Endless Evolution: Last Star

Every large organization had its training complexes. Naturally, the Dark Order, one of the Big Three, was no exception.

The training complexes had many different purposes, but the main one was the most obvious: combat practice.

Sure, practice could be done in any of the Forts, the Fort Norton had virtual reality chambers, as well as the ability for sparring with another Phantom if both sides agreed.

But... this was all just entry-level and more like entertainment than actually serious training.

The military could not provide a more experienced Phantom as a teacher and offer what the Dark Order, the Crimson Path, or the Azure Lotus could.

The training facility Silvana was approaching was code-named as the Gray Castle.

It was located on the far side of the Second Ring, where there were few settlements or any other buildings.

Nevertheless, this place had serious security, Silvana realized as soon as she approached the main gate.

Silvana gulped looking at the massive steel gate, it seemed monolithic as if it was part of the Gray Castle and was unable to move. The only thing that separated the gate from the walls were the black streaks running from the edges, like open keyholes with jagged edges.

Standing in front of the gate was a single man in a black coat. He had a pale face, thick black hair whose tips swayed in front of his black eyes, and a bored gaze.

Despite the seriousness of the organization and the importance of this facility, he didn't look like a guard who was ready to stand in one place and not even close his eyes once.

He leaned against the wall and smoked a cigarette, occasionally opening and closing his iron lighter to watch the brief red flame.

"Excuse me, I need to get inside." Silvana said respectfully.

She usually acted sterner and more confident when talking to someone, but she felt guilty about being late, but that wasn't the only reason.

Silvana knew as well as anyone familiar with the Dark Order that the only thing that mattered in the Dark Order was strength. From that came everything else, status, influence, respect, reputation, and so on.

This differed from the ideology of the Crimson Path which encouraged the ideas of blood purity, increased birth of Phantoms, and especially the Naturalborn Phantoms. They didn't disrespect ordinary people, but they believed that Phantoms were the future and the main hope of humanity, which wasn't wrong.

There didn't seem to be any great difference between the two, as the Phantoms were powerful, and thus the Dark Order praised the Phantoms as well.

Well... that wasn't entirely true. A Phantom could be weak, and an ordinary human could be strong, yeah, within their boundaries, it was ridiculous to demand Phantom capabilities from a human, but the point was clear.

Which was why the first thing Silvana did was look at the man's chest.

A broad sword cracked and engulfed in a stream of flame, around it was a white ring, the edges of which were in contact with the end of the sword blade and its hilt.

The white ring indicated that the man in front of her was human and not a Phantom.

Click.

Closing the lighter and taking the cigarette out of his mouth, the man glanced at Silvana and simply said: "Hm? You should have been informed that the training room is occupied for an unspecified duration. Go away." The man waved his hand carelessly.

Silvana was confused. The man didn't say what she expected, he seemed to think she came here for a different purpose and answered in advance.

"No, wait, you misunderstood me." Silvana uttered as she was about to continue to explain the situation.

Whoooooooosh.

Before Silvana could say anything, she was interrupted by a sudden rush of wind and a loud engine sound that was clearly audible in this quiet area.

Silvana turned around sharply, the man at this time just glancing in the direction of the noise.

An armored truck was moving towards them, it was very similar to the ones used by the military, but a slightly different model, lighter and longer, designed for the Citadel and not for the Dead Lands.

The man did nothing but take a few puffs of his cigarette, letting out clouds of smoke. He waited for the truck to stop.

Silvana was distracted. She didn't understand why the military came here and how she could find time to explain her situation.

The only thing left for her to do was to move aside, closer to the gate, because the truck was going to come close enough.

Crackle.

With a sharp turn, the truck stopped, raising a cloud of dust. Discover more stories at empire

Then, the doors opened, and more than a dozen military men in black clothes stepped out. It was a whole squad with its commander, a tall, muscular man with short hair, walking forward.

Behind him, two other military men held some position in the squad. They could be called the second and third commanders.

The rest of the military stood next to the truck in a row, waiting for further action. It seemed that they arrived here for a specific purpose.

"Hey, open the gate. My squad came here for special training. We signed up three weeks ago and received authorization and confirmation eighteen days ago. Check it out if you don't believe me. Hahaha!" The commander laughed briefly, placing his hands at his sides.

The man nodded, but instead of opening the gate, he just waved his hand like he was trying to get rid of an annoying fly.

"Yeah, I know, but there was a change of plans a few days ago. I've already informed this woman that the training room is occupied. You could say your reservation has been canceled." The man glanced at Silvana before looking at the commander.

"Agh? Canceled? Hey! That's not how things are done! Even if you're the Dark Order, you should have some respect for the military!" The commander waved his hand irritably.

The man shrugged nonchalantly before taking another puff of his cigarette and exhaling the smoke in front of him.

"Well, I wasn't the one who made the decision. Go back, the training room is occupied indefinitely. I won't let you pass."

The commander gritted his teeth, his veins swelling with irritation, but he quickly brought himself under control by taking a deep breath.

Then, a smirk appeared on his face.

"Hey, why it seems to me that you just don't want to let us pass. Your explanation doesn't sound convincing at all."

The commander waved his hand, pointing at the military personnel behind him.

"You know, we have a whole squad here, and you're just one. If we want to, we can just walk right through you."

Oddly enough, the man wasn't angry or wary of this threat. Instead, he simply nodded as if he agreed with the commander's words.

Then, the man slipped the lighter into his pocket and stepped forward, standing in front of the gate.

"Sure, only the strong can decide what he can and cannot do."

The man took one last puff on his cigarette before tossing it aside and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"If you want to pass, then prove you're strong enough. If you defeat me, the guard, then no one will stand in your way."

The commander blinked a few times, he was baffled to hear something like that, but then he realized that it was quite similar to how the Dark Order worked.

It was the sort of thing he would expect to hear or see from most of their members, whether it was an ordinary human or a Phantom.

"Hehehehe, fine, you asked for it yourself. After all, we're an experienced military, and you're just a lone guard!"