Life Hunter

"[Mors aeterna] (Death is eternal)"

"[Vita est unum diem durantia] (Life is ephemeral)"

"[Sapientia non est datum] (Wisdom is not given)"

Arima started what he considered as his most potent magic. Not the most destructive, of course, that designation was for another Art.

Arima gently flapped his wings and slowly left the ground. His bit his lollipop and destroyed it before blues flames started to appear here and there.

Just a single flame each time. Not bigger than three centimeters each. But their number had already increased to almost a million. The sky was filled with it.

"[Ne forte oculis elevatis occurras superbiae] (When you look up, you meet your pride)"

"[Oculos claudat caelum et ad inferos per scriptor] (Heaven closes its eyes to see through h.e.l.l"s)"

The small flames began to move. They gathered together but without merging together, they started to revolve around a certain point to create something like a spiral. A magnificent sight that everyone on this battlefield couldn"t ignore. Not even Hades and Poseidon, the two most narrow-minded people here.

"[In mundo fluxus meus intercluditur] (The flow of the world is stopped)"

"[Capto et torquem anima tua] (Grab the chain in your soul)"

"[Et sic in tenebris] (And bring it into darkness)"

Arima continued his incantation and one final flame appeared in his palm. His lifted his hand high and looked at it. He softly blew at it and the flame started to ascend. It ultimately arrived in the middle of the spiral and every flame finally started to fuse together.

"[Et elegit eum voca] (Call it a choice)"

"[c.u.m te mors et obtulerunt uri] (Death will be offered while you burn)"

"[Sicut favilla dimittere] (Just release the ashes)"

"[Et evanescet ad consummationem saeculi] (And disappear at the end of time)"

Arima finished his incantation and there was now a giant blue sun in the sky. This magic was actually something he first used against Koden, the lich who he met back in the continent of the Republic.

It was a magic combining, fire, life, and death magic. An anomaly which shouldn"t be possible to exist. But Arima still cast it. His strongest purifying magic, that can burn anything.

"[First Blue Art, Estuans sors] (Burning Fate)" He chanted and the sun glowed strongly before it entered the dark clouds previously created by Baphomet.

Arima released the Time he had gathered around him and Baphomet fell on his knees. His expression was complete chaos. His mana was going wild and his veins bulged. The dark energy escaped his body without his own volition.

Arima looked down at him and closed his eyes. A blue light then illuminated through the clouds "Burn it" Arima murmured.

Everyone heard the fire becoming stronger and looked at the sky. From where the sun had penetrated the clouds, the blue fire spread at incredible speed.

In just a minute, the entire sky was covered by that dazzling light. The clouds were no more and they were replaced by an azure fire.

Just like that, Baphomet"s Manifestation ended and the caster"s magic circuits were damaged. The sky kept burning and Arima slowly made his way to Baphomet.

"Do you have something to say?" Arima asked. It wasn"t scorn or mockery. He sincerely asked.

Baphomet burst into laughter. He looked up at Arima and smiled "Not really. Well, can I ask you a favor then?"

"Sure"

"It"s quite simple. First, thank that human for me, and them kill him just after" Baphomet smirked and told his demand.

Arima chuckled and nodded "Not a problem. Killing him was a matter of fact since the beginning. Well, I don"t know if I"ll actually be able to do it myself. But I"ll add the thanks if I ever meet him. I just don"t know if Ifrit already killed him" He shrugged responded.

"That"s enough" Baphomet sat down and closed his eyes like he was meditating. Arima nodded and started walking away.

"Why did you ask me that?" Baphomet spoke up after a few seconds of hesitation and Arima stopped.

"There"s not really a strong meaning to it. I just thought you looked like me" Arima answered. He flapped his wings and disappeared within an instant.

Baphomet snickered and stretched his neck to look up. The next instant, the only thing he knew was that he was surrounded by blue fire. It wasn"t hot and it didn"t burn. But his body was still turning into ashes.

He peacefully closed his eyes and when his body was gone, his soul was the new target. The blue fire reached Baphomet to an ethereal level and his emotions were cleansed. He disappeared from this world in the next instant.

Arima landed lightly in front of the G.o.ds while a giant azure tornado made of fire was raging behind. It didn"t create any wind, shakings, or heat. The ground didn"t even suffer a dent. That tornado"s span reaches tens of miles and was really intimidating.

If someone stepped inside it, he would not be burned, but simply erased out of the existence. That was the best description of the First Blue Art one could make.

Arima sighed strongly and sat down on a sofa he made appear out of nowhere. As expected, he was tired because all the magic he just threw. But as he was sitting, his Fifth Red Art was already sucking the mana out of the environment to give it to him.

Arima relaxed his body and his figure glowed with a purple light. His size and clothes returned to normal and his other powers dispelled as Night and Karma reappeared beside him. The two who finally left Arima"s soul after eleven years started stretching, enjoying their physical bodies again.

"Aah, I"m tired" Night complained and sat down.

"Me too" Karma sighed and laid down on the sofa while using Night"s lap as a pillow. The latter"s expression twitched and he almost smacked her. But he had to restrain himself. It"s not like he was angry at her but more embarra.s.sed than anything.

