of energy, his thrust was definitely powerful enough to permanently extinguish the fire of life in Nessa's eyes.

The last series of attacks raining down on Nessa did more damage than she had realized. Her body no longer obeyed her, she needed time to recover, but Snow Follower acted quickly. He was really in a hurry to end this fight as powerfully as possible as soon as he could.

Thus, if no one interfered with their fight, Snow Follower would easily kill Nessa.

Well, that was why Adam used the power of lightning, cutting through the protective barrier with his needle and quickly rushing towards Nessa and Snow Follower.

'No... Am I actually going to die? Right now...?' Nessa inwardly muttered looking at the snow-white blade that seemed to be cutting through space approaching her.

Another second and thousands of snow particles, tiny ice crystals, would slam into her and tear her apart. Even Nessa's body wasn't strong enough to withstand such damage.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

At the last moment, a tall silhouette wearing a long black coat appeared in front of Nessa's eyes. Then, silver claws woven from hundreds of threads tightly gripped the snow-white katana filled with energy.

Adam wasn't stupid enough to try to block Snow Follower's attack with his hand or just a needle. It took something more than that to stop this katana.

As soon as the silver claws collided with the blade of the katana, clutching it tightly, Snow Follower's eyes went wide. He clearly hadn't expected Adam to be the one to decide to intervene.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

There was a strange, eerie mechanical sound, as if two iron rods, snapping together, were trying to turn each other into nothingness.

Adam frowned, struggling to stay in one place and continuing to clutch his hand tightly.

Snow Follower's katana effortlessly cut through the silver threads, but there were many of them and Adam's gauntlet was still a long way from being completely destroyed, and the energy in the katana was not infinite.

Soon, cascades of sparks began to fly off in all directions, and a screeching sound reached the walls of the hall to fill the minds of everyone in the room.

Magnus and Silvana watched intently with slightly baffled faces. They didn't understand what Adam's purpose was, especially Magnus, for he had seen that Adam hadn't saved Kai, even when he had begged for it on the verge of death.

"What's going on...?" Nessa whispered, barely audible.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Snow Follower's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward, applying more force to the katana, making a diagonal swing.

Adam reacted immediately, striking with the most protected part of his arm, where many of the strong threads remained.

However... It was hardly enough.

The snow particles compacted in front of the katana blade, effortlessly cutting through the silver threads, literally developing against them and sacrificing themselves. They had accomplished their task.

Splash.

A wide cut, from wrist to elbow, appeared on Adam's arm with a powerful surge of blood. Since Nessa was directly behind Adam, the blood splashed right onto her face.

Several crimson streams slowly dripped down Nessa's forehead, while her eyes grew wider and wider. Time seemed to slow down a lot for her.

Her heart began to beat rapidly beneath the slow-flowing drops of blood, behind which slowly fluttered a black coat, the right sleeve of which had previously been sewn to the edges with silver threads, but now its owner had two arms once again.

Strangely enough, Nessa was delighted to see Adam, who had come to protect her. It was something Nessa had missed for a long time, and it awakened a rare but pleasant warmth inside her.

Adam's face twisted in bright pain, but he had achieved his goal - Snow Follower's katana was stopped.

Step.

Adam stepped forward, clenched his teeth tightly, and plunged his fist into Snow Follower's stomach. The monster tried to dodge, but Adam was too fast under the effect of Artifact Trait.

Electric shocks rippled through Snow Follower's body before the impact threw the monster aside.

Snow Follower's gaze filled with pain, but he wasn't going to stop for even a second. In a heartbeat, Snow Follower somersaulted in the air, nimbly landed on the ground, and was ready to attack again.

However... Snow Follower was in no hurry.

First, he had to figure out if Adam was going to fight him or if this intervention had a specific purpose. Either way, Snow Follower felt that against Adam, he would have a very hard time.

Nessa's eyes shone brightly, a happy smile appearing on her face. All of this was happening unconsciously, just because she was feeling good.

Her lips came into motion, about to say something. At this time, a trickle of Adam's blood had already reached the level of her nose, continuing to slowly drip down.

