Aku turned, seeing an immense energy explosion occurring kilometers away.
The most powerful heroes were starting to appear.
However, that moment of distraction wasn't wasted by his enemy.
"[Break Taboo]," the young man said as his aura returned.
At dizzying speed, his wounds began to heal.
Aku turned back around, however seeing that Bīng Xuě was regenerating, he did the same.
Mutating his own body and using the available biomass, it was simple to repair the damage caused by the combat wounds.
However, Aku noticed something else. His connection with his subspace had returned.
Apparently to break a Taboo you have to break all of them.
"Hey, you win okay?" Bīng Xuě then said with a smile. "Our fight was fun, but I don't think it'll lead anywhere, don't you think?"
The boy asked as Aku tilted his head in confusion.
"I don't think I understand your point," the demon king affirmed with a neutral voice.
Though upon reflection, Aku came to the conclusion that continuing to fight against Bīng Xuě wouldn't be convenient for him.
"Well, it was fun, but it's lost its meaning, don't you think? Besides, seeing that gigantic explosion made me want to fight whoever's responsible," he affirmed with excitement.
Bīng Xuě was a lover of combat, and while he had been about to let Aku kill him, seeing that explosion left him wanting to keep fighting.
"So you're saying we should call a truce to fight a bigger threat?" Aku asked, maintaining that analytical attitude.
Bīng Xuě shrugged.
"It's fine if you come too," he affirmed as his horns retracted and he gradually lost his demonic form.
Aku stroked his chin, thoughtful.
On one hand it was smarter to search for weak heroes to defeat while the strongest killed each other.
However, he couldn't deny it. He was definitely curious to see those who were fighting, even if it was riskier.
"Do you like fighting?" Aku then asked.
The demon king didn't know why he had asked that question. Perhaps it wasn't a question directed at Bīng Xuě but at himself.
The cyan-haired young man scratched his head at that question.
Normally he wouldn't have hesitated and would have said yes immediately.
However, for some reason he felt he had to think more deeply about the answer.
Why did he like fighting so much?
Why was he so obsessed with strength?
Bīng Xuě remembered. He was still very young when his sister was born, however from the moment he saw her he knew he would protect her.
It was a noble and childish feeling, wanting to protect his sister.
He trained hard for it. He grew stronger while watching his little sister grow, protecting her from everything, perhaps too much.
Yes, it was a fact. He overprotected her, and when his sister became a teenager, the obvious happened. She pulled away from him.
Bīng Xuě wanted to be her guardian, her hero, but you can't protect someone who doesn't want to be protected.
That created a hole in Bīng Xuě's heart, a hole he filled with more training.
He was strong. He mastered the sword, the bow, and martial arts.
But what good was that if he had no one to protect?
Then it happened. His sister, who had been dating the wrong person, ended up involved in a gang fight.
Some thugs abused her and beat her into a coma.
When Bīng Xuě found out what had happened, he felt devastated but also enraged.
No one escaped his wrath. Both those thugs and his sister's boyfriend paid the price.
But Bīng Xuě was still human. He couldn't fight against a firearm, and by angering the wrong people, he suffered the consequences.
But Bīng Xuě didn't die. They gave him a new chance.
He traveled to another world where his power could surpass all imaginable limits.
But that didn't change what had happened to his sister.
Something that kept gnawing at him.
That's why he became obsessed with being strong, a simple distraction from a reality too cruel to accept.
But his pain was still there.
That's why when the demon queen of that world promised she would erase that pain.
He accepted to join her.
The pain disappeared, but with it, his other emotions also left.
A fair deal, but also costly.
Bīng Xuě no longer suffered, but he also couldn't enjoy anything in life.
Living had lost all meaning.
Until he met Aku, and for the first time in a long time, Bīng Xuě managed to feel something.
So if someone asked him if he liked fighting, Bīng Xuě couldn't answer clearly.
Since killing the other fifty-four heroes hadn't made him feel anything.
Only being at the brink of death had made him recover some emotion.
"Mmm, I'd say only the good ones," the boy responded with his usual laughing, childish attitude.
Aku nodded, understanding what Bīng Xuě meant.
In that aspect they were the same.
"Alright, let's go see that fight up close," Aku then announced with his characteristic neutral tone.
Bīng Xuě nodded as he raised his fist cheerfully.
"Yay!"
This was no longer a trial. It was an opportunity to obtain what he had so longed for.
The freedom he felt when fighting Alexander.