The scent of blood clung to the air like a curse. The stone floor was slick with crimson, bodies of demonic wolves littering the cell like broken dolls.
Lucas stood frozen, his pulse hammering in his ears.
André was at the center of the carnage. Blood coated his arms, his clothes were in tatters, but his expression
He wasn't panting. He wasn't trembling. He wasn't reacting at all.
Lucas swallowed.
"That's… impossible. He killed them all by himself."
His gaze flickered to André's unmoving figure, then back to the system notification floating in front of him.
[All monsters eliminated! XP gained: 300]
[Experience points required to reach level 3: 250]
[André's level has risen to Level 3]
[You have 10 upgrade points available]
Strength – 5
Mana – 0
Agility – 0
Before he could make his decision
Rumble.
The ground beneath them trembled. The walls groaned as if something massive stirred within them.
A new message flashed.
[Floor Alarm: Threat Detected]
Lucas tensed. Threat?
Then, from the corridor's darkness
A growl. Low, guttural, and monstrous.
A figure stepped into the dim light. Glowing red eyes. Thick, armored skin. A body twice the size of the demonic wolves they had just fought.
The system reacted instantly.
[Analyze Enemy...]
[Crimson Wolf of Domination - Rank B]
Lucas's breath hitched.
"Rank B?"
He quickly checked André's status. Despite his level-up, he was still only Rank C. The difference was stark.
He's not strong enough.
His mind raced. He needed to distribute the points.
7 points to Strength. 3 points to Agility.
[Upgrade confirmed. André's strength has increased. Rank C ]
It wasn't enough.
The wolf's snarl deepened. It tensed, then
Boom!
The beast lunged.
Fangs flashed. Claws swung.
Lucas barely had time to react before the creature was already upon them.
His instincts screamed
Move!
But André
Didn't flinch.
At the very last moment, he sidestepped, the motion so fluid it looked almost... inhuman.
Lucas's eyes widened. He's faster.
André's arm moved.
Boom!
His fist slammed into the wolf's face. A shockwave pulsed through the air.
The beast staggered.
But it didn't fall.
It shook itself, its crimson eyes burning brighter.
Lucas cursed under his breath.
"It's tough…"
The system chimed again.
[New skill unlocked: Speed Boost (Level 1)]
[Effect: +30% Speed for 10 seconds]
[Cost: 50 Energy Points]
Lucas didn't hesitate.
"Activate Speed Boost!"
[Speed Boost activated!]
André moved.
Blurred.
One second, he was standing still. The next
He was above the wolf.
Lucas barely followed the motion before
CRACK!
André's fist came down like a meteor.
The wolf's skull caved in.
It convulsed. Its glowing eyes flickered
Then, silence.
[Floor Monster Eliminated!]
Lucas exhaled, his chest heaving. It's over.
Then
He looked at André.
And his relief vanished.
André stood still, his body trembling slightly. His veins
Glowing.
A deep, unnatural blue.
His breathing was slow, deliberate. His hands flexed, as if testing something unseen.
Lucas took a cautious step forward.
"André?"
No response.
Then, the system issued a final, chilling notification.
[Warning! Your follower is approaching an advanced stage of "metamorphosis."]
Lucas felt his blood run cold.
Metamorphosis?
---
The air inside the cell vibrated with an unnatural force, crackling like static before a thunderstorm. The very walls seemed to shudder in response to the energy radiating from André's body.
Lucas felt his breath hitch. A creeping sensation slithered through his veins, a primal instinct screaming at him to run.
Then
BOOM!
A shockwave exploded outward, slamming Lucas against the cold stone wall. The corpses of the Demonic Wolves were lifted into the air, tossed like weightless dolls before crashing into the iron bars. The entire room trembled under the force, dust raining from the ceiling.
Lucas groaned, struggling to push himself upright. His ears rang. His vision blurred. But through the haze, he saw him.
André stood at the center of the chaos, his veins pulsating with an eerie, electric-blue glow. His body trembled violently, as if something within him was trying to break free.
[Warning! André is undergoing an advanced stage of "metamorphosis."]
His bones cracked audibly, his muscles bulged, skin tearing then immediately regenerating, stronger, denser. His fingers curled into fists, nails elongating slightly before retracting. His breath came out in slow, measured exhales, but his eyes
They were no longer human.
A crimson glow burned within them, flickering like embers in a dying fire.
Then came the notification that made Lucas's blood run cold:
[Congratulations! Your minion André has evolved to Class B!]
Lucas barely had time to process it before something else stirred inside him.
A prickling sensation crawled beneath his skin, foreign yet strangely familiar. It wasn't pain. It wasn't exhaustion. It was… power.
[The system has extracted 1% of André's power…]
[A weak power has begun to flow through your body.]
Lucas's breath hitched. "What…?"
His fingers twitched involuntarily. He felt something coiling in his muscles, a faint hum in his bones.
Then, another message appeared
[New Feature Activated: Status Window!]
A translucent screen blinked into existence before his eyes, filled with lines of text.
[Lucas Status Window]Rank:???Power Synchronization: 1%Energy Levels: [Weak Awakening Detected]
Lucas's stomach twisted. "This… this is mine?"
He hadn't fought. He hadn't earned power. And yet, something had been forcefully grafted onto him something that had come directly from André.
The realization sent a shiver down his spine.
He looked up just as André moved.
No.
Not moved. Vanished.
In the blink of an eye, André was standing right in front of him. No footsteps. No sound. One moment he had been several feet away and now he was here.
Lucas's breath hitched. He barely stopped himself from flinching.
André slowly lifted his hand, staring at his palm as if seeing it for the first time. The air around him rippled subtly, bending and warping.
Then, his fingers curled into a tight fist.
A pulse erupted from his knuckles, distorting the air, sending a tremor through the ground.
Lucas swallowed hard.
"André..." His voice came out rough, uncertain.
André's gaze flickered to him.
His eyes… weren't the same.
The crimson glow was still there, but behind it, something new lurked—something that hadn't been there before.
Lucas had seen fear. He had seen rage. He had even seen determination.
But this?
This was something else.
It was awareness.
A terrifying, unsettling awareness.
As if, for the first time, André had realized something beyond the limitations of human thought.
Lucas's fingers curled instinctively, his body tense. "…Are you still you?"
André didn't answer immediately. Instead, he slowly tilted his head, as if considering the question.
Then, finally—
"…I don't know."
The honesty in his voice was worse than any lie.
Lucas felt his pulse hammer against his skull.
This was wrong.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be. The system had said André evolved, but this wasn't evolution.
This was transformation.
The line between the two?
Thin. Dangerous. And irreversible.
André exhaled, looking down at his hands again. Then, as if testing something, he suddenly clenched his fist
And the wall behind him imploded.
Lucas's heart nearly stopped.
Chunks of stone collapsed into the corridor, dust clouding the air. The cell bars groaned from the sheer force, bending slightly from the shockwave.
Lucas stared.
What. The. Hell.
André looked at his own fist, almost absentmindedly. "...Stronger than I thought."
Lucas took a step back. His mind raced, trying to understand. Trying to rationalize.
This wasn't just a power boost. This was something far beyond that.
If 1% of this power had already begun to change Lucas what the hell had happened to André?
And worse
Was he still human?
--------
[Name: Andre]
[Rank: B]
**[Current Development Points: 15]
Stats:
- Strength: 12
- Mana: 0
- Speed: 3