Still, Arthur gave the Tree a reluctant glance before approaching the Dean.
The Vallow accepted his contact details and agreed to arrange updates through the Academy if anything changed around Levi’s Dominion.
Only then did Arthur climb onto their mount and settle beside Nurah.
Whooosh!
The bats rose over the ruined forest, scattering leaves and ash with their wingbeats.
The flying bats turned toward the Academy, leading the wounded away, while Arthur watched the bloodstained ground and broken trees recede.
Beyond them, green fire illuminated the enormous manifestation they left behind.
As Nurah sent an update on their successful rescue mission to Madam Naima, Madam Ysara, and the High Chancellor, Arthur secured the loose edge of Jasmine’s cover against the wind and addressed the Titan privately.
’How’s my brother doing in the trial?’
Through his wisp in Levi’s spiritual leywell, the Titan could still follow what the boy experienced inside the trial.
’Well, his sight has returned... He can see in there through the young Hound’s eyes.’
Arthur turned toward the girls, eager to share the news, when the Titan added...
’However... he is armless.’
’Neither of them?’
’Nope.’
Arthur remained silent as the wind rushed past them... after all those years, Levi’s vision had returned, probably for months... yet he wasn’t even given the chance to celebrate it, as the Hound had been born disabled, too.
He looked back at the Soulleech Maw.
’He lost his eyes at seven, in a world where blind people were practically doomed.’ Arthur smirked a little. ’Nightcrawlers tormented him day and night, trying to turn him into a Sleepwalker... and he still grew up looking after me.’
He remembered the ankle monitor and the restrictions, the people watching Levi as though he was a disaster waiting to happen.
His brother had lived through all of it, and now powerful entities were about to cross dimensions for a chance to recruit the Sole Soulleech Maw Summoner in the Universe.
’What’s another disability to him? He’ll find a way to solve the spiritual trial despite it... I know he will.’
Arthur turned from the Tree and looked down at his hands, remembering the helpless wait for the Titan’s reports during the fight.
’Master... by the time my brother comes out, I want to have my Seed fully converted into an Origin Seed... no, I must.’
’Your Seed’s conversion isn’t finished, boy. Also, you still need to undergo reconstruction, which takes a lot of time, too.’ The Titan shook his head.
’Then tell me how to speed it up.’ Arthur showed a cold, resolved look. ’This is the last time I’m being left behind like this.’
Arthur remembered the day Levi had sat him down on top of the World Tree’s highest leaf and bestowed upon him the Titan’s Crown... telling him that he wanted him to be beside him moving forward, so he needed to focus on his strength growth.
Despite Arthur giving it his best... he had still failed to keep that promise.
It wasn’t really his fault, since his Seed hadn’t finished its conversion to an Origin Seed, forcing him to stay in an idle state... still, he saw it as a failure to keep his word to his brother.
When the Titan felt Arthur’s resolve, he took a moment to answer... then he switched to his wisp within Levi’s spiritual leywell and asked Ash’Kral privately.
’Arthur wants to accelerate the conversion before his brother returns. I’m considering the faster method... what do you think?’
’How much of the conversion remains?’
’About thirty percent.’
’Then it’s the perfect time for him to go through with it.’
The Titan expected him to agree, but the certainty in his answer still left him doubtful.
’He just saw his brother’s friends nearly die. I don’t want him agreeing to something he cannot endure because he feels guilty,’ he said.
’And what would you have him do with that guilt?’ Ash’Kral shook his head. ’Sit around until Levi comes back and tells him he did well?’
The Titan remained silent.
’Guilt is a powerful emotion and motivation,’ Ash’Kral added calmly. ’Though... tell him exactly what awaits him... if he still wants to proceed, let him.’
Hearing this, the Titan decided to go for it... as Ash’Kral said, it was Arthur’s decision, not his.
’There is a faster way... but to be honest, it’s an unnecessary risk.’
’Is it pain?’ Arthur frowned, not having expected his question to have an answer.
’Pain is a mere part of it... In difficulty and agony, it would be comparable to your brother’s Soul-Split evolutionary process... more or less.’
’...’
Arthur remembered Levi begging for it to stop, his voice growing hoarse as the green flames consumed him.
When Jasmine pulled Arthur through those flames to escape the array, even that brief contact had left him screaming and thrashing... yet his brother had endured them at the center.
Yet, the memory didn’t make him hesitate... instead, it only strengthened his resolve.
’You should have told me about it sooner,’ Arthur uttered sternly. ’I would have been here... with them.’
’Maybe... maybe not.’ The Titan shook his head. ’I admire your resolve, kid... but wait until you hear about the process.’
The Titan knew that Arthur was currently speaking out of emotion... not reason.
After all, Levi’s Soul-Split process was something he had prepared for to an extent, and still... he had almost died during it.
As for Arthur... he didn’t need to go through any of this; all he needed was to be patient, and the conversion, plus the reconstruction, would occur naturally.
