Born in Blood



As Cobra started to scream like she'd seen death in its raw form, Liam reappeared beside her and struck her throat. 

Her dreadful screams came to an abrupt stop, a disturbing crunch in its place. 

In all their prestigious lives, the state of the three snakes had never been worse.

One of them had a parasitic worm eating through their insides, the other lacked a face, and the third had her throat ruthlessly crushed.

"Defeat! We admit defeat!" Viper's desperate scream rang out from the distance. 

The others would have admitted defeat as well, but she was the only one capable of speaking.

"Shadow Demon wins."

The circular barrier was unveiled like a curtain, allowing the onlookers to see yet another shocking scene as the marble floor vacuumed all the toxic air.

Miasma Queen's eyes constricted venomously as she looked at the condition of her disciples. 

She wanted to accuse the Temple of cheating. As powerful as a budding disciple could be, their core strength and centers of power were still the same.

…But then there was that fleshy… thing. 

Everyone present questioned how it was still alive. 

There was nothing human defining on its form, as though they had been brutally ripped off. A puddle of thick grime and filth gathered beneath its feet.

Liam's mouth opened to take the first breath of air, hot steam leaving his burning lungs. Thankfully, he'd succeeded in keeping out the poison from his nerves.

Cheers of the loudest variety rang out from the acolytes' side. 

Those in the crowd felt ashamed not to do the same, so they did, albeit not as enthusiastic as the Temple.

Miasma Queen gave the Myriad a soft glance, to which he responded by lightly scoffing.

In an instant, the man stroked the air with his oversized brush a few times, and three different characters formed, shooting towards each of the snakes.

Instead of harming them, it did the exact opposite.

Viper's Parasitic Worm was dissolved and expelled from her body, the internal wounds rapidly healing.

Python's facial tissue quickly reformed as soon as the character reached her face.

Another melted over Cobra's throat, slowly restructuring it into place as the girl's neck straightened again.

Jiang wanted to do the same for Liam, but Usan had already arrived beside him to take care of his injuries.

It was clear that the inscribed brush was the Myriad's specialty, and its capabilities were simply eye-catching.

'Does he just apply the Meaning to the brush and then write it midair?' Liam squeezed in a thought, covered head to toe with red-and-purple filth. 

In all honesty, he felt a bit of awe at the sight. Maybe his own inscriptions could do something similar at one point? 

The Unforgiven instantly appeared in front of Liam and had his shadows wrap around him.

Evidently, Liam had used too much of his Blood. 

Transfiguration had saved him time and time again during the battle, but it consumed a considerable amount of ichor to fuel its changes.

On its own, Transfiguration wouldn't use more Blood than necessary. It was just a transfer between bodily qualities, after all.

But in a real battle, that wasn't the case. As the seconds ticked by, more and more of Liam's skin was being melted into fleshy ooze, which used Blood to reform.

Nevertheless, Liam had seized victory. And he'd done it without using everything he had. 

Despite the remaining toxins and liquidized muscles in his body, Liam still managed a pale smile.

"See? I told you. You just whine a lot," Usan said with a slight smirk, his shadows painlessly repairing Liam's wounds one after the other. 

"Don't die on me just yet. You still have a few more battles in you, right? I've spent too much on you not to get any profit."

Liam felt the need to curse at the man, but his consciousness was getting drowsy, and he'd been slowly drifting to sleep.

Usan's shadows gently stopped him mid-fall and safely carried him over to the Monolith, where the Elders took care of the rest.

The Unforgiven's cold gaze locked with the Miasma Queen, who shot him a look of pure contempt.

"Let's get this over with," Usan said. His aura spread, tainting a wide patch of the battlefield with hateful darkness.

Miasma Queen desperately wanted to make it a death battle… but reconsidered before the words left her mouth. 

…She had lost.

Fair and square, too. What her disciples lacked, the young man had abundantly.

Sacrifice and grit.

"Choose your rule," the Unforgiven told her. 

"You cannot use your clones," the poison queen said with a hard voice. 

Usan scoffed derisively. 

"Has the winged coward already given you all the details of our battle? Faster than I thought, too." 

Watching from afar, Glorious Wing grimaced. 

"Just pick your rule," the Myriad cut in before it turned into another bickering match.

The Unforgiven paused briefly.

"You must fight within a range of 250 meters."

250 meters was no small distance. But for Rank 5's, it was basically a small step away. 

"Impossible!" Myriad Queen shouted, looking towards the Myriad.

The Myriad didn't reject it, though, giving her a shrug.

Miasma Queen had already denied the usage of one of his strongest abilities, and what Usan said wasn't as restricting.

Essentially, all Usan had to do to win was push the queen away and run, unless she heavily focused on fighting physically.

…Surely he wouldn't do so, right?

"Before you two begin, I'll explain the rules for these newer bouts," Jiang said abruptly.

"Everyone gets two chances. Even if you are defeated, you may fight once more. If you win your second battle, you may join the brackets again."

In short, it meant that everyone had a chance of redemption. 

The stakes for such a tournament were simply too high for the Seven Clans not to add safety measures. 

"Fine," Miasma Queen hissed, inhaling another deep breath of deathly fumes to calm herself. 

An Isolation Barrier formed upon her words.

A faint, holographic glow surrounded Usan – a span of 250 meters that the Miasma Queen had to stay in range of. 

"One."

Usan took out a shadow-made spear from his ring. Evidently, even blades allowed.

"Two."

Miasma Queen's hands turned into bony claws. Smiling wide, two pearly but razor-sharp fangs protruded from her snake-like lips.

"Three."

Both of them readied themselves.

"Begin!"