Editor : Amethyst00



"Brat?"

The demon's eye twitched.

"Who are you calling that!"

Vwooooom—

A massive wave of dark mana surged outward.

Eliza curled her lips up into a smirk at the sight.

"Getting so worked up… You really must be a brat with no manners, huh?"

"Y-you little…!"

The demon's face turned bright red with rage.

Chelsea, watching this, wore a serious expression.

'How childish.'

It was like a squabble between kids.

But the dark mana surging out was no joke.

'It's not any less than what the Commander of Pain had.'

Realizing this demon had also risen to the position of a commander like the one from the Legion of Pain, Chelsea looked toward Eliza.

"Eliza, be careful. That one's a new commander."

"I know."

"Still acting calm?"

"You said you fought a commander on your own, right?"

Eliza glanced back at Chelsea.

"If you could do it, there's no way I can't."

Eliza's face radiated her signature haughtiness.

Chelsea, seeing this, couldn't help but admire her.

'She really is something.'

The Eliza she knew had never once shown weakness.

Since their first year as students, she'd believed herself the best, never once doubting it.

Even after meeting Leo and being shown otherwise, Eliza didn't waver.

She pressed forward with the sole determination to one day surpass Leo, burning with competitive spirit.

Chelsea was different.

From the moment she met Leo, she admired him.

Even after realizing he might be someone she could never catch up to, it didn't shock her too much.

Even when Leo became an insurmountable wall, Eliza never lost faith in herself.

And now.

Even after reaching a future they'd once only imagined, Eliza held no doubt in herself.

In contrast to Chelsea, who had once feared her own future.

Powerful spiritual energy began swirling around Eliza's body.

Crackle— Crackle—

Pure-white lightning sparked in the air around her, reacting to her energy.

At the same time, Eliza's hair rose skyward.

Flash—!

Lightning struck from the sky.

With it, Pegasus, Rue, appeared.

The demon scoffed and raised a hand at the sight.

Vmmmm—!

A giant summoning circle formed on the ground.

"A beast summoner?"

Eliza furrowed her brow.

RUMBLE—!

GWAAAAAAAH!

From the summoning circle, a massive beast emerged.

"Gigantes!"

Chelsea gasped and craned her head back.

"That thing's enormous!"

Gigantes was a top-tier demonic beast representing Tartaros, renowned for its size.

But the one summoned now was on another level.

It appeared at least 1.5 times larger than typical, and Chelsea was stunned.

Standing on its shoulder, arms crossed, the demon looked down on Eliza and Chelsea and declared:

"My name is Gon! I am the Beast King, ruler of all beasts of Tartaros!"

"Tartaros must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel. A little punk like you calling himself the ruler of beasts?"

"Who are you calling little, you old hag!"

Twitch—

A vein bulged on Eliza's forehead.

RUMBLE—!

Gigantes lifted its foot.

BOOOOM—!

Its massive foot came crashing down on where Eliza and Chelsea had been standing.

The surrounding area was wiped out as if a bomb had gone off.

The snow was kicked up in thick plumes like smoke.

Fwoosh—!

Eliza soared up on Pegasus, followed closely by Chelsea using flight magic.

"I'm going to poke a hole in that damn lump of flesh!"

CRACKLE—!

Pegasus's body was wrapped in pure-white lightning.

Eliza became a bolt of lightning herself as she charged at Gigantes.

Thunk—!

GWAAAAAH!

A gaping hole was blown through Gigantes's chest as it screamed in agony.

High above, Eliza looked down at the staggering beast with a sneer.

Gon, the Beast King, infused dark mana into Gigantes to heal it.

Watching him, Eliza spoke condescendingly.

"Why not summon a different beast?"

Beast summoners, like spirit tamers, fight by summoning various creatures and drawing out their potential.

If he was the Beast King, he should be able to handle countless kinds of beasts from Tartaros.

At her words, Gon scoffed.

"I only summon Gigantes!"

"That's stupid. That just makes it an easy target."

"Who cares?! Gigantes is the biggest and coolest!"

"You sure have poor taste."

"Mind your business, hag!"

"You little punk, you really wanna—!"

A dark aura surged from Eliza's body.

From a distance, Chelsea watched with a grave face.

'This is so immature there's not even any tension left.'

What made it worse was how well those childish provocations were working on both of them.

Just as Chelsea clicked her tongue at the ridiculous pride match—

CRACK—! SNAP!

Gigantes's arms began making grotesque sounds and transformed.

Eliza's expression changed.

"Death Worm?"

Gigantes had turned its arms into Death Worms, another high-level beast from Tartaros, and swung them at Eliza.

"ROOOOOAAAR!"

CRAAASH—!

