The Glorious Evolution Chapter 426: Survive, and I Will Tell You.

For an instant, the battlefield stayed frozen, with Fang and his companions gazing at Levi, uncertain if he was merely bluffing once more or if true power was on the verge of unleashing.

The Soulleech Maw started shifting then, not yet accustomed to Levi’s commands... its elongated tongue coiled tightly around the staff, compressing from the middle toward the chain. A subtle green radiance emerged at the point where the tongue met the crown, and in mere moments, that light raced across the full span of the staff.

All at once, ferocious green flames erupted from the crown and surged along the staff in a fluid torrent, engulfing both the weapon and Levi’s arm entirely!

Gamemaster Envy’s face turned rigid first, his words choking in his throat... at a single look, he recognized the unnatural nature of the fire. No smoke billowed from it, no crackling sounded, and no warmth emanated.

Rather, it emitted a constant green glow that caused the air near Levi to ripple, as though he wielded an ornamental flame... innocuous and captivating.

Yet he understood... yes, he understood all too well.

’Impossible... Impossible... Impossible!!’

Gamemaster Envy echoed silently within, as if tricked in his own domain... still, upon inspecting the flames, the findings forced him to confront the astonishing scene unfolding.

His dilated eyes shifted to the Soulleech Maw, its jaws agape, relentlessly spewing flames until the whole armament seemed crafted from pure aetheric fire.

Gamemaster Envy quickly sought to probe the Soulleech Maw... but regretfully, his all-seeing gaze was obstructed by Levi’s request to conceal his abilities’ specifics, much like with his other Sun and Void mutations.

The system honored Rifter privacy without question.

Put differently, though Gamemaster Envy grasped the flames’ nature and suspected Levi’s mutation source, the rules bound his tongue!

’What kind of monster is this kid... and why don’t the Soul Flames scorch him?! Could he possess a Royal Bloodline tie to the Aether realm?’

As Gamemaster Envy’s mind reeled in chaos, Fang, Nyr’Kalloth, and the other Nightcrawlers’ faces grew grave in unison.

Few recognized Aether Flames anymore, their legacy lost ages past when Soulleech Maws were thought extinct... nonetheless, their primal senses sharpened, sending an ancient dread surging through their essences.

The warning rang clear:

Since the game’s start, Fang’s smirk faded gradually for the first time... in contrast to the others, his expertise ran deep.

"You... how can you wield these flames? Are they even the real deal?" Fang demanded, his tone gravely intense.

"Survive, and I will tell you."

Levi replied curtly and suddenly... the moment his final syllable faded, he vanished.

One Combustion Leap propelled him straight before Fang.

Chills raced down Fang’s back from proximity to the Aetheric Flames... on reflex, he leaped back, retreating into the Toxic Kingdom’s depths for shelter. His comrades shielded him from the poisons via their barriers, guaranteeing his protection. Powerful as he was with strong toxin tolerance, it fell short of true immunity.

Fang hurriedly moved to alert his team, convinced Levi had erred gravely by revealing his trump so near the Toxic Kingdom.

"Fight from range! Don’t get touched by the f..."

But... ere his caution ended, shock sealed his voice as Levi charged heedlessly into the Toxic Kingdom... his look icy and malevolent, as if this was the awaited chance to unleash after all the prior chaos.

And unleash he did.

Levi materialized spectrally before Nyr’Kalloth, nearest after Fang’s flight... he lashed the blazing crown at Nyr’Kalloth from all angles. Nyr’Kalloth relied on his ebony scales to soak the impact, crossing his arms to guard his visage.

Perfectly, the scales neutralized the physical blow... however... Nyr’Kalloth’s eyes bulged in torment, his spirit seared as if by infernal fires.

"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Beneath the shocked stares of comrades and audience, an undignified wail tore from him... Tragically, worse awaited.

Nyr’Kalloth struggled to counter and escape the verdant fiend... he erupted from an ultimate, flinging open every scale to unleash a tempest of Zombie Blight dark fog enveloping him and Levi!

Like a dark sand whirlwind, the tempest whirled endlessly around Nyr’Kalloth... dense enough to swallow them both completely.

The Nightcrawlers stood too stunned to respond to Levi enduring their lethal poison mixture... yet the moment they spotted the storm, rage warped their faces into savage scowls.

"He is dead meat!"

"Even if he doesn’t die, his fate as a Zombie is sealed... huh?"

Right as the rest started chiming in, shock bulged their eyes from sporadic green flickers dancing across the storm’s exterior. But what truly horrified them were the thunderous howls echoing from their invincible captain.

"Argh!! It burns!!! Arghhhh!!!..."

It barely resembled a fair duel at all... instead, it screamed of brutal, one-way agony. For a typical Nightcrawler, that might have been believable.

Yet not for him... not their Faction’s captain, meant to be the ultimate powerhouse and their core support.

-...-

-...-

-...-

Still, the audience felt the deepest bewilderment of everyone... Gamemaster Envy broadcast the chaos within the storm, stripping away any ability to form coherent ideas. They simply stared while Levi whipped the blazing chains around Nyr’Kalloth’s frame, searing him with relentless bursts of feral green fire.

Utterly defenseless, Nyr’Kalloth’s body slumped to the earth, yielding as his soul incinerated... the torment proved far too devastating, too sanity-shattering, for any victim to reason or move afterward.

Whereas Sunflames incinerated Nightcrawlers into cinders, Aether Flames dissolved every lifeform’s soul into a formless sludge. Just those boasting exceptional spiritual fortitude or pain endurance might last a short time... but merely briefly.

Against Nyr’Kalloth and these Nightcrawlers, utterly unfamiliar with such excruciating pain... the instant the fire grazed them, it spelled total defeat.

In a final devastating strike, green flames swallowed Nyr’Kalloth’s crushed face whole, yet no further cries escaped... He perished.

His vital signs lingered on, but his soul? Already reduced to a globular mass, akin to his shattered subconscious barrier.

Disregarding the collapsing black storm encircling him, Levi conjured the Lantern and drew Nyr’Kalloth’s soul into it, face unchanging.

Next, he shoved the corpse aside with a kick and strode from the still-raging storm, flames unquenched, cold grin intact, craving even more...