The blue-black pillar of energy generated by the gun struck the ground like a hammer and shook the entire planet. The soil and stone were easily pierced through to make a path to the kernel.
Superore's bullets reached the center area of Fantasia within a few seconds. When the pillar of energy was no longer observable from the surface, Arima put away his gun and patiently waited as the bullets dug further underground.
After a minute, Fantasia became unstable. The wind pressure increased and the entire planet started fissuring and quaking. At the same time, Fafnir's aura reached an unbelievable level. It invaded the surface and even killed the weaker creatures.
Even Arima stiffened under the pressure. He frowned and flapped his wings. He flew into the hole he had just created with Superore and accelerated until the air currents around him were enough to enlarge it.
"[Aperi iter ad aethereum] (Open the path of the ethereal)," at the same time, Arima extended his hand and started chanting for the Second White Art
"{Hey, will it work? This Art requires quite a lot of 'substance' to function,}" Night asked.
"{It's fine. If I use the surrounding aura, and the matter around the center, I should be able to conjure a portal stable enough to displace Fafnir to a safe distance,}" Arima replied. "{The reason I used an entire planet last time was that I wanted to go to Hell.}"
"{'Should' though?}"
Arima smiled. "{Imagine someone trying to teleport me against my will. What do you think I will do?}"
"{You would try to stop the magic and if you can't, you would retaliate somehow before you are sent away… Never mind,}" Night noticed by himself as he was talking.
"{You got it,}" Arima said as he entered the outer layer core of the planet. The temperature should have been rising but it wasn't the case.
"[Detrahet me in somnis etiam fines se nisi arcerent illum] (Bring me to horizons only restrained by my dreams)."
"[Materia obliviscentes] (Forget the material)."
A shining silver gear appeared in Arima's hand. It started spinning and sucking Fafnir's aura. At the same time, an earth-shattering roar resounded and even pushed back Arima who was flying toward the center.
Arima clicked his tongue and his sigil glowed. His wings released some kind of red mist and his speed increased even more as he fought against the pressure.
A second roar thundered and Arima countered it with his own. A clash occurred with their voice alone and from the center, the planet suffered another blow. Cracks expanded until the surface to create some very impressive crevasses.
Layla sighed as she looked at everything with her 'Unblinking Eyes'. She shifted her attention somewhere else and wagged her wings. She approached Deva with incredible speed and landed on her back.
"Deva, please go there," she said as she transmitted the location telepathically.
Deva slowly looked up at her and finally moved. She left the ground and her feathers glowed as she ascended. Layla winced as her mana depleted and wondered how Arima had managed to supply enough to return from Hell. Just the small jump she was going to make was enough to take a quarter of her entire mana pool.
Jorga and Karma calmly stood behind her as Deva prepared to depart. Oulan could only wonder as the creature warped away why Lanya had left so suddenly. He then looked back at the giant hole Arima had made as the White Art's silver light reached the surface.
***
"[Uti originem ducere] (Use the origins to lead me)," Arima uttered the last line of his incantation and the gear was spinning so quickly that it looked like a motored wheel shrouded by vapor.
Arima reached the place where his bullets weren't able to go through and gathered mana in his left arm.
"[Terminus Confractus, CCC]."
His muscles contracted and produced some steam too. A red hue covered his hand before he punched the last wall separating him from the 'core'. The planet almost changed its orbit as the stone at its core crumbled. Arima promptly heard another roar that pricked his eardrums and made him grit his teeth. He groaned as he entered an area filled with golden light.
"[Second White Art, Calces Porta]."
He moved his left hand which was holding the silver gear and threw it right in front of him. The gear flashed again and became bigger. The silver light merged with the golden one and something that even made Arima shudder occurred.
A pair of crimson eyes, shimmering with a color even more bright and deep than his own, emerged just above the Second White Art. The pair of eyes locked on Arima in pure rage. A giant claw then appeared and grabbed the silver gear before trying to shatter it. But as the gear wouldn't even budge, Fafnir's eyes shifted in surprise. The ancient dragon became even angrier when he realized what this magic was going to do.
He looked back at Arima to see two barrels pointing at him. Two waves, black and blue, struck him in the head. He howled strongly and the planet trembled. The reason he raised his voice was more out of irritation than actual pain.
Fafnir snapped and let go of the gear to attack Arima instead. His eyes moved and were suddenly very close to Arima. The latter crossed his arms and tried to block the claw with multiple layers of magic barriers but they were all destroyed in a second. Arima braced himself and was sent flying through the earth, shaping an underground tunnel at the same time.
He coughed blood and grinned. The gear suddenly expanded and enclosed Fafnir. The latter could not react in time and was teleported away.
The blood on Arima's scales evaporated and he quickly returned to the center. The golden light had faded away and it was now an empty 'nest'.
