In Helial's short life, countless people had tried to abuse their power to crush him under their feet.

Whether it was Hades or Medea, up to Medusa and Efeistio, all of them had tried to scare him, threatening him with their strength or their hierarchical position.

And still others would come and force their decisions on him.

Was power really able to corrupt people's minds so much?

Helial wasn't sure he was stronger than Medusa or Efeistio; he didn't even know if he would become so in two weeks.

But the pressure and injustices he had suffered throughout his life had tempered Helial's body and spirit to such an extent that the boy no longer knew fear. His resolve allowed him to thicken Life and Destruction more and more in his body.

The Mana Path was directly linked to the individual's disposition and Helial's was uncontrollable, unstoppable and never ending. He would never accept a hypothetical result again; he would never stop to reflect on the consequences of his actions. He would only act.

Helial had sworn not to run away from obstacles. In fact, that was why he hadn't yet cultivated a Movement Skill.

He didn't need it.

If he wasn't able to climb over the obstacles in front of him, he would destroy them. Or he would die trying.

Victory or death.

Not even Iblis had been so crazy.

If someone wanted to fight him face to face, Helial would certainly not pull back.

All of this was incredibly beneficial for his Mana Path, which was advancing at a terrifying speed. On the other hand, if one day he started to behave like a coward, he would find one bottleneck after the other in his cultivation.

Efeistio? Medusa? Comodo?

You are just stepping-stones.

Efeistio disappeared and suddenly reappeared behind Helial. His speed was terrifying. Judging from the explosiveness of his attacks, from the light and decisive step, his strong point was speed.

Skill Activated:

Feather Step

It seemed that Efeistio's body was suddenly free from the restrictions of gravity. He was levitating a palm from the ground and, simply touching the ground with his toes, disappeared in mid-air with terrifying speed.

Scattered in the air, the residues of Mana looked like a storm of feathers.

But, if Efeistio really hoped that this would be enough to hinder Helial, he was delusional!

Who was Helial?

The disciple of the most terrifying devil in the universe, an infinite talent with monstrous tenacity.

"You insolent brat!" Efeistio grinned, ready to take his arm off. No matter how promising the young man was, he had nonetheless publicly disrespected a General. If he let him go as if nothing had happened, he would lose far too much reputation.

BOOM!

Helial's speed was light years away from Snowflake's. Still, the strength of his body gave a terrifying acceleration to his attacks.

Accustomed to the speed of his group's Heavenly Star Tiger, Helial was not impressed by the circus trick Efeistio was trying to use.

Helial maximized the Circulation of Mana of Life and Destruction, while stimulating Metamorphosis and Runic Condensation within his body. Efeistio was really powerful, but if he thought of attacking him frontally with such arrogance and being able to hinder him, he was very wrong.

As much as a Qilin might not be at very high level, he would still have possessed superior abilities than any other mortal creature!

CLANG!

Curse of the Demon and the silver sword clashed in the centre of the training ground.

The Mana in Helial's Meridians roared fiercely, releasing all the energy contained in the two Abilities he was using. Once combined, these were capable of turning the world upside down.

The expression of his enemy turned dreadful.

Taking a few steps back, Efeistio was pushed back by Helial's physical power.

With a swift hand movement, the General pulled a pill from his Interspace Ring and immediately crushed it between his teeth. The healing energy passed through his limbs and went to heal the wounds he had just received.

He gritted his teeth and a trickle of sweat run down his forehead.

The humiliation was too great to be endured as if nothing had happened!

A General in the Madonian army, under Alexander's direct command, had lowered himself so much he needed to consume medicine during a duel against a simple recruit.

"You bitch," laughed Helial in front of the stunned enemy. The scornful smile on the boy's face did not betray the enormous tension to which his body was being subjected.

Metamorphosis was not a Skill that could be maintained for long, nor was Runic Condensation, but both would have given him a power beyond imagination. His body was comparable to that of a titan climbing Mount Doom.

Metamorphosis had been a gift from Vidio. It had cost the Master his entire career within the Mana Congregation, but had allowed his disciple to replicate his Skill and make it even more terrifying.

Thanks to the incredible power of Metamorphosis, Helial had taken the lead since the first exchange.

Vidio had given Helial a technique than seemed made with him in mind. And he had done it without knowing it.

Helial and Efeistio fiercely crossed swords several times, while the audience was speechless.

Since even Efeistio seemed in trouble, Zeno began to wonder if he would be able to sustain a clash against Helial. He knew the answer, but he didn't even dare think about it.

Efeistio's Strength was clearly less than Helial's at its best, but experience was a huge gap between the two.

As in the composition of a painting, the General's moves had been perfected over the years, brush stroke by brush stroke.

Although Helial's attacks were quick and full of vigour, the refinement of Efeistio's movements prevented him from taking the lead.

The residual force of the blows opened deep cracks in the ground.

Whenever their blades crossed, the General was forced to take a few steps back, but he dispelled the tyrannical force of the blows with a refined footwork.

Efeistio's attacks began to penetrate Helial's defences and leave several superficial wounds on his skin.

If they went on like this, Iblis' young disciple would lose after exhausting his Stamina. But his opponent's attacks were intertwined in a tight and indecipherable pattern, making them unpredictable and difficult to penetrate.

Efeistio's explosive muscles made him look like a moving marble sculpture. For some reason the man's irreverent beauty did nothing but irritate Helial and make him want to disfigure him forever.

Skill Activated:

Perception

Helial continued to circulate Mana towards his Meridians.

He just found a way to break Efeistio's rhythm.

If he couldn't compete in experience, then he would use his trump card.

Perception

Perception was the only Skill at the Master Rank Helial possessed.

Few people trained such a skill, in fact perhaps Helial was the only one who had done so. Perception was considered a low-level substitute for Divine Sense, but Helial had not heeded the advice of others and had levelled the Skill up to Master Rank.

Perception training would have been generally slow and tedious; this is because the true essence of that Skill lay in its Degrees of Knowledge.

Suddenly in front of the boy's eyes, several tracks of Mana began to form, as if the trajectories of Efeistio's attacks, which were usually not visible to the naked eye, had materialized in front of him.

Helial could finally understand some of the opponent's complicated movements and, above all, foresee them.

Until then, the young man had felt like a child trying to arm wrestle with an adult. Of course, he was making the most of his very strong and incredible Skills; but if he hadn't been able to hit his target and corner him, they would have been useless.

The very nature of Perception went beyond simply examining Mana: it even made it possible to probe the depths of the laws of the universe. Even Efeistio's attacks could not escape Helial's now luminous gaze.

Slowly, Alexander's General was starting to lose his advantage.

Seeing Efeistio under pressure, Zeno gestured immediately to the recruits. In a second, ignoring the General's shameful gaze, the trainer and the three recruits joined him.

At this point, they absolutely had to kill Helial!