The Psychopathic Beast Emperor

Bahamut, Exildra, and Lily walked out of the healing area with smiles on their face as they discussed with each other. They’d walked a good distance when Exildra suddenly stopped. Her eye widened as her face showed shock and pain. Bahamut turned to ask her what was wrong when he noticed blood flowing from her eye-patched eye.

"Exildra!" Bahamut hurriedly carried her and shot towards Chief Healer Henut’s residence, Lily right on his heels. Sel had gone away earlier after finding out that they were alright.

Bahamut had been to Henut’s and Elder Silvia’s places more than he’d been to his own residence, so he knew the place like the back of his hand. He turned his head back to look at Lily, who wasn’t having trouble catching up, and shouted.

"Do you trust me?!"

"What do you mean?!" Lily asked back in confusion as they made a sharp turn through an alley.

"Is it a yes or no?!" Bahamut asked back as his already torn shirt started to stretch.

"I don’t know..." Lily answered quietly.

"Just... jump on my back. I have to get there fast!" Bahamut said as his eyes moved towards Exildra. Her body had started shivering, and her temperature was rising very rapidly.

"Okay!" Lily, although confused, jumped onto Bahamut’s back, the ground cracking under the force of his jump.

"Hold on tight!"

Bahamut’s voice came with a sudden shift in presence, as if something inside him had decided. Before Lily could even process it, his shirt tore apart from the back, fabric shredding into loose strands as something vast forced its way out. For a split second, there was resistance... then...

FWOOOOM!

Golden wings burst forth, violently. They unfolded in a wide, radiant arc, each feather edged with a faint glow, like molten sunlight pressed into form. The sheer expansion displaced the air around them, sending a rushing wave outward that kicked up dust, leaves, and loose debris in a spiraling gust.

Lily’s eyes widened.

"Wha-?!"

The sudden exposure nearly threw her off balance as Bahamut’s back shifted beneath her. The powerful muscles along his spine flexed as the wings fully spread, and for a brief moment, she felt weightless, then the wind hit her face, strong and hot.

One of the wings brushed against her cheek as it adjusted, and her breath caught in her throat. It wasn’t just feathers; it was power. Raw, contained, and barely restrained power.

Her instincts screamed, her body reacted before her thoughts could. She tightened her hold instantly, arms locking around his neck and shoulders, her legs wrapping firmly around his waist as if letting go for even a second would mean being blown away.

"These are real!" she whispered, half in awe, half in disbelief.

Below them, Bahamut crouched. His toes dug into the ground, muscles coiling like a compressed spring. The earth beneath his feet began to crack subtly, small fractures spreading outward as his weight pressed down. His wings pulled back, wide and tense.

The air stilled for half a heartbeat. Then...

BOOOOOM!

The wings slammed downward. A violent gale exploded beneath them, blasting dust and debris outward in a circular shockwave. The force carved into the ground, forming a shallow crater beneath Bahamut’s feet as the air itself seemed to scream from the pressure.

Lily gasped. Her grip tightened even more.

"Bahamut!"

PAH!

He launched, shooting up like a cannon had fired him into the sky. The ground ruptured completely, chunks of earth and stone blasting outward from the point of takeoff. The shockwave rippled through the surroundings, bending grass flat and sending loose objects tumbling away.

The wind roared in Lily’s ears.

Her hair whipped wildly behind her, her eyes barely able to stay open as they ascended at terrifying speed. The pressure pushed against her body, her heart racing as the ground below shrank rapidly.

She buried her face against his shoulder.

"You’re insane!"

Bahamut laughed.

A wild, exhilarated sound. The wings beat again.

FWOOOOM!

And they climbed even higher, slicing through the air like a streak of gold against the sky.

...

Henut was practically chilling in her residence when something crashed into her garden.

BOOOM!

Her expression didn’t change much because she knew a few people who would do that, and after stepping out, she knew she was right. But what she saw shocked her very much.

Bahamut, holding Exildra in his arms, with Lily clinging tightly to his back, her eyes shut tightly, and huge golden wings outstretched on his back.

"Wha-?!"

"Miss Henut! It’s Exildra!" Bahamut exclaimed as the wings folded and disappeared, as if they’d never existed. He rushed towards Henut, Lily still clinging to his back. The sight was comical to say the least, but Bahamut was too focused on Henut to notice.

"Won’t she get off your back?" Henut asked with an amused gaze, her eyes locked onto Lily’s figure.

"Uh... sorry!" Lily quickly jumped down with an embarrassed expression. Bahamut just smiled wryly.

Henut then looked at Exildra, her face moving from curiosity to shock.

"How are you still holding her?!" She looked at Bahamut as if she’d seen a ghost. This boy was too strange. Nothing was ever normal with him.

"Follow me."

Bahamut and Lily followed Henut into her residence. She beckoned to him to lay Exildra on a bed and took out some dry herbs, which she quickly burnt along with incense. She then turned to the two.

"Whatever is happening to Exildra is for her own good."

"Huh? You mean it’s good news? But she’s bleeding..." Lily said hurriedly in concern.

"Yes. She’s going through a mutation, specifically her eye. It might take an hour, a day, a week, or she would have episodes like this until the mutation has been completed. But no matter how much pain she feels, or how long she bleeds, it is all for her own good. The blood is infected blood from the ghoul. The mutation will force out the blood through the place the ghoul attacked her; her eye. So there’s no need to worry. I will let her master know what’s going on, too."

"I see. Thank you," Bahamut said with a relieved smile.

"Come see something," Henut beckoned to them.

Bahamut and Lily approached Exildra’s bed as Henut took off the eyepatch. After the eyepatch was removed, Henut carefully pried open the eye. Bahamut and Lily could only gasp in shock at what they were seeing.

Exildra’s eye was healing, and they could see it visibly. But that wasn’t all. From what had already healed, they could see that the sclera was black and the pupil wasn’t of one color.

"This is the eye of a Seer, but in most situations, a Seer’s eyes turn like this when they are using their visionary power. But Exildra’s own would be a constant thing; that is why her eye itself is becoming this way."

"Wow..." Lily could only exclaim in awe, while Bahamut smiled.