?The colossal cloud, the result of Agent X being slammed into the earth, erupted from the crater a massive, churning soot and ash into a column that towered over the desert. The column partially blocked out the sun, and casting a sickly, gray gloom over the settlement. The local beastfolk looked up, fear and confusion in their eyes, locals murmuring about a sudden volcanic eruption. Stone Solid watched the growing column. It was unnatural, colossal, and undeniably the result of the battle. He straightened, finally moving with purpose. "That wasn't a death blow. That was an extinction event." He pointed at the cloud. "You two! Do what you can to clear any debris that might fly this way. Our job description just changed. Look alive!" The two Rank B Incarnates nodded, their faces grim, acknowledging the orders without argument.

  ?Back at the source of the dust cloud, deep in the crater, lay the Obsidian Terror. It was in complete ruin: its right arm and most of its torso was missing. The demonic fire that normally enveloped it had been completely snuffed out after such a brutal attack.

  ?Agent X lay motionless, his internal thoughts stirring with a quiet frustration. I must have gotten rusty. My Agent X profile doesn't pack the same punch as my original profile's stats. A tiny flicker of dark royal fire sparked at a shattered joint. Good thing it's hard to kill living stone.

  ?He mentally analyzed his situation. The Sovereign's blast had been stronger than he anticipated, proving that this profile was insufficient in comparison to the original. I guess I'll have to use the gift from Cosmo for hitting S Rank.

  ?With that thought, a massive column of deep royal purple fire suddenly erupted from the crater floor, punching straight through the ash and dust and into the sky.

  ?The Sovereign, that fought with the combat style of a Vanguard, maintaining its hover in mid-air. It watched as the pillar of purple flame soared up past its massive frame. Using its immense power, the Arcane Sovereign began actively clearing the fog, blowing the dust and smoke out of the crater in search of its threat.

  ?As the sight became clear, Agent X could be seen standing exactly where he had been slammed down. He stood confidently, his form fully reformed and restored. In his hands, he now held a massive Scythe of the Abyss. Even compared to his ten-foot-tall figure, the scythe was immense, its black obsidian handle thick as a flag poll. At the top of the handle was a large flat surface that was connected to the blade. The wicked curved blade was forged of denser, more sturdy obsidian than the Terror was made of, and deep royal purple fire engulfed the cutting edge.

  ?Agent X tested the grip, his disappointment palpable. This is the first time I've used this profile's S-Rank weapon. It's a scythe built from just one of the Obsidian Zenith's claws. But it has a fraction of the real deal. He shook his head in disappointment. Lazy design, Cosmo.

  ?The Sovereign dragon in front of him—the Arcane Commander variant—was readying another attack, its throat lighting up as it quickly filled with fire. Agent X just stood there, waiting for the dragon to launch its attack.

  ?The Sovereign raised its head and fire poured out of its mouth. The fire creating a sea of flames, and out of the flames hundreds of Wyverns the size of small houses took shape from the fiery inferno. The Sovereign in the sky let out an earth tremoring roar. Its roar boosting the forms of the wyverns. They steadied and condensed, as they doubled in size.

  ?A soft chuckle escaped Agent X as he tightened his grip on his scythe. He began his taunt, the sound of his voice dangerously low. "Were you feeling lonely, or were you feeling fear?" The purple fire from the joints of the Terror flared out as he swept the massive blade back, readying himself for the new onslaught.

  ?The standoff between the newly formed legion of Wyverns and Agent X lasted only a couple of seconds, but the anticipation made it feel like an eternity. Finally, the Sovereign in the sky, the Vanguard Commander variant, let out another guttural roar. The legion, acting as its army, began barreling toward their enemy.

  ?As the first Inferno Wyvern came into striking range, Agent X swung with brutal, focused strength. He slammed not the wicked blade, but the blunt, heavy rear of the scythe downward, instantly making the Wyvern burst into ash and lose its fiery form. As the scythe slammed into the ground, the immense force caused the tool to recoil and rebound, lifting Agent X into the air. He didn't resist this power, instead using it to slingshot himself up and away from the impact site.

  ?Several Wyverns, already tearing through the sky toward where Agent X was, quickly found themselves where Agent X now was. His grip on the scythe squeezed harder as he swung with both arms in a wide, horizontal arc. The purple fire around the scythe enlarged instantly, creating a razor-sharp wave of energy that killed the exposed swarm.

  ?Regaining his balance mid-air, a flicker of dark fire in his eyes, he thought: Did the S-Rank weapon gain the same abilities as the original weapon?

  ?With an ominous rumble, Agent X spoke the command: "Guillotine Regiment."

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  ?His scythe started shaking violently before it shattered and instantly reformed into ten smaller scythes, similar in shape of the blade but didn't have the handle. Agent X shrugged. Ten is better than none. The regiment waited for their command, hovering in a disciplined triangle formation behind the demonoid. Their menacing presence outlining Agent X. He smirked, and with a thought, the scythes were gone. All that was seen were trails of purple fire as one after another, the Inferno Wyverns were shredded and replaced with streaks of fading purple fire. Within seconds, the entire swarm was obliterated.

