The Glorious Evolution

"Fine."

"Fine?" Nurah leaned in. "Fine what?"

"Fine. You win." Levi sighed. "Put me down, and I’ll tell you everything."

"I told you he was too shy to talk on his own." Nurah grinned faintly as she reached out to cut his bindings.

While she did so, Jojo maintained the same frown... that strange feeling had never left her. If anything, it had only grown stronger.

Then, suddenly, it dawned on her.

Her pupils thinned as she looked around the camp... it was mostly undisturbed. That shouldn’t have been possible.

Just as she opened her mouth, Levi’s voice echoed directly inside their skulls.

’Dinner is ready... join me.’

All four of them went stiff... then the tree came apart, and so did Levi’s body.

Everything shattered into fragments... the ropes unwove into nothingness, while the vermillion dome dissolved into drifting particles.

The neat stack of firewood scattered itself back across the grass where the shockwave had thrown it twenty minutes ago. The kettle returned to the treeline where it had landed, and the cottage wall became whole and unbroken... because nobody had ever crashed through it.

The four of them stood in a loose circle around a tree with nothing hanging from it.

Nurah’s hand was still raised, gripping a rope that had never existed.

"...No," She whispered.

Forty meters away, beside a campfire that had been burning for quite some time, Levi sat on an overturned crate with his elbows resting on his knees... unmarked, unbruised, and entirely at his leisure.

Jasmine was setting the last bowl down on the table beside him... she glanced at the four of them, then back at Levi, before showing them a faint, apologetic smile.

She had helped them set up the ambush at their request, but she hadn’t participated... knowing that if she did, this little ’ambush spar’ would turn into something entirely different.

Besides... she needed to discuss the situation with Levi one more time, since it involved her secrets as well.

That was exactly what they had been doing for the past fifteen minutes while their friends remained trapped inside Eternal Mirage.

"...How long?" Shia asked quietly.

Levi picked up a bowl with a serene smile and anwsered, "The chant."

"Hm..."

Jojo made a small, wounded noise... clearly unhappy with the situation.

It wasn’t as though the girls hadn’t anticipated Levi’s illusion abilities... Jojo had confidently assured them that if he attempted to trap her in one, she would detect it... Her spiritual prowess had been steadily increasing, and naturally, so had her confidence.

Of course, she wasn’t arrogant enough to believe she could overpower Levi spiritually... but detecting an illusionary attack? That much, she had been certain of.

Alas... she had no idea that Levi’s spiritual prowess had also undergone a massive improvement during his latest escapade.

"Sit down and eat..." Levi said gently. "And I’ll give you a choice."

The girls sat around the table, their expressions curious yet solemn. They had always known that Levi was hiding secrets beyond their understanding... especially after everything that had transpired during the faction event.

Levi was merely a Pathfinder, yet his strength stood far above everyone else in their circle, despite them being Wardens who had undergone nothing but Perfect Evolutions.

Under the universal laws of balance... the gap shouldn’t have been this massive unless Levi was somehow using evolutionary formulas beyond Perfect Grade.

Of course, no such thing existed.

Which left them with an unavoidable question...

If he was already this powerful as a Pathfinder, then how terrifying would he become as a Warden?

Strong enough to defeat a Solarbound inside their own Dominion?

Was such a thing even possible?

Those thoughts had taken root in their minds and refused to leave.

After moving into Jasmine’s territory and realizing that Levi had disappeared for days, everything finally clicked... Levi possessed physical access to the Boundless Expanse much earlier than any of them.

For an Earthling with no outside connections, that was only possible if he was a Nocturnal Rifter.

Yet, they believed Levi had no reason to hide something like that from them unless... there was far more to it.

As their captain and friend, someone they had already accepted they would sacrifice their lives for if necessary, being kept completely in the dark didn’t sit right with them... in their eyes, it cheapened the bond they shared.

"I know what’s going through your minds, and believe me... if it were entirely up to me, I would’ve shared everything with you." Levi shook his head. "But I couldn’t be selfish enough to endanger your lives and families by dragging you into matters far beyond your understanding."

Just as the girls were about to retort, Levi continued.

"But... I’ve realized that isn’t my decision to make."

Before they could understand what he meant, Levi extended both palms.

Then...

A golden sphere emerged above his right hand.

"...!"

The girls froze at once, their eyes widening as golden light washed over their faces... the heat followed immediately, making it clear that their eyes weren’t playing tricks on them.

Even Blee’der, Nyx’Velar, and Zar’Vhulek were shaken... as Nightcrawlers, they could recognize Sunflames from miles away. The instinctive dread of being burned to ashes by them was engraved into their souls from birth.

"W... What..."

But before anyone could react, Levi’s left palm changed.

Darkness gathered above it... Then, a small black sphere silently condensed into existence.

The moment it appeared, the heat radiating from the golden sphere began to disappear... even its golden light distorted as it approached the black sphere, bending toward its surface before vanishing completely, resembling a black hole slowly devouring a star.

The girls stopped breathing.

Their contracted Nightcrawlers’ pupils thinned as their gazes shifted between the golden sphere, the black one... and finally Levi.

’Impossible...’

They knew exactly what they were looking at.

There was no way they wouldn’t.

These weren’t obscure Aspects or rare bloodline abilities.

They were forces every Rifter learned about... powers representing the holy and unholy sides of this universe’s eternal conflict.

The domains of beings older than the very concept of species... forces that Ancient Races had built their civilizations around and still spent eras failing to master.

Powers that did not belong to humans in any of the Nine Realms.

Not at any rank... Not under any circumstances... Ever.

Sun.

Void.

And one man was holding both thirty centimeters apart, looking almost bored with the presentation, as though the novelty of such insanity had long since lost its flavor.

But not to the girls.

And certainly not to their contracted Nightcrawlers.

"Levi..."

For the first time, there was no anger or annoyance in Shia’s voice.

Only pure disbelief.

Levi remained silent... he didn’t need to answer. He could hear their racing hearts and practically feel the questions piling up in the silence like snow upon a roof.

How?

Since when?

What are you?

Are you even human?

And beneath all of them rested the one question that truly mattered:

If this was what he had decided to lead with...

What else was he hiding?

"Now you understand," Levi said gently, "why I hesitated."

Nobody answered him.

An hour ago, these three had ambushed him to prove that they could handle whatever he was hiding.

But now... they finally realized that Levi hadn’t merely been hiding secrets from them.

He had been hiding his true, dreadful strength as well... a level of power so far beyond what they had imagined that they would break their necks trying to glimpse its peak.

Levi slowly brought his palms closer together, the opposing forces trembling as though even they rejected the very notion of coexistence.

"Choose your poison... the whole truth, and your lives will forever become intertwined with mine... in glory and in pain, in victory and in ruin. My enemies will become yours. My secrets will become burdens you can never put down. And once you step into my world..."

His smile slowly faded.

"There will be no stepping out."

The golden sphere flared, bathing one side of his face in warm light, while the black sphere distorted the air around the other, swallowing even the glow attempting to reach it.

"Or... you walk away." Levi’s voice softened. "No explanations. No resentment. We remain friends and teammates... and I carry the rest alone."

None of the girls spoke.

"Sun or Void."

His blindfolded gaze settled upon them.

"Ignorance or truth."

Then, with a faint, almost helpless smile...

"For once... I’ll let you decide how much of my madness you want to inherit."

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