Before anyone could react, Azhukar pointed his finger at a member of the Justice team under Evangeline... the illuminating beam was turned off, and the armored boy with a steel helmet found himself floating in the direction of Azhukar against his will.
"No, no, no! Save me!"
He cried out loud for help while reaching out to his captain and the others, but alas... all they could do was accompany him with their eyes, incapable of moving an inch without the risk of getting burnt.
"Wait! Take me instead! There is no need for him or anyone else to suffer..." Evangeline suddenly offered, her voice cutting through the solemn silence.
"Captain, don’t!"
"Captain, let me volunteer instead!"
The other two surviving teammates swiftly tried to stop her from getting herself enslaved... from their brief experience with Azhukar, they could tell that death would be a much more merciful way to go than serve under him.
"Hahaha... how chivalrous." Azhukar laughed for a moment, and then his tone made a 180-degree switch, "Don’t be impatient... all of you will be tested, and only the best shall be chosen."
The moment the chosen Daywalker heard this, his expression twisted in despair as he watched Azhukar getting closer.
Azhukar had his limbs spread once he was in front of him... then, he scanned him thoroughly, sizing him up and down.
A few seconds later, he muttered, "Genetically ungifted... trash."
"What do you mea..."
Before the Daywalker could finish his sentence, Azhukar waved his hand dismissively... in a split second, the armored boy was set in raging flames, burning him into a fading cloud of ash before he could even release a single scream.
"Next."
Azhukar ignored everyone’s terrified expressions and started tracing his extended finger from left to right, going back and forth, until... it landed on Arthur.
The beam was turned off, and Arthur was pulled away against his will like livestock getting picked for slaughter... yet, Arthur didn’t seem to care.
He had a bitter smile on his face as he floated away, his mind occupied with a single thought... ’At least, Levi will survive...’
Arthur had been wishing for Levi to group up with them... but after their lives were turned upside down when Azhukar awakened, he wished nothing more than for him to use the dimensional gate and return to Earth.
Levi had given Arthur access to the dimensional gate, but Levi could still use it as well... with the planet collapsing into the Shadow dimension, he prayed that his big brother chose to use it and run away.
If he did, he wouldn’t judge him... not even for a second.
’Please, please, please don’t try to be a hero...’ He prayed with his whole heart.
He could see that they had put themselves in a situation way above their pay grade... no, above even their strongest Daywalker, Dominic.
They were inside a dominion of a Tier 8 or Tier 9 entity. Just this alone was enough to let everyone here understand that none of them were making it out alive, but the chosen slave. Even if Dominic himself came to save them.
However... knowing his big brother, he had a feeling that his prayer wasn’t going to work.
Meanwhile, as Jojo and the girls saw Arthur pulling further away from them, their expressions were mixed.
Jojo was tearing up while calling for his name, but Arthur couldn’t even turn his head to see her.
Nurah and Shia were saddened, but they were realistic... they knew both of them were done for, so what’s the point of feeling angry? All of them were on the same Death Wagon.
Only Jasmine had a different expression... a cold one.
’N’ibby... we have to save him. We have to use it...’ She said.
’No... it’s too risky doing it here.’ N’ibby shook her head, ’We are inside his dominion... even if we used it, it won’t guarantee your successful escape. I am certain he is going to choose you due to your bloodline... once you get out of the dominion, you can use it then to escape.’
’But he’s my friend... they’re all my friends. They cared for me, accepted me without expecting anything in return... they looked out for me, stood by me, protected me when no one else did. I don’t care if it works or not... I have to try.’ She said, her eyes shifting toward Shia, Nurah, and the tearful Jojo.
’No is a no...’ N’ibby’s tone turned stern, ’Jas... if you used it here, you might end up losing yourself... this time, forever.’
’And I am okay with it...’ Jasmine showed a little smile, ’I know I have met them no less than a few months, but these months were the happiest in my entire life... I don’t intend to lose them and return to what I used to be before.’
’N’ibby, I don’t want to be depressed anymore...’
’...’
N’ibby went silent for a few moments... but then, she sighed helplessly and nodded in agreement at last. However, just as she was about to go for it, she heard Azhukar exclaim in disbelief.
"You... how, how do you have faint bloodline traces of Radians?!"
Everyone’s ears perked up in confusion after noticing Azhukar pointing his shaking finger at Arthur, who seemed just as confused as him.
"Radians? What are you talking about?"
