Born in Blood

545  Growth

As Liam's four fists shot forward, tearing a shockwave through the waters, they almost seemed to disappear into thin air, before reappearing again.

As they did, the four imps were immediately hurled backwards – struck by a fist that didn't even land.

But seeing their condition, Liam raised a brow, then smiled a little coldly.

'I see. Even for this, there is a Flaw. At least it's fitting.' All four of the imps were injured in different ways. The first had his skull broken. Dead as could be, it was limp and unmoving. The attack had struck him from the back of the head, killing him instantly.

The second and third were heavily injured. They were hit in the shoulder and face, causing internal bleeding and broken bones… but they weren't dead.

And the last one… wasn't injured at all.

The punch had landed on his pudgy stomach, and the stomach of a simp was deflective. The fist simply ricocheted like a fish slipping off a hand.

Liam had no control over where his punches and attacks would go. It was entirely at random.

Not only that, but the last attack was exceptionally weaker, too. Contrary to this, the punch that killed the first imp was multiplied with its force! Despite his extraordinary physical power—the majority of which came from his triumvirate body and Ashura bloodline—he couldn't kill most Zeniths with a single punch. At least, not when they were on guard and protected. But if his power was multiplied… Liam could do significant damage. In this case, he got lucky by hitting the imp on the back of its head—its weak point.

Resonance. This was both its flaw, and strength.

A pro and a con at the same time…

Liam was satisfied. This was the most basic of its uses… but it could get much more complicated if he paired it with something other than a fist.

Say… a sword.

The imps were taken aback for a brief second, before readjusting their tactics on their leader's commands. And, if one looked closer at their auras, they would see a subtle change in demeanor… and a faltering resolve. When Liam took out the odachi again, the imps visibly shuddered. He smiled.

'They know.'

Liam held his breath, then infused the glossy black sword with the Spider Lily's essence. Another petal had wilted.

At first, nothing happened. 'Do you feel any different?' Liam asked the Black Blade through Sword Connection. 'No,' it replied with a cautious voice. 'Nothing yet.' Liam tried again… but this time, he wilted two petals instead of just one, then infused it with the sword. …The Black Blade started to shake.

The emotions that surged through it at such a point made Liam smile. Its bloodlust had never been higher. To some humans, the feeling was similar to feeling the desperate urge to chew on something.

For the Black Blade, it was the indecent urge to sever.

"Flesh!" it shrieked uncharacteristically. "Bone!" Liam grinned wider, disappeared from his spot, reappeared a short distance away from the leader imp, then slashed the open waters in one fluid movement.

SHING!

Eyes widened, the leader imp outstretched his spear. A burst of water spread outward from its tip, forming a shield that covered his frontal figure like an umbrella. "Urk!"

The sword slash ignored the water shield completely. It manifested in the imp's side, viciously rending through a six inches of thick, leathery skin… and severing off its right leg. To defend their leader from being killed, two imps closed the distance in the blink of an eye, appearing to Liam's side with their spears mid-swing.

CHG! KRSH!

Both spears penetrated Liam's lungs and gills, but he didn't so much as flinch.

Just as the two imps were about to pull back with a successful attack, their spears refused to budge. Their eyes widened with shock.

Liam's flesh was growing around the speartip.

In milliseconds, it had already consumed nearly half of it!

They let go and retreated to safety.

And this time, they were weaponless.

Just five imps remained.

Their leader missed a leg.

Two were weaponless.

Two were severely injured.

And the last one was relatively okay… if not a little scared. The leader imp had a steely look in his eyes. In truth, he would have asked Liam to spare them… but with how merciless Liam was to himself, he wouldn't have mercy on others.

It was kill or get killed, and retreat was not an option.

Liam smiled, noticing that look in the imp's eyes. With casual steps, he made himself over to the dead imp's body — the one with a crushed skull — and picked up its corpse. Raising its bloodied, limp body, Liam opened his mouth… enlarging it to a horrifying size, growing viciously sharp teeth, then throwing the imp into his jaws.

KRSH! Juicy.

Not the best taste… but not disgusting.

'No change in the Spider Lily,' Liam thought, grinding down the Zenith creature's bones, flesh and innards. 'Not yet, at least… maybe it takes time…'

A few seconds passed, and Liam had consumed the imp entirely, shifting his focus to the rest.

They were terrified.

***

Not long after, Liam had killed them all. The fight ended up being quite vicious and brutal. What was a desolate seabed was now covered with craters, blood, severed limbs and corpses. And one subhuman, standing atop them all. The imps had inflicted more wounds on Liam than he could possibly count. Towards the end, his regeneration was starting to act up, too… but he put an end to it before anything drastic occurred. Liam smiled slightly. The Spider Lily in his Path was utterly wilted, and it looked on the brink of withering away. However, Liam could see a vein of blood slowly rejuvinating the flower from its comatose state. When it was in this state, it was completely unusable. Even if one petal had regenerated entirely, Liam would not be able to use it. And the total regeneration amount was more than 6 hours! It was sad... but understandable n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He thought that, if he could kill and consume the simps, he would gain more insight into the other two powers of his Spider Lily—the parts concerning Blood and Death.

Well, he did… but it was complicated. For Death, he grasped nothing so far. Not even after watching the life seep out of the last imp remaining. However, he gained understanding about something else.

The Blood in Liam's Spider Lily was fluid. It had no specific ability so far… but he had a deep feeling it wasn't supposed to. Technically, it was the lifeblood of Liam's Chaos. And Blood was organic. It could develop. ...It could grow.

i think i start privilege again and start writing properly after this chapter.

CovidCandy