Born in Blood



Putting more power into his kick, Liam sent Twilight hurling the distance, releasing the grip on his arm.

The two maintained their distances.

Neither of them attacked.

Liam subtly checked the spot where Twilight's arm had touched, his left arm where the bandages unfurled.

It was barely noticeable, and if Liam didn't have the King's Eye, he wouldn't have spotted it.

Where Twilight had touched, it was no longer as smooth. 

Now, there were a few vague lines running across it.

As though it had been aged a little!

Liam threw a cold glance at Twilight, who grinned smugly in response. 

Her chest wound – the ribs that caved in – slowly healed on its own.

This was the power of having both light and darkness.

Darkness was a representative of everything bad.

Corruption, disease, death.

Light was a representation of everything good.

Invigoration, health, life.

When one combined these two aspects, they could alternate freely between them!

The energy that drained from Liam's body directly siphoned into Twilight's!

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked rhetorically. "Scared?"

As arrogant as she was, her power was probably of the same level as Liam's Transfiguration.

'No wonder she's gotten to the liquid-stage so fast.'

'All she has to do is drain the life out of someone and cultivate the energy.'

This was dangerous.

Liam had to keep his distance from the woman at all costs.

Noticing how Liam was a lot more wary, Twilight grinned and decided to go on the offensive.

16 chakrams formed around her.

Half of light, half of darkness.

At the same time, her hands turned into a mix of darkness and light, each swirling to form iridescent and fluid patterns.

Almost as if it had become… twilight.

Twilight tapped her foot against the ground, which rippled with light

It sent her homing in on Liam like a missile.

Liam took out more Abyssal Needles and cast them forward one after the other.

The chakrams proved themselves as a powerful ability. 

Every time Liam threw his needles, the light chakrams intercepted and blew away the explosions.

The light chakrams then blew away the noxious gas by merging together.

Liam hid a few Parasite Worms in between.

But before they could squirm inside her flesh, they were blown away and incinerated by tiny beams of light.

Twilight cleared away all the Abyssal Needles and closed the distance. 

All of her chakrams surrounded Liam and were about to split him across the waist.

In that instant, three very different creatures emerged from Liam's shadow.

All three of them took in the chakrams full force in Liam's stead.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as she saw what followed.

The unstoppable chakrams were… well, stopped.

The three creatures' combined efforts halted the flying weapons and their tracks, sending them hurling towards her again.

She instantly fell back to create space and assess what she was seeing, her face twisting with a grimace.

Liam smirked.

"What's wrong?" he mocked. "Scared?" 

What came out of Liam's shadow was a Death Wolf, an Apex Hawk, and the most vicious of all… 

A Black Hunter Arachnid.

Liam was lucky to find one.

They were incredibly rare, and just as dangerous. 

Obviously, he didn't catch the beast himself.

Ryu did it for him and suffered a nasty bite in the process.

The Black Hunter had chilling features.

Thin, quill-like hairs on its bony legs, cephalothorax and abdomen.

Twelve beady eyes on its head, the largest of them being the two at the front.

Two small, curved fangs protruded from its 'mouth'.

It constantly made an eerie clicking, snapping and clacking noise.

All the while, it was made from a mixture of blood and shadow.

The other two beasts were also powerful, but the Black Hunter was a league of its own.

Twilight didn't respond to Liam's response.

Her chakrams returned to her.

Slowly, they started to change form, lengthening and stretching.

Eventually, they turned into hooks, tendrils and lassos with sharp tips.

One half of them were light-made, and the other half was dark.

Suddenly, both of them combined.

Liam scowled.

Obviously, if those tendrils found their way into Liam's body, his energy would get siphoned off.

He couldn't afford to let them near!

A ripple of light spread from under Twilight, sending her forward.

Like a wildstorm, the tendrils flayed and whipped the air, creating countless little shockwaves.

Both the Death Wolf and the Apex Hawk intercepted Twilight's trajectory, but they were cleaved and severed in half.

They reformed as Liam's Blood Shadow repaired them, but Twilight was already in Liam's face.

That was when the giant Black Hunter sped across the ground and sunk its fangs right into Twilight's shoulder…

…liquifying the muscles underneath.

A moment later, the Black Hunter was cleaved and split apart in a million pieces.

…Never to reform.

Liam's Blood Shadow reserves had run out!

The remainder was used for Liam's Blood Demon Arts and Sanguine Strings.

Twilight's fighting style lost most of its strength due to her liquified shoulder. 

The way the fight was going, Liam would secure victory!

Three tendrils suddenly latched onto Liam's arm.

They were invisible, even to his King's Eye!

He plucked out each one, but they still managed to siphon away his strength a considerable amount.

…But worst of all, they unfurled the bandages covering the deformity.

Twilight's eyes widened as they spotted the disgusting lumps on Liam's arm.

Then, a smile appeared on her face.

The tides of the battle changed to her favor.

She basically exploited the deformity every chance she could get.

Serious wounds formed on Liam's body.

Twilight was getting cockier and cockier as the battle raged on, attempting heavier attacks.

And it was at this time that Liam decided to use that.

Liam couldn't figure out the issues with his Transfiguration and Ashura Form.

Even though that's all he did repeatedly for the past 2 weeks.

But!

He found something else.

Quite honestly, he was utterly incredulous about having such an ability come with his Transfiguration.

It was even more dangerous to his health than using his Ashura Form.

But it was there.

What was this ability?

Well…

The ability to make one's body-part explode.

Twilight appeared in front of Liam with a wide smile on her face.

With a sudden surge of power, Liam lunged at her and grabbed her shocked face.

Time slowed.

The deformity squirmed and writhed with wet sounds.

The muscles started to jitter and violently expand.

The blood started to brighten to a blinding amount.

Liam closed his eyes and braced his body…

…and the arm exploded.