With a twisted expression, Yanhuan bounced off the ground and shouted at Levi from a distance. "What have you done to me?!"
Levi turned around slowly and said with the same unprovocative smile.
"Nothing that you didn’t deserve."
Then, he turned back to his friends, who were raining down on him with questions about whether he had used his perfect ultimate ability after his ’breakthrough’ to Pathfinder rank.
Seeing Levi entertain his friends while treating him like he didn’t even exist finally pushed Yanhuan past his breaking point.
He had just made an utter fool of himself under the gaze of his teammates, who once respected... no, worshiped him... under the eyes of Dominic, the strongest Daywalker in the world, and the staff members, whose solemn expressions made his blunder sting even more.
Yet, he knew the worst had to arrive... with this many people, some of them were bound to share clips of what happened on the network.
Then, his father, his family, his agency members, everyone was going to see it.
Him.
The noble Yanhuan, the undefeated Daywalker of today’s generation, didn’t just lose... he was absolutely outclassed, like his contracted nightcrawler had said.
The fallout of his reputation was unredeemable... the crowned king of today’s generation dethroned in the most humiliating manner imaginable.
The least... the least Levi could do was tell him how he did it. Yet, instead, he turned his back on him.
"LEEEEVIIIIII!!!"
Szzlzlzlz!
But, just as he was about to do something that he was going to regret for a lifetime, Dominic appeared next to him and used his oppressive spiritual aura to freeze him in place.
Once he felt Dominic’s aura used on him, Yanhuan’s fury was extinguished... not fully, as most of it buried itself in the deepest parts of his heart.
"Yanhuan... I think it’s best if you don’t participate in the site’s exploration. Go back to the headquarters, and work on yourself... especially, here." Dominic said calmly as he tapped his temple.
"My apologies, it seems I have lost my cool a little..." Yanhuan apologized with a crooked, forced smile, "I think it was Levi’s ability effect on my mind... it did a number on me."
"I understand."
Dominic patted him on the back with a light chuckle as he retracted his spiritual aura. Feeling like he was freed from the weight of a planet, Yanhuan bowed his head respectfully at Dominic and said, "I will take your advice to heart... I was lacking today, and I am sorry for making you lose the bet."
"It’s okay... losses and defeats make our life more interesting." Dominic smiled, "Imagine if you win every time, all the time... what will you learn? What kind of fun will there be in winning when you know nothing can challenge you?"
"I sure have learned a lot today." Yanhuan nodded, "Next time, I will be more prepared and won’t lose like this again."
"That’s the spirit." Dominic laughed.
"If you would excuse me, I have to apologize to my teammates."
With one final head bow, Yanhuan walked towards his teammates... but, just as he took three steps, he heard Dominic utter with a tone as soothing as a breeze.
"Yanhuan, don’t raise your weapon on your allies’ backs again... next time it happens, I won’t be smiling."
Yanhuan felt his heart, along with all the negative thoughts swarming his mind, freeze for a second... then, he turned his head and forced another crooked smile.
"How can I? I know which side I belong to."
"Good."
Seeing his retreating, defeated back, Dominic shook his head slightly and focused back on Levi... then, he smiled wryly, knowing that those two’s story was only at its beginning.
***
Sometime later...
Levi was seen sitting by himself on the roof of a ruined building with the three pyramids in front of him... he was too far from them, so he could only use his echolocation to create their gray wavy appearance in his world of darkness.
But it was enough for him.
Arthur and the rest of his teammates were having a bonfire dinner at the camp’s center... they invited Levi to join, as even Tyrese’s and Evangeline’s teammates were more than pleased with how he handled Yanhuan.
Hell, Tyrese and Arthur had even hit it off and became friends... though, of course, only after Tyrese apologized to Jojo for his harassment.
Although Evangeline was still not satisfied with how Heliodor’s Raiders got their access to the Ancient Site’s exploration, her coldness melted slightly when she regained consciousness and heard what happened.
Yanhuan, as strong as he was, wasn’t very popular amongst his peers... unless they were his teammates.
Probably, even his teammates couldn’t stand him, but they could do nothing about it, considering his strength and, most importantly, his status in their home region.
Levi knew that their bonfire’s subjects would involve the ability he used, and Levi had no interest in talking about it and exposing his cards in detail.
So far, everyone saw only Yanhuan lose his cool, but they had no idea how he did it, and this was burning a hole in everyone’s mind... though, they guessed it must be related to illusions. Their guess would be correct... but what he did to Yanhuan was no simple illusion.