But the Titan was wrong in his assessment... Arthur wasn’t speaking out of emotion; his mind was as clear as it could get.
’Master, I was patient while they fought... I was patient while they bled.’ He narrowed his eyes as the wind blew past his hair. ’I’m not waiting for a funeral to decide I’ve waited enough.’
The Titan chuckled softly... he finally understood that Arthur meant every word.
’Very well, boy...’
****
As Arthur, Nurah, and the rest dwindled into small black dots in the distance, the Dean remained by Levi’s Tree while the instructors continued searching the forest.
One of them found the Spatial Jammer Totem hidden inside an unremarkable tree, its presence concealed by the fading remnants of an illusion... yet he left it intact.
If their target remained within its range, destroying it would only give him a chance to teleport away.
’Are you still on his trail?’ he asked coldly.
’Yes... he’s leaving a strong blood scent.’
’Keep following it. I’m coming.’
The instructor withdrew from the hollow trunk, his body collapsing into a swarm of black bats that swept between the trees.
Following his colleague’s directions, he soon caught the scent himself... fresh blood marked the fallen leaves, with more smeared across a trunk where something large had brushed past.
He knew their target couldn’t be far.
...
"Move... fucking move!"
Fang clung to the Nightmount he had summoned shortly after fleeing the battlefield... a massive wolf with black fur and scarlet stripes running along its flanks.
Its wings remained tightly folded against its sides as it bounded over fallen trunks and forced its way through the undergrowth. Fang knew it could fly, but breaking through the canopy would expose him to the pursuers searching above the forest... he had ordered it to stay on the ground.
Even on its back, he struggled to remain upright.
His legs felt as though hot lava coursed through them, and every jolt sent another wave of pain through his weakened body. He buried his claws deeper into the wolf’s fur, knowing that losing his hold meant wasting time he couldn’t afford.
He had swallowed a recovery totem earlier, and its effects had closed some of his wounds and restored enough strength for him to mount the beast. But the backlash from forfeiting his Dominion refused to release him... whatever relief he had gained kept slipping away as the wolf raced through the forest.
His consciousness fared no better.
One moment, he watched the wolf approach a gap between two trees... the next, he found himself sliding down its flank, with no memory of loosening his hold.
"Urgh..."
Fang dragged himself back into place and spat blood over the wolf’s shoulder, looking behind him as fresh drops fell from its fur onto the leaves.
Nothing followed within sight.
Still, he knew better than to trust that.
With how often the forest blurred around him, someone could approach while he struggled to remain conscious.
’One kilometer...’
That was all he needed to clear the jammer’s range and open a gate to the Boundless Expanse.
One more kilometer.
Crunch!
Suddenly, dry leaves broke under a footstep close behind him.
Fang twisted around so sharply that he nearly slipped off again, dread cutting through his exhaustion as he searched the trees.
’They caught up...’
He tried to lift one of his chained fangs, but the effort left his arm trembling.
No one appeared.
He stared at the gap between two trunks, certain the sound had come from there... yet he saw only fallen leaves and tangled branches.
For a second, he thought his mind was playing a trick on him under the immense strain.
"Go!"
The wolf charged forward as Fang flattened himself along its back.
He checked behind him once before the trees blocked his view.
And from behind one of those trunks, a figure in a black cape watched him go... his cape had nothing to do with the Academy’s uniform.
He waited until Fang faced forward again... then slipped between the trees and disappeared after him.
...
The instructor followed the blood scent to a small exposed area before his colleague’s warning reached him.
’It ends here.’
He gathered his scattered bats beside the other Vallow, reclaiming his form as he examined the ground.
Large paw prints with dark drops of blood scattered between them... both trails stopped near its far edge.
Approaching the last mark, he sensed the faint disturbance lingering in the space ahead... the remnants of a dimensional gate, already fading.
’Damn it... he got outside the jammer’s range,’ his colleague cursed.
With the blood trail ending at the gate’s fading traces, the instructor figured the fugitive had escaped back to the Boundless Expanse.
Still, he refused to leave without checking the surroundings.
’Search the area.’
While his colleague circled, he followed a smear of blood toward a cluster of roots... his gaze drawn to something dark that lay between them, almost indistinguishable from the wet soil.
He pulled the cloth free and found himself holding a black cape... something rigid pressed against his fingers from inside its folds.
The instructor eased the fabric aside, expecting a discarded weapon or an artifact, but stopped when he uncovered a mask.
He lifted it free, letting the leaves caught around it fall to the ground.
Its shape left the wearer’s jaw and lips exposed... whoever used it concealed only the upper part of their face.
’What did you find?’
His colleague approached, but the instructor kept studying the object in his hand.
He wondered why someone desperate to escape would leave their disguise behind.
Then he looked toward the place where the gate had opened.
The last spatial disturbance faded... whoever could answer him was already gone.
He turned the mask toward his colleague, revealing the face hidden within the discarded cape.
A nightmarish rabbit mask with a single maggot coming out of its hollow eye socket...