The Glorious Evolution

BOOOOOOM!!

The Hound crashed into the pit, and green flames swallowed his enormous body at once!

He tried to get up, but his body jerked violently, slamming his forehead into the dirt before he could lift his chest.

Arghhh!!!

His voice cracked as he screamed through his muzzle; the agony of the soul-burning flames was simply unbearable!

Levi held the staff firmly against the thrashing chain, like a lion tamer keeping a raging beast under control with a leash!

The wound in the Hound’s thigh healed around the staff’s crown still stuck inside it... But it did nothing to help him.

His thick flesh and muscles couldn’t protect him from the flames.

Seeing this, Levi recalled the pain that had left him incapable of holding on to a single thought.

Yet, listening to those agonizing screams didn’t leave him with an ounce of sympathy... satisfaction filled his beating heart, and he had no intention of hiding it.

At Mountain Thurnak, that same voice had left him terrified and frozen solid... he remembered his classmate Selene’s blood splashing on their faces, the Hound killing her before any of them could react.

”Anyone who moves... dies.”

Then, his sinister tone left Levi, Arthur, and the rest of the Daywalkers frozen in their positions, not daring to move an inch lest they suffer Selene’s fate.

If it hadn’t been for Seraphis standing alone against the Hound that day, Levi’s story would have ended right there... on his first-ever expedition.

He remembered Seraphis’s willingness to sacrifice not just his life, but his own Aspect Fruit and soul to keep the Hound trapped... all for students he had taught for no more than a few months.

Now, the same monster that had put unspeakable dread in Levi’s heart was wailing at the top of his lungs, his eyes bloodshot, saliva spraying everywhere... his body and mind utterly crippled by the agony.

The Hound forced his left knee forward, trying to push himself out of the flames.

”You moved,” Levi uttered emotionlessly as he hauled the staff sideways, dragging the Hound’s wounded right leg across the dirt and throwing him back into the heart of the flames!

”AAAAARGHH!!”

”Stay still... You remember the rule, right?”

Levi waited as the Hound raised his head toward him... his muzzle opened, but the words collapsed into another scream.

He wanted the Hound to recognize him... to remember one of the students who could only stand there while Seraphis fought to keep them alive.

But the giant might not be the only one listening... or watching.

After going to such trouble to lure Levi out, would Bishop Na’thir really leave his strongest servants unsupervised yet again?

Levi doubted it... Darius had used a wisp to take over Demetris, and he wouldn’t be surprised if the Bishop had left one inside the Hound to watch this mission.

”You wanted me to show up, Na’thir...” Levi kept the chain taut as the Hound thrashed and added emotionlessly, ”Go on... tell him what to do.”

”...”

Through the wisp inside his servant’s Spiritual Leywell, Bishop Na’thir stared at the boy in silence.

The same boy whose eyes he had ripped out of their sockets before leaving him to turn into a Sleepwalker.

He had murdered Levi’s parents in front of him... then called leaving him alive an act of mercy.

Their deaths had meant little to Na’thir beyond obtaining the treasure he wanted. He left that night satisfied, giving little thought to the child whose entire life he had ruined.

Yet, now, every scream from the Hound reminded him that the boy had survived... he had grown stronger, remembered everything, and finally gained enough power to return the favor to one of his own loyal dogs.

Na’thir recognized the satisfaction in his expression even when Levi tried his best to hide it... the satisfaction of revenge tasted too sweet.

He knew that warmth in the chest, that reluctance to let an enemy die before they understood why they were suffering... he had savored it himself once.

Yet, what disturbed him was seeing it directed at himself while his strongest servant writhed at the end of a chain.

A feeling... too unfamiliar.

’Larson...’

Utterly heated, he dug his fingers into the armrest.

He stared at Levi through the crackling green flames, searching for something of the helpless child he remembered... yet he couldn’t recognize him at all.

A long, forked tongue slipped past Levi’s lips, curling through the fire until green flames clung to its length.

More danced through the purplish strands of his hair, lighting the tiny sinister smile that deepened whenever the Hound screamed.

For a moment, Na’thir felt as though he were watching a demon wearing the boy’s face.

