It's been half an hour since Eren and Ivor started their duel.
Eren had a superior understanding of his dagger arts to support his precise, lethal, and well-calibrated moves. While Ivor had his armor to count on. Ivor's armor seemed to become more durable as he held on to his position.
Even so, Osan Junior was not having a walk in the park. He had a grim face as he fought with Eren.
Osan Jr. had pressed his lips against each other to prevent himself from yelling in pain. He knew from the intensity of pain he experienced through his armor. If Eren's attack had landed on his bare body without the armor protecting him, he would have been turned into an upright meat rotisserie long ago.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Ivor channeled his pain into attacking Eren when he found the right opportunity to do so. His pride was put on the line as he launched his counterattack on Eren. He charged his daggers with lightning and pride mana. Plus, his enhanced body stats helped him to break the defensive line Eren had set for himself.
The butcher's katars were parried at the right time before the partially golden dagger barged in and attacked his torso. Ivor became very quick with his daggers all of a sudden when he found the right opportunity to attack Eren.
Zoom. Swoosh. Slash.
Eren found out that one of the golden daggers had lodged itself in his right shoulder. The other one had managed to pierce the area right under his left rib cage. There were also various slash wounds inflicted across the front of his torso in quick succession.
Eren didn't flinch at the pain as he kept on exchanging moves with Ivor despite the latter's huge success. He let his wounds get worse by attacking Ivor without even trying to create a safe distance from him. It was as if the butcher was not worried about his wounds at all.
'Those who inflict pain must have the courage to bear it as well.'
Ivor thought to himself as he watched how Eren fought against him. He started repeating that line in his head again and again as a way to deal with his share of pain.
This was exactly like the last time when he fought with Eren in the ranking wars. It was just that the stakes were higher and he had been blessed with pride armor to stand his ground against Eren.
Ivor started enjoying his pain as he fought with Eren. As his pride armor kept getting sturdier, the sense of pain was amplified even further. And these senses were not confined to the pain receptors in his body.
Due to the Sin Series Ability's peculiarity, he could feel the pain on a deeper level, as if his soul was suffering along with his body. And this soul-related pain was many times more painful than any of his bodily pains.
Ivor felt like he was immersed in a pool of agony the water of which was made of tangible extracts of human suffering. And yet, that did not deter Ivor from having a smile on his face. That smile only grew wider as he received blow after blow from Eren's consistent and precise attacks.
"Hahaha. This… I cannot help but enjoy dueling with you, Eren. I don't care what happens to you or me or this mission. I just want to live in this moment."
Layla was amazed that Ivor, who always looked like he had lost everything in a gamble, could laugh like that. She was even more amazed by Eren's performance in the duel. The guy had upped his game in every possible way.
'He is getting more and more dangerous by the day. I need to fill my master in on this. This strange bloodline is stronger than we initially thought. If it could even be called that.'
Layla thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at Eren. She also cursed the two men for dueling with each other so seriously. Nobody would be able to tell that they were on the same side against Oliver's forces if they saw the two fight at this point.
Ivor decided to use the spell first as he thought he couldn't take the amplified pain anymore. A pool of lightning water appeared out of thin air and the lightning vines inside it started to climb over Eren's body as they fought.
Some of the vines started hindering his movement. These vines also had a stunning effect attached to them that prevented Eren from reacting to the vines like he was used to.
Since Ivor had been defeated in the dagger arts by Eren, his pride was hurt. As a result, his body stats had been lowered and his armor also lost some of its defensive properties.
Still, Ivor knew there was no better way to get one up on Eren. After all, his pride was not above his interests. He readily prepared himself to compromise his armor's defensive properties to create a window of opportunity.
Ivor delivered a tornado kick to Eren's injured shoulder and sent him flying for the first time. He did not allow Eren to cast his spells. As a result, his pride was hurt when he saw Eren flying away from him. His armor crumbled a bit before Eren landed a few meters away from him.
The butcher looked like he had a bloodbath. The various injuries on his body started oozing loads of blood all of a sudden as he took a long breath and relaxed his muscles.
Layla shook her head in disappointment when she saw Eren getting seriously injured. She wanted to criticize him for his brash behavior. But she stopped herself from saying anything when she saw him raise his hand in front of him.
Snap!
A mass of sparkling water appeared around Eren from thin air before surrounding him whole. When the mana-infused water was dispersed, the butcher was seen standing casually with his exposed torso. All the blood was washed away and all the wounds he had received were healed.
"This… When did you get this Ability?"
