Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 398 Control Difficulties

As soon as Adam used his Initial Order, snow-white rings appeared on his fingers, they were needed for one single purpose - controlling the threads.

From each ring came several threads, dozens of them in total, rising up and slowly swaying as if in the wind.

Damien's eyes went wide for a moment, it seemed even he was impressed.

"Oh... Not bad, not bad at all. Looks like you have almost half a hundred threads... Impressive, but..." Damien said, his last words not having time to come out of his mouth.

Adam stared intently at Damien as the amber grid deep inside his right eye sparkled, making his vision more accurate.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Without hesitation, Adam swung his arms, causing his silver threads, like blades to rain down upon Damien.

Was Damien wary, or maybe even scared?

Well... It was hard to tell from his calm face what he was feeling, but soon he shook his head like a disappointed teacher.

Step.

Damien took a small step to the left. He seemed to do it to prepare to block Adam's attack, but... Damien just stood his ground, doing nothing.

Whooooooooooosh.

Several threads passed right next to Damien, leaving streaks and destruction on the floor, traveling further and hitting the walls that were quite far away from Damien.

Strangely enough, none of the threads hit Damien directly, he calculated their trajectory beforehand and stood exactly in the safe zone.

Some of the threads passed within millimeters of his face, arms, legs, and shoulders, but none of them managed to hit him or hurt him, not even a scratch was left.

Moreover, Damien's hat was still on his head, he didn't even need to hold it from falling off. Sure when a few threads swept by him at high speed, the hat shook slightly, but it wasn't enough for Damien to lose it.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The threads continued onward, hitting everything randomly and leaving deep marks like cuts.

Some of the silver threads headed straight for the spectator room, Silvana flinched, she thought the threads were going to come crashing down on them.

Douglas wasn't worried, his hands were still on his chest, but Dahla wasn't as calm.

Just in case, she took a few steps forward, preparing to protect them. Dahla couldn't let Douglas get hurt, and Silvana... Well, she was lucky she was standing next to Douglas.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Silver threads rained down on the sturdy glass made of parts of a dangerous monster far beyond Adam's power, so his threads couldn't even leave a mark.

However... a violent shudder spread throughout the room that was made of rather ordinary materials, concrete and steel.

But, soon everything came back to normal, the tremors calmed down and Adam's threads returned to his rings. They came to their past length, rising a little above the level of his elbows.

"What the hell...?" Adam gulped in confusion.

His expression was lost as he glanced around. His attack had caused quite a bit of destruction, but... what was the point of it?

He wasted a lot of energy and failed to achieve his goal. Even with his gaze from Second Order, he couldn't control his threads accurately enough.

And... Damien realized it immediately as Adam unskillfully swung his arms.

"Too much." Damien said calmly, pointing at Adam's threads.

Adam gulped, looking at him with a baffled face.

"What? What do you mean?"

Damien sighed heavily, he didn't understand why he had to explain something so trivial.

Well, for Damien it was obvious, but for Adam, it was a true mystery. He didn't understand why he'd handled it so poorly when he was finally able to control his threads.

"Look, people spend years to learn how to use a sword at master level. If you're talent-deprived, it can take a long time to learn the basics of swordsmanship."

Damien said before staring at Adam.

"Do you really think you can control half a hundred threads without any problems? Yeah, it's your ability and I'm sure your Second Order has helped you, but so far it's too difficult for you."

Adam shuddered with a dark stare looking at the rippling threads.

He realized that Damien was right. Before attacking, Adam had expected to be able to easily wound Damien and knock his hat off, however, only some of the threads reached Damien, but none hit the target.

Most of the threads went a few meters off their original trajectory and landed in random places.

If Adam made such an attack on the battlefield, in Dead Lands, it would be a pure failure.

"But... what should I do then? Do I have to give up my ability and spend years practicing?" Adam asked with fear in his voice. Such a perspective frightened him.

Damien shook his head.

"Nah, you don't have to. You just didn't need to use the full power of your Initial Order. Use fewer threads, try starting with one."

