“Stellar Tactics #22:…!”

Krul lowered his center gravity and pulled his fists back.

“Stellar Machine Gun!”

His arms flickered as he threw consecutive lightning-fast punches. A hail of golden bullets rushed at Miko. Purple lightning gathered at his feet. He turned into a lightning bolt to evade the bullets. Krul turned to make the bullets follow him.

“Flash Step: Parkour!”

Miko zigzag to evade the bullets while charging at Krul. Krul’s eyes danced in his head as he followed Miko’s movements. Miko appeared in front of him. He canceled his attack. Miko thrust his palm at his chest. Krul twisted his body and Miko flew past him. Krul attacked him from behind with a kick. Miko disappeared in a purple flash. Krul looked up. Miko was floating in the air. His feet lit up and static danced around it. He thrust his foot down. Lightning fell towards the earth. Krul evaded it. His surroundings lit up. He looked up and his eyes widened. The sky was filled with lightning bolts.

“Catatumbo Lightning!”

Miko thrust down his feet countless times in an instant. An ungodly amount of lightning bolts rushed towards the ground. The dimension shook, the volcanoes erupted, electricity ran through the earth. Miko continued thrusting his feet, firing lightning bolts to cause mass destruction.

“?!”

Miko’s body stiffened causing the assault to stop. He crashed into the earth.

(Fuck! I overdid it!)

He turned his head.

“What about Krul?”

The area was covered with smoke. When it faded, Krul appeared laying on the ground. His body was scorched beyond recognition. If it wasn’t for his moving chest, you would mistake him for a corpse.

“……!”

His body pulsated before Miko’s eyes.

“Well, I guess that’s that.”

Alec smiled.

“Krul is the first to snap.”

An oppressive pressure fell on the area. Red and gold aura seeped out of Krul’s body.

“It’s gonna be a bloodbath.”

The aura lifted him off the ground and forced him to stand. Star marks with skulls in them appeared all over his body.

“Shit!”

His mother, Shina was covered in cold sweat. His father, Lahmu sighed. As for Ecko, his grandmother, her eyes narrowed.

“The fool.”

The stars on Krul’s body started glowing. Soon cracks appeared in them. A deafening shattering noise reverberated through the land. The stars crumbled and fell off Krow’s body. With a boom, mana rushed out of his body causing the air to tremble. It was as if a mountain was pressing down on Miko.

“..Ha…Haha…Hahaha…Hahahahaha!”

An unsettling laugh escaped Krul’s mouth. His scorched body began to rapidly heal. The more he healed the more powerful his presence and the louder his laugh became. Miko watched as he healed until he didn’t have a scratch on him. His laughter came to a halt. He started inspecting his body that was noticeably more muscular than before. His upper body was bare so everyone could see his sculpted muscles.

“I must’ve been slacking off over the years if I’m only this strong.”

He clenched his fists.

“Well, it’ll have to do. I’ll just grow stronger.”

He turned to his head.

“Hm? Is that?”

A huge grin appeared on his face.

“Well, if it isn’t Miko!”

He spread his arms as he approached.

“How many years have been since we’ve lost met, you little shit?”

Miko smiled bitterly.

“It’s been over a decade.”

Krul’s grin reflected in his eyes as he laid on the ground.

“It’s good to see the real you again, Krul.”

He shook his head.

“Krulty.”

“Hm? Krulty? Is that what they call me?”

Krul burst out laughing.

“Isn’t that a bit too disrespectful? They’re treating me like I’m some inner demon or something. You think so too, right?”

He grinned.

“After all, I’m the original Krul.”

He was about to laugh but stopped himself.

“Wait…Something doesn’t add up.”

He stooped in front of Miko.

“How did you know that I have two personalities? When I disappeared a decade ago my granny told everyone that was I going to be re-educated. No one in our generation should’ve known that the me you were fighting was a false personality, that was planted inside me to keep me under control…Yet, it’s obvious that you knew.”

He locked eyes with Miko.

“How?”

Everyone from the Golden Generation looked at Alec, who frowned seeing their gaze.

“I don’t know if the fact that you automatically suspect me is because you overestimate me or you see nothing less than a monster…”

Alec sighed.

“It wasn’t me…This time.”

