Endless Evolution: Last Star

Adam and Alexia headed toward the takeoff pad to the fighter that had been waiting for them for a while.

Silvana and Louis walked beside them, as faithful helpers and mysterious guards whose sole purpose was to assist their Phantoms.

They could have taken the elevator out of the city straight to the takeoff pad, but, Alexia decided to walk along the walls since there was something else she had to do before leaving Bastion Radon, for a very long time.

"It's been a few days since we were there, hasn't it?" Alexia muttered, looking at the massive bloodstains in front of the north gate.

The Harvesters had already taken all the monsters as well as the materials from them, but the blood had yet to evaporate. The wind needed a little more time to blow ice crystals and crimson clots of snow across the region.

For some monsters, however, the blood of other monsters was a worthy sustenance. As always, scavengers were and found a way to use everything to survive. In this cruel world, all ways were good, since it was impossible to become stronger if you were already dead.

"Sorry to disturb you!"

Suddenly, a man - one of the military personnel - approached them and bowed low with his hands at the hips.

"Hm? Do we know each other?" Alexia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"No. My name is Misk! I just want to express my infinite gratitude for what you've done! I was one of the military who tried to help your unit by aiming laser turrets!" Misk said vigorously, practically shouting out every word he said.

Alexia nodded.

"Thank you. We did our job, just like you. If we keep this up, we'll continue to have our walls - the defense of humanity - standing firmly on these lands."

Misk happily smiled as he pounded his fist into his chest. As a military man, he was honored to receive praise from Alexia, who was one of the strongest K1-Phantoms.

Alexia nodded and headed forward, along with the others.

From time to time, other military men approached them, some of them addressing Adam. He wasn't the leader of the Left North Squad, but he did enough outstanding things to make the military remember him for a long time.

Occasionally, Adam would glance at Louis, who now behaved very differently than he had in the hospital. In front of strangers, he didn't even dare say a word without Alexia's permission. He stood behind her like a servant, both hands holding the black case with her Nexus.

Now and then, however, a sly smile appeared on his face, showing that he understood where and how to act.

Step. Step. Step.

Soon, they entered the platform where Adam and Silvana were to see an old acquaintance.

Lang, with his arms crossed over his chest, leaned against his fighter, keeping half his face covered by the visor of his beret.

"Oh, you're finally here." Lang smirked, looking at his former passengers.

"You turned out to be free this time, didn't you?" Adam smiled, staring at Lang with a slight grin.

Lang shrugged.

"We pilots can't expect an order from any particular Phantom. There are far fewer fighters than Phantoms, so we have to act quickly and efficiently, on schedule."

Adam nodded.

There were significantly more military personnel than Phantoms, as well as any other departmental employees, but Phantoms were not the rarest of professions in the Citadel.

There weren't as many fighter pilots or Blacksmiths, but the government was trying to do everything it could to increase their numbers. They worked with several Phantoms at once and could fulfill several orders in one day, so their small numbers weren't critical.

"Alright. It's time to go home. I hope no one attacks us this time!" Lang said excitedly as he climbed into the fighter.

Adam glanced at Alexia with a bitter smile. He remembered Damien's words that Naturalborn Phantoms attracted luck and bad luck more strongly than normal humans and Artificialborn Phantoms.

Last time, his alone had been enough for them to be attacked by a Big-billed Toro, but... things were different now.

During the preparations for the return, Adam had plenty of opportunities to find out that Alexia was a Naturalborn Phantom, just like him. It was also quite possible that one of their squad captains was in the same situation, but that needed to be clarified.

In that case, the monsters would have a strong desire to attack them, thus Adam was already ready for battle - to defend his fighter again.

...

'Hmm... Really?' Adam muttered, looking out the window at the Citadel. A few more minutes and they would be at the landing pad, their trip would soon be over.

Adam was fully confident that they would have to fight off dozens of monsters as their genes would attract strong ones - in large numbers. In the end, they didn't encounter a single monster.

The reason was that Adam misunderstood Damien's words, or rather, he focused all his attention on only one part - failure. It was a double-edged sword that also presented the second side - luck.

Well, it was actually a distorted concept for ease of explanation.

The fact that there were two Naturalborn Phantoms in one fighter at once was enough to discourage monsters from attacking them. It was a kind of representation of the luck of the double-edged sword.

Although it didn't change the fact that they could be attacked by a particularly strong monster, that wasn't the case this time. Their genes were only increasing the odds, not setting up the future.

"Agh... We're finally here!" Alexia uttered, stretching her arms up with glowing eyes.

"I love Bastion Radon, my home, but this is completely different!" Alexia exclaimed, glancing around Three Rings, at the thousands of streets and the millions of people living in them.

Adam felt strange. Unlike Alexia, he had been born in the Citadel, not the Bastion, but most of his life, he hadn't felt that way. He was an outsider like Alexia, someone just getting used to a new life.

The Slums were different from Three Rings, much more so than Bastion was from the Citadel. Bastion was just a smaller version of the Citadel, while the Slums were a blight right next to civilization.

"By the way, Adam, you're pretty strong, so, you must have joined some organization by now, right? Surely it must be someone from the Big Three, right?" Alexia asked with genuine curiosity.

"The Big Three...?" Adam muttered in confusion, then his eyes went wide when he realized what she was talking about.

Adam shook his head.

"Nah, I only recently found out about it in detail. I definitely haven't decided yet, and I don't even know if I'll ever make a choice." Adam waved his hand.

Alexia narrowed her eyes. She moved closer to him, stared at him intently, and smiled slyly.

"Come on. Given your power and experience, you've seen enough to have an opinion. How about this, just tell me which of the Big Three you definitely wouldn't join?" Alexia was being facetious, so Adam decided to answer.

"Agh... Alright, but you won't hear anything else from me. I'm not joining the Azure Lotus. There can't be equality even among Phantoms, let alone ordinary people. That's something I've made absolutely clear about." Adam coldly said, showing that this was the final position.