The Evolution System of the Drowned
Osric Thorne was the discarded heir of the Thorne shipping empire, a man who thought he had everything until his wife, Elowen Vane, and his best friend, Cuthbert, threw him off the Gilded Sovereign in the middle of a Category 5 storm. With his feet chained to an anchor and the scent of Elowen's expensive perfume lingering in the salt air, Osric was meant to be a forgotten feast for the scavengers of the abyss.
Instead, his family’s "worthless" heirloom—the Abyssal Pearl—reacts to his dying rage.
Fusing with his heart, the pearl awakens the [Leviathan Evolution System]. In the crushing, lightless depths of the Atlantic, Osric doesn't drown...he adapts. By consuming the apex predators of the sea, he gains their power: the obsidian armor of the great white, the bio-electric discharge of the deep-sea eel, and the terrifying sonar of the prehistoric leviathan.
Now, a monster is rising from the depths. Osric Thorne isn't coming back just to reclaim his company; he’s coming back to dismantle the Vane legacy piece by piece and turn the surface world into his personal hunting ground.
He was once a man of the boardrooms, but he has returned as the Warden-King of the Abyss. The elites of Oakhaven are about to learn a bitter truth: the ocean doesn't forgive, and neither does Osric Thorne.
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Chapter: Chapter 10: The First SurgeThe harbor didn't smell like salt anymore. It smelled like a slaughterhouse. I stood on the edge of the pier, watching the water turn a thick, sickly crimson. It wasn't algae. It was a biological awakening.[SYSTEM ALERT: RED TIDE PROTOCOL DETECTED. ANCIENT BIOMASS REANIMATING.]"Osric! Look at the water!" Marcus's voice crackled through my neural link, sounding like he was screaming from the bottom of a well. "The sensors are going off the charts! Something is coming out of the silt!""I see it, Marcus," I said. My voice was a low vibration that seemed to calm the churning water at my feet. "Tell the police to evacuate the shoreline. Now.""They won't listen to me! They think it's a chemical spill!""Then tell them it's a goddamn apocalypse!" I roared.The first one breached the surface ten yards away. It looked like a cross between a lobster and a nightmare, six feet of jagged exoskeleton and pale, milky eyes. It crawled onto the wooden planks, its claws snapping with the force of a
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
Chapter: Chapter 9: The Poisoned DanceThe Vane Manor was a fortress of gold and lies. Outside, the city was still reeling from the blackout I had triggered, but inside these walls, the elite drank vintage wine by candlelight. Every guest wore a mask. It was the perfect place for a monster like me.[MIMICRY SKIN ACTIVE. DURATION: 54 MINUTES.]My skin rippled, shifting from obsidian scales to the olive complexion of a Mediterranean count. I looked in the foyer mirror. The man staring back was handsome, refined, and entirely fake. Only my eyes remained cold—the silver glow hidden behind the dark lenses of a masquerade mask."Lord Alistair of the Adriatic," the herald announced as I stepped into the ballroom.I scanned the room. There she was. Elowen Vane. She wore a gown of silver lace, her face hidden behind a feathered mask. She looked radiant, but her hand was trembling as she held her glass. Cuthbert was nowhere to be seen—likely hiding in a panic room after I had turned his headquarters into a dark tomb."You look troub
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
Chapter: Chapter 8: The Sewer KingThe stench of the city's underbelly was thick enough to gag a normal man, but my new lungs processed the rot without a flinch. I waded through the waist-deep filth of the primary filtration canal. Above me, the streets of Oakhaven hummed with life, unaware that a prehistoric nightmare was chewing through their foundation."System, give me a lock on that signal," I whispered. My voice echoed flatly against the moss-covered concrete.[LEVIATHAN-CLASS SIGNATURE DETECTED. 300 METERS AHEAD. TARGET IS EMITTING 50,000 VOLTS.]"Perfect. Just what I need to jumpstart my heart," I muttered.I shut my eyes. The darkness was total, but as I clicked my tongue, a pulse of silver light rippled out from my mind. [SONAR ACTIVE.] The world rebuilt itself in my head as a wireframe of echoes. I saw the rusted pipes, the crumbling brickwork, and the massive, pulsing coil of muscle waiting in the junction ahead."Osric? Do you hear me?"I tapped my earpiece. It was my broker, sounding like he was about to
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
Chapter: Chapter 7: Liquid AssetsI sat in the dark of a high-rise office I had bought with a handful of gold coins from the Sunken Vault. My skin still felt the itch of salt, but I was dressed in a suit that cost more than most people made in a year. On the screen in front of me, the Vane Estate’s stock ticker was a jagged line of red, bleeding out in real time."Sir, the buy-back orders are failing," my broker said through the intercom. He sounded terrified. He didn't know who I was, only that I called myself 'Lord Abyss' and that my bank account seemed to have no bottom."Double the pressure," I said. My voice was a calm, predatory rumble. "Short every share they have left. I want the Vane name to be a curse by morning.""But sir, their shipping routes—""Are currently being hammered by 'unusual weather,'" I interrupted. "Just do your job."I leaned back, watching the feed from the docks. In the distance, the *Vane Empress*, their flagship tanker, was currently sinking into the harbor. There was no storm in the sky
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
Chapter: Chapter 6: The Dockside HuntThe fog over the Oakhaven docks was thick enough to swallow a man whole. I drifted just beneath the surface of the oily water, watching the Vane merchant fleet bobbing at anchor. They were loaded with the stolen wealth of the Thorne family. They wouldn't stay loaded for long."Did you see that?" a sailor hissed from the deck of the Vane Star. "A shadow. Just moved past the hull.""Shut up, Jenkins," another replied, though his voice was shaking. "The Sea-Wraith isn't real. It's just ghost stories to keep us from stealing the cargo.""Tell that to the crew of the Mercury," Jenkins whispered. "They found the ship drifting five miles out. Not a soul on board. Just wet footprints and the smell of the deep."I surged upward, my obsidian hand clamping onto the edge of the pier. I didn't make a sound. I was the myth they feared, and I was very real.[MISSION UPDATE: NEUTRALIZE VANE LOGISTICS. 0/3 SHIPS REMAINING.]I pulled myself onto the dock, my skin absorbing the moonlight. I found the fo
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
Chapter: Chapter 5: Predator’s MercyThe ballroom was a tomb of silence, broken only by the rhythmic drip of saltwater from my shredded suit. Cuthbert's face was a map of raw, ugly panic. He scrambled backward on the marble floor, his polished shoes squeaking like a trapped rat."What are you waiting for?" Cuthbert shrieked, his voice cracking as he looked toward the perimeter of the room. "Kill him! He's an intruder! Marcus! Styles! Dispose of him now!"The house guards, men I had trained and paid for years, hesitated for a heartbeat. But Cuthbert was the one signing the checks now. Four of them stepped forward, their hands flying to their holsters."Osric, please! Don't make them do this!" Elowen cried out, though she stayed safely behind the heavy oak podium."You really want to play this game, Cuthbert?" I asked. My voice sounded like grinding stones.[COMBAT MODE ENGAGED. PREDICTIVE PATHING ACTIVE.]The world slowed. In my silver-tinted vision, the guards' movements became sluggish, like they were submerged in thick
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
