I Can See Evolution Paths

Arthur and the others moved toward the deeper section where the professor believed the remaining students may have gone. They remained together rather than splitting up again, the purple marks and missing students having made everyone more cautious.

The environment continued changing as they traveled.

Enormous trees had been ripped from the ground, their roots exposed and tangled with broken branches that now blocked entire waterways.

In some places, the swamp had been pushed into new channels, while crystal formations had shattered across the mud and Beast nests had been crushed beneath fallen trees. The farther they went, the more Arthur realized how violently the mana disturbance had reshaped the area.

Arthur occasionally stopped to examine something. At one point he noticed a huge tree pushed sideways while another tree only a few feet away hadn’t even lost a branch.

Athena noticed it too. She stepped closer to the two trees and looked between them. "The disturbance wasn’t uniform," she said.

Arthur looked around. "Some places were hit much harder than others."

Athena nodded. "Which means something influenced how the mana moved."

Arthur glanced toward the untouched tree. "Can you tell what?"

"Not yet."

Arthur looked at the destruction surrounding them, then back at the untouched tree. "So even the explosion has rules."

Athena gave him a thoughtful look. "Perhaps."

Arthur smiled faintly. "I like finding rules."

As they continued, they finally saw several Beasts.

Arthur almost felt relieved as at least something was still here. Then the group of Marshhorn Beasts came rushing through the trees.

They weren’t hunting.

They weren’t fighting.

They were fleeing.

One nearly collided with Arthur before abruptly changing direction and disappearing into the vegetation.

Eden watched them go. "They’re scared."

Melo’s ears twitched. "Very."

Vedas looked toward the direction they had come from. "They’re running from something."

Arthur watched the last Beast disappear between the trees. The sight immediately reminded him of the previous day.

The empty forest.

The fleeing birds.

The Beasts that had abandoned their territory.

"Again," he said quietly.

A little farther ahead, Arthur noticed something unusual on the trunk of a tree.

Purple.

He stopped and looked closer.

"There."

Everyone followed his gaze.

A faint purple stain ran through the bark, almost like something had soaked into the tree from the inside. It was darker than the stains they’d seen before, and some of the purple material seemed to have spread along the cracks in the wood.

Athena immediately approached.

Arthur pointed toward it. "This wasn’t here before, was it?"

Athena studied the tree carefully before shaking her head. "Not in this section."

Mithra looked around.

"There’s another one."

Then they noticed a second tree and a third. Soon they realized the purple staining had appeared across several trees in the area.

Arthur slowly looked around. "It’s spreading."

Athena didn’t immediately agree. "We don’t know that."

Arthur glanced at the trees around them. "Then it definitely wasn’t this widespread before."

Athena paused before giving a small nod. "That’s true."

Arthur looked deeper into the forest. "Something changed after the explosion."

Not long afterward they discovered another Beast. This one wasn’t alive. It lay beside a fallen tree.

Arthur approached cautiously.

The corpse had several faint purple markings across its body.

Mithra crouched beside it. "This one wasn’t here yesterday," she said.

Vedas looked at the ground. "It probably died after the explosion," he said.

Arthur studied the body more carefully. The purple marks weren’t as dark as the ones they’d seen earlier. Some were concentrated around the Beast’s legs, while others spread toward its chest.

He remembered the students they’d found.

Different bodies.

Different patterns.

The same strange color.

Arthur frowned. "It’s the same thing."

Athena looked toward him. "You think so?"

"I don’t know," Arthur admitted. "But it looks too similar to ignore."

He looked back at the corpse. "And we still don’t know what caused it."

Then Arthur noticed something else. There were no signs that another Beast had attacked it. The corpse looked as if it had simply collapsed.

They continued deeper until Arthur suddenly stopped.

There were several dark drops on the ground.

"Wait."

Everyone looked down.

Arthur crouched beside them.

It wasn’t mud.

It was blood.

Mithra knelt beside him and carefully examined one of the stains. "Human."

Eden’s expression immediately changed. "Is someone hurt?"

Arthur looked at the trail disappearing between the trees.

"Probably."

Sun’s expression became serious. "Then we should follow it."

Arthur nodded.

They followed the blood for several minutes, finding more drops along the way. Eventually, they discovered a torn piece of clothing caught on a branch.

Athena carefully pulled it free and examined it. "It’s from one of the students."

Arthur frowned. "Then we’re close."

But the trail suddenly ended at a shallow stream.

Arthur crouched beside the water and searched the opposite bank.

Nothing.

The blood had been washed away.

Vedas looked deeper into the trees. "They went that way."

Arthur nodded. "Then let’s keep looking."

The blood trail eventually disappeared for good, not because it stopped, but because the ground became too wet to follow it.

The farther they traveled, the less severe the destruction became.

The broken trees became fewer. The waterways returned to their natural paths, and the vegetation gradually became thicker until the damage behind them was almost hidden.

Then Arthur stopped.

Ahead of them, the forest looked completely untouched.

There were no fallen trees.

No shattered crystals.

No destroyed nests.

Not even broken branches.

Behind them, the Everglades looked as if a storm had torn through it.

