Born in Blood

543  Simp

With the wisp of dark-red flame dancing in his palm, Liam began to ponder over the Spider Lily's capabilities.

Just like Darkness and the rest of his elements, Liam wasn't harmed by his own Path, nor could he sense any particular danger from it. But for something so sparse and limited, and so compactly unique, it must have contained some speciality that no other Path had.

He was just itching to find out.

But first, he had a few things to verify. With the Spider Lily's essence still burning in his hand, Liam willed for it to return back into the flower. Slowly, the essence flickered in and out, before puffing out in an instant. Back to his spiritual Path space, the essence – which Liam had extracted from the Spider Lily – immediately poured back into the wilted flower petal, rejuvenating it. Liam smiled. 'So I can refund it if I don't use it instantly. Neat.' One had to remember that, as cultivators rose above the ranks, their fighting methods grew increasingly different from their Mortal counterparts. However, some things didn't change. One of them was resource management. For example, during Liam's earlier Mortal Rank phases, he'd often need to ration out his darkness reserves across prolonged fights. The same went for mental energy, spells, inscriptions and more. But now?

Liam could use Darkness day and night without it being finished. Well… not exactly. Under rare circumstances, if a fight required him to go all out, he'd most likely burn through his darkness reserves by the end of the battle. Though, he'd regain most of it before his wounds healed. But now that he was a Zenith, fights weren't decided by just elements, physique and weapons. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

They were also decided by Paths. This meant that most of Liam's old spells – those below the fourth and fifth ranks – were practically useless. Outdated and redundant against stronger opponents.

Knowing that he still had a bit of flexibility regarding his Path power, gave Liam some breath. 22:28

'What do I test it on, though? I made sure to find a desolate place. Not like there'll be a group of sea bandits that'll pop out of nowhere.'

A moment later, Liam felt a change in Meathead's connection with him. His eyes glittered.

A second later, he immediately rushed to the puppet's location, using every speed boost he could.

'Tell me I'm wrong tell me I'm wrong tell me I'm wrong.'

Before long, he arrived at the outskirts of the desolate sea bed region. Upon a tall formation of large rocks, he spotted his Meathead puppet… with all its limbs ripped off.

Oh, and its head was also missing, cruelly severald – the chaos void in its chest extinguished. The murderer… well, murderers were staring at Liam with daring, menacing gazes.

The criminals in question all shared the same exact appearance, as though they'd been copied and pasted. For starters, they were abysmally short, barely reaching the height of an adult human knee. They had a humanoid appearance, but muscular forearms, wide, padded feet, large stomachs, and puffy faces. They were Sea Imps. Also known as Simps. A Sea Imp wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed… but damn if it wasn't resilient. Their skin was thicker than shark meat, which made up for their lack of size. From how fast Liam's Meathead died, they must have had some extraordinary speed, too. All of them wielded spears – about twice their height – which radiated a lethal air of sharpness. Their tips were slanted, resembling an arrowhead, and pulsing with a strange, sapphire energy.

There were seven of them. All of them were Zeniths. "You dare to invade our land, mammal?!" one of them shouted. Presumably the leader. "Leave, and we shall spare you… or meet the same fate as your friend here." The imp stabbed Meathead with the tip of his spear… which prompted the puppet's melting process, returning to Liam's reserves.

That caused quite a bit of shock to the Simps. Except… the imp's voice was so nasally, childish and squeaky, Liam couldn't take his death threat seriously. In fact, he had to swallow down a laugh. …Who was he kidding?

"W-What are you laughing at?!" the Simp leader bellowed, pointing his spear at Liam. "I think he's laughing at us, leader!" one of them responded. "You don't say?!" All seven of them were aiming their weapons at him, their bright blue, bloodthirsty eyes fermenting with the urge to kill.

It was a shame they all had to die.

"You have chosen death!"

"Prepare to suffer!"

"Scatter!" What followed happened too fast for the naked eye. The imps immediately scattered, turning into blurry forms that spread from where they initially stood. Despite moving so fast, they produced no shockwaves or turbulence that the waters could carry – as though they'd become phantoms of the cold sea.

Fortunately, despite them being fast, they weren't that fast enough for Liam to lose track of them. In this case, the King's Eye and his mental waves had his angles covered – even if it was underwater.

Then came the first wave of attacks… and slashes began appearing on Liam's figure one by one. Although the imps weren't the smartest… they weren't dumb, either. Their fighting method used smart teamwork and nifty tactics to inflict as much damage, without putting themselves in danger.

One by one, they would attack from different angles, with simple slashes and quick thrusts, before pulling themselves out immediately. The waters around him were tainted red due to his blood loss. Despite this, he didn't move an inch from his place, nor defend himself. The reason was simple.

Liam wasn't using his swords. Nor his blood, his shadows, his spells, his Chaos. Nothing.

He intended to use only his Path.

Then, opportunity came knocking.

Liam felt one of the imps attempting to stab through his spine from behind. Just as the sea creature got close enough to do so, Liam pivoted his foot, grabbing a hold of the imp's spear. Unfortunately, the imp reacted in time, fluidly changing his choice of attack from stab, to swipe.

SHING!

A successful attack! A gash nearly six inches deep ripped through a swath of Liam's chest. Then, as the spear completed its swiping motion, it suddenly stopped, as though freezing in time.

Liam's hand had moved from the spear, to the imp's wrist.

The imp grimaced and tried to pull away.

Liam smiled. His grip was unmoving.

Just then, Liam used the Spider Lily's power, and…

Nothing happened.