The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

Chapter 1233: Fighting the Calamity: My Life

Souta felt his heart tighten painfully.

He looked at her again, at that familiar, gentle smile, and despite everything, he couldn’t help but return it with a faint one of his own.

He reached out and placed his hand on her head, patting it gently.

”Thank you, Saya,” he said quietly. ”Thank you for everything. You saved my life more times than I can count... and you taught me so much.”

The wind whispered through the grass as the moment lingered between them.

Saya trembled when she heard his words. Her vision blurred, the world dissolving into wavering shadows.

Souta tilted his head, trying to see her face as her quiet sobs reached him.

”Uh... I... I’m happy.” Saya slowly lifted her head. A smile bloomed on her lips even as tears poured freely from her eyes. ”I’m happy, Souta. My life wasn’t in vain... You completed it.”

She had searched desperately for the others who had been sent out alongside her. She found them but only as lifeless corpses. The Vajra Race was vanishing from the face of the world. When the Great War ended, she had lost all reason to live.

She had failed her people. The weight of that failure gnawed endlessly at her heart. When she became a cursed sword, her mind was shattered, overturned by despair.

”I lost my purpose... but I found it again through you.” Her gaze softened as tears shimmered in her eyes. ”Just as my race entrusted their hope to me, I now entrust my hope to you. Don’t lose your way. Walk forward with unwavering determination.”

Her voice faltered.

”Farewell, Souta.”

Fine cracks spread across her body like shattered porcelain. Saya was on the brink of disappearing from this world.

”Why...? Why?! WHYYY?!!”

Souta screamed, his entire body shaking. He lunged forward and seized her hand but the moment he touched her, more cracks raced across her skin.

”Goodbye, Souta...” Saya whispered as she gazed at him one last time.

Her foot crumbled first, breaking apart into countless fragments. Then the hand Souta was holding collapsed, disintegrating in his grasp.

She had exhausted everything. Using her power to seal the narrowing gap of the door had drained what little remained of her will. She had been slipping deeper into slumber over the past months and now, that will finally shattered.

”WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! WHY?!! SAYAAA!!”

Souta could not accept this ending.

”ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!”

He clenched his teeth as his energy erupted, the violent surge shaking the very foundation of the space around him.

BOOM!

Clouds roiled into existence as the sky bled crimson. Lush green grass drowned beneath an endless tide of blood, while darkness and light twisted and writhed within it as if alive. Above it all, a massive moon emerged, suspended in an eternal twilight that had no beginning and no end.

”What are you trying to do?” Saya asked, her voice unsteady as she stared at the warped world around them.

She had been dragged into the Dreamscape.

”Just wait,” Souta said, his eyes blazing with unyielding resolve. ”I won’t let you disappear.”

He ground his teeth as his power continued to climb, rising without restraint. Slowly, he lifted his hand and a terrifying force surged outward.

The third eye on his forehead snapped open. In that instant, boundless darkness and searing light exploded forth like a tidal wave, swallowing the whole land.

The very next second, an even greater power detonated from within Souta’s body.

BOOM!

The entire Dreamscape convulsed, trembling on the brink of collapse.

Saya’s eyes widened as she felt a terrifying force reaching out, trying to gather her scattered fragments. In that instant, she understood.

Souta is using the power of the Cosmic Sign.

”Argh...!!”

Souta spat out a mouthful of blood as searing pain tore through his body.

As expected, only the bodies of Gods and Monster Lords were meant to withstand such power. Even after breaking through the Fifth Stage, he was still far from capable of fully enduring it.

His body teetered on the edge of collapse. Even his inner consciousness trembled violently, battered by the overwhelming force coursing through him.

”Settle down...!!”

Souta clenched his teeth, forcing himself to restrain the raging power of the Cosmic Sign with everything he had.

”Saya, wait for me!”

Blood vessels ruptured throughout his body, bursting beneath his skin. His flesh corroded as if eaten away from within, and his internal organs shattered one by one, only for the parasites inside him to desperately stitch them back together.

But it wasn’t enough.

Souta couldn’t maintain this power for long.

