Life Hunter

Chapter 123: ''It's open.''

"{The timing is yours, Lanya,}" Arima said and Lanya immediately initiated her plan. She flipped the pages of the book she held in her hands and started chanting.

"[Auribus percipite verba mea] (Heed my words.)"

"[Voluntatem meam] (Manifest my will.)"

"[Summone gloriam meam] (Summon my ambition.)"

"[Et meam impleat votum] (And fulfill my wish.)"

Errastas soon noticed the strange fluctuations produced by the Lawless Tome. When his third eye looked in Lanya's direction, his expression turned very ugly.

"You! You're messing around with the Original Laws! How dare you?!" He bellowed so soundly that Arima could have been blown away if he hadn't been careful. He stabilized in mid-air and used every element as his disposition to defend himself from Errastas' never-ending attacks. Next to him, Karma had reverted to her human form and used a replica of her weapon-self to assist him.

Errastas then noticed that Chulainn was condensing a massive red stone enclosed by fire. That stone had already reached a mile in sheer size. It had become something that even a giant like him couldn't overlook.

He thought quickly. He could either target Lanya who was using the Lawless Tome or he could instead go for Chulainn. He chose to aim at the latter since he felt like he was a bigger threat. For him, there was no way some random human girl could effectively use the Laws.

But although he had made up his mind, he wasn't able to execute his idea as he abruptly couldn't move his legs. He looked down and saw a shining, white giant vine crawling up his body. Errastas was visibly shocked to see that. He turned his head and saw Arima's chilling smirk deforming his skull.

At the same time, he saw something rather disturbing. A fourth person joined Arima's group and went to the latter's side. Errastas' eyes widened as he couldn't believe what he was seeing. In front of him, two identical versions of Arima were casually flying. Though one of them was completely unharmed and the other had only one arm left due to the earlier clash.

But there was, undeniably, two identical draconic skeletons grinning at him and he absolutely couldn't find any difference between the two. They had the same aura and presence. And it was definitely more than a mere copy as also he felt the same spirit waves coming from the two of them.

"[Third White Art, Doppelganger]," the first Arima intoned and the one who had arrived extended his hand toward the white vine.

"[Fourth White Art, Mid-Layer, Gaia Vineam] (Gaia's Vines)," he chanted with the exact same voice as Arima and the vine coiled around the giant further.

Of course, Errastas promptly grabbed the vine and tried to rip it apart. He managed to stretch it a bit but it clearly wasn't enough to destroy it.

"It's too late," the two Arima stated together. "Right, Lanya?" They both called and the person in question smiled.

"[Secundum iudicium tuum] (According to your judgment)."

"[Et implerem] (Accomplish it)."

She finished the incantation and the book trembled and slowly began to float as it left Lanya's hands. It raised in the air and Lanya pronounced the last words.

"[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios] (Lawless Tome)," the book's cover cracked and then shattered with a blinding light that covered at least half of the planet. The sound of fluttering paper then echoed.

When the vision came back to everyone, they all could see a new 'mountain'. It was a perfectly exact copy of Errastas. Lanya giggled and the two Arima laughed together.

The looked at each other and brought their fists together. "What a childish magic, don't you think?" Their voices overlapped as they asked each other.

Arima's clone of himself wasn't just a simple copy. It was unquestionably another himself created by the Third White Art. They essentially shared the same soul. Although it was limited in time and they had to share their mana, it still was a frightening technique. Arima had prepared it right after Errastas had hit him for the first time. At that moment, he had already realized that he would need something unpredictable to get out of the giant's seemingly very perceptive third eye.

And so, he did. His doppelganger thus conjured the Fourth White Art whilst hiding and blocked the movements of the giant without him noticing.

But now, it was time for the second 'copy' to take action. The Lawless Tome had apparently decided to make a clone of Errastas to fight against the latter. Arima felt it was quite ironic as he himself had used a magic to make a double.

