Sometimes, the initial goal could change a lot, from the path that needed to bepleted to the final result, but it could still be aplished.


    Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.


    gue Reaper''s body trembled as energy began to flow out of him. Oddly enough, unlike Scarlet Pyromancer, the energy streams were ck instead of white.


    Normally, genes would have followed, but since Katrin had removed her Initial Gene and her life wasing to an end, something else was rushing out of gue Reaper''s body.


    A ck star, ominous and majestic, a thick dark fog hovered around it, revealing that it was a dangerous force not everyone was capable of handling.


    Katrin smiled bitterly, her strength was getting less and less with each passing moment. She didn''t know how many seconds she still had, maybe three, maybe just one, but her eyes tended to close, and she couldn''t control it.


    Pretty soon, Katrin saw only darkness in front of her, sinking into a sleep that should have been an eternal dream for her.


    But strangely enough, in her case, it was the darkness that was going to bring the light back into her life.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A ck star flew into her Revolve, which in a moment disappeared as Katrin''s time had already passed.


    Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.


    Her Evolution Tree, which usually shone brightly filled with energy, waspletely empty, it was bleeding, having previously drained the life force out of Katrin tost a few seconds longer in this world.


    Cracks covered the entire Evolution Tree, growing rapidly like an imminent disaster.


    Pretty soon, the tips of the farthest branches of the Evolution Tree began to break, shattering into splinters, they fell into the void only to disappear.


    Tremble.


    Space trembled as a ck star appeared next to the copsing Evolution Tree. It had just arrived at its new home, which was already ready to be lost.


    It was worth realizing that Evolution Tree was just the center of everything, but Katrin''s entire inner space was under the shock.


    Her Vault, the artifact, the ghost copy of her Nexus, and even the Transmutator that usually lurked in the shadows, all them trembled ready to break down in the aftermath of Evolution Tree.


    ck Star stood in one ce for a while, as if assessing the situation, before moving forward at a leisurely pace.


    Even though this gene now belonged to Katrin, there was still something of gue Reaper in it. Despite the critical nature of the situation, the ck star did not panic, moving confidently towards the center of the Evolution Tree.


    However... for some reason, the ck star was in no hurry to be the new core of this space. It simply stopped in front of the Evolution Tree, watching as it was covered in cracks, gradually copsing.


    No one could know or see what was happening here. Only Katrin had such a chance, but right now she was down, rapidly approaching the gates of death that were ready to open for her to close forever.


    After an unknown period, something reflected in the ck star.


    It was a small light burning inside the Evolution Tree, like a spark..., which was impossible to see, only in the reflection of the ck star as if it was a magic mirror capable of revealing what could not be recognized otherwise.


    Even though the ck star was supposed to save Katrin as her new Initial Gene, it waited, watching as space shattered into shards.


    Whoooooooosh.


    Like a candle blown out by a torrent of wind, the spark inside Evolution Tree disappeared.


    At the same moment, Katrin''s heart stopped, halted beating.


    Before the next moment could pass, the ck star, burst forward, taking its rightful ce at the center of the Evolution Tree.


    Nevertheless... the destruction continued, the inner space seemingly resigned to the death of its owner and not noticing that it had a new core.


    Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.


    The ck star shuddered, releasing dense streams of darkness that quickly enveloped everything around it.


    The new Initial Gene was going to show that it was now in charge here, while death and total annihtion were postponed for another day, which unknown when woulde.


    Thump. Thump. Thump.


    Katrin''s heart began to beat again, while the darkness inside her adjusted her inner space to its needs.


    Thump.


    Katrin''s artifact, which looked like a multitude of intertwined rings, cracked in many ces before darkening and turning to ash.


    Then, the same thing happened to the ghostly staff hovering next to Evolution Tree.


    When the Initial Gene changed, the Phantom also lost his artifact and Nexus. There was no way to avoid this.


    It wasn''t difficult to create a new Nexus, but it could take a long time to find a suitable artifact. Well, only if it was an Artificial Phantom, for a Natural Phantom, finding a new artifact was actually simple.


    Whooooooosh.


    The energy from the environment quickly headed towards Katrin, who was lying on the ground.


    Her new Initial Gene greedily absorbed all the energy around her to at least partially fill the Evolution Tree, which had not yet copsed just because of the ck star''s will.


    Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.


    The ck energy streamsing out from gue Reaper''s body quickly headed towards Katrin, but they didn''t begin to enter her body. Her new Initial Gene wasn''t going to use this energy to fill up Evolution Tree, it had another purpose...


    With each passing second, the ck energy grew thicker and thicker,pletely covering Katrin like a veil or an imprable barrier.


    Then, the ck star shuddered, transforming into something else - a true form like any Initial Gene should have, not just a blob of energy.


    Gradually, the ck star took the shape of a long coat, the hood hiding the face, leaving only a shadow, but from the sleeves two bone hands like death were visible. The bone hands firmly held an all-ck scythe, emitting an eerie aura.


    Katrin''s new Initial Gene was ready.


    And... this could only mean that a new story had begun for her, something she hadn''t even realized when she went to ck Cinder Forest to kill Scarlet Pyromancer.


    Whooooooooooooosh.


    The Initial Gene shone brightly, a white sh covering the entire space, renewing this small world.


    All the cracks in the Evolution Tree disappeared at once, the inner space returned to normal and the emptiness in the massive tree began to gradually fill up with energy, both from the Initial Gene and the environment.


    Sure, it would take Katrin quite some time for her Evolution Tree to regain all the energy it spent, but the process was underway.


    Then, just for a moment, the de of the scythe reflected the spark that burned within Evolution Tree once again.


    It was much brighter than before, though... could it be rted to the Initial Gene?


    Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.


    The dark energy covering Katrin shuddered before her Initial Gene red brightly again and the energy began to thicken, turning into a long, ck coat with a high cor.


    Katrin''s eyes slowly opened, they were ck and deep as the abyss.


    As if awakening from a deep sleep, Katrin leisurely rose from the ground, leaning on her hand, then she looked around with a detached gaze.


    Before she could regain consciousness, she saw brightly colored projectiles flying out of the me pirs in the distance, a trail of fire following them.


    They flew in different directions likeets, painting the dark night sky.


    They were artifacts, anomalies striving to be wider, wanting to absorb more territory within the me ring.


    One of theets, the brightest one, moved straight toward Katrin as if a gift from fate itself for escaping death while already being in its bony embrace.