Helial looked up from the pages of his book. He was studying a manual about the creatures lurking around Orma. On the far end of the table, opposite him, sat a disheveled yet terribly smart Goblin. His eyes betrayed an endless thirst for knowledge. He was reading three books at a time, leafing through them quicker than Helial, Snowflake and Lumia altogether.

The human let a smile escape his lips and glanced at Snowflake, who was sitting at the same table and was intent on reading a strange volume with an ancient binding. Lumia was browsing a book on Support Skills.

A few weeks had gone by since Frankenstein joined their group. Helial had asked Caesar to have Frankenstein as a fellow, given that he would need allies one day. After seeing the progress Helial had made with his training, Caesar had agreed. The King was very satisfied with Helial, even though he could not get why he hadn’t reached the First Phase yet. The boy had actually explained to him that he would squeeze out any MP before advancing, but the king had still no clue on his reasons to do so.

Caesar had indeed no way of comprehending him, since Helial’s trusted adviser for any strategy to improve his physical abilities was the Devil residing in his soul. The Devil had basically ordered him to squeeze out every single droplet of Mana before reaching the First Phase and, generally speaking, before reaching any higher phase. The concept behind this was simple; every Phase had a maximum amount of Mana one could get, which varied with each person and their Breathing Technique. If Helial waited long enough every time he was about to reach the next phase, then his foundations would be much more grounded.

Thanks to the progress achieved through meditation and training, Helial felt that the highest peak he could reach before entering a new Phase got closer with every passing day.

Caesar, meanwhile, had the Herb of the Nine Deaths and the Root of the Sacred Phoenix delivered to him…

Nighttime, on the training ground

The Devil was using a formation, so that him and his pupil hid away from prying eyes.

“Pull the herbs out,” said the black-banged kid in front of him.

Helial took the Herb of the Nine Deaths and the Root of the Sacred Phoenix out of the Interspace Ring. There were 100 pounds each.

The Root of the Sacred Phoenix and the Herb of the Nine Deaths contained the energy of Life and Destruction respectively. No other herb had the same principles as those, at such a low level. Even though they were relatively weak herbs, however, only practitioners in the Third Phase used them. If someone in a lower Phase had taken them both harshly, it would have caused irreversible damage to their Meridians.

Helial looked at the two piles of Herb of the Nine Deaths and Root of the Sacred Phoenix, one on his right and one on his left, and wondered what he should do now, exactly.

The Devil waved a hand. The two piles of herbs began to levitate. Suddenly, a black flame that seemed to be glowing from the depths of hell appeared before him. With a snap of fingers, the flame started burning the herbs slowly. It did not look like it was carbonizing them though. It was more like the flame was cleansing all their impurities from within, to let him extract their very essence.

“What follows, Shithead, will hurt. You need to dive into these herbs’ essences simultaneously. The Herb of the Nine Deaths contains the principles of Destruction, while the Root of the Sacred Phoenix contains the principle of Life. Now, start meditating. I will immerse you in their essence. You’ll need to refine it inside your body, which will automatically increase its Affinity with Life and Destruction.”

The Devil went on: “Life will be your primary Affinity, but you have to develop an Affinity with Destruction as well. You Meridians need to get used to this. Taken separately, these herbs have already quite a violent effect. As we are merging two contrasting forces though, the destructive effect will be ten times as much. Not gonna be an easy task.”

Helial nodded as he sat cross-legged with his hands on the knees, palms upwards.

Skill Activated:

Death of the Desolate Universe

Helial activated his Breathing Technique and exerted a great pressure on his Soul to squeeze every principle of Life out of it. While he started using the two contrasting forces at once, two Mana spheres appeared over his hands. One was milky, one dirty grey.

Little beads of cold sweat formed on Helial’s forehead. That simple action was exhausting. To meditate on Life and Destruction at the same time and try to keep them balanced was extremely tough.

The Devil asked: “Ready?”

Helial looked in his deep, inscrutable black eyes. He gently nodded, then closed his eyes and activated his Breathing Technique to its fullest intensity. He focused his mind as never before.

The Mana spheres began to gain greater depth. Meanwhile, the essence of the Herb of the Nine Deaths blended in with that of the Root of the Sacred Phoenix. They poured slowly into the body of Helial, who had purposely taken off his clothes.

The viscous liquid began to envelop Helial’s well-built yet slim body, penetrating through every pore of his skin. It soon reached his Meridians.

Helial felt a terrifying energy seething inside his body. He could feel the two immiscible principles assault his Meridians and open up small cuts all along them. The pain was unbearable. He felt like he was about to get dismember from within. He ground his teeth and his focus started reaching the peak.

“Lead the principles of Life and Destruction inside your Meridians through your Breathing Technique. But use Life only. Try to perceive its warmth and to strike a balance.”

Helial put the instructions into practice while staying still. It was far more difficult than he had imagined. The energies of the Herb of the Nine Deaths and the Root of the Sacred Phoenix clasted relentlessly inside his body, tearing to pieces everything they found on their way. If it hadn’t been for the Meridians of a Demon and Body of the Qilin, Helial would have probably ended up severely injured. However, his unique build made every wound would heal gradually.

