Life Hunter

Chapter 104: "Congratulations."

"[Fifth Blue Art, Inferno]," Arima chanted and a massive whirlpool of crimson flames formed in the sky and congregated into a fireball. It burned the clouds away and even greatly disturbed the surrounding air as the tornado dispersed.

When the sisters realized that Arima was going to take control back on the fight, they decided to bet everything on a single attack. They both circulated their mana and used it to reinforce their bodies.

Then, Arima suddenly felt a great pressure weighing on him. He had to land on the ground to withstand it. "(This isn't gravity. It's atmospheric pressure,)" He remarked inwardly and glanced upward.

Above him, there was Ofia who was already ready to shoot an arrow. And the projectile didn't seem to be something inconsequential. Ofia had compressed as much light energy as she could in it and it radiated with a strong shine that pierced the sky.

Arima's sigil rotated and the fireball in the sky split into many smaller ones that all aimed for her.

Lena gritted her teeth and made a windshield to protect her sister. She started sweating and her appearance was threatening to return to normal.

It was the same for Ofia. Her composure wasn't that good. The arrow she had nocked had already been compressed far more than her limits should have allowed her.

Arima smiled and summoned Superbia. He pulled it out in a way that made you think he was taking out from his pocket. Ofia quivered when she saw the barrel of the gun pointing at her.

Arima guessed that it was improbable to escape her arrow in time. As he was charging up his rifle with lightning and plasma, he never discontinued his lightning that was wearing down the girls' defense. Each lightning bolt was monstrously potent but Lena was still enduring it with the assistance of her soul beast.

Ofia's eyes widened and her pupils narrowed. She pulled the string with all of her strength, and when the arrow made a deafening sound and generated a light that bathed the entire canyon with its illuminance, she immediately let go.

The arrow easily broke through the sound barrier and chaotically shook the atmosphere.

Arima's look sharpened. He pressed Superbia's trigger right after Ofia shot her arrow.

"[Gun Metuunt Blasphemantes]."

The bullet and the arrow collided and the clash of energies caused a massive explosion that created a beautiful grouping of purple light. The aftermaths made the earth tremble and the shock waves spread for a few miles.

Of course, at this point, everyone had already noticed that a big fight was happening. Arima's 'honorary' teachers glanced in the direction of the explosion and shrugged. They were a bit surprised but didn't think further. Meanwhile, the students were so astonished that they completely stopped training.

When the light and lightning vanished, and the thunder died down, things were a bit different from what you would expect. Arima was sent flying away and crashed on a few boulders. On the other hand, Ofia collapsed of exhaustion in the middle of a crater. The same crater that Arima was supposed to be in after the explosion since it was there that he shot Superbia. It was unclear why it was Ofia who ended up there instead.

Lena landed as well and panted violently. Her throat was dry and she had a hard time breathing. The two sisters' resonance ended and they reverted to their normal appearance.

"Okay" Arima's voice sounded. His figure could be seen standing up among the crushed rocks. He gradually recovered his flesh as he walked toward his students.

"That combined attack was quite something. I didn't expect that," He admitted whilst cracking his neck. He also stopped restraining his life force to get rid of the discomfort.

Ofia smiled wryly as she sat up. Lena also had the same kind of expression. Of course, they didn't send Arima flying merely with that explosion, it would be ridiculous.

In fact, when the arrow was released, Ofia immediately phased her body and flapped her wings. She dived toward Arima. Of course, her speed wasn't high enough to go past the zone of danger where the explosion was about to occur.

But it was Lena's intervention that changed that fact. She stopped pressuring Arima and instead concentrated on putting that weight on Ofia. She proceeded to reduce the air resistance as much as possible. If it wasn't for her soul beast's help, she wouldn't have been able to do that.

In the end, Ofia reached an unbelievable speed for her level. She went past the explosion area in time and literally crashed right next to Arima before swinging her sword with all the weight and speed she had accumulated.

This was what propelled Arima away and even broke a few of his bones. Ultimately, those girls had managed to injure him. Although he healed the bones in a minute.

"Well, I know it's a bit conceited of my part, but congratulations in injuring me," Arima declared and Ofia started laughing, even Lena who was usually so quiet couldn't hold it back. The eagle she had for soul beast landed on her shoulder and snorted.

Arima clapped his hands and the two princesses felt a warm feeling going through their whole body. They then realized that their mana was recovered and their physical and mental state had been healed. They had never experienced such effective healing magic.

"You can be proud; you'll surely never lose against someone of the tenth level and below if you are together. You're the best pair," Arima said. "You two are exempt for the rest of the day."

Ofia and Lena enthusiastically took the offer and Arima transferred them back to the PA. When the other students spotted Arima stepping in midair to oversee them once again and the two sisters leaving, they abruptly felt extremely motivated.

Lanya smiled bitterly as she knew that now, Ofia and Lena were perhaps as strong as her if they were together.

At the end of the day, Lanya went to Arima and asked him about her breakthrough into the Earthen Realm She wanted to know how she should do it as fast as possible.

Arima smiled at her. "Don't be so impatient. It would be a bit unfair against that woman if you fought her in the Earthen Realm. On top of that, you have a lot more talent than you think, but you need to take it slowly. Believe me, you'll get incredibly stronger in the near future," He said and Lanya couldn't respond.

