Life Hunter

As the life force itself was falling like pieces of broken gla.s.s, a winged shadow could be spotted in the middle of everything.

The G.o.ds and devils squinted their eyes and what they saw struck them as unreal. Azes smirked as he saw the figure falling. Lilis, Lanya, and Chulainn smiled wryly as they watched from afar. Michael took a glimpse and Lucifer also stared. And particularly Baphomet and Ifrit were observing solemnly.

As Arima was falling down, he reminded what he had just talked about with Triens.

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"Now, it"s time to receive your t.i.tle" Triens declared while he was alone in the dark s.p.a.ce. From an outside perspective, it was like he was talking to himself.

But Arima"s soul was definitely there, attentively listening "First of all, I have to congratulate you on your success. I know that you may dislike me for the things that happened here, but I still want to congratulate you" Triens said.

"Back to the main point now, you pa.s.sed the Life Judgement. You will break through the Heavenly Realm the moment you wake up. Thus, I have to inform you, you will go through the refinement ritual. The process which allows someone to become an Earthen G.o.d" He explained.

"Remember that Chronepsis gave you the different designations you will be called within your lifetime. As you may already know, he listed them to you in the chronological order, with Plane Guardian being the last. The two you recently got are the "Wicked One" and "Arimane Reigen Blade""

"Of course, the Wicked One corresponds to Malum and the second is just your full name. But I want you to never forget the latter. Your name is more important than you may think" Triens stated but Arima couldn"t question him about it at that moment.

"Now, I"m sure you know what will be your next t.i.tle, right?" Triens smiled and said "For that, they will all fuse" He added and Arima was perplexed about what he meant.

"Your refinement will unfold like this: synthesis" Triens declared "Your multiple powers are all powerful and unique and they"re going to be your strength"

"So, with Night Bahamut, the Silver Rule, the Wicked one, and, of course, Arimane R. Blade. The Kind Demon will be born" Triens smirked and Arima felt his soul leaving the strange world made of darkness. Just as he was about to disappear, that same darkness was suddenly replaced by a bright and colorful light.

Triens bowed "Farewell"

The next second, Arima opened his eyes and he destroyed the Life Harvest immediately.

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When Arima landed, a huge cloud of dust hid his figure but there was something that almost everyone noticed. There was something really different with Arima compared to before. But before they could check it out, the dust cloud was blown away and dispersed. Everyone could only see a small whirlwind in the middle.

Before they could react, they heard a short scream and looked hastily in a certain direction. When their eyes finally saw Arima, the time stopped for them.

The G.o.ds looked astounded and even Ifrit stood up with a serious expression. Baphomet frowned and Azes, who was the one putting the most hopes in Arima, was also greatly shocked by the sight.

Aphrodite was gaping as she stared at the figure who cast a shadow over her. Before she was able to react, that person had already acted and Vastra was now lying on the ground a meter away from her.

She observed Arima and gulped. His height had now reached three meters like Malum, his bones had changed and his muscles adapted. He had long silver hair, reaching the middle of his back. His skin had turned grayish and almost looked like the surface of a polished stone.

His facial features underwent a huge change too. His pupils were bigger and his look sharper than before. His eyes were of a beautiful bright crimson with a hint of purple in the middle of the pupil which was in a slit. The l.u.s.ter in his eyes reflected the dignity and wisdom that should only be acquirable after thousands of years.

Arima"s clothes also changed. His usual clothes that were bound to his soul transformed with him. His coat had become a lot bigger and silver lines were drawn on the original black color. It looked like some light was pa.s.sing through them each second.

On top of that, there were purple and red ornaments and patterns that accented the stunning appearance of the clothing. And in fact, the coat almost could be called a magnificent robe at this point.

On Arima"s back, his robe was decorated with a single white symbol which depicted something like a pair of chained wings with, on top of it, a pair of horns. Then, there seemed to be things like large vines around it. And encompa.s.sing all of this, there was a circle decorated with runes. All of this seemingly representing, the Wicked One, a Dragon, and the Silver Emperor.

And finally, of course, Arima had now a pair of large, pitch black dragon wings. His arms were also covered by tough scales. His hands particularly seemed to look very strong like the claws of a true dragon.

"Just like that, the Kind Demon is born" Triens"s voice resounded in Arima"s head and the world started moving again for everyone.

But although they wanted to speak up or observe Arima closer, the only thing they could do was watch Arima leisurely raising his hand covered in scales "[Superbos Furore] (Pride in wrath)" He called with a cold and strong voice.

A black light flashed and he grabbed a hand-cannon coming from his soul which had two barrels on top of another. That gun was the result of Superbia and Ira"s fusion. Its size was quite big and almost impossible to use for a human. But right now, with Arima"s appearance, it fitted perfectly and just looked like a powerful revolver in his hand.

Arima pointed his gun at Vastra"s head and a purple plasma filled one of the barrels while the other one produced black lightning "Azes, should I consider Heaven as an enemy or a friend?" Arima asked with a cold voice that echoed strongly around him, greatly affecting anyone who heard it.

Particularly Aphrodite. She was shivering in fear because Arima glanced at her when he said that. Those eyes of his were igniting her deepest fears.

"…As long as you save her, there shouldn"t be any problem" Azes pointed at Gabriel and answered.

"Hey, Azes!" Zeus shouted but he ignored him.

Arima peeked at Gabriel and then Lucifer who was looking at him with an apprehensive expression "Fine, then" Arima said and fired without hesitation.

