"Pwah! YOU! I AM GOING TO—PWAAH!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep yapping all you want."

Gerard fought, then he ran. Elian fought, then he chased. The being of pure lightning tried to brute his way out of the cage but retreated soon after. Seeing this, Elian's smile deepened.

As I thought, your mass turned to plasma; it makes you nearly indestructible, at least so long as you remain pure energy…

Without any remorse or fear, Elian pummeled his opponent's face again and again. As Gerard was currently a lightning elemental, he didn't have an actual body. It was more like he turned into an incarnation of plasma and electricity.

And that was what the Tyrant was exploiting. Like fighting a snowman or a golem made of rock, the elemental's body had limits. The stuff that made up "him" began and ended somewhere.

If you shaved off more pieces than what the elemental could replace, then logically that would mean its death.

At least that was what Elian concluded.

"HAAAA!"

Sending his fist through Gerard's face was a novel feeling. It both surprised and amazed the Weapon, but one thing was certain: he grew addicted to the feeling.

It's like punching snow. My fist hits something, but it gives way when we collide. But somehow my fist loses all its momentum.

But whatever doubt he might have had vanished. Because with each hit, the tides turned. Gerard Nobel, quite possibly the most irritating enemy Elian faced, began to change. From a dauntless and arrogant figure, his eyes, voice, and body language shifted.

From a powerhouse used to being feared, he instead felt the threat coming for his life.

Even without flesh, Elian noticed.

The man before him grew more terrified with each hit. Each attack shaved off the plasma his body commanded. Counterattacking led to the same thing. So long as he used anything based on electricity, Elian shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"UAH! STOP! STOP AT ONCE! WAIT! LISTEN TO—WAUK!"

Dazed and wobbly, Gerard tried to negotiate. But Elian's anger burned at the sheer audacity of the wannabe Tyrant in front of him. Unfazed and without a single drop of mercy, Elian stomped his foot to the ground and drove his fist forward.

BANG!

Like a thunderclap, the strike blew away Gerard Nobel. For all his power, it seemed like he was at a loss how to respond. It was as if he had never encountered a being that lightning could not destroy.

"You arrogant piece of crap. This is all you amount to? You fought nothing but weaklings?"

How many times did Elian have to reinvent his combat style? The Wall armor, Golem Lake, the Tide armor, the Shark chainsaw armor, and now this thunder breaker. Elian's numerous forms were created not by chance but by necessity.

Each time he found himself against a mountain he could not climb, he never knew to give up.

Heaven's Fist, the various Tyrants from other worlds, even Gerard Nobel himself. Unless one was to give up something, it was not possible to gain the strength to gain anything.

Slamming his foot down, Elian's rage burned.

"GET UP, GERARD NOBEL! YOU BULLIED AND MURDERED MY WIFE, AND NOW ASK FOR MERCY? GET UP AND FIGHT!"

A complete reversal, Elian's thunder breaker form raced forward. Each strike contained resentment, rage, and a righteous blood lust.

Elian buried his fist in Gerard's abdomen.

He nearly snapped his opponent's neck off with his right hook.

His punches deformed Gerard's lightning body and flattened it.

Each blow caused Gerard's body to weaken, but it also turned Elian's arc chutes to fiery orange. Like metal being heated, the Tyrant failed to notice the immense heat and stress his abuse caused to his own body.

"You are weak. No wonder you cowered to the crucible. You are pathetic!"

BAM!

Crashing to one side, Gerard Nobel no longer got up. His thunder form also dissipated, turning him back to a body of flesh. His body twitched uncontrollably. Like a pitiful bug that was swatted dead, the once proud leader of humanity lay tattered and bruised.

"Do not worry you pathetic bastard. I will give you a second chance. It would taint Bianca's honor to know that you three bastards are the reason she died."

The one-sided beating caused Gerard to flinch in terror just from Elian's voice. His steps created sharp crunching sounds like teeth feasting on meat.

"No… please forgive me… I don't want to die…"

"Charade, Hunter."

Transforming his back to his shark chainsaw form, Elian turned on all the motors that powered his weapons.

BBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

A sound many would find disturbing: a barbaric and grotesque display of unfiltered evil.

"Rejoice, Gerard Nobel. After you die, I will turn you and the others into Weapons. When Bianca calls, answer, or else."

With a simple threat, Elian began to hack the man before him. His constitution as an Ascendancy Breaker gave him superhuman resilience. Despite bleeding buckets, his body did not go into shock, and Gerard remained conscious.

"AHHHHHH!!!! IT HURTSSSS JUST KILL ME ALREADY!!!!"

