Life Hunter

His empty eyes looked over Layla and squinted. The Demon realized that after Lanya"s final move and Arima"s devastating magic, he would be unable to win against her.

But his mind couldn"t be controlled by those emotions anymore. He kicked the ground and changed into a hurricane charging at Layla.

The latter flapped her wings and raised her rapier. Her figure disappeared and she was already thrusting her weapon at Hephaestus in the next instant. The Demon used his ax to block the blade but the rebound struck him hard and he was sent back to the start as the earth around him was trampled.

Layla didn"t hesitate a single second and caught up with Hephaestus who was still affected by the knockback. She stabbed the huge Demon in the heart and then kicked him as she pressed the trigger of her sword.

When Hephaestus crashed once again. Layla stopped attacking him and flew toward Pandora "[Resurrection, First]" The pinkish energy manifested itself around her.

She reached Pandora and touched it directly. The box began to shake before it flew away to escape Layla. But even if it was fast, it was quickly grabbed again.

Pandora produced some cracking sounds as it released a dark aura while the pink one was infiltrating it. Layla now understood what her power could do to that box, so she didn"t hesitate to use it.

But before she could inflict any more damage. Hephaestus came back with bloodshot eyes and a still open hole on his chest. His body had turned even bigger, twenty meters. He had discarded his hammer and now carried a two-handed ax that was almost as big as his body.

Layla clicked her tongue and waved her hand. A thin silver barrier formed in front of her and parried the ax. The power behind it was out of her expectations as her eyes widened and she had to let Pandora go away.

She stopped trying to block the weapon and extended her hand toward it. She placed her palm on the side of the blade and her crystal scales became filled with a red light "[Burst]" She chanted and the red energy in her scales went through the ax and broke it as it deviated.

She then swept her sword at an incredible speed. Flashes of light went by and Hephaestus received countless cuts on crucial areas. His neck, wrists, shoulders, knees, shins, and ankles. She then kicked him at tremendous speed.

Lanya"s sword techniques were mostly taught to her by Karma. Also, Lilis and Chronepsis gathered knowledge during their entire life. Layla perfectly knew how to move to weaken the body of her opponent thanks to that inherited experience. But her close combat techniques were all taught by Arima and finally mastered after her "rebirth".

Each one of her kicks landed perfectly on dangerous spots. The temples, spine, jaw, solar plexus, ribs... Hephaestus was powerless in front of the speed and combination of those attacks. He was already bleeding from everywhere and now the kicks were stunning his nerves and softening his muscles.

When Hephaestus was unable to even lift his arms, Layla stabbed him in the heart again and pressed the trigger. Hephaestus"s chest blew up and he fell back in a b.l.o.o.d.y mess.

When he crashed on the ground, he vomited dark blood and his softened tendons and bones were easily torn apart.

"Scary…" Hades muttered. If even the ruler of h.e.l.l says it, it must be true. He wasn"t the only one. Michael and Poseidon, the two other fighters shuddered. They thought that even them couldn"t concatenate that much strikes while being so fast and accurate.

But that wasn"t the main reason for their stupor. The true scene that created a conflict in their minds was the contrast between Layla"s divine appearance and her cruel attacks. **

They didn"t move since they knew that their help wasn"t needed and that they couldn"t do anything to Pandora by themselves. So, the G.o.ds kept watching the fight awkwardly from the sidelines until Pandora suddenly stopped moving. Chronos and Layla immediately rolled their eyes to look at it.

They both clicked their tongues and flew away from Pandora "Get away from it!" Chronos shouted at the other G.o.ds and everyone listened to him. Ifrit glanced at Karaskan who was smiling and then followed everyone.

"What"s wrong?" Zeus asked Chronos as they retreated.

"Pandora is finally unlocked" Chronos answered "It"s open"

Azes frowned "Why were you so surprised? I thought that you already knew when it would open"

"Because it changed" It was Layla"s voice who responded to him. Azes immediately tensed. He looked at his right to see Layla casually flying backward as she observed Pandora "Future sight is not absolute. There are two types of future we can see; fixed points in time, and predictions"

"The former is something that will definitely happen no matter what you do" The G.o.ds became drunk in her voice and listened with attention "For example; if a fixed point is the death of someone. Then you will never be able to save that person no matter what you try. That"s what happened with Lanya" Layla explained and glanced at Chronos with an unpleasant look.

"But that was a special case since that old man created that fixed point with his actions" She added and looked away "The second type is what just happened. Future can change. That"s what the predictions give us; variable future"

"Future can even change with just a slight variation in the wind sometimes. Pandora opened earlier most likely because I tried to weaken it even more" Layla concluded and the group looked solemnly at Pandora whose lid was slowly sliding back.

"Then, for the third time" Michael raised his voice "What will happen?"

Layla wryly smiled and Chronos sighed "Invasion" They both responded.

Pandora"s lid suddenly opened with great momentum. The box spun in mid-air while releasing a thick black fog. Then it stopped upside down and a strange matter fell down from the box.

