Life Hunter

Thanks to the help of the teachers chosen by Arima, the whole academy was now as big as a small city. It was built shockingly quick. The main reason for that was that the students could now use magic at a basic level. Even without the help of Arister and everyone else, the students would be able to build an entire city.

All the teachers had already chosen their own disciples too. For instance, Hieran was teaching one student about earth magic and physical enhancement. Rex was making of his disciple a true expert of mana control. Arister was mainly teaching the spear. Chulainn was teaching fire magic and how to manipulate the aura efficiently. And as for Arima"s former students, they were all teaching their specialties too and were basically using the same kind of method Arima used to teach them.

Of course, every student enlisted in this academy were also taught about the soul summoning and soul contract. Unfortunately, there wasn"t any magic beast strong enough on Earth to make use of the latter. So Arima pa.s.sed by during the second week and installed a spatial portal working with Eion stones which simply lead to a planet highly populated with magic beats, in another world.

Ultimately, the people Arima had called were now on their last week of teaching. Inside Evergreen"s mother tree, Jin breathed in and punched a giant boulder, maybe as big as an average hotel. The entire thing crumbled into pieces and Jin sighed.

His appearance had undergone a drastic change compared to the beginning of his training. He certainly did not need a wheelchair anymore. His muscles had completely been revigorated and almost all of his wrinkles had vanished too. His hair was still white and so was his beard, but his overall appearance just resembled a middle-aged man.

"Congratulations, you reached the sixth level" Evergreen clapped and smiled "You"ve grasped the basics for mana control and theory manipulation. I can start teaching you spirit magic and green magic. You"ll have a lot of work this week" Jin looked back at her with a strange look and nodded.

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"…Hey, how long is it gonna take?" Malum complained. He was sitting along with Karma, Night, and Layla. They were all in Arima"s soul realm. They had been in this place for the last three weeks.

But for the last seven days particularly, since Raylein told Arima about the Original G.o.d"s contract, they had been staying here for the whole time. Without moving an inch. Sending their soul essence into a weird magic circle that they were sitting around.

"I don"t know. It should be over soon anyway" Arima responded indifferently and Malum snorted. Arima was silently watching them. He wasn"t doing anything actually. His sigil would just glow from time to time.

"But what is it for? You still didn"t tell us" Layla asked as she observed the runes of the formation in front of her. Even she couldn"t understand what it was for. Arima had told them it was important but nothing more.

"It"s just a bomb…" Malum uttered as his "eyes" shook. Layla"s eyes narrowed and looked at the circle again. If she observed it with that kind of perspective, she could understand what it was for.

Night and Karma also noticed it immediately "…What are you trying to do?" Layla asked solemnly. She didn"t want to act too agitated and calmed herself down.

Arima snickered "This is a bomb indeed. It"s a formation made to split my soul. Its fragments will spread through the magic circuits as a virus. Then the theory contained inside this circle, will condense my soul essence, fuse it with my life force, take my life energy by force, decompose my body, then detonate everything"

Layla"s expression twitched "What is that supposed to mean?" She immediately retracted her hand from the circle.

"Libra will also put everything on the balance. The explosion"s power will be multiplied"

"That"s not what I"m asking!" Layla shouted and Arima smiled.

"This is just a counter-measure. It will be my joker against the Original G.o.d" He declared and Layla gritted her teeth.

"How much damage do you a.s.sume this bomb can do?" Night asked, as calm as ever.

"If I"m not wrong, it should be able to at least destroy one reality. I don"t know about others since what separates them is a mystery for me"

"What about our soul essence? Why are you asking us to give it like this?"

"Simple. You all, even Lanya, have a direct connection to my soul. I need the essence of each one of you to use it perfectly. I also need it to filter it"

"Filter it?" Layla raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. For you, that"s not really necessary. But for Karma, Night, and Malum; it"s important. If my soul explodes, they will die. That"s why I need to get their soul essence and be sure that they won"t be a part of the final explosion. You will be able to survive like that as long as I send you to another reality"

Everyone reacted strangely to that. Even Malum raised his head to look at Arima. As if he had just heard the dumbest thing ever.

"…What will happen to you?"

