Life Hunter

That man was Ambor and he was trembling as he recognized the source of that sound. His eyelids were closed and there was nothing behind them. He had been revived inside Kymestuos and actually released after having been judged. He wasn"t the only one; Baba Yaga, Loran, Khione, Thanatos… Almost all of them had actually suddenly resurfaced out of nowhere with their life force purged.

Even Ahura had no idea on how it worked "Ambor" She raised her voice "Don"t even think of bearing hatred toward him. I am enough for that. There"s no reason for you to try taking revenge"

Ambor clenched his hands "I don"t hate him. I"m just frustrated. I should have been killed anyway. I should be happy that I"m alive" He released his fists and sighed helplessly "And… I actually think that he"s the only capable of bringing out the full potential of my eyes" He muttered "…I suppose I can only live as a human now"

Ahura closed her eyes again "Sebas" She called and the old butler appeared right next to her and bowed "Did you request my presence, My Lady?"

"I want you to talk with Ambor and the others. If they need you to go somewhere, help them" Ahura instructed and Sebas nodded in understanding.

Ambor bitterly smiled "Thank you for your care" He said and went toward the others Pillars with Sebas. Ahura breathed in and sighed. She couldn"t hear the high-pitched sound anymore.

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"// Integrating. Maledictus Natus. Terminated " Arima heard his own voice inside his head. The crimson light died down and he stood up. Red lightning sparked around him and his aura caused a shockwave that blew away the dust around him.

He slowly opened his eyes and once again heard himself talking in a mechanical way "// a.n.a.lyze of existence. Complete. Law of Life. Release. Break " When his eyes were half open, Arima opened them wide. Two pentagrams were immediately projected from his eyes.

They receded afterward and shrunk until they became a mark on Arima"s irises "// Results. Failed. Conclusion. 40%. Terminated " The circles spun and vanished when he blinked. His pupils returned to their usual silver hue.

Arima abruptly frowned. He covered one of his eyes with his hand, then did the same thing with the other. His mouth twitched. He cast a magic on himself and a blue light covered his eyes for a second. Arima"s expression darkened and he conjured a sort of transparent barrier in front of him. He waved his hand and started deforming it in a peculiar way.

Night, Karma, and Layla stared at him strangely. His actions looked silly to them. Arima ignored them for the meantime and his expression kept becoming more infuriated as he altered that barrier "G.o.ddammit!" He shouted and shattered the barrier.

"It needs to be a physical one…" He grunted and waved his hand and a piece of metal along with a small plate of gla.s.s materialized. Arima"s sigil glowed and the two materials shined before fusing together. It became smaller then the shape started changing.

The three onlookers dropped their jaws dumbfounded when they recognized the object Arima was making "…Arima, what the h.e.l.l are you doing?"

"Mm?" Arima turned toward them with an annoyed expression "Isn"t that obvious?" He uttered and put on the object he had just made. It was gla.s.ses. A simple pair of corrective gla.s.ses mounted on a black frame.

Arima put them on and squinted his eyes and gazed at his group. Layla also stared back at him with a marveled expression. She looked like she had found the most valuable thing in the world. Arima sighed and grabbed the gla.s.ses before putting it in his soul.

Layla seemed to be disappointed and Night furrowed "…Hey, what are you doing?"

Arima shrugged and Layla exclaimed when she realized that his eyes were not unfocused anymore "I managed to a.n.a.lyze the Law with Natus but I didn"t manage to break it down completely. What I"m seeing right now is a really blurry image. At best, I can only make out the shapes but nothing more detailed"

"I tried to use healing magic at first but it was a failure, then I opted to create a magic barrier that would change the way light and images are reflected in my eyes but the Law went against it and it didn"t work. So, I tried using a purely physical object which had absolutely no magic inside and which could correct my vision" Arima explained and his three companions were astounded.

Night snickered after a moment then started laughing uncontrollably. Even Karma couldn"t help but lift the corners of her mouth. Layla also smiled and covered her mouth as she retained her laughter.

"To think that one of the strongest humans in history, The Kind Demon, would be forced to wear gla.s.ses to be able to see" Night blurted out and Arima groaned "Maybe it was better for you to be blind after all"

"Oh, shut up" Arima snapped "I don"t need to wear them anyway. I can perfectly fight without sight. I just have to use them when I want to know how something looks like…" He retorted and Layla raised her hand. Looking at her expression, it seemed like she was eager to say something.

"Can you put them back? The gla.s.ses"

Arima blankly stared at her and waved his hand. He put the gla.s.ses in just a second. One more time, Layla"s face brightened while Karma and Night snickered. In fact, those gla.s.ses suited Arima pretty well and that was the reason for Layla"s amazement. But they were also so good looking on him that none of them couldn"t help but feel amused when they thought about who was wearing them.

"Alright, that"s enough" Arima raised his voice and put the gla.s.ses away "We"re not going to lose time on this. Let me try something else first" He added and his eyes projected the pentagram formation.

