— Judgment by Thunder —
The instant Eren stepped into the hall, the atmosphere curdled—the air itself turning razor-sharp, vibrating with a deadly pressure that crushed every breath.
"E–Eren?! You should've been at the Frostveil Sect!" Quillon's face drained of all color. A vivid flash of the Vale mansion wedding massacre slammed into his mind. His legs buckled, shaking uncontrollably.
Ryo's heart sank to the void. —So this was the monster Lyra depended on.
Eren did not speak.
He simply began counting down.
"...Three. Two—"
That was all it took.
The suffocating aura of death shattered Quillon's final thread of sanity. Eyes flushing red, he lunged at Lyra in a frantic, animalistic attempt to seize a hostage—
"Idiot."
Eren's finger moved—so light it looked like a casual tap against the air.
CRACK—!
The sound of bones exploding echoed like thunder.
Quillon's body folded in on itself as though every bone had liquefied. He hit the ground in a collapsed heap.
His screams tore through the hall.
He stared at his own limbs—twisted, mangled, grotesque—his pupils shrinking in primal terror.
Eren's gaze slid sideways.
Quillon's remaining men were inching toward the exit.
Eren flicked his wrist.
Invisible arcs of force shot out—silent, merciless.
Thump—
They dropped together, dead before their bodies hit the floor.
Ryo's scalp prickled. His vision swam.
Still, he forced a smile more hideous than a sobbing grimace.
"S-Sir... this is all a misunderstanding! We—we're willing to compensate! One billion! Please, show mercy..."
"You think I need money?"
Eren's voice was metal striking ice. "You have two choices: kill yourself, or I kill you. Three. Two—"
"Wait! STOP!"
Ryo's complexion was ghost-white. "I—I'm an international guest! Killing me will spark a diplomatic crisis!"
Eren didn't even blink.
Panicking, Ryo jabbed a trembling finger toward the man beside him.
"S-Sir! This is Kuro—an Onmyōji of the Kyu-Kiku-Mon! His spiritual arts are terrifyingly powerful! If he steps in... even you might not survive!"
---
— Blood-Mist Apparition —
"Kyu-Kiku-Mon?"
Eren's gaze locked onto Kuro, who had been sitting motionless until now.
A thin, poisonous strand of shadow energy coiled around him—like a silent viper waiting to strike.
Then—
Kuro's eyes snapped open.
He rose without sound, his wide robes rippling despite the still air.
"Lord Ryo, we're leaving."
He turned, pupils glowing with a cold, bloody light.
"Those who block my path... die."
He took one step—
Swiish! Swiish! Swiish!
Three blades of cold light tore across the hall, aimed straight at his throat.
Kuro's pupils contracted to slits.
He spat a burst of crimson mist, dissolving the flying swords midair.
Forced out of composure, he let out a rasping, furious laugh.
"So you choose death?
Allow me to oblige!"
Blood-tinged vapor burst from every pore of his skin, writhing like a nest of serpents.
In a heartbeat, it fused into the phantom of a colossal blood-serpent, its scales glinting with icy malice.
The serpent lunged.
"Cheap theatrics."
Eren flicked his finger.
A spark of True Fire bloomed—WHOOM—into a rolling inferno.
The serpent didn't even scream; it simply disintegrated into drifting ash.
"You dare—!"
Kuro's voice twisted into a shriek as his eyes turned blood-red, vertical and feral.
The next breath—
the world inverted.
The hall dissolved into an abyssal ocean of blood.
The air curdled with rot and sickly sweetness.
Waves of gore surged, carrying countless warped shadows—screaming, melting, reforming.
Withered phantoms clawed at reality itself, digging for souls.
Lyra cried out, clutching Eren's arm, trembling violently.
Eren lifted a hand.
BOOM—!
A surge of pure, blazing power tore outward, ripping the blood-sea apart.
Everything it touched was instantly annihilated.
Kuro roared, voice cracking,
"Yamata no Orochi-sama—DESCEND!"
He bit his finger, twisting his hands into a grotesque seal.
The ocean of blood convulsed—
From within rose an eight-headed serpent, towering, howling silently.
Sixteen eerie, lifeless eyes fixed on Eren, pressure crushing the air itself.
"More parlor tricks."
Eren's fingers formed a sword seal.
BOOM!!
Eight bolts of violet lightning split the sky of blood, drilling through each serpent head with ruthless precision.
A single, shuddering wail—
Then the beast exploded into swirling black mist.
"No... no... impossible..."
The nightmarish realm cracked apart like shattered glass.
When reality snapped back, Kuro staggered in retreat, blood leaking from all seven orifices, voice trembling:
"You... what are... y—"
"Die."
A single word.
A single sound.
Kuro's head fell from his neck and rolled across the floor.
But before the body could even fall—
It dissolved into swirling blood mist, vanishing completely.
Eren's brow lifted a fraction.
"A Blood-Mist Substitute.
