The Glorious Evolution

Levi reached into his inventory and withdrew a small silver mirror... Mournful Spirit tilted her head as he turned its surface toward her, her ghostly appearence reflected in the mirror.

’Replication Tool... Usurper’s Passage.’

He crushed the mirror.

The fragments gathered between his fingers, forming the image of the black ticket she had used moments earlier.

[Replication Tool Activated.]

[Replicate one Tool effect used during the current Freedom Round and choose your own target. All conditions of the original effect remain in force.]

”Akira.”

The copied ticket burned away, opening another doorway of black light.

Akira’s expression turned ice-cold as Levi stepped toward it.

He hadn’t gambled on whether the Taxman’s unexplained protection could interfere. Mournful Spirit had already demonstrated that Usurper’s Passage could reach Akira’s tile without triggering her shield!

Levi was simply following a route that had already worked... with the same condition attached. ℯℯ𝘭.

Reaching the carpet wouldn’t make its position his... the copied Tool still demanded Akira’s elimination to secure it.

Yet, Levi stepped through the gate anyway; his foot landed on the golden crown at the center of the carpet, dozens of meters from the other three.

[Mandatory Battle Updated.]

[Participants: Akira Sol / The Taxman / Mournful Spirit / Three-Body Problem.]

[Four Rifters admitted... Temporary alliances are permitted within the Throne Chamber. Victory remains individual.

[Only one Rifter may ascend the Throne.]

Gamble stared at the announcement for half a breath.

Then he threw his head back and laughed so loudly that the sound drowned out the spectators!

”FOUR! FOUR RIFTERS ON THE THRONE CHAMBER’S CARPET! BELIEVE ME, NONE OF THIS IS SCRIPTED!”

Arthur hadn’t finished reading the names when Jojo grabbed his shoulder and shook him senseless.

”He made it!”

Her relief lasted for a moment until she looked back at the three people waiting for him and their overwhelming, unique spiritual auras.

”Shit... He actually went in there...”

Neither Arthur nor the girls knew how to feel about this... Levi was no longer stranded behind the leaders... he was standing within striking distance of all of them, and he was going to fight them all!

Shia’s gaze settled on Akira while Nurah watched the Taxman’s briefcase... feeling like they had yet to see the full dreadfulness of that peculiar briefcase.

Meanwhile, Jasmine remained silent as always, speaking privately to N’ibby.

’I trust his decisions, but I still don’t know if this is good for him.’

Levi had no true Dominion... In a battle against three other Barons, there were three possible sources of the one threat she least wanted him to face... and with the Throne waiting behind them, none had any more reason to hold back.

’It is risky,’ N’ibby replied. ’But he knew who was waiting before he used that Tool.’

’Knowing doesn’t make it safe.’

’No... but Levi has never needed safe odds to act. If he chose to join them, he believes he can win or has a high chance at least.’

Jasmine watched him stand on the carpet, hoping that his confidence was justified.

Mournful Spirit’s attention had already settled entirely on Levi.

”How fortunate.”

Her lips curved into an awkward, unsettling smile, as though she were trying to imitate an expression she had rarely used.

”Perhaps we can finally play together.”

A chill ran down Levi’s spine... she had somehow made an invitation sound like a haunting.

This time, however, he gave her a slight nod... using her assistance was within his strategy to win this battle-royal of four.

Akira was out of the question as a partner, and the Taxman was too dangerous to trust at his side... Mournful Spirit, at least, had made her preference clear.

Besides, he had already heard enough of her music to understand how useful it could be beside his own.

Her awkward smile widened when she noticed his response.

The Taxman’s eyes moved between them, and he quietly adjusted his position... Akira noticed as well, though she showed no inclination to exchange pleasantries with her nearest potential ally.

Nocturnal Ring’s rule prohibited alliances or partnerships unless it was explicitly added by the Gamemasters in their games.

Gamble added the rule to the Throne Chamber, understanding that there was a small chance of more than three Rifters landing on it.

Instead of keeping it as a chaotic battle royale, he prefered splitting the Rifters since it was a rarer sight in the ring than a chaotic battle.

Gamble was pulling all stops for this game’s entertainment to ensure his promotion!

While Levi and Mournful Spirit established their alliance with a mere glance, Akira arrogantly rejected the Taxman’s olive branch... her pride was too big to accept someone else’s assistance.

The fact that Levi had agreed to an alliance made her scoff in disgust.

”Half-Radian my ass... I knew from the start, you’re an abomination undeserving of the Radian’s honorable bloodline.”