’You sure have done a number on him... was using it the best decision? You know, people like him with their heads in the clouds can’t handle the reality of being brought to dirt.’ Ash’Kral said lazily.
’And? How’s that my problem?’ Levi replied calmly, ’You think it would have ended differently if I took him down the normal way? People like him can’t accept defeat regardless of which form it arrives at... and I have no interest in walking on eggshells when dealing with him... especially when we are bound to meet again in the conference.’
Levi wasn’t an idiot... he knew that defeating Yanhuan in that manner would backfire on him as he would be making an enemy out of a member of the strongest Lineage, the strongest agency, and the strongest region in the world.
But, he also understood that the only way to get along with these kinds of people was to feed their narcissistic persona in any way or form.
Levi had no interest in being someone else’s dog just because of their fearsome status... since he disliked Yanhuan already due to the way he treated him, his team, and his region, Levi felt no remorse in casting his third unlocked innate ability of the Nine Senses seed.
Whatever consequences would come next, he welcomed them.
’Still, this was the first time I used Eternal Mirage on people... I genuinely didn’t expect its effect to be this deadly.’ Levi said, recalling the day he had hit the Evolution stage of his Nine Senses Junior rank’s evolutionary path and unlocked this innate ability as his final one.
***
Sometime ago, before unlocking Sun and Void forms...
Levi was seen sitting on the floor in his apartment’s living room, wearing only his boxers... he had just succeeded in feeding the gluttonous Nine Senses seed, helping it reach its final growth stage in Junior rank...(30%)
’Finally... growth totems are really coming in handy in the lower ranks.’ Levi exhaled in relief, feeling quite drained.
Before he came back home, he had spent hours cultivating in the outskirts of his region with the divine light. When he grew too burned out from the process, he returned home and used growth totems to push for the last remaining 1%.
He knew once he became a Pathfinder, using these low-grade growth totems would be obsolete... ten of them might not even help him grow the seed by 0.1%.
Soon, he shook his head, not wanting to ruin his mood by thinking about the hole he was digging himself into.
’Let’s see what our final ability is...’
No delay, Levi pressed on his tattoo and had his consciousness teleported inside the Nine Senses Ancestral Rooted Plane.
Once he was standing before the massive flower of abilities, Levi held his chin thoughtfully and asked, "Ash, you think it’s feasible to unlock a higher-tier spiritual ability with my current spiritual prowess and the enhancements I will be getting in the near future from the Sun and Void evolutions?"
Levi had done the same in his Rookie rank when he unlocked Death Chime Field as his third innate ability... instead of choosing from the lowest graded abilities, he skipped a grade, unlocking a higher quality ability, believing he had what it took to support it.
Now, he wanted to do the same with his third innate ability, knowing he must not take these opportunities for granted... he understood that his path would slow immensely after becoming a Pathfinder, and might even grind to a halt for a very long time once he advanced to Solarbound.
In other words, entering the Ancestral Rooted Plane to unlock freebies would no longer be as frequent, forcing him to focus more on his personal techniques.
"I don’t see why not." Ash’Kral approved. "A higher-grade ability might consume an insane amount of spiritual energy, but I believe you currently have the tank to use it once. That alone is enough as a start."
"I thought so too." Levi nodded in agreement.
Then, he floated toward the flower and skipped another line of abilities, moving closer to the leaves, which shimmered more brightly than the ones at the bottom.
Naturally, as he approached the center of the flower, the number of abilities decreased... compared to the tier where he had chosen before, which held more than a thousand, this one barely carried a hundred abilities.
Without hesitation, he pulled one at random and turned it around to read its details.
//Eternal Mirage:
Type: Illusion Aspect.
Description: The user seizes control of the target’s nine senses and overlays them with a fully fabricated reality... To the victim, the world shifts into whatever scenario the caster wills it to be... heavenly paradise, endless battlefield, haunting nightmare. They see, hear, feel, and even smell this new world with absolute realism, unable to distinguish illusion from truth.
Total Sensory Overwrite: The victim’s perception is rewritten entirely, leaving them blind to the real world.
Reactive Illusion: The illusion can adapt to the victim’s thoughts and reactions, making it seem even more inescapable.
Combat Manipulation: The caster can place false enemies, false allies, or fabricated terrain to control the victim’s movements and actions in reality.//