"Wai-!" Vastra tried to plead for her life but she could only move her hand a bit before a dense wave of black and purple energy struck her and completely annihilated her body. The ma.s.sive attack that left Superore"s muzzles continued for hundreds of miles after it killed Vastra and just disappeared from everyone"s sights instead of losing its power.

Arima put down his fuming gun and Aphrodite gulped. She looked ahead and saw a wide, linear crater that was still fuming and glowing red because of the sudden heat. She looked back at Arima"s weapon and felt scared. Just a single press on that trigger killed Vastra. Although she was weakened, that was overkill.

After that, Arima suddenly made his gun spin in his hand and pointed it to his left without looking, he pressed the trigger once more and Beelzebub"s humongous body was struck directly by the two combined bullets of the hand cannon.

The demon who was charging at Arima shifted his body to the side but half of his body had still been scorched and turned to ashes. Beelzebub looked at his half-destroyed body and touched his burnt injuries. A remnant of lightning electrocuted his arm and he then looked at Arima with a smirk.

His body started bulging and a huge chunk of flesh grew in his obliterated side. The flesh moved and then shaped itself to look like Beelzebub"s lost limbs. His body recovered in an instant.

Beelzebub opened and closed his fist then laughed as he threw a punch at Arima. The latter was three meters tall at the moment but the huge demon, after his Manifestation, had now become a giant monster of ten meters in height.

His fist became endowed with a ma.s.sive amount of unstable neutral magic, ready to explode the moment it touched something.

Aphrodite who was still beside Arima gasped and closed her eyes as she put her arms in front of her face. But when the explosion came, she only felt the earth rumbling under her feet and the heat being released. But nothing else, she was completely fine "Huh?" She was surprised and opened her eyes to see a black wing deployed right in front of her.

Meanwhile, Arima was calmly blocking Beelzebub"s fist with one palm. When the explosion died down, Arima folded back his fuming, but unscathed wing before calling Karma in his hand. The sword had become bigger to fit its wielder"s size. He put away Superore and pushed Beelzebub away with his aura only. He then unsheathed the katana just in front of the demon.

But after only a tenth of the blade was revealed, he pushed the scabbard back to the hilt and when the metallic sound resounded, Beelzebub"s head fell on the ground.

Aphrodite stared wide-eyed at the scene and she wasn"t alone, no one on this battlefield dared to move at the moment. They knew one thing for sure, Arima had raised to a level where he could decide the flow of this entire war by himself.

Arima returned Karma in his soul but surprisingly, just after, Beelzebub"s body did the same thing as earlier and a lump of flesh replaced his head before literally becoming it. He was then back with his smirk, alive.

"Life essence absorption…you eat the flesh of your victims and then use it to heal your wounds. Second-degree immortality, huh?" Arima casually threw knowledge that he should have never learned before and Beelzebub"s smirk trembled.

"Anyway" Arima ignored him and turned toward Aphrodite. He crouched down to her level and looked at her in the eyes.

"Eh?" Even Aphrodite couldn"t stay calm in front of such a thing. Someone comes and save her with overwhelming might and then put his face so close to hers. It was quite ironic to see a Love G.o.ddess fl.u.s.tered.

"Open your mind to me" Arima instructed only once and Aphrodite gulped and nodded. She didn"t know why he would ask that but she dropped every protection she had around her spirit and mind.

"Good, look at me in the eyes" Arima nodded and said. His eyes glowed and Aphrodite fell in a daze as she looked at them. She then realized that something had reached her mind without causing any damage to it.

A few seconds after, Beelzebub was getting restless and kicked the ground. He jumped in the air and brought his fist down with the intent to kill Arima. But when his attack reached nothing, he noticed Arima wasn"t there anymore.

He had reappeared beside Michael with Aphrodite. The latter"s expression was filled with shock. She clearly perceived it, Arima actually penetrated her memory and copied everything that happened in the war into his own mind.

"No way, how can you control memories that easily…" She muttered as Arima was looking through the information he just got. When he opened his eyes, he glanced at Baphomet and Ifrit before turning toward Michael.

The latter shuddered when he saw Arima facing him. Even though he didn"t want to admit it, Michael was intimidated. He felt like Arima was extremely tall and could crush him at any moment. That"s the feeling he got. It wasn"t only Arima"s height, after all, the aura and att.i.tude he was showing right now would be enough to scare most people. If someone was in front of him and looked up, they would have the impression to stand in front of a giant.

Arima looked at Gabriel who was in Michael"s arms and tilted his head "Dark-Light, huh?" He muttered as if he knew what it was. He placed his palm above Gabriel and channeled his magic. The famous ill.u.s.tration of yin yang formed and then started spinning.

It didn"t take long for white and black particles to leave Gabriel"s body and enter the yin yang symbol. Lucifer watched with a darkened expression without daring to move.

Arima dispelled his technique after a minute and waved his hand "[Fifth White Art, Sana Intrinsecus]" He chanted and Gabriel was immediately fully healed. She recovered completely, her injury disappeared as if it never was here, her clothes were restored, her mana pool was envigored and she immediately woke up with absolutely no mental strain.

"…What"s going on?" Gabriel blinked and asked dazedly when she noticed that she was in Michael"s arms. The latter gaped while he let her go.

Arima cracked his neck and then looked at Lucifer "Let me present myself" His voice reached everyone on this battlefield "I am the Kind Demon, Arimane Reigen Blade. Tell me," He paused "Who"s next?" His cold face welcomed a calm smile.