Adam : From a man to a God

Kim was flying towards Adam's house, his face etched with concern.

"I can't believe there's only two months left before it's done. After that, I'll serve him forever," Kim muttered, a self-mocking smile playing on his lips.

"I can't believe I actually thought someone would show up and change things. At first, I was grateful. But that was before I knew, it was like making a deal with the devil," he thought, bitterness in his heart.

Suddenly, Kim sensed something unexpected, something that shouldn't be.

"What th—? It can't be. I thought I sealed it. Damn it, I have to hurry," he cursed under his breath. "I can sense it in the direction I was headed. This is bad, it might be coming from Adam's place."

Kim increased his speed.

*Adam's house*

"Tilda! Oh shit, I think she's gone under," Adam exclaimed, panic rising.

Tilda found herself in a dark place, a thin layer of water on the floor.

"No, no, nooo!!!" she screamed.

A figure emerged from the darkness.

"Awwww... Are you sad, little princess? Did he hurt you? Don't worry, I'll get rid of him and he'll no longer hurt you," the figure taunted.

Tilda fell to her knees, memories flooding back of a similar scenario from her childhood in this dark place. The figure vanished, and the water on the ground turned to blood.

In front of her, a small TV appeared on a stool, just like the one she used to watch as a child. She stood up and kicked it off the stool in frustration.

"Get me out of here!!!" she shouted.

The TV turned on, and she heard her mother's voice.

"Don't worry, we'll get you another one," her mother said.

"Come on, I don't like to see my little princess get mad," her father added.

"Nooo... Why are you doing this to me?" Tilda cried, tears streaming down her face.

"Just watch," the voice commanded.

The TV displayed a "no signal" message, but then she heard Adam's voice calling her. She grabbed the TV, setting it upright, and looked at him.

"Adam, please run. Please..." she pleaded.

Adam tried to get closer, but Tilda suddenly jumped, spinning, and threw a staff straight at him. Adam bent backward, dodging it just in time. The staff flew past his chest, smashing through the door and embedding itself in the wall, nearly destroying it.

Adam straightened to face Tilda, but she was already on him, her hand grabbing his face and smashing him through the walls of the house, ending up outside. She slammed his head into the ground. Adam groaned in pain, trying to pry her hand off, but she was too strong. Her hand started to turn golden, the color spreading to Adam's face, threatening to suffocate him. Her eyes glowed bright gold, her face emotionless.

With a desperate shout, Adam kicked Tilda with all his strength, a burst of energy exploding from his leg. Tilda was thrown far to the side, landing on her feet with a backflip. Adam stood up, gasping.Inside the little TV, Tilda watched in horror.

"No, please, stop," she begged.

"Tilda!! Please snap out of it. If it's like how it was for me, she probably won't," Adam shouted.

Tilda raised her hand, and golden spikes erupted from the ground. Adam leaped back, flipping three times before jumping into the air. To his surprise, Tilda was no longer where she had been. She appeared mid-air, kicking him in the back. The force felt like his spine was shattering, rendering him unable to scream. He crashed inside the house, landing on a table and breaking it.

He turned to face her, seeing liquid forms surrounding her, transforming into swords.

"She can fly?" Adam thought.

The swords launched at Adam. He rolled backward, jumped out of the house, smashing the roof with his back, and groaned in pain as he landed in the backyard, falling to one knee while clutching his back.

"Oh no... I need to—" Adam began, looking at Tilda.

She came at him at 4976 km/h, twice the speed of sound. Throwing a punch, Adam dodged it, but the mere touch of her fist broke his nose, sending him crashing into the ground and trees for a kilometer.

Kim, still far away, saw the dust rising.

"Just like I thought. This is bad. If the fight is still going on, that means Adam is not dead," Kim muttered.

Adam barely opened his eyes, seeing himself lying down, covered in wounds. He slowly sat up, horrified at the destruction around him.

"I can't stand. I'm too weak."

Adam saw Tilda walking towards him, her presence radiating an overwhelming power. She sped up, arriving in a flash, and stabbed Adam with a golden sword in the chest. He groaned in pain as she pulled it out, causing him to fall on his back.

