Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

'This bastard really did it.

He entered the Battle Trance like it was no big deal. How confident one has to be in their addictions to achieve something like this?'

When Demonmir looked into Eren's eyes as they fought, he observed that the butcher looked at him absentmindedly. Ottoman was overwhelmed when he realized Eren was all bite and no bark.

Elemental fusion always gave rankers the ability to defy logic in a conventional sense.

The first time Eren unlocked elemental fusion between wind and fire, he defeated Altashia. However, not everyone could perform the elemental fusion. One needs to master their elements to dabble in something like this.

Demonmir's elemental fusion was very potent and could be used in all his offensive attacks. The versatility of his elemental fusion and spells allowed him to make full use of his elemental fusion. He incorporated it into his close and mid-range attacks to completely dominate his opponents.

Even Nico Chains found it difficult to stand in Demonmir's vicinity when the latter trained to deepen his weapon comprehension. However, Eren's complex elemental fusion allowed him to breach Demonmir's defense and hurt him.

The butcher's elemental attainment in the lightning, wind, and fire was quite significant. He just needed a catalyst to combine all of his experience, creating a compound elemental fusion.

Lightning properties were added to wind-firee shards. Their speed and damage output increased to an unprecedented level as a result.

Some of Eren's shards created mini explosions as they hit their targets. Some buzzed before penetrating deep into their targets. Some shards diffused Eren's mana into the target's epidermis, causing cellular damage with foreign mana invasion.

Eren's triple-element fusion wasn't stable yet. He had just used Battle Trance as a medium to integrate all his experiences and elemental attainments. Plus, the fusion of the three elements was complex. It was volatile and chaotic by nature. One needed fine control over the fusion process to produce the desired effects.

Eren needed to step out of his Battle Trance and understand the new form of elemental fusion he had unlocked. This was so he could control the shards' properties.

Still, the fact that Eren integrated three elements into his attacks was not a small matter. And since the compound fusion was so complex to perform, it had also become very difficult to defend against.

Demonmir's natural mana defense was cardboard paper for Eren's elemental shards. Each time he clashed with Ottoman, the sparks released from his broadaxe turned into elemental shards before attacking his opponent.

For the first time in a long while, Demonmir got hurt in a battle. That too against someone below him. He started treating Eren as a serious threat because of that.

Demonmir generated a lightning and wind typhoon around him as he fought Eren. The latter's body was also surrounded by compound elemental fusion shards. It was as if two storms clashed against each other.

Streaks of blood poured out as chunks of flesh were chopped from both sides. Even the participants and infiltrators in the vicinity stopped their fight to look at the two storms battling against each other.

Demonmir was intimidated. But he was also happy. He was happy that there was someone who could give him a run for his money in this world, entertaining him. He was also glad that he was able to fight Eren when he was still an Expert ranker. That way, he could take care of him before Eren became a threat.

Of course, Demonmir never considered losing a battle against Eren despite the increasing number of injuries that accumulated. He still had many tricks up his sleeves that he hadn't used.

Eren lost track of time in his battle trance. He responded to Demonmir's attacks subconsciously while ensuring his safety with Instant Reset.

This was the disadvantage of Battle Trance. One could not control their actions completely. Close to 10 minutes passed since the two fought. However, Eren felt like not a minute had passed by. And this was even though he subconsciously used his time-element spells to aid him in his battle against Demonmir.

'This guy's elemental fusion. Hehe. I… I want it.

Mark of the Seven Sins: Domain of…'

Eren subconsciously thought to himself and his emerald green eyes shone with greed. He licked his lips while engaged in mortal combat with Demonmir. A wolfish grin appeared on his face as he decided to devour Demonmir by putting all out against him then and there.

One could say that Demonmir always brought out the "worst" in people. Thankfully, Alephee was there to speak some sense into him just like the last time.

'Eren…. Snap out of it. Don't use your powers here. Especially against him.'

Blitz. Swoosh. Boom.

Eren was thrown in the air again by Demonmir's barrage of attacks landing on him all at once. Since Alephee interrupted his Battle Trance, Eren was unable to counter Demonmir's attacks properly. As a result, he faced severe repercussions.

"Aaaaaaargh! Fuck."

Eren's left arm had almost been severed by Demonmir's last attack. His right hand's radius and ulna bones were exposed. A large chunk of flesh on his right shoulder was also missing.

The severe pain finally snapped Eren back into reality. Since he kept his Instant Reset active, the flesh around his exposed wounds was agitated before regrowing. Eren's healing Ability gave up on him after healing his severe wounds for the most part. Meaning he could not use Instant Reset effectively in his fight against Demonmir anymore.

The butcher would not have been able to keep the Instant Reset active for long anyway. All of his attacks, defense, and rapid healing had taken a huge toll on his mana storage. He knew he would run on fumes if his fight with Demonmir continued for a minute or two more.

Another short stalemate was observed between the two storms.

Eren got up on his feet and stretched his arms. He readjusted his grip on his broadaxe before releasing cracking sounds by rotating his neck.

For some reason, Demonmir didn't follow up on his attacks. He looked at Eren warily before a thought entered his head.

'That hungry gaze… Why did I suddenly feel threatened?'