Helial grunted and began to lead the two energies inside his Meridians while using Death of the Desolate Universe to absorb the principles of Destruction contained in the Herb of the Nine Deaths. At the same time, the other half of his mind was letting the energy of Life contained in the Root of the Sacred Phoenix permeate his body freely. Since Helial had a tendency towards Life, that energy flowed far more naturally than that of Destruction, which he should guide more precisely through the Breathing Technique.

He was now sensing both energies, but he clearly knew that it wasn’t enough. He fell into an incredibly deep meditative state, while bringing back to mind the two things that were most imbued with Life and Destruction. In that very moment, it was like Hades and Lumia were standing beside him. One was the person he hated the most in the world and intended to attempt on his life; the person who had left him without freedom of choice, without the chance of living happily. The second, on the other hand, was his greatest chance to aim for goodness.

Before having Lumia, Helial had had no idea on what goodness meant. However, whenever he looked into her light emerald eyes, their pureness made for an answer.

In Hades’ eyes, instead, Helial could only see the darkest side of himself, the side he need to slaughter and rip to pieces in order to protect the pure one.

As he meditated on these two principles, the essences that were filling his body stroke a delicate, mystical balance.

Meanwhile, the Devil furrowed his eyebrows and murmured to himself: “This boy… When did the absorption of even one of these principles become this easy? Deinus… not even he could accomplish such feat. No one of my disciples ever did. Not even the girl, not even her.” The Devil felt a boundless fury mount his body, which aimed at ripping the universe to pieces. His eyes became two black wells. Anyone who would see him now could not help but think of…

Death.

Death and destruction reigned in his eyes. The ultimate will to annihilate the world.

“So many scores to settle,” he sighed, “there’s a lot of people waiting out there, kid. You got yourself into something way bigger than you are. Still, with that talent you’ll definitely push your way up to the highest ranks. We’ll see, Shithead, we’ll see.”

While he was deep in thought and guided the herbs essences towards Helial without the slightest effort, he took notice of something. He uttered no sound and vanished into thin air, disappearing from the shadow formation that was surrounding them.

On top of a tower, some thousands of yards from there, someone had his gaze set on the training grounds. His vision though was slightly blurred due to a shroud of darkness that covered the area where the guy he was interested in was training.

The black shadow heaved a sigh and gave in. He turned around, ready to leave. A second before he left that spot, however, a voice resounded out behind his back.

“Good evening.” It was a cold and malicious voice.

The black shadow turned abruptly as two pitch-black swords flashed in his hands. He promptly went into a defense stance.

“Why so jumpy? If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you with a single thought,” laughed the person, or better the kid, that stood before him. A showy black bangs framed his deadly face.

The shadow frowned and clutched the swords firmer. Standing in front of him wasn’t his enemy, but a reminiscence. However, only a terribly high Phase would let him take the shape of a kid.

“Who are you?” asked the coarse and strident voice to the kid.

“Hohoho, you’re not qualified enough to know that. Now, I’m interested in what’s inside your body…” the kid said as he took a step forward.

The shadow ground his teeth and said: “What’s that?”

“You play dumb now? I have no time to lose, idiot!” the kid shook his head and snapped his fingers.

Doooong!

In the blink of an eye, the black shadow wound up rooted to the ground, unable to lift a finger. His black armor had clanged down heavily.

It was Pseudonym. He was watching the human to determine his actual strength. Being Caesar’s pupil, he was doubtless a whiz, but he wondered where his talent actually lay, so he had made up his mind about following him. He didn’t expect that a little monster come out of nowhere would knock him out without him having a chance to react. He decided to summon his Black Flames, but noticed that no droplet of Mana would leak from his Meridians, seemingly sealed.

“Incredible talent, really. My congrats. What’s not so impressive though are your intelligence and your manners. I’m afraid you have no clue on the strength gap between you and me. Don’t wiggle, I just sealed your Meridians to prevent you from doing anything stupid. I’m not here to hurt you. What arouses my curiosity is your Legacy, actually…”

The kid approached and gazed at Pseudonym’s half-hidden eyes with such a deep gaze he could have easily caught a glimpse of the farthest ends of his soul.

“Looks like you have a complete legacy in there. That girl is indeed a strange one. I wonder how she’s doing…” whispered the kid a few inches from Pseudonym, who remained still and kept quiet without grasping any meaning behind these words.

“It’s a very important legacy. Make sure you won’t smear the name of the Creature who gave it to you. Still, I don’t sense any particular Skill inside your body. Maybe the Legacy was restricted to the build. She’s still the same, everything has to be tricky… Tsk, like she developed her Skills herself!”

The kid shook his head and stretched out a palm towards Pseudonym. A pitch-black sphere grew from his hand. It shone like a second moon. The sphere left his palm and entered Pseudonym’s body, without any effect on the world outside

“Enjoy it,” the Devil smiled as he disappeared.

When he managed to stand up, Pseudonym was astounded. Inside his body was now something that he would have never imagined to get that easily...