The Devil's Evolution Catalog

Chapter 223: The Past of the Purgatory Shadowcats

Companions? So now were your companions? Well, arent you daring one, to betray your companions like that.

Moron, if you hadnt mentioned the word companions, I probably wouldnt even be that angry.

No.3 de-fur his body first, if he still wont talk, you can pull out the fur on his tail next, if he wont talkthen pluck out his whiskers!

Ill talk, Ill talkjust no pulling. Clearly outmatched, he promptly caved in before the nightmarish fate could get any closer.

Well why didnt you say so from the start? Could have saved us the trouble of all that, right?

Yes, yes, yes. About that, can you have Sinmosa and Sasani let go of me first? While he might have said that, I couldnt help but notice that glint in his eyes. That cat was definitely up to no goodwas he still thinking of escaping?

The Cerberus couple on the other hand, werent able to notice his little scheme from their vantage point. All twelves of their eyes turned towards me as if to ask if they should release Anmi.

Hmph, I know what all you cats are like, the whole lot of you have no scruples whatsoever, if I let him go now, who knows whether or not he will try to run away.

Thus, my face darkened as I coldly stated: Keep him pinned down and stop him from moving. Anmi, how about you just fess up now, the earlier you talk, the less pain youll be in.

I

Not only was I the only one p*ssed off at him, so were Mo Na, No.3, Big 4, Sinmosa, Sasani and even the newborn puppy, Cinderel. Seeing that, Anmi knew he was in big trouble now and that he truly angered everyone this time. Thus, he finally gave up: Alright, Ill talk

Initially, the Shadowcats werent able to adapt to the harsh environment of Purgatory at all. Still, they forced themselves to acclimatize to the high heats and the sulfurous air and as time passed, a certain portion of the population changed.

That was how the first batch of Purgatory Shadowcats were born.

While life in Purgatory was hard, not every Shadowcat chose such a path of mutation. They knew that remaining purely of the shadow element made it hard for them to resist the temperature, but they still did so anyway.

Back then, their mutated compatriots simply couldnt understand their obstinance, especially given how they all gained new abilities from their new element. Even so, their determination touched them but at the same time, they just seemed like morons as well.

Perseverance was a hard thing to maintain, it was so for humans and it was so for cats as well. As time passed, those who chose not to mutate started falling ill from some unknown ailment; the kind that made them die writhing in pain.

Although it wasnt contagious, it was still a troublesome sickness. Its incubation period was extremely long during which the host cat became extraordinarily susceptible to any minor sickness. Essentially, it was a death sentence for those Shadowcats and not a single one of them was spared as well.

In light of that, the minority who chose not to mutate finally had to acquise.

Only a small portion of those Shadowcats chose to perseverance but of those that did, there was a certain researcher who actually managed to create a cure.

Before that however, it was worth mentioning how the sickness killed its host cat. It was a multi-staged sickness that first started with the hosts body feeling a little warm, along with that came a periodic sensation of being scalded. As this sickness progressed to the later stage, the water content in their body would completely disappear and worsethey would mysteriously burst into flames

What the researcher discovered was that everyone living in Purgatory had the fire element within them else they wouldnt be able to live for long in Purgatory, barring special circumstances. Having discovered that, another conclusion that was drawn was that all the food in Purgatory contained a dense amount of fire element within them. By eating such food, Shadowcats would start accumulating the fire element within their body. Being cats of the shadow element, this new element naturally didnt play well with their purely shadow bodies and in the long termsuch an accumulation would explode

Why dont you all just avoid eating the food of Purgatory then. I heard the Shadowcats brought over a ton of plant life they collected from Abaddon, right? Sinmosa couldnt resist the urge to interject then: All those plants we saw on the way here, and those Ashen Fur Mice, werent they all brought over from Abaddon.

It is as you say, they arent from Purgatory, but theres one thing youre not getting As he said that, Anmi frowned a little as if the mere thought gave him a headache.

Because the environment of Purgatory was simply too harsh, all the plant life had to mutate as well in order to surviveeven though we already knew that Purgatory was going to be a harsh environment, and even though we specifically chose those suited to high temperatures, the end resultwas that only a few experimental products managed to surviveevery other life form mutated

In a sense, it was only natural for living things to try and adapt to their surroundingso the whole reason why they died was because of an adverse reaction to their accumulated fire element

Furthermore, while every person(cat)s body had their own autoimmune reaction to unwanted elements accumulating in their body, there was a limit to that as well. To begin with, a persons elemental balance was a fragile thing and should it ever get broken, the consequences would be dire.

(Insert authors unnecessary analogy here)

For the Shadowcats who first arrived in Purgatory, the initial period of habitation was still a bearable one, even with their average constitution. However, what was most troubling for them was that all their food was tainted with fire element and yet they had no choice but to consume said food or die from hunger. Even worse was that the very air they breathed contained some fire elements as welltruly there was nothing worse than that.

Honestly though, there wasnt much of a difference in the big picture. Lets say for a second that the Shadowcats were frogs. Having the air filled with fire elements only meant that instead of being slowly poached to death, they were thrown into a vat of hot oil instead. The latter was a horrible croaky death while the former was like a warm blanket that slowly suffocated them in their sleep. Either way, they would end up cooked, it was only a matter of time.

The researcher who uncovered all that then tried to synthesize a cure Having said that, Anmi abruptly stopped and a hint of grief flashed past his eyes.

What happened next? Mo Na, being one who loved stories a lot, was completely immersed in his recounting. To her, their tragic past was nothing more than an interesting bedtime story seeing as she hadnt experienced it herself.

Next Anmi sighed: The synthesis failed

So it failed huh, I guess the look he had on just now was already a dead giveaway. Still, using ingredients tainted with fire elements to synthesize a cure that can purge said fire elementsno matter how you looked at it, it was a crazy propositionat least use water or something!

Sinmosa on the other hand, was shocked. Failed? So the remaining Shadowcatsthey mutated rightno, then what about those three candidates for the throne

Even though the synthesis was a failure, that Shadowcat researcher managed to create a device that speeds up the elemental purging process thanks to his vast knowledge

A device?

Mhm. Anmi nodded his head.

A device huhthat means both Meisian and Weiderly have it as wellthinking back, what the two of them had in common was

Hmmmboth of them had differing statues but they were still black cats more or less. Next, they were both sitting on that platforplatform?! Thats right, its that platform!

Not too long ago when I pressured that cat prince, he clearly could have escaped by leaping off the platform and rushing to the elders. If he did that, I couldnt have attacked him even knowing that the elders wont interfere. But he didnt do that, no matter how afraid he was, he never once tried to jump off that platform!