Life Hunter

In the middle of this, the place where Ambrogio was standing didn"t receive any damage from the terrifying outburst of energy. The three other Guardians were also unharmed behind him.

Arima scowled at them. The reason he was forced to flee with the Second White Art was that the explosion caused by the Lawless Tomes" instability couldn"t be controlled, and even for him, it was absolutely impossible to get out of there without any injury.

"You used a Law?" Arima asked and Ambrogio"s expression darkened. He didn"t answer and in the next instant, his entire arm was suddenly, and gruesomely, pulled out of his shoulder. Ambrogio groaned in pain and his face paled. His arm then turned to ashes before disappearing.

Arima"s eyes twitched. He extended his senses and managed to hear the sound of the bones breaking. Layla gaped in shock and Malum snorted "So you can"t use Laws without a price after all" He uttered and Ambrogio clicked his tongue. He then waved his other hand in front of his shoulder and cauterized his injury immediately.

"Indeed…" Arima muttered and smirked "So that"s what the Original G.o.d gave you, huh? When you use a Law, the price you give is a lot cheaper. I also sense that your arm is already growing back. You used the Law of Materiality. If I was in your place and had used my arm as a sacrifice, I would have lost it forever like with my eyes" He chuckled "Very interesting"

"…As I thought, you lost your eyesight for using the Laws" Ambrogio mumbled and straightened his back "Let"s continue. That last move was incredibly threatening. But it was something out of your control, right? Can you use it again?"

"Indeed, as you already deduced, I can"t use that strategy again" Arima shrugged "But it is far from being my deadliest magic" He declared and released his aura once again.

Ambrogio, Victor, Shiva, and Shakti all shivered "How does he have that much stamina left? It"s the same for the other two…" Shiva spoke through his teeth and Malum laughed.

"Are you stupid?" He mocked them "Look at that" He pointed at one of the Kind Demon"s Crosses lying there "That thing is not for show. Arima is getting his endurance from every inhabitant of this planet. Even his mana. It will never get dry, especially with that guy"s irrational mana pool. The moment Arima chose to use the First Black Art when he arrived, you had lost"

Ambrogio"s eyes narrowed and glared at Arima. Layla"s eyes glowed at the same time "Time to change" She announced and the two others nodded.

Arima deployed his wings then flapped them "[Accelerando]" His figure faded away and the Guardians heightened their senses to the maximum. But they didn"t see or feel anything. Instead, when they reacted to Arima"s disappearance, they heard a powerful noise and the earth being torn apart as Shiva and Shakti went missing.

Ambrogio"s eyes narrowed and immediately looked behind. Arima had actually been fast enough to grab both Shiva and Shakti and crush them together against the earth, without them reacting "(What was that? That was too fast… No, not fast... he went into another dimension and sped up time before coming out behind me)" Ambrogio immediately understood and made sure to take measures against it.

Layla smiled wryly "That wasn"t necessary" She said helplessly "[Resurrection, Maiden Ostara]" She then chanted and Malum grinned. His bones cracked and were put under a maximum strain. He used his pure speed to charge toward Ambrogio.

He created a great sword made out of his own scales and swung it at the vampire "Your new opponent is me!" He shouted and his sword hit Ambrogio"s mirror which he had summoned as a defense. The clash transformed the atmosphere into a void for a second and Victor was blown off. Just after that, the entire fight zone turned white for the latter.

His presence and figure simply vanished all of sudden. Layla smiled at that "Sorry but only one person can enter my realm at a time. You"ll be the one getting off this battle first" She said and flew toward Ambrogio. Not even caring about how much Victor was going wild inside her "canvas". She knew for certain that Victor would be out of the game after this. After all, there was absolutely no darkness in the world of her Soul Manifestation which he could use.

She focused on helping Malum instead. The reason Arima and Malum switched opponents was that Layla predicted Ambrogio"s next move.

"[Blood Hunt]" Ambrogio chanted loudly and the azure flames in the sky turned crimson before being extinguished. What laid behind was a night sky, decorated with red stars and a large vermilion moon. That next move Layla had predicted was a technique which Arima would never be able to resist unless he was allowed to destroy this planet or use a Prohibited Art. There was also the possibility to escape, but at a price and risk that they didn"t want to confront.

"[Myriads Labyrinth, Path of Wonders]" The vampire chanted and countless small sized mirrors filled the air. He pointed at the sky with his hand and swung it down. The red stars glowed, then an infinite number of rays of light fell down like rain.

Sometimes, those rays would reach the ground and explode but most of the time, they were reflected by the mirrors and directed toward Malum and Layla "{Now!}" She signaled and her mind became fully connected to Malum"s.

The latter sneered, his body moved in a surreal way and grabbed one of the rays of light before destroying it. He then continued to do that endlessly, as if he knew where they were coming from, whilst protecting Layla at the same time.

