Born in Blood

Chapter 398 Creep

The Minister of Torture winced at the comment, but before he could response, the burly Defense Minister held his shoulder, denying his chance to retort.

A moment later, the two headed towards the rest of the group.

"Ah," the Minister of Magic said, sighing tiredly.

"He's… a bit of a creep. Forgive him, yes? Please don't complain to the Pashah. Makes my life harder, you know? I don't want to deal with it."

Liam scoffed, but he let his silence answer.

He wasn't one to snitch.

Nor did he really care.

Eventually, the Trapped Reality colony was brimming with life again, housing a humble 18,000 cultivators from the Temple, but just 12 Ministers from the vampires.

When all introductions and briefings were done with, the two groups were ready to part ways.

"We'll be going, now," the Minister of Magic said, with the Security and Defense Minister to his side.

"Blood Fang and Blood Claw are with the Pashah, and they'll join us at the final battle."

Liam nodded.

He found it strange how the two strongest cultivators below Alucard himself didn't come.

Blood Fang and Blood Claw still had this unnerving aura to them, burned into Liam's memory.

'...And for some reason, I can't even remember what they look like.'

And he really couldn't, he realized.

Liam inwardly grimaced.

No matter how much he wracked his brain, he couldn't remember who sat on the chairs beside Alucard.

Not even how tall they were, how they looked, or what clothes they wore.

There was definitely nothing wrong with his memory.

How could he remember Alucard, Usan, all the other Ministers, and Kitsu perfectly?

Plus, a Rank 3 Magus had photographic memory, and even scents weren't forgotten.

Forgetting something didn't happen, not even deliberately.

No… whatever it was, it was something magical.

And it was terrifying.

Hiding one's abilities, appearance, and presence was rare… but possible.

Case in point: Liam himself.

But hiding their literal existence?

That was just…

'...I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I remember their aura, at least. They can't erase themselves completely.'

Nevertheless, Liam shook himself out of those thoughts and focused on the matter at hand.

"Alright then," The Magic Minister said, adjusting his hat. "I bid you good luck."

The Minister of Magic outstretched his staff and pointed it at the ground, upon which a spark of bright blue light touched it.

WHOM!

…Upon which a perfect, incredibly long circular tunnel fit for their numbers opened up.

Liam saw how it even barred other Abominations from coming through.

The tunnel walls crackled with that sapphire energy, insta-killing anything that got close, or that had lived in the ground already.

Even Rank 4 Abominations…

Wordlessly, the Ministers gathered at the tunnel and entered it.

Right before he entered the tunnel, the Torture Minister threw a dark glance at Liam.

Liam responded with a smile.

The Magic Minister gave Liam a nod, before entering the tunnel himself.

A moment later, the tunnel closed upon itself, like an earthly wound healing itself.

They were gone.

***

Liam lingered in the Trapped Reality colony for a while.

He had a few things on his plate…

Quite literally.

…and learning more about the Trapped Reality's special illusionistic powers would benefit the King's Eye greatly.

The vampires had already ventured out and were making a beeline towards the Empire of Courage.

Day by day, Liam realized just how complex the vampires really were.

Who knew the extent of their powers?

…Who knew how much they were really hiding?

'A concern for later,' Liam thought to himself. 'There's no need to think of toppling such an ancient, aged powerhouse.'

As of now.

There were much more pressing matters at hand, and the Dual Empire was a much easier target.

Until then, Liam looked back at his dainty little friend.

Dumpty.

They were in the remains of the tick building, in its eye. At least, what remained of it.

Everything had been ravaged to an unrecognizable degree.

Meanwhile, the creature looked at Liam with a palpable amount of hatred in its eyes.

From a glorious shield on his back, to an angular, hardened chitin covering the rest of its body like armor, paired with dozens of powerful arms he could use to crush stone into rubble.

…To an egg!

It couldn't even move itself!

It simply rolled wherever Liam pushed it, and the humiliation was unbearable.

Liam had restricted all of its organs by rewiring its insides, basically plugging wires into wrong sockets.

Higher ranked Abominations actually housed much more easy-to-understand anatomies, since their functions were clear cut.

On the other hand, the insides of a low ranking Abomination looked like a hectic mix of flesh, veins and viscera, thrown together to form whatever monstrous creature it could.

Liam yanked out one of Dumpty's ticks from its insides.

The insects were produced from a special pair of glands located right beneath its stomach.

An hour-long study session, with Dumpty cursing him to his nine generations, Liam managed to figure out how the fingertip-sized tick worked.

When it latched onto the mental sphere barrier, it didn't actually eat through it.

Well, it did…

But at such a slow pace, even if several years passed, it wouldn't be able to kill or maim someone through that method.

Mental barriers were able to regenerate, after all.

It wasn't too rare to have a few chips here and there after a battle, but they'd be gone after some time.

Instead, the tick 'sucked' onto the mind barrier, like a mosquito.

Then, it sifted through the data provided to it by the iridescent 'scales' of the mind.

Then, it produced a poison-like substance from its behind, which contained what the individual considered to be their greatest fear.

'Its ability to identify which scales pertain to fear is actually amazing,' Liam thought to himself, genuinely surprised.

This brought him a little closer to his goal of permanent mental enhancements.

But unfortunately…

'I won't be able to do anything with this until my mental faculties get better.'

'As it is now, I can't access a person's memories by studying their mind scales.'

'Maybe that'll change…'