SOULBOUND: THE ABYSS WITHIN

Chapter 85: Storm vs. Tempest

The air screamed.

Two forces collided in the night sky above Lafrosa—Muna Ikemba, the Black Thunder of the Ikemba family, and Michelle Hawthorne, the Gale Matriarch of the Hawthornes. Their clash wasn't just personal—it was elemental. And it was utterly terrifying.

Muna shot forward, cloaked in black lightning that devoured space with every step. Her punch shattered the sound barrier, laced with the fury of a protective mother robbed of restraint.

Michelle met her with a whirl of emerald winds, her eyes calm but sharp. "You should've stayed your hand."

Muna snarled, "You should've raised your daughter!"

Impact.

The sky cracked open as fist met palm. A sphere of compressed force exploded outward, knocking trees flat for a mile and parting clouds above the capital. Shockwaves ravaged rooftops, sending academy students and soldiers alike scrambling for cover.

Michelle vanished, her form spiraling into the wind—then reappeared above Muna, slicing down with a blade of condensed gale-force energy.

Muna spun mid-air and countered with a forked thunder whip, crackling, unstable and burning bright with raw Soul Energy. The two forces collided in a starburst of green and black, the landscape warping beneath them.

"You'll kill her!" Michelle shouted, dodging a burst of jagged lightning that carved a canyon into the earth.

"She assaulted mine!" Muna roared. "More than once!"

"You're supposed to be an Ikemba, not a berserker!"

"I am an Ikemba!"

She unleashed a thunderclap that split the hill beneath them in two, lightning weaving through the air like serpents—fast, unpredictable, hunting Michelle down with unrelenting vengeance.

Michelle blurred through the wind, creating a vortex wall that spun at hurricane velocity, redirecting some of the strikes but barely holding off the raw chaos of Muna's power.

Then, Muna raised both hands—and for a breath, everything went still.

Michelle's eyes narrowed.

Boom.

The sky ignited in a pitch-black thunderstorm, centered entirely around Muna. Lightning rained down in massive spears. The entire outer district of Lafrosa dimmed, lights going out from the sheer power drain.

Michelle gritted her teeth and pushed forward, gathering the wind around her like armor. Wings of tempest burst from her back, propelling her forward into the heart of the storm.

They met in the eye.

Clash.

Fist and wind. Rage and command. Thunder and tempest.

The city shook.

From Soul Academy's highest towers, Joshua Ikemba, Karen, Cassandra, and dozens of others stared into the distance in awe and fear.

"That's… Mom," Cassandra said flatly, her voice quiet.

"She's going all out," Joshua muttered, pale. "She's trying to kill Michelle."

"And Michelle's not backing down either," Karen added.

From afar, even Dean Elandra Vale watched, her expression unreadable as the battle between two High Soulbornes raged on like a living storm.

And at its center—Mira Hawthorne, barely conscious, weeping in the mud and terrified for the first time in her life.

Because now, she understood something clearly:

Her obsession has brought retribution.