The Glorious Evolution

Through the spiritual connections linking his three wisps, Na’thir determined the Hound’s position relative to the other two and gave them the direction and distance.

’Lunar Blood Pack!’

Fang dragged Idriss behind him while summoning giant, muscular blood wolves around them, their paws striking the dirt before they scattered between the crimson trees.

Some raced ahead to clear their route, while the others guarded their flanks and circled the hostage... they had no clue who Levi had brought with him besides Jasmine, and they had no intention of underestimating him.

The Hound’s current fate had burned itself into their memories.

”Watch for another portal!”

Fang warned Rain while keeping the chain firmly in his grasp.

He had no intention of letting Levi pull the same trick on him, especially when he now knew the Burning Hell waited on the other side.

Rain unsheathed his katana and moved several paces ahead, concealing their movement with an illusion while leaving false figures at their previous position.

Meanwhile, Levi followed their real spiritual auras through his aetheric vision, ignoring the figures Rain left behind.

Their direction left little doubt about their intention... they were heading straight toward the burning pit!

’He told them where to go...’ Levi frowned. ’He is using his wisps to get involved.’

’You sure have pissed him off,’ the Titan said.

’So be it.’

Levi didn’t care much about that... whether he taunted Na’thir or not, he knew that the Bishop wouldn’t stay idle as he made a mess of his three loyal dogs.

Soon, an inked portal opened some distance from the Burning Pit, out of Na’thir’s view to avoid revealing Levi’s next move... he stepped through and emerged hundreds of meters from Fang and Rain.

Rain swiftly picked up on the faint spatial disturbance, snapping his head in that direction... but then he frowned in confusion, finding no spiritual presence near the opening before it closed.

’Is it a distraction portal?’

He updated Fang about the situation.

Meanwhile, Levi’s Abyssal Filtrum Mutation concealed his presence perfectly as he moved away from the closed portal, keeping his spiritual aura suppressed and his blood flow steady while following their approach through his Harmonic Spine.

His mutation might keep him hidden, but the same didn’t apply to his interaction with the environment.

So, he kept a low profile as he got dangerously close to these two and the helpless hostage.

’Sir Idriss... look behind you... We will be saving you soon; be prepared.’

Levi sent a dimensional message to Idriss, who was still confused by the whole situation... but when he heard Levi’s voice, he forced himself to focus through the pain in his neck, glancing behind him.

That’s when he saw him... peeking from behind a tree with a calm expression, like he wasn’t standing merely dozens of meters away!

’You... are you really here... Levi, I can’t sense you.’

He soon realized that he could see Levi with his eyes, but nothing else picked up on his existence, as if he were a mere mirage.

’You will find out soon enough... be ready.’

Whoosh! Whoosh!...

The moment this message reached Idriss, hundreds of Levi’s figures appeared throughout the crimson forest, spawning around them in puffs of smoke like a certain ninja unleashing his shadow-cloning jutsu!

Some rushed between the trees with their staffs raised, while others emerged from the sky... each possessed a spiritual aura matching Levi’s, making it impossible to dismiss any of them without checking!

Fang stopped and pulled Idriss closer as the nearest figures charged at them.

His pack of blood wolves intercepted the first wave, snapping through bodies that dissolved around their jaws, but more figures followed before they could turn toward another target!

”Rain, find the real one!”

”Shush!”

Rain was already searching... he examined the figures approaching Fang, then those closing in around himself, trying to find the real one among the false presences.

He knew what to look for... yet, every image he inspected proved to be an illusion, even the ones that hung back while the others attacked.

The real Levi remained behind the broken trees, with no spiritual aura for Rain to discover... and as the wolves chased his images, creating a chaotic battle scene, Jasmine opened another portal some distance behind Fang.

Both girls slipped through under their anti-detection totems’ concealment... Jasmine stopped where she had a clear view of him, while Shia crouched beside her, waiting for Levi to free her father.

Rain sensed the portal’s disturbance, but his spiritual sweep found no new presence... he dismissed it as another distraction while searching the approaching figures.

”Well?!” Fang demanded, sending another wolf through a figure that approached Idriss.

”They’re all fake!”

”Then where the fuck is he?!”

