บท 222: ''It's not time.''

Arima sighed as he stood in the center of a wide circular room. The floor seemed to be made of blue stone while everything looked like dark wood. On the walls, there were exactly fifteen doors separated by an equal distance across the circumference. A swarm of fireflies filled the space and illuminated the room.

Arima turned back into a normal human and both Karma and Night reappeared beside him. Night grunted and cracked his neck. Karma also groaned and exaggeratedly stretched her arms out.

"I'm freaking tired," Night complained and Arima nodded. He opened and closed his fist several times and breathed in. He exhaled and a peculiar mist came out of his mouth.

"Well, I'm at least five times stronger than when I fought with the Guardians thanks to that," Arima remarked and Karma let out a chuckle.

"My strength also increased," she said and smiled wryly. "It's really odd, don't you think? That a soul weapon is now as strong as someone like Ambrogio."

Night laughed. "True. It's incredibly off-putting to suddenly be aware of the fact that you are stronger. The life hunt doesn't even give us time to react, we just become stronger as if we were always like that."

"It's fine to talk," Arima uttered. "But we should not waste too much time," he said and the ceiling of the room they were in cracked a bit. "Ahura is already trying to destroy this place."

"Now that you say that, she didn't show us her full power, right?" Night commented. "Why? She didn't even use her Soul Manifestation. She could have killed you with it, no?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Arima responded and Night frowned.

"Then why were you so confident?"

"Because I have my idea; she must be conflicted. As Ahura Mazda's reincarnation, she has memories and emotions coming from immemorial times. But at the same time, because she was reborn with those memories, she is incomplete and unstable. The reason for that is that through reincarnation, her identity as Ahura Mazda has been acquired wistfully. Basically, it's like she learned everything through dreams."

"She might appear serene but she is scared to use her power as an ancient spirit," Arima declared and Night hummed before looking around.

"By the way, you still didn't explain to us the complete theory of the First Black Art. What is this place?"

Arima smiled. "Kymestuos is by far the most refined magic I ever created. Maybe even more than the First Destruction Art. This place is essentially my own Hell. I told you that my Crosses defined my sanctuary, right?"

"When I destroy that sanctuary, everyone present in it will be transported to its Hell. As much as they are forced to believe in me when they are near the Crosses, people will be forced to enter this place, which is the Kind Demon's Afterlife."

He explained and pointed at the doors around them. "There are fifteen doors here. That's exactly the number of people that were present on Melumnia when I destroyed it."

Karma tilted her head. "Fifteen? Does that mean that the dead ones count too?"

"Yes, if Kymestuos is activated fast enough, the wandering souls will be reconstructed and imprisoned," Arima answered and walked toward one of the doors. He put his hand on the knob and sensed the aura coming from it. "This one is…" He snickered and opened the door.

On the other side was a dark chamber. When Arima stepped through the door, water splashed at his feet. The floor was like a water mirror. The only lights present were two red flames. Those flames were burning inside a skull that was fixed to an eight-branched cross.

Below the cross, a woman was kneeling on the floor. And just behind her, a shadowy figure was holding a scythe, ready to pull its weapon and decapitate her.

"Ishtar," Arima called and the woman opened her eyes. She raised her head and stared at Arima.

She shuddered and felt the scythe's cold blade touching her neck.

"You already have lost your life force so you're not a threat to me anymore. Even if I revive you," Arima said and crouched in front of her to match her sight.

"…What are you going to do?" She inquired and Arima chuckled.

"Not much. I'll let you stay here. You will go through the 'Penance' and the Impartial Existence, the fella holding that scythe behind you, will decide if you have to right to leave or not," Arima casually stated and Ishtar lowered her head. She couldn't bear to look at those unfocused eyes which seemed to be discerning everything.

"Of course, I could kill you right now if I wanted to. But that would be useless and quite cruel since I have no reason anymore. I mean you already died from my hand once," Arima jested and Ishtar stayed silent. He closed his eyes for a second and listened to her heartbeat.

"You've calmed down. I guess there's really nothing to worry about you anymore," he added and returned to the door where Night and Karma were waiting for him. "Maybe we'll see each other another time," he closed the door and Ishtar wiped her tear.

"…Seriously?" Night muttered when Arima closed the door.

"Of course," Arima smirked and went to another door. This time, it was Apep who rested behind. The huge snake was chained and an even bigger reaper was keeping him in check. Arima talked to him like with Ishtar but the beast didn't answer once. Apep just hissed and he left soon after.

After that, he went to see the others. He met Dracula and Harion again and talked with them a little. He told them about what was going to happen to them and left afterward. Nothing more, nothing less. Then he went to see Lorus and Afriose which he had killed just before. He spoke to them and collected the former's life force since he still hadn't done it.

The next one was Odin. But the cloaked man didn't say anything or even respond at all when Arima was talking to him. In contrast, Khione angrily shouted at Arima.

At some point, Arima faced Ambor again. But for some reason, he was the only one who had not been revived.

"Why did you not resurrect him?" Karma was curious.

"For this," Arima bent down and reached for Ambor's body. He covered the corpse's eyes and a weird, gruesome sound echoed in the chamber. Even Night raised an eyebrow.

When Arima lifted his hand, a thin line of blood flowed down Ambor's eyelids while Arima held two eyeballs encased inside a cube of purple ice.

