The Glorious Evolution

Chapter 596: Pyre of Lost Souls.

’Seraphis? Did he lose it?’

Hearing the shout, Levi lifted his head in confusion at the sight of the Hound plunging toward him with a knee blazing with golden light!

Whoosh!

The pressure reached the forest before he did... branches bent beneath them, their leaves shuddering as his enormous figure descended toward the head of the table!

But Levi dismissed it and threw himself sideways before the delicacies could finish their assimilation.

The banquet dissolved into purple spiritual particles just as the golden knee pierced through the space he had occupied!

BOOOOOOM!!

The Hound smashed into the ground below, sending a thunderous eruption of earth and shattered rock above the canopy!

A thick cloud of dust swallowed the crater amidst the destruction of the forest... and yet, before it could settle, a crimson-and-golden spiritual aura shot out of its depths!

Levi sensed it rushing toward him, and still he allowed it to reach his subconscious barrier without putting any spiritual shields in the way.

The moment it touched, the Hound’s Dominion challenge followed.

And Levi was forced to accept it without a choice... both of them blinked out of this realm and were thrown into the Rift of Binding Laws.

This was exactly what Levi wanted from the start... with the Academy’s reinforcements on their way, he had no intention of wasting more time fighting the Hound outside.

Almost immediately, the Hound’s spiritual Tree was born amidst the raging dust cloud... its appearance matched the one Levi was currently scanning inside the Rift.

Its thick crimson trunk stood tall and straight, with golden lines running through its bark and blood flowing between them.

Its branches formed a huge crown, covered in golden leaves shaped like faces... their chins raised proudly, their mouths open in silent screams as bloody tears ran down their cheeks.

Its appearance was unique and twisted, as if it merged two Aspects that had nothing to do with each other... in this case: Slaughter and Pride.

The rest of the Dominion shared the same ominous but regal vibe as Levi found himself standing at the far end of the other side of the Rift, on top of an ocean of blood.

Small ripples spread beneath his soles, disturbing the bloated corpses drifting just below the surface.

Farther away, others floated with their faces exposed, their rotting bodies turning slowly with the current.

The stench of iron and decay assaulted his nose nonstop, but he ignored it, his Harmonic Spine sweeping across the corpses before settling on the golden throne standing amid that endless bloody expanse.

The lunatic Hound from before sat upon it... His head was adorned with a crown as he gripped the armrests.

While his gaze remained fixed on Levi, some of the frenzy had receded from it.

He no longer appeared moments away from throwing himself forward while screaming Seraphis’s name.

A measure of rationality had returned.

This didn’t surprise Levi as much, as he knew that within a Dominion, the governing Laws influenced more than the surroundings... they also affected the personas of the entities within it.

In the Hound’s case, the Pride Aspect would never let him remain a crazy buffoon under its authority.

’As expected... his Seed merged Seraphis’s knowledge with its own during the evolution,’ Levi remarked solemnly. ’His Dominion grew in authority and size too.’

Ash’Kral nodded in agreement.

He knew that beyond Solarbound rank, external evolutionary knowledge gradually became more important to one’s evolution, even if it didn’t fit the decided evolutionary path.

Whether the Rifters gained it through their own understanding, inherited it, obtained it from a formula, or devoured another Seed... it all contributed to what they could become at the end of their path.

Knowledge Transfer through spiritual trials was believed to be one of the most unique methods of evolution simply because it allowed the Rifters to stray off their main evolutionary path and still maintain their potential to reach the Glorious Evolution.

’But his next evolution is almost doomed if he tries the Formula method...’ the Titan added calmly. ’He’ll need a unique formula that brings Pride and Slaughter together.’

’I doubt he will ever need to worry about it.’

Levi’s expression turned cold as he began the Dominion Breathing Technique Ash’Kral had taught him.

He inhaled slowly, held his breath for a heartbeat, then released it in two short exhales... his spiritual energy followed the rhythm, carrying his will toward the Nine Senses Seed.

That specific breathing pattern conveyed a request to the Ancestral Tree... permission to borrow its authority and manifest a limited Dominion.

The response came at once as multiple miniature spiritual Trees appeared before Levi, each with a different landscape around its roots!

They orbited around him akin to planets around a star.

Instead of a single Dominion manifesting, Levi was given multiple choices to choose from!

It was an unprecedented phenomenon that would have left anyone who heard of it in utter disbelief.

