the era of calamities-Chapter 104: The Theory of Evolution

A vortex surrounded Helion, unleashing violent gusts that nearly sent the two knights who tried to approach him spinning through the air.

When the vortex finally dissipated and calm returned, the Calamity standing there was no longer recognizable , the metamorphosis was nothing short of astonishing.

At first glance, Helion had appeared no different from the other Calamities of the Duchy of Araceae.

Now, something in the aura he exuded placed him in a higher category , a category reserved for royalty.

His eight crimson legs had detached from his body and floated around him like a protective halo.

He now bore the appearance of a young man of about twenty, with spiky red hair and a face so beautiful it was almost effeminate, clad in a tight-fitting outfit woven from black spider silk.

Though, if one was not mesmerized by his beauty, one would notice what he lacked ears, for instance or what he possessed in excess: a pair of eyes embedded in the palms of his hands, another at the back of his head, and two more hidden beneath the soles of his feet, bringing his total number of eyes to eight.

The transformation stunned the two knights so deeply that they took a moment to understand, the eight floating legs had already pierced their armor. By the time realization struck, they were dead.

Faced with the deaths of two of his men, Renard ceased his attempts to break through the web imprisoning them.

This time, it was too much.

Before the remaining knights could rush Helion, he stopped them.

"Stand back."

Helion watched the human he had humiliated so thoroughly step forward to face him.

His thirst for blood surged to its peak then abruptly fell.

A split second later, an axe was hurled toward him at a prodigious speed.

His eight legs instantly rose to shield him.

However, to Helion’s astonishment, it had no effect. His legs shattered effortlessly, and the axe sent him vomiting his entrails as he was hurled through the air.

And just before he smashed into the ground, Renard appeared before him, his left fist crashing into Helion’s face while his right hand recalled the axe, preparing to strike him with a blow that every fiber of his being knew he would never rise from.

<< Sigma Mode >>

<< Destructive Strike >>

In that instant, Helion saw his life flash before his eyes.

On the brink of death, Renard’s movements seemed painfully slow, and guided by a final survival instinct, Helion used his most powerful ability to escape.

<< Royal Authority: Blood Pool >>

His body transformed into a pool of blood that seeped into the ground, just before death could claim him.

Hidden within the blood, he witnessed the incredible shockwave unleashed by Renard and, for the first time, truly felt weak.

That a human could wound him while he was not in his true form was one thing.

But that he could barely withstand a simple punch while at full power, clad in all the superiority granted by his lineage and that he had been forced to flee using the Royal Authority of Blood out of fear of dying...

All of it was madness to Helion.

His anger toward that human, his pride everything suddenly felt meaningless. Only one thing remained: the sensation of being prey, and the desire no longer to dominate, but simply to survive.

---

Watching this scene and sensing the turmoil within his son, Exa could not help but rejoice.

"You have reached a wall. Awaken the will contained in your blood. Transcend evolution."

These barely whispered words were carried by the ether to Helion and, like an electric shock, triggered a revelation.

---

As the son of the King, the DNA within Helion’s genes is the same as the King’s.

Like an inheritance, this lineage now a thousand years old has perpetuated that DNA through every King of the Vermin.

And never remaining static, it evolved over time: every experience, every Authority, every success, every failure, every bodily transformation was transmitted through blood.

Each generation transcended the previous one in order to create the perfect being.

Nevertheless, although every member of the royal family benefited from it, none had ever been able to exploit the entirety of this inheritance except the King himself.

Helion had taken pride in mastering the Royal Authority of Blood, never realizing it did not even represent one percent of his lineage’s legacy.

His pride had led him to see humans as insects, thus preventing him from awakening the lessons his species had learned through hundreds of thousands of battles against them.

But that was now in the past.

By abandoning his pride, by accepting humans as beings not inferior to himself, he received a memory the psychology of combat against the most dangerous adversary of all.

His psyche became that of a general, mastering the art and science of war.

And when this evolution fully integrated into his being, he burst forth from the pool of blood.

Helion still faced the same disadvantageous situation as before, but what he felt, what he perceived, was now diametrically opposed.

"There is no longer any doubt. You humans deserve that our entire being our entire species be forged for the sole purpose of eradicating you to the very last."

---

Author’s Note:

Hi, this is Nebu 11. This is more of a bonus than a true author’s note.

Originally, I planned to develop this in the next arc, but given the current circumstances and to ensure the battles are fully understood , it’s time to reveal to you, my loyal readers, the phenomenon that a certain group of researchers has named the "theory of evolution."

PS: I’m not a great teacher, so please be indulgent if I ramble a bit.

First, a Calamity’s power is not just "oh, he’s strong because he’s Rank X." No, no.

Several factors stack together: rank (baron, count, marquis, duke, king), mastery (ether, Authority, territory), and evolution or lineage.

So, what is the theory of evolution?

Imagine Darwin’s theory for a moment.

Take a bunch of earthworms living in the snow and place them in a desert. First, the poor worms will die of heat. Many will perish early on, but those that survive will, over generations, develop some resistance to heat. And if, much later, you told one of these worms that its ancestors used to die from heat, it would never believe you.

It’s the same idea for Calamities.

The difference is that the time required for their evolution is far shorter, and it doesn’t stop at the body , it also encompasses Authorities, experiences, fighting styles, strategies, tricks, and so on.

But although evolution spans many domains, researchers have discovered that in the end, they all converge toward a single objective: creating beings ever more capable of eradicating the human species.

So if that’s true, why hasn’t humanity been wiped out yet?

Without accounting for many other factors, it must be emphasized that not all Calamities can fully exploit their lineage.

Why?

It’s quite simple.

Imagine a Calamity whose family tree includes an ancestor with exceptional talent for football, a talent that allowed him to reach the very top of the sport.

If this Calamity has never touched a ball in its life, it will never know it has the potential to become the greatest player.

Only the day it finally touches a ball will it notice a certain natural ease.

And if becoming a professional player normally requires ten years of training, it would take this Calamity barely a year.

Because, as practice continues, its muscles would be influenced by those genes that had until then remained dormant.

That’s roughly what happened with Helion: it took a trigger for his genes to remember how to deal with humans.

As long as he did not consider them enemies to be slain, he would never awaken that inheritance.

Beyond the fact that not all Calamities exploit the full power of their lineage, it must also be noted that those with truly promising lineages are extremely rare.

After all, along the path of evolution, many die, and only a handful survive long enough to evolve and overcome their weaknesses.

Thus, the majority of Calamities either have family trees that are too short, or ancestors who lived such peaceful lives that they never needed or had not the opportunity to evolve.

There is much more to say about the theory of evolution, but I’ll save the rest for later.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to leave comments , I’ll be delighted to answer them.

And for those who want a place to share their theories, the server link is just below.

Finally, thank you once again for your loyalty, and enjoy your reading.