INTERLUDE TO BOOK THREE

"A lot of them died," Alexander observed, fishing from a bucket of fried chicken nuggets.

Iblis shrugged, polishing a set of forks and thinking to himself, It seems the time is coming. Soon, in a few years at the most, we will have first contact.

The King of Kings interrupted the Devil's rampant thoughts. "What if she hates you for life?" Quietly he ran his little finger over the side of his mouth to wipe off the BBQ sauce that had escaped. Bucephalus, strangely, was not there to share food with him. Slowly placing a fork on a white napkin, the child stretched his mouth slightly; he had just shown one of the first expressions of humanity since Alexander had known him. The King shifted slightly from his position in the chair, changing posture, satisfied. An explanation followed after a sigh.

"By continuously intervening in his life, the Karma that binds me to the Shithead could become dangerously dense, to the point of intertwining our destinies so much that to repeat the havoc that I personally-"

"Stop the bullshit," said the King. "You have given him so much that your destinies are now inseparable. Your Mana threads are so big that in a couple of centuries they will outstrip those that bind Bucephalus and me. Indeed, perhaps it will take even less time. How much shit do you have in your head to let him suffer so much? If you stopped telling yourself lies about destiny and Karma ... "

"Get down from your high horse before giving lectures on how to read universal flows and Mana itself." Iblis shivered slightly with anger.

"The stunt you pulled out of your hat with the Perfect Foundation. Do you believe that being the strongest of all automatically makes you the best in everything? Knowledge of Space-Time, astral flows that regulate space itself with their matter, infinite calculations involving the entirety of the universe and its stability. The Mana of Time is much deeper and more impenetrable than you can imagine, Iblis. Remember who did it best? Because if I remember correctly, it seems to me that the best was me. "

"You mean who did it without taking into account the general conditions of the universe's equilibrium? Oh, yes, then I'm sorry, you're right, there is no one better than you with that bullshit." Iblis pretended an Olympic calm, tried hard to keep it at all costs. But only because he knew that if he got really mad, all the forks he held in his hands would be destroyed - bent, incinerated, blown up.

Alexander stopped with a piece of chicken in his hands, pressing his forefinger and thumb on it. The poor unfortunate chicken died for the second time, sliced by the elegant fingers of the King of the Madonis. "Stop thinking about this ocean of bullshit! The flows of the universe are constantly changing. A different choice, a new thought, even a glass of water drunk at the wrong time, can fuck us all. You are looking for something you cannot find: certainties. And you're looking for them in the wrong place, the most unstable place that exists: fate. Nobody will be able to give you what you are looking for. "

Flipping the middle finger in front of him, Iblis began to ignore the King as he looked up into the starry sky within Helial's Soul.

"Have you decided to go to the little girl?" the Devil asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, Bucephalus has already reached Lumia. Unlike you, I will not allow something monstrous to happen to her like, it happened to her brother. "

The Devil was tired of being constantly accused of being the villain of the situation by Alexander, who was simply a fool. Iblis decided not to continue the conversation and set about deciding the next step in the training of his disciple. He hoped that, as he continued to polish his beloved silver service, he could come up with a great idea.

"Don't worry", Alexander added, ignoring Iblis's silence, "the distance between the extreme ends of this planet is not very great. I will leave my projection with Lumia, I prefer to stay here to observe you and the boy. When it helps, I will move into her Soul. "

Iblis alzò gli occhi al cielo, entusiasta della notizia appena ricevuta.

"The flows within the universe are changing, have you noticed?" asked a voice behind them. Bucephalus was back. "It looks like high tide is coming. Mana will slowly increase, as before the great wars that shook the universe. Once the climax is reached, there will be another catastrophe. Destruction and Life are not as balanced as everyone wanted us to believe, "continued the horse.

