Life Hunter

"It isn"t" Arima shrugged "As long as I don"t want it to be"

"I see" The vampire nodded "Allow to me ask something else then. If I kill you, will those crosses disappear?" He uttered and Raylein trembled. Arima"s companions immediately tensed. Arima smirked and waved his hands at them.

"They will indeed go away" He answered and Ambrogio scowled "But I dare you to try" Arima added and Shiva"s expression contorted.

"Don"t be arrogant. Anyone among the Guardians could easily kill you"

"That"s not what I meant" Arima retorted and Shiva fell silent "I"m just saying this;" He looked back at Ambrogio "I dare you to try"

The vampire"s eyes glowed for a second as he lifted his chin. He observed Arima for a few seconds and turned around "I do not want to kill someone with a death aura so dense. We can never know what would happen. I would even speculate that you"ve set up a b.o.o.by trap directly in your body" He said "In any case, you"re here to become one of us, right? Follow me, I"ll call the rest and we"ll be able to proceed when all the Guardians will be gathered"

Ambrogio told and walked away. He waved his hand and a mirror appeared in front of him. His figure was not being reflected on it. He reached for it and went through the gla.s.s. Shiva clicked his tongue and went after Ambrogio with Shakti. Raylein actually went next "See you in a moment" He quickly said before leaving.

"Did you actually do it?" Ganesha asked Arima just after "That b.o.o.by trap he talked about"

Arima shrugged "Kinda" He gave a really ambiguous and Ganesha snickered before going through that gla.s.s too. Arima sighed and stretched his neck.

"I"ll be honest, I think this whole thing"s gonna be a ha.s.sle" He complained then turned back "So? What the h.e.l.l are you doing?" He asked both Karma and Layla who were revolving around Gilgamesh as if he was some sort of pet.

That same "pet" was not even struggling and let himself be hugged and petted by the two girls. It was sure that Gilgamesh was a really old ent.i.ty but at the moment, he was just acting like a timid child.

"Ah" Layla coughed when she heard Arima and straightened her back "It"s nothing" Arima glared at her as she said that while holding Gilgamesh like a small baby "W-What? He"s cute" She stuttered and Arima sighed.

He stood up and stomped the cross below him with his foot. The whole structure trembled then the chains expanded even more and pierced the ground. As if they were pulling on the entire cross, the latter slowly started to go underground. And so were all of the other crosses.

After a minute or so, all the crosses had been hidden underground and could not be seen at the surface anymore. Arima sensed the townsfolk looking at him from the ground and saluted them with a smile "You can go back to your daily lives" He stated and beckoned his group to follow him.

Gilgamesh couldn"t even say something and he was almost forced to go with them "You could hide them… Why didn"t you do it before?" But that didn"t prevent him from talking to Arima.

"Intimidation factor, Gilga" Arima stopped in front of the mirror and responded.

"Gilga…?" Gilgamesh mumbled the nickname Arima had just given him and blinked several times.

"Since I think you"re a pretty quiet kid, I"ll tell you a secret" Arima grinned "This magic I used is not only made to support me with the souls around it. It"s also something made to affect the psyche of the people around it over time"

"So, if no one kills me in time, this whole planet will soon know about me and trust me as if I was their G.o.dfather. But in compensation for that, I need to do something too. First of all, I can only have one sanctuary active. If I cast this Art again on another planet, this one will disappear. That"s one thing but the most crucial aspect is that I have to protect this planet"

"Because of the theory I used, I am forced to protect his planet and its inhabitants. Otherwise, the magic will dispel by itself and I will suffer a rebound. But at same the time, if I die, these crosses will actually explode and bring everyone else with me to the tomb"

Gilgamesh was making a really strange face "Why…? Why are you telling me this?"

Arima laughed "Basic psychology. Let"s say that you are my hidden card"

Gilgamesh"s expression darkened considerably. He couldn"t understand what was going on at all. But he wasn"t the only one, even Layla and the rest were a bit confused.

"{Hey, what are you doing?}" Night approached Arima and asked.

