Life Hunter

Even the Guardians were wearing a really anxious and troubled expression. The aura coming out of Arima was not something ba.n.a.l. A new Guardian-level existence had appeared. But the most shocking part was that it actually wasn"t a Plane Guardian, but just a simple human who climbed his way up by robbing the life force of his enemies.

Arima slowly stood up and pointed his hand at where Victor had died. A colorless energy instantly came to him and doubled his aura.

Night sighed and turned back into a gray-haired human. He grunted and stood up with Karma. Both of them closed their eyes and began to a.s.similate that power too "…Hey, too fast" Night complained and Arima snickered before lowering his aura.

He looked up and saw the giant serpent"s head coming out of the blue mist "I know Jorga" He uttered and the World Serpent"s eyes rolled "How long?" Arima inquired.

"Ten minutes" Jorga responded and his voice reached everyone.

"Ten minutes?" Aergia frowned and wondered what they were talking about. Raylein was having a headache and was just sitting down in a corner. The fact that he was the one who brought Arima here was quite pressuring for him.

"Well, it"s gonna be the busiest ten minutes of my life" Arima joked and teleported next to Layla and Malum "It"s fine now. Prepare the incantation of the Second White Art for me in the meantime"

Malum sighed loudly and shrunk his body at the same time. His scales stopped floating and stuck to his body again while some flesh reappeared on it. Then, the scales regained their color before merging with the flesh. In the end, a handsome man with really pale skin and purple eyes was standing there, dressed in plain clothes and a leather jacket. His hair was shining white, even compared to Night.

Malum opened and closed his fists in repet.i.tion and mused "Fascinating. It"s technically the first time I control a body made of flesh and blood" He commented and Arima sighed.

"I still don"t know if I should have given you a body" He shook his head and Malum snorted.

"Why are you worrying about that now?" He retorted "It"s not like I will do anything at this point"

Arima shrugged then he saw Layla glaring at him. He forced a cough "…What"s wrong?"

"What was it this time?" Layla asked severely and Arima"s expression twitched. He stretched his neck and turned his head away instinctively "…memories"

Layla dubiously stared at him "Can you use the memories you stole to others?"

"…I can"

She sighed in relief "Then that"s good"

"Well, it"s true that it"s the less expensive Law to use for Arima. But normally, no one should be able to steal memories so easily like him" Night remarked when he arrived with Karma.

"Hey, hurry up!" Jorga"s voice resounded again. Arima smiled wryly and looked toward Shiva and Shakti. He transferred to the two of them and dragged them together in less than a second.

"Killing you now without saying anything would be pretty awkward and cruel on my end. So, we"ll do it like this;" Arima told and the two Guardians looked up at him. Shiva had a really dark countenance and a creased forehead "If you deserve to die, you"ll die" He declared and everyone failed to understand.

Even the Guardians who had approached them to hear more clearly were perplexed. Arima snickered and crouched in front of Shakti "You"ll be first then" He said in a low voice and she shivered. Arima was staring at her in the eyes.

She knew that those eyes couldn"t see, but she couldn"t help to feel like they were seeing through her every secret "(I still have some strength… I may be able to get away once. But…)" She peeked at Jorga who was looking at them from the sky "(The World Serpent seems to be a friend of him. I won"t be able to escape his sight)"

"Don"t worry" Arima"s voice abruptly cut her thought process "If you have nothing to blame, you will not risk anything" He covered his eyes with his hand for a second then Shakti watched as his pupils started to literally burn. A pure and perfect orange flame was ignited in those eyes. As she unconsciously admired, it was transmitted to her. She fell into trance as that same flame filled her entire mind.

"[Fifth Black Art, Penitencia Conspiciunt]" Arima chanted and Shakti felt her spirit and soul being probed by a soothing presence. She even thought it was kind of pleasant. Then she oddly recalled some old and regretful events of the past. But they were all reduced to nothing when that flame consumed them.

Arima squinted his eyes and backed away "That was splendid. I would even say it"s impressive" He praised and allowed her to stand up. Shakti looked at him with a strange look. She was then told to join the other Guardians and she didn"t dare to refuse.

"Your turn" Arima stated as he walked toward Shiva.

"…What was that supposed to be?" The latter asked and Arima smiled.

"You"ll understand soon" He replied and Shiva gritted his teeth. A cold vapor surrounded him and he decisively cast a large-scale magic in his last struggle. He jumped back and Arima didn"t even move to stop him.

"[Cocytus]" He chanted and a huge magic circle formed in front of him. He was preparing that magic since the moment he had been punched by Malum.

The magic formation produced a blinding light and the temperature fell again. A roar echoed and a wingless sky dragon made of ice came out of the circle. It raised in the sky before plunging in Arima"s direction at great speed.

"So, you made your choice, huh?" Arima muttered coldly and extended his hand. When the ice dragon touched his palm, a purple light illuminated the earth and the sky. The entire dragon became a sort of purple light which merged with Arima"s body.

