The Psychopathic Beast Emperor-Chapter 62: First Clash with the Eliminator

After Sel’s elimination, Elder Iset switched up the elimination by a huge notch. The Dark Phantom Scorpio was freed of all suppressors and shackles. This also meant that the risk of real death was very high. After all, it was a full-fledged Tier 2 beast.

The teleportation circles were also changed from the basic ones to advanced ones so that they wouldn’t risk killing a potential prodigy of the sect. All this was made possible because of a few individuals like Aerith, Lily, Gabi, and Sel. Sel especially.

The elimination followed, swifter and sharper this time, so that all the targets of the Eliminator stood no chance against it. Wilson and Rex had been eliminated much faster than the others. Even though they managed to put up some fight, it still wasn’t enough to resist the beast at its full power and fully healed from the earlier battles.

They were fighting a losing battle from the start. The Dark Phantom Scorpio was a Tier 2 beast, one that had formed its elemental core. Should it have used its element aggressively in the earlier battles, none of them would have lasted even a second. The only thing it had used was the illusion effect of its element.

...

Bahamut and Exildra sat atop a fallen log in the middle of a quiet field, where bushes dotted the land like green islands, and wildflowers swayed lazily under the open sky. Soft petals drifted with the breeze, brushing past their feet, carrying the faint scent of pollen and sun-warmed grass.

Ren lay sprawled across Exildra’s lap, fast asleep, his small chest rising and falling evenly. One ear twitched now and then, but otherwise, he was completely at peace, utterly shameless in how safe he looked.

The wind rolled gently through the field, lifting Exildra’s hair and tugging at the loose fabric of her clothes. Sunlight filtered through drifting clouds, casting warm gold across the flowers, across Ren’s fur... across Bahamut.

She stole a glance at him.

Bahamut was lounging back against the log, blindfold still in place, arms folded loosely over his chest. His posture was relaxed, but not soft. Even at rest, there was something unyielding about him, like a drawn bow left waiting. His expression was neutral, almost bored: completely disconnected from the serene world around them.

Exildra sighed quietly.

In her mind, the scene looked different. Very different.

She imagined him turning toward her, the wind dramatically lifting his hair, his blindfold coming off just enough to reveal those grey, blind eyes that seemed to glow. She imagined a rare smile, gentle and warm, maybe even...

Her cheeks warmed.

"This is nice..." she murmured under her breath, barely aware she’d spoken.

Bahamut did not respond.

Of course, he didn’t. He wasn’t looking at the flowers, or the sky, or her.

He was listening.

The fantasy lingered for exactly one heartbeat longer.

Then Bahamut moved.

His entire body snapped upright in an instant, muscles coiling with terrifying speed. The relaxed air around him shattered as his senses screamed, a violent, instinctive alarm that drowned out everything else.

"Down!"

He didn’t finish the word.

Bahamut twisted and kicked the log with brutal force.

The impact sent the entire thing flying sideways. Exildra barely had time to gasp as she and Ren were hurled away, rolling through flowers and grass in a tangle of limbs and fur.

The next instant...

BOOM!

A massive stinger slammed down where they had been sitting moments ago, punching deep into the earth. Soil and shattered wood exploded outward as the log was obliterated, reduced to splinters and dust.

The ground trembled.

Exildra skidded to a stop, clutching Ren protectively as her heart tried to tear itself out of her chest. She stared back in horror at the smoking crater.

Had they been a second slower...

A long, jagged shadow stretched across the field.

Click.

Click.

Something enormous shifted beyond the bushes, its presence suffocating, predatory, ancient. The flowers wilted under the pressure, stems bending as if bowing to a king of death.

Bahamut was already on his feet, standing between the threat and them, posture low and ready, blindfold fluttering in the disturbed air.

"...So you finally found us," he muttered coldly.

From the ruined earth, the stinger slowly withdrew, glistening with venom and soil.

The Eliminator had arrived.

...

Far above the trial grounds, within the sanctified viewing space of the Shadow Fang Sect, in the elders’ meeting room, the air changed.

The mirrored waters that displayed the trial rippled violently, distortion crawling across the image as the Eliminator struck and missed.

For half a breath, there was silence.

Then the room exploded.

"What?" Elder Merit shot to his feet, eyes wide. "He sensed that?"

"That stinger was cloaked," Silvia said sharply, fingers tightening against her sleeve. Her calm cracked for the first time. "Fully submerged in shadow. Spatial overlap included."

Caron leaned forward, hood slipping just enough for his obsidian eyes to glint. "Impossible. The Dark Phantom Scorpio does not simply hide. It erases presence. Even Tier 2 perception struggles to..."

"He reacted before impact," Frugo interrupted, voice low and awed.

Elder Tankuht’s grip tightened around his eagle staff, knuckles whitening. "That wasn’t sight," he rumbled. "That was predation awareness. The kind beasts develop after surviving dangerous threats."