As he listened to the Hound’s screams and stared at Levi’s expression... he knew, oh, he knew...

That cursed night... he hadn’t given birth to a Sleepwalker.

But a monster.

A monster, who wouldn’t rest until the day he would put him inside the same Aetheric Furnace.

”Get up and kill him!!”

Na’thir’s livid order reached the Hound directly, but the giant barely managed to lift his chest before Levi pulled his wounded leg sideways, throwing him back into the flames!

Another agonized scream drowned out the Bishop’s next words.

And Levi was enjoying it.

”You should have kept your dogs on a leash... now, enjoy the show for me.”

Crack!

A fracture spread under Na’thir’s fingers... the little demon knew he was watching, knew he couldn’t set foot on this planet even if he wanted to... and was making sure he witnessed every second of it!

Meanwhile, Levi wanted to stay long enough to listen to the Hound’s agonizing symphony... but Idriss was still in Fang’s hands, and this was a rescue mission at heart.

He hadn’t planned all of this to deal with the Hound solo and leave the other two monsters to Jasmine and Shia.

Despite their strength, there was absolutely no chance they could win against them alone and save Idriss at the same time.

Keeping the staff braced against his hip, Levi retrieved a Grade B Fourfold Binding Totem from his storage and began reciting its activation incantation.

”Fourfold chains, coil and bind... leave no path for him to find!”

He had purchased it from the Infinity Shop’s prize list for this part of the plan... it was the best imprisonment tool he could obtain on such short notice to keep the Hound trapped while he returned to help the girls rescue Idriss.

Levi doubted the totem alone could restrain the giant for long, but with Aetheric Flames burning his soul, breaking free would be nearly impossible... he had experienced the pain firsthand and understood that being strong-willed wasn’t enough.

If it were up to him, he would kill the Hound right now, right here... but Seraphis’s Pride Fruit still hung from the Hound’s Dominion Tree.

Killing the Hound would ruin Levi’s chance of recovering it through the spiritual trial forever.

As the final words left his lips, the totem rose above the Hound and released four lines of light toward the pit’s walls.

Symbols spread from each point, joining into a golden hex array around the burning giant!

Cling! Cling!...

Four golden chains plunged through the flames... two crossed his torso, pinning his strapped arms against his sides, while the others wrapped around his legs.

Their ends fastened to the array and pulled him flat against the ground before he could twist free.

The Hound threw his head back and roared, forcing the bindings to tighten around him.

Seeing this, Levi gradually loosened his weapon’s chain, waiting through another convulsion to make sure the bindings held without his help.

Only then did he desummon the Judgement’s Chainstaff.

”Hang tight... I still have some unfinished business with you.”

Levi’s indifferent voice reached the Hound’s ears, but he barely registered any of it... His mind processed nothing but pain, pain, and more pain.

’He’s restrained... start phase two.’

Levi sent the message to Jasmine and Shia while using Aetheric Grasp to lift himself toward the pit’s rim.

’Ready,’ Jasmine replied.

’Shia, get your father through the escape portal... don’t stop to fight.’

’I know.’

Shia nodded with a stern expression, her heart beating rapidly... Levi’s plan focused on getting Idriss beyond the spatial jammer’s range, where he could use his own free teleportation to reach his little island in the Boundless Expanse.

They only needed to separate him from Fang long enough to get him through the portal... but that was simpler on paper.

Fang hadn’t spent their absence staring at the spot where the Hound vanished, doing nothing.

The moment the portal closed, he looped his weapon’s chain around Idriss’s neck, tightening it just enough to keep him alive and at a distance, yet firmly within his grasp.

Shortly afterward, the golden castle collapsed around them... the agony inside the burning pit had broken the Hound’s control over the power sustaining it.

Its towers and walls dissolved into fading light, leaving them exposed in the ruined forest.

Fang was trying to contact the Hound when Na’thir’s voice reached both elites.

’The Hound is trapped inside a pit of Aetheric Flames... the brat has restrained him with an imprisonment array.’

’Crazy...’

Fang’s expression turned grim at the news... he knew those damned flames were terrifying, but he hadn’t expected the Hound to be taken out of the fight this quickly!

’Go free him now!’ Na’thir ordered through his gritted teeth.