Life Hunter 222 ''It's Not Time''

Arima sighed in the middle of a large circular room. The floor seemed to be made of blue stone while everything else simply looked like dark wood. On the walls of that room, there were exactly fifteen doors separated by the exact same distance across the circ.u.mference. Some fireflies filled the s.p.a.ce and illuminated the room very well.

Arima turned back into a normal human and both Karma and Night reappeared beside him. Night grunted and cracked his neck. Karma also groaned and exaggeratedly stretched her arms out, accentuating her figure.

"I'm freaking tired" Night complained and Arima nodded. He opened and closed his fist several times and breathed in. He exhaled and a peculiar mist came out of his mouth.

"Well, I'm at least five times stronger than when I fought with the Guardians thanks to that" Arima remarked and Karma let out a chuckle.

"My strength also raised," She said and smiled wryly "It's really odd, don't you think? That a soul weapon is now as a strong as someone like Ambrogio"

Night laughed "Indeed. It's incredibly off-putting to suddenly be aware of the fact that you are stronger. The life hunt doesn't even give us time to react, we just become stronger as if we were always like that"

"It's fine to talk," Arima uttered "But we should not take too much time" He said and the ceiling of the room they were in cracked a bit "Ahura is already trying to destroy this place"

"Now that you say that, she didn't show us her full power, right?" Night commented "Why? She didn't even use her Soul Manifestation. She could have killed you with it, no?"

"To be honest, I don't know" Arima responded and Night frowned.

"Then why were you so confident?"

"Because I have my idea. She is conflicted. As Ahura Mazda's reincarnation, she has memories and emotions coming from immemorial times. But at the same time, because she was reborn with those memories, she is incomplete and unstable. The reason for that is that through reincarnation, her ident.i.ty as Ahura Mazda has been acquired wistfully. Basically, it's like she learned everything through dreams"

"She may seem calm but she is scared to use her power as an ancient spirit" Arima declared and Night hummed before looking around.

"By the way, you still didn't explain to us the complete theory of the First Black Art. What is this place?"

Arima smiled "Kymestuos is by far the most refined magic I ever created. Maybe even more than the First Destruction Art. This place is literally my own h.e.l.l. I told you that my Crosses defined my sanctuary"

"When I destroy that sanctuary, everyone present in it will be transported to his h.e.l.l. As much as they are forced to believe in me when they are near the Crosses, people will be forced to enter this place, which is simply the Kind Demon's h.e.l.l"

He explained and pointed at the doors around them "There are fifteen doors here. That's exactly the number of people that were present on Melumnia when I destroyed it"

Karma tilted her head "Fifteen? Does that mean that the dead ones count too?"

"Yes" Arima answered and walked toward one of the doors. He put his hand on the k.n.o.b and sensed the aura coming from it "This one is…" He snickered and opened the door.

On the other side was a really dark chamber. When Arima stepped through the door, water splashed at his feet. The floor was a water mirror. The only lights present there were two red flames. Those flames were burning inside a skull which was fixed to an eight-branch cross.

That was, of course, the same kind of Cross that Arima had made appear before. Below that cross, there was a woman kneeling on the floor. And just behind her, a shadowy figure was holding a scythe, ready to pull his weapon and decapitate her.

"Ishtar" Arima called and the woman opened her eyes. She raised her head and stared at Arima. She shuddered and felt the scythe's blade touching her neck. Arima went to her halted right in front of her "You already have lost your life force so you're not a threat to me anymore. Even if I revive you" He said and crouched to match her line of sight.

"…What are you going to do?" She inquired and Arima chuckled.

"Not much. I'll let you stay here. You will go through the 'Penance' and the impartial existence, holding that scythe behind you, will decide if you have to right to leave or not" Arima casually stated and Ishtar lowered her head. She couldn't bear to look at those unfocused eyes which seemed to be discerning everything.

"Of course, I could kill you now if I wanted to. But that would be useless and quite cruel since I have no reason anymore. I mean you already died from my hand once" Arima jested and Ishtar stayed silent. Arima closed his eyes for a second and listened to her heartbeat.

"You've calmed down a little bit. I suppose there's really nothing to worry about you anymore" He added and went to the door where Night and Karma were waiting for him "Maybe we'll see each other another time" He closed the door and Ishtar wiped her tear.

"…Seriously?" Night muttered when Arima closed the door.

"Of course," Arima smirked and went to another door. This time, it was Apep who rested behind. The huge snake was chained and an even bigger reaper was keeping him in check. Arima talked to him like with Ishtar but the beast didn't answer once. Apep just hissed and Arima left soon after.

After that, he went to see the others. He met Dracula and Harion again and talked with them a little. He told them about what was going to happen to them and left afterward. Nothing more, nothing less. Then he went to see Lorus and Afriose which he had killed just before. He spoke to them and collected the former's life force since he still hadn't done it.

The next one was Odin. But the cloaked man didn't say anything or even respond at all when Arima was talking to him. In contrast, Khione shouted at Arima really angrily.

At some point, Arima faced Ambor again. But for some reason, he was the only one who had not been revived "Why did you not resurrect him?" Karma was curious.

"For this," Arima bent down and reached for Ambor's body. He covered the corpse's eyes and a weird, gruesome sound echoed in the chamber. Even Night raised an eyebrow.

