Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Sienna never had to fear for her life before this day.

Her life was never in actual danger even when she was out hunting monsters for fun. Or when she was handling the clan's business. Even the mock battles she had to go through all her life never really harmed her.

So when she felt the threatening sensations from Eren's weapon, she felt goosebumps on her skin.

'I… I could die here!'

Sienna realized this as she watched Eren lose himself in his trance handling his weapons. The flying slashes he was sending around him were not lethal at first because he wasn't using his mana. But his elemental attainments were slowly starting to manifest. Soon those slashes would cause her a great deal of pain and eventually lead to her death if they land on her.

Eren started speaking up again– more for himself than for any of his listeners.

"Sometimes when things don't work out our way, there might be something better in store for us. It is very difficult to believe in this possibility, and I understand that better than anyone else. Especially when it looks like the entire world is conspiring against us.

Our only job is to trust the process and make conscious efforts to achieve what we want. There needs to be a sense of desperation in our efforts. And that very dash of desperation will work its magic one day.

Sometimes, redirection is just the thing we want in life without us knowing about it. The unintended and unforeseen lead us away from obstacles we cannot see-- towards blessings we could not count on. Sometimes, we are gifted with lofty goals and larger-than-life dreams from the mistakes we commit.

Sometimes, we just need to have the right kind of hunger to achieve the unfathomable. And this hunger can only be cultivated when we are deprived of the things we want."

Eren's voice started reverberating in the surroundings like it had come from different sources all at once. His various elemental attainments were causing this phenomenon.

If there was a normal ranker present at the scene, they would have been shocked by the number of elemental attainments Eren was cultivating for himself. They would have branded the butcher as a madman before understanding the fact that it was simply impossible for anybody to progress this further in these many elemental comprehensions using normal methods.

Alephee could tell that Eren was in a battle trance as he let his feelings drive his actions. His monologue to himself was a way for him to know more about himself.

"After living a life across the spectrum of success and failure, I have witnessed the facets it has to offer to all living beings. I have seen talented people get their bursts of fame before running themselves into the ground. And I have seen less talented but consistent people eventually succeed.

When we see and experience things like these, they start teaching us lessons we kind of already know. The trick is to hold a lofty goal and work passionately towards achieving it. The price is not the goal but the process itself. We just need to find the right path to walk on and the rest of the stuff will figure itself out."

Eren's elemental attainments were getting more profound as he kept on speaking to himself out loud. His presence started dominating one moment, then waned the next.

Alephee kept her silence as she watched the frightened-looking Sienna. The latter's eyes were bloody and her face was red because of the efforts she was putting in to escape the bindings she was subjected to. She had managed to send her mana circuits into hyperdrive but the runic bindings prevented her from casting spells and made her receive backlashes instead.

Unbeknownst to Eren, Sienna's mana signatures were also fluctuating. As if she was turning into someone else. Alephee narrowed her eyes at Sienna before thinking to herself.

'There's a high chance for "her" to appear at the time of Sienna's death.'

Alephee started taking preventive measures when she had that thought. She didn't want to compromise Eren's safety by counting on Anfang's restrictions.

Eren wasn't aware of what was happening around him. He changed his weapons and started developing his own mana-based martial arts for Rigor Mortis and Anduril.

The swords started operating themselves around Eren as it started looking like he had become a blade storm. The spatial fabric around the butcher fluctuated as the weapons began affecting the fabric of reality with his elemental attainments.

If Will Evaan, Nico Chains, Oslo, or anyone who knew Ottoman de Montmorency personally was present at the scene at this time, they would have called Eren Demonmir Lite. Though, the butcher himself wouldn't have considered it an honor.

He just kept quiet for a while as he practiced his weapons before speaking up once again.

"There will be roadblocks in everything we do that are worthy of our time and efforts. However, most people do not attempt to destroy or circumvent them. They use them as an excuse for never starting their journey.

Agreed, success is not something that the process can promise us. But we just need to work in silence and keep moving forward. We need to believe in ourselves to the point of delusion. Because nobody would do that for us without expecting anything in return.

The universe might be impartial to all of us. It might not favor us from the beginning. But it is willing to create an exception for people who are delusional enough to think that they can escape the matrix they have become intentionally or unintentionally part of.

We can only escape the system when we become what we need to become."

Eren stopped his actions all of a sudden and stood still. He had been handling his weapons with closed eyes all this time. After opening them, he took a deep breath before storing his weapons. His eyes shone and the wind rustled his hair when he looked at Sienna.

The space around Eren bent and he appeared right in front of Sienna in a single step. He looked into her eyes calmly before placing his right hand on her chest. Her heart was touched literally as he drove his fingers through her chest without any apparent resistance.

"I thank you for teaching me some very valuable life lessons. The bad blood between us ends with your death. At least I hope it does. Rest in peace, Sienna Slughorn."

Eren said calmly before crushing Sienna's heart.

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AN: Eren wishes you a happy Men's Day. Work in silence to succeed. No need to talk about your struggles to anyone until you make it. Embrace the masculine and trust the process. Cheers! ;)