Inside the little TV, the real Tilda watched in despair.

"Nooooo!!!! Adam... How the hell do I stop this?" she cried, falling to her knees, feeling utterly powerless.

"Everyone I love has been taken away from me. By her. And there's nothing I can do about it," Tilda whispered, tears streaming down her face.

The Tilda fighting Adam walked away, leaving him lying on the ground, staring at the sky as his vision began to fade.

"Out of all people who could have ended my life, I couldn't have imagined it being her. No!!! It can't be her," Adam thought, desperation seeping into his mind.

The glass cage concealing Ragna began to crack.

"She needs my help," Adam realized.

The prison glass inside Adam cracked further, and his eyes started glowing a faint blue.

"I need to help her..." he muttered.

Inside the glass prison cell, Ragna smiled to himself.

"This might be exciting..." Ragna mused.

Tilda felt a strange, unfamiliar power and turned to see Adam already standing, fully healed, and looking at his hand. His eyes glowed a faint blue. He looked around before speaking.

"So this is the outside world. I almost forgot how it feels," he said, his voice still Adam’s, but his demeanor entirely different.

Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Tilda charged at him, reaching a speed of 6006 km/h. Adam opened his eyes, his pupils glowing a brighter blue.

Tilda was about to slash Adam in the chest, but he suddenly grabbed her by the throat, the sword breaking as it hit his neck. Ragna had taken over. He looked at her with a chilling calmness.

Tilda was overwhelmed by the bloodlust and aura emanating from Adam.

"I really haven't killed in a long time. It seems some of you mortals now possess the power of the gods. This would have been fun. But, you're still too weak," Ragna said, his voice cold.

Tilda raised her fist to punch Adam but stopped, paralyzed by fear as she met his gaze.

"You raise your fist against a god? Haha... You need to be taught a lesson," Ragna mocked.

With just his index finger, Ragna tapped Tilda on the head. Inside the small TV, the real Tilda watched in horror as the screen exploded, scarring her. Tilda was sent flying 7 km away, crashing through trees and rocks.

"So weak... I guess it's not the time..." Ragna mused. "I'll come out once I can use more than 20% of my power. Plus, the prison isn't totally broken yet; my time is up."

Kim arrived, seeing the destruction and Adam's house reduced to rubble. He looked in the direction where Adam was standing, following the lane of destruction.

"What the hell happened here? Could this have been caused by Tilda? No... Something else is here. I can sense it," Kim muttered.

As Kim stared at Adam, Adam suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of him as if he had teleported. Kim was speechless, seeing Adam flying.

"This mortal has frozen in fear as well," Ragna sighed. "I can feel myself being pulled back... So the limit is a minute and some seconds. You get to live another day, puppet..."

Ragna was pulled back inside, and Adam's body fell. Kim hurried to catch him before he hit the ground and gently laid him down.

"What was that? Adam, what was that!!?" Kim shouted, looking around frantically.

"I'm yelling at an unconscious person... I should be looking for Tilda," he realized, composing himself.

*Inside Tilda's mind*

Tilda was shocked by the TV screen’s sudden explosion. She looked around, seeing her other self emerge from the darkness, losing balance and falling to the ground, splashing the little bits of blood on the floor. Tilda approached slowly. Her other self noticed and screamed in fear, crawling away, turning to face her.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you..." her other self cried, tears in her eyes.

Tilda felt nothing but anger.

"Protect me? From what??" she demanded.

Her other self looked at her, speechless.

Tilda conjured a short golden sword with ease.

"How dare you take them away from me. Why did you do it?" she shouted.

"To... To prote—" her other self stammered.

"Bullshit!!! Tell me why, tell me!!" Tilda screamed, slashing her other self in the neck. Her other self collapsed, dissolving into water. Tilda’s sword vanished, and the dark place began to brighten with a shining golden light. It grew brighter and brighter, but Tilda didn't seem to care.

Kim finally reached Tilda and was horrified by the sight. Her legs and arms were broken, and her face was disfigured.

"Dear God..." Kim whispered, his voice trembling.

*4 hours later*

Adam woke up on a hospital bed, bolting upright. A man in a nurse's uniform entered the room.

