Born in Blood

528  What is Chaos?

Davy and Jones laughed mockingly, not deigning Liam's question an answer. "You have no idea what you've pulled yourself into." "Try to survive." Slowly, their forms turned intangible, fading into the murky waters. They had turned invisible, even to Liam's Spirit Sight and superior senses. Instantly, Liam pointed his finger at the cave entrance. A robust string of pure ichor shot through his nail, continuing for several seconds, before spreading outward and expanding across the entrance… crystalizing a short second later. The only form of escape had been plugged. If the two thought they were sly enough to silently disappear, they were gravely mistaken. With that being said, Liam had no clue where the two cuttlefish were!

He looked around. Shadow Sense, Shifter Sense, mental energy and Spirit Sight caught no trace of them — as though they'd gone invisible!

Maybe if he was above land the results would be different, but the waters suppressed him quite well. Now, there were several ways to get this fight over with as fast as possible, but each had its own issue.

One: going berserk and wildly firing spheres of Chaos.

Issue: a small possibility of his Chaos collapsing the underground cavity and creating another escape route for the two cuttlefish. Two: sending Honed slashes everywhere in hopes of landing one. Issue: corruption and darkness were weaker underground, and the cavity was large enough for them to simply dodge. Three: wait for them to attack, then pinpoint where they were from there.

…That sounded the most plausible, and most suitable to his personality. A fight wasn't complete with a little pain. Liam didn't bother overthinking, but shutting off his brain was never a trait of his, either. Standing idly in place, with his sword hanging to the side, Liam resembled a grim, brooding statue, radiating cold confidence and unbridled danger. Lumps of filth circled around him, idly through the waters. Silence.

Pure silence.

A deathly silent tentacle shot at Liam's heart and pierced right through. Just as fast, he used Transfiguration to relocate the vital organ to the side. A second later, Liam felt flames searing his insides, burning him from within with an invisible fire. Liam's sword flashed. A single swing was enough to cleanly sever the invisible tentacle off, abruptly ending the scorching pain.

From behind, something massive hit Liam full force. Something solid and very strong.

BOOM!

He was hurled away with a loud crunch, all the rigid bones in his body shattering. As he smashed against the cave wall, the few bones that remained intact crumbled apart. What strength was this?! It was not normal!

But neither was Liam's regeneration – blood and bone quickly reformed his injuries, and he had rebalanced himself upright with his sword at the ready. At once, his figure oozed with bright ichor, slowly enrobing him with a set of sleek, demonic, knightly armor. No attack followed. Liam had his back to the wall, his sword clenched, his gaze confident but wary.

By now, he figured out what it was. If the cuttlefish could change their appearance, they could switch out their physical strengths and even their powers. That sounded familiar…

Didn't Liam have basically the same power?

The answer was a quick yes, but the matter wasn't as simple. Admit allowed Liam to take the form of another creature, but it came with restrictions. He was unable to take another life's element or innate abilities, nor store them for later or keep them permanently. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

…The cuttlefish were a league above that. They could do exactly that…and worst of all, remain utterly invisible to his superior senses, including whatever ability they used in such an intangible state. How sick was that?

But there was no time for admiration. Heat flared at Liam's right. The black blade changed form as Liam swung instinctively, transforming into the Breaker mid-swing and smashing against the invisible threat. There was no sound, but judging by a large portion of the cave walls melting from sheer heat, he had successfully redirected whatever invisible attack that threatened to burn him.

But for every Davy, there was a Jones. Something with the consistency of condensed liquid drilled through Liam's rear, where his liver was supposed to be. It twisted the flesh and mangled it bloody, but the Breaker transformed into the Dusks, and with their vicious edges crackling with chaos, he repelled the attack and reduced its intensity, then ducking and lurching forward immediately at the direction it came from.

SHI— An invisible beam of some kind burst from under Liam's feet, which cracked his knightly armor and ripped off the foot beneath, stopping his charge and interrupting his dual swing. If he had to guess, one of the two cuttlefish had taken a light elemental creature.

Liam growled in annoyance and used Shadow Blink, regenerating the lost foot and reinforcing his armor. KRSH!

Something large, heavy and rigid, most likely an earth elemental, smashed against Liam's head, while something jagged and noxiously corrosive pierced his stomach — obviously a darkness ability. Disorientation and a semi-crushed skull, a lovely combo.

Liam fortified his skeleton as a diverse storm of invisible bullets, beams and cuts rained down upon his body, cracking his armor and breaking him apart, repeating the same process over and over again as he regenerated. Was he…

Was he being played around with?! By a couple of fish with tentacles for mouths?

Unacceptable! Liam used Mind Edge, the cogs of his brain crackling like lightning bolts in all directions. Liam tapped into the Sea of Darkness and spread his awareness through it, resisting the tides of disorientation that flooded his chaotic mind. There had to be a crack, a weakness, in the cuttlefish's Path. A time limit was too cliche to be true, but everything had a time limit – Liam wasn't kind enough to let them live for that long. It didn't sound like the best course of action to follow, but it was… chaotic. 'Am I doing it right?' Liam asked himself. 'Chaos…'

What is Chaos?

Was it a force of nature?

Or was it a state consisting of disarray and havoc? Maybe a volatile, bright red essence that exploded upon Liam's command?

Perhaps it was all three at the same time?

The question was too vast, even for Liam's 200,000 IQ supercomputer brain… but the longest of journeys began with the smallest of steps. ramadan is in 15 days guys, which means that i will have to fast the full month. I'll write as many chapters as I can and schedule them to upload in the coming days, but please do not buy privilege. CovidCandy