Life Hunter 178 ''Well, It Won't Kill Him… Kinda''

They had already moved a lot from their original fight zone and they had destroyed at least three planets on the way. Maybe others because of the resulting asteroids.

At some point, Arima roared and a great pressure descended on Fafnir. The golden dragon was surprised and froze in place for a moment. Arima moved his draconic body like a human martial-artist. He grabbed the neck of Fafnir and pulled him before striking his face with his knee.

He then spun and kicked him in the chest and took an Iai stance in the same movement. Thunder roared and Arima breathed in "[Aeterna]" He one more time used his technique and the wave energy exploded on Fafnir.

But a golden s.h.i.+eld appeared and blocked the attack. Afterward, at least a hundred spears surrounded Arima and struck him as they exploded in golden fire. Arima used the Fourth Black Art to protect himself.

In Arima's set, 'Vashta Nerada' is one of the rare Arts which have the characteristic of 'protection'. It's maybe even one of the best.

The black shadow ate the entire explosion and made it disappear while protecting Arima. As the last flames were being extinguished, Arima pointed at his right with Superore and fired. Fafnir clicked his tongue and retreated.

When the flames disappeared, Arima saw that he had indeed struck him with his gun. He smirked "I'm getting used to it" He said and Fafnir snorted. New golden lights appeared behind him and large gold chains made their way out of the 'Vault'.

They flew around like snakes and surrounded Arima before closing in "Seriously" The latter shook his head "You should've just called your magic 'Unlimited Babylon'" He uttered and Fafnir frowned.

"What is that?"

"Like I said" Lightning sparked around Arima "A name fitting your power" He said and a whirlpool of blue energy gathered around Arima.

The black dragon sighed strongly then took a deep breath as he aspired that blue energy. When he finished, he exhaled again and let out a blue mist. He glared at Fafnir "[Accelerando]" He chanted and disappeared on the spot just before the chains could bind him.

Fafnir's eyes narrowed and before he knew, Arima was behind him and he had Karma's blade next to his neck. Fafnir immediately transferred away. He looked back just after and the only thing he saw was the familiar energy produced by Superore.

He waved his hand angrily and a giant hammer struck those bullets away. Fafnir looked beyond and saw Arima breathing out a blue mist for a moment before vanis.h.i.+ng again.

The golden dragon s.h.i.+vered and tilted his head urgently. Superore's bullets scratched and burned his scales and flew just in front of him. He then used his wings to spin and escaped Karma's blade too. He gripped the Excaliburs he had in his hands and swung them both at the same time at Arima.

The latter met them with Karma and lightning and fire exploded. Fafnir grunted and kicked Arima away but his leg was also caught by the black dragon's tail in the process. He was pulled and faced Arima's sword again.

He had no other choice, so he used his Manifestation again to leave. But Arima also teleported behind him at the same time "(What's happening?!)" Fafnir was fl.u.s.tered. He stopped calling his weapons and instead used a huge amount of mana to conjure a giant golden fireball around him which he threw at Arima "[Dragon's Breath]" He then roared and spat out a huge flame that pushed the giant fireball toward Arima even faster while also making it stronger.

Arima closed his eyes and breathed out even more blue mist than before. This time, Fafnir perfectly noticed it. Time slowed for Arima, or to be exact, the Time around him was accelerating.

"[Furorque tenebris] (Darkness and Madness)"

"[Haec sunt nomina] (These are your names)"

Arima started chanting at high speed. Fafnir had a bad feeling. Just after he launched his magic, he called every s.h.i.+eld he had in his 'Vault' and even called the bell he had used against Layla's Manifestation.

"[Vos autem qui portabant flamma voluntatem mortis] (You are the flame carrying the will of death)"

"[Monstra te orbis terrarum feritate] (Show the world your brutality)"

The golden dragon seemed to be hesitating at bringing out something else but he discarded the idea in the end. He just stared at Arima. But when the latter looked back at him, he s.h.i.+vered.

"[Difficile est docere illos quid est morietur] (Teach them how hard it is to die)"

Arima smirked and pointed his finger at the fireball cast by Fafnir. A small black flame, which also seemed to glow in purple, appeared at the tip of his finger. It wasn't bigger than his fingernail but the flames radiated a strong pressure.

