"Goodbye, Eren…"
"Eren, your father, where is he? Where the hell is he?"
"No. I can't take it anymore. Why didn't he tell me? He… he could have asked me again."
"I hate it when I see your face, Eren. Those eyes. They remind me of him."
"Stay here with Aunt Nina for a while, Eren. Mother will go look for your father."
"Close your eyes and go to sleep, Erni. Even though I am not like your parents, I will do my best to take care of you. We'll have so much fun. Hehe."
"Oh, it seems you are already sleepy."
"Good night. Sleep well."
"Sleeeeeep…."
***
Eren felt as if he had lived his past life once again while his consciousness was suspended in a mysterious state. When he gained a semblance of control over himself, he felt like he had been sent into an even stranger place.
This place had a star-studded sky as its ceiling and a profound white fog as its ground. This place didn't seem to have definite borders. It was as if one could reach any world across the boundless cosmos using this place as a pathway.
Eren could sense that there were seats arranged neatly inside this place. These seats created various circles with a respective throne in their center each.
Eren felt like a formless and odorless fog had surrounded him. He felt as if he was still in his infantile soul form, approaching a place that now belonged to him.
'Hm? Who are these guys?'
Eren thought to himself as he looked at the blurred figures of people who were by their respective seats and thrones. He could tell that they were strong. So much so that each one of them could destroy his homeworld, Anfang, many times over.
While Eren was busy observing the gods, the gods were observing him. To them, he was like a mere drop of water that had managed to sneak inside the Celestial Court.
Yet, for some reason, Eren didn't feel like he should be scared of these divine beings. That's because when he approached, he could feel their emotions directed at him. He wasn't sure how, but he could tell that some of them were afraid of him. Others were either intimidated or chose to remain on the sidelines as he approached his intended destination, which was calling for him.
Eren felt like his soul was being greatly nourished after coming to this peculiar place. It was as if it was absorbing all the white surrounding him. He could tell that this white form was the same stuff Argo had given him as his share for helping him cultivate Gluttony Mana– Origin Force.
For the first time, after his soul was tempered by the almighty consciousness and nurtured by the Origin Force of the purest form, Eren managed to project his Soul Sense Manifestation in the celestial court. He felt as if he had grown his limbs and the rest of his body as he got closer to the throne that was silently calling out to him.
Eren didn't care about the entities staring at him with all sorts of emotions and fears running through their minds. He went past the boundary of the seven divine chairs that surrounded a peculiar throne before moving towards the throne itself.
Reach.
Eren reached his right arm and touched an empty throne that he knew in his heart belonged to him. When he touched the throne with his Soul Sense Manifestation for the first time, he felt as if his soul was burning from within. He felt as if he could harness the emotions of the Seven Sins of countless beings spread across the boundless cosmos.
Hmmmm!
Eren felt like groaning because of how heavy and nauseating he was feeling at the time. He felt as if he would implode from within if the inflow of those emotions into his soul did not stop.
[ Eren, do not try to touch the throne yet. You have claimed it. But you are not capable of a seat on it yet. ]
Eren heard an echo in his head. This time he could hear the voice clearly and knew that it belonged to Aleph, whose throne he had acquired at last, accepting his final legacy with all its merits and demerits.
Listening to Aleph's warning, Eren released his connection to the throne. If merely touching it affected him so severely, sitting on it might destroy his soul. Now, he comprehended that he had gained an incredibly potent power.
'I'll… I'll return here someday,' Eren thought to himself as he let his soul get pulled back by an ethereal tug his soul was entangled in.
When Eren opened his eyes, he found himself back in Anfang.
***
Rewinding back in time, just before Eren was about to cast the Beast Contract Spell on all of Anfang.
"Leela… Leela… are you finally waking up? Are you okay?"
Layla asked her sister with concern. She gently caressed Leela's face, hoping for her to regain consciousness. Leela lay resting on the ground, her head resting on Layla's lap.
When Leela finally managed to open her eyes, she found herself at a relatively secluded spot inside the second Birdcage Barrier Formation. Since Eren had changed the way the Birdcage Barrier worked after successfully retrieving Reen's body, Layla and Leela both were unable to leave the secondary barrier.
Leela sensed that Layla had shielded them despite being inside the domain while Eliza and Demonmir battled each other to their apparent destruction. Leela understood that Layla's protection wouldn't have sufficed if Eliza hadn't consciously attempted to keep the sisters away from her conflict in the first place.