”ARGHHHHH!!!”

His agonized scream echoed through the Dreamscape.

”Souta, stop! You don’t have to push yourself like this!” Saya cried out as she watched his body fall apart before her eyes. ”I’m already beyond saving!”

She knew her condition better than anyone. There was no real solution left.

Seeing him like this, destroying himself for her sake, sent a sharp pain through Saya’s heart.

’So this is what they felt before...’

She fell silent, her gaze fixed on his resolute expression. Memories surfaced unbidden, pulling her back to the moment Souta first found her.

They hadn’t gotten along at the beginning. She had intended to possess his body, though she hadn’t tried very hard. After all, she had become intrigued by the strange monster called Souta. He knew far too much, and his growth was unnaturally fast.

At some point, she didn’t even know when, it began to change.

Her heart softened.

She started talking to him. Teaching him the knowledge and skills she possessed. Watching him struggle, adapt, and rise again and again.

Before she realized it, he had become someone irreplaceable to her.

She wanted to see him succeed.

She didn’t want to see him suffer.

Saya lowered her gaze as her remaining hand slowly crumbled into dust. She watched him quietly. Having observed him for so long, she knew that he would never give up.

”You’re really selfish, Souta,” she said softly. ”You won’t even let me rest.”

”That’s right.” Souta answered without hesitation, his voice steady, as if victory were already in his grasp. ”You know me. So wait for me.”

”...Okay.” Saya nodded. She didn’t understand why, but her heart felt strangely calm.

Brilliant colors of light bloomed across the Dreamscape. The flow of energy shifted violently as an overwhelming force surged forth, tearing the sky open.

”O Serpent of the shining sky.

With your first coil, the earth bows.

The lands of ruin tremble before your trail.

O great god of the heavens, bearer of countless colors, let the broken soul remember your light.”

The land quaked as multicolored radiance burst forth from the ground. Endless streams of energy surged upward while others descended from the sky, colliding at the center and giving birth to a surreal, unstable phenomenon.

”Your jade scales bind all wounds.

Your crimson scales cleanse every curse.

Your azure scales soothe the weeping heart.

Your golden scales restore the wounded land.

Your violet scales mend the shattered heavens.

By your colors, life devours death.”

Souta felt his veins rupture.

Blood seeped from his pores as unbearable pain tore through every inch of his body, as if he were being torn apart from within.

”Flow, great serpent.

Wash through my bones, my veins, my spirit.

Lend me your will and let this body embody your power.”

Ohm!!

Saya felt a colossal force erupt within Souta. She looked up instinctively and beheld a divine spectacle.

The clouds parted completely as radiant energy poured down from the sky, forming an immense rainbow that arched across the sky, enveloping the entire Land of Fire Light.

”By your radiant scales, decay retreats.

Let this fragile vessel bear the power of the great serpent.”

Saya turned toward Souta, anguish filling her fading eyes.

”Your body can’t endure this, Souta. It’s fine... I’m already beyond saving.”

”No.”

Souta raised his hand.

Brilliant colors surged through his clenched fist, illuminating the world itself.

”Restore what was lost, Divine Rainbow Serpent!”

The overwhelming energy collapsed inward, converging into a single point. Space itself seemed to buckle as the swirling force devoured everything in its path.

Saya was swallowed whole.

A blinding light erupted.

Ohm!!

Radiance flooded the heavens and earth alike, bathing the entire Land of Fire Light in transcendent brilliance.

...

In another part of the land, Prince Angus and the remaining survivors instinctively shut their eyes as the light washed over them. It carried an indescribable warmth, a gentle yet overwhelming energy that flowed through their bodies.

”W-What is this?!” someone cried out.

”My wounds... they’re gone!”

”I’ve recovered!”

”T-this can’t be real?!”

The survivors were left utterly stunned. One by one, they inspected their bodies in disbelief, half-expecting something to be wrong.

But there was nothing.

Their injuries had vanished completely, as if the battle had never taken place. Even those who had been standing on the brink of death were restored, whole and unharmed.

Silence fell, heavy with shock and awe.