CHAPTER 103: EVOLUTION (ISABELLE) ②

I looked at the screen floating in front of Isabelle.

It was a list of six options, each with a small, evocative icon.

"This is it, Isabelle," I said, my voice now low and serious. "This is your future. Your choice. And we have to make it blind."

The six options glowed in the dim light of the chamber.

[Sword Master]

[Guardian]

[Berserker]

[Spellblade]

[Executioner]

[Blade Saint]

We spent the next hour in a frantic, whispered strategy session.

It was the most important decision of Isabelle’s new life.

"Sword Master," I mused. "Sounds like a pure DPS build. More damage, faster attacks. Simple. Effective."

"Guardian," Isabelle countered, her brow furrowed in concentration. "A defensive path. It would make me a better protector. For you, my Lord."

I felt a pleasant warmth spread through my chest at her words.

"Berserker," I continued, looking at the icon of a roaring, red-eyed warrior. "High risk, high reward. Probably a massive power boost at the cost of defense and control. Too reckless for a commander."

"Spellblade," she said, her eyes lingering on the icon of a sword wrapped in lightning. "A hybrid class. Magic and steel. Versatile, but a master of none."

"Executioner," I read, a dark glint in my eye. "Sounds... final. Probably a specialization in single-target annihilation. High critical damage. Good for taking out enemy leaders."

Then, we looked at the last option.

[Blade Saint].

The icon was a simple, elegant blade, glowing with a soft, white light.

It was different from the others.

It didn’t speak of power, or defense, or rage.

It spoke of... perfection.

"It’s an evolution of what you already are," I said softly. "The path you were already on."

Isabelle looked at the screen, at the six paths laid out before her.

She looked at me, her eyes full of a trust that was both terrifying and deeply, profoundly humbling.

"I choose," she said, her voice clear and steady, "to be your perfect sword, my Lord."

Her finger, long and elegant, reached out and pressed the final option.

[Confirm Evolution to Blade Saint? Y/N]

She pressed ’Yes’.

The room was filled with a soft, gentle light.

It was not a painful transformation.

It was an ascension.

I watched, my breath held, as my greatest weapon, my most trusted commander, and my secret lover was reforged in the fires of her own potential.

The world had no idea what was about to be unleashed.

But I had a terrible, sinking feeling that my other secret lover was going to be very, very pissed off about it.

---------------------------------

The silence in my private chambers was a rare and precious thing.

It was a quiet stolen from a world of chaos and bloodshed.

Isabelle was with me.

She was a goddess of war, momentarily at peace.

And she was all mine.

Her head rested on my chest, her long, dark hair a silken river against my pale skin.

Her breathing was slow and even, the rhythm a calming counterpoint to the low, thrumming power in my own unbeating heart.

"You seem pleased with your new pet, my Lord," she murmured, her voice a low, smoky sound in the quiet of the room.

Her finger traced idle patterns across my bare chest.

"Grak is a tool, Isabelle," I replied, my own hand tangled in her hair.

"A very large, very effective tool. But a tool nonetheless."

I leaned in, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that was for her alone.

"You," I purred, "are the hand that wields the tool."

Her lips curved into a faint, satisfied smile against my skin.

She liked that.

She liked being my right hand.

My one and only.

Or so she thought.

We were in the middle of this quiet, intimate moment, a rare island of peace in our chaotic, violent lives.

It was, of course, too good to last.

A soft, ethereal chime echoed in the room.

It was not a sound I made.

It was a sound only Isabelle could hear.

She sat up straight, her eyes flying open.

The sheets pooled around her waist, revealing the toned, scarred landscape of her back.

A look of pure, unadulterated shock was on her face.

A glowing, translucent screen had appeared in the air in front of her.

It was a System notification.

My heart, which had been enjoying a nice, quiet nap in my chest cavity, still managed to perform a spectacular, excited leap into my throat.

"A class change!" I exclaimed, my voice filled with the pure, unadulterated glee of a gamer who had just unlocked a new skill tree.

