’I still have some time before my soul scatters on its own... I have to take all of them with me... leaving them alive is too dangerous, too dangerous.’
The Hexgaze Lurker narrowed his eyes frigidly at the sight of Levi and the rest of the Daywalkers rushing toward him... the moment Rain’s soul was erased within his subconscious barrier, he accepted two realities: He was a goner, as he couldn’t exist for long without his partner... they might be considered as ’one’ after the merger, but their souls were still unique to each one. Secondly, Levi wasn’t the only future threat to his master.
It was Levi’s entire party... he had no clue whether the others would turn out as monstrous as Levi and Jasmine, but he had no intention of letting them live long enough to see it.
With both Fang and Rain out of the picture, the Hexgaze understood that it was in his hands to save them from the Bishop’s Wrath... if winning the game meant the death of everyone involved, he wasn’t going to shy away from it.
It was far better than accepting defeat at the hands of a bunch of children after Bishop Na’thir had invested heavily in their clones.
Whoosh! Whoosh!...
Thus, the Hexgaze continued to flicker from one Horn to the next, claiming each a mere split second after it spawned. It was as if he were timing the instability; the moment his form shuddered, glitching between its three states, he waited for the precise heartbeat where his body turned spiritual.
In that massless state, he could blink away instantaneously, moving with the terrifying, weightless speed of light!
Such insane speed made it nearly impossible for Levi to catch him, even if he was able to track him with his Harmonic Spine.
To make matters worse, even with the addition of a dozen Daywalkers, the Hexgaze remained as elusive as ever.
"Damn it! Almost!"
"Spread out to corner him! We have to predict his exact next location!"
"It’s impossible... I barely lifted my pistol, and he was already gone!"
Tyrese, Evangeline, and Mira showed ugly expressions as they tracked the Hexgaze with their eyes... Only now did they share the helplessness that Levi felt.
’Captain... what’s our next move?’
Tyrese glanced at Levi, who stood still the moment his allies came to assist him.
’I suggest we spread everyone across the length of the rope to collect the rest of the spawned Horns.’ Evangeline joined the discussion with a stern tone, ’We can’t keep playing tag with this abnormality... he is gaining ground on us too fast.’
’I agree... he can’t be everywhere at once.’ Mira nodded in support.
Levi remained quiet, his mind running through other strategies than what was proposed... it wasn’t like Evangeline’s plan was bad, but it guaranteed nothing besides putting everyone in danger.
After all, they were still on top of a spinning rope, and the trap mechanism had yet to emerge... Levi couldn’t risk splitting everyone up in such a critical period.
Not everyone could move as freely as the Hexgaze on top of the rope, which meant he would always be faster than them at collecting the Horns.
Yet, the worst part about this strategy was the Winged Horn... Levi had no clue if it was going to spawn again, but he was certain that if it did, it was going to spawn in their vicinity... which meant the Hexgaze was going to claim it instantly even if it was hundreds of meters away from the rope!
This would seal their death instantly.
The only viable option that would ensure everyone’s safety was to catch the Hexgaze and eliminate him... nothing more, nothing less.
’Think, think, think... There must be a way to catch him... Jasmine had already killed his partner, which made it easier to predict his next move.’
Levi’s brain worked overtime to come up with the best possible strategy... when he chased him alone earlier, the Chameleon was capable of switching between three forms at will. The most annoying one was the spiritual form, which enabled him to move like this.
’He used to remain no more than two seconds in his spiritual form before being forced to turn physical or cast an illusion to camouflage himself... which is natural; he can’t remain in his spiritual form like Rain without someone to hold his soul... now, his blinks are bound under the strange glitches creating a... Pattern.’
Levi dampened the noise of the world around him, drowning out every distraction as he pushed the vision of his harmonic spine to its absolute limit. He narrowed his focus, tracking the Hexgaze’s erratic movements with microscopic accuracy, dissecting the creature’s reactions down to the finest, most infinitesimal detail.
He recognized that Jasmine’s efforts weren’t for naught... Rain’s death might have just given him the answer he was searching for. However, what he was attempting to do was no simple task since he was required to study the pattern of the frequently occurring glitches in addition to the spawn rate and placement of the Giant Horns.
That’s why his next order was:
’Don’t give him room to breathe... keep pressing.’