"I can use this," he said and resumed his little 'tour'. After he exited the room, Ambor's body twitched and the reaper put his blade on his neck like all of the others.

Ultimately, Arima arrived at those who he still had not eliminated. The first one being Loki.

"This is an interesting place," this was the first thing the God of Discord said to Arima. "Is this supposed to be some sort of atonement? I'll stay here until I am forgiven or something like that?"

Arima's eyes widened and he faintly smiled. "You pretty much got it right."

Loki hadn't lost his life force, but like with Apep, he was bound by the chains coming out of the skull's mouth and couldn't do anything.

Arima approached Loki and grabbed his head. "[Vita Venari] (Life Hunt)," he chanted and Loki grunted as the power he had built for thousands of years vanished just like that.

"That's all I need from you," Arima uttered and left the place. Loki snorted when the door closed.

Afterward, Arima went to see Thanatos and Kronos. The former was silent and kept his façade of an emotionless warrior but the latter struggled for a while until Arima finally took his life force.

He then went through one of the last doors and faced Baba Yaga. The old woman was calmly sitting cross-legged as if she was meditating. Since the chains were loose, it meant that she hadn't struggled at all. Even the Reaper was being lenient and leaning against the wall. Kymestuos had acknowledged her as an innocent prisoner.

"Do it," she only said those two words and Arima shrugged. He came close to her and sat down too.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions," he admitted and Baba Yaga trembled. "I heard you are the one, along with Ahura, who can contact the Original Devil. I want you to teach me the method."

"I refuse," she gave a quick answer and Arima sighed.

"Fine then, I'll take it myself," he said and before Baba Yaga could even consider erasing her memories, she had been beheaded by the reaper behind her. Arima took her memories and mused.

"…I see, thank you," he mumbled and stood up.

When he closed the door, a gasp resounded in the room and Baba Yaga suddenly woke up with narrowed eyes. She instantly touched her neck and seemed to have a hard time breathing.

"He killed me… I'm sure I lost my head," she stammered and peeked at the relaxed reaper over her shoulder. "Does this mean you can't even die in this place…?"

In the end, Arima was left with two doors. One led to Nyx and the other Ahura.

"The last one," he muttered and his two companions watched him as he opened the last door.

Of course, it was the last one. Arima didn't even want to touch Ahura's door. From the shakings, he knew that she had already destroyed the chains binding her.

When Arima entered the last door, Nyx instantly glared at him. It wasn't hatred but more like pure determination. He felt an unyielding spirit coming out of her and was a bit impressed.

"Admirable," he remarked and Nyx gritted her teeth.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing much. I'm just going to take your life force and let this prison take care of you," he nonchalantly reiterated what he had said to the other thirteen people and moved toward Nyx. When he was about to take her life force, he abruptly froze.

He scowled and his consciousness was ejected out of his body. He ended up in the middle of a weird place with absolutely nothing around him. Not even light or colors.

"{Don't harm that woman,}" a deep voice resounded in his mind.

"Huh?" He exclaimed with a slight hint of scorn in his voice. "Who are you?"

"{I don't have time to explain. I'll just warn you. You shouldn't do anything to that woman. She is an important factor for a future connected to yours.}"

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Arima growled and his head started aching.

"{It's not time,}" the voice told. "{For now, you just need to do as I say.}"

Arima brusquely received a chunk of information and his mind was put back into his body. He immediately felt dizzy and vacillated before falling on one knee. Nyx watched dumbfounded while Night and Karma rushed inside.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Night was confused and helped Arima stand up.

"I'm fine," the latter waved his hand and stood up on his own. He turned toward Nyx again and clicked his tongue. "Dammit, what a pain…" He cursed under his breath and invoked two magic formations.

His aura startled Nyx and made her pale.

"I don't fucking know why I'm supposed to do this but I have no choice apparently," Arima's expression was twitching as he said that. It really looked like he was doing this against his own will. Karma and Night were utterly lost.

"[First White Art, Perpetua Votum] (Everlasting Wish)," he intoned and a white light illuminated the room. His hand shined and he placed it on Nyx's head. She tried to move back.

"Don't struggle. It won't kill you."

After a moment, Nyx had been confined inside a small white cocoon. Just like Fafnir.

"What's wrong, Arima?" Karma worriedly asked.

"Nothing," Arima replied and extended his arm upward. "[Second White Art, Calces Porta] (Gear Gate)," he chanted and a silver gear formed above him. At that point, his two soul partners couldn't even speculate what was going on.

"[Praeter Frange] (Break Apart)."

The gear began to tremble and produce terrifying space cracks. Arima rolled his eyes in annoyance and went to the door.

"Quick, it will soon explode," he uttered before stepping over the doorstep.

"…What?" Night was more than confused by Arima's behavior. It was the first time that he had seen him do something so irately as if he had been forced to do it.

While he was pondering about that, he heard some weird noises and turned around, his eyes fell on the silver gear which was cracking.

"Oh shit!" He shouted and deployed his wings. He grabbed Karma as he flew out of the room.

The gear exploded when the door had been closed and a colossal spatial explosion occurred.

Anyone or anything caught in that explosion would be teleported to god knows where, entirely randomly. Even Arima wouldn't be able to determine where Nyx had been transported with that discharge.