"I knew it! I knew humans had to have an evolution mechanic! This is huge!"

Isabelle just stared at the screen, her eyes wide.

"I... I don’t understand," she stammered. "What is this?"

"It’s a power-up, my love!" I said, my mind already racing, calculating the strategic implications.

"A massive one! Pixia!"

My tiny, flying encyclopedia of all things statistical and annoying appeared in a pop of faint green light.

She was holding a tiny, clipboard-like device and was trying very, very hard to look at the ceiling.

"Apologies for the intrusion, my Lord," she squeaked, her voice an octave higher than usual. "I detected the energy spike."

"Forget that!" I commanded. "The human evolution! What do you know? Scour the forums! Check the hero databases! I want every scrap of information you can find!"

Pixia’s wings became a blur.

"Running a full data sweep now, my Lord," she reported, her gaze still fixed firmly on a particularly interesting crystal formation on the ceiling.

"Cross-referencing all known hero profiles with level progression data... interesting. There are no public records of any human hero achieving a class evolution. The data appears to be... suppressed."

"Suppressed?" Isabelle repeated, her voice a whisper of dawning realization.

"Of course, it is," I snarled, a cold, hard understanding settling in my mind.

"The human governments. The Hero Guilds. They’re hiding it."

"They don’t want the grunts, the disposable foot soldiers, to know that there’s a secret ’god mode’ waiting for them at level fifty."

"They’re keeping the real power for themselves."

I looked at the screen floating in front of Isabelle.

It was a list of six options, each with a small, evocative icon.

"This is it, Isabelle," I said, my voice now low and serious.

"This is your future. Your choice. And it looks like we have to make it blind."

The six options glowed in the dim light of the chamber.

We spent the next hour in a frantic, whispered strategy session. It was the most important decision of Isabelle’s new life.

"[Sword Master]," I mused, tapping the icon of a stylized, sharp-edged blade. "Sounds like a pure DPS build. More damage, faster attacks. Simple. Effective. The boring, safe choice for a damage-dealer."

"[Guardian]," Isabelle countered, her brow furrowed in concentration. The icon was a sturdy, unadorned shield. "A defensive path. It would make me a better protector. For you, my Lord."

I felt a pleasant warmth spread through my cold, vampiric chest at her words.

The loyalty was a drug, and I was happily addicted.

"[Berserker]," I continued, looking at the icon of a roaring, red-eyed warrior. "High risk, high reward. Probably a massive power boost at the cost of defense and control. Too reckless for a commander. We have Grak for that kind of stupid, beautiful violence."

"[Spellblade]," she said, her eyes lingering on the icon of a sword wrapped in lightning. "A hybrid class. Magic and steel. Versatile, but a master of none. A jack of all trades."

"[Executioner]," I read, a dark glint in my eye. The icon was a grim, heavy-headed axe. "Sounds... final. Probably a specialization in single-target annihilation. High critical damage. Good for taking out enemy leaders."

Then, we looked at the last option.

[Blade Saint].

The icon was a simple, elegant blade, glowing with a soft, white light.

It was different from the others.

It didn’t speak of power, or defense, or rage.

It spoke of... perfection.

"It’s an evolution of what you already are," I said softly.

"The path you were already on before this world broke. The path of the Sword Saint."

Isabelle looked at the screen, at the six paths laid out before her.

She looked at me, her eyes full of a trust that was both terrifying and deeply, profoundly humbling.

"I choose," she said, her voice clear and steady, "to be your perfect sword, my Lord."

Her finger, long and elegant, reached out and pressed the final option.

[Confirm Evolution to Blade Saint? Y/N]

She pressed ’Yes’.

The room was filled with a soft, gentle light.

It was not a painful transformation like my own had been.

It was not a violent forging.

It was an ascension.

I watched, my breath held, as a warm, white light enveloped her.

It was not the searing, hateful light of the sun. It was a gentle, cleansing light, the light of her own potential, her own soul, being reforged.

Her skin seemed to glow from within.

Her muscles subtly shifted, becoming leaner, more defined.