Life Hunter

When he stepped in, Arima"s eyes narrowed and his entire body wavered. He almost lost balance and frowned when he noticed what had just happened.

"What"s wro-!" Chulainn tried to enter just after but an invisible wall blocked him. It was the same for everyone else except Karma and Night who casually went through "Mm, does this mean only Arima"s "soul" is accepted inside?" Chulainn guessed as he rubbed his muzzle with his tail.

"I think so, but it"s not only that" Lilis said and both Karma and Night also had the same behavior as Arima when he entered.

"This…not only we lost our magic, but our life force also was forcefully limited. How is that possible?" Night exclaimed and looked at Arima.

"I don"t know. For now, Night, you resonate with me, and Karma, return to your original form" Arima instructed and his two partners nodded.

Night and Karma both became a ray light that shrouded Arima"s figure. The latter reappeared in his draconic form with Karma in his hand. He snorted and unsheathed the katana in front of the armor which was still immobile.

Arima stared at it for a moment and made the first move. He flapped his wings and kicked the ground at the same time. His body had been restrained at the fifth level at the moment and he obviously had lost most of his physical ability.

But Arima still reached the armor with incredible speed and swung Karma diagonally from below. The armor"s "eyes" shined with a red light and it moved his longsword in an opposite motion to clash with Karma.

When the two blades met each other, Arima didn"t lose time and used his tail to attack his opponent. The armor took a step to the side and deviated Karma while dodging the dragon tail. Arima didn"t resist the momentum produced by Karma and fell to the front. He put his hand on the ground and used that as a pivot to kick the armor.

The latter used his gauntlet to block the strike and his feet were buried in the ground. He then raised his sword and swung it down in a vertical motion, ready to severe Arima"s leg.

Arima used his other leg and directly used the armor"s abdomen area as a support to get away and stand up a few meters away. The armor chose to attack at that moment, he grabbed his sword with one hand and another one appeared in its other hand.

Arima clicked his tongue and parried one of the swords with Karma and the other with his tail. They both stayed stuck like that for a few seconds until Arima attempted to strike with his scabbard and made them separate.

Arima scowled and swapped his scabbard for Ira. He loaded it with physical bullets with actual explosive powder and immediately shot. The armor blocked every bullet with its swords and the red light in his eyes flashed once more as he countered Arima who a.s.saulted him one more time.

Arima"s group silently watched the two fighting against each other. They continued to accelerate over time. Arima used his tail as much as possible and even his wings to block attacks. He even had Ira to help him. But even with all of that, he was barely able to contend against that armor.

"That thing has an impressive stability and reaction time. It is not afraid of using the different parts of the armor to block attacks and it looks like it is able to keep up with Arima"s martial arts" Chulainn a.n.a.lyzed the whole thing and sighed "This fight seems to rely only on your physical and mental abilities. Magic or life force is not a thing in this "arena"" He added.

"You"re right" Lilis nodded "But I feel like there"s something wrong with all of this. In the first place, what is this armor? Is it supposed to guard Origin?" She was quite perplexed.

"I don"t know" Chulainn shrugged "But if it"s really that, then it"s too easy. Arima is having a hard time but at this rate he will win without a doubt" He said and Lilis agreed.

Meanwhile, Lanya"s eyes shined with a golden and blue light. She was observing every move in this fight since the beginning and she suddenly quivered and shouted "Arima! That armor will attack your soul directly!"

Arima heard this and his eyes narrowed. He crouched down to evade the armor"s swing and then rolled to the left by using his tail as support and pointed Ira to the armor"s helmet and fired.

The bullet actually exploded, and the helmet cracked as the armor was pushed back. Arima squinted his eyes "{If Lanya said that, it means that in five minutes, it will attack your soul. It also means that it"s strong enough for Lanya to warn you}" Night said and Arima nodded.

"{I know. Let"s try to end this faster}" He responded and gripped his katana "Karma"

"{Yes}" She answered, and her form changed to something like a small spear while the chain hanging from the handle became a lot longer. Arima grabbed Karma and threw her at the armor.

The latter"s eyes flashed, and he struck the spear with one of his swords. Karma planted in the ground behind and Arima dashed at the same moment. He charged at the armor and fired Ira, emptying an entire magazine of explosive bullets.

The armor crossed its arms to resist the blow and the next thing he saw was Arima"s fist going through the flames to punch it. The armor reacted quickly and evaded the strike before swinging his swords at Arima.

Arima used Ira to block the first blade then fired with the gun at the same time to deviate the second one. The explosion hit them both but Arima just covered his eyes, ignoring the small wounds, and profited of that moment to run around the armor with Karma"s chain in hand.

When the chain was around the armor, Arima shook it up and pulled on it at the same time, binding the armor. He then jumped back and the end of the chain he was holding became a small stake which he rooted in the ground.

