Read Novel Full Chapter 595: What a Waste of a Life.
Chapter 595: What a Waste of a Life.
His vision through the wisp was gone... but the connection remained, leaving Rain and the Lurker’s continuous wails resounding in his mind.
Their fused soul was a far larger meal than his mere wisp.
’Hound...’
Na’thir ignored Rain and the Lurker’s pleas for him to end their suffering, shifting his attention to the Hound, who was racing toward Levi’s location.
As their creator, he could have killed both Falseborns with a snap of his fingers... all he needed to do was recall the Shadowlife Seeds he had bestowed upon them.
This was another reason Falseborns commanded less respect than Trueborns.
Their seeds remained bound to the Mother Tree that had produced them, allowing its owner to reclaim them at will... and since those seeds were bound to their souls, a recall meant Instant Death.
Whatever strength or status they attained, their lives remained in another’s hands... which explained the universal insult used for them.
Root Slaves.
And yet, Bishop Na’thir chose to leave them screaming, condemned to such a cruel death despite everything they had done for him.
Their decades of service meant nothing now... they had failed him and, worse, made him endure such humiliation at Levi’s hands.
He had witnessed the bizarre way they were brought to Levi’s banquet and realized Jasmine had a hand in it... But he didn’t care whether it was their fault. He cared only about the outcome and the humiliation he suffered.
He allowed himself one breath to contain his fury... when he spoke again, his voice was quiet, each word carrying the weight of an ultimatum.
’Kill the boy. Right here. Right now.’
His tone hardened, stripping away any room for excuses.
’If that brat survives this... you shall be executed.’
The Hound didn’t need extra motivation, as his hatred was already guiding him to kill Seraphis’ student at any cost.
...
Meanwhile, at the head of the table, the moment Bishop Na’thir’s wisp was devoured, the crystal plate before Levi flickered.
Its surface already held several delicacies harvested from Rain and the Lurker’s fused soul. Their separate forms continued writhing in their chairs.
Thin red slices lay folded neatly over themselves, pale fibers running through them like layers of carefully cut meat.
Beside them rested translucent violet pearls, trembling pieces of clear jelly, and brittle amber wafers flecked with dark specks.
Every mouth that took a bite and swallowed had contributed something.
Through his connection to the banquet, Levi could distinguish what each portion contained.
The meat held refined traces of their physical qualities... essence his flesh could absorb to become a little stronger, a little tougher.
The violet pearls contained usable energy, while the jelly’s shifting colors concealed small portions of the Lurker’s capacity to alter its appearance.
As for the amber wafers?
Knowledge... incomplete pieces separated from what the Maw had eaten, too scattered to form an entire memory or technique.
And yet... Levi could eat them all and assimilate them!
This was the ultimate the Nine Senses Ancestral Tree had bestowed upon him through his newly evolved Taste Sense.
[Ultimate: Banquet of Endless Hunger]
Aspect: Assimilation.
[Manifests a spiritual banquet that restrains souls once they sit upon its chairs... as the Soulleech Maw devours them, the banquet refines portions of their physical qualities, energy, compatible capacities, and fragmented knowledge into delicacies. Consuming each serving allows the user to assimilate the properties it contains.
The Maw feeds on the remaining pure spiritual essence, nourishing itself and generating fuel for Aetheric Flames... when the Maw finishes consuming a soul, the table can preserve a dormant remnant wisp for the Lantern of the Lost Keeper.]
When Levi first read the ultimate’s details, he hardly believed its effects... he could almost feel the Nine Senses Ancestral Tree’s love pouring from every word.
It also showed him how much potential he had overlooked in his own arsenal.
Using his Taste Sense as the foundation, the Tree had bestowed the new Assimilation Aspect upon him and combined it with the Soulleech Maw’s predatory powers.
The Maw devoured spiritual flesh, and the banquet refined suitable portions into delicacies Levi could assimilate... all while the Maw nourished itself and gained fuel for Aetheric Flames!
While the banquet granted Levi what it refined during consumption, the Lantern preserved what remained for later extraction... memories, knowledge, soul nourishment, and, with a sufficiently high-quality wisp, even a chance to unlock an Aspect.
The Ancestral Tree had considered more than his new sense of taste... she had studied what he already possessed and shaped an ultimate that brought those abilities and mutations together!
Right now... Levi’s plate held a small feast, and yet, he had left every delicacy untouched.
He had been waiting for Na’thir’s portion.
Soon enough, a small chocolate truffle settled among the other offerings... its glossy shell decorated with a delicate curl of gold.
Naturally, the banquet drew upon Levi’s memories to give the delicacies their shapes.
