Life Hunter

Chapter 103: ''Remarkable.''

Gaodu's eyes soon reverted to normal but there was a new luster to them now. He looked at himself, his new appearance, as well as the gourd he was holding.

"How are you feeling?" Arima descended and asked.

Gaodu smiled. "I feel incredible, so many things entered my head so suddenly."

Arima nodded. "Dionysus is quite a big figure in mythology. His underlying magic theory will be powerful. Make good use of that power. For now, your first job is to control it," He said before leaving the firm ground again.

Gaodu nodded and stared at Lanya. She smiled and took a stance. Gaodu drank the wine in his gourd then spat it out just after. The wine became a pink fire that tried to burn everything in its path.

Lanya drew a rune with the tip of her rapier. The rune expanded and shined before consuming the flames with a veil of light. But that fire then turned into a gas that surrounded Lanya and ignited once again.

"Wine 'firewater' was it? Interesting," Arima commented.

Lanya flapped her wings and flew off whilst dispersing the fire. She drew multiple runes at once and swung her rapier at Gaodu. The runes all activated at the same time and a shower of silver light fell down on the earth, causing countless small circular holes to form on the ground.

Gaodu dodged all of them with a peculiar footwork which seemed to be some sort of dance. He would vanish from a place to another but it didn't seem like he was teleporting.

"Theater," Arima snickered.

Lanya merely smiled and went into close quarters. When she tried to kick Gaodu, the latter took a step back and evaded the strike with a blurry motion. Lanya was slightly surprised but continued to pressure him with a barrage of blows whilst invoking her magic.

"I see" Arima mumbled as he was observing Gaodu's footwork. "That inheritance is quite interesting. That footwork is particularly useful as well."

As he was dodging, Gaodu spilled some of the wine he had in his gourd. When the wine fell on the ground, it glowed then exploded with a discharge of pink flames. Lanya extended her hand and the silver scales on her arm thickened. She immediately covered the source of the explosion with her 'claw' then jumped back by riding the shockwave.

"I understand," Lanya exclaimed when she landed. A circle appeared below her feet then shined with a bright light. The inner-circles rotated and the runes spun. At the same time, for some reason, the light coming from the sun seemed to be getting stronger. Lanya kicked the ground once more and swung her rapier at Gaodu.

As he was going to dodge, a sudden beam of light struck him during his movement. Gaodu then hastily used his gourd to parry Lanya's thrust. This time, he was beautifully thrown away by the momentum.

"A revealing type of magic, huh? Good choice," Arima muttered. What Lanya used was a magic theory concerning things hidden or unnoticeable. Once she activates this kind of magic, everything that's hidden from her will get revealed and it will stop anything that could try to dupe her. Just like what happened with Gaodu's footwork.

Of course, Lanya was still holding back. Although her opponent was now an inheritor, she also was one. And more importantly, the gap between their life force was too big. On top of that, she had been taught personally by both Arima and Night. Her own theories were excellent of course, but she had also comprehended the Kind Demon's Arts which were above any other magic formations in both efficiency and output.

"You still have a lot to learn about your inheritance. You also need to get used to maintaining it and the new abilities you get with it," Lanya told Gaodu. "For now, I'll just assist you in stabilizing your new strength," She said and then attacked again.

Arima smiled then looked around. His eyes scanned the entire zone, for hundreds of miles, and checked the state of everyone. He felt amused when he saw Chulainn and Night teaching so earnestly. They were not that enthusiast to do it earlier, but once those two begin something, they're really serious about it.

Whilst overseeing all of this, Arima summoned a strange cyan light in his hand. He would make it appear above his palm then make it move around. That light was definitely some sort of energy and contained a certain quantity of power. But no matter how hard Arima tried, he couldn't make it stronger or bigger. When he tried to fuel it with mana, there wasn't any effect. Even pure life force didn't do anything to it.

"I need those after all," Arima sighed and lamented as the cyan light vanished. He then focused back on his students. "Oh?" He noticed something then transferred instantly.

He reappeared tens of miles away from his original position and stared at the two princesses, Ofia and Lena. They were the only ones Arima had permitted to train without instructions. Now, seeing what they accomplished, Arima could only think that it was the right choice.

