The Glorious Evolution

After he was assured that he was alone against the Leviathan, Levi tried to fight against it using the powers of his nine senses seed... but even when the Leviathan was immensely weakened, he failed to achieve anything against it.

The only reason he dared to test his current strength against it was his absolute confidence in being able to take down the Leviathan using the Sun Seed's powers.

If it were a normal Leviathan, his Sunflame aspect would have also failed to give him an edge... but against a Corrupted Leviathan?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Levi fired a volley of ignition marks... each one detonated across the Phoenix's wings, bursting into miniature suns that scorched and ate through its feathers!

The Leviathan Phoenix shrieked in agony, squirming violently in midair as its burning wings lit the sky... with a furious cry, it tore off the inflamed feathers, scattering the embers away before they could engulf its entire body.

This surprised Levi, but not too much... he knew that its intelligence might be of a Tier 2 nightcrawler, but its battle instincts were still as sharp as ever.

As the furious Phoenix locked its crimson eyes with Levi, he could feel its bloodlust twisting the atmosphere between them.

Kreeee!!!

It let out a piercing shriek and charged straight at him, each wing flap creating a powerful gale that launched it at great speed.

'I have to maintain my distance for now.'

Levi used aetheric combustions on his soles to push himself backward while he kept firing more ignition marks nonstop... some landed on it, and the others had their trajectory shifted from the powerful gales.

Yet, he kept firing nonstop until he covered the Phoenix in tiny glowing seals... but this time, he didn't detonate them. He had already noticed that it could expel the burning feathers, so he kept stacking the marks, waiting for the right moment to cause the most damage.

The Leviathan swiftly closed the distance faster than Levi expected, its wings cutting through the air like it was nothing.

The moment it got close, it flapped its extended wings in his direction, releasing the same crushing gale in his direction.

It slammed into Levi and sent him spiraling backward uncontrollably, feeling like he had been slapped by the sky.

Then, the Phoenix dove after him, talons fully extended... massive, gleaming, and three times his size!

Seeing it coming, Levi used sound shockwaves from his hands and soles to rebalance himself... the moment he regained it, he shifted his weapon back to a staff and hurled the bottom crown in the talon's direction.

The crimson chains wrapped around the Phoenix's closed-up talon... as for Levi? He used another aetheric combustion, but this time inside the staff's hollow shaft!

Just as the talons were a mere five meters away from him, with the Phoenix's immense size blocking his entire view, he uttered inwardly, 'Resonance!'

BOOM!!

The concentrated aetheric energy within the staff exploded and found only one exit available to release the kinetic energy... the wide-open hole left behind by the separated bottom crown!

Levi found himself getting pulled away wide from the Phoenix's gleaming talons, evading them successfully.

However, he wasn't done... since the crown was already tightened around one of its black claws, he was instantly snatched by the diving Phoenix, chasing after it with nothing more than a couple of meters between him and its talon!

"Solar Pulse!" he shouted as he held the tightened chains with both hands, leaving the staff to get engulfed in sun flames. Then, he whipped in the direction of the Phoenix's leg, causing an explosive arc of sunflame to burst through the Phoenix's right leg!

The explosion tore through flesh and feathers, setting its entire lower limb ablaze instantly!

Kraaaaaa!!!

The Phoenix screamed, beating its wings wildly to put out the fire with wind. It did succeed, killing off the flames before they could take over... however, its leg was ruined... flesh exposed, half-melted, barely holding its weight!

Meanwhile, Levi held tightly to the chains, refusing to get thrown off it from the raging gales... he waited until they weakened, and then he swiftly retracted the bottom crown, shifting his weapon to Starpiercer.

Sensing imminent danger, the Phoenix swiftly swung its wing and sent another storm of wind his way, the gale powerful enough to blow off a nearby cloud!

'I ain't leaving!'

Levi countered instantly... activating Sun Jets beneath his feet to push himself through the powerful gale, straining against the force until he broke through.

The instant he reached the back of its left wing, he placed the Starpiercer against its feathers point-blank.

Then, he uttered coldly as he pulled the trigger, "Solar Shotgun."

Kabooom!!

The concentrated Solar Pulse erupted from within the muzzle, akin to a shotgun, sunflame exploding point-blank and charring a deep crater across the Phoenix's wing!

Kraaa!!

The beast screeched in agony; half of its left wing was set in golden sunflames... however, its survival instincts were on a different league. It ignored the pain and rapidly dove in the direction of the desert.

The wind was its greatest ally as its speed caused the flames to get picked up by the wind, extinguishing them again.

However, the Phoenix still didn't stop its descent. It kept going until it smashed against a dune, shooting sand into the sky as it buried itself inside the closest dune to it.

As it rose back up again, the flames were extinguished completely, leaving behind a massive burnt mark on its left wing, still steaming.

However, just as Levi was about to dive to continue his onslaught, he was stunned by the sight before him.

The surrounding sand began to move, the grains slowly shifting toward the beast, drawn to it like iron to a magnet... within moments, the desert was awakened as the Phoenix started flapping its wings rapidly until a sandstorm was born around it.

Levi's harmonic spine pierced through the sandstorm, showing him a sight that made him knit his eyebrows solemnly.

The sand began to climb over the Phoenix's wounds, layer after layer, crawling into the cracks in its burned flesh... then, the grains fused with the exposed tissues, creating a peculiar scene of molten glass sealing itself.

Everywhere the sand touched, the bleeding stopped... the burned flesh darkened and hardened, creating a transparent glass-like layer where feathers once were.

Levi's expression turned solemn. "So that's how it is… it has an innate passive that can heal it with sand too."

Levi knew that flames could heal the Leviathan Phoenix even if it was on the brink of death... however, because it was corrupted, such innate ability no longer worked on sunflames.

Levi didn't expect it to also have the ability to recover with sand... although it didn't seem like the healing process was as perfect as through flames, it was still healing.

'If you thought it was going to be easy to take a Corrupted Leviathan down just because you wield sunflames, think again...' Ash'Kral uttered calmly, 'Energy or not, all Leviathan have plenty of innate passive abilities that were built in their systems without needing solar energy... just like your mutations.'

'Kid, don't forget... sunflames are powerful against Shadow Dimension creatures, but the stronger they are, the more resistant their bodies become to sunlight or sunflames.' The Titan sternly reminded, 'If you are going to take it down, you must either overwhelm it or use a powerful one-shot ability.'

Hearing this, Levi recalled how Ash'Kral was completely immune to Shia's Solar Dome in the Harrowing Forest... the Sun Seed's powers were dormant at the time, and yet, he appeared immune to sunlight.

This made him understand that having sunflame abilities didn't mean that he had an instant kill ability against Shadow Dimension's creatures.

The stronger they were, the stronger his sunflame abilities needed to deal with them... otherwise, he could never dream of burning a Tier 5 or 6 nightcrawler with a single ignition mark like he did to Razer in his second Death Game.

'Powerful sunflame ability... Corona Tempest fits the description, but I can't use it without entering the Sun Form... I don't think it's wise to use the Sun Form for this.' Levi pondered as he gazed at the Phoenix, who was screeching into the sky in utter fury.

'Overwhelm it... I guess I'll have to push it a little further.' Levi uttered calmly, 'Nova Blades, awaken.'