Eik rocketed through the circulatory system, infecting and breaking down tissue relentlessly as he traveled. He wasn't going to give this dragon a chance to regenerate.

As his liquid body flowed, an unimaginable amount of toxin was released, intensifying the infection of the monster's body endlessly. Eyes of the Beast, a trait that allowed Eik to tap into the senses of one of his Living Manifestations, told him that they were getting close to the end of his minute.

At this point, the potency of the invasion was far greater than anything he had ever had the opportunity to do. It was exceedingly difficult to do something like this when the victim always fought back or simply died too quickly.

"Fifty seconds!" he heard the voice call through his mental connection to the little guy sitting on the test supervisor's shoulder. The final countdown began, the audience joining in with voices filled with anticipation. "Fifty one! Fifty two!"

All right. Time for death.

Eik had crystallized everything inside the system, with only himself as the exception, and now triggered the all-encompassing Accelerant that would deliver the final blow.

"Fift—"

That was all the test supervisor managed to get out before his voice was drowned out by the silence of the first reaction. Originating at the base of the dragon's skull, a blinding flash of light preceded a deafening detonation that released a devastating sphere of force like a pulse bomb that shattered the flagstone floor and shook the energy barrier erected around the arena like ripples on a quiet lake.

Immediately after, a dozen more explosions, these ones not quite as powerful as the first, crackled the air in such rapid succession that it sounded like a minigun on steroids. Almost rhythmically, the dragon's body throbbed and undulated violently, making it seem like it had come out of its stasis.

Each of the wounds opened by the mid-sized Living Manifestations spouted blood as internal blasts ravaged organs and muscle. The rain of blood that painted every single tile red obscured the scene to such a degree that it took most of the audience a few seconds to realize that the most disastrous consequence was the beast's head.

It was gone.

At first glance it seemed to have completely evaporated from the top of the neck. But when something heavy came down from above, landing on the shattered stones with a wet and hollow thud, it became clear that the detonation of the splash of super potent, ultra bright Profound Toxin had ripped away the face in its entirety as the skull was crushed and vaporized into near nothingness.

In the silence of the aftermath, the audience too appeared too stunned to speak. What had they just witnessed. Was the S-rank monster dead? And from the assault of a mere A-ranker? In a single minute?

But when the dragon didn't knit itself back together again and the ruined face stayed splatted on the ground several meters away from the rest of the body, whispers began to flow among the spectators. Whispers quickly turned to mutters, then confused utterances, and finally full-blown shouts as onlookers stumbled over each other to scream and cheer.

"Not too bad, eh?" Eik said, suddenly sitting relaxed on the test supervisor's shoulder, having replaced the tiny Living Manifestation that had been occupying the space just a second ago. The supervisor et out a panicked yelp just as Eik leapt from his shoulders and landed by the severed face.

He picked it up in one hand and held it aloft in victory, the chorus of the crowd growing even more cacophonous.

Eik caught a glimpse of Aohan and his family yelling their throats hoarse before he sought out the faces of his own family. Ihasu's beaming smile, his father's concerned pride, Bin's unconditional enthusiasm for anything he did, and Olivia's obvious eagerness to chase him on the climb to the top filled him with pure gratitude for the people in his life and determination to make sure that they all lived their best lives.

Heath and Michael's shit-eating grins as they watched Gilim try to keep himself from fainting didn't fail to infect him with the same shit-eating grin either.

With a glance at the test supervisor, he saw a man who was at a loss. Apparent recalculation after recalculation stretched the wait for a final score. After about half a minute, the crowd became impatient and began to shout for an announcement, the poor test supervisor already shaken by the pressure of the unusual situation.

"Don't worry and take your time," Eik shouted with a smile and a wave, his voice amplified multiple times over by an aura trick taught to him by Andihar, to the point where he silenced nearly every spectator present.

At that, most sat down and waited politely for the results.

After another thirty seconds the test supervisor spoke up, clearing his voice through his own voice amplification magic.

"I apologize," he began. "Given the gravity and significance of the situation, I felt I had to double check the numbers to avoid a potential mistake with the high score records… Although I suppose the sight of the aftermath speaks for itself…" he muttered under his breath with a side eye at the exploded corpse of the dragon, sending chuckled through the spectators.

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"Without further ado, I will now announce the results of this A-rank test and, extraordinarily, a shift in the standing high score records." Everybody, including Eik, held their breaths as the test supervisor stretched the moment painfully, clearly enjoying the theatrical limelight.

"A-ranker Eik Magnasen from Earth, with a final score of… 52,678,546, earning him an overwhelming first place in the Alliance-wide rankings!"

The audience stands erupted into earsplitting cheers as people celebrated the emergence of a new cosmic anomaly. Shattering the previous first place record three times over belonged in the realm of complete and utter madness.

Doing everything in his power to look cool and suppress the dumb grin that tried to push its way up to the surface, Eik once more held the dragon's head aloft by the tip of its horn in one hand.

With his Armor of the Scourge covering his entire body, he looked like a great heavenly general.

What a fucking rush the slaughter had been!

He started back toward his friends and family, stopping and waving the massive, reptilian visage in the air. "Can I keep this, by the way?" he asked the test supervisor.

