Evolution of the Ruined Heir

Hey guys! I realize it’s basically been forever since I last uploaded this novel. The good news is, I’m finally about to come out of that hiatus.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t automatically mean that I’ll be writing EV to total completion. That is going to depend entirely on how many readers are still interested in the story and, of course, how much revenue it generates. I spend a lot of time writing these Chapters, and if the novel isn’t bringing in enough money to help pay the bills, I’d have to focus that time on what does. My other work simply isn’t making enough money for me to justify spending so much time on something earning me next to nothing. I hope you understand.

That said, unlike what I did before, now I plan to write EV towards a major shift in the story’s trajectory, where everything will probably come crashing down. Once I reach that point, I’ll determine whether or not to continue from there. There’s no scheduled timeline for this; I simply intend to keep writing until I reach that point. And before anyone starts worrying, that point isn’t in this arc, so fear not.

Alright, with that out of the way, let’s move on to the story. Now, I realize it’s been far too long, months, in fact, since I last updated. There are probably some of you who wouldn’t mind rereading the novel to refresh your memory on everything that has happened so far. But for those who would find that tedious, I’d like to begin this return with a summary Chapter covering everything that has happened up until now.

So, without further ado, here goes...

...

Evolution of the Ruined Heir is about Malakai Von Sanguine, a young heir of the Grand Sanguine Clan, one of the four grand clans within the Dome, who lost both his father and mother at the age of ten.

Afterwards, especially when he failed to evolve, his life within the Sanguine Clan became a living hell. He was considered trash by practically everyone around him and, naturally, treated accordingly.

Amongst them, however, there was one person who came to sympathize with him: one of his maids, Nyx, who had originally been sent by the Blood Sovereign to spy on him. Unknown to Malakai at the time, this seemingly ordinary maid was also the famed Blood Eclipse, a figure feared throughout the Dome, and somewhere along the way, she decided that rather than merely watch him suffer, she would protect him.

It wasn’t long after this that the Blood Sovereign, head of the Sanguine Clan and Malakai’s grandfather, decided to ever so graciously send him to the Blackreach, where he was to enter the western side of the Pits. To practically everyone, it was nothing short of a death sentence.

Malakai, having no choice in the matter, entered the Pit anyway, and through sheer grit, several near-death experiences, and what could only be described as a truly unreasonable refusal to die, he somehow survived its challenges. It was there that he eventually discovered the true nature of the Pit.

It was a test created by the Life Essence.

As its sole survivor, Malakai was able to successfully fuse with the Life Essence and finally evolve. But, of course, such a wonderful development couldn’t come without a catch. Along with the Life Essence came a rather annoying ghost, the ghost of an overweight man in his forties who, as it turned out, had also been a wielder of the Life Essence in the past.

Through their meeting, Malakai discovered that this strange man was actually the reason humanity still existed, as he had been responsible for creating the Dome that encompassed a third of the world and kept humanity safe within it. This ghost, possessing enough energy to annoy Malakai for several lifetimes, introduced himself as Valentine.

Now evolved, Malakai finally left the Pit, but not without learning two rather troubling things. The first was that the Pit would soon vanish. The second, and far more concerning, was that the Dome. the singular barrier protecting humanity from the overwhelming darkness creatures beyond it, was on a time crunch. It was deteriorating, and within a matter of years, it would collapse.

When Malakai emerged from the Pit, news that the Ninth Vein had finally evolved after all this time sent shockwaves throughout the clan. The news spread fast, so fast that before he could even make it back, he was ambushed by those who wanted his head, most notably forces connected to the First and Third Pulses. Malakai managed to survive the attack, but the ambush came with one rather significant revelation: his maid, Nyx, was in fact the Red Eclipse, someone of truly frightening strength.

