Adam's Power

"It seems Adam has chosen that side after all. Mr. Pete, is James truly going to be alright?" The deep, ravine-like wrinkles on Lincoln's face crowded together as he spoke, his concern for James, who was facing Adam head-on, evident.

Soon, this steam train, fully loaded with silver-plated ammunition and armaments, would arrive at the station. The outcome of this somewhat magical Civil War was already set in stone, but the battle on James Howlett's side had only just begun.

"I do not know... but I trust the young master, Mr. President." Jack Pete's words were calm yet exceptionally firm. The old guard at Howlett Estate were still accustomed to calling James "young master"; most of them had watched him grow up. Jack was of the same generation as John Howlett, though he was less than ten years older than James.

"Indeed, I trust him too, but... that is, after all, a vampire progenitor who has perhaps lived for thousands of years. We know far too little about him."

Listening to President Lincoln, Jack couldn't help but recall the scenes from a few years ago when James began personally training the family troops. He didn't know how powerful a so-called vampire progenitor could be, but from that moment on, he had deeply transformed James into a faith—the faith of the Howlett Family.

After his martial arts reached the level of perfection, James felt the power flowing through his entire body constantly stimulating further transformation. Through three days of sleepless Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound practice to refine his marrow and bones, James showed signs of bone-marrow replacement, though he hadn't reached the true stage of it yet. However, his base physical fitness had increased by nearly threefold.

The moment Victor saw James emerge from his seclusion, he understood that he no longer had any possibility of contending with James.

He had witnessed James's daily training and cultivation, and James had many times consciously guided and taught Victor how to utilize the power of his strikes. Victor had tried to seek that kind of strength himself, but his Sabretooth factor always severely influenced him; rage always flooded his spirit, making it impossible for him to calm his inner self.

Adam was constantly increasing his destructive power; his speed, strength, and offensive rhythm were growing ever stronger. James, however, remained constant to meet all changes. While there was still a gap between him and Adam in terms of raw physical combat power, his combat techniques were enough to bridge that difference. He was waiting for Adam to reach his limit and reveal his trump card.

Victor seemed to have exhausted too much stamina from the "ghosts'" encirclement tactics. Even the strength of a Sabretooth could not make him a perpetual motion machine. He was currently bathed in blood, his giant-like body covered in wounds that were slowly healing one by one, but the blood gushing out and congealing on his skin formed patches of dark red. Victor had lost too much blood.

His speed was slowing down; he seemed tired. Fatigue was a sensation Victor had never experienced before. Since he was a child, he had been energetic and robust, as if he possessed an endless supply of strength. After training with James, he had felt himself becoming stronger almost every day.

This current sense of exhaustion was so foreign that it actually calmed Victor's heart, as if the Sabretooth that was always roaring in his mind had grown tired.

Victor seemed to understand something.

"Your brother is about to collapse. How much longer can you hold on, Howlett?" Under the pressure of his high-speed attacks, Adam's voice was sharp and piercing, meant to provoke James.

With a Ru Feng Si Bi maneuver, James deflected Adam's pounce from behind with a Ban Lan Chui. He ignored Adam's provocation, but his heart grew increasingly worried for Victor, and his own attacks became a bit more urgent.

It seems I have to try that state... James thought to himself. Suddenly, the vampires surrounding the other side began to shriek strangely.

Victor no longer fought like a tiger pouncing on birds in vain; he seemed to have mastered the trajectory of his opponents' attacks just like James. When a vampire rushed up from the side, Victor strangely gripped its head. Before Victor even made a move, the vampire's head trembled, and black blood slowly flowed from its eyes, ears, and nose. Victor held it high in the air with one claw, its body dangling—it was dead.

It seemed that at the moment of contact, a burst of rapid, explosive power surged from Victor's palm into the unfortunate vampire's head, instantly destroying its brain tissue.

Victor felt that more and more parts of his body could deliver strikes. The vampires that pounced or clawed at him from behind or the sides felt a strange, overbearing force the moment they touched the giant's body, as if he were covered in spikes.

Soon, the vampires surrounding Victor had their heads shattered one after another, dying completely.

"Your brother is about to collapse, Adam." James's lips curled slightly. After sensing the shift in the battle, he returned the original words to Adam.

Seeing that he still couldn't take down this Howlett, who was as hard to crack as a turtle shell, Adam abruptly retreated several meters and stopped his attack. He looked at James with a playful expression, the color of his irises beginning to change. The pitch-black of his pupils gradually spread like ink into the whites of his eyes, and he said with a mocking tone, "They are not my brothers; they are merely playthings I created so I would no longer be lonely!"

Adam suddenly let out a sharp howl, clawing at his own body as if in extreme pain.

His eyes turned completely pitch-black, his ears grew long and pointed, and his skin took on a blue-black, metallic texture. His frame, originally somewhat slender, expanded rapidly. Two bulges protruded from his shoulder blades, and his entire body crackled with popping sounds.

Rip!

A pair of wings covered in thick membranes tore out from Adam's back, with a wingspan exceeding five meters. Coarse, hard black hair grew on his chest and back, and his hands transformed completely into bony talons. As his wings flapped, he slowly floated into the air.

Vadoma, who had been watching from the woods, tightly covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Even as Adam's favorite "little sister," she had never seen him in this form.

At this moment, she and all the other vampires felt a profound terror from the depths of their bloodlines suppressing them, making them feel an involuntary urge to prostrate themselves on the ground. Both battles ceased. Victor also felt a strange, peculiar sensation in his body, as if some will was driving him to submit.

"I have forgotten how long it has been since I turned into this." Adam's voice became grating, like fingernails scratching against a wall. His face no longer held any human resemblance—pitch-black pupils, a turned-up bat-like nose, and rows of thick, sharp fangs. Yet, from his tone, one could vaguely sense he was reminiscing about something.

"Even these creations of mine beside me have never seen me like this... because it is simply too ugly!"

Adam suddenly became extremely enraged. He dove toward James in an instant, bringing with him the fury of being forced into his true form.

Rip...

James was pierced through the chest by Adam's blue-black talons.

I have made many new friends recently; thank you all for your support. For questions regarding the world-building of this book, please refer to the "Work Related" section. The first volume is coming to an end, and the story will undergo a major shift. This volume has only lifted a small corner of the veil, and I will carefully and meticulously present this gradually magnificent world to everyone. Thank you again to every reader!

Rubbing your heads!