Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

The colosseum gained popularity in a short time when the Rankers experienced how beneficial it was for their respective Ranking Paths.

After all, it allowed the Rankers to unearth their true potential while fighting with their fears. It made them overcome their fears, making it so that it would not hinder their Ranking Journey anymore.

And by battling with someone else's fears, the Rankers started understanding each other better. Soon, it became a mandatory training module for a lot of Rankers' parties to fight with the fears of their party members, enabling them to gain a new perspective on their teamplay and coordination.

Compared to what Sansara Sage made the Rankers go through in order to gain something from the Life and Death Altar, one could say that the White Raven colosseum offered an easy therapy. It allowed the Rankers to recover from their past trauma. That is if they were able to conquer their fears.

Eren created this magnificent piece of magic and array formation before leaving its care and maintenance to the city administration. He had created this architecture in passing anyway. So he did not think much about it after it was finished.

Then one day, out of nowhere, a giant statue of a handsome man was brought into this colosseum. This statue was created by an unknown artist. And it was placed inside the colosseum in such a way that it would be the first thing the spectators would see entering the colosseum.

The statue was made from a special white marble stone that exuded a faint moon-like light in the night. However, it had two giant emerald green gems studded into it that served as its eyes.

Of course, the statue represented a very controversial figure.

The statue depicted a handsome man who had sharp features and a gaze that spoke volumes about his ambitions. He had two swords by his waist and his hands seemed eager to unleash them from their respective sheathes.

There was a figure of a white raven perched over the statue's right shoulder. It had his wings spread in either direction, as if it had just landed on the man's shoulder.

Everyone in the City of White Raven could tell who the statue represented. However, the obvious was bound to become doubtful with the passage of time. Especially since the statue did not have any description attached to it.

Today was a special day inside the colosseum.

There were no scheduled battles inside the premises today. There were no regular viewers. Instead, the colosseum was filled to the brim with the members of the White Raven Guild.

The core members of the guild were allowed to step inside the battleground, to serve as the primary audience for whatever that was about to happen on a levitating platform.

The audience in the spectators' bay as well as the Rankers standing on the battlefield silently. It was as if someone had put a gag order on them that all of them were collectively aware of.

Step. Step. Step.

The deafening silence was broken into many illusory fragments like a glass screen shattering into million pieces. Someone had come aboard the levitating platform out of nowhere.

"Hello and welcome," Eren greeted his audience confidently as he looked around to see a sea of people gathered inside the colosseum. He smiled lighty at the crowd and stood with his hands behind his back before speaking further.

"First of all, I thank all of you for coming to see me off," he said and offered a light bow to his audience gracefully.

"I know we all have been busy with our own affairs lately because of… you know. So yeah, whether you were compelled to come here or kinda forcefully obligated to because of being employed by the White Raven Guild, I thank you all the same."

Eren didn't mind the silence he received in response to his words. Instead, he took a deep breath before continuing.

"My father used to say this: you never know how strong or weak you are until you've had some real life experience. And more often than not, the things that make you weak can serve as a whetstone for you to become a sharper and stronger version of yourself.

You know… my mother used to say that I'm a dysfunctional child. And maybe she was right. But my father molded that dysfunctionality into something I could make use of in this chapter of my life.

We are all like that. We all have the potential to rise above our circumstances, as defective or broken as we might be," Eren said as he looked at the familiar figures in the audience.

It was as if he was pouring his heart out for them. Especially them and nobody else.

The original members of the White Raven Crew from Eren's academy days to the Rankers Eren had come in contact with during his time in the army. From the Rankers he knew in the Lionhearts duchy to people he met in his time in the Nightshade duchy.

Even the Rankers from Layos and Arsalan who had come to the White Raven city after Ravandale became Ravendale. Just for the sake of being near Eren. Eren addressed these people in the audience.

"So what I'm trying to say here is this: don't run away from your weaknesses. Do everything in your power to gain an upper hand over them. Fight your battles your own way, without caring about the labels you attract.

Remember this as you live your lives. Success is not final. And failures are not the end of the world unless you make them out to be. It is the courage to continue that counts.

They say that it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. I say what a load of crap that is. Success is success. And failure is failure. Whether you obtain success through imitating someone or through your own experiences. It does not matter.

What matters is how large and positively life changing your success is."