The Glorious Evolution Chapter 600: The Rite of Succession.

"..."

Under the shadowy cloak, Na’thir’s lips slowly peeled back from his teeth, the muscles around his nose twitching as he struggled to keep his fury from breaking through.

Accepting the Hound’s defeat was one thing.

Accepting it while his opponent was weaker was another.

But... against Levi? The kid who seemed to be growing at a monstrous pace even by the standards of the strongest noble families in the universe? Who was hell-bent on ruining his plans and seeking his death?

He just couldn’t hold back his fury any longer.

Na’thir’s spiritual aura erupted from his floating throne, hammering through the Inverse Sanctum until cracks split its pillars and spread across the inverted halls!

Its shadowy tendrils smashed the stone like sledgehammers, causing one of the towers hanging over the chasm to fracture along its length.

Yet even as his castle shuddered around him, Levi’s taunt rang out over the Hound’s screams.

After Rain, after everything he invested in the Hound... that little vermin still dared to mock him.

"Levi..."

He gritted out the name through his lips with great difficulty... but he soon stopped his spiritual aura from breaking apart his castle, his bone-chilling gaze settling on the Hound’s burning Tree.

The Hound was dying, and every wasted moment brought Levi closer to leaving the Dominion.

’Initiate Knowledge Transfer,’ he ordered coldly. ’Put him through your spiritual trial.’

The Hound didn’t even register the command through the agony consuming his soul... but Na’thir repeated it, forcing each word through their connection.

’Trap him in there... DO IT!’

Under different circumstances, Na’thir wouldn’t give such an order... especially when he considered Levi a ’Solarbound’ and putting him inside the Hound’s spiritual trial meant giving him a chance of evolving again.

However... he also knew that once Levi left the Dominion, he would have no way of getting to him again unless the boy came for him on his own.

And after witnessing what he did to Rain and the Hound, Na’thir refused to give him the time to decide when that happened.

He needed Levi to remain trapped while he negotiated with the Bishop ruling this territory.

Whatever he demanded, Na’thir would pay it. Wealth, favors... he no longer cared, provided the price bought Levi’s death while he still had the chance.

Not in his wildest dreams did he expect Levi to be such a freak of nature.

Rain’s fate was enough to make that clear, but Na’thir still expected the Hound’s superior authority to settle matters inside the Rift.

Instead, Levi matched the concentration of his Ultimate somehow and destroyed his Tree with a Living Tree.

Both scenes were a first for him, and Na’thir hated what he couldn’t understand... especially when it was in the hands of someone he considered his mortal enemy.

But then...

’No...’

The Hound’s refusal interrupted his thoughts.

Within the Rift, the Hound struggled to speak as green flames consumed him among the remains of his golden armor.

His ruined Tree burned behind him, its branches breaking apart as the fire reached deeper into its trunk.

’Let me die...’

He accepted that fate already.

His Ultimate was gone, his authority crumbled with his Tree, and nothing remained that could drive Levi away.

But a spiritual trial meant letting Seraphis’s student into his memories... allowing him to witness the life the Hound refused to share with anyone.

Everything he buried would become part of that trial, and he would have no way to choose what Levi witnessed or stop him from going further.

Since his death was already a destined end, he preferred to die with a hint of dignity.

’He gets nothing from me...’ the Hound forced out. ’Nothing...’

’You useless waste!’ Na’thir’s heated curse resounded in his mind. ’You couldn’t kill him, and now you refuse to be useful even in death?! After everything I did for you to avenge her?!’

The Hound offered no answer... even the soul-burning pain didn’t hurt as much as the memories that struck him.

Yes, the Bishop helped him achieve his vengeance... but he endured years of torment to earn it, obeying every order because each one promised to bring him closer to Seraphis.

Na’thir spoke as though he simply handed him that revenge, as though none of his suffering counted toward the debt.

Even now, with nothing left to give but his death, his master demanded more.

’Bishop...’ The Hound’s voice faltered as the flames ate through his soul... with death already claiming him, he finally found the words he never dared to say. ’With all due respect... fuck off.’

’...You!’

Na’thir was already on edge with these three bastards’ failures, and now one of his most loyal dogs dared to talk back, to curse him?!

Still... even when his heart burned, he swallowed his emotions and swiftly directed the order through the bond between his Mother Tree and the Hound’s Tree.

He refused to let him take that choice to his grave... and unfortunately for the Hound, being a Falseborn meant his Shadowlife Seed was still under the authority of the Mother Tree.

The same bond that allowed Na’thir to reclaim its life also gave him a way to bypass its owner’s refusal!

The moment his command reached the Hound’s Tree, the Hound felt the process begin without his permission, and a desperate, angry protest left his burning lips.

