Gaodu"s eyes returned to normal after a moment. But there was a new l.u.s.ter in them now. He looked at himself and the clothes he was wearing, as well as the gourd he held in his hand."How are you feeling?" Arima descended and asked.
Gaodu smiled "I feel incredible, so many things entered my head so suddenly"
Arima nodded "Dionysus is quite a big figure. Make good use of that power" He said "You can try it now" He then declared before leaving the firm ground one more time.
Gaodu nodded and stared at Lanya. The latter smiled and took a stance. Gaodu drank the wine in his gourd one more time then spat it out just after, the wine became a pink fire which tried to burn everything on his path.
Lanya drew a rune with the tip of her rapier. That rune grew bigger and glowed, the fire became consumed by a veil of light generated by the rune. But that fire then turned into a gas that surrounded her and burned once more.
"Wine… "fire water" was it? Interesting" Arima said?
Lanya flapped her wings and flew away while blowing away the fire. She once more drew multiple runes with her rapier then swung it the latter. The runes all activated at the same time and a rain of light fell down on the earth, causing countless holes to form on the ground.
Gaodu avoided all of it with a strange footwork which seemed to be some sort of dance. He would vanish from a place to another but it didn"t seem like he was teleporting "Theater" Arima snickered.
Lanya just smiled and went into close quarters once more, when she tried to kick Gaodu, the latter took a step back and evaded the strike with a strange motion. Lanya was a bit impressed but continued to attack him in close quarters along with her light magic.
"I see" Arima said while he was observing Gaodu"s footwork "That inheritance is really interesting. And that footwork is particularly strong"
While he was dodging, Gaodu spilled some of the wine he had in his gourd. When the wine fell on the ground, it glowed then exploded with a discharge of pink flames. Lanya extended her hand and it became covered in thicker silver scales. She then immediately put her "claw" to cover the source of the explosion then jumped back by riding the shockwave.
"I understand" Lanya exclaimed when she landed. A circle appeared below her feet then glowed with a bright light. The light coming from the sun also seemed to be stronger now for some reason. Lanya kicked the ground once more and swung her rapier at Gaodu.
As he was going to dodge, a sudden beam of light attacked him in his movement, Gaodu then used his gourd to parry Lanya"s spear as he was thrown away this time.
"A revealing type magic, huh?" Arima muttered. What Lanya used was a magic theory concerning things hidden or unnoticeable. When she activates this kind of magic, it will reveal to her everything that"s hidden from her and stop anything that could try to dupe her. Like what just happened with Gaodu"s footwork.
Of course, Lanya was restraining herself, although her opponent was now an inheritor, she also was one. And more importantly, the gap between their life force was too big.
"You still have a lot to learn on your inheritance, you also have to get used to it and the new abilities you get with it" Lanya said to Gaodu "For now, I"ll just help you control your new power" She declared and then started attacking him once again.
Arima smiled at the two then looked around, his eyes scanned the entire zone, for hundreds of miles, and checked the state of everyone. He particularly felt amused when he saw Chulainn and Night teaching so earnestly. They were not that enthusiast to do it earlier, but once those two begin something, they"re really serious about it.
In the mean time, while overseeing all of this, Arima started to work on a strange cyan light. He would make it appear above his palm then make it move around. That light was a sort of energy and contained a certain quant.i.ty of power in it. But no matter how hard Arima tried, he couldn"t make it stronger or bigger, when he tried to fuel it with mana, there wasn"t any effect, even pure life force didn"t do anything to it.
"I need those after all" Arima sighed and lamented as the cyan light vanished. He then focused back on his students "Oh" He noticed something then transferred instantly.
He reappeared tens of miles away from his original position and stared at the two princesses, Ofia and Lena. They were the only ones Arima had let train alone, without any instruction. And apparently, it was the right choice.
"You really did it, huh?" Arima said as he watched the two sisters moving at the same time with the exact same motion. And also, sometimes, Lena would use the eye power of a c.o.c.katrice while Ofia would use the magnificent speed of an eagle.
It was also important to specify that their appearance had changed and was exactly the same for the two of them. Ofia and Lena had still the appearance of a harpy, but it looked like it was mixed between an eagle and a c.o.c.katrice. Their wings were now bigger and combined the feathers of an eagle and the wing-net of a bat. It was a strange sight but not ridicule at all. It was even awe-inspiring.
Their legs that had turned into claws before were now more humanoid and longer. Also, both of them had now a pair of eyes which combined the orange color of a rooster and the sharpness of the eagle"s golden eyes.
When the two sisters spotted Arima, they smiled at the same time. That smile was like a child seeking for the approbation of his parents.
Arima shrugged "You did a really good job" He said and the two sisters high-fived. Arima looked at them and smiled "In the books I gave you, I put it in a bonus section. It was a theory that I didn"t even know if it really worked or not, I couldn"t try it after all. The soul connection between two humans. If two individuals were to know each other enough, to be similar enough, close enough, and talented enough, then they could maybe use it. Creating a connection similar to a resonance, between two humans" Arima narrated what he wrote in his book.
"You were the best candidates and you didn"t disappoint me, that"s for sure" Arima said and the sisters bowed at him.
"Thank you for your teachings" They said at the same time.
Arima smirked "No problem, but now," He said as his coat fluttered because of his aura "I"m curious, show me what that soul link can do"
Lena and Ofia looked at each other and chuckled "Yes" They responded at the same time and flapped their wings. Their figures disappeared and the two of them reappeared beside Arima, one on each side. Arima was greatly surprised, which is pretty rare.