Rain gave him no answer, and Fang couldn’t accept that... he knew Levi had to be hiding among them, waiting for his chance to reach Idriss.

So, he hauled the chain backward, tightening it around the injured man’s neck until he struggled for breath.

”Show yourself, boy! Or I’m taking his head off!”

Levi followed the movement through his spiritual vision, but he held his position until Jasmine’s message reached him.

’I’m ready.’

Only then did he swiftly weave through the pack of blood wolves, using his charging images to cover his approach.

Fang tried to pull the chain again... but the arm holding it refused to move!

He put his strength behind it, only to discover that his shoulders and legs wouldn’t obey him either.

His body seemed frozen solid... until his hand moved forward on its own, loosening the chain around Idriss’s neck on its own!

’What the hell?!’

He fought to close his fingers, but they kept feeding the links forward as his other hand reached for the loop.

Then, two familiar scents reached his nose... scents he remembered from the Faction Event.

Jasmine and Shia!

Their totems still concealed their presence, but his nose picked them out now that they were this close... his eyes followed the scent toward the trees, finding Jasmine several tens of meters away, crouching on top of a tree’s branch while painting rapidly.

Her brush moved across a drawing of him, tracing the movements his hands were making against his will!

She altered the angle of his wrist, and Fang watched his own turn with it... Before he could fight the control, someone caught the loosened chain beside him.

Levi!

He was already within arm’s reach, yet Fang still couldn’t sense a trace of his presence!

Levi swiftly lifted the loop over Idriss’s head while Jasmine forced Fang’s fingers apart, releasing the remaining links.

He knew she couldn’t keep Fang under her control for long... Idriss had to be out of his reach before that happened!

The injured man’s knees buckled, but Levi caught him with Aetheric Grasp and swept his arm toward Shia, hurling him between the crimson trees!

”Catch him!” he shouted.

With a frozen, ugly grimace, Fang tried to reach after his escaping hostage, but Jasmine’s brush forced his arm back down... she didn’t care how much energy she was going to expend as long as Fang remained under her painting’s control!

If she could erase someone from a reality through her painting, she could naturally control their movement too, like a puppeteer!

However, Rain wasn’t under her control... and he didn’t hesitate to attack Levi, who was finally within his reach!

Idriss had only been a tool to lure the boy out... now that Levi stood so close, Rain couldn’t care less where the hostage landed!

He lunged toward him with his katana as dreadful spiritual pressure surging around his blade.

Levi summoned his staff, ignited its crown, and swept it toward Rain’s chest, forcing him to abandon the strike and scatter his human projection into crimson mist.

But instead of retreating, the mist rushed straight at him!

Scarlet Noctem Arts:Dread Ascension!

An enormous, translucent hyena’s head surged out of the mist, its jaws opening around Levi before he could pull the burning crown back!

’Shit!’

Levi twisted the staff, trying to drag the flames into its path... but the teeth passed through the unlit shaft and closed around his body, biting directly into his subconscious barrier!

Crack!!

”Argh!”

The pain pierced through his consciousness, ruining his control over the weapon... his knees bent against his will, and the burning green staff struck the dirt beside him.

’FINISH HIM!’

Na’thir howled in Rain’s ears, and Rain delivered.

The enormous hyena’s head dissolved into crimson mist that poured into Rain’s katana while his human projection reformed directly in front of Levi.

Dread Ascension hadn’t ended!

Dark, distorted faces writhed along the blade, their mouths open in terrified screams that echoed directly inside Levi’s wounded soul as the katana swung toward his exposed chest!

For an instant, he felt certain that moving would only make the blade cut deeper... even though it hadn’t touched him yet.

Levi forced his body sideways, fighting through that unnatural dread... but he was a moment too late.

SLAASH!

The empowered blade sliced through his barriers and slashed across his chest, hurling him backward as blood sprayed over the crimson leaves!

At that same moment, Shia spread her sticky blood into a net to catch her father... it clung to his torso and legs, slowing him enough for her to draw him into her arms.

’I’ve got him!’

BOOM!!

Before her relieved message reached Levi, his back slammed into a tree trunk, breaking it under the impact!

Shia looked past her father’s shoulder just as Levi vanished through the falling branches... his burning staff tumbling after him...