"Let me borrow your lines, Stan. I''ll let you know my way of showing gratitude."


    Eren said with the same graceful smile Stan used to have on his face. The fake smile he wore was also bound to bring certain doom to its recipients.


    "Eren…Two breakthroughs into the same rank?"


    Stan knew that his survival was at stake at this point. So he decided to make Eren engage in his conversation so he could buy time. So that his friends would recover from their predicament ande to help him.


    Stan hade to realize that this Eren wasn''t someone he could handle on his own. Even though he was in the second stage of the Meta rank, he could see that Eren was in apletely different league. Especially experience-wise.


    "Listen Eren. Fights between rankers are strictly prohibited by Elysian cityws. Perhaps you are not aware. But you''d need to use proper channels to have a duel with another ranker, under a controlled environment. With the proper procedure, even mortalbat is allowed.


    You were a non-ranker before so I could dare to mess with you. But now that you are an official ranker, I can''t do shit to you and you can''t do shit to me. At least not like this."


    Eren had to admit that Stan had ovee his fear quickly. His survival instincts were making him say all the right things to the wrong person.


    Eren seemed to not care when he heard Stan''s speech. So thetter decided to use something different.


    "Eren… you have a second mana core in your body, don''t you? Even with my mana sense, I cannot sense it. If I hadn''t seen that phenomenon, I wouldn''t have believed it myself either if I wasn''t a first-hand witness to it myself.


    You know what that means, don''t you?"


    Stan said and managed to elicit a chuckle. He only continued when he was sure that there were a few changes in Eren''s facial expressions. Stan''s nning was working. At least that''s what he had thought.


    He chuckled some more before continuing.


    "Rankers, especially high ranking entities, will pay endless riches for a power like this."


    Stan said before forming an evil smile.


    "This also makes you vulnerable. You''d be experimented on by them if your powerse to light for everybody. Do you know how it would proceed though?


    Stan kept on rambling while looking at Eren.


    "Hahaha! That''s right. We would be investigated for our disappearance if you don''t back away now and kill us. Your secrets would be out soon enough. You''d end up bing ab rat for the rest of your foreseeable life.


    However, if you spare us, we are ready to sign a mana-binding contract to keep your secrets safe. The choice is yours."


    Eren pursed his lips as he heard Stan''s desperate attempts to save his life. He then started walking in another direction away from Stan.


    Stan was overjoyed when he saw that Eren had yielded to his exnation. After all, whatever he had said was true. Because he spoke just now to buy time, his conjectures won''t be invalid.


    ''Naive. This asshat is way too naive. That second mana core is wasted on him. What can you expect from a lowlife who doesn''t understand how the world works?''


    Stan thought to himself, but he did not speak now. He was sure that he would be able to swindle Eren just fine when it came to mana-binding contracts.


    Stan looked at his friends and spread his mana sense in their direction. He could sense that Jayce was about to have a rude awakening while Ralph had removed the weapon lodged between his two leg bones.


    ''Ralphy, I can only count on you. Drink your mana potion while I engage with this buffoon.''


    Stan''s voice was heard by Ralph in his head due to an advanced mode ofmunication only avable to rankers. Thetter nodded slightly at Stan and waited for the right opportunity.


    "That''s right, Eren. Walk. You can walk away calmly and slowly. Nobody has to kill or be killed here. I''m d I could talk some sense into you."


    Stan said to himself– his signature smile returning on his face. Eren didn''t pay attention to Stan or his words and kept on walking in a particr direction.


    It took a while for Ralph and Stan to realize what Eren was trying to do. He was walking towards Stan''s weapon that had been hurled a bit away from ground zero because Stan losing his grip in midair.


    They watched with their eyes wide open as the guy almost disappeared from his ce only to appear a few meters away from his previous position. One had to say Eren had gotten extremely used to casting his movement spell in such a short time. It was as if the spell was meant for this body from the very beginning.


    Blitz Steps x2


    Eren took a long breath and cast his movement spell all of a sudden, despite the difort he was feeling because of his mana circuits sending him warning signs. He quickly grabbed Stan''s sword that was ced on the ground and wielded it with his right hand.


    Kendo.


    Eren grabbed the sword by its hilt and processed the digested memories in his mind regarding the way of the sword. He closed his eyes and swung the sword around slowly like a stream of flowing water dancing around him.


    Eren felt like singing a song in his mind as he indulged in the feeling of kendo practice. Too bad he didn''t know any. He then increased his speed all of a sudden and started swinging the sword like a veteran swordsman.


    He forcefully imbued his overabundant mana into the weapon as he swung the sword around him while cutting through the wind. As a result, the sword''s runic inscriptions started to creak.


    Stan and Ralph had ominous feelings seeing Eren leisurely practicing the weapon that didn''t belong to him. Stan reached out to his only able-bodied friend in a gloomy tone.


    "Ralphy… we better use our potions…"


    Blitz Steps x4


    Laido.


    Swoosh. Chop. Drop.


    Ralph had his head separated from his torso before Stan couldplete speaking to him over themunication channel. The head dropped near Ralph''s body because his torsoy t on the ground on the back.


    The head would have stayed in the same ce if Ralph''s body would have stayed still. It meant that Eren had chopped his head off with just the right force, angle, and speed. Eren swung his sword once more before abruptly stopping it to get rid of the blood on the sword. These series of actions were so seamless that they looked like one move.


    No wasted movement. No excessive force necessary.


    ''My first kill.''


    Eren had a mixed range of emotions as he processed what had just happened. But he controlled them and decided to me it on the one guy who was frightened by the sudden change of events.


    "Look what you made me do."


    He said to the original owner of the sword. His face and his eyes carried the deathly silence he had just inflicted on his very first kill.