Born in Blood

The words sounded sweeter when spoken out loud. And Rin's incredulous face was even more delightful.

Even Queen Thyress seemed taken aback by the sudden outburst of power. She looked at Liam with a hard gaze.

The General pursed his thin lips with no particular expression. Alucard smiled and Spirit of Nature looked at Liam with a raised brow.

Naomi didn't expect such power at all.

Was it because Liam had temporary Rank 5 strength? What ability could possibly give him so much power?

Since Alucard had blood powers, perhaps he already knew how Liam attained that power. But the others most likely did not.

Despite the loss, Rin didn't lose herself to anger or wild emotion. Instead, she looked humbled and accepting of her mistake.

The Queen looked at her for a few seconds with a strange expression and gave her a nod. It seemed as though she hadn't expected her loss to Liam.

And Rin herself looked just a tiny bit embarrassed.

Then, she looked at Liam with a complicated gaze. Liam responded with a half-smug, half-mocking look. Subtly, her eye twitched. "Please don't let this discourage you, Lady Rin," the Mayor cut in with a smile. "You've done extraordinary thus far."

A pause. "Thank you," Rin said with a firm look. "Enjoy the rest of your game." A moment later, she left towards the tunnel, her clothing transforming back to normal. Then, she was gone. Silence.

Another adjustment was made to the court.

Now, there was only 200 meters of space covered by both the Queen and the General.

They were practically side by side, with just 60 meters between them. Despite losing a teammate, their defense was practically impregnable now, so long as they looked out for one another. …At least, at first glance. The General and the Queen working together?

Impossible!

The look on the Queen's face said everything. She definitely hated the General more than Liam, by far.

And the General probably hated her just as much, although he maintained absolute control over his expressions. The game was starting again, this time, the General had his hands on the ball. The authoritarian was dangerous and daring, even more so than the Queen and Alucard. No one knew what to expect. A second later, the General casually hurled the ball over the net.

Just like that.

There was no special ability involved.

This was a normal throw, besides being just a little faster than normal!

Liam furrowed his brows.

Something was wrong.

He felt it in his bones.

Then his muscles.

Followed by his entire body.

A crushing weight!

Liam's knees and hip were buckling like a crumbling building during a powerful earthquake.

Even with his new and empowered strength, he felt like boulders were stacked atop his back. Parts of him cracked.

Liam felt a few bones shatter and chip in an instant.

Each ligament of his spine pressed against the one under it. And since Liam had already used almost all of his blood on the empowering, there was very little ichor left for him to transform and counteract the damage done. Liam slowly creaked his neck up against the crushing weight. It felt like a ship anchor hung around his neck, pulling him down, beckoning him to kiss the ground.

But he finally managed to raise his head.

He wasn't the only one.

Alucard and Spirit of Nature were going through the same thing!

It looked like they were in an active struggle against gravity, groaning with effort to oppose the pulling force.

Except, it looked like they were having a far easier time compared to him.

Time felt slow.

The ball!

It was flying past him!

The closer it got, the heavier the pressure was!

The General had cast some sort of curse on the ball for it to cause so much pressure on its surroundings.

Using all the force in his soul, Liam commanded the Breaker Blade to intercept the ball's trajectory.

BOM!

Which it did! The titanic sword exited the shadows in the nick of time to act as a wall for the ball. As it left his Position, the pressure waned and faded away almost instantly. But that crushing pressure didn't go anywhere. It simply went towards Alucard.

The ball was flying to the side of Alucard's Position, at the very edge. Alucard's crimson irises constricted menacingly, veins forming in the whiteness of his eyes.

He was pissed. Not at Liam.

But at the General. BLRK!

A thick stream of blood burst from Alucard's wrist, directed at the ball.

Except, the nearer it got to the ball, the same crushing gravity weighed it down!

It was drooping!

Then, it made contact with the ball.

BANG!

Except, it hit the ball at its very edge, causing it to swirl over to Spirit of Nature at an uncomfortable and awkward angle.

SWISH!

Alucard didn't do it on purpose. Liam knew that for a fact. Yet the circumstances allowed him to inadvertently make things difficult for her.

Unfortunately for her, due to the sad trajectory of the ball, the gravitational force that it released, and the awkward positioning, all she could do was shoot it back towards the Queen. Spirit of Nature made a weak rising gesture with her hand. BRRRHF!

A cluster of rigid roots and powerful vines emerged from the ground like an earthly pillar, smashing the ball at a 45 degree angle. BOOOM!

It was fast!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

At the same time, some of the plants at the tip of the terrene pillar exploded straight away, bolstering the ball's speed to a blur.

WHOOOOSH! BP!

Except… by then, the ball arrived right in front of Queen Thyress, who leapt mid-air and gently tapped it over the net with the flick of her finger. Awkwardly, the ball fell over Spirit of Nature's Position, bouncing until coming to a natural stop. Naomi sighed heavily, then shrugged her shoulders comically with a nonchalant look. "Spirit of Nature," the Mayor announced once again, "disqualified."