145 Let The Judgment Begin (1/2)
Arima continued to absorb restlessly. He had lost the count ages ago. He also didn't know if it had been days, weeks, months or even years since he began. He wasn't able to concentrate on that as each time he would take one orb, he experienced an entire lifetime pertaining to his parallel versions.
This kind of thing couldn't really be measured but it was like Arima had lived tens of thousands of years already and had also acquired the equivalent quant.i.ty of knowledge.
”How long?” In the end, 'one day', Arima asked to his soul companions since they were able to keep their focus in here. His voice sounded a lot colder and darker than before.
”{…eleven years}” Night answered with a solemn tone. Both him and Karma had spent those years sleeping, most of the time. They could even sleep for hundreds of years if they wanted to but Night still kept the count for Arima during that time.
”{I think you integrated with almost seventy million of them}” Karma added and Arima groaned ”{If we take an average of eighty years per life, you a.s.similated…}” She paused. The number she was about to give was too shocking, even to the point she wondered if she had messed up in the calculus.
”5.6 billion” Arima muttered and Karma fell silent. The former looked at the orb he had in his hand and then looked around him. The only light was coming from the sphere he was holding in his hand and nothing else ”This is the last one, huh?” He said and sighed just after.
”5.6 billion years…that's just what was poured in my head, not what I managed to keep. But I still gained colossal knowledge and inherited heavy emotions and memories” Arima uttered and crushed the orb before absorbing everything in it.
The next instant, his vision warped and he ended one more time in front of Triens. Malum was also beside him. But now, both of them were far from being as casual as they were at the start.
Even Malum who knew that he had absorbed more spheres than Arima wasn't happy at all about the result. Only Triens was looking at them with a friendly smile ”Congratulations, you finished the first step” He announced.
”Let me rea.s.sure you, this was the longest part of the Life Judgement. But keep in mind though,” He paused ”It's definitely not the hardest” He said and the two in front of him didn't react well. They spent eleven years under constant mental strain and it wasn't really something they wanted to hear.
”Now, what will come next is quite special” Triens declared ”I think you realized something by now. What you went through is not something that needs you to be oblivious about it” He said and Arima frowned.
”What will come next is the reason why the people around you kept the Life Judgment's steps a secret” Triens revealed and snapped his fingers. Beside him, the figure of a woman slowly started to appear and continued to become clearer and clearer until her appearance was fully materialized.
Both Malum and Arima's eyes narrowed when they saw that woman. That sweet smile was something that neither of them could ever forget. She was indeed one of the persons who affected Arima's life the most. Scatha was standing in front of them.
After her, it was Tieria's turn to make her appearance. But that wasn't the end, more people, a lot, materialized in this dark s.p.a.ce. Each one of those persons was emanating a light that was piercing that darkness.
Men, women, children, elderly, even pets, that immense group was continuously growing in number; thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. At that point already, both Arima and Malum were feeling extremely bad. They felt crushed by their own emotions.
Sadness, anger, pity, regret, fear, hope…all of those people in front of them, they recognized every single individual. They were all lost dear ones from the parallel lives they had just absorbed.
Arima shed one tear with a calm expression. That fact already showed how powerful the emotions he was feeling were. It was the same for Malum, he was gritting his teeth so hard that it sounded like his jaw was going to break. Even if he was a counterpart made of darkness, he still had a human mind. His whole being was also created by this kind of feeling. Each time he looked at Tieria and Scatha particularly, his entire being threatened to collapse.
It was also without counting the millions of people around. Additionally, both Arima's and Malum's memories were connected together. So, even if they collected the orbs separately and one of them was now stronger than the other, they both had the same memories.
So, they were feeling the exact same magnitude of pain. The joined pain of millions of different versions of them ”I'm sorry” Triens surprisingly apologized ”Not for what I just did…but for what I'm going to do now” His smile had disappeared and it was now replaced by an expression of genuine empathy.
He walked past by Arima and Malum before vanis.h.i.+ng. Just as his figure disappeared, he muttered one thing: ”Let the Judgment begin”
After he said that, the millions of people started to scream and die one after the other in nasty and cruel ways. Beheaded, stabbed, killed, from illness, even accelerated aging and suicide.
Arima and Malum witnessed everything with a blank expression and when they saw Tieria and Scatha smile at them, and die in the next instant, the world they were seeing turned into pure darkness. They had lost their minds.
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In h.e.l.l, in the battlefield welcoming devils and G.o.ds. Everything stopped. A deafening noise escaped the sphere of life force and in the next second, cries and screams of despair resounded in the entire place.
It was the fusion of Malum's and Arima's voices of agony and sorrow. Everyone stopped moving, no matter who it was, they felt the despair of that howl penetrating their minds.
Lilis and Lanya lowered their heads and covered their mouths as tears fell down their cheeks. But although they were the most affected, they were not alone.
”Huh?” Gabriel exclaimed as she touched her tears with her finger. Michael also had covered his face and most of the angels, who were sensible to emotions, were also crying unconsciously.
Even Utain in his werewolf form wavered ”s.h.i.+t!” He cursed just after and shook his head to get those feelings out.
”The Cry of a Life Hunter…” Baphomet muttered. His expression didn't show any changes but he had to admit that his mind was affected ”But…”
”This one is too powerful” Far away, Hades mumbled ”The Life Hunter's Cry is when they enter the main part of the Life Judgement. It is supposed to show to the world the pain that a Life Hunter will suffer and that nothing in this world could lead them astray” He said while looking at the life force up there.
”But this is too much” Poseidon spoke ”The magnitude is too big. I can't even fathom how annihilated this Hunter's spirit is. No matter how strong one's mind is, I can't believe there is someone who is able to get through this” He gravely declared.
A common thought appeared in everyone's mind at that instant ”(He is doomed to fail)”