The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

Chapter 1148: The Demon: The Mighty Power of the Blood Lightning

Swoosh!!

The dreamscape shuddered violently, riddled with gaping holes. Gigantic rifts tore across the air and ground. The entire realm was on the verge of collapse. At most, it would last another minute.

Ohm!!

Yin’s senses sharpened. He snapped his head toward the disturbance and froze. Souta was standing, bloodied yet unbroken, with his hand buried deep inside his own chest.

Yin narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to do?"

Souta smiled, crimson dripping from the corner of his lips. "Desolation Shifting Slime... You can copy your target’s appearance, strengthening yourself against their attacks the longer you face them."

He inhaled sharply, then pulled his hand free from his chest. In his grasp was his own beating heart. Without hesitation, he crushed it into a pile of blood that splattered in his palm.

Such a wound would be fatal to anyone else but not him. With the combined power of the King and Queen Parasites, even death itself was something he could claw his way back from.

Souta felt his strength surge, amplified by the effect of [Draw Blood].

"Have you given up? Then I’ll end this now!" Yin bent his knees, his energy exploding outward like a storm.

Souta only smirked. "You jest. It’s not that I’ve given up. It’s that I’m simply better than you."

His eyes shifted toward the fractured sky of the collapsing dreamscape. Then—

Boom!

The dreamscape shuddered as its boundaries suddenly expanded. The endless white smoke outside compressed, swirling violently before rushing into Souta’s body.

"Hm...?" Yin halted mid-step, realizing something was wrong. He blinked and in the next instant, the dreamscape was gone.

Reality returned, but it was twisted. He stood in the middle of an endless sea of blood. Crimson rain poured down endlessly from the heavens. Where it came from, Yin couldn’t care.

’What is this...?’ His instincts screamed danger. Slowly, his gaze turned toward Souta.

Behind him loomed a massive skull, its maw gaping wide as if ready to devour the world. Souta himself raised his arms, gazing upward. From his body seeped not only blood but also streaks of pale white energy, blending into something unnatural.

"I will show you..." Souta’s voice reverberated across the bloody sea, shaking Yin’s core. "Witness me."

Yin roared and dashed forward, power crackling. Wind and water swirled like twin dragons around his fists, his killing intent sharp enough to rip apart space. He would end this in one blow.

But before he could strike.

Crrrk!!

The colossal skull snapped its jaws shut, swallowing Souta whole.

In that instant, the sea of blood erupted. Countless blood bullets surged like a crimson storm, while blood-colored lightning rained from above, converging on Yin with apocalyptic force.

Boom!!!

Yin tore through the bloody storm with raw force, ripping apart lightning and crimson bullets alike. But then...

A wave of energy brushed across his body.

"...!"

A ripple swept outward, and his instincts screamed. A suffocating suppression blanketed the battlefield, forcing even his fifth-stage body to shudder.

All around him, the world froze. Droplets of blood hung motionless in midair, each suspended as though time itself had been severed. Even the blood-colored lightning halted, carved into the sky like cracks of crimson crystal.

The eerie stillness lasted only a breath.

Then...

A pillar of light split the dark clouds, descending with divine weight and bathing the cocoon of blood below.

"Burn this feeling into your soul," a voice echoed, layered with authority. "Bask in my presence."

The cocoon dissolved into coils of red smoke. From its depths, a figure emerged.

Souta.

But no longer the same.

His hair flowed long and white, glowing faintly in the stormlight. Crimson eyes pierced through Yin, sharp and merciless. Half of his body was clad in black-and-white armor, the other half etched with vivid red markings crawling from his monster orb down to his hands.

Behind him floated four spectral spider limbs, detached yet orbiting with silent menace. Above his head shimmered a floating crown of crimson light. And behind him, a circular sigil burned brilliantly, the emblem of Crimson Twilight, turning the bloody world into his throne room.

[Emperor Armor]

But this was no ordinary armor. It was the [Emperor Armor] reforged, infused with the power of [Divine Retribution].

Souta’s voice thundered like law. "Kneel. You stand in the presence of an Emperor."

His gaze locked on Yin, the fifth-stage monster who had forced him this far.

Yin shuddered. Something deep within him, something primal, screamed in terror. His eyes widened at the sight before him, but he quickly shook his head, forcing defiance into his voice.

"Do you really think you can bridge the gap with that?!" he snarled. "You’re still just a fourth stage! I am fifth!"

Souta’s expression didn’t waver. His crimson crown glowed brighter. "See for yourself. Let this new possibility open your eyes."

Swoosh!!

Souta vanished.

Yin barely had time to cross his arms before something crashed into him with earth-shattering weight.

Bang!!

His body was hurled across the battlefield, tearing through the air for kilometers in a single instant.

He lifted his gaze just in time to see Souta descend from above, his sword tracing a crimson arc through the storm.

Slash!

The strike split the sky, erupting into a massive explosion.

When the smoke cleared, a head rolled across the ruined ground.

It was Yin’s.

His body staggered out of the fading blast wave, headless. Souta emerged from the smoke, crimson eyes glowing as he glanced coldly at the severed head.

