"Identity checks out - Eren Elijah Idril.

Student of Lionhearts' Adventurers' Academy an army veteran. Here for the graduation event.

Expert Eren, welcome to the capital city Edin. Please be mindful of the rules and enjoy your stay."

An emotionless voice sounded from nowhere as Eren passed through a certain identity-confirming array. He saw that the three ladies were waiting for him at the other end of the pathway.

Eren's view consisted of a pair of giant doors. There were no visible city walls surrounding the capital city Edin. But that was because the city had even stronger measures of security put in place.

A distortion in the spatial fabric served as Edin's first line of defense. It blurred the view of the city for outsiders, forcing them to only look at the giant doors serving as the city's entrance points.

Eren's group needed to pass through the giant door to enter the city officially. The butcher was walking up to Nina and the rest when he saw a flying vehicle approaching them.

This flying vehicle looked like a giant fish with live fins in all four cardinal directions. It had metallic bat wings and a glass deck serving as its face. It stopped right in front of the three Master-ranked entities as if wanting to get them aboard.

By the time Eren walked up to Nina and the rest, an adept-ranked elf had climbed out of the flying vehicle. He approached the group and bowed at all of them before speaking in a voice coated in courtesy.

"Good morning and welcome to the capital, Madam Goldy Wings and her friends. My name is Duja Katak. I'm here to serve as your city guide and helper."

Eren and the rest looked at Jiana who nodded at Duja Katak before speaking up.

"We wish to travel to Edinnica. Take us there."

"Certainly!"

Duja Katak responded promptly before gesturing to them to board the flying vehicle. The vehicle's size made it convenient for the group to board. Duja came prepared to look after Jiana's needs.

Jiana looked at the group and flashed a smile. "Let's go."

Nina, Levine, and Jiana boarded the vehicle. Eren was about to follow their lead as well. But then he stopped. He felt like he was being watched by a certain someone and the gaze felt familiar.

The butcher stepped back and looked ahead. There was a certain ranker looking at him from a distance at the city's entrance door.

'There she is'

Eren mumbled to himself and kept looking in the ranker's direction for a bit. He then pursed his lips before saying something to Nina and the others.

"You guys go ahead. I need to catch up with someone. Maybe explore the city a bit."

Jiana and Levine both looked at Nina accusingly as if it was her fault he was behaving so erratically. Nina had stress lines on her forehead before she spoke.

"Eren it is YOUR graduation event we are attending. And we are already running late. This is no time to"

Lightning struck and Eren disappeared from his place. Nina sighed before shrugging her shoulders. Her body language screamed, "I tried." The vehicle took off immediately, heading straight to the Edinnica district.

'Hmm? He noticed me?'

Reva Rain couldn't help feeling amazed by Eren as she saw him approaching her. The way Eren reacted to her distant gaze amazed her. Furthermore, she could see that he was approaching her as if he knew her personally.

A tussle between the Escalon guild and the White Raven guild had already been established and well-known. But she didn't feel like it warranted such a personal response from Eren who hadn't even met her as far as she could tell.

'Her smug face it takes me back.'

The butcher thought to himself as he walked toward the Paladin of Pain. A distant memory from his past timeline resurfaced in his head as he released smoke through his nostrils.

It was as if the smoke reshaped itself to play a certain scene in front of him. Soon, the smoke blurred his vision and pulled him into the past timeline.

***

An underground facility for the Escalon guild. The smell of blood, violence, and misery ran wild in the air. This air was then mixed with a certain rotten smell to make it even more pungent.

There was only just enough red light in the room to see 10 meters into the distance. A bunch of dead bodies could be seen lying on the ground with cuts and wounds all over them. It was clear that they had not died because they were already injured. They died because they couldn't handle the pain they were subjected to.

"Aaaaaaargh!"

An old man cried in agony as he finally couldn't take the abuse he was subjected to. This old man had white hair and a receding hairline. His emerald green eyes had lost all shine in them. And his skin was wrinkled.

This old man was an Adept ranker who had been fighting for survival almost his entire life. It was a wonder that he had managed to break into the Adept rank given the conditions he had been subjected to all his life.

His ranking status was of no use in the underground facility. Under the effects of a suppression array, his body had become as mortal as it could be. As a result, he could feel intense pain with no chance of relief from mana recovery.

This green-eyed old man had been tied to an X-shaped structure with his limbs stretched and pinned to it. He had a bunch of stakes running through various parts of his body.

Inhale. Smoke. Release.

Reva Rain got close and released a mouthful of smoke over the green-eyed man's face. The latter started coughing because his mortal-like body had lost the ability to sustain the side effects of smoke released from a ranked pencil cigarette.

"Tch tch tch. You failed this mission as well, Old Idril. Just what I expected from you. Another pathetic performance. Another excellent reason to punish you."

The Paladin of Pain Reva Rain said in a condescending tone.

AN: VEH punches in 1000 chapters. Cheers!