Chapter 167: 167. “Where is your story?”

Layla had left the gods to rejoin with Arima. She had a bad feeling from the start and with her time vision, she saw him falling down an endless pit.

When she was about a thousand meters away from the 'abyss', she could already see it in all its ‘splendor’. She was shocked by the damage Arima had done but still continued forward amongst the chaos that Hell was going through at the moment.

It went far beyond some measly earthquakes or eruptions at that point. Fissures on the Space-Time dimension started opening randomly and would cut into pieces anything entering in contact with it, if not turned into dust right away. Even the air itself was being aspired like a vacuum.

Layla was using a magic similar to 'Lightning Serpent' and was traveling quickly in the form of a small dragon made out of light. But when she reached the 'abyss' her body instinctively froze and she ended up landing in front of it, unable to advance further.

Even as she concentrated all of her willpower, she wasn't able to move more than that. Her instincts were telling her to get away from that hole at any cost. She bit her lip and invoked her full draconic appearance. As she was about to force her way through her own mind, something else made her step back.

This time, it was pure, unrestricted fear. Her face slightly paled as she detected a wicked presence coming toward her. Before she could jump back, two red eyes flashed in front of her for a second before a presence appeared behind her.

Layla recognized the figure shadowing her and exclaimed in surprise. But still failed to calm down or turn around. The creature behind her was simply jolting her survival instinct.

"Oh, Layla." Then she heard an eerie voice pronouncing her name. It sounded as if he had just noticed who she was and the pressure suffocating her promptly vanished. When she was finally able to look back, her eyes widened as she saw the black dragon with his glowing silver mane. The grin on his face and the mad luster in his eyes made her gasp.

"Sorry, this body is quite exhausted right now. So, I had to sacrifice a bit of my consciousness to move it. Didn't recognize you until now. Thought you were a Téras survivor," the dragon spoke whilst grinning.

Layla shuddered but then stared at the dragon's eyes with a sharp and deadly look. "Who are you?"

The dragon stared at her for a moment before laughing. "Oh, right. You don't know me yet," he said. "You can call me Malum. Your charming prince named me as such," he quipped and Layla frowned.

"{Stop messing around, we need to go,}" Night's voice resounded.

Malum clicked his tongue. "I know, I know…you're no fun," he grumbled and the sigils on his chest and eyes glowed. Just after, the sound of an engine was heard and Deva arrived and drifted just in front of them to stop.

Deva's engine weakly activated and the bike drove in a circle around Malum. As if it was inspecting the new body of its owner. Malum smirked and didn't say anything. The bike made several turns before it started changing shape.

It glowed with a blue light and its size soon surpassed even Malum's. It seemed to be taking the shape of a living being. It grew two pairs of giant wings and a long snake-like body. Two pairs of horns also sprouted on the head of the silhouette.

"Wow," when the transformation ended, Layla exclaimed in amazement and Malum whistled.

At first glance, it looked like a three hundred-meter long sky dragon but if you looked more closely, you would be able to spot some major differences.

First of all, the entire creature was covered by a soft white fur and there were even some black lines on it giving a certain allure, forcing you to trace it with your eyes. The wings were composed of bones and a net, like dragons, but feathers instead.

The head of the magnificent beast had four horns on its forehead and had more white fur to cover it. Its face looked like a dragon's but the muzzle and fangs were shorter. Its eyes were glowing with a calm and composed luster. The beautiful creature, which looked like the progenitor of all angels, looked at Malum with its white and green eyes.

"I see. So, this is your original appearance," he remarked and flapped his wings. He jumped lightly and landed on Deva’s back before sitting down. Layla was stunned but when she saw Deva glaring at her to hurry up, she immediately imitated Malum.

When she landed on the huge creature, Layla was pleasantly surprised by the comfort brought by the fur. At the same time, Deva started moving and no wind was produced as she ascended.

"It should be alright now," Malum suddenly spoke and closed his eyes. The next instant, the huge dragon seemed to be asleep.

"{Hey! Don't leave… now…}" Night shouted and trailed with a tired sigh. "{Karma, materialize yourself. Make sure Arima doesn't fall off.}"

"{Sure,}" Karma got out of Arima's soul and returned to her human form, next to the dragon. She chanted a magic and seemed to have stabilized his body. She then looked at Layla and smiled.

She went to her and sat down. Layla tilted her head and also sat down after releasing her dragon form.

"So, you are both Lanya and Lilis now?" Karma asked and Layla sighed as she realized what Karma was thinking.

"Yes," she responded and smiled. "But there's no problem. I'm quite happy this way. Although I can't say that I still am either Lanya or Lilis, I know that I'm born from their fusion and that I am a wholly new person. It’s a rather peculiar feeling, to be honest."

She giggled and looked at Karma in the eyes. "But you don't have to worry about me. In fact, I wish you could just consider me as what I am right now. I'm neither; I’m simply Layla from now on."

Karma's eyes widened and blinked several times. Night was also listening and although he could talk to them through telepathy, he remained silent.

"I understand…" Karma nodded before smiling brightly. "Nice to meet you, Layla," she said and extended her hand.

"Likewise," Layla smiled wryly and shook hands with her. Night smiled internally.

Deva then opened her mouth and let out a light growl. But even if it was weak for her, it sounded so loud and powerful that you could almost feel some physical pressure.

"{It seems like she is warning us. We'll move out soon,}" Night informed the two girls. They nodded and sat down beside the sleeping Arima.

"You said 'she' though. Night, is Deva a girl?" Layla asked as she rubbed the soft fur she was sitting on.

"{Yes. I'm communicating with her through Arima's soul,}" Night answered and just after, Deva flapped her four wings.

