The Glorious Evolution Chapter 418 A Message Written in Blood.

Fang eased himself back down, rolling his shoulders and spine with satisfying cracks, chuckling with delight as Arthur's fierce attack merely loosened his rigid joints.

"You... what are you?"

Arthur stood frozen in shock, rooted to the spot. He had been struggling to free his arms from the jagged chains, yet now, facing Fang's unmarked body and those blood-red demonic eyes, he sensed doom the instant he touched them...

"Me?"

Fang rose to his feet, twisting his neck with a crack, then advanced without a care as the whirling rope threatened to turn their world inverted.

Suspended above the chasm with fierce winds howling around, Fang gradually raised his head and drew nearer.

"I am only a messenger," he whispered softly, though Arthur caught every word clearly. "And unfortunately for you and your friends… my message is written in blood."

A chill raced down Arthur's spine as he met Fang's malevolent stare, finally grasping what had triggered Levi's primal instincts... he instinctively recoiled, but too bad.

It was already too late.

A blink.

Just one blink... and everything snapped back to the scripted fate.

Fang became a fleeting shadow as his massive hand materialized before Arthur's face, seizing it firmly... Fang's palm swallowed Arthur's entire head, talons piercing the stony shield guarding its rear.

Arthur's sight exploded in white from the strike... before a single thought could form, Fang yanked him loose from the rope's hold!

His artifact boots strained to maintain their grip on the surface. But Fang's power proved overwhelming.

In the following instant, Arthur was hoisted weightlessly skyward... or rather, left swinging head-down after their realm flipped.

Hanging inverted, held only by Fang's vise-like grasp and his tethered weapons, Arthur's heart plummeted into his gut... relentless gales battered him like summons from the infinite void yawning beneath.

Fang stretched his arm deliberately, dangling Arthur above the emptiness as though offering him to it... Arthur fought desperately to shift, clutching Fang's arm with all his might.

Yet he received only searing torment as Fang's digits clamped tighter on his cranium. The squeeze mounted to terrifying levels, like iron jaws crushing bone and rock together.

Arghh...

Thin fissures spiderwebbed over the stone shell shielding his head, making Arthur wheeze... but scant breath filled his chest. Strength ebbed from him, legs flailing once, twice, fingers scrabbling feebly at Fang's forearm.

Clear thought escaped him now... the pulverizing might overwhelmed everything, leaving only raw survival drive.

'I... I can't... I can't... hold it...any...long...er.'

With Arthur's fingers jerking, muscles convulsing, all fight seeped away; his eyes fluttered upward, foam bubbling at his mouth.

Blackout loomed mere heartbeats away... in that fleeting gap, Arthur heard his elder brother's voice echo in his thoughts.

'Are you leaving me alone already, Arthur?'

Unclear if Levi actually spoke those words or if his mind conjured a final desperate ploy... either way, upon hearing it, Arthur's pulse thundered wildly. His hazy gaze sharpened slightly, the brutal squeeze on his brow easing a touch.

"Still got that dog in you, not bad." Fang's lips curved briefly, yet he shook his head while ramping up the pressure, "Too bad... It's useless."

Without pause, Fang released his grip, simultaneously unshackling Arthur from the chained weapon... he did so while shooting Levi a subtle grin, as if inviting him to savor the spectacle from afar.

The Bishop had poured vast resources into this twisted game to shatter Levi and ignite his rage... a quick death wouldn't suffice.

He craved Levi witnessing his sibling's doom helpless to intervene... atop the rope, Rifters could aid one another, even those yet to join. But in freefall, only those on high could assist the fallen.

This explained why Korr'Zhael plunged into the abyss unrescued by comrades, despite their nearness.

'Hmmm?'

Yet as Fang looked toward Levi, no trace of worry marred his expression... distance separated them greatly, but Fang trusted his sharp sight. Levi's face came into crisp focus.

No worry, no fury... just eerie composure.

Before Fang had a moment to ponder, his instincts prickled sharply, signaling an impending ambush... The instant he spun toward the spot where Arthur's teammates had stood before, Nurah's frosty visage loomed directly in his face.

She didn't come solo... Shia, Tyrese, Michael, Blake, Rakai, and Nadal burst forth from her flowing, shadowy tresses that enveloped Fang from all angles.

"Arthur!!! Catch!!!"

Tyrese fought down the queasy nausea from the shadow teleport and launched Shia's crescent blade straight at Arthur!

A slimy, adhesive tentacle connected the crescent glaive back to Shia. Fueled by his tremendous power, the glaive pursued Arthur relentlessly, like a ruthless debt enforcer.

Though Arthur was exhausted, battered, aching, and scarcely aware, he seized Shia's glaive with both hands, letting it first stab into his shoulder for a firm hold. His blurred vision left no room for a blind grab.

No sooner had he gripped it than Shia bolted in the opposite direction of the twirling rope, defying its pull to drag Arthur swiftly to safety, far from Fang!

In the meantime, Nurah had unleashed her supreme Shadow Puppetry, pinning Fang immobile with his own shadow... Tyrese and the rest circled him warily, holding back with grave, hardened stares.

After those harrowing events, not one dared to challenge Levi's commands or second-guess them further...

'Well done, now restrain him with every tool you have... if that fails, safeguard yourselves first... treat him as anything but a regular mercenary, I repeat, do not.' Levi commanded gravely, arms folded across his chest.

Once Levi saw Arthur's strike hadn't scratched him, he instantly grasped the perilous bind his younger brother was trapped in… mere inches from a fiend, and shackled directly to it.

He realized that commanding Nurah and the team to rush in for a rescue could doom Arthur instead... thus, he ordered them to hold position for his signal, sensing Fang's aims went beyond a mere game kill on Arthur.

His manner of speaking, his toying with Arthur, that overwhelming power, his veteran combat skills, his blank record across the networks, and above all, that eerie vibe akin to the Hound... all these signs convinced Levi that Fang concealed far more than appeared.

But the decisive hint that exposed him was the words he whispered to Arthur about being a messenger... Fang assumed only Arthur caught it, yet Levi overheard the menacing remark too, cutting through the roaring winds and gap.

One name surged into his mind after linking the evidence: The Bishop.

Grasping that Bishop Na'thir had dispatched his thugs against him, Levi grew convinced Fang wouldn't slay Arthur immediately, but would devise the most agonizing method to wound him worse than merely claiming his little brother.

Hurling him into the yawning abyss before his eyes, fully aware he couldn't intervene, offered torment crueler than instant death.

Therefore, Levi hastily devised a rescue plan for the moment Fang unshackled him... and luckily, he could rely on Nurah, Shia, and Tyrese—dependable Daywalkers—to handle his brother's extraction.

Levi tilted his head upward, staring into the inky sky with a blank look... He couldn't spot him, but he knew the Bishop pulled strings here and watched him at this very instant.

'You couldn't touch me out there in reality, so you slunk into the games to target my brother and comrades?' Levi's brows knitted in icy resolve, 'What can I say... right on brand for you.'