"Boy, why couldn't you greet me like the rest of them? Does this old man not deserve praise in your eyes?"
Amory let loose his aura around Eren in a threatening way. The old man had seen how Eren was unaffected by his presence last time when he was in Master rank. So he wanted to try the old pressure tactic with new vigor, testing where Eren's limits lay.
As the Way of Fire made its presence known around Eren, he felt as though he was immersed in a pool of extremely viscous lava. His skin and throat started to dry up as he felt the most intense form of dry heat. It was as if he had been turned into a mortal and left to die in a secluded desert.
Amory had fire element attainments. His violet flames had healing properties. He had become a top-notch healer because of his rare affinity and its versatile uses unlocked by him.
Amory gained new insight into his ranking path after being accepted into the Grandmaster rank. He realized that once one understands the way broadly, one can start seeing it in all things. It meant that exceptional proficiency in one field can be used to attain proficiency in other fields as well. As a result, Amory started seeing other uses for his healing flames when he broke into the A-Rank.
'Every aspect of the universe reflects an existential paradox. A duality of nature.
That which can heal can also be used to kill. That which can kill can also be used to heal.'
Amory repeated the lines in his head which were said to him by his old friend and Jiana's father Jin long ago. Jin had also passed the same message on to Jiana.
A knife can be used as a weapon to kill someone. And it could also be used like a scalpel to treat someone on the operation table. The intentions with which the weapon was deployed changed the outcome it generated.
Amory didn't really get what Jin was trying to say to him until today when he broke into the Grandmaster rank. A healer, he believed, didn't have much liberty to be on the offensive. It wasn't until now that he realized healers could become some of the most dangerous rankers by applying their powers in different ways.
Amory also felt inferior to Jiana to some degree because the girl had understood her father's words more deeply than he did despite having less experience than him. Her skill sets and achievements were reflections of just that. This was why she had been bestowed a kingdom-bonafide title after all. He knew it was only a matter of time before Jiana catches up to him and then surpasses him.
***
Nirvana Flames!
Amory's attainments in the fire element created nirvana flames. Of course, he had made sure not to hurt anybody because of his elemental manifestation and had kept his flames mostly harmless. Otherwise, the facility would have turned into a burning prison for rankers.
Amory neither wanted to harm Eren nor make him look incompetent in front of others. The old man wasn't interested in a power struggle at all. However, something about Eren's presence always made him feel subservient to him.
The A-ranked old man wanted to fight off feelings of subservience by pitting himself against an Adept-ranked Eren, no matter how illogical that comparison sounded in anyone's head. He wanted Eren to back down from his stance just once to derive mental satisfaction from it. It was to reassure himself that his ranking status gave him the privilege to do so.
Anyone could see that Eren was struggling to stand face-to-face with Amory. The difference in their ranks was just too big. Yet, the butcher held his ground and smiled mockingly before responding in a voice coated in the provocation.
"Why would a boss go out of his way to greet his employee... just because he did something he was supposed to do?"
Due to being exposed to Amory's aura, Eren had to say his words with some difficulty. But he had an unmistakable smirk when he said that, preventing Amory from taking joy in his misery.
Eren knew that Jiana and Amory had plans to lead his guild from the inside after joining. The members of Healers' Nirvana wanted to have some form of autonomy while staying inside the White Raven guild. And Eren was willing to give them just that to some degree.
However, he wanted them to understand that he had given them this autonomy out of convenience and his own choice. He wanted Amory and Jiana to understand that he wasn't willing to fulfill every wish they had because he was under some kind of pressure to retain them.
The butcher also felt that it was appropriate to state things at this point right after Amory's breakthrough instead of waiting for the dust to settle down. He didn't want Jiana to officially join his guild with the "I own this guild because of Uncle Amory" mindset either. So he had to make a scene and confront Amory then and there. He didn't mind being seen as the so-called tyrant if it served his purpose.
Eren's emerald green eyes shone and his soul sense was released to counter Amory's aura. He stepped forward and looked Amory in the eyes.
Amory could say with confidence that the negative effects of his exposed aura were being felt by Eren. That's because the others in the audience that had come to greet him had stressed expressions on their faces. And that was when they weren't the target.
And yet, Eren stood in front of him as if he had dealt with something much worse. As if what he had in his arsenal was or would become something much more potent.
Amory couldn't help having goosebumps on his skin as he felt Eren's soul sense affecting him. He felt that the butcher's eyes would trap him in an illusory world if he stared at them for long enough. Of course, he could resist the pull. But that didn't make him feel comfortable around Eren.
Eren was freed from suffering through Amory's aura when he used his soul sense as his protection. He broke his neck and stretched his arms above his head while maintaining eye contact with the newly turned Grandmaster ranker.
The butcher's voice changed and turned a bit sinister as he spoke his next words.
