Life Hunter

"s.h.i.t, I don"t have any mana left. First the gate and now this, of course, I would be dry…" He complained and slowly walked out from the depression on the ground created by the sphere.

"Just opening the gate should be impossible…" Chulainn muttered "And you even resisted the h.e.l.l"s inquisitorial…" He added.

Arima ignored and looked around; at the creva.s.ses that had opened for him earlier, some of the broken chains were also lying here and there, slowly vanishing "I don"t even know what happened to myself. I just know that when I entered this place, my entire being was shaken. Like everything around me was trying to crush everything I represented" He answered to Night just after.

As he walked by Lanya, he waved his hand and a silver light escaped his hands to directly merge with her eyes. Lanya sighed she swiped the blood "Thank you" She said and Arima nodded.

"After that, when I was about to faint. Something deep inside my soul came out to fight back that "invasion" I was suffering" Arima turned toward Chulainn and finished his description.

The h.e.l.lhound just waved his tail and crushed some trees at the same time "How am I supposed to know why h.e.l.l tried to imprison you?" He retorted before Arima could ask "I"m just a sort of administrator, but I don"t know the details"

"Fine" Arima waved his hand "Don"t mind then. It"s just that the "power" which saved me is something I wished I would never see any more" He replied and cracked his neck "What should we do now? Do you have an idea?"

"…I don"t know" Chulainn said after a brief moment of silence.

"Thanks, admin" Arima jested and Chulainn snorted.

"We have to get information before taking any initiative. First, we need to know what the movements of the prisoners are; the plans of the h.e.l.l"s princes and Hades; the strategy of the G.o.ds; and finally, Ojure Karez"s next plans" Chulainn listed and suddenly looked over the trees with one of his heads.

"Let"s go for now. Your odd aura of death earlier attracted some curious people" Chulainn muttered as stomped on the ground.

The surroundings moved by themselves the earth raised to form a dome around the group. That dome stayed in the middle of the forest for a second before it suddenly crumbled. But no one was under it anymore.

A few seconds after, Hades arrived there and scanned the place "…Kerberos was here. He came back?" He frowned.

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Arima observed the red sky and red gra.s.s everywhere and whistled "So that"s what you can do as the Gate"s Guardian?"

"Basically. But it"s just one of my simplest abilities here; a separated s.p.a.ce" Chulainn responded and looked at everyone "We can go anywhere in h.e.l.l from here. What do you want to do? If you want to help in this war, I will act with you since I can"t be roaming around h.e.l.l with the prisoners of the purgatory completely free out there. Some of them were sent in the purgatory because of me after all, I don"t want to be a.s.saulted by everyone" He said.

"So, summarized, you"re asking for help" Arima spoke and Chulainn opened his mouths before shaking his heads "Fine, you know that I will help anyway. Tell me what you know first, about those prisoners and the rest of the Devils in h.e.l.l" He then demanded.

Chulainn sighed "If we"re going to talk…" He muttered, and his body turned back into a small pup.

"See, you get used to it. Almost to the point, you like it better" Night exclaimed and Chulainn grunted. Arima snickered and made a table with magic. He sat down with everyone and Chulainn jumped on the table.

Chulainn coughed a little and focused "Let"s talk about the prisoners first. Basically, they"re strong" He said with a blank expression and Arima put his arm on the table as he looked at Chulainn with dead eyes.

"Let me finish" Chulainn said "They"re really strong from your perspective. No one among you is at the Heavenly realm. Meanwhile, all of the thousands of prisoners are at least in the first divine" He explained and Arima nodded calmly.

"The crucial point here is that the difference of strength between each divine is enormous. A second divine can easily beat a hundred people who are at the first" Chulainn said and looked at Arima "Of course, it"s really hard to sound convincing when someone like you is just in front of me but that"s how things are"

Arima"s three companions nodded to those words and the said person just waited "Anyway, before going any further, you need to at least enter the Heavenly realm" Chulainn gravely declared and Arima exhaled.

"I know. I suppose I have to pa.s.s that d.a.m.n Life Judgment" He responded and Chulainn shrugged "I think I already know how to start it. I have an idea for the occasion. So just continue" Arima waved his hand.

"Fine, if you insist" Chulainn replied and rolled his eyes to the left. Three projections of light appeared there. Each representing the strongest prisoners that left the purgatory.

"The demon woman with eyes looking like precious stones…I"m not adulating her by the way, I"m just describing her" He remarked and then continued "She"s called Vastra, second divine, and most likely the strongest "charmer" who ever existed. You can be sure that if you want to fight her, it"s an army that you"ll go for"

"The beast-man is called Utain, third divine, he"s capable of destroying a normal planet with a single punch" He paused "Physically only. Get that right" He added.

Chulainn looked at the last projection and scowled like he had seen something really annoying "The last monster you see there is something I"m sure you know about. He"s an actual deity, it"s quite popular in your world. Try to guess"

Arima stared at the figure of the huge monster with goat legs and squinted his eyes "…Baphomet?" He frowned and gave away his speculation.

