When everyone laid their eyes upon the star, it was as if they had been submerged in water. Everything turned sky-blue in an instant. What they were looking at wasn't the light emission produced by an explosion. It was a giant wave of energy that was going through them. The entire solar system, Mars, and Earth were already drowned by a mass of blue energy.
'Fast,' Layla remarked in her mind. She looked around and saw that Karma was about to protect the planets from that energy. "{Don't do anything,}" she instructed and Karma halted. "{It's fine, there's no need to deviate it.}"
Karma turned her head toward Layla and looked at her through the water-like energy. Some soldiers were releasing their voice in panic among the agitation. But Jin calmly stared at his lifted arm.
Some of the wrinkles on his skin were slowly receding. Karma realized what was happening soon after. She and Layla were not affected at all since they were far stronger, but every human around seemed to get a little bit healthier and younger.
It wasn't only living beings. The nature of Mars was actually getting revitalized. Thanks to the terra-formation of Aurorae, Mars managed to acquire a viable atmosphere within the last decades but right now, the air was getting purer each second. Glowing green plants were growing quickly on the soil of this dusty and rocky planet.
This blue wave was also affecting Earth in the same way. 'This is pure energy, pure mana…' Layla thought. 'And it's to an unbelievably high level. There are absolutely no impurities. A human shouldn't be able to get such mana… this is the particularity of…'
***
'Natural Gods,' Raylein thought as he observed the eruption of energy. 'Natural Gods are born with a mana pool deprived of impurities because they are created naturally by the world itself. A Natural God also needs to preserve the life on their surface.'
'They need this kind of mana to reconstruct themselves indefinitely, give life, and tend to magic circuits…' The King frowned. 'How could a human get something like that? This is the power of a true divinity.'
He looked around at the citizens and saw that they were becoming stronger and healthier under the effects of this wave. 'He is not only giving force to weaker life forms. He's helping them to connect with the magic circuits while enhancing the latter.'
'Normally, you can't harmonize easily with magic circuits unless you've been in contact with them since birth. That's why the children awakened magic first. But right now, they are all getting connected,' Raylein smiled and looked up. 'He's not even doing it on purpose. This is happening just because of the quantity and purity alone. He's spreading it across the entire world at an unimaginable speed.'
When the cyan energy vanished as if it was all used up, the King started laughing.
"What kind of existence have you just become?"
***
At the same time, at the source of the explosion, a frozen star was born and two shadows came out from inside. The first one had a familiar black coat over him. His hair grew a little longer than it was before and his skin was slightly paler.
His body was even more optimized for combat than ever. All of his muscles and bones had been compressed to the ideal size and shape to offer an optimum output.
His facial features had also changed considerably. If before, Layla had changed into the most beautiful with her rebirth, it was now Arima's turn. His eyes, nose, mouth, everything had been refined and looked even better with his paler skin tone. His silver eyes were glowing as bright as always.
Of course, after him, it was Night who came out in his human form. Now, he really looked like Arima's twin. As before, his clothes were different and more vivid but his facial features could mislead if you didn't pay attention. He also went through the same kind of transformation as Arima on that aspect too.
Arima's expression was calmer than Night's too. With his crimson pupils, the latter seemed to be hot-blooded compared to the former. But there was something new that made a huge contrast between the two.
"Hey, why did my hair-color change and not yours?" Night inquired as he played with a strand of air in front of his eyes.
"I don't know. It looks great on you though," Arima grinned.
Night grunted in response. His hair had become shiny gray when he came out of the Final Resonance. He fiddled with his hair a little bit then sighed.
"Well, you got the classic MC trait. Be happy," Arima added and Night glared at him.
"…More importantly, is this what I think?" Night changed the subject as he conjured a cyan flame above his palm. Arima smirked and produced the same flame. The duo stared at each other for a minute while the light of the frozen star next to them illuminated half of their face.
Within the next second, many things happened. Arima and Night disappeared on the spot and clashed their fists together. The star beside them was blown away and exploded instantly. The two then grew a pair of wings, a layer scales, and a tail before attacking the other again.
This time, a bigger force pushed back the other planets that were farther away. After that, two roars resounded and two one-hundred-meter-tall dragons emerged. The two dragons, one with a gray mane and the other with a black mane, both released an azure fire breath and created another discharge of magic.
