Anubis"s body cracked and broke into grains of sand. They mixed with the ones that were already following him. The large cloud of sand was very dense and was flying toward the falling burning star. The large cloud of sand took the shape of a giant wolf which howled as it neared its target.Trevy"s large body, covered in anti-matter, also scattered and became a ma.s.s of darkness. It fused with the sand and transformed the wolf into a black one. The newly created magic was launched at the burning star.
The wolf opened its mouth "[Hungered Wolf Chasing The Stars]" The superimposing voices of Trevy and Anubis echoed throughout s.p.a.ce. The giant wolf"s eyes flashed. It reached the star and literally ate it. He actually swallowed a part of the star and made it disappear. The star"s section which was then missing immediately became unstable and erupted in flames. The wolf changed into grains of sand and reformed itself somewhere else before taking another bite.
Like this, the mighty wolf gradually wore out the star"s integrity and made it completely disappear when the core was swallowed and erased by anti-matter. Anubis and Trevy resurfaced afterward and inhaled. They had finally finished what they had to do but the whole process took them around ten minutes.
When they looked back at Melumnia, ready to go back to help their comrades, they stiffened and did not move at all. Instead, they watched in complete disarray as Melumnia, which was now a barren and dark planet, imploded silently. There was no detonation or obvious flame, but it felt like the worst blow they had ever suffered. Both Anubis and Trevy coughed blood while trying to resist the repercussions. Wave after wave of death magic and continuous shockwaves which could destroy planets in hundreds.
Even the star they had just got rid of may have been blown off by it if they hadn"t destroyed it "What is going on down there? What happened while we were away?!" Trevy shouted and Anubis growled as his defenses were about to break.
*********************************************
Meanwhile, Malum and Shakti were wandering in an unknown realm where even color didn"t exist. They were aware of their surroundings and could actually see. But It was as if they could never touch anything or even actually know the true appearance of anything present there.
"{This place is what we call Meuro}" Shakti spoke and her voice echoed in Malum"s head "{It"s the s.p.a.ce that exists between each plane. Imagine a recipient filled with water and that there are many bubbles on the surface. The bubbles are the planes, we are in the water}" She explained and stared at small blue wisp in front of her.
"{What is that?}" Malum asked. He spotted a few others in the distance.
"{A plane}"
"{Huh?}"
Shakti let out a sweet chuckle "{In this place, size doesn"t matter. s.p.a.ce and Time don"t even exist. We may be bigger than the planes here but it"s not like our importance, weight, and energy can compare to these small wisps}"
"{…How do we move it?}"
"{Simple, we just have to push it}" She responded and Malum scowled at her "{Technically… yes, it"s literally that. We"re going to push this wisp and everything inside. But doing that would virtually require a strength capable of pushing the weight of around 800 000 planes and their incalculable number of planets}"
"{So, what we"re going to do is this; I"m going to link my soul and mind to the Plane for a really small amount of time. That"ll allow me to connect my mind to every inhabitant inside. But of course, even I won"t be able to withstand their combined spiritual energy}" She uttered and Malum rubbed his eyes.
"{Get to the point}"
She smiled wryly "{I"ll send a powerful mind wave that will force them all to release their aura and push their own Plane in the same direction as us. And for that, I need someone else to bear the toll with me. Particularly the mana consumption and mental fatigue}"
Malum snorted "{Let"s do it already then}" He declared and his eyes started burning in purple fire. They became ashes and so did his whole body. After a moment, he became a skeleton again and turned into a skeletal dragon one more time "{If we"re talking about mental fort.i.tude, I"m even better than Arima}"
Shakti looked at him and nodded solemnly. She placed her hands around the "Plane" and closed her eyes. She liberated her spirit and mana. Malum silently praised her again "(Her control and efficiency are seriously perfect. I don"t know if even Arima could do that. But it seems her otherworldly ability limits her fighting ability… maybe he can do something about that)" He thought then deployed his ashen wings.
He enclosed Shakti with them and concentrated too. He gave the control of his entire mana pool to her as if it was nothing and easily connected to her mind.
Shakti was surprised and a bit fl.u.s.tered. She didn"t expect him to do that so confidently and trustingly. She opened one eye for a second to observe the skeletal dragon and focused back on her work.
***********************************************
Raylein stared at the three-headed hound standing in front of him like a small mountain. He then looked at Ganesha who was smiling beside him "So, you"re saying that this is thanks to your luck?"
"Yes" Ganesha shrugged "That"s my main ability after all"
"That is quite unexpected to find an acquaintance of that man like this" Evangeline commented and Gilgamesh nodded.
"Explain yourself already. Who are you and what"s your connection with Arima?" Kerberos inquired and the Pillars sighed.
"He"s our new boss, I guess" Raylein admitted bitterly "I"m called Raylein. Here"s Ganesha, Evangeline, and Gilgamesh. Normally, this should be the moment where I tell you about our position in the Plane Guardians" ranks but I think it"s pretty much useless now"
"Plane Guardians?" Chulainn was shocked. He had coincidentally met these people while traveling across planes, as Arima instructed him to do, and they turned out to be the Plane Guardians. Now, he had learned that Arima had become their leader. He growled when he thought about it "So… how did he do that?"
"Oh, well, nothing much" Raylein "smiled" "He just took our entire planet in hostage and killed three of us including the First Guardian"
"…I"m kind of sorry for you" Chulainn muttered and shook his head to clear his thoughts "Anyway, you"re here because he told you, right? What did he ask you to do?"
