Beast Evolution Forge

The hidden shelter felt cold despite the warm evening. Vell sat in silence, staring at the wall. He hadn't spoken much in the days since the attack. His body was healing, but something in his eyes had changed. The playful spark was gone, replaced by a darkness that made even Wren uneasy. He always had a dark side to him but this felt different.

"Master, you should eat something," Wren said softly, placing a bowl of soup beside him. She watched him with worry, noting how his fingers twitched randomly - a side effect of his destroyed mana pathways.

He didn't respond at first. When he finally turned to look at her, his face was empty of emotion. "Have Ada and Jolly returned with the information?"

His voice was different now - flat, mechanical. Gone were the warm tones he once used with his family. Even the way he sat had changed, like a coiled spring ready to strike.

"Not yet," she answered, trying to hide her concern. She missed his old smile, the gentle way he used to treat her. "But they should be back soon."

He nodded once and returned to staring at the wall. On it he wrote the name 'organization' over and over again, with each new one looking more chaotic.

Jia entered the room quietly, carrying medical supplies. "Time to change your bandages," she said.

"Leave them," he replied without looking at her. "They'll just get dirty again."

"Master, please," Wren started, but fell silent when he turned those empty eyes toward her.

"The bandages are irrelevant," he said. "What matters is finding them. All of them." His hand clenched, and for a moment, the darkness in his eyes swirled like a vortex. "Every person who knew about the attack. Every person who approved it. Every person who stood by and let it happen."

Wren shared a worried look with Jia. The old Vell would never talk like this. He had always been strong but kind, using his power to protect. Now...

"I can feel it growing," he continued, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Something new. Something different." He held up his hand, and dark energy crackled between his fingers - not the pure mana he once controlled, not even corrupted mana, it was something that felt dark and empty.

"Your cores..." Jia began hesitantly.

"They are there but they have no mana and with the pathways destroyed, they have been damaged to near impossible levels to heal," he finished. "But this power... this is better. It doesn't seem need pathways." A smile crossed his face, but it held no warmth. "It just needs hatred. And I have plenty of that now."

Wren stepped closer, fighting her instinct to back away from the dark energy. "Master, what about Regina? She's still at the backup location."

"She can wait, not like she can go anywhere while in that crystal" he said coldly. "First, we hunt. We need make them understand what they've done." He stood up smoothly, ignoring the bandages that began to spot with fresh blood. "They thought they were teaching me a lesson about attachments making me weak."

"I will show them what happens when you mess with someone's family."

Next day, Rain began to pour outside the shelter, but Vell didn't seem to notice the cold as he stood by the window. His bandages needed changing again, but he didn't let anyone touch them for days. The dark energy around him had grown stronger, crackling like black lightning whenever his anger peaked.

"Still nothing," Jolly reported as she returned from another scouting mission, water dripping from her clothes. "We've checked every lead, but the Organization has hidden their tracks well."

He didn't turn around. He just kept writing on the walls - the word "Organization" appeared hundreds of times now, covering every surface. Some were scratched so deeply they had cut into the stone.

"They can't hide forever," he said, his voice emotionless. "Every rat leaves a trail."

Wren watched from the corner, her heart aching. The gentle master who had saved her, who had built their family with love and care, was gone. In his place stood someone else - someone consumed by hatred and revenge.

"Master," she tried softly, "you haven't slept in days. Your body still needs to heal-"

"My body is fine," he cut her off. "I don't need rest. I don't need healing." His eyes changed again - now they looked like endless black holes, pulling in all light. "I just need to find them."

He looked on top of his hand, noticing that a seal was undone, '....so that's it huh, this power, its the next step to regaining my true self. I will accept it fully, nothing else matters.'

Ada entered with her usual quiet grace, though even she seemed unsettled by what Vell had become. "The informant in the eastern district mentioned something about a hidden base in the mountains. He didn't want to tell me but after a bit of 'convincing' he told me about a base hidden underground in the mountains."

For the first time in days, he showed interest. "Mountains?"

"It's probably nothing," she continued carefully. "Just rumors about strange movements of people and supplies."

"Everything starts as a rumor." He moved away from the window, his movements predatory. "We'll check every mountain, every cave, every hole they might hide in."

"That could take months," Jolly said. "The mountain range stretches for hundreds of miles."

"Then it will take mont-" He stopped as something he forgot came to mind, "i know where they are." His voice was barely audible. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire

The girls exchanged confused looks, "Uh, Vell?" Jolly called out but no response. He was thinking hard about something.

He then smiled, "Come, we are going hunting." He dashed out of the tent and they wasted no time following behind him. 'How could I have forgotten, I located one of their base when I was looking for Lucia. I am sure that location is the one we are looking for. Finally, I will get my revenge, just wait for me, you fuckers.'

The girls ran after him through the rain, each lost in their own thoughts. His dark energy left a trail in the air, like ink spreading through water.

Wren stayed closest to him, her new form letting her keep pace easily. 'He saved me. He gave me a family. Even if he's different now, I'll follow him anywhere.' She watched his back as he moved, remembering how he'd looked after her when she was just a scared, lost girl. 'I couldn't protect our family before, but I'm stronger now. This time will be different.'

Behind her, Jolly's usual cheerful demeanor was gone. 'I should have been there,' she thought, guilt eating at her heart. 'Kana, everyone... I'm sorry.' Her eyes fixed on Vell's figure ahead. 'But at least he's still here. As long as Master lives, we still have purpose.' Her hands clenched into fists. 'The Organization will pay for what they took from us.'

Ada moved silently, her face calm despite the storm of emotions inside her. 'His mana pathways are destroyed beyond repair. This new power... it's consuming him.' She'd seen enough injuries in that lab to know his body was still far from healed. But she also knew better than to try stopping him.

'Sometimes revenge is the only medicine that works.'

Jia brought up the rear, watching the others with worried eyes. 'We're all that's left now.' The thought made her chest tight. 'Master saved each of us, gave us a home when we had nothing' She remembered his warm smile, now replaced by cold hatred. 'Even if this darkness changes him completely, I'll stay. We're family - what's left of it.'

Didn't take them long to reach the mountains and they didn't stop either.

They followed him into the mountains, where the rain turned to sleet. None of them complained. Their old lives had ended in that room with their fallen family. Now only revenge remained.

Wren caught up to his side, her new powers humming in sync with his dark energy. "Master," she said softly, "I can sense them too now. There are many people ahead."

He nodded, his eyes like black holes. "Good. More vermin to exterminate."

The old him would never have talked like that, at least not with such a tone. But they all understood. The Organization hadn't just attacked their master - they'd murdered his family. Some crimes could only be paid for in blood.

Ada moved closer, her medical instincts still strong. "Your wounds-"

"Don't matter," he cut her off. But his voice softened slightly - the first trace of his old self they'd seen in days. "Save your strength. You'll need it soon."

They crested a ridge, and there it was - a hidden entrance set into the mountainside. Guards patrolled the area, unaware of what was coming.

Jolly's hands trembled, not from fear but anticipation. 'For Kana. For everyone we lost.'

'So this is where you were hiding.' He looked closer, noticing that there was deadly barrier closer to the entrance, 'hmph, how boring.' he summoned his swords and charged.

"No survivors," he said simply.

In the mountain, deep underground, a man in an office showed signs of worry on his face.

"He's here."