Life Hunter

As he was dozing off while watching the clouds move and their forms change, a crackling sound resounded around him "Hm?" He sat up and looked around.

At the same time, a huge pressure fell down on Earth. Gla.s.s fissured everywhere and the ground started trembling. The stars suddenly became brighter and began to blink. The inhabitants of the Earth felt a sudden weight on their bodies. Some even fell on the ground.

"What the…" Raylein muttered in confusion then the pressure increased again. He stood up and teleported. He reappeared in front of the door Arima had created to connect his soul realm. He opened it and stepped inside.

When he got through, his eyes narrowed. A silver aura manifested around him and the pressure lessened considerably. Raylein looked around with a furrowed eyebrow.

It was the first time he entered this realm but he couldn"t even admire. His thoughts were occupied by the source of the pressure he was suffering from. There was no one around but the kind of force which was put on him was almost as strong as a Plane Guardian. It wasn"t as powerful, but the quality and density definitely were. It was already surprising enough that an aura could escape the confinement of a soul realm too.

Raylein took another step and teleported somewhere else. He ended right between Arima and Malum. The two were standing face to face. But it seemed that they were struggling about something.

"Move" Arima slowly said and Raylein frowned before backing away. Arima and Malum were shrouded with white and black energy that was spreading around like a spider net.

Raylein teleported again and this time joined with Layla, Karma, and Night. He also realized that they were all transcendental. There wasn"t really any change to their appearance. Transcendence was something which changed the composition of the body. But it was quite discreet about it. So, he didn"t even know what kind of body those three had ended up with. It was unique for everyone.

But he wasn"t curious about that "What"s happening?"

Layla"s expression turned odd "I don"t know. Arima and Malum were the last ones who needed to convert their life force. And since they are the same person, they needed to do it together"

"Then this happened. They slowly started to lose control over something. At first, they were fine but both of their countenances changed after a few hours. They told us to get away then they suddenly let out this aura" Karma explained after Layla.

"This shouldn"t happen…" Raylein was perplexed "Wait, tell me, what kind of being is Malum exactly?"

"Malum is Arima"s counterpart. He is born from the condensation of Arima"s dark side. But even though he is supposed to be a gathering of ill emotions, his personality isn"t that different from Arima since he didn"t really have a bad side, to begin with. In the end, now the two are sharing their mana pool and soul" Night answered to him.

"What?" Raylein exclaimed "The same? The exact same?"

"Yes"

Raylein seemed to be agitated "That"s not possible. Two beings cannot share the same soul. Even you who are his soul beast; you have your own soul. But two identical souls for two different beings is unheard of…"

"I don"t know how it happened. But if they"re trying to convert their life force like that, the result could be uncalled for"

"Why?" Layla inquired.

"The transcendence is not really something too tricky. As long as you know what"re you doing, you will not die of course. The life force is converted by condensing your life force then connect it directly to the magic circuits connecting the world"

"Afterward, your body will be altered depending on how you converted it. With what kind of attribute, theory, method… and you will get a different body which should change your entire genetic code" Raylein explained.

"The problem right now is that Malum actually possesses a body of his own, and a mind of his own. It shouldn"t be possible, and that"s why I a.s.sumed Malum was a separate being from Arima. I can"t say for sure how it happened, but basically, they"re both trying to change their respective bodies, which are completely different, while using the same catalyst; their soul"

"I also think they agreed on what kind of body they should get but there must still be some dissimilarities because they don"t have the same way of thinking" Raylein scratched his head with a difficult expression "I have no idea how this will end. I can"t even imagine what would happen if they achieve it"

Layla stared at Arima and Malum "There"s nothing we can do to help them?"

"No" Raylein immediately responded "As long as we don"t know anything. We may just hinder them and cause their failure"

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

"{Are we actually going down because of our own aura?}" Malum ridiculed himself as he went on his knees along with Arima.

As he said, they were not only experiencing some incomprehensible phenomenon but they also being pressured by their own combined aura "{That"s stupid}" Arima uttered.

