Endless Evolution: Last Star

"What's going on..." Mark muttered in confusion, looking around.

Sirgus frowned.

"I don't know, but I heard of a story where the same thing happened... and the ending wasn't good, at all."

Barna, looked around carefully, preparing for battle. An ally wouldn't use a communication-blocking barrier, would they?

Booooooooooooooooom.

There was a deafening explosion, tearing down the sand wall, then several silhouettes stepped inside, just under ten in total.

Strangely enough, they were all Phantoms, it was clear from their powerful auras and the NEPs on their wrists.

'Wait... Why are their NEPs black...?' Katrin was puzzled.

The NEPs of all Phantoms were white, perhaps gray if it was an old model and the hull was dirty and damaged. However, the NEPs of these Phantoms looked new but were also black.

Leading the way was a woman wearing black and red clothes. In fact, her clothes were the same style as Katrin's or Barna's, suitable for the desert terrain. However, the colors were adhered to very strictly, as if it were important. On her back was a massive black case, obviously heavy, for something important.

She had long red hair, blue eyes, and a sharp chin line. Her gaze was cold and arrogant, for she was the strongest here, her aura matching the K1-Phantom.

"Who are you?" Barna stepped forward with a menacing gaze.

She was the leader of the Travelers Squad and had to act according to her status. It didn't matter that the woman in front of her was stronger, after all, she wasn't going to fight humans.

After all, all mankind had one common enemy - monsters.

"Travelers Squad, right?" The woman asked, casting a glance at Barna, then she looked at Adam.

A slight glint of contempt swept across her eyes, it was clear that she wasn't going to talk to Barna, who was weaker than her. Status didn't matter when there was a difference in power.

"As we suspected, K1-Phantom was sent here. Well, someone had to kill the Prime King, didn't it?" The woman smirked, the she held out her hand.

"My name is Mirna, I'm an officer of the Ruby Dew. Pleased to meet you." Mirna said quietly, waiting for Adam to shake her hand.

However, Adam did not. His instincts told him that he couldn't expect anything good from Mirna.

"Barna is the leader of this squad, you should talk to her if you're in charge. I'm just helping them on this mission." Adam said coldly.

Katrin and Mark looked at each other, slight smiles appearing on their faces. What Adam did was important to them.

"Pffft. Suit yourself, I didn't expect you to turn out to be so ill-mannered. In the Lower Ring, not shaking hands is the ultimate show of disrespect, you know?" Mirna raised an eyebrow.

"Lower Ring...?" Kody muttered in confusion.

"Tsk. I knew it." Sirgus clenched his fists tightly as his eyes darkened. As the most experienced of their squad, Sirgus had assumed it immediately, but couldn't be completely sure. However, after Mirna mentioned the Lower Ring, he had no more doubts.

Adam frowned.

"So you're from the Lower Ring? Well, that explains your black NEPs. What do you want? We've already finished the mission."

Mirna smirked.

"Hah, even though you're a K1-Phantom, you seem to be rather naive."

The broad-shouldered man standing behind her smirked.

"He's from Upper Ring, what's more, he's young! He's just another talented rookie, nothing more. There are plenty of weaklings like him in Upper Ring!" The man mockingly said.

Mirna waved her hand.

"Grut shut the hell up. I'm trying to make sure we get home a little early. Don't you dare interrupt me again!"

Grut shrugged with a slight smile.

Then, Mirna looked at Adam.

"Anyway, go back to your fort and report the failure of the mission. You can blame us for everything if you want, we don't care. The resources, especially the golden eggs will be ours." Mirna said calmly, there was an unwavering confidence in her voice.

"That's not going to happen. Find another Nest, I'm sure there are plenty of them in the Scorching Desert. You have quite a large squad, so you'll do fine." Adam glared at Mirna, showing that he wasn't going to back down.

Adam spoke for the entire Travelers Squad because Barna, Katrin, and the others were not going to give up what they had worked so hard for!

Mirna sighed heavily.

"Alright." Mirna shrugged nonchalantly, then she quickly clapped her hands together.

Bam.

A silver bullet flew out from the north side of the Nest and exploded Barna's head, leaving her no chance of survival.

Her body fell to the ground, under the shocked stares of the others. No one could believe what had happened.

"Barna... no..." Katrin whispered, shaking with panic.

"Hahahahaha! Look at their faces!" Grut laughed, walking over to Adam.

"What's the matter? Shouldn't you be pissed right now? Maybe you'll be engulfed in flames of rage and beat us all up? Hehehehe, the Upper Ring is filled with weak-willed idiots! Come on, do something!"

Adam blinked several times, looking at the already dead Barna. It took him a few moments to realize what had happened.

Then, he slowly turned around, looked at Mirna, and shifted his gaze to Grut.

"You see? I told you it was a good idea. They're easy to break, unlike us they haven't seen the dark side of the world! Hahaha!" Grut laughed evilly.

Adam let out a heavy sigh, slowly releasing the cold steam rushing over his shoulders.

His fingertips stopped shaking, and Mirna's eyes went wide as she came into motion.

Smack.

However, before she could take another breath, Adam's palms came down on Grut's head like two hammers, blasting it under tremendous pressure.

Scraps of flesh, eyes, and teeth flew apart, rolling across the sandy floor next to the decapitated body that had collapsed to the ground.

"I haven't been to the Lower Ring yet, but one man from there, once told me - some of us are more like monsters than humans..." Adam muttered in a calm voice. Unconsciously, he emitted an aura that made the dark Phantoms shiver.

Whooooooooooosh.

Adam jerked his head when a silver bullet flew close to his neck, almost hitting it, but Adam's lightning-fast reflexes prevented that from happening.

"Prepare yourselves. I will kill every one of you. I spare no monsters." Adam uttered as his eyes shone brightly.

...

At the same moment, he found himself in his space, heading towards the gloves serenely floating not far from the Evolution Tree.

He had collected the required number of genes, exactly 10 purple threat genes, which meant he could finally upgrade his Nexus.

Adam walked over to the gloves with a cold stare and swung his hand.

The Vault opened, and ten purple genes flew into the gloves. Adam quickly read the Second Trait of his Nexus and nodded deeply.

'Agh... I've waited so long for this moment, and it's going to end up with me using this power against other Phantoms. Well, sometimes we just don't have a choice, right?'

...

For everyone else, only a moment passed when the threads on Adam's right glove shone brightly.

Then, over his palm, energy particles appeared, turning into tiny threads that quickly formed into a spinning sphere of hundreds of similar threads.