"You've woken up. How are you feeling?" the nurse asked, his voice calm and professional.

"I... I'm fine... I feel fine. How long was I out? Is Tilda okay?" Adam asked urgently.

The nurse nodded. "Yes, she is fine. She has been fully healed."

"Thank goodness. Wait, what happened?" Adam asked, confusion in his voice.

"I was hoping you could tell me. But that really isn't my business. All I can tell you is Mr. Kim said he found you unconscious kilometers away from the city. Do you live there?"

"Yes. I told Tilda to come to my place so I could talk to her about something important. I didn't know she had a second personality until she told me. How was she when she got here?" Adam inquired.

"Not good. She was on the verge of death. She was lucky to be found at that time. If she was found minutes later, she could have died," the nurse explained.

"But how is that possible?" Adam asked, disbelief in his tone.

"I don't know. The strangest thing is that you were totally fine. Only your clothes showed that you were hurt. Your blood was on them. It looked like you regenerated completely. It’s not possible to regenerate from taking that much damage, even as a superior power holder," the nurse said, shaking his head.

"Can I go see her?" Adam asked, his voice tinged with desperation.

"That's not for me to say..." the nurse replied.

Adam looked down, a sense of dread washing over him.

"I should be dead again," he muttered.

"Huh?" the nurse asked, confused.

"It's nothing," Adam said, shaking his head. "It happened again. But I thought I was done with that. I thought Killer Adam was gone. No. It couldn't have been Killer Adam. He wasn't that strong."

Adam recalled seeing big blue eyes staring at him in the dark place.

"Was it that thing? I can't believe I totally forgot about it," he thought.

A woman in a nurse's uniform entered the room.

"Oh, he's awake. Kim said he should meet him as soon as he wakes up," the female nurse said.

"Really? I have to go then," Adam responded urgently.

"Yeah, you can go now," she replied.

Adam then noticed his clothes had been changed. He removed the blanket and felt a slight pain in his shoulder.

"Still feeling a bit of pain? Don't worry, I'll fix that," the female nurse said, gently placing her hand on Adam's shoulder.

Adam felt immediate relief as the nurse's hand glowed green.

"Ah... Thanks. Wow, the pain is gone. I thought I fully regenerated," Adam said, surprised.

"No worries, it's my job," she replied with a smile.

"Where is Mr. Kim?" Adam asked.

"Go down two floors. Take the hallway to the right, room 13. You'll see it," she instructed.

"Okay, thanks," Adam said, heading out.

He took the elevator down two floors, noticing the lack of staff.

"Not a lot of staff in this hospital," he thought as he walked down the hallway.

He reached the room and opened the door, finding Tilda on the bed unconscious and Mr. Kim deep in thought.

"Mr. Kim..." Adam called out.

"Adam, thank goodness you're here. I really want to know what happened," Kim said, his voice tense.

"I... I don't know," Adam replied, frustration building.

"You don't know?! Adam, Tilda almost died. Do you h—" Kim began, his voice rising.

"I almost frickin' died too, okay? Last thing I remember is that I was stabbed in the chest by her. Next thing, I wake up in the hospital with people telling me she was in worse condition than I was," Adam retorted.

"Damn it, just like I thought," Kim muttered.

"What?" Adam asked, confusion and anger mixing.

"It's too dangerous to talk about it here," Kim said, lowering his voice.

"What are you saying?" Adam pressed.

"We'll talk about it somewhere private. I need to take care of something. I'll be back," Kim said, turning to leave.

"Hey, where are you going—" Adam started, but Kim was already gone.

Adam sat on a stool near Tilda's bed, looking at her with worry.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he whispered.

Suddenly, Tilda woke up, sitting up straight and scaring Adam.

"You're okay, thank goodness," Adam said, relief flooding his voice.

Tilda looked at Adam for a second before tears began to fall. She quickly hugged him tightly.

"You're okay..." Tilda sobbed.

"She's hugging me so tightly. She's actually pinching me a little. It feels nice," Adam thought. "I'm glad you're okay," he said, hugging her back tightly.

*Atlas*

Anna woke up in a hospital bed, but no one was attending to her. Pain coursed through her whole body.