Life Hunter

Arima received everything at that moment. His aura didn"t rise or anything like that. But everything else changed. His mana went through another refinement. At this point, even Arima didn"t know how much times his mana quality and quant.i.ty had been improved. In his current state, it was sure that there would be absolutely no waste of mana every time he conjures a magic.

It was also a fact that only 10% of his entire mana pool could already be compared to all of the Pillars and Guardians gathered together. He was such a monster that the pure energy he held inside his mana pool would be enough to obliterate hundreds of thousands of planes.

Arima"s body particularly changed as he a.s.similated Angra"s full legacy. Until now, Arima had undergone many transformations and enhancements. The first one being the injection of nanomachines when he was still human. The second one was also during his human life when a miniature Eion system was lodged into his heart.

Then when he arrived into a world with magic circuits, his body went through the regular evolution of refining life force. The next one was one of the most important and maybe the one that allowed Arima to become what he is today. You could call it his "deadification". When he made one with death magic and became a skeleton.

Thereafter came the forced adaption of the Earthen Realm which altered Arima"s body to be able to resist powerful energy so that it wouldn"t burst apart when using stronger magic. Afterward, obviously, was the colossal empowerment of the Silver Emperor"s form.

After that, finally came the Life Judgement and the breakthrough into the Heavenly Realm. During that process, Arima combined the power of the Silver Emperor, Malum, the many timelines he had collected, and the resonance with Night, to form what he named the "Kind Demon". A three meters tall humanoid with gray skin, with a large ornamental robe, and a pair of dragon wings.

In that period, Arima also used the Final Resonance and meshed his cells together with Night. Later, when he finalized his integration with the Eion energy, he became a completely new species called the Eternal Dragon. Capable of recovering at an insane speed and virtually unable to run out of mana.

The following boost was the transcendence. It transformed Arima into an individual that couldn"t be harmed by elements. And also gave him the power to reflect elemental magic several times its initial power.

Then finally, after having "hunted" the original force of the strongest beings such as the Pillars and the Guardians, and collected Ambor"s eyes, we reach the state Arima currently was.

As he completely merged with Angra Mainyu, Arima"s body changed once again. Not only his eyes and the doubles irises but also his bone structure, his life essence… and for the second time, his species.

Arima"s wings were deployed instantly. His usual dragon wings became slightly bigger but the most striking thing was the black feathers that were growing on them. The combination of a dragon and a fallen angel"s wings looked shockingly pretty and quite overwhelming.

Soon enough, Arima turned into a giant beast. It wasn"t a hundred meters tall dragon anymore. Or to be exact, it was just a bit different. Those feathered wings were one of the differences but what really differed was the body shape. If before Arima still looked like a normal dragon when he was fully transformed, now it was completely humanoid.

His legs were barely bent and his arms were definitely those of a human although they were covered in thick scales. His upper body was very human-like and the muscles under the black scales were clearly defined. And the mane that went from his head to the tip of his tail was now gone and was instead concentrated around his neck. Like the mane of a lion.

One interesting fact was that Arima was wearing a sort of runic robe over his lower body; a bit like the one he wore in his Kind Demon form. He also had a pendant hanging from his neck. The symbol of that pendant was the Cross of the First Black Art.

Arima exhaled. His face was still relatively close to that of a normal dragon but the main difference was definitely the eyes. That peculiar feature which Angra Mainyu and Ahura Mazda both had; Arima possessed now four big contracted pupils that were more intimidating than ever.

"Eternal Spirit Dragon" Arima muttered as if he was in trance. These words just suddenly came to his mind and he worded them unconsciously. He looked at his own hands and body and threw a punch. The water around his fist evaporated because of the friction and giant maelstroms were instantly provoked.

If Arima had been in a real ocean instead of his soul realm, he would have created a tsunami big enough to engulf an entire planet. Or maybe that his punch would have simply destroyed the planet before that could happen.

