Born in Blood

Liam named the new mass Void.

'It fits, seeing how it literally tears matter apart like its paper.'

When his initial fear slowly calmed down, a conflicted grin formed on Liam's lips.

Void was so damn strong!

It literally punctured a hole in reality!

But just like all of Liam's abilities, it was more dangerous to himself than other people.

Though, this was obviously a test trial, and Liam wasn't expecting such a reaction. 

However, this didn't take away from the weaknesses of such a power.

For one, Void's cast time.

It took roughly 5 minutes to cast just a small amount of it.

Although five minutes wasn't a lot, a skilled opponent could easily take advantage of that time.

Then came the matter of actually controlling the purple substance.

As soon as the chaos and Black Hole combined with each other, the Void simply… lingered.

It didn't move at all.

However, Liam did feel a connection with it.

It was incredibly vague, though. 

It felt like a single, wafer-thin string attached to the tip of his finger.

After this problem, was the gravitational pull that came as a result of matter filling in the void.

It sucked in everything inside. 

Liam had to treat his Void like a grenade without a pin.

'Why can't my techniques use mental energy or 'Ora'...' 

Liam sighed.

'Still, Void is still an incredible ability.'

'I can probably fine-tune some of the issues with it.'

'There shouldn't be any need for me to clasp my hands together, since it already works.'

'Instead, I can make both of them float above my fingers. It would work all the same.'

But with all that said…

Liam glanced at the massive boulder.

'...How exactly am I supposed to slash this boulder with it?'

Shaping chaos and simulating a fake Black Hole was hard enough.

Now he had to shape Void to fit with his swords?

'Damn it. Just when I thought this was going to end,' Liam thought with a scowl. 'Twilight is going to have it much easier than me, too.'

For other Dual Elementalists, their elements combined within their cores.

But Liam's two elements came from differing centers of power.

For this reason, Twilight was probably already in the next Trial.

'I just hope she got the same glitches that I got. If she's developed a style, this won't end well.'

Liam heaved a long sigh.

He had his own ideas as to why they were split up and tested on their own. At first glance, there didn't seem to be a reason for their separation.

But on a second glance, one could easily see what the Eternal Sword intended. 

'Who was the worthier, smarter, and more talented student?'

Step one, have two subjects enter your inheritance.

Step two, have them trained in the same ways.

Step three, have them duel each other.

Step four, call the victor your heir.

Profit.

At least, that's how Liam saw it.

Back to the task at hand, Liam raised both hands.

After his blood was used to regenerate his hands, he'd lost a good chunk of his blood.

But he had a feeling he'd lose a couple more hands after this.

Nevertheless, Liam gritted his teeth and did what he had to do.

Liam raised his fingers.

He wrapped his middle finger around his index, making a knot. 

SHHHH!

WHOOM!

On his right index, a Black Hole, on his left index, chaos. 

Except, Liam did no clasping motion of any kind. 

Instead, he simply made a slow moving gesture and brought both fingers together.

At the same time, Liam began to rapidly spin around himself.

From an outsider's view, what Liam was doing looked retarded.

He was just spinning around himself!

People would point and laugh.

But Liam was doing it for a reason.

When chaos and the Black Hole merged, the Void that came as a result was the size of a baseball.

And if it worked the way Liam thought it did, it was throwable!

As of now, Liam had no idea how to combine his Void with his swordsmanship.

In fact, he was pretty sure it was impossible with something like Void.

After all, Void wasn't picky with what it devoured.

It would no doubt kill his swords.

That's why Liam opted for a more eccentric way of dealing with the Trial.

Although Eternal Sword's words implied just the usage of swords were allowed to split the boulder, the past few Trials had drifted past their intended purposes.

Liam continued spinning for 5 minutes straight. 

That was the time required for his chaos and the Black Hole to merge together.

He used Transfiguration to make his body as light as he could, just to reduce the air resistance.

Right now, Liam needed all the speed he could possibly muster.

Despite how fast he was spinning, Liam was not dizzy in any way. 

Even Rank 3 bodies were basically immune to dizziness. 

Liam felt the two forces merging once again.

Red to purple, blue to purple.

It was here!

Void!

Liam used all the force in his body to throw the ball of Void towards the middle-section of the boulder.

But if he threw it bluntly, it wouldn't split the boulder from top to bottom. 

It would go straight through.

But using his faint connection with the imaginary mass, Liam shaped the Void as thin as he possibly could. 

Using both fingers, he pulled them in opposite directions.

The Void thinned out!

It worked!

Liam lost four fingers on each hand as a result. Deleted like they never existed. 

But he was actually satisfied. 

Due to his spinning motion, the streak of Void rapidly shot forward as a single line.

It looked as though reality itself had been cut!

Like a mirror had split cleanly in one half, sliding past each other.

Even strengthened, the boulder could not face the bright purple slash.

It cleanly split from top to bottom, deleting everything in between. 

There was a gravitational pull that followed when the split matter wanted to reform, but since it was so thinned out, it disappeared quickly.

Liam dropped to his back.

Finally!