Sylna’s lips parted despite herself. No scorn came this time. "He shouldn’t be able to do that. He’s barely Circle of Spirit."

Anutach’s jackal mask tilted slowly. "Correction. He is classified as Circle of Spirit. What he demonstrated belongs to something else entirely." His voice lowered. "The Scorpio was phasing through shadow. Its killing intent was folded inward."

Baset let out a low growl, tail flicking once. "Even apex beasts miss that. Especially blind ones."

At the word blind, Derek’s expression shifted, shock bleeding into something closer to disbelief. "Blind cultivators rely on sound, vibration, and airflow. Shadow-element suppression negates all three. The Eliminator is engineered for that exact purpose."

"And yet," Karesh said, laughing once, sharp and humorless, "he kicked a log, calculated mass and trajectory, and saved two others without looking."

Iset’s eyes gleamed.

Interest! She was interested...

"Fascinating," she murmured. "Shadow element bends perception by obscuring contrast. He didn’t perceive contrast." Her smile widened, slow and unsettling. "He perceived intent."

Silvia turned toward her sharply. "That’s not possible at his level."

Iset’s grin only deepened. "Then his level is wrong." Bahamut had successfully earned the eye of the most dangerous elder of the sect.

Chief Elder Sekhem had remained silent throughout, gaze fixed on the rippling image of Bahamut standing alone before the unseen monster. When he finally spoke, the room stilled at once.

"The beast struck from shadow," Sekhem said calmly. "The boy reacted from awareness."

He folded his hands behind his back.

"This is not sharpened senses. This is not compensation for blindness." His eyes narrowed slightly. "This is someone who listens to the world beneath the world."

A beat passed.

Derek exhaled slowly. "If the Eliminator can’t ambush him..."

"...then the trial has escalated beyond its design," Frugo finished.

On the projection, the bushes trembled. The stinger withdrew fully into darkness.

Sekhem’s gaze sharpened.

"Watch carefully," he said. "From this moment on, we are no longer testing him."

The mirrored waters trembled again.

"We are observing a collision."

...

The bushes ahead of Bahamut collapsed inward, shadows folding like torn cloth as something enormous lunged out of nothingness. The air screamed. The ground split. A second stinger... no, the same one, impossibly repositioned, lashed toward Bahamut’s head with enough force to pulp stone.

At that exact moment...

[SYSTEM INTERFACE ACTIVATED]

A screen flared into existence behind Bahamut’s blindfolded eyes.

TARGET IDENTIFIED

Name: Dark Phantom Scorpio

Alias: The Eliminator

Tier: 2 – Elemental Core Formation

Element: Shadow

Threat Level: EXTREME

Status: 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

– Aura Suppression: ACTIVE

– Shadow Phasing: ACTIVE

– Regenerative Exoskeleton: ACTIVE

Note: Target exhibits adaptive predatory intelligence.Warning: Lethal engagement probability exceeds acceptable parameters.

The screen vanished as quickly as it appeared.

Bahamut laughed.

It was a low, breathy sound dragged out of his chest, sharp with anticipation.

"So that’s what you are..."

The beast’s aura washed over him in a suffocating wave, cold, venomous, and crawling. It felt like standing beneath a collapsing night sky, like being watched by something that had never known mercy.

Exildra couldn’t breathe.

Ren’s ears straightened, every instinct in his small body screaming danger.

But Bahamut?

Bahamut grinned.

His lips pulled back slowly, teeth flashing white as his posture dropped into something feral. His knees bent, his spine curved. His fingers spread and pressed into the soil like claws, testing the earth. His breathing deepened, syncing with the rhythm of the ground itself.

"That pressure..." he murmured. "Good."

The stinger struck.

Bahamut vanished.

The impact pulverized the spot where he’d been crouched, shadow and venom detonating in a black explosion that swallowed flowers, soil, and light itself.

But Bahamut was already moving.

He didn’t dodge backward.

He charged into it.

The world warped as two killing intents collided head-on.

Bahamut shot forward, body low and explosive, feet tearing trenches through the dirt as his Circle of Spirit flared violently behind him. The crimson halos spun like saws, their glow bleeding into the air, shredding the shadow pressure that rushed to meet him.

The Scorpio reacted instantly.

Its massive body phased, half-real, half-shadow, exoskeleton blurring as it twisted unnaturally, dragging its bulk sideways to intercept. One claw slammed down like a guillotine, space itself bending around the strike.

BOOM!

...

A/N: From now on, to differentiate between Bahamut’s sub-concepts and the Tier power, I will use these:

1. Sub-concepts: Corresponding Aura covers him

2. Tier power: The circles appear behind him

And for him to use his concepts, he must enter the state. For this Chapter, he’s fighting normally, but get ready to see brutality in use.