Eren's psyche was also branded with an unknown spell in the end. It was the old hag's wretched ability that she had used against him so many times by now.
Life Drain!
Even though Eren referred to the newest addition to his repertoire– Life Drain as a spell, he knew that technically it wasn't one. It was similar to his inherent spell in more ways than one. But he also felt that there was something different about it.
Eren's skin colour returned to normal. But there were still a lot of changes taking place inside his body.
His core that was about to burst had now been stabilized. It also had even stranger runic patterns etched over it now. Compared to the previous runes, the new runes had a different language. Plus, the same runes were visible briefly down his naval region before they sunk into his skin.
The dark blue mana that the wraiths were used to employing stopped creating a conflict with Eren's existing mana. It couldn't mix with the normal mana or get channelled by the mana core. It just lay dormant in Eren's mana circuits– not causing any harm anymore.
Eren looked at his abnormally long and thin fingers as well as sharp grey nails. The skin of his hand had retained its original hue. But it had turned scaly and chapped. The hand also had blue veins visible over its skin. It meant that the dark blue mana present within his mana circuits could now be channelled through his right hand.
'Erni, are you alright? Should I come out?'
Reen asked with a lot of care in her voice. She had tried her best to help him by trying to fix his injuries from within. But she could only do so much with her sealed mana core. Eren reassured her with his words and made her calm down.
'I'm fine, Reen. You don't have to come out. How can you help with your lack of ranking anyway?
I can handle this battle now that I've turned to normal.
It's just that I feel…. Different!'
Eren finished talking with Reen as he observed and felt the changes within himself. The time seemed to slow down for him even though he knew he hadn't used any time element spell. His senses could now differentiate between living and dead beings more vividly. Plus, the stench of rotten bodies didn't bother him anymore.
Eren looked at the female wraith's position. Nobody was there since he had digested it using his inherent magic. But Eren wondered why there was no spectral form of the wraith attacking him anymore. It was as if she was digested along with the rest of her body.
'Did I also digest her soul? Is that even possible?'
Eren wondered to himself and then dropped the subject. Now was not the time to think about these questions. He had only dealt with one deviant wraith. There were a few others who needed to be taken down.
Drinking that mixture earlier had fixed Eren and returned him to his prime condition. His mana storage and his stamina also seemed to have been recovered. Now was the time to make use of all of them to unleash a fearsome counter.
'Blitz Steps
Fire snake
Fireball
Breath of Fire'
Eren executed his combo and zipped towards the sword wraith. The latter had eradicated another fire snake by now. The last fire snake's body had been infected with dark blue mana due to the consistent sword slashes it faced from the sword wraith.
The sword wraith was just about to deal the final blow to the fire snake when he sensed something or someone coming towards him at an accelerated pace. The sword wraith was confused because the opponent he had tried targeting a few minutes before was now giving him a different feeling. His mana signature had remained the same for the most part. But the few minor changes he observed within it indicated that he was like them– an abominated wraith.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The sword wraith ignored the fire snake and directed his attack at the incoming Eren. He unleashed his move to its fullest potential and sent three sword slashes flying towards the latter.
Eren was ready and in prime form at this moment. He also didn't feel much threat coming from the wraith's invading mana anymore. He dodged the first slash coming at him easily. He barely got away from the second.
The third flying slash was unavoidable. Therefore, Eren took out his katars and assumed a defensive stance while maintaining his movement spell.
Pitaang!
The sparks flew and a distinct clank was heard as the flying slash clashed with the fire imbued katars. The wraith's mana attempted to invade Eren's hands as it battled with the fire. It tried to freeze both his weapon and his hands. But the mana became harmless as soon as it made contact with Eren's skin.
Eren flashed a cunning smile towards the sword wraith. He had gained a huge advantage in the battle with the horde of wraith after inadvertently using his inherent spell on the female wraith.
"You have been a pain in the ass for me all this time. I'll fuck you up for good, my dead elf friend."
Eren said and appeared right in front of the sword wraith. He cut his stomach as soon as he found the opening to do so. But the wraith didn't care. The wound on his body had already started to ice up and was about to close.
The sword wraith made a direct slash at his opponent. His sword's edges were now shining with dark blue mana– giving it a threatening vibe. But before he could deliver that slash, the sword wraith's attack was abnormally interrupted by the redirection of mana.
The sword wraith felt that his mana was getting drained out of him by some foreign force– the cause of redirection. The dark blue mana sheen on his sword got dimmer before completely vanishing.
He looked down at Eren's hands and saw that they were bathed in a dark blue colour. Eren had dipped his hands into the sword's wraith's stomach through the wound he had created and executed his newly gained ability.
The tables had been turned on the sword wraith.