Born in Blood



As Liam made the grim realization, the other acolytes seemed to figure it out as well.

'We can't even disable the Array,' Liam thought as he scanned the ground.

Faint white lines were drawn beneath Liam's feet, which grew in number and complexity as it neared the Inner Ring, then eventually converged towards the Patriarch's Grand Pavilion.

That fact meant that most of the Temple's forces were no longer able to provide any support.

Most Acolytes had Rank 2 bodies, and they already had difficulty breathing within the Outer Ring.

Disciples were a Rank higher than them, but without the special training methods of the Verdant Warrior Sect, even they suffered the Array's effect.

Only the Shadows and Liam were doing fine.

Most Shadows had Rank 4 bodies, or cultivating them. 

Liam's Rank 3 body was in the upper-stage, and he was even nearing the peak. Not to mention, he had a superior Ashura physique. 

Liam left the tower and ran to Krel's side.

Ruth and Maeve appeared too, conflicted looks on their focused faces. The former didn't use a hammer for the raid, limiting herself to a sharp dagger.

"Change of plans," Krel said sternly. "The Acolytes can't come. We have to do this ourselves."

Krel didn't need to speak mentally. 

There was no one remaining to hear his words.

Liam pursed his lips as his right eye constricted.

The Inner Ring had certain areas that contained privacy and isolation inscriptions. 

They were personal areas for the Warriors to train without disturbing anybody else. 

Inner Disciples had certain privileges, after all. 

If Liam could get into those areas – even if they fought using all their abilities – unless the inscriptions were disabled, no one could hear their battles.

Liam conveyed that knowledge to the three Shadows.

They gave him a strange look.

"How do you know?" Ruth asked with a raised brow, but without an iota of rudeness in her tone. 

Maeve and Krel took Liam's words seriously, but gave him a questioning glance.

"I can tell from how they're built," Liam lied through his teeth. They didn't need to know about his eye. 

"The buildings are built low to the ground, but they're spread out and vast compared to the rest. As long as you enter without being noticed, you can kill them using all your strength."

A smile grew on Ruth's face, but Liam cut it down.

"As long as it doesn't break the entire structure down. You can't use explosives or your hammer."

A faint pout replaced Ruth's smile.

"If anything goes wrong, the Elders could finally intervene."

There was a short silence as the three Shadows took in Liam's words.

From an outside perspective, a Rank 2 cultivator telling a group of Rank 3's how to plan an attack would be taken as utter disrespect.

But the Shadows were past such formalities. 

In fact, Liam's relationship with the Temple had strengthened considerably ever since he helped with the Rank 4 hunt.

Eventually, they nodded and split up to convey the plan to the rest of the Shadows.

Time was quickly running out.

Liam shifted his gaze to the Isolation Barrier.

It would last roughly two hours more, Liam deduced, but the task ahead wasn't easy. 

'There are currently 13 Shadows with us, and 104 Disciples, while the Inner Ring has around 145 cultivators.'

Some of the Shadows could definitely kill the stronger Warriors, but there was still a slight numerical advantage their enemies had.

Deducing the Inner Warriors' strength was easy. 

Those with larger and sturdier accommodations were higher ranked, while the opposite applied to those with smaller lodges.

Eventually, an improvised plan was spread to all the acolytes.

Lower ranked Acolytes would stay behind.

Shadows would find Warriors of their own strength level and fight them in one on one battles, while Disciples would work in groups against stronger enemies.

"Have you found a group yet?" a female Disciple of a few years Liam's senior appeared beside him and asked. 

She gestured to a group of Disciples atop a small building behind her. "We can use a fifth," she added with a smile.

Liam subtly shook his head with his gaze forward.

"I don't need one."

The Disciple frowned slightly. 

"Have you told Krel about this? You're being reckless. All the Disciples have found a group to make up for our weaknesses."

Liam gave the woman a cold side glance, which made a shiver run down her spine.

"I have no weaknesses."

Although his words sounded pretentious and extremely arrogant, Liam's intention was something else.

'I need to test out my limits and new inscribed items. My prowess will be affected if I have support.'

Liam still needed to incorporate his Shadow with his fighting style, and there was still his Controlled Chaos spell he hadn't used yet.

Shaking her head, the senior Disciple said nothing else and left to join her group.

With the plan in place, a steady but silent march commenced towards the Inner Ring.

As Liam left the Outer Ring's perimeters, he instantly felt the effects of the Array strengthen on his body.

His lungs felt squeezed and his muscles were tightly pressed together by a foreign pressure.

Liam used 'Ora' to strengthen his lungs before taking a deep breath. The Array still squeezed out his breath, but less than before.

Liam's gaze swept the Inner Ring.

He had already chosen a specific accommodation to attack.

It wasn't too big or small, but right in between. 

Still, he couldn't tell the Warrior's strength since his mental energy couldn't go through his lodging.

Liam made his way past several spacious courtyards and establishments to near his victim, using the back alleys and dark corners to traverse. 

There were several Training Grounds that also had Warriors in them, but in the open, attacking them was risky. That would be for later.

Liam reached the Warrior's building. 

It was covered with protective inscriptions, and even the glass windows were covered with them. 

Not exactly difficult to enter through.

Liam formed an Umbral Needle in his hand and threw it on the second story window.

The inscriptions on its surface flickered and rippled violently due to the corrosive gas, before eventually losing their light. 

Click!

With nothing stopping him, Liam silently entered through the window, black-clad in his Shadow.