The Glorious Evolution

Akira’s heel left his guard as the broken tiles under Levi’s knee became a smooth, glassy surface.

His injured arm gave way when he tried to rise, leaving him on one knee as enormous detonations rolled overhead!

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

In the sky, Arthur went pale as he watched his brother struggle to stand.

”Get up...” Arthur whispered.

Jojo moved closer to him, her attention fixed on the arm Levi held against his chest... those injuries seemed far worse now that he couldn’t get up.

They all knew his Dominion was false.

It had been prepared to discourage challenges... its Aspects couldn’t defeat a genuine Law, and Akira had dragged him into the very confrontation he needed to avoid.

Shia began to say something reassuring, then stopped as another eruption shook the projection... they all remembered what they had endured inside Alzhukar’s Dominion.

”This... this might be bad,” Nurah muttered.

An enormous sun hung above Levi, throwing rings of plasma across the sky with each explosion.

Akira’s Aspect Tree rose behind her, splitting into smaller branches with miniature stellar cores at every junction.

Reactions spread through its crown and descended into the roots, filling the fractures across the black-glass plain.

Levi released his False Dominion, and a second Tree emerged behind him.

Its slender golden trunk rose only a few meters... roots spread around him, pushing back the nearest fractures before stopping.

His False Dominion had claimed barely ten percent of the Rift’s territory!

Everything beyond that patch belonged to Akira. To the viewers familiar with Dominion battles, the outcome seemed certain.

Levi was a dead man.

...

Far from the celebrating spectators, Bishop Na’thir watched the same projection in the privacy of a darkened room.

He had been following Celestial’s games and studying the recordings in secret, comparing the masked Rifter with the blind boy who kept ruining his plans.

The suspicion had become difficult to dismiss after the Faction War.

Na’thir had seen Levi change his staff into a rifle and knew about his Radian bloodline. The Soulleech Maw and his abnormal aether affinity had only added to his suspicions.

Yet Celestial also possessed the powers of an Oblivar.

How could both bloodlines exist within the boy whose eyes he had stolen? He should have sensed an Oblivar’s presence during that cursed night... at least, that was what he kept telling himself.

The contradictions prevented him from confirming the connection, but he refused to dismiss it.

Today, he found himself hoping for a death more than another clue.

Celestial had survived the Borrower, defeated Burden Collector, and nearly killed Akira... if this was Levi, each victory made him more troublesome.

Now, the Rifter was struggling to stand within an enemy’s Dominion, his little golden Tree confined to a corner of her territory.

’Levi shouldn’t have a Dominion yet... is it him or not?’

”Just finish him and be done with it,” Na’thir muttered as Akira gathered more stellar energy.

Then an immense golden light filled the projection!

It washed across his face and illuminated the room. Na’thir rose, his next curse forgotten as the little Tree disappeared within the radiance!

”Huh... how?”

...

A few moments earlier, within the Rift of Binding Laws...

Akira floated above her Tree, studying the little golden one behind Levi.

”That’s your Dominion?”

Levi remained on one knee as her presence pressed against its boundary.

”I should be ashamed for taking that picture seriously.”

She gestured toward his Tree.

”Where is the one you showed everyone? Did you need an illusion to make it look impressive?”

The cores gathering around her hands began merging.

”You wanted us to avoid a Dominion battle... is that it? I knew something was off.”

Her words reached the audience, and the comparison spread through the sky and the live stream.

-Was the picture fake?-

-Look at his Tree. How could it have produced what we saw?-

Several spectators placed the earlier image beside the live projection... the difference lent weight to Akira’s accusation.

Celestial’s supporters swiftly came to his defense.

-The Celestial never lies!-

-Then where’s that Dominion?-

-Just wait and see!-

Arthur ignored the argument... defending Levi’s reputation wouldn’t keep him alive.

A quiet snicker reached Jasmine.

’You find this funny?’ she asked N’ibby.

’No...’ N’ibby doubled down. ’It’s hilarious... just watch.’

...

Levi heard Akira’s taunts, but his Sun Soul demanded his attention.

It hadn’t stopped tingling since he entered the Rift... every detonation overhead strengthened its desire to come forward.

He had never intended for matters to reach this point. His False Dominion was supposed to spare him this confrontation, yet Akira had forced it upon him.

His Sun Soul seemed delighted by her choice.

’No escaping my fate, huh?’

Levi planted his foot and pushed himself upright with a wry smile.

Pain shot through his ribs... he shifted his weight and forced himself upright, keeping his damaged arm close.

His Harmonic Spine located Akira above him.

Two enormous concentrations of stellar energy hovered over her palms. She continued feeding them, compressing more cores into each sphere as she prepared to finish what her heel had started.

Levi raised his face toward her and released a deep exhale.

”You would’ve had a better chance if you’d kept the fight outside.”

”Still bluffing?”

”Unfortunately for you... I never did.”

His cosmic voice reached the audience as his Sun Soul took the forefront. Golden inscriptions flared across his Star-Forged Skeleton, and Radian Skin spread over his body!

Sunflames erupted across his clothes, consuming the fabric as he lifted from the black glass.

He rose toward the exploding sun, freeing his injured hip from supporting his weight.

Behind him, his little golden Tree ignited!

Whooosh!

Golden flames surged through its trunk and burst from its crown... the roots pushed beyond their boundary, following the fractures that Akira had filled with stellar energy!

Levi felt each new section connect with his territory.