"[Second Blue Art, Nova tenebris] (Dark Nova)"

Arima ended his chant and pinched the flame. The black flame slowly made its way toward the giant fireball and penetrated it. Nothing happened after. It even looked like Fafnir's fire had consumed Arima's magic.

But neither Arima or Fafnir thought that. The former snorted and the latter started sweating. Just after a few seconds, in the blink of a second, the entire fireball Fafnir had created turned black and purple.

It then compressed and quickly became as big as the small flame Arima had released. And as if nothing happened, the small flame continued its advance toward Fafnir. The flame was very slow but the golden dragon didn't dare to even move.

He concentrated all of his power into defense. When the flame reached his s.h.i.+elds, it bounced off the surface and stopped moving. The silence created by this little attack was extremely pressuring for Fafnir.

After a moment, he heard something and shuddered. A dark voice, laughing. It became louder and louder. As if someone was coming back from the abyss and made his voice echo in this world. It continued to resound louder until all of this zone, maybe even the entire solar system could hear it.

The dark laugh seemed to focus around Fafnir and the black flame wasn't moving anymore "The Second Blue Art is quite different from the First" Arima said in the middle of the laughter and Fafnir looked back at him with a frown "The First's purpose is to burn everything to nothingness, exorcize everything"

"The Second's goal is to destroy everything to nothingness, cleanse everything" Arima smiled "There's a nuance. 'Burning Fate' is gentle. 'Dark Nova' is cruel. And the latter is the strongest. The more he has to burn, the more powerful it becomes. The only reason it's not First is only its range. It's only able to attack one target and can't regenerate like the First"

Arima explained all of that because he wanted Fafnir to understand a bit what will happen to him but the golden dragon wasn't even listening attentively. His attention was all on this small flame right in front of him along with the laughter resounding.

He continued to summon more weapons to protect him and the laughter became even louder. Arima shook his head at the sight "{He didn't listen to you at all}" Night remarked.

"{Yeah, maybe he's dumb. You said clearly that the more it has to burn to reach its target, the stronger it is}" Karma followed and Arima snickered.

"Well, it won't kill him… kinda" Arima muttered.

At one point, the laughter stopped and Fafnir shook. He looked back at the black flame and then, his vision suddenly turned pitch black. From the outside, the small flame suddenly transformed into a large mouth and gobbed Fafnir along with every defense around him.

Inside the fire, Fafnir lost every contact with the world outside. At first, he felt nothing but he then noticed something touching finger. It was just his finger, it just touched a little, and Fafnir howled in pain like a beast on the verge of death.

"This flame is for torture" Arima mumbled what he hadn't said to the golden dragon earlier "That's what I meant; I don't know if his mind will survive or not"

Fafnir's piercing scream escaped the confinement of the dark flame and spread across the entire solar system.

Even Layla trembled when she heard it "Is it over?" Jorga muttered but Layla shook her head.

"It's not" She retorted "It's actually far from over" She added "That dragon's existence is already cursed to its roots. I think Arima knows that too. He used this Art on purpose to wake up the curse and destroy it completely after. When he comes out of that black fire, Fafnir will become almost unbeatable"

Jorga's expression twitched as he looked back at her "…Don't tell me it's what I think"

Layla's head drooped "It is. I'm sorry"

Jorga sighed strongly "I never should've come here" He said and smiled wryly. He looked up and laughed "Is Fate really a thing, tell me?"

"I don't know" Layla shook her head "Arima said this once; 'Even if there is fate, why would you bother? Fate is just your life. It can't actually be predicted by anyone. What you can't believe is what is written on a stone. What you have to believe is what you think you need to do…'" She quoted and smiled just after.

Jorga snickered "I feel that guy could make us believe anything if he wanted to" He said and Layla chuckled and didn't disagree.

At that exact moment, another cry was heard and the sound of a bell also resounded strongly in s.p.a.ce "It's coming, huh?" Arima muttered and closed his eyes "{I may have to leave this one to you}"

"{Oh, is it finally my turn?}"

"{Yeah, but don't get carried away. I'll allow you to use our body as much as you want but you have to hold out before he is ready. Don't break before that}" Arima instructed and vacated his own mind to enter his soul.

"{Fine. I just wanted to fight a little bit. Leave it to me}"

"[Berserker Scriptor Semita] (Berserker's Path)" The two voices superimposed to chant and one faded away to leave the place to the darkest one.