Aired again... Levi treaded her jabs akin to pokes with ear picks.

”Bad Penny!” Gamble suddenly called, turning toward the cage on the seventy-second tile. ”Would you like to make it five?”

’Fuck off.’

Bad Penny showed him the middle finger from behind the bars, already too pissed off... His Tools were locked, and his next two dice turns were forfeit... the rodent knew exactly how little choice he had and rubbed salt in his wounds.

”I love you, too.” Gamble chuckled at the middle finger and refocused on the main event. ”Then let’s give our four guests a proper room!”

A deep rumble interrupted the spectators.

The ninety-ninth tile lifted off the board, slowly turning until its carpet aligned with the broad steps leading to the Throne.

Dark stone formed along its edges, spreading outward in polished slabs. The space around the Rifters became a vast floor, and columns rose in two enormous rows. Their weight settled into the new foundation with a succession of heavy tremors.

Golden figures covered the columns, kneeling toward the seat at the far end. Walls closed around the hall, their formation sending heavy echoes through the chamber.

Levi remained still as each new surface was mapped by his Harmonic Spine.

The open board had offered nowhere to hide. Now columns broke the space into lanes, with broad gaps between them and enough room beyond the carpet to maneuver.

Cover against a direct attack... obstacles if someone managed to corner him.

The Throne remained on its raised platform. A transparent barrier formed across its approach, separating the prize from the four Rifters who had finally reached it.

[Hidden Battlefield: Throne Chamber.]

[Ascension Locked — Battle Pending.]

The floor moved under their feet, shifting each Rifter toward a different corner of the chamber.

Levi let it reposition him while tracking the others... his brief proximity to Mournful Spirit disappeared, but the understanding between them remained... Across the widening distance, she kept her head turned toward him.

The red carpet ran through the center of the hall, from the sealed entrance to the Throne’s steps.

’Fitting...’

Levi summoned the Judgement Chainstaff and closed his fingers around it.

Akira stood at the far end, the Throne behind her. A few moments ago, she had been one step from winning without a fight. Now the room placed every obstacle to her victory directly in front of her.

The golden fissures across her skin brightened while the Taxman set his briefcase at his side, one hand resting on its handle.

Gamble’s laughter faded from the chamber.

”Rifters! You’ve all reached the Throne’s doorstep... now show us who deserves to ascend it!”

A deep gong reverberated through the hall.

The barrier around the Throne brightened. Akira lowered her stance, the Taxman straightened his tie, and Mournful Spirit poised her fingers over the strings of her biwa.

Levi’s grip settled around the Chainstaff’s central section.

Then, all four unleashed their spiritual auras!

Behind Akira, golden radiance erupted into a colossal figure crowned with blazing suns... more ignited within its chest and limbs, swelling until they burst apart, only for fresh stars to form within the explosions.

Its entire body blazed through an endless cycle of stellar destruction, outlining her against a radiance almost painful to watch!

Across the carpet, an ocean of ghosts poured from Mournful Spirit’s aura.

Countless pale figures drifted over one another, their mouths open in silent lamentation... then, the entire ocean rose, gathering into an enormous likeness of her.

Ghosts formed every fold of its robes and every strand of its trailing hair, their faces briefly surfacing before sinking back into the multitude.

The Taxman’s manifestation was solemn, but no less imposing.

Streams of multicolored energy flattened into countless paper slips, each covered in luminous inscriptions... they swept upward in ordered currents, assembling a towering figure whose body continually unfolded and reformed.

Its immense hands remained open at its sides while fresh slips passed between its fingers, as though the energies of the universe were merely accounts awaiting collection.

Yet, when Levi’s aura took shape, even those three manifestations seemed to have acquired an unwelcome spectator.

A colossal likeness of Ash’Kral rose behind him.

Long, pointed ears crowned its head, framing sharp, foxlike features and a pair of cold, half-lidded eyes.

Crimson fur flowed across its chest, golden light traced its shoulders and limbs, and abyssal black swept along its back... the three colors remained distinct even as they coursed through its enormous form.

A broad scarf of aetheric green light circled its neck, its loose ends drifting high behind its shoulders in slow, weightless coils.

Ash’Kral’s manifestation lifted its chin.

Then, its narrow gaze lowered toward the suns, the ghosts, and the endless procession of paper slips.

There was no snarl on its face... only a cold arrogance that made the other manifestations appear to be standing before something far older than themselves.

”RIFTERS!” Gamemaster Gamble roared with his head bent backward, ”FIIIIIIGHT!”