"I"m surprised" Raylein said as he stood up. He turned around and faced Arima "When did you find out?""When I perfected the Eternal Dragon" Arima answered indifferently. His three companions appeared behind him at the same time "I"m capable of sensing everything that goes against the flow of nature. And if I connect to a planet with my mana, anything on its surface falls under my perception"
Raylein"s eyes widened "That"s actually impressive. No wonder I couldn"t hide from you" He uttered and Arima frowned.
The real problem for the latter was how the man in front of him had actually succeeded to hide from him before he could use this peculiar method. Arima also glanced at Karma "Did you do something to her?"
Raylein"s eyes fell on Karma. He smiled and shook his head "I did not. Don"t worry I just erased the memories of our encounter. And to be honest, I"m still wondering if I should do the same to you all right now"
Arima furrowed "I don"t think you"ll be able to do it so easily"
Raylein"s smile widened "Maybe yes, maybe not. As long as I"m fast enough. If you"re not at your full power I can do it" He said and Arima clicked his tongue. Raylein laughed "I know what kind of being you are. I actually don"t know anything about your origins, but I know your current body is entirely human and that you have one other form at least which lets you go all out"
Raylein sighed "But well, I can"t be sure of my success. Although I"m certain that I can beat you. I"m not when it concerns my well-being. Even I don"t want to carelessly attack someone who erased one of h.e.l.l"s cores out of existence so quickly"
"…So? What do you want?"
"Well, first, let me give her back her memories" Raylein glanced at Karma and she instantly got back her memories. She blinked in shock then hurriedly transmitted everything to her group. Arima wasn"t anxious when he learned about Raylein but Night and Layla reacted strongly.
"Initially, I wanted to wait a little more but I didn"t expect you to find me in such a way" Raylein scratched his head "But, here is my matter Arimane, I want you to become the new Guardian. If you can go through the test, you"ll become the Seventh Plane Guardian, The Kind Demon. How does that sound?"
Arima was taken aback. Since the beginning, he knew Raylein wasn"t here to cause harm. But his words were still astonishing.
"What is your motive?" Layla stepped forward and asked.
"Well…" Raylein seemed to be pondering about what to say "First of all, I have to explain to you what the Plane Guardians exactly are"
"Before I go any further, I have to tell you that there are ten Plane Guardians across the entire existence. Each Guardian is responsible for a certain number of Planes and only act when they receive orders from the Original G.o.d. Except that, Guardians usually are responsible to get rid of Owls that went out of control or to prevent any event that could lead to the destruction of a plane"
"Ultimately, we"re elites at the service of G.o.d. I was one of them a few thousand years ago. But I chose to step down from the post because I was tired of all this stuff" Raylein shrugged and Arima remained impa.s.sive as he listened to him.
"Plane Guardians are not chosen by the Original G.o.d. To be exact, not anymore. The first Guardians were indeed chosen by him. But now, each Plane Guardian has to choose his own successor" Raylein declared and pointed at Arima "The one I chose to be my successor is you"
"Am I obliged to accept?" Arima inquired.
"Depends" Raylein replied evasively and smirked "If I choose to make you go through the test by force, then yes"
"Why?" Night raised his voice with a cold expression. He didn"t like Raylein from the get-go because of what he had done to Karma "Why are you so adamant?"
"Well, because I have to choose a successor, or if I die, someone completely random will maybe take my place. I was once a Guardian after all, so I don"t want anyone malicious to step in and bring bane to billions" Raylein explained.
"The second reason is that there are other problems going on at the moment and we need talents. I"m am retired but it"s not like I am willing to see the world end"
"What problems?" Arima probed and Raylein contemplated about it again.
"In a few words…" He muttered "The Devil is coming"
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Meanwhile, Harion was walking toward a giant structure in the middle of a plain. Actually, he seemed to be on a planet with absolutely nothing more than gra.s.s and a giant building covered with vegetation and moss.
When he arrived at the front door, an old man in a black suit abruptly appeared next to him "Welcome, Sir Harion" He said and the door opened for him.
"Sebas, huh?" Harion glanced at the butler "Is everyone here?"
"I"m afraid no. The First Pillar and the Third Pillar are absent today while the Eighth Pillar should arrive soon"
Harion nodded and walked in. When he went through the door, he ended up in the middle of a vast inner garden with a really huge banyan tree right in front of him. There was an actual sky with a bright sun even if it was supposed to be under a roof.
The entire garden was maybe around one million square kilometers big. There were small rivers, waterfalls, and all kind of flowers all over the place. The banyan tree was also so big that its branches reached almost every corner of the garden.
The vines were hanging down and gave a very serene atmosphere. There were also a lot of different varieties of trees to decorate everything; sal trees, cherry blossoms, oak, eucalyptus, mahagony, cedar…
At the very back of the garden, there was another giant tree. The trunk was unbelievably large and the leaves were so green it could blind you every time they shined with the sun. The tree was releasing a really powerful aura which restored your strength and fatigue.
"(Yggdrasil…they actually brought it back here)" Harion frowned when he saw the legendary tree and spotted six figures casually lying down in the shade of the tree. He took one step forward and turned into some sort of phantom. He reached the group and sat down slowly in less than a second.
