Chapter 1169: The Demon: Activation

Kessa, Doranjan, and Erkigal spun around in unison. Without hesitation, they grabbed the others and bolted away from the battlefield.

"No!! Souta!!" Alice’s scream tore through the chaos as Kessa dragged her back.

"It’s an order!" Kessa’s voice cracked with urgency, but her grip never loosened.

Behind them, the world erupted. Smoke rolled through the air in thick, churning waves as the trio moved at full speed, their bodies cutting through the haze like streaks of light.

Every step felt heavier than the last. The air itself seemed to mourn. They all knew—the enemies this time were beyond anything they could face. All they could do was watch the distant explosion fade into the horizon, shrinking into a blur of destruction.

...

At the center of that devastation, silence reigned.

The dark liquid that had once flooded the ground now thinned, evaporating into the air like a dying mist.

High above, ten demons hovered in the smoky sky, gazing down at what little remained.

Only a single hand.

Everything else had been erased.

"The Blood Lightning Monster is dead..." one of them muttered, disbelief lacing his tone.

Scattered across the scorched crater were artifacts, glimmering faintly under the dim light. The demons exchanged knowing looks. Those artifacts had survived a blow from a Freedom Realm demon—proof of their immense value.

"The Blood Lightning Monster was quite rich," one of them sneered. "Look at all those artifacts."

Then—movement.

A faint twitch.

The severed hand convulsed, fingers curling, flesh bubbling and stretching. Veins crawled outward, sinew winding like living threads.

"What—?"

In mere seconds, the air rippled with a nauseating sound of regeneration. Flesh expanded, bone formed, blood surged—and a new body stood before them.

The Blood Lightning Monster had returned.

The demons stared, their faces pale.

That regeneration... it was madness.

Souta rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, his eyes cold and sharp. Blood flowed from the air around him, coiling over his skin before solidifying into crimson armor.

The artifacts trembled, lifted from the ground, and drifted toward him—one by one, they settled into place across his body.

The Blood Lightning Monster was whole again.

And this time, his killing intent burned hotter than ever.

The ten Freedom Realm demons stared at him, stunned. This regeneration had shattered their expectations.

"Feels like an immortal..." one breathed.

"This—this kind of ability shouldn’t belong to a mortal." another said, voice thin with disbelief.

"He’s in Imperium, not some sub-world where you can toy with the laws of the universe." a third added, eyes narrowing.

Their whispers hung in the smoke. The attack moments ago had destroyed the Blood Lightning Monster’s heart and brain—fatal wounds by any measure. Yet he had rebuilt himself. They knew of races that could regenerate, but the Blood Lightning Monster had no ties to them. Nothing explained this.

Swoosh.

Souta lifted his head. His gaze swept the ten demons suspended above the crater. Quiet. Cold. Absolute.

’What are your plans, Souta? This is bad—there are ten Freedom Realm demons!’ Saya’s voice snapped inside his mind, urgent and thin.

Souta’s reply was a razor in the air. "It’s going to be a massacre."

When he spoke, killing intent pooled around his words like storm clouds—dense, palpable, and ready to explode. "I’m going to kill them all."

These demons had slaughtered his people—innocent citizens who hadn’t even lifted a weapon against them. The ones evacuated earlier were mostly ordinary folk, powerless and terrified.

Souta’s gaze darkened. "What cruel demons..." His voice was low, trembling with rage. "So I’ll show you how cruel I can be."

The air trembled.

A thunderous boom erupted as power surged through his body, shaking the ground beneath his feet. The sound cracked like the sky itself splitting apart—then, just as suddenly, silence.

In that frozen instant, countless pillars of energy erupted from the earth, spearing upward and piercing the heavens.

A shockwave rippled outward, bending light and air alike.

Souta’s body shifted within that storm of power. His form blurred—overlapped—like two beings merging into one. His hair darkened into a deep black, while his skin took on a more human hue. A new attire formed over him, layered atop the remnants of the old, both coexisting in impossible harmony.

His energy flared once more, heavier, sharper—yet still controlled. It didn’t surpass the demons’ overwhelming might, but it carried a terrifying might that made even Freedom Realm beings hesitate.

All of it happened within a heartbeat.