"Gather an army. The same as you, I think" Raylein answered and Chulainn mused.
"…I want to know, what is it for exactly? Arima didn"t tell me" He questioned and Raylein made a helpless expression.
"To fight the Pillars"
"The Pillars?"
"Yeah" Raylein nodded "You can see them as the exact opposite of the Guardians. They are under the Devil and work to conquer the Planes instead of protecting them"
Chulainn eyes widened. He lifted his middle head and the two others bent their neck to stare at Raylein. He frowned "Are they as strong as you?"
Raylein smiled "I could say that… But it would be a lie since I honestly think they are stronger overall"
"…Where is Arima then?"
"Fighting them"
"…Sorry?"
"He is combatting the ten of them along with the renowned powerhouses such as Odin and Kronos, alone" Raylein stated.
Chulainn was speechless "… "Alone"?"
Raylein scratched his hair and realized that even he was still a bit dazed by this "Yes"
The h.e.l.lhound sighed strongly and Raylein agreed with him interiorly "I any case, how much people did you gather?" He inquired and Chulainn looked at him.
"Around a million people of the Heavenly Realm, as well as many others in the Earthen Realm" Chulainn uttered and Raylein was a bit surprised.
"That"s a lot. How did you gather that much? Even if Arimane gave you a device to travel Planes; how did you convince people to join you?"
Chulainn snickered "I just showed them our memories of what Arima did in our plane and told them that he wanted an army"
Raylein blinked and gaped. Ganesha seemed to be amused and Evangeline chuckled while covering her mouth. Gilgamesh quietly nodded for some reason "That"s actually a really good way" Evangeline commented with a smile on her face.
"I can"t say it isn"t…" Raylein muttered and wryly smiled.
"What about you?" Chulainn followed.
"Gilgamesh" Raylein called in response. The King of Babylon nodded and his eyes glowed. He moved his hand slowly and wrote runes with his fingers at the same time. A golden light escaped his body and formed the frame of a giant gate.
It soon became a physical one. Shining gold. It opened slowly and revealed what was behind to Chulainn. The latter froze instantly.
********************************************
Layla clasped her hands and the light barrier surrounding the burning star in front of her completely annulled the gravitational and magnetic fields.
"That"s the hundredth" Flavio announced as he teleported right next to Layla. Aergia arrived just after.
"What do we do? Are we supposed to continue?" She asked with a tired voice "This whole thing is killing me…"
Aergia glanced at the star Layla had confined and waved her hand. The ma.s.s of fire was immediately sent into her storage. In fact, since the beginning, she was the one storing the stars in a separate s.p.a.ce she had created. The fact that she could store that much volume showed how powerful she was.
"I don"t know" Layla answered to her question "Arima told us to collect as much as we could. Maybe that means we just have to continue until he calls us back" She a.s.sumed and Aergia groaned.
"Why did I accept that…" She mumbled to herself and Layla laughed lightly. Flavio shook his head and sighed.
When they were about to leave, Layla stopped moving and her eyes gradually changed. Her pupil narrowed until it was a slit and a silver light illuminated them. Some runes even appeared on her iris. Aergia looked at her and scowled "What"s wrong?" She had witnessed Layla"s ability when she watching her fight with Victor and was slightly worried. Flavio also gazed at her.
Layla hummed "Well… Melumnia has just been erased from existence"
"…Huh?" "…What?"
***************************************
Ten minutes earlier.
Odin threw his spear and Gungnir whistled as it made its way to Arima. The latter tried to flee the moment it happened but Ahura abruptly attacked him.
"(s.h.i.t)" Even if he could dodge her normally thanks to his Art, he could not do it if he were to run in a linear fashion to escape Gungnir. He swung his sword at Ahura and she actually placed her palm on the blade"s flat side. She traced it and her hand was about to hit Arima"s throat.
Arima contracted his muscles and his figure vanished just before he was. .h.i.t. Many different phenomena occurred as he moved. Lightning, wind, water, spirits, gravity, electromagnetic waves, atoms, molecules… The trail he left behind was a mix of all those things supporting him at the same time.
His displacement speed was so great that it almost felt like teleportation. Arima went behind Ahura and his entire body fumed. He tried to cut her but Karma was blocked by an odd white sword, hovering behind her.
Ahura turned around just after and swung a sword at Arima, which he dodged quite easily this time. He retreated and scanned Ahura"s surrounding with his senses without even looking back. The sword which blocked him had a small crack on it and was already repairing. But, more importantly, there were three other floating swords around Ahura, and she was holding another one in her hand.
Arima clicked his tongue "(If I fight her head on, I"ll seriously die)"
"{Arima, it"s coming!}" Night warned him and Arima recalled about Gungnir. He urgently faced the direction Gungnir was coming from and halted. His body released a weird vapor and energy again.
"(Gungnir is said to never miss its prey. It will even move through s.p.a.ce and Time to reach the target if it"s necessary)" Arima recalled the legend while the crimson spear was coming toward him. Time was flowing slowly and the red light it produced reflected in Arima"s blind eyes "(My Art allows me to evade anything, and the entire world"s matter will help me to do so…)"
Arima grinned as he felt the tip of the spear touching his neck "(Can the impenetrable shield be pierced by the undefendable spear… It will be a clash of theories)"