Adam's Power

"Looks like Adam chose the other side after all. Mr. Pitt, will James really be all right?" Lincoln's face was crowded with intersecting, furrow-like wrinkles. He was deeply worried about James facing Adam head-on.

The steam train, loaded with silvered ammunition, would soon reach the station. The outcome of this strange, almost fantastical Civil War was already decided, but James Howlett's battle was only just beginning.

"I don't know... But I believe in the young master, Mr. President." Jack Pitt spoke calmly, but with unmistakable conviction. The old hands at the Howlett Estate were still used to calling James "young master." Most had watched him grow up. Jack was of the same generation as John Howlett, but less than ten years older than James.

"Yes, I believe in him too, but... We're talking about the progenitor of the vampires, someone who may have lived for thousands of years. We know far too little about him."

As Jack listened to President Lincoln, an image rose in his mind: James, years ago, beginning to train the family's men himself. Jack didn't know how strong this supposed vampire progenitor was. He only knew that, from that moment on, James had become something he believed in deeply—the faith of the Howlett Family.

After reaching the pinnacle of his kung fu, James felt the force coursing through his entire body constantly stimulating it to undergo further transformation. Three days of nonstop Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound training, refining his marrow and bones, had given James's body signs of a bone-deep transformation, though it had not yet reached the point of truly reshaping his bones. His basic physical strength had also increased nearly threefold.

The moment Victor saw James emerge from seclusion, he understood that he no longer stood a chance of matching him.

Victor had watched James train every day. James had also deliberately guided him many times, teaching him how to use his fists and channel his force. Victor had tried to find that power himself, but his Sabretooth factor had always affected him too severely. Anger constantly filled his mind, and he simply couldn't quiet his thoughts.

Adam kept increasing his destructive power. His speed, strength, and rhythm of attack grew more formidable by the moment, while James continued to adapt without changing his approach. His physical abilities still fell short of Adam's, but his fighting skill could make up the difference. He was waiting for Adam to reach his limit and reveal his trump card.

Victor seemed to have been worn down by the "ghosts'" surrounding attack. Even the power of a Sabretooth couldn't make him an endless engine. He was drenched in blood, his giant body covered in it from one wound after another. His injuries slowly healed, but the blood that poured from them coated his skin in patches of dark red. Victor had lost too much blood.

He was getting slower and slower. He seemed tired. Fatigue was something Victor had never experienced before. He had been full of energy and strong from childhood, seemingly with endless strength to spare. Since training with James, he had felt himself growing stronger almost every day.

This feeling of exhaustion was so unfamiliar that it actually calmed Victor. It was as if the Sabretooth in his mind, always roaring and raging, had finally grown tired.

Victor seemed to understand something.

"Your brother's about to give out. How much longer can you hold on, Howlett?" Adam taunted James, his voice sharp as he pressed his high-speed attack.

James used Ban Lan Chui, wrapped in Ru Feng Si Bi, to sweep away Adam's pounce as he flashed in behind him. He ignored Adam's taunt, but his concern for Victor was growing, and his attacks grew more urgent.

Looks like I'll have to try that state... James thought. Suddenly, the vampires surrounding Victor let out a series of strange cries.

Victor was no longer like a tiger futilely snapping at birds as they darted by. He seemed to have grasped the trajectory of his opponents' attacks, just as James had. When one vampire charged at him from the side, Victor caught it by the head with an uncanny motion. He barely seemed to move, yet the vampire's head trembled, and black blood slowly seeped from its eyes, ears, and nose. Victor held it aloft by one claw, its body hanging limp. It was dead.

It seemed that, the instant they made contact, a sudden, explosive force had surged from Victor's palm and pierced the unlucky vampire's skull, instantly turning its brain to mush.

Victor felt that more and more parts of his body could deliver a punch. Whenever a vampire lunged at him from behind or the side, the moment it touched the giant, a strange, overwhelming force shot through its hand. It was as if Victor were covered in spikes.

Before long, the vampires attacking Victor were having their skulls smashed one after another. They all died for good.

"Your brother's about to give out, Adam." James's lips curled slightly as he sensed the shift in the battle and returned Adam's own words to him.

Seeing that he still couldn't take down the Howlett who was as hard to get at as a tortoise in its shell, Adam abruptly darted back several yards and stopped attacking. He watched James with amusement as his eyes began to change. The pinpoint of black in his pupils gradually spread, staining the whites of his eyes. "They aren't my brothers. They're just playthings I created so I wouldn't be lonely!"

Adam suddenly let out a shrill howl and began clawing at his own body, looking as though he were in unbearable pain.

His eyes turned completely black, and his ears grew long and pointed. His skin took on the blue-black sheen of metal, and his once-slender frame rapidly swelled. Two bulges rose near his shoulder blades, and his entire body crackled.

Pfft!

A pair of wings covered in thick membranes burst from Adam's back, spanning more than five meters from tip to tip. Coarse black hair bristled across his chest and back, and both hands had become bony claws. Slowly, as his wings flexed, he rose into the air.

In the woods, Vadoma had been watching. She clamped both hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. Even as Adam's favorite "little sister," she had never seen him like this.

At that moment, she and all the vampires felt a deep, dreadful pressure from the depths of their blood. They could barely resist the urge to prostrate themselves on the ground. The fighting on both sides stopped. Victor, too, felt a strange sensation in his body, as though some will were compelling him to submit.

"I've forgotten how long it's been since I last looked like this." Adam's voice had grown piercing, like fingernails scraping against a wall. His face no longer looked human at all, with its black eyes, upturned batlike nose, and rows of long, sharp fangs. Yet something in his tone suggested he was remembering the past.

"Even these creations I keep around me have never seen me like this... Because it's simply too hideous!"

Adam suddenly flew into a fury. He plunged toward James in an instant, charging at him in the rage of having been forced to reveal his true form.

Pfft...

Adam's blue-black claws pierced straight through James's chest.

There have been a lot of new readers lately. Thank you all for your support! If you have questions about this book's worldbuilding, please check the notes on the work. The first volume is nearly over, and the story is about to take a major turn. This volume has only raised the tiniest corner of the curtain; I'll carefully show you this world as it grows ever more turbulent and vast. Thank you again to every reader!

Sending hugs to you all!