Life Hunter

All of those reapers were crazily digging the ground with their scythe. The Pillars observed the scene with strange looks. They had already tried to destroy them and not only the reapers, but even the crosses were also invulnerable.

At the same time, they all trembled when they felt a warm light illuminating the planet. They peeked at the sky and spotted a really bright star slowly moving toward them. They could also see that it was attached to the rope Arima had thrown previously. That star was even bigger than Melumnia which was the biggest planet in the entire Reality. That thing was a monster of nature. Even a Guardian wouldn"t be able to easily face if it"s falling on them.

"…Are you crazy?" Ambor muttered unconsciously while his pupils were shifting back and forth, a.n.a.lyzing everything happening around him "That star alone can annihilate Melumnia. But with that magic he just activated, I can"t say if we"ll survive…" He told to everyone and glanced at Ahura. She nodded at him and he immediately gave his instructions.

"Everyone, continue fighting Angra Mainyu. Only Trevy and Anubis will get to stop this star" He ordered and the Pillars complied without much hesitation.

"[Resurrection]" Anubis and Trevy chanted at the same time before flying away toward the star. Trevy"s body expanded and became a sort of giant devil made of anti-matter. Anubis howled and everything around him transformed into grains of sand. Even the air became sand and followed him.

"[Resurrection]" The Pillars now knew that they couldn"t hold back anything against Arima. And even if he looked weakened at the moment, most of them still used their Soul Resonance. All, except Ahura, Ambor, and Afriose, began to incant their Soul Manifestations.

The pressure provoked by the concentrated auras even managed to make Arima groan and tilt "{…This may end really badly}" Night commented and Arima snorted.

"Will it really?"

"{…Of course. You used the Linearity Law again. You"re weak as heck right now. And if you ever try to travel in time again, or even use any other Law, you"ll definitely die. I guess we"re going to be beaten soon}" Night retorted "{Or do you have maybe a brilliant idea to get out of here? If Layla was here, there may be a possibility. But you alone; it"s almost impossible. Particularly when you trapped yourself in the middle of your own magic along with your enemies}"

Arima snickered "Easy as pie"

"{Can you make a pie?}"

"…I can" Arima gripped Karma with his deadpan expression and froze when his hand suddenly quivered and refused to move. The many enemies were already rushing at him, ready to kill him "We can"t avoid it after all… I"m counting on you, Karma" Arima mumbled and his katana shined.

Ambor"s vision was then abruptly overwhelmed by two different magic formations. Both of them were part of the set of Arts he had found out about.

"[Third Red Art, Semita Vitisque Repertor]" Arima chanted and his figure phased. He went through the opening between the Pillars in the blink of an eye. At the same time, he chanted another magic.

"[Bibe sanguinem meum] (Drink my blood)"

"[Karma]"

"{We"re going with that after all, huh?}"

The chain hanging down Karma"s handle coiled and swirled. Its shape changed and became a chainmail snake which bit Arima"s arm until its fangs pierced the bones. Arima"s expression contorted and he gritted his teeth.

While he was escaping everyone, he swung his sword once and halted after he had bypa.s.sed them all. Karma was glowing dangerously while as he stood still. He sighed strongly and his eyes were oriented toward his rear.

Ahura"s eyes widened and she jumped back. Loki, Afriose, and Ambor followed her too. They all looked like they had just escaped death. And it was quite accurate. A second later, they saw two individuals falling on the ground. Their heads rolled on the ground and all the Pillars looked at them in shock. One of them was enormous.

Apep and Ishtar died just like that. Everyone was frozen in place. Actually, they had all taken a step back. When Arima swung his sword earlier, most of them immediately reacted and tried to move as fast as possible. In the end, only Ishtar and Apep had died to that strike. Mainly because Arima was aiming at them princ.i.p.ally. Ishtar caused him quite a lot of problem earlier, and Apep could erase his presence easily. That"s why Arima gave his all to take care of them first.

Kronos, Lorus, Khione, Baba Yaga, and Nyx had their hands on their neck with a really perturbed look. Kronos frowned as he saw a drop of blood flowing down. When he put down his hand, the wound had healed but there was still a line of drying blood. It was the same for the others.

Arima"s sigil glowed at that exact moment. Ambor shook "What are you doing?! Destroy their life force! Now!" He shouted and Thanatos was the one who moved. He seemed to be totally unfazed by the near death he just experienced. He immediately cast a soul breaking formation on both Apep"s and Ishtar"s bodies.

Arima clicked his tongue and Ambor sighed. He looked back at Arima and squinted his eyes. They were hurting him badly but he still did his best to a.n.a.lyze Arima"s actions "It"s soon over. He just used a technique sacrificing every defense in return for displacement ability. Just one hit, and we win"

Arima snickered and turned around. He raised Karma and displayed it for everyone. The chainmail snake was still there and the blade seemed to grow pulsing veins from the base "For ten minutes, it will suck my blood. I want to know how much of you I can kill until the end" He smirked.

The Second Cryptic Art is a self-harming magic. It"s not exactly the same as Malum"s Berserk Arts though. The principle is simple. Karma will cling to the wielder and will start sucking his blood. In this theory, blood is not what flows through your veins only.

