Levi didn’t usually use multiple attacks at once with his other weapons in fear of losing control, but as he stood amidst the sound waves of his creation.
He didn’t know why... but he felt like all of his senses were connected to everything.
And so... he didn’t care about Azhukar’s desperate attempts to free himself from his darkness bindings... he let his violin do the talking for him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Umbral Servants threw themselves at the raging Azhukar, merging, collapsing, and pressing together each time he seemed like he was getting close to free himself.
But inside it, he struggled to break free, his energy rapidly declining as he was forced to defend against spiritual attacks, mental attacks, physical attacks, the insane pull of the Hungering Dark...
He felt like the entire universe was against him... wanting his fall, his death.
"Never!!!"
He shouted... but as he opened his mouth, the darkness flooded in nonstop, waiting for just the opportunity to own him.
This drove him to realize that the only way for him out was to use his dominion on Levi... but, Levi kept his distance from him, standing in the middle between two False Suns.
One Spiritual behind him and the other physical around Azhukar.
"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Azhukar roared as he unleashed immense plasma explosions around him... alas, he managed to burn a thousand Umbral Servants, halving the dark sphere’s size.
And yet... the pressure only mounted as Levi’s tune switched in melody, seemingly getting closer to its conclusion.
The Umbral Servants seemed to feel the same... that their end was near.
In their final moments, they obeyed Levi’s music completely... every motion, every strike, every collapse was part of his growing symphony until a much bigger sphere was born, leaving Azhukar in despair as he could sense the immense pull of the event horizon getting closer and closer.
But, he was out of options... He couldn’t use his dominion on Levi with such distance between them as he could easily notice his spiritual aura reaching out to him and blinking away.
He had abilities that could produce enough power to blow the entire darkness sphere, but he wouldn’t survive in one piece, possibly exploding his body again... but the worst part wasn’t that.
It was the fact his energy levels were at a critical level due to being to defend himself against Levi’s overwhelming nonstop attacks.
This left him with a single option... burning through his life force as an energy source. But, the darkness binding was continuously restoring due to the Umbral Servants.
He could tell that even if he burnt through it... nothing much would change unless he could use his dominion since Levi could easily throw his heart in the Hungering Dark before he could revive himself.
As his body was buried in a gigantic darkness sphere that had tens of kilometers in radius.... Azhukar was left pressured under his own thoughts and the faint melody of Levi’s tune.
With the rhythm built toward its peak... Levi released one last, long note... and then, he stopped, the final note echoing in the distance like all of this was nothing but a dream.
Levi lowered the violin slowly, the shadowy mist around it fading as the silence returned... but his vision was affixed on the sphere weakening.
Without music, Levi couldn’t spot rubble and such in the silence of the void... but he no longer wanted to add more servants.
He watched as Azhukar struggled to free himself, creating mini explosions of plasma to clear a path ahead... but the darkness just kept pouring in nonstop.
Even without new Umbral Servants to restore the lost volume of the sphere... Azhukar’s grit and unrelenting determination had amounted to nothing.
Because the Hungering Dark was pulling him and the sphere at a standard speed... a pulling speed that nothing could go against regardless of what they did.
The Event Horizon... the area where not even light could escape.
Levi waved his hand, releasing the Umbral Servants from his control... knowing that the more he kept them alive, the more persona corruption was being stored by the Void Seed from his soul.
As the darkness sphere faded away... a compressed sphere of rubble and corruption was left in the shape of a planet.
Yet, even without the darkness holding them, the fragments drifted together, locked in place by the black hole’s unyielding pull.
Levi stood before the sphere, his posture calm and solemn... slowly, he bowed, arm tucked close to his side. His violin floated beside him, almost as if it bowed too, responding to his silent appreciation.
He wasn’t bowing to Azhukar... not in a million years.
This was a bow for the fallen planet, for the world that had perished in silence.
For a planet that, in its final moments, had burned with a light of glory one last time... and Levi honored that fleeting brilliance, carrying its memory for as long as he lived.
"THIS ISN’T OVER, YOU HEAR ME!!"
"I WILL BE BACK!! I WILL BE BACK AND SHOW YOU TRUE HELL!!"
"OBLIVAR’S COPY!!! THIS IS NOT WHERE I PERISH!! I AM AZHUKAR! THE LORD OF RADIANCE! DARKNESS WON’T CLAIM MY SOUL!!"
"JUST YOU WAIT!! JUST WAIT!!"
As for Azhukar? He was left cursing and shouting like a deranged madman, incapable of moving an inch against the pull... but no one was there to hear him.
When even light couldn’t escape, how could sound? The instant he entered the Event Horizon, he became blind and deaf, able to see nothing but pure darkness.
It wasn’t the good kind of darkness...
’Ash’Kral... is there any chance he can survive being in that realm?’ Levi asked.
’The Realm of Endless Consumption is not a place for the weak... especially not for races outside of the Shadow dimension.’ Ash’Kral shook his head, ’It’s called the Realm of Endless Consumption for a reason... anything that falls in it with a tint of lifeforce or sunlight will be devoured and fed to the Primordial Tree of Death.’
’Falling inside the Hungering Dark is the same as falling inside the stomach of the Primordial Tree of Death...’ The Titan confirmed, ’It’s over for him...’
’I see...’
Levi merely nodded in understanding... he didn’t seem happy or excited about any of this. He just turned and walked away, allowing the violin to fade into a cloud of shadowy flowers.
His first destination? Not the cannon, not the dimensional wallet... Jasmine, desiring to check on her condition first.
When Jasmine saw him floating in her direction, she wiped off the tears from her eyes and looked at him... gazing at the boy who made the void sing.
She knew it wasn’t for her... but she was the one, who was blessed by his tune the most... as she kept staring at him while ignoring the emerging noise of the universe, she felt like this was the first time she truly saw Levi.
He wasn’t a just captain, a teammate, a friend, a teenage kid like everyone saw him... he was something that no one could truly understand, veiled in so many mysteries, she couldn’t understand half of them... Starpiercer, Violin, Staff, Void Form, Void abilities, and the list goes on.
She saw so much of him, and yet... her confusion only deepened. But one thing she was certain about... she didn’t want to lose him, just like he did everything in his power to not lose them.
As Levi stepped inside the inked sphere... he removed the void from his face and signed with a frozen emotionless expression.
-I am back.-
When Jasmine saw his emotionless grayed expression... she couldn’t help but tear up a little as she was the only one, who understood the kind of sacrifice Levi had done for their sake.
To reach out for such a strength way above his level... it could never be achieved without sacrificing or paying an expensive price.
She reached out with her shaking hand to his exposed cheek and touched it softly... then she signed with the other hand:
-Welcome back, Levi...-
Levi felt her hand touching his skin and yet... his heart was as dead as his expression.
-Thank you.-