Both stared at each other unmovingly, sizing up the opponent, none daring to make the first move. Suddenly Lock drew out a throwing knife from her back pocket and threw it at Eren. He immediately dodged it. Sensing an opening Lock threw a couple more at the same time, Eren seeing no chance of dodging deflected one with his sword but the other nicked his right shoulder, tearing the cloth and leaving a faint red line.

"Shit, that was close." Eren took a deep breath and let his heart relax, he couldn't let the adrenaline impede his judgment. His opponent showed proficiency in ranged attacks, but that didn't mean she was weak in melee, The fight was going to be tougher than he had thought initially.

Milin yelped as a spiked ball landed near her foot and left an impression in the dirt. The girl in front of her possessed a frail and nimble body that betrayed her strength. She wielded a flail with the spiked ball being the size of her head. The flail was a common weapon used by the police in Tarkhel, but only for crowd control. It was too unpredictable to guarantee the safety of its user.

"Is that a spell you are using?" Milin asked with the hope of distracting her as she saw the chain shrink and the ball getting retracted. Unfortunately, Ness's face remained stoic and she swung her flail in response. Milin tried to block the ball but the chain extended without warning and the sword ended up getting used as a pivot for the flail and smashed against her face. Milin felt lightheaded as for a moment blood rushed towards a side of her face. The damage was minimized due to her timely use of spell Strengthen but it was still bad. Half of her face was reduced to ribbons. Her teeth were exposed as a chunk of her flesh was shredded and bludgeoned simultaneously. Blood flowed into her left eye, blinding her. She used Heal to restore the wound unsuccessfully as another attack interrupted her.

"Rudra now's probably a good time to help," Eren shouted at the top of his lungs. He wasn't getting any chance to close in the distance. She was continuously using Air Splitter which forced him to stay away and dodge, having no means to block.

"No use shouting. No one's going to help you. I have already deployed a sound barrier so scream all you want but nothing's gonna get out." Lock sneered.

Eren clenched his teeth. This was turning into a battle of attrition and he was losing. 'The disparity in our levels is too great. How can someone of my age have so much Aether?' He stole a glance at Milin and she was faring worse than him. The ground was dyed red with her blood. Her clothes were torn to shreds and ribbons of flesh hung from various parts of her body. A combination of Heal, Strengthen, her Talent and willpower kept her going. But this was not going to last long, eventually, her body would give in before her mind.

"Tar Pool" Lock shouted. Eren braced himself for an unknown attack, instead, a familiar Air Splitter zoomed towards him. He prepared to do another dodging maneuver but stopped midstride.

"How-" Eren looked at his feet incredulously, somehow they were glued to the ground. With no time to spare he cast Rock Shield. A grey wall taller than Eren by a head materialized instantly. The wall couldn't bear the force of Air Splitter and crumbled. The impact was so great that Eren's bones shook and threatened to shatter. Despite the spell planting him to the ground, he was thrown six feet away and landed on his back.

Eren winced, swallowing the pain he stood up and readied his sword. Three throwing knives took flight. This time Eren was not ready, his opponent had found the perfect opening but Eren had a Trump Card. He had made his opponent believe that he possessed no defense against ranged weapons, "Deflect." The knives strayed their path, missing the target by a hefty margin.

Eren smiled with relief. In half a second the sense of relief was replaced by that of dread. One of the knives had lodged into his right thigh. Deflect could block projectiles but not spells. The knife was laced with 'Paralysis.' Lock rushed forward and drove her sword into Eren's gut.

Ness was tired, "what is she made out of? Why can't you die?" Her opponent was tougher than she had ever imagined. She was taking blow after blow from her flail for the last twenty minutes and still standing. Her condition made Ness doubt her own motives but there was no option of backing out at that point.

Milin didn't have any strength left. Her vision was hazy, the world was a blur to her. The shortsword felt as heavy as a horse. With the last ounce of strength, she spoke in a slurred voice, "I want to sleep..." and descended towards the ground.

Warm arms wrapped around Milin. She felt a heart beating against her cheek. She looked up and saw a sheepish grin through her half-closed eyes.

"You can sleep now," Rudra whispered to the girl in his arms and patted her head.

"No way, Nom can't be..." The strange one-eyed kid her brother was supposed to kill was alive.

His single red eye met her amber eyes. "Where is..." Ness buckled up and threw up on the grass, not able to finish her question. She felt a burning sensation in her heart which soon spread into her entire body. The pain was unbearable, she clawed at her skin in agony and twisted and crawled on the grass. She screamed at the top of her lungs but only a faint gurgling sound came and blood spurted. A flaming dagger had penetrated her neck, destroying her larynx. Soon she died, drowning in ineffable pain and her own blood.

Lock impaled Eren on her blade and he vomited blood onto her face, unruffled, she pushed the sword further in up to the hilt. "You know you are an idiot right," Eren spoke with a devilish grin, blood streaming from a corner of his mouth.

Lock sensed something was wrong and tried to pull out her sword but it refused to budge. With no other option left she tried to let go of the hilt but it was too late. Brown thorny vines emerged from the wound and winded around both of Lock's hands which were holding the sword. She tried to break the vines by brute force, but they had immense strength and the thorns dug into her skin.

"Don't struggle, its no use, you don't have the strength to break out of my Trap," Eren said calmly.

Lock looked at him incredulously, "But I checked... there were no traps."

"Did you actually think that we didn't notice your team following us? There's a major difference between animals and humans. We have intelligence, they don't. I set up the spell inside my body."

The spell Trap is a complicated one. It not only restrains the victim but can also store spells, the number depending on the level of user. The trade-off is, to set off the spells, conditions need to be set up too. Eren had set Trap inside his body with spells Heal, Strengthen, Rock Fist, and Pain Bind stored. The conditions were met by Lock according to his plan.

Eren let go of his sword and grabbed Lock's neck and with the other hand landed a punch on her face. Combined with Strengthen and Rock Fist it was ten times stronger than a normal punch.

Lock's cheekbone shattered and her jaw dislocated. Eren pulled out the sword from his torso and let it go. Lock fell with her hands still bounded. More vines sprouted coiling around her body and piercing her skin, causing red stains on her clothes. She was completely restrained. She screamed for her siblings but no reply came.

"No use shouting. No one's going to help you. I have already deployed a sound barrier so scream all you want but nothing's gonna get out." Eren silenced her by reminding her of the retort she had said t him.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She wanted to face her death with honor and pride, but here she was crying like a baby, her shoulders heaving with exhaustion and pain, and her spirit torn to pieces.

Eren rose his sword above his head. The purple nimbus of light flared up and danced around the metal erratically. He gazed at Lock's disfigured and discolored face as it attempted to move. "Am...I...Hunter...or...Predator?" The dislocated jaw prevented her from forming a coherent sentence.

"You are quite strong, but I don't know about that. One thing I can definitely say though is you are a Prey."