Only Lanya wasn't surprised as she already knew what would be the result thanks to the vision that she had inherited from Chronepsis. At her level, she could see five minutes into the future and similarly, she could only maintain her eyes for the same amount of time. But it was already more than enough. With that power, her affinity with the Third Destruction Art was even higher than Arima's since she could predict the result of the wish she gave and could thus carefully choose what to tell the Lawless Tome.

"{Yeah, it's cool and all, but,}" Chulainn's strained voice resounded in the group's minds. "{This thing keeps getting harder to control, if you don't hurry up, it'll blow up on me,}" he said as the red stone he was infusing mana into had already reached 1500 meters in diameter.

"{Don't worry, he's already on it,}" Arima smiled and responded as the Lawless Tome, under the giant's appearance, attacked its 'model'.

Errastas was forced to use his magic to stick to the ground as he couldn't shift his legs' position because of the vine binding them.

That vine was also a magic comparable to the 'Big Bang', it demanded time to cast but once it was around its prey, it would be really hard to destroy it. Even if the caster was of a lower level than the victim, which is far from the truth in the present case.

Errastas engaged in a contest of raw strength with the Lawless Tome. The two giants grappled each other and both buried their feet in the ground. The planet shook and Chulainn almost lost control over the 1600 meters large stone in front of him.

He sighed in relief inwardly when he was sure it was stabilized. "Hey! Can I release this thing already?!" He shouted toward Lanya who exhaled and turned her eyes back to normal. She smiled and pointed at Errastas' feet and the area around.

"There," she said and Chulainn grinned. The large volcanic stone he had created slowly shifted and the sigil on his tail spun.

"[Third Blue Art, Fragor Magnus,]" he chanted and the stone compressed before becoming a massive fireball made of crimson fire.

Chulainn roared and the ball of fire was launched at his target. The ground under him fissured.

It collided with the ground at Errastas' feet and exploded. The blast which followed was deafening and the land literally disintegrated because of the heat.

The Lawless Tome, although affected by the explosion as well, took the chance and gave a last little push. Errastas couldn't fight back as his legs were trapped by the vines, and the stone he had been using to sustain his body was now demolished. Not only that but the fireball also hurt him badly and the pain did not arrange things.

In the end, he was pushed onto the ground by the Lawless Tome. The two colossi's fall crushed everything that still wasn't ruined and both Chulainn and Lanya jumped away to escape the massive rise of dust and earthquake.

Arima flew up and placed himself right above Errastas. He pointed his palm at the sky and Karma transformed into an adorned war spear. Karma then started growing bigger and bigger until she reached a length of a mile.

Arima grabbed the chain hanging from the handle with his remaining arm. "[Terminus Confractus, CC]," he intoned and pulled on the chain. The war spear was struck by lightning as it rapidly approached the ground.

Within a second, Karma stabbed the two giants through their stomachs. Errastas cried in pain while the Lawless Tome laughed and changed into white particles as he dematerialized.

Errastas was now completely frenzied and blood flooded into his eyes. He grabbed the spear piercing his stomach and tried to pull it out. The white vine binding him also started to snap.

"Calm down buddy," Arima's doppelganger uttered and threw a small black marble he had kept in his hand until now.

"[Second Destruction Art, Cavum Nigrum] (Black Hole)," he chanted and the marble cracked and split in two.

The black hole covered the giant body at once. But the magic's role wasn't to harm Errastas since it wasn't powerful enough. As proof of that, the Earthen God unrestricted his aura and fended off the attraction force.

Instead, the black vortex went through the giant's body and paused just below his fallen body. It stopped spinning and its attraction increased greatly. The gravity pinned Errastas down and he had now an even harder time.

At the same time, Arima called Superbia. The weapon then started accumulating plasma but it was slightly different this time.

Arima pointed Superbia at Errastas' third eye and a green magic circle was drawn right in front of the barrel. The area also started to be filled with thin strands of green energy. It was like a reversed rain. Emerald drops of light were going up toward the sky and even some rubbles were being lifted into the air.

"[Ratione detester leges transcendere] (I defy all laws and transcend reason)."

