บท 117: ''The purgatory.''

The end result of the preliminary eliminations was the undisputed wipeout of the Heriz Land from the tournament. At that point, even Arima felt bad for them. Since the incident with their king and after being actually overtaken by Main Land's rule, Heriz certainly wasn't in a good state from the beginning till the end.

The finalists were thus the two classes origination from the Main Land plus the strongest one from Yeron Land. For this core part of the tournament, each class was assigned a letter to identify themselves with. Arima's group was now class A, Velvet's was B, and Olien's, the teacher from Yeron, was C.

As he had guaranteed, Cekrad called the teachers to explain to them the details concerning the remaining tests. The three that were used during the eliminations remained unchanged while two added ones numbered two. As Arima had explained before, the new tests were about magic control and core manifestation.

The evaluation for the core was pretty candid. The core's manifestation was assessed based on the core's size, purity, and affected area. For example, how far Arima's 'garden' could spread after manifestation is what we call the affected area, or the influenced area.

For Arima, it spanned for hundreds of miles on average. Of course, it's Arima we're talking about. Truthfully, the average affected area in this competition was nowhere near that figure.

Compared to that, the test on magic control could be quite tricky. It was very different from aura manipulation or even magic theory. It was simply the ability to hold on your magic and control it with your will.

The regular way of evaluating this aspect was to make the students conjure a moderately strong magic and make them sustain it for a given time whilst distracting them with something else. Points are given depending on how long you last.

The thing that changes every year is the magic the students are asked to use and the method used to distract them. Things can be easier or harder depending on both of these variables.

"This year, the students will be asked to conjure a plain gathering of neutral magic with a set quantity of mana that one of the judges will show them. I'm sure you understand that it's a really effortless task," Cekrad said and the teachers nodded.

"The true difficulty for this year will be the distraction imposed on them. They will be put under the constant pressure of my disciples' aura," Cekrad declared and the teachers' reactions were quite varied but mostly disapproving.

Even Arima frowned a little. Using magic whilst being pressured by the aura of an individual at a higher Realm is incredibly arduous, even if it is restrained.

"That's all. The tournament will resume right away. Please lead your classes toward the main stage. You have half an hour," the old man said and the teachers left the room.

It didn't take long for them to bring their classes to the largest closed space of the island. The new stage had a giant stone arena with a six-branched cross inscribed on it. Around it, there were also six pillars that formed a hexagram when joined together.

When they arrived, the teachers told their students what was going to be in the magic control test. They were unsurprisingly shocked and anxious about it.

"Hey, listen," Arima raised his voice so that it could be heard by his entire class. "This test is nothing else than a contest. You're not fighting against those three disciples; you're competing against those kids who are in the same boat as you. If you get pessimistic just because you will be in the presence of someone stronger, your concentration will go down."

The students looked up to Arima with renewed determination.

"In the end, this whole test can be summarized into one theme. Willpower. I have already emphasized this more than enough in the past. You have to toughen your will and always keep it strong," He concluded and his students nodded strongly.

"Now it's time to begin. I can assure you won't lose in life force, nor magic theory. After that though, it all depends on you if you want to take that win. Mana cores, magic control, and combat… these three are entirely up to you to prevail," Arima stated and sat down with everyone on the benches. Then, the students were ordered to step into the arena.

"Arima," Chulainn suddenly called as he opened his eyes; his expression and tone were worryingly dark. "This is bad."

Arima closed his eyes and mused. "I see… So I assume you know where this ominous feeling is coming from."

"I do. Karez, that guy…" Chulainn gritted his teeth. "I don't how he did that, but he opened Hell's purgatory."

"The purgatory?" Arima raised an eyebrow. So did the rest of his group that was listening.

"Its name itself is self-explanatory. The purgatory is an eternal prison where the gods and devils alike imprisoned some really dangerous and cruel criminals," Chulainn explained. "The purgatory should be unopenable so I didn't think of it before. But now I realize that there was indeed that possibility since he had stolen a part of the core's power."

"What does that mean in the end? Since it opened, the prisoners are free, right? What are they going to do?" Lanya asked.

Chulainn shook his head and snorted. "It's a fair question. No one really knows or remembers those locked up inside of the purgatory. Still, I'm sure that they won't be amicable. But the main point isn't that, it's what is Karez's goal by doing this."

"And what is that?" Night inquired with a heavy tone.

"A war. He wants a war," Chulainn responded and Arima sighed.

"I will ask just to be sure," He muttered and put a lollipop in his mouth. "A war between who and who?"

"The ones who live in Hell, the Devils, and the ones ruling from Heaven, the God. It's a war between them," Chulainn answered solemnly.

"So, what? Karez wants a war, so he opens the purgatory. Fine. But why would the prisoners and devils follow his wish for battle?"

"A compromise most likely," Chulainn immediately responded and Arima rubbed his eyes whilst groaning.

"Aah…I get it now," He uttered and momentarily directed his eyes toward the three classes that were releasing their auras in front of the judges, including Raal and Karia.

"What do you understand?" Arister asked.

"…If we summarize, Karez wants a war but he attempted to destroy Hell's core in the past. Why would he wish for war if his motive was simply to destroy Hell? That'd be useless. It means that his motive doesn't have anything to do with Hell, nor with Heaven since he targeted Hell's core first. I would guess that his goal is to destroy the entire Plane."

