Life Hunter

If he looked behind him, he would also see several silhouettes made of light. They were, of course, his entire group, if you looked at it closely, you could easily distinguish the shapes, particularly Chulainn"s.

Arima tried to run into Utain with the bike but he just pa.s.sed through him, he also tried to bring him like everyone else, but he noticed that he could only do that between the moment Deva left the normal world and enters the grayish one.

Arima abandoned the idea of taking Utain and leave him in the middle of absolutely nowhere and immediately went toward the combat zone.

He pa.s.sed by everyone fighting there and found Azes fighting against Baphomet with Zeus. He instantly decided what to do and rode Deva away. He stopped on top of a concealed mountain and made sure to hide his aura and his group"s before pushing the brake pedal.

When he did so, the world regained its colors and his companions reappeared beside him. Arima grunted dismounted the bike. He panted a little and wiped off the sweat on his forehead "s.h.i.t, this thing drains my mana when I make short and precise movements" He complained, and the bike turned back into a cube before entering Arima"s soul.

"What do we do?" Lanya asked Arima when they were all aware of where they were.

"We need to be quick, that guy will come here without a doubt. Lilis, call Azes and tell him to come here" Arima instructed and Lilis immediately acted "I hope he did what I asked"

When Azes received the signal, he cast one last magic on Baphomet, which the latter completely brushed off with a single swing of his sword, and hastily went toward Arima"s group.

"What"s your plan?" Azes inquired when he landed beside Arima.

"Did you retrieve some?" Arima responded with another question and Azes then remembered what Arima had asked him.

"I did" He waved his hand and tens of devil corpses appeared around them. Arima smiled and nodded.

"That should be enough" He said and went to one of the bodies and placed his hand on it "[Vita Venari] (Life Hunt)" He chanted, and a blue mist escaped the body to form a sphere just above. After that, that sphere grew some sort of tentacles and started sucking the life force of the other corpses. At the same time, a black magic circle formed above that sphere, like a halo.

"This is…" Lilis muttered as she remembered something. It was the same for Night and Lanya. They recognized the runes and formations on that circle.

Arima grinned "I don"t use them often. Here"s two of them for you" He declared, and the sphere started to slowly ascend.

"[Auribus percipite verba mea, ut sint imperio] (Heed my words, they are rule)" Arima began chanting and the black circle glowed.

"[Tantum mors tua, erit anima tua erunt] (Only death is yours, your life will be mine)"

The black circle glowed and suddenly expanded, covering the sky. At that point, of course, most of the fighters noticed that circle. All of them, without exception, glanced at the sky and scowled at the unknown runes and formations on the circle.

"[Aliquam venari, dum sequuntur contigerint erit tristis neque turbulentus] (It"s time to hunt, the chase won"t stop)" While he was chanting, Arima"s slowly changed into a silver emperor.

"[Quod est de lege vitae Venator] (That is the law of the Life Hunter)" Arima finished chanting and the circle started spinning, the inner circles also did the same and the runes glowed with a red light.

"[Second Black Art, Vita Messis] (Life Harvest)" Arima said his keyword and the black formation in the sky grew tentacles that first aimed at the corpses across the battlefield. They pierced the bodies and started sucking the life force out of them before giving it to the continuously growing blue sphere.

"This art needs external energy to grow at first. That"s what the corpses you gave me are for" Arima explained "Now, this circle is able to attack others and suck their life force to increase the storage to then attack stronger people. Continuously. But well, it has a limit. It can"t rob the life force of people at the second divine or higher considering my own level. Most people can also resist the attraction"

Arima said as he was drawing a second black circle on thin air. This one was simple and had a pentagram in its center like the one Baphomet used "Next" Arima smirked and declared.

He snapped his fingers and the circle he drew became particles that dispersed in the air. Everyone on the battlefield was still confused because of the black circle that was sucking the life force of the dead and weaker. But they all refrained from destroying it since it could explode and kill even more of them.

Only the stronger ones, almost ignored the circle since they realized that it couldn"t affect them and instead worked on finding the caster.

Meanwhile, Utain had almost reached the combat zone and understood what the circle was for in a second "A large-scale life hunt"

He wasn"t the only one worrying about it, in fact, the strongest ones, Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, Michael, Lucifer, Satan, Baphomet, Vastra, Aphrodite…they all noticed that this magic was actually sucking the life force and not the life energy like almost everyone else misunderstood.

And they all knew that; life force draining was the ability of an extinct race. While they were all thinking that, the black particles Arima had released earlier were dispersed across the entire battlefield.

"Your formation will have to leave, Baphomet" Arima smirked and began his second chant.

"[Omnia pervenire non esse in mea potestate] (Everything I reach will be under my control)"

"[Qui sub imperio meae erunt mihi servientes] (Those under my rule will be serving me)" The black particles fell on Baphomet"s pentagram and commenced to corrode it. No one noticed that except the caster of the pentagram himself.

Baphomet"s eyes narrowed and glanced at his pentagram that was slowly being overwritten by another "(The same person? How strong is his magic theory? And how can he cast these magics so easily?)" He was astounded.

"What"s wrong Baphomet? Don"t lose focus!" Zeus shouted and brought his hammer down one more time with lightning. Baphomet sneered and extended his hand toward Zeus.

"[Negative Burst]" A dark dome formed around him and blocked the hammer and the lightning before expanding and pushing back the lightning G.o.d "(He really chose his moment. No one can stop him now)" Baphomet thought. At the same moment, a huge sonic boom resounded above him and a shadow pa.s.sed by. Baphomet looked up and snorted "(Utain)"

"The Destroyer" Zeus also muttered. Apparently, Utain was quite popular.

