No light reflected from him, no shadow followed... He was simply there, and not there at the same time.
Far away, Azhukar was chasing a white sphere with a look of utter zeal... like if he didn’t catch it, he would do something bad to himself.
That’s how badly he wanted it.
However, the moment his eyes caught the sudden appearance of Levi hovering amidst the moving rubble, he froze.
’This... am I seeing stuff?’
For a long moment, he just stared, seemingly trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or not... he tried to sense him... spiritual aura, soul signature, blood flow, heartbeats... Nothing.
It was like looking at a hole in reality... his mind told him Levi was there, but his senses said otherwise.
’No... don’t tell me that’s one of them...’
With those points gathered, a memory suddenly flashed in his mind, showing him people with the same kind of traits... people he hated to the bone even when he had never met them, because they were the mortal enemies of the Radians.
For him... that was enough.
’An Oblivar... shit, shit, shit... just my kind of luck.’
His expression hardened, realizing that he wasn’t in the right place to fight an Oblivar... an entity on the same level as Radians that he badly wanted to be part of.
The fact he couldn’t sense anything from Levi, strength-wise, made him even more cautious in how he handled this. He understood that if he were to be found to have any sort of relation to Radians, he would not leave this place in one piece.
His Ashora Bloodline was among the many that served the Radians with unwavering loyalty. That was one of the main reasons he wanted to ascend... he was an emperor to his people, yet only a follower to the Radians.
That never sat right with him in the slightest... to be a king to others, and a slave to another.
A King was supposed to be King... Period.
"I didn’t mean to disturb your peace," He called out cautiously. "I’m only chasing my people... the last of my bloodline... They’re trapped inside a white peculiar sphere and heading to the Hungering Dark."
Levi didn’t answer... however, the moment he heard that he was chasing his people, he knew he lied.
He spread his senses through the emptiness, searching for any sign of life or sound. But he failed to capture anything with both his spiritual vision and sound.
This made him realize the white sphere wasn’t just a shield; it was an Erasure Barrier... Jasmine’s work.
’So, it was Jasmine who saved them from within the dominion...’ Ash’Kral’s pupils thinned, ’I knew it... she must be an heir of the Inkrith bloodline; it’s the sole logical reason for her existence...’
Ash’Kral didn’t want Levi to get together with Jasmine just because... he had a feeling that her origin was much more mysterious than she claimed... especially when he knew that Inkriths had disappeared a long time ago before even Radians, Oblivar, and other Ancient Lineages were born.
If their bloodline had disappeared before life itself, how could they keep reproducing over and over again until Jasmine was born?
As for N’ibby? Ash’Kral already had a theory about her existence... he just didn’t have proof to validate it. And thus, he kept those thoughts to himself for now.
Meanwhile, knowing that he was blind to them, Levi didn’t bother with searching the entire celestial river where its size looked infinite... length and width.
"Point where they went," He said, his voice devoid of emotions, "I’ll bring them to you."
’Shit... if I don’t tell him, I doubt he will put it to rest. But if I told him, he will realize that they have no connection to my bloodline... worse, they will rat me out if he asked them.’
The Emperor’s mind was working hard to find the best way for him to get what he wanted and live to tell the tale... unfortunately, no matter which way he saw it, he couldn’t have both.
’Screw this... if it’s not meant to be, then it’s not.’
The Emperor hesitated, then lifted a finger and pointed it behind Levi, letting him know that they had already gone past him.
Levi turned, and in the same instant, his form blurred... gone in a blink.
He had no mass under the eyes of the universe. He was nothingness given form, which meant in a void, his movement was near the speed of light!
By the time the Emperor blinked again, Levi had vanished completely...
Seeing the chance, the Emperor turned and bolted, flying toward his planet as fast as his flames could carry him.
He didn’t reach the peak of his evolutionary path due to luck or talent alone... it was because of his survival instinct that kept his greed in control, and helped him choose his battles correctly.
At the moment, he knew that he stood no chance against an Oblivar in his bread and butter environment.
If he dared to fight him off in the Shadow dimension... fire and light were the favorite dishes to the corrupting atmosphere... in here, this close to the Hungering Dark, even the purest form of sun flame burned cold, which nulled a significant portion of his power... probably even reducing him to a mere Tier 6 or Tier 7 powerhouse.
Only dominions could fight that corruption, shaping the environment to the user’s favor... which was the reason the dominions were a must-have ability since it could negate those disadvantages and equal the battleground between two opposite entities.
The outside environment didn’t matter when they fought inside a pocket dimension with Laws favoring their powers.
But the Emperor had already spent it, and using it again now would eat away his life force as the price... he couldn’t afford such a risk.
