CHAPTER 49: CONDITIONS MET

Even Lava Scissor flinched slightly.

Ron stepped forward. "What?"

Elius didn’t look at anyone.

He continued, now tying the cloth into a final knot.

"I didn’t ask for that. I never knew that. All these years... he wasn’t there."

He looked down at his hands. Trembled. Then clenched his fists so tightly, the veins bulged.

"When I lost my first tooth, I only had my mother."

Tighten.

"When I was sick, I had to carry myself to the clinic."

Tighten.

"My birthdays? I made my own cake with my mother alone."

Tighten.

"Nightmares? my mother is there."

Tighten.

He raised his head.

"And I am satisfied with that... with only my mother..."

And in that moment, the emotion behind his eyes was unbearable—rage, grief, shame, and something else.

Loss.

"And then he comes out of nowhere and says, ’I’m your father’?"

His teeth clenched.

He looked Lava Scissor dead in the eyes.

"Do you know what that feels like?"

The monster didn’t reply. Just stared.

"To be told your whole life has been a lie? That the man you admired was never a god... just a coward who left you behind?"

The wind around Elius began to shift unnaturally. The grass bent toward him. Dust rose in slow spirals.

"I hated it. I still do."

His voice grew firmer.

"That’s why I promised myself I would never use his power."

He looked at his hands again, now tightly wrapped with the torn remnants of the robe.

"These hands... would be mine. These battles... would be mine. My strength... would be mine."

The ground cracked subtly beneath him.

"But now..."

He looked up.

Right at Lava Scissor.

"You gave me no choice."

The monster flinched for real this time.

Elius stepped forward.

One step.

Two.

His aura pulsed.

An invisible ripple exploded outward, shoving the dust back, causing the sky itself to dim momentarily. The light warped. Time seemed to slow.

The four behind him felt it first—pressure. So heavy that their knees almost buckled. As if a god had stepped into the mortal world.

"...He’s changing," Shiro whispered.

"What... what is this energy?" Lina gasped.

Ron’s jaw dropped.

Klee stared wide-eyed, her voice shaking. "He’s... glowing..."

Faint light began to seep from Elius’s veins—soft at first, like fireflies beneath the skin. Then brighter. Gold. Ethereal. Ancient.

And yet, not of this world.

Not of any world they knew.

Lava Scissor stepped back.

"No... no. What is this?"

Elius raised his wrapped fists slowly, the glowing light dancing along the fabric.

"You’re strong," he said quietly. "You pushed me this far."

The air burned.

Even the clouds above seemed to recoil.

"You gave me no choice..."

He took another step forward.

And suddenly—every shadow on the battlefield vanished.

And Elius’s eyes were golden.

...

Inside the cold, humming chamber of the Hero Authority’s inner sanctum, Radiant Man—Colt Solarion—stood like a war god before the great Eye Orb, bathed in the divine light of surveillance magic and hyperdimensional data feed.

His golden cape fluttered faintly despite the still air, responding instead to the rippling energy bursting from the screen.

And what a sight it was.

His eyes—always so composed, so regal—now widened in something primal. Then his lips curled. His chest expanded. And slowly... a laugh erupted from his throat.

A laugh not of joy or amusement. No.

It was a conqueror’s laugh.

"Hahahaha—!"

It echoed through the chamber like a war drum, pounding against the reinforced walls and trembling the floors beneath him.

"He’s my son! He’s my son indeed!!"

His voice was thunderous now, arms raised as if exalting the very heavens.

Colt Solarion’s laughter intensified. It was a sound born not of surprise, but triumph. The kind of laugh a warlord bellows when he finds his heir wielding a blade forged in the stars.

He pointed to the screen, eyes wild with glory. "That light... that golden flare...!"

His eyes narrowed.

"That’s the Solarion Pride."

He took a heavy breath, pacing now like a lion circling a kill.

"The blood of the Solarion Empire surges within him! This is it! The Radiant Crown passed by lineage... awakened not in my laboratory, but on the battlefield—where it belongs!"

The orb flared in response, showing Elius surrounded by his comrades, facing the abomination of Lava Scissor. His golden light twisted upward, wild, divine—untamed.

Colt grinned, tightening his fists. "Yes... yes! You don’t know it yet, do you, Elius? You don’t realize what you’re using... what is coursing through your veins!"

He stepped forward, closer to the orb.

