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Chapter 107 – Beneath the Palace, the Beast Awaits
🕑 Added 2025-07-11 08:31:31 +0000 UTCChapter 107 – Beneath the Palace, the Beast Awaits
The stone stairway beneath Queen Sara's palace spiraled downward, narrow and ancient. Each footstep echoed against the walls as the group moved deeper underground, the air growing warmer with every meter. Hajime led the way, his towering 2.65-meter frame encased in gleaming silver armor, the red eye lenses of his helmet now glowing with faint blue light, an unmistakable sign his psychic field was active.
Behind him came Minato Namikaze, Shibi Aburame, Chōza Akimichi, and Kōshi Sarutobi. Their expressions were focused, every sense alert. Naruto had stayed behind to watch over Queen Sara, ensuring her safety from any lingering threats. Though part of Hajime worried slightly for him, he trusted Naruto's instincts.
Chakra lines pulsed along the walls like glowing roots, casting pale blue and violet hues across their faces. The energy around them felt alive, humming like a restless heartbeat deep in the stone.
“This chakra… it’s unstable,” Minato muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Hajime didn’t slow his pace. “He’s not just drawing power from it. He’s twisting it. Shaping it into something else.”
The air trembled. A deep rumble echoed through the passage.
With a sudden hiss and clatter, panels in the stone walls slid open. Dozens of puppet soldiers lunged from hidden compartments, eyes glowing red, blades clicking into place. Their movements were sharp and mechanical, driven by chakra strings now corrupted by Mukade’s influence.
Hajime didn’t hesitate.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The bolter roared from his hands, psychic-charged rounds tearing through the first wave. Explosions lit the narrow tunnel in bursts of orange and violet.
“Push through!” Minato called, teleporting ahead to scatter the enemy with thrown kunai marked with his seal.
Shibi’s insects poured out like a black tide, disabling mechanisms mid-stride. Chōza grew in size, bowling through multiple enemies at once. Kōshi laid down covering fire with high-precision jutsu.
When the puppets closed in tightly, Hajime slung the bolter onto his back and drew his chainsword. It lit with a harsh buzz as chakra surged into it, the teeth spinning violently. With lightning chakra, it sparked brighter and cut sharper. With fire, it ignited each puppet it struck, turning their joints molten.
Puppet after puppet fell in his path. Hajime was a one-man wall, cutting through steel and chakra alike.
They fought forward, deeper into the heart of the earth. Eventually, the corridor opened into a grand subterranean chamber. Vast and domed, the room pulsed with light from the Dragon Veins running like rivers beneath glass floors. At the center of the room stood a towering throne of jagged stone and crystal, the veins converging at its base like roots to a heart.
Upon that throne, Mukade waited.
But he was no longer a man. He had transformed.
Twisted and bloated with power, his form was at least ten meters tall. His skin glowed from within, veins of molten chakra pulsing beneath it like lava. His arms had stretched into clawed appendages, his eyes glowing with a cruel, mad brilliance.
“You dare came to my territory?” Mukade thundered, his voice booming through the chamber. “Fools! I am no longer a man. I am the Dragon Veins incarnate!”
He raised one massive arm and slammed it into the platform. A chakra shockwave erupted in all directions. Stone shattered. The ground buckled. Shibi and Chōza braced. Kōshi rolled to the side. Minato blinked away in a flash.
But Hajime stood still.
The wave broke on his armor like water on rock. His psychic field shimmered as it absorbed and redirected the impact harmlessly.
“You’re still standing?” Mukade snarled.
“Obviously,” Hajime said. “Now kneel.”
Without warning, he vanished, teleporting mid-air behind Mukade in a flash of blue.
The halberd in his hand spun once before locking into a thrust. Hajime drove it forward with one hand, the weapon piercing Mukade's massive back and exiting through his chest. The strike exploded in psychic energy, sending out a concussive pulse.
Mukade howled. The force of the strike dropped him to his knees. A gaping hole remained in his torso, and chakra sputtered from it like steam from a broken engine.
But within seconds, the flesh wriggled and sealed.
Mukade stood up again. Grinning. Gloating.
“You see?” he bellowed. “I am invincible!”
Hajime hovered back slightly, scanning with his psychic field.
No. Mukade wasn’t healing naturally. Something else was feeding him.
And then he saw it, subtle threads of energy flowing through the air, connecting Mukade to the glowing veins running beneath the floor. The Dragon Veins were fueling him directly.
Without moving his lips, Hajime pushed a thought into Minato’s mind, precise and urgent:
He’s connected to the Dragon Veins. That’s why he heals. Seal the dragon veins to Sever the connection.
Minato, hidden behind a collapsed column, blinked in surprise. Then nodded, vanishing again in a yellow flash.
Mukade raised both arms, preparing to unleash another wave of chakra.
This time, Hajime was ready.
A barrier bloomed in front of him, psychic and visible, forming a wall of blue hexagonal light. Mukade’s wave hit it with a roar, but didn’t pass.
“You can’t protect them forever!” Mukade screamed.
“I don’t need to,” Hajime replied. “I only need a few minutes.” though Hajime can keep the Psychic Shield open for a long time, as he can use the warp infinitely.
Below the battlefield, Minato raced through crumbling passageways. The light from the Dragon Veins was strongest here, bright enough to hurt his eyes. He followed it to a massive glowing core pulsing like a heart.
He formed a quick hand seal, and a light flared.
“Sealing Jutsu: Contract Seal!”
A dense sealing marks wrapped around the the dragon veins release point, halting the flow of chakra.
Back in the throne chamber, Mukade faltered. His next breath caught in his throat. His skin dimmed.
“No... what have you done?” he growled.
Hajime stepped forward slowly. The blue glow in his armor intensified. His red eye lenses turned fully cobalt, shining with layered psychic energy.
“You were nothing without stolen power,” Hajime said. “Now you’re just a parasite with a broken leash.”
Mukade tried to summon another wave, but only sparks emerged from his palms.
Hajime raised his halberd, pointing it at Mukade’s chest.
“You’ve lost.”
The chamber fell silent for a moment.
Then the faint clinking of armor echoed, each step of Hajime deliberate, heavy, and final.
And as the light of the Dragon Veins faded behind him, the red lenses of his helm shone blue.
Psychic power surged.
The final strike was coming.
