The next morning, Maria emerged from her room. She looked slightly pale, but calm and composed. Her steps were steady, and there was a faint clarity in her eyes—as if something had settled within her overnight.
She glanced around but didn't see anyone else. The others had likely gone off to work already. Sue and Colleen were probably managing the dojo, while Cypher and Zephyra were handling operations in the underworld empire Alex now controlled. That left Maria and Alex at the clinic, as usual.
She spotted him sitting quietly at the edge of the sofa, sipping tea, lost in thought.
"Hey," she greeted softly as she approached. "Aside from a little fatigue… I feel fine. Actually, better than fine."
Alex looked up and offered her a small smile. "That's good to hear."
Maria tilted her head, watching him with quiet curiosity. "But… I've noticed something strange. There's a pulse inside me now. Like a current. Energy. It's faint, but I can feel it."
Alex's smile faded slightly. He placed the cup down with a soft clink.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "That's from the bond."
Maria blinked. "The bond? Is that normal?"
"It is," Alex replied, then leaned forward a little. "But I need you to do something important."
"What is it?" she asked, her voice gentle but alert.
"I don't want you using those powers," Alex said firmly. "Not for the next year."
She furrowed her brows, visibly confused. "Wait—why? Isn't this a gift? You said I'd be stronger. So why can't I use it?"
Alex paused for a second, choosing his words carefully. "Because if you push too hard, too soon… you could lose control. That power you're feeling—it's still raw, unstable. If you overuse it before your body fully adapts, it could break you. Drive you mad."
Maria's eyes widened. "You mean… I could turn into something else?"
He nodded slowly. "Not just 'something else.' You could become inhuman. A berserk demon. Your mind, your soul—it's not ready yet. The bond gave you power, but your body and spirit need time to fully integrate with it."
She went quiet, eyes locked on his.
"That kind of transformation takes time," Alex continued. "At least a year. Maybe more. If you try to use your powers before you're ready… it could trigger a permanent change."
Maria listened closely. The seriousness in his voice struck deeper than the words themselves.
After a pause, she nodded slowly. "I understand. I won't use it. Not until you say it's safe."
Alex smiled, relief flooding his face. He reached out and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Thanks. I mean it. Just focus on resting for now."
She gave him a small smile, nodded again, and quietly returned to her room.
As the door clicked shut behind her, Alex exhaled deeply. He leaned back into the sofa, staring at the ceiling.
She had accepted his warning without question.
But he knew. Sooner or later, that power would call to her. Whether it was curiosity, desperation, or instinct—it was only a matter of time. He had to be ready.
With a sigh, he opened his system interface and focused on his evolution panel.
[Next Evolution Stage: 11% — High Human]
He grimaced. The progress bar hadn't moved much. He was still a long way from reaching the next level. Farther than he'd like to admit.
"I need to work harder," he muttered to himself.
If he wanted to protect Maria…
If he wanted to claim his Origin Name and gain control over his full demonic authority…
Then there was no time to waste.
He had to evolve. Fast.
As Alex watched Maria walking toward the kitchen, a thought surfaced quietly in his mind:
Fortunately, the Marvel has started… Now, I can collect a lot of criminals. More blood crystals, more soul essence. I can evolve faster.
The evolution resource formula hadn't changed—just slightly altered. Where before he only needed one, now he required twice as much for every step forward. But that didn't matter.
He had a path, and he intended to walk it.
Later that day, Alex and Maria headed back to the clinic together. Things had returned to routine on the surface—but beneath that, the machine had started moving.
Over the next few weeks, Alex began secretly purging the worst elements of the Hell's Kitchen underworld by night. Criminals, traffickers, warlords—those with truly corrupted souls. He made no move against petty thieves or desperate individuals. Only those steeped in darkness were targeted.
And in the following months, the crime rate in New York's darkest districts plummeted. Murders dropped. Drug rings collapsed. Local gangs fell apart in silence—whispers spreading about a devil in the shadows.
Thanks to Alex, underworld predators began disappearing one by one.
Zephyra and Cypher, meanwhile, maintained the upper criminal hierarchy, claiming territory from former kingpins and managing the broader empire that Alex now ruled from the shadows.
Three months passed.
By then, Alex had collected enough blood crystals and soul essence to trigger his next evolution.
Now, in the hidden basement beneath the clinic, Alex sat cross-legged at the center of the ritual chamber, surrounded by neatly stacked piles of purified blood stones. His posture was still, calm—but his aura pulsed with immense, barely-contained energy.
One by one, the blood crystals dissolved into red vapor, rising and spiraling toward him. The vapor passed through a special filter—crafted by Cypher and Zephyra themselves—that stripped away the impurities. Only the purest essence remained.
That essence flowed directly into Alex, merging with his body, his soul.
Nothing unstable. Nothing toxic. Only concentrated energy refined through precision and will.
Cypher sat quietly at his right, her eyes glowing faintly with shadow runes, while Zephyra knelt to his left, monitoring the energy flow with her hand pressed against the formation circle's edge. Their expressions were focused, unwavering.
As the ritual neared its final phase, a faint shimmer of white vapor began to rise from the center of the formation—light, ethereal, almost like breath from another realm.
It slowly coiled around Alex… and then flowed gently into him.
His body accepted it without resistance. His pulse remained steady, but the air around him began to distort ever so slightly, like reality itself was acknowledging the change.
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