Endless Evolution: Last Star

Step.

Adam moved confidently toward Max, who unlike him was in no hurry to start the battle.

"Oh, wait, I forgot to mention something." Tron said as he waved his hand.

Max and Adam turned in his direction.

"In this round, let's just call it the First Round, don't use abilities. Well, that's more information for you Adam, since Max has no abilities, not yet. Just physical strength."

'Not yet...' Adam inwardly muttered, being slightly baffled.

"Hey Adam, how about a little bet?" Max said with a calm look.

Adam tilted his head.

"Hmm? A bet?"

Max shrugged.

"Yeah, to add a little more interest to our battle. For every loss, you have to do a hundred push-ups. Also, I want one pack of cigarettes for every win, you can pick something for yourself too. As far as I know, you don't smoke."

Adam nodded slowly, he hadn't expected such an offer, but he didn't see anything wrong with it. One hundred push-ups and a pack of cigarettes for defeat sounded like something symbolic but would add more excitement and as a consequence interest to their battle.

After all, Adam wasn't going to lose much. No, not even one defeat was in his plans.

"Fine, I agree. But, I'm afraid you're the one who'll have to do so many push-ups that you won't be able to lift your arms."

Max smiled slightly as he lifted his chin looking at Adam from top to bottom.

"Oh, a fighting attitude, that's good."

While Tron was explaining everything to them and preparing the blue area for Silvana, Riska, and Dahla had already finished their cleaning, brought in a new table, and sat down at it as if nothing had happened.

Silvana watched them carefully, shifting her gaze from Max to Adam before saying: "How unusual. Max is an ordinary human being, yet he doesn't worry and he acts confident. I mean, even if he can fight, Adam is still a K2-Phantom, and he's stronger than many other Phantoms."

Dahla smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I thought you saw how Max fought."

Silvana nodded.

"Yes, it was impressive and pretty brutal. I don't judge Max though, the opponents were few so he couldn't afford to restrain his strength."

Dahla chuckled slyly, it made Silvana frown. She spoke to Dahla respectfully and didn't understand why she deserved such a reaction from her.

"You think Max fought at full strength against a regular squad of military men? Hah, he inflicted serious wounds on them not because he had no other choice, but because that way he could get rid of a pesky problem faster."

Silvana's eyes went wide for a moment. She wasn't a fighter, but she thought Max was too strong for ordinary people even in that state when fighting the military.

Dahla glanced at Silvana as she pointed at Max.

"He was entrusted to be a guardian of the Gray Castle, one of the training complexes of the Dark Order, even though he's an ordinary human. Sure, he won't defend against Phantoms, but he doesn't need to. His job as an ordinary human is to be stronger than other ordinary humans, and as you've seen, he's doing a great job."

Silvana nodded slowly. She had a few questions for Dahla but decided not to say anything for now.

First, she wanted to see if what she said about Max was true.

Clap.

Tron clapped his hands together drawing attention to himself.

"Good, get started. We have hard work ahead of us, we have plenty of time, but we better make good use of it!"

"Yes!" Adam responded energetically.

"Sure." Max nodded quietly.

Whoooooooosh.

At the same moment, Adam rushed forward, making a quick leap.

In fact, this situation was unique for him.

Except for the unusual fight against Damien, Adam had never fought under such circumstances.

Sure, he fought against humans, but it was always Phantoms, a few times it was the Dark Phantoms from the Lower Ring.

Crown Types were similar to humans in physique, but they were still monsters so they couldn't be counted.

Thus, Adam never fought against another human when they both used only their physical capabilities.

That's what Adam lacked, to better understand the capabilities of his body and technique, so he was willing to fight Max and defeat him so he could proceed to fight against Tron.

So, Adam didn't have any particular plan.

'I think I should start with a few simple punches, then try to make a grapple. I shouldn't underestimate him, but I certainly won't lose out to him in speed or strength!'

Adam pondered before, staring intently at Max, who was still standing in his spot.

Step.

When the distance between them decreased significantly, Max finally came into motion as he took the first step.

"Agh...?" Adam's eyes went wide when Max suddenly appeared beside him.

All he saw was a few speedy strides by Max, deftly and properly done without wasting a single moment.

Adam's right arm was already extended forward to attack, he needed to change his trajectory urgently, but Max was faster.

Clutch.

He grabbed Adam's wrist, pulling his arm forward, thus exposing Adam's torso in front of him.

Then, Max's knee plunged into Adam's stomach lifting him slightly off the ground.

Without waiting for Adam to recover and counterattack, Max's palm smashed into Adam's jaw from bottom to top.

Max let out a short sigh and swung his arm, throwing Adam upward.

"That's it."

Max said calmly before turning around and kicking Adam in the stomach at high speed like a sharp, piercing spear.

His attacks were fast and precise, but it was hardly enough to make Adam lose. Discover more content at empire

But... Why then was Max acting like he'd already won?

Whoooooosh.

From the powerful momentum after Max's kick, Adam flew off to the side, unable to stop himself.

A few seconds later, he reached the edge of the zone, crashing into a blue, translucent wall.

Crackle.

Adam's body trembled as he collapsed into hundreds of shards, reflecting light from themselves. They slowly crumbled into tiny particles until Adam was completely gone.

Tron smirked.

"Hahaha, 0:1, first 100 push-ups and a pack of cigarettes waiting for you. A deal is a deal."