Born in Blood

Liam heaved a long sigh.

Of all his battles, this was surprisingly the easiest and most difficult at the same time.

All Liam had to do was feign weakness for long enough, then whip out his chaos.

But fighting himself opened Liam's mind to just how arduous of an opponent he really was.

And if he had to fight against his own Chaos? That'd be even worse.

Sucks for his enemies.

Right as Liam split apart the Copy's face, it died excruciatingly.

And Liam watched without blinking.

Even if it was a Trial, Liam didn't appreciate his powers being replicated just like that.

'But… why was I able to use everything?' 

'Wasn't this a sword battle between two swordsmen?'

Something was fishy about this Trial. Liam couldn't put his finger on it, but it just didn't fit the theme of the inheritance as a whole.

The sinking feeling in Liam's stomach grew just a little deeper. The anxiety that came with his paranoia was both a blessing and a curse.

More of a curse, though.

As soon as the Copy died, bits and pieces of its flesh slowly turned to white ash and pearly smoke.

Fffooooffff.

Like so, the Copy faded away, and the Eternal Sword's voice came.

"A sword can only get sharper when it faces the fire. For some—"

Silence.

A stutter.

Again.

Followed by a slight tremor running across the fake dimension.

The Eternal Sword went silent.

Liam frowned.

Seven seconds of silence passed.

"But what makes your sword sharp depends on how you wield it."

Silence.

The words ended there.

There was nothing more to it.

Liam grimaced deeply, his mind shooting like lightning in different directions.

'This confirms it.'

'This inheritance is bugging out…'

'It's failing.'

What made Liam come to that conclusion?

What Eternal Sword said, had absolutely no relation to what Liam just did!

With how the Eternal Sword phrased his words, Liam probably had to develop his own sword style!

…But instead, he fought tooth and nail, and eventually won with his chaos of all things.

Not his sword.

Even worse, Liam still lacked a unique sword style.

This meant that using abilities had to have been disallowed by the rules of the Trial. 

But they weren't!

And even worse, his Copy was a malicious prick.

Was that part of the test, too?

Or was that also part of the series of glitches that kept happening?

…

What exactly did Liam walk into?

…And where was the reward?!

Liam's chest sank.

'No reward?' 

'No reward?!'

There was no dais. No rune. No addicting motes of light. 

Nothing.

"Eternal Sword, eh? You can shove your sword right up—"

The sixth Trial gate opened up opposite Liam.

It cast bright rays of light inside the dark fake dimension and stopped Liam mid curse.

Liam lowered his head in defeat and let out a tired sigh.

'The reward was probably supposed to be the sword technique I developed…'

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and Liam failed to seize it to its full potential. 

It wasn't everyday that he'd get to fight himself and figure out his mistakes, what he did wrong and whatnot.

Liam sighed again.

'It is what it is.'

***

Before heading into the next Trial, Liam wanted to investigate the fake dimension a little more.

He needed to know if there was an escape route. Or, at the very least, find out what Trial Twilight was in.

If there was a way for the two to work together to get out, Liam could tolerate the woman.

Momentarily.

Thus, Liam made his way to the walls of the fake dimension after a week of rest and meditation.

Liam arrived at an invisible barrier.

Although it seemed like the fake dimension stretched as far as the eye could see, it was an obvious illusion.

Tuck, tuck.

Liam knocked twice on the barrier.

Using his shadow, transfiguration and semi-transformation, he then punched it.

BANG!

Liam's punch rippled across the invisible wall.

It didn't even wobble.

As expected, the wall wasn't damageable.

Right after, he attempted to cut it with his various swords. 

Nothing happened.

Liam tried his chaos next.

Red energies swirled over his body and condensed at the back of his heel, upon which he did a spinning back kick to the wall.

BANG!

For a second, it seemed like his chaos had an effect. It caused the point where Focused Havoc hit to flicker iridescently.

But it quickly reformed back to normal. 

A few more tests showed that no matter what spell Liam would use at it, the wall would reform almost instantly.

There was no escape.

***

3 and a half weeks passed.

To prepare for the next Trial, the sixth, Liam needed much more time.

He didn't even have the necessary requirement that the fifth Trial was supposed to give him.

Attempting to make a style of sword fighting also resulted in a failure.

Only during times of a real battle could you truly understand what you do wrong, and what you do right.

And Liam's sole adversary, a copy of himself, was dead.

All he did was tweak his swords and added a few enhancement inscriptions on them.

'I'm just one week away advancing to the liquid-stage. But I'll explode if I keep this off any longer.'

'Here goes nothing,' Liam thought, taking a wary step through the sixth Trial.

In his hand was the base longsword that the Sword Construct came with.

As soon as Liam entered through, his eyes widened as much as they could.

There, in the center of the fake dimension, was a giant marble boulder.

It was massive.

Almost three times the size of the previous boulders Liam had to cut in half.

Before Liam could let out a nasty swear, the Eternal Sword spoke first.

"Combine your elements and split the stone in half."

There were no enemies in this Trial. Nothing to kill. Just a challenge to overcome.

But this?

Liam would rather fight another Copy, honestly.

Liam's darkness and chaos was like water and fire! 

Like oil and water!

They were damn uncombinable!