Helial, Snowflake and Lumia were surrounded by a large number of bloodthirsty Goblins. In the Goblins’ eyes one could see their thirst for blood and the hatred for those little humans. They had killed their brothers, they could not get away with it.

“Who’s going to kill the brats? How about we roll for it?”

“Uhm, right, they’re too juicy…” said a Goblin, who’s mouth was distorted in a compassionate grimace. Then he smiled viciously and added: “We should pick who’ll have the pleasure to cut them to pieces!”

Another one said: “Or we could skin the furry one first, then take turns to torture the stupid Master and the boy and then rape…”

Boom!

A huge shockwave struck all the Goblins, making them fall to the ground.

Helial took a step forward, Curse of the Demon tightly clutched in his fist and death flashing in his eyes. Like an unrivalled colossus, Helial took another step forward.

Boom!

His Aura had suddenly exploded, catching all the Goblins off-guard. Now, heedless of all consequences, he was advancing towards the soldiers, while a black Aura that seemed to belong to a Devil was slowly covering him from head to toe.

It looked as if his Aura was eager to turn to dust all living things in its path, to directly wipe out Life.

“You’ll all die today, so disfigured that not even those bitches of your mothers will be able to recognize you”, snarled Helial, while his eyes started to slowly change color.

Like an Emperor, he took a third step, while all around the Goblins felt the urge to run away as fast as they could. The arrogance in his words looked almost like modesty, when compared to the horror emitted by his Aura.

The forest was enveloped by a terrifying pressure, as if under the foot of death.

Rape Lumia? The Goblin first would have to rip him to shreds to ensure he would not exterminate their race. He would have kept fighting even without his head steady on his head.

Crack

The air surrounding Helial bent to his will.

Those eyes.

The gaze of Helial burned the skin of the Goblins on which it rested. The veins in his neck seemed to be about to explode.

The tyrannical rage that he was feeling in that moment could have pierced the heavens and ripped the fabric of the universe itself.

His Aura showed no sign of decreasing, on the contrary, it was expanding more and more. The Goblins looked at him completely dumbstruck.

One took the initiative: “Alright, brat, you’ll be the first. Come here! Then we’ll have fun with the girl!”

BOOM!

Helial’s Aura exploded one more time. The Goblin that had dared speak literally imploded.

Kyaaaaaaaaaah!

Helial let out a bloodcurdling scream, that did not seem human, while the Goblins kept exploding all around him.

Helial started bleeding from all his facial orifices, falling to his knees on the grass. He let Curse of the Demon slip out of his grip and grabbed his hair. He looked like a demon; his face completely disfigured by a mask of scarlet blood.

Kyaaaaaaaaaah!

He spat a mouthful of blood on the ground. That Aura was consuming him; it was too powerful and it was damaging his Meridians. In the meantime, more Goblins had turned into pink mist.

It felt as if someone was ripping his soul out of his body.

Now the warriors were staring at Helial, convinced that he was not human, but an evil spirit. They were staring at him with eyes full of terror. For the first time, they smelled the true stink of death.

…

Congratulations, you have evoked again a shred of the Aura inside your Soul. But do you really think it is so easy to control this power? Without Body of the Qilin, you would be already dead at this point. Consider those minor wounds you’re receiving as a blessing. What a Shithead…

…

Helial kept screaming as if a blade was slashing his organs from within. The last time he had used that Aura, he had fell in a state of deep concentration that had helped him to not suffer serious injuries. This time the Aura was directly destroying his body. But he knew he could not let go of that power. He had managed to handle the Aura and make several Goblins explode on the spot. I he had kept going, he could probably kill them all. Even if had had to pay with his life, Helial would not have hesitated. Vidio was there; he would take his sister to safety.

Helial suddenly heard a voice inside his head.

Weirdly enough, many people see death as a kind of liberation. Many, yes. The weak, those that fear life. Do you wish to die? Do you really think it’s easy to handle this power, do you think you can bend it at your will?

Death, a liberation.

Let me see if you wish death or power.

What do you want? Abandon your sister or try to live with the idea of failing every moment of your life?

You did not amuse me enough, let me see more!

A diabolic laugh resounded inside his head and then everything was quiet. The voice had disappeared.

Helial felt tears stream down his cheeks and shook his head hard. He vomited a mouthful of blood, then took Curse of the Demon by the hilt. In That weapon seemed to have some kind of magnetic power on him, the moment that he stretched out his hand. He made an effort to turn around, to look at Lumia.

His sister’s eyebrows were knitted in a preoccupied frown. Helial looked like he was suffering like hell. The boy, however, smiled at her warmly, his eyes full of pain, while trying to stand up with unsteady legs.

Suddenly, Helial felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the hand, then the arm, then the face of whom was touching him.

Master.

Vidio looked very grave; he motioned to Helial with his head and said: “Stop, I’ll take care of it. You’ve done enough.”

Helial nodded, gritting his teeth. He started to recall the black diabolical Aura inside his Soul. His chest was raising and falling rapidly, while watching Vidio step forward and give his back to him.

Vidio flexed his neck to one side, then to the other.

Crack crack

“I’m too old for this”, said he, resting his hands on his hips and stretching, “but since I’m here, let’s see if I remember how it’s done…”

The Master’s words fell in the air and the sky suddenly began to darken, while electric shocks went through the air all around.

Vidio inhaled slowly, then exhaled, eliminating the impurities of the Mana he was gathering.

He put the Staff horizontally in front of himself and panted: “Forbidden Technique: Lightning Dance!”

A large number of lightning started dropping from the sky, like a deadly rain.