"But I do..."

Then his expression hardened, calculating.

"But still... the worm I chose for this was no fool. He’s four times stronger than your current stats, Elius. That Lava Scissor was specially chosen to rip out your spirit. To test your threshold."

Colt’s voice lowered, like a hymn laced with cruelty.

"I want to see it. I want to see how far your Solarion Pride goes. I want to see the power of your pride!"

He leaned forward.

"I want to see if you’re worthy of the Empire."

—

But back on the battlefield... something different entirely was unfolding.

That divine aura pouring off Elius?

It wasn’t Solarion Pride.

Not even close.

It was his technique activated by the system.

No, in the quiet hum of his mind, a system screen blinked into existence before Elius’s golden eyes.

Ding!

Heavenly Earthquake Invincible Slam Activated.

Please choose your target(s).

The interface was sleek, glowing with celestial blue light. Beneath it, a targeting cursor locked on to Lava Scissor’s warped, grinning body.

But then, a warning flashed.

Ding! Warning!

Target is armed.

If the Host is hit even once, technique may be interrupted.

Exercise extreme caution.

Elius’s jaw tightened.

"Tch..."

He glanced down, eyes darting to the massive obsidian scissors still clenched in the monster’s jagged arms. Their edge shimmered with molten heat, capable of tearing through titanium.

He couldn’t afford even a graze.

Then he looked up, steady.

And raised his voice.

"Hey."

Lava Scissor blinked, pausing mid-lurch.

"You. Lava Scissor, right?"

The abomination turned, sneering, "Oh? What’s this? You gonna recite my biography now?"

Elius narrowed his gaze.

"I hope you’ve said your prayers to whatever god you worship," he said flatly, each word like a countdown. "Because your life ends here."

For a moment, silence.

And then—

Lava Scissor exploded in laughter. Manic, thunderous.

"Puhahaha! Oh? Is that right!?"

His scissor arms clanged together, producing an ear-splitting screech of metal on metal.

"You’re going to kill me? With what, a punch!?"

He opened his mouth wide and began speaking, booming with lunatic glee.

"Let me tell you something, little warrior! You think I can be ended by words? By threats!? I’ve been burned alive by flame espers. I’ve been buried by telekinetics. I’ve had my limbs blown off by arcane artillery, and yet—I stood back up!"

He slammed his foot into the ground, sending cracks rippling.

"I have been disintegrated! Erased! Crushed beneath collapsing buildings! And still, I returned!"

He pounded his own chest.

"I’ve had my soul shattered by holy weapons, my mind erased by psionics, and my body atomized by gods—AND. I. CAME. BACK!"

He threw his arms wide, towering above them like a fallen deity.

"I am Lava Scissor! I am calamity incarnate! I am the endless nightmare that your kind forgets until it’s too late! So come—hit me! HIT ME! I’ll regenerate! I’ll resurrect! I’ll claw my way back from oblivion just to rip your spine out with my teeth!"

Elius watched him in silence.

Then, he smiled.

Not out of amusement.

But something darker.

"Alright then," he said, cracking his knuckles.

"If that’s what you believe..."

His tone dropped, sharp as a blade.

"Then if I were you, I’d start pulling out every hidden trick, every concealed weapon, every little edge you’ve been holding back."

He took one step forward, and the ground cracked beneath his heel.

"Because I’m going to pummel you until there’s nothing left to return. Not bone. Not soul. Not even memory."

Lava Scissor blinked.

Then—he roared in delight.

"That’s it! That’s the fire I’ve been craving! Come then, golden boy! Break me! Break me a thousand times! Let me see you fail!"

And then, in front of everyone, to their utter disbelief—

Lava Scissor threw his own scissors away.

CLANG!

CRASH!

They embedded into the earth like meteorites.

"Who needs these toys!?" he bellowed. "Let’s dance!"

He spread his massive arms wide, veins bulging, magma dripping from his claws.

"Come! COME! Show me this ’punch’ you’re so proud of! Break my spirit? NO! I will shatter yours!"

Elius’s lips parted slowly.

Reverse psychology is really effective against crazies.

Soon, he calmed his breath down.

And then—

Ding!

Conditions met.

Commence: Heavenly Earthquake Invincible Slam?

He looked at the screen.

Then nodded once.

SWOOSH!

Elius vanished from where he’s standing.