Upon returning to the clan, confirmation of his evolved status naturally caused an even greater stir, and Malakai barely escaped a plot by the Third Pulse, who intended to turn him into a test subject. Things eventually escalated into a confrontation with the guard of the Third Pulse’s wife, Khana, and Malakai killed him before the entire gathering, proving rather decisively that the former trash of the Sanguine Clan was no longer quite so trash.

Afterward, the Sovereign ordered that Malakai be given the respect befitting his position and sent him to join the clan’s training in preparation for the Hunt.

The journey there was rather uneventful, and upon arriving, Malakai met a weird, painfully awkward boy named Renlo, who somehow ended up becoming a very good friend. Aside from him, Malakai also encountered more of his cousins: the Eighth, Seventh, and Sixth Veins—Julius, Maximus, and Aurelia respectively. And, as one might expect from a family where half the members seemed to either hate each other or want each other dead, the tension was quite clear.

Through the training and the resources provided to him, Malakai steadily increased his strength and power, while somehow deepening his bond with Renlo and, at the same time, worsening the already considerable tension between himself and the other Veins.

Things eventually came to a head when Julius attacked Renlo, prompting Malakai to intervene and, somehow, beat the Eighth Vein bloody in front of everyone. Naturally, Julius’s guard wasn’t particularly pleased with that development, leading to a clash between him and Nyx, but before things could spiral any further, the Iron Saint intervened and brought the matter to an end.

Now, Julius was quite pissed that a nobody like Malakai had dared lay his hands on him. The entitled and thoroughly spoiled young master took the humiliation about as well as one would expect, promising that Malakai would be dealt with during the Hunt.

Aside from that, though, seeing as Julius had gone after Renlo because of him, Malakai invited Renlo to live with him at his manor. Through this, their bond deepened somewhat, and Malakai made perhaps an even more important discovery: Renlo was an absolutely heavenly cook. With Malakai now enjoying meals that could probably bring tears to a grown man’s eyes, time passed rather peacefully.

And soon enough, the Hunt arrived.

Youths within the required age range from across the entire region were gathered at a designated location and thrown into the hunting grounds, where their task was simple: gather as many points as possible.

Practically the entire Western Region had gathered to watch the Hunt, including the upper echelons of the Sanguine Clan, the Highbloods (the top one hundred strongest members of the family), the Scarlet Ten, the other Veins, the Pulses, and even the Sovereign himself. Naturally, with so many important figures gathered in one place, much of the attention was fixed firmly on the participating Veins.

After several bouts and encounters, Malakai eventually came face-to-face with Julius, the Eighth Vein. The delulu Eighth Vein was utterly thrilled that they had finally met, practically brimming with excitement at the thought of finally beating the crap out of our valiant Malakai. Across the Western Region, anticipation was palpable as countless eyes waited eagerly for the clash between the two Veins.

And then, the clash happened. As expected, the delulu of the Eighth Vein was simply too strong.

Our valiant Malakai promptly smashed his head into the ground.

What followed was a merciless rain of truth-seeing punches as Malakai repeatedly introduced Julius’s face to the rather unfortunate reality of their strength difference. With each punch, the delusion slowly began leaving Julius’s body, until fear finally took its place and the once-arrogant Eighth Vein began pleading for Malakai to stop. Unfortunately for him, Malakai apparently believed there was still some truth left to be seen, and so the punches continued.

Before he could carry on much longer, though, Aurelia, the Sixth Vein, appeared. If the anticipation surrounding Malakai’s clash with Julius had been intense, what followed was on an entirely different level, as attention across the Western Region shifted towards the confrontation between Malakai and one of the most powerful Veins of their generation.

The two fought, and through grit, a hard-fought battle, and, of course, a slight helping hand from the Life Essence, Malakai ultimately emerged victorious. Unfortunately, that victory came with significant consequences.

The moment the Life Essence was released, every darkness creature within the region was driven into a frenzy, immediately surging towards Malakai in overwhelming numbers. Yet, through relentless effort, he fought through them and ultimately emerged victorious once again, earning both shock and praise from across the entire Western Region.