Arima smirked as he tested his new power and at the same time, eight ominous shadows emerged around him and formed a circle. Arima glanced at them and snorted "Go away for now" He ordered and the shadows fused with his body.

Arima sighed and his body shrunk. He reverted to his human form and stretched a little. He looked at his wings and retracted them. He also covered his eyes for a second and made them turn back into normal ones.

He scanned his body and mused "I ceased to be an undead apparently" He mumbled "But it seems that I didn"t lose my immortality… Rather it"s even stronger now"

Arima stayed immobile, thinking for a few minutes, then vanished from the spot. Then, as if an explosion had occurred, a large depression was formed and the water was pushed back for hundreds of meters. Considering that this ocean was maybe quasi-infinite, the pressure of the water and the strength it would need to do that was beyond imagination. In fact, if someone even in the Heavenly Realm were to take the full pressure of that ocean, he would be crushed to death.

Only the ones allowed by Arima"s soul can move freely in that water. As Arima rushed to join his companions, one could notice easily that his speed was even greater than when he went to see Angra.

When Arima reached the first star that he had placed before, he realized that a few weeks had already pa.s.sed in this area. He looked around and spotted the figure of his companions dashing toward him. Night arrived first and grunted "It"s finished. You could have helped, seriously…" He complained then probed Arima "What happened? I"m sure that something changed while you were up there"

Arima smiled "I fully inherited Angra Mainyu"s legacy"

Night"s eyes widened and Layla and Karma arrived next "Why didn"t I experience too?"

"Because it was something unrelated to my aura or life force. And it also was kind of disconnected from you and my soul in general since it was my "ident.i.ty" that was modified" Arima waved his hand a black energy leaked out "Well, maybe Malum was affected though,"

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As Arima guessed, Malum was currently trying his best to control the new power invading his body. It"s true that they both shared the same body. But there it"s only relative.

For instance, Malum"s body was created as undead and he himself is a congregation of darkness and death magic. When that kind of mind is combined with the skeleton made by "doppelganger", the result will obviously be a genuine undead.

But now that Arima isn"t one anymore doesn"t mean that Malum will stop being an undead too. Although his body is technically the same as Arima"s, his fundamental is different. It"s the same principle for Arima"s vision.

The latter lost his sight by using a Law but Malum didn"t because he wasn"t the one who used the Law. Same thing for the Natus. Arima a.s.similated that power but it was only bound to "his" eyes. In the end, sharing bodies doesn"t mean that they will always be the same.

Ultimately, the only change Malum suffered was the alteration of his bone structure as well as his overall mana, and physique. He actually had turned into a real being made of flesh and blood. The next time he transforms into a dragon, he will be just like Arima and won"t be a walking skeleton anymore.

"Are you okay?" Shakti asked with a troubled expression. It was the third time that Malum would suddenly stop out of nowhere. It was also clear that Malum himself was annoyed if you looked at his face.

"I"m fine…"

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"In any case, let"s finalize this thing" Arima changed the subject and extended his hand toward Layla "Give me the tablet"

"This?" Layla took out the map of the magic formation and handed it to Arima. He grabbed it and quickly looked over it one last time before throwing it inside the burning star near them. The stone tablet disappeared inside and Layla blinked "Why did you do that?"

"That thing wasn"t just the map. I would"ve just given you a paper or something like that if that was the case. That tablet is actually also the key to activate the formation. I enchanted it with the correct runes. So, it should activate soon…" Arima paused and hummed "…Now"

The star suddenly started shining, and as if it was finally allowed contact, it started to vaporize the water around it. At the same time, several beams of light were shot from the star and were swiftly connected to the other stars that had been placed beforehand.

"Okay, let"s begin" Arima snapped his fingers and the vapor coming out of the star didn"t condense but actually went through the surrounding water as if it was displacing in another dimension. The vapor gathered together in many places and slowly formed diverse runes and circles.