He looked around at the people gathered. There were three women and four men sitting or lying down quietly. All of them had a stunning appearance and a really dominating presence.
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"The Devil?"
"Yes. Devil with a big "D". As there is an Original G.o.d, there is an Original Devil. These two existences are said to be the first to have ever existed. Even before Time was flowing; before s.p.a.ce was stabilized; before the matter was even a thing… they are the real Creators"
"What do you mean by "the Devil is coming"?"
"Explicit. The Original Devil is moving to take over his natural counterpart. It is happening in every existence at the moment"
Arima"s expression twitched "Did you just pluralize "existence"?"
Raylein laughed loudly "The world in its full meaning is even bigger than what we can conceive. I said it earlier though. Plane Guardians oversee a determined number of planes. It is literal. Or to be exact, the Guardians share together the 789 526 planes composing this existence. This is a limited reality"
"There are other realities like this one. But those are indeed infinite, or at least, no one knows about it more than that. This is important to know because the Creators live outside of the existences, in an unknown s.p.a.ce between them"
"And from there, they see and hear everything. They sometimes act but can"t do everything. I can"t imagine myself overseeing an infinite number of realities, protect them while also helping the small beings inside"
"Anyway, the thing is that the Devil has started choosing his own Guardians. They call themselves the Pillars. The Pillars of Elysium. At least that"s how they call themselves in this reality"
"The Pillars…"
"Yeah. As the Guardians, they are a group made of 10 people. Now you understand, no?" Raylein sounded a lot more serious now "I will fight with the Guardians but I can"t come back into their ranks. Instead, I can add someone else. It"s nothing complex"
Arima groaned and disappeared from the roof "Huh?" Layla exclaimed in surprise and so did the two others. Even Raylein was confused. Night"s group looked below by reflex to see if Arima had returned inside the hall but Raylein looked up instead.
The clouds were becoming thicker and darker and moving in a spiral. Then from the center, a thick blue mist came out and a shadow was projected by the sunlight "I see…" Raylein immediately figured it out.
"{He"s saying the truth}" Jorga"s voice resounded in Arima"s head. The latter had made his wings appear and was floating in the middle of the mist "{The precedent World Serpent was a bit like an information broker for the Guardians already. I can tell you that Raylein is not lying nor is he a bad person}"
"I see. Thanks for answering me" Arima replied "One more thing; is it possible to travel between realities?"
"{From what I know, it"s not impossible. But you need to first have the benediction of the Creators then have a good reason to travel from one to another. In the first place, realities are quite special. They can be created quite easily and quickly}"
"{There are what we call mother realities. Those realities have the power to create other realities based on what people are doing or thinking inside of them}"
"{For example, a man could produce a movie with a detailed script and then show it to the world. If there are enough people thinking about that movie, a reality will be born from that film. If later the movie is altered, another reality will be created to match it}"
"This world is really mysterious indeed. Also, does that mean that there are ten Pillars in other realities too?"
"{Yes. But Raylein knows about that. You can ask him about it. If he ever lies, I"ll come back. But I don"t think you need to worry}"
"Thank you. I appreciate your help"
"{No problem. I"m everywhere. You can call me when you want}" Jorga responded and his silhouette returned inside the clouds and the mist disappeared and the clouds dispersed just after.
Arima sighed and teleported back in front of Raylein "Tell me why how do you plan to stop the Devil?"
Raylein smiled "It"s simple. To take over the world, the literal world, the Devil needs to control all mother realities. The mother realities are-"
"I know. Jorga just told me"
Raylein blinked "Well, that"s efficient… Ultimately, it"s a war between the Guardians and the Pillars. If all mother realities fall, the win is for the Devil. But the advantage we have is that if we manage to even save only one reality, the G.o.d will be able to take back his territory over time"
"So, we just need to defeat all Pillars in our reality?" Layla asked.
"Yes" Raylein smiled wryly "But that"s easier said than done"
*******************************************
Ten minutes after Harion arrived at Yggdrasil, another man with a skinny build arrived. He was looking around with a strange expression "Hey" He raised his voice when he sat down with everyone ""Gardener", why did you make this kind of base for our group?"
A middle-aged man who was reading a book peeked over the pages "What is wrong with it? It"s not because we are the bad guys that we can"t have a beautiful base" He retorted and the skinny man snorted.
"Please don"t fight now" Sebas appeared out of nowhere and said. Everyone looked at him. The ones who were sleeping on the gra.s.s opened their eyes and sat down "Let"s begin this meeting, shall we? First of all, let"s count the forces we gathered"
"Sir Harion"s army found out where Odin, Anubis, Loki, and Thanatos are. Let"s start from that" When the butler said that, everyone started listing different names, sometimes they were unknown while sometimes they were well-known legends.
"So, we have… around fifteen individuals as strong as a semi-ascended… 178 elites of the third divine and a few millions of other troops" Sebas smiled.
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"They are not only ten. They have many elites ready to take over the planes"
Arima"s expression darkened "Another general war?" He complained.