Endless Evolution: Last Star

"Hey Adam, is it just me, or are you looking a little broody today?" Leona asked, taking a sip of the flavored tea. In front of her lay a half-eaten cupcake, and... its life wouldn't be long until Leona satisfied her hunger.

Adam smiled bitterly.

"I met this girl yesterday. She's the younger sister of the Phantom, who died on the mission I was on as well. It was my decision, but... I still can't get our meeting out of my mind."

Leona didn't say anything, she just narrowed her eyes intently at Adam. She continued to drink her tea, waiting for him to tell her everything, she didn't need to push.

"I mean... How does she feel? What will she do next? Her older brother was a Phantom, the hope of her family and protector, but... now all she has are memories and a commitment to come to the funeral." Adam spread his hands apart as if he didn't understand how anyone could handle such a situation.

Leona nodded deeply, put the cup aside, and looked at Adam.

"Adam, you did everything you could and more. I know what happened there and what went on with that guy, Lero... I'm sure if you could have saved him you would have, but... it's out of your hands."

Then, Leona stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

"If it makes you feel better, you can visit her after a while, but there's no point in thinking about it more and more. How about you help me make lasagna instead?" Leona turned around with a slight smile on her face.

Adam smiled bitterly.

"Yeah, you're right. After all, today, I wanted to make time exclusively for you, my family." Adam muttered before walking over to the refrigerator and pulling out a packet of ground meat.

The first thing they were going to do was roast the meat so they could mix it with tomato paste and spices, thus making the red sauce, one of the key ingredients in lasagna.

Staring at the ground meat for a while, Adam thought for a moment, remembering events from the past.

'This is good meat, from a company that watches its quality, at a decent price. But... what would happen if I replaced this beef with some monster meat? What would the lasagna at Red Feast be like?'

Adam remembered well what Thunder Demon and other monsters tasted like and it gave him a curious thought.

'Hmm... Silvana said that the territories the K2-Phantoms hunt are different from where I've been before. It's not that they're more difficult or dangerous, that's obvious, but... they're too far away from the Citadel.'

Adam pondered, turning to Leona, opening the ground meat with a quick sweep of his hand. Leona at this time pulled out a frying pan and a bottle of olive oil.

'The Territories will no longer just be rings moving away from the Citadel, the further they get the more difficult they become. They are far enough away to be distinctive areas where next to someone strong, can live someone weak but stealthy.'

The distant lands worked the same way as beasts in the wild. Sure, the most valuable things went to the strongest, but those who didn't need much to survive could sit in their habitats and still be useful to humanity.

'These territories are much more diverse as their area is much larger than the territories for K0 and K1 Phantoms, with K2-Phantoms being less than K0 and K1.' Adam inwardly muttered while throwing ground meat into the heated pan.

Spurt.

A massive drop of hot oil flew off the pan, heading straight for Leon's face. This was because Adam dumped out all the ground meat at once.

Whoosh.

Before the drop could reach its target, Adam's hand appeared in front of Leona clutching the drop tightly in his fist.

"Oh... That's impressive... I noticed the splash of oil too late. Aren't you hot?" Leona asked, slightly surprised.

As a mother, she was long ago used to the oil occasionally getting on her skin and burning her. It was part of the cooking process, something she didn't try to avoid.

"No, I hardly felt a thing." Adam shook his head with a slight smile on his face.

Leona nodded deeply taking the handle of the frying pan and stirring the meat.

"Good, in that case, let's get on with it. Those who are inexperienced compare the cooking to subduing a wild beast! You never know what might happen in the process!"

...

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Sparks flew off to the sides, from the red sharp claws scraping the steel floor. Redcore Wolf sharpened his claws to tear his target apart with one precise attack.

It seemed that Redcore Wolf shouldn't be motivated to fight, yet his eyes burned brightly.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Aiden was mostly involved, as every monster in Morton Observatory knew that there were many rules here and every one of them, without exception, worked.

If Redcore Wolf defeated Glara, he would be returned to Dead Lands and would not be hunted for a long time. If he wins, Redcore Wolf can do anything he wants to Glara, even eat her, since if she loses, she loses all value to Aiden.

Did Glara know this?

No.

But, she didn't need to know all the rules of this place since she already understood well enough what kind of person Aiden Henk was, at least his attitude towards failure.

"Well, I only have five minutes." Glara muttered looking at her hands.

Her muscles were tense and her veins were heavily swollen and actively trembling. All the resources that were now in Glara's body were being burned in the infernal furnace provoked by Code D.

'I see... So this is what Aiden was talking about.' Glara pondered while feeling a great power within her.

After the vivid pain passed, Glara's vision became sharper, her body lighter, and she could think faster as well.

It was hard for a mere human to comprehend, but Glara didn't need to take a few seconds to think about how she would attack or her plan of action. All of these processes happened quickly so she could react to any threat in the heat of battle.

'But...'

Glara frowned heavily, staring intently at the Redcore Wolf.

'Unlike me, he has all this from birth. Compared to a monster, I'm a mere human, actually a lesser creature. Moreover, if he wants to, he can just drag out the fight and win that way.''

Glara's thoughts were moving in the right direction.

Redcore Wolf was going to fight her and kill her, but if for some reason he was going to seriously lose, nothing was stopping him from just running away.

Dodging Glara's attacks for five minutes wouldn't even make Redcore Wolf tired, but it would be a death sentence for Glara.

"Agh... Whatever, I've already wasted a few seconds fighting doubts, it's time to act." Glara took a deep breath before swinging her left arm.

At the same moment, she straightened her palm, letting the shield fly off her hand like a projectile. The blades on the edges began to spin, turning the shield into a plasma disk aiming straight for Redcore Wolf.

Gladius smirked.

"Not a bad start, but... choosing Redcore Wolf as your opponent was a mistake." Gladius glanced at the monster, "He's very smart, I'm sure he's already prepared something knowing he'll be fighting today."