Life Hunter

Well, the first aspect was definitely…size. If before Chulainn was the biggest here, he had now been taken over by two individuals.

Ifrit had become as tall as Hephaestus. His appearance didn"t change much except that. The only thing worth mentioning was how fierce looking his muscles had become. His horns grew longer and as before, a fire was burning above his skin as if it was some sort of clothing or armor.

Ifrit smirked and clenched his fists. Blood colored fire gathered around his knuckles, ready to explode. Ifrit never fought with any other weapon than his own body and magic.

He immediately kicked the ground and punched Hephaestus while changing the landscape with a single stomp. Hephaestus also swung his arm and when the two fists clashed with each other, the air exploded and the wind created a perfect spherical crater.

Ifrit grunted and took a step back after the shockwave. His fists coated with fire were vaporizing the blood that was flowing out. He only clashed once with Hephaestus, but his body was already numb.

It didn"t take long for the Demon to attack Ifrit again. With a simple headb.u.t.t, the Djinn was pushed back even more.

He clicked his tongue after leaving a gap of a mile between them and formed a giant fireball above his hand in the span of a second. Ifrit roared and kicked the huge fireball which looked like a sun. The crimson fire reached its target and exploded.

At the same time, Zeus had already gone over the clouds and gathered his magic. He raised his hammer and the clouds below him started to turn black and denser. Thunder roared and lightning escaped from the dark clouds to connect with his hammer.

From the ground, it only looked like the clouds had turned a bit dark but from above, everything was filled with lightning. Zeus gritted his teeth and seemed to struggle. He reinforced the grip on his hammer before throwing it downward with extreme speed.

The hammer fell through the clouds and reached the ground at the speed of light. It penetrated the fire created by Ifrit and then brought down with him a pillar of bright, white lightning.

The fire and lightning joined together to create a discharge of energy that easily provoked an earthquake and creva.s.ses to open on this barren land created by the First Blue Art.

When the magic died down and when Hephaestus figure was just barely observable. The others began to attack. Chulainn seemed to have recovered his power as the Guardian of h.e.l.l and howled as he jumped at him.

His fur was shining with a crimson light and seemed to be on fire. In front of his wide-open mouths, three magma rock-like stones were hovering while glowing with a red hue.

"[Third Blue Art, Fragor Magnus]" He chanted and the stones compressed and were replaced by an erupting fire. He barked and the three fireb.a.l.l.s made their way toward Hephaestus.

The latter looked emotionlessly through the smoke of the previous attack and lifted his hammer before striking against thin air. Red cracks appeared on the surface of reality and beyond Hephaestus"s vision, the world broke part like he was looking through broken gla.s.s.

The air itself seemed to be cut part and the three fireb.a.l.l.s of Chulainn were suddenly stopped and then ripped apart as they exploded. Hephaestus just raised a wall of black metal and protected himself from the flames and shockwave.

Profiting of that, both Poseidon and Hades appeared just in front of his head and struck him with their weapons. It was unreal as the giant"s body was pushed back by two figures that were not bigger than ants for him.

Poseidon made good use of their size to pound Hephaestus with all they had. The latter could only suffer at first but then something helped him out of nowhere. A pair of eyes glinted from his shadow. Ominous and thick darkness clad him like an armor and protected him from the two G.o.ds" a.s.sault.

Hephaestus immediately put strength in his arms and swung his ax and hammer at the same time. As if he was relieving his frustration, he swung his arms with great speed and hit the two G.o.ds. Poseidon was struck by the ax and barely managed to avoid life-threatening injuries by parrying with his trident. But the flames and shock still hurt him as he was sent flying.

Hades could only grit his teeth as he took the hammer and its strange ability with his shield. Like before, the red cracks appeared and Hades felt like his organs were being twisted.

"Tch" But he didn"t renounce yet and did something quite odd. He created a giant fireball with a single thought. But it was just simple fire. That thing couldn"t even make a small burn on Hephaestus.

But he sent it above the huge Demon "Hey!" He then shouted as he shielded himself from the hammer and then crashed on the ground.

"I know!" Poseidon responded as he was getting up from the rubbles. He planted his trident on the ground and extended his hand toward the sky. Then, like Hades, a sphere of water was formed of approximately the same size as the fireball.

Hades and Poseidon both chanted in their minds, and the two spheres collided. The hissing immediately resounded and the steam covered the battlefield.

Hephaestus frowned and wanted to blow away that steam but his body suddenly stopped moving. He looked down and saw a perfectly white ground below his feet.

From outside of the steam cloud. Azes was holding a parchment and the words on it were fading away quickly. He nodded toward Gabriel and the latter did the same.

She clasped her hands together and her holy presence increased quickly "[Divine Protection]" She chanted and waved her hand.

Eight small spheres of light formed around the cloud of steam. Those lights instantly connected together to form a cube. Then, the walls were created and a light cube was formed, confining the steam.

