Ultimate Evolution I Became the Master of the World

The crowd went nuts, fear taking over as they bolted away from Sophia.

"Shit, the Ghost Baby can't mess with me, so it's going after everyone else?" Michael's fists clenched, feeling totally useless.

He wanted to help Sophia, but getting close? No way.

The eye on his body could only see through the Ghost Realm's darkness, just a survival instinct. He had no clue how to handle the Ghost Baby. "Run." His gut reaction was to bail.

"Help me." Sophia's face was twisted in pain, like a fish out of water, her mouth open, hand reaching out to Michael, like he was her last shot at survival. Even though Michael didn't turn around, the eye on the back of his head caught it all.

He saw Sophia's desperate plea and it made him stop in his tracks.

It reminded him of when Henrik shoved him into the bathroom earlier.

Sophia was still conscious, scared out of her mind, but clinging to the hope someone would save her.

Michael asked himself, 'If I bail now, how am I any better than Henrik, using a classmate's life to save my own skin?'

Michael wrestled with himself, 'Sophia's not like Dimitri and Fabio. Those guys tried to kill me to save themselves, they had it coming.'

'Plus, I'm kinda a Ghost Handler now, got some ghost power. I'm not just some regular dude anymore.'

A million thoughts raced through his head.

The demon eye on the back of his head kept watching Sophia, seeing her pain, her struggle, and her arm slowly dropping.

If he didn't act now, Sophia was toast.

Michael cursed, spun around, and charged, landing a punch on the Ghost Baby's head.

The Ghost Baby's head dented, but it didn't seem hurt. Its creepy eyes locked onto Michael.

Pissed off, the Ghost Baby let go of Sophia and lunged at Michael, its cheeks splitting open, mouth stretching way beyond human limits, swallowing half of Michael's arm in one bite. Cold, sticky, it felt like he was being sucked into a black hole. He couldn't pull his arm out, his whole body was getting dragged into that dark maw.

Sophia was on the ground, gasping for air.

'Am I gonna get eaten?'

Michael felt his body starting to melt, like his flesh and blood were flowing into that mouth, about to be devoured alive.

Then, a sharp pain shot through his arm.

It felt like his flesh was being ripped apart, like his soul was being crushed.

The Ghost Baby screeched in pain, spat out Michael's arm, then dropped to the ground, lifeless, and quickly crawled away, disappearing up the stairs. "Shit, it's that feeling again." Michael trembled in pain, screaming.

He saw the half of his arm that had been in the Ghost Baby's mouth glowing red, the flesh torn apart, with crimson eyes emerging from the wounds. Before, he only had one eye on the back of his hand. After the Ghost Baby attacked, a second eye popped up on the back of his head.

But now, after getting bitten, four more eyes sprouted all at once.

The number of red eyes was multiplying fast.

Maybe that's what scared the Ghost Baby off.

"Michael, are you okay? Are you alright?" Sophia, barely dodging death, was still freaked out, but she knew Michael had saved her.

She saw him writhing in pain on the ground and rushed over, trying to help him up.

Suddenly, Michael's struggling stopped, and his arm twisted in a weird way, grabbing Sophia's hand. No normal person could move like that. There were five eyes on that arm, spinning and staring at her.

Sophia hit the ground, screaming in terror.

But soon, the five eyes on his arm closed again.

Michael's voice broke the silence, "I'm fine. Almost got myself killed saving you. Guess I just can't be as cold as Henrik."

The pain faded quickly. He stood up, pale, leaning against the wall, his muscles twitching.

He really didn't want to go through that soul-crushing pain again.

Then he thought, 'It felt like I was gonna be eaten alive when the Ghost Baby bit me. Is this the power of the Ghost Baby in Nikolai's stomach? It's terrifying. And it seems to be growing.' Michael looked at his arm, feeling things wriggling under his skin, ready to burst out at any moment.

The presence of those eyes was getting stronger. They were definitely coming back to life.

"I'm sorry, I dragged you down," Sophia said softly.

"It's cool. Saving you was my call. I just don't want to turn into someone like Henrik, who'd do anything to survive. Besides, when I got shoved into the bathroom, I was already dead. Now I'm just hanging on with ghost power. Even if I didn't save you, I wouldn't last much longer," Michael said.

After all this, he got it.

"Don't just stand there, come with me. If that thing comes back, we're toast," Michael said, gritting his teeth through the pain.

Sophia, her voice shaky, said, "I have no strength left. I can't walk."

"Movies were right. In a crisis, women become a burden and can easily get people killed," Michael muttered. He saw two dark handprints on the back of Sophia's neck, left by the ghost baby, like tattoos, very noticeable. And the dark color was spreading, like a fast infection.

He was shocked but kept it to himself, now wasn't the time to talk about it.

The Ghost Baby was only temporarily scared off.

If it attacked a few more times, Michael felt he'd end up like Nikolai.

"I'll help you get out. Can you still walk?" He helped Sophia up, feeling her whole body shaking.

It was pure fear.

"Yeah," Sophia said. Her body instinctively leaned against Michael, her soft chest almost rubbing against his, not avoiding it at all, but rather appearing very close.

She wasn't trying to seduce him, it was just a woman's instinct to seek protection from a strong man when scared.

Right now, Michael was that guy.