"[Im 'exitium voluntatem Dei manifestaretur] (I'm the will of destruction made manifest)."

"[Veluta Aeim, Quifa Quifa]."

"[Samda Maa Kaav]."

A green energy congregated inside Superbia and lightning of the same color spread around.

"[Magna Blast, Exist]." Arima pressed the trigger and a massive pillar of green energy erupted from the muzzle with extreme speed and pierced Errastas's third eye.

The giant screamed in horrendous pain and Arima retreated to join his doppelganger who was holding a weird blue rope that ascended to the sky as far as the eyes could see.

They both grinned and pulled on the rope at the same time. But they failed to do it as the rope didn't even budge. They looked at each other and scowled. "[CCC] (300)," they muttered at the same time and pulled again. This time, it was brought down and they laughed together.

"Sorry, it was caught in another gravitational field," they explained to their confused comrades.

"What?" Chulainn exclaimed and Lanya chuckled. "Are you kidding m-!?" Chulainn was about to storm Arima with a well-worded lecture when he noticed a red dot in the sky. He squinted his eyes and his expression twitched.

"You better bring me out of here right now!" He shouted at Arima as his eyes locked on the red dot.

Arima chortled and high-fived his doppelganger. They then fused back together. Arima even recovered his arm afterward. He dispelled his Omni form, Death form, and ended the resonance.

Arima ignored the curses coming from Errastas and waved his hand. A dimensional bridge was then created as his entire group disappeared from the planet's surface; including Karma who vanished from Errastas's body.

But because of the black hole pinning him down, the vine around his lower half, and his sigil-less state, the giant could only glare as the magically reinforced asteroid that was at least two times larger than him, fell on the planet and absolutely annihilated everything on its surface. An otherworldly outbreak occurred and the entire planet became a boiling sphere of magma.

When Arima returned from the other dimension with his group, the planet was already a depiction of Hell. The five of them recoiled into space to watch the destruction unfold.

Arima extended his hand and activated his 'Life Hunt'. He retrieved the entirety of Errastas's life force. He took a portion of it and forcefully broke through the fifth sky. His life force rocketed but he knew that he still wasn't in the Heavenly Realm. It was as if something was lacking. He also couldn't absorb any more of Errastas' life force or it would harm his soul.

He wondered what to with the rest for a second before giving it to Lanya who then reached the fifth sky in a single moment. She admired the new power she received and wanted to test it. But she had to put that on hold when Chulainn raised his voice.

"So? How do we go to Hell now?"

"Well, first, we need a planet," Arima answered before teleporting everyone near one of the planets they passed by previously.

"This one should be fine. There's not any sign of life on it," Arima remarked and breathed in. "Here we go. [Omniformis]," he re-invoked the Silver Emperor's power and transformed. He spread his arms wide and then joined his hands together whilst staring at the deserted planet.

"[Aperi iter ad aethereum] (Open the path of the ethereal)."

He closed his eyes and started chanting. His tone was serene but his mana and aura were going wild. Even his companions had to get away from him.

"[Detrahet me in somnis etiam fines se nisi arcerent illum] (Bring me to horizons only restrained by my dreams)."

It was from then that some really odd phenomena began to occur on the planet. The plants started 'melting' and everything else was being compressed. The entire planet was shrinking and changing form. Chulainn and Lanya observed with shocked expressions.

"[Materia obliviscentes] (Forget the material)."

"[Atque uti origins ducere me] (And use the origins to lead me)."

The planet had taken the form of a hundred-thousand-mile large silver disc, with inserted teeth on its circumference. It was, basically, a giant cog.

"[Second White Art, Calces Porta] (Gear Gate)." Arima opened his eyes and the planet-sized gear started revolving as runes glowed on its surface. Then gradually, the side of the gear facing Arima's group changed into something resembling liquid mercury.

"It's open. Hurry up, the mana fueling this portal is limited," Arima said and flew toward the giant cog before diving in.

The four people left looked at each other and held their breath before following him. When everyone passed, the silver cog bent and turned back into the planet it was a few minutes before.