Flavio kept his mouth closed as he listened to the guards shouting at him in an unknown language. He kept his hands raised but his eyes showed no regard or fear. That's maybe why the people in front of him were slowly getting angry along with the fact that their questions were being ignored.
'Is that the word for 'who'? Then that's 'you' I assume. There's that word he said with some killing intent… 'die' maybe,' meanwhile, Flavio was casually analyzing the words and their meaning.
After a short moment, he could discern more or less what they were saying to him.
'Now, someone I can kill for our very~ nice boss.'
He started looking around at the people in the town. Then, perhaps that was the last straw because one of the soldiers shot with his rifle.
A light flashed in Flavio's eyes. He tilted his head to avoid the bullet and vanished under the eyes of everyone. The next thing they knew was that the shooter was screaming on the ground while holding his bleeding shoulder. Behind him, Flavio pushed his glasses back to place while holding a severed arm in his left hand.
"That's intriguing… I planned to heal your arm so that it wouldn't bleed but it didn't work. Maybe my healing magic doesn't work on the people of this world after all," he muttered and the mob around him stepped back in horror.
Not only had they seen someone pull an arm out of someone's body but he was also speaking a strange tongue. Flavio looked back at the injured soldier with smiling eyes.
"Do you want to die?" He calmly worded that with what he had learned from listening to them.
It seemed to be spot on as the man cowered in fear and underwent a mental breakdown on the spot. Flavio watched him with dead eyes and was about to kill him when a large fireball abruptly exploded behind him. His figure became shrouded by the flames and the man who cast that magic squinted while holding back the other soldiers. He seemed to be the leader here.
Flavio sighed and that was the only thing he needed to disperse the fire. The guards' captain now knew it was impossible to win and told everyone to retreat.
"Should I just kill them all?" As Flavio said that to himself, he heard screams coming from far away in the city.
The soldiers and townsfolk looked in the direction of the source and froze when they saw two giant monsters standing on the outskirts of the town. One of them with glimmering black scales and a runic robe stepped inside of the town and only made a few steps before reaching them.
He crouched and bent one knee while trying to not kill anyone by mistake. "What are you doing, Flavio?" Arima asked and Flavio pursed his lips. The small people who heard his voice paled because of the presence and pressure it carried.
"…One of them attacked me so I thought it was fair to eliminate him and use him."
"How is that fair, you idiot? You're the one trespassing and most likely acting incredibly rudely. And I doubt that strike was meant to kill you either," Arima retorted and Flavio clicked his tongue. Chulainn who had stayed outside snorted comically.
"Anyway, I'll find us someone," Arima uttered and looked at everyone in the town. His demonic eyes already brought chills to them, but when he added the four pentagrams over his pupils, they almost fainted. "That guy," he muttered and his hand became blurry for a second.
Afterward, blood dripped from the tip of his finger and a man had died in one of the streets. Arima closed his eyes and processed the life force.
"I see…" He spoke in the local language and the captain of the soldiers frowned. Arima glanced at him then put his hand above Flavio. The latter lifted his hand to touch it and he instantly received the information.
"Chulainn, extend your tail until here. Physical contact is necessary in this world to transfer memories."
The Hellhound nodded and the threatening snake he had for tail went over the town and reached Arima. He then obtained everything he needed to know.
"Now then, it's time to talk," Arima redirected his sight toward the soldiers below. He quickly scanned their equipment and concluded that they were quite modern and of high quality.
"It appears that your species is called Gheian. A peculiar name from my perspective but it's not the point," Arima babbled and gazed at the captain. "Your name?"
"…Kyrian," he helplessly answered while sweating. He was doing his best to maintain his cool. He was sure that the demon in front of him wasn't releasing any aura. But even like that, he felt like he would lose his head the moment he talks back.
"Kyrian, huh? Cool name," Arima smiled. "You appear to be around the level of a First Sky. That's quite impressive for this kind of poor looking town. Are you the strongest person here perhaps?"
"No… we have an elder who is far stronger than me," Kyrian responded truthfully.
Arima mused. "Bring him here then. I want to converse with him."
"There's no need. I'm already here. Who wouldn't? When there's such a monster as yourself in the middle of the town?" A voice suddenly echoed and Arima scowled. He moved his head to look at the roof of a certain building. A well-built old man was standing on it. The moment Natus probed him, Arima's eyes widened in shock. Even Flavio and Chulainn were astounded.
