Life Hunter

Chapter 178: ''Well, it won't kill him… kinda.''

Arima and Fafnir never stopped flying around in their fight. They seemed to be continuously fighting in a sort of ethereal form. Their speed never slowed down and a black and gold light kept revolving around each other, producing shock waves every time they collided.

They had already moved a lot from their original fight zone and they had destroyed at least three planets on the way. Maybe others because of the resulting asteroids.

At some point, Arima roared and a great pressure descended on Fafnir. The golden dragon was surprised and froze in place for a moment. Arima moved his draconic body like a human martial-artist. He grabbed the neck of Fafnir and pulled him before striking his face with his knee.

He then spun and kicked him in the chest and took an Iai stance in the same movement. Thunder roared and Arima breathed in "[Aeterna]" He one more time used his technique and the wave energy exploded on Fafnir.

But a golden shield appeared and blocked the attack. Afterward, at least a hundred spears surrounded Arima and struck him as they exploded in golden flames. Arima used the Fourth Black Art to swallow them.

In Arima's set of Arts, 'Vashta Nerada' is one of the rare ones that has the characteristic of 'protection'. It's maybe even one of the best magics ever in that regard.

The shadows consumed the explosion while sheltering Arima. As the last flames were being extinguished, Arima pointed at his right with Superore and fired. Fafnir clicked his tongue and retreated.

When the flames completely disappeared, Arima saw that he had hit a bullseye with his gun. He smirked. "I'm getting used to it," he declared and Fafnir scoffed. New golden lights appeared behind him and large golden chains made their way out of the 'Vault'. They flew around like snakes and surrounded Arima before closing in.

"Seriously" Arima shook his head. "You should just call your magic 'Unlimited Babylon' at this point," he uttered and Fafnir frowned.

"What is that?"

"As I said" lightning sparked around Arima. "A name fitting your power," he stated and a whirlpool of blue energy gathered around him. The black dragon exhaled then took a deep breath as he inhaled that energy. When he finished, he sighed and let out a blue mist. He stared daggers at Fafnir.

"[Accelerando]," he intoned and disappeared on the spot before the golden chains could bind him.

Fafnir's eyes narrowed and before he knew, Arima was behind him with Karma's blade next to his neck. He immediately transferred away and looked back just after. The only thing he saw then was the familiar bullets shot by Superore.

He waved his hand angrily and a giant hammer struck the bullets away. Fafnir looked beyond and spotted Arima breathing out a blue mist before vanishing again.

The golden dragon shivered and tilted his head urgently. Superore's bullets scratched and burned his scales and flew past him. He then used his wings to spin and dodged Karma's blade as well. He gripped the Excaliburs he had in his hands and swung them both at the same time toward Arima.

Arima met them with Karma and a burst of lightning and fire was triggered. Fafnir grunted and kicked Arima away but his leg was caught by the black dragon's tail in the process. He was pulled in and faced with Karma again.

He had no other choice, so he used his Manifestation to leave. But Arima also teleported behind him at the same time.

'What's happening?!' Fafnir was flustered. He stopped summoning his weapons and instead expended a huge amount of mana to conjure a giant golden fireball around him which he launched toward Arima.

"[Dragon's Breath]," he then roared and spat out a huge flame that accelerated and boosted the giant fireball.

Arima closed his eyes and breathed out even more mist than before. This time, Fafnir noticed it right away. Time slowed down for Arima, or to be exact, the Time inside his body accelerated.

"[Furorque tenebris] (Darkness and Madness)."

"[Haec sunt nomina] (These are your names)."

Arima started chanting at high speed. Fafnir had a bad feeling. Just after he cast his magic, he called froth every shield he possessed and even summoned the bell he had employed against Layla's Manifestation.

"[Vos autem qui portabant flamma voluntatem mortis] (You are the flame carrying the will of death)."

"[Monstra te orbis terrarum feritate] (Show the world your brutality)."

The golden dragon seemed to be hesitating at bringing out something else but he discarded the idea in the end. He just stared at Arima.

"[Difficile est docere illos quid est morietur] (Teach them how hard it is to die)."

Arima smiled and pointed his finger at the fireball thrown by Fafnir. A tiny black flame, which also seemed to glow purple, appeared at the tip of his finger. It wasn't bigger than his fingernail but the flames radiated a strong pressure.

