An indefinite amount of ages before

"What do they expect me to fight for?" asked Iblis, while Tsukuyomi used her Mana to heal several wounds that brutally mutilated the Devil's body.

"They are looking for a leader, someone to look up to", Tsukuyomi smiled, ignoring Iblis' grunts as he applied Elixirs to his skin. In several places the flesh was cut to the bone and rotting flesh could be seen too. Iblis had been repeatedly hit and poisoned, but his terrifying constitution had prevented him from dying.

Probably only Kirin had a physical body more powerful than Iblis', but Tsukuyomi would not have placed his bets on it.

"And what should a leader do? Win the war for them? I visited several outposts of Destruction, but everyone goes their own way. There's no way to make them agree to cooperate. Meanwhile, the forces of Life continue to make their way through corpses and corpses in this stupid crusade born to eradicate anyone who does not think like them. "

After completing the application of the bandage, the silvery-haired girl leaned and pushed her cheek against Iblis's shoulder, careful not to press on the wounds that remained hidden a few millimeters from the skin's surface and ignoring the rotten flesh.

BOOM!

At that moment, a lightining flashed a few kilometers away and a terrifying explosion was heard shaking the whole area. Iblis looked in the direction of that dazzling light without bothering at all that anyone else would have been blinded. He stood up slowly, while a trickle of blood came out of his mouth and his organs moved inside his body.

Feeling that twinge of excruciating pain, Iblis snorted coldly, furious, and gritted his teeth, using some thick pitch-black Mana to increase his wounds' regeneration speed.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take a look," Iblis said, yawning and ignoring Tsukuyomi's angry look, who always asked him not to put his body under too much pressure.

Iblis had just advanced to Immortality and was one of the biggest criminals wanted by the forces of Life, if not the first on their list. His potential was incredible, but at the moment he was still just a common Immortal, far from the level of the great monsters of the universe that ruled Life and Destruction.

Iblis disappeared and Tsukuyomi smiled to herself. The red of her lips was in great contrast with her white skin and silvery hair, and the clearing all around her was completely smeared of Iblis's blood: "He sensed that they are going to kill someone ..."

And in fact, on the other side of the forest there was an escape in progress.

A terribly beautiful girl was escaping from a group of pursuers, all Immortals. Her brown hair contained several lumps of blood and countless cuts covered her entire body.

Around the girl the Mana was continuosly changing and restless, as if it were about to burst into a storm.

Behind her there were a dozen warriors with blue armors, and all of them had symbol on their chest.

A deer.

"The Clan of the Transcendent Deer?" Said Iblis, frowning in front of those warriors.

In his best condition it wouldn't have taken him long to kill those ten men...

Iblis looked at the wound that had taken away almost half his side and then again at those warriors. Why did they pursue such a beautiful girl, who had already been wounded several times, with the risk of scarring her beauty? Moreover, that turbulent Mana was a clear indication that the girl was not far from Immortality herself.

"Would that girl be a threat of some kind to the powerful Clan of the Transcendent Deer?" murmured Iblis.

The girl was at the Tenth Phase, while her pursuers were all Immortals who, despite not having a great talent, were still on a completely different level.

In spite of the fact that the step between the Tenth Phase and Immortality might seem small, the distance was the same as that between heaven and earth.

"Take her and cut off her head! The Lady's future spouse was corrupted by this slut! The Patriarch himself said that Revene personally confirmed the news!” shouted Commander Menda to his men, gathering all the energy inside his body in a bluish flash on the tip of his spear.

Skill Activated:

Blue Lightning!

In Menda's hands, such a skill could easily have torn to pieces the girl who, had she not found herself on the edge of Immortality, would not even have managed to escape so far.

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The girl turned around just in time to realize that Menda was activating the same Skill that had nearly killed her just before. But why did they hate her so much? They had called her a slut, they had accused her of corrupting Sore ... so her crime had been love?!

The young Siche had always belonged to the forces of Life, but she was seriously beginning to doubt the integrity of their system.

They used stupid pretexts to impose their regime on others and this sent her on a rampage. Probably, she too would become their victim that day. Sooner or later she wouldn't have the strength to run anymore.

At that moment, unbeknownst to her, a spark of Mana of Destruction took hold in her body, beginning to substitute her Mana of Life imperceptibly.

But suddenly her movements were blocked by a terrifying pressure. Dodging the Menda's Skill would have been impossible for her, so she could only face it.

She turned to the general and raised her bow, nocking an arrow with the last strength she had left.

Just as Siche was taking aim, the Blue Lightning was heading towards her at full speed. Siche was ready to die. She shot her arrow, her only hope of salvation, and narrowed her eyes, blinded by the light that was about to strike her.

The Blue Lightning destroyed the arrow.

This was the end.

But the Skill dissolved into nothing before it could do as much as touch the young girl. A cough, like lightning, struck the ears of the immortals and the fugitive.

BOOM!

