Gondel was surrounded by the rest of the participants in no time.
The geek gulped as he found himself on the receiving end of so many aggressive stares. He knew that things would become extremely dire for him if all the participants decided to attack him at the same time.
Gondel and other participants were getting ready for a showdown. Some participants had decided to attack Gondel. Some others had decided to attack the ones who would be taking on Gondel– catching them by surprise.
There was unmasked greed evident in all the participants' eyes and expressions as they prepared for an all-out fight. Things were coming to a tipping point.
But all the participants stopped in their tracks at the same time when they felt otherworldly energy surrounding them. They all turned towards the source of the energy that was standing not too far from the city square fountain.
'This… this is intent mana… someone's using intent-based magic… forbidden magic.'
One of the participants thought to himself as he felt the effects of the domain he found himself in. He was from Royal Ren and had an influential family background. The participant quickly understood the source of Eren's Ability as soon as he was subjected to it.
The participants kept dealing with Gondel on the back burner and focused on Eren. They knew that Gondel had the array disk but he was still far away from claiming victory. As long as they made sure that Gondel didn't hand over the array key to Maya, the winner of the test would remain undecided.
Maya didn't look like she would intervene in the participants' fight. She had already stated the test's rules. It was clear that Sansara Sage was executing a scenario like this toward the end of his test.
Sansara Saage would have preferred his legacy to be inherited by an array creator like Gondel. In addition, he had to be equally capable as well. There was no point in giving his Legacy to a weak array creator.
The array creator needed to prove himself that he was worthy of standing up to other rankers despite the challenges he faced in a frontal clash. Only then could they elevate themselves from being labeled geeks.
As he was faced with the biggest challenge of his life, Gondel also realized Sansara Sage's intentions. But instead of rising to the challenge, he took mental satisfaction in cursing everyone around him.
Eren took the spotlight from Gondel after he activated his domain-type Ability. He didn't know much about intent-based magic. So he wasn't that spooked by Eren's Ability. The geek just took a breath of relief after finding out that he was not in immediate danger.
Unlike Gondel, Eren wasn't nervous about being stared at by all the participants. He gave them a bright smile before speaking up.
"Welcome and well fought, my fellow participants.
My name is Eren Elijah Idril. Most of you know me by my name at least. But today I will show you I'm more than what they say about me.
I also wanted to try this Ability of mine inside a safe environment. So I'll thank you all in advance for serving as my test subjects.
For some reason, I'm a bit peckish at the moment. So you'll have to forgive me for keeping our introductions to a minimum."
Eren addressed all the participants casually as if he was giving a speech. He then focused his gaze on Gondel and gave him a warning.
"Gondel, right? You better stay where the fuck you are. Let me get rid of all the participants first. Rest assured, it shouldn't take long."
Eren's voice started sounding deep and mysterious mid-speech. His black hair turned white and tribal tattoos appeared on his skin. His eyes turned blue and there was a shift in his mana signature all of a sudden.
Eren's provocation was deliberate. He wanted the rankers to attack him with all their might. After all, the Domain of Gluttony worked best when other participants attacked him with their elemental spells.
Eren's Domain of Gluttony could be activated by biting his tongue slightly.
He knew that it wouldn't take long for him to activate his Ability on a whim as well. But he needed to increase his proficiency in using it.
Just like the Domain of Wrath, Eren's new Sin-Series Ability was multi-faceted. Meaning it could be used in a variety of ways.
The gluttony mana was summoned into existence inside the domain. Due to its peculiar nature, it could not be used by other rankers.
The butcher wanted to test the Domain of Gluttony as soon as he could. He had the same level of excitement about using it as a new owner of a flying vehicle inside Edin. But he couldn't test it openly on other participants because of Sansara World's introspection system. To use it, he received much-needed assurance from Maya that she would cover for him.
The participants were too stunned to speak after seeing the change in Eren's presence. They all came to realize that he was no normal ranker. Most of his eyewitnesses started assuming him to be a cultist that had infiltrated the event.
Eren's warning made Gondel freeze in his position. He knew what the butcher could do. Eren had killed his three teammates without breaking a sweat after all. Thus, the geek decided that he would not intervene between Eren and the other participants' fight unless he had to.
The participants came to a silent agreement among themselves that they would not target Gondel. He was to be approached by the last ranker standing at the end of their brawl.
Gondel, on the other hand, preferred if all the participants got critically injured or died fighting each other. Or at least get so busy grabbing each other's throats that they forget about him. That way, he could secure his win without having to be part of the mess.
The geek clenched his fists and used his movement spell to move back from the potential battlefield. He knew that he would only be attacked if he tried to approach Maya. Thus, he didn't want to attract that much heat by doing something so foolish.
Gondel the geek decided to wait for the right moment.
