Born in Blood



Witnessing the grim scene, the cultivators surrounding Liam instantly fired every spell and technique they could muster. 

Showers of every element rained down upon Liam.

Using Janice's corpse as a shield, he blocked most of the direct attacks that would have damaged his body.

Although Liam's new physique defied common sense, he didn't want to test his luck. 

In the first place, he was rapidly running out of chaos, and the bloodthirsty emotions were starting to gnaw away at his common sense.

Entire chunks of earth slammed at him through Janice's body. The force made him skitter backwards as he held his ground, his feet digging into the earth below.

Bursts of liquid shot through Janice's skin, but lacked the power to pierce through the other side.

Gusts of wind weakened Janice's already desecrated corpse, hacking away at her flesh.

Waves of fire burned away and cooked Janice's skin, rendering her shielding capabilities null. 

The sound of glass breaking sounded beside Liam's ears, and a mix of flames and fumes enshrouded him, entering through his nostrils and dulling his senses.

Three entire minutes passed of constant spells and chemical weapons being used.

Eventually, the cultivators stopped to see the result of their barrage. Smoke, fire, water and scattered shards of stone spread throughout the area. 

Silence ensued.

ROAR!

A guttural roar tore through the air and instantly cleared away the smoke.

The sound waves directly popped some of the academic guards' ears, unable to strengthen their consciousness in time.

A few wounds marred Liam's body. Slight burn marks that browned his hardened skin and small cuts that tore through his hardened skin.

Instead of leaking red, however, Liam's blood was pure white. Strange.

What worried the cultivators the most was the wrath they saw on Liam's face. He loudly panted like a wild animal, his teeth bared and dripping spit. 

Janice, on the other hand, looked like a lump of flesh with no distinctive feature linking to a human being, but her allies couldn't care less about her anymore.

"Call for reinforceme-"

Liam blurred as he reappeared towards the cultivator speaking. His gauntlets pierced into the man's chest and pulled it apart from the inside, spraying blood and bone. 

As the man was split into six sections, Liam's bloodthirsty gaze shifted to the next. With another deafening roar, he leaped at the closest person and began tearing him apart.

The humans rightfully panicked.

Their most powerful spells took time to prepare, and their weapons didn't do jack against the Ashura's powerful body. 

Somehow, it focused down on those trying to run away, and others that tried using their Jades to call for support.

Liam was ripping them apart one by one with his bare hands! 

Other times, he was biting away limbs with his powerful jaw!

There was no humanity left inside that demon. 

Only carnage.

///

A sliver of consciousness allowed Liam to pull himself back to his senses. 

When he opened his eyes, he was holding a corpse in his hands – jaw broken and limbless, with their bulging eyes devoid of life.

A look around made him realize similar bodies were strewn all around. 

Some lacked heads, others lower halves, and vice versa. 

The battlefield looked grim, with pieces of flesh and viscera scattered throughout. 

Liam began coughing violently. His entire body began to ache painfully, causing him to tremble slightly. He even coughed a mouthful of blood.

'Backlash?' Liam cursed. 'When did I black out?'

He quickly realized he was no longer in his Ashura form. Four of his arms had disappeared, absorbed back into his body.

Still trembling with a cruel migraine, Liam took a minute to inspect the state of his body. 

His pale skin wasn't as hardened anymore, but he still retained some of that amazing strength. His hair went back to blonde, but now had a metallic sheen.

The alloyed gauntlets weren't there either, leaving his fists bare and stained with blood, but the etched designs remained, albeit less visible.

However, the pearl within his solar plexus remained. 

It was empty of any chaos – or Primordial Essence, to be precise – but it was slowly and gradually filling up. 

Thankfully, the inside of his mouth had gone back to normal. 

"Aaah, aaah." 

Even his voice wasn't as demonic, but definitely deeper.

'That idiot didn't even give me an explanation of my abilities! Did using my Ashura form result in me going insane? I would never have killed these people so brutally.'

Fast and concise was Liam's killing method. Torture was an indulgence he saved for people he truly hated. 

Whatever emotions he might have had were intensified by a hundred when he transformed, though. 

Even his pride and greed… although he didn't feel like those emotions changed.

'So I'm a Half Ashura, then? That means I have the best of both worlds… only I can access one of them at a time.' 

Fair.

Liam picked himself up. His space-rings held on, as they were covered by the gauntlets themselves.

'I need to leave. This place looks like a warzone and I'm just a week away from the marker.'

Liam was buck-naked. He grabbed a pair of bloodstained clothes – those that fit him at least – and put them on. 

At the same time, he made sure to loot every single ring he found, including Janice's.

As he ran, Liam found that his speed was much faster compared to before. He also gained back the ability to use his darkness spells. 

'So that's it then. I'm half human and half Ashura.'

Putting those thoughts in the back of his mind, Liam focused on getting away. His new abilities honestly made him excited for the future. 

There was also the strange fact of his blood being white, but he saved that for later.

Much faster than he expected, Liam arrived at the marker's location in three days.

He was in a mountainous area, covered with caverns, tunnels, dens and dungeons at every corner. 

"Stop hiding. I'm here on the account of Revel Ovlar, your leader."

Silence.

"Who're you?" a nasally voice echoed from one of the tunnels. 

Liam's face was stern.

"Your new leader."