Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil
chapter-1112

(Title at the end of the chapter.)

Eren was using Becky's opponents as litmus paper to test her resolve.

If she passes the test and breaks the siege, he would help her get rid of her pursuers. After all, he had invested a lot in the mage. She was more useful to him alive than dead.

Becky might be able to transform herself after suffering through such a life-altering ordeal. She might be able to fix her attitude, allowing her to become a capable member of Eren's team. The butcher wouldn't have to deal with her as a nuisance when that happened.

But if she fails and gets killed in the test, he could make use of her in a different way. Either way, he could gain something from this fight.

At this point, Becky had come to understand that nobody was coming to save her. And the aggression she had found within her had no use anymore. Scared and lacking hope, the mage started to flee the battlefield.

Eren shook his head as he watched Becky turn her back on her enemies. This was a sign of her metaphorical inner demons getting the better of her. This was what the enemy wanted Becky to do all along. They all pursued her and attacked her at the same time, making her efforts at fleeing as useless as they could get.

Becky's back was attacked with various spells at first. The first barrage of moves was followed by a series of attacks dealt with a bunch of weapon slashes.

The mage screamed in agony when that happened. Her banshee-like screams eventually dimmed when she lost her balance and fell face-flat on the ground. She had officially run out of everything within her to fight her opponents.

Becky took her last breath while lying on the ground. It looked like she was embracing the earth as she welcomed the arrival of eternal slumber.

It could be said that a ranker like her finally found the peace she was looking for.

"Hahaha. We did it. We fucking did it. We killed this bi…"

Blink. Swoosh. Chop.

The female ranker who was laughing at Becky's sorry state suddenly found out that she had her vision changed. Her vision turned upside down and she started seeing her own body in the third person.

She also noticed that her still-standing body was missing a head. In the next moment, she saw a blurred image appear behind her body.

There was still some fading consciousness in the female ranker's chopped head. She saw the blurred image taking the shape of a man with a beaked mask on his face.

The micro runes on the beaked mask dimmed as a display of the artifact getting deactivated. They eventually disappeared, allowing the female ranker to get a clear picture of who had killed her.

The female ranker looked around in dismay and saw that the healer on her team had also lost her head. With her consciousness gradually deteriorating, she could neither scream nor curse her killer. She only took solace in the fact that she would be accompanied by her teammates on her journey to the afterlife.

Eren became visible after he killed the healer and the female ranker. He could only voice his dissatisfaction at how quickly Sage Loxley's artifact had run out of juice even after his efforts to conserve its operability.

One could charge the artifact with their mana. But it would take a considerable time for Eren to do so. There were other ways to charge the artifact or expedite the charging process as well. But he could use none of them for the moment.

However, it was not like Eren needed the artifact to be done with his newfound opponents. It didn't take long for Eren to get rid of the remaining rankers. They were already battered in the battle with Becky. They couldn't handle someone like Eren in their situation.

***

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

Eren used Unlimited Knife Works to get rid of the blood on his weapons before storing them away. He then stood in his position and closed his eyes before taking a huge breath.

Lightning struck and Eren appeared beside Becky's corpse. He bent his knees and kept his hand over her cheek, caressing it a bit.

Eren had to be honest with himself in admitting that he didn't like a lot of things about Becky. He was most bothered by the fact that she could see through him for who he really was under the veil of normalcy.

However, the butcher had never really hated the mage for it. He decided to convey his thoughts to Becky, assuming her soul was listening to them.

"I… I wouldn't say it was fun arguing with you… but I would miss it nonetheless.

Your criticisms could never hurt me, Becky. Sticks and stones and all that shit, you know.

It was only your way of looking at certain problems that bothered me as a leader of your team. A leader you didn't like having because you wanted to become one yourself.

Your death put an abrupt end to our arguments. I…"

Eren stopped himself from saying any more. He pondered for a bit before finally concluding his thoughts.

"That's it, I guess. I won't say anything else to make you uncomfortable.

Arguments are boring when only one side is allowed to talk, after all.

Farewell Becky. Find your peace in eternity."

Eren gave his eulogy to Becky in a voice seemingly devoid of any emotion. He took a long breath and captured her face in his memory forever before activating his bloodline Ability.

The mage's body was soon covered in a slime-like mass before it started getting dissolved in it. It only took a few minutes for the process to be over.

Becky was also provided with a unique burial service by Eren. But unlike the previous case with Ken, he felt Becky's death more closely.

The butcher didn't think he was responsible for Becky's death in any way. His choice to not take action certainly made her prone to enemies' attacks that led to her death. But he believed that what ultimately killed her were her own inadequacies.

The butcher got up and remained motionless.

He closed his eyes and started digesting Becky's gains. He started seeing himself through her eyes with the help of her memories. He was made to relive his early academy days, enabling him to see Becky's perspective on his seemingly random and radical actions. It managed to put a mirthless smile on his face as a result.

It seemed that Becky was also okay with Eren's devouring of her. Because just like Ken, Eren found it easier to digest her gains.

When Eren opened his eyes after a while, it was an indication that he had finished making Becky's experiences his. In his recent devouring, he digested Becky's elemental aspect and attainment, making them his own.

Eren raised his right hand and concentrated. Soon, his hand was covered in a cold blue fire that didn't radiate any form of heat. Instead, it started sucking up the heat in the surroundings making Eren feel a bit of chill coating his hand.

'This cold fire… This is something.

These blue flames have the potential to counter the Enderflames. I just hope I can make proper use of them when the time comes.'

The butcher thought to himself and sighed before covering himself with tongues of lightning. A buzzing sound was heard before the butcher disappeared from the scene.

(Chapter 1112 Title: Farewell Becky)

AN: RIP Rebbeca White.

A brief eulogy. Contains trivia. Can be skipped if one wants to.

Becky and Ken were fun characters to write because their in-story behaviors would always elicit reactions from readers– favorable or bad.

Technically, Becky's death was planned even before her character was introduced. Chapter 66 mentions cold fire, which was supposed to act as a counter to Enderflames down the line. Becky's character was introduced later on to act as the wielder of the blue flames. Of course, her personality wasn't completely fleshed out at that time.

Becky, as we know her, started getting drafted much later.

She was conscious of her teammates and everything happening around her. She had her own moral and character compass. And lastly, she had her ambitions and never took a backstep in expressing them.

She was never as naive as Ken in the past. But she was never as okay with cruelty as most rankers. In a way, she could be seen as the most normal human among a bunch of rankers who had shaky humanity left in them.

No matter how she was as a ranker, Becky would go down in VEH's history as a member of the White Raven crew. And for that, she will be missed. :)