When Arima lifted his hand, a thin line of blood flowed down Ambor's eyelids while Arima held two eyeb.a.l.l.s encased inside a cube of purple ice "I'm sure I can use this" He said and resumed his little 'tour'. After he exited the room, Ambor's body twitched and the reaper put his blade on his neck like all of the others.

Ultimately, Arima arrived at those who he still had not eliminated. The first one being Loki "This is an interesting place" That was the first thing the G.o.d of Discord said to Arima.

"Is this supposed to be some sort of atonement. I'll stay here until I am forgiven or something like that?"

Arima's eyes widened and he faintly smiled "You pretty much got it right" Loki hadn't lost his life force, but like with Apep, he was bound by the chains coming out of the skull's mouth and couldn't do anything.

Arima approached Loki and grabbed his head "[Vita Venari]" He chanted and Loki grunted as the power he had built for thousands of years vanished just like that.

"That's all for you" Arima told and left the place. Loki snorted when the door was closed. Afterward, Arima went to Thanatos and Kronos. The former was silent and kept his façade of an emotionless warrior but the latter struggled for a while until Arima finally took his life force.

Arima then went through one of the last doors and faced Baba Yaga. The old woman was calmly sitting cross-legged as if she was meditating "Do it" She only said those two words and Arima shrugged. He came close to her and sat down too.

"Actually, I want to ask you some questions" Arima admitted and Baba Yaga trembled "I heard you are the one, along with Ahura, who can contact the Original Devil. I want you to tell me the method"

"I won't" She gave a quick answer and Arima sighed.

"Fine then, I'll take it myself" He uttered and before Baba Yaga could even consider erasing her memories, she had been beheaded by the reaper behind her and Arima took her memories. He stood up and mused "…I see, thank you" He mumbled and turned around.

When he closed the door. A gasp resounded across the room and Baba Yaga suddenly woke up with narrowed eyes. She instantly grabbed her neck and seemed to have a hard time breathing "I'm sure he killed me… I definitely lost my head" She m.u.f.fled and peeked at the reaper over her shoulder "Does that mean you can't even die in this place…?"

In the end, Arima was left with two doors. One lead to Nyx and the other Ahura "Last one" He mumbled and his two companions watched him as he opened the last door. Of course, it was the last one, Arima didn't even want to open the door leading to Ahura. From the shakings he was sensing, he knew that she had already destroyed the chains binding her.

When Arima entered the last door, Nyx instantly glared at him. It wasn't hatred but more like determination. Arima felt an unyielding spirit coming out of her and was a bit impressed "Interesting" He remarked and Nyx gritted her teeth.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing much. I'm just going to take your life force and let this h.e.l.l take care of you" Arima nonchalantly repeated what he had said to other thirteen people and moved toward Nyx. When he was about to take her life force, he abruptly froze and his body tensed.

He furrowed and his consciousness was ejected out of his body. He ended up himself in the middle of a weird place. There was absolutely nothing around him. Not even light or colors.

"{Don't kill that woman}" A deep voice resounded in Arima's head.

"Huh?" He exclaimed with a slight hint of scorn in his voice "Who the h.e.l.l are you?"

"{You don't need to know. I don't have time to explain. I'll just warn you. You should not kill that woman. She is an important factor for a certain future connected to yours}"

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Arima growled and his head started to ache.

"{It's not time}" The voice told "{Now, you just need to do as I say}"

Arima brusquely received a large chunk of information directly into his head and his mind was put back into his body. He immediately felt dizzy and wavered before falling on one knee. Nyx watched dumbfounded while Night and Karma rushed inside the chamber.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Night was confused and helped Arima stand up.

"I'm good" The latter waved his hand and stood on his own. He turned his head toward Nyx again and clicked his tongue "Dammit, what a pain…" He cursed under his breath and summoned two formations.

His aura startled Nyx and made her pale "I don't f.u.c.king know why I'm supposed to do this but apparently I can't go against it" Arima's expression was twitching as he said that. It really looked like he was doing something out his own volition. Karma and Night were utterly lost.

"[First White Art, Perpetua Votum]" Arima chanted and a white light illuminated the room. His hand shined and he placed it on Nyx's head. She tried to move back "Don't struggle. It won't kill you" After a moment, Nyx had been confined inside a small white coc.o.o.n. Just like Fafnir.

"What's wrong, Arima?" Karma worriedly asked.

"Nothing" Arima replied and extended his arm upward "[Second White Art, Calces Porta]" He chanted and a silver gear formed above him. At that point, the two soul partners couldn't even make a speculation about what was going on.

"[Praeter Frange] (Break Apart)" Arima chanted something else and the gear began to trembled and produce some really terrifying s.p.a.ce cracks.

Arima rolled his eyes in annoyance and went to the door "Come out, it will soon explode" He uttered before stepping over the doorstep.

"…What?" Night was more than confused by Arima's behavior. It was the first time that he saw him do something so irately as if he had been forced to do it. While Night was pondering about that, he heard some weird noises and turned around, his eyes fell on the silver gear which was cracking "Oh s.h.i.t!" He shouted and deployed his wings. He flapped them and grabbed Karma as he left the room.

The gear exploded when the door had been closed and a colossal s.p.a.ce explosion occurred. Anyone or anything caught in that explosion would be teleported to G.o.d knows where, entirely randomly. Even Arima wouldn't be able to determine where Nyx had been transported with that discharge.