Endless Evolution: Last Star - Chapter 1696 1696: One eye for another

From time to time, fights broke out among ordinary people at the Citadel. These could be conflicts, random scuffles, or even professional bouts.

Either way, most often everything ended with a few precise blows or even just one. Neither professional fighters nor young men fighting in the streets were exceptions.

But the Phantoms and monsters were significantly tougher. They could continue fighting even after sustaining serious wounds or taking more than ten punches straight to the face.

For any ordinary human, taking that many hits would, at best, result in a crushing defeat, and possibly even death, especially if the opponents were not evenly matched.

Thanks to their powerful bodies and energy, the Phantoms and monsters usually fought for quite a long time. A fight could end quickly only if one fighter were significantly stronger.

However, at the K4 level, this aspect of combat could change with proper use, and it all came down to the Ancient Energy.

If two monsters were fighting and one of them took a direct punch filled with Ancient Energy, that could end it all, just like a fighter in the ring who took a particularly powerful hit to the jaw.

Because Ancient Energy was such a scarce resource, all a K4-Phantom or a monster of the same level could count on was a few strikes, and only while the fighter was at the peak of their strength, not at the end of the battle, exhausted by a long series of skirmishes.

Now, the Dark Knight felt this firsthand.

Tap.

With difficulty, he rose from the ground, surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

“Damn… it…” He muttered slowly, touching his jaw. “Now that’s what I call a kick. If I were weaker, my head would’ve been knocked off my shoulders. Shit, I need to be more careful with this guy.”

Then, his gaze fell on his sword. The amber flame was still bright and strong, but he saw a slight tremor running along the blade from time to time.

‘Yeah, I know. By now, I should have already absorbed this Frenzied Shard. Don’t worry, there’s still a little left. Obviously, he doesn’t have much time either.’

True, Adam was quickly approaching his limit. Thanks to the fact that he had left the middle of the battle to Vyora, Loargh, and Sarka, he had been able to conserve a lot of strength, but the End Bliss, especially in its altered form, was a black hole that mercilessly drained his power.

Step. Step. Step.

The Dark Knight emerged from the smoke cloud as Adam prepared for battle.

“Gha…”

With a deep sigh, the Dark Knight stopped, looking around.

Loargh lay on the ground, unable even to get up, breathing with difficulty. Sarka was in an even worse state. All she could do was lie there, leaning against the blade of a massive sword at the far end of the arena.

Vyora was still afraid to face the Dark Knight one-on-one, but she had enough fortitude to help Adam.

“What do you know?” Adam’s voice rang out. “It seems defeating me wasn’t as easy as you expected.”

Strangely enough, the Dark Knight didn’t deny it.

“Yeah…” He shrugged. “If there were three of you, this would have been over long ago. You turned out to be tougher than the others, but that’s not a problem that can stop me.”

The Dark Knight raised his arm to his chest. The two red eyes stared at Adam, while the third remained covered by his hand.

Without hesitation, the Dark Knight touched his face, ripping out his left eye.

Adam and Vyora froze in shock. They couldn’t understand why the Dark Knight had done this.

‘He didn’t even wince!’ Adam exclaimed inwardly, staring at the Dark Knight’s calm expression.

The Dark Knight looked at his torn-out left eye.

“Well, as long as the reward is worth it, any sacrifice makes sense.”

Then, he brought his eye to his hand and crushed it with a sharp movement.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The crimson drops trickling from his hand fell onto the third red eye.

The tough outer shell trembled, sensing the scent of strong blood.

The third eye slowly opened, absorbing all the energy, and now there were three red eyes again. The Dark Knight had regained the full power of his cape, though he had to sacrifice one eye to do so.

A chill ran down Adam’s back.

“Wait, if he wanted to absorb our attacks, he wouldn’t have had to make such a sacrifice right now! He could have done it after losing all three eyes on his cape! If he needed all the red eyes, that means that-“

At the same moment, a bright red light burst from the three eyes as the Dark Knight’s gaze shifted, becoming calm.

“That’s enough, Adam. You’ve done enough. But I can’t waste any more time on you or this place. I have a lot of work waiting for me.”

Whoooooosh!

With an aggressive surge of darkness, the fabric on his arm vanished, transforming into the long black cape draping from his shoulders. The three eyes continued to shine brightly, emitting a dense crimson energy that engulfed the entire space around him.

In the face of this power, the amber flame of his sword no longer seemed dangerous or significant. Now, his sword was merely his tool, not the only path to victory.

Then, Adam and Vyora exchanged glances. They understood one thing:

This was the Dark Knight’s true power, not his sword and its Hollow Mark, but his own.

“But.”

The Dark Knight took a step forward as his deep voice rang out.

“I want you to know that you put up a worthy fight. Changing your ability mid-battle? That’s a level of adaptability even monsters can’t match. You can be proud of that.”

Step.

Before Adam could respond, the Dark Knight stepped forward as a surge of crimson energy flared with renewed force.

“Ah…?”

Vyora’s eyes widened, reflecting his stoic figure looming over her.

A single hit to Vyora’s shoulder caused her eyes to drop and her body to collapse to the ground. He couldn’t waste time on her.

The Dark Knight had a more important target.

‘Well, well.’

A lazy voice echoed from the depths of Adam’s inner space as the Silver Weaver looked up.

‘We’re in deep shit, right? Again.’