All of Sid's attempts to break free from the array trap were futile. The mana poison soon entered his system because of the constant smoke released by the four vials.
Sid eventually got on his knees coughing a mouthful of blood. His mana circuits had gone haywire after consuming the poison. It resulted in him suffering multiple organ failures at the same time. The poison wouldn't have acted this way this fast. But the array trap enhanced the effects of the poison by modulating the mana inside it to favour the poison.
Eren had been studying the array traps ever since he got the book from the Purgatory's underground dungeon. Since the subject of the array was completely new for him, it took him a while to get the hang of the setup.
The butcher hadn't used anything like this in his previous timeline. So Layla had helped him from time to time in her own limited capacity whenever he had doubts.
The potion-making part was relatively easy for him. He thought of testing the fruits of labour on Sid when he was convinced that he could use array traps in his battles.
Like usual, the butcher had thrown out the dud vials. They all released a unique mana pulse after their detonation. But they didn't have any adverse effects on the subject. Eren had used them only to lure the berserker into his trap.
Eventually, the array trap was burnt out. The mana layer was dispersed, revealing Sid to be lying on his back. His Beast Contract spell had been cancelled because of his condition. He lacked the mana to support his breathing. So using it to maintain a spell was a long shot.
Eren hadn't stepped foot on the ground since Sid was caged inside the array trap. He had watched from a distance as Sid was on his last dying breaths.
The butcher decided to see his target once the coast was clear for him to do so.
"Just… just tell me… who the fuck are you? What did I do to deserve this?"
Sid huffed as he asked. It was gradually getting difficult for him to breathe.
"No. Why should I?"
The butcher spoke in a plain tone. His response aggravated Sid to no end. He started coughing violently in response. He was trying to say something to him. But his condition forced him to suffer through bouts of coughing instead.
'He is angry. This is good.'
Eren smiled when he saw Sid's condition.
'Alphee?'
Eren called out to his time-element gem's spirit. Layla was not with him this time. She had been sent to do some more reconnaissance for their Lazarus Project.
'The coast is clear.'
Alphee responded briefly. This was all the butcher needed to hear. He looked at the dagger he had been imbuing with his mana and stared at it for a brief moment. Then he clenched his other hand before suddenly driving the dagger deep into his heart.
The dagger's tip disappeared when it was just about to make contact with Eren's chest. Soon, half of the dagger's blade disappeared as Eren seemingly drove the weapon into his heart.
"Hmmmm!"
Eren grunted with his tightly shut lips as he felt a sharp pain in his heart. Even though it didn't look like it, the dagger had pierced his heart for real without causing any external injury.
This was the same dagger Eren had obtained from Claho. He was using it to activate his Sins series ability.
"Domain of Wrath!"
Eren mumbled to himself as an otherworldly mana pulse was released in the surroundings with him acting as the source and epicentre. This time, the domain was not as substantial as the first time the butcher had activated his ability against team Claho.
It was the foreign world's consciousness that gave the butcher the ability to cast a domain of that size the last time the ability was awakened in him. It was sort of its way of acknowledging him as capable of wielding the ability he was given.
This time, he didn't have that helping hand. But he didn't need a much larger domain anyway. He was not very far from his target after all.
Eren didn't waste time. He raised his hand towards Sid and tapped into his powers. In the next moment, Sid's body started to change.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
Sid released a painful cry once again as his mana circuits that had already gone haywire were burnt away by the forced entry of foreign mana. His mana core was destroyed in the next moment.
After that, Sid's body composition began to change. Eren watched with dead expressions as his nuisance turned into the creature of Wrath.
"Haaah! I can feel his fury. This purity of rage will be fun to digest. Hehehehe! This will be interesting."
Eren smiled as he stared at the creature of wrath that was a lot bigger than any of the previous creatures he had seen. Sid had turned into a 9 feet tall creature of wrath that started at Eren with unmistakable rage in its eyes. This rage wasn't necessarily directed at the butcher. This was a blindsided rage that didn't have a specific target in its eyes.
Layla had given Eren a batch of vials that contained within themselves a unique potion. The element of shadows around him could render him invisible. It blended his figure with the nearby shadows, enabling him to get close to anyone without blowing his cover.
His black clothes weren't black by default. It was shadow-element mana sticking to his visage due to the potion's effect. Eren had used the potion for the first time when he approached Tuan. This was the reason why the guy was surprised when the butcher popped out of nowhere.
Eren decided to anger Sid a bit more to get more benefits from him. The effects of the potion that were still active around him were undone when he removed his mask. His real self was revealed to Sid who had been staring at him with no intention of doing anything. Eren had only commanded him to pay attention to him after all.
"What's up, little bitch?"
The butcher extended a warm greeting to his only audience.
