Endless Evolution: Last Star

Spinning. Spinning. Spinning.

The long, wooden spoon moved in a circle, creating a slow swirl for the white sauce that was getting thicker by the second.

Leona smiled as her eyes sparkled with slight delight at the work she did.

The white sauce was almost done, the meat needed a few more minutes. Slowly, they could move on to the most important part - laying out the lasagna sheets in the baking dish.

Adam was about to get on with it right away, but he was stopped by Leona.

"Hey, you wanted the lasagna to have as much cheese in it as possible, didn't you?" Leona smirked, reminding Adam of his expensive and impulsive purchase, though that could be said of their trip to the store in general.

Adam scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Leona pointed to a cabinet in the corner of the kitchen.

"Here, take that grater over there and grate as much cheese as you can. I'm sure that shouldn't be a problem for Phantom, should it?"

Adam glanced to the side when his eyes went wide as he remembered how much cheese he'd bought. Sure, it wouldn't all fit in one dish and there was no point, but he had a hard job waiting for him.

"Yeah, you're right." Adam nodded, a slight uncertainty was audible in his voice.

He picked up the grater, pulled the cheese out of the fridge, and began to grate it, movement by movement. He did it not too fast but not too slow either, keeping a steady pace.

After about three minutes, Adam looked at the piece of cheese in his hand. Sure, it had definitely gotten smaller, and there was already a little mountain of grated cheese on the board, but Adam felt like it could go on for a long time.

'Well... It's not like you can do it all at once, is it? I'll have to be patient. The routine can help to calm down and gather my thoughts, though.' Adam muttered, turning back to his work.

It happened just as he thought it would.

For a while, Adam didn't pay attention to anything around him. Leona asked him something a few times, but he didn't answer as he just didn't hear her.

Leona smiled weakly, putting her hand at her side while holding a wooden spoon with a thick white sauce dripping from the end of it.

'Hmm, I guess I won't bother him anymore. Hah, I never thought I'd feel such peace and warmth just watching someone thoughtfully grating cheese.'

Wheeze. Wheeze. Wheeze.

With each movement, the cheese split into dozens of pieces, falling to the top of the mountain that grew larger and larger.

...

"ROOOAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!"

While one place was silent and calm, another place was filled with the furious roar of a monster ready to fight for its life.

Redcore Wolf raised his right paw as his claws filled up with energy, becoming stronger and sharper.

Redcore Wolf had a simple goal, he wanted to destroy the shield flying towards him. It was one of Glara's two weapons and her only defense, so this plan more than made sense.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Abruptly bringing her paw down on the shield, the red claws collided with the fast-rotating shield that was thrown in a straight trajectory and with enough force.

In her normal state, Glara could barely throw the shield properly, let alone achieve such speed, but Code D was doing its job, albeit at a too-great price.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Sparks flew off to the side, from the red claws that tried to cut the plasma shield apart, but...

The next moment, the shield flew aside, half embedding into the nearest wall. It didn't take any damage, only a few scratches were left on the casing but that was all Redcore Wolf managed to accomplish.

"Rrrgt!!!"

Redcore Wolf irritably growled, glanced at his claws, one of them, the outermost one, was damaged. A piece of it flew off, a very small one, about the size of a fingernail, but it wasn't what Redcore Wolf was counting on.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Aiden cast a quick glance at Redcore Wolf before giving his attention to Glara.

'Not a bad throw, she fully trusted the weapon I gave her. After all, all those weapons were made by Refesa, she has more roaches in her head than the slums, but in technology, she is the true queen.'

Aiden pondered, turning his gaze to Sano and Natta who stood silently by his side like guards. However, they couldn't hide their excitement as they wanted Glara to win and were worried that something bad would happen to her.

'Unlike exoskeletons and False Nexuses, there were no genes or monster parts involved in the creation of this weapon. It's pure metal, electrical circuits, complex blueprints, and high technology.'

Aiden continued:

'This is the peak that can be reached without affecting monster genes or energy, to ensure that after killing a monster, the Initial Gene will be in a good enough state to ignite the Spark and the person will become a Phantom.'

"Rrrrrggggghhh!"

Redcore Wolf growled once more before abruptly turning his head, looking at the stuck-in-the-wall shield. An insidious grin appeared on his face, revealing his long fangs and powerful teeth.

He was unable to destroy this shield, but he would simply prevent Glara from taking her shield from the wall. Thus she was left with only her shotgun, without any defense.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Saliva dripped from the Redcore Wolf's jaw as he stared predatorily at Glara, already anticipating his imminent victory.

But... in response, he didn't see fear in Glara's eyes. She wasn't trembling or panicking. On the contrary, there was a confident smirk on her face, as if this was part of her plan.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but before bringing you here, they explained to me all about my weapons. I don't have much experience, but for some things, just knowledge is enough!"

Glara exclaimed before swinging her left hand and quickly snapping her fingers.

The sound wave from the snap, invisible to the human eye, quickly reached the shield, causing it to shudder and start spinning, climbing out of the wall and heading straight for Glara.

Whooooooosh.

In a heartbeat, the shield ended up in her hand, in its original place.

Step.

Glara stepped forward confidently, looking down at Redcore Wolf, though the monster was bigger than her.

"Well. I still have four minutes left, so I should hurry if I don't want to die, isn't it?"