Born in Blood



Winged Glory had no clue what just occurred. Who – or what – was he fighting this entire time, then?!

Then he realized it. The Unforgiven he was fighting this entire time had melted into the raging sea, murking the waters black.

"Curse you!"

"Already am," Usan responded tersely. 

The Glorious pulled back, swung his wings and attempted to dislodge himself from the Unforgiven's hand, but couldn't move a muscle.

Usan smiled and cocked back another hand, intent on tearing through the winged cultivator's chest once again.

The 'Characters' chose that moment to interrupt the battle. 

The inscribed battlefield burst with vortexes that swallowed all the water in an instant, and the two were instantly yanked a distance away from one another.

"Unforgiven Shadow wins."

The Isolation Barrier opened, and all the Wings of Glory members approached to tend to their patriarch's wounds.

When they saw the Unforgiven lacking any visible wounds, they all looked at him with narrowed eyes and suspicious gazes.

Depending on their level of strength, a Rank 5 cultivator would be devastating to another.

Winning a battle without any wounds was impossible, unless they had a numerical advantage or prepared beforehand.

Thus, once again, everyone suspected of the Temple cheating. 

Both the Unforgiven and the Shadow Demon won in an unbelievable way. 

Even the Myriad was starting to look bad – people started to question whether or not the man actually did his job.

North Star looked especially annoyed. And a bit disgusted, too. 

They all made a mental note to meet up with Glorious Wing and discuss how the battle transpired. 

The man could choose to keep everything to himself out of honor… but he abhorred the Temple and especially its leader. 

"5 points to the temple," the Myriad announced, his voice edging between suspicion and neutrality. "From 16, 8 remain. However, the next few battles will be dictated differently."

Now… the real fights were to begin. The remaining participants were the Temple and each of the Seven Clans.

Though, before another battle began, there was a period of rest given to each group. 

1 week.

That was more than enough time for Liam to replenish his strength, but to a Zenith, it was nothing more than a slight breather.

Even before the acolytes had arrived on the island, their makeshift domain had been made. 

As usual, it was a temple. A massive one in the center, ringed with smaller establishments that could fit their numbers.

All the acolytes headed there and activated their privacy inscriptions, denying any probing or insight into their activities.

Liam made his way into his designated room, greeted and congratulated by countless acolytes and Elders on the way.

'Surprisingly easy,' Liam thought as he sat down and began to train with the Rank 4 Rune.

There wasn't really anything else for him to do besides that. 

The Ravenous Leash Arts were pretty much tailored to his needs, and the Triumvirate Body required experimentation.

Specifically, with mental spheres. Something along the lines of finding how to transfer the mental sphere and core over to a different vessel.

There was also the Chaos Pearl to transfer, but if Liam learned how to make it work with his core, the pearl was probably easier to manipulate due to its pinhead size.

Two birds with one stone. Not only would Liam learn how to make his ridiculous technique, he could uphold his end of the deal with the Kitsune.

Thing was… Liam needed live humans for the experiments. Lots of them.

Rank 3 cultivators, too, since their centers of power needed to be aligned with Liam's.

There was no way Liam was going to risk his own life over something like this, despite how important it was. 

Not until everything was perfected, of course. 

Who knew how many lives it would take until then, but Liam was sure the Temple would supply him with the needed materials.

If not, he could just get the bodies himself. 

'The Ravenous Leash chains will help, too. Jax has already been looking into them.'

Eventually, one week passed.

It was time for another round of battles.

Liam and Usan mounted on a darkness-made platform and flew to the center of the battlefield, where the rest were waiting for them.

Naturally, there were cheers, but Liam and Usan both tuned those pointless noises out. 

Though, the brackets – which were usually displayed through the Myriad's brushes – weren't visible. 

"We'll be dictating the battles differently now," the Myriad announced sternly, his arms crossed over his chest.

"There's a reason I've decided to become the intermediary between you all. It's to balance everyone's battles equally, no matter how."

Liam arched his brow in confusion and a bit of worry. Where was he going with this? 

Liam glanced to his side to probe Usan's expression, but the man wasn't disturbed.

The Myriad took out a wide canvas with large, blotchy Ilalian characters on its surface. Liam could see how densely packed with meanings it really was.

'A Rank 5 item,' Liam thought, studying it intently. Even a few seconds with that item was enough to light Liam's creative fuse.

"This is a Matchmaker," the Myriad said. "You're all expected to apply your mental energies to it. It'll match you with someone of your own prowess."

There was a mixture of reactions. 

On one hand, this might make their lives easier – saving them from an opponent that might have been too difficult to deal with.

On the contrary, the same could happen to the strong opponents that could have gotten an easy win.

Sun's Spear and Felling Wind both shrugged.

"Fair is fair."

They both began to apply their mental energies to the device, which caused the characters on the canvas to swirl and change.

Everyone soon followed their example, with just Usan and Liam on the edge.

[They're afraid,] Usan transmitted to Liam. There was a bit of amusement in the man's ethereal voice. [Laughable.] 

Nevertheless, they complied, feeding the canvas with mental energies.

When the characters finished forming, turning into the brackets for the next bout, Liam couldn't suppress the nasty curse that left his mouth.