Born in Blood

Chapter 412 Purple Light

As soon as Liam appeared above the Force Bubble, he got to work.

Beneath his cloak, hidden from sight, a mass of Chaos was forming on his left hand.

On his right, the Black Hole gently grew bigger.

On the spare arms were his odachi and Breaker Blade.

Time seemed to slow.

As soon as the Reaper appeared, there was a pause.

An actual war just… stopped. It seemed like an eternity, but the reality of it was different.

Hundreds of thousands of eyes converged on the radiant star. Except this time, their attention was on the person beside it.

There was a difference between hearing about something and seeing it.

The Cloaked One was real!

No one could deny it anymore.

The Fearists' eyes shone with various emotions. Admiration. Awe. Amazement.

The Couragists' eyes shone with the opposite. Anger. Disdain. Fear.

And suddenly appearing like that made everyone realize that this was no normal Abomination.

After all, teleportation was something few cultivators were capable of doing.

Only those of the upper echelon could ever do something like blinking large distances.

Half a second of silence passed as both sides were dumbstruck and silent.

Utilizing the moment of silence, four figures flew over to the center.

Old Demon.

The Black Witch.

Angry Man.

And a fleshy, tentacle monster with one large tail at its back.

Angry Man took a deep, deep breath of air and squared his chest. Then, he let out a long, commanding roar that echoed like thunder:

"PROTECT THE REAPER!"

The soundwaves spread throughout the Veil, violently shaking the air inside.

On those words, reality kicked in.

They were in a war!

Why were they gawking like retards?!

Instantly, the Rank 5 and Rank 4 Fearists sprung into action with renewed vigor and strength.

They surrounded the Force Bubble from all directions, in a tight-knit defensive formation.

They didn't even question what, or who, the Reaper was.

All they knew was that he was an ally, and that he was fiddling with the Force Bubble to take out the treasure inside.

That was all they needed.

The Couragists weren't idle, either.

Their strongest was a bare-naked man wearing nothing but an undergarment on his groin, and two massive, platinum gauntlets on his hulking arms.

An aged beard sat on his chin, and his eyes were like iron.

His title?

The Centurion.

His face looked extremely severe. Sort of like an aged general that knew nothing except war.

"TAKE THE REAPER'S HEAD!"

Compared to Ryu's bellow, the Centurion's shout directly caused Liam's eardrums to burst. Not just his, either.

Liam flinched, but he didn't stop the combination required to make his Void.

A moment later, his ears healed on their own.

This was no normal version of his Void. It had to be strong enough to poke a hole through a Rank 6 Force Bubble.

However, the Force Bubble was significantly weakened.

It was doable.

Kitsu cast a few illusions to hide Liam's figure from view.

Verium waved his hands and a sphere of foamy, dense water encased him and the Force Bubble at once.

Right after, Jane hurled an elixir filled with some sort of transparent liquid at it, which made the water bubble condense and thicken with several layers.

Now, the war had turned into something else.

A game of protecting the flag.

The 'flag' in this case was Liam himself!

BOOOM!

One Couragist smashed both gauntlets together and caused a compressed shockwave to shoot straight at Liam.

A Rank 5 attack.

No matter what his defenses were, Liam couldn't afford to live from that.

An 'Ooze' — a toxic slime-type Abomination consisting of melting virulent green filth — positioned itself in front of the attack.

BOIIING!

The shockwaves caused it to jiggle and bounce like jelly… but the attack was rendered null.

But by the time it finished digesting the deadly soundwaves, the Couragist ran a fist right through its stomach, killing it.

Just then, another Murder Moth Abomination whizzed by from the side.

WHOOOSH!

The name was self explanatory.

It was a Rank 5, whale-sized moth with vermillion wings and a terrifying appearance.

On the ends of its countless arms were scythe-like claws dripping with blood.

The Couragist blocked with its gauntlets, but the Murder Moth latched onto its body and started ripping away like a crazed maniac, releasing a fast, shrill cry that sounded like a laugh.

By the end of it, the Couragist looked like a chewed piece of meat.

But just then, two Couragist shot at the Murder Moth at the same time. One from above. One below.

Both punched with as much might as they could muster.

BRSH!

Instantly, the Murder Moth was crushed like a compressed can, spraying wet guts and shredded viscera.

A second later, four Death Dancers — beautiful, humanoid spiders that looked strikingly close to ballerinas — gracefully danced through the air with fluid, eye-catching movements.

Amidst the filth of war, they were like diamonds. Eye candy.

It was beautiful…

The Couragists felt their worries melting away.

Perhaps watching them dance for the rest of their lives wasn't such a bad thing.

It was so… so beautiful.

The beauty was a facade.

A pretty little lie.

The Death Dancers had hypnotic abilities.

They closed the distance in seconds, and by the time the Couragists snapped out of their daze, the Death Dancers gracefully detached their necks.

CRK!

But a moment later, the Death Dancers were ripped apart limb from limb by the Centurion.

The Centurion was a light elemental.

He was incredibly fast.

His presence alone forced several Fearists to put all their attention on him. The defenses were falling apart as a result.

The Couragists were slowly carving paths towards Liam with terrifying speed.

They were running straight towards death and pain with no regard for their lives!

ROAAAAAAR!

Roaring like a wild animal, the Centurion turned into a streak of light, shoulder-bashing everyone in his path.

Ryu, Kitsu, Verium and Jane tried to stop him.

But they didn't stand a chance.

BANG!

They were flung away, broken in one way or the other.

Eventually, the Centurion arrived at the water bubble, breaking away the fortified layers with ease.

But by then, an unmatched sense of pure, life-threatening danger caused the Centurion to recoil and stop his charge.

Purple light.