Chapter 139: Reigen (1/2)

”You're okay?” Night asked as he helped Arima stand up.

”Yeah,” Arima answered with an annoyed expression and cracked his neck. ”I hate to admit it, but that other part of me actually saved me.”

”What do you mean?” Chulainn asked from the other side of the barrier since it still hadn't disappeared.

”That final attack, it wasn't specifically meant to wake up 'him' up. That's obvious. It was an attack meant to destroy my soul. And it was blocked because that thing got in the way,” Arima explained. ”Seriously, who stationed this armor here? The Original God? Who the hell could resist a soul attack like that?”

”Well, you apparently,” Lilis smiled wryly. ”Maybe it was waiting for someone like you. You know how they call it; fate.”

”Fate is bullshit,” Arima snorted. ”It's an anomaly anyway. Everything is decided the moment you're born? Of course, it is. The future can't be changed or anything. You will just live your life how you're supposed to. And no matter what choices you will make, it will still be what you were meant to do since the moment you were born.”

”They just gave a name to this to somewhat embellish gods and make humans truly believe that they are inferiors,” Arima ranted and everyone smiled bitterly.

”Anyway,” Arima walked to the place where the armor had disintegrated and picked up a small object that was lying there. It was a small white disc with a certain symbol on it.

”Gods sure like white. It hurts my eyes,” Arima jested and crushed the disc.

”Huh?” His companions exclaimed. ”Wa-wait! It's not because you don't like white that you should break it!” Lilis shouted and her eyes widened right after.

When Arima broke the disc, the ruins' edifices started moving in a spiral pattern around the center. Meanwhile, within that same center, the ground cracked and something very large emerged from the ground and slowly elevated everyone.

After a few seconds, Arima's group was standing on top of a massive temple made out of white marble.

”It was meant to be broken, huh?” Lanya casually commented and Lilis shot a glare at her.

”What if I told you I really broke it because it annoyed me?” Arima uttered and everyone looked at him with dumbfounded eyes. ”I'm kidding. It had literally a sign on it. It was a small drawing of a disc being hammered. There even was a text below saying 'just break it'. At least god is straightforward for this,” he said and jumped to land in front of the temple's entrance.

”…” Lilis was speechless and so were the others. They all remembered to follow Arima only when he had entered the temple.

”So, will that 'creepy you' be a problem?” Chulainn jumped back on Arima's shoulder and asked.

”Most likely. When he said he would come back, he wasn't bluffing. Thanks to that annoying armor, he's seriously awake now and will try to grasp control at every occasion,” Arima answered as they were walking in the corridors filled with paintings and beautiful decorations.

”You can't destroy it?” Lanya asked after he finished.

”Nah, I can't. Destroying him would mean destroying my soul. Who is dumb enough to do that?” Arima said and traced the runes on the wall with his fingers. ”At best, I could try to assimilate with him but it's impossible in my current state. That thing is as strong as me or stronger right now. To fuse with him, I would need him to be cooperative. I'll let you wonder about the probabilities of that happening.”

”So, what's your plan?” Chulainn inquired and Arima sighed.

”Maybe I'll take advantage of the Life Judgment. I don't really know how it works, but let's think of it like this; I will assimilate with parallel versions of me. But what if that other part of me can do that as well? In that case, I would just need to integrate with more parallel versions than him before being able to do the same with him.”

”I see…” Chulainn nodded and fell silent.

”So, you have to fight with yourself basically. But isn't that thing also a part of your soul? How can it be so hard to control? Can't you just, I don't know, accept its existence and fuse peacefully with it?” Lilis questioned since she was still a bit confused.

Arima laughed lightly at her question. ”I think there's one thing you misunderstand. I perfectly accept his existence. I have that darkness in me, I'm not trying to deny it or anything. It's not because I rejected him that he was able to get his own ego.”

”Everyone has a part of darkness. Mine is just bigger than most. When I arrived in this world, he must have mutated into a sentient being through the magic circuits. Just that it was 'asleep' at the time,” Arima clarified. ”When I arrived in Hell, to be honest, I was scared that he would wake up completely but luckily, he just went back to slumber.”

”But, of course, a damn empty armor had to wake him up again,” Arima shook his head and sighed. ”Well, in any case, let's just think of that as an opportunity to get stronger. It should be, as long as I take care of this issue without messing up,” he affirmed and stopped walking.

”With that said, I think we found our objective,” he said and pointed at a huge white cube floating in the middle of the hall they had just stepped in.

”That's Origin?” Night frowned.

”I think it is,” Arima shrugged. He approached the object cube and stopped just below it.

”So, what do we do now?” Chulainn asked and Arima scowled at him.

”That's what I should be asking you,” he said, and the Hellhound covered his ears with his paws, faking a pitiful expression.

”I told you. I only heard stories, nothing more,” he responded and Arima sighed.

”Let's try to touch it then. If anyone has a better idea, you're welcome to propose it,” Arima bantered and jumped lightly to reach the cube.