I Can See Evolution Paths

The golden light around Arthur’s arm slowly faded, dust still drifting through the enormous hole he’d blasted through the wall, and for several seconds nobody seemed quite sure what to say.

Arthur looked at his hand, then the hole, then back at his hand.

Athena was still writing. Mithra stared at him with an amused smile. Sun looked as though he was reconsidering several life choices. Kong, meanwhile, looked extremely interested.

Arthur noticed, and before he could say anything, the King Mark flared again.

His expression changed. "Oh?"

Golden light erupted around his arm, and he instinctively raised both hands as eight enormous golden helix-shaped swords appeared above him, floating in a perfect circle before slowly rotating around his body, blades pointed outward, revolving faster and faster.

He raised an eyebrow. The others stared.

"Another one?" Sun’s eyes went wide.

Arthur looked around himself, the eight swords still circling, each leaving a thin golden trail through the air. He tilted his head. "This might be defensive."

"Only one way to find out," Mithra smiled.

He looked toward Kong. "Kong, try and attack me."

"Huh?!" Sun’s expression changed instantly.

Kong needed no further encouragement, crouching, muscles tightening, launching himself forward, his enormous fist coming straight toward Arthur.

One of the helix swords moved.

CLANG!

Kong’s fist struck the blade, which bent slightly before immediately returning to position. His eyes widened, and he punched again. Another sword rotated into place.

CLANG!

A third strike. CLANG! Fourth. Fifth. The eight swords moved independently, rotating around Arthur’s body, intercepting every attack. Kong increased his speed, his fists becoming a blur, the swords responding to every movement.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

He finally leapt backward. Arthur hadn’t moved an inch.

Sun stared. "...That’s actually ridiculous."

"I think Arthur just became difficult to punch," Mithra laughed.

Kong frowned, clearly unsatisfied, and charged again. Arthur watched with growing interest. The swords weren’t simply floating around him, they were reacting to Kong’s movements, a different sword intercepting every time he attacked from a new direction. He slowly raised a hand to his chin, eyes shining. "Interesting."

Sun looked at him. "You’re doing that look again."

"What look?"

"The one that means you’re about to test something dangerous."

Arthur ignored him. Kong punched again. Blocked. Another punch. Blocked. A kick. Blocked. He jumped overhead and brought both fists down, and four swords rotated upward to meet them.

BOOM!

Kong bounced backward.

Arthur smiled. "They’re automatically defending me."

Athena stopped writing immediately. "Automatically?"

"I don’t have to control each one."

Her eyes brightened. "Then the Mark is providing some degree of autonomous targeting."

"Looks like it." She immediately started writing again.

Arthur kept watching the swords, and something caught his attention. The blades were getting shorter, only slightly, and he narrowed his eyes. "Wait." They’d originally been enormous, almost twice his height. Now they were noticeably smaller. He looked at the golden energy flowing through them, his grin widening. "Ah."

Mithra glanced over. "What?"

"They’re using magic."

"Of course they are," Sun sighed.

He kept watching as another sword intercepted Kong’s fist, the blade shortening again. He held his chin. "It’s amazing, but the amount of magic it takes is a good amount."

Athena nodded. "That means it’s powerful, but it can’t be maintained indefinitely."

"Still useful," Arthur smiled.

The swords kept circling him. Then the King Mark shone again, and the eight helix swords dissolved into golden particles.

He looked down at his hand. "Another?"

Golden light gathered above him, a small sphere at first, then growing, and growing, and growing, until within seconds a massive ball of golden light hovered overhead. Everyone backed away.

"Arthur..." Sun stared upward.

He looked at the sphere. "I don’t think this one’s defensive."

"That wasn’t my concern."

He raised his hand, and the sphere shot upward, piercing through the ceiling of the pit. For one second, nothing happened. Then—

BOOOOOOM!

Golden light erupted above them, the sphere expanding, its shape twisting, stretching into a massive serpentine body, two enormous wings forming, claws emerging, and a golden dragon burst into existence above the ruins and released a thunderous roar.

ROOOOOAR!

The sound echoed throughout the underground city. Everyone stared as the dragon flew through the ruins, golden energy melting the ancient stone wherever its body passed, carving a glowing path through the collapsed structures.

Kong’s mouth hung open. Eden flew upward. "That’s a dragon!"

Sun looked at Arthur. "Why do you have a dragon now?"

He shrugged. "I don’t know."

The golden dragon circled once before dissolving into thousands of glittering particles, falling like golden rain, and a notification appeared before him.

[King’s Mark Authority — Golden Dragon]

[Condenses the King’s Mark into a massive golden dragon that devastates everything in its path.]

He stared at it, then clenched his fist. "Took a bit, but at least I got more from the King Mark."

