Niou, having been shot through his hands and feet by Kiana, had lost almost all mobility.
Of course, it wasn't that he *couldn't* force himself to stand through the pain.
But in this situation, Kiana wouldn't give him the chance.
And Liver... wouldn't give him the chance either.
As pain wracked Niou's nerves, he suddenly realized that his wounds... were starting to gush blood.
No, not gushing—it was being *drawn out*!
The wounds from the D-rank Noble Phantasm pistols weren't large. If Kiana hadn't intended to kill him, he wouldn't have died so quickly.
But now, Niou felt his body growing cold as he looked at Liver in disbelief.
"Sorry, Niou. But if I don't do this, neither of us will survive."
Taking out a [Potion] he carried, Liver injected it into Daidara's still-warm corpse, his eyes growing colder.
Even as one of Esdeath's hounds, Liver hadn't completely abandoned his humanity. He genuinely saw Niou and Daidara as comrades. That's why, using his comrades now, he felt immense pain at his own actions.
But pain or not, what had to be done, had to be done.
Liver himself had a secret technique that was extremely harmful to his own body... well, to call it a secret technique, it was really just using a special drug to alter his physical condition and blood composition.
After injecting that drug, the recipient's physical abilities would be greatly enhanced for a short time, but their blood would also become full of toxins.
Normally, using this move meant Liver was prepared to die with his enemy. After all, with those lethal toxins in his body, Liver wouldn't survive even if he won.
As for an antidote... even if the developer had one, he wouldn't bring it.
After using this injection, even if Liver couldn't kill the enemy on the spot, the toxins could finish the job.
But if he died first, and the enemy looted his body and found an antidote, that would just be embarrassing.
So, he kept another vial of seemingly clear liquid hidden on his person.
But only Liver himself knew... it was just a different-colored, highly toxic stimulant. Whoever drank it, died.
But the situation was different now. Daidara was dead, Niou was crippled. Liver could use Daidara's corpse to activate his secret technique.
After retrieving his Red-Backed Shrike, Aaron looked at Liver—who had just sacrificed one teammate and one teammate's corpse—and immediately pulled Kiana behind him.
"Heh. So vigilant. As I thought... you seem to know my secret technique quite well."
Having drawn out a large amount of Niou's blood and all the uncoagulated blood from Daidara's body, Liver, now with a large supply of liquid, felt his chances of success had risen significantly.
"Ah, he's saying something... Whatever. Doesn't matter what the enemy says."
Aaron, still wearing his earplugs, couldn't understand what Liver was saying at all.
But what he said wasn't important. What was important was... what was this old bastard planning?
*Blades of Blood. It's Liver's secret technique, combining blood with his poison.*
*He compresses the blood at high speed to form cutting blades, which slice the enemy's skin and infect them with the poison.*
*Even a Teigu user with a strong body like Bulat was easily killed by this poison.*
From this, it was clear the attack was lethal against those without strong defenses—which was why Aaron had Kiana back off.
Her cloak had been strengthened by Aaron as a 'weapon,' but if one of those blood blades so much as grazed her skin, it was questionable whether she'd survive.
*In the original story, Liver used his Blades of Blood with the blood splattered from Bulat's attack, landing a surprise blow.*
*The amount of blood he used then was tiny, maybe not even 300cc.*
*But now, while Liver had lost the element of surprise, the Blades of Blood Aaron faced was one fueled by the combined blood of two people.*
*An adult has about 5000cc of blood. Niou and Daidara were different sizes, but assuming they average out... this Blades of Blood was using maybe 33 times the amount of liquid as the one in the original story.*
*Although Niou's blood wasn't poisoned, Daidara's poisoned blood was more than enough.*
*Given that a single touch meant death, it was no wonder Liver had a confident smile on his face.*
"Sigh. What a pain. I really didn't want to use this move."
In Aaron's original plan, he hadn't intended to use Ittou Shura to defeat them.
But this was an emergency. Even if he wanted the practice, he couldn't gamble with his teammate's life.
[Ittou Shura, activate.]
While the confident smile was still on Liver's face, Aaron, having activated Ittou Shura, unleashed the freezing power of his Meta-Morph Factor.
The next moment, Liver, completely oblivious, stared in shock as the blood blades he had formed suddenly froze solid.
"Ice... the power of an ice Teigu?! Lady Esdeath, did she..."
"Ah, can't read lips and can't hear you. Whatever. Nothing to talk about anyway."
"Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!"
Using the power of Ittou Shura, Aaron punched Liver in the head, instantly blowing it apart.
Liver, who just a moment ago thought he could turn the tables, was now a headless corpse, falling lifelessly to the ground.
....