As Arima's group was starting a fight that was about to shake the world, Harion was standing on top of a large mountain next to a man with sharp features and a cold expression.
"Hey, Vlad, when's the plan supposed to begin?" Harion asked.
"Lady Ahura told us to act when Afriose would be ready to use the Stavrós Astéri. You would know that if you had attended the recent meetings."
Harion clicked his tongue and looked away.
"I was gathering my army as I was ordered. How could I be present?"
Dracula hummed and looked up at the night sky. The planet they were standing on right now was a very special one. It was situated at the border of the farthest Plane there was from the center of the Reality. It was filled with spatial distortions and located right in the middle of a chaotic magic field that always appears at the edges of a Plane.
If you looked at the sky from there, you would be able to see every Plane as a big shining star. And at that moment, they were all forming a straight line. Only one of them was slightly off. Harion stared at it for a moment and sighed.
"Anyway, it should be soon. Lady Ahura and Ambor did a great job… That's a bold plan now that I think about it."
"They decided to push the planes instead of waiting for them to align. They could have destroyed one by mistake and completely spoiled the plan of using Stavrós Astéri. But they succeeded in the end," Harion muttered and Dracula snorted.
"Of course. Lady Ahura is the most powerful being in all Realities," he retorted and Harion laughed.
"You might be right," he shrugged and gazed at the giant gate in front of him. "She even made this ridiculous gate to transport our troops and strengthen them. It's even better made than the Original Gates. Her ability has no boundaries," he said and Dracula agreed with a nod.
Shortly after, someone ran up the mountain and kneeled behind Harion.
"I have something to report to you, General."
"What is it?"
"A large-scale battle erupted at the heart of Melumnia. The First Guardian's castle has already been destroyed and four of the Guardians, Ambrogio included, are fighting against a certain individual."
Harion's eyes widened. "Who is it?"
"It's…" The man hesitated for a second. Bracing himself to tell this unbelievable information. "The Kind Demon."
"What?" Harion exclaimed and Dracula raised an eyebrow.
"He was chosen by Raylein to be the next Seventh Guardian and thus brought to Melumnia. An unknown conflict occurred and he is now battling against four Guardians; Ambrogio, Shiva, Shakti, and Victor."
"No way… at best he's a Transcendental. He can't possibly match even one Guardian. Much less four of them," Harion mumbled. "How is that 'Demon' holding out?"
"He's… pushing them back," the messenger replied and both Harion and Dracula were astounded. "In fact, he has two people at his side. Two dragons, to be exact, and he himself transformed into one as well. "
"A dragon? Is he from the dragon race? It would be bad if the Dragon God intervenes…"
"We don't know. We only know that he is one of those three dragons. As for the two others, one of them is an incredibly strong undead. He's suppressing both Shiva and Shakti at the same time."
Harion listened to the astonishing news and burst out laughing. "This is hilarious!" He laughed even louder before waving his hand at his subordinate. "You can leave now. Contact the rest of the army and tell them we'll move out soon. The Stavrós Astéri has been advanced and will happen today. We will charge in Melumnia and invade them. Those new factors don't matter."
"I'm sure that if even that Kind Demon wins his fight, he will be defeated under Lady Ahura's and Afriose's ability," Harion said and the messenger nodded before jumping off the mountain.
Dracula followed the messenger with his eyes until he left, then looked at Harion. "Are you sure that person won't cause us any problem? Wasn't he a Life Hunter? What if he grows stronger by consuming the Guardians?"
"Don't worry, didn't you say Lady Ahura was the strongest of all?"
"…I did say so."
"Besides, he might grow stronger, but he'll surely be exhausted. Just enjoy the moment," Harion said as he watched the last Plane align with the others.
If you were looking at that planet from very far away in the sky. You would see that the whole surface, except the mountain occupied by Harion and Dracula, was saturated with soldiers of different races.
Some were giants while others were not even as big as a finger. Among them, there were a lot of pale looking ones with two fangs sticking out of their mouth. They were commonly known as ghouls and servants or even blood-suckers. They were all Dracula's converted pawns.
The army that was in standby on this planet wasn't the only one. This kind of thing was happening in at least a thousand other planets. They were all waiting for Harion's and Dracula's order to go through the gate.
***
The skies of Melumnia had been replaced by a blazing azure fire. The earth and the elements had been put into chaos and mystic blood was splattered everywhere. Ambrogio waved his hand and countless puppets made of blood jumped and attacked Arima.
They were all mindlessly shrieking as if they were a dying soul put into a new body. Arima's eyes flashed and he swung Karma. Thunder roared and all of the blood puppets were destroyed in a single hit.
"Behind you!" Layla shouted and Arima's sigil spun. The blue fire in the sky struck the ground as a huge pillar right behind him. He heard a grunt and Ambrogio escaped the flames with a trail of blood following him. Arima then heard a boiling sound and looked down. A large crimson circle had been drawn around him.
"[Fourth Destruction Art, Vashta Nerada] (The Shadows that Melt the Flesh)," he slammed his hand on the ground and a mass of darkness enveloped him to protect him as an enormous upsurge of blood occurred.
As Ambrogio was retreating, the ground below suddenly broke apart to attack him. Even gravity and the air went against his movement. He gritted his teeth and felt a change from the burning sky. He moved his hands in a pattern and cast his own fire magic upward. His spell clashed with a blue fire pillar and burst.
