Born in Blood

Liam said nothing.

He genuinely didn't care.

Nord looked at Liam with dark eyes and a malicious grin.

…But Liam didn't.

Instead, he ran a hand through his hair, flashing the crystal ribbon on his wrist.

Nord grimaced, since he only had a ruby ribbon.

Valerie gave Nord and Rin a dead-eyed look. 

All the joy on her face was gone, replaced with chilling malice.

'A loyal hound,' Liam thought. 'How nice.' 

A second later, Liam turned around… and just left!

Just like that!

Nord looked a bit dumbfounded… but he frowned heavily a second later.

He was being ignored!

And Liam's expression didn't change.

Rin chuckled to herself, then made her way to the peak floors, too. 

Besides them, and a few maids, the tunnel leading to the upper floors was empty.

This was where the real 'Important People Convention' was!

The crystal ribbons!

Liam felt two pairs of eyes burning into his back as he left the floor.

One of Nord's, and another of Valerie's.

"I think you're underestimating Nord a little too much," Rin said suddenly, appearing beside Liam as they walked side by side. "He's not weak. Just a little retarded. You're the chip on his shoulder."

Ah. Poor Nord. Hated by his own group. Almost pitiful. 

…Almost.

"Didn't ask," Liam said with his face forward. "I'm the chip on all your shoulders. Where's the runt?"

Rin laughed.

"Nessa? Didn't come once she knew you would be here," Rin said. "It's good to see you, by the way."

"Can't say the same," Liam retorted, his face still forward. 

Rin chuckled in response.

"You look less and less human each time we meet. Who knows, maybe next time you'll grow horns." 

"Takes one to know one," Liam said. "You're a magical beast and human hybrid, aren't you?"

There was a brief pause.

Besides the crisp tapping of Rin's heels, there was nothing audible in the tunnel.

Liam's footsteps didn't make any noise.

Rin grinned from the side. "How long have you known?" she asked curiously.

"You think a lousy concealer could hide your reptilian irises?" Liam questioned with a disappointed look. 

"Ah," Rin said with a laugh, holding her elbows as she walked. "Since the party."

"Aren't you curious as to how I did it?" Rin asked with a cheeky tone. "I know you are. Don't lie."

Liam scoffed, but remained silent.

He actually was. Just a little, though. Mainly because Rin looked incredibly strong, and she was a Zenith, too.

There was a reason she had a crystal ribbon on. She earned it. And she didn't even obtain a Celestial's inheritance.

In one way, her talent was on par with Liam's.

"I really hope we get to fight sometime soon," Rin said. "For fun, if nothing else."

After that, there was silence.

Liam realized that they were walking for a good five minutes, and yet the tunnel wasn't at its end.

'How long is this thing?' Liam thought, annoyed.

Eventually, a white light appeared in the distance, growing closer with each step. 

Liam had no clue what to expect, walking into a room full of powerhouses. 

But here he was! 

The light was shrouding him!

Stepping into the light, Liam's vision adjusted to envelop the last and final floor.

'Not what I expected,' Liam thought as his gaze scoured the floor.

The ground was made out of planks of amber wood, sort of like what modern gymnasiums were made out of.

In fact… the center of the place looked like an actual gymnasium. 

A vast court of some kind.

Rose, lotus and lily-shaped chandeliers gently glowed overhead, filling the court with dreamy lights and exceptional smells. 

Furnished with private sitting areas and topped off with a long bar, piano was being played in the background.

In short, it was luxury.

Liam had seen so much of it, he wanted to puke.

Looking around, he quickly noticed a few new faces, and a few familiar ones. Not everyone was here yet, it seemed.

Eyes of Knowledge and Alucard sat on a table, exchanging remarks that Liam couldn't hear. 

He couldn't read their lips either, since the air around them was a little blurry.

By the bar side, Liam spotted a tall, muscular woman sitting by herself.

She had long, unkempt leaf-green hair that flowed over her back, and she was drinking something. 

She was over 7 feet tall! 

Her arms were exposed, revealing the layers of powerful, tanned muscle underneath, covered with unhealed scars.

Her clothing was similar to something the amazonians might wear in the forest. 

Except, the amount of exposed skin was very little, other than the arms and shoulders.

Her eyes were dark-green, and hardened for war. Her face also had a few scars that contrasted with her skin.

"That's the Xoltrah powerhouse, I'm guessing," Rin muttered beside Liam. "Spirit of Nature."

Made sense. That explained the tanned skin and hulking form. 

As expected, the Queen was here too, sitting beside a foreign looking man.

He had a native look to him, with ancient, aged attire adorned with little trinkets that hung off his figure.

At the same time, he wore a red blindfold around his eyes, with animalistic tattoos covering parts of his exposed skin.

"And that… is the Dragonmancer of Rurunia."

Liam had never heard that term before. 'Is he actually blind?'

"Well… we say goodbye here, Reaper," Rin said with a sinister smile as she moved away, waving at him with her fingers. "C'ya." 

A moment later, Rin walked over to the space the Queen and the Dragonmancer sat in, greeting both respectfully, before the air around them grew blurry.

Liam scoffed.

Well… 

Now what? 

Alucard was busy with Eyes of Knowledge, and the Queen's table would never accept him. 

…That left the hulking figure sitting by herself over the bar. 

'I never approach anyone… but standing around like an idiot won't accomplish anything.'

The goal was finding a backup in case the alliance with Alucard fell apart. 

Liam was still a pigeon living beneath the eagle's nest. 

As Liam approached the bar, Spirit of Nature made a gesture for two… empty glasses from the bartender?

Why?

"Mind if I sit beside you?" Liam asked respectfully.

Spirit of Nature let out a deep laugh that belonged to a demon, not a woman. "Of course not."

Her voice was also quite deep… but was still somewhat feminine.

A moment later, the bartender brought over the two empty glasses.

Just then, Spirit of Nature took out a strange, noxious vine from her ring… and squeezed its poisonous contents into the two glasses!

"But first..." the woman smiled ear to ear. "...A test of courage."