Hearing Levi’s order, Evangeline and Tyrese frowned a little... they felt like Levi’s decision was too wishful. Anyone with a brain could see that the Hexgaze Lurker was going to keep playing rounds with them until the end.
But that’s the thing... they knew that Levi was smarter than this.
’He must have a plan.’
Instead of assaulting him with questions about what he had in mind, Evangeline and Tyrese joined their teammates in the hunt... they had full faith in him.
While the viewers held their breath at the chaotic scene before them, Levi kept the world shut... He wasn’t just looking at the Hexgaze anymore; he was reading it like a broken computer code.
Every time the Chameleon moved, his body glitched... Most viewers saw these "glitches" as random errors in the chameleon’s existence, but Levi saw the rhythm and captured it. Then, he studied it like a soundless melody until...
’0.2 seconds between each glitch... and each form lasts about a second.’
He noted, and then he tracked the Horns’ randomness by matching their natural release frequency during their creation... each time a Horn spawned, it left behind a faint disturbance in the giant web of frequencies.
What came next was, of course, the Hexgaze... Levi tracked his movement over and over again while simultaneously releasing a soundless frequency from the back of his throat constantly... this frequency matched with the natural frequency of the Giant Horns, which enabled Levi to pick up on the exact moment of the next spawned Horn before it even appeared!!
It was like creating an alarm system!
Sure, the alarm lasted for less than a split second, but it was enough for Levi to create a pattern and study it until the perfect moment arrived.
One minute... Two minutes... Three minutes!
Three minutes had gone by, and nothing had changed besides the increased nervousness and despair of the Daywalkers.
Three minutes had gone by, and Levi remained in the same position... unmoving, unaffected by everyone’s cries for help and orders.
When they saw him in such a serene state, as if he had already accepted their defeat, all of them followed their original captains: Evangeline and Tyrese.
But what they didn’t expect was that even their captains refused to change Levi’s plan... they kept pushing them to apply pressure on the Hexgaze, forcing him into non-stop blinking from one place to another.
Meanwhile, the viewers watching the broadcast from their houses and city hubs were losing their minds... The screen showed Levi standing like a statue while the Hexgaze turned the rope into his own playground.
"What is he doing?!" An Earthling Daywalker screamed, gripping the edge of his seat. "He’s just standing there while the monster harvests the Horns! There are barely ten points between them!"
The doubt was spreading like wildfire... to the average viewer, it looked like Levi had simply given up, shattered by the sheer speed of a creature that could move at the speed of light.
When they watched the replay of his previous attempts, they were even more convinced... Levi had truly used everything in his pocket, but to no avail.
High above in the VIP sectors, the atmosphere was even more tense.
Bishop Na’thir watched the view with a murderous gaze... His fingers dug into the armrest of his throne. After seeing his trusted elites fall at Levi and Jasmine’s hands, his greed over their secrets wasn’t as overwhelming as their threat to his plans.
He understood more than ever that Levi had to go, even if it meant giving up on the many secrets he was hiding.
On the other hand... Bishop Va’ren slammed his fist onto a glass table, shattering the corner. His face was flushed with a mix of fury and desperate hope.
He had already set his sights on Levi and Jasmine for his own selfish reasons; seeing them in such a precarious state was driving him mad.
’Don’t you dare fall here, you little brats!’ Va’ren cursed, his eyes wide as he leaned forward. "Move! Do something! It’s immoral to show me your immense potential just to see you get blinked out of existence by a dying lizard! Win this, damn it!"
Other powerful figures from the Great Houses shared Va’ren’s frustration... They didn’t care about the rules of the game anymore; they saw the birth of true monsters in Levi and Jasmine... To them, seeing such talent wasted on a small, unknown planet was a tragedy of the highest order.
"He’s analyzing," one elder from a noble House whispered, his eyes narrowing as he noticed the faint hum coming from Levi’s throat. "He isn’t giving up... he is aiming for something."
But for most, the sight was nothing but despair... three minutes of inactivity felt like an eternity.
Two more minutes or less remained, and the Hexgaze was flickering faster and faster until many Daywalkers slowly started giving up, too tired to move.
"It’s over," a commentator muttered, his voice laced with disappointment. "The Hexgaze is one Horn off from catching up... It’s done."