Endless Evolution: Last Star

When a fighter was attacked by monsters, the Phantoms always prepared to defend and fight. The main advantage of flying monsters was that they traveled freely through the air, giving them the ability to attack from any direction.

However, if there were enough strong Phantoms aboard the fighter, the flying monsters were not a problem for them. The biggest issue was that pilots could get scared and panic, it happened quite often, especially if the pilot was still a beginner or inexperienced.

But... no one ever counted on a pilot being able to defend himself. Sure, every fighter plane had machine guns and combat missiles, but they weren't used to fight or kill monsters.

It was a good way to distract or disorient monsters, after all, if a few bullets from a machine gun hit a monster's eye, it would obviously feel considerable discomfort.

Well, Refesa was going to change that rule that had always worked.

Crackle.

Broad bones, shards of flesh, and dark clots of blood flew in front of Nessa's wide-open eyes.

The long beak of the Air Krukko bounced off the azure barrier, flying aside like a simple stone flung aside by too strong wind current.

A second later, XH-01 flew forward a few dozen meters, leaving Air Krukko's torn-apart body behind.

Nessa turned her head sharply, wanting to follow the pieces of flesh falling to the ground, as if not believing it was possible.

Magnus, watching the scene through the screens from far away in the Citadel, was as surprised as Nessa.

Sure, he knew what Refesa was up to, they often chatted about their various experiments and new creations, but... they never revealed their most interesting projects. That was their nature as free scientists.

They wanted to show their progress to the public, but only when they were satisfied that it was a final product ready to benefit the Citadel.

Well, XH-01 was one of those projects on Refesa's invention list.

Magnus knew that Refesa had created a new fighter using rare materials and reaching new speed limits.

However, he did not know that Angel's Embrace, the defense barrier of the XH-01, was capable of tearing apart the Light Yellow Threat monster. Sure, Air Krukko was not the most serious opponent Nessa could face, but it was a Light Yellow monster.

The military and scientists all knew that the maximum the weapon could do, given the massive plasma cannons on the walls of the Citadel, was to wound White and Green Threat Level monsters.

But, just now, Refesa's fighter had destroyed Air Krukko as if it were a common bird or a weak White Threat monster.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

A couple of seconds later, the recoil reached the fighter, causing the entire plane to shake actively, but before Nessa started to panic everything was back to normal.

Refesa made sure that the XH-01 could regain balance on its own in almost any situation.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!"

Magnus burst into laughter, his chuckles like crazy echoes spreading around.

"Holy shit! What the fuck just happened! I want to replay that moment over and over again!"

Refesa didn't want to show it, trying to keep a serious face for the duration of the mission, but the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, forming a satisfied smirk.

Thump.

Magnus's arms wrapped tightly around Refesa from behind, hugging her tightly.

"I must admit that I was wrong. This is the kind of thing I couldn't have expected. This is really something new for me."

Refesa waved her hand nonchalantly.

"Not just for you, it's about to be a shock to the entire Citadel. Douglas has been bugging me for permission to use XH-01, but... it looks like he'll get his way soon enough."

Magnus glanced at the screens, looking at a surprised Nessa.

"Hehehe, it will be interesting to see the same look on Douglas's face."

Refesa nodded, as her face became much more serious.

"But... This feature has significant limitations." Refesa pointed to the tanks.

Earlier, for Angel's Embrace's activation, they had emptied by a third, which was within normal limits, but now their level had dropped to 60% instead of maintaining 66% full.

It wasn't too much of a waste of azure liquid to destroy the Light Yellow Monster, but if there were too many such monsters on Nessa's path, the energy might run low.

"Don't worry. Nessa is already almost to the right place." Magnus said looking at the far screen.

There, XH-01 was marked as a blue dot and Fume Cathedral was a red dot.

"Hmm? What is that?" Magnus tilted his head as he watched a white dot rapidly approaching the red dot.

At the same moment, Refesa's screens showed numerous messages from Fort Norton and the mission department, all saying that a Midnight Crystal had fallen near Fume Cathedral!

They had received this information with a slight delay, but now everyone knew about it.

Refesa was baffled, she wasn't prepared for this.

But, Magnus on the contrary, his grin grew even wider.

"Good..." Magnus whispered like an insidious devil.

"What, what good is that! It just increased the danger level of this mission! Not only is it Fume Cathedral and the Plague Reaper running around, but now this place has become a bloody feast for all the monsters in the vicinity!"

Refesa said vigorously, slapping her hands on the arms of her chair.

"Now not only are Adam, Katrin, and Osana in danger, but your daughter is in danger as well! This could be a real threat to Nessa!"

Refesa said worriedly before turning her head and looking at Magnus. Her face turned pale at the sight of his creepy grin, eyes narrowed.

Then, without saying anything, Magnus stepped forward, approaching the control panel.

This time Refesa did not dare to stop him, she only silently watched not wanting to stand in Magnus' way when he was in such a state.

Pressing a button, Magnus bent over the microphone.

"Hey, Nessa, can you hear me?"

Nessa flinched in surprise before nodding quickly.

"Yes, is something wrong?"

Magnus waved his hand.

"Nah, nothing much. Just a Midnight Crystal fell near Fume Cathedral."

Nessa's eyes went wide with waves of shivers spreading throughout her body.

But, Magnus's voice completely consumed her mind before she could say anything.

"Don't be afraid, you should rejoice. Given your recent development after the battle in the lab, energy is now a valuable resource."

Magnus chuckled evilly.

"Fight, fucking hell, it's fucking Midnight Crystal! Kill Plague Reaper and absorb the energy from Midnight Crystal! I'm sure after that, you'll advance to the next level! Then, you'll surpass Adam Vinter! That arrogant guy will catch up to you instead of you catching up to him!"

Magnus was silent for a few seconds before saying in a creepy voice: "Fight like a beast, Plague Reaper is a true monster, and as you know, only a monster can defeat a monster."