Soon after, Gabriel"s eyes glowed again and her wings also produced the same light. The cube was then confined by a white sphere. And not only Hephaestus and the steam around him were impossible to see, the last sphere that appeared acted like a mirror and reflected the G.o.ds" appearance.

Gabriel smiled and gave her next instructions. Michael and Aphrodite nodded and finally moved. Chronos closed his eyes and sat down like he was meditating. He then murmured something: "[Resurrection]"

Right now, Hephaestus was completely blinded and locked. Azes"s Manifestation was holding him down while everything around him was meant to block his sight and senses.

Sometimes, nature was better than magic. The steam inside that sphere acted simply to cloud the Demon"s eyes but, of course, steam wasn"t enough. Any individual above the fifth level of the Mortal Realm could see through it. So, Gabriel added her barrier to first condense the steam and then set up a mirror around.

Now, even if Hephaestus looked through the steam, he will only see its reflection. And without knowing that a barrier like that was set to confine the steam, Hephaestus and even Karaskan would think that they were trapped in a sort of illusion.

If Arima was here at that moment, he would have praised Gabriel for making this plan. This was a beautiful misdirection without even using powerful magic.

Layla also thought the same as she held a black and white book in her hands. She was floating just above the temporary prison. As soon as Azes"s Manifestation stops, Hephaestus and Karaskan will discover in no time what"s going on and leave the confinement area.

But in any way, all of this was just to gain some time and prevent Hephaestus, or to be exact, prevent Karaskan from preparing for their attacks.

Layla suddenly beamed and looked far away with her piercing eyes. A sort of black winged-snake made of lightning was approaching with tremendous speed.

"{Now}" Gabriel gave the signal. Everyone released their auras. Chulainn even activated his Manifestation. Aphrodite and Michael worked together to produce a threatening magic combining the wind and the energy of Michael"s spear.

One of the other particularities of the weapon-summoning type Manifestations was the second release which consisted of the release of the weapon"s energy. Although it was a powerful strike, it also meant that they wouldn"t be able to summon their Manifestation for an entire day or else, their magic circuits in their body would be damaged.

Poseidon and Hades were also preparing for that same release. Zeus used the last bit of his mana he had to use his Manifestation and Ifrit gathered an insane amount of magic in his body.

Inside the improvised prison, Karaskan"s eyes flashed. When he finally felt the auras exploding around him, he finally knew what kind of situation he was in "(I can"t feel their positions. The auras are mixed together too, I can"t even determine who is using what…)" He thought and smirked "(Well, be sure to entertain me until the end)"

Veins suddenly popped out on Hephaestus"s body. He started to try his best to break the rule set by Azes and gripped his weapons. Karaskan instructed him to act based on what he knew of the G.o.ds once he would be released. But his expectations were going to be destroyed by the first attack.

"Do what you deem necessary" Layla smiled and said to the book she was holding in her hand "[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios]"

The Lawless Tome opened and flipped the pages by himself. It left Layla"s hands and then stopped moving in front of her as if it was staring at her. Layla tilted her head and the book made a spin like was sighing.

Words then started to appear on the blank pages. A light flashed and the Lawless Tome vanished. When Karaskan saw the black and white light illuminating the steam around him, it was already too late and the Third Art activated.

In his last thoughts, he was utterly shocked "(What is this magic? It"s like…it"s ordering me to sleep…)" That was truly what the Tome had decided to do. Nothing more. He knocked out Karaskan.

Layla was surprised at first that there was no obvious change. But when she received the confirmation from the Tome itself before it was dispelled, she signaled everyone else.

Michael and Aphrodite were the first to act as the white tornado pierced the sphere and attacked Hephaestus who was inside.

The Demon had maybe been brainwashed by Pandora but he wasn"t dumb and certainly not dull. The moment, the tornado pieced the sphere and lighted it, Hephaestus immediately understood what was happening. Azes"s bind was still active, but he had concentrated enough strength until this moment to move.

He swung his hammer to stop the descent of that tornado. The red cracks and the shockwaves it produced stopped the tornado as if there was an impenetrable wall blocking it.

After the sphere shattered, the steam had already been dispersed by the wind. The next G.o.ds who attacked were Hades and Poseidon.

The former pierced his own shield with his sword and let it fall on Hephaestus. The weapons exploded and shrouded the Demon with bright fire. The explosion shook the earth and Hephaestus used his ax to at least cover his head.

His skin was burned badly and the tornado was gaining terrain. He was still resisting until Poseidon threw his weapon at him. The trident pierced Hephaestus in the back.

Nothing happened at first but among the flames, the trident glowed and a huge block of ice suddenly replaced the fire and froze the Demon with it. Afterward, the tornado finally struck its target properly and the earth was pierced by the wind like a drill while Hephaestus"s silhouette couldn"t even be seen anymore.

Then, it was Ifrit"s turn. Chronos opened his eyes and muttered "It"s over"