CHAPTER 59: DEMON EVOLUTION

[Elven Castle]

"Never seen this before, maybe you have... Can you see this? If you can, I want you to tell me what this is."

Seralyth’s tone carried curiosity as she pushed the book close to her face.

Emma blinked at the screen only she could see, words glowing sharp in red.

She tilted her head, lips moving before she even realized she was speaking.

"Demon evolution in progress...?"

Seralyth’s eyes narrowed. "What are you talki—"

She stopped midsentence, then looked closer. The book had shifted, its pages turning themselves until the same red warning shone before her.

It wasn’t just a reflection—this was the system itself doing something. The words showed through, covering most of the information beneath like a seal.

[Demon evolution in progress.]

"What is going on?" Emma said to her.

Seralyth didn’t answer immediately. She leaned closer, her gaze tightening as she tried to read past the veil of red letters.

Faint shapes of text surfaced, blurred, but enough for her to catch fragments.

[Personal Info]

Name: Emma Serravalle(???)

Race: Demonic Angel

Age: 22

Affiliation:

Title: Unchained Saint

Status: Good

Primordial Type: Demon and Angel

Affinity: Light, Water, and Illusion

Seralyth’s eyes flicked upward. Emma was staring at the screen, her brows pulled together.

"Are you okay?" Seralyth asked quietly.

Emma exhaled and nodded, though her shoulders betrayed tension. "Yeah... just surprised. I was training with Evelyn and the queen, then suddenly I felt... this pull. I couldn’t ignore it. Like I had to come here. And now..." She gestured vaguely at the floating letters. "This happens."

"It’s fine. It happens to all of us sometimes," Seralyth said, though her own words didn’t fully convince her.

Her gaze lingered on the glowing red warning, her thoughts racing. If it’s truly reached this point... then what does it mean for him?

[Inside Seralyth’s Demon Realm]

Crunch.

The sound was made through the dense woods, wet and sharp.

Something alive is being chewed. Something dying.

In the heart of the black forest, a lone figure walked forward. Each step was steady, though his body looked anything but. His silver hair had lost its luster, now stained and clumped with dried blood. Purple blood can be seen across his jawline, dripping from his chin in slow streams. His clothes were torn, flesh exposed beneath, smeared with gore that wasn’t entirely his own.

His aura pressed outward in a strong wave, heavy, impossible to ignore. Not the faint hum of demon energy that once accompanied him, but something sharper.

Caelen.

But not the Caelen who had once carefully measured his steps in these woods, avoiding conflict unless forced to fight. Not the cautious boy who feared the forest floor’s shadows. Now he walked among them as one of their own.

Shadows stirred. Beasts crawled from holes, drawn to the storm of energy emanating from him. Wolves with two heads and twisted jaws. Insects the size of horses, carapaces slick with black fluid.

Things that shouldn’t walk upright, their bodies bent wrong, too many joints where there should be none. Normally, they would have lunged at intruders without hesitation.

But when their eyes met his, they froze. His red gaze burned with something primal, something that scraped against their instincts and told them predator.

For one second, they hesitated. That was all he needed.

The first monster leapt. It never landed. Caelen met it midair, his hand no longer fully human. Claws had sprouted along his fingers, black and jagged, slicing clean through it’s chest.

His other hand grabbed its skull and slammed it into the ground. He didn’t stop—his teeth sank into its throat, ripping, tearing, swallowing. Blood sprayed, hot and bitter, running down his chin.

Another beast slithered from the trees, serpent-like, scales shimmering with unnatural black sheen. It coiled around him, tightening, ribs cracking under the pressure.

Caelen snarled, his wings stabbing outward like blades, jagged edges tearing through the coils. The serpent screamed before his hands gripped its head and pulled until the spine snapped. He bit down, tearing flesh from the corpse.

The forest erupted.

