Life Hunter

"[Et millia talentorum appendam arcariis pretium] (You"ll pay the price)"

Arima"s chant echoed and every skull on the Kind Demon Crosses started laughing and clacking their teeth. Their eyes were ignited and a dark fire formed. The black smoke produced by those flames gathered just above the cross to create a thick cloud.

Ambor"s eyes glowed again and his expression twisted "I think… he"s about to destroy this planet and everyone on it at the same time"

Ahura glared at Arima and the stone stele which was gradually filling the engraved letters with a red color "Attack, now! Kill him before he finishes!" She commanded and the Pillars immediately moved. She also kicked the ground after she instructed them.

The first ones who reached Arima were the three heavyweights. Thanatos, Kronos, and Apep. The giant snake was the closest and jumped on Arima. He immediately tried to bite the huge dragon but his fangs were actually caught barehanded by Arima.

The venom started corroding his bones, but Arima didn"t care less as he channeled his mana "[Terminus Confractus]" He forced and broke Apep"s fangs before kicking the huge snake away. Ambor a.n.a.lyzed the magic he had used and groaned.

"What a reckless technique" He commented and watched as Kronos swung his harpē. Thanatos also struck at the same time with his crystal blade.

Arima roared and increased his physical power by three folds. He wielded Karma in a whirlwind and caught Krono"s harpē with his katana"s chain while blocking Thanatos"s sword with the blade.

Kronos frowned and laughed "Interesting indeed" Thanatos remained silent and Arima scowled. The giant old man snickered again and bright white lightning erupted at his feet. He pulled his harpē toward himself to stop Arima"s sword and used his other hand to use a sickle.

Arima sneered and repelled the small sickle with his tail. He then directly reached for Kronos"s lightning and absorbed it "What…?!" Kronos exclaimed just before a large wave of purple lightning swept over him and pushed him.

Arima then struck Thanatos"s abdomen with his elbow and deviated the crystal sword with Karma. He approached the giant warrior and gathered his magic inside his throat. The sparks and flames escaped through his teeth and he roared just after. A giant stream of dark and red fire shrouded the giant.

When Arima finished that, Apep finally touched the ground and Odin came from the sky and used his halberd to a.s.sault him.

Kronos landed on the ground as his body fumed "That was…"

"Elemental absorption" Ambor muttered. He was the one monitoring the fight and although he was a really powerful a.s.set among the Pillars, he always was the one directing the flow of the fight. The moment he saw Arima"s ability, he instantly transferred it to everyone.

"Absorption and amplification?" Baba Yaga frowned and lifted her cane. She spun it and waved it like a wand. An odd fluctuation was felt and the ground around Arima raised. It formed humanoid shapes and started attacking him.

"Golems?" Arima"s expression darkened. He called Superore and fired at Odin to gain some time. He flapped his wings and grabbed one of the golems" head before crushing it "(It"s not earth magic)"

"You just have to use non-elemental techniques" Baba Yaga uttered and everyone nodded. The next one who reached Arima was without surprise, Afriose. He had pa.s.sed through the life-magic field.

Arima gritted his teeth as he lost almost all of his flesh. He gripped Karma "[Fifth Black Art, Aeterna, Leo]" He chanted and Karma released a large amount of black lightning. Even with that color, it emanated a red hue and transformed into the shape of a lion before attacking Afriose.

The latter breathed in and sighed deeply. A heavy miasma came out of his mouth and practically consumed the lightning lion before it could explode. Arima clicked his tongue.

"[Consummation, Adolebitque, Praemium, Rupti sunt] (Consume, burn, implode, burst)"

"[Usque ad quod manet] (Until nothing remains)"

He resumed the chant and both Trevy and Ishtar entered in range. Trevy opened his fist and a strange orb, filled with mixed colors, popped up. He threw it into the air and it suddenly produced a large beam which was fired toward Arima.

"s.h.i.t!" The huge dragon used his wing to block the attack and it almost made a hole through his bones "(That"s void! That guy actually made anti-matter as his magic!)" He shouted in his mind then sensed a presence right behind him.

Ishtar smiled sweetly and placed her hand on Arima"s back. He abruptly felt all of his strength being drained and almost collapsed right there "Oh, you"re still standing. That"s impressive"

"Shut up" Arima muttered and released his slaughter intent to fight Ishtar"s influence on his mind "You d.a.m.n contradictory of a G.o.ddess"

"Hey, that hurts" Ishtar playfully answered as she retreated. Loki then arrived out of nowhere and actually managed to stab Arima, piercing through the flesh he had remaining and breaking his bones.

"I heard you kill the "a.s.sa.s.sin". That was my prey" Loki whispered and some runes on his sword glowed before exploding. Arima groaned. Thanatos and Kronos profited of that opening to strike again.

Arima grunted and blocked the two of them with Karma and Superore respectively. He also heard and sensed Ishtar who was coming back and pressed the trigger of Superore which was already aiming at her.

"[Et reddet pretium] (You shall pay the price)"

"[Et nunc mutuas pecunias sumpsit infernum] (You took a loan from h.e.l.l)"

"[Nunc suus "vicis ut tergum ceciderit illuc aeternum] (Now it"s time to fall back there, eternally)"

Arima one more time advanced his chant. It was evident in his voice that he was struggling "(We won"t go far if I can"t use my stronger Arts)"

"{Use the Fourth White Art}" Night proposed and Arima"s eyes widened. He unconsciously looked at the sky even if he couldn"t see.