"…s.h.i.t!" Ambrogio cursed for the first time "(Is that why they swapped?)" He a.s.sumed "(My magic can easily be countered by someone without blood and life energy within him)" He thought "(…But what about him? Even if he"s strong, he should not be able to win when he"s against Shiva and Shakti at the same time)" He took the leisure to look away from his fight to observe the other and the shock was drawn on his face almost instantly.

What he saw was a large chunk of ice, the size of a small planet, being thrown at his allies before bursting into something absolutely terrifying. It was just an ice block, but it caused so much damage that the entire planet shook and some bits were thrown into s.p.a.ce.

Shiva coughed blood and was buried under the ground and changed the landscape again. Shakti was also struggling but her incredible control granted her the ability to change the ice coming at her into harmless water. But even that resultant water was capable of killing transcendentals.

She looked through the vapor and the reflections on the ice and saw Arima drawing Karma "[Fifth Cryptic Art]" He chanted and she prepared to create a quick array to block the attack. But after she a single blink, she had already lost sight of the black dragon.

"[Aeterna, Gemini]" She heard from two different directions and saw herself being attacked by two different waves of lighting and darkness. She bellowed in fear and was then shrouded by an extremely large magic explosion.

Two shadows flew out of the explosion and joined back together. Arima was back into a single piece after using Gemini and grabbed Superore with his left hand.

"[Ratione detester leges transcendere] (I defy all laws and transcend reason)"

"[Im "exitium voluntatem Dei manifestaretur] (I"m the will of destruction made manifest)"

He chanted and a blue and green energy gathered in the two barrels of the gun. Black lightning then followed and thunder roared.

"[Veluta aeim, quifa quifa]"

"[Samda maa kaav]"

Arima pointed his gun toward Shiva who was getting up "[Magna Blast, Exist]" He pressed the trigger and the ma.s.sive wave of condensed energy struck Shiva directly.

Shiva managed to block a part of it with a wall of ice but his injuries from the precedent blow impeded him and he one more time coughed blood and the two bullets pierced through his defense and made a hole in his chest and leg.

Arima made Superore spin and shouldered Karma. Illuminated by Aeterna"s light, he smirked. Ambrogio trembled "What is going on? Why is he suddenly stronger?"

"You should focus on me" Malum abruptly closed in and punched the vampire.

Ambrogio"s face distorted "{What a ridiculous amount of raw power!}" He was astounded as most of his bones broke. It was the first time since the beginning of this fight, that he actually shed blood which was his own. He was sent flying but easily recovered and snorted "That"s enough!" He shouted and transformed into a bunch of bats to retreat.

At the same time, Malum noticed a small inscription made of blood had been depicted on his bones. The flames he had for eyes wavered and his entire arm turned red before exploding into his face. Just after that, the red stars in the sky shined again and barraged Malum"s position.

"The future changed too quickly!" Layla exclaimed and she was also about to get struck by those rays of light. Thanks to Malum, they had still not seen what they could do. But she saw it in the other timelines. She knew that it would suck the blood out of her body and destroy her life energy. A mummified image of her pa.s.sed through her mind.

Arima who had just finished pushing back Shiva and Shakti witnessed that and gritted his teeth "No f.u.c.king way I"d lose her like that" He muttered and Time stopped. Everything froze. The flames, the ice, the water, the blood, the air, the light, the matter,… nothing was moving. Arima was plunged into even more darkness but his mouth still opened to chant one magic.

"[Second Prohibited Art, Meum arbitrium] (My choice)"

The entire Reality which was stopped in time started being rewound. It went back until the moment Ambrogio was still observing Arima beating Shiva and Shakti down.

Then, Time regained its normal flow and Ambrogio felt a sudden headache for a second. It was the same for Layla. Two distinct images were superimposing each other in their heads.

Ambrogio groaned and looked back at where Arima was supposed to be and his pupils contracted in panic "[In fabula incipit c.u.m tristis mundi] (The story begins when the world falter)" A voice resounded behind him. He oddly heard it in accelerated.

Ambrogio was supposed to be strong enough to resist Time magic influence and had made preparations just before. But it was as if the Time dimension had just been completely altered and he couldn"t move at all.

"[Quod in hac sola] (In this lonely existence)"

"[Quomodo potestis vos testimonium perhibetis abyssi deambulasti?] (How can you witness the abyss?)"

Arima"s entire body became a sort of black hole which didn"t let any light come in contact with him. His left hand was particularly affected. There was an aura around it which would make you feel so small and weak that you"d faint and die on the spot.

"[First Destruction Art, Comoediae Mundi, Histrio est scriptor calamum] (World"s Comedy, Actor"s pen)" Arima finished his chant and as if he was possessed, he grabbed Ambrogio and crushed him with a single hand. When he opened his fist, the First Vampire had been reduced to literally nothing.

Without even being able to tell his last words, or even use his full power, his entire existence had been erased for eternity, just like that. Afterward, Arima"s body went limp and fell like a shot-down-bird on the ground.