Malum snickered "{In any case, are you sure you"re converting your life force the way we decided?}"

"{I am}" Arima snorted "{I would even say it"s you who isn"t}"

"{Oh, you"re sure about that?}"

The two glared at each other but the aura once again weighted on them "{I think it"s because of our bodies}" Arima then said "{If I"m not wrong, you have absorbed too much life essence during the Life Judgment and got yourself a physical body. Now, we are trying to alter our bodies, which are not the same, with the same life force and soul}"

"{So, what do you propose? We"ll kick the bucket at this rate. I hope you didn"t forget about this bomb which you just created too. If you die now, it will detonate too}"

"{I know}" Arima replied "{You thought I could forget that? The way to get out of this is simple. Get rid of your body}"

"{Huh? Why should I? If I ever throw this one away, I"ll never get one again. And how do you want me to do that anyway?}"

"{You just have to merge fuse with me}"

"{Fuse with you? Like the Final Resonance?}"

"{No, a definitive one. Creating a new body with the two we have right now}"

"{It would work but I"m not sure if I want to do that}"

"{Just do it. If you want a body that much, I"ll just create a clone or a homunculus for you to play around with. Now let"s go, I don"t want to die for this}"

"{…G.o.ddammit, why do I always get the short end every time}" He complained and smirked "{I hope you"re not scared of becoming half bones, half flesh!}" He shouted and gathered his remaining mana.

Arima did the same and they cast a certain magic at the same time "[Third Forbidden Art, Essentia Dominus]" The Law of Life was invoked and affected them both instantly.

"An Owl?" Raylein muttered "The Life Law… it may be possible"

Layla glanced at him "Have you ever used a Law?

Raylein nodded "Once, I used the Law of Fate. But it was a special case. I normally can"t use ant Owl for my own needs. The only people who can use them among the Guardians are the First, the Fifth, and the Seventh"

He smiled wryly "And apparently, Arima can use them as much as he wants…"

"No" Night retorted and Raylein looked back at him in surprise "Arima can"t use them freely. It has never been the case. The Forbidden Arts were made for Arima to be able to control them. Then you have to question how he made that happen"

"There are conditions, or to be exact, stipulations. Each time Arima use a Law, he makes a contract. Not with something like the Original G.o.d of course but with the World itself. For example, the easiest Law to use is Libra. For that, you just have to bet something and don"t need anything more"

"But for the Laws like Death, Life, Fate, Truth, and Wisdom, he has to sacrifice or let go of something" Night explained and glanced at the mystified Layla "I don"t think you know since Arima must have blocked those memories"

"I think you"ll learn it pretty soon. So, I"ll say it anyway, when he used Life to fuse Lanya and Lilis, he paid for it. That day… he lost his sense of taste" Night declared and Layla"s eyes narrowed. She felt like her heart had just been squeezed. Even Raylein"s eyes widened "And that"s something which will never be recovered. That"s the price for using a Law"

"Of course, for Arima, taste is something which is not really necessary. Even now, he still eats sweets as if it was the same. It"s a sort of stress reliever for him anyway" Night smiled but Layla"s expression was not getting better. It was getting worse every second pa.s.sing.

She was not that worried about Arima"s taste. Although she felt so guilty that she could scream right here and now, she didn"t have the time to care about that. There was something else that was a lot more urgent.

"Wait, does that mean he"s about to sacrifice another sense right now?" Raylein inquired hastily.

Night shrugged "He will" He answered calmly but Layla"s and Karma"s expressions darkened "That"s why Arima said that he would only be able to use the Art three times in his life. Because he has only three senses that he is prepared to discard"

"Which ones?"

"The first one is, of course, taste. Then between, touch, hearing, sight and smell, Arima concluded that it was his sight which was the less needed"

Layla gritted her teeth, she was almost about to cry "…Why so?"

"Because Arima has a perfect sixth sense. He also has mana and aura detection. In a fight, for him, touch, smell, and, hearing are the only ones remotely important. Because they are the only senses which are not limited in their own right. For instance, to see behind you, you need to turn your head, that"s not the case for smell and hearing" Night explained and sighed.

"What"s the third one?" Raylein asked.

"Touch. That"s the last one, Arima predicts that he would become crazy if he goes further"

Everyone fell silent and when Karma saw that Night wasn"t going to say anything else, she stepped forward toward Layla "Don"t worry about that. Let"s just hope his transcendence will go well" She said and Layla nodded slowly.

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

"{I have to say though. The kind of transcendence you chose is really fascinating… d.a.m.n, I can"t see anything already…}"

In the middle of a huge irradiance of white, Arima and Malum were talking together as they were fusing.

"{Well, this body is going to be quite special}"

"{Why do you want to stick so much to human nature?}" Malum asked and Arima chuckled.

"{Why?}" He snickered "{Am I not human for you?}" He uttered and Malum fell silent "{That"s your answer}"