153. “This is indeed menacing.”
"What the hell is going on?" Chulainn muttered. When he looked at his left, there was a giant tornado made of blue fire while at his right, a meteor shower was bombarding the ground.
"I think the tornado is Arima, as for the other…" Lanya said and tilted her head.
"It's Ifrit," Lilis affirmed. "That power is definitely him. Anyway, why can't we reach that thing at all? Are you sure it's in this direction?"
Both her and Lanya had gone with Chulainn when he said that he felt something invading Hell. Since they knew Arima was going to take some time to finish, they guessed that going with him wasn't a bad idea. But, no matter how far they went, they never reached their destination.
"It should be around here though…" Chulainn scowled. "Is this some kind of misdirection?" He mumbled to himself and walked around the rocky plain they were in.
He looked at the ground with his three heads and squinted his eyes. His sigil was glowing but nothing was happening. "Hm, I can't access the circuits around this place," he uttered. "I'll try something."
Chulainn inhaled and his belly swelled. He stomped and roared. Lanya and Lilis covered their ears at the sudden sound. The earth shook and the dust around them was blown off the ground. Chulainn maintained his roar for a minute and some cracks appeared in midair.
The Hellhound pushed on his lungs a bit more and infused even more mana in his voice. The cracks grew in number and then opened a hole. Chulainn then closed his mouths and panted a little.
"Hey! Warn us before you do something like that!" Lilis snapped at him and smacked the head she was sitting on.
"Look," Chulainn ignored her and pointed at the hole in space. Lanya was already looking at it with a piercing look.
"Huh?" Lilis rolled her eyes to the front and peeked inside the hole. Behind it was a dark temple that stood in the middle of a flat terrain, completely different from the rocky area they were in.
"What is that thing?" Lilis asked while raising an eyebrow.
"No idea."
"Wait!" When Chulainn was about to go inside the hole, Lanya suddenly shouted. Chulainn and Lilis looked at her with confused expressions. Then they saw her sky-blue eyes glinting like literal diamonds.
"This is bad…" She muttered gravely.
"What do you mean?"
"Leave! Now! We have to call Arima!" Lanya shouted at Chulainn instead of answering. Lilis' eyes widened and Chulainn's expressions fell. He didn't know why, but if she insisted like that, he wasn’t going to hesitate.
Chulainn immediately turned around and was about to run at full speed but one of his legs was suddenly grabbed by an ominous shadow before he could run away.
"I can't let you go now. I still need a bit of time," an eerie voice resounded. "I'm already lucky enough that neither Ifrit or the Hunter sensed me yet. I won't let you ruin that."
Lilis and Chulainn's eyes narrowed. With the exception of Lanya, they both had recognized whose voice it was.
"Karaskan!" Chulainn exclaimed and the Mad God chuckled ominously.
"Shit!" Chulainn was about to use telepathy to contact Arima but his intentions were crushed as the hole he had created earlier enlarged and 'swallowed' him along with Lanya and Lilis before closing.
*********************************************
Arima failed to sense what was happening with Chulainn since his perception had been perturbed by Pandora itself without him noticing.
"Where are Lanya, Chulainn, and Lilis?" Night still asked though.
"I don't see them anywhere," Karma added.
"That's odd, I can't detect them too," Arima said and started doubting but a telepathic connection cut his thoughts.
"{Sorry, Hunter. That guy went through.}" It was from Ifrit who was standing in front of the place where the golden door was located before. Tiatus was lying down just in front of him. Although he was injured, he was still breathing.
"{Maybe you should have come as well. Now, we can only hope that the Heaven Gate will open in time.}"
"{No, it's alright. There's no problem,}" Arima replied and Ifrit was surprised.
"{What do you mean?}"
"{I'll be going to Heaven now. I'll catch him. Instead, stay here and do something for me,}" Arima declared and cut the link. Ifrit blinked with a stunned expression as he received a bundle of information in the next moment.
