The Psychopathic Beast Emperor-Chapter 84: Standing on the Disk of Mind

It had been three weeks since the new disciples were admitted into the Shadow Fang Sect. It was also almost a month for Bahamut and Sel to complete their task as disciples of Elder Silvia: Get to the Disk of Mind.

During the past weeks, Bahamut had gone about his life, completing daily quests set by the system, surviving the mechanisms of the suppressors, and getting closer and closer to Exildra, and surviving the sect as a whole.

He had now become a bit accustomed to the suppressors, though they still managed to surprise him every time. The more he adapted to it, the more it advanced to push further adaptation. But unlike before, meditation had helped with adaptation.

There was still one thing that he doubted he could control for long with meditation and willpower, and that was Brutality, his sub-concept of BEAST. BEAST meant a literal beast, and there was no beast or monster known to practice meditation.

They were always barbaric, battling, killing, getting their fangs in flesh, their claws in gory actions... but here he was, practicing meditation. It had helped him, though, because he could feel his main concept evolving into something much more dangerous.

A barbaric beast was strong, no doubt. But an intelligent one was both powerful and dangerous, and that was what he was becoming.

Currently, Bahamut stood bare-chested in front of the open field in Elder Silvia’s residential area, staring intently at the hovering platform in the distance. His blindfold was removed, leaving his blind, grey eyes bare. They were pulsing with an intense focus and determination that the air around him seemed to shake.

Behind him, Ren sat, chewing on a chicken leg, his nose sniffing about on its own. His red eyes were staring intently at Bahamut, wondering what he was about to do, though he had an inkling.

"Are you going to finish it today?" Ren asked mid-bite, pieces of meat falling on the ground.

"I am. I’m tired of it already. Some hovering is going to make me fall," Bahamut stated coldly as he crouched down.

"What about Sel?" Ren asked, moving backwards as he felt the aura around Bahamut change.

"He has his own plans. I won’t wait for him..." With that statement, he assumed a sprinting stance. He put both his hands on the ground in front of him, then angled his leg towards his chest while stretching his right leg backwards. He had removed his sandals, so he was now barefoot.

’System, can you turn off the suppressors?’ Bahamut asked the system in his head, already expecting the answer.

[Replying Host...]

[The suppressors have their own use to help you...]

’In simpler terms?’

[NO!]

’I expected this.’

Bahamut shifted his weight upwards, feeling the suppressors adjust instantly to his movements, grounding him to the ground, and causing the soil to sink a little. His aura flared around, manic, chaotic, and brutal... Like a beast ready to pounce. His feet sank into the soil as he exhaled hot air from his nose and mouth.

Then...

PAH!

Like a gunshot, Bahamut shot forward, reaching the field in almost an instant. The ground where he stood moments ago had cracked a bit, showing the kind of strength he was possessing, shocking Ren and the hidden Apollonia high up in the sky. If only she knew that he had suppressors on. But that was for another day.

The moment Bahamut entered the zone of the platform, gravity instantly shifted, pushing down heavily on him. His speed was reduced by a great margin, but he just smiled, his teeth on full display. His blind eyes sharpened as his senses spread out. His breathing slowed, becoming steady.

His aura changed from the chaotic one to a sharp and penetrating one as he slowly increased his speed, which had been reduced to a jog. After crossing six meters, it came... The hitting force.

Apollonia sighed as she sensed it, thinking that he had failed, but to the shock of both her and Elder Silvia, who was watching from the eyes of a butterfly, Bahamut... dodged it.

That force was meant to push you back, force you to be determined to challenge again. It could be sensed when coming and felt when it hit you, but you can never know the direction it was coming from, or so they thought until today. Bahamut didn’t hit back or push back...

He dodged it. As simple as that.

The moment he dodged the force, he rolled on the ground and got up quickly, like he wasn’t under severe weight, and sprinted powerfully towards the disk. The gravity increased the closer he got there, while the forces became rampant.

Some came from the front, the left, the right, the back, and even from below. He did his best to dodge a lot of them.

Some hit him, causing him to halt for a split second, then he would continue forward like he wasn’t feeling the pain. What was actually happening was that he was focused and concentrated, pushing his body to higher limits in terms of willpower, causing him not to give up. Plus, his skill, Self-Healing, had levelled up to level 2, becoming more powerful so that it worked anytime he got hurt somewhere.

