The Psychopathic Beast Emperor-Chapter 116: Circle of Initiation

Floating in the endless quiet of space was a teenager... Bahamut.

His body drifted weightlessly through the dark expanse, his white hair streaked with black gently around him like drifting smoke. His eyes remained closed, his face calm, untouched by the chaos forming around him.

This place had nothing, only darkness and the three halos that revolved around him like celestial bodies caught in an unstable orbit.

One was a deep, dark crimson, heavy and violent like blood soaked into ancient steel. Another glowed with a lighter crimson, bright and aggressive, burning like the heart of a predator mid-hunt.

The last was a pale red, softer but strangely dense, like a quiet heartbeat echoing in a vast chamber.

The halos spun faster, and faster, making the airless void tremble. Cracks appeared in the space around them, thin fractures spreading outward like shattered glass under unbearable pressure. The halos shrieked as their speed reached a point that defied stability. Their light stretched into long streaks, warping the darkness around Bahamut’s drifting body.

Then something phenomenal happened.

A deep, colorless light erupted from Bahamut’s chest. It was raw and heavy. The light burst outward in a silent explosion that filled the empty void. From that light, hands formed.

Dozens of massive hands unfolded from the radiance surrounding Bahamut’s body. Each one stretched outward like the limbs of some ancient cosmic entity awakening from slumber. The halos spun violently as the hands reached out to them, as if they were trying to reject them.

GRASP!

The first hand caught the dark crimson halo, another seized the lighter crimson, and a third gripped the pale red ring. The halos were his Circle of Body, Circle of Spirit, and Circle of Mind, respectively.

The halos resisted... They shrieked with violent energy as their rotations tried to tear free from the hands’ grip, but the hands did not budge. They held them firmly, not letting go.

The void then trembled harder as the hands started pulling. The halos screamed as their orbits were dragged inward. Their light distorted violently as the rings collided.

Crimson energy exploded outward like solar flares as the three halos slammed into each other.

CRACK!

The space around them fractured further, but the hands did not release their hold. Instead, they began forcing the halos together. The rings twisted, bent, and compressed. The separate lights started bleeding into one another, swirling like molten metal being poured into the same mold.

The dark crimson one surged violently, resisting aggressively. The lighter crimson pushed back, radiating an intense glow. The pale red halo pulsed between them like a stabilizing core, resisting both their resistance. For a moment, it looked as though the energy would explode apart.

Then the colorless light from Bahamut’s body surged again. The hands tightened and pulled for the last time. The halos slowly merged with intense resistance.

Outside, Bahamut’s body jerked and turned hot, making Exildra worried and frightened, but her uncle Claude calmed her down.

"He’s going through the final stages to reach Tier 2. That is the Circle of Initiation breakthrough. He will be alright."

Back to Bahamut...

An explosion of energy followed the merging, rippling through the empty void. The three halos fused into a single massive ring of power above Bahamut’s floating body. But the transformation didn’t stop there. The merged halo began to change rapidly. The crimson colors shifted, deepened, and expanded.

New colors ignited within the ring like stars being born. The first color was red, raw and feral, and releasing a hot wave of energy. Then blue erupted beside it, calm yet deep as the ocean abyss. Azure followed, bright and vibrant, like the wind that flowed through trees. Then came brown, heavy, and ancient like a mountain.

A pure white light bloomed next, radiant and vast, making the ring glow brighter than it was before.

Then came the last color... Black. It was dark and deep. A color that swallowed light while still shining with its own impossible glow.

The enormous halo now shimmered with six different colors, each occupying its own segment of the massive ring.

But even that was not the end. The colors reacted again, as each segment began forming a smaller halo beside it. The halos were simultaneous with the segments. They arranged themselves around the giant central halo like orbiting satellites, each spinning slowly with its own unique glow.

The structure now looked like a cosmic crown suspended above Bahamut’s body. A massive halo surrounded by six smaller halos of pure elemental color.

The void trembled again, but this time, it wasn’t from instability; rather, it was from recognition. The halos pulsed in perfect harmony, as the enormous structure slowly lowered itself until it hovered just above Bahamut’s head.

His body remained motionless, his expression peaceful, but the halos spun slowly around him now, not violently like earlier, but with the quiet inevitability of something ancient awakening gradually.

...

Somewhere between the fading echoes of the strange void and the slow return of consciousness, Bahamut stirred.

His breathing deepened as a faint twitch passed through his fingers. Then his body shifted slightly against the bed.

The quiet room slowly returned around him: the soft glow of the lamps, the faint scent of healing herbs in the air, and the distant murmurs of the sect’s halls far beyond the walls.