Dozens rushed him at once, the air alive with screeches and roars. Claws slashed. Fangs snapped. But Caelen moved through them with ease, ripping and devouring without pause. Every kill only stoked the hunger burning in his veins.

Bones cracked between his teeth. Flesh split beneath his claws. Blood, purple and black and red, painted the ground until the forest floor became a swamp of death.

And still he ate.

With each bite, his body changed. Skin paling, veins darkening and glowing faintly beneath. His wings stretched wider, edges sharp like blades.

His hair lost its silver, strands staining darker, clinging damp against his face. His aura pulsed outward in waves, growing heavier, more oppressive, until even the trees seemed to bend away from him, their leaves shriveling under the weight.

The beasts that had watched from the shadows faltered. Some fled. Others, driven mad by hunger or instinct, charged. Every single one was torn down. Every corpse became fuel.

By the time silence returned, the ground was littered with broken bodies. The stink of iron filled the air, thick and cloying.

Caelen stood among it all, chest rising and falling slowly. More blood stained his not-so-handsome face, dripping down his chin, smearing across his pale skin as he wiped it absently with the back of his hand. His red demonic eyes burned brighter now, glowing faintly in the darkness.

The hunger hadn’t lessened. If anything, it was sharper. His lips parted, voice low, raw from growls and snarls, yet steady enough to cut through the silence.

"More..."

Roooooar.

The ground shuddered, dirt scattering as something massive stirred from the treeline. Branches cracked, leaves fell like ash.

A shadow moved—bigger than any beast Caelen had faced so far.

It stepped into view.

A new creature.

Its body towered over him, easily three times his size, its shape humanoid but wrong in ways that made it more beast than man.

Black fur wrapped around its muscles like armor, thick and matted with blood from previous kills. Its claws dug trenches into the ground with every step.

The head was feline, jawline sharp, lips peeled back in a silent snarl. Two fangs extended past its chin, dripping with purple saliva.

Its eyes burned. Violent. Purple. Hatred given form.

It lowered its body, muscles tightening, coiled like a spring. The trees behind it bent from the force pressing outward.

Then it pounced.

The monster slammed into Caelen, the ground fracturing under the weight of the impact. Trees split in half, their trunks snapping like brittle sticks. The air cracked with the sound of force colliding.

Its jaws clamped down onto his shoulder, teeth sinking deep. Flesh tore. Blood burst outward in a spray. A chunk of him ripped free, swallowed in an instant.

Before, he would have screamed. Before, he would have collapsed.

Now, he did neither.

Caelen stood, his legs unmoving, his face unreadable even as his own blood streamed down his chest. His hand lashed upward, seizing the beast’s muzzle in a crushing grip.

His eyes locked with its burning ones.

The monster faltered.

Just for a moment.

Enough.

His other hand drew the dagger from his waist with no hesitation. It plunged deep into the beast’s chest, driving straight through fur, flesh, and bone until it pierced the heart. The claws twisted.

The demon-beast jerked, body convulsing. Its roar cut short, turning into a broken growl as its limbs lost strength. The glow in its eyes flickered, dimming, fading.

Caelen shoved it down. The corpse hit the dirt with a thud. But before it could even settle, he tore into it. His teeth sank into its chest, ripping through to the core.

He went for the heart first. Always the heart. The strongest part.

The feline demon gave one last rattling growl. Caelen ignored it. He was already dragging the corpse behind him, tearing through it piece by piece as he walked deeper into the forest.

Flesh shredded. Bones cracked. The sounds carried too far, echoing between the trees like sick music.

And still the hunger gnawed.

He ate until nothing was left. Not a scrap. Not a bone. Even the skull was cracked open and drained, marrow dripping from his chin as he wiped it lazily with the back of his hand. His tongue ran across his sharpened teeth, catching what was left of the blood.

His steps slowed. He stopped.

For the first time since it began, the hunger eased. Not gone, not sated—but changed. Something heavier pressed against his chest. A different kind of pull. His breath came rough, his body trembling, but his eyes... they lifted.