After the Hunt, Malakai returned to the clan and received his rewards from the Sovereign.

Some time passed after that, and soon enough, it was time for his apprenticeship. He was sent to the city of Sylvastein, located in the far west of the Western Region, a city filled with beast tamers and, rather unfortunately for Malakai, ruled by the infamous Fourth Pulse.

Along with Renlo, he joined a rather outcast squad. It was there he met Rhett, their captain; Lina, the assistant captain and also Rhett’s painfully obvious love interest; Grude, a giant of a man with an equally large heart; and Lilo, a tech genius and extreme introvert who seemed perfectly content keeping to himself. It was certainly an odd collection of people, but considering Malakai’s experiences with most members of his family, the simple fact that none of them were actively trying to kill him already made them wonderful company.

After that, things progressed rather quickly. Through a series of missions, Malakai discovered the existence of the Gor’Mekhai, a people living within a hidden settlement in the city.

After getting captured by them and spending several days within their settlement, he also discovered something considerably more valuable: the existence of a pond of Vitaeon. The Gor’Mekhai themselves were a rather crude but simple people, evolved beings who had bonded parts of their bodies with those of beasts. For some, it was their limbs; for others, horns, skin, or other parts of their bodies had taken on bestial characteristics. During his time amongst them, Malakai gradually came to understand both their people and their way of life.

It was in the midst of all this that Malakai and the others were suddenly ambushed outside the city, and during the attack, Renlo was captured. As they searched for him, they gradually uncovered something far more disturbing: the wicked experiments the Fourth Pulse had been secretly conducting on the Gor’Mekhai.

Eventually, they infiltrated the laboratory hidden beneath her mansion, where Malakai fought and snuck his way through until he finally found Renlo.

His friend had been tortured and experimented on, with his limbs replaced by those of beasts. It was there that Malakai encountered Seraze, the Fifth Pulse, whom he proceeded to beat the living daylights out of. Unfortunately, before he could deliver the killing blow, her Bloom Guard intervened, and from there, all hell broke loose.

The laboratory was destroyed in the ensuing battle, and the fighting soon spilled out into the city above, which had already descended into chaos. Amidst it all, Malakai managed to break the barrier containing Nyx, and what had already been a disaster somehow became even worse.

Several Blooms lost their lives in the battles that followed, while darkness creatures unlike anything they had ever encountered began to spawn throughout Sylvastein. Within a frighteningly short amount of time, the entire city had been plunged into utter chaos, with survival itself becoming uncertain and everyone left wondering whether they would even live to see the end of it.

The darkness creatures, however, seemed to have only one target: Malakai. Drawn by the Life Essence within him, they relentlessly pursued him, and Malakai used that to his advantage, luring the entire horde towards the Gor’Mekhai settlement, where the Fourth Pulse was already locked in a brutal war with them, alongside several Grade Four darkness creatures.

Fighting his way through the chaos, Malakai eventually managed to reach the pond of Vitaeon and promptly threw himself inside, gaining a significant boost in power.

With his newfound strength, he was able to defeat the darkness creatures. Unfortunately, because apparently things weren’t terrible enough already, the culmination of all those creatures spawned something far beyond what even Malakai could handle. Just when it seemed everything was truly about to go to hell, the Sovereign finally arrived and saved everyone.

Malakai lost consciousness sometime during the chaos, and by the time everything was over, millions of people were dead and Sylvastein had been practically reduced to ruins. What had once been one of the great cities of the Western Region was now barely recognizable, and with that rather catastrophic conclusion, the Sylvastein arc came to an end.

The next time Malakai opened his eyes, he was back in his bed with Nyx by his side. Naturally, his first question was what the hell had happened, and after getting a brief rundown of everything he had missed, he was soon summoned by the Sovereign for a debrief. Before leaving, Malakai took some time to assess the changes to his body and abilities, then made his way over.

