Endless Evolution: Last Star

Each monster subspecies could have its characteristics, whether it was wings, powerful jaws, or claws of a certain length, some detail that each member of a particular species possessed.

Anomalous Monsters were on a slightly different level because they could be various in appearance, but they all had the power of anomalies, they were a separate category.

Crimson Sacrificers also belonged to a specific category - regenerative monsters. The power of these monsters was clear and simple, they were hard to kill and defeat because they could heal almost any wound, as long as they had enough energy to do so.

Thus, Adam's one hit was not enough for Crimson Sacrificer to kill the monster, even though Crimson Sacrificer's head was blown away as if from an explosion.

"Wait... I've seen some monsters able to regenerate their wounds quickly before, maybe not in this way, but good regeneration isn't some unique ability..." Adam muttered, wide-eyed as he watched the Crimson Sacrificer regenerate.

Adam was shocked not because of Crimson Sacrificer's abilities, no, compared to Thunder Demon, that monster was nothing. It was just that, Adam realized something.

"Defeating it is easy, but you said I would need to eat such a monster... If I take even a bite, it will start to grow right inside me..." Adam muttered as he gulped.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!"

Crimson Sacrificer roared furiously again, as he grew a new head that was not at all different from the last one. The regeneration was perfect, only its energy reserves were affected.

Immediately, Crimson Sacrificer attacked again, but this time Adam, seemed to be too distracted by his thoughts.

Bam.

As soon as Crimson Sacrificer took a step, Adam's arm turned into a blur, throwing the monster not dozens of meters away with a palm strike to the chest.

Crimson Sacrificer weighed very little, just over two hundred kilos, so for Adam, it was easy. Moreover, Crimson Sacrificer didn't have any defense abilities, only regeneration, and decent stamina.

So it went on for a while, for a few minutes everyone saw only one scene - Crimson Sacrificer attacking, immediately getting fatally wounded, regenerating, and attacking again, while Adam stood still and stared at the floor with a wistful look.

No one said anything, Nessa and Silvana were puzzled. They had expected a battle, but it couldn't be called a fight, the Crimson Sacrificer was as helpless as it could be.

Magnus watched this with a sly smile on his face. This was the first step to convince Adam to go through with his treatment. After all, Adam had already realized the first risk of this method - he could die.

Sure, the Crimson Sacrificer wasn't strong enough to hurt him, but what if that monster started growing inside Adam? The claws would simply tear him from the inside out, there was no defense against such an attack.

"Hey, how about we kill it and move on to testing and discussing further?" Magnus suggested with a slight wave of his hand.

Adam glanced at him.

"Kill him? Don't you need him for experiments?" Adam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Magnus smirked.

"Nah, I have quite a few of those, don't worry about it. Use lightning bolts, I couldn't create electricity as powerful as you, you know." Magnus shrugged.

Adam nodded as his fingertips became covered in electricity. He didn't fully use the Trait of his artifact, only a small part of it, which should have been enough.

There were many ways to kill an enemy with such a high regeneration rate, but two principles were at the heart of it - either make the monster use up all of its energy or destroy it in one attack so that there would be no parts left to regenerate from.

Fire, ice, acid, explosions, and more could be used to destroy the monster entirely. Sure, strong enough lightning was also suitable for this task.

Crackle.

Adam's hand fell on Crimson Sacrificer's face, unleashing the power of lightning directly into the monster. Crimson Sacrificer's body began to shake, rapidly and actively trembling, as soon the unpleasant smell of burning flesh filled the room.

Crimson Sacrificer couldn't do anything, his muscles and limbs wouldn't obey him. Soon, dark trickles of smoke began to emanate from the monster's head, until electricity ran throughout Crimson Sacrificer, causing him to burst into bright flames and quickly turn into a handful of ashes.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Magnus nodded a few times, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "That ability was clearly worth your battle against Thunder Demon. Agh, I should definitely watch that fight."

Then, Magnus lifted his chin, looking at Adam.

"So, what do you say? Are you willing to eat a regenerative monster to regenerate your arm? I hope you remember that I don't tolerate rejection!" Magnus's voice intensified as an eerie aura began to emanate from him.

Adam nodded slightly.

"Like I said, I came here to heal my arm. If you want the data, then tell me the process properly. I think... I have a rough idea of how it's supposed to work." Adam sighed heavily, "However, this won't be the first risky thing I do. That's for sure."

"Good. Very good. Then let's check your metrics, Nessa will run the tests, and I'll tell you all about it."

...

Adam, Silvana, Nessa, and Magnus went to another part of the building where there was a lot of medical equipment. Sure, Lirla checked Adam's condition several times before letting him out of the department, he should be completely healthy.

But, Magnus only trusted his data and wasn't interested in Adam's health. In fact, he wanted to find out something else - how robust Adam's body was and how far they could go in regenerating his arm.

Step. Step. Step.

Adam ran on the treadmill while several scanners encircled him on all sides, collecting data on his every breath, every drop of sweat, and every muscle contraction.

"Basically. My method is that your body will use the cells of the regenerative monster to regrow the missing limb. I won't hide it, if you fail, the cells of the monster will simply tear your body from the inside, to prevent that from happening, you must suppress them!" Magnus said confidently.

Adam glanced at him.

"How much longer do I have to run?"

"Not much."

"Agh... Whatever. What does my success depend on? Should I use my energy or my muscles? I mean, you said I need the energy from these cells while they're still alive. That way, I'll grow a new arm like the Crimson Sacrificer, right?"

Magnus nodded.

"Different factors are important. You'll understand everything when you start tomorrow. If you're up for it, of course." Magnus narrowed his eyes, and his expression became really intimidating.

"Well, I'm not going to hide it. I'm ready, but you have to tell me something, honestly."

Magnus smirked.

"I'm listening to you."

"How many of the Phantoms that have come to you with the same request as me in the last half year have failed?" Adam asked with a deadly serious face.

He had chosen this particular period because he realized that Magnus had been steadily improving his results, so he needed up-to-date information not distorted by failures in the beginning.

Magnus shrugged.

"Only 70% agreed. Of those Phantoms that agreed, 50% didn't get any results, they couldn't subdue the monster's genes, 30% were able to significantly speed up the regeneration of their wounds, 5% completely healed their wounds, some recovered an arm, a leg, and an eye, and... 15% died."