"Let's go," Arima stood up from and looked at the gods. "It's a deal. If you are not my enemy, I won't be yours," he said and the gods nodded unanimously.
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot," Arima remembered something and walked to Azes. He put his hands on his shoulders and smiled.
"Eh?" Azes had a bad feeling about this though. And he knew he was right when he was punched in the guts and sent flying for hundreds of meters.
"You were being serious at that time?!" He shouted from the place he had crashed. Zeus snickered and Azes glared at him.
"Anyway, it’s time to go now. But before…" Arima uttered and turned around. His eyes wandered and appeared to be searching for something.
"Hey, where did Utain die?" Arima asked and the gods were puzzled.
"There," Gabriel pointed at the place where the Second Destruction Art went wild. "Why though?"
Arima didn't answer her question and went to the place she pointed to. "Hm, so he died because of the berserk state, huh?" He commented and snapped his fingers.
A blue hue lightened up the area and small wisps of energy gathered together to form a small sphere. Arima grabbed it and observed it for second before pressing it against his chest. The sphere entered his body and the light immediately disappeared.
"What was that?" Aphrodite was the only one who voiced it but everyone was wondering the same thing.
"Nothing important," Arima shrugged and looked at the sky with a blank expression. "I think you should stop them now, seriously."
Poseidon and Hades were still fighting up there. Fire and water were still competing against each other for supremacy. "I’d say they don't care about this war at all," Arima added and Michael actually laughed.
"Don't worry about it, they’ll stop eventually," he waved his hand and said. "It may not look like that. But those two are long-time friends. Although they fight every time they meet, they won't kill each other."
Arima hummed and he indeed noticed that the two were beaming, happy to be exchanging blows with the other.
"Simple-minded people…" He muttered unconsciously and the gods smiled. Arima shrugged and extended his ar. He closed his hand and grabbed a handle that appeared out of nowhere. From there, Deva revealed itself and the engine roared for everyone to hear.
Arima coolly mounted it but both of his soul companions had difficult expressions on their face.
"This thing makes me sick…" Night admitted and Arima chuckled.
"Let's go," Arima twisted the throttle and the wheels produced clouds of steam. When he released the break, he completely disappeared along with Karma and Night.
"Was that…" Azes was gaping. "Was that Origin?" He asked, not expecting an answer. And that's exactly what happened as the gods just shook their heads to indicate they didn't know either.
Just after that, the ground next to them was blown up by water and fire magic and effectively pulled them out of their reverie.
"Let's stop them…" Zeus proposed and everyone agreed.
******************************************
Arima followed the path to Heaven with Deva and quickly arrived in the middle of a meadow with shining verdure. The sky was clear and bright. It was completely different from Hell's environment.
"I mean, they're called Hell and Heaven respectively. It was kind of expected," Night remarked and while Karma was admiring the view.
Arima dismounted Deva and looked around. Of course, he wasn't expecting Karez to be right next to him but he did not really know where he could find him. In the first place, Arima had no idea where the core was. He sighed and the sigil in his eyes glowed as he started chanting.
"[Omnia mihi revelare] (Reveal everything to me)."
"[Non pro mundo et quaerere] (I won't ask for the world)."
"[Sed non patitur ut abscondas a me aliquid] (But I won't allow it to hide anything from me)."
Arima crouched and placed both of his hands on the ground."[Orbis Terrarum Index] (World Index)."
His spirit flowed into the earth and filled the air. It spread at terrific speed and Arima became aware of everything happening thousands of miles away from him. The daunting magic pressured anyone it would scan.
Arima ignored the gods’ and angels’ presences and scanned absolutely everything. When he was starting to search at a place more than five thousand miles away from his position, Arima finally spotted what seemed to be Karez's aura and halted his spell.
He quickly mounted Deva and departed at full throttle. The wheels fumed and he vanished in the next instant with Karma and Night.
He reappeared in the sky and drove Deva in midair before drifting just in front of Karez who was standing there, immobile. He seemed to have waited for Arima instead of fleeing.