“My grandfather told me when it happened. Apparently, he feared that the same thing might happen to me in the future. So he gave me a warning.”

Miko smirked.

“Krul Dragna, you were born a normal child, just a little tougher and stronger than his peers. Despite that, your lineage was enough to make people expect greatness from you. Well, that was until you started to change. At the age of 6, you killed all your pets. Your reason? They were becoming too much of a hassle to take care of. At the age of 7, you were caught torturing your servants by tying them up before cutting their skins. Your reason? They pissed you off. At the age of 8, you killed another person for the first time. It was the relative of one of the servants you tortured. He ambushed and tried to kill you, but you ended up killing him. Your reason? Self-defense. As twisted as they were, you at least had reasons for your actions. The problem came when you no longer thought up reasons but did them anyway. You started killing and tormenting anyone you could get your hand on.”

Krul shook his head.

“I had reasons.”

A devilish grin crawled on his face.

“It was fun.”

His grin widened.

“Killing that first guy gave me such a rush, that I had to experience it again. So I provoke people to attack me so that I could kill them in “self-defense”. After a while, I started to wonder how it felt to kill people who weren’t a threat to me. The first one I killed was a servant my age. The thrill I got from that was insane. After that, I started killing all kinds of people. Young, old, male, female, human, demon, god, the works. It’s while doing this that I discovered the ultimate thrill.”

His fangs reflected in Miko’s eyes.

“Killing strong warriors!”

He poked Miko’s forehead.

“Strong people like you are my type.”

Miko’s eyes narrowed.

“So what Gramps said was true. You were sealed because you were planning on killing the rest of our generation.”

“Killing off the future of this clan when they’re approaching their peaks…”

The corpses of the Catastrophic Generation could be seen in Krul’s eyes.

“There’s no greater pleasure!”

“………”

A tense silence covered the arena. Krul’s words couldn’t be taken lightly. If he followed through with his plans he would’ve robbed the clan of at least a hundred years. Probably even more if you consider the fact that Rin, Ashur, Renatus, and Miko were talents that might never appear together again. A death sentence wouldn’t be enough. His parents would have to be punished with him. Despite knowing this, Krul doesn’t care. He just wants to experience thrills. This twisted mind is a result of the blessing of a Celestial Body. This is why Ecko was forced to seal the real Krul and implant a fake personality. One that would hate fighting and violence, and it was successful for the most part. However, this was only a stopgap. The real Krul wasn’t gone and he will slowly influence the fake personality until he regained control, as seen by how he behaved in the competition. The true Krul, Krulty was too much to contain. Miko looked this Krul in the eye and smiled.

“I see. So you’re going to try and kill me?”

“No.”

Krul shook his head.

“I’m not going to try, I’m gonna kill you.”

“I see.”

Azure aura engulfed Miko. He stomped the ground with all of his strength.

“Defensive Wave!”

Azure energy formed a circle around him before shooting up like a pillar. This pillar forced Krul back.

“A barrier?”

Krul watched as Miko got to his feet. The star-shaped shackles on his wrists and ankles were gone.

“The fake Krul placed restrictions on my abilities. When you took over, those restrictions disappeared.”

An azure dragon appeared behind him.

“Now I can fight more freely.”

Krul looked at the dragon and laughed.

“What a meaningless bluff, Miko. You can fight freely?”

He pointed at him.

“You’re already half-dead! I, on the other hand, am at full health and unlike my fake self…”

His aura and presence had an explosive increase, causing the air and earth to shake in his wake.

“I can use my full power!”

“Krul is the strongest of his generation.”

Alec smiled.

“When I said that earlier I wasn’t talking about the fake personality. I was talking about Krulty.”

“Physical prowess, magical capability, brutality, Krulty far exceeds Krul in all of this.”

Sophia bit her bottom lip.

“He’s a walking calamity.”

(Miko, let us help.)

Regis's voice echoed in his head.

“I would love to do that but…”

Miko could see Krul glancing at Ishma and Regis every couple of seconds.

(He’s waiting for me to try and use you guys. I’m guessing that he’s planning on sealing both of you the moment I try to use your powers. The messed up thing about it is that I’m not confident that I can prevent that with the way I am now. If you’re both sealed, then I’ll be in a much worse situation than now. After all, I already can’t use Vita, having my Proxy and one of my demon abilities sealed too, can’t happen….So stay away from the two of us for now.)

