Born in Blood

503  Abomination

What came out of the cloud was an Abomination. The first thing that Liam noticed about it was the vicious maw, which was what it mostly consisted of. The teeth! So many! Even in the Dual Empire's grounds, Liam had never seen such an Abomination. It had black, jagged teeth, 19 on the upper and 21 on the lower jaw. It had a brownish, grey complexion, with disgusting, throbbing veins across its rotten body.

It had no legs.

In fact, below the chest, it consisted of loose strings of dangly flesh. Sort of like a squid.

On its sides, it had two skinny arms that didn't look particularly powerful. In fact, they were quite skinny and looked easy to slice off. On each arm were three thin fingers.

The three fingers made a claw of sorts, since they ended with sharp, wet nails dripping with some sort of brown liquid. It had just one, diamond-shaped eye on the top of its circular head. The iris had several layers of 'rings' around it, colored red, brown and black. The entire… 'thing' looked like a disease, but in Abomination form. In the first place, what the heck was an Abomination doing here?! This was a Defense Tribulation, damn it! Not a fiesta!

But wait.

Wasn't this a Tribulation that represented one's elements?

Why was…

Oh.

No… no, but how?

It couldn't be…

But oh, it was. 'The wax,' Liam thought incredulously, looking at his own solar plexus. 'The Empress' chest thingie!' Liam had gotten the Abomination element! If it was the time to jump in joy, Liam would. Abominations were the bread and butter of the Empire of Fear! It was their trademark!

In fact, Liam was pretty sure Abominations were the only thing that allowed her to get to where she was!

And Liam plundered it from her dead body!

But right now, he had an Abomination to kill and a Tribulation to pass.

The swarm of darkness split.

One side shot to Liam's left, and the other to his right, barricading him in a ring-like formation.

Obviously, Liam could use his Shadow Blink to escape with ease. However, using too much blood was not viable. He had to take this seriously.

SKRAAAAAAA!

Screeching demonically, the corrupted Abomination used its dangling flesh to whip the air behind it. The strange propelling motion and overall appearance made it look like a malicious alien. KRKRK! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Behind it, two patches of the swarm brightened with a red glow, indicating two imminent Chaos Lightning strikes. Liam didn't wait for the Abomination to clash with him. He did the honors himself. With his Breaker Blade and odachi outstretched, Liam used Shadow Blink to reappear behind the Abomination. WHOOM!

Then, with his Dusk Blades, Liam brutally rent both of the Abomination's arms, ripping apart the disgusting veins and festering flesh.

Despite that, a bit of the Abomination's brownish liquid washed over him.

SSSSSSSS!

However, they couldn't go through the layer of dense shadows Liam had protected himself with.

A tiny amount did anyway.

Wherever the liquid touched, black roots spread across his skin, forcing him to spasm and convulse. The liquid was none other than Corruption itself!

But the Abomination had died, turning into wisps of dirty smoke. At the same time, Liam batted away the two streaks of lightning that shot towards him using the odachi and titan blade, redirecting them towards the sea in an instant.

KRSH! BHM!

A moment later, Liam took a deep breath. A really, really deep breath, which made him inflate and grow in size like some sort of parade balloon!

Liam grew from 1.7 meters to 8 meters, then 15 meters and finally 23 meters!

Then, he let out one massive exhale with enough force to blow back the swarm of darkness!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

⅓ of the swarm was blown away immediately.

Liam smiled to himself. He was dispelling it!

SKRAAAAAAAAA!

SKRRRRRRRRRR!

…But eight more corrupted Abominations emerged from the swarm's depths just then!

Time seemed to slow. Other than them… there was one more Abomination.

This one was different. It was smaller. Just 2 meters in size, compared to the others that were 8 meters. However, its skin was blood-red and veiny, while its form was humanoid shaped. It had two eyes, both made from bright crimson energy. It had a muscular frame and big, powerful arms paired with thick legs. It had clawed hands, too, and a long, thick tail which resembled a snake's from its back. At the same time, it had a long, spiny back. The sharp ligaments were protruding from its body. If Liam's eyes didn't fail him, the Abomination was smirking at him with black teeth.

However, the most eye-catching feat out of everything, was the hollow center of the Abomination's chest. It was a circular hollowness filled with a large mass of surging Chaos! It almost looked like the Chaos was the Abomination's 'heart'. It broke apart and reformed repeatedly, as though suppressing the urge to burst. Even its eyes seemed to be made from Chaos! "This isn't funny anymore," Liam said to the beast with a serious face. And it really wasn't. "Are you sentient?" Silence.

It didn't respond, still smirking at him.

'I can't even use Void since my darkness is sealed.' Something was warning Liam not to let that Chaos Abomination approach him.

If he did, it'd be bad news.

Although it was the same with the other eight Corruption Abominations, the fact that there was just one Chaos Abomination made Liam wary.

But Liam still had several aces up his sleeve.

'I can just Shadow Blink whenever things get tough,' Liam thought, grip tightening around the four swords. 'Plus Mind Edge.' More than a dozen Chaos Lightning strikes shot at Liam's direction just then.

KRRSSHHHHHH!

As he dodged, the view was as beautiful as it was dangerous.

But just then, the eight Abominations swarmed them from his flank, followed by a cloud of corruption and darkness engulfing him, and a Chaos Abomination making a beeline towards him on top of it all.

Just then, Liam used Mind Edge… and time felt like it had stopped. How was he supposed to get out of this one, exactly?

since we're at chapter 503 i'd like to take this chance to ask for any advice ya'll might have for the story. danke

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