The Psychopathic Beast Emperor-Chapter 63: Bahamut Against the Eliminator
Bahamut met the beast head-on, his frame small compared to the Eliminator.
His shoulder crashed into the descending limb with a bone-shattering impact. The force detonated outward, sending a shockwave rippling across the field. Trees bent, flowers disintegrated. Exildra was thrown backward, skidding across the ground as Ren dug claws in to keep from being flung away.
The Scorpio screeched... a sound like metal tearing underwater, as its claw was deflected. Bahamut twisted with the momentum, rolling beneath the beast’s core as shadow venom hissed past his back, burning the air. He planted one hand into the earth, his muscles screaming, and launched himself upward, fist cocked back.
"Got you."
His punch landed square against the Scorpio’s plated underside.
CRACK!
The sound echoed like thunder splitting stone. The Eliminator was hurled backward, its massive body skidding through the field, carving a deep furrow before slamming into a distant rise with earth-shaking force.
For half a second, only silence reigned. Then the shadow surged suddenly. The Scorpio rose, its exoskeleton already knitting where fractures had formed, its aura flaring darker, heavier, more malicious than before.
Bahamut straightened slowly, rolling his neck as if loosening up. Blood dripped from his knuckles as his grin widened.
"Yes," he breathed, crouching again as the ground beneath his feet began to crack. "This is more like it."
The beast lowered itself, stinger rising, and shadows coiling tighter around its form.
They locked eyes across the ruined field, one blindfolded, and the other possessing multiple ones, which looked horrific.
Then, without warning, they launched at each other.
[System Update!]
Mission Initiated
Objective: Defeat the Eliminator by All Means
Time Limit: 25 Minutes
Reward: A Gold Giftbox
Punishment: None (You will die anyway)
...
"Why do I have the feeling that you want to kill me?!" Bahamut shouted into the void, half-laughing, half-snapping, as if the system had insulted his ancestors.
Did he even have ancestors?
Exildra blinked, still on one knee, clutching Ren close... completely forgetting that she was holding a Tier 2 beast. She stared in confusion at Bahamut, processing what he said.
But Bahamut wasn’t in a position to answer her. His aura exploded in a raw and violent power, tearing free like flesh ripped from bone. The crimson halos behind him spun faster, their glow deepening until the air around him bled red. The pressure slammed into the field like a descending sky, crushing the bushes and flowers flat and carving shallow craters beneath his feet.
The Eliminator reacted instantly... it vanished. Shadow swallowed its massive frame, folding it into nothing as space warped where it had stood.
But, Bahamut’s grin didn’t fade. It rather stretched wider, while his hair fluttered wildly.
"Coward tricks."
The stinger came from below...
The ground ruptured beneath him as the Scorpio burst upward in a spiral of shadow and venom, its stinger driving straight through Bahamut’s abdomen and out his back in a spray of blood.
Exildra screamed in shock. Ren’s eyes went wide with fear.
Bahamut coughed, dark red blood splattering from his lips, but his hands snapped down, grabbing the stinger mid-impalement.
"Too slow."
He twisted... His muscles screamed, his bones creaked. The stinger tore sideways through his flesh as Bahamut wrenched himself free, blood pouring down his torso in sheets. He slammed his heel down onto the Scorpio’s head with savage force.
BOOM!
The beast was driven back into the earth, its exoskeleton cracking as fissures spiderwebbed across its skull.
Bahamut staggered... His knees buckled for half a second.
The Eliminator moved again.
A claw phased through shadow and reappeared inches from Bahamut’s chest, ripping straight through his ribs. Another slammed into his shoulder, tearing flesh from bone. Venom flooded his bloodstream, burning like liquid night.
Bahamut roared in fury. He drove his elbow down, smashing into the claw, then followed with a headbutt so brutal it fractured his own skull to crack the beast’s armor.
Blood poured from his brow, soaking his blindfold and entering his eyes.
Exildra saw how every exchange left him more torn, more broken. His breathing turned ragged. His movements slowed by fractions that mattered. The beast, meanwhile, regenerated relentlessly, its shadow element sealing cracks, and the venom helping to knit the armor back together.
Another stinger pierced his thigh, followed by a claw tearing through his side.
Bahamut was hurled across the field, crashing through bushes and slamming into the remains of the log. Smoke curled from his body, his blood soaked the earth.
For one terrifying heartbeat, Exildra thought...
He pushed himself up. His hands trembled while his legs shook violently. But his lips curled upward.
"...Still alive."
Beneath him, a teleportation circle faded into existence, unnoticed by anyone but Bahamut himself.
