The Crown Prince In Hiding

News of the discovery spread throughout the world.

The discovery forced Luminus, under pressure from all sides, to immediately halt construction of the fortress.

It did more than confirm Professor Pi’erre’s hypothesis.

It shattered the long-standing belief that the Diablo were creatures confined to the other side of the sea. Textbooks would have to be rewritten.

The Diablo had been microscopic organisms distributed across the entire world some 400 million years ago.

Beyond the bitter irony that this world-shaking evidence had been discovered in the country that hated the Diablo most, the revelation also left the great Prince Fury staring blankly at a small mirror in his dressing room...

The shock would not fade anytime soon.

His eyes wandered aimlessly through the silence of the room.

The question was no longer where they had come from.

It was what they actually were.

Casca Saint-Maximin, the young man’s most beloved companion, quietly opened the door and entered.

”This discovery might earn Professor Pi’erre and Thomasin the Golden Prism Award... I doubt they’d be particularly happy if their sponsor sat around looking this miserable.”

Dan slowly turned toward her, his expression making it clear that he couldn’t care less about any award.

”Humans evolved from fish... at least, actual fish... but we didn’t.”

”You sound disappointed.”

”I was secretly hoping it would be simpler than this.”

Dan sighed and looked at her.

”I can now say with certainty that you and I diverged onto separate evolutionary paths at least 400 million years ago.”

”...Come on. Everyone’s waiting.”

”Mm.”

Dan stood up and straightened his necktie while Casca cast an invisibility spell on herself, causing her to disappear into thin air.

The young man took a single deep breath before leaving his private room and heading toward the conference hall of Artheris Academy.

It was where researchers from across the entire paleontological organization had gathered for their annual meeting to exchange important discoveries.

And, of course, everyone within the organization had already learned that the paleontological institute had become an independent organization, having broken away from the Mathema government and passed into the hands of a new owner whose identity remained a mystery.

”They haven’t revealed themselves, but I’ve heard about the funding they’re pouring in... They must be incredibly rich.”

Dan overheard the conversation as he slipped past groups of attendees standing around chatting. He checked the time. There were still fifteen minutes before the conference began.

Senior Thomasin, carrying a thick stack of documents, spotted him.

”Your Highness.”

She bowed respectfully and handed him a lanyard bearing a badge that read [Volunteer Student].

With the badge around his neck, he could easily blend in as a young student among a crowd of adults.

Of course, he wasn’t the only ”Volunteer Student” there.

In the seating section assigned to him, directly behind Professor Pi’erre and Senior Thomasin, there were three ”Volunteer Students.”

Two of them were named Nadia and Raffy.

The volunteer student named Raffy didn’t seem particularly pleased with the arrangement. She looked distinctly uncomfortable wearing the identity of a boy with fiery red locks of hair.

Dan sat down between them.

He turned toward Raffy, who looked back at him with a deadpan expression that made it obvious she had been forced into this.

”Who did this to you?”

Volunteer Student Raffy pointed at Nadia.

”I feel sorry for you. Having to do something like this...”

”Wearing a badge that says Volunteer Student Rafinya would be even weirder.”

”You say that as though you’re not weird yourself.”

”Stop arguing. Neither of you would ever be here otherwise.”

The lights dimmed as the stage was illuminated.

The conference finally began.

Professor Pi’erre and Senior Thomasin walked onto the stage to a round of applause from the assembled members.

Dan leaned back comfortably, one hand covering half his face in the darkness...

His eyes never left the stage.

”A great many things have happened in our field over the past year. I’m sure everyone here has already read my paper... but that isn’t the full picture of what I’ve discovered.”

Professor Pi’erre turned and nodded to Thomasin, inviting her to step forward and explain further.

She swallowed hard, then looked toward Dan, who sat in the darkness like some mysterious entity watching her.

”After examining the sedimentary layers and analyzing the genetic structures, we’ve discovered that Diablo Organisms have a tendency to ’mimic’ their surroundings. This behavior did not begin in the modern era...”

Thomasin pointed toward the black mana filaments entwined around the remains of a creature more than 400 million years old.

”Their roots extend deep into the Devonian period... What we’re witnessing here is an organism evolving into a Dunkleosteus. Evidence confirming this hypothesis has been discovered in Newcastle.”

The young woman advanced to the next slide.

Another piece of evidence had been discovered after they began excavating the construction zone, approximately 500 meters from the original discovery site.

Half of a skull belonging to the ancient marine apex predator Dunkleosteus lay embedded in the rock, cracked and damaged by the passage of time and the forces of nature.

