Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 718

Chapter 718: Trace of the Sun

Usually, in emergencies when the Stronghold was under attack and there was a serious threat to its existence, the External Artifact would activate at full power, if of course, the Stronghold had the one.

This was not uncommon, as from time to time monsters from Nests or groups just wandering the Wild Lands would attack Strongholds in an attempt to gain resources valuable to evolution.

Now, during the Eclipse, the same thing was happening, but on a much larger scale, given that many Phantoms were here as well.

Yet, the External Artifact, the Lone Blaze of the Fallen Serpent, was not helping its subordinates in any way.

Instead of channeling energy upwards and greatly enhancing each monster with runes and streams of flame, the External Artifact seemed to completely ignore what was happening.

If the monsters were humans, they would assume that the External Artifact was either depleted or somehow destroyed, but its energy was still flowing into every part of the fortress.

Eventually, the purple spark opened a gateway for Katrin, and the barrier on the towers protected the archers from external attacks, as well as the blue stream of flame continued to burn brightly on the spire.

But, hardly many K2W0-Phantoms could guess what was going on in the depths of the fortress.

At one point in its evolution, the Phantom had the opportunity to make the Pact with the External Artifact.

It seemed to be the same as absorbing the Artifact at the beginning of the path, just a higher-level process, but it wasn’t the case at all.

The Pact, reflecting the essence of its name, was a contract between the Phantom and the External Artifact, as opposed to absorbing an energy-saturated object as in the instance of Artifacts.

The Pact was only possible if the two parties agreed to it, and each had to offer something in return.

Sure, there were exceptions and variants when the Phantom forced the External Artifact to conclude the Pact by force, but often it had blazingly negative consequences.

That was exactly what was happening between Adam and Lone Blaze.

Adam wasn’t prepared for their meeting, but he felt he shouldn’t have turned down such a unique opportunity.

It was something new in his path, something moving him forward, and so it was the right thing to do.

“Am I willing to make a Pact with you?” Adam said calmly looking intently at Lone Blaze.

Lone Blaze was silent, it trembled slightly greatly nervous. The Phantom in front of it could choose many options, and… only one was best for Lone Blaze, for its fear to disappear.

“Yes, that’s my answer.”

At the same moment, Lone Blaze stopped showing any reaction, becoming considerably more serene than Adam.

…

It had happened exactly ten minutes ago when the first Phantoms neared the fortress and Katrin was still on her way.

From that moment, dense streams of gentle flame enveloped Adam completely, taking him not as its owner but as an equal partner.

Gradually, the flames detached from Lone Blaze staying with Adam, slowly thickening in the area of his chest.

After a few seconds, Adam opened his eyes which now shone much brighter, like a free sea under the rays of a majestic sun.

“What now…” Adam muttered quietly, looking at Lone Blaze.

In his inner space, Lone Blaze had a shape much smaller than in the real world, because of their conversation, he forgot how great the External Artifact was.

[Next, our pact will be made official and you will get what I promised you.]

Strangely enough, Adam heard Lone Blaze’s voice in his mind as if his Evolution Tree was speaking to him, but their voices and tones were too different for him to mistake them.

Hesitantly, Adam touched his forehead, completely baffled.

“What the hell…? Why are you in my head?”

He was about to return to his inner space, but before he could do so, something distracted him or rather made him forget about everything else.

“ARGH!!!”

A bright pain reflected on Adam’s face in a horrible grimace, the pain was sharp and piercing as if many red-hot needles were thrust into his brain.

After a second, he realized what was wrong as his eyes sank down, staring at the clot of flames at his chest.

Then, his veins inflated and his muscles tensed, straining his skin hard.

The brutal heat traveled to his skin, the flames literally burning through his flesh, scorching some kind of mark on it.

After a few seconds, the pain became so intense that Adam couldn’t take it anymore.

“ARRRGGHHHHHH!!!”

He leaned against the wall and dropped to one knee, struggling to keep from collapsing to the ground. His scream, consumed by agony, echoed throughout the caverns, and if not for the complex maze, it would reach the middle level, all the way to the gate.

Soon, the last blaze bits flashed before his wide-open eyes, his pupils twitching and blood vessels pulsing trying to calm Adam’s trembling.

“Rgh… Rgh… Rgh…”

The pain gradually went away, not for a long time Adam was still breathing heavily, leaning against the cold wall. On his path, he had experienced hellish pain several times, but for some reason now he was in too much pain as if everything before was a fake and this was real, pure pain reaching to the depths of his being.

Thump.

Slamming his fists into the wall, Adam gritted his teeth and directed his furiuos glare at Lone Blaze.

“What the fuck was that!? Why didn’t you warn me that it was going to hurt so bad!!! Fuck!”

However, despite Lone Blaze being able to speak to Adam, there was no response.

Realizing it was useless, Adam lowered his gaze, wanting to see what the flames had done to him.

On his chest appeared the mark of a bright sun, its rays burning around, next to the sun were three crystals, similar to the ones floating around Lone Blaze.

“A tattoo…? Or what is it?”

Trying to make sense of the situation, Adam closed his eyes, but as soon as he opened them he found himself in his inner space.

The first thing he saw was a fiery contract, a document like people’s, but instead of paper and ink, there was only fire and energy.

It was the Pact.