148 If I Die Today; This World Is Not Doing Its Job (1/2)
Arima and Malum had both lost consciousness in the trial. Normally, they should be able to resist emotional shocks. At least, enough to not lose this composure. But this time, it was different.
They possessed millions of different memories and emotions in their head. Even them were not able to control that turmoil of emotions and were defeated by it.
Arima didn't know what was happening around him, he only knew that he had fainted because of the shock. His mind would rewind the scene he witnessed indefinitely. The death of his loved ones, including Tieria and Scatha and all of the others he shouldn't know but whom he still cared about unconsciously.
Arima could only see darkness around him, nothing more, nothing less. His mind was also recovering at its own pace. But at the same time, he felt like he was slowly sinking in this darkness.
His thoughts turned blank after a moment, he felt like his own existence was fading away. But when he was about to lose that last wisp of consciousness, he heard voices calling him.
”Hey! Arima, don't lose focus!” He heard Night's shout like he was beside him.
”Arima! Open your eyes!” It was Karma's voice that echoed next. When he heard their voices, Arima's spirit shook and he began to reinforce his mind. He realized that he had to do something now.
Arima struggled to even move and then used all of his will to do one thing. He opened his eyes and suddenly regained consciousness. He blinked and looked at Triens who was in front of him. After that, his vision distorted and he grunted.
He grabbed the side of his head and almost stumbled. He felt extremely tired and just wanted to faint. But he knew that he couldn't do that.
Arima glanced beside him and saw Malum madly trying to erase the emotions he was feeling. He was shouting to keep his mind straight and a dark mist surrounded him. Although Malum was a being made of negative emotions, they were Arima's.
Malum was born with a rational mind. Even if he was created from darkness, he could not feed on it. But it was also true that the emotions he was forced to feel basically went against the pure meaning of his existence. Of course, he would be hurt by that.
”It seems that you barely managed to survive the 'pain ordeal'” Triens smiled and said. Neither Arima or Malum had the strength to retort or get angry at him. They just listened as they rested their mind and soul ”To be honest with you, I think that you only managed to survive because you are both pa.s.sing at the same time. Although you suffered the same shock, you shared it without even noticing” Triens explained and clapped.
”Well, with this said, there's not much to hide now” Triens shrugged ”The next test is the last one. The 'rage' ordeal” He declared and the two who were 'tested' glared at him.
”I'll let you rest for a moment. The final trial will begin then” Triens added and disappeared. Only leaving a small orb of light to illuminate the place.
Arima relaxed all of the muscles, from which he was squeezing the last drops of strength, and instantly sat down. He sighed and then laid down on his back.
”{Are you okay?}” Karma asked worriedly.
”Yeah…I think so” Arima answered with a grave tone which couldn't be heard from him normally. His emotions were still in a chaotic state but weak enough for him to restrain them.
”{Hey, what do you think of him?}” Night suddenly probed as he sent a cognitive message to Arima, telling him to look at Malum.
Arima looked at his right and saw the three meters tall skeleton barely holding in his emotions and gritting his teeth ”Hey” He called and Malum grunted ”You better not snap. At least fuse with me before you do so” Arima said and his counterpart snorted.
”Why would I fuse with you?”
”There are a lot of whys actually. But my only problem is that if you are destroyed then I will follow suit. And that's not something I wish for” Arima stated with a stern tone.
”Is that so?” Malum snickered ”Aren't you the one who wanted to die a few decades ago?”
Arima raised his eyebrow, he sat up and glared at Malum ”These are different matters. And don't try to make me falter with that. You were most likely born because of that period of my life too” He said.
Malum laughed and he straightened his spine. He seemed to have regained some of his composure and stared back at Arima ”I don't have any intention to give up deliberately”
When he said that, Triens came back and smiled one more time ”Let's continue”
”You call that a rest?” Arima retorted as he stood up.
”Of course, that should be enough for you” Triens clapped ”It's time for the last trial. In this test, there's only one rule: watch” He gravely said and both Arima and Malum were perplexed ”Also if you move once, you'll die” Triens casually informed them and like before, he snapped his fingers and a figure started forming beside him.
Arima and Malum silently observed, apprehensively. They had a really bad experience from last time. When the appearance of the person was completely visible, Arima and Malum froze ”You never met him. But I gave you the favor of planting it inside your mind” Triens said as he pointed at the man next to him.
Dark clothes, sharp and cold white eyes, and a suffocating aura of darkness around him. It was the person Arima hated the most, the one who he swore to chase until his own death. Triens had actually transmitted Karaskan's appearance in Arima and Malum's minds then made him materialize here.
”Hey, …what's the meaning of this?” Malum's voice sounded even eerier than before and it carried a strong killing intent. The flames in his eye sockets turned from purple to a bright crimson. And surprisingly, he wasn't alone as Arima's eyes were slowly turning bloodshot too.
Although he covered his eyes with his hand, he was still clenching his fists and trembling. Not only did Karaskan appear in front of him. If you thought calmly about it, Arima could easily calm himself down if he reminded himself that it was a fake.
But what was really putting Arima and Malum in such state were the visions they suddenly got since he appeared. Visions from when the Chaos Seed twisted their lives in the worst way possible.
”This is the final trial” Triens responded to Malum ”If you can get past this, you'll have finished the Life Judgement” He then spread his arms open. And like last time, a great number of silhouettes formed everywhere.
When Arima and Malum looked at their faces, their countenance suffered an even bigger change. Countless memories burst into their minds. All of them were about those people killing and robbing what was dear to them.