"[Second Blue Art, Nova Tenebris] (Dark Nova)."

Arima ended his chant and flicked the flame. It slowly made its way toward the giant fireball and merged with it. Nothing happened afterward. It appeared as if nothing ever transpired.

But neither Arima or Fafnir thought that. The former snorted and the latter started sweating. After a few seconds, in the blink of a second, the entire fireball turned black and purple.

It then shrunk and quickly became as big as the small flame Arima had released at first. And as if nothing happened, the small flame continued its advance toward Fafnir. The flame was very slow but the golden dragon didn't dare to even move.

He concentrated all of his power into defense. When the flame reached his shields, it bounced off the surface and stopped moving. The silence created by this little attack was extremely straining.

After a moment, he heard something and shuddered. Dark laughter. As if someone was emerging from the abyss and making his voice echo in this world. It continued to resonate louder and louder until all of this zone, maybe even the entire solar system could hear it. The dark laugh seemed to focus around Fafnir and the black flame wasn't moving anymore.

"The Second Blue Art is quite different from the First," Arima declared in the middle of the laughter and Fafnir looked back at him with a frown. "The First's purpose is to burn everything to nothingness, exorcize everything."

"The Second's goal is to destroy everything to nothingness, cleanse everything," Arima smiled. "There's a nuance. 'Burning Fate' is gentle. 'Dark Nova' is cruel. And the latter is the strongest. The more it has to burn, the more powerful it becomes. The only reason it's not First is its range. It's only able to attack one target and can't regenerate like the First."

Arima explained all of that because he wanted Fafnir to understand a bit what would happen to him but the golden dragon wasn't even listening attentively. His attention was all on the small flame right in front of him along with the obnoxious laughter.

He continued to summon more weapons to shield him and it became even louder. Arima shook his head at the sight.

"{He didn't listen to you at all,}" Night casually remarked.

"{Yeah, maybe he's dumb. You clearly said that the more it has to burn to reach its target, the stronger it is,}" Karma followed.

"Well, it won't kill him kinda," Arima whispered.

At one point, the laughter finally stopped and Fafnir shivered. He looked at the black flame and his vision suddenly turned pitch black. From a third perspective view, the small flame had transformed into a large mouth and gobbled up Fafnir along with every defense around him.

Within the fire, Fafnir lost every contact with the world outside. At first, he felt nothing but he then noticed something touching his hand. It was merely his finger. It had just touched it a little but Fafnir still howled in pain like a beast on the verge of death.

"This flame is for torture," Arima added what he hadn't said to the golden dragon earlier. "That's what I meant. I don't know if his mind will survive or not."

Fafnir's piercing scream escaped the confinement of the dark flame and spread across the entire solar system. Even Layla trembled when she heard it.

"Is it over now?" Jorga muttered but Layla shook her head.

"It's not," she retorted. "It's far from over. Fafnir's existence is already cursed to its roots. I think Arima is aware of that as well. He used this Art on purpose to wake up the curse and destroy it completely after. When he comes out of that black fire, Fafnir will become almost invincible."

Jorga's expression twitched as he looked at her. "Don't tell me it's what I think..."

Layla's head drooped. "It is. I'm sorry."

Jorga sighed. "I never should've come here," he said and smiled wryly. He looked up and laughed. "Is Fate real? Tell me."

"I don't know," Layla shook her head. "Arima told me this once: "Even if there is fate, why would you bother? Fate is your life; it cannot be prophesized. What you can't believe is what is written on a stone, what you have to believe is what you need to do"," she quoted and smiled.

Jorga snickered. "I feel that guy could convince us of anything if he wanted to," he said and Layla didn't disagree.

At that exact moment, another cry was heard and the sound of a bell also reverberated strongly.

"It's coming, huh?" Arima muttered and closed his eyes. "{I may have to leave this one to you.}"

"{Oh? It's finally my turn?}"

"{Yeah, but don't get carried away. I'll allow you to use our body as much as you want but you have to hold out before he is ready. Don't 'break' before that,}" Arima instructed and vacated his mind.

"{Fine. I just wanted to fight a little bit. Leave it to me.}"

"[Berserker Scriptor Semita] (Berserker's Path)," the two voices superimposed to chant and one of them gradually faded away to leave the place to the darkest one.