Technically, Arima doesn"t require blood to live. But every living being has "blood". When you say that something flows through your veins, it flows across your entire being. It"s not only physical. It"s also connected to you at a fundamental level. You have no blood; you die.

That"s what we call blood essence. It"s different from life energy. If you lose your life energy, that means your life expectancy diminishes. But when you lose blood essence, it"s your basic vital force that you lose. The more blood essence you lose, the weaker you are. That, until you die.

That meant that at this moment, Arima was getting weaker over time "But," Arima chuckled "I can get that back with your life force. So, I won"t run out of strength as long as I kill you" He uttered and pointed Karma at his opponents "This is my strongest form. Usually, I shouldn"t be able to attack while using the Third Red Art; because even the rebound of my attacks would get through my physical resistance"

"But in this case, Karma is the one putting you down. I just have to wield her to cut you down. And each time I injure you, your blood essence will lessen" Arima jeered and the ones who had been cut shuddered.

Kronos produced lightning and stared at his own hand. The others gasped when they felt the difference. It was minor, but definitely there.

"Well, of course, blood essence is recoverable. But you"ll need even more than a few days for that. That"s why…" Karma glowed with a red hue "Right now, I"m the strongest here" He mumbled and disappeared from the spot.

Everyone shivered again. That speed was unimaginable. Even if they could more or less react after they had seen it once. They still couldn"t do anything as Arima appeared next to Lorus. The old elf made a tree grow instantly right next to him.

That tree"s leaves shined strongly and, normally, the trunk of that plant should have been tough enough to resist one blow from a transcendental. But even so, Karma easily went through it but the time it took allowed Lorus to dodge.

Afterward, the battle resumed. Everyone profited of the small time gained by Lorus and attacked Arima. They knew that they could only win if they were on the offensive. Arima was in a state where even a weak individual would kill him in one hit. It was the best way to deal with him now.

"Odin! Release your Soul Summoning!" Ambor directed and Odin raised his halberd. It instantly changed into a red spear full of killing intent.

"{Is that Gungnir? This may be a problem…}" Arima frowned at that while dodging every strike coming at him. Even Loki"s daggers which were extremely threatening and deceitful, couldn"t touch him. He wasn"t the only one who couldn"t land a strike anymore. Even Afriose, Baba Yaga, and Nyx were wearing a really complex expression.

Particularly Afriose, his curses should"ve already affected Arima strongly. But at the moment, Arima was actually ignoring them. Baba Yaga jumped back from the fight after she had been protected from Arima"s trike by Thanatos "Thank you…" She said and stared at Arima"s fleeting figure "What is that? Can he actually escape everything and anything? Even intangible things?"

"It seems so" Nyx agreed and Afriose clicked his tongue.

"If I could touch him even once, no matter if he"s strong or not, thanks to the Stavrós Astéri, I would kill him instantly" He complained and gritted his teeth.

"It"s not the time to nag about it" Khione, the snow loli, fell back too and told them. Her body seemed to have been cut a few places already "We can"t go on like this. If we continue to fight, we"ll gradually lose all of our blood essence and get killed. Even Lady Ahura has been harmed already. The fact that we can"t use our elemental magic at its fullest against him is a true predicament. But at the same time, he also can"t continue for long. If his blood essence is truly being sucked at the moment, he won"t last long if he doesn"t kill one of us…!"

Khione suddenly froze and her eyes narrowed "Khione!" Ambor shouted as he did his best to keep his bleeding eyes open.

"It"s fine to talk. But don"t forget there"s someone who wants to kill you all right now" An eerie voice echoed.

The G.o.ddess of snow shivered as she felt an enormous killing intent coming from behind her. She heard Karma"s blade slicing through the air. She sensed the impending death and made a decision in the split of a second.

Maybe she acted because she had no other choice, or maybe because she was too scared and did it on instinct; "[Snow Kingdom]!" She realized what she had done only after she couldn"t stop it anymore. The full power of her Soul Manifestation was released on Arima.

The temperature dropped considerably and it started snowing on at least a quarter of the planet. A castle made of ice and snow was built around Khione to protect her and attack for her. Arima smirked and placed his hand on the castle. The entire structure, as well as the snow around, turned into a light beam which flew inside Arima"s chest.

"Thank you" Arima snorted and waved his hand "[Snow Kingdom]" He chanted. Literally, he was not casting a magic, but just reflecting it. So, it didn"t affect him in the slightest and didn"t harm him even with the Third Red Art active.

When he sent back that magic, the snow and the ice turned back against the Pillars and another castle formed. But around Arima this time. The latter took Khione off guard and cut her head after he had immobilized her with her own Soul Manifestation. He immediately took her life force and smiled.

At the same time, many other things were happening. Odin was about to throw Gungnir, Anubis and Trevy were about to reach the falling star, Lorus was making a giant tree grow, Ahura a.s.saulted Arima alone after he had killed Khione, and Ambor seemed to be preparing a magic.

But the most stressful thing was that the reapers of the First Black Art had stopped digging and went inside their hole instead. Then, the earth around the Crosses stared being corroded by some strange miasma. Everything it touched would become dark and deprived of light.