Hearing Eren's words made Sage Zavir realize something.
Zavir realized that this was not the same Eren he had faced during the Lazarus Project. He had different circumstances a few months ago when he was resurrecting Eliza.
At that time, Eren didn't run away from a siege because he was forced by his circumstances, making him stay on the battlefield despite being surrounded by myriad dangers both inside and outside the Birdcage Barrier.
However, Eren was not bound by the same restraints he had back then. The man did not believe in the Rankers' Code of Conduct to begin with. He was fine with saving his life even if it came at the cost of his reputation getting sullied.
"Stand back," Sage Zavir sighed before commanding his allies not to draw weapons against Eren. There was no use applying pressure tactics on a man who was ready to set the whole world on fire in response. He had to say that it was Eren who had applied his pressure tactics on his enemies successfully.
'I can't allow my pride to get the better of me. For this world, for people living in it, I have to take a step back,' Zavir thought to himself.
The continent of Anfang was already going through a lot of turmoil even if the natural calamities came to an end. Zavir didn't want to add to the problems he was already facing by making someone like Eren his enemy.
"Wise choice, Sage Zavir."
Eren smiled at Zavir before offering a courtesy bow to him. He knew it was finally time to talk business. However, he had underestimated the enmity a certain Sage had cultivated in their heart against him.
"No! We can't allow this brat to walk all over us just like that."
Hansen Lehan was not happy with Zavir's decision. He looked at Eren with anger boiling within himself. Looking at Eren's smile, he felt as if he was being ridiculed. One could say that he was taking things way too personally.
Even if he had to compromise, he wanted to release his frustration by bullying Eren a bit. After all, Eren had once come very close to killing him. It was only due to the Sansara Sage's inheritance that he had survived the trap Eren had set for a bunch of Sages surrounding him during the incident that started the Great Shattering.
He decided to act on his emotions right away, not allowing Sage Zavir or any other to intervene in the matter.
Swoosh. Zoom. Bang.
Sage Hansen Lehan had space-element attainments. He used them to separate Eren and himself from the rest of the crowd by creating a temporary alternate dimension.
Within a fraction of a second, water-and-fog-like walls were created around Eren and Hansen.
The Sages and other Rankers playing witnesses could see Eren and Hansen trapped in this illusory layer. However, they could not approach them because the two didn't exist in the same spatial dimensions as them.
"Hansen… you fucking braindead old man. What the fuck are you doing?"
Sage Zavir screamed at Hansen while trying to intervene in his eventual clash with Eren. However, the moment he tried to touch the illusory wall, his hands went right past it.
Hansen had prepared this move beforehand, using an S-Rank array disk to cast this barrier. This was why the Sages failed to intervene. One could say that Hansen had come prepared to target Eren and counter his access to the Sansara Sage's runes from the get-go.
Although the barrier was only going to last for a few seconds, it was all the time he needed to take care of Eren. At least that's what Hansen had thought.
Sage Zavir decided to use his own S-Ranked powers to forcefully break Hansen's barrier. However, he knew that it would take a while for him to do so. And it didn't look like Hansen was going to wait for Zavir to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to do.
Hansen ignored Zavir and others. It was not like he could listen to them anyway because of the special dimension he was in with Eren. He looked at Eren with a grim look before speaking up.
"Brat, there's just no way I'll let you do whatever you please," Hansen spoke as he stepped towards Eren. "You are from the old kingdom of Edinburgh. So I believe it's my responsibility to puni…"
Hansen didn't get to voice his threats to Eren completely. This was because the latter decided to act as soon as he confirmed the position he was in.
'Edict Over Water: the blood of my enemy shall boil and break past his mortal coil.'
Hansen didn't know what happened to him but he suddenly felt as if his innards and internal organs were in a scorching furnace. He felt the energy in his S-Rank body draining and his control over the surrounding mana weakening.
"What… uuuuugh…. What kind of …. Aaaaaah… spell is this? What kind of Ability…. Aaaaaargh!"
Hansen's body turned red as if he were a mortal and having some kind of severe allergic reaction. His speech was cut short when the blood from his body decided to pour out of his orifices all at once.
Hansen vomited blood.
His eyes cried tears of blood.
His skin ruptured from various places and blood poured out from it as if it was excited to get out of his body. His ears also sprouted blood like two mini fountains. His nails bled and so did his bladder via its usual release.
Even his anal opening was no exception to this phenomenon.
A pool of blood was created around Hansen in a short span of time. His Sage Ranked body tried hard to fight against this phenomenon by repairing muscle tears and abrupt vein openings at a rapid rate. However, it was of no use. He would soon drop dead in his own pool of blood if things didn't change for him.
'This… this should be enough to make a statement. I should not… uggh… go any further.'
Eren let go of his divine hold over his divinity just before it could kill Hansen. This was not because he wanted to show leniency towards Hansen but rather because his own body was receiving damage after he wielded his divine powers.
Swoosh. Zoom. Grab.
Eren grabbed Hansen by his throat and lifted him in the air. His fingers easily dug into his skin and grabbed his larynx. He was about to yank Hansen's organ out of its place when he heard Sage Zavir's voice.
"Eren. Please… please let Hansen go."
