Life Hunter

His eyes flashed behind Karaskan in the next instant. He lifted his cane and made it spin before hitting the Mad G.o.d in the back "[Cycle Lock]" Chronos chanted. An old and refined clock was projected behind. The hands started to turn with a clear noise.

Karaskan gritted his teeth as his body ached and seemed to burst from the inside. The cane that was pressing against his back was glowing with the same color as the clock.

Karaskan bit his lip and drove his eternal-cast Manifestation to engulf the cane and the old man holding it. At the exact moment when Karaskan was freed from Chronos" grasp, he immediately cut the surface of the flesh which had been in contact with the cane. He clicked his tongue and turned into a shadow to escape a strange energy field that formed where he was.

Everything in that energy field started to rot and die without exception. The red gra.s.s of h.e.l.l perished, the rocks crumbled into dust, and the earth dried "Time decay…as ruthless as always, huh?" Karaskan muttered after he appeared beside the temple.

Chronos" figure emerged from thin air "What are you waiting for? Use it. That"s the only way to stop Pandora and Hephaestus" He didn"t respond to Karaskan but addressed Lilis one more time.

Lilis shook and glanced at Lanya. They nodded at each other and the two started to work together on the Manifestation since they were resonating "[Resurrection]"

Karaskan"s expression fell and even Hephaestus looked over with a slight change in his expression, even though it couldn"t be discerned.

"Where were you, Chronos?" Michael inquired as he peeked at Lilis and Lanya "And what"s the meaning of this?"

Chronos didn"t answer and glanced at Lilis whose aura was calmly flowing out of her body. It was different from all the Manifestations until now which just exploded out of the caster. Pinkish energy surrounded Lilis and the color combined with her newly acquired silver scales and wings.

She closed her eyes and the scene appeared really beautiful. When the pink energy had spread enough to touch the sky, Pandora trembled and Hephaestus immediately rushed toward Lilis ignoring anyone else.

Chronos didn"t answer Michael and went to stop the Demon "Dammit" Michael cursed and followed him. Hephaestus immediately swung his hammer at the two and the world shook as the red cracks formed a wall on thin air.

Chronos protected himself with a strange barrier and Michael could only fly away as he wiped off the blood around his lips "He"s getting stronger now" He muttered and the other G.o.ds attacked after him while Chronos was able to contend with Hephaestus.

Every single one of them activated their Manifestations with the remaining mana they had. Azes"s white domain reappeared, Zeus"s horde came back, Aphrodite prepared hers while the wind was forming a tornado which was dragging the blue flames in the sky, Hades, Poseidon, and Michael had already summoned their weapons and straightaway went to fight.

The only ones who didn"t use their trump cards were Chronos, Gabriel, and Ifrit although the latter was the most active among them. While producing enough fire and explosions to destroy more than a continent.

Hephaestus was forced to defend and Karaskan retreated even more. The huge Demon used his hammer to break completely the barrage of familiars from Zeus. To oppose Ifrit, he used his own fire and both of them would occasionally produce stray magic that could destroy cities while they exploded on the horizon.

For the three close-range fighters, Poseidon with his trident; Hades with his sword and shield and Michael and his spear, he would casually block the strikes with his bare hands and counter with his hammer time to time. And no matter what they did, the G.o.ds could only scratch the surface of his skin.

At that moment, everyone felt a strange feeling going through them as a pink color filled their vision. They looked back at Lilis and Lanya who were holding hands and they noticed that they seemed to be in difficulty.

In the first place, Manifestations were hard if you weren"t in the third divine. It"s still feasible in the second divine but even if they both were at that level with their resonance, their true level was first divine and fifth sky.

That"s why Lilis could use her Manifestation but it required a lot of energy and focus. When the colorful energy had spread across the whole combat zone, a sudden change appeared on the expression of the fighters.

They all felt like they couldn"t fight anymore, they all lost their resolve to muster any strength. It was a simple thing, they simply were robbed of their will to fight and any violent idea.

The most affected ones were, Hephaestus who was holding his head, and not Karaskan, but the actual Pandora which was shaking dangerously. The box then started to shrink quickly. When Lilis"s aura reached the limit, the box had already shrunk for more than half.

And immediately after, the pinkish energy disappeared, Hephaestus roared in rage and charged at Lilis who collapsed of exhaustion.

The G.o.ds realized that their force had stopped being absorbed by Pandora but they couldn"t react in time to protect Lilis since they were still under the effects of her own attack. Even Gabriel who was the less affected by it because her will wasn"t to fight from the beginning was powerless.

Chronos gritted his teeth. Time stopped and he teleported in front of the Demon. He drew a circle with his cane and it started to spin counter-clockwise. Chronos tried to freeze Hephaestus in time and push him back but the latter had turned even more powerful after Pandora shrunk. The time lock was immediately broken and Chulainn who was next on the line was crushed by the power of the red hammer "(I"m sorry)" Chronos apologized internally.

Lilis"s eyes shook in terror when she saw Hephaestus"s hand in front of her and closed them almost at the same time.

But what she expected never came. Lanya"s eyes flashed and she was the one who moved in time. She flapped her wings and protected Lilis with her body.

Lilis herself was connected by the soul with Lanya, she instinctively knew what she was going to do. But before she could shout, the only thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a flash of silver and a hand piercing Lanya"s body.

Blood fell on her face and Lanya coughed. She grabbed the Demon arm "[I hereby…swear]" She started chanting with a ragged breath. Lilis"s throat was dry.

