The Psychopathic Beast Emperor-Chapter 102: I’ve Been Waiting for This!

The air was filled with tension as the two fighters entered a stare-down, scrutinizing each other. Sparks flew between them while the ground cracked from their auras. The circles behind Bahamut spun so fast that they seemed to be still. His lips stretched wide into a manic smile as a dark-red aura covered him.

The ghoul slowly got up, his body twisting back into place with unnerving sounds. The clothes covering his head had been ripped apart, revealing a pale face with green eyes. He had no nose, just the nostrils. His mouth was nonexistent. Instead, there were rows of shark-like teeth, each glinting ominously in the light. The sky seemed to darken as the death intent around the ghoul intensified. Anyone close to him would have died by now, but Bahamut just smiled wider, surprising the ghoul.

Its head was bald with a faint scar running across its head.

"I knew it! Where’s the real Van?" Bahamut’s words echoed across the battlefield, making everyone stop fighting. They looked towards the horrific being standing in front of Bahamut in fear and shock.

"I am Van. There was never a Van in the first place," the ghoul answered in its unnerving voice.

"What of the others? Did you eat them too?" Apollonia asked, her voice shaking.

"What others? There were never any others to begin with," the ghoul proclaimed, stretching its hands wide. Coupled with the way its face was, it looked as if it were mocking them, which it was.

"Figures. The Black Jaws... They were all clones," Exildra stated with a cold tone, her golden eyes glinting with a strange light.

"You figured it out! Congratulations.... Ehihihihihihihihihihihi!" the ghoul exclaimed loudly and laughed as its clones scattered across the courtyard, disintegrated, and flew back towards him.

"Why? Were you planning to eat us, too, or is there more to this?" Exildra asked again, her expression hardened.

"I told you before. I came for the cowgirl. She is an important thing to me. Even after I ate her parents, I couldn’t find her, so I went back to Asonvale to continue my adventurer life for some time while I slowly cultivated to gain more strength.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t raze down everything with my power, then I must tell you that it wasn’t an option. The girl is different. Even uprooting the town wouldn’t have worked because of what she is. Eating her would make a Tier 5 or higher in one go, and even now that she’s going through an evolution... I can’t help but salivate. Even her aura tasted delicious before she disappeared into the strange boy’s hand.

I was right in leading you people here. I could tell that you could make her come out of wherever she was hiding, but damn, that was fast. I just got here slowly. The carriage driver was sweet though..." the ghoul spoke lengthily, licking its lips with its black, long tongue at the end.

The ghoul’s statement made everyone recoil. They felt chills down their backs, finally realizing just the kind of dangerous situation they were in. This had crossed from a Violet Mission to a Black Mission!

They could die without even realizing.

The ghoul inhaled deeply, its eyes glowing in delight as he felt their fear.

"Yes! This is it! I’ve been waiting for this!"

It shouted as its fingernails elongated into sharp, black claws that touched the ground. Its height increased from six feet to eight feet in a second. It then crouched, its gaze settling on all of them.

It slowly exhaled. Its claws dug into the ground, ripping through the earth like paper.

Then...

The earth exploded.

The ghoul vanished in a blur of black motion.

Sel barely had time to react.

CLANG!

One of his machetes intercepted the descending claw, sparks erupting violently as steel met bone-hard talons. The impact alone drove him to one knee, the soil beneath him like shattered glass.

The ghoul leaned close to him, its green eyes gleaming in amusement. Sel twisted his body and swung his second blade upward in a vicious arc. The strike should have cut the creature open... that was what he expected. Instead...

CRACK!

The ghoul caught the blade with its bare hand. The metal screamed as the claws tightened. Then it twisted.

SNAP!

The machete broke in half. Before Sel could retreat, the creature’s other hand shot forward and raked across his chest.

RIP!

Three deep gashes tore through his clothes and flesh. Blood sprayed across the dirt as Sel was thrown backwards like a broken puppet, crashing into a shattered wall.

"SEL!" Rakia screamed, her face twisting in anger, surprising both the ghoul and Bahamut.

’What the fuck is going on?’ Bahamut wanted to ask, but this wasn’t the time.

