Silence fell. They couldn't believe someone had actually taunted everyone in a war between devils and gods.
Ifrit smirked and arrived next to Arima with extreme speed. "Hey, Life Hunter," he called and Arima lifted his head to look at the beast of fire.
"There's only a single reason why I'm here and it's to meet you. For now, I won't interfere with this war. But promise me you will give me some time after this. You're the last Hunter alive and you're my only chance to truly gain the Life Hunt," he explained.
Arima was quite surprised. Based on the memories he retrieved from Aphrodite, he didn't really see Ifrit as such a reasonable and chill type of person. He even was incredibly straightforward and honest about his intentions.
"No problem."
Ifrit grinned and looked somewhere far away. "What about this? I'll see what I can do about that little rat in exchange for the favor," he offered and Arima gazed in the same direction as him.
"Yeah. See if you can stop him before he escapes," Arima replied and that was the final blow for everyone listening. They were completely lost about the meaning of their conversation.
Ifrit nodded and flew off. Arima followed his figure for a few seconds before facing Lucifer's group and Baphomet again.
"So that only leaves you all, huh?" He said that in a tone implying that it wasn't a big deal.
Baphomet's and Lucifer's expressions twitched. Arima turned his head toward Gabriel and the angel looked back at him with a flustered expression.
"Look at him… he arrived and saved the ladies in distress," Lilis muttered scornfully and Lanya smiled wryly.
Chulainn laughed wholeheartedly though. "His current power is quite something," he commented and suddenly froze as if he had just seen the most shocking sight in his entire life.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Lanya asked. Lilis frowned and looked at him too.
"This…" Chulainn mumbled and lifted his three heads off the ground he was lying on. "A foreign power is invading Hell's magic circuits," he explained and stood up.
"What do you mean?" Lilis was confused.
"It means what it means. Something is corrupting Hell's circuits and rooting itself in them," Chulainn answered. "This is odd… I have to go there as the Guardian," he said and headed off. Lanya and Lilis looked at each other and followed him soon after.
"Here's the deal. Don't antagonize me and I'll take care of this for you," meanwhile, Arima was 'negotiating' with Gabriel.
"Huh? Take care?" Gabriel was stunned. She wasn't sure of the implication of those words.
"Yes. But, well, you don't really have any choice," Arima retorted and snapped his fingers. The zombies across the battlefield stopped moving and then only targeted the devils.
"Now, you four. Did you make your choice? Will you face me?" Arima smirked and directed this taunt to the three princes of Hell and Baphomet.
The Evil God snorted and stamped the ground as he glared at Arima. The fallen angel also reacted similarly and scowled at Arima.
Arima smiled and slowly readied Karma in his left hand. "Well, those guys can do what they want though," he added whilst pointing at Hades and Poseidon. Those two hadn't stopped fighting at all.
Arima shrugged. He inhaled and exhaled in the next instant. Electricity sparked around his body and before anyone could react properly, thunder roared and Arima disappeared with a buzzing sound. At his original position, only lightning remained and Lucifer's eyes narrowed immediately.
Lucifer started seeing the world in slow motion. He looked at his right and saw Asmodeus parrying Karma with his sword. But the demon was quickly overpowered and pushed away. After that, Arima changed Karma's course and made it flow toward Lucifer.
The fallen angel reacted in time and his body became endowed with black and white magic. His strength was boosted and everything around him also shined with the same combination of colors. He infused this power into his spear and clashed with Arima's blade.
When the two weapons clashed, the world recovered its usual flow for everyone. Black lightning exploded along with the unique hue of the dark-light magic. A discharge of energy occurred and the ground below was cut apart. Shadowy lightning fell around them and Lucifer's magic also created explosions here and there.
At first glance, they were evenly matched but Lucifer gritted his teeth.
"(How can there be such disparity!?)" He shouted in his mind and before he knew it, he was already approaching the ground level and going through the earth.
Arima then flapped his wings and his silhouette became blurry. An afterimage was left behind as he appeared behind Beelzebub.
"[Terminus Confractus, CXX] (Limit Break, 120)," he chanted and kicked Beelzebub away.
The huger monster was sent flying across the sky and Arima reappeared above him while the demon was still recovering from the blow. Arima then gathered lightning around his sword and swung it down whilst intoning his signature magic, "[Aeterna] (Eternal Night)."
The black wave of lightning dragged Beelzebub with it and was sent toward Baphomet who was looking at the scene with a stunned expression. Aeterna's speed was very high. The Evil God brandished his sword and used it as a shield. Aeterna exploded instantly when it came in contact with it.
Azes and Zeus jumped back and witnessed the impressive potency of the simple attack that Arima had just performed.
Baphomet grunted when the explosion ended. He moved his sword away just about when Beelzebub had finished regenerating the arm he lost. And strangely, Lucifer and Asmodeus were also very nearby.
The four of them had actually been forcefully gathered together in less than thirty seconds by Arima. This was definitely a great blow to their pride.
Arima extended his hand was waved his fingers. "Come," he provoked them and Baphomet kicked the ground with a sour expression. He was soon followed by Beelzebub and Asmodeus. Lucifer was the last one to move out.
The gods could only watch dumbfounded as Arima took on almost every enemy. They even felt awkward doing nothing.
****************************************
A few minutes earlier, a bit before Arima arrived on the battlefield, a golden light flashed behind Karez who was hiding far away from everyone. A golden door materialized. It resembled the Heaven Gate but the size was nowhere the same and it had a golden hue to it.
A man, clad in gold, stepped out of the door.
"You came," Karez remarked calmly and walked toward him.
"Yes, I said I'd do it. I won't come back on my word," the blond man responded with a dreadfully empty smile and pointed at the door behind him with his thumb. "Go. This won't last much time. I had to fool the gatekeepers for it."
