"Aaaaaaaaargh! Bastard. Fucking bastard. I'll kill you. I'll kill you."
Krista charged at Eren in anger. She immediately dropped the decorum of being an Adept away and started taking things personally.
Of course, Eren's gracious smile wasn't helping. It was almost like a taunt.
When Krista was under the effects of the Sedating Gaze, Eren could have launched a lethal blow on her in her compromised position. But he chose to inflict the same kind of injury on her as she had inflicted on him. It was clear that he had only attacked her hand to get even with her.
In other words, the butcher was still in the mood to play with the two rankers even after losing his hand. Most of the members of the Blood Punisher Force considered themselves special because they were part of Edinburgh's special forces and because they had an Ether-sub element. Krista was one of them.
Nobody had dared to underestimate Krista. Especially after they saw what she could do with her weapons. Her ego was irked when she saw Eren subtly mocking her with his welcoming smile and revenge-driven mentality. More so because she had a revenge-driven mentality herself.
The anger overtook Krista as she made her body featherlight and used her movement spell. She was about to become a blur when something interrupted her movement.
"Don't!"
Lambert used his spell to halt Krista's reckless charge. She was pulled to her previous position when the force of attraction acted on her. Lambert appeared behind her and put his hand on her shoulder before speaking up.
"Snap out of your rage already. That guy… is not simple. There's no record of him possessing an Ability. Such a dangerous Ability at that."
Lambert looked at Eren wearily as he pressed onto Krista's shoulder to prevent her from escaping his grip. Eren's water-element spells were intangible and unpredictable. Additionally, they gained a lethal edge from having lightning-mana mixed in them.
Lambert's powers weren't that useful in dealing with them. His power of attraction and repel didn't work that effectively on them. At most he could deviate from Eren's water whips a bit before getting away from their range.
Lambert understood that even while Eren was experimenting with his spells, he was not someone who could be at a disadvantage in a close combat fight. Lambert didn't take long to realize that he wouldn't be able to handle Eren when he got close to him.
Lambert would be minced meat if Eren suddenly decided to shift to his regular gears. Only Krista stood a chance at beating him in close combat with her unique element and her weapon mastery. Hence, Lambert made an effort to keep her calm.
'Hm. He is a positive influence on her. Tch! I would have had more fun if the elf had charged at me with everything she had.'
Eren looked at the two rankers amusingly. He then looked at his chopped hand which had fallen to the ground not too far away from Krista's current position. He then glanced at his amputated arm and frowned.
"Damn it. This is bound to hurt."
Eren mumbled to himself and concentrated. He called forth his bloodline powers and made cruel expressions as the flesh around the amputation injury started bubbling and liquidating.
Krista and Lambert watched in utter shock and horror as Eren sprouted a new hand that was as good as his chopped hand. They then both looked at each other to see if the other had seen the same thing they had just seen.
"That's not a healing spell, is it? How can he…"
Krista asked Lambert in a tone of disbelief. She then looked at her own amputated arm and felt another bout of anger bubbling inside her psyche.
Lambert was getting spooked by the moment because of the feat Eren had performed in front of them. He was able to tell that no spell had been used in the regeneration of the amputated part. This was something the butcher could do naturally as if it was a normal function of his body.
This meant that no matter how many injuries Eren sustained in a battle, as long as they weren't fatal, he could recover from them eventually. Even the most potent of healing spells had limits. And they would come with their own set of limitations. But Eren's regeneration broke the established norm for rankers.
"No… that wasn't a spell."
Lambert spoke in a serious tone. He tightened his grip around his staff before speaking up.
"Bloodline powers. He is a half-blood, remember?"
Only now did Krista realize that she was fighting with a half-blood. Unlike other half-bloods who had predictable powers and spells, Eren did not have any highlighting parts about his half-blood status.
***
Eren's bloodline powers weren't eye-catching for the most part. Plus, they lay dormant. They didn't cause him to show the physical characteristics of being a conscious half-blood. That meant no fangs, overgrown hair, nails turning into claws, etc. Not until he wanted to.
Team Claho's ambush on Eren had resulted in him facing an amputation injury as well. But at that time, he had healed himself by fusing his amputated body parts.
However, after breaking into Adept rank and progressing forward in his Rootless half-blood ranking technique, he could regrow his body parts to a certain extent. This was one of the reasons the butcher was bold enough to try to deal with the two members of the Blood Punisher Force while trying out his new spells.
Of course, Eren's bloodline powers didn't make him invincible. It still had its limitations.
He still felt the pain of amputation and other injuries just as usual. Following the regrowth of his lost body part, he would feel incredibly hungry to digest something or someone.
The hunger would correspond to the amount of flesh and bone he had to regrow. The more damage he had sustained and the more he had to regrow his body parts, the more intense the hunger would be.
Eren would experience extreme agony in regrowing the lost part of his limb. That was because his central nervous system sent phantom pain signals on top of the pain he was already experiencing.
As such, Eren didn't like to go through with the regrowing of his limbs using his bloodline powers. As opposed to the healing spells that calm the injured person before operating on them, his bloodline powers would make him feel the painful process intensely.
