"Hot."
"Cold."
"Rainy."
"Snowy."
"What?"
"Huh?"
Everyone muttered something different the moment they went through the portal. The conflict in their words made them stop.
Arima frowned, the scenery in front of him was that of an endless desert. But the others were describing something totally different; all of them.
"{I told you. This place is 'everywhere'. I'm not making things up to make it sound cooler. Each time you take a step here, it's akin to make a world trip. Try it, you'll understand.}"
Arima took a step forward and ended up in the middle of a thunderstorm. "What is this for?"
"{Well, technically, this place was created for people like the Creators to train their spirit. This is a sort of training camp. The goal is to run here as long as you can. It's harder than you think it is. But obviously, the Creators are not here. They're most likely staying in their own safe zones.}"
"So? Where are they?"
"{Ask Deva to bring you to the Original God. He is her creator after all.}"
"...Right. By the way, I wanted to ask you, Krynox. Back when I went to get Deva, I fought some weird armor that woke up Malum. At first, I thought it was God's plot. But now I know it wasn't."
"{If you're asking if it was me, the answer is yes. I told you I kept my eyes on you since you were born. I already knew about Malum by then.}"
"I see," Arima nodded and turned toward Deva. Apparently, it counted as a step because he saw himself covered by snow in the next second. He groaned and called. "Deva, can you bring me to him?"
The huge creature opened her mouth and let out a deep and short cry whilst nodding.
"Then do it," Arima ordered and jumped on her back and she immediately changed into her four-wheeled bike form. With his surroundings which had changed again, Arima faced his group. "You stay here for now. I need to be the first one to attack. I'm not sure if any of you is strong enough to survive a preemptive strike," he stated and no one rebuked him.
"Let's go."
Deva's wheels started spinning and releasing lightning. The motor visible from the outside was using its full potential. In the next instant, the bike and Arima disappeared from everyone's sight. Just leaving the trace of the wheels on the ground.
Arima's vision warped and after just a few seconds, Deva had braked and they had arrived in the middle of a white area. In the center, there was an imposing figure sitting down. Arima raised an eyebrow then smirked.
"As expected of you, you're quite ugly."
"…I will admit that I'm impressed. You managed to fool me. I barely had the time to get the information that all of our followers are dead and you're already here," a voice resounded and Arima clicked his tongue at how unpleasant it was.
"Was it because you knew that we could have cooperated to stop you that you came here this fast?" The Original God stood up. His body was definitely strange.
It was composed of countless materials. Wood, metal, silk, ore, gems… Everything was pressed together to form something like humanoid limbs and muscles. As for his head, it looked like a holy light. It was a sort of solid-liquid matter that came out of his neck.
"But unfortunately for you, I never had the intention to do that. I alone am enough to erase your puny self out of existence," the God raised his voice and the white space shook.
"…So that's the 'extreme of light', huh?" Arima snickered. "You're nothing but an arrogant prick who can't think by himself. You're too bright, hence you cannot think about something dark. You are unable to plan. Going after you was the right choice after all. You're the easiest prey."
The God seemed to have been provoked as his hand suddenly moved. Before he knew, Arima's heart had been pierced by a light spear.
"I know about your ability to absorb elements. But don't think a single second that you will be able to do the same with my holy light," the God sneered and thought that he could kill Arima with only a thought if he wanted to.
But Arima smirked and started laughing. His heartbeat echoed and the God reacted. The sound kept getting stronger. When Arima pulled out the spear and destroyed it, another heartbeat joined in and harmonized with the previous one. At the same time, his injury had already vanished and his clothes were not even dirty.
"…When did you manage to become an immortal?"
Arima snorted and transformed into the 'Ancient Demon'. His four pupils shined with a dangerous light and Natus was invoked. He glared at the God from above. "Deva, go back. I'll tell you who to bring when the time comes," he spoke without taking his eyes off the Vile Creature.
Deva reverted to her real form and was about to leave when a strong pressure stopped her from doing so.
"Origin! I am your creator. You dare to go against me?" The God uttered coldly. Deva roared toward her own father and teleported away.
"Looks like you're not that good of a creator," Arima scorned and before he knew, the God had already become as big as him and punched him. The consequences of that attack were the destruction of the safe zone of the 'Eternal Haven' as well as a shockwave that could have annihilated a small galaxy.
The God thought that it would be enough to defeat someone such as Arima, but the result made him stunned. Arima's body had not even flinched. In fact, his punch had not even touched him, it had been stopped a few millimeters before hitting its target.
He knew what happened but couldn't believe it. A pentagram had covered his fist and broke down his magic. Then, a strange spatial interference that shouldn't have occurred in his presence slowed down his attack. Finally, seven phantoms cried and pushed until his blow was blocked.
