The Psychopathic Beast Emperor-Chapter 60: Eliminations (4)

The sound was metallic and bone-deep, echoing through the forest like a bell struck by a god. Shockwaves ripped outward, flattening trees in a wide radius. Leaves exploded into the air as the ground buckled and caved beneath Lily’s feet, forming a shallow crater.

Yet she did not move.

The Eliminator’s limb, the jagged, chitinous, and curved scythe-like limb, was stopped. It had been cleanly blocked against Lily’s hardened arm, silver sigils flaring briefly across her fur where the impact had landed.

For a heartbeat, they were locked together.

The Eliminator recoiled first. It leapt back, flashing and landing several dozen meters away, its many legs digging into the earth. Its form finally became clearer to Lily.

She slowly lowered her arm and looked at it with interest. Her lips curled slightly, revealing the edge of sharp teeth. Her silver sigil pulsed once like a heartbeat, but faintly.

"You hit hard," she said softly. Her tail lashed once against the ground, cracking stone.

She suddenly vanished from her position. The space where she had been standing folded inward as she crossed the distance in a blur of red and silver, her claws flashing toward the beast’s head. Her strike came low and fast, aimed for the joint beneath its armored plate... a clean, efficient kill line.

The Eliminator reacted on instinct as its body twisted with inhuman flexibility, chitin plates sliding over one another as its tail scythed sideways. Lily ducked under it, her fur brushing the wind of death by a hair’s breadth, and drove her elbow into its side.

The impact sounded like a hammer against iron. This was why foxkin were dangerous. With an evolution, they could bridge gaps in strength and power in an illogical way. But... it came at a cost, and Lily would soon realize it soon.

The beast skidded back several meters, gouging trenches into the ground. Lily didn’t let it breathe. She had already moved, her claws ripping, her feet tearing at its legs. Her movements were sharp and animalistic. There was no technique in the human sense, only the killing intent refined by weeks of blood and survival.

The beast shrieked, a high, grinding sound that vibrated through bone. Its stinger flashed, stabbing downward. Lily twisted, grabbed the tail mid-strike, and yanked. Her feet dug in, muscles screaming as she slammed the massive body sideways into a tree thick enough to wrap three men around.

The tree exploded.

Wood and splinters rained down as Lily landed lightly, her chest heaving, her eyes glowing with a savage light. Her silver sigil burned brighter now, lines crawling faintly across her face and arms like living script.

For a moment, it looked like she might win. Win against a Tier 2 beast with Tier 1 power... But it was a far-fetched dream.

The Eliminator rose slowly, its mor cracked, one leg dragging slightly. Dark ichor leaked from a wound along its flank. It had been hurt.

Lily growled, her aura flaring wildly. She made to move, but suddenly staggered. Her foot slipped while her claws dug into the dirt as she struggled to stay upright.

The glow in her eyes flickered as her aura waned and dwindled.

Her breathing hitched, sharp and uneven. The silver sigil on her forehead pulsed once, then twice, and dimmed entirely, like it had been switched off.

Her body had betrayed her...

The adrenaline that had driven her past her limits drained away all at once, leaving behind raw exhaustion. The forced evolution, the feral push that had let her clash with something far beyond her level, snapped back like a recoiling spring.

Pain flooded in as her legs gave out.

Lily dropped to one knee, then both. Her palms hit the ground as she gasped for air. Her vision swam wildly, while her ears rang. The forest tilted violently around her.

The scorpion moved, approaching her slowly and deliberately. It towered over her fallen form, its shadow swallowing her whole. The stinger lifted, poised, ready to strike.

Lily tried to rise, but her body refused. She snarled weakly, baring her teeth in defiance even as her strength failed. If it struck now, she wouldn’t even feel it.

The beast paused, its eyes studying her for a long moment. The pressure around it shifted from hostile into a calculating, almost disdainful vibe.

Then, without warning, it turned away. The stinger lowered as its massive body twisted. Space folded as it prepared to leave. With a final ripple, the Eliminator vanished, moving on toward another hunting ground.

Lily collapsed fully onto the earth. Her cheek pressed against the cold, damp soul. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths. The silver sigil faded. Blood seeped from shallow wounds, staining the ground beneath her.

She was alive... barely.

A teleportation circle formed beneath her body without her knowledge. By the time she realized, she had already been teleported out of the trial.

...

In the Elder’s council, all the elders stared at Elder Iset in confusion, but they couldn’t speak because her gaze had turned cold.

"Iset..." Elder Silvia called to her, but a glare made her turn silent.

"To think that there were such monsters among them. I’m beginning to like them..." Elder Iset spoke with a wide grin that sent shivers down the spines of most there.

Iset was one of the most powerful elders in the sect. She could be counted among the top five. Most easily forgot about her because she was the quiet kind... but, there was one thing about her that made people remember why she was the most feared Elder.

Iset was a maniac!

Once she found something interesting, only the gods could stop her. Iset’s power was vast, but the one she mostly used was her beast-controlling power. The beasts weren’t her summons, but tamed ones under her power.

The Dark Phantom Scorpio, aka the Eliminator, was one such beast, and its sole purpose was to push trials like this up a notch and eliminate surviving participants.

But for the first time since the Black Fang Prodigy, more than one person had hurt it. Everyone there could tell that, if it wasn’t for the power gap and their fatigue, the Eliminator would have died at the hands of the first people it met, excluding Aria.

"This might be the best batch in the decade. Eliminator had a suppressor on it, but it was still Tier 2: Elemental Core Formation, and they managed to trade multiple blows with it," Elder Iset spoke with a manic gleam in her eyes.

"Iset... you can’t possibly..." Elder Silvia’s eyes widened as she caught up on what Iset was saying.

"Do I have permission, Chief Elder?" Elder Iset completely ignored her and asked the Chief Elder.

"Do what you must," Chief Elder Sekhem said with a smile.

’Like Master, like disciple!’ That’s what everyone thought when they saw his smile. Iset picked up from him after all.

They were all maniacs!

For the first time, Elder Derek prayed for the participants. Only the gods knew what was going to happen to them.