Plague Reaper was not just an experienced and intelligent monster, he also had a lot of knowledge about how the world worked, what was happening in the Dead Lands, who the Phantoms were, and what they were capable of.
That was why Plague Reaper was still alive, killing the most creatures, be it monsters or Phantoms, of any Purple Threat Level monster.
He knew how to keep Adam and the others from getting help from the Citadel. Sure, Nessa was here, but almost no one in the Citadel was aware of XH-01's existence, let alone the monsters living in Dead Lands.
Thus, when he saw Adam and Katrin heading towards the Essence Scarlet Pyromancer, his eyes opened wider than ever.
He realized that he had just been outplayed, the mere fact that he hadn't noticed that there was another Purple Threat monster from the Top-10 was already a true failure for him.
Plague Reaper realized that Katrin was out of power, they hadn't lost yet just because Nessa showed up and Adam was able to fight against Plague Reaper as equals. Read chapters at empire
There was still some doubt in Plague Reaper's mind. He stared intently at Katrin, unsure if she had decided to go for it.
In his many fights, Plague Reaper had already encountered something like this several times, but it always ended the same way - his scythe demolished his enemy's head.
"Hey! Look at me! I'm your only opponent now!" Nessa exclaimed furiously, before finding herself in front of Plague Reaper.
Her sturdy claws, ended up in front of Plague Reaper's eyes, a little more and Nessa would leave Plague Reaper blind for the rest of his life until an imminent death followed afterward.
Plague Reaper was surprised at how Adam, Katrin, and Nessa had agreed on a plan in the heat of battle, it was an advantage to have Operators and fight as a team instead of alone.
But... to survive Plague Reaper had to be prepared for anything. He didn't know it was coming, but nothing was stopping him from adapting quickly, he must act.
Whooooooooooooosh.
Plague Reaper arched sharply, missing Nessa's claws above him.
Perhaps he could stab her deeply, and leave a serious wound on her chest, but it didn't matter in this situation.
Plague Reaper should have killed Osana and Katrin a long time ago, but he hadn't been paying attention to them because of Adam and Nessa who kept charging at him.
Well, now he realized his mistake, and if Nessa was going to hold him back, he had to get rid of her.
Whoooooooosh.
Plague Reaper realized he was running out of time, so he raised his hand, preparing to throw a scythe, like a dark disk straight towards Katrin.
Given the distance between them and the trajectory, Katrin had little chance of surviving.
"Not so fast!"
Suddenly, a belligerent voice sounded from the side as two bare feet crashed into Plague Reaper's face from the right side.
The force and speed with which Nessa ran to catch up with Plague Reaper caused her shoes to simply tear, even though they were made of reinforced material.
Plague Reaper flew off to the side, plunging into a random rock. His sturdy body stamped into the cold stone, splinters flying off to the side.
Bam.
His fist slammed into the rock, shattering it into pieces, Plague Reaper quickly broke free going to try and kill Katrin again, but it was too late...
Whooooosh.
Adam jumped onto the roots quickly approaching Fume Cathedral's roof, towards Scarlet Pyromancer.
At the same moment, Katrin smiled bitterly and closed her eyes.
Then, she did what she had planned to do long ago, but never thought she would be forced to do it under such strange and dangerous circumstances.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The ground beside Katrin trembled as green energy streams began to emerge from her chest, increasing in volume with each passing second.
Her Evolution Tree was actively trembling to fulfill its master's wish, but it didn't want to do so because it had to lose its most important part - the Initial Gene.
The green energy streams engulfed everything around it, increasing Katrin's strength by one step before a bright star emerged from her chest that was her Initial Gene. She was saying farewell to the base of her power forever.
Katrin voluntarily started the countdown to her death, now she only has seven minutes left before all the energy from the Evolution Tree runs out and she will die if she doesn't get a new Initial Gene.
She will only survive if she fulfills her long-held dream!