[Feather Shards]
The blast from Liam’s skill had detonated at point-blank range.
The armored vampire hadn’t even had ti to scream. Hundreds of razor-sharp energy feathers tore into him from just ters away, shredding through his chestplate like paper and embedding themselves deep into his flesh.
BOOM.
The impact hurled the vampire several ters back. His armored body crashed into the scorched dirt with a heavy thud, smoke rising from the glowing cuts that now decorated his torso.
Liam stood still, his breathing calm, eyes locked on the body.
For a second, nothing moved.
Then blood began to pool out from beneath the vampire, staining the charred ground a deep crimson. The armored figure twitched slightly, his limbs spasming involuntarily. The energy feathers had ripped through his abdon, leaving a massive gash that pulsed and bled out with every feeble movent.
He didn’t stand up.
He didn’t groan.
He just lay there, gasping silently, broken and bleeding.
And he didn’t turn to ash.
Which ant he wasn’t dead. But he wasn’t far from it either.
With that much blood loss, his regenerative capabilities had shut down. Whatever spark of unlife he clung to was slowly fading—soon, like a torch running out of oil, he would combust. All vampires did once their bodies gave in.
Boris narrowed his eyes as he looked at the motionless body of his subordinate. The blood pooling out... it wasn’t just a flesh wound.
That weird skill from Liam—those feather-like shards—had gone through the armor like it was nothing. Boris had seen how strong that armor was. The material was enchanted and layered in protective sigils, forged from darksteel and vampiric ore.
And Liam pierced it in one go.
"Impossible..." Boris muttered, his voice low.
He didn’t even look at the guard again. As far as Boris was concerned, he was already dead. Useless. A waste of ti and resources.
Now only four vampires stood by his side.
Their expressions were no longer arrogant. No longer amused. The playful glint in their eyes had vanished. What remained was a cold, simring intensity.
They stared at Liam in silence.
Liam could feel it—the shift in atmosphere. No more testing. No more taunts.
From here on, it was kill or be killed.
But Liam didn’t flinch.
Instead, he slowly rolled up the already-ruined sleeve of his shirt, the fabric frayed and torn. His arms were dusted with soot, his skin glistening with sweat, but his gaze remained focused. Icy. Calm.
He raised his hand... and gestured for Boris to co.
A taunt. A dare.
"Let’s stop playing," Liam said. "I want to see what the leader of this circus can really do."
Boris’s eyes twitched.
He hissed—then vanished in a blur.
He was on Liam in an instant, moving even faster than the last guard. Like a bullet, Boris closed the distance and slamd a glowing palm forward.
Liam didn’t try to dodge.
Instead, he crossed his arms just in ti—BAM!
Boris’s palm struck Liam’s forearms with crushing force. The ground beneath Liam’s boots cracked from the pressure as he was pushed back hard, sliding across the road. His boots screeched against the asphalt, digging grooves into the ground as he was hurled back a full ten ters before finally skidding to a stop.
Dust swirled around him.
He glanced down at his forearms—his skin stung slightly from the force, a faint red mark forming where the palm had struck. The impact had been hard. Really hard.
He looked up at Boris with a spark of surprise.
"That actually had so weight behind it."
Of course, Liam had already expected that. Boris wasn’t so random guard. He was their leader, their prince. A cut above the rest.
But was Liam afraid?
Not even close.
His eyes glead.
He was excited.
Boris landed a few feet away, one leg bent. His expression was unreadable—but his aura had intensified. The air around him seed to warp, rippling faintly with power.
He stepped forward once.
Then twice.
Then—boom!
He kicked off the ground and launched himself skyward, leaping several ters into the air. His body twisted midair and his leg slashed downward like a sword.
From his leg, a streak of glowing blood-red energy exploded outward, carving through the air like a beam of death.
The red slash was at least ten ters long, pulsing with violent force.
Liam’s eyes narrowed.
That attack—he’d seen it before. The first vampire had used sothing similar. But Boris’s version was thicker, darker, and far more destructive.
It looked like concentrated blood given blade form.
And it was coming right for him.
Liam crouched low and dashed forward with lightning speed, jumping into the air and twisting his body as the red slash tore through the space he had just occupied.
It flew past him like a flash of lightning—
And carved straight through the forest behind.
KRRAAAACK!!
The sound was horrifying.
Trees were split cleanly in half, so thicker than telephone poles. Entire trunks collapsed in succession, one after another, as the energy slash continued cutting—unstoppable, unrelenting.
It went on for hundreds of ters, slicing through the woods until it vanished far into the distance.
The explosion of sound that followed was like a bomb. Tree after tree slamd into the earth, so bursting into flas, others crashing against each other in a tangled ss of branches and embers. The shockwave rippled out, rattling the ground.
BOOOOMMM!!!
Lana’s jaw dropped. She stood there in stunned silence, barely breathing.
"W-What the hell was that...?" she whispered.
Ann’s hands were clenched tight. "That wasn’t magic... that was sothing else. Sothing worse."
Even Liam, as he landed softly on the road again, was montarily stunned.
He looked behind him—at the path of destruction, the still-falling trees, the deep slash across the land like a scar from a god.
He blew out a slow breath.
"Okay," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Maybe I did underestimate this bastard."
Boris landed a few ters away, staring at Liam with a smirk now. "Still want to mock , boy?"
Liam smiled back.
"Mock you? No."
He cracked his knuckles.