"He"s coming" Lanya informed everyone and Chulainn sighed. He jumped out from the mountain and howled. His transformation began. He recovered his original size and his two other heads. Kerberos officially entered the war and was big enough to be seen by everyone.

Utain clicked his tongue and was forced to stop his charge. He was now facing the h.e.l.lhound and his flames.

"So, he really managed to come back" Far away, Karez mumbled. He had erased his presence from the start and was waiting for an occasion to act.

"[Sive per vitam mortem ...] (Through life or death…)" Meanwhile, Arima resumed his chant and the circle of Baphomet was almost entirely covered by Arima"s particles.

"[Nec refert, qui] (It doesn"t matter which)"

"[Third Black Art, Imperium diaboli] (Devil"s supremacy)" When Arima finished his chant, Baphomet"s formation immediately lost its power and was replaced by Arima"s black pentagram.

The Evil G.o.d grunted and became slightly irritated. He stomped the earth with his hoof and a blood-colored aura surrounded him. A huge eye opened on his great sword and he swung it with his full strength. A red wave of energy escaped the blade"s edge and struck Zeus directly.

The explosion following that, engulfed both angels and devils around. The shockwave spread for tens of miles and it was at that moment that Arima"s third art showed its power.

It affected the corpses first, like with Baphomet"s circle. But it didn"t suck any energy. Instead, all of those touched by the pentagram would suddenly open their eyes and stand up. All of those corpses stood up and stayed immobile in the same place just after.

Baphomet looked wide-eyed at those dead men standing across the battlefield. He was a master of death and occult but even for him, it was hard to create undead. To be exact, it was hard to create undead capable of keeping their original strength.

And that"s exactly what happened. If you ignore the ones that had their life force sucked by the second black art, those that were at the second and third divine when they were alive came back in perfect condition to fight again.

"This is…" Baphomet wasn"t the only one shocked, Vastra was also greatly shaken. But for another reason. She felt her control over her minions gradually weakening.

Arima"s third art had two properties. It could, first, revive the dead as mindless zombies and, two, control the mind of the weaker minded.

Since the people under Vastra"s control already had a weakened mind, Arima"s magic easily infiltrated it and then clashed directly with Vastra"s spirit.

At that point, most people stopped fighting. Even Hades and Poseidon slowed down. They were now all perfectly aware that there was an individual acting in this war. And that individual had a terrifying magic theory and mana quant.i.ty. Furthermore, he wasn"t on the side of anyone. He was attacking both Heaven and h.e.l.l"s forces.

In the end, they all turned to look at where Chulainn and Utain were combatting. They understood that this individual was most likely behind Chulainn.

"I think it"s time" Arima said weakly, he was already at his limit. Even for him, maintaining these two arts after using Deva was too much. Even if he was in his silver emperor form.

"Yes, it is" After Arima spoke, a much darker and eerier voice resounded. Arima"s group froze in place but Arima himself just smiled.

"Unfortunately, you won"t be able to take control" He said and mounted Deva one more time. His right hand had already begun to lose its flesh "Night, Karma" He called his two partners and they both nodded. Night resonated, and Karma entered his soul.

"By the way, you didn"t stop me when I attacked Heaven"s forces. Why?" Arima asked Azes before leaving.

Azes looked back at him a bit surprised "…I didn"t stop you because they"re both your enemies anyway. I"m sure that Heaven will chase you once they see you. I just think that it"s fair" He answered.

"Is it only that?" Arima smirked and probed. His voice this time was different, it sounded like Arima talked at the same time as his counterpart.

Even Azes trembled as he saw Arima"s neck being changed into bones "I think I found out what your goal is" Arima said and placed both of his hands on the handle "Lanya, stay with Lilis" He added and accelerated.

This time, he didn"t go into that "gray world" but just rode Deva and went toward the giant blue sphere in the sky "So you chose to use this to start the Life Judgment, huh?" Arima was now half human, half skeleton. His right side already had grown a horn on the skull.

"Of course. Best choice, don"t you think?" Arima laughed while he was riding his bike. From the battlefield, everyone spotted Arima slowly going up in the sky.

"The Life Hunter" Zeus muttered when he saw him. Baphomet also saw Arima and didn"t stay idle. He pointed his sword at Arima and gathered his magic at the tip of the blade.

Arima instantly felt the intent toward him and smirked. He went full throttle and disappeared inside the blue sphere. Baphomet snorted and pointed his sword at Zeus instead.

A red sphere formed at the tip and became a giant energy wave. Zeus gritted his teeth. He was already injured because of the last explosion. As expected, Baphomet was strong.

When Zeus was about to defend against the energy wave. A white light surrounded him, and he teleported away. The energy wave hit the ground and exploded into a large pillar of blood colored energy.

"This…" Zeus looked at himself when he reappeared miles away from where he was. His body had entirely recovered and most of his strength was back.

"Are you okay?" He heard a sweet voice talking to him and turned around to see a gracious angel with six wings slowly descending. Her presence alone emanated holiness and pureness. Her eyes momentarily stopped on the congregation of life force "{We have to end this quickly. A Life Hunter is coming, we don"t know how strong he will be}" She said to every member of Heaven"s army through the telepathic link.

"{Azes, help Zeus to fight Baphomet. I"ll take care of the support}" She said and Azes complied immediately.

"Sorry, but you"ll have to take care of Utain alone with Kerberos" Azes said to Lilis and Lanya before flying away.

"We have to wait for him now" Lanya muttered as she looked at the blue sphere in the sky. Her draconic eyes were activated, and she knew that even in the next five minutes, Arima still won"t be back.

From that point onward, the war reached its summit. Mostly because everyone was going all out to finish this before Arima ends his Life Judgment. Meanwhile, Karaskan was ready to act and Karez was prepared to move.