Chapitre 251: ''Congratulations!''

"So? What is this place?" Arima asked. He was standing in a sort of giant labyrinth. If you looked up you would also see that the maze continued upward, ignoring the rules of science. Every time Arima took a step forward, he would experience a change in his center of gravity.

"{This place has no name. But a fitting designation would be the 'Spiritual Realm',}" Krynox answered as Arima advanced in the labyrinth with a hand on the wall. "{Let me ask you a question. What is the world made of?}"

Arima stopped and looked around. He had stopped because the ground in front of him was making a 90° angle downward. He wordlessly stepped forward and ended up standing in a completely different perspective from before. He looked back at where he came from and resumed his 'visit' while listening to Krynox.

"{Is it matter? Atoms? Molecules? Mana? Elements? Light? Darkness? None of these. The answer is Spirit. This Spiritual Realm is connected to the mind of every living being. What they think, how they think, everything is here. The world has always been made of the Spirit of the people living in it. If someone thinks about an animal and spreads that idea. When enough Spirits are assembled, that animal will be born.}"

Arima frowned. "So, what you want to say is that this maze represents the mind of every thinking species, right?"

"{Yes. Humans, animals, beasts, monsters, everything…}"

"Who was the first then? Who was the one who became the first brick of this Realm?"

"{As expected of you. You ask the most difficult question of all,}" Krynox replied and fell silent of a few seconds. "{…I don't know. Nor do the Creators. Even they were not the first ones composing this labyrinth. The moment they opened their eyes, this place was already so big that they couldn't even measure it.}"

"I see. Basically, you're telling me this is an ethereal world born from the boundless Spirit of sentient beings, where everything converges and is capable of creating things out of nowhere. I can assume that this place is also responsible for the apparition of new sub-realities, right?"

"{Yes. You're indeed correct.}"

"You're also telling me that the Creators are just insects compared to the immensity of the entire world. That means that there are things even above them."

"{Affirmative. World, Universe, Existence, Creation… There's no word capable of accurately defining the 'Everything'. Simply because that's impossible. Not even you can do that. You could become the strongest man ever and you still wouldn't be able to see everything there is to see.}"

"I understand that. Angra Mainyu told me something similar as well," Arima halted his march and squinted his eyes. "Now, the only thing I want to know. What am I supposed to do now?" He uttered while admiring the sight offered to him.

While he was casually walking through the maze, he arrived in a large open area. In the center of that area, there was a sort of modern art piece. It looked like millions of mirrors had been shattered then glued together in the form of a tree before left there levitating whilst emitting a dazzling illuminance.

Arima hesitated a bit then circled the tree instead of going toward it.

"{This is the core of everything. This recollects an incalculable number of minds and is linked in real-time to even more. This is the power you sought. The fact that the core revealed itself to you means that it's accepting you. All of this because you've been engraved in the minds of trillions of minds.}"

The armies sent in the other Mother Realities hadn't been slacking. They performed their job splendidly and most of them used the same strategy. They summoned millions of servants, beasts, familiars, and spread them across the realities. Those Summonings had only one job, hoist Arima's name. And they did it beautifully.

While Arima was hunting the Pillars and Guardians, he also had produced billions of familiars that were given the same order with his infinite mana.

"{In the end, this core you see there considers you as one of its masters now. Normally, this tree would never show itself in front of you or even let you be near it. But since you destroyed the influence of the Creators and made yourself a reputation, you can now claim its power,}" Krynox, who was usually unemotional, laughed for the first time.

"{Congratulations, Arima! You've become a True Legend. You're now known across Existence as the Kind Demon. People will possibly worship you, tell stories about you to their children to scare them, treat you as their divinity, and even maybe try to summon you in a sort of malefic ritual.}"

"{The moment you touch that tree, the power you will earn is not the backup of some unknown energy but the support of minds transcending every border between worlds. You will become a True God. The more people know about you, the stronger you will be. That's what it means to be a Deity.}"

Arima snickered and shook his head. "I never thought I'd hear you being dramatic," he jested and neared the core. He smirked and extended his hand.

***

In the middle of the fight, Layla abruptly stopped moving and closed her eyes. She sighed in relief as if a huge load had been lifted from her shoulders. After using her trump card, she had become a lot colder but her expression and all of her movements still gave off a charming and pure impression.

She wasn't the only one being strange. Malum, Night, and Karma were also immobile with a very unnerving expression on their face.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Aergia shouted in her wolf form. "If you suddenly stop like that, we won't hold on for long!" She shouted then was struck by a punch from the chimera. The Téras with the head of a tiger opened its mouth and roared.