"I"ll die" Arima replied immediately without any hint of doubt or hesitation "It"s a matter of fact. To use Libra at its maximal potential; I need to use my life. It"s the only way possible I have to threaten something like the Original G.o.d"

Layla finally snapped and kicked the ground. She threw a punch at Arima who was on the opposite side of her. She pa.s.sed by everyone else and her arm became covered in scales as her fist approached Arima"s face.

Arima was a bit taken off guard. He stood up and dragonized his arm too to meet Layla"s. Black lightning mixed with silver light erupted from their clash. The soul realm shook and Malum casually watched while Night guarded Karma against the pressure.

When things calmed down, Layla had her fist which had been grabbed by Arima "Couldn"t you just let me hit you once? I think you deserve it" She said and Arima chuckled.

"No way. If I let you hit me, you"ll go with everything you have. I don"t want that"

Layla clicked her tongue and backed away. She returned to her place and sat down "I know why you need to do this. But the fact that you actually intend to you use your life as a chip annoys me"

"I know" Arima smiled.

Layla sighed "…I have a condition, add my entire soul to the formation"

"…What?" Arima was surprised and Karma gasped. Night frowned and Malum glanced at her.

"I want to be part of this explosion, as you said…" She stared at Arima right in the eyes "If you ever die using that, I"ll die with you"

Arima fell silent. He didn"t know how to respond. Night started laughing while everyone was keeping their mouth closed. He stopped sending his soul essence in the circle and pulled his arm back "Get me out of that filter too"

"Me too" Karma did the same and now there was only Malum who still had his hand on the circle. Everyone was looking at him.

"What?" He exclaimed and Layla glared at him "…Fine, fine" He raised his hands and the magic circle stopped glowing "To be honest, I don"t even know why you even decided to protect me too. The detonation would be obviously stronger with my soul taking part in it. It"s not like we are best friends too"

Arima shook his head and snapped his fingers. Four blue strings of light came out of the circle"s center and each went to someone"s chest. New runes were then drawn on the circle and the strings came back inside it.

"Done" Arima announced and his group felt satisfied "The filter is completed" Until that point.

"Hey!"

"What?" Arima squinted his eyes "I"ve been doing this for the last week. Fortunately, I finished before you decided to take out your hand. Do you want my work to be wasted or what? I decided that I would protect your life if I ever use this bomb. I never asked you to die with me. Are you stupid? You"ll do a better job by pa.s.sing on my legacy…"

"I appreciate those feelings a lot" Arima smiled wryly "But you should care about mine too"

"Says the guy who doesn"t have emotions" Layla muttered angrily and pouted. Night shrugged and Karma chuckled.

Malum tilted his head "Well… either way… it"s not really a problem for me…"

"Karma, come here for a second" Arima abruptly called and Karma transformed into a katana which flew to Arima"s hand "I just want to finish inscribing this. You"re better than any other instrument for that"

Arima drew the katana and started altering the circle with the tip of the blade. Karma was a weapon which had been refined to an incredible level. The blade"s material was so magical at this point, that it was the best catalyst to manipulate mana. It basically could be used as a sort of staff too.

When Arima finished adjusting the circle, he tapped the ground with Karma and the circle shined then left the ground. It floated around like a literal piece of paper before wrapping around the blade of the katana.

Arima swung his sword toward the "sky" as it was shrouded in an ominous aura and thick soul essence. A blue light was launched from the tip of the blade as if it was Aeterna. The blue wave reached the inversed ocean and entered the water.

It exploded there and from below you could see countless small runes and circles following the streams of the water. They continued to spread until the entire ocean was filled with small blue lights which were actually miniature runes.

From the ground, it looked quite dazzling and Arima"s group even took their time to admire the sight. But they also knew that these lights meant that there was a terrific bomb planted right inside of Arima"s soul.

"This place is getting prettier and prettier …with the Eion fireflies, the ever-changing vines, the flowers which bloom every time you release your aura, the different varieties of plants representing your age, blue granite here and there, and now some stars inside an upside-down ocean…" Layla commented and Arima smiled.

"We don"t have the time to admire that though. We have one week left to acquire transcendence"

""We"?"

"Yeah, "we". I"ll make sure we are all transcendental in seven days" Arima declared.