The gelatinous matter landed on the ground and separated into a lot of different smaller parts. Each part started to twitch and expand. What happened after was both terrific and magnificent.

Around the empty Pandora, big and complex magic circles appeared everywhere and filled the air. The runes were all written in Greek and were written in a way that couldn"t be understood even by those who knew the language.

The earth started to quake really strongly. Pandora crumbled into pieces and the temple followed suit. Karaskan snickered and retreated too. Millions of magic circles already covered an area of a thousand miles radius.

When the circles stopped forming, the smaller parts of Pandora"s matter literally jumped like they were alive and went through the circles one after another. A circle each.

The G.o.ds looked with a strange look as the small gummy-like b.a.l.l.s were jumping into the different circles "Those formations are connected to other worlds" Layla enlightened them and nodded as if it was normal… then completely froze.

"…What did you just say?" Chulainn asked to confirm.

"These things are going into other worlds right now" Layla said.

"What are they going to do there?"

"That" Lanya pointed at the only matter that had stayed in h.e.l.l while all of the circles were already closing.

The small ball started to bulge and tremble as if something was breaking it from the inside. After a moment, it burst like a balloon would.

Then everything came back to normal. The circles had already disappeared and Pandora disintegrated "…That"s it?" Chulainn frowned deeply.

Layla shook her head "Wait"

Only after five minutes of wait, something finally happened. The soil began to turn black and raised from the ground to form a sort of big mound of mud.

The soil started to shape itself into a humanoid shape and soon became a sort of walking mud with red eyes.

"What is that?"

"The first one" Chronos declared and soon enough, countless mounds commenced to appear on the surface of h.e.l.l. There were both small ones, as much as an insect, and big ones, as much as a mountain.

All of them became strange monsters with humanoid appearances. Sometimes they could have horns or wings, others could have scales and big claws but they never seemed to connect with any existing species.

"That"s what you meant by invasion?" Ifrit asked.

"Yes. Those things will spread in every world and continuously create monsters like these. They will become enemies to anything or anyone living in the world they infect. They will also become stronger overtime" Layla uttered.

"Pandora has basically created a war between every mortal, and the evolving monsters" Chronos added "And if Lilis hadn"t used her manifestation before, maybe those monsters would have been strong enough from the start to destroy almost every world they invade"

"At least like that, they will be able to get stronger with them, huh?" Aphrodite muttered.

"Yes, and it"s not only that. All the worlds which didn"t have any magic circuits until now will acquire them" Layla said "But in any case, many will die" She paused "And I think I realized something after all of this"

"What is it?"

"Pandora"s effect. It has nothing to do with the opener. I think that its original purpose was indeed to do this. Create a common enemy for absolutely everyone and raise mortals to another level. The only setting that the opener changes is maybe how strong the monsters will be" Layla explained and looked at Karaskan who was not that far away.

"He knew this all along…" Azes muttered.

"Of course," Karaskan"s voice resounded "I partic.i.p.ated in Pandora"s creation" He blatantly declared and the G.o.ds grunted "That"s why I can also do this" He snapped his fingers and the black mud formed around him. But it didn"t transform into a monster like the others.

Karaskan smirked and glanced at somewhere else. Layla followed his eyes and then her expression darkened. A prediction changed once again.

The mud crawled on the ground and quickly reached Hephaestus who was paralyzed. The mud slid over him and infiltrated his body.

Hephaestus"s body convulsed and his heart started beating faster and stronger. Even if it had been pierced by Layla and was still healing, the heart pumped stronger than ever. The Demon"s limbs, bones, and flesh were forced to restore themselves.

Then, his whole figure mutated. When Hephaestus stood up again, he was already as big as Chulainn himself. He even surpa.s.sed him, reaching a hundred meters in height. The black mud also restored his ax which he now carried with a single hand. That weapon was now seventy meters long.

Karaskan jumped on Hephaestus"s shoulder and smirked "It"s time for the final act. I already accomplished my goal. My Seeds will carry on my will. Now," He snorted "Do your best to kill me"

Layla"s eyes turned cold and sharp. She signaled Gabriel with her eyes and flapped her wings. A light flashed and she rushed at the enemy.

Gabriel breathed in as she understood the signal "{Let"s go}" She told to the G.o.ds and they all nodded before following Layla.

Chronos sighed "(I can"t see anything starting from this point)" He thought and looked behind him "(I only know he"s coming but I don"t see anything else. Was the future corrupted by Pandora?)" He wondered and shook his head. He then went with everyone else.

"{Ifrit, please don"t hold back}" Gabriel said without looking and the fire Djinn snickered.

"[Resurrection]"

***********************************************

"Dammit, it took longer than I thought to go through this gate" Arima complained as he emerged from the Heaven Gate. He looked around and determined his location.

But he didn"t need to do so as a huge pillar of b.l.o.o.d.y fire raised until the sky and showed him the way like a lighthouse.

"Thanks, Ifrit" Arima smiled and his eyes sparkled with lightning as he deployed his jet-black wings. His robe fluttered and he disappeared as thunder roared.