Chapter 115: Eren’s Potential

The vacuum exploded.

A vertical pillar of crimson light erupted from the center of the crater, piercing the morning mist and carving a hole straight through the low-hanging clouds. The shockwave tore across the wasteland, uprooting the skeletal remains of the stone pillars and grinding them into pebbles before they even hit the ground. The earth groaned, a deep, tectonic shudder that rippled outward toward the distant gates of Grey-Rock.

Eren’s arm was the conduit for the blast. His sleeve disintegrated into ash, revealing skin that pulsed with glowing red veins. The Attuned threshold didn’t just break, it vanished, consumed by the sheer volume of Resonance he had forced through a singular point.

Aden felt the State of Equilibrium buckle. For the first time since they had stepped onto the cracked earth, his heels slid backward.

His boots carved twin trenches into the silt, a few inches of retreat that felt like a mile in the context of their power gap. The invisible barrier between them shrieked under the friction, glowing a violent violet where the blue and red energies fought for dominance.

The boy wasn’t screaming now. His jaw was locked, his teeth bared in a silent, agonizing grin. He leaned into the explosion, his entire body a diagonal line of pure force. The heat coming off him was dry and scorched, the smell of ozone and burnt stone filling the air.

Aden’s sapphire eyes tracked the microscopic fractures spreading through his own defense. He could see the Identity Eren was forging in real-time. It wasn’t a sword, and it wasn’t a shield, it was a battering rama relentless, singular drive to overcome whatever stood in its path.

“Don’t stop,” Aden’s voice hummed, vibrating through the very marrow of Eren’s bones. “Push through the wall.”

Eren’s pupils vanished, swallowed by the glowing carmine of his irises. He felt his meridians expand, the rusted needles of the Expansion Ache melting away into a sensation of terrifying, limitless flow. The dam had burst. The lake of his power was now a river, and he was the current.

He twisted his hips, adding the last of his physical momentum to the magical surge. The red lightning arcing from his fist doubled in intensity.

The barrier shattered.

The sound was like a thousand mirrors breaking at once. The shards of Aden’s neutralized energy flickered in the air for a microsecond before being swallowed by Eren’s crimson tide. The boy’s fist finally bridged the gap, slamming into the center of Aden’s chest with a dull, heavy thud.

The impact sent a fresh ripple through the ground, caving in the center of the crater. Aden took the hit directly, his cloak fluttering wildly in the gale of the release. He didn’t fly back, but his ribs hummed with the resonance of the strike, and a faint trail of smoke rose from the fabric of his shirt.

Eren stayed there, his fist pressed against Aden’s chest, his chest heaving. The pillar of light began to recede, pulling back into his body like a tide returning to the sea. The glow in his veins dimmed to a steady, healthy thrum. The air around them grew still, the silence of the wasteland returning with a heavy, ringing weight.

Eren’s knees buckled. He didn’t fall, but he sagged, his forehead coming to rest against Aden’s shoulder. His skin was slick with sweat, and his breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.

“I… moved you,” Eren wheezed, a faint, delirious triumph in his voice.

Aden looked down at the boy, then at the twin trenches his own boots had dug into the earth. He reached up, placing a steady hand on Eren’s head. The heat was still there, but the volatility was gone. The boy’s energy was now anchored, circulating in a smooth, powerful loop that marked the true

beginning of the Attuned Realm.

A realm that weilded such intensity and boundless potential that caused Aden to wonder if he had the same level of destructive potential when he was at that level.

“You did,” Aden admitted, his voice soft. He looked around at the devastation they had caused, the scorched earth, the pulverized stone, the crater that looked like it had been made by a falling star. “But you also nearly turned yourself into a charcoal briquette in the process.”

Eren let out a weak, raspy chuckle, his weight leaning more heavily into Aden. The adrenaline was draining away, leaving behind the massive, crushing fatigue of a forced evolution.

“Worth it,” the boy whispered.

Aden scanned the horizon. The sun was fully up now, its orange light revealing the jagged scars they had left on the land. He could sense the shift in the environment; the State of Equilibrium had left a lingering imprint on the area, a stillness that felt unnatural.

’A crude display,’ the Entity remarked in the back of his mind, though it sounded strangely contemplative. ’But the runt has teeth. Most would have died trying to break that shell.’

’He’s not most people,’ Aden thought back. ’This kid could even beat me if he put his mind to it.’

The Entity scoffed, it’s tone a mix of annoyance and condescendence. ’Are you that excited for this child’s minor breakthrough?’

’Maybe,’ Aden shrugged, his eyes tracing the mud marks that formed at the bottom of his boot. ’Maybe not.’

Aden shifted, hooking an arm under Eren’s shoulder to keep him upright. The boy was already half-asleep, his body shutting down to begin the deep repairs required by his new rank.

“Lorelei is going to kill me for skipping breakfast,” Aden muttered to the empty air.

He looked back toward the city, noting a few distant silhouettes on the high walls of Grey-Rock. The explosion hadn’t gone unnoticed. The quiet morning he had hoped for was officially over. He pulled his hood lower, the sapphire mist in his eyes fading back to a deep, weary blue.

“Let’s get you home, monster,” he said, turning back toward the ruins of the gate. “We still have a long way to go.”

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