Bahamut’s eyes opened beneath the blindfold.

For a moment, he simply lay there, disoriented. His body felt... light. Weak, but strangely calm.

Like a storm had passed through him and left nothing behind but quiet waves.

Then he heard voices.

"...you should rest more," Claude was saying gently.

Bahamut turned his head slightly toward the sound and froze. Exildra was sitting upright beside him, alive and awake. Her long golden hair fell over her shoulders, and though the right side of her face was wrapped in a bandage, her golden eye shone brightly as she spoke with Claude.

Bahamut blinked.

His brain struggled for half a second to process what he was seeing. Then his body jerked upright.

"Exildra?!"

Both Exildra and Claude turned toward him. Her golden eye widened in surprise.

"Bahamut!"

The sudden movement made his head spin slightly, but he didn’t care.

"You’re awake!" he blurted out.

Claude watched the scene with quiet amusement.

"Yes," he said calmly, rising from his chair. "She woke up a little while ago."

Bahamut looked between them like someone making sure reality wasn’t playing a trick on him.

"You’re... okay?" he asked.

Exildra blinked once, then smiled faintly. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"I should be asking you that."

Claude adjusted his glasses and looked at Bahamut.

"I believe I should thank you."

Bahamut turned toward him. Claude gave a respectful nod.

"What you did for Exildra... was no small thing."

Bahamut scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"I just... did what I had to."

Claude smiled faintly at that answer.

"Yes," he said. "You did."

He looked between the two of them one last time.

Then he walked toward the door.

"I think you two have a lot to talk about," he added casually.

Before either of them could protest, he stepped outside and quietly closed the door behind him.

The room fell silent. Bahamut looked back at Exildra. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Bahamut leaned back slightly on the bed and exhaled.

"...You scared the hell out of us."

Exildra chuckled softly.

"I remember fighting something inside my head," she said. "After that, everything went dark."

Bahamut rubbed his neck.

"Yeah... that parasite thing was nasty."

Her gaze drifted toward the bandage on her face briefly before returning to him.

"But I’m still here," she said quietly.

Bahamut nodded.

"Good."

The simple word carried more relief than he expected. Exildra studied him for a moment.

"You look terrible," she added.

Bahamut snorted.

"Thanks."

"No, really," she said with a teasing smile. "You look like you tried to wrestle a sand wyrm and lost."

"Hey," Bahamut protested. "I won that fight."

"Barely."

He leaned back with a dramatic sigh.

"Next time I’ll make sure to look heroic while saving your life."

Exildra’s eye softened slightly.

"Next time?"

Bahamut shrugged.

"Seems to be becoming a habit."

She shook her head faintly.

"You’re ridiculous."

"Yeah," he said casually. "But you’re alive."

For a moment, the teasing faded.

They simply looked at each other across the small space between their beds.

Then Exildra smiled.

And the room suddenly felt much warmer than before.

...

Outside the room, the hallway was quiet.

Soft lantern light spilled across the polished stone floor, and the faint scent of medicinal herbs drifted through the air from nearby healer chambers.

Claude stood beside the closed door. He hadn’t walked away yet. Through the wood and reinforced wards, their voices reached him faintly.

"...Next time I’ll make sure to look heroic while saving your life."

Claude heard Exildra’s soft laughter.

Then, Bahamut’s dry response.

"Hey, I already look heroic."

A pause, then her teasing voice again.

Claude chuckled quietly to himself.

He leaned lightly against the wall, his arms folded, listening just a little longer as their conversation drifted back and forth: simple words and casual teasing, the kind of relaxed tone that only appeared when two people had already walked through something dangerous together.

Eventually, the conversation softened. Their voices dropped as a comfortable silence settled between them inside the room. Claude pushed himself off the wall, a warm smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Well now..." he murmured under his breath. He adjusted his glasses, glancing once at the closed door.

"The Esterias have won themselves a good son-in-law."

The words carried no mockery, just quiet approval. Claude had seen many people in his long life: ambitious disciples, arrogant prodigies, and clever schemers who knew how to climb the sect’s ladders.

Bahamut wasn’t like them. The boy was reckless, unpredictable, a walking storm that ignored the rules when they became inconvenient. But he had done something most people wouldn’t dare. He had gambled his own life force without hesitation. Not for power or for glory. But simply because someone mattered to him.

Claude nodded to himself.

"A dangerous boy," he said softly.

Then he turned and began walking down the hallway.

His footsteps echoed faintly as he made his way toward the exit.

"...but a good one."

The lantern light faded behind him as he disappeared deeper into the quiet corridors of the sect.