Born in Blood

It was a massacre.

Liam's swords were glimmering with a sadistic thrill. 

Air, then skin, blood, flesh, organ, flesh, blood, skin, then air again. In and out. In an instant.

That was the pattern that Liam's swords followed. 

Using Transfiguration, Liam made his body as light as possible.

Against weaker goblins, a simple swing was sufficient.

Liam preferred speed over brute strength.

And although he could just jump over everyone and avoid 'carving a path', Liam had another goal in mind.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

As green limbs and bloody organs flew overhead, some of it landed on Liam's bare body. 

His wrappings were in his ring, since he stored it a moment prior. 

As they made contact with his skin, they didn't bounce off.

They were absorbed!

Liam was using Admit.

Each piece of flesh that entered his body was stored in a separate reserve.

There was no major difference between goblin flesh and human flesh, other than the enhanced physical capabilities.

Meaning there was no special power Liam could derive from their species.

Still, that was not important – being able to use Expel was. 

SHING! SHING! SHING!

'They just keep coming!' Liam inwardly clicked his tongue as he sliced and diced his way forward.

By now, his entire figure was cloaked in blood.

Not his own, obviously. 

An ogre suddenly rushed towards him with a roar, each of its steps sounding like the banging of a thundering drum.

The ogre was the size of 6 adults on top of one another, with the muscle of a bodybuilder. Its eyes were disturbingly human.

Two blunt fangs protruded upwards from its bottom lip.

In its hand was a giant stone club, studded with crude spikes and jagged edges.

As soon as the ogre got close enough, it brought down its club at Liam. 

It was fast!

Like with the dragons, the laws of physics didn't apply to these ugly creatures.

WHOOSH!

In a sense, it looked funny. 

Like a giant crushing an insect with a sledgehammer.

Liam's form flickered just as the club—

BOOOOM!

…crushed a dozen goblins into a meaty, bloody paste, and sent another dozen flying the distance.

Using his Dusk Blades as a piton to climb onto the club, Liam propelled himself up the ogre's muscular arm.

BANG!

Then, running forward as a blur, Liam carved around the ogre's giant arm in a spiral fashion. 

RIIIIIP!

The wounds that followed were anything but clean. Muscle tendons and skin were stripped and ripped out bare.

SPLSHHHH!

A rain of dark blood followed.

Liam's Dusk Blades were built to deliver the most gruesome and ugly wounds known to man. 

It was especially good at negating regeneration abilities. 

After all, the worse the wound was, the worse the wounds were, the longer and harder it was for the flesh to reform.

Liam continued past the arm and arrived at the shoulder, where he continued to make a mess of the ogre's being. 

To top it all off, his two swords reverted to a massive Breaker with the edge of an odachi—

SHING!

And severed off the ogre's thick neck in one fell swoop.

Just like that!

Granted, ogres were not the most specialized, nor the strongest Rank 4 specimens. 

The only reason they even were in the Zenith category, was because of their size and regeneration.

That was it.

But that didn't take away from what Liam did.

More than a year in a Celestial's inheritance did wonders to his battle prowess.

As he severed the beast's neck, the ogre slowly tilted over, falling slowly like a sinking ship. 

Liam glanced at Twilight's direction.

Bright flashes of light kept flaring on the opposite side of the World's Cut. 

Just as Liam was clearing a path towards her, she was clearing a path towards him.

THUD!

The ogre's body fell, crushing another hundred goblins.

Liam moved on, his blade never stopping.

SHING!

For every 36 goblins, there was 1 ogre.

SHING!

Liam ran insanely fast like some sort of feral creature, his eyes widened with focus.

SHING!

Because Liam's body was so streamlined and lithe, his entire form looked stretched and elongated due to how quick he was.

SHING!

By then, Liam had absorbed roughly 3.3 kilos of goblin flesh in his body. 

SHING!

'Blegh! It tastes so bad!' Liam thought as the entrails of a torn goblin flew into his mouth. 

He thought he could nourish his blood and body while he was at it… but it was a grave mistake.

From then on, Liam kept his mouth shut.

By now, 340 meters were cleared between Liam and Twilight.

There was 1,000 meters between them, but Liam and Twilight both cleared roughly 300 meters each.

Obviously, Liam had cleared out more since he was much faster, but Reyan wasn't far behind.

Both paid attention to each other's sword styles.

Whether or not this goblin frenzy was a part of the test, it was useful for both of them to assess their sword techniques.

At times, Reyan's figure turned into a formless light, sort of similar to Liam's Dark Wraith body.

Unfortunately, Liam had lost that ability too once he attuned himself to the Triumvirate. 

Eventually, the two got close enough that their auras and mental waves overlapped and clashed.

The duel was near!

But the goblins just kept coming!

It was like they were naturally born here, which they probably were.

Liam grew tired of them.

He summoned a good chunk of the darkness 'Ora' in his core.

But it formed into a massive arc as a result of him using Hone on it.

Then, Liam let it loose.

SHIIING!

It was like mowing a lawn made of flesh.

Liam's arc shot through the lines of goblins and finally cleared a path for him and Twilight to come face to face.

It was just temporary, though.

It seemed like the duel would occur while they fought off a third party at the same time.

Twilight flicked the ashes off her blade.

"You sure took your time," she said coldly. "I waited entire months until you arrived at the final Trial!" 

Silence.

Liam didn't respond, neither did he attack instantly.

Better to feign weakness.

"Once I'm done with you," she said with furrowed brows. "I'll come for that Shadow Demon prick."

Silence.

Liam raised his brows when he remembered something.

Right now, he wasn't disguised as Liam Royce.

...He was disguised as Bob!