Born in Blood

538  Chaos, not Chaos

Seeing as the World Destroyer was somewhat injured, and he likely wouldn't get an opportunity like this again, Liam had to decide between riding the megalodon, or abandoning it. 'Alright,' Liam thought. 'I'll save this beef for later.' 'This is still the first course.' In a split second, the Black Blade transformed into the Breaker, then exploded in a devastating burst of darkness. KRSH!

If the explosion was done in any other way, it wouldn't have caused significant damage.

But since it was lodged between the megalodon's scales, it instantly cracked through a large patch of armor. Plus, the attack was amplified, since Liam waited until the shark's lightning charge was halfway through, causing a chain of explosions that ran across the World Destroyer's spine and tails due to the disrupted charge. "WORLD DESTROYER! NOOOO!" Asta screamed, tears streaming down his face. "HOW COULD YOU?" he pleaded.

Watching from afar, the dumbfounded participants found this to be the strangest course run they'd experienced so far. But an opportunity had appeared.

The World Destroyer was momentarily stunned, though it seemed more pissed than ever. An injured, bleeding lion made even the monkeys brave. As a collective, Glob, Mantis, Flamboyant Woman and all the weaklings rushed to bombard the World Destroyer with everything, kitchen sink included. Mantis, with his insane speed and scythe-like arms, danced around the megalodon, slashing through cracked scales and vulnerable spots. To the naked eye, all one would see of him was two thin streaks.

Glob's way of attacking was… amazing, quite frankly. Beams of red energy shot from its eye, and its gooey flesh split off, coating the World Destroyer's scales. When the energy rays collided with the slime, it ignited, bursting into thick, inextinguishable flames.

Obviously, the weaklings didn't have abilities as flashy and amazing as these two. They consisted of simple strengthening powers that amplified the power of one's strikes, and the shockwaves that resulted from them. As such, the scene ahead was a brutal, one sided beatdown, akin to someone getting jumped. But since Liam and the Flamboyant Woman had reduced the megalodon to that state, they simply remained behind. Liam felt his Path.

Within it?

A tiny sliver of multicolored energy! n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Unevenly circular in shape, it was barely the mass of a hair strand, and it looked on the verge of falling apart. It wasn't red, contrary to what Liam expected. It was a mix of violet and orange, and seemed even more volatile than Liam's own Chaos.

With his sheer grit and 'Ora' Manipulation, he held it together for a deeper inspection as the rest of the participants took care of the megalodon. 'It's… Chaos,' Liam realized. 'Except… not like mine.' It was Chaos…

But not Chaos?

Hmm…

Now, how did that make sense exactly?

Liam took a deeper gander at what made his Chaos different to the one in his Path. Except, since his Spirit Sight and Mind Edge were sealed, he couldn't take a deeper, more scientific look.

Unfortunately, Liam's control over the energy slipped, causing it to crumble apart and dissipate into nothingness.

Liam took a deep breath.

This was going to take some time, wasn't it?

Going through such a chaotic mess of a situation paved the way for Liam to understand what Chaos was for a split second. 'Patience, young one,' Liam comforted himself. 'Patience…' "What's your name?" said the Flamboyant Woman, appearing beside Liam. "I'm Siliviar." Liam shot her a cold gaze. She was not in her 'fairy' form anymore, reverting to her previous appearance. At the same time, she looked a little paler, weaker and less graceful. "Royce."

Liam found no reason to lie.

But the name 'Liam' was much more famous compared to his noble lineage counterpart, and it'd be wiser for him not to say it. It literally made no difference. That's how little the noble families influenced the outside world. Funny how that worked.

Flamboyant Woman – now known as Siliviar – hummed to herself in interest. "Is this your first time participating in this course?"

"Yes," Liam answered, not even looking at her.

"Interesting. To think you'd do so well on your first try. I reckon you have a strong affinity with Chaos, darling." Silence.

"Okay."

Siliviar's tone was natural, as if they weren't attempting to kill each other five minutes earlier. For the first time, Liam glanced at her. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at a beauty pageant?" Siliviar scoffed playfully. "Don't be crass, dear. I'm not here to learn this barbaric Concept – I'm here to counter it." Liam paused. That was the first time he'd ever heard something like that. Learning a Concept to counter it? That sounded ingenious! But the conversation ended there. Both Siliviar and Liam remained quiet and shifted his attention to the megalodon. An entire minute of chained attacks rained down upon it, stripping away its armored flesh and tearing through its insides. Asta shed tears silently…but did nothing to stop the rampage. After a few lousy attempts at defending itself with stray bolts of lightning and wild thrashing, the World Destroyer let out one final screech, before shriveling into itself like a turtle huddling into its shell. Tense silence.

The attacks stopped once the shark stopped moving, but no one let their guard down. In fact, they seemed even more on edge than when the shark was alive.

Was it even dead?

Three seconds passed.

A hissing noise faintly gained volume from within the shar—

BOOOOOOOOOM!

It was just a split second that Liam used any defenses he could use. But as the shockwave spread through… There was no pain.

There was nothing at all!

Liam opened his eyes.

'...The explosion was a prank, wasn't it.'

Like shreds of burning paper, the remains of the World Destroyer's corpse crumbled into stony ash, falling to the sea floor where it emerged from.

Then, it merged with it, becoming the plateau! Liam didn't know what he just witnessed. 'Formations, Inscriptions, Alchemy or a Path?' Liam realized. 'They've made something similar to a Blood Bond…' "WELL DONE!" Asta screamed, no tears or sadness visible on his face, replaced with vibrant happiness. "YOU PASSED THE FIRST STAGE. IT IS ACCEPTABLE. BUT YOU LOSERS FORGOT SOMETHING CRUCIAL!"

Silence.

Faces twisted in confusion.

"What did we miss?" Mantis questioned curiously. His voice was incredibly nasally, and sounded like a horde of wasps buzzing together.

A second of silence.

Asta grinned viciously.

"FIND OUT YOURSELF!" he screamed. "ONTO THE NEXT STAGE!"