Chapter 1220: Going down to evolve

"I was wondering why there wasn’t a single Hero-rank in this city," Souta said coldly, his gaze piercing the chaos below. "Who would have thought... you’d be here."

Now, up close, the true horror of the Dark Apparition became clear. Its body was once that of a Seventh Shackle Realm warrior, but it had been assimilated, twisted, and corrupted by some unspeakable force into this grotesque monstrosity. Every sinew, every claw, radiated malevolence.

The creature roared, a sound that seemed to shatter the air itself, and swung its massive, serrated claws.

Souta tightened his grip on the vajra sword. His eyes flared with a terrifying light, and energy surged through the blade, warping the very space around it.

A rift tore through the fabric of reality as his sword swung.

Bang—!!

The sound echoed like glass breaking across miles, the shockwave ripping through branches and shaking the remaining fighters to their core.

"Let me show you a fraction of my power," Souta said coldly, his blade forcing the Dark Apparition to halt mid-swing.

The creature’s eyes met his, only to be swallowed instantly by a blinding white mist, obliterating its vision.

Whoosh!!

...

Meanwhile, Angus’s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched Souta confront the colossal Dark Apparition. What stunned him most wasn’t the audacity, but the sheer energy radiating from Souta.

Fourth stage...?

The thought was impossible. The fluctuations, the overwhelming aura, the destructive force, it dwarfed every fourth-stage warrior he had ever encountered. By any measure, Souta’s power rivaled that of a fifth-stage monster.

"It can’t be... Souta is only a fourth stage!!"

Angus’s mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. Everything he knew, everything he believed about power levels, crumbled in an instant. He had always assumed Souta was already at fifth stage. But this? This shattered every expectation.

Even Emiline, who had only just arrived, was frozen, her eyes wide in shock.

To think that a fourth-stage warrior wielding this magnitude of power. It was unfathomable.

Boom!!

A deafening explosion ripped across the battlefield. A blinding light surged outward, bathing the entire area in radiant energy.

Angus, Emiline, and the other experts stared in stunned silence, their breaths caught in their throats. At the foot of the giant tree, the scene before them was beyond comprehension.

The battlefield, the tentacles, the Dark Apparitions, and everything was dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of Souta’s presence.

"This...?!"

"What is that?!!"

A massive rift tore open above the ground. It stretched over a hundred meters, shrouded in swirling white mist. Within it, an immense energy pulsed and twisted, a living force of malice that made every heart in the area seize with fear.

Angus, drawing on his vast knowledge, finally realized what he was seeing.

"D-Dream Power...?!!"

...

Ohm!!

A wave of strange energy swept across the city, carrying a suffocating sense of dread.

Souta hovered in the air, descending calmly. His foot touched the floor, slick with black liquid, and immediately, a surge of pure malice lashed out at him.

He didn’t flinch.

He had unleashed the full might of [Douion III]. Every being around him be it human, demi, or Dark Apparition was forcibly drawn into his dreamscape. None could resist. Even the massive Dark Apparition was powerless.

Thud!

Footsteps echoed as Souta approached the dark sphere he had sensed earlier.

"Souta, destroy it immediately... Don’t let it linger. It will try to invade your mind," Saya’s voice warned in his consciousness.

Souta nodded.

He could feel it already. An invasion of the mind. Waves of negative emotion crashed against him, and whispers clawed at his thoughts, threatening to drown him.

He channeled his energy into the vajra sword, muscles coiling, aura flaring. Then he struck.

Whoosh!!

A thin, perfect line formed around the black sphere before it split apart. Energy exploded outward in all directions like a tidal wave, tearing through the air, threatening to obliterate everything in its path.

The ground shook violently. A high-pitched, ear-splitting resonance echoed through the battlefield.

Souta lifted his hand, stabilizing the Douion III to suppress the aftershocks. His aura surged as the corrupted energy from the sphere sought to eat through his protective field.

’If I hadn’t recovered my strength... I wouldn’t have survived this,’ he thought grimly.

