Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

This was Eren's first time witnessing someone move in the stagnated world as freely as him. But he wasn't surprised. He knew the guy was loaded. And the money would always find a way to drag the impossible into the realm of possibility.

Eren shot forth with katars drawn. Ivor marched forward with his daggers clenched in his hand. And their first-ever strike against each other took place.

As a result of the weapons clashing with each other, a series of clanking sounds could be heard in the surroundings. The audience could see a series of afterimages of both the lightning-element rankers battling toe to toe against each other.

Ivor parried Eren's jabs almost every time. Likewise, the former dealt with every slash of the latter effectively. It looked like a stalemate to the audience but both the fighters themselves knew Eren had a slight upper hand.

Eren had a heightened, more refined perception of everything that was happening around him. This was because, unlike Ivor, who had given the responsibility of his enhanced perception of the artefact he was wearing, all of Eren's senses were well invested in augmenting his real-time reasoning as a whole.

This allowed Eren to make his attacks slip through Ivor's defences sometimes. They were rare moments. And the cuts and puncture wounds he had inflicted on Osan Jr. were not that serious.

But those wounds painted a grim picture for Ivor. But the sufferer didn't care. This was the first time he was pushed this hard against a ranker of his age. He felt unmatched exhilaration from battling with Eren.

The high-speed battle continued for a while before Eren and Ivor both retired a side opposite from each other to catch their breaths. They felt that they were at it for quite a long time now. And their bodies felt tired, which was highlighting that belief. However, they both knew it was the distorted perception of time.

Ivor laughed heartily before commenting on the duel that took place just now:

"I got to be honest with you, Eren. I didn't think you would have it in you to battle with me like this the first time I met you. You've finally turned into a fine specimen for me to have a duel against.

Why don't you disband your party and come to join us? Jason is looking for some trusted students he could count on. Maybe I can help you secure the place…"

Ivor spoke as if they were officially taking a break from their match. Renita and Jason were still fighting with each other in the backdrop. But that didn't invoke a sense of urgency in Osan Jr's mind. He knew Jason was going to win.

If he didn't, Ivor was confident he could deal with both Eren and Renita. Unlike Eren, he hadn't expended his mana that much. That allowed him to take things leisurely. Or at least that's what he believed in.

Eren and Ivor were slightly gasping for breaths. They both were perspiring and bleeding due to injuries inflicted on them by their opponents. Ivor looked more haggard than Eren. His clothes were torn at various places.

Because of Eren's precise attacks at similar locations, Ivor had appeared to have suffered fewer injuries than Eren. But they both knew Ivor's condition was much more severe.

The referee raised his eyebrows when he saw that two students had stopped their duels. But he didn't interfere. A sufficient amount of time had passed by now. The students' active participation was confirmed. Now they could choose to retire individually or call it quits as a team and the referee would allow them.

But it didn't look like the duel between Eren and Ivor was able to get wrapped up after the referee listened to Eren's reply that cut short Ivor's speech:

"Listen here, man. We don't necessarily have to talk while catching our breaths. Why don't we both just shut our mouths and settle for another round when we are both ready?"

The conventional battle scenario dictated that Eren would either reply positively or diss him. But Eren had chosen neither and just told him to shut up in a roundabout way.

After Eren spoke, Ivor raised his hand and pointed at him. But he found no words to counter Eren's demands. In the end, he kept his mouth shut and chose to follow his opponent's decision.

Eren knew what Ivor meant when he said Jason was looking for supporters to form a team. In reality, he knew it was much more than just forming teams to participate in the ranking wars.

That's why Eren was staying away from Jason, lest the guy makes him an offer he can't refuse. Eren was no stranger to ignoring his problems while wishing that they would go away on their own. He had practically lived one life on that principle. Using this to deal with Jason was something that came naturally to him.

That's why Eren didn't want to have any word with Ivor. No matter what they spoke, the subject would always come back to Jason recruiting members for his team. The butcher nipped this problem in the bud by making Ivor shut up with his rude yet effective statement.

The battle resumed. Eren chipped away at Ivor's defences and the latter did the same to him. Since both of their weapons were being used against each other, it was only natural for both of their clothes to become bloodied.

Yet, Ivor wasn't backing down. He laughed like he was feeling the greatest joy of his life while he was getting cut by Eren. That had already spooked a few of his fans in the audience while the others were turning into his zealots.

The audience was in awe at the level on which Eren and Ivor were fighting against each other. Eren still acted normal and uncaring. That made Ivor's maniacal laughter even more eye-catching to the audience. They also started feeling pity for Eren, thinking that the guy was fighting with a maniac.

"Good, Eren. I now know you don't like to talk much.

So allow me to show you with my actions that I can still outclass you with one card I haven't shown in the ranking wars yet. Hahaha!

Bow down to me!

Beast contract spell!"

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AN: The 200th chapter is deceptively special. ;)