For a brief moment, nothing happened, and the battlefield remained still as Fang and the others stared at Levi, unsure whether he had just tried to intimidate them again or if something was actually about to happen.
Then the Soulleech Maw began to move, still not used to Levi’s orders... its long tongue tightened around the staff, squeezing from the center all the way to the chain. A faint green glow appeared where the tongue touched the crown, and within a second, that glow spread along the entire length of the staff.
Whoosh!!
Suddenly, wild green flames burst out from the crown and rushed down the staff in one smooth wave, covering it and Levi’s arm completely!
Gamemaster Envy was the first to have his expression frozen solid, the words stuck in his throat... from first glance, he could tell that the fire was not normal. It didn’t produce smoke, it didn’t crackle, and it didn’t release heat.
Instead, it gave off a steady green light that made the air around Levi shimmer as if he was using a decorative type of flame... harmless, and mesmerizing.
But he knew... oh, he knew.
’Impossible... Impossible... Impossible!!’
Gamemaster Envy repeated inwardly, feeling like he was being punked in his own game... however, when he scanned the flames, the result made him accept the dumbfounding sight before him.
His widened pupils drifted to the Soulleech Maw that had its mouth wide open, pouring out the flames nonstop until the entire weapon looked like it had been forged from solid aetheric flames.
Gamemaster Envy swiftly attempted to scan the Soulleech Maw... but alas, he found that his omnipotent vision was blocked under Levi’s appeal to hide the details of his powers, just like he did to the rest of his Sun and Void mutations.
When it came to privacy, the system respected the Rifters wholeheartedly.
In other words, even when Gamemaster Envy knew of the flames and had an inkling of Levi’s mutation’s origin, his lips were sealed under the laws!
’Just who the hell is this boy... and how do the Soul Flames not burn him?! Does he have a Royal Bloodline connection to the Aether realm?’
While Gamemaster Envy’s thoughts were left in shambles, Fang, Nyr’Kalloth, and the rest of the Nightcrawlers’ expressions turned serious at once.
Not everyone was familiar with Aether Flames, as their origin died eons ago after Soulleech Maws were believed to have gone extinct... still, their instincts were sharp, and all of them felt a primordial chill course down their souls.
It was warning them: do not get touched by the flames at any cost.
For the first time since the game began, Fang’s grin slowly disappeared... unlike them, he was very knowledgeable.
"You... how can you wield these flames? Are they even the real deal?" Fang asked, his voice as serious as it could get.
"Survive, and I will tell you."
Levi’s response was short and abrupt... the instant the last word rolled off his tongue, he was already gone.
Booom!!
A single Combustion Leap was all it took to come face to face with Fang.
Fang felt shivers run through his spine after coming so close to the Aetheric Flames... instinctively, he jumped backward, sinking deep inside the Toxic Kingdom for cover. His allies had him protected from the toxins using their defensive techniques, ensuring his safety. He might be powerful and have high poison resistance, but it wasn’t immunity.
Fang swiftly tried to warn his allies, believing that Levi had made a foolish mistake in exposing his card while being so close to the Toxic Kingdom.
"Fight from range! Don’t get touched by the f..."
Alas... before he could finish his warning, his throat closed shut at the sight of Levi dashing through the Toxic Kingdom without a care in the world... his expression was cold and sinister, like he was waiting for this very moment to let loose after everything that went down.
And so, he did.
Levi appeared like a ghost in front of Nyr’Kalloth, who was the closest to him after Fang ran away... he swung his burning crown at Nyr’Kalloth from every direction. Nyr’Kalloth trusted his black scales to absorb the force as he used his forearms to shield his face.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!...
The scales did their job wonderfully... the kinetic force was absorbed, and yet... Nyr’Kalloth’s eyes widened to the limit in agony, feeling like his soul was licked by the flames of hell itself.
"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!"
Under the stunned eyes of his allies and the viewers, he let out a heart-wrenching screech unbefitting of his status... Sadly, the worst was yet to come.
Nyr’Kalloth tried to fight back and save himself from the greenish devil before him... he swiftly popped out of one of his ultimates, unlocking all of his scales at once and releasing a blizzard of Zombie Blight black mist around him and Levi!
The blizzard resembled a black sandstorm that spun around Nyr’Kalloth nonstop... it was so thick, it completely hid both of them within it.
The Nightcrawlers were already too shocked to react to Levi’s ability to survive their concoction of deadly poisons... but when they saw the storm, their expressions turned murderous.
"He is dead meat!"
"Even if he doesn’t die, his fate as a Zombie is sealed... huh?"
Just as the others opened their mouths as well, their eyes widened at the sight of green flashes reflecting on the storm’s surface once in a while. Yet, what scared them the most was their overpowered captain’s resounding screams.
"Argh!! It burns!!! Arghhhh!!!..."
It didn’t sound like an even fight in the slightest... but more of a one-sided torture. If it were any other Nightcrawler, they could understand.
But not him... not their Faction’s captain, who was supposed to be the strongest and their backbone.
-...-
-...-
-...-
Yet, the viewers were the most dumbfounded of the bunch... Gamemaster Envy showed them the battle inside the storm, and it left them incapable of fabricating a single thought. All they could do was watch as Levi used the burning chains to ensnare Nyr’Kalloth’s body and burn him with wave after wave of wild green flame.
Without an ounce of resistance, Nyr’Kalloth’s body lay on the ground and accepted his soul getting burned... the pain was simply too crippling, too mind-breaking, for anyone to think or act once they experienced it.
If Sunflames burned Nightcrawlers to ashes, Aether Flames melted all living beings’ souls to an unrecognizable soup. Only those with high spiritual prowess or pain tolerance could somehow survive it for a while... but only for a while.
In front of Nyr’Kalloth and these Nightcrawlers, who had never experienced this level of agony... the moment the flames touched them, it was Game Over.
Thud!!
With one final smash, Nyr’Kalloth’s bashed-in face was covered entirely in green flames, but no more whimpers left his lips... He died.
His vitals were still intact, but his soul? It was already melted into a sphere, just like his subconsciousness barrier.
Uncaring about the dying black storm around him, Levi summoned the Lantern and sucked Nyr’Kalloth’s soul inside without a change of expression.
Then, he kicked his corpse to the side and stepped out of the storm, still burning, still smiling coldly, and still wanting more...