Born in Blood

Liam thinned himself as much as possible, hiding his two hands behind the ball.

Liam obviously grew the miniature, tentacle-like hands for a reason. 

Hitting the edge of a ball, right at the moment of impact, would cause it to swerve at an unpredictable degree. 

Except, for regular hands, it would only curve one specific direction. From left to right, right to left. 

But Liam could bend that rule to his will now.

He didn't delay it any longer and shot the ball towards Alucard. 

BOF!

Using a powerful, roundhouse kick, Alucard shot the ball towards Eyes of Knowledge.

BHOF!

Eyes of Knowledge slapped away the ball with the back of his hand, towards the Adjudicator. 

BANG!

The Adjudicator whipped it towards Spirit of Nature.

TISH! 

Spirit of Nature slapped it back towards Liam. 

BHOF!

BANG!

TISH!

BOOM!

PHF!

THISH!

Like this, there was a constant back and forth pattern the group followed. 

It was like a pinball machine, with seemingly no fixed set of moves defining the passes. 

At the same time, the ball gradually ramped up in speed, enough to look like a streak of light.

The whistle it produced turned to a hiss, before loudening to a shriek. 

Looks of annoyance passed over the Queen's side. 

Their defenses were fortified at once, preparing for whatever Liam and his group had planned. 

The Dragonmancer's phoenix swirled with flames like a tornado. Slowly, it changed color and form. 

From vermillion red, to nature-green. 

From a phoenix, it became… a turtle!

A snapping turtle, to be exact. With a mean jaw and a massive brown shell, covered with hexagonal scales. 

Its defense looked impregnable. 

Lightning crackled around the Sage, beneath his feet and between his fingers. 

The air around the Shadow Weaver grew dark and murky, like an ethereal firmament had spawned around her. 

But the General, Rin and Queen Thyress hadn't changed anything.

For several seconds, the quickening sounds of the ball being smacked around echoed across the floor's deep chambers.

BANG!

TISH!

BOOM!

BHOOF!

BOPH!

Each pass made Liam's hands ache with searing pain. 

There was even steam blowing from his palms, and the ball itself felt like a mass of molten rock.

It hit like it, too. Liam's wrists broke several times, and his healing factor was too slow compared to how fast they were shattered. 

It came to a point that Liam was just playing with limp, broken wrists. 

From the looks of it, even Spirit of Nature and Alucard were, their hands and shins bent. 

Only Eyes of Knowledge was safe from it, since his back-handed slaps somehow negated kinetic energy and redirected it. 

And the Adjudicator, of course, since she was playing with chains.

But it was finally time to release all the accumulated energy. 

When the ball came to Alucard, his aim wasn't low any more.

His foot was aimed upwards, and the ball hit it as his leg made a wide arch to the sky.

BOOM!

A second prior, Liam shot to the sky.

WHOOSH!

A second later, he slapped the ball with all the force in his body.

BANG!

The little tentacle hands jutting from his palms rolled against the ball. 

Even though it was as though he hit it dead center, that was not the case.

At the same exact time, Liam used Expel on a fingertip-sized amount of his flesh. 

BOOOM!

WHIIIIIIISH!

The exploded forward in a spiral fashion, resembling a coil spring. 

First, it entered through Queen Thyress' Position.

The Queen threw a thin disk made from pure light at the ball's trajectory.

SHIING!

Queen Thyress couldn't get there physically in time, so she resorted to her spells. 

But just as the disk of light was about to smash against the ball's charge… 

It re-entered Rin's Position!

The Queen was forced to retract the disk.

Otherwise, she would have been disqualified. 

With a guttural growl, Rin kicked herself off the ground.

BOOM!

She was just an inch away from smashing the ball back towards the Bloodsuckers. 

But the ball had re-entered Queen Thyress' Position… 

Except, it was extremely low to the ground.

Just a few inches away from touching it.

If it touched her Position, Queen Thyress would be disqualified! 

Thus, she did the most sensible thing.

The closest people to her were the General, the Dragonmancer, and the Shadow Weaver. 

Rin and the Sage were by her side, and the ball was the furthest away from them. 

Thus, she had 3 options.

Disqualify the General, which was the hardest and least likely person to disqualify. 

Disqualify the Dragonmancer, who was a potential ally.

Or disqualify the Shadow Weaver, who was a betrayer and defector and an enemy.

What would the Queen choose?

Well, the answer was obvious.

The Shadow Weaver! 

With the tip of her foot, she kicked the ball to the Shadow Weaver!

BOOM!

With the momentum from both Liam's attack and the Queen's toe-kick, the ball caught fire!

In the blink of an eye, the ball shot through the corner of the Shadow Weaver's Position.

It ripped through the pitch-black firmament surrounding her.

The red flames were like a comet shooting through the night sky. 

Just then, the black air gained a different form.

It grew into a massive hand!

As the ball whooshed by at an incredible speed, the hand of darkness reached for it. 

But it wasn't doing a very good job at it.

Vanessa grimaced.

The fire from the ball was pushing back the shadows!

She had to get there physically!

Shadow Weaver kicked her legs and reappeared next to the ball, her arm outstretched to stop it from leaving her Position.

Just a few more inches!

…But she was too slow.

Had the ball not been blazing with flames, and not so stupidly fast, the firmament would have halted it to a child's throw.

The ball merely grazed her fingers before leaving the crystal zone and smashing against the wall.

"Shadow Weaver," the Mayor called out, "disqualified." 

Liam smiled broadly. 

Sowing a little internal strife and securing a win at the same time was a delightful feeling.