Adam was in no hurry to act; he wasn't sure.

"Come on. There's no point in wasting time. Direct all the energy of your ability to one ring to create one powerful thread. That way you won't need to control fifty complex weapons, but just one."

Damien shrugged, offering the best option he had.

"In a way, it's like fighting with a whip, isn't it?"

Adam blinked a few times wide-eyed before nodding.

Their sparring may have had some pretty rough moments, Adam had already suffered quite a few serious wounds, but fighting against Damien had its advantages. Damien was experienced enough to give Adam helpful advice as soon as he saw his new ability.

"One thread... right, that might work." Adam muttered before closing his eyes, concentrating.

His rings trembled, bringing the released threads back to themselves. He didn't leave a single thread, then Adam looked at the middle finger of his right hand.

He decided that he would create his dense thread just from the ring on that finger. It was the most convenient option for him, as it was the center of his main hand, so he could get used to his new abilities faster.

Then, the ring shuddered releasing a dense and long thread. It was much thicker than the silver threads that were many times thinner than human hair. However, it was still far from the thickness of an actual rope.

Whooooooooooooooooooosh.

At Adam's will, the thread came into motion tying itself tightly around his wrist. It seemed that the thread was meant to hurt him, but it was his ability, his energy so it was unlikely.

Moreover, it wasn't worth forgetting that his Nexus, his gauntlets were on his arms, protecting him from any threats.

Sure, the turn of his Nexus hadn't come yet, but... Adam hadn't even knocked Damien's hat off yet, so... their time would come, soon enough.

Clutch.

Adam gripped his thread tightly, ready to attack. It seemed to be awkward, but the thread had the following path: The thread came out of the ring to Adam's wrist, banded tightly around it to anchor it, then the thread came out from under the wrist, along the palm of his hand running further so Adam could grip it tightly with his hand like a whip.

In this way, Adam gained durability, stability, and flexibility in controlling his thread, which was to have a positive effect on the accuracy and power of his attacks.

Sure, Adam turned his dozens of threads into one, but it was far better to have one working and deadly weapon than many useless and chaotic ones.

"Not bad, you seem to have figured out pretty quickly how you can maximize your effectiveness. Go ahead, I'm ready, attack first." Damien said confidently while firmly clutching the black rod in his hand.

Adam took his time. He took a few practiced swings, leaving deep streaks on the stone floor.

However, these were not clean cuts like those from the thin threads when there were fifty of them. The weight of one dense thread was enough to tear shards of stone out of the ground as if struck with a rough object rather than a sharp blade.

This increased the combat potential, as now Adam could not just cut through obstacles, but smash them with pure force.

Damien nodded contentedly.

Adam didn't make past mistakes and tested what he was capable of first.

"Good, now I'm ready." Adam said with a deep look before taking a step back and bringing his arm up for a wide swing as if he were fighting with a whip, which wasn't far from the truth.

Then, bending his torso forward and taking a step further, Adam swung his arm sharply, directing his thread in a curved trajectory rather than just bringing it down on Damien from top to bottom.

Adam's goal was to knock the hat off Damien's head, so his thread was heading towards Damien from the right side, the tip about to crash into the hat. Find adventures at empire

Damien smirked as he stepped forward and held out a black rod in front of him.

Whooooooooooooosh.

At the last moment, Damien jerked his head back, preventing the tip of the thread from touching his head, then the thread had to return to Adam, but it ran into the black rod once wrapped around it.

That completely changed the thread's trajectory, causing it to fly out to the right straight towards the spectator room.

Crackle.

Hitting the sturdy protective glass, the thread severed a fingernail-sized piece before falling to the ground losing all of its momentum.

Douglas's eyes went wide, staring at the damaged part of the protective glass. Sure, it was a tiny shard, but the fact that Adam had managed to damage it was remarkable.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

As if moving on the spiral, the thread quickly returned to Adam, ready for the next attack.

'Fuck... Fucking monster...' Adam bit his lip, staring at Damien, who was smiling kindly as if he hadn't done anything special.