Chapter 610: The Foolishness You Mock.

The Elder Witch’s fingers froze over her loom... even Bragh and Odrum turned toward the unexpected apparition.

Severin narrowed his eyes as well... Levi had told him to wait for a signal, but he hadn’t expected an actual Genie to emerge!

The Genie lowered its translucent hand, passing its fingers through Levi’s chest.

At once, Levi felt something cool envelop his tormented spirit... pale light outlined his body before gathering around the convulsing Soulleech Maw beside his wrist.

The force attempting to kidnap their spirits to the Aether Realm pressed against that thin protective veil, making it tremble... then the pull stopped.

Levi drew a ragged breath as the thousands of cries fell silent.

-Wish Fulfilled.-

The Genie disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared after the conditional wish had activated exactly as arranged!

When choosing his Dominion, Levi had considered what came after defeating the Hound... surviving the spiritual trial meant little if its punishment left him helpless before whoever awaited him outside.

An Aether-based Dominion gave him a way to prepare!

He knew that the Omnithar Genie’s remaining authority only covered spiritual wishes... since the universe’s punishment was based on the Dominion Laws, it allowed him to suppress the spiritual punishment for ten seconds, beginning the moment it struck!

He had paid beforehand, attaching that condition so the wish would activate the moment the punishment started to avoid the lengthy payment process!

But that wasn’t the only wish he had bought.

Before summoning the Omnithar Genie, Levi had arranged for its outward manifestation to resemble a Spiritual Genie... a figure of pale spiritual light that concealed its unique cosmic constellations.

He understood that revealing an Omnithar Genie like this would sign his death certificate under Nocturn’s system, as these beings were known to offer a limited timeframe to make the wish without any leeway, unlike the rest of the standard Genies... which had an answer for their emergence, as the system allowed some to save their wishes for certain life-or-death situations like these.

As expected, the moment the initial surprise faded, the Tier 8 powerhouses assumed that Levi kept a spiritual wish saved under certain approved circumstances... and then switched their focus from the Genie’s appearance to the wish itself.

But the Genie had already served its multiple purposes... suppressing the punishment for ten seconds, masking his true appearance, and lastly, winning Levi a moment of distraction to make his move!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Hundreds of identical figures swiftly scattered from the fading Genie’s spiritual particles, each carrying Levi’s spiritual mark.

"Illusions?" The Elder Witch scoffed.

None of them needed to specialize in Psych to see through a mere Solarbound’s illusions... let alone those of someone weaker.

But before she moved on the real Levi, Severin clenched his fist.

BOOM!

The enormous Royal Coffin imploded around Gallows and his cavalry... then burst into an ocean of blood that swallowed the area!

The Elder Witch’s loom threads disappeared under its stormy surface, and so did the hundreds of scattered illusory clones of Levi.

Through the crimson spray, she and the others spotted Severin fishing out a human figure with a blood thread... pulling him rapidly inside the protection of his own spiritual aura to save him from their crippling pressure.

Bragh swiftly examined him and found the same spiritual mark, a beating heart, living flesh, and blood coursing through his veins... even a breath of life.

’It’s him!’

Before any of them could probe further, a smaller royal coffin formed around Levi... Its lid snapped shut, cutting off their detection skills as two thick bands fastened it against Severin’s back.

Then, two gargoyle wings grew from Severin’s back on either side of the coffin... dark bones supported blood-red membranes that tightened with their first beat.

Swiftly, he unleashed his spiritual aura one last time to push theirs away and took off upward, leaving the troops seeing only a crimson blur fading into the night sky!

Seeing Severin attempt to escape with Levi’s coffin strapped to his back, Odrum followed him with his solitary eye... the moment he narrowed it, his ability was activated.

Graven Edict Arts: The Sky Kneels.

The gigantic spiritual monolith remained affixed in place... however, its massive white eye at the top slid across its surface, settling on the face overlooking Severin.

Then, an immense pressure landed on the Vallow’s shoulders, forcing him downward as though he carried the entire weight of a mountain on his back!

Severin braced against it with great difficulty until he stopped falling.

But when he attempted to fly forward, his body refused to advance even an inch... his wings beat furiously, straining against an invisible restraint.

’The Permanence Aspect...’

He showed a grim expression as he gave a side glance at the enormous gray monolith and its white eye remaining affixed on him.

He knew what the Monolith Lineage specialized in... making an existing condition resist change!

Odrum had forced his flight to a halt, then fixed that stillness upon him!

Severin bared his scarlet-capped fangs as he felt the other pursuers approaching... accelerating would only waste his strength against the restraint.

