Life Hunter

Arima didn"t think further and drifted away; lightning sparked around him and he grabbed his companions before rushing toward the surface of his soul realm. Night, Karma, and Layla all exclaimed in reaction to his speed and even had to hold their breath while moving. Arima deployed his wings and used them to gain some speed.

The water was getting hotter every millisecond. It already went beyond what a normal person could endure. The water was starting to get hotter than the star themselves.

"{What the h.e.l.l is going on?!}" Night shouted inside Arima"s head and resonated with him to become the Kind Demon. Their combined appearance had not really changed from before. Only the wings and maybe the slightly thinner scales were new.

"They"re oscillating" Arima casually answered and carried Layla in his arms after he holstered Karma in her weapon form. His body was beginning to fume because of the heat and the runes on his robe started glowing to protect him.

"{How can this be so hot?}" Layla asked as she covered her eyes because of the permeating heat. Only Arima was the only one able to calmly open his eyes.

"All the stars are linked and are activating the formation together. In consequence, all of them are oscillating and creating friction with the water. The vapor directly created around them is special since it is used to draw the runes," Arima answered as his face was slowly being burned. He showed no sign of pain but his eyes twitched a little.

"Normally, the water should"ve evaporated. Or to be exact, it"s normal to expect that it would evaporate. But the problem is that I don"t even know how big this ocean is. Maybe it"s immeasurably big or even infinite. The energy needed to evaporate something like this is consequently enormous. And as long as the whole formation of stars has not produced enough energy to evaporate everything, it will continue to boil the center"

"It shouldn"t be able to happen because the stars would have been extinguished by the water. But those stars are the core of my magic so they are protected" Arima groaned and healed himself while moving "Enough chit chat" He uttered and triggered the Final Resonance.

He turned into the large beast from earlier "{This form…}" Night was stunned and Layla dazed as she looked at the giant being holding her.

Arima looked a himself "(There"s no change even when I"m resonating with Night… I"m just a little bigger maybe. So, it means that the Eternal Spirit Dragon takes precedence, huh?)" Arima thought and looked behind him "(It"s soon going to be finalized)"

Arima"s scales were being scorched as he moved. To explain how hot the water was at that moment; if someone with maybe the same power as Odin and the likes were to plunge in this water, they would probably melt and die. The water of this ocean was mystifying. In the first place, normal water would not be able to become this hot in the first place. It was so bad that Arima had to shield both Karma and Layla from the heat. And since it technically wasn"t elemental magic, Arima couldn"t absorb it.

After a few minutes, a strange phenomenon occurred. The main star in the middle of the formation started to shrink and also to cool down. Its color changed gradually and in no time, it turned into a small white star.

"Okay, it"s time" Arima abruptly halted and turned around to face the white star that was very far from him. He deployed his wings to the maximum and wrapped himself around them like a coc.o.o.n "[Fourth Destruction Art, Vashta Nerada]" He chanted and a ma.s.s of darkness surrounded him.

Inside the coc.o.o.n he had made, he siphoned out the boiling water and Layla who was dropped there felt like she was inside an impenetrable cave of some sort.

"{What is that star which just formed?}" Night inquired and Arima snickered.

"Well, you could call it a neutron star. A neutron star is a name given to the collapsed core of a giant star which compressed until the protons and electrons leave the place to only neutrons and neutrinos. I"m going to skip the details but, in that case, the pressure inside the core would be sufficient to produce "quark matter" and "strange quarks". Matter so strong and stable that it is theorized to be the most dangerous stuff that could exist. Capable of infecting, and transforming everything it enters in contact with into strange matter"

Night blanked "{…Can you remind me why we are making something as hazardous as that?}"

"Of course, to connect realities" Arima replied and grunted because of the rising heat.

"{No, there"s no "of course". How is that thing connected to going into another reality?}"

"Strange matter is also hypothesized to be what fills the void and holds basic matter together" Arima said "And Night, we are not making an experiment here, it"s a formation. There"s only one reason why I would do that; magic theory"

"If I manage to replace strange matter with dimensional and spatial proprieties, I may be able to open a hole that could at least lead me out of this reality. That"s also why I made this thing in my soul realm. I plan to bind it so I can naturally travel through realities and make a path whenever I want" Arima explained and Layla glared at him with dubious eyes.

"And?"

Arima fell silent "…at the risk of breaking apart my soul and dying" He admitted and Layla sighed. At the same time, the neutron star released a blinding light and all of the other stars started to approach it at an unbelievable speed. Far exceeding the speed of light. Then one after another, the burning stars collided and exploded on the neutron star.

