The Glorious Evolution

A few minutes before the call, at the former Targon territory...

Levi sat atop the Graveyard Drifter’s enormous head, one leg bent in front of him as he examined the park’s preliminary design on a dimensional screen.

He had arranged for the hollowed Leviathan carcass to be delivered through the Green Freight Line and placed on the land reserved for the park.

With the designer now taking measurements directly from it, they could finally work out how the proposed paths, entrances, and viewing platforms would fit around an actual exhibit.

The amusement games would be designed around the beasts, but none would take place inside their bodies.

Some respect had to be shown for the fallen Leviathans and the bloodlines connected to them... Levi didn’t want to get his ass sued.

After all, displaying a Leviathan’s carcass as a magnificent creature worth studying was one thing. Turning its skull into a playground or its rib cage into an obstacle course was another matter entirely.

One emphasized the creature’s grandeur... the other reduced it to a toy.

Besides, the carcasses didn’t need people running through their organs to be entertaining. Their sheer size was already an attraction.

Visitors could stand beside a claw larger than themselves, climb a viewing platform to face an enormous head, or follow a path along a body that seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance.

That was the balance Levi wanted... let the exhibits inspire awe, and let the games provide the fun.

Below him, the man called for another measurement. A section of the model shifted, widening the space between the Drifter’s body and the nearest proposed building.

Levi checked the revised layout, then returned to the entrance leading through the beast’s mouth.

’Arthur will be pleased... assuming he doesn’t ask me to turn the tongue into a slide.’

He was about to ask how much of the interior visitors would be able to enter when a call interrupted him.

Velmira?

Levi set the design aside and accepted.

”Miss Velmira? To what do I owe the pleasure?”

A siren answered him first.

The scene on the screen made his faint smile disappear. Jamal, Sergio, and Rayan stood beside Velmira, their clothes covered in dust, while officers guided wounded citizens past them.

”What’s happening?”

”Levi, it’s Sergio... Heliodor was attacked. Stygian Gates opened across the capital and some of the settlements.”

Levi straightened on the Drifter’s head, the unfinished park design forgotten.

”Are you hurt? Where are you now?”

”At an evacuation post. We’re all fine,” Sergio answered.

Shia joined the call and immediately asked about her mother. Once Jamal assured her that Naima was still directing the rescue efforts, she disconnected to reach Naima directly.

Levi sent a warning to Arthur, Nurah, Jojo, and Jasmine, then returned his attention to the three.

”Tell me what happened.”

Unfortunately, his friends knew little beyond what had happened in the district where they had helped Naima... Levi asked them to remain with the evacuation teams, thanked Velmira for connecting them, and ended the call once they had confirmed that the fighting nearby had stopped.

Levi told the designer to continue taking measurements and postpone their discussion. Then, still seated on the Drifter’s head, he contacted the High Chancellor.

High Chancellor Valemont answered while someone beside him was reporting on the damaged water supply... he finished issuing his instructions before addressing Levi.

”I take it your friends have reached you.” He sighed, clearly not wanting Levi or the others to worry themselves over this and cause them to lose focus.

”Yes, Chancellor. They said a settlement fell... which one?” Levi frowned.

”Ameur Settlement... we lost its governor as well. The capital is under our control, but rescue operations are still ongoing.”

Levi’s expression grew solemn.

He had met the governors during the Council runs, accepted their support, and listened to them discuss what his team could accomplish for Heliodor... they were politicians, but they were also Solarbound Daywalkers who had sworn to live and die for their Holy Region.

To lose one was a grave hit to their region’s stability.

”How many casualties?”

”Hundreds confirmed... we’re still finding people.”

Still finding people... finding them alive was another matter entirely.

”Send me the recordings, please.”

Valemont studied him through the connection... He had no intention of recalling Levi and his friends to defend the Region, but leaving him with unanswered questions might send him rushing home regardless.

’As long as you remain over there.’

The High Chancellor authorized the transfer... Several files appeared beside the call, including recovered street footage, recordings from responding Daywalkers, and the confrontation at the storage hall.

”The investigation is ongoing,” Valemont told him. ”If you recognize anything useful, send it to Ysara.”

”I will. Thank you, Chancellor.”

An incoming emergency report required Valemont’s attention, and he ended the call.

Levi skimmed through the recordings, passing over the damaged buildings until he reached the reports of the attack itself.

The explosions had crippled the lighting network, allowing Stygian Gates to open across the damaged districts. Then, the black canopy had cut off the sunlight, giving the nightcrawlers free rein until the agencies and government squads contained them.

The capital had survived, but its streets were ruined and its shelters overflowing.

Levi moved on to the storage hall recording... then stopped.

A blood-red werewolf stood beside the Vile Totem, swinging two chained fangs through Hicham’s attacks.

Fang.

Levi’s expression turned cold at once... He let the recording continue just long enough to confirm the familiar voice, listening to Fang laugh while the city suffered around him.

’Na’thir... was this meant to bring me back?’

He had suspected the Bishop from the moment he learned how severe the attack had been... Fang’s presence made it much harder to dismiss.

Without Levi, what interest would Na’thir have in Heliodor that he couldn’t satisfy in any of the other Holy Regions across the continent? Darius’s downfall had given him another reason to resent them, but even that led back to Levi.

’If he’s behind this, something has made him desperate,’ Ash’Kral remarked.

’The Board Game.’

Levi reached the answer almost at once... he already had a feeling that the Bishop had connected him to Celestial.

He had changed his weapons’ appearances and avoided using certain powers in the Ring, including the Soulleech Maw. Yet, he knew those precautions could only make the connection harder to establish... they could never eliminate suspicion.

’He watched me use a Dominion to kill Akira... and decided he couldn’t wait any longer.’

’What he believes was a Dominion,’ Ash’Kral corrected.

’And he has seen how quickly you’re growing,’ the Titan added. ’Whatever he wanted from you before, he may no longer believe he can afford to wait.’

Levi paused the recording on Fang’s maddening expression as he unleashed hell upon his home... his blood boiled in anger as he could tell that the fucker genuinely enjoyed the chaos, death, and destruction.

Levi always knew that his entanglement with Bishop Na’thir was going to cause harm to those closest to him... but he didn’t expect him to go as far as targeting an entire region to lure him out, knowing that such attacks were bound to affect the unofficial treaty between the Conquerors and Saviors one way or another.

’This may be nothing more than an appetizer, boy,’ Ash’Kral replied coldly. ’He’s already willing to slaughter hundreds to provoke you. If this doesn’t work, he’ll have no reason to spare the next settlement.’

’He’ll keep going until I’m dead or in his hands.’ Levi gritted his teeth.

’Most likely,’ the Titan answered. ’Which is why you need to figure out what he has prepared against you before you return.’

Levi wanted the Hound, Fang, Rain, and Na’thir’s entire empire utterly ruined... but even Hicham and Ysara together hadn’t managed to finish Fang. Returning without understanding the Bishop’s preparations would only make his task easier.

He saved the recording and contacted Dominic.

Before making another move, he needed to know what help Heliodor could expect from their own people.