[Name: Aren Raze]

[Class: Shadow General]

[Type: Shadow]

[Tier: SSS]

[Level: 40]

[Soul Fragments: 4,000/30,000]

[Soul Energy: 60,000]

[Strength: 108]

[Speed: 108]

[Defense: 102]

[Constitution: 104]

[Intelligence: 103]

Aren sat on the edge of his bed looking at his stats. He had not checked in so long, he never even noticed when his stats jumped so much.

He could not pinpoint at what point they rushed from fifty-something to over a hundred.

’Was it when I used the power of the one before? I don’t know how my strength got to this level.’

He tried to figure it out, but there was nothing that made sense. Regardless, he was now much stronger and even a whole ten levels higher, which meant he could now evolve.

He had been stuck at Shadow General for so long that he forgot something like evolution even existed. Now he could evolve again and grow his strength even further, the more he grew, the better for him.

He lay down fully on the bed and then summoned Flo. She floated over him.

"Keep an eye out for me, Flo, I’ll be evolving now. I don’t know how long it will take."

"Okay," Flo said and then proceeded to land on his stomach and curl herself into a ball, sleeping right there, but her attention was locked onto her surroundings. One sound and she would know for sure.

Aren closed his eyes under the mask and the evolution started. His body went off totally, this time he was given no branch to choose from, so there was only one evolution pathway for him.

An hour went by very fast and his eyes snapped open.

[Congratulations, you have evolved]

[Congratulations to Shadow for being the first awakened to complete the fourth evolution]

The usual system message was sent to him and to all the awakened in the domain as well.

[You are now a Shadow King]

[Shadow King evolution lasts until level 60]

[Major evolution completed]

[All soul energy is doubled, all stats are doubled]

[You have gained a unique shadow ability: Throne Room of the Shadow King]

[You have gained a unique soul weapon: Cloak of the Shadow King]

The messages just kept coming in. He read every one with the same expression you had when you saw something you had seen many times, but internally he was excited, leaping for joy basically, but his face and eyes could not show those emotions right now.

He propped himself up from the bed, Flo flew and rested on his head. He wanted to check the details for what he had gained.

BAM!

His door swung open, it was Lucy rushing in. She saw Aren seated there and immediately rushed to him.

"Aren, the demon, it’s gone," she said.

His eyes lit up instantly, he rose to his feet.

"Should have known Geisha would not keep the demon captured," he said. "Where are the others?"

"They are all out waiting for you, we have to chase after it or it could be the end of us all."

Aren nodded and followed behind her as they left. On reaching outside, they saw Geisha standing there with his back leaned against a wall and looking right at them.

"If you have any plans to stop me, it won’t work, you have unleashed hell on all humanity," Aren made it clear immediately.

"Haha, normally I’d stop you," Geisha said. A slash ripped through the air and hit the wall behind Aren, cutting extremely deep into the wall. Aren looked at Geisha, wondering what exactly he was trying to prove there.

"I’ll allow you all to go, but I require a drop of your blood, Aren."

"Don’t give it to him," Lucy cut in. She glared at Geisha. "I don’t know your plan for keeping the demon and then releasing it, but I’ll not allow you to place Aren in it."

The moment she finished speaking, Geisha moved so fast that the eyes could not keep up. His hand wrapped around her neck as he drove her into the wall. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

BAM

A spiderweb-like crack formed. Lucy was suspended above ground with her head pressed into the wall, blood seeping out the side of her mouth. She gritted her teeth and struggled, wanting to break free from his grasp, but no matter how much she struggled, it did not work.

"So what’s it going to be, Aren?" Geisha looked at Aren, his eyes glowing.

Somehow Aren looked at Geisha and knew that he had no real intention of hurting Lucy and was doing this to force Aren, but he also knew that Geisha was impulsive even if he was a great planner, and he would waste no time shattering his plan to prove a point. He could change his mind at any time and snap her neck.

Aren took a deep breath and then stretched out his finger to Geisha. "Whatever it is that you think you’ll do with my blood, it will not work," Aren said. "Now let go of her, or I will rescind my blood and rather take yours by force," he threatened.

"Ohhh? Hahahaha, gutsy I see, interesting, you seem confident in that statement," he said while pressing her deeper into the wall.

"If I’m to guess, you have a plan," Geisha said. He let go of Lucy and she fell to the floor, coughing hard. He walked to Aren and stood in front of him. His fingernail extended and then he pricked the palm of Aren and drew a drop of blood, which he carried with his finger and then pulled out a small glass tube. He allowed the drop to fall into the tube, then he gave Aren a smile.

"I’ll come for you soon, for now, you can go after your demon and save the world or whatever," Geisha said and walked away.

Aren gritted his teeth, a part of him telling him to use the summon that he created and take down Geisha, but he held it in and moved to aid Lucy.