Her cores were already there, prepared to release their power... but when his roots reached them, they failed to answer her.

Golden fire swept through the fractures instead! Akira’s expression darkened as she sent a wave of detonations toward the advancing boundary.

And yet... his flames consumed the explosions, advancing toward her Tree!

His own trunk thickened and rose, its branches spreading through the sky while golden roots claimed more of the plain.

”What are you doing?!”

The contempt had left her voice.

Levi continued rising as sunflames gathered around him. The viewers fell silent, watching his skin take on the dark sheen of heated gold, with bright lines tracing his shoulders, arms, and torso.

A large inverted triangle blazed at the center of his chest, its white-hot interior almost impossible to distinguish from the flames... a smaller diamond shone below it.

What remained of his clothes trailed from his waist in burning strips, while his hair streamed outward through the radiance.

Golden light filled the hollows where his eyes should have been.

Through his senses, Levi followed Akira’s attempt to release the two cores in her hands... and their refusal to divide.

Even the reactions throughout her Tree had begun following the power flowing from him.

His Divine Sun Form settled around him, radiant enough to obscure the details of his face, akin to a real Radian.

The flames rising from his head joined the burning branches behind him, surrounding his figure with a crown of golden fire!

Solar radiance gathered against his skin. Within his claimed territory, it answered his authority, feeding Divine Sun Skin through his Sun Form!

Against Drayven, he had supplied the missing sunlight with Corona Tempest... enduring the agony of burning alive while his injuries healed.

This time, he felt no pain at all.

Akira had provided an entire sun, and his Dominion’s authority placed its power under his Sun Soul’s control!

His shattered ribs drew together, damaged organs recovered, and torn muscles reknitted across his arm and hip... even the lingering injuries from the Borrower and Burden Collector disappeared as the solar energy spread through him!

Levi lifted his previously injured arm and drew a full breath, feeling his chest expand freely.

By the time he opened his hand, his body had returned to peak condition.

The Sun Soul’s pride rose with his recovered strength... having to wrest these flames from her began to feel like an insult.

Akira stumbled backward, almost falling on her arse.

”No... you’re a Halfborn.”

Her own halo had dimmed until it was barely visible against his radiance.

”A Halfborn shouldn’t...”

The words failed her.

She had felt this presence once before.

...

Akira had been a child when a Radian visited the royal grounds of the Heliarch Nation.

A woman had descended before the waiting court in blinding white-gold flames, and the king knelt before she reached the ground. Akira’s parents followed him.

Akira lowered herself with them, uncertain why someone who wore no crown deserved such reverence.

Then the visitor’s aura reached her.

The Radian blood within her responded before anyone explained what she was feeling.

The woman thanked their kingdom for its loyalty to the Proud Radian Ancient Lineage and bestowed relics containing power the Heliarchs couldn’t reproduce.

Her parents spoke about those gifts for years... the kingdom turned the visit’s anniversary into a day of worship.

Serving the Radians was the reason their kingdom existed... they preserved the Ancient Lineage’s legacy, followed its will, and opposed anything threatening its return.

Akira had sworn to fulfill that duty with her power, her blood, and her final breath.

The Oblivars were among the enemies she had been taught to despise.

Yet the man before her possessed their power... and his presence demanded even greater reverence than that visitor’s!

...

Levi sensed Akira descend until her feet touched the remaining glass.

Her cores continued resisting her commands. She forced more energy into them, trying to restore the rhythm that had sustained her Dominion, but his flames had already reached the roots of her Tree.

”What are you?!”

He had no intention of explaining himself... the power she worshipped answered him, and that should have been enough of an answer.

”You dared raise a sun against me?” Levi pointed toward her, his voice resounding across the burning plain with undisguised arrogance. ”Then watch it bow.”

Fwish!

A narrow golden ray struck her chest, entering the connections between her body and the Dominion!

Levi followed them through the Tree and toward the parent sun. Its energy had supplied everything she created within the Rift... now, the same network joined it to his expanding territory!

”Descend.”

The explosions overhead ceased... and the sun began falling from the high heavens!

”No! THIS IS MY DOMINION!”

Akira poured her remaining power into the descending sun, forcing her authority against Levi’s!

It didn’t slow.

The star continued answering him... and only him.

Then it struck her Tree!

KA-BOOOOOM!!

The highest branches shattered against its surface, releasing hundreds of daughter cores that detonated throughout the crown!

Akira tried to sever them... alas, she had already lost control of her Dominion.

The sun drove through the burning canopy and smashed into the trunk, splitting it down to the roots!

Golden plasma flooded the fractures across the plain as the black glass erupted around her... Akira launched herself into the air, barely escaping the first blast.

Levi sensed the next burst gathering inside her legs... and suppressed it with a snap of his fingers.

Her acceleration stopped... but the sun didn’t.

”NOOOOOO!!”

Akira held her restored arm in front of the approaching inferno, releasing every core she had left!

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Her explosions disappeared against its surface.

A heartbeat later, so did she.

KA-BOOOOOOM!!

The sun smashed through the remains of her Tree and struck the plain, tearing its roots from the glass as the entire Dominion fractured behind a blinding light.

Unharmed, Levi felt Akira’s presence vanish.

His flames closed around him while the destruction consumed everything beyond them... then the Rift released its surviving occupant, declaring the winner.

The ruined throne chamber returned within range of his Harmonic Spine... Levi hovered above it, fully healed, with dried blood still marking his lips.

Only then did he lower his hand under the venue’s stilled silence.