Upward.

To the sky.

It wasn’t hunger for flesh anymore. It wasn’t blood.

It was something else.

Boom!

His wings snapped open with a violent thunderclap, tearing the air.

Black aura surged through them, veins of corruption burning across their length. They flared wide and launched him upward in an instant, ripping through the air as though it couldn’t contain him.

The canopy broke apart under the force. He shot higher, faster, his body cutting through clouds of ash and violet haze that floated endlessly above. He climbed until the forest became nothing but a blur beneath him.

Then he struck something.

The barrier.

Not sky. A wall. Invisible. Unyielding.

His palm pressed against it. Every instinct inside him screamed. Behind this... something waited.

He clawed at it. Searching. Crawling across it like an insect trapped under glass, his claws scraping lines of black fire across the invisible surface. His obsession grew sharper. Time blurred—minutes, hours—it didn’t matter. He did not tire. He only searched.

Until—

Crack.

His hand froze. He had found it. A point so small it almost wasn’t there. His claws dug in, tearing. His arm burned with a purple-black aura, an energy he never fully used, veins splitting, his skin hissing as though it would melt. He didn’t stop. He pushed harder.

The wall broke.

And he reached through.

What he touched was warm. Alive. Beating like a heart.

He pulled.

Out came an orb, massive, glowing with swirling gray shadows and black light. It pulsed in his grip, vibrating against his palm as though it already belonged to him. It was heavy, too heavy to hold, and his claws slipped across its surface. His jaw opened without command.

He looked rabid. Starved.

Below, the effect spread instantly. Every beast in the forest convulsed. Their screams rose in unison, cut off as their bodies collapsed.

They shriveled in seconds, collapsing into husks, drained of everything that made them alive. The orb drank them all, greedier than Caelen ever had.

One word echoed in his head. Not his own. Something older.

EAT.

His tongue lashed out, black and forked, wrapping around the orb. It dragged the sphere into his mouth.

Gulp.

Gone.

Silence followed.

Then—the eruption.

His body snapped backward as if struck by lightning. Black energy exploded outward in waves, slamming into the forest below, flattening trees, shredding the soil into craters. The ground shook as if the world itself recoiled.

But this wasn’t just a shadow anymore. It was something denser, layered, translucent—black upon black, shifting like storm clouds inside glass. It clung to his skin, burned into his veins, poured into his heart until it threatened to burst.

Caelen screamed.

It tore from his throat raw and broken, shaking the air. Not pain alone. Not rage alone. It was the sound of change. Of becoming.

The aura twisted into shapes—wings, claws, fangs, all overlapping, all screaming in silence as they burst outward around him.

His body changed.

Gray skin stretched over thicker muscle. Veins glowing faint violet beneath the surface. His hair, once silver, was darker, threads glowing faint purple in the night. His eyes opened with a violet color.

Then the tail emerged. Black, slick, smooth like a blade, it tore through the air with a whip-crack as it moved around.

His wings stretched wider, sharper, serrated edges gleaming like weapons forged from shadow.

He stood taller. Different.

Not a normal demon. Not even human. Something else that is demonic.

But even as power surged, his body faltered. Balance gone. Strength wavering. Instinct broken. His own form rebelled against itself.

The wings trembled. The tail dragged.

Then he fell.

Plummeted.

Branches shattered against his body as he slammed through the forest, his new form crashing down with a final, bone-jarring thud. Dust and debris rose, the crater swallowing him whole.

Silence followed.

Then, the system broke it.

[System Alert]Unrecognized Evolution Detected.

Path has been halted due to insufficient Primordial Energy.

Caelen’s chest rose faintly as the words echoed in his head. His claws twitched. His new body lay broken yet whole, powerful yet incomplete. He had crossed a threshold—and yet, something was missing.

The hunger had not ended. It had only changed.

[Thanks for your support, which is regularly seen and hope you continue on reading.👆]