Rufus, visibly annoyed, thinks to himself, 'Another assassin? Child's play.'
He quickly responds to Liam, "Are you blind? I'm alone?"
Liam whispers calmly as he wraps his hands in cloth. "You will die here, all by yourself, with no one to witness it."
His eyes are cold, disturbing. "So I want to know, how frightened are you?"
Rufus, confused, throws up a signal as his lieutenants attack.
Shela draws her bow, her forearm muscles trembling as she pours every ounce of strength into the shot. The arrow is about to tear through the air like a fighter jet, but she is too slow.
Before she can release, Liam's hand is already on her face, crushing her skull against his palm.
"A colossal bow in close combat? Bad IQ," he sneers."
This isn't Elden Ring. Do better," Rage flares in the eyes of the giant warrior nearby. His massive shield shifts, its technology causing it to fold and twist into a greatsword of gleaming metal.
He charges, the earth shaking beneath his steps, desperate to stop Liam before he can finish Shela off.
Unable to catch Liam, in a last-ditch effort, he hurls the greatsword like a spear, aiming to sever Liam's arm.
Liam sidesteps effortlessly, releasing Shela, her limp body collapsing to the ground just as the spinning blade narrowly misses her head.
As Liam dashes towards the giant, he covers so much ground so quickly the large man cannot react. Biting down hard, blood trickles from Liam's lip as he twists his body and drives his fist straight into the man's abdomen. The sound is deafening, like a thunderclap at point-blank range.
A shockwave bursts outward, scattering dirt and feathers as startled birds scream into the night sky.
Liam's fist tears through his midsection, exiting clean through his back.
Liam leaves a gaping hole, even Rufus is disgusted. Liam quickly removes his hand and runs back to Shela, jumping on her corpse and crushing her like a bug until it becomes one with the soil.
Finally, the 1v1 begins.
Liam turns, his blood-streaked face expressionless as his gaze locks onto Rufus.
Rufus freezes, his breath shallow, his pulse hammering in his ears. 'A human weapon. But his description doesn't match Dreyfus. And he's not dark-skinned.'
'This must be the project L-I-A-M I've heard about. How did Mr. N possibly…'
Rufus is dumbfounded. What he just witnessed is beyond brutal, almost unreal… yet somehow still possible.
He steadies himself, whispering under his breath,
"It's horrific… but still within the realm of comprehension."
He exhales slowly, then tears off his shirt, muscles tightening as he forces calm into his trembling body. "I've seen elite guards conquer nations. You're not special. I've seen fighters like this before." His mind flashes to Epicurus, Vercingerot, and others.
He plants his feet and raises his fists.
His stance solidifies, aura flaring, the ground around him seeming to hum as his life force surges. His blood pumps like fire, his resolve spiking to its peak.
"This will be difficult," Rufus mutters, eyes narrowing. "But I can do this."
The air crackles between them.
Then Liam speaks, his tone quiet, almost calm, but cold enough to drain the fight from the air.
"There is no one here to protect you. You are alone. It is over."
The words hit harder than any punch. Rufus feels his surge of power falter, his heartbeat slowing, his body trembling as the weight of the truth presses down on him.
Siegfreed is awake, watching attentively.
Liam rushes Rufus, grabbing his face immediately, taking him off his feet as he slams him into the ground.
Rufus, mid-slam, tries to go for an armbar, but the impact is so harsh it dazes him to the point where he cannot even see. He hits his head so hard his vision dissipates into nothing but blurs as his pupils roll into the back of his head.
Liam's hand now on his neck, he puts his face beside Rufus's and whispers into his ear, unbuckling his pants. "Where I'm from, if you're in a compromised position like this, we're taught to show dominance and humiliate. It taught me to never end up in a position of weakness in battle again."
Siegfreed blushes as their eyes open wider, even more excited.
"But I'm not that monster anymore." As Liam lets go, Rufus pounces like a predator on the opening.
Rufus, in an effort to catch Liam off guard, spins a fake armbar into a side guard. Liam counters. However, Rufus outperforms him easily as he counters Liam's counter. Rufus's grappling and jiu-jitsu are too good. He effortlessly slithers up his body like a snake, locking him into a headlock to cut off his oxygen.
Liam chokes for a brief second. However, his brain processes the situation at incredible speeds, grabbing Rufus's arm and squeezing it so hard that he tears into his muscles with his fingers. Rufus's muscle fibers turn to literal jello as they spring out of his skin.
Dread filled the air.
As black as death.
Liam mumbles, "It is over."
Panic surges through Rufus's veins as instinct takes over, and he bolts, desperate to escape.
But Siegfreed isn't about to let him go. With a sharp command, his voice echoing through the trees, the forest itself seems to come alive as creatures stir from the shadows, answering his call as they swarm toward Rufus.
However, Rufus refuses to go down easily. He fends off the beasts, leaping from branch to branch, bouncing off the ground with animal-like agility. He twists and dashes through the chaos. "He's fast, far faster than I thought," Siegfreed mutters, irritation flashing across his face.
But before Rufus can escape, Liam bursts forward at full speed, closing the distance in an instant. Rufus lashes out with a flurry of kicks, desperate and wild, his face full of fear, yet Liam simply grabs his leg and crushes it. So casually. So easily.
Rufus tries to hold it in, however he lets out a scream so loud the birds in the forest fly away. Even Siegfreed feels a bit uncomfortable. The leg is so deformed it would likely need to be amputated. Rufus cannot move, passing out from the pain.
Siegfreed smiles, thinking, 'Rufus had no special abilities, making him a good matchup for Liam, who's a brute force fighter.'
Liam simply utters the words, "You are—"
A sword, moving faster than the eye can see, penetrates the right side of Siegfreed's chest. A blade so long that the tip lodges itself into the ground while still inside of Siegfreed.
Their eyes dilate. They mumble, "Liam…?"
Liam, in shock, loses his sense of hearing. Time slows down. He is in disbelief of what he's seeing.
'How? I didn't sense anyone else?'
As the President's Elite Guard Rank 2 sits atop a blade, he watches on.
"That's his heart, by the way."
"Hello, Liam,"