My Wife is a Dead Villainess, and I’m Her Living Weapon

[Talent: Driven – triggered. Elian Reed will never lose consciousness in the face of an enemy.]

"Tsk. This is getting annoying."

Elian felt himself grimace as he swung his chainsaw arms. Each blow would have been capable of killing S-Ranked breakers, but against his current opponent, they were useless.

After all, how could one cut apart lightning?

Against a sentient force of nature, none of Elian's moves worked.

"Why? Why must you doom the entire world all for your enjoyment? You are nothing more than a deranged warmonger!"

A cataclysmic explosion of light and raw power erupted. Elian turned off his eyes to avoid getting disoriented. Instead, he created tiny eyes that protruded from the floor. But even then, he struggled to not lose sight of his opponent.

With a unique smell of ozone, vast electrical charges had already ionized the air. In the short battle, Gerard Noble unleashed enough energy to light up a country.

He turned himself into a flash of lightning and raced to attack Elian.

"That's because you are a freaking coward! Do you think the current world is a paradise?"

While Living Metal was almost impervious to mana, the same wasn't true for the Dominator variant. Elian felt his limbs and joints all turn numb; they even grew thinner as they were scorched and melted.

[Talent: Driven – triggered. Elian Reed will never lose consciousness in the face of an enemy.]

However, the Tyrant knew he could not show even the slightest weakness.

Not because his life was in danger, but simply because doing so would prove Gerard's point. Elian had to destroy the strongest of humanity in an overwhelming manner.

Only then would people gain confidence in my decision.

"Wake the hell up, you bastard! While you cower and seclude the Earth, do you believe the crucible would allow you to run forever? CORKSCREW!"

Not giving any quarter, Elian placed both his arms forward and dashed to meet his opponent head-on. Rotating his tentacle chainsaws, he spun them together, forming a drill. The roar of multiple chainsaws began to drown out the sound of Gerard's thunder.

CRASH!

Lightning and metal struck one another. Shocked from the inside, Elian vomited blood; meanwhile, his opponent broke apart and came together like water, unharmed.

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE FACING!"

The leader of the Ascendancy's voice reverberated like thunder; it was as if the very heavens were about to fall.

"HAVE YOU EVER ENCOUNTERED AN ENEMY THAT CAN KILL YOU WITH A SINGLE THOUGHT? ARE YOU WILLING TO GAMBLE AN ENTIRE SPECIES TO GO TO WAR WITH MORALLY BANKRUPT RACES?"

Although unfazed by Gerard's posturing, Elian grew silent at his words.

An enemy that can kill you with a single thought? How the hell would that even work? Would the crucible allow for absolute domination?

The crucible was by no means a system designed by saints. However, Elian's own experiences allowed him to understand the intent behind it. While it encouraged perpetual war, that same idea forced it to protect the entire system and remain fair.

[Talent: Driven – triggered. Elian Reed will never lose consciousness in the face of an enemy.]

He then remembered his mother-in-law's terrifying technique. Sending dust sized Living Metal into a person's bloodstream to be inhaled, then detonated upon command. To the uninformed, his faction had already gained the power to kill with a thought.

Should I be worried or proud?

Each power was given a limitation, and each boon was given a hidden nuance. The system enforced this rule. This prevented anyone who used the system from being invincible.

Even Elian himself had an absolute weakness; the same went for Bianca. If someone could find either his core or her soulgem, both of them would die in one blow.

When you have someone who can no longer be contested, their strength itself becomes a deterrent. That will force the war to end, something the crucible doesn't want. Though I also intend to end the war, it won't be only by my own strength.

Passing through him like a current, Gerard turned around and summoned thunderbolts from thin air. Like an army of golden flying arrows, they multiplied by his side. Each of them had the power to turn.

"IT MATTERS NOT! I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM YOUR TYRANNY! NO WONDER YOU FOLLOWED BIANCA VALESTRA! ONLY THE TRULY DERANGED WOULD CHOOSE SUCH A WOMAN!"

Hearing the man in front of him insult his most important person, Elian's rage should have burned anew. But as he was already looking at a dead corpse, Gerard's words didn't have much value; instead, he felt himself chuckle.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING? DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR DECISIONS?"