"This is the first time we meet, huh?" Arima uttered as he stood in front of Karez.
The latter shook his head expressionlessly. "To be exact, we crossed paths."
Arima smirked when he heard that. "Yeah, you used me as bait for Chulainn. Quite infuriating."
Karez didn't answer and Arima frowned. "Weren't you supposed to look for the core?"
"Yes," Karez nodded. "I already found it."
"Where is it?" Arima scowled at him.
"You're standing on it," Karez smirked and pointed to the ground. Arima raised an eyebrow and looked through the soil with his magic.
His eyes widened in shock. The core was simply giant. He looked underground and the first thing he saw was a bright white stone that shined like a pearl whilst releasing the purest mana he had ever felt.
"(This thing is even bigger than the sun!)" Arima shouted inwardly.
"You noticed it seems," Karez said and Arima looked back at him. "You didn’t have any hope to stop me the moment I stepped through the gate. Because it immediately entered in contact with the core."
"You didn't destroy it yet though," Night retorted and Karez burst into a mad laugh.
"Who said destroying it was required?" He sneered and the ground started shaking. A dark aura spread around heaven and blackened the shining greenery.
Arima's pupils contracted and he looked below him one more time. He squinted his eyes to see a black spot slowly corroding the core.
"Hell's essence…" Arima muttered and clicked his tongue.
Karez laughed at his reaction. "It had already begun the moment you arrived."
Arima growled like a real dragon and opened his mouth, "[Genus Daemonium] (Kind Demon)."
Night immediately resonated with him. His air turned silver and his bones twisted. His body made cracking noises as he grew taller. His skin hardened and became grayish. His wings were deployed and his deep and sharp eyes glared at Karez
"This is indeed menacing," Karez nodded calmly as if he wasn't intimidated a single bit.
Meanwhile, crevasses appeared across Heaven's land. The inhabitants started opening the Heaven Gate to call back the high gods who had left to Hell. But little did they know that a much greater dilemma had arisen there.
153. “This is indeed menacing.”
"What the hell is going on?" Chulainn muttered. When he looked at his left, there was a giant tornado made of blue fire while at his right, a meteor shower was bombarding the ground.
"I think the tornado is Arima, as for the other…" Lanya said and tilted her head.
"It's Ifrit," Lilis affirmed. "That power is definitely him. Anyway, why can't we reach that thing at all? Are you sure it's in this direction?"
Both her and Lanya had gone with Chulainn when he said that he felt something invading Hell. Since they knew Arima was going to take some time to finish, they guessed that going with him wasn't a bad idea. But, no matter how far they went, they never reached their destination.
"It should be around here though…" Chulainn scowled. "Is this some kind of misdirection?" He mumbled to himself and walked around the rocky plain they were in.
He looked at the ground with his three heads and squinted his eyes. His sigil was glowing but nothing was happening. "Hm, I can't access the circuits around this place," he uttered. "I'll try something."
Chulainn inhaled and his belly swelled. He stomped and roared. Lanya and Lilis covered their ears at the sudden sound. The earth shook and the dust around them was blown off the ground. Chulainn maintained his roar for a minute and some cracks appeared in midair.
The Hellhound pushed on his lungs a bit more and infused even more mana in his voice. The cracks grew in number and then opened a hole. Chulainn then closed his mouths and panted a little.
"Hey! Warn us before you do something like that!" Lilis snapped at him and smacked the head she was sitting on.
"Look," Chulainn ignored her and pointed at the hole in space. Lanya was already looking at it with a piercing look.
"Huh?" Lilis rolled her eyes to the front and peeked inside the hole. Behind it was a dark temple that stood in the middle of a flat terrain, completely different from the rocky area they were in.
"What is that thing?" Lilis asked while raising an eyebrow.
"No idea."
"Wait!" When Chulainn was about to go inside the hole, Lanya suddenly shouted. Chulainn and Lilis looked at her with confused expressions. Then they saw her sky-blue eyes glinting like literal diamonds.
