Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 454: Wings in Chains (Part 7)



"You're a rebel?" Adam tilted his head in confusion.

The situation seemed strange to him, not because of what Osana said, but how she said it. There was a heaviness and even resentment in her voice, though Adam assumed that being a member of one of the great families was in itself a victory in life.

Adam gulped. He realized he was wrong, but... about what exactly?

"Yeah..." Osana nodded before looking away.

For the first time in a long period, she stopped playing and her sly smile was gone from her face. Now, it was time for Osana to tell her side of the story, as it was the only thing that could help Adam understand why she wanted to marry him.

"Look, Adam, I realize that before we became the Phantoms, we lived in completely different worlds. I was at the economic top, in luxury, and the First Ring, and you were at the bottom, in poverty, and the slums."

Osana said calmly. She didn't mean to insult Adam, he understood that, since it was simply the facts. Chances were if they hadn't become Phantoms they would never have met.

Adam in his entire life working in the slums at some job would not have earned as much as someone like Osana could easily spend in a week, and that was just money, there was also status and influence where the difference was even higher.

"Sure, many people would like to be nobles, especially one of the Twelve Branches, I'm sure you think my life was easy and without hardship too, don't you?" Osana asked looking intently at Adam.

Adam nodded slightly.

"Yes, I won't hide it. I don't believe that your life could have been worse than mine or only ten times better, a hundred times difference, minimum." Adam said stiffly, he was confident in his words.

Osana smiled bitterly.

"Good answer, because it's the right one. Growing up, I had access to the best of everything, from clothing and food to education and unique events only available to nobles. However... there are two moments in every nobleman's life that change their lives significantly."

Adam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Osana sighed heavily before continuing.

"It happens from the age of sixteen to eighteen. Like I said before, all the heads of the Twelve Branches are Phantoms, but that doesn't mean all members of the Balo or Wurhen Families are Phantoms."

"Hm? How many? One or two people from the entire family, at best?" Adam suggested with skepticism in his voice.

Osana shook her head with an ironic smile.

"Look, first of all, many noble families, especially from the Twelve Branches are quite large. I mean, a normal family has one or two children, so the chances of a Phantom appearing are really small." Stay updated through empire

Adam nodded slowly. There were only two children in his family, he and his younger sister, Trici. It was unknown if Trici would get the Spark, but the chances were minimal since neither their parents nor grandparents were Phantoms.

"Secondly, every noble family has a fairly high blood purity, especially the Twelve Branches. There are many Phantoms in their lineages, many strong Phantoms, women and men, fathers, mothers, grandparents, and many more generations back."

To some extent, Adam knew about it. Long ago when Silvana had told him about the Big Three: Azure Lotus, Dark Order, and Crimson Path, he was aware of bloodlines and the importance of blood purity.

However, Adam thought it only applied to certain families. Some people had a lot of Phantoms in their family and some didn't, but... that wasn't entirely true.

Sure, from time to time there were new families with many Phantoms and such families could claim to be a noble family due to their already established lineage. However, this was the exception to the rule.

99% of families would never be so lucky to have two members of two ordinary random families become Phantoms, marry each other, and start their lineage. In doing so, none of them will die and fate will smile upon them and their children will be the Phantoms.

Noble families had passed this difficult path many years ago, their bloodlines were long, prominent, and strong, especially those of the Twelve Branches.

"No one has the exact information, but roughly the numbers are as follows: the chances of the offspring of a noble family having the Spark are 25%-30%, meaning that out of four children, it's practically 100% someone will become a Phantom."

Osana sighed before continuing:

"But, that applies to normal noble families, things are a bit different with the Twelve Branches."

Adam stared at her intently. He was already shocked that the odds were 25%-30%, he thought that was incredibly high and he wasn't wrong.

The chances of the Phantom appearing in an ordinary family without a bloodline were not even 1%, much less. So... if a child was born into a noble family, his chances of getting the Spark were literally 50 or even 100 times higher than the same child from an ordinary family.

Osana looked at Adam intently, wanting to see his reaction.