Again and again, Gerard electrocuted, shocked, and scorched Elian's body. He fought back, but nothing he did worked. Physical attacks, chemical reactions, and even using grounded lines—nothing worked. Gerard simply rampaged like a storm without rest.

[Talent: Driven – triggered. Elian Reed will never lose consciousness in the face of an enemy.]

But Elian endured it all. He didn't grunt, cry, or yell in pain. Even when the sensations of repeatedly experiencing his nerves melt made him want to die.

The moment he ran out of Dominator variants to replace his nerves, Elian used guiding wires and controlled his body like a puppet. Wracking his brains for countermeasures, he fought as his body .

Gerard's stats might have been weaker than Elian's, but his nature as an elemental made fighting him almost like taking on a force of nature. Especially to someone who fights without mana.

AHHH! This hurts like hell! Even binding my insides with rubber from a ship's worth of tires does nothing! HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO STOP LIGHTNING?

Although he grew hysterical from the pain, mentally, Elian kept up his act.

The Tyrant knew what he was doing. He was acting a persona he had carefully designed. One of unbending will, able to take on the horrors that awaited the humans from entering the crucible.

"Nah, I do. But it doesn't matter," Elian said, trying to sound unbothered. "Instead, give me a name, you bastard."

"W-Wha…"

"A name, the alien bastards you fear, the ones who kill with just a thought, and the ones who scare you shitless. Tell me. After I kill you, I will come for them."

All of a sudden, the wild force of lightning joined together to form a man once more.

"You intend to look for them? Are you so stupid as to not understand what I am trying to warn you against? You will doom the entire human rac…"

Shaking off the incessant trembling of Elian's body, he gritted his teeth.

"No, I understand plenty. Give me the name of the world, the one I should avoid. No matter what you say, two things will happen. You will die today, and I am going to conquer the crucible. So just give me who they are; I will do the rest."

"Y-You will do the rest?"

"Yeah, rest in peace after I kill you. What you fear will never happen. I will protect humanity and make anyone who messes with us pay."

Gerard turned silent. After a few seconds, he placed a hand on his head and made a face full of frustration.

"I can't remember…" he said anxiously.

"You what?"

"I can't remember who or what I am supposed to fear. I have this immense uncertainty, but when I try to think of a name, I don't have any."

"…"

At that point, Elian felt his blood run cold. In his short life as a Tyrant, he saw many abilities that defied common sense. Everything from manipulating people and reading minds to bringing back the dead. Thus, if one asked if tampering with memories was impossible…

Someone already conquered Earth long ago…

Just like how Yearns and other aliens had already encroached on this world, why wouldn't it be possible for another race to already take control of the leaders of Earth? If there was one thing the crucible did for Elian, it was to deny the word "impossible."

"NOOO!!!"

A sudden scream caused both Elian and Gerard to turn around. They saw the headless body of Shang Jian. Already dead, his corpse was bound by Dominator variants and looked like it was summarily executed.

"EVERYONE! EVERYONE! HELP ME! I AM GOING TO DIE! CRUSADERS! ANYONE!"

Seraphi Cavour shrieked in desperation. Her eyes were bloodshot, while her face looked like that of a mental patient.

I wonder if her insanity is also the product of manipulation. If one looks at the angle of a puppet. All of their actions suddenly make sense.

The clearest sign of a puppet leader was someone who acted against their best interests. What if the reason the Big Three remained foolish was not because of their own doing but because of someone else's? Whose fault would it be in that case?

Although Gerard could see Bianca shoot his Anchor in the kneecaps, he didn't move in the slightest. It was as if the very fiber of Gerard's personality had become undone. He stood in place with an empty expression.

Seeing that Elian felt pity. If it was true, how long had he been a puppet? What sort of things had he done with the suggestion someone placed on him? However, none of that mattered in the slightest.

Regardless of if Gerard R. Nobel was a puppet or not, it did not remove the fact that in order for Elian to become a Tyrant, he needed to die.

But first, he needed to find a way to beat lightning. The amount of power humanity used on a daily basis had long surpassed the full charge of a thunderstorm, so there had to be a way.

"System, what kind of safety measure does a city's power grid have when it overloads?" Elian whispered under his breath.

[It would be through the use of arc chutes and breakers.]

"Ho? Then let's give it a go."