So he had an escape prepared."
---
— Fang and Leash —
The moment Kuro dissolved into blood mist and vanished,
Ryo's last sliver of courage snapped like rotten string.
Thud!
He collapsed to his knees, forehead smacking the floor again and again.
"My lord, spare me! I swear my loyalty—my life—everything! Please don't kill me!"
A cold, lethal shimmer gathered at Eren's fingertip.
His killing intent didn't waver in the slightest.
"Your loyalty," Eren said, voice flat as winter iron,
"has no value."
"W–Wait! I—I know about the Wyrm Extermination Plan!"
Ryo shrieked, sensing the killing edge halt by the width of a hair. Words poured out of him like vomit:
"OH-KO Groop's international trade is just a disguise—!"
Eren's eyes sharpened.
"Speak."
Ryo sucked in a ragged breath, as if hauled from the brink of execution.
"OH-KO Groop has been gathering intel on the Global Vigil-Wyrm Alliance. Turning key families. Infiltrating governments. All of it serves the Wyrm Extermination Plan—the destruction of the GVA's guardian Wyrm! I'm low-ranked, I swear, that's all I know!"
"And HelixPharm?" Eren pressed, voice a blade.
"It—it was for the formula! The mental-dissonance cure!" Ryo babbled. "If people regain clarity, panic decreases. Order stabilizes. That strengthens the GVA. But keeping the world unstable—chaotic—keeps them overwhelmed. Exactly what the plan needs!"
Eren let out a low, chilling laugh—
a sound that froze Ryo's marrow.
"So fast to betray your own organization."
"The strong devour the weak—that's OH-KO Groop's creed!"
Ryo forced a shaky sense of conviction into his voice.
"Your strength... deserves my allegiance. I've revealed core secrets. I have no path of return! Let me serve you—I beg you!"
Eren's voice was ice fracturing beneath weight.
"If you've already told me your greatest secret...
what use are you now?"
Ryo's vision swam. He screamed in panic:
"I have a list! Agents planted throughout the GVA—even among upper command! I can help you purge every traitor! One strike—clean sweep!"
Outwardly, he shook like prey.
Inwardly, venom festered:
Survive now. Later, gather power. Tear him apart.
Eren saw every dark corner of his thoughts, yet his expression remained utterly calm.
"Fine.
Your life—"
he said slowly,
"—is temporarily spared."
"Thank you, my lord! Thank— AAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
Eren's fingertip pressed to Ryo's forehead.
A blood-red sigil blazed.
Ryo convulsed violently, screaming as if flayed alive from the inside—
pain like a thousand blades grinding through bone.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice the poison in your heart?"
Eren's voice cracked like divine thunder, rattling Ryo's soul.
"A venomous fang without a leash will always turn on its master."
"This curse is your chain.
Betray me—
and you will beg for death you cannot obtain."
"Mercy! Mercy!! I'll never—never think anything improper again!"
Ryo sobbed uncontrollably, snot and tears smeared across his face.
His cunning melted away, leaving nothing but raw terror.
When the agony finally ebbed, he lay on the floor like a discarded rag, trembling from the core.
"Get out."
After exchanging contact information, Ryo scrambled out on hands and knees, fleeing like a broken animal.
Eren withdrew his gaze, letting it fall on Quillon's broken corpse.
His eyes darkened—
---
— The Weight of Protection —
"Eren... did I slow you down again?"
Lyra bit her lip, pale with lingering fear, shame, and doubt.
Crisis after crisis—
she was starting to question her place at his side.
Eren's expression softened instantly.
"You are not a burden."
His voice was resolute, unmoving.
"The Vale remnants and OH-KO Groop's greed—they were always after me. And you..."
He met her eyes.
"You stayed composed. You handled it well."
Lyra blinked, stunned for a moment—
and then relief washed through her, light returning to her eyes.
Eren fell silent briefly.
Darius and Leopold were away gathering herbs.
Unable to guard her.
Had he been even a moment later today...
A cold weight sank into him.
He could no longer allow Lyra to face danger unshielded.
Eren lifted his hand.
Three exquisite jade pendants materialized between his fingers.
Spiritual patterns flowed like liquid silver, etching themselves into the glowing jade as his power infused them.
"Carry these at all times."
He placed them gently into her palm.
"If danger strikes—throw one.
It will kill a Ninth Rank Grandmaster instantly.
Even a Great Grandmaster cannot endure it."
Lyra took them with solemn care.
Warm. Smooth.
As if holding his vow.
Eren flicked his hand.
Fwoom—
True Fire roared to life.
Corpses turned to ash in an instant, leaving only Quillon's twisted head on the spotless floor.
The flames reflected in Eren's eyes—
a cold, metallic glint.
He looked toward the Vale estate.
A smile curved on his lips—
a smile steeped in annihilation.
"It's time to end this."
"A blood debt—"
his voice dropped to a final, quiet verdict,
"—must be paid in blood."