Blinding stars and aching pain.

That’s what Ralph and Jayce felt and processed.

Ralph was hit by Jayce’s stone-covered fist so hard that Ralph’s vision got compromised and he started seeing white lights that weren’t there. Jayce on the other hand was punched by Ralph’s flame fist that had been mana-enhanced to pack more strength behind them.

Both were hit by each other’s attacks and were pushed in the same direction they came from.

“Aaaaaargh!”

“Fuuuuuck!”

The agony was real. Even more devastating for both of them was that they were hit by each other’s attacks. And a non-ranked rat had gotten away from their two-pronged approach scot-free.

Did he go scot-free though?

Eren puked more blood from his mouth as the internal injuries he sustained got more severe because of the stunt he had pulled. And yet, the hustler had a smile on his face.

Even he wasn’t aware that he had performed a move like that. He had just let his instincts take over based on the principles of Jeet Kune Do. He had also realized that this type of martial arts was a double edge sword.

When following this creed, the individual was not in complete control of his actions. He needed more practice and finer control of his instincts that would allow him to make the maximum use of the martial arts while keeping its foundation intact.

Again a distinct mana pulse was felt from Eren at this point.

“How… how the fuck can he cast the movement spell? Did he visit the Numbered Oasis?”

Ralph spat blood that was accumulating in his mouth as he said that. He got up from his position and asked seemingly nobody as he stared at his opponent.

“Aaaaargh. Fuck this!”

Snap.

Jayce snapped his dislocated shoulder and deployed more mana defense layers in the region to keep it safe from any more attacks. He had a bone fracture. However, as an official ranker, he had his own remedies to deal with the pain for the time being.

Jayce, Ralph, and Stan both looked at one another and came to realize something at that point. Eren was dangerous. It’s almost like he invented the spell himself with the way he is executing it with just the feeble mana he has in his mana circuits.

Even Stan got up from his position and stood a few meters away from Eren. Now Eren was surrounded by three official rankers who were gearing up for a combined attack.

Stan took a long breath and channeled his mana throughout his body to calm that chaos that was happening within his body. He then started casting spells that made his arms and legs catch fire. Jayce and Ralph were doing the same.

Stan looked at Eren with narrowed eyes and said what he was thinking at the time. Almost like a confession to the man who was about to die.

“We admit that we underestimated you, Eren. No more. It’s not like I was planning to kill you from the very beginning. But you have changed. You have changed a lot.

The more I beat you tonight the more I realized this. It didn’t take me long to come to a decision that you had to die. Not because of Reece. But because you have greater potential as a ranker than us. We can only imagine what you’d do to us if you entered official rank.”

Stan smirked after he said that. His smirk had regained the gracefulness that he was used to faking.

“Hehe. That and the fact that I don’t want to see the guy that I was used to calling a loser succeed more as a ranker than me. What would that make me? A far uglier loser, right?

So, I’ll just nip the problem in the bud. Guys… 3…”

Eren wasn’t listening to any of Stan’s ramblings. He could tell that casting spells weren’t as easy for them as it was for him even with no mana core. The guy was trying to buy time to cast spells.

Eren had to give credit to the memories and experiences stored within the creator’s Easter Egg. he would have been long dead if he didn’t have those memories to bank upon.

“2…”

Eren took a long breath and controlled his breath. Breathing was one of the most fundamental parts of martial arts. One had to have complete control over their breaths to make maximum use of their strength, no matter what type of conditions they were in.

Eren then stretched his legs. He kept his right leg forward while keeping his left leg at its position. He stood on his toes and made his body feel as light as possible. He was at his limits. And yet he still wanted to face his fate head-on. He had no choice.

“1…”

A distinct mana pulse was felt from Eren once again and for a moment Stan forgot to count. That’s because he felt the invisible mana in the surroundings converge around Eren in the form of a storm.

Eren felt like a micro bomb had been detonated under his navel as the mana core in a gaseous state formed inside his body.

Eren had reached the official rank. He had become a Metahuman at this point. Immediately after the mana core was created, it began spinning and drew huge amounts of mana into itself from Eren’s surroundings. The first breakthrough into official rank had allowed him to make full use of his Rank 1 mana core.

Being a non-ranker, Eren couldn’t feel much of his mana circuits at first. But that changed when the mana core was formed within him and started diffusing mana into his body through the use of mana circuits.

His mana points and mana veins got activated and he felt like he was in more control of his body than ever before. His wounds stopped bleeding any further as the mana defense layer that was the sign of an official ranker was naturally activated by his body.

“0…”

The countdown was finished. But it wasn’t Stan or his friends who finished it.

Eren had said that part and disappeared from his place. Leaving streaks of lightning dancing on the ground in his wake.

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