Suffering, despair, desolation, pain, fear, loss.

War has infinite variations of terror.

Nobody would like to see their loved ones suffer and die during fights in the name of other people. Why, then, were there always armies ready to fight? Why did fathers abandon children and wives to throw themselves into the jaws of death?

What they fought was a battle that went beyond individuals.

Was it fair that so many people died?

Soldiers and civilians lost their lives regardless of their position on or off the battlefield. Whether they took up a weapon or were unable to fight, war cared for no one.

Until recently, Helial never imagined giving precise meaning to the word ideal. But he had seen it, he had seen an ideal in the eyes of his men, before leaving the Time Block in which he had known the most valiant men who ever existed in the entire universe.

The young Human hadn't had many feelings before meeting Iblis and Alexander. Meeting such beings had allowed him to discover what it meant to love himself, to always have a challenge facing him and to feel powerful.

Before these encounters that had upset his life, Lumia would have been the only one for whom he would have given his life; for no one else and nothing else he would have sacrificed himself.

Even his own Mana Path was twisted in this regard. In Helial's eyes, defeating an enemy, even at the cost of perishing in battle, was not a matter of honour. He only believed that always putting himself in situations on the edge between life and death, he would become stronger much faster.

But honor, ideals, pride?

These were feelings that the young Human had known only recently.

Even from the Goblins, curious creatures, he had learned things that had changed him.

What did dying mean to them?

Before entering the Colosseum to face death, the warriors had patted their shoulders, some made a few jokes.

In a dangerous situation like that, cheering each other up was crucial.

There were those who had also shouted in the face of terror.

"To die today and to live forever!"

"To die today and to live forever!" everyone had echoed.

Because indeed, the Goblins were really curious creatures.

At that point, a handful of Humans would probably have thrown their weapons away and would have started running, trying to break the barrier and get out of it.

Their brazenness towards the enemy did not mean, however, that the Goblins did not fear death, or simply that they were not afraid.

They had all felt cold shivers of anxiety behind their backs, some had thrown up. The acrid smell of urine made very clear that more than one of them believed that they would all die that day, despite the powerful Formations they had. Yes, a dozen very strong Goblins against a hundred monstrous creatures.

The Formations needed the strength of many of the most talented Goblins, condensed to allow gigantic and two-axed Goblins to brutally mow the heads of their opponents.

But Helial, outside the Formations, would face the biggest monster they had ever seen, tall as a palace and strong as a titan. The freezing Aura around him would have prevented any Goblin warrior from approaching without losing at least 80% of their fighting skills.

But they, they were Goblins.

And Orma wasn't just a city. Orma was much more.

Orma was immortal, Orma contained the memories of generations of conquerors and warriors, scholars, philosophers and wise men. The Royal Library had in its halls books on every field of knowledge.

The inhabitants of that city-state were united by their belonging to Orma, even before their belonging to the Goblin race.

When a Goblin didn't know where to go, he could have taken any road, because all roads led to Orma.

In their hearts, even the road to the Underworld, even that led to Orma.

The Prince of Darkness galloped on four legs at full speed towards Helial, with his jaw open at an impossible angle, almost lowered to the ground. The double row of sharp teeth sent chills down the backs of all Goblins.

But Helial stood there, in front of everyone, to shield them from that monstrous being.

Until a couple of months earlier, Helial would never understand Orma's importance for a Goblin.

As the abomination was headed towards him, a few fractions of a second before the impact, Helial understood what he and his companions were fighting for.

Helial didn't fight only for his personal challenge, he didn't fight only for Lumia, or at least he didn't do it that day.

He was fighting, along with all the Goblins behind him, also for Orma!

"FOR ORMAAAAA!" Helial roared, as all the fibres of his body seemed to catch fire.

DOOONG

He no longer had Flame of the Qilin to enhance Runic Condensation, but now, with his Perfect Foundations, his being had reached a new level in quality.

Helial disappeared in a split second, reappearing behind the imposing figure of the Revenant.

The speed the boy had just showed left Snowflake breathless.

Helial had always promised himself that he would never train a Movement Skill, because running fast meant running away and he was tired of running away. He would have willingly risked paying the price with his own Mana Path.

But now, now this meant nothing.

"The Devil Walks Fearless!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Skill Activated:

The Devil Walks Fearless

Warning: Mana consumption x5.

Efficiency: 500%

He had studied Iblis's movements during training and copied them, generating a new Skill. It wasn't a powerful Skill, but it would have been enough for that occasion. He hadn't had time to learn the same Skill that Iblis had taught Snowflake and had to get by.

Where Helial had been a few seconds earlier, now there was only a crater.

But even so, it wasn't enough.

Maybe it would never have been enough.

The Prince of Darkness was as tall as a building, but faster than a cheetah. In a split second it had turned, bringing its face a few inches away from Helial's.

The shapeless mass of putrid flesh made his opponent savour the fear, before throwing a terrifying punch.

Helial felt the space around him freeze and block all his escape routes. The monster in front of him, three Phases higher than him, had just thrown a simple punch. He hadn't even put all his strength into it.

So why did it seem to Helial that the world was falling on him? Why couldn't he breathe anymore?

Would not another heroic act have been enough?

Maybe not this time.

The time for action had indeed come.

Helial had brought the fist behind him, before covering it with dense and luminous Mana. He had thrown a punch capable of razing an entire building to the ground.

And it happened.

BOOM!

Nobody saw what was going on. A cloud of dust rose, while both the Goblins and their enemies had to be careful not to get blown away by the shock wave.

Soon after, a slender figure was shot out of the cloud like a cannonball, hitting his back against the barrier.

Dropping to the ground, the Human vomited several mouthfuls of blood, before rising to his trembling knees.

Behind his back, a battered cloak was stirred by the wind. The crown he had been wearing since the start of the clash did not seem to have moved an inch from his head, despite the flight and the destructive landing. Those two ancient and worn objects seemed to be indestructible.

Helial wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His body was sending him several signals and every one of them was saying only one thing: he would better run away.

Helial looked at the arm with which he had punched the monster.

"Hehe." For some strange reason, Helial grinned as he watched his arm. The bone had pierced the skin and the arm hung helplessly along his body.

Clack!

Mpf

Without hesitation, he took the bone and put it back in its place, with a grunt of pain. He couldn't afford to be slow or ineffective right now. It had to be determined and lethal.

He felt the bones reconnect and heal quickly. After a few seconds, he opened and closed his hand in front of the silent gaze of the crowd.

The spectators had only now understood what was happening.

None of those present in the stands, before that moment, had fully understood the strength of the Undead and had not realised the reason for the agitation of the Goblins in the arena. But now, after seeing the speed of the Prince of Darkness and the damage done to Helial after taking only one hit, they understood that something had to be wrong.

Frightened, they began to back away from the front rows. But they immediately noticed several guards of Undead and Trolls who closed all the exits of the Colosseum.

The twenty Undead Immortals, shrouded in black, had moved from their place and had surrounded all the big pieces of Orma: Crispio, Binio, Filopappo and all the strongest exponents of Orma below Cesar and Aure were kept under control by their enemies.

Any escape route had been closed.

Things seemed to be getting much worse than Cesar could have foreseen.