Ghoul Evolution

Chapter 1: Death

The market that was usually full of people and their chattering’s, was uncomfortably silent and deserted.

It was almost completely empty except for the few shopkeepers, who were hurriedly closing their stalls as they rushed to get back home before curfew began.

Oliver Graves, a 17-year-old boy with hazel eyes, and a sharp face, was running down the road with an uneven breath

His hair were raven-black, styled in a messy middle part that somehow managed to look both untidy and attractive at the same time.

As he glanced at his smartphone, he knew that he had messed up as there were three missed calls from his sister.

"Damn it, I’m so late. Sis is literally going to cook me alive. She had even asked me to come back early due to the curfew."

Over the past week, lots of people had been disappearing mysteriously. And, not just anyone... children. Teenagers, to be exact.

No one really knew why or how they were disappearing. Some believed it was the work of kidnappers, while others weren’t so sure. There had been whispers—rumors that something had escaped from a gate... something dangerous.

But there was no real confirmation.

Still, the city wasn’t willing to take any chances. And as such, since last week, every night at 10 o’clock, a curfew was imposed.

Anyone still outside after that? Well, they were on their own.

Oliver clicked his tongue as pushed himself to run faster.

"Great, just great. First, she was acting all sad, and it took me forever to deal with her tantrums... and now I am super late and will have to deal with sis too. Haah."

"Ahh! Please...someone save me!"

Just as he was about to reach the end of the street, a cry cut through the silence.

The voice came from his right from a narrow alley and the voice sounded like it belonged to a young girl.

Another cry followed, which was much weaker this time. This meant, the girl and whoever or whatever she needed to be saved from, were moving away from him towards the other end of the alley.

Oliver stopped completely as he turned toward the dark alley. It was quite narrow, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

His throat went dry as he stared into it for a few seconds.

’Okkkk!!. This is bad.’

He didn’t move a step forward, but he didn’t step back either.

’What if this is a trap?’ he thought, as his fists tightened.

’What if it’s one of those things?’

He swallowed, as his thoughts rushed even further.

"Aether beasts don’t... lure people like this, right? They can’t speak English..."

Then he frowned, remembering what he had learned during the After-Death Survival Course his sister had forced him into.

’No... wait. The ones who are more powerful can... can’t they?’

His mind raced as he thought more.

’But if there was a gate at that level, the whole city would’ve known. The gate’s sheer aura alone would’ve been impossible for the ghouls to miss.’

By now, the voices had stopped. Most likely, the girl and whatever she needed saving from, had already moved to the other side of the alley.

He swallowed once as he stared again into the alley.

’It isn’t my problem anyways...is it? I will just.’

He then shook his head.

"Hahh... come on, Oliver," he then muttered, dragging a hand through his hair. "Since when did you turn into a coward?"

Before he could overthink it, he slapped his own cheek.

"Focus."

He quickly pulled out his phone and, with slightly shaky fingers, typed out and sent an SOS to the authorities.

’They’ll be able to track me with this.

’Given everything that’s been happening, the city watch is on edge. Any emergency SOS won’t be ignored.’

’And if they send someone from the Ghoul Branch... even if it is an Aether beast, it won’t matter. They’ll handle it. I just need to stall it somehow.’

With that in mind, he took a deep breath and broke into a run, heading straight through the alley.

The other side of the alley opened into a small, square-shaped empty space that made no sense being there. It was probably some kind of mistake the city made when approving the road and housing plans.

In the middle of the clearing stood a young woman with blonde hair who was surrounded by two men.

Oliver couldn’t see their faces clearly, but he didn’t need to as he could already tell that the men didn’t have the noblest intentions.

Seeing someone new enter the square, the girl and the two men immediately turned their attention toward him.

The one farther away was wearing a black mask, while the one closer to him was a man in his forties with a scar near his cheek and broken teeth—most likely a gangster.

The gangster then looked at him and said, "Get lost, boy... if you know what’s good for you."

