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It had been a while since Eren and Arto had started their duel.

Arto was trying to get close to Eren due to his close combat advantage as a swordsman. The latter wouldn\'t have minded the close combat brawl with a swordsman if it wasn\'t for the fact that it was an Awakened rank Spider in the last stage of his current rank.

The two rankers had repeatedly attacked and injured each other. They had used everything they had against each other. And yet, they both felt like they were going nowhere with the way their opponent was behaving.

Eren was only able to hold out against his opponent due to his infinite mana core. Otherwise, he would have been a goner a long time back. He had to say that Arto was a capable swordsman. He could use his sword to attack, defend, maneuver, and draw a stalemate. He complemented his swordplay with the right set of martial arts and spells. He wasn\'t much faster or more agile but his movements were attuned to support his battle style.

Aleph was mildly impressed with Arto\'s swordsmanship as well. But he was more focused on devouring the guy\'s talent for Eren than actually extending genuine praise for the swordsman.

Arto was also equally appalled by the way Eren could keep up with him while being in the Meta rank. The guy was an undying cockroach. And he could spam spells like there was no tomorrow. What he lacked in quality attacks, he made up for with quantity.

In the end, Arto and Eren were equally injured and out of breath. They both felt like they were running on fumes. Arto\'s mana core was going to tap out. And Eren felt like his mana circuits were about to go on strike from being overworked. The battlemage also had mental stress from having to keep various spells running at the same time while maintaining the fire domain.

Eren had his healing spell active almost the entire time he was fighting Arto. He had been cut several times in various places. He barely saved his limbs from being chopped off. And his blood loss was also very significant.

Yet, Eren gritted his teeth and marched on. He knew that it was about time Arto\'s mana core ran dry. Thus, he kept on using various trump cards he gained from the Hexers\' ground for this single fight.

Many miracle healing potions were used to treat his grave injuries. He would drink all-status recovery potions to rejuvenate himself. And he would use nefarious items like potion bombs to attack Arto inside his domain.

One had to say that Eren\'s fire domain had served its purpose well. It allowed Eren to suppress Arto just enough so that he could battle the swordsman.

Eren\'s Hex armor also played a huge role in keeping him and his limbs safe and sound. It allowed him to tank attacks he couldn\'t dodge. As a result, his armor had been severely damaged, reducing its defensive effectiveness. However, it was still working because it could always recover itself from being a transcendent artifact.

All these factors helped Eren bridge the divide between the two ranks. The most significant thing was that it helped him stay alive. Being alive could be considered Eren\'s victory since he wanted to prolong the battle. He was placing his bets on Arto running out of his mana storage or the possibility of him making desperate moves because he was running out of mana.

Arto\'s other advantage was the fact that he used very little mana in his attacks. His swordplay and mana-based martial arts allowed him to be a very efficient fighter. However, Eren\'s constant barrage of fire-element attacks put him on the defensive. He had to invest a lot of time and energy defending against Eren\'s attacks, which weren\'t something he could brush off his shoulders.

***

Alfem

Igni Chains

Venti Ball

The firebirds reappeared and flew toward their target. Their bodies were wrapped in Igni Chains. These Igni Chains had multiple Venti Balls attached to them.

The firebirds cried as they detonated themselves onto Arto from every possible angle. Since the swordsman was stuck in Eren\'s fire domain, fire element spells were omnipresent in the surroundings.

Eren performed elemental fusion between fire and wind after the detonation happened. The fusion increased the damage potential of the firebirds, enabling them to generate more impact.

The firebirds struck Arto with such force that his advance was stopped. The guy had to brace himself to deal with the constant bombardment of firebirds. The fire-element mana burned off parts of his defense mana layer and started hurting his skin. Some of the fire mana entered his system and lit his mana circuits on fire.

"Aaaaaargh!"

