The Forbidden Godly Beast

Chapter 8: The Crimson Palace and the Throne of Shattered Kings

The golden imperial gates of the Surya Palace, crafted from celestial brass and guarded by the sovereign's personal blood guards, did not withstand the approach of Shaktivel. They didn't even require a strike from the Ancient Abyssal Fiend. The mere radiating pressure of Shaktivel’s newly formed Flawless Divine Foundation Base blew the massive gates off their hinges, sending them crashing into the grand throne room like crumpled paper.

The air inside the palace was heavy, smelling of incense, expensive silks, and a profound, desperate fear. Standing at the far end of the hall, elevated on a dais of pure white jade, was Emperor Solon. He wore his imperial dragon robes, but the hand holding his sovereign sceptre was trembling so violently that the jewels on it clinked together in a panicked rhythm.

Surrounding the throne were the final lines of defense—the Imperial Blood Guard, fifty elite Core Formation stage warriors, and sitting in deep meditation behind the throne were two ancient figures whose skin looked like dry parchment. They were the Imperial Ancestors, hidden monsters who had reached the Late Foundation Establishment stage and had prolonged their lives through forbidden herbs.

"Shaktivel!" Emperor Solon’s voice cracked, losing all of its royal dignity. "You have slaughtered the nobility, you have crippled my son, and you have broken the peace of the empire! Do you think the heavens will look away from your madness?"

Shaktivel walked slowly into the throne room, his heavy boots clicking against the pristine marble. Beside him, the Ancient Abyssal Fiend had slightly condensed its size to fit the grand hall, but its presence was no less terrifying. The four wings of dark flame on its back cast erratic, monstrous shadows across the golden pillars of the palace.

"The heavens have been blind for ten years, Solon," Shaktivel said, his violet-tinted eyes locked onto the throne. "They were blind when you poisoned my father. They were blind when your guards dragged the women and children of the Shakti clan into the town square to be executed. Today, I am not here under the laws of the heavens. I am here as the void that swallows them."

"insolent child!" one of the Imperial Ancestors opened his eyes—two milky-white orbs devoid of pupils. He stood up, his frail body suddenly releasing a wave of immense, Late Foundation Establishment pressure that caused the air inside the hall to distort. "A mere First Layer Foundation pup thinks he can change the destiny of a nation? Die for your ignorance!"

The old ancestor raised his withered hands, channeling the supreme technique of the royal family, the Surya Solar Flare. A miniature, blinding sun formed between his palms, radiating heat so intense that the marble pillars began to melt into liquid glass. He threw it forward, the white-hot sphere roaring down the hall, threatening to incinerate everything in its path.

Shaktivel didn't even move his hands. He simply tilted his head toward his beast. "Show him what a real sun looks like."

The Ancient Abyssal Fiend let out a low, mocking hiss. It opened its colossal jaws wide, and the fourth seal inside its body began to vibrate. The black vortex that erupted this time wasn't just a vacuum—it was infused with spatial rifts.

The white-hot miniature sun slammed into the vortex, but instead of exploding, the golden flames were instantly stripped of their heat and power. The black void devoured the elemental attack like a hungry whale swallowing a drop of water.

GULP.

The old ancestor stumbled back, gasping as his soul suffered an immediate backlash from the absolute destruction of his ultimate technique. "No... that is not a beast... that is a cosmic anomaly! Emperor! We must flee!"

"Flee? Where?" Shaktivel cold-smiled.

With a single step, Shaktivel vanished using his Divine Foundation movement technique. He reappeared directly in front of the old ancestor. Before the ancient cultivator could even raise a defensive shield, Shaktivel’s hand, coated in a thick layer of dark purple spatial Qi, drove straight through the old man’s chest, gripping his core.

CRACK.

Shaktivel forcefully ripped the ancestor's golden core out of his body. The old man let out a choked gasp before falling to the floor, lifeless. Shaktivel casually tossed the glowing core into the waiting mouth of the Abyssal Fiend.

