Endless Evolution: Last Star

However, it was already finished. Adam's last attack, a silver swirl, had turned the insides of the Firebreathing Trinadon into scrap metal - unusable and ruined material, just like its life.

Bam.

The massive body, weighing several tons, fell to the ground with a crash, raising a cloud of rusty dust. Smoke billowed like waves, quickly spreading out, covering everyone and everything.

Iren, Romeo, and the others had to shield themselves with their hands to keep the dust out of their mouths and eyes.

Soon, as the dust settled slightly and revealed Adam's silhouette, Iren took a step forward, confidently heading towards him with a menacing look.

"Adam Vinter... What are you doing here?" Iren asked, clenching her fists. The others glanced over and followed her. They were part of the same squad and had to support each other.

Adam threw a glare at her.

"Isn't it obvious? I saved you. You should thank me because a little more and Firebreathing Trinadon would have surely burned you into nameless coals." Adam said calmly as if speaking not his opinion but reading the facts.

Iren frowned, she was not hiding her annoyance.

"We didn't need any help, especially from a bastard like you!" Iren waved her hand irritably.

"Hmm?" Adam tilted his head in confusion. He didn't understand why Iren had already moved on to insults even though they had known each other for less than a minute.

"Don't pretend you don't understand!" Iren exclaimed, pointing at him, "You just took our prey! I'll be complaining about you! Moreover, someone like you should be in prison!"

Romeo had a puzzled expression on his face. Unlike Iren, he didn't know anything about Adam. They had never been in the same squad, and Romeo didn't keep track of who was at the bottom of the reputation rating.

The girl with the staff realized this, so she bent down and whispered in his ear everything she knew about Adam.

"What...? He killed a human?!" Romeo exclaimed in surprise. For him to hear such a thing was like seeing the embodiment of one of the deadly sins.

Iren nodded with a serious face.

"I doubt you're interested in this, but Adam Vinter has one of the worst reputations. He's been a Phantom for just under two months, but he's already killed a man and done a lot of other bad things, and... even now he's still going on!" Iren's veins swelled with anger.

Oddly enough, she actually believed what she was saying. It wasn't even about what exactly Adam had done, it was about the fact that he had an F-Rank. To her, that was equivalent to being labeled as a criminal or a murderer.

Adam pointed to the Firebreathing Trinadon with a careless look.

"Take it. I don't need its genes. When your Harvesters collect the materials, my Operator will send you a check. I won't take all of it, 50% will be enough."

Iren's eyes went wide at such insolence.

"Hey! That's not fair at all!" The axe-wielding young man spoke up, putting his axe on his shoulder.

"Why?" Adam asked calmly.

The young man looked back, "Because there are five of us, and you're alone! What's more, we didn't ask for your help, so you shouldn't have gotten involved at all!"

Tap.

The man with the shield walked up to him and placed his heavy hand on his shoulder. Unlike the others, his gaze was more serious, and his eyes were filled with experience.

"Calm down. We have to admit that although there were five of us, we couldn't defeat Firebreathing Trinadon in a few rounds, even though we planned to do it in the first series of attacks. However... Prime Type was stronger than we expected." The man calmly said.

Then, he looked at the others.

"Adam is giving us the genes, so 50% might be fair." The man suggested, hoping for agreement from the others.

Romeo, the young man with the axe, and the girl with the staff looked at each other. They had mixed feelings, for deep down, they knew they could hardly defeat Firebreathing Trinadon without taking serious damage.

"No! That's out of the question! I'm not going to share the loot with a criminal." Iren said sharply, destroying any chance for an agreement.

She pointed her sword at Adam and spoke menacingly:

"I heard you've been imprisoned at Fall Hill Prison for half a year! If you're here now, you've escaped from there! You will return with us to the Citadel and face the law!"

Iren obviously didn't know how Fall Hill Prison really worked. To her, Adam was an escaped Phantom criminal who was now preventing others from accomplishing their missions.

Adam looked at her intently.

"So you faithfully enforce all the laws in the Citadel? Doing everything to maintain your perfect reputation?" Adam asked with mild interest, piercing her with his cold gaze.

Iren nodded.

"We Phantoms are supposed to set an example for people. The common people must believe in us and see that we are their future - the golden light of the entire Citadel. People like you are only destroying their faith in us!" Iren waved her hand.

Adam nodded.

"I see..."

Then, Adam glanced around with a serene gaze. He looked at the empty iron buildings, the rusty dust that, like dunes in the desert, covered the places that radiated an aura of death because of the long-dead creatures buried beneath them.

"But..." Adam muttered with a detached look before staring at Iren, "We're not in the Citadel now."

Iren, Romeo's, and the others' eyes went wide, realizing the meaning hidden behind Adam's words. There were no laws in the Dead Lands other than those that had existed since the beginning of the world - the laws of nature.

Adam sighed heavily, turned, and walked past Firebreathing Trinadon. Another opponent awaited him - much stronger and more necessary than a pile of flaming metal.

"Stop! Or are you going to say your famous line again?" Iren shouted. After the news had reported that Adam had killed a common man, Iren had spent a lot of time researching everything in the public domain about Adam.

Adam said nothing back, he didn't care. He helped them because they could die, he wasn't going to just stand and watch five Phantoms die.

"Famous line...?" Romeo scratched his cheek in a confused manner.

The girl with the staff nodded.

"I don't fight against humans... That's what he said a few times, but... I can't remember the last time he said it... There's only one video from the virtual zone section..." The girl replied uncertainly.

Romeo whispered, mouthing the words to himself.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Iren rushed forward, quickly approaching Adam and swinging her sword from top to bottom. She was clearly serious, ready to wound him if necessary.

Electric shocks passed across Adam's eyes as he abruptly turned his body to the right, taking two short steps backward.

"Agh...?" Iren's eyes went wide. Her azure sword, as well she did, passed in front of Adam, under his calm gaze that was quickly becoming colder.

"Dead Lands taught me that it's an idiotic rule, but... the price others have paid for it. Though we have different views, our goal is the same - so for you, I'll teach that lesson for free." Adam said with obvious sadness in his voice.

Then, before Iren could realize anything, Adam's fist plunged into her stomach - making her feel a bright, piercing pain.