Meanwhile, Jasmine’s reaction was no different.
’Levi... what kind of path is this... what pushes you so much to go through with this madness...’ she thought inwardly, her face devoid of color.
She stopped breathing the instant Levi was engulfed in green flames... although her world was silent, and she couldn’t hear Levi’s screams, the harrowing view before her was more than enough to understand that Levi wasn’t having a picnic.
Her eyes teared up a little as she covered her mouth with both hands... all she could do was watch, watch in deafening silence as the boy, whom she felt the most connection to, was going through the most torturous experience in his life, and she could do nothing to help him.
N’ibby had told her what awaited Levi... but description was one thing, and seeing with her own eyes was another.
She had never imagined Levi’s evolutions involved anything like this... in her eyes, this wasn’t growth... it looked like a divine torture.
If she hadn’t already watched Levi getting burned in his game and almost losing his life, she would have lost control already and gone through the flames to save him.
That’s what her heart told her to do... for she refused to lose the one person that related to her and made her feel not special... but ordinary, normal, just like she always wished to be.
But now... she steeled her agitated heart and started praying for him using some of Jojo’s prayers that she had taught her.
She knew... the moment she lost control, N’ibby would be there to put her to sleep and reclaim control, like what happened during the Joker’s game.
Jasmine hated that it happened, as it made her feel like she wasn’t strong enough to be there for Levi in his worst and best moments.
This time... she refused to miss the ending no matter what happened. She just kept waiting for Ash’Kral’s orders while her black nails dug into her palms.
He made it clear that unless he told them to help Levi, they must not interfere... otherwise, they might be the ones causing Levi’s death.
And so... Jasmine and Arthur watched as Levi’s hair started flickering nonstop like a burning thread. Then, it lost its normal dark color, changing into a soft ethereal green while growing longer and thicker. It kept waving back and forth in the flames, making it hard for them to spot his hair from the wild green flames.
Arghhhhhhhh!!!!
As Levi screamed into the heavens with his neck tilted backward, the three seeds couldn’t care less about his agonizing experience.
The instant their roots finally untangled in his main soul, the Sun and Void Seeds migrated to the other two souls, which were still in the process of regaining their humanoid shape.
The main soul had already regained it, which expelled the green flames from it at last... this left the Titan and Ash’Kral to gaze at the Nine Senses’ young stem and branches stretch out like a homeless person waking up on a king-sized bed the next morning.
There was so much space for its growth for the first time in a very, very long time... this pleased the Nine Senses Seed to no end. When the seeds were content, they always paid back the favor.
Having no idea what’s going on amid the cloud of relentless agony, Levi suddenly felt his right palm tingling nonstop... if his two other souls weren’t still burning, he would have felt it more than just a tingle.
"What the... his palm... what’s going on with his palm!"
Arthur’s expression hardened after noticing Levi’s right hand split open in the center of his palm without spilling blood. Instead, a thorn-ringed mouth shaped as a flower bud emerged out of nowhere!
The lips were pale moss-green, layered like petals... When it opened, the petals peeled outward like blades of grass, exposing a deep throat gleaming with ethereal green light. It had tiny vines that twitched around it like whiskers.
The moment it was created, the mouth opened slightly, and a long, thorny ethereal tongue slithered out curiously like a newborn creature.
"The Soulleech Maw... is this real life..." Ash’Kral remarked with a slightly dazed expression.
Even the Titan and N’ibby felt their hearts skip a beat the instant they recognized it... If it wasn’t for Jasmine standing inside an active array, N’ibby would have snatched her out of here in an instant!
Alas, before it could explore its environment, Levi slammed his palms on the ground in agony, making the newborn creature squeal in pain as well.
The moment Ash’Kral, N’ibby, and the Titan heard its wronged squeal, their expressions turned for the worse.
’Jasmine, put some distance from Levi, now!!’
"Shit! Leave the Array now and don’t step on the inscriptions!!"
No hesitation, Ash’Kral bolted away on his four paws, zigzagging across the labyrinth of flaming walls.
Arthur and Jasmine heard their warnings and saw Ash’Kral running away... yet, none of them took a single step backward. They had no idea what was going on, but the notion of ditching Levi never crossed their minds.
When Ash’Kral saw this, he shouted at them with a furious expression, "Run away, you stupid brats if you don’t want your souls devoured!! Levi will be fine, you won’t!"
Ash’Kral didn’t give a shit if they died or lived as much as Levi... but he knew that if their souls were to be devoured under his watch, his dream of achieving his goal was done for.
’Jasmine, this is not the time for games... leave, or I am going to take control.’ N’ibby warned sternly.
N’ibby didn’t have to say anything else... the moment Jasmine heard that Levi would be fine, unlike them, she manifested an ink chain and latched it into Arthur... then, she created a winged raven from black ink and took off into the sky, pulling Arthur away too.
They were forced to pierce through some walls of green flames, which left them feeling like their souls had caught fire.
Arghhhh!!
Arthur screamed and started thrashing all around, incapable of handling even a little taste of what Levi was going through... after all, the pain of the body was nowhere near as harsh as the soul.
Fortunately, the moment they got away from the array, the green flames were extinguished around their souls, freeing them from such agony.
Argghhh...
However, when Arthur heard Levi’s screams this time, it made him feel shivers course down his spine.
’Just how... how is he still conscious?’
While he was doubting the reality before him, the Soulleech Maw began to open wider... much wider.
The lips split along hidden seams, stretching until the whole palm turned into a large, star-shaped mouth... The long tongue pulled back inside it, and the tiny spirit-like teeth began to shake and click, sounding like bone scraping against glass!
It started with a small pull of air, but then... the green flames around Levi suddenly dragged toward the mouth in his palm!
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
The flames stuck to his body ripped away and rushed into the gaping maw. This sight freaked out Jasmine and Arthur as they watched the mouth sucking off the remaining green flames across the entire massive array!
In no time, a giant green flaming tornado manifested with Levi’s palm as the center... Levi was barely conscious, unaware of what was going on.
All he did was lift his palm above him the moment he found that the pain was lessening rapidly because of it.
Meanwhile, his ethereal green long hair whipped upward, mixing in with the storm of aetheric flames for a short while until... There were no more aetheric flames to eat.
The entire array was sucked dry, returning Levi’s territory to its usual peace.
Burp.
The Soulleech Maw burped with its tongue out and then slowly turned ethereal, returning Levi’s palm back to its natural human state.
Levi remained on his knees with a palm raised to the heavens for two seconds... then, he fell flat on his face, his long, ethereal, thick green hair covering him like a blanket.
Silence devoured the area for a split second.
Then.
"Levii!!!"