"What... what is this?!" one of the demons stammered, his voice breaking as he stared at the transforming monster before them.

"It gives me a strange feeling," one of the demons muttered, narrowing his eyes.

Another sneered. "You’ve grown stronger, Blood Lightning Monster... but it’s still not enough to stop us from taking the princess!"

Their voices echoed like thunder as all ten unleashed their full power. The sky trembled. Crushing energy poured down on Souta, the sheer pressure distorting space around him.

One of them—the same Freedom Realm demon who had attacked earlier—stepped forward, his presence cutting through the air like a blade. He raised his hand, energy swirling violently around his arm.

"Die for real this time!"

He clenched his fist and swung it downward with monstrous force.

Swoosh!!

Before the strike landed, Souta’s eyes flickered. His interface glowed faintly before him—data and symbols streaming across his vision. He had activated [Blood Card], channeling every ounce of potential his character once possessed. For this moment, he was whole.

His head tilted upward, eyes locking onto the descending torrent of black liquid.

He tightened his grip on the vajra sword. Power—pure and furious—erupted from his core, magnified severalfold by his Blood Card.

Swoosh!!

In a single, fluid motion, Souta swung his sword.

The slash tore through the air with a sound like rending steel, cutting the black liquid cleanly in two. The shockwave of his strike didn’t stop there—it surged upward, splitting clouds and racing straight toward the ten Freedom Realm demons.

The ten Freedom Realm demons widened their eyes in disbelief. For a split second, they were caught off guard—but their reactions were razor-sharp.

In less than a heartbeat, the lead demon—who had launched the first attack—snapped his hand upward. A torrent of black liquid surged forth, twisting violently before solidifying into countless layers of defensive barriers.

Then—

BOOM!!!

The moment Souta’s slash collided, the world exploded in light and fury. Shockwaves ripped through the air, shredding the landscape and sending torrents of debris flying in every direction.

The violent energy tore through the battlefield. Demons below the Freedom Realm were blasted hundreds of meters away, their screams drowned by the roar of destruction.

When the dust began to settle, Souta hovered amidst the chaos, eyes burning crimson.

"It’s on, demons," he said, his voice cold and sharp as a blade. "We’ll fight to the death."

Around him, artifacts shimmered into existence—dozens of them—each radiating immense power as they orbited his body like a constellation of weapons.

’What is this power, Souta?!’ Saya’s voice rang in his mind, filled with shock and disbelief. She had been with him through countless battles, yet this... this was beyond her comprehension. It was hard to imagine a mere Fourth Stage monster wielding such overwhelming force.

The ground trembled. The forest surrounding them quaked and split as raw energy surged outward from Souta’s body, sweeping across the battlefield like a divine storm.

The demons froze. For a moment, every one of them felt an invisible hand close around their hearts. Even the ten Freedom Realm demons—beings who ruled over worlds—felt it.

A faint, primal sense of danger.

Something no Fourth Stage creature should ever inspire.

...

BOOM!!

The entire Involin Forest convulsed.

The earth buckled and cracked as if the land itself were about to collapse. A storm of energy surged outward from deep within the forest—each pulse bursting with a malice so thick it warped the air and twisted the light.

One after another, powerful auras erupted like volcanoes, their pressure rippling across the land.

Far beyond the forest’s edge.

Alice, Kessa, and the others had been scattered in the earlier chaos, fleeing in different directions. Now, all of them stopped, their gazes instinctively snapping back toward the source of the explosions.

"What’s happening?!" someone shouted, voice trembling.

From where they stood, they could see it clearly—countless pillars of energy tearing through the forest canopy, piercing the sky itself. Each one radiated a crushing power that sent shivers down their spines.

Eztein clenched his fists, his eyes narrowing. "Does our boss... still have trump cards left?" he muttered under his breath.

He knew exactly what they were facing—Freedom Realm beings. The pinnacle of mortal power. Their strength was so absolute that only the gods themselves stood above them.

The Tenth Shackle Realm—beings who could reshape lands with their will alone.

Alice’s breath hitched as she stared at the forest, her heart pounding. "Souta..." she whispered, eyes glimmering with fear and determination.

Her voice was almost lost beneath the thunder of destruction, but still—somewhere deep inside that forest—she hoped he could hear her.

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