Boom!
Eren's body crashed on the ground after the vector force acting on his body couldn't maintain his flight. A deep depression in the ground was created as Eren's mana defense reacted in response to his fall.
The mana layer disappeared after the impact because Eren could not control it around himself. As a result, his body was completely exposed to the elements. All while the mirroring effect of Rupen was still active on his body.
Drag.
He was dragged far from his first impact because of the residual force, creating clouds of dust in its wake. He was dragged almost 100 meters away from where he had first crashed onto the ground. Krista, Lambert, and the new guy stood even farther away from him.
Nobody tried to do a follow-up attack on Eren. That's because they were paralyzed by the effects of his soul sense that he had spread forth right after he was hit by Rupen's spell.
"That's… that's a soul sense. This monster is something else indeed."
Rupen prevented his right hand from shaking by holding it with his left hand. It was clear to him that the butcher had used his soul sense on them, slowing down their thoughts by making them experience his emotions.
He was enraged to the point that he wanted to devour them whole.
Eren quickly got up on his feet after the momentum acting on his body was killed off. He had a mangled face and he was reeking of blood from various flesh wounds. He looked at his hands by raising them in front of him and found that they were missing a large portion of flesh on them. His finger and ulna bones were partially visible as well.
Eren spat a mouthful of blood mixed in his saliva and grime. This was the first time he had messed up this badly.
"So much… cough… cough… cough"
A bunch of coughing noises. Right hand resting on the chest. His left hand turned into a fist. Eyes staring at the starry sky above. Lips tightly shut.
Bloodline Ability: Expedited Regeneration
A never-felt-before mana pulse. The flesh around the wounds became restless before stretching itself like it was made of liquid.
Eren's deformed face started rearranging itself. The cheekbones that had been made visible suddenly hid under the newly generated mass of red and white meat. The meat was soon covered with a youthful epidermis.
The open wounds on the rest of Eren's body healed along with the facial makeover. The butcher stood tall and proud in his position, looking prim and proper in no time.
Of course, his clothes made him appear like he had been run over by a horde of mana beasts. But overall, he was fine.
The butcher made a few bone-cracking noises as he rotated his wrists and neck. He jumped up to get a better sense of the health of his legs. He finally raised his arms above his head and stretched, indicating that he had almost recovered from his precarious condition.
While he was recovering from the pain that came along with the Expedited Regeneration, the butcher's teeth were gritted. He only relaxed when the process was done.
"So much for "easy peasy", huh!
Note to self: even while experimenting, I should be careful about who I am conducting them on. A regular sample is needed to derive all-inclusive results."
Eren lightly slapped his forehead before combing his hair by running his finger through it. He then wiped the drool that tried to escape from the corner of his lips. One could see that he was salivating– an indication that he was feeling famished. However, unlike before, he was in complete control of his senses and desires.
Eren realized that he had chosen the wrong opponents to experiment with. Mainly because they were not the traditional rankers he was used to dealing with. Experimenting with spells on these guys was akin to finding joy in self-inflicted injuries. A self-sabotaging mentality that the butcher was not too fond of.
These rankers needed to be dealt with with absolute force. There was no room for games.
'Hmm. I wonder how much elemental attainment I'll gain if I just devour these guys' limbs.'
Since he couldn't kill them and needed to do something, Eren came up with a compromise. He then geared up for his go-to spells, putting his experiments to rest.
***
Krista and Lambert watched with stressed expressions as their enemy started jumping and stretching in his position. Having recovered from the attack he had landed on himself, he started doing this right away.
They watched in horror as they saw Eren recovering from his serious injuries like it was no big deal. They felt like they were inside a nightmare that just didn't seem to end.
"What kind of monstrosity is he… an undying cockroach?"
Lambert said under his breath as he appeared right in the middle of Krista and Rupen. He refused to believe that these were mere half-blood powers anymore.
Rupen on the other hand was ready to counter the butcher as soon as he made his move. He wasn't as visibly agitated as Krista. He was not as afraid as Lambert was. Mostly because he forced himself to think that this was just another half-blood subjugation case.
Just like the rest of the Blood Punisher Force members, Rupen also had an affinity for the Ether subelement. He could reflect the spell's effects or impact his opponent's path in a limited way. He could amplify the mirrored effects using another spell he had in his arsenal.
Rupen's peculiar affinity and his spells allowed him to put his opponents on the receiving end of the attacks they had initiated. He could also save some portion of the effects he had mirrored with the help of his special spatial space to which only he had access. The saved portion of the effect could be used against his opponents anytime he wanted.
Rupen was also the de facto leader of the three-person team. He had told Krista and Lambert that he would only appear when Eren launches a life-threatening attack at them, mirroring it at the last moment and killing him then and there.
