The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

Chapter 1246: End of Internal Strife, [Douion IV]

”Good luck,” Souta said coldly, and fired [Bestrou] once more.

An enormous beam of energy shot toward the two remaining traitors. They barely had a moment to react before it engulfed their bodies completely.

BOOM!!!

Inside the room, Fadu felt the ground tremble violently beneath him. He clutched his father’s clothes tightly. ”Father... what’s happening?”

Wresho smiled softly, reaching out to pat his son’s head. ”It’s nothing, Fadu. It’s going to be alright.”

But the warmth faded from his expression as his gaze drifted to the door. He knew Souta had already dealt with the traitors. A fifth-stage monster, yes, but one who was still weak for his rank. Even so, his power was more than enough to handle these three.

The Rulman Household was in upheaval. After this, nothing would remain the same.

Freida, Wresho’s wife, was the strongest being in the household. That was why the traitors hadn’t dared confront her directly. They had aimed to use her child as leverage.

Wresho himself was formidable as well, an Elder of the Rulman Household.

Outside the room, the landscape was unrecognizable. Only a single house remained standing; everything else had been reduced to rubble.

Souta hovered in the air, his form returning to normal, smoke curling from his skin like a faint haze of afterburn.

He gazed down at the three bodies sprawled across the ground, the ones who had dared to capture Fadu. No sign of life remained.

”I wonder what’s next,” he muttered, turning his attention away. His eyes lifted toward the sky, where the battle above still raged.

But it wouldn’t last much longer.

The experts fighting there unleashed the full extent of their power. The formation beneath them groaned, riddled with cracks as if it might collapse at any moment, yet it clung stubbornly to the aftershocks. A massive hole had been punched in its southern section, the surrounding area utterly destroyed.

The southern perimeter of the Rulman Household had been wiped clean. Protective runes that once guarded the buildings lay shattered. The land had collapsed, and the air vibrated with raw, violent energy. Anyone caught there had likely been obliterated, leaving no trace. Only a handful survived, shielded by the skills of elite experts.

’Every being below the First Shackle Realm... gone...’ Souta thought silently.

Even the other beings in Wave Bond City had likely sensed the upheaval at the Rulman Household. Nothing of this magnitude could go unnoticed. Despite the formation’s attempt to dampen the aftershocks, in front of high-level experts, it was meaningless as they would feel it.

Souta raised an eyebrow. ”Hmm?”

A faint smile curved his lips. ”It’s over.”

...

Above the Rulman Household, the air was bitterly cold, frost forming in swirling eddies around the battlefield.

Freida hovered in the sky, her gaze steady. In one hand she held Elder Reklor, frozen solid. Around her, others floated, traitors of the Rulman Household, all encased in ice.

She had executed them all.

”If this battle had lasted any longer...” Freida murmured, glancing down at the suspended, frozen corpses.

The formation beneath them had nearly failed under the force of their clash. Had she not acted decisively, it would have collapsed. Their power would have obliterated the Rulman Household, spilling destruction into surrounding territories.

She waved her hand, and the frozen bodies shattered into countless crystalline fragments, scattering like shards across the wind.

”The Rulman Household has suffered great losses,” she said coldly.

Their enemies were many, prowling like hungry wolves, waiting for weakness. The family could not afford to show even a hint of vulnerability after such turmoil.

”Everything is done!” Freida’s voice rang out, commanding and absolute. ”The traitors of our family are dead! We will launch a thorough investigation to uncover any others. And when I find them... I will ensure they vanish from this world!”

Her words reverberated through the entire household, echoing like a decree from an emperor. Every ear heard, every mind understood: disloyalty would not be tolerated.

After making her proclamation, Freida’s gaze swept over the lands below. Countless buildings and structures had been reduced to rubble; everything would have to be rebuilt.

She descended to the ground, where several elders appeared before her.

”Matriarch!!” they called out in unison.

Freida studied them silently for a moment. She didn’t yet know if other traitors remained but she knew they had opposed Elder Reklor’s group.

”Dihra managed to escape... along with a few others,” she said.

The elders stiffened. They hadn’t expected Dihra to slip past her grasp.

