Life Hunter

"…It"s exactly as he said" Layla uttered and Jin redirected his look toward her. He saw that she was quite agitated too "Arima created many magic since the time he left this world. Among them, there"s one to resurrect the dead without any downside…"

"Not a single side effect or restriction" Night followed while staring at Arima "Reviving the dead is quite easy actually. Human bodies are simple. Particularly if you have Arima"s knowledge. He perfectly knows how the human body works"

"He can heal the body completely then revive the brain. Without even using Time magic, he can extract the memories and reboot everything. The affected subject will be the same as if he had lived his entire life in one second"

"The only problem is the soul. But that is also an easy problem for him. Of course, the soul is a worldly mystery. No one actually knows how it works so he can"t create one from nothing. But since the original soul of the one he wants to revive has already been destroyed, there"s only one solution left and that"s to take a part of your own and give it away. Then with the mind you already restored, you will be able to refine the soul to match the new vessel"

"Additionally, since the soul can never be damaged. Arima"s soul will still regenerate after sacrificing a part of it. His maximum mana will only drop slightly for a while" Night explained calmly and carefully while keeping his attention on Arima. The latter was already covered by death aura. Night wanted to stop him but he knew he wouldn"t be able to win against Arima. In the first place, just a casual clash between the two of them would destroy an entire city.

"But if he can do it, why would you stop him?" Jin was perplexed. Even if resurrection was something completely absurd for him as a simple human; he had just been told that it was easy to do so. Why would they be so reluctant about it?

"It"s the same thing for you" Layla retorted "It"s easy for Arima to make you younger. Why do you think he refused?"

Jin was stumped. When he asked that earlier, he meant it as a joke but he was also serious. After all, who wouldn"t wish to be younger? But in the end, Arima just answered with a laugh.

"Morals" Karma muttered and smiled bitterly "Arima has morals. More than anyone. No one should ever ignore them and act as if they meant nothing"

"He didn"t make you younger because it goes against his morals. Doing it basically means that he went against nature to save your life and rewind Time for you. This could sound stupid. After all, why wouldn"t you do that for a friend if you can do so?" Layla spoke up again and Jin already felt dizzy because of everyone talking to him separately.

"But it"s different in Arima"s books. If you can make people younger and eternal, you would go against nature and once you do that, you would create an anomaly. That anomaly would become the trigger to an even bigger problem" Night continued.

"What problem?" Jin frowned.

"Vanity, irregularity… Those are particularly true when you use that kind of magic on someone close to you" Night said "If he makes you younger, Arima will most likely engender a conflict in his head. From that, he will gain the urge to do the same with others. But that"s as wrong as it"s rhapsodic. Just because of your personal desires and that you"re strong enough, you shouldn"t be allowed to control how people age and even just keep it to a single group among everyone else"

After that, Jin finally started to understand what he meant "The same applies to death. Just that it is an even bigger taboo. Death connects absolutely every single living being in existence. Death is also one, if not THE only one thing which keeps people alive" Layla added.

""People invented the word "Life" because they had created the word "Death""; these are precisely Arima"s words. Taking death out of the picture is immoral for him. And now he"s even trying to undo what made him stand there like this today, not only applying the taboo but also denying his own past" Karma was the last one to speak and Jin was now looking at Arima really anxiously.

He had to admit that his three friends had managed to drastically change his perspective. Now, he was even scared of what Arima would do.

"Arima, one last time. Is that really what you want to do?" Night raised his voice again and Arima let out a hollow laugh.

"If you had the power to resurrect your people, would you want to do it?" Arima snorted "Of course that"s what I want to do"

Night closed his mouth. He had just noticed how badly he had phrased his words. Arima turned his head to look at him and everyone shivered.

Arima"s left eye was pure crimson. That usually meant that Malum had taken over but it seemed that it wasn"t the case. To be exact, it felt like Malum and Arima were both glaring at Night together. Night"s expression twitched and he stepped back silently "Whatever you"re about to do; I hope you won"t regret it"

"I hope so" Arima uttered and raised his hand slowly. The atmosphere seemed to have suddenly changed to something morbid and sad. Jin and his maid started to be short of breath for some reason. Night just glanced at them and they immediately felt better.

"[Et ego invocabo te] (I call upon you)"

"[Vocationem hercle] (Answer my call)"

The dark aura followed Arima"s hand as he raised it.

"[Arc.u.m non recuso] (I refuse to bow)"

"[Non p.r.o.nus dedere] (I never was inclined to surrender)"

"[Me non accipere modo datum mihi est] (I won"t accept the way it is given to me)"

The dark ma.s.s suddenly ignited in dark flames and Night"s expression fell. The flames surrounded by darkness formed a distinct shape above Arima.