It was a shame that he wouldn't teach her, but in return, she got complimented and thought it wasn't a bad trade at all.

Arima seemed to be amused at her reaction. He then came up with an idea. "I know; if you can't wait, give me your rapier."

"Why?" Lanya titled her head but she still complied. She 'lent' him the soul link she had with her rapier. Arima retrieved it and smiled.

"I'll give it back to you tomorrow," He stated and waved his hand. Lanya reappeared in the classroom while Arima went into a time-warped dimension.

Afterward, he called Karma for help and hammered the rapier along with her. He heated the blade and lightly altered the structure. He then used mithril and orichalcum to create an odd-looking system on it.

After five hours or so of work, Arima finally added the last part. A trigger on the upper part of the hilt, just below the guard.

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The next day, Arima gave the rapier back.

Lanya stared at her sword with a peculiar look. The blade was a bit thicker and some runic engravings made it appear more mystical. But more importantly, there was now a trigger on the handle.

Two small rectangular tubes were fixed on each side of the blade and when you'd inject mana inside a small crystal encrusted on the handle, the blade would literally tilt to the front and reveal a shell case.

"Here," Arima threw some special gauge shells to Lanya. "Bind them to your soul. Shouldn't be complicated for you."

Lanya nodded and the shells in her soul.

"Now, put one in the chamber.

She grabbed one of the shells, which was white in color, and 'loaded' the rapier before 'closing' it.

Arima nodded then looked around. He extended his hand and the soil around them hardened and was upsurged. A few seconds after, a massive boulder emerged from the ground. Arima put his hand on it and directed his mana inside.

"Alright, try to destroy it with your rapier. Without using magic."

Lanya nodded and gripped her weapon before thrusting it at the boulder with a fast and strong motion. The blade easily cut through and a huge part of the rock was blasted. If it wasn't for Arima's reinforcement, it would have been entirely obliterated.

Arima smirked. "Press the trigger."

Lanya hesitated a bit before pressing the trigger on her new weapon. The shell inside the chamber was sparked and exploded. From the two little tubes, countless small pellets came out with a strong detonation noise.

The pellets struck the boulder and turned every cubic meter of stone they had in their way into powder. Lanya watched as some big chunks fell on the ground.

Arima nodded in satisfaction. "That's pretty much the extent of what I envisaged. It's of course, the lowest calibration. You can make it stronger by using magic. The high recoil can also be a very useful aspect. Of course, since it's bound to your soul, and with the enchant I installed, it can do this," He declared and the pellets became rays of light that merged with Lanya's rapier.

When she 'opened' her weapon to check the chamber, she saw the intact shell was there, as if it had never been fired before.

"It will always come back. The different ammunitions I gave you earlier are made of other materials. This one you just shot is just regular metal for instance," Arima explained and Lanya dazedly listened. The students who were around looked at the rapier with sparkling eyes.

Arima looked at them and smiled. "I'll make a weapon like that for the ten people within the class who get the highest scores in the tournament," He announced to motivate them a bit. And it seemed to work pretty well as the students were very eager to get a firearm apparently.

"Hey, why did you not give me that kind of feature?" Karma asked.

"It's not my fault," Arima shrugged. "Your existence itself is too anchored in my soul now. Furthermore, your structure is too complex for me to modify it, especially after I re-forged you back then inside a volcano. If I were to forge you again, maybe I'd need the heat of several burning stars combined."

"I see" Karma said with a disappointed expression and Night snickered.

"Anyway, let's begin," Arima said to everyone and the training started. During the following days, that training remained the same but changed after the fifth day.

The four students who were being taught personally were already stronger by at least half a level. Kine had learned how to use the blood aura under the strict routine of Night. And ultimately, Night gave her a drop of his own blood, which greatly increased the Blood Eater's potential.

Airon was a tired both mentally and physically, his training consisted more of being used as a test subject to directly feel the effects of darkness magic. But thanks to Chulainn, he was certainly stronger with dark magic now.

Irian learned how to be calm and focused in a fight and Karma had taught him advanced martial arts that were suited for him. And in the process, albeit unwillingly, Irian learned how to effectively block strikes and counter-attack.

Then there was Ferzia. She was basically pampered by Arister but still effectively learned how to extend her attention span. She also received instructions about how to trick and outsmart the opponent.

And apart from that, there was Gaodu who became rather powerful thanks to his inheritance. He would probably reach the tenth level in maybe a year or so.

Meanwhile, Isla learned a water technique that Arima had invented. The 'Eternal and Infinite Flow'. The basic theory was to conjure ice, liquid water, and steam at the same time and merge them into a sole state theoretically capable of having the particularities of the three others all at once.

Balan had successfully learned the fifth arts of the White and Destruction categories and Melody had successfully made some breakthroughs with the Second Destruction Art but only managed to acquire a basic proficiency.

Ofia and Lena had never stopped practicing their soul resonance every day which improved efficiency and mana-spirit consumption.

And finally, there were the last four groups of ten students. Arima stayed with them a bit more than everyone else and helped them all master the Fifth White Art.

So, after that point, the training became what Arima had already done previously; a spar between him and his entire class. This time, Arister and Lanya were not participating.

"Let's go," Arima stretched in front of his forty students and then released his aura as thunder echoed in the canyon.

That training lasted for two weeks. A very long time for the students who were put up against Arima from morning to evening.