In a concealed street of Center City, a group of three figures was carrying bloodied bodies.
"Here," One of them spoke with an emotionless voice and pointed at the ground. The two others nodded and threw the corpses they had on their shoulders.
The one who had spoken approached the bodies and drew some blood runes on them. He then continued to draw numerous magic circles and symbols around them. The blood glowed with a bright light before disappearing, as if the ground had absorbed it.
"It's done," He declared and prepared to burn the bodies when he felt a strange distortion in space that made him stop on his tracks.
Soon after, the humming of a person resounded in his ears. "So that's the identity of deviants, huh? Well, that's a bit disappointing, you're only some homunculus created with body parts from other living beings."
The casual voice echoed in the alley and the leading deviant looked around. Then, the starlight illuminated his figure, along with his two accomplices.
Their faces were deformed, they had bulges and scars all over it. They also had some animal eyes and skin. The one who drew the runes had the nose of a lizard and his right eye was a goner. His skin, apart from the one around his nose, which was green, was all brownish.
That same homunculus looked up and spotted a man nonchalantly sitting on the roof of a house, looking down on them. He wore black clothes and a small wolf cub was lying on his shoulder.
The three homunculi silently drew their weapon. Arima smiled and disappeared from where he was. The one with a lizard face frowned and scanned the surroundings with his spirit. But not only did he fail to find his target he noticed that there weren't any other presences in a ten-mile radius although they were supposed to be in the middle of the city.
"…I don't understand. I perfectly realize that you kill them for a sort of ritual, but I don't get what it is for," Arima's voice rang again.
This time, he was crouched beside the bloody corpses and was examining the runes and circles drawn on them. The homunculi turned toward him once more, but the three of them stayed immobile and were very silent.
Since they were artificial entities, they had nothing to say. The only thing they knew was that a human witness emerged and that they had to silence him. But they also recognized that it was an impossible thing to do. They realized that they were trapped, and their lives totally under Arima's hands.
"Tell me," Arima stood up and looked at them with a cold look. "What is this ritual for?" He asked and they were pinned to the ground by his aura. That small surge of power was enough to break all the glass around, and some cracks appeared on the wall of the buildings.
But the most affected were the three homunculi. Two of them were already on their knees, trying their best to not be crushed by the force. The ground at their feet was also fissured and destroyed. Although their strength was around the eighth level, Arima's aura was of a different dimension. Even if it didn't look that powerful based on its effects on the surroundings, the simple spirit discharge could beat a tenth level warrior.
The lizard guy also collapsed after a few seconds of struggle. His strength was at the ninth level, a level above his comrades. After they all had been subdued, Arima frowned. None of the three homunculi seemed to be giving up. Rather, they were trying to go against the pressure while ignoring the pain. Their expression was also void of emotion.
"I see," Arima approached them slowly, with each step, the aura would become stronger. "No pain, no emotion, no ego, only a shackled soul," He commented and pressed his middle finger against his thumb.
At the same time, his sigil revolved. "Let me give you what you haven't," He said and snapped his fingers. The homunculi's eyes widened and their movements froze. They slowly reached for their heads and tightly grabbed their skulls. It was if they were really trying to pierce through it with their fingers.
It wasn't long before they started howling. They suddenly felt a wave of emotions; pain, regret, and, fear, crushing them.
Night scowled. "You rewrote their souls?"
"Yeah, they were simplistic enough for that," Arima replied and called Ira. In two shots, he destroyed the heads of the two eighth level homunculi and then pointed his gun at the last one who was still shrieking.
Arima increased his aura's pressure and the homunculus suddenly vomited blood. His feet were buried in the ground and his shouting stopped. His eyes dimmed and lost any luster as if he was a lifeless body.
Arima snorted and called back Ira. He grabbed the 'deviant' by the throat and made him look into his eyes. "Appreciate the emotions I gave you. Thanks to them, I'll be able to access your mind and soul," He muttered and his pupils turned into purple flames.
"[Fifth Black Art, Penitentia Conspiciunt] (Penance Stare)."
The homunculus' eyes also burned with the same fire and his body went limp after a few seconds. Arima dropped him and went through the memories he collected. He mused then burned the corpses before releasing the dimension he had put up before engaging the homunculi.
He walked toward the victims from earlier and inspected the runes one last time. "I see… what an irony. Who could have guessed that a random example was the answer?" He uttered and snickered.
After that, he burned the bodies and every trace of magic formation. "Well, even if I burn them now, I don't think it will help though," He mumbled before leaving the place.
"So, we're in trouble, right?" While Arima was unconcernedly jumping from a roof to another, Night raised his voice.
"Kinda," Arima responded.
"That was unexpected though. Their actual goal was to create a gate to Hell. You talk about a coincidence."
"Yeah…" Arima halted and landed on a roof.
"What's wrong?"