The girls looked at each other and nodded. Krul smiled. A shattering sound reverberated. Krul’s fist was penetrating Miko’s barrier.

“Enough talk.”

He threw another punch with his other hand. Azure shards reflected Miko’s shocked face as the barrier crumbled.

“Let’s fight!”

He pounced at Miko. Purple static gathered at his feet. He disappeared in a purple flash. Krul grinned as his feet touched the ground. Miko reappeared hundreds of meters away. Krul appeared in front of him.

(What?! He can keep up with Flash Step?!)

Miko crossed his arms in front of him. Krul punched him. Miko was blasted away.

(That hurt like hell! Are my arms still there?!)

His feet skid on the ground. Krul was already in front of him. He thrust his hand at Miko’s neck.

“Flow Step!”

Krul’s hand passed Miko’s neck as he used swift steps to evade the attack. He slammed his palm on Krul’s side.

“Inflow Burst!”

Krul’s organs were hit by a burst of azure energy.

“?!”

Miko’s eyes widen as an elbow came at his head. He ducked under the elbow.

“Strike Fist!”

Purple lightning pierced through Krul’s stomach. Yet, Miko saw a knee coming at him. He leaped back. Before he could land, a leg came at him like a whip. Miko was slammed into the side of a volcano.

“So you can switch between different styles in an instant. Impressive.”

Krul approached him with a smile.

“But, it must be hard on your body. After all, each style is unique and is fueled by different power sources. There’s no way you’re not feeling immense pain from that.”

He smirked.

“Or is me smacking you around distracting you from it?”

“Cocky bastard. …”

Lightning coated Miko’s body.

“Don’t you get it? I can instantly recover from anything you throw—”

A lightning bolt hit Krul and forced him to swallow his words. He was forced off the ground and into the air. Static tore at his midsection. His body felt like it was going to snap. The lightning bolt forced him into a volcano. Magma scorched his body while lightning tore at him. He was forced through the volcano’s side causing it to erupt. He flew through the air covered in lava.

“Lightning Piercer!”

The lightning bolt was Miko.

“Ahhhh?!”

“Even if you’ll recover, swimming through lava while being electrocuted must hurt like hell!”

Miko kicked him away and took him to the sky. Krul’s body bounced off the ground. Miko floated hundreds of feet in the sky. Eight drums appear behind him. Each had a lightning symbol on it. Miko’s locked on Krul with his eyes. He shot down with drums behind him.

“Purple Dragon Style:…!”

He threw a punch. All 8 drums resounded. Eight gigantic lightning bolts descended towards Krul.

“Raijin’s Medley!”

The area was dyed in purple. A devastating explosion erupted and shook the dimension. Smoke covered the ground.

“Hahahaha!”

Krul flew out of the smoke with burns all over him.

“Now, we’re talking!”

An azure dragon appeared behind Miko. He started flipping in the air as Krul approached. Divine power gathered around him.

“Azure Dragon Style:…!”

Krul threw a punch. Miko swung his heel down.

“Waterfall!”

Miko’s ax kick clashed with Krul’s punch. A wave of azure energy spread through the sky.

“Ugh?!”

Miko groaned as a crack reached his ears. He twisted his body to escape the clash. He flew headfirst towards the ground. He flipped and landed on one foot. He leaped back. Krul descended bursting open the earth with a stomp.

“It’s like I’m trying to fight a tank barehanded.”

Miko looked down at his ankle. It was distorted and swollen.

“What makes it worse is that he has only been using his physical attacks for a while now. He’s still messing around.”

Crimson aura engulfed him. His skin darkened, crimson tattoos appeared all over his muscular body, his hair turned crimson and grew wild like flames, and his red eyes bared hell in them.

“What?!”

Markus Saevus couldn’t hide his shock.

“Well, even I didn’t expect this.”

It was the same for Joesph Flameheart.

“Miko somehow found a way to become the embodiment of Beleth.”

Miko looked at his ankle again. It was healed.

He stomped the ground while grinning.

“Alright.”

He and Krul grinned at each other.

“Let’s try this again.”