If the Auras of those ten Immortals were like bonfires compared to the weak flame of Siche, the one that had just appeared was the equivalent of a sun.

In front of Siche the outline of two black wings blocked her sight. Only a bandaged and bloodstained shoulder filled her field of vision.

In many areas of the wings, the veins had exploded and still had to regenerate. Indeed, one of the two wings was completely torn in one point, giving it a painful appearance.

A Devil, his eyes closed, held the tip of Menda's spear in his hand as he tried to prevent his wounds from exploding again and bring him back into a critical condition.

Menda suddenly motioned for everyone to stop and be ready to attack. He could not be too rash in front of an opponent who had just been able to block his most powerful Skill.

"My Lord, we kindly ask you to stand aside. The woman behind you has committed terrible crimes against the Clan of the Transcendent Deer. On behalf of our great Clan and not to destroy our honor, I must ask you to move," uttered, solemnly, Menda.

Iblis's other hand moved to his forehead to massage it slowly. "Why do I always encounter a bunch of idiots after another?" he wondered, disconsolate.

All the Immortals' eyebrows shot up, while Siche couldn't help but find that scene strangely funny .

"These men are willing to chase me to the ends of the world. If you were to interfere, you will pay the consequences, "said Siche, who appreciated the Devil's good will, but did not want him to pay for his act of kindness.

"Exactly, on behalf of my Clan, I ask you to move and let us finish our job. After that, we will go on as if nothing has happened,"said Menda, who had already activated a Communication Seal to warn his Clan of the presence of a strange and wounded Devil.

Iblis turned to Siche with an expression full of contempt and, under everyone's astonished eyes, flung his palm in her abdomen.

Siche opened her eyes and mouth wide, and fainted. She was thrown for a few hundred meters, ending up far from there. If the other Immortals, too astonished at the moment, had been able to see her, they would have noticed that the Mana around her was no longer unstable, but the whole environment now seemed calm and infused with her presence.

"She wants to ascend to Immortality despite those ridiculous foundations. Another idiot who can't see anything a foot from her nose,” murmured Iblis more and more irritated by the situation. "Ah, and anyway, that shitty Seal that you just broke to call your friends doesn't work," said Iblis, slowly approaching the ten men.

Iblis broke Menda's spear and stuck it in his eye in a fraction of a second, without frills.

The next moment, a huge black sword had cut and pulverized all the other Immortals, preventing them from even taking another breath.

Not even a fraction of a second had passed, but they had all died. Iblis had killed them without uttering a word or changing expression.

He looked up at the sky. "Thank you," he said to a little girl with silver hair, flying over his head.

If Tsukuyomi had not blocked the transmission by sealing the space around him, they would now find themselves in a mess. In fact, Iblis immediately fell to the ground without strength, in a huge pool of blood.

Tsukuyomi looked at him stiffly and, with lips white for the anger, scolded him: "Do you have to risk your life for every single action of yours?"

The Devil ignored her completely and began to heal his wounds on his own, but not before saying, "Go get the girl. We cannot go on all alone if we want to defeat the forces of Life definitely. Tomorrow I will not be there anymore and even if I were to become strong enough to subdue them all, you will need a new Leader, a symbol that goes beyond the Devil who carried out massacres on massacres. "

"What do you mean?" Tsukuyomi asked, astonished.

"Nothing, I just decided to take her as my disciple and become a Master for new monsters of Destruction."

"Like that?" Tsukuyomi retorted, startled by Iblis's moody behaviour.

"Why not?" Then Iblis fell silent and began to heal his wounds.

***

Present time

Helial sat motionless in the room assigned to his team, and only Snowflake had managed to reach him before he disappeared. Helial had used all his remaining energy to hide and heal his wounds.

"My father once told me that appearing weak is the first real weakness," Snowflake sighed, leaning against the door, in one of his few thoughtful moments.

Helial barely opened his eyes and looked at the enormous white cat with a nostalgic smile.

"Recognizing your own weakness is not a bad thing, just like appearing weak, at least not most of the time. But in my case it is necessary that someone carries on his shoulders the weight of the environment that surrounds us ", Helial's voice became weaker," among all these Immortals, an unstable situation, so many plots against us, and even destiny meddling with all of that, people need a symbol of hope. As long as they believe me able to change fate, they can grow without being influenced too much by destiny itself. "

As it had already seemed in the arena, once again, Snowflake thought Helial seemed utterly alone.

Helial had chosen to oppose destiny and its restrictions as a child tries to block a raging bull to show others that there is nothing to fear.

Nothing to fear.

Helial's body fell backwar, unconscious and completely drained of its energy. But, before it could be soiled by the floor, a huge snow-white paw grabbed him by the back, while a cat with a complicated gaze watched him finally rest.

And, as if in the image of the boy face the charging bull there had been interference, now a small white cat could have been seen at his side. It seemed that destiny now had no choice but to be grabbed by its horns, with no way out.