"Bingo" Chulainn smirked and said "There"s not much to say, don"t you think? That thing is at the third divine and one of the strongest beings in this plane" He affirmed and Arima nodded.

"Well after that. We have the seven princes, seven sins, or fallen angels, use what you prefer" Chulainn erased the projections of the three prisoners and started listing names with a new figure appearing each time.

"Asmodeus; l.u.s.t. He"s a bad guy but he"s always in seclusion. Don"t worry about him, you"ll most likely never meet him"

"Belphegor; Sloth. You also won"t see that guy, I think. He"s too lazy for that. He may act a little for certain things, but he never moves seriously"

"Beelzebub; Gluttony. That guy is another thing though. You may or may not meet him. Pray that you don"t. He"s really annoying when he"s hungry"

"Leviathan; Envy. That big snake won"t annoy you either. He just protects his own turf. Nothing more, nothing less. So just don"t destroy his home"

"Lucifer; Pride. Now it"s important. Lucifer will always act against Heaven when he has the chance to do so. So, if you want to prevent Heaven"s destruction, you will meet him for sure"

"Mammon; Greed. It should be okay. He"s a friend of mine. You have to give him things for free to calm him down usually. Not a problem"

"Satan; Wrath. Well, of course, you"ll meet him. He"s the second strongest person among h.e.l.l"s inhabitants. And he also loves to fight. I don"t know which side he will be, but he never fails to be a pain"

Chulainn finished and Arima blankly stared at him "What?" The small dog asked and Arima sighed.

"Nothing, thanks for the information I suppose" Arima still thanked him although he was doing his best to not be sarcastic.

"Well, just remember their faces. Now, the important guy is him" Chulainn resumed and another projection appeared, depicting a five meters tall demon "It"s Hades, the king of the underworld. Also, one of the strongest people across the entire plane. An interesting fact is that he had a huge fight with Poseidon centuries ago. So he may actually fight Heaven" Chulainn told and Arima rubbed his eyes.

"So basically, there"s actually no one in h.e.l.l who will help us to stop Karez except the H-G.o.ds?" Arima inquired and Chulainn tilted his head before nodding "That helps a lot…" He complained and then thought about the prisoners and the demons "I only see bosses…is this a freaking game?" He muttered and stared at Chulainn "What about Origin?"

"Mm?" Chulainn interjected "Oh, do you want me to bring you there?"

"Yeah, we"ll start from that" Arima nodded and said.

"Fair enough" Chulainn activated his sigil and the separated s.p.a.ce broke. They reappeared in the middle of a beach leading to a beautiful sea filled with crimson water.

"It"s in there" Chulainn pointed at the sea and announced.

"Where there?" Arima frowned.

"Below the sea. I don"t know exactly. n.o.body knows. I thought I told you that" Chulainn answered and Arima mumbled inaudibly and looked at the ground.

He tried to take a single step then hopped a little "The gravity is different, the magic circuits are bigger, the whole nature is filled with magic and killing intent. So that"s an original land, huh?" He muttered.

"Yes, keep in mind that everything here is stronger and tougher. For example, the power you needed to exert to destroy a boulder in a mortal world is multiplied by a hundred here" Chulainn explained.

"I see" Arima nodded and chanted something silently "[Fifth White Art, Exhaurire]" He cast his magic and red particles emerged from everything around him and then entered his body.

"What is he doing?" Chulainn asked.

"He"s replenishing his mana with the fifth white art" Lanya answered to his question and Chulainn was surprised.

"He really can do anything with his Arts. I would want to see all of them listed on a paper. It would be quite interesting to see every description"

"You"re right about that" Night agreed and smirked "Did you know that each art has a special characteristic?"

"What?" Chulainn raised an eyebrow "What are those?"

"For example, the third blue art you used against Errastas. Its special ability is quite simple to get since it"s the main theory. But as you know, that magic is made to be indefinitely strong as long as you can give a stable and constant flow of mana without losing control" Night said.

"That"s the special characteristic. Another example, the fifth white art he"s using right now. Its use is to drain mana from nature and even the people around. But the hidden trait is a vital energy drain, not our life force, but what keeps us alive" Night explained and Chulainn turned to be extremely shocked "That shows how much Arima"s theories are complete"

"I have enough, let"s go" Arima said as the effects of the art disappeared. He then dived in the sea without any additional remark.

Lanya chuckled and followed him. Night and Karma shrugged and also went just after. Chulainn was left along with a pensive expression "Should I really ask for a complete list?" He muttered and also jumped into the water.

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At the same time, a gate slightly different to h.e.l.l"s Gate appeared. The doors opened and Karaskan surfaced from the vortex behind them.

He landed on h.e.l.l"s ground and smirked as he spread his spirit around him. He put up a thoughtful face and grinned "Where should I go first?" He muttered and hummed "Mm, let"s go meet that human who wants to destroy the world" He declared and became a black mist that flew away to a certain direction.