"(Tenth level?)" He said in his mind. He seriously didn"t expect them to be at the tenth level thanks to that technique. He couldn"t sense their level before because their aura was so perfectly merged and calm. He thought that they would be around the eighth or ninth level at most. The two sisters were originally around the seventh level, even with their resonance. A jump from the seventh to the tenth level was a great surprise to Arima.
The latter had already restrained his overall strength to the tenth level just before, which made him even more surprised, if he wasn"t attentive, maybe those girls could actually injure him by themselves. Not like last time where they needed all the cla.s.s and a surprise attack which was only made possible thanks to the Lawless Tome.
Ofia and Lena both tried to kick Arima, the latter stomped on the ground and huge earth wall raised on his right to block Ofia and he then countered Lena with a kick too. The clash between those two attacks was enough to dig out the earth around and make a crater.
While the ground was still cracking, Ofia suddenly fell from the sky and attacked Arima with a long sword. Arima was taken off guard because of Ofia"s speed and the sudden apparition of a magic weapon in her hand.
He bent his back and dodged the incoming strike but at the same time, his eyes met Ofia"s and his body tensed for a second and it was enough for Lena to arrive behind him and compress wind into multiple marbles before throwing it, as Arima had taught them.
The latter"s eyes narrowed, Ira appeared in his hand and it was automatically loaded with an explosive bullet. He shot toward the ground and the explosion created a huge hole on the earth, the lifted stone and soil hid Arima"s figure and it was soon followed by the discharge of the compressed air.
When the wind destroyed everything and faded away, Arima reappeared in the sky, sighing in relief. He seriously thought that he was going to get outsmarted by his students. But he had to admit, this was dangerous. Those two"s teamwork had reached a different realm, they could perfectly synchronize their moves and the timing for each attack was always perfect.
"Never thought I would find a challenge among my students" Arima smirked and said. He breathed out and his skin started to crumble away. Lena and Ofia looked astounded as Arima"s flesh gradually drifted away to reveal a gray skeleton with blue flames on the eye sockets.
"I can"t use Karma or resonate with Night right now and the Omniform would be a bit overkill. So, I"ll just go with this" Arima"s eerie voice resounded and the two sisters shivered. They were both scared and impressed by their teacher. Right now, just his voice was almost enough to make them want to abandon.
"Well, of course, I"ll restrain my life force to your level. But it doesn"t take away the fun" Arima smirked and waved his skeletal fingers "Come"
The princesses looked at each other and nodded. They both flapped their wings and started gathering wind around them. Arima looked at the sky and saw gray clouds forming, it wasn"t his of course, but his students". With the same clouds, a huge tornado formed and covered the entire zone within a mile"s radius.
Arima"s skull distorted as he grinned "[Agnitio vultus unum centum] (One hundred parade)" He chanted and his figure became bigger, and his bones tougher.
At the same time, Ofia and Lena both tried to use the eye powers on him but they realized that it didn"t work anymore. Arima did not have eyes and flesh anymore in the first place. In the end, they abandoned the idea of using mind and direct vision attacks.
They decided to concentrate on close combat and magic. It was Ofia who first flew at Arima and swung her sword. Arima stopped the blade with Ira, although his gun wasn"t a sword it still was tough enough to block any weapon. It was obvious that Arima held the advantage in strength and when he was about to counter-attack, wind blades attacked him from behind and Lena was also flying toward his back.
Arima didn"t turn around and the blue flames in his skull changed form to look like his sigil. The latter revolved and a purple fire countered the wind blades. It was always better to use fire instead of lightning against wind.
Of course, Ofia acted too, she planted her sword on the ground and a blinding light covered the area. The light became a giant pillar of light energy which shrouded Arima"s figure.
"[Fifth Destruction Art, Spatium Horti]" Arima"s voice resounded and black sphere emerged from within the pillar, destroying the latter. Lena instantly appeared behind him and attacked with a similar sword as her sister.
At the same time, Ofia conjured a light bow and shot an arrow at Arima. In return, Arima blocked Lena"s sword with Ira and caught the arrow with his hand as he gathered purple lightning in it.
The arrow exploded and filled the area with light and dispersed the lightning around the place. Since Arima didn"t have any physical eyes, it didn"t have any serious effects, but it served enough as a distraction for Lena to attack one more time and Ofia to approach him.
Then, the two sisters started to fight in close combat with Arima. And the most impressive thing was how much they were in sync. Arima was ultimately forced on the defensive while conjuring lightning to attack, defending against the wind with fire, countering light with darkness, and shooting with Ira. The two sister seemed to also share their mana pool.
Of course, he was holding back his true level, but Arima had to admit that when he was fighting with those girls at the same level of power, he had a really hard time, without Night and Karma at least. And of course, without any dangerous magic.
"Interesting" Arima muttered and continued to take each blow, creating craters all over the canyon.
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Author"s note : (I"ll put it here since the "official" one doesn"t have enough s.p.a.ce)
So, I added a bit of precision in this chapter. I kinda was "forced" to insist on the fact that Arima has never, will never, be serious against his students. It"s just here to teach them and give some action scenes to the novel.
Also, to respond to the comments saying that Arima is being stupid, lenient or weaker : It"s wrong, it"s this arc which is calmer for him. Finally, don"t forget that the main reason Arima started teaching was to wait for the planet to reach Errastas and because he didn"t have anything else to do. I suppose you can understand the reason he refused to go to h.e.l.l immediately from that information too. And the most important thing, I do what the h.e.l.l I want.
Now, my last message is : Discord. Seriously, I"m not saying this just because I want people in it. My discord is precisely for the sake of answering to questions and complaints like that. So stop asking me things in the comments, at least if you really want me to respond, and directly go to my discord to talk with me, I"ll answer the moment I"m disponible. It"s not that complicated, right?
Good. #ComplainingTime. And I seriously needed to say all of this to cool down.