Born in Blood



Caught off-guard, it only took a split-second for the Temple to take advantage of the Leashes' surprise.

More than three thousand compartments opened up in an instant, each hurling intricate objects in the center of the dome.

BOOOM!

FFFOOOOOOOOF!

SHHHHHHHHH!

Explosions, sprays of fire and beams of concentrated water came through from all sides, converging solely on the 12 Zeniths.

Plumes of fire, mist, darkness and earth sprayed everywhere, but the dome didn't even tremble.

SKREEEEEEEEE!

ROAAAAAR!

Ear-splitting screeches from the Crowned Eagle caused a few to grimace and fall unconscious, but its cry was stifled by an Abyssal Needle hurled at its throat.

Liam wasn't the one who threw it.

He was hurling smaller needles and Shadow Bombs, but other than that, he kept the needle at his side.

Even as the Double-jawed Lion and the Crimson Tiger roared, Liam endured their powerful cries with a grimace, his gaze fixed directly on the Metal Boar.

He was patiently waiting.

Then, just as the damaged boar's fur started to gain a metallic sheen, Liam threw the needle with laser-like accuracy at its mouth.

It tore through the air at an incredible speed.

If Liam hadn't made the improvements on the needle, it wouldn't have met its mark.

But it did.

The needle exploded inside the boar's mouth just before it closed, allowing all the cruel gas to eat it out from the inside.

Repeatedly coughing, the Metal Boar trashed around in its place, uncaring of its allies or the Zenith mounted above it.

Any organization or plan of action the Leashes had gone up in flames.

After the Metal Boar attacked its fellow beasts, the lion, tiger, and snake decided it was fair to fight back and defend themselves.

From then on out, it was just a one-sided beatdown.

Liam continuously hurled Umbral Needles and Shadow Bombs at vague openings he spotted.

Although there were many times that the Leashes were preparing a defensive or offensive ability, or just trying to get the situation under control, a powerful attack stopped them before they could unleash it.

More than three minutes of such a relentless beatdown continued. 

The Crowned Eagle's feathers were plucked from its regal wings, the Crystal-eyed Stag was missing both its eyes, the Doubled-jawed Lion lacked both jaws, and the beasts below them were in an even worse condition.

On its own, a measly ant cannot do anything against a mighty dragon.

But with numbers on their side, even a pack of dragons wasn't hard to kill.

Once the flurry of inscribed items suffered an abrupt end, the six Temple Elders simply left their compartments and got physical.

With the fragile condition that the Leash Elders were in, they couldn't do anything to stop the vicious attacks coming their way.

By the end of it, eleven of the Leash Elders were executed, and as always, one was left alive.

The Temple wasn't without their own injuries. Some low ranking Acolytes, and even a few Disciples, had died.

An acceptable outcome.

Massive beast bodies littered the dome's interior.

'Please tell me they have their martial arts with them,' Liam hoped as he jumped from his high platform.

The ground was still sizzling with raging flames and jotting pieces of sharp rock, but Liam dashed through them, unbothered.

Verium, Jane, Aki, and Orisa had already left towards the Isolation Chamber, intending to torture the Leash member for any useful knowledge he didn't share during the meeting.

Once that was over with, the attack on the Ravenous Leash Sect would finalize.

Elder Jax, however, lingered around the grisly battlefield and sorted through their space rings.

"Do they have their martial arts with them?" Liam asked the Elder, who shot him a smirk in response.

"They do," he said, throwing an ornate, black and red scroll towards him. 

It had the drawing of various beasts on its golden surface, and looked like a priceless treasure.

"Thank you," Liam expressed his gratitude and instantly unfurled the scroll.

"You might want to be careful. What they practice is dangerous. Even on par with the Ten Thousand Shadows, just without the mind corruption thing," Elder Jax warned seriously.

Liam nodded.

But warnings did little to stop him.

He quickly gazed over the contents of the scroll.

Liam's eyes slightly widened. 

'It's sort of similar to Primordial Forging. They use the Beast Will of a Spirit Beast and tether it to their own cores, essentially taming them.'

'The core has to be at least near the Rank of the Beast Will, or else the disparity between their strengths would be too much.'

'If done incorrectly, the core would just shatter and cripple itself. Worst case scenario, the user would die.'

Liam raised his brows.

Yeah… this was way more dangerous than he thought.

No wonder most of the Leash disciples he saw only tamed Rank 2 beasts. Even Rank 3 beasts were too much for them.

However…

This didn't exactly apply to Liam.

Why?

He could simply tame the Beast Will in his mental sphere!

The Leash Arts required the user to defeat the Beast Will using their sheer core strength.

That was just plain idiotic!

Liam could simply tame a Rank 3 Beast Will, or even several of them, and do the process with way less effort than normal!

…Though, he didn't really think it was that simple.

The entire Art was built around the Beast Will being tamed by the core. Who was to say anything other than that worked? 

Besides, having a Spirit Beast as a companion sounded pretty amazing in its own right. 

But having a massive creature accompanying him at all times dimmed his enthusiasm.

Like his Shadow Clones, he wanted something he could summon whenever he wanted.

Liam didn't trust his luck on the matter, but he didn't lose heart. 

With his new mind, and a bit of extensive research, he had the confidence to tinker a bit with the technique.

And plus, there was always the Zenith Leash that the Temple had just kidnapped.

"Are you just going to stand there? Hurry up and go home! The next and final attack won't be as well done as this," Elder Jax reprimanded.

Liam nodded and did exactly that.