Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 1881: Frost Dragons and Blood Halberd

By a strange twist of fate, through this memory, Adam learned a great deal about Gladius, and now he understood even more clearly just how wrong he’d been about him.

Gladius was not just one of the ordinary Second-Rank Phantoms, if they could even be called that, given how few of them there were. Even among them, he was one of the exceptional ones. Adam no longer had any doubts about this.

“You may be the only one with the Monster Nexus, isn’t that right?” Adam narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Gladius.

With a tremor, Xyrea appeared behind Gladius, just as Arika had once done with Goen.

Adam gulped.

“Though… What difference does it make? Even if there is someone just like Gladius, at the Second Circle, you’ll still end up at the Manifest Nexus, won’t you?”

Seeing Gladius’s weapon and Xyrea, it wasn’t just Adam who was shocked – the Frost Dragons were as well.

“Wait…” Kae’ra’s voice trembled as she stared at Gladius’s halberd. “Is that… Is that his Nexus?”

Laerdor nodded deeply as his expression grew more serious than ever.

“Yes, he’s one of those who possesses these terrifying Nexuses, and the worst part is that she’s with him.”

All eyes turned to Xyrea, who was standing behind Gladius, embracing him. Right now, she looked far calmer and less intimidating than usual.

The corners of Adam’s mouth turned upward.

“So this is what she’s like when she knows it’s just Gladius here and no one else. After all, she was right, she’s as much an Operator as everyone else, and she’s ready to fulfill that role until the very end.”

Then, his gaze fell on Gladius.

“Though… She is a monster, she had no choice but to obey that demon.”

Xyrea’s voice rang out quietly:

“Are you sure about that?”

Gladius nodded deeply.

“Sure. We have to finish the job here and now. That’s the Queen’s order.”

“You know…” Her black eyes opened slightly as she ran her hand over his chest. “When you talk like that, it makes me jealous.”

Gladius smirked, for the first time in this memory, he showed any emotion other than coldness and cruelty.

“Don’t be silly. You know my dark heart is completely taken by you.”

Xyrea blinked. “Yes… Just like the ocean of blood you’ve spilled.”

Whooooooosh!

Gladius swung his halberd, sending a gust of wind that shook the snow-capped mountain peaks.

“I know, but that’s not enough!”

One of the guards decided this was the perfect moment to attack. His body trembled as, in a bright blue flash, he lunged at Gladius.

Laerdor’s eyes widened as he thrust his arm forward.

“No! Stop right now!”

However, it was already too late.

The guard’s eyes were filled with confidence and devotion to his clan.

“Not just for the sake of our clan, but for the sake of all monsters, we must get rid of this Phantom!” he exclaimed as icy currents surged from his axe.

The guard gripped his weapon with both hands, hurling an icy blade at Gladius that could have split a hill in two and turned it into a block of ice.

Gladius neither dodged nor blocked his attack.

“Weak.”

That was all he said before swinging his halberd.

Crack!

The ice blade shattered into hundreds of fragments as Gladius’s frame trembled.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of the guard. The dragon’s face paled as he poured most of his strength into his attack. Any Lesser Lord would have had to use his trump cards to survive that ice blade.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was on a different level.

“You consider yourselves proud monsters, a clan strong enough to be a separate force in our world.” A cold glint flashed through his blue eyes. “I wonder how it feels to realize you can’t even defeat a single Phantom?”

All the dragon’s instincts screamed for him to flee, but Gladius was faster.

Tap.

The tip of the halberd touched the man’s chest as Gladius’s voice rang out:

“Xyrea, devour him.”

The eye on the halberd opened wide as, at that very moment, lines spread across the man’s body in a grid.

With a bright purple flash, the man’s body was torn into dozens of flesh cubes.

But before the parts of his body could fly off to the side, a portal opened in front of Gladius’s halberd, and a dark vortex devoured the man, not even a drop of blood remained.

Horror spread across the faces of the others, and even Adam was shocked, but for a different reason.

“Wait… The Phantoms can’t absorb energy directly from other beings, but Xyrea isn’t a Phantom or a human – she’s a monster.”

Then he realized that for Gladius, this wasn’t just a way to kill his enemy. In fact, Xyrea had just grown stronger because his opponent was a Lord, even though this guard was weaker than they were.

Then, his face devoid of emotion, Gladius turned and aimed his halberd at a random dragon in the distance.

“Take him, my devil.”

The man instinctively took a step back, but he couldn’t move any further as the great devil formed from Gladius’s aura appeared behind him.

The devil looked down at the man, with a sly smirk and eyes narrowed into crescents.

“No… This can’t be… No!”

Laerdor waved his hand.

“Calm down! It’s just his aura! Let’s go! Together, we can drive this devil away just like before!”

However, Gladius’s expression showed that Laerdor was wrong.

“I’m afraid this time it’s not just an aura.”

The eye on his halberd shone brightly as the devil’s long claws filled with brilliant light. It was Xyrea’s ability.

At that very moment, the devil’s claws pierced the man’s chest, striking his heart.

The devil chuckled before spreading his arms wide, effectively tearing the man in two.

Step.

In a single step, Gladius was right beside him. As soon as he swung his halberd, the dragon’s blood and body vanished, and Xyrea’s eyes flashed once more.

Only then did Laerdor realize who they were fighting.

“Kae’ra…” He rasped.

“Y-Yes?” She turned to her father, whose aura surged upward.

With a warlike expression, Laerdor thrust his spear into the air as his powerful voice boomed:

“I command you all! Take your monster form!”

At that very moment, dozens of bright flashes filled the frost-covered lands as a multitude of giant frost dragons soared above the snow-covered lands.

All their gazes were fixed on a single Phantom, but the fear was in their eyes, not his.