Malakai had entered a perpetual state of darkness. He knew that his consciousness was active, but no matter where he turned to look, all he saw was an unending darkness.
‘Am I being transported again?’
This had been the same way he felt when he had jumped into the pit. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt like he was lost in some kind of void.
He couldn’t feel anything. Couldn’t see anything.
However… as the moments went by, Malakai couldn’t tell how much, but he couldn’t care less about that, as he finally felt something.
His body, something was going on with his body.
His thoughts sharpened as he suddenly started remembering.
‘No…’
Malakai recalled everything that had happened a few minutes earlier. He had met Valentine, the man who had created the Dome that shielded the last of humanity, and he had bonded with the Life’s Essence.
As those thoughts came to his mind, the reality of the situation thundered in his mind.
‘…I’m evolving.’
It was as if that was the signal it had been waiting for. As Malakai realized this, he felt everything happening to his body vividly.
There was only one way he could describe it: pain.
It was intense, bone-deep. Agonizing, hitting Malakai like a wrecking ball.
There were multiple reasons why the humans of the Dome decided to wait until a child turned twelve before making them evolve.
One part was to allow their bodies to get used to the ambient vita in the air so they would be able to survive the evolution process. And the other part… was the process itself.
Evolution, especially the first time, involved changes to the body that couldn’t ever be achieved with past human technologies.
It wasn’t just growth, nor was it just adaptation.
It was a total reconfiguration.
Every cell in the body was being refined and reshaped. Organs were being rewritten to better channel and sync with vita. Muscles were torn down and rebuilt, nerves rerouted for faster response, bones reinforced and hardened. Even the brain was being remapped to better connect with the flow of power.
It was the body evolving beyond what was once considered human.
And with that change came pain.
Pain so deep it wasn’t even expected for children to survive it. While the children of the current world grew faster and stronger than in the past thanks to the vita in the air, the pain was still too much for most to bear.
This was why the agreed age of evolution was twelve.
Even then, the pain was still unbearable for most. Some didn’t survive the process.
This was the very pain Malakai was currently going through. Yet, he only gritted his teeth and clenched his fists hard.
‘It’s just pain. Temporary pain…’ he repeated those words in his head like a mantra, mixing it with the Sanguine Creed.
Of all the youths who had gone through the evolution process, Malakai couldn’t imagine that any of them had gone through the same amount of pain he had endured until now.
The numerous beatings in the Sanguine Clan.
The numerous life-and-death injuries he had suffered.
And lastly, the pain of having the aftereffect of the Devil’s Fruit ravage you from the inside.
He had gone through all of this, and he remembered them all as clear as day.
He had embraced them all.
And right now… he embraced the current pain.
As he embraced it, Malakai turned inward, towards his body.
And instead of being overwhelmed by the agony, he watched. He observed everything that was happening within him.
Despite the pain, a surge of excitement coursed through his being.
He could feel it, his body was changing. Getting stronger. More efficient.
The vita wasn’t just breaking him down. It was targeting everything and making it better.
His muscles were being rebuilt with more compact and potent fibers. His bones felt denser, more solid, but somehow lighter.
His blood flowed smoother, faster, richer. Every part of him was being refined.
Time passed. But Malakai wasn’t keeping count.
He was too focused. Too immersed in the experience.
‘I can feel it.’
The process was nearing completion. He could tell.
Almost every part of his body had been touched by the vita, reshaped.
But then, something stirred.
His attention was drawn toward something else, something deeper. He realized instantly:
His Blood Node.
‘It’s awakening…’
He had never sensed any of the 12 nodes in his body before.
But now, for the first time, he could feel one.
‘Just behind the heart.’
His focus shifted to that point, and it was there.
A light of radiant red.
It was pulsing… glowing… like a tiny sun embedded in flesh.
Its light grew brighter with each passing second, its energy building up, humming through his chest.
And as it peaked, suddenly a surge of raw energy exploded from it, tearing through every inch of Malakai’s body.
He felt it.
He felt everything.
His blood ignited with power, surging through his veins. Every drop felt alive, thicker, denser, pulsing with strength.
His heart pounded louder, harder, syncing with the awakened node.
And then, a shockwave burst from Malakai.
The energy exploded outward, ripping through the green cocoon that surrounded him.
Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface before shattering in a violent flash of light, releasing a blinding pulse of energy that lit up the entire hall.
Valentine shielded his eyes with his arm just as the blinding light peaked.
“W-what is this…” His gaze trembled as he took in the aftermath of Malakai’s evolution.
“Didn’t he just evolve?” he wondered.
Valentine couldn’t feel the force that had erupted from the cocoon, but he could see the aftermath.
A deep crater had formed where the cocoon once stood, and countless cracks spread from the point of impact. The entire hall still reeled.
Valentine frowned.
‘My evolution wasn’t like this.’
He tried to understand it. During his own awakening, the worst that had happened was a powerful gust of wind, just enough to rustle the trees and stir the leaves of the forest he had been in.
But this…
Valentine couldn’t comprehend this. He just couldn’t.
Why was Malakai’s evolution different from his?