Chapter 263 - Revenge is not won with tears

The paw struck the Prince of Darkness's skull, deforming it. The rage that ran through Snowflake's body was something too powerful to stop.

Within his blood, whether he liked it or not, was an innate sense of justice.

In fact, the Heavenly Star Tigers had not always followed etiquette, but had observed justice from the dawn of time. There had been a time when each of them had interpreted justice in their own way and chaos had spread all over the planet. The etiquette had been created to stop this. The Heavenly Star Tigers had to do what was right for everyone, not just for the individual.

But, over time, etiquette had conditioned their lives too much, becoming a chain.

However, Snowflake. who certainly had never been a great fan of etiquette, had a strong, instinctive sense of justice. The huge white cat felt an urgent need to do justice.

He couldn't believe it. Frankenstein was dead.

But the thought of his friend's death was almost gone, engulfed by anger and remorse at having somehow been responsible. And he deeply hated the Prince of Darkness for killing Frankenstein in such a dishonourable way.

Rage ran through Snowflake's every muscle fibre, every nerve.

Now the only thing that mattered was killing the Revenant, everything else would come later.

He didn't want to leave room for anything else. Because if he did, he would realize how much pain was tearing his white fur, staining his soul.

The Prince of Darkness suddenly realized that he could not respond to the cat's blows. Snowflake was using every last drop of Mana, he didn't care about the damage his body was receiving. Soon, all of his stats would be zeroed and even Snowflake would be nothing but a memory.

Skill Activated:

Claw of the King

…

Inside the royal palace of the Heavenly Star Tigers

Inside a mirror, images of Snowflake were projected, as he fought not very heroically, but more like a wounded beast, against the Revenant. Each of his blows was full of desperation, but just as much strength to prevent his opponent from getting up in time and avoiding the next.

"He's really grown up," Shala whispered.

David nodded. The King and his wife watched their son fight, interested in what was happening.

David's Divine Sense was so powerful that it reached the planet where Helial, Snowflake and all the others were. Iblis had sensed it, along with a Mana pressing on them. He knew very well who it belonged to and didn't care. If David had done anything stupid, he would have lost his life.

"But don't you think that helping them would have spared all that pain, that suffering that is now tearing him apart?" Shala said to her husband, as she held him by the arm. It seemed to her that she could feel the pain that tore at her son's heart. And she was devastated by what Snowflake was feeling.

David rested his eyes on his wife, his expression blank and measured, as usual. The dignity of the King of the Heavenly Star Tigers was never lost, not even for a moment.

The only abnormal thing was a sigh from him.

“Suffering belongs to warriors. The virtue that we acquire by virtue of suffering, colliding with destiny, allows us to become true Heavenly Star Tigers. By rejecting suffering, we do nothing but degrade our existence, placing ourselves on the same level as animals. Solmon seems to have accepted to suffer and, thus, to have turned the pain into anger.

“In the long run, this may not be the best choice. But the knowledge of pain leads to endure any event without falling into an abyss. Heroes are tested like this. If he is able to overcome the pain, he will live eternally as a hero in the face of destiny. If he is corrupted by pain, he will become soft and it will be impossible for him to return to us with his head held high."

Shala listened to her husband's words, full of wisdom matured over the course of an era. Yet despite knowing how wrong what she thought was, she longed to end the pain of her beloved son, make him a little happier.

…

In the Colosseum

Lumia held the Sickle tightly, while frowning slightly. She wanted to shed at least one tear for her friends, but she told herself revenge cannot be won with tears.

Now all she had to do was kill the Folly. She caught her off guard just as she was about to lash out at Helial, cornered her and fought as Alexander had shown her.

The sudden death of Frankenstein and Lulu had shaken everyone in the arena. Circe froze and thought about how Helial would react. Hoping that this did not upset the soul of her boyfriend right now, when they were two steps away from victory.

Vlad was also paralyzed. He had seen the Revenant pass by, had seen it overcome him and had looked with astonished eyes at the death of one of the few people he would have called a friend.

But the idea of death, which had never touched him so violently, led him to turn his gaze to Francesca. His heart squeezed in a grip he had never felt, in a terror that made him feel alive for the first time in a long time.

Vlad was the only one to cry, hidden by the Formation that shielded his body from prying eyes.

Helial felt a pain in his chest. Snowflake hadn't hesitated a second and was going to fight against the Revenant.

The young human looked at the exact spot where Lulu and Frankenstein had died.

It had been a long time since he had known them, since he had given them the opportunity to redeem themselves from a miserable life full of suffering.

Helial remembered the insane, knowledge-hungry Goblin arranging books on the shelves of the Royal Library and stealing scraps of worn information with vivid eyes.

He remembered the girl stolen from her tormentors, the weak girl who had tried as hard as she could to keep up with the others. Although Lulu had always struggled to be on par with the group, she had given everything she was capable of.

Still, Helial felt a chasm opening in her heart, a chasm of equal size for each of them. He couldn't understand how it was possible that they were both dead in a split second.

It was his fault If he had acted differently, if he had sensed the move of the Revenant, if he had paid more attention to what was happening around him... Helial put aside any uncertainty, any blame to himself. That was not the time.

He would begin to feel remorse after saving the people who were still alive.

Yes, Lulu and Frankenstein were dead because Helial still didn't have enough experience. In battle, a split second can change many things and Helial underestimated the Revenant. A wrong decision can turn everything around with immediate effect.

He would get better, he promised. He would do it for Frankenstein, for Lulu, for all the Goblins who died because they trusted him.

But now it was time to fight for those who were still alive.

"Can you do it alone?" Helial yelled at Snowflake.

Snowflake was literally beating the Revenant to a pulp. Despite taking a lot of damage from the abuse of Skills, he would be able to destroy the abomination before becoming exhausted.

"Use Flame of the Qilin!" was the only thing Snowflake answered. He was determined to end the fight.

Skill Activated:

Claw of the King

This time, as David nodded slowly in approval on a planet light years away, Snowflake pulled out his claws.

The claws of the Heavenly Star Tiger instantly shredded the monster to shreds, leaving it not the slightest chance to fight back.

Yes, the Revenant was a terrible monster from the point of view of that planet. Yet it was there that the ground was trampled by the disciple of Iblis, the disciple of Alexander and the son of the Patriarch of the Heavenly Star Tigers.

For monsters like that, there were far more terrifying enemies in store than just a few Undead.

Helial surrounded every shred of the Prince of Darkness's flesh with Flame of the Qilin.

Nothing remained of the terrifying abomination.

The Revenant did not have a noteworthy end. Such a monster, which believed to be at the top of the food chain, was dead. Killed by the paw of a cat.

The Revenant had killed a friend of theirs like a coward and had had an insignificant death, as it deserved.

They would never allow it to have a warrior's death after what he did to the Goblin who loved science more than anything else.

Snowflake and Helial had guaranteed it a meaningless death, just like Frankenstein's. Their friend had gone like this, with an ungrateful death, not worthy of a warrior, without even having the time to look into the empty sockets of his executioner.

As the last remnants of the Revenant's ashes were scattered in the wind, Helial looked up at the Immortals who stood before Cesar and Aure.

Frankenstein is dead. Helial kept repeating those words to himself, as if she couldn't grasp their meaning. Frankenstein is dead. Lulu is dead.

Frankenstein and Lulu were gone.

Helial was looking for any excuse to hold on to to feel better. He wanted to convince himself that their death would do something, that it would help him learn from pain and become stronger.

But was it really worth it?

Was it really fair that people he had loved were dying to make him grow?