He smirked "(I"m already trying to finish the Black Art"s chant… seriously)" He made up his mind and punched the ground. The planet quaked and the earth crumbled. His figure was hidden for a second and he managed to escape Trevy"s anti-matter explosion.

Arima inhaled and dodged Odin"s spear. He then summoned a new formation and Ambor became confused when he saw through it "I don"t know what you"re planning but," He muttered and unsheathed his own sword. Lightning sparkled around it "[Fifth Black Art, Aeterna, Leo]" He chanted and swung his sword.

The lightning lion roared and ran up to the sky. Arima"s expression twitched "I realized you can"t absorb your own elemental magic. Because you added too much theory behind it. Most of them lost the definition of an element and are purely what you call an Art" Ambor grinned and Arima scoffed.

"{I"ll do it}" Karma shined and turned back into a human woman. Her sudden appearance threw off a lot of the Pillars. She summoned a copy of her herself and grabbed it. She channeled her mana "[Fifth Black Art, Aeterna, Pisces]" She conjured her magic and two fish materialized to stop the attack.

When the whole thing exploded, Karma stuck out her tongue at Ambor and turned back into a sword in Arima"s hand. Meanwhile, the latter finished his incantation "[Fourth White Art, Funem ad Caelum] (Rope to Heaven)"

From his palm, a white rope was shot at the sky. Arima snickered and moved Karma to parry a huge blow which sent him flying until he crashed on the ground. He stood up instantly and evaded Apep"s bite again.

He then looked up and saw as Ahura descended to hit him once more. Arima chuckled and fired Superore at her. She just waved her hand and her light magic easily stopped the bullets. She reached Arima and landed another blow on him with her palm.

At this point, Arima was just bones. But he still felt a large amount of pain going through his body when he suffered that blow "I see, a mix of light and life magic. I can"t absorb it because it"s not fully elemental and because my undead statute rejects it. As always, you"re quick-witted, Ahura" Arima had actually no memory about her but his mouth was saying that by itself.

"It"s the same for you. You"re as vicious, Angra" She responded and struck with another wave of white and blue light. Arima felt paralyzed for a moment but he ultimately stomped the ground and used Ragnarök to destabilize Ahura before kicking her.

"You"re not as strong, unfortunately"

Ahura smiled "I"m not alone, Angra"

Arima had a bad feeling and looking behind him and he immediately lost everything. His eyesight and taste were already out of the picture but he abruptly lost his sense of smell, hearing, and touch. He could only rely on his mana sense but he could only feel a single aura which coming from everywhere around him "Nyx!" Arima exclaimed.

He urgently improvised a light-attribute magic and cast it. The surroundings became filled with a bright light and the absolute darkness vanished. When he recovered his senses, the first thing he saw were the countless magic coming at him "…f.u.c.k" He cursed and everything exploded on him.

Odin"s familiars released a large energy discharge. Ishtar covered the entire zone with calming and arousing effects. Anubis acted for the first time and the water in the atmosphere was completely drained and the sand formed moved to attack.

Loki threw dozens of exploding knives. Thanatos summoned a giant crystal spear which he also threw. Kronos decided to cast as much s.p.a.ce blades as he could. Apep hissed and spat out his venom which released a poisonous fog.

Ambor cast a gravity magic of his own and Trevy provoked an anti-matter outburst. Khione used neutral magic instead of water magic and deformed the matter. Baba Yaga used illusion magic as well as her golems. Nyx cast a magic which used the moonlight to make a pillar of energy fall on the earth. Afriose released countless deadly curses and Lorus used his green magic to empower them all.

Ahura used her legacy theory and a giant eagle of light dived toward Arima and detonated into an unescapable holy explosion. The entire scene looked unreal. There were many different auras and energies mixed together. Melumnia was being ravaged, and even the planets in outer s.p.a.ce were suffering tremendous damages. All of this was only to get rid of a single person.

When all of their magic had been invoked, the Pillars relaxed as they thought it was over "It"s not over! Don"t slacken!" But Ambor"s howl and warning jolted their mind. They all rolled their eyes at him and gasped when they saw his eyes were bloodshot and bleeding. They never witnessed that and couldn"t imagine there was a magic formation capable of doing this to those evil eyes.

"[Ostende mihi faciem tuam timore] (Show me your fear)"

"[Dicite orbem tu times mortem] (Tell the world you"re afraid to die)"

Then they heard a panting and weak voice finishing the rune words. The stone stele from before glowed and came out of the destroyed ground.

"[Hoc erit iudicium tuum] (That"ll be your sentence)"

Everyone slowly looked behind them with narrowed eyes. Arima was there. He was not a dragon anymore and was just in his Kind Demon form. He seemed to be completely healed and he wasn"t a skeleton anymore. But he sounded and looked extremely weak.

"He just went back in time!" Ambor bellowed whilst covering his bleeding eyes with his hand.

Arima panted as the s.p.a.ce-Time around him was getting back to normal. When he finished the chant of the First Black Art, you could now see a hooded shadow on top of each cross. That shadow had no face or body and was holding a large black scythe. Additionally, the white rope Arima had thrown into the sky earlier was now hanging beside him, attached somewhere in outer s.p.a.ce.

Arima first waved his hand at the rope and it glowed before beginning to descend. As if there was someone invisible pulling it.

Afterward, his sigil activated and two red dots appeared under the hoods of the crosses" shadows "[First Black Art, Messor] (The Reaper)"