"You really did it, huh?" He laughed as he watched the two sisters moving around at the same timing with the exact same motion. And from time to time, Lena would use the eye powers of a cockatrice while Ofia would use the glorious speed of an eagle.

It was also important to specify that their appearance had drastically changed. In fact, both of them appeared to have underwent the same transformation and were almost identical. They generally had still the appearance of a harpy, but it looked like it was mixed between an eagle and a cockatrice.

Their wings were now bigger and combined the feathers of an eagle and the wing-net of a bat. It was a strange sight but not ridicule at all. It was even grand looking.

Their legs that turned into claws previously were now more humanoid and longer. Also, both of them had now a pair of eyes which combined the orange color of a rooster and the sharpness of an eagle's golden irises.

When the two sisters spotted Arima, they both smiled at the same time. That smile was like a child seeking for the approbation of his parents.

Arima chuckled. "You did a really good job," He praised them and the two sisters high-fived.

Arima looked at them and smiled. "In the books I gave you, I put it in a bonus section. It was a theory that I didn't even know if it would really work or not. I couldn't really try it myself after all."

"The soul connection between two humans; if two individuals were to know each other enough, to be similar enough, close enough, and talented enough, then would they be able to do it? Would they be able to create a resonance between two humans?" Arima narrated his thesis.

"You were the best candidates and you didn't disappoint me, that's for sure," He added and the sisters bowed to him.

"Thank you for your teachings," They said at the same time.

Arima smirked. "No problem. But now" His voice diminished as his coat fluttered although there was no wind to speak of. His spirit and aura surged. "I'm curious. Show me what that soul link can do."

Lena and Ofia looked at each other and nodded. "Yes," They responded and flapped their wings. They left an afterimage behind and appeared next to Arima. One on each side. Arima was greatly surprised, which was pretty rare.

"(Tenth level?)" He exclaimed inwardly. He honestly didn't expect them to climb until the tenth level thanks to that technique. He couldn't sense their level before because their aura was so perfectly merged and calm. He thought that they would be around the eighth or ninth level at best and it caught him off guard. The two sisters were originally around the seventh level, even with their resonance active. A jump from the seventh to the tenth level was a great bombshell to Arima.

He had already restrained his overall life force to the tenth level just before, which made him even more amazed. If he wasn't attentive, maybe those girls could actually injure him by themselves. It wasn't like last time where they had needed the entire class and a sneak attack which was only made possible thanks to the Lawless Tome.

Ofia and Lena both tried to kick Arima. He stamped the ground and a huge earth wall formed on his right to block Ofia. He then countered Lena with a kick of his own. The clash between them was powerful enough to cause a hemispherical crater.

While the ground was still cracking, Ofia suddenly fell from the sky and hacked a longsword at him. Arima was startled because of Ofia's speed and the sudden apparition of a magic weapon in her hands.

He bent his back and dodged the incoming strike but at the same time, his eyes met Ofia's and his body tensed for a second. Stone dust briefly formed above his skin but he quickly got rid of it. But it was enough for Lena to arrive behind him and compress wind into multiple marbles before throwing it as their teacher had taught them.

Arima's pupils shrunk. Ira appeared in his hand and was automatically loaded with an explosive bullet. He shot the ground and the explosion created a huge hole. The lifted stone and soil hid Arima's figure behind a cloud of dust. It was then followed by a massive release of compressed air. It was unclear who had cast that magic.

When the wind stopped destroying everyone and faded away, Arima reappeared in the sky, sighing in relief. He seriously thought he was going to get outsmarted by his students. He had to admit, this was dangerous. Those two's teamwork had reached a different realm. They could perfectly synchronize their moves and timing for each attack and it was always perfect.

"Never imagined I would find a challenge among my students," Arima smirked. He exhaled and his skin started crumbling away like dust. Lena and Ofia watched astounded as Arima's flesh gradually drifted away to reveal a gray skeleton with two blazing will-o-wisps in the eye sockets.

"I can't use Karma or resonate with Night at the moment and the silver form would be a bit overkill. So, I'll just go with this," Arima's eerie voice resounded and the two sisters shuddered.

