Chapter 53
Mara tried to fight against the grip of the lead knight, but no matter what she did, it was like a child fighting an adult. She even had a few moves her father taught her, but while they might work on a drunk farmer, a knight like this didn’t even need to avoid her attacks. His status was so great he could just ignore her. After trying to bite his hand, he snorted and threw her to the ground.
I sloshed water around noisily, but no matter how far I propelled the waves, I couldn’t get water far enough to affect them. I couldn’t help her at all. My only hope was to look toward Tanner. Yet, the situation inside the house was no better. He had killed a few more men, but he had taken on countless injuries. I was shocked he was still standing. His wife had similarly been grabbed and tossed on the bed. They were tearing off her dress. I looked away from the scene, feeling anger and shame. However, the scene at my shores was no better.
“Hold her down.” The leader ordered his men.
She tried to get up as he threw her down, but the two men grabbed her arms and then pinned her to the ground. She tried to fight and kick them, but she was merely a mortal, so what could she do? One of the men pulled out a knife, and she stopped struggling as she saw it. He held it up to her neck but then started to cut down the length of her dress.
“Spirit! Please…” She started to cry.
I pulled back all the water and then erupted out with my full strength. The water flowed forward. I sent my blade out, and they slammed into the ground. I was still a good meter from her feet. The blades ended up collapsing as the water pulled back. The lead paragon looked shocked for a second, but then he broke into laughter. The other men chuckled similarly, although it was clear they had been startled. They returned to their work stripping Mara.
“Is that all you’ve got?” The lead knight declared mockingly.
I could only sink back into myself. I had spent all of these years struggling to survive. I had fought and died a million times. I had won the lottery of survival of the fittest. I had even evolved through eight evolutions to become the master of my environment. I had created and modified life. I had fought against paragons and even reached the 9th evolution that they claimed would make you a god.
Was this all it was for? In a moment of need, I couldn’t help or protect anyone. I’d be bullied by a perverted would-be rapist. I would be killed by long-distance attacks, or at least I’d have to play dead until they left. It was a pitiful life. It was a pathetic life. The life of a single-celled organism. The life of a bacteria, a pond scum. That was all I had been in this life. Wasn’t it time I became something more? With that thought, I felt a shift in me. A familiar text appeared in front of my eyes once again.
[You have reached the maximum level for a multi-cellular organism. If you wish to proceed, you must evolve. Your level will return to level 1. Do you want to evolve into a human?]
There it was once again. The words that had taunted my existence for so long. I didn’t want to be human. I despised humanity. There was no greater proof needed than the very events occurring on the shores and in that house. From the moment I died and reincarnated, I had fled from this reality. I had hidden within my little pond, running away from anything that mattered. It was the only thing I was good at. I was the one who ran away. I ran away from home as soon as I was old enough and left my little sister behind. I could run away here too.
“Spirit. Please.” Mara begged, her hand reaching out for me, just a single hand clawing at the dirt.
The man pulled down his pants, and his penis popped out. He grabbed her by the ankles and started pulling her towards him.
The leader and the rest of the knights laughed excitedly. They are enjoying this. The knight in the back was stripping their lower halves too. They planned to take turns.
What was the point? If I helped, she’d just stab me in the back. Humans always did. That damn system had to put the option back in front of my eyes again. It was easy when I could only helplessly watch. If I couldn’t evolve, then I could shed myself of responsibility. Whatever happened couldn’t be helped. I was a lifeform bound to the pond. What could I do?
Yet, with the text there, my facade was torn away. I could no longer hide behind convenience. I had to make the decision. Now, I had to choose. Would I be a human… or would I be scum?
[You have reached the maximum level for a multi-cellular organism. If you wish to proceed, you must evolve. Your level will return to level 1. Do you want to evolve into a human?]
I couldn’t do it! I was not going to lock myself in that prison called a human body again. I was free from that world. I didn’t have to worry about things like relationships, love, or life. I could just spend every day basking in the sunlight. I could do Photosynthesis and build chemicals with my craft system and evolve animals for my amusement. That was a better life. That was the life I deserved.
“Please…” Her voice could barely be heard, but I understood it.
I could see her eyes, wet and cold. They stared my way. They didn’t even look at what the men were about to do to her. Her eyes were on me. Eyes much like my little sisters. They were the same eyes my sister had the day I walked away. They were eyes begging to be saved. They were eyes turned cold as the last bit of hope was snuffed out of them.
“Enough…” A voice sounded out.
It was my voice. I hadn’t heard that voice in so long, but I knew it was my voice. It wasn’t produced with voice boxes or air vibrations but with pure mana. It was enough to cause the knights to all freeze for a moment. They glanced back my way. The two knights who were standing were a bit more cautious. Their leader who was currently kneeling with his ass to the wind was a bit less concerned. He snorted as he grabbed his thing and turned back to Mara.
However, my decision had been made. Those eyes… I never wanted them to grow cold again. I couldn’t stand to see the light leave them. That was my choice. That was my conviction. Whatever it took, I would protect her. Even if I become the bad guy. Even if I have to burn the world to the ground. I will never abandon you. I will never leave you. This is my promise!
[You have reached the maximum level for a multi-cellular organism. If you wish to proceed, you must evolve. Your level will return to level 1. Do you want to evolve into a human?]
“Yes.”
The world seemed to freeze for a moment. Then, I felt a surge as my cells spread throughout the pool and were suddenly pulled together. My body began to connect, but as my body formed, the water came with it. The pool receded into itself like it was suddenly being sucked down a drain.
“Uh… boss.”
The knight was having trouble getting it up. Perhaps, it was a coincidence. Maybe, it was fate. I’d like to think it was something I unconsciously did, preventing him from achieving his goals. He shivered as a cold wind blew through. He finally stopped caring about the struggling and crying Mara, and instead stood up, a serious and worried expression on his face.
“Something’s wrong. ” He told the others. “I’m sensing a powerful presence is appearing.”
The wind blew wildly, and clouds of thunder formed overhead. The clouds formed as thick, dark impenetrable blankets all across the sky, as far as the horizon. The result was that the world was plunged into darkness. At the center of that darkness, the last bits and pieces of the pool were sucked up and formed rose from the center crater of what was once a pond, although it was not bone dry.
“Boss!” The man spoke again.
The frowning leader turned around. He managed to just see the last of the pond disappear. At that center, I stood up.
YES