Chapter 158: 158. “Who the heck is that?”

The moment Arima used the Forbidden Art, his doppelganger started disintegrating and he himself was slowly losing consciousness because of how unaccustomed he was to this magic.

Lilis, on the other hand, felt something interacting with the root of her being. Her soul, mind, and body were falling under the control of something else. She didn't resist it and let everything go. It wasn't long before a strange connection was made between Lanya and her.

In a world devoid of colors, she found herself standing in front of her friend. Lanya was looking at her with a helpless smile on her face and she was also making the same kind of expression.

They silently agreed with each other before hugging as if it was the most natural thing to do.

When they did so, their vision twisted and changed. Many things flooded in their minds and they felt their strength rise exponentially. Before they could even register what was happening, they were already in the presence of Hephaestus again.

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A few minutes earlier.

When the blue and purple fireball touched the ground, it didn't explode or burst into flames as expected. Instead, it bounced like a rubber ball.

Karaskan was perplexed at first but then hastily returned inside Pandora's temple.

Hephaestus, in contrast, didn't move a muscle. As long as Pandora was behind him, he would never leave his position. His current state didn't allow it anyway. What Lanya inflicted him with while she had his hand through her stomach was not something he could casually heal.

His body had become tetanized by Lanya's light. The first, most obvious effects were that his skin dried and fell for the light to penetrate his bare flesh. It inevitably caused atrocious pain, and although he could ignore it, his body was slowly crumbling apart from the inside, like a disease.

Pandora attempted to help its guardian and managed to alleviate his harm but the 'virus' was still there. If Pandora had stopped its support for even a second, Hephaestus would have most likely perished.

Hephaestus stared at the fireball that was bouncing on the ground like a slime. The air around it was becoming so hot that it would blur it and the ground below was turning into magma. The First Blue Art was releasing heat for the first time.

Then it happened. Everything contained within that small fireball exploded in one go. The blue flames erupted first. Hephaestus' eyes narrowed. He clenched his hammer with his right hand and a light flashed in his left one.

He summoned a one-handed ax and struck the ground with both weapons. The earth melted as they were dug out by the huge tremor. But instead of turning into magma, the stone and soil glinted and gained a smooth and tough surface.

They literally transformed into metal. The Blacksmith God was finally showing his true colors. The stone had not been destroyed but forged.

The 'metal' took the form of a giant long shield. The shield glowed and red stripes orderly spread on its surface. A transparent barrier was projected from the edges to protect Hephaestus.

Initially, the First Blue Art’s fire wasn’t doing much. It merely kept increasing in density and volume. In a short moment, it had already covered thousands of miles of land and drowned a huge part of Hell.

If you were to look from the sky, you would only be able to see a sea of blazing flames. But the only place you could find a change in temperature was at the source. The very place where the heterochromatic fireball was still bouncing.

When Hephaestus could only see blue, no matter where he looked at, the fireball finally blasted apart and purple sparks ignited the azure fire as if the latter was fuel or gas of some sort.

The rest was a chain reaction. Purple overwrote blue as the sounds of explosions resonated everywhere. The entirety of the sea of flames became hot and chaotic as the final discharge shook the Original Land.

Everything was reduced to ashes and flattened to an equal level. The mountains broke apart from their base and collapsed before being incinerated. The fire soared toward the sky and a colossal mushroom condensed to form a wide grin and a pair of matching eyes shaped in crescents.

The face moved as if it was being animated by life. Its eyes narrowed comically and it laughed while everything was crumbling apart, turning into nothing more than ashes and dust.

Hephaestus roared from within the chaos and shielded Pandora with his life on the line. It was then that cracks started appearing in mid-air, signaling the collapse of Arima’s dimension.

When the First Blue Art accomplished its duty, the grinning face sneered before vanishing along with everything else. Not even leaving a single proof that a massive fire had just occurred.

After that, it was the dimension's turn to explode with a blinding light.

Hephaestus who had barely survived the First Art's explosion was hit by an odd and oppressive aura. His shield had melted completely and he was full of burns.

The energy that was constantly leaking from the collapsing dimension was messing with his mana and aura as if something was trying to get control over his entire being. He planted his ax in the ground and forged a black metal armor to help him stand.