"This is bad…" She muttered gravely.
"What do you mean?"
"Leave! Now! We have to call Arima!" Lanya shouted at Chulainn instead of answering. Lilis' eyes widened and Chulainn's expressions fell. He didn't know why, but if she insisted like that, he wasn’t going to hesitate.
Chulainn immediately turned around and was about to run at full speed but one of his legs was suddenly grabbed by an ominous shadow before he could run away.
"I can't let you go now. I still need a bit of time," an eerie voice resounded. "I'm already lucky enough that neither Ifrit or the Hunter sensed me yet. I won't let you ruin that."
Lilis and Chulainn's eyes narrowed. With the exception of Lanya, they both had recognized whose voice it was.
"Karaskan!" Chulainn exclaimed and the Mad God chuckled ominously.
"Shit!" Chulainn was about to use telepathy to contact Arima but his intentions were crushed as the hole he had created earlier enlarged and 'swallowed' him along with Lanya and Lilis before closing.
*********************************************
Arima failed to sense what was happening with Chulainn since his perception had been perturbed by Pandora itself without him noticing.
"Where are Lanya, Chulainn, and Lilis?" Night still asked though.
"I don't see them anywhere," Karma added.
"That's odd, I can't detect them too," Arima said and started doubting but a telepathic connection cut his thoughts.
"{Sorry, Hunter. That guy went through.}" It was from Ifrit who was standing in front of the place where the golden door was located before. Tiatus was lying down just in front of him. Although he was injured, he was still breathing.
"{Maybe you should have come as well. Now, we can only hope that the Heaven Gate will open in time.}"
"{No, it's alright. There's no problem,}" Arima replied and Ifrit was surprised.
"{What do you mean?}"
"{I'll be going to Heaven now. I'll catch him. Instead, stay here and do something for me,}" Arima declared and cut the link. Ifrit blinked with a stunned expression as he received a bundle of information in the next moment.
"Let's go," Arima stood up from and looked at the gods. "It's a deal. If you are not my enemy, I won't be yours," he said and the gods nodded unanimously.
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot," Arima remembered something and walked to Azes. He put his hands on his shoulders and smiled.
"Eh?" Azes had a bad feeling about this though. And he knew he was right when he was punched in the guts and sent flying for hundreds of meters.
"You were being serious at that time?!" He shouted from the place he had crashed. Zeus snickered and Azes glared at him.
"Anyway, it’s time to go now. But before…" Arima uttered and turned around. His eyes wandered and appeared to be searching for something.
"Hey, where did Utain die?" Arima asked and the gods were puzzled.
"There," Gabriel pointed at the place where the Second Destruction Art went wild. "Why though?"
Arima didn't answer her question and went to the place she pointed to. "Hm, so he died because of the berserk state, huh?" He commented and snapped his fingers.
A blue hue lightened up the area and small wisps of energy gathered together to form a small sphere. Arima grabbed it and observed it for second before pressing it against his chest. The sphere entered his body and the light immediately disappeared.
"What was that?" Aphrodite was the only one who voiced it but everyone was wondering the same thing.
"Nothing important," Arima shrugged and looked at the sky with a blank expression. "I think you should stop them now, seriously."
Poseidon and Hades were still fighting up there. Fire and water were still competing against each other for supremacy. "I’d say they don't care about this war at all," Arima added and Michael actually laughed.
"Don't worry about it, they’ll stop eventually," he waved his hand and said. "It may not look like that. But those two are long-time friends. Although they fight every time they meet, they won't kill each other."
Arima hummed and he indeed noticed that the two were beaming, happy to be exchanging blows with the other.
"Simple-minded people…" He muttered unconsciously and the gods smiled. Arima shrugged and extended his ar. He closed his hand and grabbed a handle that appeared out of nowhere. From there, Deva revealed itself and the engine roared for everyone to hear.
Arima coolly mounted it but both of his soul companions had difficult expressions on their face.
