Sometime later...
Levi and Jasmine were lying on beds near each other inside the medical ward of the SAS Headquarters. After they stepped out of the dimensional mirror and the staff members saw their terrible condition, they didn’t ask too many questions.
Only two questions... do you have your memories intact, and what happened to the rest? Jasmine told them the last thing she remembered was entering the treasury, while Levi told them that he still had his memory intact, and that he found the broken Sun Amulet.
Hearing this, the staff took them straight to the infirmary... Levi’s arm was still missing, and he looked like shit. As for the rest? They were all in a deep slumber inside their assigned rooms.
-Levi... what happened?- Jasmine asked, looking confused.
-I will explain later.- Levi smiled wryly.
-...Oki.- Jasmine didn’t press him any further.
She didn’t lie to the staff members earlier... she had her memories indeed veiled by Levi after he handed her about 20% of Azhukar’s treasury in the wallet.
He had explained his plan to her, and Jasmine accepted it... But since her memories were veiled, she wouldn’t be breaching the contract no matter what she said.
On the other hand, Levi had signed the contract using the Void Seed... this meant, although the contract appeared legit on the outside, in reality, Levi’s soul was connected not to just one seed, but the combination of three seeds.
In simpler terms, almost any contract he signed using those seeds would not result in a penalty, as they were considered dummy seeds... the keyword here was almost any contract.
The CRS Platform contracts were simply too strict and inclusive about almost every possible detail or loophole to have their penalty bypassed. Thus, although Levi had signed with the Nocturnal Ring and CRS Platform with two different seeds, they still could penalize him even though he was seen as a different individual with two contracts.
On the other hand... such standard contracts left some loopholes for him to abuse with his ability to sign with any of his seeds or all three together.
As Levi was lying on the bed, having his severed arm regrown through potent recovery totems, he was thinking about the story he had prepared to tell... he knew he needed to practice it as he was going to tell it in front of Feng Ling and Dominic.
This time, he couldn’t be caught in a lie.
’I guess it’s good that the Void Seed left some corruption within my soul.’ Levi smiled in self-mockery.
He had already entered his Leywell to check on the damage... however, he found only a small black cloud swimming across his soul. The rest of the debt was being kept by the Void Seed. And yet, even this small cloud of corruption had made him notice some difference related to his emotions.
He didn’t know how to explain it, but they seemed a bit cold? Like he was becoming a psychopath with no ability to perceive such emotions. For now, he could still feel them... but at the same time, the coldness was unmistakably there.
This drove Levi to question if he would even survive the real deal? The full debt?
’No.’ Levi let out a long exhale, ’This is my life now... I can either keep descending or do something drastic with the Sun Seed to rebalance the debt.’
Levi was told by his tenants that his corruption debt would remain hanging over his head until the day he chose to abuse the Sun Form with a fitting persona change.
At that time, he wouldn’t really fix the issue, but he would have two debts... it was a must for balance to remain between them, so the moment he split his soul and poured the debts into them, there wouldn’t be any glaring difference.
No seed above all.
After some time of rest, Dominic and Feng Ling came knocking on the infirmary room. Levi let them in, knowing that he couldn’t leave them waiting for long.
"Sirs... my apologies." Levi smiled bitterly while bringing out the Sun Amulet the moment he saw them, "I found it in this shape in the throne chamber next to my teammates and the others."
The Sun Amulet was indeed cracked all over and seemed quite dim and fragile... Dominic frowned for a moment after seeing its state, but he didn’t comment on it for now. He asked about Levi’s and Jasmine’s well-being.
Only after checking on them did he sit on a chair next to Levi while Feng Ling sat on the other side... then, he requested with a solemn tone, "Levi, I heard you kept your memories... I want you to tell us everything, spare no details."
Levi nodded and started narrating... his tone fixed and natural, as if he were speaking about things he was actually seeing happen before his own spiritual vision.
He began with what happened in the temple and the letter they found, then moved on to the rescue attempt for the two teams.
"To be honest... I decided to help them because I assumed that if we didn’t, they might end up shattering the dimensional membrane and throwing us all out... I knew they would rather fight to the end against the Leviathan Phoenix and the Corrupted."
