Born in Blood

504  Explosion

Time resumed.

Several things happened in quick succession, and in the span of just a few seconds. The cloud of Corruption enveloped Liam's entire form in one second.

To counter it, Liam used his Blood Demon armor. Ichor oozed from his orifices, coagulations forming sleek plates of crystalized armor. As an extra layer of protection, Liam used his shadows solely for defense. Despite all of this, Liam still felt the Corruption poking through his skin, which made parts of him convulse and spasm.

It was a bearable, enjoyable amount.

Then, Liam dealt with the Corruption Abominations. Although his darkness was momentarily sealed, the odachi could send arcs of corrosive gas through its edge. In the flash of an eye, Liam sent out 3 slashes each for every Corrupt Abomination. SHING! SHING! SHING!

Arcs of darkness flew wildly. Brown blood streaked across the air.

With its last breath, one of the rotten abominations used its jaw to tear Liam's upper right arm.

Its palisade teeth crunched through the layer of crystalized blood armor, tearing away his limb. KLSH!

Almost instantly, Liam grew it right back, then killed it with a stab to the eye using a Dusk Blade.

PLRGH!

Right after, Liam used Shadow Blink to teleport above the swarm of darkness, dodging a barrage of lightning strikes and the Chaos Abomination's charge. KRSKRKRSKRH!

WHOOM! Nôv(el)B\\jnn

A moment later, Liam took another deep breath, using Transfiguration to increase his lung capacity to a ridiculous amount.

His armor grew with him, using more of his blood. Then, he let out a massive exhale at the swarm of darkness. WHOOO—

Before Liam could empty his lungs , a bolt of crimson lightning struck him dead center, flinging him away like a ragdoll. 10:57

KRSHHHHHH!

"Urgh!" It struck him in the split second that he was preoccupied.

However, his shadows, armor and Transfiguration softened the chaos lightning strike.

Despite that, there was a hole in Liam's chest big enough for a basketball to pass through. Had his protections not been there, his Pearl, core and other organs would have been eviscerated.

Still, the opening allowed for darkness to seep through his insides. Liam's Pearl, core and vital organs were protected.

But as a mixture of darkness, chaos and corruption invaded his body, Liam grimaced. KRKRKRK! ZZZZZZHHH! WSHHHHH!

Now, the pain was no longer enjoyable. At once, his insides were being eaten, infected and broken down. The darkness was especially powerful for some reason, burrowing deeper and deeper into his muscle.

Liam's eyes narrowed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Liam was forced to use Expel!

Several explosions occured within Liam's own body.

Wherever the three forces touched, Liam Expelled it altogether.

Healing it would take too much time, and he was actively dodging lighting strikes, plus the Chaos Abomination's charges. As a result, Liam was left with 35% of his blood remaining.

The Expel alone used 30%.

And Liam used Shadow Blink several times already to avoid being killed. Plus, his Blood Demon armor used 10%. But just half of the Tribulation remained. Those watching from afar felt their jaws drop.

This was a Defense Tribulation?!

It looked more like a death sentence!

But since Liam was calm, it inspired confidence in the others. They didn't intervene.

Nor were they allowed to.

Nor did they want to.

For Liam's sake, the Elders in charge of Formations and Arrays rushed in and casted camouflaging screens around the battlefield. Kitsu was there, albeit reluctantly, blocking prying eyes from witnessing the devastating event using her illusions. Meanwhile, the Chaos Abomination let out a stupidly loud roar. Liam subsequently named it Meathead due to its muscular anatomy.

'I can't get this over with if I keep avoiding him. If I use all the Chaos in my core, I can probably blow away the remainder of the Tribulation.' In order to dispel the tribulation in peace, Liam needed to kill this thing.

"Come then," Liam said as his Dusk Blades buzzed with Chaos, repelling the air. "Rip and tear!" the Dusks roared with pure ecstasy. "Rip and tear!"

Liam grinned, and Meathead smirked. Then, the monster punched the air with a fist of Chaos.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The distance between Liam and the Abomination was closed in an instant. The humanoid monster used the shockwave produced by Chaos to propel himself forward.

With eyes crackling with red energy and a slight smirk on its lips, it shot at Liam with insane speed.

Liam readied himself. The Chaos Abomination seemed to possess some intellect.

It wasn't mindless like the corruption Abominations Liam had killed. Behind the Abomination, another six bolts of lightning were going to strike him in a second. Just then, the Chaos Abomination attempted to strike Liam's chest with both its fists. With a hidden hand-tentacle, Liam used his Sanguine Strings to slightly alter the monster's trajectory, causing him to miss by just a few inches.

CHIG!

Then, he stabbed straight into the creature's throat, using his Breaker Blade as a shield to protect himself against the strikes of lightning from behind.

To add insult to injury, Liam wildly swung his Dusks, ripping away layers upon layers of flesh from Meathead's body, brutalizing him. CHRGH! PLRG! CHIG! SHING! SHG! Except, Meathead was strong.

His skin was strong. Perhaps at a peak Rank 4 level. And he wasn't dead just yet.

WHSH!

With an abrupt boost of power and speed, Meathead clasped two of Liam's arms and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Uh-oh.

Liam knew where this was going.

But he couldn't use Shadow Blink.

Immediately, he stored his swords and used Expel to explode both the arms that Meathead had grabbed, then used Shadow Blink with the remainder of his ichor. The Abomination made a sadistic grin, showing a mouthful of black teeth.

Liam's arms didn't explode in time. The hollow center of the Abomination's chest stopped breaking apart and collapsed into itself.

Silence. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A monstrous explosion took place above the ocean. Meathead had exploded himself. In hindsight, it was incredibly stupid to let something as volatile and destructive as Chaos come near him. Liam's knightley blood armor shattered into a million pieces, leaving him at the mercy of his shadows and Transfiguration.