The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak Chapter 1246: End of Internal Strife, [Douion IV]

"Good luck," Souta uttered in a frosty tone, then unleashed [Bestrou] yet again.

A massive ray of power blasted straight at the last two betrayers. They hardly managed a reaction before the blast swallowed their figures whole.

BOOM!!!

Within the chamber, Fadu sensed the floor shaking fiercely under his feet. He gripped his father's robe firmly. "Father... what's going on?"

Wresho gave a gentle smile and extended his hand to stroke his son's hair. "Don't worry, Fadu. Everything will turn out fine."

Yet his face lost its softness when his eyes shifted to the entrance. He realized Souta had taken care of the betrayers already. Sure, a fifth-stage beast, but one not fully potent at that level. Still, his strength proved ample to crush those three.

Chaos gripped the Rulman Household now. From here on, things would never return to how they were.

Freida, Wresho's spouse, stood as the mightiest force in the family. That's precisely why the betrayers avoided clashing with her head-on. Instead, they plotted to hold her son hostage.

Wresho carried his own impressive might too, serving as an Elder in the Rulman Household.

Beyond the chamber, the scenery lay in ruins, beyond recognition. Just one structure endured upright; all the rest crumbled into debris.

Souta floated mid-air, shifting back to his usual shape, wisps of smoke rising from his flesh like lingering embers.

He looked down upon the three corpses scattered on the earth, the fools who had snatched Fadu. Not a spark of vitality lingered in them.

"What comes after this, I wonder," he whispered to himself, averting his stare. His gaze rose to the heavens, where the clash overhead continued fiercely.

Though it neared its end soon.

The powerhouses battling up there released their utmost might. The array below creaked under strain, fractured deeply as though ready to shatter, but it held firm against the lingering tremors. A huge gap tore open in its southern edge, the nearby zone devastated completely.

The southern border of the Rulman Household stood erased. Guardian runes that shielded the edifices now broke apart. The terrain sank away, and the atmosphere pulsed with fierce, untamed force. Those trapped in that zone probably vaporized entirely, without a remnant. Just a few endured, protected by the abilities of top-tier specialists.

'All life below the First Shackle Realm... wiped out...' Souta pondered quietly.

Even folks in Wave Bond City must have detected the turmoil at the Rulman Household. An event this huge couldn't stay hidden. Though the array tried to suppress the ripples, against supreme experts, it held no value since they'd sense it anyway.

Souta arched a brow. "Hmm?"

A slight grin tugged at his mouth. "It's finished."

...

High over the Rulman Household, the atmosphere turned icy sharp, with frost whirling in turbulent spirals across the fight zone.

Freida suspended in the air, her stare unwavering. In her grasp, she clutched Elder Reklor, encased in solid ice. Nearby, more hovered, betrayers from the Rulman Household, each trapped in frozen shells.

She had slain them every one.

"Had this fight dragged on further..." Freida whispered, eyeing the dangling, iced remains below.

The array underfoot almost buckled from their brutal exchange. If she hadn't struck swiftly, it would have crumbled. Their unleashed force would have razed the Rulman Household, letting havoc spill into nearby regions.

With a flick of her wrist, she shattered the iced forms into myriad sparkling pieces, which dispersed like glittering dust on the breeze.

"The Rulman Household endures heavy casualties," she declared in a chilling voice.

Foes lurked in numbers, circling like ravenous beasts, poised for any sign of frailty. After this storm, the clan couldn't reveal the slightest crack.

"All is settled!" Freida's command boomed out, firm and unyielding. "Our family's betrayers lie dead! We'll conduct a full probe to root out any more. And once I uncover them... I'll make certain they cease to exist in this realm!"

Her statement thundered across the whole household, resounding like an imperial edict. All ears caught it, all thoughts grasped it: betrayal would face no mercy.

Once her announcement ended, Freida scanned the grounds beneath. Innumerable edifices and frameworks lay in heaps of ruin; total reconstruction loomed ahead.

She dropped to the earth, where a group of elders gathered in her path.

"Matriarch!!" they shouted together.

Freida observed them quietly for a beat. She remained unsure if more betrayers hid among them, but she knew these had resisted Elder Reklor's faction.