The Death Worms opened their crusher-like jaws and roared, unleashing a shockwave that split the sky.

Eliza narrowly dodged and glared at Gigantes.

'Chimera?'

A chimera formed from multiple fused beasts.

But the Death Worm arms soon returned to normal.

ZAP! CRACKLE!

Now, leather wings sprouted from Gigantes's back.

WHUMP! WHUMP! WHOOSH!

After a few wing beats, a storm raged around it.

Gigantes's massive body lifted into the air.

'It's not a chimera. It's fusing beasts moment by moment!'

It didn't just fly—it began charging at Eliza at tremendous speed.

With both mass and speed, its destructive power was beyond imagination.

Eliza quickly pulled Pegasus's reins and evaded the attack with near-invisible speed.

Gon's eyes gleamed dangerously.

He raised his hand, and Gigantes mirrored him, lifting its own arm.

WHAM—! CRASH!

"Eliza!"

Gigantes struck Eliza and Pegasus mid-flight, then raised its other hand.

Its hand morphed into the head of the demonic beast, Fafnir.

SNAP—!

Fafnir opened its jaws and unleashed a breath attack.

FLASH! KABOOOOOM!

The spot where Eliza had been was completely obliterated.

Chelsea's expression turned hard.

Immature or not, a commander was still a commander.

They possessed terrifying combat power.

As Chelsea moved to intervene—

FWOOOSH—!

"Don't interfere."

Eliza flew back beside Chelsea and spoke.

"You okay?"

"It hurts."

"Then let me help—"

"I said I don't need help."

"But you just said it hurts!"

"I'm used to pain."

Chelsea made a puzzled face at that.

'Why would a beast summoner be used to pain?'

For a elemental summoner, maybe.

But beast summoners generally leave fighting to their beasts and maximize their potential from afar.

If done right, there's little reason to get hurt.

Knowing Eliza's skill, Chelsea found her claim odd.

And her expression turned even stranger as she looked at Eliza.

Eliza was clearly holding back pain.

But the corners of her mouth kept twitching.

For some reason, she seemed to be holding back laughter along with the pain.

"Eliza. You sure you're okay? You didn't hit your head or anything, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You… you're smiling even though you're in pain."

When Chelsea expressed genuine concern, Eliza grew serious.

"When did I smile?"

"Huh?"

'Did I imagine it?'

Confused, Chelsea still watched her with concern.

Eliza turned away and approached the Beast King.

Then she covered her mouth.

'I've gotten weirdly used to pain!'

It was a side effect of Leo's training.

One day, while being exposed to the essence of lightning to forcibly awaken her abilities, she started smiling instinctively from the pain.

She recalled how Carl freaked out, asking why she was smiling.

Eliza took a deep breath.

'Still, thanks to that insane training, I did gain something.'

She pulled out a whip.

"Rue."

At her call, Pegasus's eyes gleamed.

CRACK—! FLASH—

Pure-white lightning from the sky struck Eliza.

"Wh-what the—! Why is she attacking herself?!"

"What's with this crazy woman?!"

Chelsea recoiled, and even the Beast King stared at her in shock.

"Rrrghhhh…!"

Wrapped in lightning, Eliza let out a pained groan—then began chuckling.

"Hehe… electrifying."

The sight, tinged with madness, made the Beast King flinch.

Beast summoners empower their beasts.

But those who master the craft can weaponize empowered beasts like elementals.

Leo and Lunia were prime examples.

But Eliza went a step further.

'What if I could use the beast's power to strengthen myself?'

Of course, this meant taking the beast's power directly into her own body.

Even Leo had warned it was a dangerous domain.

But exposed to the essence of lightning, Eliza's energy harmonized with Pegasus.

She also gained the mental fortitude to withstand Pegasus's overwhelming power.

The lightning engulfing her body caused immense pain—

But a strange sense of omnipotence and euphoria slammed into her.

Normally, her energy wouldn't be enough to strengthen her body like this.

But now, she was her future self.

Eliza SNAPPED the whip.

CRACKLE—!

Enveloped in eerie white lightning, she swung the whip.

CRACK! CRASH!

"You psycho!"

The Beast King recoiled in terror as Eliza began tearing into Gigantes with her whip.

"Die! Die already, you damn brat!"

Overwhelmed by a strange ecstasy, Eliza charged like a berserker at the Beast King.

Each time she did, that nerve-jarring pain surged through her.

She bit her lip and endured.

"Ggh!"

Shaking from the agony, Eliza began breathing heavily.

"Ugh… Hah… ngh—!"

CRACKLE! CRASH!

The lightning surged even more violently.

"Hah… ah… AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

When the pain crossed its threshold, Eliza began laughing, eyes half-glazed over.