When the fire was gone, Arima and Night were already standing next to each other with impassive faces.
"So basically, we've both changed species, huh?" Night remarked and Arima nodded.
"Apparently. Like me, you've turned into an 'Eternal Dragon'. Even your original form became humanoid," Arima added. "We have both three forms now; Human, Dragonewt, and Dragon. I still need you for the 'Kind Demon' form and the 'Final Resonance' though," he said and closed his eyes. "But we also gained something else… So this is where the 'Eternal' comes from, huh?"
Night furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't this a little bit too much? If I understand correctly… we can have unlimited mana."
"Nothing is truly unlimited or infinite. But one thing is sure," Arima snickered. "We're recovering mana faster than what we could be able to spend in a fight," he declared. "And if I'm not wrong, we should be able to use any Art with only a tenth of the mana we used before."
Night blinked. "…I stand by my opinion. Unlimited."
"You can't know. We still need to understand what happened to our mana and soul. Earlier, we assimilated that Eion System thanks to the one I already had in my heart. I suppose it ended like this because Eion energy is a natural energy that recovers over time no matter how much you use it. That quirk must've been added to our mana pool," Arima alleged as he played with a sphere of cyan energy.
"But anyway, we still need to see how things will turn out," he threw away the sphere and turned his head toward Night. "Also, don't forget, unlimited mana is useless if you are killed before you can use it."
Night shrugged. "I guess you're right."
Arima snapped his fingers to teleport them back to Mars. "But it's still a cheat," Night's fading voice echoed at the same time and made him smile.
***
"Master, we have found out where The Traveler is," a man clad in darkness spoke to someone sitting at the top of a mountain.
The mountain was so high that it went way above the clouds but there was no change to the atmosphere and the stars seemed to be some sort of decoration. If you also bear in mind the high density of death aura and the quality of magic circuits, this place was without a doubt a part of the Original Land, Hell.
When the man sitting at the top heard the words of his subordinate, he promptly opened his eyes and stood up. His burly body reached five meters in height and his dark skin made him look threatening. He turned around and stared at the shadow-like man. "Tell me."
"Yes. The Traveler is currently in his maternal Plane, on a planet called Earth. We think that he is there to choose his successor."
"After two thousand years?" The 'Master' frowned. "Do you know anything about that potential successor?"
"Yes," the man's voice vibrated as he answered. "I don't know his name. But I heard he is called the 'Kind Demon' over there. He is the last Life Hunter and also the one who killed Karaskan."
"What…?" The 'Master' was stunned. He stepped forward and the entire mountain shook. "Are you sure about that information?!" He shouted and his subordinate nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, Master Harion!"
Harion cackled then laughed loudly. "A Life Hunter? I haven't heard those words in millenniums. I never heard about any of them making it into the ranks of the Plane Guardians," he smirked and glanced at his subordinate.
"But that aside, is it true that Karaskan died by his hands?"
"Yes."
"Hm," Harion mused. "What a shame. Karaskan was a good entry to our group. But at least he managed to finalize and open Pandora. What about the other matter? Did you find them?"
"Indeed. Odin was spotted in a Plane overseen by the Fifth Plane Guardian, The Rose. He seems to be staying there for now. Anubis is in deep seclusion in the Condemned Cemetery. Loki is still chasing the Ninth Plane Guardian, The Assassin. The two are fighting for 138 years now. And finally, Thanatos was eventually located in Tartarus."
Harion nodded. "Contact them all. I'm sure you know what to do. Also, don't forget to tell me about any move that Ambrogio and Shiva would make. Especially the former. That guy became a god as the First Vampire. His legend carries too much and he can build armies if he wants to," he ordered and the man nodded before leaving.
Harion looked at the sky and snorted. He breathed in and slowly moved his body as he circulated his Qi through his meridians. The air gathered around him in a whirlpool. Harion shouted shortly and punched the mountain.
The earth trembled and, as if a giant fist fell from the sky, the entire mountain crumbled into pieces and turned into a crater as a shockwave caused many rocks and plants to fly.
The 'shadow' who left just before was sweating as he witnessed the chain of mountains, which occupied tens of thousands of square kilometers, being crushed by a single punch that was nothing more than a warm-up for his Master.