“I started doubting my ideal image of a successful ranker that I had created for myself. Was it correct? Did I achieve anything worth being proud of? Or was I just being a douche like you guys are?”
Eren dissed himself and his enemies. Then he chuckled and verbally marched forward:
“Having a broader perspective changes you as a whole, you know? It makes you think that all the things you had done were of no significance in the grand scheme of things.
Never meet your heroes, they say! Do you know what’s an even more soul-crushing experience?
Meeting gods!
Their presence makes you feel inferior. Their mere gaze is enough to let you realize you are nothing but a speck of dust. Feelings like these make you restless because they keep on growing in your head no matter how many times you try to get rid of them.
Tell me, Claho, have you ever met a god?”
Eren asked the enemy leader while looking him in the eyes. The latter raised his eyebrows before responding grimly:
“What are you even trying to say here?”
Eren threw his head back and laughed loudly before speaking up once again.
“I’m saying that I’m angry at myself for being so naive.
But I’m also thankful.
It’s thanks to you guys that I could finally clear up my head. This battle was a much-needed experience for me to see the obvious truth that was eluding me for quite some time now. It helped me re-learn the things I had begun to forget.”
Claho was seriously agitated by Eren’s creepy thoughts. He regretted allowing Eren to say his last words. But now that he had, he wanted him to continue what he was saying. His curiosity got the better of him.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Eren slapped his head as if a realization had dawned on him and struck him like a eureka as a response to Claho’s question.
“It’s thanks to you guys I came to realize how fucking stupid I was.
Yes, my revenge on people who haven’t done anything wrong to me doesn’t make sense if I only consider the current me. But now I’ve realized that it doesn’t have to make sense. I should do this as a tribute to the old me. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Eren said this and tried to get up on his feet using the sword as his support. He managed to do so after a while and spoke again.
“The world won’t become a better place just because I decided to act as a model person. And it won’t change much even if I decide to strive for my goals at the cost of harming others. It would continue to work the way it has, with or without me, no matter what I do or don’t do. In reality, we are just balls of flesh inflated with egos, running all around the surface of this earth until we are eventually defeated. The world doesn’t give a shit about us. By us, I mean all of us low rankers.
Then I might as well forge ahead and exploit everyone and everything to its fullest. Because that’s also something this world has deemed to be alright.”
Eren’s deep breaths stabilized a bit as he got up. He stabilized his stance and continued.
“I’ve also realized that a broader perspective doesn’t help much if you are not capable of having one in the first place. What use is learning the ways of the king is it to someone who is just another thug in the streets? A thug like him is better off learning how to survive from other thugs.
Thanks to all of you, I’ve realized that I had been carrying so much shit in my head. Never will I ever doubt the decisions I have made since my second chance. I’m now ready to accept all the rewards and consequences that come with me pursuing my goals.
I’m ready to accept myself for who I am. And what I am is someone willing to deal with any obstacle that blocks their way. Someone willing to pay the price for their selfishness.
Someone who won’t care about ruining hundreds or thousands of lives if it could help them propel me forward to the pinnacle of this world I’ve been yearning for. I guess one needs to have this realization if they are striving to stand above the others.”
Claho believed that Eren was delirious due to the fight and the serious injuries he sustained. Laughing, he spoke up.
“The mindset of the gods? I see you are preparing for your afterlife. Care to tell me which god did you meet before you die? Maybe we can meet them too. Hahaha!”
The soldiers started chuckling when they heard Claho taunt Eren. The subject of that laughter laughed with them before responding:
“Hahahaha! Careful what you wish for.”
Eren said this before vanishing from his position. He appeared right beside the closet guy from his position and aimed to hit the back of his neck. But Claho and his teammates were ready for something like this. They attacked Eren all at once using precise attacks from their spells and weapons. The rangers also supported their teammates by shooting the right projectile at the right time.
Eren stopped caring about the attacks coming his way unless they weren’t targeting his vital spots. Because it was impossible to dodge all the attacks. He prioritized killing as many rankers as possible without worrying about the injuries.
The battle continued and another two officers were killed by the butcher in the most brutal way possible. But by now, Eren’s body had also been brutally injured. He had fractured his right forearm which was pierced by multiple rounds of void bullets. His left shoulder was dislocated. And there was blood coming out of every pore of his body.
Eren again found himself in the middle of Claho’s teammates. The leader himself also traded a round or two. He had to admit that without his teammates’ and rangers’ support, he would have died tens of times in his short battle against the butcher.
This whole time, Claho was channelling mana through his unique dagger. Although it could be used by any ranker by using their unelementalized mana, the channelling of mana itself would take a considerable amount of time.
Finally, the runes etched onto the metallic blade of the dagger lit up– indicating it was ready to be used.
“Good riddance, Eren Idril.”
Claho said before throwing the dagger toward Eren using his rogue-class spell. The weapon cut through the air and approached the butcher with threatening momentum.
This was the time Eren was most exhausted and most beaten down. The fingers of his fractured right hand had been cut off by a ranker. So he couldn’t hold the katar properly. His left hand wasn’t any better with the gaping wound in his forearm.
Eren’s knees had already suffered damage due to Kelmar’s void bullets. Plus, his incessant movements aggravated the injuries.
One had to say that Claho had chosen an apt time for his unique weapon to make a debut.
The butcher’s vision was beginning to blur. But he never gave up fighting the fight. His anger and his dissatisfaction with himself kept him focused in the battle even during his pitiful state.
He narrowed his eyes, stretched his mana senses, and braced himself for the incoming weapon. He was very confident in deflecting the projectile if not completely dodging it.
But something weird happened when he was expecting the dagger to hit his weapon. It vanished into thin air. Eren had already stretched his mana sense but he couldn’t get a read on the weapon’s location.
Warning bells sounded in Eren’s mind and he re-cast his defensive spell. The butcher’s responses were pretty impressive. Plus, they had been enhanced by his time-element spell combo.
Yet all of that couldn’t keep him safe from the weapon’s attack.
Pichook!
The dagger appeared right in front of Eren’s chest by distorting the space fabric. It also seemed to have twisted Eren’s defensive spell and pierced his chest where his heart was.
Eren’s heart was pierced by a space-element dagger.