"{I"m just setting up a leverage}"

Night frowned "{Aren"t you being too cautious about this? You even used the First Black Art. I don"t think it was necessary. It"s true that this magic gives you power in proportion to the number of people affected, so Melumnia is a good choice, but it also is a gamble to keep it active}"

"{I know. Don"t worry. I have my reasons to do this}" Arima replied and told Layla to put Gilgamesh down. He crouched to match the latter"s height "The reason I"m telling you this is simple. I realized that you"re most likely the person I can trust the most in this bunch. Proof of that is that you"re the first one who noticed that I was blind"

"You couldn"t have done that if you weren"t looking at me with real curiosity and care. You even approached me and asked me about it, instead of keeping it for yourself. That"s incredibly innocent. That"s why I know I can trust you" Arima said and went through the mirror just after "(Aah, it"s been a long time since I used psychology to deal with something)" He thought.

Arima"s companions looked at each other then went through the mirror too. Gilgamesh stayed in a daze for a moment and was the last one to go.

"I can"t understand what you just did at all" Night uttered when they had arrived inside a giant decorated hall.

"Me too" Karma and Layla agreed at the same time and Arima laughed.

"Basically, when you want to manipulate someone, convince him, or lead him to do something, you have to either be confusing or extremely logical," He said "I don"t really want to control the Guardians; just influence them a little. So, I choose confusion, which is a lot easier for me. I"ve basically planted a seed of discord already"

"With a bit of luck, Gilgamesh will protect me if the Guardians ever decide to harm me. Because my death would mean the death of everyone on Melumnia, at least that"s what I told him. Of course, this particular method only works because he seems to have an innocent and compa.s.sionate personality, and won"t tell anything to his comrades since I affirmed right in front of him that I trusted him. The guilt of betrayal, even one-sided, is quite heavy"

"Basically, you made a backdoor if they ever turn against you" Layla commented "But isn"t it a bit roundabout? Why don"t you just tell them all that if you are killed, Melumnia will follow too?"

"Because that would be useless. What I want is to see if they take the initiative to kill me while they don"t know about it" Arima replied and Night rubbed his temples.

"I still don"t get why you"re taking so many precautions all of sudden. The fact that Ambrogio saw through your soul bomb also nullify the utility of that"

Arima sighed "It"s because of the Original G.o.d," He said and started walking toward the giant door at the back of the hall "The Plane Guardians represent the direct power that the Original G.o.d has in this reality. I don"t know what will happen when I"ll meet him. That"s why I want to get some kind of insurance to avoid being stabbed in the back by the Guardians"

When he finished talking, Gilgamesh arrived in the hall too. Night looked back and realized they had come out of giant mirror hung above the main entrance.

"Anyway, let"s go in there" Arima said and stepped inside the giant room which was right beside the hall. He still didn"t know what kind of building he was in, but Arima a.s.sumed they were in some sort of large castle or mansion.

The room they entered next was a very s.p.a.cious conference room. The entire furniture was entirely black with a carpeting of the same color. The place was dimly illuminated by red lights placed here and there. They looked like magic candles.

There was a really calm and serious atmosphere in this room. Ambrogio had already sat down on the main seat and the three other guardians found their place on the multiple sofas. Gilgamesh silently went to his seat too. Ambrogio was talking with Raylein and his eyes widened and signaled Arima"s group to take a seat anywhere they wanted.

"I called the rest, they should be arriving soon" He told and waved his hand, four human-sized mirrors appeared in the room out of nowhere.

Arima walked toward one of them in curiosity. He couldn"t see them so he directly touched them "That"s fascinating. You"re a vampire but you"re using a magic which uses reflection as its theory. A reverse theory is kind hard to use. You"re also a blood mage but seem to be able to use totally different things…"

Ambrogio smiled "You"re incredibly perceptive and knowledgeable" He praised "Sit down, please. I heard it from Raylein; you found out that Afriose is alive apparently, as well as a few other things. I"d wish to talk with you about it if you agree"

"Sure" Arima nodded. He sat down on a sofa and Raylein also took a seat near him. At the same time, the four mirrors made some noise and four new figures emerged from them.