Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eliza realized something as she saw Eren transforming into a dragonoid using his Hex Artifact Set.

She realized that Eren had been obsessed with countering her in every possible way. He had always planned to face her after her rebirth in a new vessel. Because the dragonoid transformation wasn't something that could be unlocked on a moment's notice.

Although the Dragonoid transformation that Eren had tapped into was done using the artifact set, Eliza didn't feel that it was an inferior and shoddy copy of what she could do as a genuine dragon half-blood. Rather, she sensed a strong mana signature from Eren, allowing her to know that Eren had outdone even the most established artifact creators of Anfang.

Eliza could sense a wyvern's bloodline had been used by Eren to trigger the dragonoid transformation. Typically, Eliza should have the superiority with her genuine draconic transformation. However, Eren had compensated for the inferiority of the bloodline energy by making his artifact set more durable and resilient.

This type of artifact creation had never been attempted in the Land of the Faithless ever before. Even the legendary artifacts from the Calamity Era would pale in comparison with Eren's latest creations.

After all, Eliza was aware of the current standards of Anfang's artifact makers. None of them were able to create an artifact set that would allow them to turn into a dragonoid. If Anfang Alliance had access to Eren's knowledge and artifact sets, the Sages it deployed would have posed a genuine threat to Eliza.

Eren had fine-tuned a Hex Artifact for himself that allowed him to take advantage of all his strong suits. He could use his bloodline powers while using the artifact set, enhancing their effects. He could also use his multi-element and multi-weapon compatibilities to bring out the versatility in his attacks.

This was not all. Eliza also realized something else. Eren had achieved all this while Layla was keeping tabs on him. He was a skilled potioner, an exceptional artifact creator, a knowledgeable Array Expert, and lastly, a multi-Class Ranker.

It was as if he had combined the expertise in all his fields to come up with his way to handle his problems. And as far as Eliza knew, Eren was barely a 30-year-old upstart Ranker.

Even if Eliza were to add Eren's devouring abilities that allowed him to assimilate others' experiences and knowledge, the assimilation itself couldn't have allowed him to be this good in every field his Ranking Path currently consisted of.

The way he had handled the Lazarus Project made Eliza feel a shiver run down her spine. If he had a few more years to grow, she figured he would have been able to prevent her from resurrecting herself without letting any harm come to Reen.

***

There was a reason why Eren didn't allow himself to be consumed by the feelings of rage from the get-go. He always had a problem donning the Hext artifact and tapping into the dragonoid transformation. It made him go berserk, making him lose control over his emotions and blurring his thoughts.

After all, Eren had thoroughly tested the Hex Artifact Set's usability in the battle by donning it to take care of the Rankers from Layos. At that time, he was so out of focus after using the artifact that Reva Rain had managed to sneak up upon him.

Eren had made a lot of improvements in the Hex Artifact Set after that incident. He also added a wyvern's soul into the mix, which made matters a bit worse for him. The draconic soul amplified his emotions of hatred and anger to abnormal levels.

Eren figured that the Hex Artifact Set would be more detrimental to the user who wore it if it was being worn by a regular Ranker. After all, those who allowed themselves to get consumed by anger and couldn't think straight for themselves were bound to attract a calamity upon themselves.

With his current mastery in the field of artifact creation, Eren's artifact sets could only be worn by him. Only someone with his mindset could control their actions while wearing the set, if only barely. One could say that they were defective pieces that only worked for him.

As the creator of the artifact set himself, the butcher knew about its shortcomings better than anybody. If he were to express his feelings of anger out loud from the start, they would start having a compounding effect on him after he wore the artifact set. So he leashed those feelings in his heart while battling with Eliza. This was so that he could use the artifact set at the right time.

***

"You wanted me angry?" Eren's voice sounded guttural and beastly as she spoke to Eliza. "Congratulations. Now I'm angry," Eren said before disappearing from his position, leaving the sunken region behind him.

The next few seconds were a blur for the witnesses from both sides.

Eliza found a draconic palm slam against her face. The next thing she felt was being weightless. And then all of a sudden, she was slammed against the ground, adding to the tremors the battlefield was experiencing.

"Aa—"

Eliza's shrill was cut short when she was forcefully pulled out of her sunken hole. Her cries became non-existent when a draconic roar sounded in the surroundings, bringing with it a destructive fire breath.

Roar!

Roar!

Eliza released her own fire breath, meeting Eren's breath attack with compressed forms of the Enderflames. She quickly tried to pull away from Eren's current position, in an attempt to create a safe distance.

Unfortunately for her, Eren followed his breath attack with dozens of sword slashes that cut through the cluster of blue and green flames. These sword attacks were embedded with Eren's Elemental Attainments in various elements as well as the Sin Series Mana.

The most noticeable integration in Eren's attacks was the integration of the Wrath Mana. Only now did Eliza understand how much hate and vengeance Eren was harboring in his heart for her. The potency of the Wrath Mana was so strong that his azure blue flames took the shape of the dragonheads before attacking Eliza all at once.

'This…. From acting neutral to becoming completely enraged. What… What kind of demon am I fighting with?'