Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"My lord… Will… Will I see you again?"

The vixen asked Eren in a voice mixed with excitement and nervousness. The butcher was busy checking the items the former had taken out of her inventory. He chuckled and answered without turning back.

"Hmmm? Well… I am not sure. But you can go to White Raven city in the Nightshade duchy and wait for me there. Maybe shift your business there, Miss."

Eren said while he was storing the items. He had to say that he had gotten a good deal on his way to Edinnica. He knew that the vixen wouldn't stay under his Ability's effect forever. Her altered mind and tweaked emotions would come back to normal after some time.

Once the effects of his Ability disappear, it would be up to the vixen to follow up on the decisions she took when she was under the influence. Also, her muddled memories would prevent her from seeing through Eren's previous interactions.

Eren bid adieu to the vixen with a smile on his face before getting inside his flying vehicle parked in the corner.

***

There was a flying vehicle zipping past aerial constructions in Edin's skies at incredible speeds.

'I underestimated the city's aerial traffic. Damn it.'

Eren cursed under his breath as he sped through the city's structures. Marla and Levine were behind him inside the vehicle, processing what had happened thus far.

Eren chuckled as he drove past the floating island. He removed the ranking resources Marla and Almera needed from his storage before commenting.

"Take these, Marla and Almera. Don't worry. You don't have to pay me for these."

Marla pursed her lips before opening them to say something. But in the end, she sighed and dropped her shoulders as if giving up. Having received the resources from Eren, she stored them in her storage before commenting.

"You have never ceased to surprise me, Eren."

Eren smiled as he heard Marla's voice while driving. He had increased the flying vehicle's speed once again, testing the speed limits of the city.

"I did that for you guys. Trust me… you don't want to owe me."

'Ask Altashia. She knows this better than anyone.'

Eren heard Alephee's comment and chuckled a bit. She had contacted him a few days back. Since she had graduated, she was unable to attend the graduation event as a participant. However, she was going to be in the audience with her Grandpa Altair Argas.

Eren didn't forget to invite Marla and Almera to his guild as he drove. Marla learned that he had hired her step-sister Marie and given her a prominent role as a lead potion researcher.

Marla and Almera were already on board with Eren's plans. But they started looking forward to their future with him when he listed the benefits they would receive.

Using the elemental runes, Eren metaphorically pushed the pedal of his flying vehicle. This was when he realized that aerial traffic in Edin's skies was halting his advances to the Royal Ren district.

Soon, everything around Eren and the rest became a blur when the vehicle started traveling at speeds more than the speed of sound.

***

Edinnica.

This district was a collective term for the giant masses of land floating 4000 meters above the ground. From a bird's eye view, it looked like an entire city was flourishing in the embrace of the white clouds.

The entire city was now basking in the Old castles that served as lecture rooms and libraries for the students of Royal Ren. Each building in the district had a rich history of its own. Each building was strategically built to serve multiple purposes.

Edinnica Arena.

This was the arena Royal Ren students used to conduct their ranking wars. Today, however, it was time to get used to hosting rankers from other academies as well.

The Edinnica Arena looked like a valley surrounded by an artificial mountain range. The mountain range had four peaks in four directions. These peaks were equidistant from each other. They had a certain symmetry to them that made them look like the four legs of an upside-down desk from a distance.

However, there was something else about the Edinnica Arena that wasn't there before. A levitating metallic mass hovered above the arena's skies. It was a golden sphere about 2000 meters in radius.

This golden metal sphere was placed right in the center of the four peaks. Half of its portion was surrounded by these four mountain-like pillars. The sphere floated motionlessly about 800 meters from the arena ground. It reflected the morning sunlight off its lustrous surface and spread a golden hue everywhere. As a result, the rankers and the nearby area were bathed in golden sunlight.

The metal sphere looked like it would crush everything and everyone if it stopped rebelling against gravity. A huge mass of metal hovering above their heads would make mortals afraid to be present in the arena.

However, rankers in the audience and the rankers summoned here as participants in the events treated it as no big deal. Or it was just that they refused to show how intimidated they were by such a huge time bomb hanging over their heads.

A huge crowd had gathered for the event. The participants had been allowed to enter the arena in groups. The rankers in the audience kept a safe distance from these participants. The arena was secured by an invisible barrier that separated the participants from the rankers in the audience.

There were several powerful presences everywhere. A lower-ranked entity using their mana sense here would probably be confused because of the sheer amount of feedback they received. Not that anyone would dare use their mana sense so intrusively and carelessly here.

They all seemed to be talking to each other in their groups. There was gossip, greetings, yelling, and screaming happening all at once. People everywhere were excited.

The arena couldn't have been livelier than it was at this point. Then all of a sudden, the sound of a huge bell was heard out of nowhere, and everyone stopped talking. They all looked upwards to see a bunch of rankers descending from the skies.