Endless Evolution: Last Star

Human life is long, at least for most, one has enough time to have different dreams of varying magnitude at various times in their lives.

For many, however, one particular dream was so desirable that nothing else made sense.

Katrin was in that situation, wanting to obtain Scarlet Pyromancer's gene in order to obtain the new Initial Gene.

Unlike those who never achieved their ultimate dream, Katrin had a clear plan and succeeded even given the difficult circumstances.

A bright red star, her new Initial Gene was already heading towards her, in a second about to disappear into her Revolve, forever giving her his powers.

But... besides the fact that people didn't always succeed in achieving their dreams, there was another global problem: the desires of others, the goals of someone else, could destroy another's dream in a single moment.

Katrin had been traveling towards her dream for quite a long time, starting from the moment she became a Phantom.

And... after going through hardships, coming up with a plan, adjusting to a dangerous situation, she had accomplished her goal, almost...

A second ago, her eyes were shining with excitement, her heart was beating vigorously and her dream seemed to be fulfilled, the path to a new power, to a new life was open...

One black flash was enough to destroy everything, the will of another, stronger being was able to turn her desires into dust.

The darkness consumed the already dead Scarlet Pyromancer, took all the energy from the monster's body, and destroyed the bright star that sought to enter Katrin's Revolve.

A cage of dense roots saturated with energy could not stop the terrible jaw, splinters flew off to the sides as sharp blades passed close to Katrin's face.

After the jaw, all that was left on the ground was a deep crater with an eerie pattern left by many sharp teeth.

The jaw also ripped off Katrin's right arm which was outstretched in hopes of getting a new Initial Gene.

Normally with such a serious wound, one would have screamed in pain, the wound continued up to her shoulder, heavy clots of dark blood dripping from the torn flesh, falling to the cold ground.

However, Katrin's mind was simply oblivious to the pain. Her entire world was shattered now, the realization of it overshadowing everything else.

"No..." Katrin whispered as if trying to change reality, she wanted time to go back, she couldn't accept that it had happened.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Green streams of energy swept in front of her face, her body was still releasing energy outward, but that wasn't a good sign at all.

It was a reminder that Katrin had already removed her Initial Gene, the countdown to her death had already begun, moreover, out of the five minutes of enhanced form, she only had two minutes left. Then, she would have another 1:50 before the final ten seconds began.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

The clot of darkness made the sounds of bones breaking, the jaw took real pleasure in devouring its victim, no matter if it was the ground, roots, Scarlet Pyromancer's flesh, or the monster's energy. The jaw devoured everything, turning it into its energy.

Katrin needed some time to recover. Sure, every moment mattered to her now, but it was unlikely she could recover in less than ten or twenty seconds.

But, for others, it didn't take that long to realize that action was needed urgently and right now.

Whoooooosh.

Nessa rushed over to Plague Reaper, who had now lost his coat, if only temporarily. It was the first time she or anyone else could see what was under the long, black coat.

Plague Reaper looked rather skinny, he didn't have huge muscles or anything like that. His ribs were slightly visible from beneath the taut skin, but his body was not weak, small muscles intertwined with strong tendons, showing the might that lurked within them.

Nessa continued to run forward, quickly approaching Plague Reaper. From the sight of his body, she gulped, feeling threatened, not because of his pale skin, but because of the many scars that covered his entire body.

Nessa had scars too, but none of them looked as horrible as they did on Plague Reaper's body. There was almost no place where his skin had managed to stay clean and soft, almost everything was covered in rough scars of varying degrees of hardness.

Nessa didn't have time to ponder, but she couldn't think about how many battles he had gone through to get to this point.

'And... What's most important...' Nessa internally muttered with a shiver going through her whole body, 'If he's standing here, fighting against us, then in all these battles he's been winning. Will we be able to stop this monster...?'

Nessa shook her head not wanting to be distracted, such thoughts were useless right now and only prevented her from concentrating.
Your adventure continues at empire

Tap.

She stopped abruptly in front of Plague Reaper before aiming her claws straight for its neck.

Despite what Plague Reaper had done to Katrin and Scarlet Pyromancer, he was in his most vulnerable state right now.

He didn't have his coat, and his scythe was lying far away, with the blade plunged into the ground.

'There are probably some monsters beyond the flame ring that Katrin can take... Now, the most important thing is to deal with him while we have the chance!' Nessa glared at Plague Reaper, about to pierce his neck with her sharp claws.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Plague Reaper abruptly turned around, letting her attack pass in front of his calm eyes. Despite temporarily losing his weapon and coat, Plague Reaper wasn't worried at all as he knew that right now he was preparing to unleash one powerful attack.

For the next few seconds, while Katrin still hadn't regained consciousness and Adam didn't have enough time to come to her aid, Nessa did her best to kill Plague Reaper.

She moved as fast as she ever could until that moment.

Before Nessa had wanted to defeat Plague Reaper to prove that she had gotten stronger, that she was superior to Adam, but now she had a different motivation: she was scared of him.

There was a real fear brewing inside Nessa of this creature, who was capable of killing every one of them.

There was no power of friendship or unique teamwork here that would definitely lead them to victory. If Plague Reaper was stronger than all of them, then it was their graves that would be here.

"Wha..."

Plague Reaper opened his mouth slightly, letting out a prolonged, barely audible wheeze.

Nessa flinched.

She didn't know why, but she felt Plague Reaper's frustration was expressed in that sigh.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

At the same moment, the jaw stopped chewing its prey, the blob of darkness shuddered and headed toward Plague Reaper at breakneck speed, like a shadow running across the ground.

In a heartbeat, the coat once again covered the scarred body of its owner, but this time something was wrong.

Adam's eyes went wide when he saw red energy coming out of the black coat. The energy quickly traveled towards Plague Reaper's hands, empowering them.

"NO! Don't try to fight! Run away!" Adam exclaimed, trying to get to Nessa in time to save her, but it was already too late.

Plague Reaper dodged Nessa's last attack before stepping forward.

Calmly, as if he were in practice and not in mortal combat, Plague Reaper placed his palms against Nessa's stomach before releasing all of the red energy in a single point.

Then, the next thing Nessa saw was a ghostly crimson jaw rushing at her like an inevitable execution.