"What… What happened to me?"
Leela inquired, looking around with a throbbing headache. Though the vision in front of her was still blurry, she managed to sit up.
"I warned you about that man Eren before you took charge of the Shallot's Mirror, didn't I? He managed to harm your soul when we all had our guards down."
Layla explained what had transpired after Leela was forced to lose consciousness.
By the time Layla finished her explanation, Leela's vision had returned to normal. She could see the ongoing battle between Eliza and Demonmir.
"That means…," Leela was taken aback by how Eren had dealt with Eliza and her threat. Layla nodded at her before articulating what Leela couldn't voice.
"That's correct. Eren had planned for failure from the start. This is what I meant when I told you that he is more frightening than our master. I advised Master Eliza not to confront him, but she wouldn't listen.
Now we're here, with our master engaged in a battle she had no part in. Honestly, I've seen many of Eren's enemies meet their end this way. Sometimes they don't even get a chance to curse him before he eliminates them."
Layla sighed as she looked in Eren's direction, curious about his actions.
"This…" Leela hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"Layla, I'm not certain. But there's a high chance that Eren has tampered with Master Eliza's soul while it was inside Shallot's Mirror. He easily took control of the artifact. I think… I think there might be something incorrect in the information we had about Shallot's Mirror," Leela explained, trying to recall what happened before she lost consciousness.
"Hm? Master's soul? Wait. That's not the main issue right now. What… what is Eren doing now?"
Both Layla and Leela watched with curiosity as Eren activated the Beast Contract Spell. Their initial curiosity turned into fear and dread as they observed him interfering with the World-Encompassing Array Formation itself.
"This man… he is insane!" Layla cursed Eren for his actions.
***
Even Eliza and Demonmir halted their battle when they sensed that Eren was inviting catastrophes upon Anfang with his actions.
Soon, as chaos descended upon the world of Anfang, the spectators outside the primary Birdcage Barrier vanished. The primary Birdcage Barrier also vanished after completing its purpose. The secondary Birdcage Barrier was soon following the same path.
Except for Alephee and the fiends, Eren's other allies also disappeared from the scene. Sirius and Fiona would have stayed behind to assist Alephee, but they didn't know how to help. They would have only become a burden to Eren.
Thus, Alephee instructed them to leave the area. Alephee then asked the fiends to help protect the newly created Soul Seed Insertion Array Formation that Eren had established for Reen.
The battlefield, which was once occupied by around 40,000 Rankers from both kingdoms, had become nearly deserted, bearing signs of widespread destruction. The calamities caused by Eren made the situation even worse, completely altering the battlefield's structure due to the ongoing massive earthquakes.
Watching from a distance, Layla's eyes reflected the intense shock she felt within. She couldn't grasp how Eren was able to cause such widespread destruction at a world-level all by himself.
***
Layla observed a blurred figure appearing in front of Eren after he successfully dismantled the World-Encompassing Array. In the next moment, she felt an overwhelming pressure, almost like the weight of a mountain, overwhelming her senses.
'Who… who is that?' Layla thought to herself in terror. She couldn't voice these words. Not only she but even Eliza and Demonmir were halted from taking any action. All the spectators were frozen in place when this entity appeared. Layla didn't know much, but she could tell that this entity was likely a completely different existence than a Sage.
After that, Layla watched Eren remove his eyes and close them. A blinding light radiated from Eren, rendering Layla and everyone else's vision useless. Then, the newly appeared entity created a God Spark for Eren.
Layla lost track of time and the events that followed for Eren. When the blinding light subsided, she saw Eren standing alone inside the Beast Contract Spell array with his eyes closed.
'This… it can't be. Eren… he just entered the Master Rank. How is he progressing so fast without even using our trick? How is that possible?'
Layla wanted to ask this question to someone who could answer her. Unfortunately, there was nobody who could, including Eren.
Eren kept progressing in his Ranking Journey at an exceptional pace, even breaking Eliza's earlier record. From vapor to liquid to solid, his mana core climbed the stages within the Master Rank.
'He is about to achieve a breakthrough into the A-Rank?'
While Eren's soul was preoccupied with its own matters, his status as a Ranker had decided to ascend.
The butcher was on the verge of breaking into the Grandmaster Rank.
