Draining pasta...?

The explanation that Helial had just heard, coming from the depths of his Soul, seemed nothing short of ridiculous. However, now there was no need to worry about such nonsense.

Helial had gone beyond his limits, giving himself no chance of losing. Only victory could unfold before the eyes of that tyrannical young man.

As his Breathing Technique evolved, Helial felt the Mana within his Meridians flow much quicker and more fluidly, as well as settle inside his Soul much faster.

The boy continued to attack Efeistio relentlessly, while Crater remained silent, still uncertain on what to do.

Efeistio was even more on the verge of having a psychotic collapse.

Helial shifted all possible strength into his arms, to deliver a coup de grace to his opponent's chest, but just at that moment...

Alexander appeared suddenly, blocking Curse of Demon's blow with his forefinger and thumb, as if nothing had happened. "Don't you think you've done enough already?"

The time all around seemed them to freeze and Helial stopped, panting heavily. The landscape around him was slowly beginning to lose colour; the training ground, the generals, the attendants, the trees and the hills in the distance: everything had faded into black and white.

The Generals were motionless, crystallized in a timeless image. Efeistio was lying on the ground, unconscious.

Even the clouds had stopped moving.

The only two figures that retained a glimpse of life were Helial and Alexander.

“An illusion of the evil spirit, you are nothing more than this. Am I wrong?"

"It's not quite that simple," Alessandro smiled, shrugging, "if it really were what you say, then I wouldn’t have put you on the path of basic training for recruits."

"I join a random army; I am taken under the wing of a General and become a candidate for the Royal Guard. Apart from the great distrust that you should have had for me, it was all too simple. I had so many difficulties in my life that I absolutely don't believe in luck. It was clear that it was an Illusion. What else could it have been?"

Nodding slightly, Alexander showed he was satisfied with Helial's words, and then snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the whole scenery around fell apart like fragments of glass from a mirror.

Nothing could explain the nature of that space or that Illusion, or at least Helial could not recognize anything.

If Alexander really wanted to kill him, Helial would have no chance to defend himself and he would die instantly, he had no doubt. After all, there was no reason why Alexander should keep him alive.

Pieces of landscape floated around the two, leaving them immersed in an endless darkness, in nothingness.

...

Inside Helial's Soul

Under the starry night sky, on a blanket of grass lay a boy with a black fringe and eyes darker than the abysses of the universe.

His hand wandered in mid-air, directing a strange melody playing only in his head.

With his other hand he held a spoon and turned it in a floating cup of tea, to dissolve the sugar. The golden ripples of the drink gave a feeling of eternal peace, in contrast to the child deadly Aura. "Apparently he learned his lesson," he murmured.

Taking a deep breath and addressing an imaginary figure, he said: "The day I return to the ranks of Destruction, I will bring with me the greatest warrior ever seen on the face of this planet. This time, Amaterasu, it will not be so easy to count on fate.

"But now, there is someone I have to see and say goodbye," said Iblis with a strange light in his eyes.

...

"What do you want?" asked Helial.

"Do you think killing my generals will lead you to anything? We are only in an Illusion; you have already told me that you know it very well. "

"Explain yourself. From your way of talking, I understand that you have plans for me. Have you?"

Looking at Helial's young body and stopping his gaze a few seconds more on Curse of the Demon, Alexander said, "Your Stamina is shameful. You can defeat Efeistio, but your endurance is minimal. If my general had used some treasure or had any card up his sleeve, you would have risked dying. "

Helial smiled.

Alexander smiled back. "What's so amusing?"

"What do you get out of it?" "And what do I get?" “Why are you talking like this, Alexander? This is probably just a fragment of your Soul, no more. Do you want me to do something for you? What are you proposing?"

"My proposal, huh?" Alexander slowly shook his head. “These youngsters today have lost all respect for the elderly. I don't know who raised you, but it looks like they taught you to go straight to the point.

