Endless Evolution: Last Star Chapter 1546: Falling Ice (Part 2)

The initial activation of Adam's fused power with Silvana stood out as a crucial turning point in their travels, beyond any question. In that encounter, he overcame Arnoth, marking one of the clashes he held in highest regard.

This victory guided him toward the Dark Shore and unlocked a fresh stage in his voyage. True, the Evolution Vein played no part in the First Star's choice to shift Adam there, yet without Silvana's strength, Arnoth would have claimed triumph for sure.

Adam grasped this truth fully.

After that, Adam had witnessed just one other instance of an Evolution Vein merging with the Operator. It involved Fromund and Arayna, though he discovered it only afterward, since he was fully immersed in his showdown with Bathild right then.

At this point, the chance arrived to behold such a spectacle anew—the might that Alexia and Louis would unleash against the true swarm of zombie beasts lunging at them from every angle.

Adam itched to charge in and help them, yet worry had vanished from his gaze, replaced entirely by fascination.

He yearned to observe the abilities Alexia and Louis commanded, not merely as the second Evolution Vein Order he would encounter, but due to how their dynamic diverged from that of Adam and Fromund.

Louis, being male, and Alexia, female, meant that even in their roles as Operator and Phantom, it surely shaped their partnership unlike Adam and Fromund's, where the Operators were both women.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Surges of frost surged up beside Alexia, driving the beasts backward. Still, it fell short.

While the frontline of the frailest monsters froze into icy figures, the rest simply advanced, shattering them underfoot. Their aim was to close in on Alexia no matter the cost.

Yet in that instant, Louis—who had been clasping Alexia firmly from behind with lids shut—leapt into motion.

Gradually, he lifted his head, unveiled his eyes, and swept his right arm forward.

Whooooooooosh!

This single gesture triggered a ferocious blizzard, shoving the beasts a pace away. None, not even the largest and mightiest, could hold their ground.

Unlike Adam and Silvana's joint activation, Louis didn't blend his power with Alexia's. Instead, he shielded her and granted her moments to ready the true strike.

"Bastards..." Alexia breathed out frosty air while her eyes gleamed with intensity. "Do you think just because you're so numerous, you can take me down? You're worthless!"

With a shudder, over a dozen portals tore open within the mist rings crowning the cavern's ceiling. The beasts tilted their heads upward toward the churning fog that swiftly birthed ice shards.

In mere moments, those shards ballooned dozens of times in size, stretching to the mist rings' borders like drifting icebergs from an enchanted realm.

The cleverest beasts darted aside, sensing the impending doom, but delay sealed their fate.

"DIEEEEE!" Alexia bellowed as she flung her hand outward.

Following her order, the ice shards plummeted onto the beasts. Even before the initial ones struck home, the mist rings spawned additional ones that hammered the earth soon after.

Five such barrages unfolded altogether, each matching the force of the last.

This marked the boundary for both the mist rings and Alexia, her stare turning weary in just a heartbeat.

"GRH!"

The beast bellowed as the lead ice shard slammed into it.

THUMP!

The shard pulverized the massive beast, reducing it to a crimson smear and a lone limb, its digits spasming a few times.

Such an end befell every beast, no exceptions.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Ice shard followed ice shard in descent, each claiming at least a handful of lives.

From the sidelines, Adam observed the chaos with saucer-wide eyes. The scene captivated him completely.

It was undeniably a formidable technique that swiftly eradicated hundreds of Black Threat Monsters, though it contrasted sharply with the one he shared with Silvana.

"Hah, so a single strike wipes out the foe's entire force?" Adam murmured, scanning the area.

Moments earlier, endless beasts had poised to shred Alexia apart, but now only scores of enormous ice shards encircled her, each one grinding multiple foes underneath.

"Agh... Agh... Agh..."

Alexia panted raggedly as she dropped to one knee. Louis embraced her once more before fading back into his ghostly state.

Despite the vast energy poured into that assault, Alexia couldn't suppress the grin creeping across her features.

"Tsk, you fools shouldn't have even challenged me! You never had a prayer from the start! I'm far too powerful!"

Step.

Adam advanced, positioning himself before Alexia. She lifted her chin as he extended a hand toward her.

"Well done. I'm almost envious. You took down more than a hundred foes while I tangled with only one."

She rose and peered over to the spot where Adam's fight had concluded.

Where once a terrifying Phantom had nearly compelled Alexia to reveal her hidden aces, now lay mere scraps of mangled tissue across the dirt.

"Well... It looks like that single foe of yours proved a fitting adversary. Still, you didn't need to resort to your ultimate move."

Adam gave a nonchalant shrug.

"If a hundred beasts had swarmed me, I'd have pulled the same stunt. Anyway."

His face grew solemn.

"More pressing is the tree itself."

Step.

Adam moved ahead, ready to shatter the blue tree. They ought to have targeted it right away, sparing themselves the conflict. Its innocent appearance had masked its dangers.

"Wait."

Alexia halted him abruptly.

"Huh?" Adam shot her a confused glance.

Alexia proceeded solo, her aura steady and no armament materializing in her grip.

"I sense it, Adam. This tree is the source of the Ancient Frost. I won't shatter it—I'll draw it in, immediately!"