Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"Beast contract spell!"

Ivor said out aloud before a strong pulse of mana was generated all around him. Eren halted in his steps and chose to watch the show, lest his movements get affected by the series of F-Rank mana pulses setting off around his opponent.

Ivor's skin started forming scales. The now-hardened scale patterns had a slight purple tinge over them. Ivor was now looking more like a snake man with his vertical pupils and convoluted mana signature.

That's right. Ivor had formed a beast contract with the Purple Lightning snake. It seemed like a huge coincidence but Eren knew it was not. Because every close combat expert in a lightning element would have made the same choice for their beast contracts if they were in the same location and position as the students of LA.

Forming a beast contract with Purple Lightning Snake just made sense for the guys like Eren and Ivor who had almost similar specializations and requirements. Therefore, Eren was a little surprised by the fact that Ivor had a beast contract spell that he hadn't used before. But he wasn't surprised by his choice to form a contract with.

Eren's eyes shined with cunning. Ivor was a suitable test subject to know about how much power and manifestation he should show when he makes use of Reen. In addition, he executes a faux beast contract spell. Osan Jr. had become a parameter on which he was intending to base his dummy spell's effects.

'Reen, pay close attention to this guy. You have to manifest features on me that are the same as him when he uses his beast contract spell.'

'Alright!'

Eren informed Reen, who confirmed Eren's order. It was going to be Reen who would take care of the dummy transformation for him after all. He needed her to stay in the loop.

Unaware of what Eren was thinking, Ivor who was totally in the zone, completed his spell-induced transformation and charged at his opponent. This time he was much faster and looked stronger than before.

The sudden spell-induced transformation stopped Ivor's bleeding. His wounds showed signs of healing. The invisible mana layer over his skin got thickened and became semi-transparent. It radiated a faint white light that seemed to bounce off of his skin.

Ivor had initiated his attack as soon as his transformation was stabilized yet he still couldn't catch Eren off guard like he thought he would. He had thought that this would be Eren's first experience seeing a transcendent grade spell being cast.

After all, the spell cost crazy money. He didn't think a guy like Eren would have that kind of stash on him even with his C-Rank healer for a guardian.

Eren had kept a low profile despite being one of the top-performing students in the academy. He sort of just blended right in among the students. So nobody was aware of all his trump cards. Because nobody had kept track of him or his activities.

Unlike Ken, Jason, and Ivor, there were no fans of Eren in the audience. Well, there was one: Ramy Richards. But he didn't count because he belonged to his team.

Therefore, nobody was aware Eren would have the beast contract spell too. Because nobody expected him to. This was what solidified Ivor's belief that he was stronger than Eren. Because he had his beast contract spell to rely on in case things started heading south for him.

"Aaaaaargh!"

This was Eren's turn to grunt with pain as he was kicked in the chest by Ivor savagely. Using the beast transformation spell would highlight the stats and characteristics of the beast related to the contract. So forming a forced contract with the Purple Lightning spell had given Eren's assaulter elevated levels of agility, even when the effects were deemed temporary.

This effect along with his overall increased body stats made it easy for Ivor to breach Eren's defences while staying nimble on his feet to avoid counterattack. It was now Eren's turn to get thrashed around. And that's what Ivor did with his opponent.

'Those who inflict pain must have the courage to bear it as well.'

Eren thought while he was being beaten black and blue by a close combat expert like him. He didn't flinch from the pain despite all those injuries. Although his mind was occupied with observing his opponent, he felt disconnected from everything else.

'Erni, I think I got it. No need to get beaten up anymore.

Use the faux beast contact spell. I'll raise your body stats to a sufficient degree so that you can beat this bitch up.'

Reen was worried about her master's safety so she made that announcement. But Eren knew she only wanted him to stop getting beaten up out of concern. She was also picking on his cuss words vocabulary it seemed.

But Eren didn't budge from his position. Ivor needed to show him all that he could do before Eren decided to change the game.

But simply getting beaten up wasn't enough to make Ivor reveal all his potential. And Eren didn't have anything else that could work on the guy apart from the faux beast contract spell. Except…

'Gem, are you awake?'

The question was asked in Eren's mind to no one in particular. He was hoping the gem would answer his call. Otherwise, he'd have to resort to using the faux beast contract spell to make a comeback.

Eren and Ivor both had retracted their weapons this time. They were both bleeding and had multiple cuts all over their bodies. By deploying a mana layer on the wounds, they were suppressing bleeding.

Eren was even more prone to severe blood loss than Ivor. This is because the latter had used the beast contract spell and turned his skin into the scale to mitigate the effects of the cuts.

That's why it was mutually decided by them to not use weapons anymore. As a result, both of them agreed to continue their weaponless duel. By contrast, if any of them crossed a certain threshold of danger, the referee would force them to forfeit.

Eren waited for the gem to answer while he entered the defensive stance. He abandoned the attack and focused only on the counter. Only this way could he deal with Ivor. By minimizing his damage.

'I always knew I couldn't count on you. Reen, let's do this.'

Said Eren to himself and was about to execute his faux beast contract spell with Reen when he suddenly heard a voice in his head.

'Eren, don't be hasty. You can count on me. I was only reluctant because I would be put back to sleep if I helped you again.

And… you can call me Alephee.'

AN: In the Kabbalah origin, the name Aleph is symbolic of the universe's origin.