”Let’s go,” Freida said, giving no further explanation, and strode toward the main building that had survived the destruction.

Her mind replayed the events in precise detail.

She had locked down the entire Rulman Household with the formation, preventing anyone from leaving. Her intention had been clear: eliminate Dihra. But Elder Reklor and a handful of traitorous elders had stood in her way. She had broken through them, yet she hadn’t anticipated that Dihra possessed an artifact capable of piercing the formation.

Through that breach, the traitors had carved an escape path. Normally, this would have posed no serious obstacle as her power alone could have eradicated them all. But then an unexpected complication arose: Elder Reklor and several other traitorous elders had attacked her with reckless desperation, attempting to kill her in the process.

In the midst of the battle, she unleashed a devastating strike, shoving the traitorous elders aside for just a moment. That brief opening should have allowed her to strike Dihra as well ending it.

And yet... something intercepted her attack. A mysterious force clashed with her power. Freida still overpowered it, but it was enough to save Dihra’s life.

That was why Dihra had survived her grasp.

And just as Freida prepared to strike again, the traitorous elders had already recovered, attacking her from all directions.

’Someone saved Dihra from the outside...’ Freida thought, her mind calculating. Perhaps her actions are being guided by an unknown hand.

She entered the main building, the remaining loyal elders trailing behind her.

The state of the Rulman Household was dire. Nearly a quarter of its members had been traitors, a devastating blow to manpower. The formation itself had been severely damaged, and repairing it would demand immense effort.

...

In the Land of Fire Light...

A colossal storm of douion churned in the clouds, twisting violently like a living vortex. At its center, Souta hovered, darkness and light colliding around him, warping the air with every pulse of his energy.

Argh!!

Pain ripped through him. Every nerve, every fiber of his body screamed in agony. His inner consciousness trembled violently as thousands of thread-like strands of energy erupted from it, piercing outward, shredding his body from the inside.

AHHHH!!

His dreamscape descended, swallowing the space around him.

The shard of the Origin Seed had pierced his inner consciousness, stirring something deep, something primal.

’I don’t know what’s about to happen... but it should benefit me,’ Souta thought, gritting his teeth.

The pain exceeded all limits of the physical body. He felt as if unconsciousness was only a heartbeat away but he forced his focus, pushing through the torment.

Boom!!

The air trembled with intense energy waves.

Though he was still within the dreamscape, Souta’s violent energy erupted into reality.

The people of the Everlasting Kingdom looked up in awe and fear. Dark clouds roiled above them; thunderclaps shook the land, and flashes of blood-colored lightning illuminated the sky in jagged bursts.

Everything about it screamed of calamity.

Tasman, King of the Everlasting Kingdom, gazed upward. He knew Souta hovered in the sky, but he could not fathom the purpose behind the storm or the sheer scale of power at work.

He had to calm his people, who whispered in terror, fearing another catastrophe might strike their nation.

Boom!!

The storm’s energy continued to fluctuate violently, a chaotic rhythm of destruction, as if reality itself trembled under Souta’s presence.

ARGHHHHH!!

Souta roared, his voice rolling across the land like thunder.

The dreamscape collapsed in an instant. The dark clouds above the Everlasting Kingdom were swept away, shredded by the force of his release.

He stood at the center, breathing heavily, staring blankly at the now-calm sky. The agony coursing through his body had begun to ebb.

”Huff... huff...”

Souta’s eyes swept over his body, scanning, probing for any changes.

The shard had fused with his inner consciousness, merging with the core that produced his douion. A shell of energy formed around it, two elements swirling like a perfect yin and yang, and at the center, a small, delicate plant pulsed with life.

This was the source of his douion.

”It’s stronger... I’ve reached the next level: [Douion IV].” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ”It’s good, but... there’s something else. Some change I can’t detect...”

It was strange. The moment the shard entered his mind, he had felt excruciating pain as his douion transformed. Yet instinctively, he knew this was only part of the effect. Something deeper was at work, something he couldn’t perceive.

”I’ve fully recovered... but there’s still something I can’t grasp.”

A subtle unease prickled at him. He couldn’t describe it, but he was certain it originated from the shard.