Endless Evolution: Last Star

However... It ended with the man being murdered in front of dozens of guests and... that surprised not everyone.

Magnus grinned widely, enjoying the show. It seemed that now he was satisfied, besides the top-notch main course, there was a girl turned into a monster and an insolent guest killed by Knight.

Adam's eyes went wide. It wasn't just him who had such a reaction, but Silvana and many of the other guests. Even if one had been to Red Feast several times before it didn't mean that they were prepared for such actions from the Knights.

Many guests who had been to Red Feast ten or more times might not have ever seen the Knights, especially them in action. As Magnus said earlier, the Guardians were competent enough to solve most problems that arose, whether it was an attack, disgruntled guests, or a girl turning into a monster.

Seeing a Knight, much less them in action, was a real rarity.

Thus, only people like Magnus, veterans of the Red Feast, were not greatly shocked by the man's actions.

"Holy shit..." Silvana muttered in disbelief, "Knight just killed him... no warning or second chance, but... why?"

Magnus smirked.

"Hey, didn't you hear that?" Magnus said before taking a sip of wine, "Telling about Red Feast is fine for inviting new members, but you can't tell outsiders about what happened here. I'd call it reputation protection, something like that."

Then, Knight turned around. His face was calm, but he realized that the guests expected him to give an explanation. After all, people like Magnus were a minority.

Whoooooosh.

Knight tossed the man's head aside, into the hands of one of the Guardians, who caught it with slight puzzlement.

The girl grimaced slightly, she was disgusted to be holding someone's head in her hands, but she didn't dare anger Knight, it was too risky.

"I understand your concern, but there is no reason to worry." Knight said calmly pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his hands clean of blood.

Knight looked at the dead man and said:

"Misty Aristocrat decided to break one of the cardinal rules, so I took action. This is the end of the story. Once again, I apologize to you all for the incident with the girl, we will try to make sure this happens as rarely as possible." Knight calmly said before turning into a shadow, disappearing from the eyes of dozens of people.

The Soldiers and Guardians looked at each other. Although they too worked for Red Feast, even for them, the appearance of the Knight was unexpected.

"Damn, I don't know who that was, but his level is clearly above K2..." Adam muttered, stunned. Other than Damien, the only Phantom above his level who he knew was Tron, but he hadn't seen Tron fighting at full power.

Magnus nodded.

"Don't ask me, I don't know who it was, even for me there are many secrets in Red Feast. By the way..." Magnus uttered as his face became serious for a moment and he waved his hand calling Soldier over to him.

"Mr. Time Apostle? Did you want something?" Soldier asked respectfully, ready to offer the wine to Magnus.

However... Magnus had another request.

"I want you to bring me this." Magnus said, pointing to an object lying next to the monsters. It was some kind of accessory that previously belonged to a girl.

"Are you sure...? Normally we have to dispose of all things." Soldier began to get nervous.

A sharp glint passed across Magnus's eyes as he clutched his staff tightly.

"Hey... You're not going to disappoint me, are you?" Magnus narrowed his eyes, "I'm well aware of the rules of the Red Feast. If no one wants that pendant, then I can take it or at least look at it. I mean, I can stand up and take it myself, but I want you to do it."

Tap.

Magnus poked the sharp tip of his staff into the young man's chest, causing him to gulp and nod a few times. It was best for him to fulfill Magnus's request

Soon, a brass pendant on a blood-covered chain was on their table.

Click.

Magnus opened the pendant, where there was a picture of a girl and what appeared to be her younger brother. Silvana, Nessa, and Magnus examined the photo, they were curious to know more about the girl to understand her motivation.

After all, only a desperate person was willing to take such a risk.

Adam at the same time was staring at the back of the pendant where something was scrawled, right on the metal - NDLP:137.45.

What was that? Some kind of code word? Maybe a message or a coded phrase that only a select few knew the meaning of?

Well... It was much simpler than that, it was an address in a slum...

Adam understood it at a glance because he himself lived not so far away. The designations were quite simple: ND = North District, LP = Lower Part, and the digits were the number of the house.

Sure, it was different from the addresses of the houses in Three Circles, because in the slums there was only a number and the part where the person lived, no fancy names.

"Curious... Well, this will be a nice addition to my collection." Magnus shrugged nonchalantly about to slip the pendant into his pocket.

Crackle.

Before Magnus could do so, Adam grabbed his arm tightly, so hard that Magnus was in pain.

"What? What are you doing?!" Nessa exclaimed with a menacing look but as soon as Adam's gaze fell on her goosebumps ran through her body with a chill down her spine.

"Sit back down and be quiet." Adam said calmly, quietly but menacingly enough for Nessa's body to do his command on its own.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Magnus asked, slightly puzzled.

Adam exhaled a cold vapor.

"Nothing... Just give that pendant to me. As a rookie gift."

Magnus frowned, but soon the corners of his mouth went up as he nodded.

"Fine, do whatever you want, just don't be late tomorrow." Magnus let go of the pendant.

"Sure."

...

Whooooooooooooosh.

Streams of wind blew around Adam and Silvana, who stood in the dark alleyway, ten minutes after the official end of the Red Feast, when all the guests had gone elsewhere.

Magnus and Nessa returned to the laboratory, their meeting would take place tomorrow, so for today their paths parted.

"Silvana, go back alone. I have somewhere to visit." Adam muttered, holding the pendant in his hand.

Silvana didn't bother asking any unnecessary questions. She was smart enough to realize what Adam was about to do.

"Sure, be careful."

Adam nodded.

...

Two hours later, after traveling from First Circle to the slums, Adam was finally back in the place where he had grown up. In some ways, it was the Fourth Circle, the worst and most hopeless.

The Lower Part and the Upper Part were separated by a wide road with the occasional military truck, so Adam had no trouble getting to the right place.

It was already late at night, nobody usually walked in the slums at this time, it was too dangerous, but... Adam had nothing to worry about.

Moreover, his suit was still on, he only took off the mask that for Red Feast he had grown tired of. He liked freedom and the mask limited his field of vision a bit.

There were only ruined houses, dirty streets strewn with garbage, and buildings ready to collapse at any moment. However, the same could be said for the fate of the people living here.

"Agh... How did she even end up as a waiter at Red Feast? Surely she wanted to make money, though... something's not right here. Certainly, the mere fact that she was hired at Red Feast should be enough to get her out of the slums, especially if she didn't have anyone besides her brother." Adam muttered, slowly stepping forward.

Crackle.

Suddenly some creature ran out of the side, causing a rumble of falling debris.

Slowly turning around, Adam saw a plain black cat with amber eyes and vertical pupils.

"Hah, I've missed you. Only here could be so many stray animals who know how to survive." Adam smiled bitterly, continuing to step forward while the cat watched him curiously.

This place was nothing but an oppressive atmosphere and dangerous silence, but even here there were points of warmth and kindness, in front of one of which Adam now stood.

On the corner of the dilapidated house was scrawled - NDLP:137.45, and from a partially broken window came a faint light and a pleasant aroma, as if from a dinner that was being prepared for a loved one who was soon to return from work.