"A desire to be freer than the current you.
A desire to surpass the Sage status and reach beyond.
If walking on the path of sins would allow me to fulfil my desires that much faster, then so be it."
Eliza frowned when she thought that Eren was underestimating her status too much. But she then felt the changes in his presence. As she gazed into his eyes, she felt the desire to surpass the current shackled-by-fate Sage ranker that was her.
Eliza also felt that each of the words he spoke had come from the bottom of his heart. She snorted her nose to show her displeasure. But it wasn't like she didn't get the meaning behind what he was saying. She had the desire to surpass her Sage rank too after all.
'This boy has yet to walk. But he is already dreaming of flying high in the sky.
Heh! I need to strengthen my resolve as well.'
The last surviving Samael thought to herself before speaking up:
"Alright. Remember, this is something you've chosen for yourself.
Now stand close to the statue. I'll activate the array."
Eren nodded after he heard Eliza's instructions. He walked near the statue and stood in front of it with his hands behind his back and his head tilted upwards.
The butcher could hear Eliza's voice from behind as she activated the array and spoke in a strange tongue that didn't look like it belonged to this world. The array started exuding bright light before dimming them down the next moment– as if it was breathing.
A strange pressure was felt by Eren. He felt like the scene in front of his eyes would change if he closed his eyes now. It looked like whichever place he'd be seeing after his eyes got closed was not rejecting his presence.
"Things are moving faster than I thought they would. Don't close your eyes, Eren. Keep them open."
Eliza's voice was heard just when Eren was about to close his eyes. He furrowed his brow at the strange instructions. But followed them anyway and waited for her next set of instructions.
"Eren, draw a drop of your mana-imbued blood and let it fall on the ground. Then raise your left hand in line with your shoulder and maintain the position."
Eliza spoke and resumed her incantations. Eren nodded blankly before retrieving Diceros Left blade. He consciously retracted his mana defence layer and let an F-Rank weapon hurt him.
Droop!
A few mana-imbued blood drops fell on the ground. The array beneath Eren's felt absorbed them up as a result. An otherworldly mana pulse was released at the time.
Hiss!
The seven snakes opened their eyes together and hissed at the same time while looking at the sky. Then they looked down and focused their gaze on a young Ace ranker who was standing inside the array with his now-cut palm.
'Something is wrong. All seven snakes have been awakened at the same time.'
Eliza thought. But she wanted to see what was happening so she held on.
Soon the array lit up brightly– indicating the awakening process was complete. One of the seven snakeheads got closer to Eren's face and looked him in the eyes.
'Thank the devil I have been stared by a dragon before. I don't fear the snake as much now.'
Eren thought to himself as he started back at the snake without batting an eye. The snake stuck his black tongue out and flicked it. Then it opens its mouth and shows its two sharp fangs.
Before Eren could feel the fear of being stung by the animated beast again, it moves rapidly and bit his left hand that had been raised and maintained before.
"Aaaaaaaaaargh!"
Eren felt like a layer of black had suddenly appeared before his eyes. He experienced immeasurable pain coming from his entire being. At the same time, he felt like he did not have his usual body anymore.
Reen saw and felt that Eren was in pain. She tried to approach him but was immediately frozen in her steps by the Sage ranker's intangible force.
"Calm down. It's part of the process."
Eliza said to Reen before refocusing her attention on Eren. She saw Eren on his knees with his eyes closed. He was crying his heart out. But Reen and Ivor couldn't hear his cry. Only Eliza could because she had activated the array.
His left hand was bleeding with two large gaping holes. The fangs of the snakehead had completely pierced his arm. Two distinct holes could be seen on Eren's arm– one near his wrist. The other was on the upper arm.
"Aaaaaaargh!"
Eren kept on yelling with his eyes closed. Eliza knew that since the array was complete and stable, Eren's soul was now bound to the place. It wouldn't get pulled inside any plane. So it was okay for him to close his eyes now.
The first snakehead returned to its previous position. Eren on the other hand started to change. He assumed the appearance of his Life Drain mode. His hair had turned while. His eyes turned dark blue. The array then began exuding dark blue mana from its inscriptions above ground.
The dark blue mana started to converge around the two gaping holes on Eren's arms. It seeped into his arm and as it did, the wounds started closing up.
Eren's clear and pale-skinned arm started getting etched with abstract lines and symbols while the wounds inflicted by the snakehead were getting healed. The mystic lines started to expand and spread over his entire arm, shoulder, and neck before travelling to the other parts of his torso.
'First mark is completed.'
Elize commented to herself and breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted Eren to have the mark because her plan needed Eren to be as strong as he could be.
But maybe she let her guard down thinking the process was over.
Hisssssssss!
Another snakehead showed signs of activity and moved at lightning speed. It reopened the healed wounds on Eren's wounds by biting him the same way, at the same place.
