"You know, I had almost forgotten that Eren was a katar user before he joined the army. The guy's weapon mastery over swords has increased to an unbelievable level if we take that into account."
Lyon said while ordering snacks for his seat from the spectral menu. Dianna smiled before replying unknowingly.
"Thank you!"
Both Lyon and Dianna had blank faces when the latter replied in such a way. The ranger coughed and continued.
"I mean, yes. His expertise in weapons is indeed exceptional. But we have yet to see how much he has progressed in his understanding of his elements."
Lyon looked at Dianna for a while and observed her expressions with his narrowed eyes. Then he sighed and resumed watching the fight.
Arjun soon returned with an Ace-ranked healer in tow. She was in her army uniform, unlike Eren's team members who had all come there in casuals. Arjun grabbed his seat again and watched as Eren tried approaching Altashia yet another time.
The butcher dared to venture within striking distance of Altashia because of his enhanced perception. And the effects of his time-element spell combo were apparent. No matter how much Altashia tried to attack him, she would be a moment too late and end up dispersing his afterimage.
Altashia was seen surrounded by a bunch of Eren's afterimages that were all seemingly attacking her at once. This was the effect of Alephee extending her hand and enabling him to quadruple-stack his time-element spell combo.
From her 4 o'clock position, Eren approached Altashia only to find an impregnable wall created by the handling of her weapon. She was seen as a virtuoso when it came to handling the oversized scythe. The Scythe Queen title that the audience of Arangar Arena had granted her was not for the show.
The butcher on the other hand struggled a bit in the beginning due to his changing of weapons. But then he found his rhythm with Diceros' set and used them to perfection.
He too handled his weapons like an artist, colliding his punching daggers with Altashia's Chine just at the right angle to deflect her attacks. He would then immediately try to follow his parries with offensive strikes of his own. But Altashia seemed ready for those too.
By this time, she had closed all her senses and focused only on her mana sense to cope with Eren's speed. It seemed that she was having a hard time keeping up with his speed. That's because a few of Eren's attacks would breach her defenses and land on her body.
Altashia's natural mana defense would kick in. Even so, it couldn't completely counteract the butcher's merciless attacks. She soon had multiple slash wounds all over her body that oozed blood. Her petite-looking skin was now subjected to this brutal form of abuse.
Eren wasn't completely unscathed either. Altashia relied on her superior weapon mastery that she had honed from a very young age to deal damage to Eren. The butcher had fewer slash wounds on his body than Altashia. But the wounds he did have appeared to be serious.
The butcher didn't care. He just strengthened his mana defense further and carried on with his attack. He knew full well that retreating now would mean giving Altashia a breather. Something he didn't want as of yet.
Arjun and the crew watched with stressed expressions as their captain and deputy vice-captain slashed at each other without slowing down. They would also be seen using their respective spells to throw each other out of their game.
Eren had to admit that Altashia was leagues apart from him with just her being able to keep up with him despite them both having the same ranking status. Although Altashia seemed to have a higher BTP value than him, the butcher didn't think the difference would be so big for her to pull off such a feat against him. Especially when Alephee tried to help him despite him telling them he wanted her to remain as a spectator.
************
'This girl… she was only toying with Rodrick Renar.'
The butcher concluded in his head as he fought Altashia's wind-fire flying slash at close range with his own weapon inscribed spells. He kept on comparing her performance with the one that she had shown against Rodrick and found it to be greatly different.
Eren had expected that Altashia hadn't gone all out fighting against the royal. But he did not know that she could be this terrifying.
It had been a while since the duel had started.
And yet, all the butcher could do was draw a stalemate between him and Altashia at close range. And for that he was unsatisfied. If Rodrick was here in Eren's place, he would have celebrated his feat and considered it a part of his victory.
Eren and Altashia had both expended a significant portion of their mana. They both knew the stalemate wasn't meant to help anyone and would leave a bitter taste in both their mouths should they continue doing what they were doing.
"Let's… let's get serious now, shall we?"
Altashia huffed and spoke out. She was short of breath and her body was dripping with sweat and blood. She shook her head and stood still the next moment before channeling her fire-element mana throughout her body. She cleared all the grime, sweat, and blood with that move and looked at Eren with a smirk on her face.
Altashia felt like this was the first time in a long while she had enjoyed a duel to this level. With her grandpa Altair, she had a very difficult time. But she didn't consider herself to be at his level in the first place. So she didn't feel anything even when she was beaten countless times by him.
But with Eren it was different. He had proved with his performance now that he could take her on without her worrying about the consequences that may or may not follow. The freedom to act as she wanted. This was the first time since her fights with grandpa Altair that she could enjoy such freedom.
Eren laughed and understood what she meant. He nodded at her before responding.
"Are you sure, Al? I'll still have a bit of an advantage if we cast that."
Altashia smirked before responding.
"Who says that? Let's test the spell out. You'd soon find out who has the advantage."
Altashia said as if she knew what she was talking about. Eren smiled mirthlessly before realizing that she already knew what she was getting before Rodrick came up with his offer. Her connections weren't to be scoffed at.
Eren and Altashia were talking about the transcendent-grade spell that Rodrick had given them. While Altashia had received the spell by defeating him, Eren had to make the guy high and metaphorically fly in the sky before hoodwinking that spell from him.
Altashia and Eren both nodded at each other before executing the same transcendent-grade spell.
"Demon Beast Transformation!"
