Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

A boy could be seen sitting cross-legged in the middle of the blood pool with his eyes closed.

He looked to be 15ish years old– quite young and full of youth. He had a thick head of white hair that stood out against his copper-brown skin. When he opened his red eyes, they shone with unmasked ambition.

This young boy had a strange tattoo on his right cheek that made him look like a delinquent. He had an eagle-like curved nose and a sculpted jawline. He wore an expression of anger on his face. But that was because he couldn't control his facial muscles properly yet.

Argo had assumed his humanoid form after his breakthrough into the C-rank. In achieving a ranking breakthrough, he had left Eren behind. The C-rank had followed in the footsteps of Reen by being able to assume humanoid form.

When Argo stood up, he measured around 5.9 feet tall. Despite what Eren was used to calling him, the beast's humanoid form had a slim build with light muscle definitions. One could say that he looked as if he was in a caloric deficit with his athletic physique.

Argo stepped out of the blood pool in one swift jump and was greeted with a layer of red lightning that blocked visibility. As if red lightning curtains had been drawn around him.

"Stop flexing and wear these clothes."

Eren threw a bunch of regular clothes at Argo covered in lightning streaks. Argo caught the streaks with his bare hands before partially dousing the lightning tongues. Argo opened his mouth to speak but the butcher's stare made him shut up and follow his commands.

In no time, Argo was seen wearing a pair of black and white clothes that were clearly many sizes above me. The beast didn't like that he was given a bunch of used clothes.

"Yo boss, I'll need some money to go shopping. Don't expect me to wear hand-me-downs forever."

Argo ran his fingers through his white hair and adjusted his black jacket as he demanded money from Eren like it was his birthright. As proud as he was, Argo treated Eren like a family. So there was no shame in asking for something from him.

The butcher nodded his head begrudgingly. He knew Argo would start duping people if he didn't get what he wanted from him. His hustle knew no bounds.

Argo and Eren treated the former's humanoid transformation as a normal event. But others watching Argo had a different opinion.

"You.. you were a legendary-tier demon beast? How?"

Layla looked at Argo with a shocked expression as she asked him a question. She could confirm that Argo had stepped into the legendary-tier category with his breakthrough into the C-rank.

Argo focused his eagle-like gaze on Layla and shrugged his shoulders before commenting.

"I don't even know what that means. I guess I'm just that awesome."

Argo said confidently while attempting to walk using his humanoid legs. Since he wasn't used to his humanoid form, he just fell flat on his face, discrediting his previous confident attitude.

Kirin chuckled when she looked at Argo before disappearing into thin air. The butcher looked at Argo as if he was annoyed.

"Learn to walk first before declaring yourself awesome."

"I... I am born to fly, not walk" Argo retorted from his face-flat-on-the-ground position.

The butcher sighed before deciding to cancel his tank spell. He made the Behemoth walk to the same pit it had come out of before altering the landscape once again.

***

Half-moon night. Chilled atmosphere. There was light snow deposition on the leaves of the forest trees. A bright source of light was the only source of warmth in this cold atmosphere.

A group of rankers could be seen sitting around a campfire.

This was the western end of the Dark Daniera forest– around three days' worth of colt ride away from Eren's last battlefield. The forest would end if the group traveled west for a day or two.

There was a living undead elf sitting among the group as well. One would have to check this elf very carefully to determine that he was a living undead. Because, unlike normal undead, he didn't have a lifeless face.

Plus, he could speak.

"So you're telling me that the attack on Healers' Nirvana was planned by another royal scion from Layos? Who would that be and how can I find them?"

Eren asked Shandil while having his beer-braised brisket. Kirin was sitting to his right while Argo was sitting to his left. The demon beast couldn't use the beast space anymore because Eren was still a D-rank entity.

Eren also preferred that Argo get used to his humanoid form. So the young demon would be asked to walk or sprint from time to time– a task he was failing miserably. So it was no wonder that Argo was not happy with his current circumstances despite being served quality red meat.

Ivor and Layla were sitting on the other side of the campfire. The former was playing with his daggers while the latter was jotting something down in her journal. It was as if she was recording interesting events that happened in her life recently.

Shandil was standing behind Eren with his eyes fixed on the flames released by the campfire from time to time. The living undead rolled his eyes unnaturally trying to remember some of the memories he had when he was alive.

Eren's spell and some of his modifications had brought him back to a false-life state. But it had affected Shandil's memories. So it was a while before he could answer Eren's question.

"Yes, sire. The royal scion's name is Shalana. She is a C-rank royal elf currently placed 13th in the line of succession. As for where you can find her… I don't remember."

The necromancer Eren scrunched his nose in dissatisfaction when he heard Shandil's reply. The latter sensed his sire's ire and came up with a fitting reply to pacify him.

"Sire, I don't remember where you can find Shalana. But I can always contact her and make her come to us."

AN: Hope you liked the on-roids release rate this week. I'll get back to writing INFIO and work on another project in January. So it will be a while before we have something like this planned for VEH. ;)

Out with the old. In with the new. May we be hustling the whole year through. Wishing you a very happy new year. ;)