’You monster... when will it be enough...’

Na’thir ignored his protest as golden light gathered around the Hound’s crown, lifting it from his head.

For an instant, it hovered over him, illuminating the broken armor scattered around his body... then it drifted toward the burning giant crouching before him.

Levi sensed its approach and parted the flames around his real body, allowing the crown to reach him and settle upon his head without resistance.

’Huh?’

Levi’s willingness startled Na’thir...

He knew Knowledge Transfer required the challenger to complete a Rite of Succession before the Seed could draw them into its spiritual trial.

The rite took a form tied to the Dominion’s Laws, marking the challenger as someone claiming its owner’s authority and inheritance.

Whether they completed it willingly or by force, the Seed recognized the act and subjected that claim to judgment.

Within a Dominion governed by Pride, taking the ruler’s place fulfilled that condition.

The Hound completed the rite when he sat upon Seraphis’s throne... and Levi did the same by accepting the Hound’s crown.

Both acts claimed what belonged to another.

The spiritual trial would determine whether the claimant deserved to inherit it.

Bishop Na’thir assumed that Levi would at least try to avoid it... Instead, Levi allowed the crown to settle on his head with a wide grin.

"Thank you for the predictable reaction." Levi showed a serene smile to Na’thir. "I knew the Hound would never approve of Knowledge Transfer."

Levi knew the Hound would rather die than let him pry into his private life... asking him for a spiritual trial was pointless, especially when his death was certain.

After all, Knowledge Transfer was more closely linked to the Shadowlife Seed’s survival than to the host’s survival... even if the host died while the spiritual trial was active, nothing would change.

Knowing this, Levi directed his taunts at Na’thir instead to give him the illusion that trapping Levi in a spiritual trial to buy him time for another chance was the best available choice.

"Ha...ha...ha..."

As Levi sat down inside his crouching giant with the golden crown shimmering on his head, the Hound’s muffled, ridiculing laughter tickled his ears.

Levi could tell that the Hound was laughing at his master... not him.

Unfortunately, his laughter was his last hurrah... the flames reduced his body to ash among the shattered armor.

Yet a remnant of his melted soul rose from the remains as a wandering spirit, free of pain at last, and drifted straight toward the Soulleech Maw.

The fragments bound to Knowledge Transfer remained within the Seed... including those preserved in Seraphis’s Pride Fruit.

Usually, souls that neither the physical plane nor the Unburdened Realm claimed wandered the Aether Realm after someone’s death... their passage onward rested with the Soulleech Monarch, while the Unburdened Wardens guided souls to their final rest.

The Hound’s wandering remnant was unlucky enough to end up trapped with the Soulleech Maw... and the little glutton believed only in the supremacy of its stomach.

Levi wasn’t even given the chance to stop it before the Soulleech Maw devoured it and smacked its lips in satisfaction.

’You little... save me at least a wisp.’

Levi sighed at the sight.

He had already collected the Lurker and Rain’s merged wisp inside his Lantern after their death under the table’s effect... he wanted to add the Hound’s wisp to his collection, as their memories would serve as the best possible source of information against Na’thir.

Even part of said memories could help him immensely.

But in the end, Levi couldn’t be mad at the Soulleech Maw... he smiled wryly. ’Whatever... you deserve the treat.’

As the Hound’s Tree finally crumbled, it left a miniature version floating amid the falling ashes... still intact, but not yet crystallized.

This sight didn’t surprise Levi... the active trial preserved the miniature Seed and kept the Rift from collapsing, even after its owner and his Dominion Tree died.

He knew that if he failed to complete the trial, he would remain trapped until spiritual exhaustion killed him... only then would the Seed crystallize, locking that knowledge away forever, inaccessible by any means, regardless of who tried to retrieve it afterward.

But for now... he still had a chance of recovering Seraphis’s Aspect Fruit before it disappeared with the Hound’s.

As he felt the crown press against his head, drawing his consciousness toward the trial, the sounds of the burning Rift and Soulleech Maw’s screeches grew distant.

The last thing Levi heard before his spiritual vision went pitch-dark was the tenants wishing him good luck.

Meanwhile, within the damaged Inverse Sanctum, Na’thir remained seated in silence the moment he lost his connection to the Hound.

The final glimpse of Levi wearing the crown disappeared with it, leaving him with Levi’s last statement and the Hound’s mocking laughter echoing nonstop in his mind.

He didn’t know whether Levi sought the spiritual trial for a chance to evolve or for something else... but he knew one thing for certain.

Na’thir’s low voice echoed among the floating rubble, his malice deepening as he imagined Levi discovering what it meant to enter a spiritual trial related to knowledge about two intertwined entities.

"Be careful what you wish for... surviving the Hound’s memories is the easy part."