SOULBOUND: THE ABYSS WITHIN

Chapter 87: Soul Domain Unleashed

—Fury of a Matriarch—

The moment the spear hit, a sharp crack like a divine gavel split the air.

Mira screamed as the black lightning tore across her side—its edge laced with paralyzing force, not enough to kill, but more than enough to break.

She crumpled, flesh seared and bones twisted, falling like a broken doll at her mother's feet.

And that was the moment Michelle Hawthorne snapped.

"No," she whispered. Not as a protest—more like a realization.

Then she exploded.

The wind around her imploded, folding inwards in deafening silence before expanding out with a cyclonic roar. The clouds over Lafrosa were ripped apart. The ground cracked in spiraling rings beneath her heels.

She didn't raise a hand. She didn't summon a technique.

Instead, the world shivered as Michelle's soul erupted into existence.

Her Soul Domain unfolded.

A sky-hued coliseum formed around her—blue-white winds encasing the battlefield in a spiraling temple of sovereignty. The air became heavy, saturated with soul force so dense it strangled all lesser auras into silence. The light dimmed, the sky stilled, and the supernatural realm shuddered in recognition of one truth:

A High Soulborne's full Domain had been invoked.

From within the eye of this spiritual storm, Michelle stood radiant and wrathful, her brown hair glowing under the corona of her awakened soul.

"You hurt my child," she said with deadly calm. "So I will hurt everything you are."

Muna, across the now-transformed battlefield, laughed. Her coat flared in the winds, and lightning surged up her arms like coiled serpents of vengeance.

"So this is the real you," Muna grinned. "Good. I was getting bored."

With a scream of thunder, Muna launched forward, black lightning covering her body in spiking plates. But as she neared Michelle—

She stopped.

Her feet froze mid-air. Her limbs became heavy. Her lightning grew unstable.

"What—?" she growled.

Michelle narrowed her eyes. "Inside a Soul Domain, I define the rules."

Muna's power, unrestrained and wild, suddenly flickered like a candle in a storm. Black lightning trembled against the gravitational pull of Michelle's soul, the very essence of her domain strangling its integrity.

Every cell in Muna's body understood it now—this wasn't a proto domain. This was a true Soul Domain, an evolved space born of hundreds of years of refinement, forged from victories, sacrifices, and the core of a matriarch's being.

The city of Lafrosa trembled in kind.

Alerts rang through Soul Academy. Barriers raised. Instructors—some even Elder Soulbornes—paused in alarm.

From the Council Tower, Dean Elandra Vale looked out with narrowed eyes. "So Michelle's finally angry," she muttered.

Below, Joshua Ikemba was already in motion, his expression dark, his aura fluctuating.

Even Marcus, who had yet to step in, clenched his fist tighter.

And at the epicenter—

Michelle advanced, her soul domain twisting space around her.

Muna bared her teeth, fury and thrill mixing wildly.

"Then let's see how long you can hold that throne," Muna hissed.

Lightning clashed with wind, and soul shook soul.

But now?

The fight had truly begun.