The Goblins ran for cover, terrified by that attack. But, contrary to their expectations, no one was struck by the lightning.

The lightning bolts started to struck Vidio, one after the other, although they did not seem to hurt the Master. Every time Vidio was hit by lightning, a faint bluish halo appeared where it had made contact.

After a number of lightning bolts, Vidio was already surrounded by a truly mysterious bluish mist, emanating a terrible Aura. Despite all this, it still aroused less desperation in the Goblins’ hearts than Helial’s Aura.

Blood appeared at the corners of Vidio’s mouth, while his forehead was shiny with sweat.

That Technique was clearly claiming a high price from Vidio’s body.

“What the hell is that Technique!” whispered Snowflake.

“It looks really monstrous…” said Helial frowning.

Snowflake curled his whiskers and looked at that little monster, not sure if he was joking or not. If the Master’s Technique could be called monstrous, what should Helial’s be called? The biggest monstrosity in the universe?

The lightning bolts kept exploding on the Master’s body, tearing his clothes to shreds and scattering bluish Mana sparkles all around.

Finally, the last ten lightning bolts fell from the sky at the same time and shattered on the Master’s body simultaneously.

The Goblins and the Commander stared at that man being covered in a shower of electric shocks and getting out of it mostly unharmed.

“AH!” Vidio shouted and the bluish mist immediately condensed, covering him from head to toe.

His eyes changed color, becoming completely blue. Not only the iris, but even the pupils and the entire eyes had turned light blue.

Forbidden Technique Activated:

Lightning Dance

The Heavenly Bolts of Lightning momentarily temper your body, allowing it to access a spark of the power of the Lightning God. If your body will survive the damage caused by the Technique, you will momentarily receive a spark as a gift from the God.

Lv: 16

Effect: You lose 30-100% of your HP, when activating Lightning Dance.

You receive a bonus equal to the number of bolts of lightning that struck your body. For each bolt of lightning you receive a 5% bonus on every Statistics. HP and MP do not benefit from the Technique.

When the Technique is deactivated, you receive a one-week Malus, during which your HP and MP will be halved and your Stats will suffer a 20% decrease.

Duration: 5 minutes

It was truly a monstrous Technique. Vidio had withstood the impact of more than a hundred bolts of lightning and now his body was immensely more powerful. He glanced at the life bar: he had only 10% left.

Vidio had only a handful of minutes and could not afford to waste any time. The backfire of the Technique would have prevented him from fighting longer and if he did not get rid of all those Goblin within five minutes, Helial, Lumia, the cat and himself would die.

04:59

Skill Activated:

Run on the Cumulonimbus

Amplification from Lightning Dance: 500%

Boom!

Vidio dashed against five Goblins that still had not recovered from the latest events. Where he was standing a few instants before, there was now a big crater.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Whenever he moved, the Master left behind himself afterimages and explosions. Lightning Dance had enhanced all his Skills. Despite the price to pay being very high, that Technique was definitely a game-changer.

Boom!

When he was a couple of yards from the Goblins, he lunged with the Staff. The shockwave created immediately destroyed the five Goblins, leaving only bits and pieces of meat flying about. They had been pulverized; it would have been impossible to revive those Goblins, even if they had long reached the First Phase.

Two conditions had to be satisfied in order to revive someone: first, Mana had to be injected in the body within 24 hours from the apparent death; second, at least part of the body had to exist, even a couple of bone could suffice. So, as long as the remainings could be retrieved with 24 hours, that someone could be brought back to life. After the 24 hours, however, nothing could be done. The same could be said about the first requisite: if the body had been ripped to shreds, not even Caesar could have resuscitated it.

04:57

It had taken only a few seconds to destroy those Goblins.

Vidio did not stop, taking another step forward.

Skill Activated:

Run on the Cumulonimbus

Amplification from Lightning Dance: 500%

After the attack of Helial’s Aura, there were about 40 Goblins left. Now there were 35 and Vidio did not waste more time.

Skill Activated:

Casting is forced and the Skill activated immediately.

Heavenly Thunderbolt

Amplification from Lightning Dance: 500%

Vidio activated an AoE Skill and another 10 Goblins disappeared that instant, turned to dust.

04:51

Helial believed that the Master would have to make an effort to kill all those Goblins. However, he had killed almost half of them in just ten seconds.

…

According to the standards of this planet, the Master must be some kind of monster, I suppose. But in the universe he would be barely passable, almost mediocre actually.

…

04:21

Only a handful of Goblins was still live now. The Commander stood there, paralyzed by the terrifying power exercised by the Master. Vidio looked like a deity, continuously appearing ad disappearing and wrecking death and desperation wherever he went.

“Damn, that monster. He’s too strong, not even I can stop him. Fuck, fuck!” snarled the Commander desperately, ready to engage in battle at any second.

***

On the other side of the forest

Caesar was donating weapons to the soldiers who had contributed greatly to the annihilation of the enemy; sometimes he even had to force the weapons on the more unwilling soldiers. Only a few of them really felt to deserve a gift from Caesar for their deeds. After all, after the intervention of the King, they would have all died.

Caesar had a smile for each and everyone of them, regardless of their status. The soldiers had heard of Caesar’s deeds and generosity, but witnessing it was a whole different story. They were all proud of such a King, generous and not overbearing with his own people. Would else could they wish for?

While he was healing the wounds of a recruit, Caesar suddenly frowned and gazed at a forest in the distance.

He slapped the recruit on the back and said with a smile: “Your wound has healed. Do not fight in the next few days, try to rest and be with your family. I’ll have someone send you some money, I’ll have money sent to all of you! Now excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

This being said, he soared and disappeared into thin air.