Chapter 141: ''I think it's time.''
The second Arima released the brakes, he winded up in a sort of gray world where everything was frozen. The people had stopped moving, the wind, the water; everything. In this world, Arima could only move thanks to Deva.
Behind him, one could also see several silhouettes made of light. They were, of course, his whole group. If you looked at them closely, you could easily distinguish the shapes, especially Chulainn's.
Arima mused and tried to run into Utain with his bike but he helplessly passed through him. He also tried to displace him, but he noticed that he could only designate people to bring with him between the moment Deva left the normal world and enters the grayish one.
Arima discarded the idea of leaving Utain him in the middle of nowhere and immediately rode toward the combat zone.
He went by everyone there and coincidentally spotted Azes fighting against Baphomet with Zeus. He stopped on top of a concealed mountain and made sure to conceal his aura and his companions' before pushing the brake pedal.
When he did so, the world regained its colors and everyone reappeared beside him. Arima grunted dismounted the bike. He exhaled and wiped off the sweat on his forehead. "Damn, this thing drains my mana when I make short and precise movements," he complained and the bike turned back into a cube before entering Arima's soul.
"What do we do now?" Lanya asked Arima when they were all aware of their surroundings. It wasn't hard to guess where they were considering the explosions they were hearing.
"Well, we need to act quick. That guy will surely come here when he realizes what happened. Lilis, call Azes and tell him to come here," Arima instructed and Lilis complied. "I hope he did what I asked."
When Azes received the signal, he conjured one last magic on Baphomet, which was completely brushed off with a single swing of the Evil God's sword, and hastily teleported near Arima's group.
"What's your plan?" Azes inquired when he landed beside Arima.
"Did you retrieve some?" Arima replied with another question and Azes then remembered what Arima had asked him to do.
"I did," he waved his hand and tens of devil corpses appeared around them. Arima smiled and nodded.
"This should be sufficient," he said and approached one of the bodies and placed his hand on it.
"[Vita Venari] (Life Hunt)," he intoned and a blue mist escaped the corpse to form a sphere just above. The sphere grew some sort of tentacles afterward and started sucking the life force of the other dead bodies. At the same time, a black magic circle formed above the sphere like a halo.
"This is…" Lilis muttered as she remembered something. Night and Lanya similarly recognized the runes and formations composing that circle.
Arima grinned. "I don't use them often. Here's two of them for you," he declared and the sphere started ascending.
"[Auribus percipite verba mea, ut sint imperio] (Heed my words, they are rule)," Arima began to chant and the circle shined.
"[Tantum mors tua, erit anima tua erunt] (Only death is yours, your life will be mine)."
The magic circle suddenly expanded, covering the sky. At that point, most of the fighters naturally noticed it. All of them, without exception, looked at the sky and scowled at the unknown runes and formations.
"[Aliquam venari, dum sequuntur contigerint erit tristis neque turbulentus] (It is time to hunt, the chase won't stop)." As he was chanting, Arima's slowly transformed into a Silver Emperor.
"[Quod est de lege vitae Venator] (That is the law of the Life Hunter)," Arima finished the incantation and the circle started spinning. The inner circles also did the same and the runes glowed with a red light.
"[Second Black Art, Vita Messis] (Life Harvest)," Arima uttered his keyword and the black formation in the sky grew countless tentacles that first aimed at the corpses across the battlefield. They pierced the bodies and started sucking the life force out of them before transferring it to the continuously expanding blue sphere.
"This art requires external energy to be initiated. That's what the corpses you collected are for," Arima explained. "Now, this circle is able to attack others and absorb their life force to increase its own capacity to then aim for stronger targets. Over and over. But it has a limit. It can't rob the life force of people at the Second Divine or higher, considering my own level. Most people can also resist the attraction if they exert some spirit."
Arima said as he was drawing a second magic circle on thin air. This one was relatively simple and only had a pentagram in its center, just like the one Baphomet used.