Levi reached for it without hesitation and slipped it between his lips, turning a deaf ear to Rain and the Lurker’s faint whimpers.
The shell broke under his teeth, releasing warm cherry cream across his tongue... and with its sweetness came a brief, detached vision.
Bishop Na’thir sat alone upon a floating throne made from thousands of harrowing bones, his cheek resting against his knuckles.
He said nothing and did nothing.
Besides him and the throne, everything within the Inverse Sanctum was affixed upside down, defying gravity and reason.
Beneath him, an inverted chandelier was crafted from the black skulls and bones of peculiar creatures and races, with shimmering limbs floating at its center.
A single human skull crowned its tip... its glowing eyes dimly illuminated the chamber, leaving the spaces between the pillars in darkness.
Na’thir’s free hand rested loosely upon the armrest.
His gaze remained fixed on the empty hall, his expression betraying nothing of what occupied his thoughts.
For a few seconds, Levi watched him sit there.
Then, the vision ended, leaving only the rich sweetness melting over his tongue.
’...That’s it?’
He waited for a voice, a stray thought, anything that might give those few seconds meaning.
Nothing followed.
’An expected result,’ Ash’Kral said calmly. ’Such a small wisp offers little for the banquet to refine... and assimilation doesn’t extract its memories in the same way as the Lantern.’
’Still... I hoped for at least something I could use against him.’ Levi sighed, realizing that he had overestimated his luck again.
He hoped for a conversation to overhear, a scheme to uncover, or maybe... dare he wish for the location of his stolen eyes.
Alas... a pipe dream.
Devouring the Bishop’s entire soul would give the banquet far more to work with... just as Rain and the Lurker’s shared soul had filled his plate with delicacies.
Even then, useful memories weren’t guaranteed.
Or he could try capturing another of Na’thir’s wisps intact for extraction through the Lantern... a difficult matter in its own right.
’At least the bastard’s wisp tasted good.’
Levi tucked the memory fragment into the back of his mind, licking the last trace of chocolate from his lips.
Unfortunately, he understood that he didn’t have time to appreciate every delicacy.
With no hesitation, he picked up everything on the plate and stuffed it into his mouth under Rain’s fading gaze.
Barely ten percent of their joined soul remained, and their seated forms glitched uncontrollably... if it weren’t for their unnatural merger, they would have perished a long, long time ago.
Alas, the same condition that made them spiritually powerful and a pain in the ass to fight now prolonged their suffering.
As his vision started dying out, Rain understood that his final moment had arrived.
Yet, he wasn’t scared or mad.
Only relieved... so relieved that what remained of his body stopped struggling.
It was finally ending.
His bitten head tilted back against the chair, and his fading pupil caught a golden light descending in their direction.
Within it, an enormous silhouette hurtled toward the table.
The Hound.
Rain recognized him... but felt no desire to call for help.
He neither cursed Levi nor wished for the Hound to avenge him.
Instead, that golden light blurred into the distant glow of another hall.
A hall from his childhood.
One hundred children entered it.
Only he walked out.
He remembered standing among the bloody bodies, his knees trembling so badly that he could barely remain upright.
He looked from one motionless face to another, waiting for someone else to move.
No one did.
And when he finally understood what that meant... he smiled.
He won.
He was going to live.
Even now, he remembered that happiness... how eagerly he lifted his head when Bishop Na’thir approached, desperate for the man who ’saved him’ to acknowledge him.
The sole survivor.
The winner.
Rain’s ruined lips trembled.
What followed that day returned in broken flashes... the restraints, the surgical table, the orders he learned to obey before Na’thir repeated them.
The things he did to remain useful.
The people he killed.
Everything he endured, believing that surviving the next ordeal meant he won again.
And when he finally begged for nothing more than an end to his suffering?
His master left him screaming.
Na’thir heard every plea... Rain knew he did.
Through their connection, he felt the Bishop’s attention turn away while the mouths continued tearing into him.
After everything...
Not even that small mercy.
The golden light drew closer, but Rain could barely distinguish it anymore.
He saw the hall instead.
Those children lying so quietly around his feet.
He walked out to face everything that came afterward... while their suffering ended there.
For the first time, he understood how little his victory was truly worth.
’A hundred stepped in... one loser came out.’
The forked tongues tightened, drawing the last remnant of their stitched soul into a waiting mouth.
’What a waste of a life.’
Rain offered no resistance as the Soulleech Maw swallowed him and the Lurker whole... just as the Hound’s roar reached his fading consciousness.
"SERAPHIIS! FACE MEE!!"