Life Hunter

Now the gargoyle looked like it was made of blue steel. The gargoyle waved his claw and clashed with Karma to make it deviate. Result, a crack appeared on its now steel like hand and Karma created a new depression on water.

The gargoyle grunted and the crack on its claw closed, he continued to clash with Arima. They kept fighting in close combat while flying around. Everywhere they went, the water would leave until the bottom of the sea and only come back after a few seconds.

"[Karma, Verto] (Change)" Karma transformed and became a huge great sword. Arima swung it vertically and added lightning to it. The gargoyle turned his hand into a blue shield and tried to block the strike. He was sent flying down and dispersed the water below him after reaching the bottom of the sea.

When he looked up, the silver light he had for eyes, wavered. Arima was pointing at him with Superbia charged with electricity and plasma. Arima smirked "[Gun metuunt blasphemantes] (Rail Gun)" He chanted and pressed the trigger.

The huge black pillar instantly shrouded the gargoyle and pierced the earth. The pillar only stayed for a few seconds above earth, but the bullet was still going down underground, carrying the gargoyle with it.

Arima snapped his fingers and the semi-transcendental adamant.i.te bullet exploded with the plasma and produced a ma.s.sive cave underground. The water began to enter the huge hole created by the bullet, but the siphoning never seemed to end.

Arima called back Superbia and gripped Karma with his right hand while taking Ira in his left. He sneered and turned his head slightly to his right. A few seconds later, the gargoyle emerged from the water. His body was full of cracks but they had already started closing.

"As expected, you"re not a living being, killing you physically will be hard" Arima said "That"s troublesome" He complained

The gargoyle looked at him "You"re saying that but aren"t you ashamed for the grin you held since the beginning" It commented

Arima laughed "Ashamed? Of what? I always liked to fight, now I"m fighting for revenge, how can I not enjoy the situation?" He retorted

The gargoyle fell silent and its eyes shined and started spinning in a circle. Its body began growing in size immediately. He continued becoming bigger until he was twenty meters tall. His color changed to a sparkling silver and its eyes became dark.

Arima"s eyes focused and moved instantly, he vanished from his original position and reappeared beside the now huge gargoyle. He swung Karma while using lightning magic. His sword moved faster than the sound.

But, different from what Arima predicted, the ma.s.sive gargoyle avoided in a blink and placed himself behind Arima before kicking the latter.

Arima jumped in mid-air and hurriedly looked back at the gargoyle with widened eyes "(Too fast. What"s going on?)" He thought. He pointed Ira at the gargoyle and fired a simple electrified bullet.

The black ray of light pa.s.sed through the gargoyle and flew away in the distance. The gargoyle had actually shifted his position, but it was so fast that he left an after image.

Arima"s mouth twitched when he realized what happened "Hey, that"s cheating, you freaking b.a.s.t.a.r.d" He said, Arima called back Ira and focused on Karma

The gargoyle looked at Arima with a face that couldn"t express any emotion "I said it, right? I can"t take you head on" He said and disappeared

Arima"s eyes narrowed and he suddenly moved his katana above his head. The blade stopped a silver claw trying to attack him. Even after that, that same claw disappeared and Arima gave up on blocking, he jumped from where he was, but he was still struck on the back and a huge cut formed from his shoulder to his waist.

Arima clicked his tongue and raised his speed to the maximum. He started blocking attacks that were coming from random and totally unexpected directions. He was surprisingly on the defensive and it lasted for more than a few minutes. Each attack aimed at him had only a tenth of a second of decalage. It was the first time Arima got that much injuries since he arrived in this world, although he was already healing.

"That"s enough!" Arima finally shouted and his aura exploded and the sky darkened. Two ma.s.sive circles appeared above and below him. The two circles connected themselves together with a blue light.

At that moment, the blue light was disturbed at some place and the figure of the gargoyle reappeared there. Arima stared at the gargoyle and his eyes glowed with a purple light. Thunder roared and the sky brightened. Multiple purple lightning bolts fell from the sky and shrouded the gargoyle in the same color.

The gargoyle was struck directly and lost an arm. After that, it instantly vanished like before. Arima frowned "Just because you"re used to this soul manifestation, you can move freely in here. That"s past cheating that"s just unfair" He complained

The gargoyle revealed itself far away. Its arm was restoring itself "It"s not that unfair against someone like you" He said and prepared to attack one more time when he suddenly trembled and looked down at his chest. He saw a dark red sword piercing through his body. He turned his head and looked behind him.

Arima was there smiling, stabbing him with Karma "[Accelerans](Accelerando)" He breathed out a strange mist and chanted. The gargoyle looked at him in shock and looked back where he was looking at before. The place where Arima was supposed to be was totally empty.

"How did you move so fast?" It asked with a confused tone

Arima smirked "I still don"t master it perfectly, but time magic is pretty useful" He said

The gargoyle was of course shocked that he talked about time magic like it was nothing but he concentrated on the situation, he started disturbing the area and his figure blurred.