"[Gerunt angulos pallii tui] (Wear your cloak)"

"[Et pinnacula tua et mortuus est] (Let your feathers be dyed)"

"[Haec revocetur oratio] (Bring it back again)"

A loud shriek resounded and even made Night cover one of his ears. A pair of wings was deployed from the inside of that dark fire. The rest of the flames also vanished and let place to a big bird made of black flames and feathers.

Arima"s eyes glowed and so did the blue eyes of the bird "[Fifth Prohibited Art, Phoenix Tenebris] (Dark Phoenix)" Arima chanted and waved his hand. The Dark Phoenix cried and flapped his wings. He soared to the sky then shined like a dark sun before plunging.

Layla, who was unmoving until now, gritted her teeth and breathed in "Arimane!" She shouted and the one she called abruptly quivered and the Phoenix reacted as he stopped his descent just before he could hit the headstones.

The huge bird cried once again and landed beside Arima as if he was a pet. He was around five meters tall while he was standing on the ground.

Arima"s eyes were trembling. His left eye had turned back to normal. His mind was now reminiscing the two lives composing Layla"s existence. The latter was so nervous at the moment she could flee at any moment. She had just called Arima because she felt like she had to do it.

Night was looking wide-eyed at her and Karma was in awe. Night was particularly impressed and surprised. He didn"t really expect Arima to listen to her "(Wait… Layla is sweet and all but why the h.e.l.l did you listen to her and not me?)" He then frowned as he complained internally.

"{…It seems like you"ve developed a weak point for her because of the memories you got}" Malum remarked after a moment of silence and Arima sighed.

"Shut up…" He retorted and glanced at the Phoenix standing next to him.

"{Well, it"s true that you almost did something pretty stupid there}"

"You were quite eager about it too"

"{I admit that. But that"s because I was dragged by your emotional state to the point, we shared the "c.o.c.kpit" for a moment}"

Arima raised an eyebrow "Are you actually saying that you"re capable of showing better self-control than me?"

"{Yes… at least today, yes}" Malum shamefully responded "{But still what were you expecting? Breaking your morals. Then what? You would have welcomed your former family by saying "I missed you"? You perfectly know that your mind would have collapsed the moment you see their eyes open}"

"Don"t even try to lecture me Malum" Arima stated gravely and Malum fell silent. He then put his hand on the bird and patted him.

"{…What are you going to do? This little guy won"t go away as long as it doesn"t accomplish his duty}" Malum spoke again.

Arima peeked at Layla and Night and shrugged "[Phoenix Auream] (Golden Phoenix)" He chanted as he patted the bird and the color of his feathers changed to a resplendent gold while keeping the dark flames around it.

Arima picked one his old knives and cut open his palm. He placed it in front of the bird"s beak "[Accipite illum. Recurrat astri circulum Atque] (Take it. Trace the circle)" He chanted and the Phoenix opened his beak and caught Arima"s hand to lick the blood.

Red lines appeared on his golden feathers then he shrieked as he flapped his wings again. He ascended again and this time, nothing stopped him as he integrated with the soil around the tombs.

Arima watched solemnly while Night and Layla sighed in relief "I had almost forgotten about this one…" The former uttered and Layla smiled wryly.

When the Phoenix disappeared, his flames shrouded the tombs and burned both the stones and the coffins. Afterward, two wisps of blue light emerged from the flames and hovered around Arima.

The latter closed his eyes and waited. The two wisps then flew away and the Phoenix came back from underground and swallowed them before disappearing.

"…What just happened?" Jin was lost.

"The hidden aspect of this Art;" Night answered for him and sat down as he had just been relieved of an immense load "He couldn"t go for "Resurrection" so he went with "Reincarnation". He recreated the souls by reconstructing the mind but then erased the memories and ordered the phoenix the reincarnate them" He explained.

"Like this, he brought them back to life but will most likely never see them again" Layla followed with a sigh "The "Golden Phoenix" will bring those souls away from Arima and even hide them from him. Forever"

"G.o.dd.a.m.nit…" Arima"s curse resounded as he approached his group. He sighed and stopped in front of Night "My bad. I didn"t listen to you; sorry" He apologized quickly then turned toward Layla. He groaned and lowered his head "Thank you"

Layla"s eyes widened and Jin looked at Arima worriedly as if he had gotten sick. Night was unfazed at first since it was a matter of fact for Arima to apologize and thank Layla for what just happened, but he then realized something and his lips twitched.

"Why the h.e.l.l are you so polite and patient in thanking her? Do you know how f.u.c.king stressed I was that you would actually use the "Dark Phoenix"?"

"I know. Thank you for that too by the way" Arima added and Night blanked.

"…You d.a.m.n… hypocrite…" He muttered and followed Arima as he went out of the cemetery.