All in all, Azhukar recognized that only death awaited him if he dared antagonizing an Oblivar in this place. And so, he kept flying back towards his planet, his entire form transformed into a massive inflamed phoenix to resist the insane pull.
Now that he was fighting against it, his speed was drastically lowered, but he kept on pushing through the shadowy mud while glancing behind him once in a while with dread eating away his expression.
’He isn’t coming after me... good, good.’
When he saw nothing behind him, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief... he was just unsealed after eons and had no plans on dying soon.
’Damn it... I can’t believe a pure blood Inkrith is still alive somehow... this is beyond a miracle, this is an impossibility in play... now, the Oblivar will have her all to himself, f ck, f ck... F****ck !’
The more he thought about it, the harder it got for him to just leave it alone... but he toughened through his sickening greed and kept on running away.
Meanwhile, Levi could see that Azhukar was running away, but he didn’t show much of a reaction... instead, he focused on checking on his brother and friends first, and then he could deal with him.
It was like the moment he had accepted the Void, his mind was clear to think about what he wanted to do, truly wanted to do... the corruption on his persona was at bare minimum when he had already forsaken those idealistic thoughts and emotions on his own.
But this wasn’t the whole story.
’How marvelous... the Void Seed isn’t rejecting or making his life hell by allowing the persona corruption to run amok... it’s helping him stay sane.’
The Titan murmured as he watched the Void Seed seemingly absorbing a peculiar dark twisted energy born from within Levi’s soul... it was doing it voluntarily.
’There is nothing nice about this, Old Bark...’ Ash’Kral knitted his brows coldly, ’The Void Seed is a twisted entity... it craves chaos and anarchy indeed, but it isn’t as simple. It seems like once it noticed Levi’s persona switch to its favor, it decided to embrace him instead of allowing him to descend into unchecked chaos.’
’Why is that?’ The Titan frowned, ’Isn’t more fitting to sow chaos everywhere, anywhere, at all times.’
’No... not to it.’ Ash’Kral shook his head, ’In its own twisted mind... unchecked chaos is just noise... it needs Levi to see, to understand, to accept what he is becoming... only then, can he truly become what it wants him to be.’
’What is that?’
The Titan asked, knowing that Ash’Kral was the one who had spent countless years interacting with the Void Seed.
’Chaos is only the surface,’ Ash’Kral answered. ’What it really wants... is the fall.’
’The fall?’
Ash’Kral nodded slowly... ’It doesn’t crave destruction for the sake of it. The Void Seed wants to watch order turn on itself. It feeds on the collapse of meaning. The moment someone like Levi... someone who once stood for reason, hope, and balance... turns his own virtues into weapons of ruin... that’s when it smiles.’
The Titan’s eyes darkened, realizing that the Void Seed was more sinister than he could ever imagine... he fought against its followers, but they were nothing but a cheap copy of what it truly represented.
Pure Nothingness born after the fall.
’So it doesn’t want just madness. It wants... the fall of order at its core.’
’Exactly,’
Ash’Kral nodded as he gazed at Levi, who had finally found the white sphere through using the rubble in his favor... instead of trying to ’see’ the white sphere, he followed its aftermath since the erasure barrier kept piercing through the rubble nonstop, leaving circular shapes in its trail.
’As I said... Chaos is just noise... But witnessing the fall of order, either in a person, or across the universe...’ Ash’Kral paused, staring at Levi, who planned to enter the white sphere with his own body, ’To the Void, that is its greatest entertainment.’
In a theatrical sense... the curtain falls after watching the greatest play ever produced.
The Titan fell silent for a long moment... then, he uttered grimly, ’Then it doesn’t see Levi as an eyesore anymore, he’s becoming its masterpiece.’
’Only if he remains broken... falling.’
Ash’Kral answered as he looked at Levi’s current resonance with the Void Seed... the confirmation that the Titan sought after was there.
From 0%, it jumped straight to 10%... This happened without Levi resonating with it once when he was still treading on his mother’s teachings!
But he knew... the moment Levi turned his back on what he was becoming, on his fall... the Void Seed was going to return all of that absorbed corruption back at him to deal with it on his own.
’How sinister... Ash’Kral... no wonder all of your partners perished... it’s not just physical, it’s the mental burden of three extreme embodiments, each pulling, each manipulating, each desiring to twist one’s identity... but, I don’t know how you are still standing, treading on this torturous path despite dozens of failures.’
The Titan sighed bitterly, knowing that whatever Levi or his past partners went through, Ash’Kral went through the same.
’Because the job is not done.’ Ash’Kral replied coldly.