Born in Blood

Just a week remained for the Important People's Convention.

Liam was working double time.

He had momentarily set aside his cultivation in hopes of gaining enough time to fix Blood Weaving's little flaws.

Firstly, the overall 'cooking' time had been improved. 

Unlike before, it would take roughly 4 to 5 hours for a clot of blood to fully cook.

Now, it took… much longer.

7 hours.

But that was actually an improvement!

In reality, it would have taken 8 or 9.

But Liam had added new and improved Meanings, rerouted the Links, and obviously used his Rank 4 blood as Ink.

Both the mind and blood had improved, after all, and even an hour or two to save was a big deal.

This obviously meant that Liam's inscription rate would be less.

But they'd be much more powerful!

If there was more time, Liam would have definitely made improvements to his Primordial Forging method, too.

There was no doubt in his mind that it was just as outdated and worn down as Blood Weaving. 

But there wasn't much to do in a week.

There was already enough on his plate.

After several days, he was finally done with it!

Liam raised the inscription method to the air.

Then previous parchment had been with him for as long as he could remember.

He always changed it between rings, and its surface had been aged visibly.

But to Liam, it didn't feel like that long.

It felt like yesterday.

He renewed the parchment paper and replaced it with a thin slab of crystalized blood. Of his own, of course.

The result was… quite amazing. 

Liam smiled at his work of art.

A moment later, he took out his odachi. 

Then, Liam put a finger on his forehead.

As he slowly pulled the finger away, the long glob of blood followed it like a bright-red thread.

When stretched, it looked like a laser!

That was how bright it was!

The Meanings Liam had put within the fist-size mass of blood gave it that quality.

What Meanings did Liam put into it?

A very simple function.

But it was a surprise.

Liam took out his odachi.

'Would it be better on this?' Liam thought. 'Yeah. Probably.'

First, he stripped off its inscriptions.

The Black Blade let out a yelp of shock.

"Relax," Liam said. "I'll fix them."

With the Black Blade pointed to the ceiling, Liam began writing the Links down on its peerless edge.

Liam didn't change his base inscription technique.

Except, his hand was a lot more fast moving, as though he was writing in the air itself. 

A few hours passed.

***

By the time Liam was done, the sword looked more like an exquisite piece of art than it did a lethal weapon.

The characters written in the vampiric language looked more fluid and stylish. 

It was the difference between practicing calligraphy for one year.

And practicing calligraphy for twenty years.

But… what did the inscriptions do?

Liam's nails flared with wisps of brown and black Corruption. 

Next, he lowered the sword and slowly, as though lighting up a cigarette, let his fingers touch the blood writings.

WHSH!

Instantly, the characters lit up one after the other, the blood gaining the same hue as Liam's Corruption.

A creepy, ear-to-ear smile formed on Liam's face.

That was the power of his blood!

What the inscriptions did was simply spread his Corruption evenly across his entire sword. 

Liam outstretched the sword and slashed the air.

SHING!

A slash of darkness shot from the sword's edge.

Except, the darkness had a strange hue to it.

A little bit of brown had been mixed with it.

A bit of Corruption!

SHIIING!

The slash landed on the wall, forming a wide, diagonal cut across its surface. 

However, the inscriptions on the odachi were just a little dimmer. 

Despite that, Liam smiled. 

'As long as I fill it up now and again, it'd last for several hours. At least a full fight.'

Satisfaction. That was the emotion Liam felt. 

"You changed something again," the Black Blade said with a strange voice. "I feel like I've just been dipped in… death."

Silence.

"Well," Liam said. "You're stronger. All that matters."

"What about us?" the Dusk Blades said. "Do you bear gifts?" 

The Breaker Blade was silent, but it obviously wanted something too. 

Liam didn't respond.

Instead, he gathered another fistfull of blood, then let it cook for the rest of the day.

7 hours passed.

After performing the same Meanings, with minor differences and deviations, Liam applied them to the Dusk Blades next.

Then, through the same process of 'lighting' it up, Liam added a touch of Chaos to it.

ZHHHR!

It buzzed with Chaos!

The Dusk Blades laughed gutturally. 

Now, not only could it wield fire, it could also harness and fight with Chaos! 

But, didn't it already fight with Chaos?

It did.

However, that was clearly different.

Now, there was no need for Liam to strain his core due to his demanding sword-style.

He could use his Chaos spells and his chaotic sword-style. 

That being said, these qualities weren't actually ingrained in the weapons themselves.

…Only Primordial Forging could do that.

Blood Weaving, on the other hand, gave him the ability to switch these qualities on and off, without actually using his Corruption or Chaos reserves constantly. 

Besides, Liam didn't want to showcase his Pearl abilities in every fight.

Up next was the Breaker Blade.

As the biggest sword in Liam's arsenal, it was also the strongest due to its shape.

Chaos and Corruption didn't fit well with it.

Instead… his shadows were perfect for it.

And Liam's shadow reserves were… well, undepletable!

Another 7 hours passed.

Followed by another.

And another.

The Breaker Blade was freaking massive.

It had to be inscribed several times due to how tall it was.

But it was done.

And it looked menacingly beautiful. 

All three swords had their own uniqueness. 

The odachi looked like an ancient treasure.

The dusks looked like a cursed treasure. 

And the breaker looked like a forbidden treasure.

Liam's shadows flowed into the titanic sword's inscriptions.

Liam raised the sword… then dropped it!

…Instead of crashing against the ground, it had entered the Sea of Darkness!

Then, on Liam's command, the sword swam through the ground!

The Breaker's biggest flaw was maneuverability. 

Not anymore.