章節 152: ''Bothersome.''

Everything slowed down again. Time gathered around Arima as he started his incantation. Baphomet shuddered because of the crushing pressure and the alerts his instinct was shouting at him.

"[Mors Aeterna] (Death is Eternal)."

"[Vita est unum Diem Durantia] (Life is Ephemeral)."

"[Sapientia non est Datum] (Wisdom is not Given)."

Arima initiated what he considered as his most potent magic. Not the most destructive, of course, that designation was for another Art.

He gently wagged his wings and slowly left the ground.

A single flame each time; not bigger than three centimeters each. But their number had already increased to almost a million. The air around was filled with them.

"[Ne forte oculis elevatis occurras Superbia] (When you look up, you meet Pride)."

"[Caelum videre claudit oculos meos in inferos scriptor] (Heaven shuts eyes to see through Hell's)."

The small flames began to move. They gathered together and, without merging together, started revolving to create something similar to a vortex. A magnificent sight that no one on the battlefield could ignore. Not even Hades or Poseidon, the two most narrow-minded people present there.

"[In mundo fluxus meus intercluditur] (The flow of the world is stopped)."

"[Capto et torquem anima tua] (Grab the chain in your soul)."

"[Et sic in tenebris] (And bring it into darkness)."

Arima perpetuated his incantation and one last flame appeared at the tip of his finger. He lifted his hand high and gazed at it. He huffed softly and the flame started ascending. It ultimately arrived in the middle of the vortex and the flames finally began to fuse.

"[Et elegit eum voca] (Call it a choice)."

"[Et obtulerunt mors quam uri] (Death will be offered as you burn)."

"[Sicut favilla dimittere] (Just release the ashes)."

"[Et evanescet ad consummationem saeculi] (And disappear at the end of time)."

Arima finished his incantation and a giant blue sun was now occupying the sky. This magic was actually something he had first used against Koden, the lich who he battled back in the continent of the Republic.

It was a magic blending fire, life, and death magic. Above even dark-light, it was a triple hybrid magic. An anomaly that shouldn't have been able to exist. It was certainly possible to 'combine' different elements with magic. It is, after all, what one is supposed to accomplish to become a Silver Emperor. But 'mixing' them together was a completely different matter.

Let's take fire and water. Making a hybrid magic out of these two could be summarized in three questions.

What is the fire? What is water? What would be their definition if they were a unique concept?

If one can answer these questions, he can master what we would call the fire-water element. But the people able to do such a thing are scarce. Lucifer was merely a special existence, being a fallen angel bearing the mark of light and darkness at the same time, he had everything required to answer the questions.

In the same way, through pure imagination and incredibly high comprehension, Arima had cast a hybrid magic composed of two opposite elements such as Death and Life and even added fire to it. He succeeded to blend the abstract to the real thanks to his rather close relation to both Death and Life. With this, he had created the strongest purifying spell, the one that could burn anything.

"[First Blue Art, Estuans Sors] (Burning Fate)," he chanted and the sun shined strongly before it penetrated the dark clouds previously created by Baphomet.

Arima released the Time he had gathered around him and Baphomet collapsed on his knees. His expression was complete chaos. His mana was going wild and his veins were bulging. Dark energy was leaving his body against his will.

Arima looked down at him and closed his eyes. A blue light then illuminated through the clouds

"Burn it," he ordered.

Everyone heard the fire becoming stronger and looked up. From where the sun had breached the clouds, the blue fire began to spread at incredible speed.

In just a minute, the entire sky was covered by that dazzling light. The clouds were no more and had been replaced by an azure sea of flames.

Just like that, Baphomet's Manifestation ended and his connection with it was literally burned as well. The blazing sky never stopped flaring as Arima slowly made his way to Baphomet.

"Do you have last words or a wish?" Arima asked. It wasn't scorn or mockery. He had sincerely offered it.

Baphomet burst into laughter. He stared at Arima and smirked. "Not really. But, well, I guess I can ask for a favor. It's quite simple. First, thank that human for me, and then kill him."

Arima chuckled and nodded. "Not a problem. Killing him was a matter of fact since the beginning."

"Good, also, if you ever meet my father one day, tell him that he's a prick."

Arima snickered at his words.

"You'll know it's him the moment you meet him," Baphomet added then sat down and closed his eyes as if he was meditating. Arima nodded and started walking away.

"Why did you bother to ask me this?" Baphomet spoke up after a few seconds of hesitation and Arima stopped.

"Don't overthink it. It is common to respect your opponent," Arima answered. He flapped his wings and disappeared within an instant.

Baphomet snorted and stretched his neck to look upward. The next thing he knew was that he was surrounded by a torrent of flames. It wasn't hot and it didn't burn, but his body was gradually turning into ashes.

He peacefully closed his eyes and when his body was gone, his soul became the new target. The blue fire reached Baphomet to an ethereal level and his emotions were cleansed. He disappeared from this world in the next instant. Arima glanced back and breathed in to swallow a very small sphere of light.

He then landed lightly in front of the gods while a giant fire tornado was raging behind him. It didn't produce any wind, shakings, or heat. The ground didn't even suffer a dent. That tornado's span reached tens of miles and was really intimidating.

If someone were to step inside of it, he would not be burned, but simply erased out of existence. That was the best description of the First Blue Art one could make.

Arima sighed strongly and sat down on the ground. As expected, he was tired because of all the magic he had just thrown. But as he was resting, the Fifth Red Art was already sucking the mana out of the environment to replenish his stamina.

Arima relaxed his body and his figure glowed with a purple light. His size and clothes returned to normal and his other powers dispelled as Night and Karma reappeared beside him. The two who finally left Arima's soul after eleven years started stretching, enjoying their physical bodies again.

