Life Hunter

"I don"t even know myself" He responded and Karma and Night looked at each other. At the same time, the place shook again and some wood shards fell from the ceiling. Arima sighed "Let"s go" He ended his Art and the dimension around them broke apart and their vision blacked out before they found themselves in the boundless s.p.a.ce again.

In the far distance, Anubis and Trevy were rushing toward them at incredible speed. They seemed to be extremely agitated. Arima smiled. He didn"t even need to be able to see to locate Ahura who was just behind him.

He turned around and faced her. He couldn"t see her appearance at the moment but for some reason; he had an idea. At the moment, Ahura"s eyes had clearly changed. Her double irises, shining with a white and blue light. On her back, a pair of angel wings had grown and her five sacred swords were revolving behind her head, forming a sort of halo.

Night and Karma felt overwhelmed and almost couldn"t resist the urge to kneel down and pay respect. Even Arima was enticed to do that. The unknown monster residing in the deepest strata of his soul also became agitated.

"You were really close to destroying Kymestuos" Arima commented calmly "That would"ve been quite unfortunate for me since that place is a onetime thing. Once it"s destroyed, I can never use it again"

Ahura glared at Arima "Where are they?"

Arima snickered "You"re very compa.s.sionate toward your companions," His irises also split in two and glowed with a red and purple color. There was no doubt that those peculiar eyes were the mark of the ancient spirits "I think I"m starting to understand you… once more… I"m remembering you" Arima uttered "You"ve always been caring for your people. Even for me, do you remember?"

Ahura"s eyes sharpened Arima laughed "To be honest, I don"t. But I know somehow that you tried to save me from darkness many times. That is why you hate me so much and that"s also why you are unwilling to unleash your power on me. You"re hesitating. I betrayed you many times. But today, you"re beginning to wonder if I finally changed. And the fact that I killed your friends is tearing you apart. Am I right?"

Ahura fell silent and grabbed one her swords without saying a word "One last time, Angra. Where are they?"

Arima approached her in the empty s.p.a.ce and signaled Karma and Night to step back. Trevy and Anubis arrived afterward but Ahura made the same kind of gesture as Arima.

The latter stopped right in front of Ahura. The two were less than a meter apart. Arima was taller and looked down at Ahura "If you want to know that badly; they are in h.e.l.l. Being judged and repenting. They are alive. But for them to get out and stay alive only depends on whether or not you know how to choose your subordinates"

Ahura tightened her grip on her sword "Are you expecting me to let you go?"

"That"s indeed what I expect you to do" Arima smirked and the two pairs of mystic eyes stared at each other. If anyone was between them at the moment, they would"ve been killed by the waves of spirit.

"On what basis do you a.s.sume that?"

"That fact that you still didn"t kill me" Arima retorted and Ahura sneered "Just admit it already. You"re faltering. If I was still the same evil you knew me as then you wouldn"t have even cared about the Pillars and would"ve just killed me now and here" He added and Ahura raised her sword and gritted her teeth.

She held her sword for a moment and trembled before lowering it. Her swords and wings vanished as her eyes returned to normal, and so did Arima"s.

"Angra Mainyu, this shall be the last chance I give you. If you break my trust once more, I will chase you eternally until you die"

"Don"t worry, Ahura Mazda. You won"t regret it" Arima responded and turned around. He grew a pair of wings and flapped them in the vacuum. He joined with Night and Karma and abruptly enjambed an invisible object. When he sat down, a four-wheeled motorbike was revealed.

Ahura squinted her eyes to observe the vehicle. She immediately recognized it as an artifact made by an untouchable ent.i.ty. She realized that Arima didn"t even need to confront her like that and could"ve just left without her even noticing "…Before you go, tell me your plans" She demanded and Arima looked back at her with a smile.

"I"m going to do what you were supposed to do" He lightly laughed and Ahura scowled at him.

"What are you implying?"

"Well, as we speak, I have some people, along with the former Guardians, gathering an army for me" Arima placed both of his hands on the handlebar of his bike "I never planned to use it against you" He declared and Ahura"s eyes widened.

"Are you telling me that you actually fought us alone while knowing that you would win?"

"Of course," Arima nodded "I acknowledge the fact that I had that confidence"

"Then what about the words you told me earlier? You said that I would most likely survive and that we would meet in the future… Was that a bluff?"

"No," Arima shook his head and straightened his back "That was a simple tactic for you to heighten your guard. Like that, I knew that you would be awfully concerned about the First Black Art and would not use your full power until it was activated. Simply because you didn"t want to be surprised without any last resort. You also thought about your comrades" Arima chuckled "You"re definitely not suited to be on the bad guys" side"

He joked and Ahura didn"t even smile a bit. Arima scratched his cheek and shrugged "Well, maybe you"re not really on the bad side…" He muttered and Ahura"s expression twitched.

"…You still didn"t answer my question" She said and Arima grinned.

"I going to conquer all of the mother realities and get rid of the Original Creators myself. G.o.d and Devil alike" He proclaimed and Ahura closed her eyes to ponder.

"Why?"

""Why"?" Arima tilted his head "Because that"s the right thing to do of course. There shouldn"t be anything like that existing in this world. Original Devil, Original G.o.d; what kind of bulls.h.i.t is that? We don"t even know who they are or what they are. We don"t know what they think of or what their goal is. But in any case, I would never accept that kind of being"

"They call themselves G.o.ds and play with realities for their own little strife. Those two "Creators"; can"t they fight themselves instead of dragging billions of people with them? I will never accept some kind of abstract existence ruling over my destiny" Arima stated and Ahura looked at him with a really deep and contemplating look.

"…I really hope you are not lying to me, Angra" She mumbled and went to Anubis and Trevy "We are leaving" She said and her two subordinates nodded with a darkened face "I won"t help you in your endeavor, Angra" She paused and opened her mouth for a second before closing it again "…I wish you good luck" She ultimately said and teleported away with the remaining Pillars.

Arima mildly smiled after she left and Night sighed "Well, things turned out for the best" He remarked and Karma affirmed.

"Yes, I didn"t think it would end this easily, to be honest" She added and turned toward Arima "But what you said; how do you envisage to use the mother realities to beat the Creators? Conquering them alone won"t do anything. We don"t even know how the Original Devil plans to use them to beat the Original G.o.d"

"She"s right" Night nodded "We don"t have any idea about the power hidden inside the mother realities or even how to use it. We are not even sure that it"s something usable by us"

"We"ll figure it out one way or another" Arima nonchalantly responded and Night grunted. Arima chuckled "Well, It"s not like I don"t have any idea on the question. But like I said, we"ll figure it out later"

"Yeah sure, I"m getting used to your insouciance" Night waved his hands "Then what about this; do you actually have a way to travel through realities?"

Arima laughed "Of course not"

"Mm," Night nodded exaggeratedly "I knew that" He uttered and Karma giggled.

"That"s why we should go" Arima raised his voice and used his bike"s throttle. Arima had actually called Deva just before casting Kymestuos. He had left her back on Earth when Raylein took him to Melumnia and she had been sleeping until now.

"We have some work to do" Arima declared and his figure faded away as the wheels of the bike fumed. Karma and Night also disappeared just after and the trio arrived in another plane in just a few seconds.