"I have to admit, I didn't expect to find someone as strong as you in this kind of place," Arima remarked and the old man sneered.
"There's a reason why I'm called an elder. I fought many battles and wars. I became like this after centuries of training and suffering. And I certainly did not go through all of that to be looked down upon by a mere demon like you."
Arima chuckled and stood up. "Don't worry, old man. I perfectly have the right to look down upon you. You're probably around 400 years old and your power reaches the Second Divine. But for me, you're just a child."
The elder grimaced and scoffed. "What do you want?"
"Simple. I want your knowledge. You should be able to transfer it to me easily at your level. I want it," Arima said and the man's expression twitched.
"…You understand I assume, that you're asking me to give you all of what I struggled for in my life, right?"
"Indeed."
"Then why do you still ask for it?"
"Because it's either that or I kill you to take it," Arima's eyes glowed. "Which one do you prefer?"
"…Do you think I'm stupid? Don't tell me you thought I wouldn't notice that you can't use magic."
"Don't be conceited, old man," Arima replied coldly and everyone fell silent because of the killing intent looming around them. It wasn't even a result of a spiritual force but pure bloodthirst that is usually emanated by the predators of nature. "You won't tell me either; that you thought you could beat me with that small handicap, did you?"
The elder gritted his teeth and glared at Arima. "Fine! I'll comply with your demand. But I hope you won't harm anyone in this town in return."
"I wasn't going to do that in the first place. The only man I killed was one you wouldn't want to see roaming in your streets anyway. I just needed to learn your language," Arima declared and the old man placed a hand on his chest.
His heartbeat resounded and a bright hue lighted his body. "Oh, soul bank?" Arima was slightly impressed. "You chose a safe way I see."
The soul bank could be considered the second memory of an individual. Not only does it carry memories but it also has emotions, experiences, and awareness. Giving that to someone amounted to offering one's entire life.
For instance, if Arima were to share his soul bank with someone, that person would be able to attain every magic he ever created or cast. He would even be able to cast the Arts like he was the creator himself. But only if he manages to survive the power of the soul bank of course.
The old man formed a sphere of light above his palm and threw it at Arima. The latter smirked and immediately absorbed it; something that astonished the elder. He guessed that Arima would need at least a few minutes to assimilate his 400 years' worth of knowledge, but it was instantaneous.
"I knew it," Arima only took a few seconds to go through the whole soul bank. Compared to what he did during the Life Judgement, this was nothing.
"You knew what?" Flavio was perplexed.
"Space-time is different here," Arima responded. "In this reality, instead of being a surface in two dimensions which we can bend, it is more accurate to describe space-time as a sort of cube comprising the entire world."
"That's the information you wanted?"
"Yes. I needed this because I had to know which is the correct way to interact with the spatial layers of this reality. Now, I can finally use this," Arima said and his body started producing a green mist. The emerald sun in his soul realm was beating like a heart and was heating the water of the mystic ocean even more.
In the next instant, Arima had disappeared and both Flavio and Chulainn also vanished without a trace. The elder was left gazing at the sky, baffled.
***
Back in the other Reality, the armies led by Hades, Gabriel, and Ifrit were already departing under Gilgamesh's watch. When everyone had gone through the portals, Deva abruptly opened her eyes and looked at the sky.
She surprisingly roared as if she was angry. That definitely wasn't her usual behavior and even Gilgamesh understood that. He looked at the same thing as her and immediately trembled.
A massive shadow was gradually covering the sky. It was clear that it was happening outside of the atmosphere and it was quickly approaching. But if you looked closely, you would see that it wasn't a physical object at all.
It was a horde of monsters of all sorts. None of them had a normal or recorded appearance. They were simply an error of nature. The path those monsters were taking was undoubtedly leading to the four portals created by Arima.
"That's… the Téra," Gilgamesh muffled and looked up in a panic. "If their goal is the portals… they plan to infest the other Realities!" He exclaimed and his eyes narrowed. He urgently released his full aura.
"[Resurrection]!" Countless gates made of pure gold materialized in midair.
Gilgamesh sacrificed a huge part of his mana as the gates opened. Empty armors came out in rows and instantly flew off to protect the portals. There were also magical weapons coming out in swarms. There were even some dragons and other aerial beasts that appeared and bellowed.
"[Babel]."
Behind Gilgamesh, a spiral tower came out of the ground and reached the sky. The golden-haired boy caught one sword that was hovering around him and kicked the ground to join his artificial army against the Téra. Deva also moved and followed him.