The villainess shall be mine

Putting on new clothes, Adam was lost in his thoughts. He didn't want to worry the girls so he adopted his casual attitude as he had always done, but this time, he knew that he couldn't pretend that nothing happened.

The mysteries of the universe, the mysteries of time, the mysteries of space, all of that was now something that he had to worry about.

'What kind of threat am I going to face from here?' Adam wondered because his train of thoughts led him toward one conclusion.

'I am still ignorant…'

He had taken things seriously, but it didn't mean that he had all of the answers he needed, and Adam knew this, but experiencing unexplainable situations, again and again, made it seem like he was still far from the truth.

Indeed, ego and arrogance were needed if Adam wanted to achieve his goal, but he couldn't be blinded by arrogance, and must accept that his abilities were still limited.

'If it weren't for that voice,' Adam reckoned, thinking about the familiar voice that called out his name. 'Why did it sound like me? Was that me? But how?'

Another question that needed to be answered popped inside of his mind, but Adam kept his calm, believing that if he continued to search, he would find the answer eventually.

That was, however, him trying to avoid thinking about a lot of things at the same time, knowing that his imagination didn't always lead to the correct answer.

Adam thought that by having enough energy stored of his body, he would be able to control the Antimatter. He didn't want his ultimate trump card to go out of control every time he used it, so he believed that at least, he should be able to materialize the Antimatter whenever he wanted.

'I don't even feel scared, and my body is…okay,' Adam thought, observing if something about him had changed. However, he didn't see a third arm or leg, so he was a little bit relieved. 'Well, how should I handle this mess now?'

At first, Adam wanted to materialize the Antimatter for a few seconds, and kill the red dragon, then he thought about attempting a large-scale attack using the Antimatter.

If everything went according to his plan, he wouldn't have to explain anything much to the girls, but now, the girls were looking at him with piercing glares as if their eyes turned into question marks.

If they were in Adam's place, a lot of people would begin to wonder about the origin of that phenomenon, but in his case, Adam had only one thing in mind: 'What advantages could that phenomena bring to him?'

He had indeed reflected on his action, but he was always aware that nothing was yet predetermined, and even though everything could have led to a disaster, he knew that fear would bring nothing than his death.

This was why, Adam knew that he couldn't stay close to the people that he cared about unless he was strong enough, because from there, he would still have to take a lot of risks and the result could bring death, not only to him but for a lot of people too.

At that time, Adam realized that this was not something that heroes do.

He always thought that what Pride said was ridiculous. Why would he want to make his life goal become a hero, or conquer an unknown girl that would destroy the world?

After a few moments of reflection, however, he realized that it was almost impossible to achieve this the way he was now.

'A challenge, huh…' Adam concluded. It was a challenge that he never thought he would take seriously, at least when he first heard about it. He thought that he was only going to get stronger for his own sake.

'Well, I can't let things get out of hand and continue like this…'

Maybe, Adam was too calm despite what happened, but he knew too well that overthinking about the wrong things would only give birth to unnecessary anxieties.

It was different from trying to think about how this phenomenon would benefit his growth and progress.

After all, Adam saw a glimpse of what he was capable of.

Still, he needed to deal with two immediate issues. First, the winged little girl next to him, and Liu and the others questions.

Thus, Adam observed the monster who had now taken the form of a human while retaining some monster's traits.

The little dragon girl, though, had chubby red cheeks and her hair was also crimson red.

Her body wasn't covered with scales but her distinct red tail and red wings made it clear at first sight that she was not human. Moreover, even her unusual pupils and sharp teeth were already hard to associate with a normal little girl's traits.

"Hehehe!" The dragon girl seemed to have the intelligence of a baby, and she was curious about everything inside the room, flying around the closed space while letting out happy noises.

She touched everything shiny with her little hands and felt sensations that she couldn't feel while she was in her dragon form.

"Haa!" The dragon girl cried, feeling a chilling sensation through her hand.

"Put this on for now," Adam said, and he wasn't pleased by the presence of this dragon girl.

"Hehehehe!" The dragon girl, though, was joyful as Adam helped her to put on her clothes. She looked at Adam as if he was her father, and her attitude was completely different from when she was in her previous forms. It was as if she had evolved into her next level of existence.

This was, of course, the only thing that interested Adam, and if it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have taken the risk of keeping this little dragon girl around. He already knew that this would come with a lot of consequences and responsibilities, and Adam had already made up his mind that if this creature didn't bring him the result he wanted, he would dispose of it.

At least, that was his initial thought and he wasn't about to change his mind, but after observing the little dragon girl for a while, his overwhelming killing intent towards the creature dissipated.

"Hehehe!" The little girl spun her body in the air after Adam put clothes on her.

"Huh? What's happening?" Adam mumbled, looking at the dragon girl who landed slowly on the ground and slept on the floor.

Adam observed the little dragon girl for a while and understood that it had used a lot of power to evolve after he ordered it to do so.

"Sigh…" Adam picked up the dragon girl from the floor and put her on top of something similar to a comfortable sofa.

"Maybe I am still too soft," Adam mumbled before leaving the room.

*****

It didn't even take Adam three minutes to put on clothes and return to the ship's main compartment.

However, he wasn't about to discuss what happened, knowing that they were not out of hot waters yet.

"Cristal, did you manage to contact Liu's ship?" Adam asked as soon as he came back.

"No, there is a strong disturbance," Cristal replied.

Cristal was navigating the ship, and they were taking a detour to avoid the portal.

It was highly possible that the portal would affect the ship's engine even if they used hyper-speed, and such a thing would be dangerous.

Thus, Adam didn't want to take any risk that could lead to their death when they were so close to the goal.

Even so, time was limited and Adam couldn't waste it by going for a heated discussion.

"With this speed, how long will it take for us to reach the other side?" Adam asked.

"30 minutes at best, if we stay careful and don't leave the atmosphere," Cristal replied.

The room was filled with a tense atmosphere, and Adam knew that the girls had a lot on their minds.

"Well, let's eat and rest for a bit while we can," Adam suggested, asking Cristal to bring the food.

"Good idea," Blanca answered, but Adam looked at her with puzzled eyes.

He realized that he might have been a little bit inconsiderate, knowing that Blanca had a hole in her stomach.

"Are you fine?" He asked.

"Yeah, at least, I can eat," Blanca said.

"Okay." Adam didn't intend to dig more into this topic as he thought that Blanca wasn't the kind of woman who wanted him to feel sorry for her.

Liu and Zax, on the other hand, didn't say anything, just sat somewhere comfortable, and began to eat.

Then, no one said a word, and only the noise that they made while eating echoed inside the compartment.

"Cough," Liu stopped eating and looked at Adam, feeling like she had to say something. When she did, Blanca and Zax looked at her. "Are you fine?" Liu asked.

Adam was a little bit surprised by Liu's question, and he knew that Liu wasn't doing that much better herself is compared to him.

Thus, he understood what Liu was trying to imply.