“0…”

Eren mumbled to himself before executing the movement spell that he had received from being the inheritor of the Maniac Creator. He had used this spell earlier when attacking Stan and dodging the dual-pronged attack. It was cast in its limited capability those times because Eren didn’t have a mana core.

But at this time, he had both mana core and experience. So he did not shy away from using the spell.

This lightning-element movement spell had been given a very simple name.

Blitz Steps.

Eren’s legs were coated in the tongues of lightning when he cast this spell effortlessly. While his opponents were struggling to cast each spell, the one who had just broken into the official rank was using their movement spell like it was no big deal. Like he had used it countless times.

Swish. Aim. Punch.

Stan felt a brutal impact on his chest while he was looking at Eren’s previous position with a baffled expression. As he went airborne, he saw the guy standing not too far away from where he was just now. With his hands coated in streaks of lightning.

Stan watched with the same baffled expressions as Eren seemingly disappeared from his place once again. His next target was going to be either Jayce or Ralph. But he couldn’t be sure or find it in him to care enough about it. That’s because he was in no condition to worry about the others.

“Aaaargh!”

Stan’s voice was heard by Jayce just when Eren reached him. Jayce had already cast his stone skin spell almost all over his body by that point.

Swoosh. Bang. Crack.

Eren executed his fist arts on the same shoulder as Jayce that had gotten injured because of Ralph’s attack. The injured shoulder had been fortified with earth-element mana acting as the stone skin for the guy. Yet it couldn’t completely negate the force with which Eren had executed his punch on the injured part.

Jayce was going to get thrown from his position too because of the extreme vector force acting on his body. As Eren gripped the guy’s arm with his left hand, he adjusted himself to punch at the guy’s Adam’s apple. In Jeet Kune Do, no sensitive part was forbidden to be attacked.

Jayce felt like somebody had first attacked his shoulders with a hammer. And then they used the same hammer to attack his neck. He couldn’t even yell because the attack on his neck had affected his windpipe. One could be sure that Jayce had been seriously injured if he wasn’t one of the earth-element rankers known for their exceptional defense.

And yet, Jayce wasn’t the only one who had suffered damage in this brief mano-e-mano showdown.

Lightning had bad compatibility with earth element defense spells. Eren couldn’t stun Jayce with his lightning attacks on the same level as Stan. Therefore, Jayce’s reaction time was not compromised.

Eren’s knuckles had started bleeding some more despite the mana defense layer deployed. Breaking Jayce’s shoulder and effectively making his left hand useless had its price to pay.

But that was not all. Jayce had also strengthened his legs with his earth-element mana. He had kicked Eren on his right leg which had been put in front of him because of his stance.

Eren’s femur bone had been fractured because of the Jayce attack that he had executed in retaliation. Eren felt like shouting at the top of his voice to relieve some of the pain. But he held it in and moved in the direction of where Ralph was only to see an incoming punch.

Bang.

Eren’s body was thrown in the opposite direction as he received that punch straight in his face. He felt the foreign mana invasion for the first time as Ralph’s fire mana started to enter his system.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Eren couldn’t control his agony this time and screamed his heart out. He felt like somebody was injecting molten lava in his mana veins that were near his face.

Eren quickly channeled his mana throughout his body and concentrated especially on his face region. He did a better job in expelling foreign mana than the official rankers in front of him could ever do.

Ralph watched with a surprised expression as the flames that had covered Eren’s face had been doused as soon as they were inflicted on Eren by him.

‘This… this guy is a prodigy– even more reason to kill him.’

Ralph thought and followed his attack with another punch and leg work after approaching Eren. His plan was simple. Not allowing Eren even a moment of breathing room.

Jayce and Stan also joined him with their spells after they recovered from their initial shock and pain. The three worked in unison to attack Eren without any limiters placed on them. Unlike before, this was a fight between two wides of rankers. The stakes had gotten higher than before.

The fight continued for a few minutes. And each side used the spells at their disposal to attack the other side. The problem with Eren was that he only had himself on his side while the other side had three.

Add to the fact that Eren had no offensive spell he could use right away. Lightning-element fists were not spells but manifestations of his lightning mana that he pumped to the max to give his martial-arts-driven fist attacks an edge. It couldn’t be categorized as a spell that tapped into mana circuits and mana points systematically.

Eren could only use his movement spell the way it should have been used. He tried using other spells that were more complicated and failed hugely. He also suffered spell backlash because of failed spell castings while he was being hammered by his three opponents.

There was only one more spell Eren could use after he had tried and tested it mid-battle. That was a healing spell. But the lightning element wasn’t known for its healing properties. So the effects it produced were nothing substantial for the mana it consumed.

Eren soon gave up on casting healing spells on his body while he was battling with three opponents. If he kept on using the healing spell, he would run out of his new mana core sooner than anticipated.

Eren fought the fight with exceptional perseverance. The more he fought the worse his injuries became. He had made use of every move he could use and injured his opponents with his precise attacks.

There was strength in numbers. And Eren couldn’t overcome that strength with his powers, no matter how effectively he applied the digested memories.

Being an official ranker wasn’t enough for Eren to overcome this life-threatening situation. He needed another miracle. A kind of miracle that wasn’t granted to anybody in humans’ known history.

What would the miracle be?

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