Life Hunter

Cracks on the surface of reality opened around Arima and the spear. From an outside perspective, it looked like they had frozen. But Arima and Gungnir were actually locked in an infinite chase through dimensions. The earth crumbled and was crushed to nothingness.

Everyone around felt a huge headache and sometimes, they even wondered if they were not already bleeding from the nose and ears.

"It"s a paradox!" Ahura shouted and jumped back "Get away from the source as much as you can!" Many cracks formed on thin air and seemed to be sucking s.p.a.ce and Time. Arima"s figure blurred slightly. Transparent clones materialized around him and were all continuously trying to avoid Gungnir which had duplicated too.

"[Sacred Life, Sacred Death, Sacred World]" Lorus chanted and the giant tree he had planted shined. It grew leaves of all colors and a holy barrier was placed around it. Everyone entered the dome created by the tree and all headache, as well as the vibration they felt outside, stopped. It was the Soul Manifestation of Lorus. That tree would heal anyone under its leaves and protect them from anything coming from outside.

"We should be able to recover a bit of blood essence here too…" Lorus uttered as he watched the Crosses" black miasma trying to enter his barrier.

Ahura nodded and stared at Arima"s clash with Gungnir. Odin beside her also seemed to be affected a little as he clenched his chest in pain. Sleipnir neighed and ran in a circle around him.

Meanwhile, the paradox had simply become chaotic. You couldn"t even spot the real Arima or Gungnir anymore. There were too many different versions of themselves trying to overtake the other. At that point, maybe in the Pillars" vision, there were around a thousand Arima fighting against a crimson spear.

But as it continued, a change occurred. Some of the clones actually started to end their clash. Sometimes, Arima would avoid Gungnir and grab it before breaking it, while other times it was Arima who was impaled by the weapon and died.

The paradox caused all kinds of natural disasters to happen on Melumnia as the "after images" were disappearing one after another. It persisted until there was only one version of both Arima and Gungnir. They were the two original ones, who seemed to have been stopped in time.

Gradually, they began to move again. Gungnir"s tip pierced Arima"s skin and a bit of blood flowed down. But instantly after, Arima shifted his entire body and the spear couldn"t stop itself as it pa.s.sed by him. Arima"s eyes glowed and Karma pulsed.

He saw a weakness on the spear"s theory and swung his katana. The red dark red sword struck the spear"s shaft and cut it in two. Gungnir cracked and exploded with a discharge of red light. Arima"s figure was shrouded and Odin howled.

He fell on his knees and Lorus went to his side to check his state "…His soul is being damaged. Why…?" He muttered and Ahura"s eyes widened.

She stepped out of the sacred tree"s dome and rushed toward the red light which had still not been exhausted. She chanted a short magic and waved her hand. The light dispersed and she caught sight of Arima. He was calmly standing with a smirk on his face. Ahura"s eyes immediately focused on what he was holding "No!" She shouted.

Arima laughed and broke apart the transparent sphere he was holding "[Vita Venari]" He chanted and a colorless energy entered his body. In contrast, Odin abruptly lost all of his strength and Sleipnir, as well as his familiars, cried before turning into particles.

Lorus shuddered and backed away "He absorbed his life force through the soul connection Odin had with Gungnir… that"s ridiculous"

Ahura reached Arima and swung her holy sword at him. Her flying swords also surrounded him and were thrust at him. Arima"s body released a dense vapor and the air around him became twisted. He one more time disappeared on the spot.

And when he resurfaced a few miles away, the four swords flying swords had been broken and Ahura gritted her teeth and she dropped the broken sword which had protected her from Karma. Her arm had now a large cut on it and she clearly felt her strength leaving her body.

"Angra, I didn"t want to use this; but you leave me no choice" She declared and her aura faded away. Arima"s expression twitched. Ahura"s eyes slowly altered and turned into double irises. Just like the ones he had seen on the blood monster that habited his mind. The fact that he couldn"t sense her aura anymore was also perturbing.

But in front of that, he nonchalantly smiled and sheathed Karma. His body stopped producing any energy and the vapor coming out of his body went away. He closed his eyes and the Third Red Art was terminated. The chainmail snake was also deconstructed and became a normal chain handing down the katana"s handle.

Ahura wavered and her eyes turned back to normal. She didn"t understand why Arima had decided to retract his aura, magic, and killing intent so easily. She knew that Angra Mainyu was powerful, evil, and extremely cunning. There was no way he would surrender to the enemy. From what she understood of him; it was sure that he would fight until death even if there wasn"t anything to win from it.

"Ahura, you didn"t pay attention enough and missed two crucial factors" Arima raised his voice as Afriose"s curses started affecting him again. He lifted his left hand which was already skeletal and raised one finger "One; my Art is already around you, ready to swallow its preys" He declared and Ahura glanced at the black miasma at her feet.

"…Maybe, but it"s useless if it doesn"t kill me. I easily can survive and kill you after" She stated "And my Pillars will be protected by Lorus"s tree"

Arima snickered and Ahura furrowed "You see, that"s the second thing you miscalculated" He grinned "You have a really competent subordinate. But I"m sure that even he can make mistakes"

Ahura first scowled at him but then, her whole body shivered and she urgently turned her head toward Ambor who was casting a magic which she had never seen before. Her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to call him "Too late" Arima scorned and Ambor finished the incantation.

