Life Hunter

Meanwhile, Arima took one step forward and the earth shook. The G.o.ds" pupils contracted and they took one step back unconsciously, Karaskan was no exception as he received the most killing intent. Hephaestus showed emotions for the first time and frowned.

"Hyacinthum ignis!" Arima shouted and the air trembled too. The flames in the sky stopped any fluctuation as if time was stopped.

"Unbelievable…his own magic is scared of him" Azes muttered and Gabriel beside him gulped. Lilis felt ashamed and frustrated as she saw Lanya in Arima"s arms and Chulainn was the same as everyone, he just wanted to flee.

"Adolebitque ea" Arima ordered and the flames immediately acted. They stopped gathering strength and focused everything into a single point. The sky burned and illuminated h.e.l.l. Pandora even started moving from one side to the other as if it was panicking.

The blue fire seemed to be gathering together into a certain shape. When it finished, the G.o.ds smiled wryly. A skull made of flames was burning in the sky.

The skull turned toward Hephaestus and the eyes sockets became filled with purple fire. When the skull had set his target, the purple flames aspired the blue ones and then gathered together to form an incredible small fireball. With one side purple and the other blue.

In the next moment, the fireball was propelled with a loud detonation. It vanished from everyone"s sights and then they felt the light illuminating them from below.

When they looked down, they were able to see the fireball one last time. They saw it as if it was a drop of water sliding down a leaf and they heard the first contact with the ground as it fell into a pond.

The G.o.ds blinked and when they reopened their eyes, they were in a world without any damage to the environment. No craters or deformations. The sky was freed of any flames. Everything was back to normal.

"This is another dimension" Azes said as he looked around. His eyes fell on Arima who was slowly laying Lanya down on a bed which had come from nowhere. He immediately fell silent.

Arima didn"t acknowledge their presence and checked Lanya"s state with forced calmness. He put his hand over her opened injury in the stomach and started healing her. Lilis rushed to him with tears in her eyes.

Ifrit squinted his eyes and approached too "I"m sorry" That"s the first thing he said with an honest tone. Arima"s eyes widened and he looked up to face Ifrit "I failed to stop Karez myself so you had to go there"

Arima stared at him for just a few seconds and focused back on Lanya "Say that to my original too" Arima responded and not only Ifrit but everyone else also doubted their ears.

"Original? You"re Arima"s clone?" Chulainn inquired and Arima"s doppelganger nodded.

"We can share our vision and emotions in real time but not our memories" Arima explained and turned back to Ifrit "That"s why you should say it to him too" He added and waved his hand above Lanya"s body. Her clothes were restored and the blood on it disappeared. Her face had recovered her color and she seemed to only be asleep.

Arima then started drawing a red symbol on her forehead with magic "What is this?" Lilis asked with a weak voice.

Arima glanced at her and his gaze softened a bit "A soul seal. I"m locking her soul in her body to prevent it from collapse or escape"

"Huh?" Lilis shuddered "If you need to lock her soul…"

"She is dying, this is just to gain some time" Arima solemnly gave the truth.

"You won"t be able to save her…" Chronos spoke up. And the only thing he got as a response was a horrifying pressure that brought him to his knees. He was already weakened because of Pandora and his Time magic didn"t seem to have any defensive effect against Arima as if he could pa.s.s through it easily.

"Shut. Up." Arima emphasized each word slowly without looking at the old G.o.d "I know who you are. Your power to see the future must be realms above Lanya"s. You must have known what was going to happen the moment you entered that battlefield"

Chronos truly closed his mouth. What Arima just said was something he didn"t expect him to deduce "When I arrived, I was wondering what happened for Lanya to be injured although there was a whole team of G.o.ds to fight Hephaestus"

"Then I saw Lilis"s expression. That guilt on her expression is not something that you can misunderstand. Then I thought, Lanya protected her. But one more time, why?" Arima continued as his spirit covered Lanya to stabilize her soul.

"I felt Lilis"s aura all over the place when I arrived. The really domineering type. The only thing I could deduct from that was that Lilis used her Manifestation. Then, that Demon got threatened and decided to attack her in priority"

"Fine until here" Arima said and glared at Chronos "Yeah, everything would be fine if you were not here. Since you were here, it means Lilis actually used her Manifestation and you didn"t warn her of the danger or, you told her to do so" Arima peeked at Lilis"s expression when he said the two options and got his answer instantly.

He snickered "Basically, you knew about Lanya"s future. But you not only decided to not warn her, but you also instructed the trigger event" Arima declared "You don"t how much I want to kill you right now" He laughed.

"You don"t-"

"I do" Arima cut Chronos immediately. At the same time, a white crack appeared on the surface of reality. Everyone rolled their eyes at it and their pupils contracted. Arima took a glance and straightened his back to look at Chronos.