Just moments ago, Oliver had been preparing himself to face a Aether beast. These were creatures he had grown up hearing horror stories about since childhood. He had been genuinely afraid.

But now?

Seeing that it was just two men... that fear faded.

In fact, he even felt some confident.

’Ok... So first I need them to lose their guard.’

And what better way was there than to make them think of him as an overconfident idiot.

And so, with a taunting tone, he said, "Old man! Didn’t your mum ever teach you to respect women? Hmm?"

The scar-faced man didn’t react much to the obvious provocation and just looked at Oliver like he was nothing more than an annoyance.

Then suddenly he rushed at him with a punch.

Oliver reacted instantly to the attack. First, he dodged to the side and as the punch barely missed him, he countered without any hesitation.

His fist connected cleanly with the scar-faced man’s face making him yelp.

"Aargh!"

The scar-faced man staggered slightly, instinctively bringing a hand up to his cheek in pain, and Oliver didn’t waste that opening.

He struck again, lower this time, right where it hurt a man the most.

The hit was enough to drop the man to the ground, rolling and clutching himself in agony.

’Damn... aren’t I awesome?’

For a brief second, Oliver felt a surge of pride. Those after-death survival courses his sister had forced him into... yeah, they were actually useful.

These courses had not only taught him how to survive, but also some fighting techniques.

’Gotta thank her later.’

The scar-faced man who was still writhing on the ground, looked up at him with pure hatred and spat, "You fucking brat—"

But Oliver didn’t care and in return, he just gave the man a middle finger.

Meanwhile, the masked-man had been watching the whole thing. While Oliver dealt with Scar-face, he had held the girl’s wrist tightly, not allowing her to escape.

Oliver couldn’t see his expression, so he had no idea what the man was thinking, but then, without a word, the man pulled out a knife from who-knows-where.

He then started walking toward them, his gaze flickering briefly toward the scar-faced man.

"You’re so useless, Ben. This is why I don’t like you ordinary humans... you’re simply not on our level. You are completely useless."

Oliver’s grin froze as his eyes locked onto the knife.

’...Yeah. I’m cooked.’

’I should just have contacted the authorities and run away.’ ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

The captured girl seemed to have realized the same.

She tried to push the masked man away, struggling to break free, but the masked man didn’t even budge.

The man didn’t even look at her as all of his attention was now fixed on Oliver and Ben.

The blonde-haired girl then let out a broken sound as she shouted, "Please run away! It’s too late—you can’t fight him... he’s not even a human!"

"Not...a human?" Oliver muttered, instinctively stepping back as the masked man kept walking toward him.

Everything clicked at once.

Why they were so bold. Why they didn’t care about the city, the patrols, the curfew.

So that’s why. One of them wasn’t a human.

"A... ghoul?" Oliver asked, his face paling as he looked toward the girl as kept stepping back.

The girl gave a small, resigned nod and was suddenly yanked forward by the one who was no longer just a man.

The masked man was still just looking in between Oliver and Ben, most of his focus towards ben.

But then suddenly, Ben started screaming...very loudly.

"AAAHHH!!"

His skin had somehow started burning.

Within just a few seconds, he was already dead and invisible flames consumed his body with horrifying speed, reducing flesh and skin into a blackened mass.

By the time the burning was done, all that remained was a heavily charred body whose size had visibly shrunk from the intense heat and the smell of burnt flesh that spread through the air.

Seeing this scene that was straight out of a horror movie, Oliver started shaking and immediately tried to run away, but just as he was about to turn...

Swoosh!

A dagger had pierced straight through his chest.

It had broken through his ribs as if they were nothing and stabbed directly into his heart.

It was the masked man who was suddenly right in front of him. To Oliver, it was basically as if he had teleported.

For a few seconds, Oliver was confused, still unable to process what had just happened, but then the pain registered and he fell to his knees.

His trembling hand moved toward the stab wound and a sharp, unbearable sensation spread through his chest, making him feel that he was going to die.