Everyone around frowned but only Arima's companions were completely unaffected. Ahura who seemed to have sensed something moved close to Layla. "Did something happen to him?"

Layla smiled with a cool expression. "Something happened indeed," she seemed to be in awe of something in contrast to Night, Malum, and Karma who were confused.

"This is… odd," Malum muttered while looking at his own hands. He turned back into a human. His gray hair fluttered and his eyes dilated. Shakti worriedly watched him.

"This a really weird feeling indeed…" Night followed and also released his dragon form and turned back into a black-haired man with red eyes, currently filled with an unknown feeling.

"It feels like I've been… released," Karma said with an unreadable expression. "This is even stranger than when I was given sentience."

The four Divines Beasts retreated when they noticed what was happening. They couldn't fight that Téras alone after all.

"What is happening?" Jorga asked as he materialized as a large azure serpent. His tone was not agitated or pressed. He was genuinely apprehensive and couldn't come to try scolding them.

Malum covered his eyes and started laughing. When he calmed down, he was the one who answered for everyone.

"We're independent now."

"What?" Ahura's eyes widened.

"Arima has somehow severed every connection with us," Night said. "Even I, who is his soul beast, can't feel any connection to him anymore. He gave us one last boost of life force then completely disappeared from our soul."

"This is really weird," Karma added. "It's like we were still not really born until now. We've always been connected to Arima through our souls. But now we've become entirely separated individuals."

Sebas frowned when he heard that. "That shouldn't be possible. Especially for Night. Cutting your link to your soul beast is impossible unless you die."

"No," Layla retorted with her calm voice. It was so full of confidence that it made Sebas shudder. "He didn't die. He just became someone we can't even hope to compare to."

As she said that, the Téras appeared to have finished some preparations. It roared and the six spider legs on its back pointed toward Layla's group. The monster also pointed its palms at them and a large amount of mana was gathered around it.

That force transformed into a pinkish sphere of energy that distorted the space around it. Not because of the concentration of energy, but just because of the weight of the sphere rivaled the biggest black holes.

Aergia's eyes narrowed and she grunted. "It's not the time to be thinking about that! He will attack soon!" She shouted and expected her allies to wake up but the reply she got made her speechless.

"There's no need to do anything," Layla declared and at that exact moment, the Téras launched his magic at them. But before they could react, the pink energy had vanished without a trace and they had no idea how. Even the Téras who conjured it was perplexed, although the Téra weren't generally a perceptive bunch.

Just after that happened, Flavio showed himself. He sighed with a tired expression as he joined the group. He didn't even bat an eye when he spotted the Téras. He had seen something much more terrifying before coming here.

Ahura was about to speak to him but then she closed her mouth almost instantly. A baffling aura descended and pressured the area. It wasn't strong or weak. It wasn't thick or thin. It wasn't malicious or good. It was just vast.

Among everyone present, the most affected of all was the Téras. Maybe because its instincts were the most developed, but the tiger's face was twisted in fear. It didn't even dare to release a small bit of its aura as it slowly receded.

Then, as if he had always been there, a man appeared in everyone's sight. They didn't even see him fly or teleport. It was as if he had appeared while they were blinking. The fact that they couldn't see the process only meant the man's ability was far beyond theirs.

The man with black hair and silver eyes walked on an invisible surface and approached the Téras. His dark coat decorated with white bands and the symbol of the Kind Demon on his back were very distinguishable. His fierce, cold, pale, but also warm appearance could also appeal to everyone looking at him.

Each step of his echoed many times in the void of space. And with each one of them, the Téras' shaking increased even more. When the man was in front of it, even if it was several times bigger than him, the Téras still lowered its head.

Arima smiled and snapped his fingers. The four Gates he had made to go to the other realities appeared right behind the Téras. The monster shivered and slowly turned his head around. He glanced at Arima nervously only to hear a single word, "Go."

The Téras was still trembling uncontrollably when it heard that. Its intelligence was sufficient to understand that man's words. No, even if it didn't have that intelligence, that man's voice was like a magic on its own, piercing its head and forcefully telling it what the words meant.

"Little Téras, that's your last chance. Go."

The monster didn't need to be told a third time. It split its body into four and hurriedly went inside the gates. The Téras didn't look like a beast who had finally attained what it was fighting for. Instead, it was like it went inside the gates, not because it wanted to, but just because it wanted to flee from this terrifying man.