Endless Evolution: Last Star

Flows of steam rushed upward from the pizza just pulled from the stove. It wasn't the pizza many restaurants served, thin with little toppings and spices.

It was a pizza on thick dough more like a pie, the toppings were whatever Fromund and his sisters liked and what they collectively could find in the refrigerator.

And, of course, from the high sides of the pastry, a delicious hot lava sauce was pouring out, many different spices doing their job of giving the dish a delicious flavor.

Elva, Liv, and Tilda, plates of burgers stood in front of him, all but Tilda, the younger one, hadn't touched their burgers yet, Tilda took a small bite and turned the burger around so that it wasn't noticeable, but... everyone spotted easily.

"Alright, maybe the chef from the famous pizza place would scold us if he saw this, but you could say it's our family recipe." Fromund said confidently, slapping his palms together with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Hehehehe, it looks so appetizing..." Tilda giggled reaching out her hand for the pizza.

Swooooop.

But, before she could touch it, Fromund's hand stopped her.

"Hey, Tilda, be patient, I'm about to slice everyone a piece. What's more, you might get burned! It hasn't even been a minute since I took the pizza out of the oven."

Tilda puffed up her cheeks but didn't bother to cross her brother.

Elva and Liv nodded deeply.

As three sisters, they loved each other and were always supportive, but Fromund, their older brother, held a special place in their family.

Though, they were still quite young, especially Tilda, life made them realize how hard it would be for them without Fromund and why he did what he was doing, for them and their family.

These thoughts were reflected in the girls' eyes in the form of a dark glint that quickly disappeared and their attention went back to the pizza.

Zarot and Mariel looked at each other, letting themselves know that they saw that dark glint. Nirosh in turn just stared away with a bored expression.

Whoooooooosh.

Fromund pulled out a massive knife with a wide blade, walked over to the table, and tossed the knife up skillfully.

The knife spun quickly, hovering in the air for a moment before falling straight into Fromund's hand, it looked dangerous, but Fromund's intense stare made it clear that he knew what he was doing.

Then, his hand tensed and the knife came down on the pizza, cutting it into seven equal pieces.

Zarot's eyes went wide for a moment, but not because K2-Phantom was able to catch the spinning knife in time and slice the pizza, but because he managed to divide the circle into seven equal pieces.

'Oh, not bad, not bad at all. Considering we're uninvited guests, he wasn't prepared for this. There are three of us, which means he always cuts the pizza into four pieces, that's the standard. He's got great accuracy, I'm curious what his abilities are.'

"Yay!" Tilda exclaimed happily, throwing her hands up.

A blob of sauce flew off to the side and landed on the corner of her mouth. It was quite small, so before it made contact with her skin it already cooled down enough to not burn Tilda.

"Hah, that needs to go away." Fromund smiled, reaching out to Tilda, he gently removed the sauce from her mouth with his thumb.

Then, Fromund turned around, placing a plate in front of each, which soon had a large slice of pizza on it.

Nirosh looked at his slice and snorted unhappily.

"How am I supposed to eat this? Give me a fork and knife." Nirosh shook his hand.

Elva, Liv, and Tilda glanced over at each other before...

"Hahaha! I can't figure out, is he trying to make us laugh or is he really that dumb?" Elva said, taking her slice of pizza and pointing the tip towards her mouth.

"You should eat pizza with your hands. Don't the nobles know that?" Elva smirked before taking a large bite.

Liv and Tilda looked over at each other, they were baffled.

"Nobles...?" Liv gulped, glaring at Mariel and Zarot.

"How do you know that? It's not like they introduced themselves in any way..." Tilda felt stupid since she hadn't noticed anything.

Elva shrugged her shoulders.

"I think it's obvious to me. I could talk a lot about their manners, the way they act, and the car they drove here, but the main thing is their clothes and the fact that this woman said-"

Elva pointed to Mariel, who had been surprisingly modest lately.

"Branch Squads, my brother doesn't tell us much about his Phantom job, but... I've seen a few ads online and that's how I know it's always connected to the nobility."

Silence.

No one said anything for a while. Despite the awkward pause, Elva's expression didn't change, she was completely confident in her words.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Zarot laughed, slapping himself on his knee, unable to contain his emotions.

"This girl is really smart. After all, she's the older sister, right?"

Fromund coughed and slowly sat down in his seat.

"Yea, Elva is the eldest, Liv the middle, and Tilda the youngest. However, I don't think this is the right time to discuss my work. Let's eat."

Elva, Liv, and Tilda nodded, silently agreeing with their brother's decision, and began to eat.

"Alright, your big brother is right. After all, you are one big family, aren't you? All four of you." Zarot grinned widely and tore a large bite off his piece.

His gaze traveled over the girl, stopping at Fromund.

Their hair color was the same, they all had crimson hair, but while Fromund's hair was more like thick blood in color, the girls had a lighter version, a shade like that of young raspberries.

But... everyone's eyes were different.

Fromund had blue eyes, Elva had hazel eyes, Liv had green eyes and Tilda had an unusual, bright gray color.

"Great pizza. Fromund, did you ever think of going to work as a chef? Even if you're a Phantom, some places need chefs like you." Zarot suggested, with an ironic smile.

In response, Fromund leaned back in his chair, looking away with a deep gaze.

"Agh... Unfortunately, cooks are paid too little..."

In that simple phrase, in his heavy voice and long sigh, the complexity of the situation Fromund's life had put him in was evident.

It could bring nothing but a sly smirk to Zarot's face.