Chapter 92: Kerberos (1/2)
Arima coughed some blood and wiped the one flowing down on his lip. He suffered internal damages and even some of his bones were broken. He particularly got a huge cut on his chest. The pain wasn't enough to make him complain but when he tried to stand up, he cursed.
”Fuck,” He sat down and sighed. He closed his eyes and the enchant on his clothes start working at full power. He also channeled his mana and boosted his natural regeneration.
Meanwhile, Night and Karma started chatting, totally unfazed. ”{That was surprising,}” The former commented.
”{True. Of course, I expected the Hell gate to be something out of this world. But what happened to Arima just now was indeed surprising.}”
”{Yeah, when we touched that gate, that annoying skull instantly opened his mouth and shouted something. The bones then moved to hit Arima. The problem was the speed at which happened. Quite scary,}” Night reminisced.
”{I see, then it should be okay if we destroy those bones first, no?}” Karma wondered and suggested.
”{I highly doubt it will be that easy.}”
Arima opened his eyes and stood up, fully healed, and stretched. ”Why the hell are you talking together so nonchalantly. I was injured back then, you know?”
”{Eh?}” The two interjected at the same time with a really confused and innocent voice
”{Arima? What are you talking about?}” Karma asked.
”{Worrying about you is most likely the most meaningless action to do there is in the world right now. And you should remember that my body is also yours in this form, worrying about your state would mean worrying about myself,}” Night gave his honest opinion and Arima groaned.
He clicked his tongue and looked at the sky. ”Anyway, we can't destroy that thing. To be exact, it's fundamentally indestructible.”
”{Why?}” Karma inquired.
”It should be protected by an Owl or something. I felt it when it countered me. It's not something that can be broken as it's something we can't even interact with,” Arima stared at the gate as he explained.
”{What?}” Karma exclaimed in shock. ”{Then are you telling me that we have to watch as it does anything it wants?}”
”{No,}” Night responded. ”{It's just a gate after all. Although it's Arima-proof, I guess it can only do one thing; its basic duty.}”
”{Duty?}”
Arima snickered and followed Night words, ”Have you already forgot? It's a summoning ritual. For what do you use a gate usually?”
Soon after, as if proving his words, the skull shined with a red and golden light and then split in two right in the middle. Now that the gate had lost what kept it closed, it slowly started to open.
While it was slowly opening, Arima waved his hand and thousands of people appeared in the same crater as he was. They all looked around in disbelief at their destroyed houses.
”{Who are they?}” Karma asked when she saw that.
”{They are the people who were in the zone destroyed by Arima's crash…}” Night answered to her. ”{Arima sent them into another dimension before that crash occurred to rescue them… And you should seriously learn to be more observative Karma.}”
”{…}”
”You all, run away as far as you can,” Arima spoke casually, without even looking toward the people he had just saved. ”Spread the word and tell everyone you meet to run in the opposite direction of that thing.”
He didn't need to point at the gate for the listeners to understand. They all nodded promptly and started running away. Some were around the third and fourth level and left as fast as they could. During all that time, Arima's eyes never left the gate. It was already half-opened.
Arima lightly flapped his wings and flew off. He approached the gate and stopped a few miles away from it.
Even when it was half opened, Arima couldn't see anything behind. It was just a dense screen of darkness. As he observed the gate's movements, his expression suddenly turned sour.
”Oh shit,” He cussed once again and flapped his wings. He headed toward the opposite direction of the gate. The force he used to accelerate provoked a sonic boom and even created a shockwave that damaged the empty part of the city.
Just half a second later, the gate was slammed open and a powerful sound wave spread throughout the entire city, but especially around the gate itself. Arima wasn't far enough and he almost fell down again because of the intense jolt directed at his spirit and aura.
But that wasn't the end, an explosion occurred at the same time and everything around the gate was instantaneously demolished, even the royal castle. Thankfully, the latter was empty since it was evacuated in time.
It was only a matter of time before Arima felt an immense aura coming from that gate. Even he couldn't help but feel the urge to bolt right away. It was just a natural instinct before a stronger being.
Arima laughed wryly. ”It's been a while since I felt like this,” He smirked and observed with a firm look. Karma and Night remained silent this time.
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Not that far away from Center City, Karez was watching the Hell gate from a small meadow in the outskirts of the city.
His eyes became cold and since they were usually empty, that coldness was the only thing that reflected in his eyes right now, accentuating the hate that one could feel exuding from him.
”He's here,” Karez muttered then shifted his eyes slightly and looked at the figure in the sky, staring at the gate. ”So, he's the Kind Demon, huh? I hope you'll last long enough to delay him. I need to get to that gate.”
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Behind the veil of darkness, there was a sudden movement and something went through. It was a giant paw that stepped on mid-air as if it was firm ground. It was soon followed by the forearm.
Already at that point, Arima's expression was twitching. ”…That guy is no joke. He's a legend known by all, even in my world. What kind of strength would he have if he was real?”