Endless Evolution: Last Star

The two flashes slammed into each other, shaking the ground and emitting a loud clang from their blades that rang out for dozens of meters around.

With each new clash, the ground trembled and blood fell on the cold surface, whether it was the blood of a monster or a human, it didn't matter, their blood had long since mixed to become a single trace of their fierce battle.

The black blade spinning at breakneck speed left more and more wounds on Adam's body, scratches and deep cuts covered him, bright flashes of pain appeared relentlessly, but for him, it was only embers that helped his fire of battle to keep burning brightly.

"Come on! We have less than a minute left! Is this all you have to show before you die? These are your last seconds of life!"

Adam exclaimed with an excited expression before swinging his claws, leaving four deep cuts on Plague Reaper's side like the paws of a massive beast.

Despite the vivid pain, Plague Reaper didn't react in any way. He simply grinned widely before continuing to attack.

From time to time, Katrin joined their battle, but since she had weakened considerably by spending her five minutes, she could hardly do anything to Plague Reaper.

Well, in fact, she had successfully inflicted several wounds on him with both her staff and roots, but the reason was that Plague Reaper was no longer trying to dodge.

With each passing second, his victory was getting closer and he could feel it.

'No... I have to do something. Despite the wounds they've received, neither Adam nor Plague Reaper is going to fall...' Katrin muttered inwardly while energy streams that were already as thin as threads flew in front of her.

Katrin bit her lip.

'Plague Reaper also has a limited time, no one can fight at this pace forever, but... considering he doesn't care about his wounds, he definitely won't collapse in a minute. Our time is quickly running out.'

By then, only forty petals were left on Adam's chest, and Katrin's Evolution Tree was preparing to empty completely.

'Fine, there's no point in thinking about it, I can't waste any time on this. Those two are right, the most important thing is to act now, as some of us don't have long to live...' Katrin's gaze grew serious as she pointed her hand at Plague Reaper.

The next moment, black roots with already opened crimson flowers emerged from the ground.

The roots appeared right in front of Plague Reaper, separating him from Adam like the rods of a cage.

Earlier, Plague Reaper would have just evaded, it was quite easy to do so from his spot, but now that wasn't an option.

Whoooooooosh.

With a single swing, the black blade sliced through the roots, while crimson blossoms detonated.

The flaming blast consumed everything around it, but despite its brightness, Plague Reaper paid no attention to it, as if compared to the desire to fight to the very end, these flames were pale and insignificant.

Adam's eyes went wide when a black flash shot through the red fire, Plague Reaper shielded himself from the flames with his coat.

The edges of his coat burned away, leaving smoldering sparks on the cold ground.

Bam.

Plague Reaper spun around, kicking Adam's right in the stomach.

His body moved in preparation for the next strike, but Adam's claws instantly traveled across his face, leaving three deep cuts on Plague Reaper's cheek.

Streams of blood quickly coated his pale skin, tending to fall to the ground.

Adam was about to attack again. Oddly enough, his body allowed him to do so.

Plague Reaper's eyes instinctively watched as Adam's claws approached him. The electrical discharges helped his attacks reach some unthinkable speed.

Even in his current state, Plague Reaper had no time to dodge, it seemed to him that time itself stopped and only Adam was allowed to move.

A swift gleam ran down Adam's claws, the threads that made up his gauntlet trembled, quickly losing their shape.

At once, as if at someone's command, the gauntlet with the sharp claws disappeared, the threads simply parted to the side, exposing Adam's arm that the next moment fell to Plague Reaper's chest.

"Agh...? What the hell...?" Adam muttered in disbelief. He looked at his chest, he still had twenty petals, for another twenty seconds he could fight with complete freedom in his actions.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Plague Reaper's fist immediately plunged into Adam's stomach, and a stream of blood came out of his mouth, coating Plague Reaper's chest.

"Adam! Don't you dare stop!" Katrin exclaimed appearing behind Plague Reaper.

Crackle.

The sharp tip of her staff pierced Plague Reaper's leg, causing his face to distort in bright pain.

"RRRRAAAAAAH!!!!"

Plague Reaper roared, turning his torso around and hitting Katrin sharply, the back of his palm smashing into her face.

