Chapter 126 Reasons

"What is wrong with you! Dad, You gave up your entire career just so we wouldn't get in trouble!?" Nila said in a raised voice.

"It was more than just some trouble. This way you won't be affected and I only lost my position in the military. I can finally focus on my duties as a noble as well, so It's a small price to pay in my opinion." Lord Zogarth said with a shrug.

"But the military was your life, your passion!"

"No, Nila. When I became a father, that became my passion and my reason to live. You are far more important than any job could ever be." Lord Zogarth smiled and placed his hand on Nilas head.

"Come on, you barely let you friends finish telling you what happened before dragging me out the room to shout at me. Let's go back and join the."

Nila and her father went back into the room they had left Leo and the group waiting in. It was a study that had a small library set up on the side against the wall and couches in its center with a table between them.

Leo, Clay and Cain were seated on a three seater, with Leo in the middle. Rene was seated opposite them on a different three seater. Nila sat beside her and in the center and her father sat on the other end.

"I'm sorry for rushing out like that. I was flustered about all the sudden changes that you had mentioned. I suppose I should say congratulations on your promotion." Nila said.

"Yeah, uhm... Thanks." Leo awkwardly replied. "I know the King explained why he chose me to be the second in command but it still feels like he's rushing things."

Lord Zogarth felt that he knew the most about things like this so he decided to provide insight.

"You're not wrong, this could be considered fast, but at the same time it's too slow as well. We need the ability users power to be able to fight back against the cult. You've seen for yourself how powerful the cultists are with their strange abilities."

"Creating Infernum is the best way to utilize abilities. If the person giving the orders doesn't understand the abilities of his subordinates then they won't be as effective. Having you, an ability user, be involved in decision making, will increase the odds of success in combat."

" This was something that would have happened eventually no matter what, but because of the Cult, the King was forced to create Infernum early. At least, that's what I believe."

Leo thought about it for a few minutes but he still felt like he wasn't experienced enough for something like this.

'Running a military isn't something you can just do, without experience I could just make everything worse.'

'That's why you're not the Commander. Anders was chosen to lead because he has the experience you lack. I do believe his connection to you and the academy is also a factor, but he really was the best choice given the situation.'

'Your job is to learn from Anders while also providing insight into the odds of victory regarding ability users in combat. Remember, you're not going to run the entire military, you're going to be in charge of the rank below yours, and they will control those below them and so on.' Dreifus explained his point of view at length.

' I get what you're saying but it doesn't really make it any easier. Well, that's a problem for tomorrow when we find out where our headquarters will be and the ability users from the academy get sent over to us.' Leo replied.

"I'm going to go get some rest and gather my thoughts. I'll see you guys in the morning." Leo said as he stood up and walked out the room.

Nila had put everyone in different rooma and had the maids and butlers show everyone to their rooms when they arrived, so Leo knew where to go.

He entered the room and sat down on the bed as he opened up his system 'I have three stat points to use and one skill point, I went up to level 17 and have an evolution available. What should I do first?'

'I would recommend doing the evolution first. We don't know what will happen once it's done and you might have a better use for the points then.' Dreifus suggested.

Leo agreed with what Dreifus had said and so he decided to go ahead with the evolution.

[Begin Evolution?]

[Yes/No]

[Yes]

As soon as he selected 'yes' there was a golden dome that surrounded him and an immense pressure suddenly effected his body. His skin started to feel hot and he fell forwards onto his hands and knees breathing heavily.

His vision started to change colours, with everything flickering between grey, red, black, white and then going back to normal.

All the hair on his body started to fall out, whether it was the small hair on his arms or the hair on his head, it all hit the floor in a matter of seconds.

All the bones in his body began to shatter and break, only to fix themselves over and over again. His muscles were torn apart and reassembled in a similar fassion to his bones and his skin had to stretch and rip to accommodate the new muscle mass.

He tried his best to hold it in, but the pain became too much and he began to scream out in agony.

Black and gold liquid started to pour out of his eyes, ears and mouth. He felt a sudden stabbing pain on his back, near his shoulder blades and he fell flat on his stomach.

As he lay there with the pain growing he could hear the system constantly sending him messages, but he was in no state to pay any attention to them.

His screams had stopped and his body felt weak. The pain was finally starting to subside after what felt like hours of torture. His vision darkened and he fell into a deep sleep.

***

The following morning arrived and everyone was seated around a table in the dining room. Lord Zogarth sat at the head of the table and as he looked around he noticed that Leo was the only one missing. Even the little girl, Marie, was sitting there eating her food next to Nila.

"Have any of you see Leo this morning?" He asked.

Everyone looked at each other to see if anyone was going to speak up but nobody did.

"That's strange. He's almost always awake before the rest of us." Clay pointed out. "Should someone go look for him?"

"He's probably still asleep in his room. I'll go and wake him up so he doesn't miss breakfast." Nila said as she got up and left the room.

~Knock~ ~Knock~

"Leo, are you in there?" Nila asked through the door and waited.

~Silence~

"Leo?"

~Silence~

After receiving no response, Nila opened twisted the door handle and opened it. She walked into the room and instantly saw Leo lying on the floor.

There was blood, skin, and hair all over the floor around him. His shirt looked like it had been torn to shreds, exposing his upper body that looked more muscular than it was before.

The hair on his head was very short now and had changed colours slightly. It was still mostly black but the tips were now an assortment of red and gold.

Nila rushed over to Leo and knelt beside him. She rolled his body over so he was on his back and then she tried to wake him up by gently tapping his face a bit while calling out to him.

"Leo! Are you okay!? Wake up!"

His face scrunched up a bit and Nila froze, waiting to see if he was waking up. His eyes fluttered open and he slowly looked around him with a dazed expression.

He noticed Nila was knelt beside him, looking down at him, and gave her a confused look. When Leo made eye contact with Nila, there was a moment where she could have sworn that one of his eyes was red while the other was golden, but after he blinked they returned to their usual blue.

"Nila?"

"What's going on here, Leo? Why are you on the floor and why is there such a mess all around you?" Nila asked with a slightly panicked voice.

"I... I don't... " Heavily confused, Leo sat up and looked at his surroundings. He saw the blood and hair, as well as his torn shirt, all over the floor.

He tried to think back and the events of the previous night came back to him like a flood, causing him to grab his head due to the sudden remembrance of the pain he felt.

"Are you okay? Should I go and get Rene to heal you or..." Nila began saying but was interrupted by Leo.

"No! No ill be fine, thank you, Nila. I just need a few minutes to collect my thoughts."

*Ding

[Congratulations on evolving into a (Hybrid)]

[Continue to collect source material for further evolution]