"Y-you'll… let me live now, right?" he whispered, his voice trembling.
Luke didn't answer. He only smiled—small, cold, unreadable.
Mark let out a shaky breath and even tried a weak, broken smile, relief flooding him. "Thank you… I… I knew you weren't—"
Then—
FWAAAM!
A beam of concentrated flame shot from Luke's hand, striking Mark's head. In an instant, the hopeful expression, the fragile relief—it all vanished.
Ash and smoke swirled where his face had been, leaving only charred remnants of his body twitching weakly.
"Only fools leave danger to grow while it's sprouting," Luke muttered, his voice low and deliberate. "Smart people cut it down before it blooms."
[Player has eliminated the Avatar of Evolution].
[The Evolution System is being absorbed].
[1% ... 5% ... 10% ... 50% ... 100%]
[Player unlocked new function: Evolution]
[Hidden quest unlocked]
[Eliminate 4 Avatars (1/4)]
[Reward: A meeting with the Creator of the system and the answers you seek]
Luke stared at the system panel floating in front of him, lines of glowing text reflecting in his eyes.
For a moment, he just stood there quietly, watching as new notifications kept appearing—functions, progress bars, quests—things he had never seen before.
"A creator," he muttered under his breath. "So someone actually picked me... and there are others like me too."
It wasn't excitement he felt, more like a cautious realization settling in. After all this time, he finally had a clue.
Someone—or something—was behind this whole thing.
And not only that, there were other people with systems.
His system had called that guy the Avatar of Evolution.
That term stuck in his head.
There could be many meanings behind "Avatar," but the most fitting one was obvious—the system users themselves were avatars, representatives of some higher-dimensional beings.
Which also meant, if that was true, someone was probably watching everything happening right now.
Luke crossed his arms, his expression calm but focused.
"System," he asked, "whose Avatar am I?"
[Insufficient permissions].
"So I can't know," he said quietly.
He sighed, looking up at the sky.
If that's the case, there was only one thing to do—finish the quest and get the answers directly.
This fight had already shown him how dangerous these other "Avatars" could be.
He needed to understand where he stood in this whole thing—whether he was just a piece of someone else's game.
And if he was, then he'd become the kind of piece that could flip the board.
"I'll complete this quest," he said under his breath, "and meet you myself."
Then he glanced at what was left of the monster — half-burned, half-melted into the street — and raised his hand lazily, as if recycling trash rather than a corpse.
[You have obtained 12,000 SP]
Luke smirked slightly. "Well, I guess your body was good for something after all."
***
At the same time,
On Selene's side, they were watching from a distance as flames lit up the skyline, the streets below shaking with one explosion after another.
Jill narrowed her eyes, worry clear on her face. "Umm… are you sure he's going to be fine?" she asked, her voice uncertain.
Luke had already saved them twice; the idea of leaving him to face that thing alone didn't sit right with her.
"If he said he can handle it," Selene replied calmly, "then he can handle it."
Jill sighed softly. "Still, that thing didn't look human at all…"
"It looked like a giant bug wearing a human mask," Peyton added, her nose wrinkling. "Whatever it was, it gave me chills."
"'Chills'? Try nightmares," Terry said, shaking her head. "That oversized insect was a total creep. The way it stared at you three—ugh. I almost vomited right there."
Jill and Alice exchanged disgusted looks, remembering that revolting expression and the warped human features on its face.
Both of them visibly shuddered.
"Yeah," Jill muttered, "he was definitely a disgusting pervert."
"More like a walking red flag with claws," Peyton added under her breath.
Then a calm voice spoke behind them.
"Yeah… total creep," a familiar voice added behind them.
Terry froze mid-sentence, eyes wide. Slowly, she turned her head—and screamed.
"GHOST!" she yelled, jumping behind Jill so fast it almost looked like teleportation.
Luke blinked, a little confused. "Ghost? Seriously?"
Jill exhaled, pressing a hand to her chest. "You nearly gave us a heart attack, Luke."
Luke shrugged casually, "Well, I try to keep things dramatic."
"What happened to that thing?" Alice asked.
Luke stretched his shoulders "Well… ashes. No need to worry about it anymore."
Alice raised an eyebrow. "Ashes? That's it? You just burned it down to nothing?"
"Pretty much," Luke said, smirking faintly.
But Alice's expression shifted, her eyes falling to the empty space where his arm used to be. "But your arm…" she said softly. Losing a limb wasn't a "small thing," even for someone like him.
Selene spoke before Luke could. "No need to worry," she said, her tone steady and confident. "It can heal."
Luke gave her a side glance, a small appreciative smile tugging at his lips. Well, she really understood him.
Jill, still not fully convinced, pointed at the sealed wound on his elbow. "Wait—heal as in grow back? Like a tree sprouting a new branch?"
Luke chuckled. "Not exactly. For now, it won't. But maybe in the future."
In truth, his minor regeneration couldn't replace lost limbs yet. He'd need to upgrade that trait—or find a workaround. Until then, he'd have to make do one-handedly.
Peyton crossed his arms, frowning slightly. "That's still insane. You talk about losing an arm like it's a paper cut."
Luke shrugged. "It's not the first weird thing that's happened to me."
Alice sighed, glancing between the group. "So… are we still going to school?" she asked, half-expecting him to change plans after everything that happened.
Luke looked at her like she'd asked if the sky was still blue. "Of course we are."
She blinked. "Even after that?" She gestured toward his missing arm.
"What else? A small injury doesn't change my decision," Luke said, flat and steady. Then, deadpan, he pointed at Peyton. "And if we don't go, Jill should prepare a bullet for him."
They all understood the ugly truth behind the joke — without the Anti-Virus that Angela (Ashford's daughter) had, the T virus bite would finish Peyton.
Time was ticking, and getting that serum was the only real shot at saving him.
Luke's priorities didn't shift. He still wanted to make a good impression on Jill — and, well, his goal definitely hadn't changed. Getting into her pants was still very much on the list.
*****
A/N: If you want to read advanced chapters, check out my Patreon, where updates have already reached Chapter 97, far ahead of Webnovel! 💫
👉 patreon.com/cw/Universal_Peace
And there's also a little surprise for my readers — in the future, a new female character will appear in the main plot.
She will be an Avatar, and she's a very famous anime character many of you will instantly recognize.
A certain sadist with icy blue hair, a love for dominance, and ice powers…Yeah, that should be more than enough clues.
If you still can't guess her with these hints… then you're not true anime fans 😏
Also, the Avatars are not transmigrators always.
They can be characters taken directly from movies, anime, games, or any other world — personally chosen to participate in the Unseen Fight, the secret war that even our Luke is a part of.