Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Flame Steps

Fire Ball

Fire Wings

Tuan Aag employed his go-to spells to battle with the unknown shadow. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with the guy. On the one hand, he had revealed his wife's adultery to him, the cause of his despair. On the other hand, he had managed to end her for good without burdening himself, making the tragedy somewhat bearable.

Yet Tuan couldn't shake the feeling that the guy hadn't done this out of the goodness of his heart. It looked like a big conspiracy was raised against him without him knowing anything about it.

Swoosh!

Tuan jumped high with his fire-element movement spell. Then he applied his fire-element spell on his weapons, tweaking the fireball spell. Lastly, he executed his signature Fire Wings to stabilize his jump while still ascending as if he was really taking a flight.

The Fire Wings would only help him glide over the air for a limited period before ultimately bringing him down. The spell didn't allow for a sustained flight. But that didn't mean it was totally useless as most fire-element rankers had thought it was.

Tuan had created a unique battle style around the Fire Wings spell– making him known as the Flame Feathers inside the Arangar's colosseum. He was using this tactic on the shadow for the fourth time now.

The night's darkness was soon swept away when the Fire Wings came to be. Soon, a human-like figure who looked like it was going to soar through the sky stopped ascending and flapped his fire wings.

Tuan located his target quickly before wrapping his body inside his wings. He then turned into a meteor-like object that rapidly approached the shadow.

Tuan was able to accelerate his meteor-like attack by modulating his Fire Wings spell and other support spells. Therefore, it was almost impossible for ordinary rankers to completely dodge him no matter how vigilant they try to be.

Alas, Tuan was met with disappointment yet again. The shadow had managed to dodge him a fifth time as well.

'How… How could this be? How fast are this guy's reflexes?'

Tuan thought as he stood up from his position on the ground. A giant crater had formed around him as a result of his meteor-like attack's impact. The shadow was standing just at the edge of the crater and looking at him with eyes devoid of any emotions.

"You … you set this whole thing up. What's your goal?"

Tuan asked while gripping his dual swords in his hands tightly. He didn't attack in a rushed manner this time because he had come to realize that his opponent could dodge his meteor attack without breaking a sweat.

The shadow didn't take long to respond.

"If you think this is all just some big set-up to try to get you out of the Titus tournament…"

The shadows paused and amusingly looked at Tuan. It chucked before resuming.

"... Then you are absolutely right. Now let me show you where you are lacking."

After saying this, the shadow disappeared from its position. The next moment, a series of violent weapon clashes could be heard in the surroundings.

******************

"Aaaaaargh!"

Tuan yelled in pain when he was inflicted with another injury on his hands by his opponent. His hand felt like it was getting numb from the foreign mana that had entered the system through the wounds.

Tuan was finally brought to his knees after a battle that lasted for more than an hour. He had tried everything in his arsenal to fight the guy on an equal footing. And for a while he did. But Tuan's opponent was acting like he was there to see him fight at a close range.

The shadow kept playing defensive while prioritizing evading all the attacks thrown it's way. It only attacked when it found the right opportunity to do so.

The fact that Tuan wasn't mentally in the right place didn't help him in his cause either. Normally, he would have changed his strategy and tried a different approach after realising that the shadow was playing defensive.

But he treated this battle as a way to vent the frustration he was feeling. By the time he realized all his mistakes, he was already on his knees in a battered state. Looking at his opponent in front of him with his bloodied body and face. His cuts were already more numerous and severe than during the Titus tournament.

"I… I now understand. You want to win the Titus tournament. Or want someone else to, possibly your employer."

Tuan said while huffing as he was out of breath. He spat out the glob of blood that was blocking his windpipe and spoke again.

"If you want me to quit. I'd quit the tournament. But please… Please don't kill me. I have some things to do that I had ignored while being blinded by love. I don't want to die with regret."

Tuan said and dropped his head in submission. He knew his condition better than anyone. There was no way for him to get out of this situation other than submission.

"See? How easy it was to come to the right decision if you could just look past your emotions.

Hehe. I shouldn't be the one to preach this though. I know what it is like to be overwhelmed by the voices in your head."

He said as he stepped closer to Tuan. He raised his Shamshir and pressed it against Tuan's neck. The latter didn't feel any fear of dying. In any case, he had asked to be spared not for himself. That plea was screaming "I tried".

'Are you sure I would be able to take up another slave?'

Eren asked the voice in his head. The voice; Alephee replied promptly.

'It should have taken a long time. But your constant smoking of Stella Sativa leaves has positively impacted your soul. You simply smoked too much.

The relief you felt after realizing what the Lazarus Project was was not just a feeling. You have successfully gotten rid of Eliza's residual soul sense. It has given you the ability to add one more conventional slave mark. You can turn Tuan into one of your pawns just fine.'

Alephee concluded, bringing a smile to Eren's face.