Born in Blood

Liam said nothing as Reyan warily scanned his figure. 

There was absolutely no need for him to reveal his hand.

When weak, one must feign strength.

When strong, one must feign weakness.

Through the King's Eye, Liam could read Reyan's mental waves.

And since his mental faculties were twice as strong, he could actually deduce coherent sentences from her mind.

But it was still choppy and missing parts, and a Rank 3 sea of consciousness was capable of hyperfast thoughts.

'He… similar… prick…' she thought. 

'Sword… fast… dangerous…'

'Keep… distance…'

Those were the thoughts Reyan had. 

However, they were disciplined, and Liam couldn't deduce her fighting plan.

At the same time, she felt calm, proud and confident.

That said, Liam thought of the ways to use this disguise to his advantage.

The first was using fear.

Fear made the legs go soft.

Ever since Liam had the Triumvirate Body, he could shapeshift his body in accordance to a grim illusion.

He could manipulate hair, skin, texture, eyes, flesh, color, and more. 

What if he made himself look like an abomination? 

Similar to the one time Liam made a Zenith kill himself from terror alone.

But on the other hand, simply keeping the cards to himself was also fine. 

That's what Liam decided to do. 

Fear could happen gradually, after all.

"Oi, on a serious note," Reyan said with a firm voice. "why is this inheritance riddled with issues? My Recall Rune didn't even work at times."

If Reyan knew who she was talking to, she would instantly attack without even a second thought—

Wait, Recall Rune?

"Recall Rune?" Liam asked slowly, arcing his brows.

His face turned a little dark.

The atmosphere grew a little frigid.

The goblins were near again, but Liam sent another wide slash of darkness and quieted them briefly.

Reyan did the same on her side, using a wide arc of bright light to turn the surrounding goblins into ash.

It seemed like the two were in a momentary truce.

"Recall Rune?" Liam repeated again. 

Reyan furrowed her brows slightly. A moment later, she took out a small, circular slab of white metal from her ring. 

"This? You've… never seen this before?" Reyan furrowed her brows.

Liam stared at the rune.

Indeed, he'd never seen it before.

Slowly, Reyan's lips formed into a broad smile.

Then, she burst into an incredulous laughter!

"You… seriously didn't get this? So you've been resting in between your Trials instead of restarting them with peak condition instantly? You couldn't even repeat a Trial to maximize your understanding of the sword, either?"

Silence.

Liam's face was clouded with darkness.

This whole damn time! 

…He'd been under a handicap.

He didn't get any damn Recall Rune!

Instead of recovering instantly, he had to… rest. He hated that word, too.

But this also meant something else.

Twilight had the opportunity to repeat her Trials constantly to get the maximum benefit.

Which meant that, even if this was a battle of swords, Liam probably wouldn't win—

'No,' Liam interrupted his own line of thought. 'She's not invincible.'

'I can win.'

Reyan noticed the change in atmosphere and readied her sword.

The distance between the two was still roughly 60 meters.

The goblins were rushing back in, but neither of the two paid them any head.

They were mere nuisances.

The only thing they had to worry about were the ogres, but they were further back compared to the rest.

All three of Liam's swords were bloodthirsty. Even the Breaker. 

They correlated with whatever emotion Liam was going through, after all. 

'Should I use it from the get go?' Liam thought. 'No. I'll wait and draw out her techniques.'

'In the first place, she might have gotten something I didn't.'

'I'll practice caution.'

Liam's sword-stance was defensive. 

He kept the odachi at his side, but it was angled in a way that could cover all of his sides.

Also, his body had reverted to its normal form.

Now, he waited for Reyan to—

WHOOM!

Fast!

Reyan turned into light! 

Liam felt a warm flash of light growing hotter behind him.

He turned around just in time to intercept the blindingly bright sword with his odachi.

CLIIIING!

If Liam didn't have his Triumvirate Body, he definitely wouldn't have been able to sense the attack.

'Why's she so fast?!' 

Reyan flashed again.

WHOOM!

This time, from his side. 

Liam felt his skin rise with danger from strange angles.

SHING!

Liam deflected the blade… but a cut ripped through his rear!

And it wasn't even from Reyan's sword!

It seared through Liam's flesh, incinerating a handful of muscles into flakes of ash.

'What is she using?' Liam thought subconsciously, brows slightly furrowed.

WHOOM!

As Liam's blood restored the wound, Reyan flashed again. 

CLING!

But Liam successfully evaded and deflected the blade.

…And yet, another cut formed on his side, turning another handful of his skin into ash.

Liam lurched backwards to create space.

An ogre attempted to crush him into paste with its club.

BOOM!

But Liam evaded.

Instead of killing it, Liam landed on top of the ogre's bald head.

Liam's eyes narrowed at Reyan. 

Reyan stopped 'flashing' and didn't pursue him any longer, her radiant form returning human. 

The goblins had surged in by then, but an arc of light severed those near her from the waist.

'What is she using?' Liam thought again, his gaze fixed on Reyan. 'Her blade isn't fast enough for my eye not to spot.'

The gears of Liam's mind were grinding for an answer.

'Is she using light to hide another sword somewhere?'

'But why is it invisible to me?' 

Reyan's speed was something Liam knew straight off the bat.

Nothing was faster than light.

Obviously, light elementals could not tap into that ridiculous power, if it existed in the first place.

However, they could imitate it, sort of like how Liam faked a Black Hole's gravitational pull.

It wasn't impossible. 

Just difficult. 

But hiding something from Liam was probably harder.

The King's Eye pretty much caught everything at 4K, slow-mo resolution, and it could even see mental energy. 

'Is this her style? An invisible sword?' Liam thought.

Twilight smiled mockingly at Liam's momentary retreat.

More than 24 darkness and light chakrams formed around Twilight, shrieking as they formed.