Endless Evolution: Last Star

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Fists slammed into each other, only for the two silhouettes to bounce apart simultaneously.

They exchanged glances before tearing forward in a deadly clash.

After a few seconds, they returned to their original places as the result of their fight was already evident.

"Oh, not bad."

Silhouette muttered looking at the fact that his arm was missing, thick drops of blood were falling to the floor, and there was a wide wound in his chest that was quickly bringing him closer to death.

"How many times is this today? I've lost count."

Adam smirked.

"That's ten for you. 10/7 for today. Looks like my experience from the Dead Lands is finally starting to help me. My mastery has grown enough to beat you."

Max shrugged with a bitter smile on his face. Parts of his body turned into particles, quickly disappearing into digital space.

"Well, Tron and I agreed that your training will only stop when you reach a score of 5/10, but I think you're ready to move on to the next stage now. After all, it's only a matter of time now, in a day or two you should be able to get to that level."

Max's half of his body disappeared as he glanced at Adam.

"Dead Lands, right? Hah, I wonder what I'll be doing there, it'll be a curious journey."

Adam nodded deeply.

It had been thirty days since he learned about the Two Walls and his conversation with Riska, Silvana, and Dahla.

So it had already been forty-five days since he started his training, which was a little more than half the time he had.

In that period Adam made amazing progress, at least by the standards of Tron's training plan.

He beat Max for the first time ten days ago, and his winning percentage only increased from then on.

However, it was worth realizing that 45 days of fighting wasn't enough for Adam's mastery to reach the same level as Max's.

Max wasn't a simple military man or coach, he was much stronger than most people, but Max didn't have what Adam had - experience from Dead Lands, which manifested in his more honed instincts.

This was what helped Adam finally win more often against Max.

So... his mastery still wasn't as high as Max's, but his fights in the Dead Lands reminded him of themselves. In the end, it was a challenge every time, during which Adam became stronger each time.

The next point was training with heavy weights.

Adam thought it would never end, but after a month, Tron said it was no longer necessary.

Instead of lifting heavy weights, Adam started hitting special slabs made of monsters that were much stronger than Adam, so he couldn't break them.

However, because of this, he could train his Energy Control and the power of his punch, which was useful for breaking through the First Wall.

Crackle.

Max took off his helmet and got out of his chair.

Adam did the same and walked over to him.

"Wait... Does this mean we won't fight anymore?" Adam asked, a sense of disappointment and regret in his voice.

He had never been in a situation like this before.

Sure, he'd had some serious opponents in his life, and there were quite a few of them, but the outcome of any fight was always decided in a few hours.

Against Max, he fought for a month and a half and only recently started to win. Adam didn't even remember how many push-ups he did and how many packs of cigarettes he bought for Max.

If Max wanted to, he could open his own store temporarily. It was unlikely that he would run out of cigarettes anytime soon.

Over such a long period and hundreds of fights, Adam completely learned Max's moves, well, the same applied to Max, he memorized how Adam fought. They knew everything about each other's abilities, yet they had to find ways to win.

It usually happened in a quick clash, in less than a second when it was almost impossible to understand a thing.

Max looked at Adam, then shook his head.

"Not yet, no. I'll go back to my task and keep an eye on the gate. I will visit you occasionally. Though... from what I understand, Tron prepared something for the final days before the wedding, so it's quite possible we'll fight again." Max muttered as he headed into the spectator room.

Oddly enough, there was no one there right now.

Silvana and Riska went for a run, they started doing it together after ten days of training.

Silvana always tried to keep herself in shape, but she usually did it alone, Riska had a way to keep her company.

"By the way." Max turned around abruptly, "A drone flew up to Gray Castle last night. Looks like it's your order arrived. You can pick it up in the security room."

Adam's eyes went wide, filling with happiness.

The item the drone brought was the bracelet he ordered for Silvana a month ago. The estimated delivery time was on the store's website, but Adam hadn't noticed it.
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He thought it would take a week at most, but he had forgotten that this bracelet was custom-made. Moreover, he had to assemble it himself.

"Nice, it's finally here!" Adam said vigorously, clenched his fist tightly, and headed for the security room.

Ten minutes later he was already in his room, opening a large black box.

Inside were many small packages, the bracelet frame, and all the necessary tools to build it.

The instructions were small but detailed.

"I see... Well, this is what I wanted. It will be a unique bracelet, as the pieces can be assembled in any position and order, but... it still won't be easy at all..." Adam muttered, looking at the parts of the bracelet.

The pieces were made of strong, stainless metals, both precious and not, but the color palette was kept gray-white-black, and light, there was no gold or anything resembling bronze and copper.

Adam took a deep breath before he made a workplace and began to assemble the bracelet. Silvana wouldn't be back until the evening, in a few hours, so he had enough time to make everything at its best.