Taken aback, the confused man stared wordlessly at him for a moment. "I… N— I don't know. Sure?" he ended up saying, Eik thanking him and walking away before he had time to consider the matter further.

Most of the scalp as well as all but one of the smaller horns remained more or less intact and would make an awesome wall decoration at Eik's Excellent Elixir Emporium. He had been wanting something new for a while, and since a man needed more than just plants, what could be better than the head of a home-slain dragon?

"That was…" Ihasu began but wasn't allowed to finish.

"Amazing! That was amazing!" a man exclaimed, getting so close to Eik that he could smell his breath.

Studying the man's face, Eik racked his brain for a name, because the face was definitely familiar. "George? From the Omelette guild, right?" he finally asked.

"There's a guy here named George?" Rasmus leaned in to ask Olivia under his breath. "That's a funny little coincidence, isn't it? And he's Eik's friend? That's nice."

Olivia just shrugged.

"My name is Djoardj. Djoardj Pilam. And I'm from the Omega guild," Djoardj grumbled, seeming to only now remember how the Earthlings had butchered his name so painfully.

"Sorry, Djoardj."

"It's okay! I could barely believe my eyes when I saw you step up onto that stage, Mr. Magnasen! I can't tell you how many times I've thought about you since our last meeting."

"Uuh, thanks."

"Listen, Mr. Magnasen, let me just get straight to the point. We are prepared to offer you an extremely favorable contract if you agree to sign up with the Omega guild. My superiors have expressed genuine interest in your prowess, and with this extraordinary performance you have shown us today, there is no doubt in my mind that that interest will only grow."

"Djoardj…" Eik tried, but the man was on a roll.

"My superiors have agreed to allow you to have two private days per week instead of the standard one day, which you can dedicate freely to whatever secondary venture you talked about the last time we spoke. You will not find more generous terms in any other contract."

"Djoardj," Eik tried again. "My business is the most profitable organization in my world by far. In fact, if you keep an eye out next week, you might find out just how profitable I am, as well as how mucn more profitable I will be in the near future."

"I can attest to that," Clan Leader Gul broke in, stepping up on Eik's side, the eyes of both Gilim and his parents growing wide with confusion.

When Eik had agreed to sell Eik's Legendary Mystery Medicine directly to the Ougi clan, the old man had sworn to keep Eik's identity from even his own family, and judging by the reactions of his own grandson and daughter, he had kept his word.

"G-Gul Ougi?" Djoardj stammered, taking an involuntary step back.

"And so can I," Andihar Dayarunar added, appearing like a big, muscular ghost behind the recruiter who bumped into him in his retreat from the clan leader. "I saw it all from up there," he said and threw a thumb at the uppermost edge of the sunken arena. "An even more magnificent and breathtaking display than I had dreamed of." He stepped in to give Eik a friendly hug—a gesture Eik had made sure he became accustomed to.

"Andihar?" Djoardj questioned, now retreating back toward Gul. "Andihar Dayarunar? Why are you all…?"

"He's my business partner," Andihar told him.

"And the little rat is living with my granddaughter," Clan Leader Gul grumbled, but was unable to hide a subtle smile of satisfaction.

Eyes searching desperately for help, Djoardj sent Eik puppy dog eyes. "I'm sure I can convince them to give you three days off per week. How does that sound?" the disconcerted man fished. "I'll make sure you're teamed up with the strongest A-rankers in the Nidafjeld Alliance!"

Eik pursed his lips as he glanced back at the massacred dragon corpse. He frowned and pointed at the macabre trophy still in his hand. "But… aren't I the strongest A-ranker in the Nidafjeld Alliance?" he questioned.

"Well…" the recruiter said with hesitation. He was stuck and he knew it. But he had an answer.

Bail.

"I'll come back with even better terms next time! I swear I'll get you to agree!" he shouted as he fled, taking the stairs out of the arena five at a time.

"Funny guy."

"Yeah, I kind of like him too," Heath said with a chuckle.

"After a performance like that, you can expect many more attempts like that," Andihar promised as they began to walk back, Gilim, his parents, and those who had supported him with hostile attitudes toward Eik kept to the rear of the procession.

"Yeah…" Eik sighed, exhausted at the mere thought of it. "I knew I would do pretty well, but this is honestly crazier than I thought. I heard many people decline relatively as they advance, so I thought I might not get first place but… damn…" he muttered, looking at the dragon's head in his hand. "I need something to eat."

"I know just the place," Eik's father said, flashing a smile. "And everybody's invited!"

They swam their way through a sea of people, all of whom wanted to talk to Eik, touch him, offer gifts to him, or otherwise establish a connection. It would have taken all day and night so instead Eik conjured an enormous pillar of crystalline toxin with himself stuck inside, only his shoulder and head peeking out the top, twenty meters above, giving him the iconic look of one of those candy dispensers.

"I'm leaving, but do come to the Alchemist Guild of Gimleh in eight days at noon! I have something to say then!"

With that, he adjusted the angle of the pillar, hollowed it out and filled the inside with little Living Manifestations. Once he had put a thick, flat platform between his feet and the hundreds of Profound Toxic beasts, he detonated the bunch at once and shot himself out of the top like a cannonball.

Sailing through the air, sleek wings helping him adjust the trajectory, he waved to the cheering crowd before disappearing through the fracture leading back to headquarters.

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