"I’m just getting ward up."
Liam didn’t wait.
Without giving Boris another second, he lunged forward and launched into a spinning mid-air kick aid directly at the vampire’s neck.
The montum was brutal. His body turned like a blade in motion, and his boot cut through the air like a guillotine.
But the mont his leg was about to connect—
Whoosh!
Boris was gone.
Only a few strands of his hair were sliced off, drifting in the air like black threads. Liam landed on the ground, expecting a counterattack—
And it ca imdiately.
Boris reappeared behind him, hand already clamped around Liam’s throat.
Choke—
The grip was tight, fingers like steel cables digging into his neck.
But Liam reacted fast.
Crack!
His palm slamd into Boris’s wrist, knocking the grip loose, and with no hesitation, Liam twisted and drove a vicious kick into Boris’s chest.
BOOM!
Boris gritted his teeth as the blow struck hard, sending him flying back. His body hit a thick tree behind him—an ancient trunk nearly two ters wide.
It exploded on impact, bark and splinters flying in all directions. The force of the collision shook the nearby trees, and Boris dropped to one knee, dust rising around him.
He didn’t speak. Didn’t growl. Didn’t scream.
He just looked at Liam.
His gaze was cold. Calculating.
Then, slowly... he raised one hand and waved the four remaining vampires forward.
The command was clear.
Kill him.
The four armored vampires nodded silently, their crimson eyes gleaming through the slits in their helts.
In an instant, they disappeared.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Blurs of dark tal streaked across the battlefield as the four vampires closed in on Liam from every direction.
Liam’s heart pounded as he dropped into a low stance.
He barely caught the first strike in ti—one of them ca at him from the left, slashing a glowing red claw toward his ribs. Liam ducked, but the energy burned along his skin, slicing through his ruined shirt and scoring a shallow cut across his side.
Before he could recover, another vampire appeared behind him and slamd a fist into his back.
BAM!
Liam stumbled forward, spitting out a bit of blood. He twisted to counter, but a third one dropped from above, driving a knee into his shoulder.
CRACK!
His body slamd into the ground with a grunt.
He rolled, dodging a downward strike that shattered the earth beside him, then kicked up and caught one vampire under the chin, sending them skidding back.
But the other three didn’t wait.
Another blast of red energy flew past him, nicking his cheek and leaving a glowing gash across it. Blood sprayed from the wound—but he didn’t have ti to even register the pain.
They were too fast.
Too coordinated.
Every ti he struck one, the others attacked.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Punches and claws hamred into his body—shoulder, stomach, back, thigh. They didn’t all land perfectly, but they didn’t need to. The sheer relentlessness of the assault was what wore him down.
Each vampire could release blood energy like Boris—but their versions were wild, less refined. Still, they were damn strong.
One claw ca too close—sliced across his ribs. Blood splashed.
A boot slamd into his thigh, nearly dislocating it.
Another elbow cracked against his jaw, sending his head snapping sideways.
Liam staggered, barely able to keep his footing.
He fired back with all he had—kicks, punches, elbows, dodges. He spun, twisted, countered. Every hit he gave was strong, sharp, and trained. He slamd one of the vampires through a rock formation and even managed to hurl another into a burning wrecked tree.
But the others were still there.
They never stopped.
Another claw slashed at his back, ripping deep. Liam hissed, gritting his teeth, as hot blood ran down his spine.
His vision blurred for a second as pain throbbed in his skull.
This wasn’t like before.
This wasn’t a one-on-one fight.
This was a hunt—and he was the prey.
A hard uppercut drove into his ribs. He coughed, blood on his lips.
They were fast, but the worst part wasn’t speed. It was the fact that he couldn’t focus on just one.
He hit one, and another two hit back harder.
Another burning line of blood energy whizzed past his shoulder, slicing into the ground and exploding dirt into the air. Liam rolled to the side, panting, soaked in blood, his wounds starting to pile up.
His chest felt tight.
His vision doubled for a mont.
One of the vampires leapt into the air and ca down like a teor, slamming both feet into his chest.
BOOM!
Liam was launched backward, his body flying through the air until he crashed into a concrete divider at the edge of the road.
The divider cracked in half, and Liam tumbled to the ground, coughing hard, blood spraying from his mouth.
He forced himself to stand.
One knee first... then the other.
The vampires approached again.
Their armor glead red with reflected firelight.
But Liam didn’t move.
Instead... he stepped back.
He distanced himself, his boots dragging slightly across the cracked asphalt.
Blood dripped from his wounds—his shoulder, thigh, jaw, and back were all slashed open.
But slowly... those wounds began to close.
Flesh knit together. Muscle repaired. Bone cracked back into place with tiny popping sounds.
His breathing was heavy. asured.
Each inhale dragged through his throat like fire.
Each exhale was a silent snarl.
Liam’s hands clenched into fists as he stared at the four armored vampires, their cold eyes locked on him like wolves.
His face... was no longer playful.
No longer cocky.
It was cold now.
Emotionless.
Liam exhaled sharply and muttered beneath his breath.
"...Fine."
His eyes glowed faintly as he reached out inward, accessing the one thing none of them had—his system.
"Add 32 points to Agility," he whispered.
---
[Ding!]
[Agility: 156 32]
[New Total: 188]
---
His vision sharpened instantly.
His heartbeat slowed.
And as the four vampires prepared to strike again, they didn’t realize what had just changed.
But they were about to find out.
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