48 Formless
“In order to taste my cup of water, you first need to empty your cup.”
Eren said before assuming a defensive stance his mind was telling him to do so.
Jeet Kune Do.
Eren ignored the pain he felt coming from every fiber of his body and put his right leg forward and his left leg backward. He raised his left hand in front of him near his chest while the right hand was pointing outward.
Eren felt like he was turning into a masochist because he was finding this experience liberating. As if part of the humanity that he had which had kept him from killing anyone was being shed. It’s as if the only limiter he had set for himself consciously was blurring his vision from blood influence.
Using no way as a way. Having no limitations as limitations.
Wielding one’s instincts and feelings as a martial arts style. There was no limitation in JKD. No set pattern. No set response. Just a simple way to execute direct and non-complex movements.
‘Forget about winning and losing. Forget about pride and pain.’
A thought rippled in Eren’s mind as he assumed the stance that felt most comfortable to him in his current state. In the next moment, he felt like a lot of pain in his body had vanished.
He also felt like there was a storm of mana brewing inside his body. He felt that something was pulling on his belly. It was like a cosmic star was being born there. Or a black hole that had no limits.
But at this instant, he isolated those feelings from his awareness. He was so focused on his surroundings that he started hearing his enemies’ heartbeats that were standing quite a distance away from him.
A distinct mana pulse originated from Eren at that time.
Jayce and Ralph noticed the sudden change in Eren. they shot off their mana sense in his direction and understood what was happening with him.
They were not the only ones.
“This… this bastard is entering official rank. Jayce, Ralph we don’t want any complications. Just kill him before…”
Jayce, for the first time in his life, raised his voice and cut Stan off. His voice sounded a bit irritated.
“Stan, we know what the fuck is happening. You don’t need to tell us what we should do. Because we will do that anyway.”
Saying that Jayce disappeared from his position and appeared right next to Eren using his movement spell. He had already coated his fists in his earth-element mana that was turning his skin stone-like.
Jayce had decided to use a spell against a non-ranker. This was considered a huge taboo among the rankers’ communities. But at this point, Jayce didn’t care.
With his hand reinforced by his go-to spell, Jayce threw a punch at Eren’s face with all his might.
Everything happened too quickly after that.
‘Empty your mind. Be formless.’
Eren said to himself as he saw Jayce’s punch closing in on his face with vivid clarity. Time seemed to have slowed down for him as he observed Jayce’s skin turning more and more like a stone surface.
Eren entered the fabled state of epiphany. This state had allowed him to process the time differently than usual. A flow of time that was so slow that he could count to 100 and Jayce’s punch would still not land on him.
Eren wasn’t sure what was happening to him. But he didn’t care. His only objective right now was to outmaneuver Jayce and Ralph who were about to attack him from behind.
‘Formless. Shapeless. Like water.’
Eren’s monologue made him realize that he didn’t have to attack or defend against the incoming attacks. He just needed to let them hit a different target. He just needed to act like water. Not getting stagnant in one place for a long time. Eternally flowing.
Ralph had his feet catch on fire after he had executed his movement spell. His arms were on fire too as he approached Eren from behind him. He could see that Eren was busy facing Jayce’s frontal attack. It was obvious he would have an easy time attacking his victim, which was akin to a lost sheep.
Ralph also had fire elemental affinity. But the fire that coated his fists had dark orange flames. It was clear that the inherent nature of these flames was different from Stan’s.
Ralph had utter cold-bloodedness when he threw that punch at Eren. He knew what he was doing wasn’t right. But being a ranker and seeing the bloodshed in the Numbered Oasis had jaded his mind.
He had stopped caring about right or wrong. He only cared about his gains and losses at this point. And it was rewarding for him to get rid of a non-ranker. So that’s what he was going to do.
Ralph was going to strike at Eren’s back where his heart was located. His fire mana would do its job directly into Eren’s heart, thanks to Eren not having a proper mana defense layer.
A less messy, less gory way for Eren to die. Ralph thought he was being merciful.
Jayce and Ralph both had Eren in their eyes. They also had their mana sense focused on him, keeping track of the minutest of his moments. They felt secure when their respective fists were only a few inches away from their intended target.
Bzzt– A bolt of lightning.
POW – A muffled acoustic sound created by flesh impacting against flesh.
Crackle – The sound of bones being broken by sudden impact.
First to bloom was the lightning. Eren then almost disappeared from his place like a ghost, allowing both of his attackers to see each other’s incoming attacks and their surprised faces. It took a moment for Jayce and Ralph both to realize that Eren had used Jayce’s body as a ladder to climb onto his shoulders.
Eren used Jayce’s folded leg that he had kept forward as a stand. He then used the arm that he had raised to punch him as a foothold before landing on his shoulders. He didn’t just stop there. He spun around, tilted on the other side as if about to jump, and kicked Jayce’s shoulders with both his legs coated in lightning to make him move forward.
This was an unthinkable maneuver for both Jayce and Ralph who knew Eren was still a non-ranker and inexperienced in combat when he did what he did. And the result of that sudden and seamless maneuver was exactly as one could imagine.
Jayce had been forced to punch Ralph in the face while the latter ended up attacking the former’s left shoulder. Their moves had been turned into friendly fire.
‘Be water, my friend.’
A thought rippled in Eren’s mind as he landed a few meters away from his previous position.