At the same time, Layla blocked Victor's strike and instantly collected its power as a pure energy thanks to her new constitution. Her eyes then suddenly flared and she rotated her body before hitting Victor's clone who was behind her with her tail. She then punched the original and drew two magic circles facing each direction. They glowed with golden light and two star-like explosions shrouded both the clone and the original.
"Dammit! How can you predict my every move!?" Victor shouted and grasped the air as if it was physical. He pulled on it and a wave of darkness erupted out of nowhere and drowned the area.
Layla felt her vision being robbed but her pupils were still as shiny as ever and she turned her body accurately to avoid Victor's next attack. A single strike from both of them dispersed the darkness and created a depression in the air and on the ground.
As they were about to charge at each other again, a large chunk of ice fell from the sky and crashed between them. They jumped back and spared a second to glance at the ones responsible before continuing their fight.
Malum laughed madly as he used his bare hands to destroy Shiva's ice. Shakti teleported behind him and used a hand sign to conjure a huge barrage of water blades. He turned his head and his scales formed a shield that defended him from the assault. Shiva seized the occasion and a giant statue of ice formed behind him and punched Malum who was around the same size.
"[D] (500)," Malum chanted and punched the animated statue. The ice broke without delay and crumbled to pieces.
"Impossible!" Shiva exclaimed and closed in by himself. His whole body started producing cold vapor. He punched again when he was close to Malum and a giant ice fist was immediately created to convey his strike. He then threw a kick and a second icy limb appeared.
"[Fourth Red Art, Nativus Dominare] (Elemental Domination)," Malum intoned and Shiva's ice abruptly stopped and turned against its caster.
"What!?" He gasped and crossed his arms as he suffered his own ice fist while Malum crushed the giant ice leg with his bare hands. Shakti moved afterward. Her light and water magic had also been reflected but she managed to teleport away in time and retrieve Shiva at the same time.
"[Furorque Tenebris] (Darkness and Madness)."
"[Difficile est docere illos quid est morietur] (Teach them how hard it is to die)."
"[Second Blue Art, Nova Tenebris, Mesperyian Ludum Scriptor] (Black Nova, Mesperyian's Game)."
Malum conjured the hidden effect of the Second Blue Art and in the mind of both Shiva and Shakti, a copy of themselves, made of dark flames, began attacking them.
"This is an illusion!" Shakti shouted. She was sure of it. But for some reason, she couldn't stop herself from trying to counter those illusions.
"Of course, they are! But how do we stop them!? This illusion is too strong!" Shiva retorted and cast a large-scale magic, trying to confine those strange creatures in ice. But they were not tangible and reappeared next to him in a second.
Malum snorted. "They won't stop. They'll continuously chase you, but they will never harm you. Weird, isn't it?" He said and raised his hands. He mumbled a chant and a sort of volcanic stone appeared at the tip of each of his fingers. They expanded as Malum injected his mana into them.
"Shit! Shakti, retreat!" Shiva shouted and made multiple hand signs in less than a second. His eyes produced vapor and his body even became covered in ice.
Malum scowled and looked up to see the blazing sea being split open. His eyes widened when he spotted a humongous ice ship falling through the azure flames.
"[The Itinerant Ship]," Shiva chanted and the figurehead was already about to reach Malum.
"[Third Blue Art, Fragor Magnus]!" Malum promptly released his magic. The ten 'bombs' he had been charging flew toward Shiva and Shakti just before the ship could hit him.
The massive ice ship exploded into a magnificent frenzy of ice shards and blue light. At the same time, the ten fireballs fired by Malum blasted a very large zone. If they had been fighting on a planet like Earth, it would've been destroyed ten times over.
"{Now!}" Arima signaled and Layla nodded while Malum smirked as he pulled a large ice pole out of his ribcage.
"[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios]," the three of them chanted, and the same number of Lawless Tomes were summoned. The three books flipped their pages and started scrunching.
"Go!" Arima shouted and turned into a lightning entity that flew off at incredible speed. Ambrogio tried to stop him by trapping him inside a mirror cage.
"[Third Red Art, Semita Vitisque Repertor] (Path Finder)." But Arima went past the cage as if it wasn't there. The vampire grunted and had a bad feeling about what was going to happen.
The haggard Malum, Layla, and Arima rejoined and all chanted an Art.
"[Second White Art, Calces Porta] (Gear Gate)." The familiar silver disc was rapidly formed.
"If you want to get away, it's now or never," Arima said toward the six other Guardians who had remained idle until now and went through the gate.
Ganesha laughed and immediately followed his advice and retreated as much as possible. Aergia was next. "I don't like moving…" She grumbled and the rest followed after her.
As for Victor, Shiva, Shakti, and Ambrogio, they were unable to escape in time anymore. The three books disintegrated and released a chaotic outburst filled with different energies; an assortment of Worldly Energies and Original Laws.
"Gather around me!" Ambrogio directed and the three Guardians rushed toward him. "[I Beseech Thy Law and Offer my Humble Substance in Return]."
"[Erase]," he uttered and the light of the Lawless Tomes shrouded his group just after. It spread far and wide, covering a fourth of the titanic planet.