The God gazed at Aeshma's manifestation who was blocking his fist with his palm and slowly spoke, "Angra Mainyu…"
Arima smirked. At the same time, Karma and Night who were far away changed into beams of light that flew off. Although they were not connected anymore, they still shared Arima's soul essence. That meant he could still locate them easily and call them as long as they weren't too far apart.
"I am Arimane Reigen Blade, Death Hunter. Reincarnation of Angra Mainyu. The First Eternal Dragon. Now known as a God, The Kind Demon. And I will stop there because the more I say these freaking titles, the edgier I feel."
As he talked, Night's soul resonated with him. In his 'Ancient Demon' form, he gained a new layer of scales. These were much thicker and looked like a black steel armor as it covered his chest and wings.
Then, a katana abruptly fell from the sky and was planted in the ground. Arima grabbed the handle and pulled it out before shouldering it.
The God retreated and stood motionlessly. "…I underestimated you. I will give you that," he said and a bladed staff, which seemed to be made out of the most exquisite materials, appeared in his hand. "But you're dreaming if you think that you can win against me."
Arima snorted. "I'm certainly a bit weaker than you at the moment. There's no way around that," he shrugged. "But who said I can't beat you?" The Seven Spirits surrounded Arima as he pointed his blade at the God. "Let me show you, what a puny human like myself can do."
Natus glowed, at this point, those Evil Eyes had become Arima's new sigil. The God didn't react until he felt a blade piercing his body. "My turn."
The God wavered and hollered when he noticed how Arima had reduced the distance between them. He swung his staff and activated the same power Arima had just used to attack him.
The safe zone was no more. It meant that each time the two of them moved, they found themselves in another place. But they didn't even have the time to see what it was before it was destroyed by their combat.
Probably, during that time, countless planets were being destroyed across Existence, totally disregarding time and space. All of that, just because two beings were exchanging a few blows.
In their fight, you could hear the wails of the Seven Phantoms from time to time. But you couldn't even see the figure of Arima or the God. Both of them didn't stay still for even a second.
Especially the God, he was battling with a different mindset than a few seconds ago. Just because Arima had shown him something extremely threatening.
A Law. He couldn't believe that a simple human, no matter if he was immortal or not, could use a World Law. This fight was going to be the most injurious that ever occurred. For one legitimate reason; it was going to be a clash of Laws.
Arima had already cast all of his First Ranked Arts the moment he used the Law of Continuity but none of them affected the God, not even in the slightest.
The azure flames couldn't even reach him. The white cocoon made to seal him was broken before even locking up its target. Ragnarök meant nothing since the God possessed Absolute Dominance over all elements. The Kind Demon's Crosses were useless since no one was here, and Kymestuos was too weak to hold the Creator in its jails. As for the First Destruction Art, it fell to become a simple boost for Karma as an enchantment.
Arima himself was doing his best to break down every formation the God could try to form. In the end, it meant that both of them couldn't use magic to get the advantage.
At the moment, they were both using the Law of Continuity. They were traveling through space and time to fight. Sometimes it even felt like they were going back in time to strike, causing many contradictions and paradoxes.
But after some time, the God began to bring the Laws of Balance, Life, Destiny, and Cognitivism to the table and Arima could barely keep up.
"You surprised me, demon. But you can't control the Laws as I do. You will soon perish," the God said as his staff was entangled with Karma.
"That's what you think," Arima scoffed and lightning gathered around his sword.
"Don't be obstinate. Elements mean nothing to me. I am the one who made them."
Arima snickered at those words and the black lightning's aura changed and crushed the God's composure. At the same time, Arima's body shrunk. His robe and 'armor' transformed into a red, black, and white robe with a hood. His dragon wings that had fused with black feathers looked even more majestic and bigger.
His long silver hair fluttered and his four pupils glowed with a red and purple hue. The scales on his hands gleamed and his pale skin that looked like polished quartz were sublime and at the same time overwhelming.
"{It's been a long time,}" Night commented. "{This is the true 'Kind Demon'.}"
Arima laughed and his lightning thundered like never before. "Vile Creature, don't you listen to my words? I'm now a God. That wasn't a joke. Originally, my main attribute was lightning and darkness. My rule on both reached heights that you will never achieve."
The God shuddered and used the Laws to go back in time but Arima followed him and destroyed a few more planets in the process.
"I created a new element by fusing those two and based my Godhood on it. Listen well, bastard," Arima lifted his katana and grinned. "I am the Kind Demon, God of Eternal Night."
"This is something transcending Laws. [Aeterna] (Eternal Night)," a wave of black lightning exploded and consumed every single bit of light around, pulling the entirety of the 'Eternal Haven' under a starless night.