  ?Outraged, the Vanguard Sovereign flapped its massive wings behind it, parting the atmosphere made of ash and soot. It was tired of playing around. Columns of raging fire started wrapping around its talons again as it closed the distance. Its intent was clear: this would be a final, crushing physical assault.

  ?Agent X ordered his scythe regiment to intercept the charging threat. He had a different target in mind. The regiment, moving much faster than the greatswords he had previously used, easily intercepted the massive dragon, forcing the Sovereign to slow to a stop in a desperate struggle for power. The scythe blades lodged themselves into the dragon's limbs, pinning it back.

  ?Agent X formed two new greatswords in his hands as he set his vision on the Arcane Sovereign, that was still on the ground. A small platform made of obsidian quickly formed in the sky behind Agent X. He planted his feet on it, angling his massive frame at his next kill. His greatswords ignited, and all the joints of his demonoid figure poured out fire. The obsidian stones that made up Agent X began to grind and whine like muscle tensing up. The sky started to lose the remaining sunlight it had. Everything went silent as if the world was suddenly put on mute.

  ?Then, one phrase could be heard in a truly deep, demonic-sounding voice: "Abyssal Execution."

  ?Within microseconds, the platform beneath the demonoid shattered, pieces flying out of the atmosphere. Agent X was nowhere to be seen.

  ?With an earth-rumbling slam that demanded everyone's attention, Agent X could be seen kneeling on the ground below the head of the dragon. Unknown to the Arcane Sovereign, its fate was already sealed. The dragon began to look down, but before it could see what happened, its massive head slid silently off its neck. Polished obsidian had replaced what would have been the internal workings of the neck, severing the head cleanly. With a sickening thud, the head fell to its final resting place.

  ?Agent X, knowing he was only halfway done, looked back up. The remaining Vanguard Sovereign was still locked in a power struggle with his regiment. He recalled his regiment. The Sovereign, confused by the sudden retreat, was stunned for a moment. The dragon stayed hovering in place as it watched the ten scythes return to their master and condense back into a single massive Scythe of the Abyss. Agent X grabbed the handle, readying himself for the final opponent.

  ?

  ?The remaining Sovereign was still uncertain of what his intruder was up to, the sudden recall of the Guillotine Regiment. Then, the confusion gave way to a blinding, all-consuming fury as he sees his headless mate. The Sovereign let out a shriek that ripped across the sky, a sound of pure, unrivaled grief, a louder bass-heavy roar than that of any other beast.

  ?Its massive body began to pulse, the lava-crowned crimson scales cracking and peeling away as pure, crimson fire consumed them. The process sounded agonizing and was deafening; the sound of bone and muscle fusing and collapsing upon itself was like a thousand-year-old glacier splitting open. The dragon's immense, multi-ton mass condensed violently inward, the raw power of the Calamity-Class threat being focused and refined into a deadly, dense shell. The air screamed as the pressure of the transformation turned the surrounding soot cloud into superheated steam that instantly vanished.

  ?When the crimson light faded, the dragon was gone. In its place stood a single draconic humanoid figure. Its body was a dense shell of polished, deep-red scales forming invincible armor. The horns on its head formed a crown with flowing lava visible inside the slightly translucent shell. The figure was nearly double that of the ten-foot-tall Obsidian Terror, radiating a terrifying, concentrated force.

  ?Agent X's internal analysis was immediate and grim: The Sovereign is condensing its power to increase its overall output. This is a desperate, final measure. He watched the way the air fractured around the transformed dragon. This dragon is dangerously close to figuring it out. This Sovereign's concentrated power already rivals creatures at the lower end of the Zenith threshold. If someone doesn't kill it soon, we could have a true Zenith transformation on our hands. I don't know if this profile can handle a Zenith, I'll need to make this quick.

  ?The Sovereign took a slow, deliberate step forward, the ground breaking and leaving a deep, smoldering footprint. Its voice was no longer a roar but a resonant, sorrowful baritone. "I am the Lord of the Crimson Dragons. The Ruler of this land, and you have murdered my family."

  ?Agent X lowered the tip of his scythe close to the ground, the purple flame hissing as it touched the rock. He scoffed, the sound of his obsidian voice dry and mocking. "You're the Ruler of the Crimson Dragons? You might be in this realm. But you're not the ruler of them all. That title you cling to means little to me."

  ?The Sovereign's eyes flared. In a moment of absolute rage and focused grief, its eyes solidified from normal dragon pupils into solid, burning crimson orbs. The inferno that was his eyes escaped the eye sockets as they danced skyward, igniting the air around its face. "My mate was the mother of my legions," the Sovereign snarled, taking another step. "My last surviving child. You destroyed them with your, pitiful weapon of stone. I will show you the true power of someone who has surpassed the power of a Vanguard."

  ?Agent X extended his free hand out toward the enraged Sovereign. He clenched his fingers twice, the obsidian joints grinding with a familiar, deep power.

  ?"I may look like that of a second stage. But the power of a Vanguard," Agent X replied, his voice dropping in dangerous finality. "I haven't been that weak for a few millenniums. And I've found that once you reach a certain level of power, those little titles are just a waste of time." He then whipped the scythe back up to rest over his shoulder, the blade humming. "Are you done with the talking, so-called Ruler?"

  ?The Sovereign roared one last time, a guttural roar of pure, concentrated fury and charged toward his arrogant intruder.