After what felt like an eternity, the energy subsided. The black sphere dissolved into nothingness, leaving only the shattered remnants of its power behind.

Swoosh!!

Souta stood calmly, collecting his thoughts. This wasn’t his first encounter with such a force. He had faced it before.

Yet, it remained as strange, as dangerous, as potent as ever.

Saya knew of its danger but she could not speak of it. That silence alone made it all the more perilous.

...

A change swept over the city.

The black liquid that had coated the streets and buildings evaporated, dissipating into the air like smoke. The black rain ceased, and the oppressive clouds finally vanished.

The calamity in Nature Zone City had ended.

It hadn’t lasted long but the destruction it left behind was catastrophic. Less than five percent of the city’s population had survived. The rest had been claimed by the darkness.

Souta’s gaze swept across the ruined city. His eyes flickered with a strange, otherworldly light, reflecting both the devastation and the lingering power of the calamity he had suppressed.

Angus and Emiline landed behind him, their expressions tense. They had confirmed the calamity was over and hurried to regroup with Souta. Both stared at his back, silently grappling with the revelation before them.

They had always known Souta was strong, but they had never imagined that a monster only at the fourth evolution stage could wield power on this scale.

Souta turned his head toward them, his expression calm, controlled. "What should we do now, Crown Prince?"

Angus forced a bitter smile and shook his head. "I still have to consider our next move. The other cities in the kingdom were affected too. We need to know what happened elsewhere, especially in the Royal Capital."

Emiline remained silent, her thoughts heavy. This was her first encounter with a calamity of this magnitude. She had no plan, no answers. All she could do was follow the Crown Prince’s lead.

The city was quiet now, but the silence was heavy with the weight of death, destruction, and the unspoken questions of what horrors might await beyond its borders.

"We have to retake the Royal Capital," Angus said, his voice firm.

His family had spent generations suppressing the calamity, keeping its reach in check for thousands of years. He knew truths others did not. The secrets about the calamity, its patterns, and its unimaginable potential for destruction.

Souta nodded, turning his gaze toward the distance. Though the disaster in this city had ended, a deeper, far more terrifying presence lingered beyond the horizon. Its oppressive aura far stronger than anything he had just faced.

He knew instinctively where it originated: the Royal Capital.

Angus and the remaining survivors from Nature Zone City could feel it too. The sensation pressed down on them like a guillotine poised above their heads. It’s unrelenting, inescapable, and suffocating. There was nothing they could do, not yet.

"Do what you must," Souta said calmly.

Angus gave a curt nod, then turned to Emiline, offering her a reassuring glance. Without another word, the two departed to regroup with the other survivors of the calamity.

Souta watched their backs for a long moment before lowering his gaze to his own hand. He clenched his fist, feeling the surge of power coursing through his veins.

The most important thing was to grow stronger.

Stronger than this calamity. Stronger than any force that threatened him.

And he would not allow anything to stand in his way.

As the Crown Prince, Angus had a duty to rally the survivors. He would convince them to stand against the calamity. They had no choice, yet with his guidance, their morale wouldn’t break completely. He would also finally reveal the truth about the calamity as there was no reason to hide it any longer.

Souta, on the other hand, had only one focus: increasing his strength as quickly as possible.

There was only one way. Evolution.

Without wasting another second, Souta used [Burrow], plunging into the earth and digging nearly one kilometer down. The tunnels shook and cracked as he went, a dangerous descent into darkness but there was no other option.

He reached a small, confined space far beneath the surface. The walls were close, the darkness complete. He placed the vajra sword in front of him, its blade glinting faintly in the pitch black.

"Saya... I’ll leave the rest to you," he said, his voice calm but resolute.

’Okay. You can proceed with your evolution,’ Saya’s voice echoed in his mind, heavy with concern. ’I just hope the people above don’t do anything reckless while this is happening...’

Souta closed his eyes. The air around him grew thick with energy as his body began to adapt, pushing toward the next stage. Every heartbeat, every breath, was a step closer to power that would allow him to face the calamity looming over the Royal Capital.

Time was short, danger loomed, and failure was not an option.

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