"Next," Arima smirked and declared.
He snapped his fingers and the circle he had drawn turned into particles. Everyone on the battlefield was still confused because of the black circle sucking the life force of the dead. But they all refrained from damaging it since it was clearly amassing considerable amounts of energy and could explode at any time.
Only the stronger individuals, almost ignored the circle since they realized that it couldn't affect them and instead worked on locating the caster.
Meanwhile, Utain had almost reached the combat zone and understood what the circle was for in a second. "A large-scale life hunt."
He wasn't the only one worrying about it. In fact, the most knowledgeable ones such as Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, Michael, Lucifer, Satan, Baphomet, Vastra, Aphrodite… All noticed that this magic was really sucking the life force and not the life energy as some had misunderstood. And they all knew one fact; life force draining was the ability of an extinct race.
While they were all thinking about that, the black particles Arima had released earlier had been dispersed across the entire battlefield.
"Your formation will have to leave, Baphomet," Arima smirked and initiated his second chant.
"[Omnia pervenire non esse in mea potestate] (Everything I reach will be under my control)."
"[Qui sub imperio meae erunt mihi servientes] (Those under my rule will be serving me)."
The dark particles merged with Baphomet's pentagram and commenced to corrode it. No one noticed it except the creator of the pentagram himself.
Baphomet's eyes narrowed and focused on his pentagram that was slowly being overwritten.
"(The same person? How advanced is his magic theory? And how can he cast these magics so easily?)" He was astounded.
"What's wrong Baphomet? Don't look somewhere else!" Zeus shouted and brought his hammer down. Baphomet sneered and extended his hand toward Zeus.
"[Negative Burst]," a black dome formed around him and blocked the hammer and the lightning following it before expanding and pushing back Zeus directly. "(He really chose his moment. No one can stop him now,)" Baphomet thought. At the same time, a loud sonic boom resounded above him and a silhouette passed by. Baphomet looked up and snorted. "Utain."
"The Destroyer," Zeus also exclaimed.
"He's coming," Lanya informed everyone and Chulainn sighed. He jumped away from the mountain and howled. His transformation began right away. He recovered his original size and his two other heads grew back. Kerberos had officially entered the war and was big enough to be seen by everyone.
Utain clicked his tongue and was forced to stop his charge. He was now facing the Hellhound and his flames.
"So, he really managed to come back," from far away, Karez mumbled. He had erased his presence from the start and was waiting patiently for the perfect occasion.
"[Sive per vitam mortem...] (Through life or death…)."
Meanwhile, Arima resumed his chant when the circle of Baphomet was entirely covered by his particles.
"[Nec refert, qui] (It doesn't matter which)."
"[Third Black Art, Imperium Diaboli] (Devil's Supremacy)."
When he ended his chant, Baphomet's formation immediately lost its power and was replaced by Arima's black pentagram.
The Evil God frowned. He stamped the earth with his hoof and a blood-colored aura surrounded him. A huge eye opened on his great sword and he swung it with his full strength. A red wave of energy came out of the blade's edge and struck Zeus.
The resulting explosion engulfed both angels and devils around. The shockwave spread for tens of miles and it was at that moment that Arima's Third Art finally showed its abilities.
It affected the corpses first, like with Baphomet's circle. But it didn't take any kind of energy. Instead, all of those above the pentagram suddenly opened their eyes and stood up.
Baphomet looked wide-eyed at those dead men standing across the battlefield. He was a master of death and occult but even for him, it was hard to create undead. To be exact, it was hard to create undead capable of retaining their original strength.
But that's exactly what happened. If you ignore the ones that had their life force robbed by the Second Black Art, those that were at the Second and Third Divine when they were alive came back in perfect condition to fight again.
"This is…" Baphomet wasn't the only one shocked, Vastra was also greatly shaken. But for another reason. She felt that her control over her minions was gradually weakening.
