Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

'Damn. He still looks like some rich kid with that gaudy armor.'

Ivor seemed like he was just being Ivor when Eren looked at him- someone with old family money. It looked like he was wearing expensive armor for himself that Isen must have bought for him. It was extremely shiny to look at.

The butcher also recognized the origins of the pride mana Ivor was using to manifest this gaudy armor. This was the same intent-based magic he had been exposed to.

The armor did not only protect Ivor from threats. It also enhanced his body stats and response time depending on his feelings. It made him muscular and sharp while increasing his stature a bit. Ivor was as fit as a fiddle even before wearing armor. He looked buffier without compromising his agility with pride armor.

Various elemental and non-elemental runes and symbols would reflect on the golden armor's surface from time to time. It also had the added effect of intimidating the wearer's opponents if they were weak of heart.

Part of the pride mana coated his daggers and strengthened them. The ranks of his daggers remained the same. But they received a lethal upgrade with pride mana covering a portion of their blades.

Eren knew that the Sin Series Abilities would manifest differently even among the bearers of the same Sin mark. He predicted that the Sin Series Ability he would receive corresponding to the Sin of Pride would be different from Ivor's.

Ivor's Ability was based on his fighting style and his nature. It didn't grant him crowd control or mind control powers. He was able to simultaneously improve his offense and defense with his Ability.

Layla scrunched her nose when she looked at Ivor. She knew that he had received this Ability from his stay in Purgatory. The guy, however, had never used it on Oliver's forces, saying he wasn't prepared to sustain the side effects of using it.

However, Ivor decided to don the armor just to fight Eren. This was enough to tell Layla that Ivor was losing his value as a pawn. She sighed and gave up on stopping the two from dueling.

Now that she couldn't stop the two, Layla summoned her flying broom named Hexen Bee and sat on it before flying away from the potential battlefield. She stopped at a safe distance in the air and decided to watch the battle and entertain herself.

"I know you have received two Sin series Abilities as well, Eren. I don't know how you got two of them. But let's keep that aside. Why don't you show me what you have?"

The pride armor changed the tone of Ivor's voice as he spoke. His voice sounded deep and full of pride. His facial expression changed as well– turning his frown into a confident countenance.

Eren chuckled as he understood the intentions behind Ivor's suggestion. His prideful attitude told him to beat Eren when he was at his peak. He believed that Eren had to rely on his Sin series abilities to reach his supposed peak.

"I have indeed received two Sin series Abilities, Ivor. But I can't show one of them here because there's no female ranker present here."

Eren said and looked at Layla in the distance. The latter felt offended by his comment.

"You wretched man, what do you mean by that? What do you think I am?"

The butcher didn't want to argue with Layla who still looked like she needed her parents to take her places. Thus, he presented a clarification.

"I mean there's no non-homunculus female ranker present here. And the Sin of Lust can't be used during battles. At least not the ones you aspire to have with me."

Ivor was too stunned to speak after Eren's words. He raised his hands to speak but no words came from his mouth. Eventually, he dropped his shoulders and gave up, hinting at Eren to continue.

"As for the sin of Wrath…"

Eren paused and looked at Layla once again. She had firsthand experience of how his Ability worked. Thus, she chimed in.

"Ivor, we don't want Eren using his Sin of Wrath here. It's a domain spell for the most part. We'll need to sanctify this whole place with the Potion of Innocence if he uses it."

Eren shrugged his shoulders looking at Ivor when Layla spoke of his Ability. He didn't mind fighting with Ivor. But not at the cost of driving Oliver's forces away, which would happen if they got a whiff of his wrath mana.

Ivor wanted to say something to Eren after hearing that. However, Eren beat him to it.

"Meh. Don't sweat it. It will not come to that. Keep your armor on. I'm coming."

Eren said before using Blink. This time, Ivor was well equipped to receive him. Purple, red, and green lightning streaks bloomed as the two rankers clashed once again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

No further talk was necessary. The fake and real butchers fought each other using their dagger arts and sparks flew around them. Eren didn't show any mercy on Ivor after he saw his vitals were covered in pride armor. He launched his attacks as if he was fighting real opponents.

Every action that Eren performed was precise and designed to deal maximum damage to Ivor. He seamlessly connected his parries and counters to serve as the most effective defense for himself and the most lethal offense for his opponent.

And yet, he couldn't land a critical hit on Ivor due to his armor that blocked his physical as well as mana-based attacks. Eren used his fire-element attacks next to see if they had any effect on armor. He quickly found out that his flames were ineffective against armor.

'He has become a close combat tank with armor on. I'll need to try some different combos.'

Eren thought to himself as he created a distance from Ivor. They weren't using their spells against each other for now. The fight would only become more serious with time.