Born in Blood

Chapter 424 Egg

The view was dazzling, but equally destructive.

There was a flash of black light at first, followed by a boom that directly killed thousands of cultivators indiscriminately.

Unfortunately for them, they were a little too near to the blast zone.

How near?

Well… 3,500 kilometers near.

They had let down their guard for merely a moment, since the fight between Alucard and the Emperor had slowly died down.

In truth, most of them were low ranking Imperialists, hoping to return back to their leaders.

Following the boom, the earth and sky rumbled for several minutes.

The shockwave itself had circled the earth a total of five different times, directly killing Rank 2 and Rank 3 organisms in surrounding countries.

And countless civilians.

Essentially, the explosion was six times as powerful as the strongest bomb detonated on earth.

Tsar Bomba.

A nuke so powerful, the scientists behind it had to wisely dial it down to 50 megatons from 100 in fear of destroying the planet.

And now, well, that meant nothing in the face of something so incredibly powerful, the heat produced caused a patch of the ocean to evaporate.

Watching from the distant horizon, at a 'safe' distance of about 4,800 kilometers, Liam's eyes narrowed to slits.

He'd been in the dark throughout both battles.

In reality, he wanted to linger a little closer to the islands to witness the fights.

He didn't reckon it was often that Rank 6 powerhouses fought, and he always felt his ambitions soar when witnessing grand events.

But Elder Aki's wise words woke him up:

"You'll die," she said blankly, "and so will we."

And so they continued flying and flying.

Still, with the distance between the two parties, Liam still managed to catch the major details.

The fiery fists, the cyclone of flames, the hundred suns, followed by the darkening of the horizon and now, its explosion.

It was like watching night and day take place right beside each other. Like the sun and a black hole were clashing against each other.

'Four people,' Liam thought with entranced eyes as the battle was concluding.

Blood gushed from his ears, eyes and nose, and his insides were an ugly mess, but he couldn't care less.

The accumulated damage came as a result of withstanding the shockwave with minimal protection.

As weird as it sounded, he wanted to feel the pain. Of just being in the vicinity of such powers.

'Just four, average height and stature.'

'And that's the impact they have on the world.'

'That's their power.'

'So many people died just from that.'

Liam's greed got stronger anyway.

Just a few minutes after the explosion, there was a sudden pause. A reprieve from all the chaos.

Still on his Water Dragon, Liam lingered mid-air for a few minutes. The oceans below him were boiling.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

From a wide radius around him, the waters surged forward as though attempting to fill a cavity.

Heat scalded Liam's skin and body, enough to cook his flesh to a crispy texture, which emitted an awfully appetizing smell.

In a panic, the swarms of thousands of Water Dragons hovering mid-air around and above him, flew as fast as they could from the heatwave.

The Zeniths amidst them applied defensive spells and inscriptions to protect their weakest.

Otherwise, they'd catch fire and most likely die.

The Temple was no different.

They scurried off…

But Liam remained.

"I'm going in," he shouted with his gaze still forward.

And a moment later, he flew head-first into the heatwave.

"Not again!" Aki shouted from her Water Dragon. "You're gonna die, idiot!"

"Someone stop him!" Jane and Verium shouted from behind, but Liam was already gone. "I hate it when you do this!"

Their voices trailed off as Liam grew further.

As he flew into the heatwave, parts of Liam melted off. A loud buzzing noise filled his ears.

It was like he was flying straight into an oven!

The further he got, the deeper he melted.

A few minutes into it, Liam had to use Transfiguration to cover his eyes, ears and nose with a layer of flesh.

And groin.

Liam didn't have a suicide wish. He knew the battle was over, but he had to be the one to witness what came of it.

His brows furrowed.

'Is Usan still alive?'

With an explosion like that, Liam felt dumb for thinking that… but one could hope.

Maybe he used a spell of some kind… or teleported out of the blast zone?

These possibilities weren't unrealistic.

But he had to find out.

As he continued on his flight path, Ryu, Verium and Jane appeared behind him.

"I hate it when you do things on your own!" Jane said with clear annoyance in her tone. "At least warn us!"

Liam wanted to say that he did, but decided the conversation was pointless.

Elder Verium covered Liam with a membrane of liquid to combat the heat.

Giving him a nod of thanks, Liam snapped his attention ahead.

Before long, they were soaring through the air and heading to where the oceans converged.

The Water Dragons were fast.

Although they weren't the strongest, with their skinny frame and thin sapphire scales, their speed was unmatched.

The mushroom cloud of darkness slowly dissipated into wisps, along with the hot air.

In reality, the explosion wasn't made of fire. It was made of darkness, hence its black hue.

However, the wave of heat was a result of the sheer amount of power produced by a Rank 6 item.

A few moments later, Liam forced his dragon to stop. The others stopped with him.

As the final wisps of the mushroom cloud had gone with the wind, it allowed for a clear view of the surroundings.

There was no Usan.

And no Empress.

Panic.

Liam's eyes landed on something floating above the ocean.

It looked like an egg of some kind, made from some kind of organic material or rotten flesh.

BOOM!

Just then, a white fist punched through the egg's shell, sending fleshy bits flying out.

Liam's eyes widened with shock.

Right after, it hatched with a soft, wet squelch—

PLERGH!

—and the Empress slowly emerged from it.