He needed to break Odrum’s hold before someone reached him.

Alas, he was going against multiple Tier 8 monsters.

Before he regained his balance, Bragh opened his palm.

Angrath Threshold Arts: Ruinrend Claw!

Another red line appeared across his eyes and dark hair as he released a threshold... the devil behind him ripped apart one of its chains, covering his extended arm with an enormous demonic claw!

Whoosh!

Bragh appeared beside Severin and swung!

Severin barely managed to twist away from its grasp, leaving the claw to slice through his left wing... pain shot through his back as it tore through the membrane and scattered his blood across the sky!

’Chance!’

Seeing this, the Elder Witch guided a thin spiritual thread toward the coffin... intending to slip into Levi’s subconscious barrier while Severin was distracted.

Alas, the thread struck the scarlet lid and recoiled.

’His coffin is fortified with his own subconscious barrier’s defenses.’

Her green eyes narrowed, realizing that Severin had sealed the boy inside a small fortress, protecting his spirit as thoroughly as his own soul!

Not giving up, she glanced at the blood falling from his wounded wing, then moved her slender jade-green fingers over the loom.

Widow’s Loom Arts: Backstitch.

Before the droplets fell, her threads pierced them and drew them into a crimson stitch... then she pulled!

Severin felt something tighten around his spirit, threatening to wrench him backward!

The Witch knew that his spilled blood still carried his spiritual imprint and a lingering connection to his soul.

Her Soulweaving Aspect allowed her to unravel souls into threads and weave their spiritual connections together... and she had just stitched that lingering connection into her loom.

Until Severin severed it; pulling those threads meant pulling on him!

"Leave the boy..." she uttered coldly.

"Never."

Yet, Severin merely bared his fangs and forcibly severed his connection to the spilled blood, wrenching his spirit free of her threads even if it meant harming his soul in the process!

Velvet Coffin Arts: Empty Casket.

His body imploded into hundreds of scarlet bats around the coffin... allowing Bragh’s next attack to pass through the swarm before he reformed farther away and continued fleeing, pulling the coffin with him through a blood thread!

Even the Monolith’s stillness effect was lost once he imploded his body into bats, allowing him to continue his flight!

He secured the coffin against his back again as the torn membrane of his wing knitted together.

Yet, the Elder Witch noticed the blood running from his mouth, knowing that escaping their combined attacks had already injured him.

Still... he refused to release the coffin.

As this was going on, Na’thir watched the pursuit through a dimensional screen with a frigid expression... one of Cruor’s Bishop’s hired fighters supplied the live feed, while Bishop Ul’Qhess himself occupied a second window beside it.

"To risk his life against four Tier 8 opponents for an outsider..." Na’thir watched Severin struggle with a disdainful expression. "How did someone this foolish survive long enough to reach his position?"

Bishop Ul’Qhess’s expression soured.

"Why do you think we keep losing ground?"

Na’thir glanced toward his window.

"His people welcome foreign Raiders, shelter refugees, and offer them somewhere to belong with no racial discrimination... then those same guests turn around and defend their hosts with their lives depending on it." The Bishop’s voice hardened. "My empire’s footholds are shrinking... our nightcrawlers’ nests fall one after another... and their Saviors haven’t even needed to interfere."

He watched Severin escape another attack, the coffin still secured against his back.

"The natives and their Raiders are doing it themselves... while our treaty prevents me from intervening... if I break it, their Saviors gain every reason to step in."

The Bishop knew exactly what would happen once tonight’s recordings spread... foreigners would see a Vallow ruler risking his life to protect a mere guest, and more would come seeking the same protection.

The best part? The Vallow genuinely weren’t doing it as a marketing scheme... this was simply how they were raised.

"That foolishness you mock is helping them reclaim their planet, which was claimed to be doomed to corruption over a century ago."

Na’thir remained silent for a moment... then leaned back against his throne, having no intention of admitting that he was wrong.

"It doesn’t matter."

His frigid gaze returned to the coffin.

"The others still want the boy alive... and none seems eager to kill a Vallow ruler over him."

Na’thir knew what held them back... once Severin felt his life threatened, he wouldn’t hesitate to challenge one of them with his Dominion.

And none wanted to be chosen to face a desperate Tier 8 alone.

None except for one.

"Gallows has no reason to spare either." He smiled coldly.

Above the ruined forest, the Death Knight tightened his grip on the Dead Night Lance and lifted its point toward the fleeing coffin.

Death Crusade Arts:

Ultimate...

The Funeral Road...