Karez nodded and quickly went toward the door. "Your help is appreciated, Tiatus," he said just as he was going to pass the door. He then felt a suffocating aura weighing on him. Both him and Tiatus looked at the sphere of life force from which Arima was exiting.
Karez furrowed his eyebrows and turned around. "It's time. Farewell," he said and immediately went to Heaven through the golden door.
Tiatus squinted his eyes and managed to spot Arima's figure. "Hm, he sure has changed from last time I saw him. Perhaps I should have killed him then when I had the occasion," he mumbled and placed his palm on the door. It started to produce some noise; as if a lock was being constantly used.
"The closing will take some time," Tiatus muttered and sat down in front of the door. He waited there for a few minutes until a cone made of crimson fire reached his position and dropped off Ifrit before it disappeared.
"Is that a lesser Heaven Gate?" Ifrit asked as he looked over Tiatus's shoulder.
The god surrounded by a golden glow laughed and stood up. "Indeed," he casually admitted and Ifrit frowned.
Although he didn't care about Karez, Ifrit wasn't so eager to see the plane collapse. Additionally, he had told Arima that he would take care of it. So, it was not only a matter of obligation but also of honor.
"I won't let you go through," Tiatus suddenly said.
"Oh, can you?" Ifrit smiled.
Tiatus chuckled and a golden light emerged from his body to first create an arc, and then connect each end together with a glowing string. Tiatus smiled and grabbed the newly created bow.
Ifrit snorted and opened his hand wide. A fireball ignited above his palm. The two stared at each other for a short moment before vanishing, leaving deep imprints on the ground.
******************************************
"[First Red Art, Ragnarök]."
This was the first thing Arima chanted when his four opponents charged at him. During that moment, Hell's environment fell entirely in his hand.
As his four opponents attacked him, they were suddenly pressured by gravity, wind, earth, and lightning that speared through the black clouds of Baphomet.
In the end, if one had to describe 'Ragnarök', it could be considered a sort of Eternal-Cast Manifestation. But it wasn't only 'Ragnarök' that could be described as such. All of Arima's First Ranked Arts were miraculous and potent enough to be called True Soul Manifestations.
And by Arima's own words, 'Ragnarök' was the lesser one among the five.
"Tch," Baphomet strained his muscles and swung his sword nonetheless. Arima blocked it with Karma and the surrounding suffered the consequences.
After that, it was Beelzebub who attacked him from the side with a powerful punch. Arima's robe fluttered and something suddenly pierced through the fabric and obstructed Beelzebub's fist.
The demon was shocked when he saw what it was. It was a black tail; obviously draconic with glittering scales.
Arima smirked. Of course, his tail hadn't disappeared. He would have been gravely frustrated if such a useful thing had been lost. He clashed with the two enemies for a few seconds and then blew Baphomet away with 'Aeterna' before using his tail to deflect one last attack from Beelzebub and kicking him in the abdomen.
Arima then straightened his back and waved his finger upward. A giant wall of stone was raised to deter Lucifer's dark-light. When the wall crumbled due to the damages, Arima had already vanished.
Lucifer's expression drastically changed. Beelzebub and Baphomet also looked in his direction with harried expressions. Lucifer began to turn around but it was already too late. When he managed to look behind him from the corner of his eyes, Arima's palm was occupying his entire vision.
"[Fifth Blue Art, Inferno] (Hell)," Arima chanted and a red light covered Arima's hand and illuminated Lucifer's figure before a fireball exploded right in front of him.
Baphomet and Beelzebub jumped back. From the flames, a shadow suddenly emerged and approached them at great speed. They were about to defend themselves but when they noticed that the one flying toward them was Lucifer, they stilled and then spotted Arima calmly walking out of the explosion with his wings deployed.
The Kind Demon smiled and extended his palm again. Another fireball was conjured and this one was even bigger. "[Ut Eos] (Get them)," he chanted and a pair of eyes seemed to appear on the fireball, along with a mouth.
Arima's sigil spiraled around his pupils and glowed. The fireball was propelled at its targets. Baphomet moved forward and gathered a great amount of energy in his sword. The eyes on his organic sword opened completely and he swung it at full strength.
A dark wave even bigger than Arima's fire was created. When everyone was expecting an explosion when the two spells touched, something totally different happened.
The fireball opened its mouth and literally ate Baphomet's magic. It took one bite then the darkness blazed as 'Inferno' became bigger instead. Lucifer was barely able to create a dark-light shield for himself, Baphomet, and Beelzebub before the fireball exploded and scattered flames across the sky.
Arima smiled as his eyes reflected the dancing lights of the darkish fire. 'Inferno's hidden effect was one the most hazardous among the Kind Demon's Arts. It could swallow other magics to get stronger.
It had to be noted that when Arima broke through to the Heavenly Realm and became the 'Kind Demon', his arts also became a lot stronger since their theory was greatly enhanced by the title.
There was no doubt that Arima was the only one capable of bringing out the full potential of the Arts, even if he were to fully teach them to someone else one day. There was no denying in the fact that the Kind Demon's Arts are used best by the Kind Demon himself.
As Arima was thinking this, a blade flashed behind him and his tail moved to intercept it. Asmodeus' sword was thus halted a few centimeters away from his target's neck. The demon gritted his teeth and put all of his strength into his sword but still was overpowered by the tail.
Thanks to his new body, Arima could use his limit break to constantly bring out 100% of his physical abilities. Even if he tried his best, Asmodeus would never be able to win in a strength contest.
Arima snickered without looking back and Ragnarök entered into action. A gravity stronger than everything until now smashed Asmodeus against the ground. A hemispherical crater gradually formed because of it.
Arima took a step forward. A second afterward, the sky glowed and a huge lightning bolt fell directly in the middle of that same crater.