The impact threw Katrin aside, stunning her head as if two steel hammers struck it simultaneously.

Second by second, Adam tried to force Plague Reaper to his limit, but his efforts were not enough.

'No...'

Adam internally muttered looking at the red particles of energy flying in front of him.

Throwing a quick glance at his chest he saw that he only had three petals left.

His heart beat faster, he realized that he had to launch his most powerful attack right now.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Tensing his muscles to the limit, Adam plunged the needle straight at Plague Reaper, about to slice him diagonally through the hundreds of threads that made up his needle, each thread as sharp as a razor.

Plague Reaper's excited face abruptly became calm and his eyes filled with sadness.

He took a step forward.

The tip of the needle split his chest, revealing the ribs behind which hid his heart, which started beating much slower.

Then, the Plague Reaper's black eyes reflected the last petal flying off Adam's chest.

As a last attempt, Adam raised his right hand high up, the tip of his needle shining, but... the flower already disappeared from his chest.

Bam.

Adam's bones cracked, his flesh tore and his legs trembled, unable to support his weight. Surges of blood came out of the numerous gaps that showed up all over his body as if under powerful pressure.

His time was up.

Step. Step. Step.

Plague Reaper calmly approached him, looking from the top.

Just a few seconds ago, he figured it out, so his gaze filled with sadness as he realized that their fight was over.

Whooooosh.

Plague Reaper attacked, bringing his scythe down on Adam.

Adam's arm instinctively twitched, blocking the first attack with his needle, but the recoil spreading through his body was unbearably painful.

"Stop!" Katrin exclaimed angrily running towards them.

However, her steps were slow and clumsy. Out of one minute and fifty seconds, she had less than ten seconds left, she had lost almost all of her strength. The streams of energy coming out of her body were thinner than human hair.

Plague Reaper cast a glance at her, but no more than that. There was nothing she could do to stop him.

Then, he raised his scythe high above his head before quickly lowering his weapon. The black blade sliced through the air in its path, about to end Adam's life.

Crackle.

The long blade thrust into flesh, cutting through bone with ease, but... Adam felt no pain, only a few drops of someone else's blood falling on his shocked face.

"Tsk... It hurts insanely..." Katrin muttered looking at her reflection in the black scythe blade deeply plunged into her right shoulder.

From the pain and force of the attack, she fell to one knee, managing to protect Adam at the last moment.

"Five... no, I probably have less than seconds left now..." Katrin muttered feeling that she was approaching the beginning of the last ten seconds when she would be completely devoid of her powers, practically no different from an ordinary human.

Plague Reaper's eyes went wide, he couldn't believe Katrin had actually done it. Thick streams of blood flowed down her shoulder, which was already missing an arm.

Not letting the thoughts consume his mind, Plague Reaper gripped the bone hilt tighter, about to pull the blade out of Katrin's shoulder and attack once more to kill them both with his final slash.

Tap.

Slowly but surely, a cold palm touched Plague Reaper's chest, right where Adam had split it with the tip of his needle.

Plague Reaper lowered his gaze, and... he shuddered at the way Katrin was looking at him.

There was a slight smile on her face and her eyes were filled with sadness.

"Goodbye... until we meet again... It will happen very soon."

Katrin muttered before her eyes shone brightly, one last time.

A lone root emerged from her palm, the sharp tip advancing forward, between her ribs, easily piercing Plague Reaper's heart and exiting the other side.

Splash.

Simultaneously, blood rushed from Plague Reaper and Katrin's mouths, both of them running out of time, but for now, it only meant death for one of them...

Bam.

Katrin and Plague Reaper fell, rolling down the slope together before stopping in the middle of the dusty ground.

The first wind current ruffled their hair, carrying away splinters of Katrin's root that had already shattered since she had lost all her powers. Her last ten seconds had begun.

Evolution Tree was draining the life force out of Katrin.

Even though they had won, their original plan was not going to come to reality. They had too little time left to kill some Light Yellow monster and save Katrin.

But...

The flame of life was only gone from Plague Reaper's eyes, Katrin still had the last seconds of her story.

"Hah... here comes our hasty reunion..."

Katrin muttered, before extending her hand towards Plague Reaper.

She opened her palm, white particles of energy turned into an active vortex.

Katrin summoned Revolve.