Endless Evolution: Last Star

Adam had defeated the Guardian, so now he could advance further. Lola walked up with him to the second floor, standing behind him.

"Just put a card to it, right?" Adam muttered, looking at the massive gate in front of him.

Lola nodded.

"Sure. You'll be leaving the F-Zone after this." Lola said with a slight sadness in her voice. Adam didn't understand what was the reason for the change in her voice.

Then, he reached forward, but no sooner had he touched the gate than it opened, and his card flashed.

Oddly enough, another girl was waiting opposite him, clearly older and more experienced than Lola, with a confident stare and a sly grin.

She had short black hair and green eyes. In some ways, she was similar to Silvana, but she didn't look as severe as her loose black and green clothes, wide pants, a vest with three buttons, and a tilted beret with a sharp peak.

"Hey! It's been quite a while since someone got out of F-Zone on their first day of sentence. That's commendable!" The girl smiled broadly.

Adam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Calissa... Take care of him, tell him all about the D-Zone..." Lola whispered frustratedly, lowering her head.

Calissa smirked and stepped over the gate line, which made Lola's eyes go wide. It seemed that Calissa was not supposed to do that.

"You shouldn't be so surprised. I'm sorry, but I overheard your conversation on the way to the first gate. I don't think there's anything wrong with switching for a while. I'll keep an eye on F-Zone while you head onward, along with Adam."

Calissa was obviously making Lola a favorable offer, however, it seemed to be a statement rather than a question. Calissa had already made up her mind, and all Lola could do was agree.

However, she had no reason to refuse!

"Sure! Thank you so much!" Lola exclaimed happily as she jumped on Calissa about to hug her tightly.

However, Calissa just took a step to the side, dodging Lola, who hit her forehead on the floor.

"Less expression. I'm only doing this because I was wondering how long it would take me to get back to my Zone. I'm sure you can exceed my expectations." Calissa smiled slyly, gazing at Adam.

Adam shrugged, stepping over the gate line.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

At the same moment, a message popped up on his bracelet.

[Your time limit has been reduced by 36 days!]

Adam's eyes went wide. He had expected that he would have some way to reduce his sentence, after the clue from Olav. However, he didn't think it would be so straightforward.

Lola quickly ran up to Adam and held up a finger with a smart look, starting her explanation. It was obvious how excited she was to get back to her work.

"Every time you pass into the next Zone, your sentence is reduced by 20% In your case, it's 36 days!" Lola said energetically.

Adam nodded understandingly, and then he started counting something, each time curving his finger with a slight nod.

"Wait... That's D-Zone, right?" Adam asked.

Lola nodded.

"Shouldn't there be an E before the F...?" Adam scratched the back of his head puzzled. He figured that the zones were numbered alphabetically, and the closer to the beginning - the harder the zone was. He wasn't wrong, though.

"You're right, there is an E-Zone here, it's just that it's empty at the moment. Usually, there were too many prisoners in the F-Zone, so they were transferred to the E-Zone, which had the same conditions as the F-Zone. However, as I said earlier, there have been fewer prisoners among the Phantoms lately." Lola smiled.

Adam sighed.

"I see... In that case, if I can get through all the zones, I should be able to get out of the prison in a couple of days, right?"

Lola nodded uncertainly.

"Yeah... It's possible, in theory. True, there have been a few prisoners that have managed to make it to the last zone, in which case they would only have a week left of their sentence, no matter what their original sentence was. But I think it's too early to tell what awaits you at the end. You have to get there first."

Adam shrugged, heading forward.

He felt quite confident because, during the fight against Narata and Prago, he learned something about this prison. Especially, about the other Phantoms.

'Not all Phantoms have been through as many dangerous battles as me or Alexia. During Eclipse, we were all K1-Phantoms, however, someone clearly stood out. Hmm, I used to underestimate the importance of experience, but after fighting Narata, I realized that some Phantoms hadn't even killed Crown Type Monsters yet.' Adam pondered with a complicated expression.

'Furthermore, I can't know this for sure, but it feels like she's very rarely in Dead Lands. Maybe it's because of her work here, or maybe it's because she doesn't want to risk her life, or maybe she's just afraid of facing monsters again...'

Bam.

Lola crashed into Adam's back, who suddenly stopped. He was just staring at the ceiling with a thoughtful look.

"Ouch! Why did you stop...?" Lola tilted her head, puzzled, rubbing her forehead.

"Phantoms have superpowers, but... they can also be afraid or weak like Narata, can't they?" Adam muttered, asking the question. It was actually a rhetorical one, not requiring an answer from anyone.

Lola's eyes went wide.

"Narata was weak?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing, "I mean, you beat her, so you have the right to think so, but plenty of Phantoms lost to her."

Adam waved his hand.

"I know what I'm talking about. A real Phantom, with more experience and a desire to kill monsters instead of wasting his time in prison, would have defeated her as easily as I did. She's like a greenhouse plant, growing in a comfortable environment with no stress or trials."

Then, Adam headed forward without saying anything. Lola gulped as she silently followed him.

Before, Adam had always kept in contact with the leaders of the squads, or with strong Phantoms that were skilled and liked to hunt monsters. Somehow, he could sense it and didn't need to see auras or hear what the Phantom was saying.

It was enough of a facial expression for Adam to realize that Alexia had killed hundreds of times more monsters than Narata and had been in Dead Lands dozens of times more often.

That's not to mention that Alexia had probably fought much stronger monsters than Narata, and neither had Adam.

Narata wasn't the only one, especially in Azure Lotus, but Adam had yet to learn and realize that not all Phantoms were equally strong and experienced.

And... it wasn't about their talents or origins, but something else that Adam, living in the slums, hadn't even considered.

...

Crackle.

The massive green gate opened, casting a bright light upon Adam.

As soon as he entered the D-Zone, he immediately released his mighty aura - using all the power he had, for he already knew what would happen next.

Strangely enough, no one began to attack him with their aura, except for one powerful source...

'Oh... Looks like this is going to be harder than I thought...' Adam pondered as he looked at the massive, blurry silhouette of an axe.