Born in Blood

535  World Destroyer

The other two were equally weird. One looked like a crossbreed between a mantis and a human, with spiky green hair and circular, bug-like green eyes. Craziest of all, his arms were a pair of grim scythes that curved inward, and even rivaled Liam's Black Blade in terms of sharpness! That alone made the mantis quite dangerous. Then, Liam scanned the last one of the three. This was the strongest one of them all.

And it was…

A glob!

A literal glob of translucent, viscous black-red slime with a single eyeball in the center of its 'face'. And yet, Liam still felt a strange, mysterious feeling around the thing.

Its eyeball flicked left and right, swimming through its liquidy mass to scan other participants. 'It could be a pill or inscription to keep their real identity hidden,' Liam realized.

Humans had the sea of consciousness, but that didn't necessarily mean the sea was behind in terms of proficiency, expertise and ability. As the glob's eyeball landed on Liam's figure, it paused. Their gazes connected. WHOOM!

Liam felt the intensity of the glob's penetrating gaze. Had it been anyone else, he probably would have begun sweating.

But he was not anyone else.

After barely a second, the eyeball moved away and became idle. 'Weirdo,' Liam thought, scoffing. Liam himself found it strange how nothing had begun yet.

Suddenly, a booming voice echoed from above:

"WELCOME TO PANDEMONIUMANIA!" ***

Liam's ears almost burst, but he cupped his hands around them halfway through the shout. Creaking his head, he looked above…to see a white haired, bare chested man with chiseled muscles staring fiercely at the crowd present. Veins popped in his twitchy, wide eyes. It was as though he was born with his eyes open, staring at everything fiercely. Strangely, his pupils were discolored. The left was black, and the right was white!

His white hair was actively pulling itself in different directions, as though an electric current ran through each strand. The man's aura was an utter mess. It raged at times, flaring with various energies, then reverted to a docile and calmed state in quick intervals.

"BUCKLE UP! WORDS, INTRODUCTIONS AND WASTING TIME IS NOT HOW ASTA ROLLS. ASTA GOES HARD, AND NEVER SOFT!"

Liam laughed under his breath as a certain joke entered his head. He also found it weird how Asta spoke in third person like an idiot, and that his voice was unbearably obnoxious.

"GET SET! GET READY! IN JUST THREE SECONDS, ASTA WILL BEGIN BEGINNER COURSE FOR BEGINNERS." The faces of those participating suddenly got serious, while others grew nervous and anxious.

Flamboyant Woman, Mantis, and Glob — the three nicknames that Liam gave the strongest — had resolved expressions. Glob didn't really have a face, but his slimy figure perked up a bit. Liam himself braced for whatever was to come. The crazy looking Asta laughed loudly.

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

Upon his words, the spire exploded.

In mere seconds, the fragments of red rock scattered in all directions, each remnant the size of a grain of sand. From afar, one could very much call the view beautiful, as it looked like a glowing firework underwater.

Some of it even stuck to Liam's body. Liam looked around with a confused glimmer in his eyes. As did a few others.

They had no idea what was going on.

However, some looked like they were preparing for something.

They'd definitely experienced the course once before. Liam furrowed his brows. But a moment later, there was a sound.

The sound of something waking up.

Something big.

Very big.

Liam looked left.

There was nothing there.

Liam looked right.

There was nothing there.

Liam looked up, and there was Asta, a giant, excited grin on his crazy face. Then, Liam looked down.

And there it was.

The plateau was moving.

At least, a portion of it was.

Slowly, it raised into the water. Then, it began to shake violently. Liam watched as chunks of stone and layers of dust washed away from the surface of its body. Slowly, its form grew visible. "HIS NAME IS WORLD DESTROYER, AND WORLD DESTROYER IS ASTA'S BEST FRIEND. DO NOT GET EATEN OR ZAPPED! IF YOU DO, YOU WILL BE FORCEFULLY REMOVED, AND ASTA WILL NO LONGER LIKE YOU!"

"NEITHER WILL WORLD DESTROYER!" Liam's eyes shone with amazement as he saw what came out of the plateau. At the fifth Rank, magical beasts almost always had some sort of unique appearance that distinguished them from the inferior creatures. What Liam saw was something that closely resembled the megalodon from earth, with key differences. Firstly, the World Destroyer was covered with rigid scales that resembled peacock feathers. But lacking beauty, it made Instead of having a normal shark tail, a collage of long, kraken-like tails bloomed from its back, lined with spiny bones that crackled with red electricity. Their tips resembled hooks made to snatch prey… and make them suffer. It had two slits on the sides of its head that glowed red – eyes that lacked pupils. Some of the participants who were participating in the Beginner course for Beginners visibly paled. And even those who experienced the course once before had their heart rates rise a beat. One had to remember that all of these people were Zeniths.

And they weren't below average, or even average cultivators.

Physically, they had strength beyond the norm. Plus, they were exploring a Quality that wasn't exactly the safest, or easiest to learn.

In short, they were experts.

And now, they were paling.

Liam's interest was piqued.

As the World Destroyer arose, it gently began sniffing the air. As bits of the glowing red rock neared it, the megalodon opened its massive jaw — filled to the brim with all kinds of horrendous teeth — and began to swallow it in mouthfuls. Quickly, Liam realized something.

'It's blind,' he thought with surprise. 'The rock was its food.' Liam took another look at himself, and all the other participants with a look of funny realization.

He laughed.

'And now, so am I.' n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

sry for not uploading yesterday. Was sick

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