Re: Evolution Online

Liam was completely lost. He blankly stared at the blood dome and had no idea what the hell was happening, but he knew that nothing good could come from this. A powerful aura was seeping out of all the blood. 

The blood dome was quickly pushing back the makeshift diffuse soul space, which could hardly even be called that, as Liam had no intention or knowledge to create something like that. All he was doing was pulling all the souls toward himself.

So in front of the perfectly crafted blood dome, the soul space was rapidly being shredded like it was nothing, and the blood dome started occupying more and more land.

If left unchecked, soon, it was going to envelop the whole battleground, along with Liam, Luna, and all of his soul minions. After that, Liam did not want to think about what would happen next.

He gritted his teeth as he tried his best to hold it all together. Though he was able to manipulate souls, his abilities were only so-so and had barely scratched the surface.

On one side, the crimson blood essence roared in dominance. On the other side, the weak, about to break apart at any instant, soul essence faintly lingered around.

What was he supposed to do now?

Liam shook himself and snapped out of his daze. Everything might be beyond his control, but he could do only what he could do. So he tried not to get overwhelmed by the blood dome that was quickly spreading and continued fortifying his own soul barrier.

He continuously strengthened it and forcefully made it hold up against the shearing force of the dominant blood space.

It worked to a certain extent because he was only covering himself with the soul barrier, and everything was very concentrated as opposed to the blood dome, which was powerful yet spread out.

But on the minus side, this continuous struggle placed a heavy burden on his body, soul, and mind. He was already over his limits. His almost empty mana core was also not helping too much.

Luna growled loudly, feeling her master's pain. But Liam strictly instructed her to stay back. He couldn't hold on for much longer, let alone rescue her if something happened.

He healed his overextended, injured soul repeatedly and kept going, pushing himself.

At this time, there was nothing more he could do. All he could do was struggle and keep standing and somehow maintain this without getting completely shot to hell.

However, this was simply a pipe dream. Even with Liam repeatedly repairing his own soul and absorbing mana from the surroundings like a maniac, he also had a limit.

A mere couple of seconds later, Liam's entire body shuddered as he finally gave away like a stretched-out rubber band. He was simply not strong enough to face this opponent. They were on two entirely different planes.

His mind reeled from the pain, and his body was drained of everything. He could no longer even erect another [Soul Shield]. 

This was it. Now he was really done for. This was an utter and complete loss. He was like an ant in front of this enemy, and there was nothing he could do.

Liam tried not to give up until the very end and kept inhaling the souls of the battlefield to keep himself sane and perhaps heal himself back up again, but this was doing nothing to hold back the inevitable.

The feeble soul shields he managed to muster were also blown away like smoke in the wind. He was truly at the end. There was nothing else he could do. He had nothing left to keep on going.

Was this the end? A frightening thought popped into his mind.

Liam shuddered. He had struggled so hard and worked so much to survive the apocalypse, but in the end, he was going to die just like this? To a faceless enemy that he had no idea about?

He smiled bitterly as he tried one last time to block the crimson spheres coming for him. The bloody summons did not stop and continued attacking him.

Liam's weak soul shields blocked almost five of the attacks, but the other two blasted him away, reducing his health to a mere quarter.

Luna blurred next to him and tried to grab him and escape from the place, but the white fox was also mercilessly bombarded with attacks, a single attack enough to toss her body away like garbage.

Liam winced and looked up at the blood effigy one more time. Was there really nothing he could do? 

He inhaled, letting himself go and taking in all the souls that he could for erecting one final [Soul shield] around himself and around Luna, bearing the searing pain that threatened to rip him apart from the inside out.

Seeing this, the blood effigy sneered in contempt as it personally walked over and lifted its leg to crush his efforts, shattering the weak and ineffective soul shield. 

Without anything to protect him, It kicked Liam away like a lifeless rag doll, his body flung aside and crashing against a nearby tree.

Just as he rolled over on the ground, a childish voice rang loudly, echoing in all directions. "You should know your place in this world and stay down! Idiot!" 

Even as he lay half-dead on the ground, Liam couldn't help but wince at this unexpected development. Was his opponent a child?

The blood effigy then walked towards him, each of its steps thundering loudly. It then casually bent down to pick him up.

Bloody arms wrapped around Liam and lifted him up, crushing his body and bones and yet somehow keeping him alive.

"Where is it?" The childish voice asked him again.

An invisible force made Liam forcibly look up, and for the first time, Liam could feel a pair of piercing eyes looking directly at him. 

He couldn't see the eyes themselves or the face or anything for that matter. All he could still see was the blob of blood, and yet he could still clearly feel a gaze scanning him.

Hmmm? Liam dazedly stared back. He did not know why, but there was something about this blood effigy that was familiar to him.