Chapter 540 Flower of Death

540 Flower of Death

BOM! BRSH! BOM! BOOM BOOM! BOM! BOM! BOOM! BOOOM! BOOM!

The explosions continued. To the outside eye, one would just see a disfigured, broken ragdoll being hurled from one side of the void to the other. Other than the small patch of mental energy, Liam's sea of consciousness was a mess. Any time a crack would form on his mental barrier, his mental waves would rush to fix them, expending itself. If the barrage continued as it was...

There was no guarantee Liam would still be alive.

Naturally, Liam's bodily wounds regenerated and fixed themselves, but he'd given up control of his body to his subconscious. He wasn't in control.

All of his focus was on his Path. Initially, it hadn't undergone any sort of change. Infinite potential... yet, empty and featureless.

Until...

WRSH!

A change.

A tiny, white speck formed in Liam's Path.

This speck was strange.

It was grayish and translucent, lacking any color... at least, upon its initial formation.

Its texture was similar to that of syrup.

It swirled.

Then, it twisted.

Then, it slightly grew in size.

Then, it expanded outwards, like a strange plant bud as it matured. Then, tinges of color formed within it, mixing rapidly.

Before long, it was no longer a speck.

Nor was it gray.

Was the system broken or something?

What if it was them being knocked out unconscious?

No one knew how much time had passed. But slowly, the explosions simmered, growing weaker and lessening in number. The booms sounded more like pops, before turning into faint crackles. Then, it stopped.

WHOOM!

Just then, Asta reappeared beside Liam's... corpse?

Well, it was hard to describe it as anything close to resembling a living thing. It looked more like aged roadkill, left to rot on the side of a road. Asta poked the body.

"YOU ALIVE? HELLO?"

No response.

Another poke. "WAKE UP! YOU PASSED!" Still nothing.

Well...

Asta had a difficult expression on his face. Truth be told, out of everyone, he was cheering this particular participant on. There was something about his lack of fear. And if Asta's thoughts were right... he was pretty sure he could sense traces of a budding Path within him.

He turned towards the participants with his casual demeanor, then grinned:

"HE FAILED! HOW SAD!"

***

"Are you finally awake?" As soon as the faintest trace of consciousness formed in Liam's mind, he jolted awake, instantly spreading his consciousness.

Immediately, he had to reel it back in. He was still under the sea. Mental waves didn't function as they did above land. Rather than improving his senses, it worsened them.

Well, that, and his sea of consciousness was still riddled with countless little cracks, resembling a glass dome made of spider webs. A pang of pain forced his eyes to close, before he forced them open again.

What he saw was... strange.