Arima laughed lightly and the G.o.ds stared at him. Not knowing what to say at all. Azes blinked and did the same as Arima as he sat down on a chair. The rest of the G.o.ds followed suit awkwardly and silence fell.

*****************************************

When Ifrit attacked Tiatus, the latter immediately took his distance with incredible speed. He moved at light speed, only a golden light could be seen most of the time.

And while keeping his distance, he would fire his light arrows without rest. Ifrit was not suited for this kind of opponent. He was quite confident on his speed but his main strength relied on the explosive force of his fire and the strength of his body. So, when he was below in the speed department, it was quite annoying and the fight would often take some time to end.

"Quite bothersome" Ifrit snorted. Even If Tiatus was shooting him from far away, he couldn"t approach the golden door because he would receive a barrage of arrows on him. Ifrit was also sure that he would not arrive at Heaven in time even if he asked the G.o.ds to open the gate. So, he had to get rid of Tiatus before going in and stop Karez.

"[Jinn"s Domain]" Ifrit chanted and the earth trembled. Fissures opened everywhere and geysers of fire erupted. Ifrit then roared and his voice carried a sort of eerie sound.

Tiatus shuddered when he heard this and stopped moving for a second. He then looked around and realized that he was now locked in a zone delimited by tall walls of fire. Even if he tried to go up, the flames would follow him and block his path.

"(Tch, that"s not a good position)" Tiatus was at the third divine. But he wasn"t that strong. He knew that he would lose quickly if he fought Ifrit head-on. Maybe he would even lose in a single blow.

He had no other choice, so he decided to land on the ground.

Ifrit frowned and immediately charged at him but he wasn"t fast enough to stop Tiatus from chanting: "[Resurrection]"

Ifrit grunted as he was forced to retreat temporarily. Tiatus produced a burning golden light and Ifrit"s fire seemed to become weaker.

"So, you have absolute dominance over light and fire, huh?" Ifrit remarked. He glared at Tiatus who had transformed into a huge golden griffin also clad in armor "Body-shifting type…"

"I may not win, but I"m not that weak in this form" The griffin opened its mouth and Tiatus"s voice resounded. He flapped his wings and he transformed into a golden light one more time. This time, he started throwing explosive light b.a.l.l.s. Although he could use fire, it wasn"t of any use against Ifrit. The latter was most likely immune to most fire. At best he could only interfere with his magic a little.

"I remember you now" Ifrit said and waved his hand. A wall of fire emerged from the ground and blocked one of the light attacks. The golden light exploded and destroyed the wall of fire at the same time.

After that, Tiatus stopped attacking and just landed on top of the door in his griffin form. He stared at Ifrit with his eagle eyes. He didn"t need to attack him. If Ifrit deliberately started a conversation, why would he ignore the opportunity to gain time?

"You"re a popular G.o.d among the human world, right" Ifrit was preparing his magic while talking "If I"m not wrong, people mocked you because, although you had that many followers, you were unable to use their faith for yourself" He said and Tiatus"s snorted "And the reason for that is because you are not a true Heaven G.o.d but a simple human who received the full inheritance of another Heaven G.o.d"

"Yeah, it"s exactly as you"re saying" Tiatus responded scornfully.

"That"s why you want to destroy Heaven?"

"No" Tiatus immediately retorted "I"m doing this for my master"s revenge"

"Master…? The one who made of you a Heaven G.o.d?"

"Yes, he was killed by the Heaven he respected so much" Tiatus said enraged "My master fell in love with a human and went to the human world to live with her. That woman was my mother"

Ifrit"s expression froze for a moment "I understand now…"

"Yes" Tiatus snickered "Odin found out about this eventually" He added and Ifrit immediately understood. Tens of thousands of years ago, Odin was virtually the ruler of Heaven and the strongest G.o.d. Definitely stronger than Ifrit himself. Although Odin suddenly disappeared one day, he was still remembered as the strongest existence in this place.

He also knew that Odin respected Heaven"s virtues very seriously. And a relation between a G.o.d and human wasn"t allowed. He must have killed both the G.o.d and human that day.

"I sympathize with you" Ifrit said "But it"s not a valid reason to destroy Heaven and the entire plane with it" He declared and fire escaped out of his mouth. At the same time, he raised his hand to the sky "[Crimson Rain]" He chanted and Tiatus looked at the sky.

His eyes clearly spotted countless red dots, rapidly becoming bigger. His eyes narrowed and he released his entire mana pool in one go. Giant golden arrows formed around him and he was prepared to shoot them.

"That"s futile. You won"t survive" Ifrit declared and turned into a cone of fire which disappeared from the fire territory he had created.

Tiatus cried to the sky and a screeching sound left his beak. His arrows were propelled to the sky. They flew at incredible speed and soon clashed with the numerous meteorites falling. Each arrow destroyed around three meteors but it was far from enough.

When all of his arrows had been used, he sighed and smiled as he welcomed death calmly. Under his claws, the golden door was already disappearing.

A moment after, the meteorites arrived and exploded everything in a hundred miles radius. At the same time, an azure tornado also raged far away.