But the Weapon didn't end it. Slowly, he carved up the man bit by bit, savoring every scream and every whimper. What should have ended in a minute went on for five, then ten.

"Time for a breather."

Elian then did the unthinkable. He pulled out a pair of potions and threw them at Gerard's body. The healing salves broke and the liquid doused the dying man's skin. In an instant, his wounds closed and healed.

Unfortunately, as Elian's strikes shattered and sawed his bones into pieces, when the wounds closed, the bones were not set. This caused Gerard's flesh to lose form and grow around the bones giving him a misshapen appearance.

"No… please stop… I am so sorry… please forgive me…"

Like a madman, Elian continued Gerard's slow execution. Hacking up only to heal him. It was barbaric, inhumane, and cruel. But no one present could stop Elian.

Except one.

And she also did the unthinkable.

Bianca Valestra, the woman who had the right of vengeance, took her rifle and aimed it right at Gerard's forehead. She then pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The loud sound drowned out everything else. In an instant, it ended the man known as the leader of the Noble Ascendancy.

"…"

Naturally, Elian grimaced at her action. It disrespected his authority and, put simply, it ended his vengeance. But rather than get angry, Elian stopped his chainsaws and looked towards the scoreboard.

[The Noble Ascendancy | VS | The Weapons of Valestra]

[— l | Tyrant | Elian Reed]

[— | Anchor | Bianca Valestra]

[— | Knights | 2]

A sharp sound rang out for all to hear.

[Earth Wide Announcement: The Crucible for Earth has ended. Please join us in welcoming the newest Tyrant, Elian Reed! Congratulations! As the newly crowned Tyrant of this world, he now stands supreme over the world of Earth. Glory be to the Tyrants!]

[Crucible Wide Broadcast: Please welcome the newest participant to the Celestial Crucible: Participant #932: Earth and their Tyrant Elian Reed! They have entered the Iron Ranks and have been given the Rating SSS! Glory be to the Tyrants!]

Upon seeing the messages, Bastion and Silent all had complex faces. However, unlike them, Elian's gaze was still on the scoreboard, or more specifically the space beside it.

"You still won't come out? Am I going to have to beat you and drag you out?"

His words caused Bianca and the others to stiffen. Every other member of the human factions had been put down. There was no one else present. At least that should have been the case.

"Elian? What is going—" Bianca, for all her wisdom, remained confused.

"There is an extra. He has been spying on us since the beginning. I had a feeling earlier. I only confirmed he was an enemy due to Driven Hopeless."

Driven-Hopeless was an extension of Elian's talent; instead of just staying awake, it turned the talent into an ability that could detect enemies. Elian made it to differentiate Fluffy's soul from his enemies.

The system did the sorting, thus Elian didn't even know why this invisible visitor was present. Only that it wasn't friendly.

Sigh, I figured there would be invisible crap like the streaming cameras, but isn't it too soon? This is Earth's debut stage, and we already have a bastard coming uninvited.

Whining in his mind, Elian then heard a clapping sound coming from the direction Driven-Hopeless had marked.

"Fufu, as expected of the one and only Elian Reed. Truly terrifying, no matter what world or what timeline, you are a being that defies all logic and understanding."

A hooded figure appeared out of thin air; A humanoid that had 90% of its body hidden under a violet cloak.

"I am not interested in your nonsense. Are you an enemy or not? Are you here to stop me from becoming the Tyrant of Earth?"

The face under the hood smiled. It then lifted the fabric covering its face, revealing a face that was both familiar and foreign.

"Heavens no! Please go ahead and be the Tyrant of your crappy world. I hardly care. I was just surprised, is all. You became a tyrant far faster than in any other reality. Is this all because of the Villainess?"

The figure's reply hardly made any sense, but Elian understood that it didn't intend to get in his way, at least for now. "Fine, then scram. I don't have any time to waste on you. I am goi—"

Elian had hardly finished his statement, only to see his lover trembling in fear.

"How are you still alive? You should be dead! You can't be here! That's impossible!"

"Huh? Bianca? You know this guy?"

With a face warped in terror, she nodded, "Yes. This man was the head of the Valestra Institute, Alfred Valestra. The man who can be considered my father."

Her words caused Elian, Silent, and Bastion to form a wall between her and the interloper.

"Yo, Bianca! I was already gone by the time you got made. Looks like I was right."

Elian could only swallow in nervousness. It seems that once again the Crucible broke all logic only to ensure more chaos. And the man who came forward was the bastard who threw Earth to what could only be considered hell.

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