Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Agatha's private chember. The City of White Raven. Ravendale.

"It seems your voluntary exit has been turned into a banishment."

Agatha sighed and commented after Eren was done explaining to her the arrangement he had established with the Anfang Alliance. The latter smiled before speaking up.

"Does it matter? I get to do the thing I was going to do without any hindrances. So I don't care what they label it as," he spoke as he got up from Agatha's bed.

Agatha sat straight in her bed as well, revealing her naked form. She spoke while trying to redo her hair. "They'll drag your name through the mud, Eren," she said before raising her right hands in front of her before swiping it right.

It looked like she wasn't particularly okay with the arrangements Eren had made with the Anfang Alliance.

A mass of water was condensed out of nowhere and wrapped around her body. Another mass of water covered Eren. When the water-element Ability was dispersed, the two had gotten afresh from their night of passion.

"Keke. even better," Eren said and stretched his limbs to get rid of the stiffness of his muscles. He looked to be in his best form, his A-Ranked body filled to the brim with vitality and lifeforce.

Eren took out his clothes from his ID Storage. Black pants, cream colored tunic, and a full-sleeve black coat. A formal attire. It was more or less similar to what he wore during his graduation event.

"Hmm? Better? Better how?" Agatha asked while looking at Eren with puzzled expressions.

"I guess they want to discourage everyone from doing what I did. Especially the future generations," Eren explained while tucking his tunic inside his pants. He then wore his black coat over it and started buttoning his sleeves as he spoke.

"I can see why they would do things like that. To be honest, I don't want there to be more like me in Anfang either. Otherwise, it will face another series of calamities," Eren said and smiled brightly as he looked at Agatha, as if he was criticizing his own actions.

"Rankers like me are a menace to the system of order. What if the next Ranker who causes such a turmoil isn't as level-headed as I? What if they are not as charming as I am? Evil for the sake of being evil is boring and chaotic evil is hard to control.

So in a way, I was probably the best thing that happened to this world. The Alliance doesn't want to take any chances with whoever comes after me," he said as he watched Agatha getting ready with a new set of clothes.

Agatha smiled bitterly when she heard Eren's perspective on the moves initiated by the Anfang Alliance. She couldn't deny it in her heart that she adored Eren for his radical perspectives on life.

"I'll soon come looking for you, you know," Agatha said as she stood in front of Eren after she was dressed neatly. She wore her usual– a semi-formal attire that was her signature look ever since she had taken up the responsibility of managing the City of White Raven.

"I'll be waiting," Eren said while pulling her in his embrace. His lips planted on hers and the two exchanged a passionate kiss.

"A charming evil indeed. You… you look great, Eren," Agatha said while trying to comb his unruly hair with her hands. Within a matter of seconds, she made him go from semi-decent to formally dressed for the occasion.

"I'm looking forward to your farewell speech today," Agatha said as she separated herself from Eren's embrace and looked at him dotingly.

"I'll try not to disappoint," he said and smirked. He brought his hands together and cradled her face, caressing her cheeks, his emerald green eyes having a peculiar sheen staring in hers. In the next moment, he vanished from Agatha's sight, leaving her alone.

Agatha's eyes turned a bit misty for a moment. However, she took a deep breath and looked all around before shaking her head. In the next moment, a genuine smile appeared on her face as she exited the room.

Today was a big day. Not just for her but also for all of the Rankers present inside the City of White Raven. In fact, it was a big day for all of Ravendale.

The city was about to host an event to send Eren off. It wasn't supposed to be big but ended up becoming one anyway after the White Raven Rankers came to know the reason behind it. Contrary to what Eren might have thought about himself, "Grimdawn" still had a legit fanbase.

***

The Kukenan Plateau. The White Raven Guild grounds.

This was a colosseum. A special kind.

People called it the White Raven colosseum.

The concepts behind Sansara Sage's Life And Death Altar had been incorporated into this colosseum. The Rankers associated with the White Raven Guild could fight with their fears or someone else's fears for real by manifesting them inside this colosseum.

Eren had taken up on Maya's advice to use Life And Death Altar as a training ground for the Rankers under him. To train them better and turn them into a better unified force. The colosseum was what he had come up with.

Eren had used his expertise as an Array Expert and made full use of the inheritance left behind by the Sansara Sage. In a way, this colosseum was better than the Life and Death Altar inside the Sansara World 1.0 such that the Rankers didn't need to "die" in order to face their fears.

The Rankers could not only face their own fears but also someone else's fears as well. The manifestations that were brought to life inside the colosseum were as good as the real-life counterparts most of the time, enabling the Rankers participating as the contestants to come face to face with their mental blocks in real life.

Some of the Rankers who managed to win inside this colosseum even experienced Epiphanies they were looking for to overcome their bottlenecks. Some entered Battle Trance and overcame their fears.