Born in Blood

Chapter 441 Eagle's Nest

Liam's room honestly resembled a presidential office more than it did a warzone, which was usually how Liam left the state of his rooms.

Seating himself on the posh seat behind the mahogany desk, Liam reclined and waited for Jargon to explain the events of the past six years.

Testing his brand new sea of consciousness was on the back of his mind, but it could wait.

"Take a seat, if you'd like," Liam said. "We might be here a while."

"I'll stand, sir," Jargon said firmly, crossing his hands behind his back. "Where do I begin?"

"Beginning, of course."

Jargon took a brief pause.

"Well, the alliance is still up and running. The Pashah sent you a get-well postcard once he realized you were in a coma."

Liam arched his brow. Jargon gestured at his ring with a wry smile.

Liam peered through it again, taking out a little black card, made of regular paper and colored with regular red ink.

He pulled it out of its casing, which was just a smaller version of it.

It had a cartoonish drawing of a crude thumbs up, the hand belonging to a skinny, ashen-skinned vampire.

On the side, it said, with disproportionate letters:

"By the time you're reading this, several years of your life have been torn to shreds! Unlucky, little Reap!"

A moment of silence.

"Did you see Alucard deliver this?" Liam asked quietly.

Jargon shook his head, confused a little. "It came through a tiny bat… which could speak, actually. We didn't open it up until now."

Liam quietly hummed to himself.

"Then it didn't come from him," Liam said, sighing. "It came from someone else."

Minister of Torture, most likely.

How kind of him. Liam would have to pay him back some time.

"Nevermind that. What else?"

Jargon nodded, continuing.

"I'll just spitball the major events."

"Hand of Light has renamed the Dual Empire into the New Republic."

"He's closed off his borders to everyone else but his own clan, and we don't really know what he's planning."

"Aiho, Neren and Echoria still haven't taken any action against Ilali or Korsa in retaliation for the war."

"The Imperial Legion has also been silent, but they've been inactive for quite some time now."

Jargon made a slightly bitter face.

"But... Echorian Royalty has publicly promised revenge. They've already blocked out all trade and denied anyone from visiting Ilali."

Liam made a surprised face.

"Oh... how mysterious and sinister. Have they done anything more than that?"

Jargon shook his head. "No, sir."

'Makes sense,' Liam thought. 'All Aiho cares about is alchemy, and all Neren cares about is knowledge and inscriptions.'

'Echorians are powerful, but they're idiots. Whatever they're plotting, they should've acted when I was sleeping. Alucard wouldn't bother with my death. He'd like it very much, in fact.'

Liam honestly questioned why the Royals were so stupid. What was holding them back from laying waste to the surrounding countries Definitely not benevolence.

'Only thing to worry about is those pesky Imperialists,' Liam thought. 'I feel like the only person Alucard doesn't want to fight against is the General.'

After a short pause, Jargon continued.

"Also, two new countries have announced their status as a powerhouse."

"Xoltrah and Rurunia."

"The former hails from an amazonian-type country, and the latter is a tribal, desert type."

"I'm pretty sure they were just keeping quiet about their powerhouse status, but were probably worried about an invasion like the Dual Empire."

Liam arched a brow.

For 23 years of his life, no country had announced their new status as powerhouses.

And yet, for the 6 years he'd been under, such grand events had taken place back to back.

Liam felt like he had skipped a day of school just for a world famous celebrity to visit.

Not that he liked celebrities.

"What else? That can't be all there is to it."

Jargon nodded.

"Well, the Temple has gathered a lot of knowledge and information about the world for the past six years."

"Lesser powerhouses, Oceanors, magical lands and other organizations have been listed down. Would you like to browse through them?"

Liam pursed his lips.

Right. He had certain responsibilities as a leader.

A moment later, he shook his head.

"No. Not right now. I'll get into those later. Anything else?"

"Not much," Jargon said. "Rin, the Dragon's Flame, and Nord, the Giant's heir, have also obtained Zenith status. Including the little one. Quite famous, too, sir."

Liam sighed.

Who cares?

Nobody!

Not Liam!

Not anyone with more than two braincells!

"Other than that, the Pashah asked you to contact him once you woke up."

"Unless you want me to tell you the lesser details throughout the years, that's all."

"No need," Liam said. "I'll work on eating the rest of the Empress. I'll ask you for those later."

Jargon nodded firmly, then excused himself.

Alone again.

Liam pursed his lips in thought.

Of course, eating the Empress' corpse was next.

But what after? The biggest threat to his life was, to his dismay, the Echorian Kingdom and, to his disdain, his attachment to Alucard.

Right now, Liam was like a finch living under an eagle's nest. It had its protection, but for how long? What if the eagle decided it wanted a little snack? A little desert?

"I have to distance myself from him. One way or the other."

Becoming a Zenith was not a bad idea, though. Starting by nomming down some Rank 6 meat.

'I'll have Kerian give me some tips on how to form my Path,' Liam thought. 'It's different for everyone, though, so I'll ask the rest too.'

With a Rank 4 consciousness, paired with strong blood, Liam was pretty sure he could alter where the nourishment of his body could go.

A bit of blood had slipped into his mouth during the massacre, and he could 'redirect' it where to go.

Only slightly, though, so he'd have to be careful.

Liam got to work, and time slowly passed.