"There's something fishy about all of this. This ritual they're trying to do, there's no basis that it will work… Is this a sort of distraction?"
"Distraction?" Night tilted his head. "For what? No, even before that, if they don't know what will happen if they open a gate to Hell, isn't it a bit too bold to use it as a diversion?"
"Maybe they deemed it wasn't that dangerous for them," Arima said and started moving again.
"It would mean that they don't care about the damages it could bring. It would then imply that they want this city's destruction. But while they don't care about Hell, it also signifies that they are not foreseeing their forces to step on this continent."
"Huh? Are you saying they won't send any troops here?"
"Yeah, something like that," Arima nodded and then started to ponder. "Something that could threaten an entire country, but isn't coming from a human source…" He muttered and his eyes flashed. "A dungeon?"
"Dungeons? I thought you were disappointed by them."
"Yeah, but that's not the point. What if another country got its hands on the dungeons' blueprint? They could then either create a new one and plant it so that it causes a stampede or they could directly break every other dungeon already existing," Arima conjectured then smirked for some reason.
Night looked at that smile and sighed. "You won't stop it, will you?"
Arima's grin became wider. "Of course, why would I do something like that? It's the perfect occasion. I could use it as a way to train my students. I'm sure the other party doesn't know about my dimensions. I can easily isolate the monsters. Concerning the Hell gate, I need to analyze the circles before saying anything."
He declared before creating a time dimension. He immediately teleported to a random meadow. He always chose this kind of environment because he liked how pure it was. It also had a perfect view of the sky.
He sat down and re-drew the runes he saw earlier with mana. When he finished, he was able to study it carefully.
"Soul… Darkness… Death. Those are the three main components of this array. Darkness for a theoric link between our world and everything that is hidden in Hell which is embodied by a closed gate."
"Death is connected to Darkness as a key for that gate. And the Soul theory is used to make that key turn. The sacrifices are for the key to be able to open the path."
Night blinked. "So, basically, this magic feeds on souls to create a way to Hell."
"Yep," Arima nodded and touched the runes. He waved his hand and modified them. He also did the same thing for other symbols and magic circles.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to find out what it will do exactly when it is activated, and what would happen to the city if it was opened."
Night hummed and watched silently.
Ten minutes after, he opened his mouth again. "Hey, if you rewrite my soul, do you think you it's possible for me to take human form?"
Arima stopped moving his hands and looked at Night with widened eyes. "Ah," He exclaimed as he was struck by the idea. "There was that way, huh?"
Noticing how Arima reacted, Night's expression sunk. "Hey… you didn't think of it seriously before, right?"
"What are you talking about?" Arima looked away and focused on his analysis whilst feigning innocence. "But, it's indeed possible. It should be fairly easy. But if I mess up, well, you wouldn't die, but you would be either stuck as a wolf pup or a dragon."
"If it ever fails, please make it so I stay in my dragon form," Night instantaneously responded.
*******************************************
It just took a few days for Arima to finish the breakdown of the whole formation's structure. It could sound long when you think that the one who did it was Arima, but real experts would call him a freak. To decompose every element of a magic formation and identify them separately, it would take weeks for a group of specialists.
"This is odd. This thing has no real goal. I feel like I lost two days of my life," Arima complained and sighed. "It looks like an incomplete theory."
"But did you learn something in the end?"
"Yes, at least I could deduce that it was a summoning ritual. But the chaotic aspect of this is that there's no target for the summon. The only thing I know is that the summoning is supposed to happen in the perfect center of the city. Basically, the castle."
"When?"
"Hm, two weeks from now. I don't think I can stop it by now. I have no choice but to take care of the danger myself. But… I don't get it. This will undoubtedly summon something, this is unquestionably directed at Hell, but it feels like the creator didn't care about what he would summon at all."
"Then as expected, wouldn't that be just a diversion?"
"No, there's no way the one who made this is that careless. He would've at least put a limitation on the magic formation. But if he didn't, it would mean that he knows something that I don't. And that something should be related to Hell…" Arima answered and sighed. He then stretched a bit and looked at Night. "Anyway, let's put that for later, do you want to try 'that' now?"
"Of course," Night affirmed and slowly changed into a dragon.
When Night recovered his original form, Arima snapped his fingers and a circle encompassed the two of them. "We will temporarily resonate, with no physical manifestation involved. It will be easier for me to rewrite your soul," He explained and the black dragon nodded.
"[Resonance]" They both chanted at the same time. Night became a black corporeal light and recovered Arima's figure. But unlike usual, that light didn't fuse and continuously remained there.
Arima sat down and closed his eyes and fell into deep concentration. Deep in his soul, he had suddenly appeared in the middle of a strong fire. There was a massive stone monument in front of him, depicting the image of a noble dragon.
Arima inhaled and touched the stone. The statue glowed and red lines spread on it with Arima's palm as a starting point.