For several weeks now, Helial had been totally immersed in a training behind closed doors. Nobody knew what had happened to him exactly, but all of a sudden he told everyone he would need total focus to meditate over some epiphany he had received.

The vision he saw through Vidio’s memories, the awareness of all that suffering, and the rage that gathered in Helial’s heart were slowly turning into something bigger.

Lumia, Snowflake, Lulu and Frankenstein were focused on their hard training as well. Day by bay, they took notice of the terribly dense Aura agglomerating inside the little room. They knew perfectly well that it belonged to Helial.

The guy’s concentration was so deep that if someone walked in the room he was meditating in, they would probably concluded he was stone dead. Indeed, despite his feeble breathing, there seemed to be no difference between Helial and some dead body.

More than once, Lumia caught herself stopping in front of the closed door. She wondered whether to enter or walk away. Every time though, she was seized by doubt and resolved to stand still, in uncertainty, for a few hours. She was afraid for her brother’s survival. He now had a number of enemies, didn’t he? But who could feel safer than Helial in the Royal Palace anyway? There was nothing to worry about. In theory.

***

A few weeks before

“Was the Dungeon good practice for your training?” asked Caesar as he scrolled through some scroll that listed out the details on a war against the Undead. The Undead were low-level demoniac beasts whose ranks boasted a couple of Immortals. They had always threatened the Goblin population.

Helial furrowed his eyebrows slightly. He thought back to what had happened right after his return in Orma, and said: “I need to meditate. Deeply. I’ve received some major epiphanies that, I’m sure, will let me grow much stronger. I beg you to warn everyone not to disturb me. Nobody has to step inside my room until I’m done and walk out.”

Without much thinking, Caesar nodded shortly. He had a vaguely baffled expression on his face. “Once you walk out though, we’ll have to go into a couple of things that require further attention. You now hold a solid position thanks to your strength, but the murder…”

“The right punishment I inflicted,” Helial interposed, his expression unchanged.

“… the murder you tarnished yourself in,” Caesar sighed, “it’s the Sect of the Worthy’s new leverage to stand against your staying here in Orma. And the one you need to worry about the most is Aure’s son Comodus. He’s a madman, but makes one of the strongest warriors in his generation. As far as he’s concerned, you need to be as careful as possible.”

“Haven’t you a son too, by the way?” Helial asked as he fixed his fearless eyes in those of Caesar.

“I do. But it’s many years he’s wandering though the universe in search of the final epiphany that will lead him to Immortality. I’ll introduce him too to you, one day.”

Helial had already heard about Caesar’s son, Germanicus, but he had never met him. He was said to have been traveling for many decades now. Snowflake was the first to tell him about this, during their first sweep around the Goblin Capital. Apparently, Germanicus was stuck in a bottleneck in the Tenth Phase and was looking for his final leap to Immortality.

After paying his respects to Caesar and saying goodbye, Helial walked away and began training. He had already warned everyone not to disturb him. He had told Snowflake twice.

Even though the cat did seem quite silly, Helial knew he had a pretty smart brain too. He wouldn’t undermine his training because of some whim. Hopefully. However, none of them could foreknow when a divine fart would leave the supreme ass of the magnificent Emperor Cat…

***

A few weeks later, Helial’s training hall

Helial slightly opened his eyes to cast a glance at the Aura exuded by his body. It was pitch-black. It showed no spark of Life therein. After the epiphanies he had received, he managed to generate a destructive Aura. However, something seemed to miss that would let him strike a balance between his Life Mana and Destruction Mana.

He inhaled deeply as he sensed the changes his body had undergone. It really seemed impossible to evoke both Life Mana and Destruction Mana simultaneously.

He dug out a dagger from Call of the Mermaid, his Interspace Ring, and clutched it. He slid it over his palm skin.

Plop

A trail of warm blood drops dripped on the ground and shattered the silence of the darkened room.

Helial furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. By staying in that Destruction Mana meditative state, he was weakening Body of the Qilin. Therefore, his defences were now quite low.

But there was something else he could try out. He put the dagger back in his Interspace Ring and raised his right hand in midair. Then, he focused his mind to the fullest on what he had perceived while delivering his devastating blow to Caesar. Now Helial knew that if he could harm an Immortal, it was only due to the frightening Destruction power triggered by the presence of the Devil inside his Soul.

Two faint fluctuations rippled the air. The world seemed to vibrate slightly as some scattered spots across the room seemed to lose color.

“Well, looks like the name of this Mana really does reflect its destructive power. But it won’t let me use powerful Life Skills like Body of the Qilin meanwhile. Maybe it could let me complement and alternate these two states whenever I need to, but it’s quite pointless to refuse the body of a Qilin in favor of Meridians I can’t defend myself with,” Helial concluded in dissatisfaction.

Before him appeared a little boy with a black bangs and a school uniform. He was wearing a big hankie whose pattern was made of tiny ghosts, and black long socks with vivid orange pumpkins.

“You’re still far from that balance you can strike when dealing with small amounts of Life and Destruction. Life and Destruction need to be in balance even when the amount of Mana you amass increases exponentially. It would be a wise move to start off with that Skill your old Master created. Despite how low was his level at the time, he totally received some great epiphanies that he molded in a very peculiar way. I’d have never imagined that the weird two Manas-for-one to could lead to this. Remarkable. This Skill compresses your Destruction Mana while simultaneously reducing that of Life, striking a precarious yet useful balance between the two. Though, this balance is shattered at the mere touch. It’s too unstable. But so is gunpowder, right? And still, its destructive power is just as effective,” the Devil slowly explained the strong and weak points of the Skill.

Helial seemed to grasp a great deal of knowledge from these words. He closed his eyes once again. He led all of his Mana towards his Meridians, as if the technique belonged to him. At the same time, he evoked his Life Mana. He hadn’t acquired the Skill yet, but it still felt like he was only a step away from mastering it. All he needed now was a little time to absorb the principles regulating it.

Just a little time.

Helial was sure he could make it.