“Aaaaaaaargh!”
Stan’s body caught fire as he screamed in pain. This fire burns with purple flames, indicating that it wasn’t normal. It was a mana-induced fire that was generated through a spell.
Stan’s subconscious mind had reacted and started channeling mana through his body. Purple flames appeared as a result of the same.
Stan started vomiting as well, as Eren’s foreign mana acted on his solar plexus. He felt like the world was spinning around him as he vomited blood mixed in his vomit.
“Fuck. Stan, are you alright? What the fuck just…”
Jayce was the first one to act. He executed his movement spell and quickly appeared near Stan. He held him by his arm and helped him sit up on the ground.
Bryce on the other hand zeroed in on Eren who looked like he was about to fall. Bryce could see that their victim had overexerted himself in landing that punch. He also started coughing blood and the epidermis over the knuckles with which he had punched looked to be missing. This was showing the underlying white layer that was slowly getting painted with red.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Eren was about to create a small puddle of blood where he was standing with the way he was losing his blood. It was only his sheer willpower and exceptional mental fortitude that had allowed him to stay on his feet.
Executing that punch was too much for his current, unranked body to handle. He could channel his mana through his body but he couldn’t make use of it as it was being used by official rankers.
In addition, without a mana core, he could only use the mana that had accumulated naturally in his mana circuits. There was no way he could execute the same move multiple times.
‘Seek and ye shall find.’
Eren felt his heartbeat with his right hand and patted it while repeating this thought. Unbeknownst to him, that thought had become an integral part of his thought process.
Stan kept on screaming in pain as his body worked to expel Eren’s foreign mana that had intruded on one of his weakest spots. Jayce looked after him with wondrous expressions while Ralph kept a safe distance from Eren.
For some reason, the Eren that Ralph was seeing at this point was giving him dangerous vibes. As if the guy was hell-bent on launching a suicide strike on anybody who decides to mess with him. Then Ralph chided himself for being intimidated by a non-ranker.
“Ralph, Jayce you fucking cowards. Kill Eren. What are you waiting for? Kill him right fucking now.”
Stan had lost his signature smile. His graceful appearance was nowhere to be found. There was only pain, hate, and fear that was seen on his face. He commanded his lackeys to act as swiftly as they could. So that they would take care of Eren and allow his nightmare to end.
Stan could never forgive himself for getting beaten to submission by Eren’s one punch. He wanted to beat Eren himself. But it would take a while for him to heal his internal injuries. That and the fact that getting close to Eren had scared him.
Now all he wanted to do was take care of Eren for once and have some peace of mind. Otherwise… Stan was lowkey scared to think what would happen to him if and when a ferocious man like Eren becomes an official ranker and comes for his head. Because the way he executed that pseudo movement spell almost assured Stan that Eren was going to enter the official rank sooner or later.
He shook his head to rid himself of his confusion before shouting menacingly.
“Kill him. Kill this wretched man and you’d be rewarded. I promise that you will be rewarded after you get this job done.”
Jayce and Ralph met each other’s eyes when they heard Stan’s offer. They knew Stan was loaded. They had killed plenty in Numbered Oasis. To them, killing Eren for gains wasn’t something totally out of the ordinary.
This was an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Jayce started walking towards where he once was and stood near Ralph. He sighed and looked at Eren’s sorry state before commenting.
“Eren, we tortured you and made fun of you over these months. And you retaliated. We get that. At least I get that.
But sometimes, we need to choose our opponents well. We need to think about the consequences of our retaliation.”
Ralph raised his eyebrows and looked at Jayce when he heard the latter speak. However, Ralph seemed to be a man of few words and more action. He didn’t stop Jayce either as he verbally marched on.
“I don’t blame you for retaliation, Eren. But I blame you for choosing the wrong person to retaliate against. That too when you were not even an official ranker.
You have run out of your time and regret is a bitter pill to swallow. This would be over quickly. I hope you forgive us as we relieve you of all your sufferings.”
Jayce thought that whatever he said to Eren were sensible things, no matter how unfair they may seem to him. But instead of getting angry or agreeing with him, Eren started laughing on the spot. His bloody teeth were for everyone to see.
“Hahahahahahaha!
I didn’t know you were a philosopher, Jayce. A philosopher of bullshittery. If you want to come at me, you don’t need a rhyme or reason to justify your actions. The reward you’d get for being Stan’s lapdog should be a good motivator, right?
That speech was for your mental satisfaction, not mine. Don’t think that you can understand my life, my choices, and my struggles from your point of view on life. It doesn’t work that way.”
Eren wiped the bloody mouth with the back of his left hand and spat a load of saliva mixed within the blood before continuing.
“In order to taste my cup of water, you first need to empty your cup.”
