The eyes of Medusa gave off a bloodcurdling fierceness. Her servants were quite familiar with the fury of Miss Medusa, and had learnt to fear it. Little beads of sweats crowned their foreheads as a shiver ran down their spine. The rattling sounds of chains echoed out through the cold marble corridor.

In Orma, the Goblin population lived together with a minority of Humans. Often times both races happened to live under the same roof, except Humans wouldn’t be treated much humanely. Sadly, throughout the years, the Sect of the Worthy worsened their view on the human race. They slowly condemned it as the root of all evil. Their politics of hate had gradually held sway all over the country. From the standpoint of the Sect, men were quite more similar to a deadly disease than to rational-thinking creatures. Until the last Human was alive, the entire planet would be infected by an incurable sickness.

Throughout the centuries, Goblins chose not to expand their boundaries nor colonize new areas. They preferred to remain within their borders instead. Their solidly built walls were now patrolled by a number of militias. Though, the outposts were but temporary billets. Within their heart, every Goblin living outside the walls only wished to come back to their beloved Orma.

Orma was the very center of their world. The Goblin race was a lesser one if compared to the Human race. Nonetheless, Orma had risen out of nowhere and now towered over the North. Along with the Nation of Fiercelake, Orma wasn’t one of the most powerful countries in the North, let alone in the continent. However, thanks to its Mana mastery, Orma was acknowledged a right to raise its voice. Nobody would dare offend them too easily.

Their strong patriotism and the increasing disdain for Humans had slowly led to an exponential growth in the smuggling of Human slaves from the adjoining country. For how enlightened a monarch Caesar was, no citizen in the City-State seemed willing to put this barbaric activity to an end.

Helial furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at the parade of chains coming into his sight.

Slaves.

Medusa’s servants were pulling the slaves forward as violently as possible. Around their ankles and wrists, their skin was torn. It was covered in dirt and wounds. Their hair was bristly and oily. Medusa really was a cold-hearted poisonous tongue. “Here’s your people; the filthy Humans infecting Orma! Don’t think their life is of any use. And now I’ll do a service to the whole world and wipe them off the face of the earth.”

Helial raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He turned towards Lumia and Snowflake: “I’ll jam on the brakes of whoever dares move. No exceptions.” He gave Lumia a hard stare. He was the King’s Pupil; he couldn’t afford to lose his temper too easily. He must endure the taunt.

“Now watch me as I shed the blood of your fellows men…” Medusa said with a sardonic smile on her face. Her facial features were twisted by pure folly. That beautiful Goblin woman only looked like a revolting shrew.

Helial gazed at her in the eyes as he said: “Do you really think this is enough to get me ballistic? A couple slaves won’t make me lose my temper. And you hope I’d widen the rift between the Clan of the Heavenly Eagle and the Sect of the Worthy just like that? As if Caesar, the King, hasn’t faced enough problems after taking me as his pupil?”

As Helial’s words died out, Medusa’s expression grew skeptical and insecure.

“I guess you won’t mind see a little blood, then,” an angry Medusa said through gritted teeth. Her plans were going up to smoke. By killing those Humans, she would vent her rage at least. One day, it would be Helial’s turn.

Helial shrugged once again. He ignored her. It looked like the matter was solved for now. In his brief life, Helial chose to save lives whenever he had a chance to. He wouldn’t take lives away without a reason. However, when it came to kill someone in order to protect family - in order to protect Lumia - he would have never backed off.

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Should I care about them? Helial thought to himself as he stared at those two men. They looked like livestock. Their eyes were teary and their lips had been sewn up. He furrowed his eyebrows. The Sect of the Worthy was clearly used to treating slaves barbarically. They sewed their salves’ lips up to avoid hearing their cries under torture. This was cruel.

But what could Helial do anyway? He could sympathize for them, but he surely couldn’t risk everything in exchange for those two lives. After all, our life is the result of our own decisions.

Helial gazed at the two men and decided he would help them. They were two of many slaves living in Orma; Humans, Goblins, war prisoners. They didn’t all belong to the Sect of the Worthy. The Clan of the Heavenly Eagle had slaves as well. It wasn’t like they treated them much better. They were slaves, after all; either treated well or bad, they had lost their freedom. Their life or death depended on a wave of the hand of their masters.

“Raise your head, you two. Look at me, in the eyes,” Helial said. His face went expressionless. Despite his tender age, Helial had never had much empathy for those who weren’t close to him. Besides the tears shed for Vidio, and the terror when Lumia had risked her like, there were few deaths Helial would cry for.

“To die a slave is a sad way to die. But I’ve sensed you’re both in the First Phase. You can still get to choose. If you let your Souls erupt, you could even hurt someone standing close to you.”

At these words, everyone took a step back. If those two had really exploded away, they would have ended up injured. The explosion of a Soul marks the end of an existence, but it was more like a honorable suicide. It made an escape route for those experts acknowledging they were one step away from dying in combat.

“Or,” Helial went on, “there’s another option. You can fight, somehow. Try and seek refuge behind us. Spend the last seconds of your life trying to save yourselves, rather than crying them away and staining the floor in your misery. As long as you’re alive, you’re given a chance. This chance is created by your attempt to make the best of what you’ve got. It’s not Medusa who’s condemning you. Seizing the chance is up to you.”

Helial fell silent.

He wasn’t sure his speech had any effect on the slaves. Judging by the thick stream of tears down their cheeks, their hope had been long lost.

Helial gave a sigh and shook his head. “If you didn’t choose to save yourselves, why should I?”

These words got on Medusa’s nerves. She underestimated Helial’s cold thinking. She considered Helial as a kid dreaming like a hero. She believed that being the King’s pupil had spun him quite giddy. On the contrary, Helial was pragmatic and calculative. He wouldn’t be played by the lowest trick.

Medusa realized she had got this all wrong. She would have to leave empty-handed.

In that very moment, Helial caught sight of something through Perception, still activated. A very closed Aura was blasting its way out ever more frighteningly. It erupted with terrifying dark flames whose destructive power was unrivalled. What is happening?

Despite his Legacies and hard training, even Helial couldn’t boast as powerful an Aura as that one. Whoever wanted to match the density of that Aura and the power of its killing intent would need to dive in a bloody sea and plunge into its depths for several years. On that Helial was still a novice.

The other Aura behind him flew into a rage. They didn’t seem to be far from each other.

Snowflake raised its ears as a shiver ran down his spine. His animal instinct was suggesting that something terrible was about to occur. He immediately began to let Mana rush through his Meridians. Helial was doing the same. Lumia seemed to have taken notice of something too. Seeing Helial and Snowflake’s strange reaction, she got ready to fight.

“What is happening?” Helial mumbled. He recognized the Aura. Judging by the invisible explosions, someone was quite thrown off center. The other Aura was slightly nervous yet didn’t seethe as wildly as the other. It all felt like a storm accumulating the energy that would be unleashed along its destructive flight. Helial gazed at the calmer Aura and shuddered. He ran a hand over his face and blushed for no apparent reason.

“So… nothing can move your compassion, huh?” Medusa asked sardonically as she brought a knife to her lips. She ran her tongue on the edge. She was ready to thrust the blade into the Human standing closer to her. He was huddled on the floor and wept quietly through his roughly sewed lips.

Suddenly, something unpredictable happened.

A gloomy beam engulfed in dark flames appeared in front of Medusa. Two pieces of metal glinted before the eyes of the descendant of the Sect of the Worthy.

BOOM!