He frowned, thinking that Azhukar was pulling a joke on him. The f*cker was too unstable and seemed to like giving them a sense of false hope to mess with them.
However, Azhukar didn’t seem to be kidding in the slightest... His inflamed eye was reflecting Arthur’s DNA strings lined up, as his eye had the capability to zoom as close as microscopic.
Phoenixes already had insane vision... with him being in the upper ranks, it was only natural that his eye would evolve to have such insane zooming capabilities. Though, Arthur’s DNA appeared as dark curvy stripes with faint flickers here and there.
Azhukar recognized those flickers right away, as they were his dream... everything he had worked for in his entire life was to have them, as they represent becoming part of the People of the Stars.
Yet, he failed his Glorious Evolution and turned into an abomination... he went through all of that pain and hardship for nothing while Arthur had them within him, and he didn’t seem to know it.
"Ha..ha...haha... ah, you’re truly the cruelest of them all."
Azhukar started laughing at the irony of the situation, but soon it turned deranged; his expression showed nothing but pure hatred mixed in with jealous desire.
"I thought the heavens had forsaken me... but, it seems I was too harsh." He grinned sinisterly as he floated in Arthur’s direction and patted him on the shoulder, "I don’t know how you have the Radians Bloodline within you, but thank you... thank you for saving me and handing me the perfect vessel to restart my evolutionary path... this time, I have what it takes to become one of them."
"Radian? What is he talking about?"
"How come Arthur has a Radian bloodline within him? That doesn’t make any sense, he is a human like the rest of us."
"Is the emperor finally losing it?"
Nurah, Jojo, and the rest of the Daywalkers were all left baffled with Azhukar’s insane claim... incapable of believing his words as they made no sense.
However, when Azhukar heard them speak badly about his mental state, he looked at them with a cold sneer, "You can’t even recognize divinity even if it was amidst you... he is a Half-Radian, but because he is using a Common Shadowlife Seed, it can’t awaken these genes."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Hearing this, everyone was left stunned... a part of them started to believe him, as they felt like Azhukar had no reason to lie to them in this situation.
Meanwhile, Arthur believed him the moment he recalled what happened to Levi during his first day of cultivation... how could he forget seeing his big brother levitating above the floor while illuminating as bright as a mini-star?
He always knew that something was off about it, but he never pushed Levi to tell him the full truth, understanding that if his big brother hid something from him, it was either for his own good or he couldn’t tell him because of other reasons. So, he kept those doubts to himself and waited until the day Levi came clean.
Now? He finally found the truth...
"I am a Half-Radian..."
He murmured under his breath... but then, his mouth curved up into a big delighted grin, realizing that his brother must have awakened them.
"What are you grinning about?" Azhukar frowned.
"You wouldn’t understand..." Arthur smiled.
"Fine, keep your secrets to yourself... once I take over your soul, everything that is yours will become mine anyway." Azhukar smiled back, "I will know everything then."
The moment Arthur heard this, his smile froze... ’No... he can’t find out about Levi, or he will go after him next.’
Alas, his mind was in the right place, but his body was still as stiff as stone. All he could do was glare at Azhukar while shouting out loud, "Bring it on!! The Larsons don’t shy away from pain!"
"Oh, my sweet boy... what you’re going to feel is no regular pain." Azhukar smiled as he caressed Arthur’s cheek with his scorched black hand.
Before anyone could react, Azhukar pierced Arthur’s skull from the middle with his index finger, making his eyes turn upside down instantly. Then, he let out an ear-piercing screech like someone had dug a molten nail straight into the center of his pain sensors.
His body went limp in an instant while his mouth started foaming... his eyes rolled to the back of his head as Azhukar started piercing Arthur’s subconscious barrier, desiring to create a hole for his soul to enter without shattering it.
It was much the same situation Levi went through to open up his spiritual Leywell... only this one was much more painful, as an outsider carried it out.
"Arthur!! Let him go, you monster!!"
Jojo screamed with a furious, reddened expression, but Azhukar paid her no attention, putting his entire focus on avoiding shattering Arthur’s subconscious barrier.
However... suddenly, the same sentence echoed again across the dominion. But this time... it came from a depressed voice that seemed sick of life.
"Let him go... You filth. You’ve done enough."
Everyone turned to the source and saw Jasmine stepping out of the beam of flames... her body covered entirely in a mixture of rippling white and black ink. Only her face was exposed, and it resembled N’ibby more than Jasmine!
"Hmm... what do we have here?" Azhukar raised an eyebrow in intrigue at the sight.