Born in Blood

The direction Liam wanted to take with his swords was clear cut.

It had to be wild. Unpredictable. Dangerous. 

Something with no reigns.

But it also had to have form and precision. Versatility and technique.

'Order emerges from pandemonium,' Liam thought with distant eyes.

As much as he hated riddles and broad ways of thinking, he had to ponder over his fighting style.

The sword didn't control the wielder.

The wielder controlled the sword.

If Liam wanted a fighting style, he had to dive into who he was first.

But his mind was strangely clear and devoid of anxiousness.

He was calm.

'If chaos is consistent, patterns will naturally emerge from whatever it is.' 

'In one way or the other, it will affect something in a way that it wasn't supposed to.'

'Like a volcanic explosion.'

'Contrary to belief, it doesn't make the world warmer.'

'It makes it colder by blocking the sun's heat with its plumes of black smoke.'

'Even though the innate nature it has is destruction and heat, it provides coolness in the long term.'

'Or maybe rainfall.'

'It didn't begin with rain.'

'It began with the sun evaporating bodies of water.'

'Which turns into mist.'

'Which becomes a cloud.'

'Which rains again and restarts the cycle.

'Even life and death,' Liam realized. "have patterns of their own.'

'People die. Others are born to take their place.'

'A pregnant mother could die with her unborn child.'

Liam remembered Eve.

Liam pushed the memory away.

'But the child might live despite that.'

…

'What am I saying?' 

Liam felt the urge to laugh at himself.

He was just spitballing random statements one after the other. 

In reality, he really didn't have any idea what he was saying. 

But it felt right.

'Whatever,' Liam concluded, rising to his feet. 'I'll figure something out.'

Liam took out his swords and swung them one after the other.

Liam used Hone on both his darkness and chaos.

Then, he combined both forces with his swords.

Obviously, his shadow enveloped everything like a cherry on top.

'I'll use everything,' Liam thought. 

Then, Liam started to swing.

Between each swing, Liam rapidly switched between his Black Blade, his Dusk Blades, and his Breaker Blade.

But for each of them, there was a pattern they followed.

The Black Blade already had darkness.

A regular slash would release an arc of gaseous darkness.

However, the edge of the odachi was imbued with chaos.

For the Dusk Blades, they both had one edge each.

But one of them absorbed darkness, while the other absorbed chaos.

The same went for the Breaker. Instead of coating its edges, Liam just made the whole thing surge with waves of bright red chaos.

Liam was just swinging wildly in the air.

After some time, Liam deployed his Shadow Clones.

At once, they began to attack him like real opponents.

Now that Liam had twice the mental energy, he could actually operate the Shadow Clones like they were a part of him.

It was like seeing through four different perspectives at the same time.

Liam's arms and legs continued moving until a pattern emerged.

His sword kept changing forms.

From Black.

To Dusk.

To Breaker.

His Chaos Pearl kept churning out chaos.

His core kept surging with darkness.

His Shadow Clones kept attacking him while he defended. 

Obviously, Liam refrained from using any abilities his Shadow Clones couldn't use.

Months passed.

Liam had forsaken food and drink.

All that remained was his swords and his thoughts.

Slowly, Liam's swings found grace.

Slowly, a pattern was emerging!

Liam's sword stroke felt random.

But it wasn't!

At first glance, the fighting style Liam came to discover looked completely unrefined and unstable. 

It was just a barrage of random attacks.

Wide swings.

Short swings.

Stabs.

Diagonal slashes.

Vertical swipes.

Everything at once.

The only thing that wasn't out of sync was Liam's movements.

Somehow, he was making it work!

Chaos and Order.

Liam stopped swinging and heaved a long sigh. 

Sweat and blood dripped from all over him.

For 3 months, he'd been swinging continuously, even when his mental energy, chaos and 'Ora' reserves ran out.

This art had an incredibly powerful advantage, and disadvantage.

The advantage was huge.

At close-range, Liam would completely obliterate his opponent.

Defense?

What was that?

There was no defense that could stop… whatever this was.

Not with the Breaker's power, the Black Blade's sharpness, the Dusk Blade's versatility, and the chaos, darkness, and shadow on top of it all.

But it also had a major weakness.

Fighting at long ranges was not viable.

Sure, the Black Blade provided sharp arcs of darkness that went very fast.

But with his utilization of chaos, that effect was lessened to a degree.

But there was a catch to this fighting style.

Liam wasn't dumb.

This sword-style had no real substance.

But he made it with one thing in mind.

Once he was able to integrate Void with his sword… the entire sword art would take a 180 degree turn.

But for now, this had to suffice.

'I'll enter the Trial tomorrow after a day of rest,' Liam heaved a sigh as he ate his remaining food reserves. 

***

Liam stood in front of the Trial gate with his sword in his hand.

Steeling his expression, he took one step towards it… but a shot of pain suddenly seared through his chest, making him grunt.

'Oh no.'

Liam grimaced.

It was his solar plexus.

'Oh no, no, no no no!'

Heat gathered at Liam's sternum and spread throughout his body.

The root of it all?

The Chaos Pearl!

It was advancing!

Now, of all times?!

'Not here, dammit!' 

Liam cursed as pain usurped his body.

He was thrown on the ground, squirming and screaming as his Chaos Pearl underwent a change.

To make Liam Royce scream in pain was an achievement not everyone could boast about. 

HMMMMM!

A violent vibration ran across Liam's body.

As his Chaos Pearl condensed, Liam's mind went blank.

He was slipping into unconsciousness.

Everything turned to black.