Endless Evolution: Last Star

Crackle.

A foot covered in flames burned several threads, heading towards the blood-coated silhouette. Adam's pupils went wide, there was an amber grid in his right eye, allowing him to see his enemy's movements.

In a heartbeat, not wanting to die so quickly, Adam raised his hands in a block in front of him, clenching his fists tightly.

Max's feet slammed into his hands, causing a chaotic flame stream to flow forward in a fluid swirl, burning Adam's skin.

Following the flames was the momentum of the impact itself, throwing Adam aside with tremendous force as if he'd been shot out of a cannon.

It seemed that Adam's defeat was near as he came close to the edge of the blue zone, but over the past few days, they had made some changes to their battlefield.

"Argh!!!"

Adam's back slammed into the solid rock that was the border of the blue zone. Since this was digital reality, Adam fully felt the force of the crash as if he were in the Dead Lands.

When Adam and Max fought against each other a few weeks ago, they used Blue Zone: Imagination at the most basic level.

Now, not only did Max get the abilities but their arena was changed to a rocky terrain where the landscape was uneven and dangerous, as much as it was possible in the cubic zone.

Crackle.

Adam fell to the ground, but he had enough strength to lean on his arm, slowly getting up. His muscles ached, blood ran down his arms and his teeth were clenched tightly to withstand the pressure.

It seemed like this was a new series of defeats for Adam, but... Max was in an even worse state.

"Grha... How long has this fight been going on...?" Max wheezed, slowly pulling a cigarette out of the crumpled pack.

He didn't need a lighter now, as he had his flame.

Whoooooooosh.

A burning fire appeared on the tip of his finger that quickly ignited the cigarette, allowing Max to take a small break.

His left arm was destroyed, not cut off by a needle or thread but ripped from his body by brute force. Hundreds of cuts covered his body as if it were meant to be, and there was a wide through hole in his shoulder.

"Quite a long time, but still none of us have won..." Adam muttered slowly rising from the ground.

His gaze traveled towards Max, around whom streams of flames flared up from time to time.

"Shit... Even though we have a different experience in the Dead Lands, because you have abilities too and your physical stats are superior to mine, it's damn hard to beat you." Adam muttered like a grumpy old man.

Max smiled, letting out a blob of smoke.

"You weren't supposed to win, at least according to plan, but the flames weren't very effective against you. I'm too unfamiliar with the abilities of other monsters to decently counter you."

Adam looked up, gazing at Max's serene stance despite his wounds.

"Agh? Flames are ineffective against me?"

Max nodded deeply.

"I can seriously wound you, but so can you because of your abilities. My flames do nothing to help me defend against your attacks, so most of our fights end with both of us losing."

Adam smiled bitterly before getting to his feet, as confidently as possible in that situation.

"Both of us losing? I want to win, you know?"

Max shrugged.

"Either way, you performed decently, I think I can already say that, but Tron had a few variations on what to expect from your results after training."

Crackle.

Max burned out a cigarette before taking out a new one.

Adam narrowed his eyes, listening intently to Max. It wasn't what Max was saying that caught his attention, it was the way he said it, his voice sounding like it was a farewell.

"You did great. You went through all the training Tron had hoped for, but your results were better than he expected. What's more, you were able to defeat me faster and you also managed to stay under the glass dome for one minute, something that wasn't in Tron's plans."

Max continued to speak while clots of blood fell to the ground from his wounded arm.

"All in all, you did well. Four days until the wedding, so... if you don't count today, you've got three more days." Explore stories at empire

Adam gulped. He was expecting to hear what he was going to do in the last few days, Adam assumed it would be something special and challenging.

"These three days will be the most important in your training."

Max said calmly before turning to Adam, looking at him intently.

"Because you'll be - resting."

Adam blinked a few times, not believing what he was hearing.

"Rest? Wait... what?"

Max nodded, taking another puff of his cigarette.

"Yeah, you heard right, enjoy your three days' rest before you go fight in The Rule of Power."

Then, Max tossed the cigarette aside and drew his hand back.

"So.... In that case, how about one last attack? The last attack in three months."

Spark.

A flash of flame passed in Max's eyes as smoke appeared at his fingertips, then released streams of hot fire.

The fire burned brightly behind Max, enveloping his hand as its source, the solid stone beneath him melting, unable to withstand this power.

Adam gulped. He wanted to ask a lot of questions but realized now wasn't the right time for that.

'One last attack, right? Well, I only have one move suitable for this title.' Adam pondered before summoning his needle, holding it firmly with both hands like his sword.

He had one attack that he only used a few times before. The first time was also his last attack, against Damien.

The point was that this attack had limitations.

The recess in the middle of his needle began to fill with energy, shining brightly like a glowing light hidden in the depths of a star.

Dense energy emanated from the needle tip, flowing along the blade to Adam's wrist, having a cone shape like a meteorite falling to earth, breaking through the layers of the atmosphere.

Adam couldn't use this attack at will at any moment, it required him to be in combat for a while for his energy to saturate and be ready to travel along the needle.

Therefore, the first time he fought against Damien, Adam was able to use this ability at the very end when the energy came out of his gauntlets and transformed into a needle.

Simply put, Adam needed preparation to perform his possibly strongest attack so far.

"Oh, not bad, not bad at all. Well, let's see what you can do!" Max exclaimed with an excited expression before rushing forward.

Adam didn't hesitate as he came in motion at the same time as Max.

A few steps were enough to close the distance to the limit. Max threw his hand forward, tightly clutching the flame that, in a heartbeat, unleashed its full power on Adam.

Whoosh.

Adam's black tips of his hair burned in the flames, smoldering like embers, but... in the next moment, all the heat was gone.

'Hah... I knew it...'

Max inwardly muttered with a bitter smile on his face as he looked at the snow-white energy following the needle tip.

A wide hole appeared amid flame, getting rid of the threat like a torrent of wind blowing out a weak fire.

'Unlike everything else, from simple attacks with his needle, this ability pierces more than just physical objects...' Max's gaze deepened as a stream of blood gushed from his mouth.

In the blink of an eye, Adam was far behind him, and there was a wide hole in Max's body that practically split him in two.