The sight of Hell's destruction seemed to become a blurry image. A white ring of light flashed before Deva disappeared in the blink of an eye.

From the Gates’ location, Chulainn witnessed both the apparition of Deva and her departure. He smiled with his three heads and turned around to go through the closing Hell Gate.

"See you around," he muttered and jumped inside the gate.

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In the next ten minutes after he left, both Gates had vanished to never be summoned again. Heaven and Hell reached the same state and truly began to collapse. As if the earth was ethereal, it went inside the fissures on the Space-Time dimension like a liquid.

The sky lost its clouds, stars, and sun. It soon became a world of darkness and then it was the turn for the matter to vanish. The molecules were torn apart one after the other and at some point, even Arima's abyss didn't matter anymore because everything else had become as empty.

***

"Why did you retrieve my soul?"

Arima heard a voice and woke up. He opened his eyes to see the realm of his soul. He was lying down in the middle of the vine field. He casually stood up and cracked his neck.

"So, I was knocked out in the end, huh?" He mumbled. "I must have swapped with Malum…"

He looked around and his eyes fell on the man who woke him up. The old beast-man was sitting there, staring at him.

"Yo, Utain," Arima grinned. "First of all, don't be mistaken. I didn't retrieve your soul because I was being nice."

He said and walked toward the beast-man. "I retrieved your mind only because I want you to tell me what you know about the Life Hunters," Arima declared and Utain frowned.

"Why?"

"Well, I'm simply curious about my origins," Arima shrugged. "Why don't you begin with my clan? Reigen, was it?"

Utain closed his eyes and sighed.

"…The Reigen clan was the largest faction among the Life Hunters," he said. "Thousands of years ago, Life Hunters made a place for themselves in this Plane. They had formed different clans to have a better organization."

"The Reigen clan was the most influential and essentially Life Hunters’ royalty. I'm sure you know already that the reason Life Hunters went extinct was that the gods acted to eradicate them."

Arima nodded.

"What made the gods move was precisely the Reigen clan," Utain looked up. "In short, your ancestors are responsible for the death of your entire kind," he stated.

"What happened is simple; they became crazy for power. The head of the clan was infuriated that he couldn't get stronger after getting stuck at the Third Divine. The life force he could get from other beings wasn't enough. So, they got the brilliant idea to search for creatures with abundant life force."

"Guess who they set their eyes on, after years of slaughter in the lower worlds?"

"Gods," Arima answered shortly. "I suppose that Heaven was their target."

"…Yes. Of course, Life Hunters had never been weak. They managed to kill hundreds of gods and angels until Odin and Ifrit both acted together to fend them off. Ifrit only helped because he feared that the Life Hunters would attack Hell afterward."

"In the end, the Life Hunters were eliminated and the head of the Reigen clan was sentenced in Heaven and put through eternal suffer within Hell's core," Utain paused and grinned. "Which you happen to have destroyed."

Arima emotionlessly listened. "Your name," Utain added. "I finally recall where I heard it. It was during the late stages of the war between Life Hunters and Heaven."

Arima scowled and signaled him to continue. "If I'm not wrong, you were the last child of the entire race. Life Hunters had a wise oracle. He foresaw that the Life Hunters would be able to perdure thanks to that single child…” He paused and snorted. “The child's name was Ahriman."

"Ahriman is a primordial evil spirit, from one of the oldest religions in the world. Usually, most religions are actually factual such as gods like Zeus and Hades. But Zoroastrianism is a universal creed that is carried across parallel worlds."

"When you were born, Arimane, your race thought of you as the true Ahriman," Utain chuckled. "You were his reincarnation and a true demon from the very beginning. Your incredible strength does not only come from your talent."

"You were born under the name of Ahriman. That’s how it is. You may be human but at the end of the day, your soul is morphed beyond what is possible. You hold within yourself the spiritual legacy of a true incarnation of death," Utain cackled and Arima furrowed his eyebrows.

"…What about you? Where is your story in all of that?" He asked back.

Utain laughed. "Me? I was in the background, at the very first part. During the first wave of assaults by the Life Hunters in the lower worlds, my home town was also attacked."

"We welcomed them because we didn't want to be killed. I was the son of the chief back then. When the head of the Reigen came to meet him, he didn't even try to negotiate," Utain gritted his teeth. "He grabbed my father’s head and crushed under the eyes of my mother and me."

"Then, that man dared to toss the body with a disappointed expression. Afterward, when my mother approached him to plead for my life, he glanced at me and sneered. He waved his hand and my mother died right there."

"Then, for some reason, he spared me and left without saying anything. I collapsed right there and then, and covered my ears as I heard the screams of everyone in town," Utain told with unhidden rage.

"I was just a pitiful kid. Just a small tragedy in the middle of everything else. But here I am now. I may have perished but I killed hundreds of Life Hunters for revenge. I then started hunting every of those meriting to die by my hands. That's how I became The Destroyer. That’s my life, satisfied?"

"Satisfied, huh?" Arima snickered. "I’m indeed satisfied to finally learn that my race apparently was the most stupid case of voracity. Thank you for the information anyway. Your mind will fade away shortly. Go meet your family in the afterworld," he said and turned around.

Utain's eyes sharpened. "Do you really think there's an afterworld?"

"Well," Arima stopped walking. "Who knows. How can we be sure that there isn't one? Heaven and Hell clearly aren’t. For me, as long as someone is capable of talking with me, he's not dead. Someone claiming having seen the afterworld evidently hasn’t."

"That possibility will only be verified when someone truly dies and returns to tell us," Arima laughed and disappeared. "But that’s a paradox that can never be defied."

When Utain was left alone, he looked down at his vanishing body and sighed. He didn't even say one last word and died mutely.

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