"Have you found out why their souls are missing, Brother?"
Gabriel asked Michael who was staring at the five bodies in front of him.
The five bodies included three human ones; two men and one little girl.
The rest were animal bodies; a dog and a cat.
She'd gotten these five bodies earlier when she went down to Earth because her brother mentioned that some devils were playing dirty games with souls again.
But she was shocked to find out it wasn't devils doing the awful stuff, but a human descendant of Adam and Eve.
"Are you sure that guy wasn't a Devil or a Necromancer?"
Michael looked at his sister, who had lost her gentleness since coming back from Earth. He didn't doubt her judgment because they'd been together for over a thousand years; he knew her character and assessments well.
But he knew something was wrong with the whole situation...
A human who wasn't a magician could take souls from the system his Father made? That was unthinkable.
If it was a Death God from another Pantheon, he might accept it because only they could take souls recorded in his Father's system now that He was gone.
But he couldn't think of any reason why They would do something like this...
"No. That guy was just a sick killer polluting the air. There were no signs he was a magician... except maybe the curse on his heart?"
"A curse?"
"Just a light curse that could crush his heart if the caster wanted."
"Did the guy know he was cursed?"
"Don't know. I didn't chat with a disgusting creature like that."
Gabriel really couldn't find a good reason to talk to that rotten and disgusting guy. If she hadn't accidentally broken the curse when she stabbed his heart, she might not have noticed it was there.
The curse was too weak for her to even realize it existed.
"Hmm... so there's a chance the guy knew about the supernatural world." Michael frowned thinking about what that meant. "Did you sense any Sacred Gear or other Artifact in his body?"
The only other possibility he could think of right now for why these innocent creatures' souls were lost was that the guy had a mutated Sacred Gear or an Artifact that devoured souls.
And maybe a magician noticed and cursed him to try to control him.
He wasn't new to games like that since his Father left, especially after the Sacred Gear System in the Seventh Heaven lost some control over Sacred Gears around the world.
Balance Breakers showed up because the system's control weakened causing bugs in all Sacred Gears.
As for Artifacts that could devour souls, there were plenty in the world, so he wasn't unfamiliar with that. But the problem was that such an artifact could take souls owned by the system his Father made.
As far as he knew, almost no artifacts could do that.
"There was no Sacred Gear in that rotten human's soul. Even his magical energy was super low, basically none."
Gabriel really didn't find anything weird about the guy except the curse on his heart and his rotten and disgusting soul filled with grudges from the victims he'd killed.
That was one reason she could find him so quick after her familiars spotted him.
The rotten soul full of grudge aura was like a beacon that was hard to ignore.
But even so... she still failed to save the innocent cat that became a victim of that rotten human. That was her only regret after coming back to Heaven.
"It's not your fault, Sister. We just didn't expect things to turn out like this." Michael comforted his sister who was full of guilt. "Did you kill the guy?"
"Yeah, I dropped my Judgment on him. He should be getting pulled by the chains of the Purgatory right now." Gabriel nodded, that was the only good news she got from going to Earth. "Do you want me to pull his soul to ask how he took the souls of these innocent creatures?"
"Yeah. Sorry to bother you again, Sister."
"It's no bother."
Gabriel shook her head, refusing her brother's apology, and turned her attention to the chains binding that rotten guy.
But when she checked the state of the chains on the rotten guy, she was hit with something that really shocked her.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
Michael looked at Gabriel's shocked face, which was staring toward where Earth should be in disbelief. This was the first time he'd seen her face like that.
"That guy... broke free from my Judgment?"
---
Previously, after Michael confirmed his evolution choice.
After the evolution process screen popped up in front of him, he suddenly felt an overwhelming drowsiness.
Thinking it was part of the evolution process, he didn't fight the sleepiness and let it pull him under.
And as the evolution countdown started, a stream of colorful energy flowed out from his body lying on the ground.
The energy wrapped around his sleeping body and his severed wrists on the ground, lifting him into the air. Slowly the energy started to solidify bit by bit until it finally turned into a white egg about the size of a human.
[1%...7%... 12%... 33%... 66%... 77%... 99%... 100%]
[Evolution successful.]
If Michael was still awake right now, he'd realize that not even three minutes had passed, but his evolution was already done.
And when the notification that the evolution was complete showed up... the human-sized white egg suddenly started shaking, like whatever was inside was waking up.
Crack!
With a loud cracking sound, the egg shattered, revealing Michael who was now staring at his naked body.
His severed wrists? Reattached.
The scar on his chest? Gone.
His pierced heart? Beating again.
The curse on his heart that had been on his mind all this time? No longer a problem, and it had even turned into a lucky break in disguise if what was written on the screen in front of him was true.
How he felt right now? Amazing, all the way to ecstasy.
Is this what it felt like to truly become part of the supernatural world? If every evolution gave him this powerful and incredible feeling, he wouldn't hesitate to get more extreme when hunting for souls.
Why would he say that?
