Sharmin was observing the battle with his mana sense as was the enemy healer. They looked at each other from a distance, with surprise and confusion written all over their faces.
The healer was the first to move. She tried to help her friend by going quickly near her but she was stopped by Renita’s mana bullets. She bit her tongue as she halted her advance.
But then something amazing happened. When Sharmin tried to do the same, Renita fired bullets just below his feet too, subtly hinting that he should not approach the dual berserkers.
Eren had told Renita to hold everyone off when he executed his AoE while the dual berserkers were within the range, under the guise of targeting the mage. This was an act of betraying the alliance.
Eren team might never be able to ally with the rest of the good teams in their academic years. And Renita tried telling Eren that as well. She knew he had understood that too.
And yet he still chose to go with his self-harming strategy. The guy had planned this from the beginning when Ron and Dino had first approached him.
Eren had proposed a bunch of weird conditions while he was negotiating an alliance with Ron’s Raiders. One of those conditions was survival of the fittest.
If anyone from Ron’s team were to get neutralized in the battle, they would have to relinquish another ten percent from their split per head. If two of the teammates from either team get neutralized in the battle, they’d lose 20 percent in total.
Of course, Eren made him and Renita get included in the same condition as well. That’s how he made his conditions get okayed by the dual berserkers.
The 10 or 20 percent might look small individually. But when the Merps of this amount were at stake, the 10 or 20 percent became the difference between day and night.
Dino and Ron fell unconscious followed by the mage after facing the burnt of Eren’s AoE spell. Eren could now claim the split of 85:15 in his favour by making the dual berserkers his prey.
Eren had not only taken another small revenge on his enemies, but he had also benefited from doing the same. Plus, the butcher didn’t want to ruin his image by openly betraying his alliance members. So he came with this compromise.
Eren would still be doubted for his intentions by some students if not all. His sketchy way of executing his spell at the wrong time was questionable.
But that would always stay as doubt and an open topic of discussion. Because there was no way to predict what would happen to the battle if he didn’t make use of the opening the mage had kept open.
When the storm of fire subsided, Eren was the only one standing. Albeit with a pale face and haggard stance. His clothes were almost gone. His body’s skin had tongues of lightning dancing over it, a sign of his healing spell getting executed at the time.
“Renita, what is the meaning of this?”
Sharmin asked Renita with a lot of emotions written all over his face. The most dominant among them was anger that he was barely keeping in control.
“I was only looking after you. That domain of fire wasn’t something you could barge in and come out with your own will.”
Said Renita and then pointed at the opponent healer:
“Besides, I think we should take care of her first instead of settling our disputes now.”
Sharmin looked at the healer who was gripping his staff with both his hands as if anticipating an attack from any direction. Sharmin was already pissed at Eren. so he directed all his rage on the opponent. It didn’t take long for the tank to neutralize the healer.
Eren’s first inter-year battle of this timeline was won. With only three of his teammates left standing including him. All because he didn’t forget to have one up over his assaulters of previous life while ensuring his benefits.
“Eren you shouldn’t have…”
Renita spoke softly as she approached Eren. She was looking at his current condition. The guy was barely standing on his two feet.
But the butcher didn’t let her continue. He spoke up before the ranger had a chance to complete her sentence.
“Renita, I know what I have done. It’s selfish and petty. And we might face problems in the upcoming inter-year wars. But I needed to do this.”
Said Eren and held Renita’s shoulder with her right hand for support. He let his entire body weight fall on her because he felt like his legs had become a jelly. The ranger supported him while having butterflies in her stomach because of her intimate proximity to Eren.
“Why? I don’t see why you want to set yourself against Ron and Dino. They were just your opponents. And this alliance was based on the fact that both sides could look past what happened in that match.”
Renita was having a difficult time keeping her excitement in check. But thankfully, Eren’s replies made it easy for her to do just that. That was because his answers were creating more questions for her.
Eren sighed. Then he opened the audio channel with her and continued in private:
‘Let’s just say I want them riled up on me. It’s personal and you wouldn’t get it. Nobody would.’
Said Eren and looked at the dual berserkers lying unconscious on the ground. He could see LA’a caretakers were approaching the injured for treatments.
Renita also followed Eren’s gaze while mustering the courage to say what she was about to say:
‘I would get it, Eren. if you could just open up to me. At least I’ll try.’
Renita was still looking at the scene unfolding in front of her- the caretakers approaching, then using potions to start healing the injured and trying to fix all the visible injuries. But one could see that she wasn’t paying attention to any of the things.
Eren looked at Renita after he heard that. He had a slight change of heart after he understood what she was trying to say to him.
Renita wanted to be with him. She wanted to be with a broken and cynic person like him without any seemingly hidden agenda.