The Glorious Evolution

Kneeling beside Brahmin, Sati’s shoulders suddenly began to tremble... she pressed her forehead harder against the floor, trying desperately to hold herself together, but the first sob escaped anyway... and once it did, everything else followed.

”Thank you...” she choked out as tears spilled freely onto the wood. ”Thank you... thank you...”

She kept repeating those same two words as if nothing else was enough... Brahmin remained silent beside her, but Levi could see a difference. The old man’s shoulders had finally lowered, and his breathing was lighter.

Even the permanent tension etched into his face faded for a second... It was as if some invisible weight he had carried for decades had finally been lifted from his back.

For the first time since Levi had met him, Brahmin looked younger, matching his real age.

Brahmin slowly raised his head, his eyes slightly reddened... but his tears fully contained.

”I had a thousand things I wanted to say to you on the way here...” He gave a weak, embarrassed laugh. ”Now that I’m here, I can’t remember a single one.”

Sati laughed through her tears beside him, only to break down even harder.

Levi watched them for a moment before his amused smile softened.

”Then don’t force it... It was my pleasure to be of assistance.” Levi soon chuckled and said, ”I think it’s time you relay the good news to your people... you don’t want them to miss the show.”

Hearing this, Brahmin broke into a wild laugh, unbefitting of his status... but he didn’t care. He was with their savior and his daughter.

”You’re right; how can we miss it?”

***

About an hour later...

The Targon family came out of their own gates in a small queue, golden bracelets closed around each pair of wrists... they were guided by a small, red-furred hamster with a long mustache, dressed in the uniform of a Court official.

His outfit was white and decorated with red stripes running down the sleeves, collar, and sides of his trousers.

A short ceremonial coat rested neatly over his round frame, fastened by golden buttons... he had a circular white hat sitting between his giant ears.

The hat and uniform were completed with the respected and feared insignia of the Nine Sky Supreme Courts: nine thin golden rings stacked around a black dot, with the initial IIthorien letter of Nocturn resting atop the insignia’s frame... it appeared as ’ᚾ’.

Despite his tiny stature, no one in the family dared to laugh.

”Bailiff Sword... please reconsider! We did nothing wrong! We are being framed!” Aldous shouted, his voice a mixture of panic and rage.

Cassian and Simon also joined their brother in their futile resistance while their father kept walking forward with his head raised high... if he was going down, he would do so without looking too pathetic in public.

Especially when Bailiff Sword didn’t come alone... many of the Eight Sky Province’s highly rated Journalists had been invited by Brahmin to watch the show from his territory’s borders.

How could he miss this chance to ruin House Targon’s image in public while, at the same time, restoring his family’s own image?

Bailiff Sword turned a deaf ear to their cries and kept walking toward his conveyance at the end of the road.

Soon, Cassian and the rest laid eyes on the gigantic, creamy-white hamster... large as a hill, wearing a similar uniform to the Bailiff’s, except his was black.

He was sitting on his haunches with his forepaws folded and his plump cheeks hanging loose... he had a black tail, which matched well with his uniform.

Simon and his family felt chills course down their spines, knowing that the giant cutie of a hamster was the Eight Sky Province Jailor!

Within his mouth was a pocket dimension serving as the biggest prison in the province... every citizen in the realm knew that anyone entering his mouth wouldn’t see the light of day for at least a decade!

Only now did the reality of what was about to happen finally begin to sink in.

The Jailor Hamster couldn’t care less about their feelings... he opened his mouth without hurry and let his black tongue roll out flat across the ground.

Silas Targon walked onto the tongue without a sound... the rest of the family did not.

They pulled, they twisted, they screamed that this was theft, that no one had been heard, that a decades-long Noble House was being sentenced without a trial.

Alas, every frantic movement fed the bracelets, causing the gold to burn their skin off... they screamed in pain and tried to run away instinctively, but under the Bailiff’s absolute authority, none of them could take a single step away from the queue.

The Journalists kept taking pictures and videos nonstop of such a rare scene... some even went straight to livestreaming it on their News Channels, attracting the attention of tens of millions of the Eight Sky Province’s citizens in a heartbeat.

At the hamster’s mouth, Silas turned his head toward the border and opened all of his eyes... then he pushed his spiritual vision out along the valley, past the dead orchards and the borders, until it landed on House Zen’s mountainous range.

His spiritual vision captured thousands of Runehoof Kin... horned heads and hoofed feet crowding every ridge and tree atop the mountains.

They appeared as though they were watching a yearly parade.

Silas passed over them until he found Brahmin’s spiritual aura... he sneered and ignored him, as he wasn’t his target either.

He was looking for the man behind his downfall, believing that he wouldn’t miss watching the humiliation he had personally architected.

However... nothing.

His spiritual vision failed to detect him, leaving him to believe that he hadn’t bothered to come... which, surprisingly, hurt his ego even worse.

Unknown to him... he wouldn’t have been able to see Levi with his spiritual vision even if he were standing right in front of him.

Abyssal Filtrum’s ”>Abyssal Filtrum’s1passive effect... it erased Levi’s presence and spiritual aura at will. At that moment, he was actually standing right next to Brahmin, and Silas still missed him.

When Levi saw that Silas was looking for him, he decided to give him a farewell gift.

Silas’ senses picked up on it a moment before he disappeared into the Jailor’s jaw... he turned his head one last time, and that’s when he saw it.

A gigantic aetheric green grin... four hundred meters wide, hanging over his own estate’s mansion.

It appeared only for a brief moment; barely anyone saw its appearance before it disappeared... but Silas knew that he wasn’t hallucinating.

He was being taunted with the fact that his territories, his mansion, his assets... everything that was once his now fell under the ownership of the man behind that devilish grin.

Silas turned around and disappeared into the darkness... his lips curled into a smile; a cold, sinister smile.

’You won’t be grinning for long... Mr. Problem.’

Reminder: It’s the Divine Void-based Mutation Levi obtained after his evolution to the Pathfinder rank.