"Do you think I would let you that?" Arima"s voice resounded "[Catena Meam] (Soul Chain)" He chanted and five chains sprouted from the tip of Karma"s blade and bounded the four limbs and neck of the gargoyle. At that moment, the gargoyle lost control over his soul and the distortion and blur dispersed.

"A Life Hunter"s soul is indeed too strong" The gargoyle commented when he saw that his own soul was being bounded by those chains.

Arima grinned, a dark purple circle formed below the two of them and shined along with Karma. The clouds in the sky formed a vortex of lightning and thunder roared at the same time.

"[Vigilate in caelo est, cadere in te] (Watch the sky, it will fall on you)" Arima began to chant

"[Tenere onto a morte cor tuum pupugerunt] (Hold onto your heart pierced by death)" The gargoyle tried to move but he was crushed by the pressure Karma brought on his chest and he couldn"t transfer away because of the chains.

"[Tenet noctis sensisse] (Feel the darkest night)" Karan was starting to produce black lightning along with the purple lightning gathering around the vortex in the sky.

"[Ultima Aeterna Noctem] (Final Eternal Night)" Arima finished chanting and he forced on Karma and cut in half the gargoyle"s upper body. With this slash as a signal, the lightning gathered around Karma exploded in a black sphere surrounded by a red glow. After that, the thunder rumbled and a terrifying purple lightning fell on the sphere.

Three colors merged together in a single attack. A black sphere fused with a dark red aura, and purple lightning surrounding it and interacting with it.

Of course, it didn"t take long before the whole thing exploded in an enormous bouquet of lightning of different colors. The earth shook, the shockwave pushed back the water for more than a thousand miles. And even the clouds that were used to create such an explosion were completely dispersed after the explosion.

Even if you were to look at that scene from far away, you would still feel your whole body shaking. The bouquet of lightning released some bolts that flew away and exploded on the now barren sea, and dug some huge craters.

Arima escaped the damage by phasing his body with his own magic. Basically, he transformed his body in a way that it wouldn"t be injured by an attack that possess the same mana as him. He did that but was still blown away from the center of the explosion which was the gargoyle itself.

The explosion lasted for a minute, it may sound short, but for anyone caught in it, they would qualify that as ignorance. Being in front of death itself is the slowest experience possible.

After the explosion, Arima waved karma to disperse the smoke and the mist created by the water. He was still floating in mid-air and looked around. He could still hear some electric sounds time to time.

Suddenly, a roar resounded in the area and it was Arima"s turn to be pierced in the heart by a silver claw. In front of him, a smaller version of the gargoyle had appeared, it still had a few parts that were restoring themselves.

Its silver eyes stared at Arima "That magic was impressive, the theory and image were perfect, the result was controlled, and it was destructive. If you had took my life force, you surely would have entered into the Earthen realm" It said emotionlessly and stirred his claw in Arima"s chest which made the latter cough some blood "It"s a shame. You should have realized though, why did you try to destroy me? My body means nothing here" He said and tried to take out his hand from Arima"s chest to s.n.a.t.c.h his heart. But Arima grabbed his silver arm with a strong grip

"[Communis humane nature uirtutem] (Superhuman Strength)" He chanted, his arm bulged a bit and the strength of his grip on the gargoyle"s arm increased.

"What are you trying to-" The gargoyle fell speechless in the middle of its sentence. He froze because of Arima"s chilly grin and the fact that he was gradually losing the feeling of touching his flesh. He looked down at Arima"s chest and saw that the latter"s skin and flesh were transforming into powder and dispersing. Around the area he was pierced, he had only bones. Soon, it was all of Arima"s body that started becoming ashen powder and dispersing with the wind.

The gargoyle looked in shock at the skull, with blue flames in the eye sockets, staring at him "How? How can you do that? That"s not just an imitation or just a discard of flesh, you actually became an undead" The gargoyle uttered in disbelief

The skull grinned "How would I know? That should be your last worry, it"s time for you to disappear" He said and his "flames" burned stronger. An azure figure appeared behind him and stared, along with Arima, at the gargoyle with its crimson eyes.

"[Quid tu, qui alta in abscondere tenebrae tuae?] (What do you hide in that deep darkness of yours?)" Arima chanted in an eerie voice that resounded strongly in the gargoyle"s mind.

"[Non refert] (Doesn"t matter)"

"[Fiat enim conteret me] (Let me destroy it)"

"[Si cicatricem habens meam] (Soul scar)"

When Arima finished his incantation, the azure figure behind him transformed into a blue light that entered the eyes of the gargoyle, and the latter started to roar in agony soon after, although he shouldn"t be able to feel any emotion or pain.

Arima smirked "You may be invulnerable physically, but don"t think you can fool me by saying it has no effect on you. Look at you now. Too weak to resist a direct attack to your soul"

While the gargoyle was still screaming, the water that left before came back as a tsunami and shrouded the figures of Arima and the gargoyle.