During the meeting, Malakai recounted everything that had happened in Sylvastein, after which the Sovereign confirmed what had become of the Fifth Vein, Seraze, and warned Malakai never to lay his hands on his kin again. Afterwards, having risen to the very top of the Fresh Blood Ranking, Malakai was granted the opportunity to ask the Sovereign a question.

And there was really only one question that had been eating away at him all these years.

Who killed his parents?

From the Sovereign’s answer, Malakai finally learned the truth. The ones responsible were the First Pulse, the Third Pulse, and members of the Scarlet Ten.

Naturally, Malakai immediately confronted his grandfather over the fact that he had known who murdered his parents all this time and had seemingly done nothing about it. The Sovereign, however, argued that he had punished those responsible, before making his stance painfully clear: if he killed his kin every time they killed another member of his kin, there would hardly be a family left for him to rule.

Malakai, unsurprisingly, did not accept that answer. Whatever punishment the Sovereign believed he had handed out meant absolutely nothing to him. As far as Malakai was concerned, the people responsible for his parents’ deaths would pay, and one way or another, he would have his revenge.

Internally, of course. He wasn’t quite stupid enough to announce that part to the Sovereign’s face.

And with that, he left.

Not long afterwards, Darke, the Sovereign’s head butler, and Caelum, the Iron Saint, questioned why the Sovereign hadn’t told Malakai everything.

It was then revealed that Valerian was suspected to have escaped beyond the Dome rather than died as everyone believed. The Sovereign, however, had chosen to keep that possibility from Malakai, unwilling to give his grandson false hope when even he had no idea whether Valerian was truly still alive.

After that, it was also revealed that the true reason behind the events of Sylvastein had been a plot by the Black Lotus, a wicked organization whose members followed and worshipped the darkness creatures.

The organization was said to be filled with people possessed by darkness creatures, and unfortunately, there was no reliable way to identify them. Not even a Zenith could tell who was possessed unless the person willingly revealed themselves.

Worse still, the entire destruction of Sylvastein had merely been a means to an end. While the clan’s attention was focused on the ruined city and the millions who had died there, the Black Lotus used the chaos as an opportunity to infiltrate the Sanguine Catacombs and steal the slumbering body of the last Zenith—Othric’s father.

Now, soon after that, Malakai finally had the chance to properly assess the changes he had undergone in Sylvastein, and there were quite a few. Not only had he advanced to the Synergy Stage, he had also awakened his Muscle Node, significantly increasing his physical power. He eventually reunited with Renlo as well, who, despite everything that had happened to him, had come out of Sylvastein considerably stronger thanks to his new limbs.

Naturally, the two decided to test exactly how much stronger they had become.

Through their training, Malakai discovered that Renlo was now both faster and stronger than before, despite somehow not having formed a single node within his new limbs. Apparently, having your limbs forcibly replaced with beast parts did come with some benefits. Not enough to recommend the experience, certainly, but benefits nonetheless.

Malakai had undergone some rather significant changes of his own. His perception range had increased from a radius of fifty to two hundred, and more importantly, he discovered that he could now control Vita without being in direct contact with it. This opened up an entirely new range of possibilities. He could send Vita disks flying through the air, create footholds to walk through the sky, and potentially even fly, abilities that should normally have been exclusive to Blooms.

Soon after that, Malakai received yet another reward from the Sovereign: a Grade Four Vita weapon to pair with his Grade Three weapon, along with a vial of Vitaeon. Renlo wasn’t left out either, receiving a spear of his own.

Not long afterwards, Malakai was summoned by the Sovereign once again, this time to determine his next course of action. With Sylvastein destroyed, continuing his one-year apprenticeship there was obviously no longer an option. Rather than send him somewhere else, however, the Sovereign instructed Malakai to form a new squad, with Malakai himself serving as its captain. The squad would take on investigative missions and, rather unusually, report its findings directly to the Sovereign.