Arima's Art had two properties. It could, first, revive the dead as mindless zombies and, two, control the mind of the weaker-minded.
Since the 'servants' under Vastra's control already had a feeble mind, Arima's magic easily infiltrated it and then clashed directly with Vastra's spirit.
At that point, almost everyone stopped fighting. Even Hades and Poseidon slowed down. They were now all aware that there was an individual acting in this war. And that individual had a terrifying magic theory and mana quantity. Furthermore, he wasn't on the side of anyone. He was attacking both Heaven and Hell's forces.
In the end, they all turned to look at where Chulainn and Utain were combatting. They came to the conclusion that the said individual was most likely being protected by the Hellhound.
"I think it's time," Arima said weakly, he was already at his limit. Even for him, conjuring these two arts after using Deva was too much. Even if he was in his silver emperor form.
"Yes, it is," after he spoke, a much darker and eerier voice echoed. Arima's group froze in place but Arima himself merely smiled.
"Unfortunately, you won't be able to take control," he said and calmly sat on Deva again. His right hand had already begun to lose its flesh. Night and Karma nodded at each other and quickly entered Arima's soul.
"By the way, you didn't stop me when I attacked Heaven's forces. Why?" Arima asked Azes before leaving.
Azes shrugged. "I didn't stop you because they're both your enemies anyway. I'm sure that Heaven will chase you once they see you. I just think that it's fair."
"Is it really only that?" Arima chuckled. His voice this time was different, it sounded as if he was talking at the same time as his counterpart.
Even Azes trembled as he saw Arima's neck being turned into bones, gradually revealing his spine. "I think I found out what your goal is," Arima added and placed both of his hands on the handle. "Lanya, stay with Lilis," he said and accelerated.
This time, he didn't use Deva's full ability and rode toward the giant sphere of life force in the sky.
"So, you chose this to trigger the Life Judgment, eh?" Arima was now half-human, half skeleton. His right side even already had grown a horn.
"Of course. Exciting, don't you think?" Arima laughed whilst driving Deva. From the battlefield, everyone spotted Arima rapidly approaching the blue sphere while riding on thin air.
"The Life Hunter," Zeus said. Baphomet glanced Arima and didn't stay idle. He pointed his sword at him and gathered his magic at the tip of the blade.
Arima instantly felt the intent directed at him and smirked. He went full throttle and vanished inside the blue sphere. Baphomet snorted and pointed his sword at Zeus instead.
A red sphere formed at the tip and became a giant energy wave. Zeus gritted his teeth. He was already injured because of the last explosion. Being struck by another would be detrimental.
When Zeus was about to defend against the energy wave, a white light wrapped him and teleported him away. The energy wave hit the ground and exploded into a large pillar of blood-colored energy.
"This…" Zeus looked at himself when he reappeared miles away from where he was. His injuries were gone and most of his strength was back.
"Are you okay?" He heard a gentle voice talking to him and turned around to see a gracious angel with six wings slowly descending. Her presence alone emanated holiness and pureness. Her eyes momentarily stopped on the congregation of life force.
"{We have to end this quickly. A Life Hunter is coming soon. We don't know how strong he will be,}" she said to every member of Heaven's army through the telepathic link.
"{Azes, help Zeus defeating Baphomet. I'll take care of the support,}" she commanded and Azes nodded.
"Sorry, but you'll have to take care of Utain alone with Kerberos," Azes said to Lilis and Lanya before flying off.
"We have to wait for him now," Lanya muttered as she looked at the blue sphere in the sky. Her draconic eyes were activated, and she knew that even after five minutes, Arima still won't be back.
From that point onward, the war had reached its summit. Mostly because everyone was going all out to finish this before Arima could end his Life Judgment. Meanwhile, Karaskan was ready to act and Karez was prepared to accomplish his ambition.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AhraManyu
AhraManyu 2329 words...
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Why am I giving myself more work than necessary?
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