Born in Blood

523  Esponiage

Liam watched with aware eyes as the ring of curtains closed, turning rigid and enclosing him in. "Pretty sure you're making a mistake," Liam said calmly. "I'm the only NOCL 'agent' sent for this job." Truth be told, Liam wasn't too worried. The Stonefish looked slow and dull. Their fins, although wide, were small and dainty, which is why their bodies were in contact with the ground. They couldn't lift themselves up! Their strengths lay with the potency of their venom and the rigidity of their defense. If they were weak in one quality, another compensated for it. Not to mention, Liam couldn't get too close to them due to the noxious atmosphere that surrounded them. In response to Liam's words, the leading Stonefish glared at Liam dangerously. "You lie," it said. Liam wasn't sure if it was a she or a he. It was hard to know since they all sounded monstrous. "A tail, black scales, claws and long, shaggy hair. You are the same."

Silence.

Someone had taken his appearance and masqueraded as Liam. Liam hummed to himself in thought. 'So this is what Bill was talking about. Espionage between corporations.'

'I wonder how long they've been spying on me.' A blind man could see that it was Aquamine Global, NOCL's competitor, that mimicked Liam's appearance in hopes of tainting his image.

In a sense, they succeed. The Stonefish were now purely intent on attacking him to prove a point, even locking him in this… cage.

But what Aquamarine Global and the Stonefish didn't consider, was who they locked themselves in with.

Liam creaked his neck upwards. There was a limit to how high he could swim up, since the seaweed canopied over his head.

However, he still maximized the distance by bringing himself just a few inches away from the ceiling. Then, Liam looked back at the Stonefish. "I'll give you a second to reconsider," Liam said calmly, but his eyes were dead. "Let's talk it out."

"No," the Stonefish replied with a visceral laugh, before twisting its ugly face into a grim expression. "Calling us ugly, dirty and lazy is one thing, but to call us… Rock Blobs?"

As it mentioned the word 'Rock Blobs', almost every Stonefish, numbering 24 in total, growled with anger. But apparently, each sea species had their own racial slur that was taboo to utter. Rock Blob seemed to be a mix between Blobfish and the Stonefishes rocky complexion.

The leading Stonefish — which Liam named Rock Blob out of spite — narrowed its protruding eyes to narrow slits. "There are lines you don't cross."

The talk was over.

WHISH!

It threaded the waters at imperceptible speed and almost pierced Liam's chest had he not dodged at the last second.

A trail of dark venom followed the spine, and Liam kicked his tail to swerve as far away from it as possible.

The trail of venom festered within the waters and bubbled like carbonated soda, before dissipating and melting away. 'Like I thought,' Liam scoffed in disdain. 'They can't close the distance, but they can eject their spines at me like bullets.'

As he thought that, yet another barbed spine whizzed past him, followed by two more and a fourth.

Liam didn't want to find out what that venom could do to his body… as tempting as that sounded. If one of those spines incapacitated or paralyzed him, it could prove fatally dangerous. With his face twisting into one of focus, Liam took out a sword and outstretched it with his right. Just one. The Black Blade.

Part of being a swordsman was knowing what sword to use at what time. Contrary to belief, using all four swords here was not the most efficient course of action. Each sword had its own role. Perhaps if he was above land, it would be a different story. But since he was underwater, the Breaker Blade's form would hinder Liam's movement due to its massive size and width. As it was now, Liam couldn't break the laws of physics by negating the movement of the titanic blade.

It was like rowing a boat with a thick oar. If he swung it to the right, it would push him to the left. And if he swung it to the left, it would shove him to the right. On the other hand, the Dusks were not as good at severing things as they were at ripping them apart. Especially against things that were not organic or biological. Thus, it made the most sense to use the odachi, the thinnest, sharpest, and most lethal against heavy defenses.

This time, as Rock Blob sent another barbed spine his way, Liam used the tip of his odachi to deflect it to the side, kicking his tail to the side immediately after to dodge the fuzzy trail of venom. This created a certain rhythm. A dance of death. Liam deflected a spine, dodged another, swerved to avoid the venom, then repeated the process from scratch. But just as the Stonefish couldn't harm Liam, Liam couldn't find the correct opportunity to cause any damage. 'With twenty-four in number, I won't be able to kill them all,' Liam realized, annoyed. 'I'll end this fast, then.' Rock Blob was in the upper tier of Rank 4, who was the highest ranking member of this pack. Even killing the leader would prove difficult, so…

Liam had to play dirty. White Matter spiraled across Liam's left arm, and through the same hand, Chaos crackled and combined with it. Unlike his Void and darkness, White Matter and Chaos could leave the same hand with no issue whatsoever. The two substances mixed, forming a muscular, beefy, humanoid Abomination with a small mass of Chaos crackling in its center.

Even underwater, Chaos' repelling force held strong. Thanks to its smaller, more concentrated amount, it crackled violently and stubbornly refused to mix with the murky liquids.

As soon as it formed, Liam's two feet — empowered by 30% of his total ichor — made contact with Sumo's. Then, in tandem, both of them crouched, then kicked off one another.

BOOM!

Sumo was shooting straight towards a Stonefish baby.