But look closely...

It was a Dunkleosteus skull unlike any ordinary specimen. This Dunkleosteus had a head covered in sharp, spike-like protrusions, and its jaws had ceased to function as crushing tools, instead becoming grotesquely twisted blades.

In simple terms, it looked like the skull of a mutated animal.

Yet it hadn’t actually mutated.

This wasn’t the creature itself, but rather a Diablo Organism that had evolved into something resembling it.

”It distorted the structure of its armor into sharp, blade-like plates, evolving beyond the limitations of a predatory fish into a form that surpassed anything within its own ecological setting. The fossils have demonstrated this process beyond any doubt...”

”This is the evolutionary cycle of Diablo Organisms.”

And these organisms were everywhere in the world.

Zentinel reported discoveries.

Mathema reported discoveries.

Snowhaven reported discoveries.

Even Velmount had found them along its border with Snowhaven.

The most shocking consequence of this discovery was that every country began revisiting the specimens they had kept in storage, dusting them off and examining them for mysterious black organisms no larger than tiny specks.

They found that those organisms were Diablo Organisms as well.

Everyone had mistakenly assumed they were nothing more than cracks or imperfections in the fossils.

They had been there all along, attached to ancient creatures since time immemorial.

We simply hadn’t realized that these things were the ancestors of the Diablo people.

”The demons aren’t confined to an island, as everyone once believed. They didn’t just appear a thousand years ago... They existed before us. They evolved along their own path...”

”They’ve been all around us this entire time, but until now... we never made a conscious effort to look for them.”

A wave of astonishment swept through the conference hall. Several researchers stood with their mouths agape, while others frantically scribbled down notes.

This discovery had utterly demolished the linear model of evolution that humanity had clung to for hundreds of years.

Before the applause and hundreds of questions could erupt, Thomasin gently raised her hand to call for everyone’s attention.

”Before we open the floor for questions and answers...”

She swept her gaze across the assembled attendees once more.

”Our research team has received a letter from our research sponsor, who has clearly stated their intentions regarding this historic discovery.”

The final slide appeared on the screen.

It showed an ordinary sheet of paper bearing nothing but a handwritten message, which Thomasin proceeded to read aloud.

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone in this conference hall for your dedication in bringing a forgotten chapter of history back to light.

What you have observed in the fossils and rock strata may appear to be a strange and perplexing mechanism of imitation... However, I would like to propose a possibility for your consideration.

What if we looked further back in time, beyond the age of giant beasts, beyond the era of ancient armored fish... all the way back to the very beginning, four billion years ago, when the world had nothing but LUCA?

Would it be possible that both humanity and Diablo Organisms are branches stemming from the same common ancestor, yet have chosen to travel along entirely different evolutionary paths?

To bring us closer to this profound truth, I invite all scholars, brave souls, and seekers of knowledge to join us on this journey of discovery.

If they once existed throughout the world, then perhaps they are still sleeping beneath your very own lands.

I am willing to provide every form of support within my power.

Managing this organization is my responsibility. But discovering the true nature of the natural world... that is your responsibility.

The works created by God have never been beyond humanity’s ability to understand, for He bestowed upon us the precious gift of the ”brain” from the very beginning, so that we might comprehend His creations.

As Thomasin finished reading the final sentence, a heavy silence descended upon the entire conference hall.

The silence lasted only a few seconds before an earthquake of commotion erupted.

The buzzing of conversation transformed into angry outbursts, the scraping of chairs being shoved backward, and hundreds of simultaneous debates breaking out across the hall.

”A common ancestor from four billion years ago?!”

A middle-aged biologist stood up, pointing at the screen with wide eyes.

”Who does this man think he is, daring to challenge our textbooks on evolution?!”

”We’ve spent far too long wallowing among dry bones in air-conditioned rooms! If the clues to LUCA and the secrets of life really are hidden out there... I’ll be the first to board a ship and investigate!”

On the stage, Thomasin slowly lowered the letter in her hands.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Her heart pounded violently against her chest, and her eyes trembled as she shifted her gaze between the words on the paper and the feverish excitement spreading throughout the conference hall.

This letter wasn’t trying to conceal a secret...

It was bait, designed to entice the intellect and spirit of human civilization into venturing toward Diablo of their own accord.

Dan watched the spectacle of humanity’s frenzy.

He displayed neither delight nor arrogance.

Instead, he wore the expression of a game master who had just watched a piece of history fall perfectly into its intended position.