Born in Blood

[A/N: Previous chapter has been edited a bit. Both fighters used Mind Edge]

***

Wicked laughter filled the fake dimension.

Liam felt a primordial dread radiating from its fractured walls, which was now in tatters and flickering as though it was broken.

The goblins and ogres were still frozen as though they were mannequins.

Even Liam didn't know how to react to what was happening. 

The laughter just sounded too vile and obnoxious, but that wasn't where the dread came from.

VOOM!

Ahead, a circular entrance spread open from the ground, upon which a figure slowly hovered above. 

Half-head.

That was the first word that came into Liam's mind when he saw the figure that emerged.

A fitting name.

The figure wore filthy brown rags. 

Pallid, with a hunched back. Bare footed. 

One of his eyes was black, and the other was dark red. 

A broad grin was on his face, which displayed the ugly teeth inside. Wrinkly face and sagging skin.

His entire figure was marred with scars and cuts that seeped with droplets of blood.

And the top of his head was missing. 

Just a few inches above his graying eyebrows.

It looked cleanly sliced off, displaying the brainy insides. 

Liam stared at him wide-eyed, his muscles tightening. 

No matter who it was that had his head cut off like that, they would not be able to survive.

With grand gestures and a raspy voice that sounded more like a hiss, the man spoke:

"So! We finally meet! I have to say, I loved your performance! Not a moment of boredom, I tell you."

"Even after I handicapped you like that, you still pulled through and won."

"Brutal, brutal what you did to her. No mercy! Just how I like it."

"And that explosive energy! Familiar. Very familiar, but I cannot put my finger on it."

The man nodded to himself repeatedly.

Liam gulped.

'What is happening?' Liam inwardly cursed. The grip on his sword tightened. 'Is this the Eternal Sword?'

Half-head shook his head dramatically.

"Me? Eternal Sword?" he uttered darkly, anger creeping into his tone and face.

Oh no.

Half-head could hear Liam's thoughts.

"ME?! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT WHAT HE DID TO ME! HE DID THIS TO ME! HE DID!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

A dozen ogres suddenly exploded with a rain of blood, guts and viscera. 

An abrupt silence followed the furious outburst.

Liam took a deep, shaky breath.

His mental energy was low.

His blood was not at its fullest.

And his chaos was nigh-empty.

Liam was trapped.

The fake dimension trembled hectically. 

Water started to pour in from all the fractures. 

The cold water gushed forth and flowed through Liam's feet.

Slowly, the water level was rising.

"Apologies, apologies," Half-Head said with a loud laugh. 

"Don't hold it against me. Ever since I had my brain lopped off by that handsome bastard, I can't CONTROL MY EMOTIONS!"

Liam flinched. The old man screamed the last part of his sentence. 

But now, he was back to smiling.

It was like the outburst never happened, and he was back to being cheery.

"What do you want?" Liam asked with a strangely calm voice. 

This was certain death.

There was no doubt about that.

Trapped with a half-dead, half-head cultivator with the ability to explode things was definitely certain death.

Whatever Liam said or did would determine if he breathed air within the next few moments.

But in no way was Liam going to take it sitting down.

Right now, he wasn't even thinking, hence the expressionless look on his face. 

"Ah. Right. What do I want? I don't know… To become something other than a vessel of pure hatred and vile disgust? To find purpose other than an empty… unfulfilled revenge?!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Another series of goblin and ogre explosions occurred, coloring the steadily rising water with blood.

Here and there, organs and heads ran through the foamy streams of murky liquid.

Silence.

Liam took another deep breath to calm his nerves.

Half-head was volatile.

Bipolar, in a sense.

A question could tick him off and mark Liam's death.

He had to ask the right questions, and without provoking or angering the old man.

All the while, the water was slowly rising.

And the fake dimension would break apart.

"What do you want from me, I mean?" Liam asked calmly, moving slowly to where Reyan's corpse was. 

The water reached up to his shins now. 

"What unfulfilled revenge?" he questioned.

Silence.

Half-head grumbled a curse as he waved his hand.

With a flash of light, another figure appeared in the fake dimension.

It was a handsome man with glorious features. Black and white hair. Clean shaven and sharp-eyed. He looked young, but looked almost scholarly.

It was clear who this was.

The Eternal Sword.

The Eternal Sword spoke with a warm smile:

"You have done well to pass all the Trials and win against your opponent. Now, you shall receive the rest of my teachings and techniques. May we meet in the Celestial Realm, my heir." 

BOOM!

Then, the Eternal Sword exploded!

But there was no blood.

It was not real.

It was a fake.

Shhhhhh. 

The water was up to Liam's knees, now. 

"Long story short," the old man continued. "we fought. He cut off my head. Left me to die. I lived. Then he left for the Celestial Realm."

"But not before he made his inheritance."

"It took me time to break it down," the old man grumbled, gazing at the cuts and wounds on his body.

"But I did. And I killed the anatomized Will he left behind." 

"I've killed him over, and over, and over, and over again. But there's less satisfaction every time."

The old man sighed.

Silence.

Liam arched his brows slightly.

Subconsciously, he was still scooting closer to Reyan's body.

"You still haven't answered what you want from me," Liam said after a prolonged pause. 

The old man exploded into laughter, then looked at Liam with a dark glint in his dark eyes.

Liam had arrived beside Reyan's corpse, which bobbed up in down the water beside the goblins.

All he needed to do was take the Recall Rune out of her ring and hope it would work. 

It was all he could hope for.

All the while, Liam's gaze was still connected with Half-head.

Half-head waved his hand.

More than two dozen robed skeletons appeared beside him, all wielding various kinds of swords.

"If I can't kill the Eternal Sword," he said with a toothy grin. "I can make sure he never gets an heir to accompany him."