"This thing makes me sick…" Night admitted and Arima chuckled.
"Let's go," Arima twisted the throttle and the wheels produced clouds of steam. When he released the break, he completely disappeared along with Karma and Night.
"Was that…" Azes was gaping. "Was that Origin?" He asked, not expecting an answer. And that's exactly what happened as the gods just shook their heads to indicate they didn't know either.
Just after that, the ground next to them was blown up by water and fire magic and effectively pulled them out of their reverie.
"Let's stop them…" Zeus proposed and everyone agreed.
******************************************
Arima followed the path to Heaven with Deva and quickly arrived in the middle of a meadow with shining verdure. The sky was clear and bright. It was completely different from Hell's environment.
"I mean, they're called Hell and Heaven respectively. It was kind of expected," Night remarked and while Karma was admiring the view.
Arima dismounted Deva and looked around. Of course, he wasn't expecting Karez to be right next to him but he did not really know where he could find him. In the first place, Arima had no idea where the core was. He sighed and the sigil in his eyes glowed as he started chanting.
"[Omnia mihi revelare] (Reveal everything to me)."
"[Non pro mundo et quaerere] (I won't ask for the world)."
"[Sed non patitur ut abscondas a me aliquid] (But I won't allow it to hide anything from me)."
Arima crouched and placed both of his hands on the ground."[Orbis Terrarum Index] (World Index)."
His spirit flowed into the earth and filled the air. It spread at terrific speed and Arima became aware of everything happening thousands of miles away from him. The daunting magic pressured anyone it would scan.
Arima ignored the gods’ and angels’ presences and scanned absolutely everything. When he was starting to search at a place more than five thousand miles away from his position, Arima finally spotted what seemed to be Karez's aura and halted his spell.
He quickly mounted Deva and departed at full throttle. The wheels fumed and he vanished in the next instant with Karma and Night.
He reappeared in the sky and drove Deva in midair before drifting just in front of Karez who was standing there, immobile. He seemed to have waited for Arima instead of fleeing.
"This is the first time we meet, huh?" Arima uttered as he stood in front of Karez.
The latter shook his head expressionlessly. "To be exact, we crossed paths."
Arima smirked when he heard that. "Yeah, you used me as bait for Chulainn. Quite infuriating."
Karez didn't answer and Arima frowned. "Weren't you supposed to look for the core?"
"Yes," Karez nodded. "I already found it."
"Where is it?" Arima scowled at him.
"You're standing on it," Karez smirked and pointed to the ground. Arima raised an eyebrow and looked through the soil with his magic.
His eyes widened in shock. The core was simply giant. He looked underground and the first thing he saw was a bright white stone that shined like a pearl whilst releasing the purest mana he had ever felt.
"(This thing is even bigger than the sun!)" Arima shouted inwardly.
"You noticed it seems," Karez said and Arima looked back at him. "You didn’t have any hope to stop me the moment I stepped through the gate. Because it immediately entered in contact with the core."
"You didn't destroy it yet though," Night retorted and Karez burst into a mad laugh.
"Who said destroying it was required?" He sneered and the ground started shaking. A dark aura spread around heaven and blackened the shining greenery.
Arima's pupils contracted and he looked below him one more time. He squinted his eyes to see a black spot slowly corroding the core.
"Hell's essence…" Arima muttered and clicked his tongue.
Karez laughed at his reaction. "It had already begun the moment you arrived."
Arima growled like a real dragon and opened his mouth, "[Genus Daemonium] (Kind Demon)."
Night immediately resonated with him. His air turned silver and his bones twisted. His body made cracking noises as he grew taller. His skin hardened and became grayish. His wings were deployed and his deep and sharp eyes glared at Karez
"This is indeed menacing," Karez nodded calmly as if he wasn't intimidated a single bit.
Meanwhile, crevasses appeared across Heaven's land. The inhabitants started opening the Heaven Gate to call back the high gods who had left to Hell. But little did they know that a much greater dilemma had arisen there.
