Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

'Is this a Sin Series Ability?

Why does it feel different? As if it was so much more than that?

Perhaps… an Authority?'

Maya thought to herself as she observed Eren's domain with an artificial mana sense available to her. Being the creation of a demonic ranker, Maya obviously knew about the existence of the Sin Series Abilities.

Before the continent-spanning array's existence, the Sin Series Abilities were being used on the land of Anfang. As a result, Maya knew quite a lot about them through old records.

Thus, Maya conjectured that Eren had received an extraordinary power from the demonic altar the likes of which she hadn't read in previous records. After all, domain-type demonic attacks were unheard of.

She also wondered how someone could be so blessed by the demon realm. And what kind of acts must they have done to get such high recognition?

'I had an inkling he wasn't like the rest. But maybe I managed to underestimate him still.'

Maya had another thought as she looked at Eren's back. She had been given a heads-up by Eren regarding his usage of the Sin-Series Ability so she wasn't caught off guard. She had kept a safe distance from him, allowing him to handle the matter as he saw fit.

The silent stalemate among the participants didn't last long.

"Hahaha. This cultist punk thinks he can get rid of all of us with his weird parlor tricks. I alone am enough to shatter his pride."

One of the participants came forward from his position and looked at Eren provocatively. He belonged to one of the teams that tried to Target the White Raven crew.

It wasn't that this participant underestimated Eren. It was just that he was incredibly confident in his skills and accomplishments as a ranker.

Eren was used to being called a cultist whenever he showed his white-haired transformation to anybody. So he wasn't bothered by it. Lighting struck and he disappeared from his position.

Multiple spells and abilities were launched at once.

Blitz Steps

Sedating Gaze

Sedated Perception

Stunning Speed

Total Control

Life Drain

Bzzt. Swoosh. Pichuk.

The participant, who had come forward and boasted about how easy it was for him to dispose of Eren, suddenly found himself staring into the butcher's completely white eyes. A chill ran down his spine as a result.

Due to the effect of the Sedating Gaze, the participant could not move. The butcher had also cast his time element spells separately to expedite his movement as well as the effects of his spells and Abilities.

The butcher willed his right hand to turn into a semi-shriveled form. The nails on his fingers grew before turning black. There were various runic symbols etched over his fingers as his hands developed wrinkles all over them. It was as if the butcher's hands had aged quite a bit due to the lack of Life Force in them.

Life Drain.

He had activated this Ability of his after a long time. It was an Ability Eren had gained from his time in Purgatory.

After Eren broke into the later stages of the Adept rank, he never had much use for this Ability because he could dominate his opponents in other convenient ways.

Furthermore, extracting Life Force from his opponents was not useful to him as he grew up as a ranker. After all, he could only use it to heal himself and recover his vigor and depleted stats. The temporary boost he received from extracting Life Force from his opponents wasn't useful for him after turning into a Liquid-stage Adept.

However, under the influence of the Domain of Gluttony, Life Drain had leveled up. Plus, it could be paired up nicely with another Ability the butcher had taken from Ken.

Eren wanted to make the participants attack him as a whole. And the easiest way to do that was to make an example of the participant who dared to raise his voice against him.

The participant felt that his stomach had been punctured by something very sharp at various points. He couldn't move or do other forms of actions against Eren's surprise attack because of being subjected to his ocular Ability.

In the next moment, the participant had his Life Force siphoned out of him. His body aged rapidly before his skin started looking like that of Eren's hands.

Under the effects of the Gluttony Domain, Life Drain had turned into a deadly Ability. The ranker who had been at the receiving end of the butcher's attack died on the spot. His body turned into a still-standing mummified statue before it crumbled down.

**

The butcher had used Ken's Ability to boost his body stats. His heart rate would skyrocket whenever he used this Ability. As such, he called it Hero's Heart.

Hero's Heart was a very peculiar Ability. That's because it used a rare form of fuel.

The Life Force was a very important physical attribute. Under normal circumstances, it would recover after taking sufficient rest. But if a ranker used it to fuel their Ability, it would decrease dramatically. After it drops down beyond a certain level, the depletion would start to harm a ranker's body.

Ken would use his Ability sparingly because it would tap into his Life Force reserves. His Ability was easy to use and had a wide range of uses. But the Fist Saint knew that if he abused it too much, it would backfire on him mid-fight.

Unlike Ken, however, Eren didn't have to worry about overusing Hero's Heart. That's because he found out that he could pair it with Life Drain.

Hero's Heart made use of the additional Life Force Eren had extracted from his enemies using the Life Drain. The two Abilities complemented each other nicely, enabling Eren to use them without suffering any form of consequences.

The butcher felt energized after using Life Drain and Hero's Heart at the same time. It was as if he was indulging in a sumptuous meal and immediately converting it into pure energy and vitality.

Eren remembered his fight with the old hag from whom he had robbed Life Drain. It made him wonder whether the old hag was a demonic practitioner while she was alive.

That's because Life Drain felt like it was an Ability granted to demonic rankers devoted to the Prince of Gluttony. There was no other way for the butcher to explain how Life Drain was so potent under the effects of the domain of Gluttony.

Unknown to him, Maya had come to a similar conclusion as well.

'It's unbelievable... As far as I can remember, there was a mention of a witch in Lab Salem who was capable of doing it in the past. How did he get this Ability for himself?'

AN: Life Drain was first mentioned in chapter 318.