But then...

The head twitched, melting into a puddle of viscous slime. At the same time, flesh surged from the stump of Yin’s neck, twisting and hardening into a new face.

"Did you forget what I am?" Yin’s voice echoed, dark and hateful. His new eyes snapped open, brimming with fury. "Severing my head will not kill me!"

He spread his arms wide. The storm itself bent toward him, the power of water and wind gathering in a violent maelstrom.

Souta raised his sword, crimson lightning dancing across his frame. "All the damage you’ve inflicted on me only makes me stronger. By now, you should already understand the outcome of this battle."

Blood-colored lightning roared as it surged outward.

"Bullshit!!" Yin bellowed. He thrust out his hands, and the storm obeyed—several titanic tornadoes of wind and water materialized, each one large enough to level mountains. They barreled toward Souta, twisting the terrain into chaos.

Souta’s eyes glowed. He aimed his blade forward.

Fwoosh!!

The four spider limbs shot off his back like streaks of black light. At blinding speed they unleashed a torrent of steel-like webs, weaving a lattice in the air. At the same time, rivers of blood surged across the battlefield, rising in waves as if an ocean itself answered his will.

From afar, the clash was apocalyptic, storms of water and wind colliding with darkness, blood, and lightning. The shockwaves churned the land, tearing through mountains and valleys. Witnesses could only tremble as the skies split open and the earth shattered beneath the two combatants.

Boom!!

Souta wove through the oncoming tornadoes, his movements sharp and ruthless, while simultaneously directing his spider limbs in a relentless assault.

Then, he felt it.

His crimson eyes narrowed.

Yin’s influence crept into the battlefield, seizing the rivers of blood with invisible chains. The torrents quivered, resisting his grip, as if the veins of the world itself were slipping from his control.

Water.

It was the foundation of blood. Yin’s mastery of the water element had already reached the Fusion Stage. Its scope, authority, and depth were overwhelming.

By contrast, Souta’s [Blood Control] was absolute only within its own domain. Against the sheer, primordial weight of water, it was like pitting a river against the sea.

The difference was vast.

And yet Souta’s lips curled into a smile.

’It seems I’ll need to develop a spell or combat art specifically to counter this kind of situation... in case I face someone with even higher elemental control in the future,’ Souta thought.

But for now, it wasn’t a problem. Not with his current arsenal.

He released the sword from his grip and thrust out his hand in a clawing motion. Energy erupted violently from his core as both the monster orb and [Nebula Heart] surged, expending a tremendous amount of power all at once.

The sea of blood around him trembled then began to transform.

Crimson lightning crackled through the ocean of blood, reshaping it, weaving itself into every droplet until it was no longer mere blood at all. The battlefield was engulfed by a net of blood lightning, expanding outward, devouring Yin’s storm of water and wind.

Though it carried the name of blood, this was an entirely new force. Blood lightning was a concept far beyond the reach of water’s authority. No elemental supremacy could tame it. Once Souta infused it with his [Archetype], it became untouchable—just like a perfected spell or combat art, it belonged solely to him.

This was the essence of why combat arts and spells had been created in the first place: to forge something uniquely one’s own. Something that could not be overridden by another’s elemental mastery.

If Souta had faced an enemy with greater command over light or darkness, they could have easily seized his raw elements. But a spell? A combat art? That was different. Those were beyond mere elements.

Monsters, on the other hand, possessed innate traits that acted as their own natural skills, an advantage humans had to painstakingly replicate.

Swoosh!!

"You—!!" Yin groaned as crimson lightning lashed across his body from every direction. Sparks seared his flesh, forcing him to leap back. His sharp eyes caught the four spider limbs slicing through the air, striking with relentless precision.

With impossible flexibility, Yin twisted and bent his frame, slipping through the assault like liquid. His body flowed unnaturally, as if bone and sinew no longer bound him, dodging each attack with grotesque grace.

But then his instincts screamed.

He spun around just in time to see a massive energy blade cleaving through the air toward him. Twisting his body to an extreme angle, he barely evaded the strike, only to find Souta already upon him, closing the gap with terrifying speed.

"What is with you?!" Yin roared. His throat swelled as a devastating surge of energy built up inside him.

[Hyper Obliterating Ray]!!

A blinding torrent of condensed wind and water erupted from his mouth, a beam strong enough to pulverize mountains in its path.

Souta raised his hand without hesitation. The four spider limbs converged before him, their spear-like ends locking into formation. Spinning at incredible speed, they merged into a singular, whirling arrowhead.

The ray slammed into it.

Boom!!

The collision split the air with a deafening roar. Souta skidded backward, his heels carving trenches in the earth as the beam threatened to overwhelm him. For an instant, the world was drowned in violent light.

Then...

Crimson lightning surged, igniting the spider limbs. Power roared through him, feeding the spinning arrow until it became a drill of blood and thunder. Souta leaned forward, forcing his strength into it.

Crack—!!

The beam split apart, torn asunder by sheer will and force. The backlash exploded outward, shaking the land like a quake.

"This will be the end." Souta leveled his sword, the crimson crown above him blazing brighter than ever.