Arto screamed in pain before clenching his sword hard. He looked at the incoming Eren with a grim face and gritted teeth before swinging his sword with all his might. His sword swing not only allowed him to launch an offensive at Eren but also lessened the burn of mana invasion his mana circuits were facing.

Eren tried to dodge the series of sword slashes coming toward him with his exceptional agility. However, these attacks were initiated by an Awakened-ranked entity that was close to reaching Arch rank. As such, there was only so much he could do when it came to keeping himself safe from attacks. He had to face the consequences of attacking someone much stronger than him in terms of pure ranking status.

Swoosh. Zoom. Cut.

Eren managed to dodge most of the attacks due to the firebirds taking some of the damage from the sword slashes for him. Even so, he couldn\'t get away from the lashes. And a huge chunk of his left arm muscles, which was not covered by his Hex armor, was lost in the process.

This sword attack breached through Eren\'s mana defense layer and the enhanced protection his Hex gear provided him. It even managed to break through the defensive spell he had cast on himself. Still, this injury couldn\'t be avoided.

\'Fucccccck!\'

Eren looked at his arm and knew that he had received another serious injury. It was as if the pain he was feeling at the time was no longer a proper indicator of what kind of injury he had received.

Blood had started gushing out in large quantities. Eren could almost see his upper arm bone- the Humerus, which had been partially exposed to the elements due to the grave injury. Eren couldn\'t operate on his right hand anymore because a large portion of the muscle group assigned to that task had vanished because of Arto\'s sword slashes.

Eren had also received stray slashes on his chest and stomach. Nevertheless, he was never in a grave like this because his Hex gear protected his vital organs.

\'Damn it. I\'ll have to use another of those transcendental vials.\'

Eren cursed in his head as he created more Alfem inside the fire domain and used them to attack Arto. He then created a safe distance from his opponent while drawing out another vial of organ recovery potion.

A large amount of blood would have been lost in the attack if Eren hadn\'t deployed his mana layer to hold the wound closed. He then drank the organ recovery potion before channeling his mana inside his body for quicker effects.

The potion\'s effects kicked in and the wound stopped bleeding. The flesh around the wound suffered through rapid cell destruction and regeneration before it could grow the lost muscle mass.

The Hex gear wasn\'t the only transcendental item Eren had received from the Hexers\' grounds. The consumables he had been given as a reward were also very precious and rare. Plus, they could be used even if Eren entered the Awakened rank and beyond. As such their values would be much higher than any run-of-the-mill products available on the market.

As the potion\'s effects fixed Eren up, he looked at Arto with a serious look. Just like him, he also had various potions and one-time-use defensive artifacts at his disposal. He had used them from time to time to keep up with Eren\'s barrage of spells inside the fire domain.

\'You are doing this the wrong way, Eren.\'

Aleph finally spoke up when Eren and Arto were observing an unofficial ceasefire. The battlemage took a long breath as if he was expecting to hear something like this from Aleph. He clenched his axes before responding.

Do you have a better idea? I\'m all ears.\'

Aleph chuckled inside Eren\'s head before expounding on his previous statement.

\'You are not enjoying the battle, Eren. Remember your first fight with Jayce, Ralph, and Stan? You were in greater danger at that time than you are right now. You were only a mortal back then, facing off against three Meta-ranked entities.

How did you go through that experience? How did you manage to achieve the so-called impossible and win over three Meta rankers?\'

Your breakthrough was one reason. But facing your problem head-on was the otherâ€" more significant reason. Most times, running away from problems only delays the inevitable, not prevents it.

Throw caution to the wind and fight the guy up close. Allow him to use all of his moves against you.

This is your chance to achieve a breakthrough into the Awakened rank. You have to desire power with all that you have for it to be granted to you. Conscious efforts are more fruitful than lucky encounters.

What did the pantheon of infinity tell you?\'

Aleph\'s question made Eren think about his past experiences. His right hand was inadvertently placed on his beating heart as he mumbled to himself.

\'Seek and ye shall find!\'