The ghoul had already moved.

Apollonia’s wings exploded with a radiant light, as she prepared her next moved, but she was too slow.

"Radiant..."

Her incantation never finished. The ghoul appeared above her, its claw coming down like a falling guillotine.

BOOM!

The striked smashed her straight into the ground, creating a crater as feathers of glowing light burst into the air. Apollonia coughed violently, blood spilling from her lips as the force crushed the air from her lungs.

Ren roared.

The five-foot rabbbit blurred through space, silver energy twisting around his limbs. He appeared beside the ghoul and unleashed a spinning kick.

CRACK!

The blow landed squarely against the creature’s ribs, and for a brief moment, it seemed to have worked, when it moved.

The ghoul shot back and slid several meters across the ground before stopping. Its head slowly tilted, as it locked gazes with Ren.

"You kick nicely," it muttered. The way it spoke without a mouth was horrifying in its own way.

Its arm suddenly snapped outward...

WHAM!

Ren was struck mid-charge and hurled through two ruined houses before crashing into a pile of broken stone. Rakia clenched her teeth, her eyes glowing a golden brown as huge golden brown circle materialized behind her.

The earth raptured as thick vines erupted from it. The vines weren’t plants but sand and stone underground mixed with roots. They shot with insane speed and wrapped around the ghoul’s limbs.

"NOW!" she shouted.

Apollonia forced herself up, her wings blazing with a hot and blinding light.

"RADIANT BURST!"

Hundreds of blades of golden light rained down on the trapped ghoul. The entire courtyard detonated in blinding explosions.

For a moment, silence returned, and it looked like they’d won.

Everyone stared at the crater for clarification, when something moved inside the smoke.

A silhouetted walked forward slowly, almost swagging... Unharmed.

The ghoul stepped out of the light as if emerging from the fog. Its skin had peeled in places, exposing dark flesh beneath, but even those wounds were already knitting closed.

"Adorable," it chuckled.

It swung its arm... The vines binding it were instantly reduced to nothing. Before Rakia could react, the creature was already in front of her.

Its claw plunged forward. Rakia barely twisted aside as the talons tore across her side instead of her heart.

RIP!

Blood splashed across the ground as Rakia collapsed, clutching her abdomen. Apollonia rushed forward again, but the ghoul didn’t even look at her.

It just threw its hand back... Backhand!

BOOM!

She was swatted from the air like an insect, crashing into a broken tower wall. Only two people were still standing... Bahamut and Exildra.

The ghoul turned slowly toward them.

"Ah," it whispered happily, and they could see its face stretch like it was smiling. "My favorite scent..."

Exildra stepped forward before Bahamut could move. Golden light seemed to flicker around her eyes.

"You’re not touching him," she said coldly.

The ghoul laughed, then vanished. Bahamut’s instincts screamed,

"EXILDRA!"

It was too late...

The creature appeared directly behind her, it claws flashing.

SLASH!

A horrific sound tore through the battlefield, followed by an agonizing scream, that sank the hearts of all who heard it.

Exildra’s body froze... The ghoul’s claw had carved across her face, straight through her right eye. Blood erupted down her cheek, mixed with pus from her punctured eye.

For a moment she stood there, swaying, her scream cut off by the pain she was feeling, then her legs gave out.

She collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The ghoul raised it claws up, and stuck out its tongue, making the blood drip onto it. It then proceeded to lick its claw, wiping it clean off her blood.

"Delicious..."

Something inside of Bahamut stopped. He stared at Exildra lying in the dirt, her golden hair soaked red. Blood poured from the ruined socket where her eye had been. She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing loudly, and she wasn’t smiling.

The world became quiet... Too quiet. Then Bahamut’s head slowly lifted. His ears twitched, while his tails rose behind him. His eyes, those strange eyes with multiple pupils glowed with a dangerous light, causing the world to chill around the ghoul. They glowed violently.

And when he looked at the ghoul again, the smile on his face was gone. What replaced it was something far worse.

...

A/N: Good Day Readers!

If you’ve reached this part, then we are about to cross a major threshold which would hopefully end this arc.

After this arc, we would be nearing Volume 2: The Elemental Beast.

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