Mithra’s lips twitched. "More?" She pointed toward the enormous hole above them. "You call that ’more’?"

He looked upward. "Well." He considered it. "Two new skills."

Sun’s eye twitched. "Two?"

"Apparently," he nodded.

Athena walked over immediately. "Show me the notifications."

He hesitated. He didn’t want to reveal everything the System told him, especially not anything connected to his Evolution Path Vision, but the skills themselves were already obvious enough. "The first one creates eight swords around me. They automatically defend against attacks."

Her eyes widened. "Eight autonomous weapons?"

"Seems like it."

"And the second?"

He pointed upward. "That."

Sun looked at the enormous hole. "I think we understand."

Eden flew back down. "So your Mark can make swords and dragons now?"

"Apparently," he smiled.

Kong gave an excited grunt.

Arthur looked at him. "No."

His expression immediately fell.

"He’s already thinking about making you try it again," Sun laughed.

Arthur shook his head. "You’ll destroy the entire city if we keep testing things." Kong looked toward the hole, then shrugged.

"He’s not denying it," Mithra giggled.

Arthur looked around at everyone as the excitement slowly faded, the memory they’d just witnessed still fresh in their minds. Halburn. The Endou Tribe. The Earth Mirror. The desert. The strange negative energy that had corrupted the land. And the massacre.

Luna had been unusually quiet. He turned toward her. "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine."

She wasn’t, and everyone could see it. She looked down at the compass in her hands. "My grandfather told me stories about the Mirrors when I was little." She hesitated. "He always said the Endou Tribe were guardians who protected the Mirrors from people who wanted to misuse them."

Athena listened carefully.

"But if that memory was real..." Luna’s fingers tightened around the compass. "Then maybe I misunderstood what he meant."

Arthur didn’t interrupt.

"The guardians weren’t just protecting the Mirrors." She looked toward the hole Halburn had created. "They were hiding them."

Vedas lowered his gaze. "That seems likely."

She shook her head. "But why?"

"Because they were dangerous," Sun said.

"I know." She looked toward the broken ruins. "But Halburn said Varka believed the Mirrors were in danger."

Arthur nodded. "And then the guardians tried to kill him."

Her expression tightened. "Because he knew about the Mirror."

Athena adjusted her glasses. "There’s something else." Everyone looked at her. "The robed figures said something very important."

Arthur nodded. "They said no one who knows about the Mirror is allowed to exist."

"Exactly." She looked toward the path behind them. "The hunters we encountered earlier knew about the Mirrors."

Mithra’s expression turned serious. "The robed figures."

Athena nodded. "And they weren’t simply historical figures. Their methods resemble what we’ve encountered recently."

Luna’s face slowly changed. "The purple mist."

"The hunters used it to corrupt their Beasts."

Athy’s brow furrowed. "And Jaku and Rokkaku used similar corruption."

Arthur’s expression hardened. "So you think—"

Athena took a breath. "The purple mist may be connected to whatever those robed figures were doing."

Silence fell. Luna trembled. "Then the people who destroyed my village..." Her voice grew quieter. "They might be connected to the people Halburn encountered a thousand years ago."

Mithra moved closer to her immediately. "That’s possible."

"But we don’t know that yet," Arthur said.

Luna looked toward him. His expression was serious. "We have a connection." He raised one finger. "But that’s all it is."

Athena nodded. "He’s right. We shouldn’t assume they’re the same organization without more evidence."

Sun folded his arms. "Still, that’s one hell of a coincidence."

Vedas looked toward the ancient ruins. "Halburn discovered something he wasn’t supposed to know." His grip tightened around his spear. "And a thousand years later, we’re encountering people who still appear to be protecting the same secret."

Arthur looked toward the compass. "And we’re standing in the middle of the place where that secret started."

The needle suddenly moved. Everyone noticed. Luna looked down. It spun once, then stopped, pointing deeper toward the eastern side of the underground city.

Arthur smiled. "There we go."

"It found the Mirror," Luna said, raising the compass.

Athena closed her notebook immediately. "Then we should move."

Mithra nodded. Vedas stepped forward. Sun sighed. Kong cracked his knuckles. Eden flew ahead.

Arthur looked once more at the ruined pit behind them, the golden memory of Halburn already fading. But the questions it had left behind were only growing larger.

What had happened during the massacre? Who had caused the resentment buried beneath the land? Why had the Earth Mirror transformed the oasis? Who were the robed guardians? And most importantly, were those same people connected to the purple corruption now spreading through the Everglades?

Arthur turned away. "Let’s find the Mirror."

The group left the ruined chamber behind, the compass continuing to point east. Somewhere beyond the ancient city, the Earth Mirror was waiting.

And this time, Arthur intended to reach it first.

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