The field suddenly turned physically hostile. The air thickened the deeper Bahamut went, compressing around his body like invisible hands trying to crush him back into the dirt.

His feet slammed into the ground again and again, each step sinking deeper than the last, leaving cracked impressions behind him.

A force screamed past his left shoulder... he twisted out of the way. Another managed to slam into his ribs from the right...

BAM!

His body folded inward for a heartbeat, his ribs screaming, blood bursting from his lips in a fine red spray. He slid several meters across the soil, carving a shallow trench with his back.

Ren shot to his feet, his ears standing on end.

Bahamut planted a hand into the ground and stopped himself.

He coughed once.

Blood dripped from his mouth, splattering the earth.

His aura surged, not chaotic this time, but compressed. Focused, like a blade being sharpened with every breath.

"Still... not enough," he muttered.

He pushed forward again.

The forces came faster now.

One clipped his thigh, tearing flesh open down to muscle. Another smashed into his shoulder, dislocating it with a sickening crack. His vision, what little sensation he had of it, flickered white, surprising him for a second.

Yet he didn’t scream.

He adjusted.

He dodged two, rolled under one. Let another glance off his back instead of his spine. He learned their rhythm not with sight, but with pressure, with instinct, with the subtle shift in air an instant before impact.

His self-healing flared.

His muscles re-knit mid-stride. His torn flesh sealed as blood still flew. Pain dulled, pushed aside like an inconvenience.

Then... It came.

A force he didn’t sense.

BOOM!

The world exploded.

Bahamut’s body was lifted clean off the ground, spun end over end, and hurled backward like a broken doll. He crossed the entire field in a blur and slammed into the earth at the very edge of the starting zone.

The sound echoed loudly, shocking Ren and causing Apollonia to falter a bit in the air.

Dust rose.

Silence followed.

Ren froze.

Bahamut lay still.

Then his body twitched.

A violent cough tore from his throat, spraying blood across the ground. His right arm bent at an angle that no arm should ever bend. Bone jutted grotesquely beneath the skin. His chest rose unevenly, each breath wet and painful.

For a long second, he stayed down.

Then...

He laughed.

Low, hoarse, and broken.

"So... that’s the one you hide," he rasped.

He rolled onto his side and reached for his ruined arm.

CRACK!

He twisted it back into place by sheer force.

The pain detonated through his body, white-hot and savage. His jaw clenched so hard his teeth creaked, but he didn’t scream. Blood streamed freely from his mouth now, down his chin, onto his chest.

Self-Healing surged violently.

His bones ground back together. His tendons snapped into alignment. His flesh sealed slowly, imperfectly, leaving angry red scars behind.

Bahamut wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

His smile was feral.

"Again."

He dropped into a sprint.

This time, the ground didn’t just crack; it shattered. His feet hammered forward, faster, heavier, each step dragging gravity with him like chains snapping one by one.

The forces came again.

He weaved. Slid. Leapt.

He let some hit his shoulder, back, and leg, using the momentum to redirect himself instead of stopping. Blood painted his path. His breathing turned rhythmic and controlled.

Closer.

The platform loomed.

Gravity spiked brutally, crushing down with enough force to pin most cultivators flat.

Bahamut bent, but did not stop.

Veins stood out across his neck and arms. His muscles screamed. His aura howled, no longer wild, but commanding.

A final force rose from below, explosive and sudden.

Bahamut didn’t dodge. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

He jumped.

The force detonated beneath him like a cannon.

His body shot upward.

Higher.

The field vanished beneath him. The crushing gravity screamed, trying to drag him back down, but he curled midair, twisted, and forced himself through it.

For a heartbeat, he hung suspended above the platform.

Bloodied, bare, and breathing hard.

Then...

THUD!

His feet slammed into the hovering disk.

The platform trembled violently, dipping several inches before stabilizing.

The field went still.

The forces vanished.

Bahamut dropped to one knee, blood dripping from his chin onto the smooth surface of the disk. His chest heaved, lungs burning, body trembling on the edge of collapse.

Then he pushed himself upright.

Slowly and deliberately.

Behind him, Ren stared, his mouth open, chicken leg forgotten.

Far above, Apollonia’s eyes widened.

And somewhere within Elder Silvia’s domain, butterflies froze mid-flight.

Bahamut stood on the Disk of Mind... He had completed her quest in record time. No, a new record had been set by Bahamut!