WHOOM! 𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚

To Liam’s surprise, Void didn’t eat through and erase the White Matter straight away. Like Chaos, Corruption and darkness, it was sucked in by the wax-like substance and began mixing on itself.

WHOOM!

A moment later, an Abomination had formed. Liam took a deep breath as he watched.

What had formed almost looked regal.

It didn’t have the disgustingness of his Blight, nor the viciousness of his Stingers, nor the rigidity and resilience of Sumo, nor the firepower of Hollow, nor the balance of Meathead. This… this was royalty. Its head was in the shape of a V, the ends of which ended with smooth curves.

It almost looked like an ornate crown! But it was more like a mask. It had no eyes, no mouth, no ears. Just a V shaped head. Its body was incredibly streamlined and sharp. It had two, scythe-like arms and lean feet. But the most eye-catching feature was that its skin was a translucent-black… but within it, Liam could see countless little stars and cosmos adorning its surface.

It reminded Liam of his Self Tribulation, when his clones freakishly rose into the air and the Opposition spoke to him.

It had two feet, but it floated above the ground.

But through Spirit Sight, Liam saw that it was nearing its life already.

It was dying.

Its lifespan had to be incredibly short if it was marked for death after just a few seconds of forming.

Unlike all the others, Liam didn’t command this one to attack him.

After all, Void could seriously damage even him.

Thus, Liam commanded it to slash the air with both scythes.

SHING! SWISH!

SHHHHHH!

The Void Abomination sliced through the air, cutting into the fabric of space itself. A moment later, the two cuts reformed, rapidly pulling air into itself. It was similar to Liam’s Honed Void slashes!

But now, Liam could perform those attacks and much more through a medium. The Abomination could just do it for him.

Through this, it would both last longer and be far more dangerous. Liam continued slashing the air with insane speed.

SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING! The air looked like a cracked piece of glass due to the countless slashes it suffered. Except, after roughly 3 minutes of just idly standing around, the Void Abomination’s form turned ghostly and ethereal.

Then, it just faded out of existence. Liam wasn’t mad.

Even 3 minutes were huge. Although Liam would have to mix and match elements mid-fight to make it work, he was a force of nature now.

Liam experimented a few times after that. Mainly with his ichor and shadows. Contrary to expectation, they didn’t form Abominations. His shadow wasn’t a tangible substance, hence two tangible forces could not mix together. His blood, however, did mix with the White Matter for a few seconds, changing it from white to a faint red color.

However, the transformation started and ended there. “I guess it just doesn’t work. Maybe it’s not strong enough…”

Finally, Liam was done with all the mixing and matching. All of this begged the question… how did Liam even attain such a power? …Did the Empress have something to do with a Pearl-like organ, similar to Liam’s?

Surely not? Unless she had some sort of connection to the Ashura that Liam wasn’t aware of. In the first place, why did White Matter seep into his Pearl so casually? Liam pondered over why…

Was it because his Pearl was naturally a vessel for such powers and could absorb them? Or was it because the powers themselves met some sort of criteria for absorption?

Liam was leaning towards the former. Had the latter been the case, Liam would have attained the other elements that he’d been smacked around and hit with, such as fire, light, water, wind and earth. But he still didn’t rule out the other possibilities. “I reckon that’s enough experimentation,” Liam sighed and stretched his muscles, then smiled. “Let’s get this Path business going.”

***

“Alright, you can start explaining.” 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜

“Here?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Uh… I don’t know if I’m comfortable watching you eat.”

“Are you disobeying a direct order?”

“No, Sire… uh… okay, I’ll begin.”

“Good, good,” Liam said to Kerian, then took another bite of the Empress’ dead corpse. Kerian coughed into her fist and averted her gaze, looking a little uncomfortable. Liam had ordered her to explain how she developed and cultivated her Path. He would ask Kamjin and the others, too.

But… well, it was a little awkward with the blatant cannibalism.

“Well… there’s no real way to say this, Sire,” Kerian said. “It sort of… developed on its own. Like a seed budding into a tree, then a forest. For me, at least.” “Is it in the core?” Liam asked with an arched brow. “Well, no and yes,” Kerian responded. “The Path can develop in the core, body and sea of consciousness. It’s ingrained within your very being.”

“Continue,” Liam said, taking another bite and speaking with a mouthful of meat. “Can’t be that simple, right?” “Well,” Kerian said, taking her time to answer. “I never stopped doing what I was good at. I burned enemies with my flames and made them fear it. There were times where I felt like my Path was hindered by something, or my comprehension was lacking, so I took the time to understand what it was.”

Kerian’s tone grew solemn.

“Ever since I lost my husband in the wars, my Path grew… resentful. My flames became stronger, violent and wild. I couldn’t even control it at times.”

“An obstacle to your Path?” Liam asked. Kerian nodded. Then, Kerian gave the queen a side-glance. It wasn’t as angry anymore. As though she had let off some of the trauma she had carried.

“It was only after she died that it wasn’t as violent anymore, but I still had to come to terms with it.” she said. “It still retained its power and wild qualities, though. I could just control it way better since I wasn’t as hateful.”

“I see,” Liam said with slightly dark eyes. “Does a kill count make any difference in the progress of a Path?” Silence.

Kerian paused for a second, as though her answer was a heavy decision.

“Perhaps.”

𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