Ahead, it was almost peaceful. Arthur stood at that line for a moment, one boot still in the ruined ground behind him, the other already resting on grass that hadn’t been touched by anything at all.

Sun slowly looked around. "Why wasn’t this place affected?"

Athena studied the boundary between the two areas. "I don’t know."

Arthur crouched and touched the ground. "It’s almost like the explosion stopped here."

Eden looked around quietly. "It feels different."

Arthur glanced at her. "Different how?"

Eden thought for a moment. "Quiet."

Arthur listened.

She was right.

This wasn’t the unnatural silence from before. There were faint insects, distant water, and the occasional rustle of leaves. It was simply peaceful. Somehow, that made Arthur more cautious.

Athy suddenly stopped and said, "I see someone!"

This made all of them freeze before they quickly turned to where Athy was pointing.

Beneath the enormous tree lay a small girl with long blond hair spread across the grass. She looked completely out of place in the Everglades. She wasn’t wearing an Academy uniform. Her clothing resembled the robes of a priestess, colored crimson and black, with a small backpack resting beside her.

She was completely unconscious.

Eden flew closer. "A girl?"

Arthur nodded.

Mithra and Melo immediately knelt beside her and began checking her condition.

After a moment Mithra released a breath. "She’s alive."

Melo nodded. "She’s unconscious. I don’t see any serious injuries."

Everyone relaxed slightly.

Eden looked relieved. "She’s okay."

Arthur looked at the girl.

She was wearing a strange outfit, something that looked like priestess clothing, crimson and black. He wondered why she was here, and whether she was a Beast Tamer, since he didn’t see any Beast Partner near her. Arthur couldn’t sense any obvious mana coming from her.

That was strange.

Even ordinary Beast Tamers usually carried some detectable mana. He looked at the girl again and thought.

What are you doing here?

And then he noticed the only thing on her was a backpack. She had no weapon or any obvious means of protecting herself.

Arthur looked around for anything else but he saw no footprints or signs she had walked here before collapsing.

Arthur frowned. "Where did she come from?"

Athena looked around the untouched area. "I don’t know," she said.

Arthur carefully lifted the girl into his arms. "Let’s bring her back to the professor," he said.

Mithra nodded.

Eden stayed close, looking at the girl. "Do you think she’s a student?"

Arthur looked at her clothes. "I don’t know."

Athena examined them. "I don’t recognize the uniform," she said.

Sun looked at the girl. "So she’s just here?"

Arthur looked toward the forest. "Apparently."

They had only traveled a short distance when Melo suddenly stopped.

Her ears rose.

Vedas noticed immediately. "What is it?"

Melo stared between the trees.

Arthur followed her gaze.

At first he saw nothing.

Then a faint purple haze slipped between the trunks.

It moved slowly across the forest floor, winding around roots and fallen branches before spreading farther into the clearing.

Arthur stopped walking. "Fog?"

Athena looked at it carefully. "I don’t think so."

The purple haze continued moving toward them.

"It doesn’t look like ordinary mist." Sun said with a frown.

Arthur asked, "Could it be natural?"

Athena hesitated. "Possibly. The Everglades is still largely unexplored. There are things here we don’t understand." She looked at the approaching purple fog. "But I’ve never seen anything like this."

The fog spread closer.

Eden immediately moved against Arthur, her voice becoming quiet. "Arthur."

Arthur adjusted his grip around the unconscious girl. "I’m here."

Arthur looked around. "Everyone stay together," he said.

Vedas’s expression became increasingly tense, his Beast instincts reacting before he could understand why.

Arthur noticed. "Vedas?"

No response.

Then the fog reached their feet.

Arthur instinctively stepped back.

Then he noticed something, the purple mist wasn’t spreading evenly. It flowed around the unconscious girl in his arms, splitting apart before reaching her and reconnecting on the other side.

Arthur stared. "Athena."

She had already noticed. "I see it."

Arthur looked down at the girl’s sleeping face. "Why isn’t it touching her?"

Athena didn’t answer.

For once, she didn’t even have a theory.

He opened his mouth to say something but then paused when he saw Vedas suddenly become completely still.

"Vedas?"

Vedas didn’t respond, instead his grip around his weapon tightened.

Arthur frowned. "Partner?"

Vedas’s shoulders slowly rose and fell as his breathing became heavier.

Athena took a cautious step backward. "Something’s wrong."

Arthur moved closer. "Vedas, look at me."

Vedas finally lifted his head.

His eyes were glowing purple.

Arthur froze. "Vedas... your eyes..."

Vedas didn’t move.

For several seconds, he simply stared at Arthur.

Arthur could see something was wrong. His breathing was uneven, and his hand around his weapon was trembling slightly.

"Vedas," Arthur said more carefully. "Can you hear me?"

Vedas’s expression twitched.

His lips moved.

For a moment, Arthur thought he was about to answer.

Then Vedas suddenly clenched his teeth.

Arthur’s expression changed.

He wasn’t gone.

He was fighting it.

"Vedas, hold on."

Vedas’s eyes flashed brighter.

His body suddenly moved.

"Vedas!"

He charged.

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