Eren's mana reserves were dwindling while he was under the effects of the state of epiphany.
He had no real control over using his ability. It was his subconscious mind that was using it whenever it felt like it. It would expend a huge amount of mana when casting the debuff on Alephee, who would be able to get rid of it through her own means.
Alephee was happy for Eren while he was in that state. She didn't disturb him even after he kept on attacking her subconsciously while using the full potential of his ability to cast a debuff on her. She was sure that if it was any other Adept ranker in her shoes, he had been butchered by Eren's current state.
Alephee had decided to let Eren snap out of his state himself. And she was doing everything she could to maintain just the right amount of pressure on him by casting her attack spells.
Fire Snake!
Alephee attacked Eren by conjuring two three-meter boa snakes. They opened their mouths and cast the spells they had been integrated with. One of the snakes chose to cast a Fireball while the other was planning to use Fire Breath on Eren.
Meanwhile, Alephee retreated by summoning a third beast: the giant eagle. She had quickly climbed on the eagle's back.
Alephee was now flying over the battle ring. She directed the boa snakes to attack Eren strategically. As such, the boa snakes kept on moving at crazy speed before finally deciding to release the spells they had been holding all at once.
A series of fireballs came from Eren's 5 O'clock direction while an intense fire breath attack approached him from his 10 O'clock direction. On second thought, Alephee also cast a domain ability using her grimoire and prevented Eren from using his time-element ability.
Eren sensed the two attacks approaching at breakneck speed. He also subconsciously realized that he couldn't use his time-element powers anymore.
Alephee thought that this would be enough to snap Eren back to reality. As a result, she was expecting his logical mind to take over since the problem she put him in could not be solved by instinct alone.
But Eren's state of epiphany was more pronounced than Alephee had thought. It was as if he was encashing all the cheques he had earned through his arduous work.
Eren stopped moving or using his spells altogether. He closed his eyes and let the two attacks approach him.
Boom!
Eren's body was completely consumed by both attacks, which exploded right in the middle of their paths. Alephee frowned when she watched the events unfold from the back of her summoned eagle.
Alephee could still tell that things weren't as they seemed. She would know if Eren had suffered. But it felt like Eren was not being affected by anything even while standing inside a cloud of flames.
It was as if Eren had become completely immune to the spell's effects.
He didn't just start being immune to the spells' effects. It seemed like he was also controlling the flames in some way.
Eren had managed to take control of Alephee's spells as if they were cast by him. And the control has been taken away from Alephee so easily that she didn't even notice it at first.
Alephee didn't understand what was happening inside the cloud of flames even when she had locked her soul sense on Eren. But then she paid attention to the feedback she was getting from her senses and opened her eyes wide in pleasant surprise.
'This… this is one of Elder Ichor's powers. These are "his" edicts.'
Alephee couldn't help but feel visibly elated when she realized what was going on. Eren, in the moment of crisis, had managed to copy her mana signature entirely without any semblance of flaws. As a result, the spells that were cast by her failed to damage him.
In all his previous instances, Eren had failed to copy the mana signatures of the rankers he was shapeshifting into completely. There was always a difference, no matter how close it was to perfection.
But this was the first time he had managed to copy Alephee's mana signatures completely, robbing the powers from her spells to affect him. Additionally, it allowed him to control her spells.
The butcher raised his hands and dispersed the cloud of flames that was surrounding him. He was seen coming out unscathed from Alephee's attacks. He also dispersed the boa snakes that had tried to maintain a safe distance from him, looking at him with confused eyes.
Eren snapped out of his trance when he saw Alephee jumping down from her summoned beast right in front of him. The summoned eagle dispersed right after.
There was confusion written all over Eren's face as he looked all around him.
"My time-element spells… they have been turned into an ability."
Eren's blurred memories were gradually cleared as he became aware of what had just happened. He closed his eyes before opening them again, making the white sclera occupy the canvas of his eyes once again.
"Sedating Gaze!"
Eren cast the debuff of his ability onto Alephee once again to test its effects. The latter seemed annoyed before making hand gestures as if she was swatting a fly.
"Hmph! These effects won't work on me."
Alephee said before looking at Eren approvingly.
"Nevertheless, congratulations on gaining a new ability.
That's enough for today. Let's prepare to leave. We have to check up on Kaalmaahen and Kirin. It's been days since they have been locked inside their separate arrays.
We have to make sure the array works properly if we want to bring them outside without causing a ruckus."
Eren nodded and followed Alephee. A doubtful tone in his voice, however, implied that he was still confused about something.
"I'm sure they'll be fine, Alephee. But what had happened in the end? Why could I not get injured by your attacks?"
Alephee chuckled before answering.
"You copied my mana signature down to a T, which allowed you to take control of my spells after getting immune to them. Your half-blood abilities are more profound than you think, Eren.
I'm looking forward to the day when you can fully utilize your bloodline powers."