Meanwhile, Fantasia started losing its gravity and it slowly went out of orbit. The gravitational field in itself is produced by the planet's mass but the disappearance of a core this large would cause major alterations to the overall mass. In any case, no planet can survive long without a core and the natural magnetic field it produces.
Arima's sigil glowed again and time stopped in his vicinity. He took out the core he snatched from the other planet and carefully placed it there. It was a good thing that the core was bigger than Fafnir as it saved a lot of effort.
Now, he had to go through the hardest hurdle of the whole plan. Replacing cores… it's something simply impossible if you can't freeze time. Arima had to integrate the new core to Fantasia. It was almost like an organ transplant. If he messes up, the core will destroy the planet rather than sustaining it.
He had to test and obverse what affects it brought depending on how he placed it. If the balance is not correct, the planet will collapse one day or another. So, he had to maintain the integrity of the planet by himself during the process until he succeeds to find the optimal position for the core.
He wasn't allowed even a single mishap and it taxed his mind considerably. His mana was also decreasing dangerously. He had to finish quickly or he would have difficulties later on.
***
Meanwhile, in the middle of outer space, a huge silver gear appeared and spat out a golden figure which illuminated this dark environment.
Layla observed it from Deva's back, miles away from it. Fafnir's appearance took her off guard as she didn't expect him to be like that. It wasn't like she could see details when she looked into the future. It was more like watching a black and white video with repetitive white bands and a fading soundtrack.
Fafnir's body was quite large and long. His entire skin shined with a golden color and even seemed to be made of gold. His eyes were of a bright crimson that Layla had never seen. They seemed to be filled with glowing blood, emanating madness and pride.
His wings were quite thin but also bigger than his entire body. His tail seemed to be incredibly tough as it was large and long. Fafnir's legs were short and if he was standing on firm ground, it would've looked like he was crawling. His head, in contrast, was pretty big.
In the end, Fafnir looked like a giant golden salamander with wings, and with a head slightly more dragon-like. His overall size was bigger than even Deva. He was around four hundred meters long and a hundred meters large.
The moment he was transported, Fafnir tried to jump back inside the silver gear but he just managed to push the whole thing back before it disappeared.
The angered dragon roared again and this time, it was Layla's group that had to withstand it. Layla immediately invoked her full draconic transformation and her aura raised to the next level. Deva was surprisingly fine, she seemed to be unaffected and a tad annoyed. She even had the leeway to protect Jorga and Karma.
Fafnir was about to rush back to Fantasia and teach a lesson to the one who had forcefully teleported him when he felt the sudden burst of aura. He squinted and moved his body so that he was facing Layla.
His eyes wandered on Deva, who confused him a lot, and then fell on Layla again. He was sure that the aura emanating from her was that of a dragon he knew. Her soul was also shockingly imposing.
"…Did Chronepsis give his inheritance to a puny human like you?" Fafnir's voice spread in the void and it sounded strangely serene and calm in contrast with his appearance.
"He did," Layla grabbed her rapier. "But I don't know if I'm a human at this point."
Fafnir's eyes blinked, he didn't seem to be surprised about her response. "Indeed, you seem to be mostly human but I sense divine mana in you. Only pure gods can have that. No matter how strong one is, he will always have original mana as long he is not birthed by Hell or Heaven…" As he was saying that, Fafnir's eyes widened.
"What the…? They both collapsed…?" He muttered.
"…do you mind telling me what your plans are after this?" Layla asked and it made him concentrate on her again. In fact, she didn't want to negotiate with him. But if by any chance he was not evil, she would not need to fight him.
"Why not. First of all, I'll kill that weird dragon who woke me up and injured me," Fafnir growled.
Layla glanced at the thin line of blood flowing down Fafnir's forehead and smiled wryly. She still wasn't sure if Fafnir was worth fighting or not. After all, they only knew that Fantasia would have been destroyed because of his awakening. But that's all. The destruction of Fantasia might have been something he didn't wish for.
As for his threat toward Arima, she couldn't blame him. Heck, if Arima himself woke up like that with someone shooting at him, he would absolutely kill the culprit. So, she ignored this little factor and resumed.
"Then what about next? After you kill that dragon, what will you do?"
"Why do you want to know, strange girl?"
Layla's mouth twitched when she heard his way of calling her. '…I might not need a motive after all,' she took a deep breath inwardly and endured it.
"Because you're a well-known dragon in the legends, I'm simply curious, if not a bit scared," she answered.
Fafnir tilted his head. He didn't feel like she was lying, which was correct. Layla was truly curious about what he wanted to do and scared at the same time that he would become some calamity in the future.
"I suppose I can answer that," Fafnir stated. "I plan to go find the gods that are still living in this world and slaughter them. Afterward, I'll explore and steal the gold of the entire world. That's my goal."