"So," Arima paused and looked at Chulainn. "The compromise Karez made is a deal with Hell's forces to destroy Heaven's core instead of Hell's. Like that, the Plane will still be destroyed and he won't have to face any big retaliation directed toward him."

"Additionally, it's a war between Devils and Gods and on both sides, there will be two different groups. People say gods are good and devils are evil but everyone is the same in the end. I'm sure there will be gods trying to destroy Heaven as much as there will be devils trying to save it," Arima concluded and bit the candy in his mouth.

"That guy merely wants pure destruction through extreme chaos. He will take cover behind the war and destroy Heaven's core without any interference."

When Arima finished, his group had to spend some time to process everything until Chulainn nodded and gave his approval.

"You're right. Sorry, but we can't wait a lot more. I don't really wish for the whole Plane to be annihilated. Imagine the number of people that will perish."

Arima smiled. "It's fine. I'm already on it," His mana discretely escaped his body and Time around the arena accelerated. No one noticed except Cekrad who glanced at Arima in confusion.

"{Go faster,}" Arima sent telepathically and everyone on the planet began to notice a bizarre vibration under their feet. The atmospheric pressure abruptly increased and the sun also started moving faster.

"I want to get that Earthen God's life force before going there," Arima said and Chulainn nodded.

"I'm okay with that. With this Time gap, barely a second is lapsing in Hell for an hour here."

Everyone around tensed a little bit. Although Arima was pretty chill about it, Lanya, Arister, and even his two closest partners obviously understood that the war coming was something that would decide the fate of an entire Plane and their lives with it.

*****************************************

"The purgatory…" Azes muttered. "This is the worst scenario," He grumbled and teleported away to reappear in front of a huge white gate in the middle of the gods' city.

"Seriously, what is going on these days?" He mumbled and multiple gods arrived at the same place as him within the next instants.

There was one of them who looked particularly strong and influential. Even Zeus who had also arrived eyed him warily. He looked like he was in his thirties and had blue eyes and hair. He was the god known by mortals as Poseidon. The famous God of the Seas.

It wasn't just him, a lot of powerful gods appeared all at the same time in front of this spectacular gate. Their names could all be found in ancient mythology.

"(Almost all of the High Gods are gathered here,)" Azes thought and looked at Zeus as he walked toward the giant gate.

"Since you're here, you all must be aware that the purgatory has been opened. We assume it's Ojure Karez's doing. I will now open the Gate of Heaven. We have to stop them as fast as possible before they come at us!" He bellowed and put his hand on the gate. Wholly white lightning escaped his hand and spread across the surface of the gate as it slowly opened.

****************************************

Karaskan was examining Pandora when he suddenly felt the purgatory's energy. He grinned and started laughing.

"It's like everything is hinting me to open this box. Hell, Heaven, Chaos, War. What a sweet combination of words. Even better when we add Pandora and Life Hunter to the lot."

"Should I say; is this the work of your fate, Death Hunter?" Karaskan smirked.

*****************************************

"What should we do? Heaven's Gate is opening; I can feel it. The purgatory's prisoners started moving as well," A young-looking man in black clothing calmly asked a man sitting on an imposing throne.

His appearance was mainly humanoid but his body reached a height of five meters. His eyes were ostensibly closed as if he was sleeping. He was wearing a red and black attire with an adorning cape.

When he heard the man speak to him, he slowly opened his crimson eyes and started speaking with an unfocused gaze. "I'm just here to govern. I don't care about the higher worlds or Heaven. As long as they don't destroy our core, I won't move. You should do the same, Belphegor," he uttered with an indifferent tone and Belphegor nodded silently.

"Wait, Hades," A man's voice echoed within the dark throne room as a new figure appeared from the shadows. He had stunningly attractive features but the most striking one was definitely his pitch-black feather wings.

Hades glanced at him and sighed. "What do you want, Lucifer?"

Lucifer smiled courteously. "I suggest that you reconsider. This war is something that should've already happened a long time. I allege that it is time to sort things out with Heaven. And this is something that you should lead."

Hades stared at the fallen angel and his pupils narrowed slightly. "Tell me; why I should listen to you?"

Lucifer's smile became even wider, gradually turning into a full grin. "I would not dare to order you. I merely desired to share my opinion. But if you truly need a purpose to participate in this war; I'm fairly sure you will be able to get your revenge on him."

The crafty angel's words finally brought a reaction to the overlord's expression. Hades gazed at Lucifer for a moment before straightening his back. He then slowly stood up. As he was lifting his body away from his seat, one could see a consequential amount of dust falling from his clothes, which indicated as to how long he could have stayed immobile on his throne.

When he was fully standing, the walls of the castle they were in started quaking and multiple flames lit up to lighten the room. Lucifer and Belphegor both kneeled at the same time.

"Lucifer, I will ignore this affront for now," Hades spoke as he looked through the stained glasses of his castle.

"So, he came back, huh? That human, Karez, is quite bold to start a war by himself…" He paused and stepped down from the pedestal adjacent to the throne. He sighed. "Is it really time for a conflict? I wonder…" He muttered with an emotionless voice.