"Than..." Nessa muttered, but... she couldn't finish, for she was stopped by Adam's stare.

Adam was gazing at her with disdain, no... it wasn't right. There were two vivid feelings in his gaze more than anything else:

Disappointment and pity.

Adam said something slowly, but Nessa could no longer hear him. The words didn't make sense anymore, because his gaze was so expressive that Nessa already understood everything.

He had saved her, not because she was important to him, or because he wanted to help her like any normal person, but because he felt sorry for her, and by this act, he was trying to dull his disappointment.

It wasn't humiliation, it was something more, deeper, like a sharp blade that opened a wound that Nessa had long forgotten about, at least she thought so.

'No... Don't you dare look at me like that...' Nessa muttered internally as her whole body shook with fear. It wasn't that she feared Adam or losing, but that her past could come back. Sure, technically and physically it was impossible, but only emotions and Nessa's mind mattered here.

'There's no way I'll ever be weak again... No one should ever look at me like that again... Pity? How dare you... I'm not that weak!'

Nessa inwardly exclaimed she was furious, trying to prove Adam was wrong, but... her body wasn't ready to follow her mind. She was still badly hurt and exhausted after several clashes with Snow Follower.

At the same moment... what seemed to be a consequence of Adam's interference became the key moment. His blood that splashed on Nessa's face finally reached her lips and fell on her tongue.

Unconsciously, Nessa swallowed those few drops and then her eyes shone brightly.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Everyone in that hall, even Silvana and Magnus, felt a shiver as goosebumps covered their bodies. Their instincts, like primal mechanisms, told them there was danger and they needed to get out of there.

Snow Follower, reflexively took a few steps back, holding his katana tightly, but not to attack, but to block.

Adam, who was closest to Nessa, felt fear, but... along with that, a genuine interest mixed with curiosity awakened inside him.

While his body trembled with terror, his mind brought out an excited smile on Adam's face, with a bit of madness.

Everyone knew that besides all the powers and physical abilities, the Phantoms had a trump card they couldn't control - Resonance.

To realize that a Phantom had entered Resonance was very easy, there was one clear physical sign - swollen veins. It was as if it was showing that the Phantom's body was at its maximum limit and it would explode from the overload.

Earlier, Nessa had become stronger several times, forcing her body to use more and more resources, especially her instincts and muscles.

Magnus was well aware of this, so he let her fight opponents who were slightly stronger than her so that Nessa could make leaps in her strength.

However, it never led to any drastic changes, like this:

"No way..." Magnus muttered, staring at Nessa's veins that were rapidly swelling. First, the veins went from her head, near her eyes, then spread all over her body as it happened with the Phantoms.
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Still... something like this wouldn't be able to cause Magnus much confusion or enthrall Adam's mind, for now, they were observing something unique.

Nessa's brightly shining eyes gradually began to change their color from black to amber. Moreover, her round human pupils, elongated and became vertical like many predators among animals and monsters.

Her teeth changed, and her fangs became longer and protruded forward. Her fingernails grew rapidly, becoming more dangerous and hardened several times like deadly blades.

Even her hair had changed, Nessa always wore her hair short, it didn't even reach her shoulders, now it went down to her back and was much thicker with sharp tips looking in different directions, but tending downward like a stream of blood.

Silence.

It seemed that no one even dared to breathe, everyone looked at Nessa's transformation, albeit temporary, with admiration and awe. In any case, this had never happened before in nine years, and for Magnus, it was a new discovery.

Adam's lips quivered as he reached forward.

'Unbelievable... She looks so majestic, I wonder... how much stronger is she now? I... I want to fight her!'

It had been a long time since he had felt such excitement before fighting his opponent. Something like this, Adam had only felt against North Keeper, when all he could think about during Eclipse was enjoying the battle.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Before Adam could do anything, Nessa's silhouette shuddered as she rushed forward straight towards Snow Follower.

In a heartbeat, she grabbed his head, effortlessly ripping it away from his neck. Then, her sharp claws dug into the monster's chest, pulling Snow Follower's heart out from the other side.