No, not just feel like, if he didn’t receive treatment immediately, he really was going to die.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!!"

’It hurts... it hurts... it really hurts...’

Slowly, he even started having trouble breathing.

By all accounts, he felt as if he should have already fallen unconscious by now but something... or rather someone... wasn’t allowing him to.

’Please... someone... please.’

The masked man pulled the dagger out of him, not even bothering to look at him anymore.

He turned his attention toward the blonde girl, who was staring at Oliver with pain in her eyes, as if she believed everything happening here was her fault.

"I’m sorry... I’m sorry... this is all my fault."

The masked man looked at her, his expression still hidden behind the mask.

"Why worry?" he said calmly as if the situation amused him. "I once died too. It’s not really that big of a big deal, y’know. If he is good enough...then he can return."

He paused slightly as his voice took a colder tone.

"But the same can’t be said for you. You—your soul will be trapped for eternity."

He then reached out and grabbed her by her hair and moved his other hand, that was now somehow free of that dagger.

He then moved his hand in a specific pattern as if he were trying to do something.

"While Ben has died, we still have this brat. You will die by his hands before he dies himself. That’s why I am not allowing him to die for now. So... let’s start the ritual."

But just as he tried...he stopped.

"Hm?"

It felt like whatever the masked man was about to do, something had interfered. Or more like, he had noticed something.

"The Ghoul Corps?"

Oliver, who was on the verge of death, couldn’t sense them like the masked ghoul could.

But he understood that this was his last chance. His last chance to spite the one who had killed him and buy time for the blonde women to survive. frёewebηovel.cѳm

And so he forced out a laugh.

"HAHA... hahaha... you might have killed me, you fucker... b-but you’re gonna die too..."

Blood spilled from his mouth as he spoke.

"I already shared my location with them..."

He gave a crazy smile as he barely moved his hand to gave the masked man a middle finger.

"Enjoy your last seconds...You FUCKER!"

The masked ghoul went silent for a moment and then he removed his mask.

Behind it was a handsome face of a man in his twenties with blue eyes who was looking at Oliver with intrigue.

Then a devilish smile, even crazier than Oliver’s formed on his face.

"You don’t know much about us ghouls, do you?"

He tilted his head slightly.

"But you are quite interesting...I hope you can return...like me."

"So that I can kill you again. HAHAHAHA."

Then turning back towards the young woman, he gave her a half smirk and said, "Looks like the boy has saved you for now."

Saying that, he had disappeared leaving the girl and Oliver behind.

The girl let out a breath of relief as she saw the ghoul vanish, but that relief lasted only a second and she immediately ran towards Oliver.

"No—no!"

She dropped beside him, quickly tearing a piece of her dress and pressing it against his wound applying some pressure.

She then lifted his head onto her lap, trying her best to stop the bleeding.

"They must be near... please don’t go..."

Her voice trembled.

"You-You saved me...You are my hero... please don’t die..."

Tears streamed down her face as she looked at his wound, which was still bleeding despite the cloth.

"I am so sorry... this is all my fault... all my..."

"Haah... it’s fine... it’s fine..."

Oliver spoke weakly as he joked,

"But you know, if my sister sees my situation, she will kill me."

While Oliver was saying that outwardly, and even joking, inside he felt bitter...he wasn’t sure if what he had just done was worth it.

’Dying for someone else...was it really something worth doing?’

’Leaving my sister alone behind? And all that for a stranger?’

The more he thought about his sister, the more sorry he felt. He was her last relative and now that even he was dying.

"Hey... if I die... can you tell my sister I loved her... she’s my only family."

His voice cracked as he tried to speak.

"Maybe you can go meet her sometimes? If I die she might get really sad."

The blonde girl, seeing his condition, nodded desperately.

"Y-yes... of course... p-please... tell me your name at least."

And so, with the last bit of strength he had, he spoke,

"Oliver."

[YOU HAVE DIED]