"// a.n.a.lyze of existence. Complete. Law of Life. Release. Break. Success " That same message echoed inside Arima"s head. He still didn"t know why it did that or even why it was his voice but he didn"t really care.

He immediately took a lollipop and put it into his mouth "Yep, it"s obviously better when you can taste it" He nodded and beamed.

"Of course. I"m still wondering how you were even able to eat something so unfazed without being able to taste it" Night calmed his laughter and commented.

"So, what do we do now?" Layla inquired "Are you going to communicate with them now?"

"Of course," Arima replied and sat down on the ground. The vines of his soul realm backed away on their own and the whole area became a flat ground "It"s actually very easy. It doesn"t require a lot of preparation or even much power"

"But because I don"t want to be discovered by them too quickly. I will have to try connecting to them both at the same time" He disclosed and summoned two magic circles. One of them was white while the other was of the opposite color.

Arima smirked "Hey, try to guess which circle links to which Creator"

"What?" Night frowned and Layla tilted her head in confusion.

"Well, isn"t the white for the Original G.o.d and the black for the Original Devil?" Karma a.s.sumed and Arima chuckled.

"It"s the other way around" He said and everyone was surprised.

"That"s odd… why is it like that?" Layla inquired curiously.

"You see, black and white are just colors. Well, only if you don"t care about the dumb people that always want to say that they"re not… In any case, they are just colors. But it"s quite incredible how important they are in any magic theory you can find"

"It"s common sense if you think about it. The more something is close to white, the more you"ll think about virtuousness and light. But the more something is close to black, the more you"ll think about sinfulness and darkness"

"By that fact, those two colors have an incredible power when you use them in a magic theory. But they"re also quite hard to use and may sometimes fail to do what the caster wants because the distinction between good and evil is not clearly made"

"Tell me; when do you call someone evil? When do you call someone good?"

"What about me? I mainly use darkness magic. What does that make of me? A bad person? I presume you would say it"s wrong. And it is indeed"

"But what if you could see the "color of my soul"? What color would it be? I made a certain theory a while ago when I was bored. It"s the theory that you can define your own life and soul with colors. A bit like how emotions can be seen as colors"

"The wicker someone is, the darker the color will be and vice versa" Arima pointed at the circles "Look at that, these circles are really basic but are still connected to the people who are supposed to have created this existence"

"Those formations are connected to them directly. It"s a bridge between the humans" world and the mind of a Creator"

"With all of that in mind. Why is it like so? Why are the Devil light and the G.o.d darkness?" Arima put on his gla.s.ses and looked at his group. He saw them utterly confused by his words. He lightly laughed.

"It"s a fundamental Law. One of equilibrium. There will always be something to counterbalance another. That"s what the Creators are"

"They are the embedment of light and darkness. But it doesn"t mean that they are good and evil respectively. If you look at those circles, you can see that there"s nothing else but white and black in both of them"

"That"s not normal. Anyone with a sane mind will always have a part of darkness and light in them. Even if it"s the most righteous man in the world, he will always have darkness in him"

"Light teaches you how to be compa.s.sionate while darkness teaches you how to be selfish. Imagine someone who manages to get rid of every ounce of darkness inside him;" Arima raised his hand and produced a sphere of light.

"If someone ever gets to do that, he will lose everything that makes him stray from the path of light. He will lose selfishness and cruelty. From that point onward, he will never be able to love anything, hate anything, care about anything… He"ll just be on an endless quest to be the good person"

"Without love, he cannot cherish or share anymore. Without hate, he won"t be able to swing his sword for his own sake. Without selfishness, he won"t be able to survive for the sake of his own life. In the end, he has no cruelty and the bare justice took over. He will kill, save, kill, save… endlessly"

Arima used his left hand to create a ma.s.s of darkness "If you lose your light then you will never be able to be compa.s.sionate anymore. You will be thinking of yourself and about how to improve yourself. You don"t care about others; you only care about yourself"

"In this case, you"ll lose mercy and will always kill. But you will also lose justice and for your own self, you"ll capture, enslave, build, a.s.sault. You will spread the war. But as a King, you"ll rule. For your own self, you will be able to love and hate. But you will not be able to cry or regret"

Arima clasped his hands together and the two energies burst apart. His group trembled "Look at that" Arima one more time pointed at the circles "They are so simple yet represent a part of the Creators" essence. I just had to apply my theory of colors and," Arima looked at the circle through his gla.s.ses and the pentagram was projected twice "Use Natus to uncover those"

"Let me tell you, I don"t know what those Creators are. I didn"t even try to speak to them yet. But I already can tell, those two fell into the extremes. G.o.d became darkness because he has more blood blood on his hands than anyone. Devil has become light because he"s the only one saving people for his own sake"

Arima"s eyes sharpened and he slowly lifted his gla.s.ses "They are nothing like G.o.ds. Maybe they are just imposters. Maybe even they are a creation of something else… For me, they are just monsters" He verbalized his thoughts and watched as an invisible aura came out of the circles and formed the shape of an indescribable being.

Arima smirked "That"s what I call "Vile Creatures""