His wounds began to crawl... Flesh rippled unnaturally as muscle fibers knitted together, bones grinding back into place. Torn skin sealed in uneven lines, leaving behind fresh scars that steamed in the cool air. The venom was forced out in dark rivulets as his regeneration surged, rough and imperfect... but terrifyingly fast.
The Eliminator paused. For the first time, it hesitated.
Bahamut sucked in a breath and laughed, hoarse and cracked. "There it is... hah..."
He tilted his head slightly. "System. Activate Beast Trait Manifestation."
[ERROR!]
Beast Trait Manifestation Unavailable!
Status: Cooldown
Remaining Time: 5 Minutes
...
Bahamut clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Figures." He rolled his shoulders, wincing as half-healed wounds protested. "And the timer?"
[Replying Host]
Time Remaining: 15 Minutes
15 minutes... no trump card. Just him, broken, bleeding, and facing a Tier 2 predator with all its cards at the ready to end him.
The Eliminator screeched, shadow surging violently as it charged again, abandoning subtlety. Its killing intent spiked, space distorting under the sheer force of its rush.
Bahamut dropped back into his crouch, blood dripping from his fingers, his grin sharp and unrepentant.
"Fine," he growled. "I will survive until then."
The ground shattered beneath his feet as he launched forward to meet the beast head-on once more.
... 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
The field ceased to be a field.
It became a killing ground.
Bahamut met the Eliminator head-on again, abandoning any pretense of technique. He fought as something dragged straight out of the primordial dark, no stance, no discipline, only instinct sharpened into cruelty. He bit when claws came too close. He slammed his forehead into armored joints. He tore at the shadow with bare hands even when it burned his flesh raw.
The Scorpio adapted.
Its stinger struck again and again, impaling him through the shoulder, the thigh, the abdomen. Each time, Bahamut roared and kept moving. Bone snapped back into place. Muscle reknit with wet, obscene sounds. Blood poured, then stopped, then poured again.
The beast could not understand it.
It stabbed through his lung: Bahamut coughed blood and laughed in its face.
It crushed his ribs: Bahamut jammed broken bone into its eye socket.
It phased through shadow to bisect him: Bahamut twisted mid-strike and tore off an entire claw, smashing it back into the beast’s skull.
Regeneration plus madness.
A thing that refused to die, not because it was immortal, but because it simply wouldn’t accept the idea.
The Eliminator screeched, its aura flaring violently. Shadows peeled off its body like burning oil. Space around it warped harder, faster.
Then it changed targets.
It vanished.
Exildra felt it before she saw it.
A spike of killing intent slammed into her spine.
"REN!"
The stinger emerged from shadow behind them, descending like judgment itself, aimed straight through Exildra’s chest and into the ground beyond.
Something small moved.
Something white.
CLANG!
The stinger stopped.
Blocked!
Ren stood between them.
His small body trembled violently as he held the stinger back with brute strength. His red eyes blazed as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"What...?" Exildra whispered, staring in disbelief.
Ren’s aura detonated.
A wave of pressure burst outward, snapping flowers, ripping soil free, and forcing the Scorpio back half a step. His presence surged: Tier 2, undeniable, but unstable, like a flame flickering in a storm.
"I said..." Ren growled, voice layered with something ancient and feral, "...you don’t touch her."
The beast recoiled, shocked.
That shock was enough.
Bahamut saw it.
An opening.
His grin split his bloodied face wide as he launched forward, ignoring the scream of torn muscles and cracked bones. He poured everything into that charge, every last shred of Spirit, rage, and will.
"This ends!"
The world twisted.
The opening shattered like glass.
It had never been real.
A mirage.
The Scorpio’s true body unfolded from shadow behind him, space collapsing inward as the stinger punched forward with absolute precision.
Straight through Bahamut’s chest.
Straight through his heart.
There was no pain.
Only cold.
Bahamut’s body jerked violently as the stinger burst out of his back, dripping crimson. His momentum died instantly. His hands slackened. His grin froze.
Time seemed to pause.
Exildra screamed his name.
Ren’s eyes widened in horror.
Bahamut looked down slowly, almost curiously, as blood flooded his lungs.
"...Huh."
The stinger withdrew.
Bahamut fell.
His body hit the ground with a dull, final thud.
[SYSTEM ALERT]Critical Damage DetectedHeart FailureVital Functions: TERMINATED
Darkness rushed in, heavy and absolute.
Then...
Light.
Not blinding. Not warm.
Circular.
Endless.
A massive wheel turned before him, formed of countless glowing paths, each leading somewhere unknown. Ancient symbols revolved slowly, older than language, older than gods.
[SYSTEM OVERRIDE]
Path of Reincarnation Activated
Status: EligibleCause of Death: Confirmed
Do you wish to reincarnate?Destination: Selectable
