Chapter 226: Tomb of the beast king - 7

Words : 1125 Updated : Oct 10th, 2025

Na'rajina laughed once more, the sound like grinding mountains. "Then watch as I—" The Beast King stopped mid-sentence, his massive serpentine form suddenly rigid. The emerald energy pulsed with uncertainty, and for the first time, there was fear in those ancient eyes. "No," Na'rajina whispered. "It cannot be." A new presence manifested within the soul space—a warm, golden light that penetrated the gloom. No, it was present even before he came. It was just that he was too ecstatic in his own happiness that he failed to notice the presence of such an immense being. The golden light coalesced, taking the form of a woman of extraordinary beauty and power. She wore a dress that seemed forged from the very stars. A gold-coloured crown of light adorned her head, and her eyes blazed with the fire of a thousand suns. Goddess Qalena had appeared. Yet this was not the full goddess herself—rather, a fragment of her divine power that had been placed within Jolthar long ago, a seed of protection waiting for the moment it would be needed most. Jolthar stared in disbelief at the manifestation. It felt strange seeing her like this—almost as if this was her true form, the one she had been meant to embody all along. The sheer power radiating from her was overwhelming, an invisible force pressing against his very being. It wasn't just the sight of her—it was the feeling, the weight of her presence, something primitive and untamed. A shiver ran through his soul, not from fear alone, but from the unsettling realization that he was standing before something far beyond mortal comprehension. Qalena's voice rang through the soul space, simultaneously gentle as a mother's whisper and powerful as a celestial command. "How dare you devour my child, you imbecile beast?!" Na'rajina's form trembled. The Beast King, so confident moments before, was now cowering before the divine fragment. He recognized her all right. He knew Goddess Qalena well—the slayer of demons, the invincible mother-goddess whose power had defeated entities far greater than himself. "Divine Mother," Na'rajina stammered, his arrogance evaporating like morning dew under the sun. "I did not know this vessel was under your protection. Had I known—" "Silence!" Qalena commanded, and the entire soul space vibrated with her authority. "You knew exactly what you were doing, Na'rajina. You sensed a power within this child and thought to claim it for yourself." The Beast King began to retreat, his emerald energy receding from Jolthar's soul space. "I will leave peacefully," he offered. "Find another vessel. There is no need for conflict between us." Qalena raised her hand, and an invisible force froze Na'rajina in place. The basilisk struggled against the divine restraint but could not break free. "You wanted to devour, did you not?" Qalena's eyes narrowed, her voice now filled with divine judgement. "Then it is only fitting that the devourer becomes the devoured." She turned her gaze to Jolthar, whose essence was regaining its strength in her presence. "Now, my child will devour your soul and your beast body." Na'rajina's eyes went wide as he heard her. He begged her as his form cowered before her mighty celestial form. Her gold-coloured form stood at an imposing height. Although it was only a wisp of her power, it was strong enough to make the beast king shudder in dread. His voice echoed in the still emptiness. Jolthar could only watch. He was staring at Qalena and how she looked familiar yet mysterious to him. All those times he met her in the past gave him no sense of familiarity. It was like meeting her for the first time, in a new light. With a wave of another hand, Na'rajina's form began to disintegrate. The emerald energy that had been his essence started flowing in reverse, pulled toward Jolthar who remained suspended in the centre of the soul space. "No!" Na'rajina howled, his voice distorting as his being was torn apart. "You cannot do this! I am the Beast King! I ruled before the deities! I was old when Inadrys was young!" His pleas fell on deaf ears as Qalena's divine will remained unshaken. The Beast King's essence, once so threatening, was now being absorbed into Jolthar's being—not as a conqueror, but as power to be commanded. "Mercy, Divine Mother!" Na'rajina begged as the last of his consciousness was pulled into the vortex created by Qalena's power. "The mercy you showed my child is the mercy you receive," Qalena responded coldly. The last of the emerald energy flowed into Jolthar, and where there had been a battle of wills, there was now only integration. The Beast King's knowledge, power, and essence became a part of Jolthar, subject to his will rather than the other way around. When it was complete, Qalena turned to Jolthar, her expression softening. Her radiant aura was still glowing around her. "It is not me, child," she explained gently. As though she could read his mind as she answered the question weighing on his mind. Just a while ago, Nytheria came and met him, saying that Qalena wouldn't be able to meet him as she was in a bind. "What you see is merely a fragment of my power that I placed within you. The true me resides in higher realms and cannot interfere directly in these affairs." Jolthar, still processing the immense transformation he had undergone, could only stare in wonder. "I will meet you when the time is right," Qalena continued. "For now, go out into the world and remain vigilant until you fully absorb the remains of that..." she hesitated, disdain evident in her voice, "...that mutt." "Take him as a nourishment to your soul." She was saying it as though he was just a speck of dust in her eyes, just wiping it away. But Jolthar couldn't believe that she made a beast king just wither away and made him absorb his soul. He could already feel the effects of his soul, like the profoundness of it. I must have been truly blessed to have you, Jolthar muttered. And she heard his thoughts as she smiled at him, so pleasant that he felt like he was in heaven. A smile that told him a lot. She began to fade, her light dimming as she returned to dormancy within Jolthar's soul space. "Remember, you are not alone. You never were." Jolthar could only nod as the divine fragment disappeared, leaving him alone in his soul space—a space now infused with the absorbed power of Na'rajina and the protective blessing of Qalena.

Chapter 226: Tomb of the beast king - 7

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