Gulp.

[System Notification: Host’s Beast has devoured a Late Foundation Establishment Core.] [System Notification: The Fourth Seal is now 60% unlocked!] [System Notification: Shared energy transferring to the Host...]

The massive influx of pure, concentrated energy caused Shaktivel’s Divine Foundation pillars to roar with power. His cultivation base surged, instantly leaping from the First Layer to the Third Layer of the Foundation Establishment stage in a matter of seconds.

The remaining ancestor and the fifty blood guards fell into a state of absolute, paralyzed horror. To kill a Late Foundation expert with a single strike was something only a Core Formation monster could do. And yet, Shaktivel was doing it effortlessly.

"Solon," Shaktivel said, turning his cold gaze back to the emperor, who had collapsed onto his throne, his crown falling to the floor with a hollow clang. "Your ancestors cannot save you. Your guards cannot protect you. Your empire is gone."

The remaining ancestor, realizing there was no escape, unleashed a desperate roar, trying to detonate his own core to take Shaktivel down with him. But the Ancient Abyssal Fiend didn't give him the chance. Its giant obsidian tail slammed down, crushing the old man into a pool of bloody mist before opening its mouth to suck the remnants into the void.

Gulp.

[System Notification: The Fourth Seal is now 100% unlocked! Initializing Evolution...] [System Notification: Current Form: Primordial Void Sovereign (Low Core-Formation Potential).]

The shadow beast’s body exploded with a wave of absolute dark majesty. Its scales turned into a crystalline armor etched with golden ancient runes that pulsated like starlight. Its four wings expanded into six, made of pure, unyielding violet divine fire that commanded the very space around it.

Shaktivel walked up the jade steps of the dais, his boots stained with the blood of the ancestors. Emperor Solon looked up at him, his face covered in sweat and tears, his imperial dignity entirely shattered.

"Please..." Solon whispered, his voice cracking. "The imperial treasury... the ancient books... everything is yours. Just let me live as a mortal."

"When my father begged you to spare our clan's children, what did you say to him, Solon?" Shaktivel asked, his voice deathly quiet as he reached out and gripped the emperor’s throat, lifting him off the throne. "You told him that the weak have no right to bargain."

Shaktivel didn't use his Qi to crush Solon’s throat. Instead, he allowed the Primordial Void Sovereign to let out a low growl. The dark, spatial energy from the beast poured into Solon’s body, forcefully tearing apart his meridians, his flesh, and his soul, dissolving the emperor into a cloud of black ash that drifted away in the wind.

The Emperor of the Surya Empire was dead.

Shaktivel turned around and sat down slowly on the massive white jade throne. The Primordial Void Sovereign walked over, curling its massive, sixty-foot-long body around the base of the throne, its six wings of violet fire gently folding over Shaktivel like a protective mantle of absolute darkness.

The grand hall was silent, save for the crackling of the divine flames. The empire that had cast him out as a "defective piece of trash" just twenty-four hours ago was now lying dead at his feet.

But as Shaktivel closed his eyes to consolidate his new Third Layer Foundation power, a sudden, blinding flash of light erupted from the center of the throne room. A massive, golden scroll materialized in mid-air, floating above the blood-stained marble. It wasn't an artifact of the Surya Empire.

The scroll slowly unrolled, revealing glowing gold words written in an ancient, celestial language that caused Shaktivel's newly evolved beast to let out a sharp, defensive growl.

[System Notification: Warning! Your massive progression and the destruction of the Surya Empire have attracted the eyes of the High Heavens Sect from the Grand Upper Realm!] [System Notification: An Alliance Envoy is descending to investigate the anomaly!]

Shaktivel opened his violet eyes, a dark, fearless smile creeping back onto his face as he looked at the floating scroll. The small pond of the mortal empire was finished. The true war against the gods of the higher realms was about to begin.