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Soon enough, the gods, Ifrit, and Chulainn jumped out from the epicenter of the failing dimension. Their expressions were all warped as if they had just seen the most petrifying sight of their entire lives.

They all stared at the light who was slowly fading away. They gulped as a single figure appeared before them. That person smiled sweetly and playfully and looked at herself with curious eyes.

She opened and closed her fists and breathed in. The light dwindled completely and the gods felt even more shocked now that they had a clear view.

She had long silk-like hair marrying black and silver together and wore a white and black robe that showcased her forms and appeal. Magnificent silver-red wings were on her back and her arms were covered in transparent scales that sparkled under the sun.

She had bright silver irises and the red pupils of a dragon. Her facial features were nearing perfection on that jade-like skin of hers. Her lips looked sensual every time they parted and contrasted with her calm and playful expression.

Faced with that beauty, even Aphrodite and Gabriel felt jealousy and admiration. All the guys around them were also quite impressed. Even Ifrit had to admit it, even though he never understood humans’ fashion. For him, her natural presence alone was enough to sway him.

"It worked splendidly," her voice sounded incredibly gentle and oppressive at the same time. She smiled as she looked at Hephaestus. Her slender legs took one step and her wings left a white trail behind. She instantly disappeared from everyone's sight.

Hephaestus' eyes narrowed and the next thing he knew; he had been stabbed by a rapier right where his heart should be. He looked down in haste and tried to grab the blade but a detonation resounded and his body was thrown away as the rapier was pulled out without any effort.

He felt his spine bend and his bones being crushed. He opened his eyes wide and swung his ax at the ground to break the momentum of his ‘flight’. He then wielded his hammer to strike the debris ejected upward by the ax’s impact. The small rocks transformed into black metal projectiles.

His opponent chuckled and the metal was pulverized by multiple rays of light. She raised her rapier and slowly drew a line in mid-air with the tip. The white line glowed and released a magic blade.

Hephaestus prepared to block the attack with his hammer and then throw his ax but his opponent's eyes glowed with both an azure and pink hue.

The Blacksmith God was suddenly paralyzed and his head started hurting as if someone was drilling it from the inside. He lost his will to fight and the magic blade made a clean cut on his chest. It exploded with a powerful blast that made Hephaestus dig the first crater on this barren land created by the First Blue Art.

The gods looked agape as the winged beauty that could even bring shame to a love goddess gently landed on the ground. Her demeanor and attitude felt extremely domineering and confident.

Their mind flashed back to what happened inside the dimension after Arima chanted a mysterious magic carrying what can only be a worrying connotation in its name.

When the light invaded the dimension's boundaries, they saw Arima disappear as the figures of Lanya and Lilis joined together to form a single one. After that, they only felt a sudden burst of aura and they were kicked out of the dimension.

They were not stupid. They understood what happened. By some miracle, Arima had managed to fuse Lanya’s and Lilis’ souls to save the former from imminent death. They were able to comprehend that much but they were hard-pressed to accept it.

'Lilis' and 'Lanya' looked at 'themselves'. They didn’t only share memories and emotions. They literally had fused together to form a new individual. A new personality.

"How should I call myself?"

That was what 'they' were worried about the most. They couldn't keep either Lanya or Lilis since both did not correspond to what they had become. After a moment of thought and the sound of Hephaestus getting up, 'they' finally decided.

"Well, let’s not beat around the bush… Hm, ‘Layla’ is pleasant to the ears. I guess I’ll take it," she decided and immediately took up on her new name.

Layla breathed in and a relaxed expression appeared on her face. She then exhaled and her eyes gained some sharpness. Her sky-blue eyes shined and looked at Pandora in the sky.

Her Draconic Eyes couldn't perceive Pandora's future even after she had raised her strength to the Third Divine. Even with Chronepsis' knowledge that she had just fully acquired, she wasn't capable of analyzing it.

Layla squinted her eyes and heightened her senses. The unlocking noises coming from the box were still going on. Hephaestus gradually stood up while everyone was staring at Pandora.

Layla smiled and looked at the injured Demon. She casually whirled her rapier and invoked her aura as she prepared for battle.

"Let's see how long you can last," she taunted.

The gods were gaping and Karaskan was utterly lost.

"…Who the heck is that?”

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