Shiva laughed when he saw that "So that"s why you overpowered us so easily. You can absorb it" His mouth was laughing but his eyes were not. He was already preparing a non-elemental magic.

"You got most of it" Arima uttered and the same circle Shiva had drawn earlier appeared in front of Arima. The Guardian"s eyes narrowed "[Cocytus]" Arima chanted indifferently and the same dragon came back. But the differences were clear. This new dragon was made out of a dazzling purple ice and it was at least three times bigger.

This magic in, its original form, had the power to easily destroy several planets. Now it could maybe eradicate around a fourth or even half of Melumnia.

"…s.h.i.t" Shiva cursed just before the dragon swallowed him and brought him into s.p.a.ce. When it was high enough, the dragon roared and suddenly expanded. It turned into a giant sphere of ice with Shiva in the middle. After a moment, it imploded and many shards and fragments were lost in the void. Shiva included.

Shakti watched it happening with a very troubled expression "Aren"t you saddened by his death?" Malum asked out of the blue. He was preparing the Second White Art with Layla, as he was instructed by Arima, and happened to spot her from the corner of his eyes.

Shakti shook her head slowly "It"s not like I was that close to him… We were born from the spirituality of the same religion and had similar affinities. But we were not actually close. At best, he was like a cousin…" She smiled wryly "And his death has been caused by his own foolishness"

Malum snickered and waved his finger to complete the formation. He turned his head toward Arima "Hey, we finished" He raised his voice.

"Good, we"ll use it soon" Arima nodded and reached out for a light blue sphere coming down from the sky.

"Is that his life force?" Layla asked as she arrived next to him.

"Yes," Arima affirmed and grabbed the sphere with two hands. Then he pulled with both of them and the sphere split into two orbs, one was transparent and the other dark blue "Take this one" Arima tossed the transparent one to Layla and she tilted her head in confusion.

"That"s his life force. I don"t need it. It"s not enough to strengthen me anymore. Rather, you also need to power up a little bit" Arima enlightened her and she widened her eyes. She blinked and smiled happily.

"I"ll take it then" She responded and pointed at the dark blue orb "What about that one?"

"It"s his life energy" Arima answered and his sigil glowed. A really intricate circle formed above the orb he was holding. It slowly started to spin and produce black flames.

Layla"s eyes widened when she recognized the runes. Arima smiled "I don"t want to use my own after all" He added and Layla chuckled.

"Let"s begin with the terrain" Arima declared and flew up. Layla went to everyone else and told them to get some alt.i.tude and distance themselves from the ground "[Ragnarök, Aversa Pars] (Reverse)"

Arima chanted and the absolutely deformed and devastated landscape began to change. The creva.s.ses were closed, the stone went back underground, the large volume of dug-out soil returned to its original place before being neatly flattened.

Then it started to rain and some small burgeons grew around the place. It only took a few seconds for the trees and the gra.s.s grow back. Afterward, a large number of microscopic particles gathered together to form different shapes.

The first thing that was created was a fancy castle, with tall towers and a pretty central garden. Then the rest followed. A few mansions appeared too, some smaller houses, modern and primitive alike, seemed to just materialize out of nowhere. It continued like that until the entire portion of the planet which had been wrecked had been completely repaired.

Ganesha whistled and Aergia groaned thinking about all the work it would"ve needed her to do the same. Shakti was staring at Arima during the entire time. At first, she was quite scared and put off by him, and that"s why she had voted against his integration. Even now, she was still scared. But at least, she now saw him as someone who was rather kind and compa.s.sionate. Especially so when she identified the runes on the magic formation above Shiva"s life energy.

Arima lifted that same orb and released his aura one more time "[Fifth Forbidden Art, Phoenix Tenebris]" He chanted and a loud shriek followed before a majestic dark phoenix deployed his wings in front of him.

"Here" Arima murmured and handed the orb to the Phoenix. The legendary bird lowered his head and gobbed the orb before swallowing it. Arima patted him and he flew away and plunged toward the ground. He phased through it and a second screech resounded in the entire atmosphere.

Afterward, dark flames were ignited on the planet"s surface and bathed it into a black fire. In that fire, the bodies were being reconst.i.tuted and the souls recreated. After a minute or so, the fire was extinguished and the seventy billion or so individuals were brought back to life.

The Guardians watched silently. They were awed, thankful, scared, and shocked at the same time. The Phoenix then emerged from the ground again and went to Arima.

"Go up, resurrect them all on a viable planet" He said and the Phoenix immediately complied and went into s.p.a.ce to revive all those who died on the surrounding planets.

"Okay," Arima sighed satisfyingly and turned toward the Guardians, as well as his own companions. He smiled widely "Now get the h.e.l.l out of this planet and bring everyone on it with you"

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Meanwhile, the planes finally aligned together and a straight line was reflected on Harion"s eyes.