"Aah, I'm tired," Night complained and sat down as well.

"Me too," Karma sighed and laid down, using Night's lap as a pillow. His expression twitched and he almost smacked her. But restrained himself in the end.

Arima laughed lightly and the gods stared at him, not knowing what to say at all. Azes blinked and did the same as Arima as he sat cross-legged. The rest of the gods followed suit awkwardly and silence fell.

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

When Ifrit attacked, Tiatus immediately took his distance with incredible speed. He moved at light speed, only a golden light could be seen most of the time. And while keeping his distance, he would fire his light arrows without rest.

Ifrit was not suited for this kind of opponent. The fire Jinn was quite confident about his speed but his main strength relied on the explosive force of his fire magic and the strength of his body. So, when he was below in the speed department, it was quite annoying and the fight would often take some time to end.

"Bothersome," Ifrit growled. Even If Tiatus was shooting at him from far away, he couldn't approach the golden door because he would suffer a barrage of arrows. He wasn't crazy enough to bet on his body resilience to survive since those arrows easily had enough power to be life-threatening. He was also sure that he would not reach Heaven in time if he decided to return and ask the gods. So, he had to get rid of Tiatus before going in and stop Karez.

"[Jinn's Domain]," Ifrit intoned and the earth trembled. Fissures opened everywhere and geysers of fire erupted. Ifrit then roared and his voice carried a sort of eerie sound.

Tiatus shuddered when he heard this and stopped moving for a second. He then looked around and realized that he was now locked inside a zone delimited by walls of fire. And if he tried to go up, the flames would follow him and block his path.

"(Shit, this is not a good position.)" Tiatus was at the Third Divine. In terms of power, he was definitely a high ranked god. His main attribute, speed, even surpassed Zeus'. But Ifrit was in a completely different realm. He couldn't fight the beast head-on; it was likely for him to lose in one blow.

"(I have no choice,)" he thought and his aura magnified.

Ifrit frowned and immediately charged at him but he wasn't fast enough to stop Tiatus from chanting that single word, "[Resurrection]."

Ifrit grunted as he was forced to retreat temporarily. Tiatus emitted a burning golden light and Ifrit's fire seemed to become weaker.

"So, you have absolute dominance over light and fire, huh?" Ifrit remarked. He glared at Tiatus who had transformed into a huge golden griffin. "Body-Shifting Type…"

"I may not win, but I will not be easily defeated. Even if it's you," the griffin opened its mouth and Tiatus's voice resounded. He flapped his wings and transformed into a golden light once again.

This time, he started throwing explosive light projectiles. Although he could use fire, it wasn't of any use against Ifrit. The latter was most likely immune to it. At best he could only interfere with his magic a little.

"I remember you now," Ifrit said and waved his hand. A wall of fire emerged from the ground and blocked one of the attacks. The golden light exploded and destroyed the wall of fire at the same time.

After that, Tiatus stopped attacking and perched himself on top of the small Heaven door. He stared at Ifrit with his eagle eyes. He didn't need to attack him. If Ifrit deliberately started a conversation, why would he ignore the opportunity to gain time?

"You're a popular god among the human world, right?" Ifrit was preparing his magic formation while talking. "If I'm not wrong, people mocked you because, although you had so many followers, you were incapable of using their faith to empower yourself," he said and Tiatus snorted. "And the reason for that was because you are not a true Heavenly God but a simple human who received the full inheritance of one."

"Yes… it is exactly as you're saying," Tiatus responded.

"That's why you want to destroy Heaven?"

"No," Tiatus immediately denied. "I'm doing this for my master's revenge."

"Master…? The one who made of you a Heaven God?"

"Yes, he was killed by this Heaven he respected so much," Tiatus declared enraged. "My master fell in love with a human and went to the lower world to live with her. That woman was my mother."

Ifrit's eyes widened in realization. "I see…"

Tiatus snickered. "Odin found out about it eventually," he added and Ifrit immediately understood.

Tens of thousands of years ago, Odin was virtually the ruler of Heaven and the strongest god. Definitely stronger than Ifrit himself. Although Odin suddenly disappeared one day, he was still remembered as the strongest existence in this plane of existence.

Ifrit also recalled that Odin respected Heaven's virtues very seriously. And a relation between a god and human was taboo. He must have killed both the god and human that day.

"I sympathize with you," Ifrit uttered. "But it's not a valid reason to destroy Heaven and the entire plane together with it," he said and fire came out of his mouth. At the same time, he raised his hand toward the sky and a large magic circle appeared.

"[Crimson Rain]," he chanted and Tiatus looked at the sky with narrowed pupils.

His eyes perceived countless red dots, rapidly becoming bigger. He deployed his wings and released his entire mana pool in one go. Giant golden arrows formed around him and he was prepared to propel them.

"It's futile," Ifrit declared and turned into a cone of fire which disappeared from the fire territory he had created.

Tiatus cried to the sky and a screeching sound left his beak. His arrows were launched at incredible speed and soon clashed with the numerous meteorites falling. Each arrow destroyed around three meteors but it was far from enough.

When all of his arrows had been expended, he sighed as he welcomed death calmly. Under his claws, the golden door was already disappearing. He wasn't sure if his actions were right, no, in fact, he knew they weren't right.

He didn't even regard Karez as a person worth following. He just wanted to do something in the name of his father, even if the latter would have probably never condoned it. He was at least going to die for a purpose. Instead of always regretting his weakness when he saw Odin kill his parents, this was far much better.

A moment after, the meteorites arrived and exploded everything in a hundred miles radius. At the same time, an azure tornado also raged far away.