Chapter 112: Delia

Delia immediately offered her and her group’s surrender, much to the dismay of her group members.

"But Delia!"

"Shush," she told them. "You saw what he could do."

Their words were immediately caught up in their throat. In truth, they were afraid—afraid of Eren. After all, they had just witnessed him conquer the Territory all on his own and get the flag without any help. And after that, he fought Becker’s group all alone, and still ended up triumphant against them.

They had no chane of defeating someone like him, which was why they were so wary of him.

"But our flags! We worked so hard!"

"There’s no choice," Delia said. "Look behind him."

It was at this point that the rest of them turned around, only to see Celeste stalking up to them like a leopard in the jungle. Her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. Delia’s group shivered

"Can I?" Delia asked.

Once Eren nodded, Delia soon approached one of the broken constructs on the ground.

It was a fragment of the Eagle’s wings. She could still see the Psion markings on the Array Formation that had made this construct possible.

It was a work of art in her mind. Something that she could only hope to create once she had her License. But now, she couldn’t even hope to try and understand it... much less control it.

Then, she looked at Eren. "Constructs like these are supposed to be disabled after getting the flag.

But you were able to do it. That’s supposed to be impossible, unless you know the formula for the Array Formation itself, and recreate it using your own Psions."

"What’s your point?" Eren asked her.

"My point is that you’re even more well-versed in Array Formations than the Academic Sector like us," Delia said, letting go of her own ego. "Why are you in the Hunter Sector?"

Eren scoffed, before spreading his hands and showing Becker and the other three people writhing on the ground. "Isn’t that obvious?"

Delia bit her lips, before looking back at her group. She was at a crossroads. Her decision now could impact her for the rest of her life.

Then, she took one look at the remaining Eagles and Snakes hovering in the air, before she made the snap decision.

"I know you don’t have a reason to, but please ally with us," Delia said, to the surprise of her group and Eren’s group.

Eren, on the other hand, simply smiled and crossed his arms on his chest. "And why should I do that? As you have just pointed out, I am better than any other Academic Sector examinee out there. I don’t need you."

Delia bit her lips. "I know. But from what I can tell, you are still in need of more members in your group. You will need more if you want to conquer bigger and bigger Territories than this one."

She was right. As their appetites got bigger, so did their competition. Eren wouldn’t be able to go against the big names like Dantes or Magnus if he didn’t have sufficient members in his group.

"Let’s say you’re right. But wouldn’t it be better for me to just recruit more members, instead of allying with you? If I ally with you, we’ll need to split our Territories."

Delia immediately shook her head. "All the Territories that we will be conquering together will be yours to take.

My only ask is that you share your camp, your resources, and most especially, your Array Formations to us."

Eren inwardly nodded to himself. She’s smart, he thought. She knows that the knowledge that she will gain from allying with me far outweighs anything right now. She’s thinking long term.

"What about your Territories?" Eren asked her. "Are you going to abandon your own group members for this?"

"I will worry about them. If we need more Territories to conquer, we will do that by ourselves with no help from you."

Eventually, Eren smiled and held out his hand. Delia approached him and shook his hand, signalling the start of their alliance.

This alliance would greatly benefit them. Why would Eren refuse? Delia and her group had to help them, but not the other way around. There was no downsides to this.

Celeste and the rest of his group approached them.

"Nice work Eren!" Sierra praised. "You were able to beat those four guys alone!"

"I was so close to jumping out," Abe said. "But I trusted your words."

He’d told them to stay in the shadows the entire time. He told them that they should only act at the very end to scare Delia and the others from attacking him.

And they did their jobs perfectly.

"Hello. My name is Delia. We’re allies now," the ponytailed girl said, introducing herself to the group.

"Nice to meet you!" Sky said, shaking her hand.

"Let me introduce you to my group," Delia said.

And soon both groups met together to bolster camaraderie for their new united front.

Meanwhile, Celeste approached Eren once they were alone.

"You planned for this from the very beginning, didn’t you?" she asked him.

Eren bent down and picked up a few pieces of Construct rubble from the ground. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"You could have asked us to help you from the beginning," Celeste said, with her hands on her back. "But you didn’t. You kept us in the shadows so that you can show off to Delia and the others.

You wanted them to be impressed with you so that she would offer you an alliance."

Eren stood up and looked at her. Once again, Celeste seemed to be able to see right through him.

"So?"

"There’s nothing wrong with that," Celeste said, pacing beside him. "I think it’s the right move. Having the help of the Academic Sector is the sensible move, given the kind of puzzles we have to solve here in the Second Test.

I’m just wondering... is this because of this Ms. Calliope?"