"In the Twelve Branches, the odds are a little different. A child from the Twelve Branches has a 35% to 40% chance of having the Spark. That is, if you take the average as 37.5%, then the chances of two children out of two becoming Phantoms is 14%. That it will happen to one of them is 61% and that none of them will become the Phantom is only 24%."

Adam's eyes went wide, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Wait... Doesn't that mean that if a great family has four or five children, 100%, one of them will become a Phantom?" Adam's voice was full of indignation.

Osana shrugged.

"Well, 100% can't be achieved by any means, but it's extremely rare for that to happen. However, even if some great family is severely unlucky, there are plenty of ways to fix it."

Adam raised an eyebrow with obvious curiosity in his gaze.

Osana waved a hand.

"The easiest and most obvious way is to have more children. Often men from great families, in times when they are unlucky enough to have Phantoms, will fuck any woman from commoners to regular nobles and their wives can't do anything against that, it's the second, more immoral, destructive yet quick option."

Adam leaned back in his seat and gave Osana a long look.

"But... there are other options besides those two, right? Both the first option and the second option increase the quantity of attempts, in different ways, but not the quality."

Osana smiled bitterly as she nodded slightly showing that Adam was thinking in the right direction.

"Before I talk about the third way, I want to go back to the past issue that started it all, the two most important moments in the life of any noble from a great family."

Adam nodded deeply.

"The first is whether or not a family member had become a Phantom. That already decides your position in the family considerably. The two situations have unofficial, insulting names that nobles often use among themselves."

Osana's gaze grew darker as she clenched her fists tightly and uttered: "Hollow Noble and Light Noble. Hollow Nobles are those nobles who didn't become Phantoms, and Light Nobles got the Sparks. I don't think it's necessary to explain who's doing well and who's doing poorly within the family hierarchy."

Adam nodded slightly at the stare. He understood that in noble families, especially in the Twelve Branches, there had to be serious competition between offspring, and... staying a commoner when your siblings were Phantoms was a failure from the start.

"Humiliation, fewer rights, limited access to family resources, lack of respect, and so on, are all part of every Hallow Noble's life. But, the most important thing is another."

Osana shook her head and leaned on her folded hands.

"A Hallow Noble simply has no chance of becoming the head of a Twelve Branch family. The heads of the great families are only Phantoms, end of story."

Adam shrugged nonchalantly, it was harsh, but it was a logical outcome.

Then, Adam cast a glance at Osana.

"I see. But, what about the second important moment? I take it this is already about Light Nobles, right?"

Osana nodded.

"Yeah, your assumption is correct. It's also about the third option of how you can increase the quality of attempts so that the offspring will have the Spark with the highest chance."

Osana took a long pause, it seemed this was very important to her.

"This is about alliances between great families and I'm not talking about business partnerships or anything like that, I'm talking about weddings." Osana's voice became harsher than ever.

Adam gulped, he had never seen Osana like this, not in any of their meetings or conversations.

"Adam, the Naturalborn Phantoms."

Adam's eyes went wide when Osana said that.

"Wait... How do you know about this? Are you the Naturalborn Phantom?"

Osana shook her head with a stern look.

"I am the Artificialborn Phantom. But, all the members of the great families know this, I also know that you are the Naturalborn Phantom. Don't be surprised, there's nothing strange or unexpected about it."

Adam nodded slowly. He realized that some secrets that some people didn't even know about weren't the same for others, especially for the higher nobles from great families.

"Besides everything that is known about the Naturalborn Phantoms, what is also important is that their children have a greater chance of becoming Phantoms, no matter the bloodline, whether it is strong or weak, the chances will be higher than usual."

Osana gritted her teeth as she clenched her hand tightly into a fist.

"That's one of the reasons why they are praised by the members of the Crimson Path. And... there's an unspoken rule among Light Nobles. If a Naturalborn Phantom from one great family likes someone from another great family, and those families have a good relationship, the other Light Noble has no right to refuse if he or she is an Artificial Phantom."

Adam's eyes went wider and deeper as the understanding of what was happening here finally came to him.

"As you realize..." Osana clenched her fists even tighter, her nails digging into her skin, "I was put in this exact situation..."


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