"[My end will be your bane]" Lanya"s body glowed weakly at first but gradually turned into a blinding light that could hurt the eyes of even the G.o.ds far away.

Lilis painfully closed her eyes, she wanted to open them right away and stand up but she only felt her power leave her body as the wings and scales she had gained from the resonance were disappearing.

But what she heard next brought her hope and anguish at the same time. s.p.a.ce bent and the roar of an engine resounded clearly in the ears of everyone.

At the same time, the silver light exploded and covered everything as if the world had turned unicolor. When the light died down, the first thing they saw made them gasp. Hephaestus"s body was half scorched and crumbling apart. That shocked them.

But what they witnessed after that brought them fear. Even Ifrit wanted to step back. More than killing intent, stronger than bloodl.u.s.t, mightier than slaughter intent; it was death knocking at the door.

Arima had an expression distorted with anger as he held the bloodied Lanya in his arms. The Kind Demon"s aura pressured everyone as he opened his mouth "Tell me, are you afraid of death?" His crimson pupils, filled with fury, glared at not only Karaskan and Hephaestus but also Chronos "Don"t worry, I will give you something worse"

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In Heaven, Karez was shaking uncontrollably. His earlier countenance was completely crushed. Arima had already crushed his body on the ground, opening cracks on Heaven"s surface. He looked up with his aching body and looked at the source of killing intent that was reacting directly with his subconscious. No matter how malicious and cold he could be, even Karez couldn"t stay in front of Arima anymore with a calm expression.

He thought about what happened earlier and shuddered. He clearly witnessed Arima splitting into two separate beings. And the one who appeared immediately rode Deva.

Arima who was in Heaven could still see what his doppelganger was seeing. And they both shared emotions. Arima gritted his teeth and cooled his mind.

The good thing about having millions of different lives in your head was how fast you could recover your spirit if you split it with all of them. But even if he could calm himself down at the moment, his doppelganger was another story, he felt that he was growing even angrier.

"For the last time, how do I stop it?" Arima asked coldly. He was quite hurried. His doppelganger was definitely as strong as him, he may be able to save Lanya and protect Lilis, but it only lasted five minutes and he had to prevent Heaven from collapsing one way or another before that happens.

He also was extremely frustrated. He allowed Lanya to be injured, and use her own life force to protect Lilis, only because he had to stop a crazy guy who wanted to destroy the plane. But in the end, Heaven was collapsing and even his doppelganger arrived too late when he had a bad feeling about all of this.

"…I already said it. I won"t" Karez trembled and answered firmly.

Arima clicked his tongue in annoyance. Actually, he had already tried to use the Fifth Black Art on Karez but he could only complain as it didn"t work on him. No matter how hard he tried to break his mind to steal his memories, he couldn"t go through the power of h.e.l.l"s core.

"I seriously wonder how you managed to get that power" Arima uttered as he grabbed Karez again and lifted him up again.

Karez chuckled "It answered to me when I said I wanted my revenge"

Arima frowned "So, your feelings are strong enough for h.e.l.l"s essence to answer you and give you power?"

"Of course," Karez smirked as rage flashed in his eyes.

"I see" Arima muttered and tossed Karez to the ground again. The latter sighed internally. He thought that Arima was going to spare him since there"s no reason to kill him anymore.

"But I don"t care about what you went through. Before you die; Baphomet thanks you for freeing him" Arima"s voice penetrated his mind and left it blank. Karez couldn"t react as his body was reduced to cinders by Superore"s bullets.

Arima looked emotionlessly at the linear crater and then contemplated at what he should do "{Hey, Arima, he woke up}" Night"s voice cut his thoughts and another voice resounded in his mind just after.

"{That"s quite an annoying situation, huh?}" Malum spoke.

"{Malum?}" Arima was a bit surprised "{What do you want?}"

"{Well, let"s get to the point then}" Malum responded "{Although we share our strength, I"m sure you know that we don"t share the memories we acquired during the Life Judgment. The thing I want to tell you is that I know how to stop the destruction of the plane}"

"{What is it?}" Arima inquired immediately and Malum snickered. After he gave his response, Arima"s eyes dilated and he laughed just after "So, that works too, huh?" He smirked and looked below at the corrupted core. Its destruction was coming. Heaven was already losing the life it had. The plants were dying and the earth quaking time to time "I don"t need to stay here then" Arima muttered and then realized something. His expression showed how awkward he was at the moment.

Malum burst into laughter though "{Well, I"m going back to sleep, good luck}"

"{Hum, what"s wrong Arima?}" Karma asked.

"{…Deva is bound to the root of my soul. My doppelganger can use and store it if I give it to him, but Deva can"t actually come to me right now unless the other me comes back with it. It"s like you and Night. My doppelganger can"t use you if you don"t go with him while his abilities as a dragon are just a copy of my actual form…}" He explained with a darkened expression.

Night snorted amusingly and Karma fell silent "s.h.i.t" Arima cursed and spread his wings. His body transformed into lightning and he immediately rushed toward the G.o.ds who were opening the Heaven Gate. It was his only option since the second white art would use too much mana.

"{Arima…}" Karma then called him again worriedly.

"{What is it?}"

"{…Is Lanya alive?}"

Arima fell silent and answered afterward "{At least,}" He paused "{She is not dead}" Karma stopped speaking any further and Night didn"t even talk.