Alexander didn't seem worried in the least. "This means there is more Mana available for warriors. Ages like these see the birth of extraordinary people. Finding a disciple capable of subverting the universal order is no longer so difficult nowadays. "

The Devil placed another fork on the table, because it risked being modeled without mercy. He blurted out, "You all have shit in your head. You better cultivate it well if you want it to survive the terrifying storm that is coming. "

AMATERASU - PART 1

Within a particular galaxy, three suns rotated simultaneously. Their tyrannical bulk emanated an unimaginable heat, capable of reaching very distant celestial bodies. They thus created an immense and breathtaking spectacle. Sitting in the absolute emptiness was a woman, a beautiful woman. Her long blond hair fell in cascades of gold to mid-back; they looked like spun from the most precious minerals ever. Her eyes were two timeless gems, light brown and almond. As if there were ears of corn in the irises, different streaks gave them a unique and unrepeatable shape. In the solitude of the universe, the woman was waiting for something. Or rather, someone.

And in fact, after a few hours, a lapse of time that for an Immortal is equivalent to a few seconds for a normal person, the person she was waiting for arrived. The woman's expression did not change, it remained frozen. And if the ice could shine and burn like a sun, that would be Amaterasu.

"Master."A young man knelt in front of her, bowing his head in respect. Within the Clan of Life, not even Qingguang was worthy of such an honor. The man there in front of her possessed a talent unmatched in her generation and perhaps, one day, unfortunately still too far away, he would be able to reach his master. Still, the young man knew that she was still not satisfied with him. His talent was indeed incredible and unrivaled, but only among the forces of Life. The real problem was that among the forces of Destruction there was not only Iblis, but also Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu's sister. Tsukuyomi had never had any terrifying talent. Still, she was now able to rival and corner both Qingguang and Kirin. The forces of Life had many warriors, but the generals of the forces of Destruction were very fearsome.

That promising boy was called Mars and he belonged to the same generation as Siche, the girl that Iblis had decided to train as his personal disciple. While the disciple of Amaterasu, since childhood, had always lived in the environment of the Clan of Life, the girl had belonged to a minor Immortal Clan, before following Iblis. Not even the Matriarch of that Clan had the right to open her mouth or look in the eyes of a person of the caliber of Mars, let alone a girl. Yet, having followed the movements of the damned Devil continuously, Amaterasu was amazed by what his eyes had seen. Siche, in the space of a few years, had changed completely. Having achieved Immortality, she had been able to have an entire Clan kneel before her. According to the sources of Life, after the death of the person she loved, Siche had begged the Devil to take her as his disciple; and this had happened, but not before the Devil had beaten her to death more than once; Iblis's goal was to get her to give up, but she had remained steadfast in her decision.

In her eyes there was the same loving madness the Devil could feel burning inside him.

The young girl in love had now become a monster to be reckoned with. Mars was much stronger than her, but considering the unpredictability of a certain bat-winged being, it would have been better not to let her guard down. Now that Life and Destruction had entered into a truce, Amaterasu wanted to take the opportunity to better train Mars and prepare him for the future challenges he would face. Iblis was far more dangerous than Qingguang and the others had even imagined.

Amaterasu remembered his words well: "This conflict did not end in a bloodbath just because you are here." She herself wasn't sure she could stop it alone. Whenever they had fought, Amaterasu had always had the strange feeling that Iblis was avoiding hitting her with deadly attacks; to hold his strength in this way in front of her, the strongest of the Life warriors, Iblis must have reached an unimaginable realm. Amaterasu had felt several times that he had completely lost his face in front of that monster, but the more he found himself in trouble, the stronger he became. She had also managed to wound him on more than one occasion, though never fatally.

For this there was a need for Mars to grow even more, more and more. Three meters tall, his statuesque physique would have allowed him to break through a planet from side to side without suffering any injury. His sharp features and square jaw gave him the appearance of an ancient general, although he was, at least by Amaterasu's parameters, still very young. Young and impetuous.

But she knew it wasn't just that. For an instant, a wave of almost maternal sweetness appeared in the corners of her eyes, just for an instant.

"Get up, we must take advantage of this pause to deal with a thorn that has been tormenting our side for too long."

Riots among the forces of Destruction were more or less daily. It often happened that someone got killed among the lesser warriors during a banquet or a friendly challenge. There was a reason why they were referred to as a mass of barbarians by their counterpart.

Yet, rare as it was, even among the forces of Life there had been some riot.

***

A long time ago

A little boy was looking left and right, anxious.