Karma made it so both the stake and the spear were fixed firmly and Arima immediately rushed toward the armor once more before it could anything to free itself.

He called Superbia and smirked "Let"s try this" He put both of his guns against each other and chanted something "[Physica resonator] (Physical resonance)" The two soul weapons shined and fused together to form a sort of big double-barreled hand cannon "(Luckily I charged external batteries for this)" Arima thought and smiled.

He loaded the gun and placed it against the armor"s chest, the barrels were quickly filled with plasma coming from the magazine and the bullets rotated before leaving the barrels with a strong detonation. The armor was pierced by the bullets they exploded just after.

Arima crossed his arms and jumped away. The armor"s whole chest plate broke, and it revealed the hollow interiors filled with white runes.

Arima sighed "It should be enough, with some of the runes destroyed, it should stop moving" He declared and admired the gun he had in his hand "Maybe I should keep it like that. It"s stronger and comes with some advantages…need to find a new name"

While Arima was talking to himself, the armor"s helmet fell on the ground with everything else. The armor parts started breaking one after the other but before the helmet could suffer the same fate, the red lights in the eyeholes stared at Arima in the eyes and Lanya gasped as her draconic eyes bled one more time "Lanya!" Lilis went to her and tried to heal her.

"Again…" Lanya muttered as she stopped the activation of her draconic eyes.

"Again? What do you mean?" Lilis was confused but Chulainn"s expression changed.

"That reaction…" His eyes widened, and he turned his head toward Arima who had already shot the helmet to completely destroy it.

But it was too late and Arima let his gun fall on the ground as he held his chest like he was trying to grab his heart "Night...stop the resonance now and leave this s.p.a.ce with Karma" Arima instructed with a trembling voice.

Night was shocked, but he still stopped the resonance by himself and reappeared in his human form. It was the same for Karma as she joined him. They both looked at each other and left the area where magic was neutralized.

When Arima was left alone there, he fell on his knees and grunted. His hands were contracting, and his expression seemed to be fighting another one. His eyes were half bloodshot, and his mouth was slowly curving into a chilly smirk.

At that moment, Arima"s killing intent manifested. But unlike usual, it wasn"t controlled, refined and calm. It was pure slaughter intent, it was a big mess of bloodl.u.s.t.

Lilis saw Arima"s expression and she gulped. His eyes had become empty and emotionless. Along with the chilly grin his face was wearing, the whole thing provoked deep fear to sprout inside of her. It was the same for everyone else around.

"…The Wicked One" At that instant, Lilis muttered unconsciously.

"What?" Chulainn looked at her and exclaimed "Where did you hear that?"

"From the Time Garden… It said that The Wicked One was born while I was watching the reminiscence" Lilis responded while staring at Arima "What I saw in his past looks like how he is now. If I"m not wrong, this is…"

"What Arima is keeping deep inside his soul. That"s what this armor did, it aroused Arima"s deep darkness" Lanya finished the sentence and Lilis nodded. Lanya then looked at Night and Karma "What we heard during the local tournament when he closed his gate soul, was it this?" She asked.

"Maybe" Night answered with a complex expression "I and Karma only knew that something was hiding there. Nothing more" He said, and Karma nodded.

"Then that thing that saved Arima from h.e.l.l"s inquisitorial was this hidden darkness?" Chulainn conjectured "And that"s why he said he didn"t want to see that power anymore…" He finally understood.

At the same time, Arima started laughing with a really eerie voice and his killing intent became stronger. Even his companions were sweating a bit now.

It was the same back at the village they visited, most of the people there had already fainted from the shock while the old woman and Emilia were both extremely pale.

Arima"s body started expanding and his skin also crumbled like before. His bone structure changed, and two horns grew on his skull. The three meters tall skeleton howled and laughed madly. Every time he raised his voice, everyone in this small pocket world would shiver in fear.

"f.u.c.k off!" Among all of that, another voice resounded, and the skeleton stopped moving. Everyone also reacted when they heard that voice. It was indeed Arima"s "Your time is already over"

The skeleton"s body slowly started to regain flesh on one side and the other half tried to rip it apart while laughing "Why not? I"m a part of you. Now that this thing woke me, you won"t be able to keep me locked forever" A creepy voice resounded and Arima"s group shivered. Arima was actually talking with another part of himself.

"That"s not for you to decide" Arima retorted and the fluctuation of killing intent changed. And half of the skeleton"s bones made a cracking sound as they shrunk "Just go sleep again" The right side of the skeleton had now become Arima with flesh over those bones.

Arima used his arm and grabbed the horn on the skeletal side before crushing it. He then slowly started to get back control. His body recovered, and his evil counterpart just laughed at the result "I will come back" It said and Arima recovered his body and collapsed on the ground.

He laid on his back and looked at the sky "…s.h.i.t"