Endless Evolution: Last Star

Every prisoner at Fall Hill Prison had the opportunity to improve their conditions of sentence. To do so, they had to do something very simple - move to the next zone.

However, to do so, they had to defeat the Guardian - K1-Phantom from Azure Lotus, given that the prisoner didn't have his Nexus. This made the challenge much more difficult.

Thus, if the prisoner from the second floor and the Guardian were normally equal in strength, then without his Nexus, the prisoner had no chance of winning. The Nexus was an important pillar of Phantom's strength, and losing such a powerful weapon was critical.

Step. Step. Step.

A girl in a blue military suit stepped forward confidently, holding a huge black case. She had azure eyes, a firm, sharp gaze, and black hair with curls down to her chin.

She walked through the gate, looked at the prisoners, and jumped down.

The prisoners quickly moved away from her, for some of them had already been hit by her blows. Not during a duel, but when they refused to do tasks, then they regretted it greatly.

"You're the one who challenged me to a duel?" The girl asked, looking intently at Adam.

Adam nodded with a slight smile on his face.

The girl waved her hand with a serious look.

"Go away if you don't want to die."

At the same moment, all the prisoners returned to their cells, well, except for the Phantoms from the Second Floor. They had the privilege of watching the fight from above - from the best possible seats.

Then, as the prisoners closed their cells, an energy barrier appeared along the walls, left there beforehand by some powerful Phantoms so that the prisoner and Guardian wouldn't destroy the prison during the battle.

"My name is Narata, I am F-Zone Guardian, you have scored 999 points and challenged me. If you can defeat me, you'll pass to the next Zone, however, I wouldn't count on it."

Without waiting for Adam's words, Narata opened her case, revealing a massive sword that was almost as big as herself.

Narata sighed, swung the sword a few times, and got into a fighting stance. She was ready to attack at any moment.

Adam glanced at her weapon, feeling a slight envy. The fact that he didn't have a Nexus, and Narata did, affected him more than he thought.

Whoooooooooooosh.

Without warning, Narata lunged forward, swinging her sword at high speed.

Adam's pupils narrowed as he put up a block, allowing the sword blade to sink into his arm, just above the elbow.

Then, Narata spun around sharply, plunging her foot into his stomach.

Before Adam could recover, Narata used her First Order. A dense layer of water covered her legs, and arms, making her faster and much stronger.

Within seconds, Narata attacked several times, hitting Adam and ripping his clothes to shreds. All he could do was dodge, reacting at the last moment in time to keep the sword from slicing his head off.

"Fall!" Narata exclaimed, as her eyes flashed and her sword trembled.

Several cells on the sword opened up, turning it into a lance with an extremely wide cone-shaped tip. Then, streams of water rushed out of the cells, combining into a single wave that crashed down on Adam.

The impact was enough to throw Adam backwards, causing him to slam his back against the wall.

Narata did not continue to attack, instead, she stood in the center of the arena, glaring at Adam. After the First Nexus Trait, her sword returned to normal, which should have been enough to win.

"Give up. I don't know what Nexus you have, but without your weapon, there's nothing you can do to me." Narata said confidently with a frown on her brow.

The prisoners began to whisper. They didn't see anything out of the ordinary, though. Narata had dealt with the past challenger in the same way. She was strong and had the advantage in the form of Nexus, so to everyone, the result was obvious.

"Well, well, I warned him." The scarlet-haired woman shook her head. She had seen this sort of thing many times before.

Step. Step. Step.

Adam slowly took a few steps forward, looking around.

Then, he looked at Narata. His eyes were wide, clearly surprised, even shocked, as if he saw something extraordinary.

"Hah, you have no idea how many times I've seen that look. I won't attack you if you surrender right now, and don't challenge me to a duel again. I think you've already realized, that you don't stand a chance against me." Narata said confidently, slinging her sword onto her shoulder.

Adam glanced down at his arm, where a shallow cut remained from Narata's first attack. There was a slight pain, with a few trickles of blood running down his elbow before falling to the ground in crimson drops.

Adam stared at Narata, and his lips came into motion.

"You're a Guardian of the F-Zone, right...?" Adam asked uncertainly.

Narata nodded with an arrogant smile.

"Sure. I am engaged to stop brave ones like you. Few people can even get me to tense up, though!"

Adam nodded understandingly, scratching the back of his head.

Then, his blank, serene gaze fell on Narata, like that of a simple man who just wanted an answer to his only question.

"In that case... Why are you so weak...?" Adam muttered, waving his hand slightly.

Narata's eyes went wide with waves of shivering throughout her body.

She as well as the rest of the prisoners sensed that Adam wasn't trying to mock or appear arrogant - he was sincere and didn't actually understand it.

"Am I weak...?" Narata muttered, her lips trembling, "Absurd! Utter nonsense! Just look at you! I only needed one series of attacks to leave dozens of wounds on your body!"

Adam glanced down at himself and pulled off his t-shirt, previously shredded by Narata's sword.

Oddly enough, there wasn't a single cut or drop of blood on his muscular body. It seemed that Narata's sword simply couldn't cut through his skin, but he dodged every attack.

"No way... Even if you dodged my sword... the water stream should have torn through your flesh! You should have taken serious damage!" Narata shouted in disbelief.

Adam shrugged.

"I'm telling you you're weak. It was enough for me to summon my Order for a second to stop your Nexus Trait. Anyway... Let's just finish this. Obviously, I should be moving on to the next zone by now, and you're just an obstacle in my way." Adam waved his hand before taking a step.

At the same moment, electric charges engulfed his legs, and after a few quick leaps, he found himself right in front of Narata. His speed became much faster, more than Narata could have expected!

His eyes were blank, staring down at Narata not as a human but as a weak monster.

His mouth hung open, letting out a cold vapor drifting over his shoulders like a calm but inevitable sign of disaster.

Crackle.

Before Narata could understand anything, Adam's fist plunged into her face, breaking her nose and knocking out several teeth, throwing her backwards for meters with a loud crack.