"[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios]" The infamous black and white book materialized in Ambor"s hands. The book opened and flipped its own pages. Ambor stared at it and only then was he able to hear his leader"s voice "Stop that magic, Ambor!"

But as Arima said, it was too late. The book halted on a certain page. Ambor read what was written on it and quivered. He started shaking uncontrollably and even his evil eyes couldn"t help him anymore.

"/ The caster is not registered and permitted to make a wish " The "Lawless Tome" actually spoke and a cold voice echoed in the Pillar"s ears. Ambor paled. That book had reached a whole new level of sentience.

"/ Additionally, the caster sought to use me against the creator. A countermeasure will be undertaken. The pre-applied spell will be activated "

The book slipped out of Ambor hands and the latter could only stare dumbfounded as it cast a magic. He braced himself for the worst but after a moment, nothing happened. He was about to say something, but the Lawless Tome spoke again.

"/ End of countermeasure. "Salve" has successfully been conjured " That mechanical voice resounded strongly in everyone"s heads. Then before they knew it, the book was already gone.

"…What happened?" Baba Yaga whispered and the others felt the same.

Ahura looked strangely at her comrades. She made sure that nothing had happened to them before turning her head. When she looked away, she expected to see the half-skeleton demon who she was talking to. But her eyes narrowed instead, and recalled the name of the magic said by the book; "Salve".

She stared at the empty place where Arima was supposed to be and stuttered "It…means…"

"h.e.l.lo" Arima"s voice jolted everyone and chilled them to the bone. Ambor was scared. Unbelievably scared. He was looking down at his feet with absolutely no will power, not even to move his eyes. He was staring at the large shadow encompa.s.sing him. The killing intent behind him made him sweat and pale like an ill man.

"{You were really annoying. You put me in many bad situations. But the moment you cast Pars Impios without looking at the lower layer of the formations, you had lost}" He didn"t even get the time to think as he received that message. He only heard the bullets spin in the chamber, and the trigger being pressed. That was all. Everything went black for him. His entire chest had been obliterated. The pentagrams in his eyes shined one last time before dying down.

Seven people witnessed that happening. Afriose, Lorus, Baba Yaga, Nyx, Loki, Thanatos, Kronos… They all were right next to Ambor, but all they saw was that Arima had appeared out of nowhere and shot him to death. They couldn"t even warn him in time.

Arima collected the life force and two people kicked the ground at that exact moment. They were Ahura and Afriose. The former bit her lip and considering the distance between her and her companions, she knew it would take her around two and a half seconds. That may sound fast for normal people, but for Arima, that amount of time was more than enough to do many things.

As for Afriose, he was incredibly fast and even went above Arima"s capabilities. But when the cursed man finally placed his hand on Arima, nothing happened. He was just touching a three meters tall skeleton which was looking down at him with a grinning skull.

He couldn"t believe it. He said so himself; that he would kill Arima if he ever managed to touch him "(Perfectly in time)" Arima thought and immediately harvested Afriose"s life with Karma.

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

Shakti moaned weakly and fell unconscious. Malum sighed and gently caught her. He turned back into a human and carried her like a princess. He looked at the wisp of light to his left and smiled.

"Good job" He murmured and observed the wisp slowly drifting away.

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

Arima a.s.similated another life force and his power reached a level that he couldn"t even comprehend at the moment. His attention immediately went onto something else. He had 1.58 seconds before Ahura arrived.

He casually stepped forward among the enemies around him while unleashing his Time magic. He was just walking as if he was in his backyard. But no one was attacking him. Rather, they couldn"t. Even if he was leisurely walking in front of them, they were frozen in place. Not that they were too scared. Just that the pressure weighing on them was pinning them down. At that moment, they felt miserably weak.

Dominated by spiritual forces… They never thought that they would experience something like that again after becoming transcendentals and being blessed by the Original Devil. But now, it was happening. They were supposed to be the peak of this Reality. But now, they were all being dominated by a single person"s aura.

Loki laughed interiorly. The others also reacted oddly. Some felt bitter while others stopped struggling. But they all thought the same thing "(Monster!)"

Arima went to the middle of this barrier and placed his hand on the sacred tree. His eyes squinted and he whispered something. The trunk immediately turned black and all of the leaves lost their l.u.s.ter. Lorus watched solemnly as his creation gruesomely died. He put his hand on his chest, just like Odin did and died just after without any sound.

The barrier was lifted and the miasma of the First Black Art entered the last zone of the planet which had not been covered. Arima turned around "(Exactly 0.25 seconds)" He snorted and Ahura reached with her hand. Her eyes changed again.

She was a meter away from Arima when the entire planet imploded. Just before that, everyone saw a cloaked reaper emerge from the ground in front of them and swing a scythe at them. At that moment, all they saw was infinite darkness. Along with the feeling of being brought into an unknown location.

"Welcome to my world. This is my true sanctuary. My own h.e.l.l; [Kymestuos]"