Because the difference between his old self and now was huge... he was sure he could crush 100 of his past selves if all the info downloaded into his mind was right.
He could feel all his senses and body had jumped to superhuman levels.
His ears could clearly hear the squeaks of rats far away at the end of this dark alley.
His eyes could see the tiny ants walking on the sidewalk across the street.
Plus, he could now really see the flow of magical energy around him that Georg had talked about. Even the stuff inside his body, he could feel it clearly, and it was growing a little bit over time even if slowly.
Was this one of his evolution rewards?
He looked at the transparent screen showing one of his evolution gifts.
[Sixth Sense
An extra sense that every other strong being in the world has.
Besides boosting all the senses in your body, this sense lets you feel things normal humans can't, whether it's energy flows or spirits that only psychics can see, you can feel and see it all.
And sometimes, you can even sense danger coming with this extra sense.
No further evolution for this ability. But it will always grow as you get stronger.]
This was one of the gifts from his evolution. Honestly, he thought it was super useful, especially the part about sensing incoming danger.
But too bad this ability couldn't evolve like some of his other gifts.
Speaking of his other gifts... he smiled and snapped his fingers.
Whoosh!
If anyone else saw what he was doing right now, they'd be stunned speechless... because after he snapped his fingers, a red fireball that warped the air around it appeared in his hand.
[Fireball
Basic fire magic that every fire-type magician in the world has.
This fire magic can evolve using souls (0/10)]
This Fireball magic was one of the gifts he got after becoming Homo Magi.
When he snapped his finger, he could easily feel that his magical energy reserve in his body dropped by a tenth of the total. That wasn't much if you used the recovery speed as a guide.
There was one other thing he noticed besides his magic reserve dropping when he cast the spell, it was how easy it was to use.
Unlike what Georg explained about having to calculate all the variables first before casting, he really just needed a mental command or a finger snap to bring out the Fireball.
If this was really the perk of being Homo Magi, he'd hit the jackpot.
Right now, he just needed to try learning other magic to see if it was only spells from his Sacred Gear that he could cast like this, or if other magic worked the same way.
Plus, his Fireball could really evolve just with souls. He wasn't disappointed with his choice at all.
Now, all he needed to do was test how destructive this Fireball was.
Looking at the blood and eggshell pieces around him, he smiled and threw the Fireball.
BOOM!
Along with an explosion strong enough to leave a mark on the concrete covering the ground below, the blood and eggshells quickly evaporated.
It didn't even take a minute.
The amazing sight in front of him really made him feel something he'd never felt before...
He couldn't even hold back the laughter bursting from his mouth.
"HahahaHAHAHAHAHA! AMAZING!"
Spreading his arms wide to the sky, Michael laughed out loud with pure joy. He didn't care if the explosion from his magic or his loud laughter woke up everyone sleeping nearby.
The only thing on his mind right now was... AMAZING.
Now he really wouldn't hesitate to gather souls in a more extreme way.
He didn't care if it drew attention; that was just a small hassle if it helped him keep evolving to the top.
If he had to... he'd level a whole city to collect hundreds of thousands of souls to meet his energy needs for evolution.
Who could turn down something amazing like that? No one.
Szzzt!
As his thoughts kept wandering in a worrying direction... his sixth sense snapped him out of the overload of euphoria he felt from his new power.
His sixth sense warned him that something was coming.
"Tch... looks like there's a worm crashing the party."
"Well, at least now I have a reason to use my other gift."
Since his new sense was seriously warning him of incoming danger, making his whole body tingle, he didn't want to act cocky and wait here for it to show up.
Even if the euphoria had made him lose control for a bit earlier, he wasn't dumb enough to think he was already super strong.
That Angel had really taught him what the true peak looked like.
With a smile, he snapped his fingers again.
Right with the snap, he suddenly vanished from the dark alley.
No puff of smoke. No blinding light. Or even a magic circle.
He really just disappeared out of nowhere.
He didn't actually need to snap his fingers, but what's wrong with acting a little cool, right?
---
A few moments after Michael vanished from the alley, two circles carrying a holy and sacred aura suddenly appeared where he'd been before.
And from those two circles, two figures emerged, a man and a woman, each with twelve wings that spread a holy and pure aura around them.
If Michael saw the woman, he'd definitely recognize her as the Angel who almost killed him earlier.
"Is this the spot, Sister?"
"Yeah, this is it."
---
A/N: That bastard's every wish really got granted during his evolution process.
I really hope that bastard doesn't figure out how his evolution works, because I'm seriously worried about that oppai world if he starts wishing to become omnipotence in his next evolution.
The next chapter will be the last one before the time skip to when the canon events happen.
Of course, if there's no change to my writing plans.
I've got an exciting volume end ready for this one, so grab your popcorn and watch closely for the masterpiece (questionable) I've made.
Adios.
Btw, if you like this story and want to support me while reading the next few chapters, feel free to visit my patron: patr eon . com /XElenea (remove space)