The ocean shook again and the defense Arima had set up finally showed its purpose. Arima steeled himself as he was struck by the heat and shock waves. He was forcefully propelled and was almost instantly ejected out of the ocean and crashed on the surface of his soul realm.

The earth crumbled and the ground quaked. Boulders the size of a mountain were flung toward the sky before falling on the ground again. In the middle of that, a sphere of darkness demolished every chunk of stone or soil touching it. When it dispersed, a hundred meters tall figure stood up. A pair of wings were flapped and retracted.

A humanoid silhouette with the head of a dragon growled. The runic robe over his lower body was glowing and healing the smalls injuries and cracks on his scales. Arima exhaled and some fire escaped his mouth. He waved his hand to get rid of the remnants of darkness around him and looked up. Layla and Karma jumped on his shoulders just after.

The ocean in the sky was now clouded by a thick white mist. But you could still see the waves of the ocean behind, as well as a giant jade sun of which the light went through the water and mist to illuminate the surface. Arima"s eyes widened as he admired the scene. The green hue mixed with the Eion energy filling the air of his soul realm. The green light also interacted with the small "stars", which were the result of Arima placing the bomb in his soul, and formed a magnificent starry sky behind the wall of vapor.

"{…This place is seriously turning into some sort of paradise}" Night commented and Arima snickered. He breathed in as the plants and earth around him were already being restored. Countless flowers also bloomed under the illumination of the green light and the blue fireflies.

When Arima was sure that there wouldn"t be any more damages because of the formation, he dispelled the resonance with Night and reverted to his human form. He put his gla.s.ses on and looked around "Well," He raised his voice while ma.s.saging his shoulders "Maybe I"ll make this place my actual home one day"

Layla smiled "I"m sure that it would be the best residence in the world" She said and gazed at the green sun shining in the sky "So, did it work?"

"Perfectly," Arima seemed to be quite pleased "If you were to dive into that ocean and reach that green star you see up there, you would get transported randomly to any place in existence. Perhaps, you would arrive into another plane, or into another reality, or even somewhere unknown to us"

"In any case, now my soul has attained the ability to move across any kind of dimension, spatial layer, or even time lock" Arima activated Natus and the pentagrams spun in his pupils before expanding. He looked up at the sky and squinted "In addition, I may have gotten myself the power to control s.p.a.ce at will as well as new mana core"

Arima observed his hand and a small crack in s.p.a.ce opened above his palm. He mused then clenched his hand to close the crack. Night frowned though "Isn"t that a little bit overpowered?"

Arima laughed "Definitely" He responded and created a path to the outside world "Let"s go. I just have to a.s.similate this attribute to the Second White Art and we are set" He declared and left his soul realm.

When he resurfaced in the room he had rented to talk with the Guardians, he witnessed something that made him blank out. The only people in this room were Aergia and Chulainn. The former was sleeping, as expected, and the tiny h.e.l.lhound was being squeezed by her in her sleep as if he was a plush "...Hel…p….me…ee…" Chulainn was suffocating and called for help when he spotted Arima.

Night, Karma and Layla arrived at the same moment and stared at him perplexed "…How did you even end up like that?" Night mumbled and Chulainn couldn"t answer as foam was getting out his mouth.

Arima blinked and looked away "Anyway," He lifted his head "Jorga, call them, please"

"{No problem}" The blue clouds in the sky moved and the snake cloaked behind sent a telepathic message to everyone. In just a few seconds, the Guardians had been gathered again. Malum also came back along with them and approached Arima with an exasperated expression.

"What the heck were you doing? I got hurt, scared, and physically disturbed all in one day. All because of you" He complained and Arima brushed it off with a chuckle.

"Don"t mind, it"s nothing" Arima clapped his hands and gathered everyone"s attention. Aergia woke up right then and finally released Chulainn. The small dog inhaled strongly and rolled on the floor. He was far from being strong enough to resist Aergia in this form.

"Hm? Why were you here, Kerberos?" Aergia yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Because some d.a.m.n sleepwalker grabbed me to use me like a freaking plush!"

"Oh… I"m sorry" Aergia apologized so easily that Chulainn felt like his anger couldn"t be pointed at her anymore. He glared at Arima instead and received a piercing star in return which calmed him down.

"Good. Now that everyone is listening; I will soon open several paths toward other realities. We will separate and take care of the resistance there. The army waiting inside of Gilga"s Babylon will take care of the lower worlds while we will get rid of the Guardians and Pillars" Arima smirked "It won"t be very difficult. I hope you"re ready to work"