They were both scared and impressed. Right now, just his voice was almost enough to make them want to abandon. It carried the intent of death itself. It was very coercing.

"Well, of course, I'll restrain my life force at your level. But it doesn't take away the fun," Arima smiled and waved his skeletal fingers. "Come."

The princesses looked at each other and nodded. They both flapped their wings and started gathering the air around them. Arima looked at the sky and saw gray clouds forming. They weren't his of course, but his students'. From the same clouds, a huge was generated and covered the entire zone within a mile's radius.

Arima's skull distorted as he grinned.

"[Agnitio Vultus Unum Centum] (One hundred parade)," He chanted and his bones became tougher and his figure larger.

At the same time, Ofia and Lena both tried to use the eye powers on him but they realized that it didn't work anymore. Arima did not have eyes and flesh anymore in the first place. In the end, they abandoned the idea of using anything related to the mind, curses and body ailments.

They decided to concentrate on close combat and offensive magic. It was Ofia who first flew at Arima and swung her sword. Arima parried the blade with Ira. Although his gun wasn't as tough as his sword it still was enough to take advantage of it.

It was obvious that Arima held the upper hand in strength but when he was about to counter-attack, wind blades attacked him from behind as Lena rushed toward him.

Arima didn't turn around and the blue flames inside his skull changed form to look like his sigil. It revolved and purple flames countered the wind blades. Against wind, it was always a better choice to use fire instead of lightning.

Of course, Ofia made her move as well. She planted her sword in the ground and a blinding light came out of the ground. The light condensed into a giant pillar of energy which shrouded Arima's figure.

"[Fifth Destruction Art, Spatium Horti]," Arima's voice resounded and black sphere emerged from within the pillar. The light magic broke apart as if it was glass. Lena immediately appeared behind Arima who was coming out and attacked with a sword similar to her sister's.

Ofia then conjured a bow and shot an arrow at him. In return, Arima entangled Lena's sword with Ira and caught the arrow with his hand as he invoked lightning.

The arrow exploded and filled the area with light and scattered the lightning. Since Arima didn't have any physical eyes, the illumination didn't have any serious effects but it served well enough as a distraction for Lena to strike again and Ofia to get near.

Then, both sisters engaged in a martial fight with Arima. The most impressive thing was definitely how much they were in sync.

Arima was ultimately forced on the defensive. He conjured lightning to counter, defended against wind with fire, countered light with darkness, and shot with Ira. The two sisters also seemed to share their mana pool and it wasn't helping him.

He had to admit that when fighting these girls at the same level of power, he had a really hard time. Without Night and Karma at least. And of course, without any overly lethal magic.

"Remarkable," Arima laughed and continued to take on each blow, creating craters all over the canyon.

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Author's Note (I'll put it here since the 'official' one doesn't have enough space):

So, I added a bit of precision in this chapter. I kinda was 'forced' to insist on the fact that Arima has never, will never, be serious against his students. It's just here to teach them and give some action scenes to the novel.

To respond to the comments saying that Arima is being stupid, lenient, or weaker: it's just wrong, this arc is calmer, that's all. Additionally, sorry to break it to you but anyone calling him Arima stupid is definitely not very smart himself. Why? Simply because there's nothing to be stupid about in what Arima is doing. Why the hell do you call him stupid for? Please don't think that every op MC should be cold to everyone, and be slapping faces all the time. If someone like that existed, I'd indeed call him stupid.

Also, again, don't forget that the main reason Arima started teaching was to wait for the planet to reach Errastas and because he didn't have anything else to do. I suppose you can understand the reason he refused to go to Hell immediately from that information as well.

And the most important thing, I do what the hell I want.

Now, my last message is; Discord. Seriously, I'm not saying this just because I want people in. My discord is precisely for the sake of answering questions and complaints (even though I don't want to answer those). So, stop asking me things in the comments, at least if you genuinely want me to reply and are not talking for the sake of being uselessly critical or humouristic. Just directly go to my discord to talk with me, I'll answer when I'm available. It's not that complicated, right?

Good. #ComplainingTime. I frankly needed to say all of this to cool down.

Edit (Months later. Hi, new people): Anyway, this is a bit outdated, but I'll leave it there since this rant of mine is still freaking true.