Chapter 229: Did it work? (1/2)
”…Hm, we might want to escape right now,” Arima suddenly commented and everyone turned toward him. The cloud-like runes resonated with each other and the stars made the entire ocean vibrate. The molecules were being agitated and the water's temperature was rising exponentially.
Arima didn't think twice about it and drifted away. Lightning sparked around him and he grabbed his companions before rushing toward the surface of his soul realm. Night, Karma, and Layla all exclaimed in reaction to his speed and even had to hold their breath while on the move.
Arima deployed his wings and used them to gain more speed. The water was getting hotter every millisecond. It already went beyond what a normal person could endure. The water was starting to get hotter than the star themselves.
”{What the hell is going on?!}” Night shouted inside Arima's head and resonated with him to become the Kind Demon. Their combined appearance had not changed from before. Only the wings and maybe the slightly thinner scales were new.
”They're oscillating,” Arima casually answered and carried Layla in his arms after he holstered Karma in her weapon form. His body was starting to fume because of the heat and the runes on his robe started glowing to protect him.
”{How can this be so hot?}” Layla asked as she covered her eyes because of the permeating heat. Only Arima was able to calmly open his eyes.
”{The stars are linked and are now triggering the formation. In consequence, all of them are oscillating and creating friction with the water. The vapor produced around them is special since it is used to draw the runes,}” Arima answered as his face was slowly being seared. He showed no sign of pain but his eyes twitched a little.
”{Normally, the water should've evaporated. Or to be exact, it's normal to expect that it would evaporate. But the problem is that even I don't know how vast this ocean is. Maybe it's immeasurably big or even infinite. The energy required to evaporate something like this is consequently enormous. And as long as the star formation has not produced enough energy to evaporate everything, it will continue to boil the center indefinitely.}”
”{It shouldn't be able to happen because the stars would have been extinguished by the water. But those stars are the core of my magic so they are protected,}” Arima groaned and healed himself while moving. ”{Enough chit chat,}” he uttered and triggered the Final Resonance. He promptly turned into the large beast from earlier.
”{This form…}” Night was stunned and Layla dazed as she looked at the giant being holding her.
Arima looked at himself. 'There's no change even when I'm resonating with Night… I'm just a little bigger maybe. So, it means that the Eternal Spirit Dragon takes precedence, huh?' He thought and looked behind him. 'It's soon going to be finalized.'
His scales were being scorched at that point. To describe how hot the water was at that moment; if someone with the same power as Odin and the likes were to plunge in it, they'd probably melt and die.
This ocean was mystifying. In the first place, normal water would not be able to become this hot. It was so bad that Arima had to shield both Karma and Layla from the heat.
After a few minutes, a strange phenomenon occurred. The main star in the center of the formation started shrinking and also to cool down. Its color gradually changed and slowly turned into a small white star.
”It's time,” Arima suddenly halted and turned around to face the white star. He deployed his wings to the maximum and wrapped himself around them like a cocoon.
”[Fourth Destruction Art, Vashta Nerada] (The Shadows that Melt the Flesh),” he chanted and a mass of darkness enveloped him.
Inside the cocoon he had made, he siphoned out the boiling water and Layla felt like she was inside an impenetrable cave of some sort.
”{What's that star that just formed?}” Night inquired and Arima snickered.
”{Well, you could call it a neutron star. It's the name given to the collapsed core of a titan star that was compressed until the protons and electrons leave the place to only neutrons and neutrinos. I'm going to skip over the details but, in that case, the pressure inside the core would be sufficient to produce 'quark matter' and 'strange quarks'. It is a substance so strong and stable that it is theorized to be the most dangerous stuff that could exist. It's supposedly capable of turning everything it touches into strange matter.}”
Night blanked. ”{…Can you remind me why we're making something so hazardous?}”
”{To travel through Realities, of course,}” Arima replied and groaned because of the increasing heat.
”{No, there's no 'of course' here. How is that thing even remotely related to going into another Reality?}”
”{Strange matter is also hypothesized to be what fills the void and holds basic matter together,}” Arima responded. ”{And, Night, we aren't making an experiment here, it's a formation. There's only one reason why I would do that; magic theory.}”
”{If I can replace strange matter with dimensional and spatial proprieties, I might be able to open a hole that could at least lead me out of this Reality. That's also why I made this thing in my soul realm. I plan to bind it so I can naturally travel through Realities and make a path whenever I want,}” Arima explained and Layla glared at him with dubious eyes.
”{And?}”
Arima fell silent. ”…at the risk of breaking my soul apart and miserably dying,” he admitted and Layla sighed.