Endless Evolution: Last Star

For the first time since his battle against Ureyn, Adam finally met the one who bore the title of the Grim Wind.

It had been a long time since Ureyn had last used his wind in this way. He wasn't just stronger than before, no, everything was completely different.

What Ureyn demonstrated with his wind blade was much weaker than what he was capable of before he shut himself away in his mill.

'Gha...' Ureyn exhaled cold vapor, gathering energy for his next attack. 'I need a little time to recover my strength and raise it to a new level. To think that I wasted so much time on techniques and a needle for nothing!'

However, it wasn't completely useless. While Ureyn was in his mill, he became significantly stronger as a being, there was no doubt about that.

Now he needed to raise his power by two levels at once, literally remembering how to use his own abilities.

Despite a slight uneasiness, Ureyn did not doubt that he could handle this task. He just needed a little time, and he might not have that time because of who his opponent was.

True, Adam had been fighting seriously from the beginning, but only now did he feel that he had gotten the fight he had come for.

Now, only defeat could stop him, and nothing else.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

With an active tremor, the outlines of great scissors appeared before Adam, as did Silvana, whose gaze was fixed on Ureyn. Unlike Adam, she had no warm feelings toward her opponent. All she wanted was for Adam to become stronger, and for that to happen, Ureyn had to lose.

She radiated nothing but coldness toward Ureyn, and he could feel it.

"Hah, Operators and Phantoms... We monsters are deprived of such allies, but I'm in no position to complain. It's much easier for us to become stronger and..." Ureyn smiled bitterly as the wind swirled around him. "Actually, I do have a partner."

Adam didn't wait for Ureyn's actions as he and Silvana grabbed their handles, setting the great scissors in motion.

Under the gaze of dozens of monsters of the Forgotten Mills, Adam's strongest ability was ready to manifest, one that would surely surpass Ureyn's wind blade.

For the first time in a long time, even the silent Gareyna showed some reaction. She moved closer to the other members of the White Thread, watching the battle from above.

"This... So he can cut too? However, his cut has a special shape. Tsk, what else is this human capable of?" She frowned.

The others shared her position. They were frightened by the fact that one Phantom had the abilities of each faction, even if he did not possess any of them to their full power.

Click.

The blades of the scissors closed as an invisible cut burst out, cleaving everything in its path.

Ureyn's eyes widened as he thrust his hands forward, but not to create a wind blade capable of stopping Adam's Imaginary Cut. He had another plan.

'I used to have a hard time doing this, few people in these lands use such abilities, but I'm not going to think about what others do anymore.' Ureyn took a deep breath. 'Now, I just have to trust myself, my wind, and my desires, otherwise, I will never defeat Adam.'

When Adam used the Imaginary Cut, it was practically guaranteed that his opponent would suffer a serious wound or expend enormous amounts of energy to defend themselves.

However... Ureyn was about to do something Adam had never encountered before.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Streams of wind gathered between Ureyn's hands, one after another, until they resembled a dark mirror with a bright glow inside.

"Hmm?" Adam was puzzled, he didn't understand what Ureyn was about to do.

Ureyn shook his head as even more energy flowed into the wind as he looked up.

"It's time to add another line to our clouds, isn't it?"

With the next breath, the Imaginary Cut reached Ureyn, but what happened was not what Adam and most of the audience expected.

The invisible blade stopped, or rather, it couldn't break through the dark mirror of Ureyn's wind.

This was the first time this had ever happened. Even Arnoth couldn't do anything against the Imaginary Cut. Adam was sure that it would be a long time before an opponent appeared who could stop this ability.

But right now, Ureyn was trying to do just that.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The earth shook while cracks ran across the surface, unable to withstand the power of the Imaginary Cut, which wanted to but was unable to advance further.

Adam said nothing, watching Ureyn in bewilderment. He didn't believe that Ureyn had blocked the Imaginary Cut, Ureyn simply didn't have such abilities.

Strangely enough, Adam was right. Ureyn wasn't trying to block the cut, his goal was something else.

"Gha..." With a deep sigh, Ureyn tensed his arms as he stepped forward.

As soon as his foot touched the ground, he threw his arms up sharply, causing his wind to condense at a single point, creating a bright flash.

As a result, the Imaginary Cut changed direction, now moving upward, straight toward the sky with its cut clouds.

Everyone looked up, following the trembling blade that was finally able to continue its path.

Adam's eyes widened as the Imaginary Cut sliced the sky in two, leaving another cut among the great clouds, just like the hundreds of others covering the Forgotten Mills.

This temporarily halted their fight, causing the audience to gasp and Adam to realize what Ureyn had just done.

"He... he reflected the Imaginary Cut?" Adam muttered in disbelief.

A shiver ran through Silvana's body as fear reflected in her eyes.

"Impossible... What do you mean, he reflected it? That's... If he was capable of that all along... How could he have traded such power for useless techniques?!"

Silvana was both right and wrong, and Norax was one of the few who understood what was really going on.

'Hah, he just wasn't capable of it before. What else will you show us, Ureyn, the Grim Wind? Hah, Draug didn't try to remake you in the image of the Gray Needle for nothing, but you cannot be changed.'