His first assignment was to investigate a series of disappearances connected to the Umbrella Group, which was essentially a collection of merchants operating under a single banner and led by the Sixth Pulse, Vaelira Von Sanguine. Several of its high-ranking members had recently had someone close to them mysteriously vanish. There had been no ransom demands, no threats, and seemingly no clear motive behind any of the disappearances.

And, naturally, Malakai wasn’t expected to work for free. Completing the investigation would earn him Blood Points and, far more enticingly, Grade Three Vitaeon.

After receiving some advice from the Iron Saint, Malakai, together with Renlo, went to visit the head of the Umbrella Group, the Sixth Pulse herself.

Naturally, Vaelira couldn’t simply allow him to investigate her affairs without first testing whether he was actually capable, so she had one of her stronger subordinates attack him. After a brief back and forth, Malakai proved himself well enough, and she gave him the go-ahead to investigate, with, of course, a condition attached.

That condition came in the form of the Tenth Vein, her daughter, Octavia Von Sanguine, who would be accompanying Malakai throughout the investigation under the rather convenient excuse that she would be helpful.

Malakai was reluctant, for obvious reasons, but ultimately accepted.

Afterwards, he decided the best place to begin was with the people actually affected by the disappearances. He visited Coinmasters Omer, Bell, and Juliet, speaking with each of them and examining where their loved ones had vanished. Through this, Malakai noticed one strange detail shared by every case: the windows had been left wide open. Considering there were no signs of forced entry or struggle, it seemed increasingly likely that the victims had somehow been lured out willingly.

As they deliberated over what they had discovered, Nyx informed Malakai that someone had been following them. Naturally, they went after the person, eventually discovering that the woman tailing them had been sent by a district head named Mamush, someone who, at least on the surface, had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearances.

But then they discovered a rather interesting connection.

Every Coinmaster affected by the disappearances had grown up in the same orphanage as Mamush.

So, unrelated? Not quite.

With their first real lead finally in hand, Malakai and the others paid Mamush a visit. During their very first conversation, it didn’t take Malakai long to realize that the man was hiding something. Rather than confront him immediately, though, Malakai decided to make himself comfortable. He claimed that it was already late and suggested that they spend the night at Mamush’s residence, leaving the district head with little choice but to graciously accommodate his unexpected guests.

Once Mamush left, Malakai sent Valentine to do what an invisible, overly energetic ghost was particularly well suited for: spying.

Through Valentine, Malakai discovered that the Sixth Pulse had already known about Mamush’s connection to the affected Coinmasters and had been using that knowledge as leverage to slowly turn him into her puppet. More importantly, he uncovered the true connection behind the disappearances.

The Coinmasters weren’t the real target.

Mamush was. Why? He had no idea, yet.

Later that evening, Malakai and the others were invited to dinner, where he was properly introduced to Mamush’s family: his wife, Onilia; their eldest daughter, Malia; their second child and first son, Dune; and finally, their youngest daughter, Donna.

During the dinner, it was revealed that Donna had quite the crush on Malakai and had apparently been something of a fangirl for a while. Seeing her obvious enthusiasm, Malakai offered to show her the ropes sometime, an offer Mamush and his wife were more than happy to encourage, believing they had finally found the perfect distraction to keep Malakai’s attention away from matters they would rather he didn’t dig too deeply into.

In any case, dinner eventually came to an end, and Malakai and Renlo retired to their room for the night.

And that brings us to where we are now, with our valiant Malakai waking up the next morning only to discover Renlo sprawled shamelessly on top him, having somehow claimed practically every blanket for himself while snoring away without a care in the world.

Malakai stared at his peacefully sleeping friend for a long moment, contemplating murder.

And that, my beautiful readers, is where we stopped.

To be continued.

Cheers, and once again, I’m sorry for disappearing for so long. But I’m back now, and I hope you’ll all enjoy getting back into the story as much as I’m looking forward to writing it again.

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