Eren returned to his normal black-haired human state after taking all the monster forms he had saved from the separate space of the Titus tournament. He broke the eerie silence with his next words.
"As you can see, I'm more than any of you can hope to be. The child of Echidna? Human? Half-blood? Abomination? I am all of those and then some more."
As Eren drew his last drag from the Sativa stick, he said. As he released it slowly from his lungs while looking up, he continued.
"Starting from today, nobody would die for any other god. You won't have to die for me either. At least not like this. Not without rhyme or reason. Such a waste of resources.
Instead, you'd serve me with your life. Insubordination will not be tolerated. It can only end in death or worse.
However, serve me well and you'd be rewarded. My brand of evil would bring doom to my enemies. But it won't have to bring chaos to those who are on my side."
Eren said and looked at his audience who had been listening intently. His soul sense had started affecting them, making their psyches subconsciously attuned to his vision.
Eren then looked at Ror before continuing.
"If you want to find comfort in seeing someone you know as the child of Echidna become your superior, so be it.
Ror, you'd manage the Oni dungeon from now on. You'd only be below me and above the rest of the Echidnae. Squash the rebellion mercilessly. And reward those who you see fit.
Follow my orders to a T if and when I call upon you and the Oni dungeon's army. As simple as that? Understood?"
Eren asked Ror casually. Ror was someone he could trust because of his oath to the will of Anfang. He couldn't stay in the Oni dungeon anyway. And he couldn't place so many monsters in Monster Canyon all at once without raising suspicions.
He had already been planning to leave the Oni dungeon in someone's care if he manages to take over the ruler position. Otherwise, he'd just steal Echidna's Authority from Har Jahar using another plan.
Eren wasn't counting on Ror defecting to his side. That was a pleasant surprise for him. It became the reason why he proceeded to kill Har Jahar instead of escaping with the monster artifact.
"Yes, my king. I shall serve you with all my heart."
Ror looked at Eren with a look of admiration in his eyes. At this point, the rest of the audience had started considering Eren as their king and Ror as his minister in charge.
Ror took a long breath before asking.
"My king, please tell us your name so that we can carve it in our memories and never forget about it."
The audience started whispering once again. It seemed like everybody had come to realize that the name Varhan was fake. It was only logical that they knew about their king.
"My name?"
Eren smiled when he heard Ror's request. He then looked at the azure flame that was burning inside the large bowl kept on the altar's platform. He narrowed his eyes before chuckling.
"Hang on a second."
Eren said and started walking towards the altar. He walked a few steps before freezing and looking at the unattended war drums in the distance.
"War drums."
He said without looking at anyone. In the next moment, the monsters who had been assigned to the instruments took their respective places and started playing them just like before Har Jahar's death.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
A mystic tune started getting played on the war drums. Eren felt the slumbering sacrificial energy on his body being stirred once again. He looked at Kaalmahen and found out that he was experiencing the same thing.
'You up from your short nap?'
Alephee could use more of her powers after Eren's breakthrough. The spell she cast for Har Jahar's corpse was proof of that. She could also recover from her forced slumber faster, thanks to his mana core now having access to Adept mana.
'Hm? Are… are you done settling the rebellion already? Did you kill everybody?'
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
'Hm? Do I look like a murdering maniac to you?'
Eren said seriously, forcing Alephee to chuckle and finally snap out of her slumber. She asked him as he resumed his walk towards the sacred altar.
'Alright. What do you need?'
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Alephee asked Eren before casting her soul sense all around him. She immediately came to know what he was asking of her.
'Sealing a divine flame of that caliber will take some time.'
Alephee pondered before adding further.
'We can, however, use sacrificial energy, which has accumulated within any Kaalmahen's body, in my spell, as a means of sealing it.
Sacrificing energy is of no use to you at this point anyway. So I don't think you'd mind.'
Alephee finished her explanation and Eren agreed immediately.
'Do it,' he said simply. In the next moment, Alephee cast her spell and extracted the sacrificial energy accumulated on Eren and Kaalmahen.
The azure flame started burning brightly when Eren reached the platform. However, in the next moment, Alephee's spell started working on it. The sacrificial energy that was floating in the form of a white cloud was used to surround the flame before sealing it in the time-element spell.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Crack!
A crack ran through the altar, splitting it in two vertically. The stony, rune-inscribed limestone ground of the sacred hall cracked as well when the flame was sealed in Alephee's time-element spell, freezing it as if it was covered in a layer of ice.
The spatial fabric that was above the azure flame was active this whole time. It rippled like someone sprinkling drops of water on a serene lake's surface before. But at this point, the ripples intensified and distinct energy was felt from the spatial fabric.
'Am I safe?'
Eren asked Alephee while narrowing his eyes on the spatial fabric that was getting increasingly restless. The latter chuckled before answering.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
'Hehe. Yes. Completely safe. All the other side can do is scare you into unfreezing the divine flame.'
Eren smiled as he folded his hands behind his back and watched the spatial fabric create a typhoon in the middle of it. He couldn't see anything since it was dark from the other side of the spatial fabric.
All the runes inscribed on the pillars and the ground lit up as there was a heavy presence in the sacred hall. In the next moment, a voice was heard from the other side.
"Who… whooo is this transgressor?"
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The voice seemed stressed, as the presence was not summoned by offerings of sacrificial energy. Eren narrowed down his eyes and smirked before opening his mouth to speak.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
"I…"