Levi shared truthfully, letting them know that as long as he was under the contract obligation, he wouldn’t bother to lie.
When they heard him, they didn’t see anything wrong with it... Instead, they appreciated the honesty and the thought process as they knew it was the healthiest.
Levi didn’t even mention doing it for the sake of being kind... such foolish thoughts escaped his mind forever. Now, he based his decisions on his rationality and a list of pros and cons like he always wanted to do without having his mother’s teachings affect his judgment.
This didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be doing any kind acts, but... he wouldn’t do something just for the sake of being kind, especially when the situation wasn’t in his favor.
No more.
"I stole the Leviathan’s attention and led it as far as possible from the capital while my friends handled the rescue... I told them I would group up with them in the pyramid, but I didn’t expect the Leviathan would be so hard to lose." Levi raised his newly grown fresh arm and said with a wry smile, "This is the price I had to pay to finally lose it."
"If you ask me... you came out cheap." Dominic chuckled, "I admire the decision, but you’re lucky the Leviathan had no energy reserve available."
Levi nodded in agreement.
"What about the others?" Feng Ling asked solemnly, "How did all of them lose their memories while six Daywalkers are still lost?"
"I don’t know the full story of that." Levi shook his head, "When I got rid of the Leviathan Phoenix off my tail, I did a big circle and returned to the capital... the moment I neared the pyramid, everything started to collapse around me and fly upward. I knew then that the dimensional membrane had shattered."
"I entered the pyramid to avoid getting pulled upward, but..." Levi’s body suddenly shuddered, "That’s when I saw the spiritual aura of a humanoid bird... It was so massive and powerful, I believe its owner’s true power was above Tier 7."
Hearing this, Dominic and Feng Ling knitted their eyebrows deeply as they glanced at each other.
’You think he saw the Emperor or the Dawn Phoenix?’
’I don’t know...’ Feng Ling asked Levi right away to describe the spiritual aura.
Levi went on and described Emperor Azhukar, but not in so much detail... just enough to paint the picture. Then, he told them how he decided to hide his presence, even though he knew it would be extremely difficult to achieve against such an entity...
"I don’t know why, but that entity seemed to have switched his entire focus from us to the shattered dimensional membrane." Levi sighed in relief, "He transformed into a living flaming phoenix and took off towards the sky, possibly to close the spatial tear or slow it down... That’s what I thought at the moment, but I didn’t waste time speculating about him."
Levi switched his tone and continued, "I went straight to the throne chamber, following the map’s details from the priest’s letter... Once I reached the throne, I found my friends and some other two teams laid on the ground passed out, and affixed on the ceiling. I didn’t know what he did to them, but I was glad that they were at least fine... I woke them up and saw that they were disoriented and seemed to remember nothing."
"With so little time in my possession, I didn’t ask them about anything. I used Tyrese’s dimensional gate and sent them out, then I picked the broken Sun Amulet, which was also affixed on the ceiling. Next, I went to search for Jasmine. I saw her spiritual aura inside a room some floors lower than the throne chamber. I assumed that they must have sent her to the treasury as I knew my friends aren’t foolish enough to guide the other two teams to the treasury we found on the map." Levi took a pause for a breather and added while glancing at Jasmine, "I found her passed out too, and when I woke her up, she had no memories... I knew then that powerful entity must have erased their memories or done something to them... I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t look good considering that I saw some particles of ashes inside the throne chamber, with a strong smell of burnt flesh."
"I knew then... if it wasn’t for the dimensional membrane shattering, everyone would have been killed... me included." Levi smiled bitterly, "We survived through pure fortune..."
"..."
"..."
Feng Ling and Dominic were left silent... they knew that Levi couldn’t and wouldn’t lie to them with the contract still active.
This meant, instead of spending their energy wondering if he was telling the truth or not, they focused more on the identity of that powerful entity and the secret behind the broken Sun Amulet, the priest’s letter, and such.
The first conclusion they arrived at was:
"The Sun Amulet was a seal for Emperor Azhukar, broken after he was released by your friends," Dominic uttered solemnly.