"I know why you did it" Arima resumed his conversation with the old man "I may not look like it. But I am technically older than you. O Father Time" Arima smirked "Lilis is the G.o.ddess of Worldly Emotions. Pandora feeds on dark emotions to open and activate. Most likely, for you, Lilis"s Manifestation which forces people to a state of absolute peace was the only way to reduce Pandora"s power and save what you think you had to save"

Arima snorted "Pathetic" He mocked and Chronos gritted his teeth. Arima smiled "You G.o.ds are the cause of most disasters in the lower worlds of this plane. Do you realize that?" Arima suddenly said and every G.o.d trembled.

The most innocent, Gabriel, was stunned by those words "Before my Life Judgement, it was just a theory, but now I"m sure of it. You G.o.ds and devils are the cause of most catastrophes for mortals. You don"t know how many times my parallel versions stumbled upon the path of a Heaven G.o.d or a h.e.l.l Devil and lost their dear ones because of it"

"The existence of Heaven and h.e.l.l also gives you all more power, and creates more problems. The attractive force of the Original Lands which is supposed to hold the world together is also responsible for the destruction of numerous galaxies just because some G.o.ds were playing on the surface of either Heaven or h.e.l.l. I"m sure many people died while we were fighting this pitiful war caused by a stupid human"

Arima snickered "You have two examples in front of you. I was a victim of Karaskan. That"s the first one. And soon, the plane will be the victim of Pandora which was created by Hephaestus, the same guy who is now protecting it as its demon. And if you"re wondering how I know that, it"s because the red lines on his hammer formed the drawings of an anvil, a hammer, and pincers. It also has an ax on the other side representing his main weapon"

The whole dimension was silent. The G.o.ds were both ashamed and speechless. The only sound reverberating was the noise caused by the cracks in the sky which were gradually becoming bigger.

When Arima saw all of them silent, he sneered "Now I really understand why Azes wants to destroy Heaven and h.e.l.l" He declared while Azes coughed and waved his hand in front of his neck to tell him to stop.

Azes froze when Arima finished and glanced at both his right and left and forced another cough and stood as if nothing happened "Well, your wish will come true soon anyway" Arima added and Azes was thunderstruck.

Arima didn"t speak further as he finished to stabilize Lanya. He placed his fingers on her throat and felt her pulse along with her mana flow.

"Lilis" Arima called calmly and Lilis trembled. She walked toward Arima and stopped next to him.

"Can you save her?" She asked.

Arima sighed "It"s easier to show you directly" He uttered and the sigil on his coat shined. He pointed his finger at Lilis"s forehead and a sort of blue string penetrated it.

Lilis felt a sharp pain invading her mind but it only lasted for a second. Afterward, her eyes gradually became shocked because of the information she had just received.

"So?" Arima asked while closing his eyes. The cracks were widening by the minute and the dimension threatened to break at any instant.

"I will do it" Lilis answered without any hesitation. Her eyes were filled with determination.

Arima inhaled and his spirit filled the dimension. Even Gabriel and Aphrodite felt small in front of such spirit although they were supposed to have an incredible amount of it.

Arima"s sigil was projected behind him. It started to become more complex over time. The circles grew in number and the runes reminded one of some elaborate formulas "I will use all of my power to do it. I will vanish soon after" Arima said and two giant circles were drawn both below and above him.

"My original will come through the Heaven Gate soon since Deva is here" He added and smiled at Lilis "You can do anything you want until then" He said with a strange tone. And then looked at the G.o.ds "You just need to leave Karaskan alive for him…for me"

He instructed and everyone nodded. Arima then chanted and the dimension broke, not from the outside, but from the inside. Because of an unknown energy that even Chronos, the oldest G.o.d, didn"t know about.

"[Third Forbidden Art, Essentia Dominus]" Arima"s voice echoed.

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

As Arima was reaching the G.o.ds" city, he clicked his tongue "{What"s wrong?}" Night asked.

"{Nothing. I"m just really frustrated right now. I don"t even know if what my other self just did was a good thing. Even if I know there was no other choice since Lanya was clearly dying because of an eternal curse. Even if I know I would have done the same thing as my doppelganger. I can"t help but feel like it was not something he shouldn"t have done}" Arima suddenly started talking like he was evacuating his stress.

"{…What did he do? No, what did you do?}" Night was beginning to be slightly nervous.

Arima fell silent for a few seconds "{…I used one of my Prohibited Arts}" He answered and Karma"s gasp echoed in Arima"s head. Night even grunted.

"{You used the third one, right?}"

"{Of course}"

"{How big?}"

Arima bitterly smiled "{Thankfully it wasn"t that much. My doppelganger used three-quarters of my mana pool}"

Night sighed "{So that"s why I suddenly felt a flow of mana. I still don"t like to be connected to your ma.s.sive mana pool but I suppose I should do it…}" He talked to himself and paused "{Not worth it…}"

Arima chuckled a little and saw the huge Heaven Gate in the distance. In the middle of the paradise-like city. When Arima arrived there, some G.o.ds had already spotted him but they couldn"t stop him as he went straight to the opening gate.

He stopped in front of the gap between the doors and turned around to look at all the G.o.ds "{Heaven will collapse soon. You should all leave after me}" His message was repeated three times in the heads of every G.o.d, then he went through the gate.