He saw no one in the house, neither his brother nor their maid. He had been accustomed to the absence of his parents for some time now. His mother and father had perished on the battlefield. Although they had left enough money for their two children to have a comfortable life, they hadn't considered the repercussions of their demise.

The house was completely empty.

"Shit! Speedy, where are you ?! " yelled the little boy at the top of his voice.

He felt a shiver down his spine and a bad foreboding gripping his heart. He had returned to tell his brother the good news, hoping that he hadn't gotten into trouble again in the meantime. He had passed Academy recruiting and would be allowed to take his brother to reside in the Outer Faction with him!

"Where did it go, shit!"

He burst out of the door, running at full speed. After several turns, he saw a crowd gathered on a street corner and felt his heart leap in his throat. He sprinted at full speed and pushed his way through the crowd with thin, bruised arms. He was only in the First Phase and to enter that Academy, albeit of low rank, had cost him dearly. But now he could get stronger and try to protect his brother. He waved his whole body, while several people grunted after he stepped on their feet or put his elbows in their hips to make his way. His ridiculous stature certainly didn't help him. But as soon as he caught a glimpse of a piece of road, the feeling of terror grew even more intense. He saw a child on the ground with a big black eye and a city guard in the Second Phase beside him, wiping his hands.

Next to them was a completely overturned market stall. Mars knew that it was probably his brother who had made the mess, but he hadn't done it on purpose. He would never have done it on purpose. No, his brother did not deserve to be treated like this, to be exposed to public mockery! Mars' eyes turned scarlet.

Skill Activated: Fury.

A shot forward, a dodge to avoid the guard's embrace, surprised by that action, a somersault and his sole on the guard's face. After landing, Mars grabbed the guard's ankles and knocked him off balance. The man crashed to the ground. Mars kicked with all his strength and weight exactly on the enemy's neck bone, taking his life. Meanwhile, another guard had appeared behind him.The boy had the impression time wasn't moving and he was afraid that he would lose consciousness at any moment, because of all the Mana that had circulated in his meridians and directed towards the muscles. No, he couldn't afford to pass out. He needed all his strength to run away with his brother. Killing a guard was such a huge crime in the city that it would have cost him immediate expulsion from the academy and capital punishment. He didn't care, he didn't care about anything. Seeing Speedy on the ground in a confused state, he felt his right arm explode with force and swell with muscle.

The Mana of Fury evolves and lets you discover a new divine world!

New Skill Acquired: Divine Fury.

Skill Evolution: Fury → Divine Fury.

His fist seemed to impact the air itself, as if the air had just acquired a strange new density. The wind whistled and the guard rolled his eyes as the boy's fist passed him from side to side.

The crowd had already begun to scream and run away, convinced that they were facing a demon.

Well, that kind of mess was always a good situation to disappear without a trace. Lifting Speedy's weight and putting him on his shoulder, Mars ignored all the pangs of pain that now ran through his body, after the end of the effect of Divine Fury.

He began to run at breakneck speed without caring about everything else, headed for the wooded area of the city, to disappear before someone really powerful came in front of him to block him.

As the taste of blood entered his mouth, he heard a playful and cheerful voice surprise him: "Mars! Mars! Speedy fast, Speedy fast! " the ten-year-old yelled, twitching a little in his grip. He stretched out his arms and legs, like an eagle that crosses the sky, in a terrible and ridiculous light-heartedness. Mars, in front of all that happiness, could not help but smile. His brother was born… different. Mars had always looked after him and tried to keep him out of trouble as much as possible.

Speedy didn't understand many things, including why other people got angry when he harmed their property or disturbed them while playing. That's what had happened at the market, because of the careless maid, who surely had left the house to go to the market and had left Speedy alone in the house, contrary to the usual indications of Mars.

Adn Speedy har run after her to look for his brother, bored to be left alone in the house. Afterwards it was easy to imagine the resto: he overturned the stall in the market and made the guard angry with his somewhat... slow answers. "Speedy fast!" laughed Mars, still running. The two brothers were laughing and screaming in the forest, without any worry, without thinking that behind them there were guards trying to catch them, with the desire to make them pay for their stupid actions.