Even if Levi were to show it to anyone, they wouldn’t hesitate to accept it as an illusion rather than a reality.

’Ten Thousand Heavens...’ The Titan smiled a little. ’It’s been a while since I saw a part of it.’

’Even I didn’t think I would be seeing it again so soon... the last time was with Magus.’

Ash’Kral smirked a little as he watched Levi examining a Tree with silver veins running through its bark... its branches vibrated at different pitches, producing a melody that made its leaves tremble.

Next to it was an almost transparent Tree, reflecting countless overlapping landscapes... each reflection revealed an ever-changing battlefield.

There was even a Tree with a massive parasite growing through its trunk.

Despite the varied choices of Trees, Levi barely spent half a second locking on to his choice, understanding that he wasn’t in a fast-food restaurant with all the time in the world to place his order.

He could already feel the blood rippling nonstop after the Hound stood up from his throne... somewhat taken aback by Levi’s nonexistent Dominion.

’What’s going on? Does the boy have no Dominion access? Impossible...’

Even Bishop Na’thir was left confused by the situation.

Before their confusion could turn into bloodthirst, Levi extended his arm forward with three fingers held together... then he snapped them with an indifferent expression, emitting a green spark.

"Dominion... Pyre of Lost Souls."

The moment his voice echoed through the enclosed Rift, green flames erupted from Levi and behind him, causing the blood ocean to start steaming violently and nonstop!

As the crimson steam hid Levi’s figure, it kept rising and expanding rapidly until more than 40% of the territory in front of Levi turned into a gigantic crimson cloud.

’It’s here...’

The Hound watched bubbles burst across the blood at his feet, tossing the floating corpses against one another as the boiling spread through his territory.

Across from him, the ocean around Levi evaporated into a gigantic crimson cloud-like storm... it had already completely hidden Levi and whatever he had summoned.

The Hound tried to follow his presence through the thick steam, but his soul suddenly began to shiver on its own.

A gigantic silhouette emerged behind the crimson cloud.

The Hound and Na’thir knew that it was Levi’s Dominion Tree from its shape... but at the same time, its shape didn’t make much sense for a ’tree.’

After all... what kind of tree had branches moving around freely like tentacles?

SCREEEEEECH!!

Before more questions could flood their minds, a harrowing screech pierced through the Rift, driving the crimson mist outward in a rolling wave!

’What the hell is that monstrosity...’

The Hound froze next to his throne at his first glimpse of Levi’s Dominion Tree.

More accurately, his soul stiffened and left him unable to move even a finger as green light flooded his pupils, reflecting a gigantic Soulleech Maw in its adult form.

Its monstrous body formed the trunk of a Tree while long purplish tongues replaced its branches, coiling around one another like living tentacles.

Along them, flowers opened like enormous Venus flytraps, exposing rows of teeth that clicked together as their heads turned toward the Hound.

At the very top, the Maw’s largest mouth remained wide open, with green flames pouring out of its throat nonstop.

In turn... the entire Tree burned and spread its green flames across the Rift through its Aetheric roots.

The blood ocean no longer existed within that territory... it had already evaporated and been replaced by burning green plains.

As for the corpses? They were gone, too... but only in body, as thousands of souls and flame-like wisps wandered across the plain, but never within close range of the flames.

Some circled the Tree, while others drifted between its roots or passed through the open mouths hanging overhead.

’...’

The Hound recognized the same flames that had tormented him inside the pit, his soul cursing him nonstop... he had barely survived the pit, and less than a minute later, he had sealed himself next to a furnace full of them.

Soon, his solemn attention settled on a figure standing before the Tree.

"Levi."

He gritted the name out against his will... no more Seraphis or his student; finally, he had awakened from Na’thir’s manipulation and saw the scary figure before him as he was.

A being much more dreadful than Seraphis could ever be.

And now... he stared with his own eyes as the fire engulfed Levi so completely that neither his face nor his clothes showed through it.

Only a burning humanoid figure remained, holding a staff as green flames rose from his shoulders and head.

The same figure that had stood above the meteor shower... only this time, none of it was an illusion.

As Levi’s featureless face broke into a wide, wicked smile... a smile that grew larger behind him in burning green flames, he pointed his staff in the Hound’s direction and uttered,

"You fought so hard to escape the pit... just to come looking for its hell."

Levi shook his head while walking towards him.

"Unwise decision, little Hound."