Legacy of Hatred

"You ...," Priest Fred muttered, his eyes narrowing, unsure whether to believe the meaning of the words that had landed in his ears. "Are you declaring war on the Church of the Man?"

’Is he buying time?’ Liam wondered, his perception on full alert, only to feel no change in the general sense of impending doom.

Truth be told, even if it weren’t for the danger of ongoing preparations, Liam wouldn’t consider time to be on his side. He had to leave, and he had to do it now to hope to get one step ahead of whatever the Church had planned.

There were also the body-enhancing pill’s effects to consider. Liam had improved its recipe as much as possible, even surpassing the Primal Urge in some aspects since he had made it specifically for his quasi-stage, but the physical boost was far from endless.

Still, there was value in letting the Priest speak, too. After all, people were watching, and Liam might need their support to get out of that predicament.

Honestly, Liam himself would gain much from learning more about the situation, and he could match that with the gripe the question had triggered.

"You get in my way," Liam announced, "Plan this whole purge thing, but I’m the one declaring war when I don’t follow along obediently? At times I wonder if I was even stupid in the first place."

It was the old speech all over again. The powers in place seemed unable to see their faults whenever someone resisted them. It was as if accountability didn’t exist in their dictionaries.

"Do you claim innocence despite your selfishness?" Priest Fred snorted. "Despite your disregard for your actions’ consequences? Do you think rules shouldn’t apply to you?"

"You invented those rules," Liam argued. "And now you are hiding behind them. Besides, isn’t all this because I learned about the fact that you are killing carriers of the ancestral bloodlines on the Dragon’s bidding?"

Priest Fred’s eyes relaxed, only to grow cold. Liam had spoken the truth that should have never seen the light of day.

"The Church is serving men," Priest Fred exclaimed. "All men."

"I don’t really care," Liam admitted. "You got in my way, so I’ll swallow the Church whole."

"You could have worked for the good of humankind!" Priest Fred said, raising his voice, a golden halo expanding from his figure. "Instead, you have chosen to defy the world’s order for selfish reasons! That’s the path of a demon, and the Church will not stand for such a calamity to hurt the Kingdom!"

The golden halo condensed into an array of bright spheres that resembled the bullets Liam had faced multiple times already. Priest Fred’s iteration of the technique felt far more dangerous, worthy of his superior stage, but Liam didn’t worry. He knew the martial art wouldn’t come to fruition.

As Liam had predicted, a formless gale blew over the area, carrying no air. The golden spheres suddenly lost their structural integrity at that interference, their Qi dispersing into the night sky. Even the halo that had started to heal Julian melted, unable to remain whole.

A second suffocating aura joined the fray. An ethereal, weightless figure walked on the very air, her steps calm and poised, stopping right next to Liam.

Grace had a Qi core. As such, her energy was incredibly light, allowing her to float rather effortlessly. She couldn’t quite fly as Jessica did, but remaining in the air wasn’t a problem at all.

Also, now that Grace had reached the branching stage, her Qi could show far more of her dantian’s nature, enabling peculiar abilities. Her core embodied the energy at the foundation of the cultivation world, being extremely flexible and capable of resonating with anything magical.

Admittedly, Grace hadn’t spent long as a branching expert. She had yet to settle in that superior stage fully, and her branches had barely begun to grow. Yet, she had learned to mess with the Qi in other techniques rather quickly, as if it were second nature to her.

"Lady Grace," Priest Fred called, seemingly unfazed by his attack’s dispersion. "You weren’t part of the team that claimed his Excellency’s inheritance. You were merely caught in the consequences. Even then, will you side against the Church of the Man?"

"A proper wife only has one side," Grace calmly responded. "Her husband’s side."

Priest Fred wanted to argue, but screams cut through the night, preceding him. Julian had partially healed, but chunks of his flesh were now caving in, with gory holes even appearing in some spots.

’It’s finally taking effect,’ Liam thought. ’Knowing him, he can probably survive it.’

Liam raised his greatsword above his head and exchanged a look with Grace. She shot ahead, and apocalyptic shockwaves blew through the area, threatening to send him flying off the fan, only for his stance to remain firm.

Long gone were the days in which Liam couldn’t even stand when branching experts unleashed their power. It was still a struggle, but that couldn’t stop him from swinging his sword.

A streak darker than the night suddenly materialized, connecting Liam with the ground. That pitch-black, all-devouring energy soon dispersed, revealing patches of black hair and slimy, leveled soil.

At its center, a dome made of multiple magical items was falling apart, the metal that made them sizzling and melting, the cloth nowhere to be seen. The defensive formation crumbled, revealing the half-dead cultivator it had protected.

Julian was writhing on the only chunk of solid ground in his surroundings. His skin was shining red once more, but his flesh kept caving in and melting. The venom seemed about to win, but Liam knew better than to leave that to chance.

"Master Will-iam," Julian laughed when Liam landed before him, his voice breaking. "Po-. Poison on a grea-tsword? Alchemy truly is li-limitless."

"I am an alchemist," Liam responded, recalling words his Master had once spoken. "When would I not rely on alchemy?"

"Inde-" Julian began to say, but the hulking piece of metal that slammed into him squashed his figure to a pulp before he could finish his line.

’Should I have said poison master?’ Liam casually wondered, not even glancing at the mangled corpse below him, his attention moving to the apocalyptic shockwaves. It was time to hunt a branching expert again.

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