"Dihra got away... taking a few with her," she stated.

The elders tensed up. They never imagined Dihra could evade her clutches.

"Come on," Freida ordered, offering no more details, and marched toward the central structure that withstood the havoc.

In her thoughts, the sequence of events replayed with sharp clarity.

She had sealed the entire Rulman Household via the array, blocking any exits. Her goal burned clear: wipe out Dihra. Yet Elder Reklor plus a few disloyal elders blocked her path. She smashed through their defense, but she never foresaw Dihra wielding an item that could rupture the array.

Via that opening, the betrayers forged a getaway route. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't hinder her much, since her strength could annihilate them solo. But then a surprise snag hit: Elder Reklor and other turncoat elders lunged at her in wild fury, aiming to take her down too.

Amid the frenzy, she loosed a crushing blow, hurling the disloyal elders back for a split second. That short gap ought to have let her hit Dihra too, sealing the deal.

But no... an odd power blocked her assault. Some enigmatic force met her might head-on. Freida overrode it in the end, but that delay spared Dihra's hide.

That's how Dihra evaded her strike.

And right as Freida geared up for another hit, the betraying elders rallied, assaulting her from every angle.

'An outsider rescued Dihra...' Freida mused, her brain whirring. Maybe unseen forces pulled her strings.

She stepped into the primary edifice, with the surviving faithful elders following close.

The Rulman Household's condition hung grim. Almost one-fourth of its ranks had turned traitor, a crushing hit to their numbers. The array suffered major harm too, and mending it would require vast labor.

...

Within the Land of Fire Light...

A gigantic tempest of douion swirled through the skies, coiling savagely like a breathing maelstrom. Right in its heart, Souta lingered, shadows and radiance clashing near him, distorting the atmosphere with each surge of his force.

Argh!!

Agony tore into him. Each nerve, each strand of muscle howled in torment. His core awareness quaked fiercely as countless slender energy filaments burst from it, stabbing outward, ripping his frame apart from within.

AHHHH!!

His vision realm plunged down, engulfing the area around him.

The fragment of the Origin Seed had stabbed into his core awareness, awakening something buried deep, something ancient.

'No clue what's coming... but it ought to aid me,' Souta figured, clenching his jaw.

The suffering surpassed any bodily threshold. He sensed oblivion hovering near, yet he willed his concentration, battling past the anguish.

Boom!!

The atmosphere quivered from potent energy surges.

Even trapped in the vision realm, Souta's raging power burst into the real world.

Citizens of the Everlasting Kingdom stared skyward in wonder and dread. Ominous clouds churned overhead; thunder boomed across the terrain, and streaks of crimson lightning lit the firmament in sharp flares.

The whole spectacle yelled disaster.

Tasman, ruler of the Everlasting Kingdom, peered up. He recognized Souta floated above, yet he couldn't grasp the storm's intent or the immense force driving it.

He needed to soothe his subjects, who murmured in panic, dreading fresh doom upon their realm.

Boom!!

The tempest's force kept surging wildly, a frenzied beat of ruin, as though existence itself shook before Souta's aura.

ARGHHHHH!!

Souta bellowed, his cry echoing over the domain like a peal of thunder.

The vision realm shattered in a flash. The gloomy clouds over the Everlasting Kingdom dispersed, torn apart by his outburst's might.

He remained at the core, panting hard, gazing vacantly at the serene sky now. The torment flooding his form started to recede.

"Huff... huff..."

Souta examined his physique, searching, testing for shifts.

The fragment had blended into his core awareness, uniting with the heart that generated his douion. An energy barrier enveloped it, dual forces twining like ideal yin and yang, and at the middle, a tiny, fragile sprout throbbed with vitality.

This formed the root of his douion.

"It's mightier now... I've advanced to the following stage: [Douion IV]." He stroked his jaw in reflection. "Not bad, but... there's more. Some alteration I can't pinpoint..."

Odd indeed. The instant the fragment invaded his thoughts, agony exploded as his douion evolved. But deep down, he sensed this merely scratched the surface. A profound shift stirred, one beyond his sight.

"I've regained full strength... yet something eludes my understanding."

A faint disquiet nagged at him. He couldn't name it, but he knew it stemmed from the fragment.