Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 838

Chapter 838: Second Key (Part 1)

Unfortunately, Adam couldn’t talk to Queen Elisa or make any contact with her. He wasn’t even sure if Elisa’s heart continued to beat like any other human’s.

The only thing that indicated she was alive was her energy coming out in a calm mode and the fact that her power somehow absorbed Adam’s inner space.

“Come to think of it…” Adam muttered, lifting his gaze, “She was able to do that in her state. If she was in control and wanted to suppress me, she wouldn’t even have to twitch a finger to do it.”

After that, Adam shook his head, returning to the Second Key. Oddly enough, even though this was his inner space, there was no Evolution Tree, the Vault, or anything else.

He had no way to contact Moira and Lone Blaze as well.

He was alone with the Second Key, he had no choice but to create the Second Key and become a K3-Phantom right here and now.

“Fine.”

With a deep nod, Adam approached the Second Key. His eyes reflected fifteen stars connected by a blue line, with hundreds more ahead.

“No one warned me about this, but it looks like it’s going to take a long time.”

Determined to finish what he started, Adam stretched his arm forward, touching the next star. He was ready to work until he was completely exhausted.

…

All Phantoms knew that under certain situations in inner space, there was a different flow of time. However, it was always only for reflection or life-critical moments.

The Phantom could not use this feature to sleep, learn something, or train his mind.

The inner space was connected to the Phantom, to his mind and emotions at the moment, as much as during battle.

When Adam was at the Second Ring trying to deal with the Second Key on his own, he was immersed in the inner space the whole ordeal, time went by at its normal pace.

However, Adam soon learned that none of these rules worked in the Queen’s realm.

Adam didn’t know how much time passed, but he hooked up ten more stars, now he had twenty-five. There was still a lot of work ahead of him, but he didn’t feel tired at all.

From time to time, Adam glanced at Seyrina, Douglas, and Silvana, trying to determine how severe the time dilation was, at least supposedly.

‘Shit… This is kind of crazy.’ Adam muttered in disbelief.

In the time it took him to connect the ten stars, which previously required hours, Silvana and Douglas still hadn’t uttered a single word.

Everything was happening so slowly that Adam couldn’t tell if it was an illusion.

Perhaps time stopped completely?

However, the rare changes in their facial expressions reminded him that it was all just the Queen’s power, the effect of her energy on Adam’s inner space.

“Well…”

Adam looked around, but only darkness met him.

“I can do nothing but work, I have no other activity here.”

So began a continuous event, it wasn’t long before Adam lost track of time. He didn’t know how many hours or even days passed already – he kept connecting one star after another.

Tap.

Slowly, his hand moved, inserting the important, hundredth star into the puzzle.

No joy or any emotion was reflected on Adam’s face. He only raised his gaze, staring at the soaring stars, most of the Second Key left unfinished.

He hadn’t even done a fifth. Adam was ready for the extensive work, but… he was mentally exhausted.

“Fuck, I have to do something about this.” Adam shook his head, moving away from the Second Key.

Still, he had nothing to do in the endless darkness. After walking around for a while, Adam sighed heavily and went back to work, he had no other choice.

…

On the two hundredth star, Adam bounced to the side, his legs shaking – he couldn’t take it anymore. He was literally vomiting, sick to his stomach at the mere sight of the Second Key, of the stars that seemed not to be going to end even after an eternity.

Almost in fear, Adam ran off into the distance, unafraid to disappear into the darkness.

“Agh… Agh… Agh…”

Soon, Adam stopped, his breathing heavy, his hands on his knees. He wasn’t tired physically, but his mental exhaustion was devastating.

Was this his test to create the Second Key?

He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to know. The only thing Adam was interested in was – to figure out how to break the routine devouring him from the inside out.

It seemed like there was nothing complicated about it, it was just a boring activity, but… a thing was wrong.

With each new star, Adam felt himself getting worse. Moreover, Silvana was right, he was getting close to the middle part and the difficulty increased dramatically.

He had to concentrate, spend considerably more time than before to find the next, matching star.

“Fuck…” Adam wheezed without raising his head, “Maybe I should just dream?”

Not staying on that option for too long, Adam shook his head.

“No, on the 150th star, I tried that. Even if I’m standing around doing nothing, I keep thinking about finishing the Second Key. I need to find a way to distract myself, completely, so that both my body and my thoughts are devoted to something.”

Step. Step. Step.

Suddenly, muffled footsteps sounded from outside, yet familiar to Adam.

“Hmm…?”

Baffled, he turned his head. The first thing he thought of was Lone Blaze or Moira, maybe they found a way, but… the one Adam saw shouldn’t be here.

“What the hell…?”

Right now, an exhausted Adam stared at the Plague Reaper standing serenely in the middle of the darkness.

Pieces of darkness, one by one made up his body, leaving a few spots empty.

A stunned Adam didn’t realize what was happening, but that was only the beginning.

With an active shudder, several stars flew out of the Second Key, filling the voids in the Plague Reaper’s replica.

One by one, preparing him for battle.