"My proposal can only be made to someone who has the desire and the will to carry on the dream of unifying different peoples, someone who leads a faction without discrimination. Goblins, Humans, Demonic Beasts, Dragons, Qilin and all others. There are no differences beyond those we want to see,” said Alexander.

"I waited a long time to make this dream of mine come true. When I got in command of my army, I was far beyond the Third Phase. Furthermore, my generals were much stronger than what you saw. Those were only weakened shadows, both in Phase and in talent. What you have experienced is an altered memory of my campaigns. We fought many populations and different races. I married women that my people considered barbaric and tried to act as a link between all these peoples. It is not yet the time to reveal you what my true importance has been within the universe, but I was certainly not an ordinary person. When I met Cesar I knew I was going to die, but not at the hands of the Goblins, as the King of Orma believes. I have always been thinking about everything I could have done if my life hadn't ended so prematurely. "

The King's eyes were lost in an unattainable past, much more remote than the one in which Iblis had seen his inconclusive battles against the forces of Life. Then, awakening from a foggy dream, he went on: “You don't seem to care particularly about what surrounds others and your talent seems not bad.”

"In Orma, I noticed, there are many talents, many warriors whose abilities are invaluable, but there is something in your behaviour that makes me think ... your destiny is indecipherable for me, too. Because of this, I decided to help you a little. If you want a reason, let's say this time I'll do it out of boredom. Next time, I just want you to help me in fulfilling my dream, if you can gain enough power. "

Helial shrugged, curious to know what Alexander had in store for him. But he suddenly remembered something, before asking for explanations about what he should do now. "That evil spirit in the Octagonal Room, was it you?"

A black figure came out of nowhere and slipped between Alexander's legs, lifting him off the ground. It was a huge black horse, with flaming red eyes. The muscles of his body seemed about to explode. Hardly anyone could have blocked his charge.

Now the King looked like a real commander, high on his steed, and watched Helial from that height, but there was no pride in his eyes.

“Me? Hahaha, no, no. Meet Bucephalus. He has helped me to perpetuate my Soul through all time. I have been dead for a long time, but my Soul has managed to sustain itself mainly thanks to his presence. All Souls need a banner to perpetuate their existence: he is mine.” As Alexander spoke, his gaze fell on Curse of the Demon. "Although he is nothing more than a reminder of what I was once, my dear friend does not seem willing to be alone forever."

The horse looked at Helial suspiciously. From his movements it was clearly a tremendously proud and arrogant creature.

Iblis' young disciple had no idea of what sort of creature he could be, to present himself both as a spirit and as a horse. But he certainly could not be a common one.

"There is no point in fighting tomorrow, if tomorrow is the same as yesterday," Bucephalus commented briefly.

The horse's words rang a bell in Helial's soul, and the boy remembered why he believed that the experience within the Illusion would be in vain.

Even against Efeistio, Helial had fallen into the same pattern of all his previous fights. The problem would not have been defeating Efeistio and the other Generals together but, since his skills were too immature, and his Stamina too weak, he would not have been able to fight for more than ten minutes without ending up at a disadvantage due to fatigue.

Caressing the stallion's black and thick mane, materialized from a cloud of smoke, Alexander said: "Calm down, don't always be so grumpy."

"I don't understand why you should help the new generations. The generals did not follow your orders and ended up dividing your empire. You should think about how to destroy them, not how to raise other members of the human race," the spirit snorted coldly.

Alexander dismounted. "You have been around me for so many years that you have forgotten that when we met you were a renegade for your race. You were an evil and wild horse. Thanks to me, you had the opportunity to redeem yourself and not be a barbarian for your whole life. Without me, you would have been suppressed after a few months of unnecessary struggle. Imagine if I had always reasoned like you, how would I have treated a rebel and bastard horse? "

“MPH.”

Without saying a word, Bucephalus closed his eyes and ignored Alexander and Helial.

It seemed that the relationship between that horse and the King of the Madonis was deeper than anyone could have imagined.