Chapter 257: 257. ”Afterworld.”

"[First Forbidden Art, Lex Autem Aequivalens]," Arima chanted and the transparent circle above his right hand started spinning. The Creators couldn't react as that same circle was branded on their energy essence.

 

The Devil placed his hand on the mark that had appeared on his body and tried to dispel it. But as excepted, it didn't work at all, since it wasn't even really placed on his physical body in the first place.

 

"You…what are you trying to do?"

 

"What? Don't tell me you don't recognize this Law," Arima smiled as the circle that had emerged from inside his body was getting bigger behind him. The self-destructing measure that he had planted inside his soul realm was finally being used.

 

"Lex Autem Aequivalens, the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Too simple but too dangerous at the same time. You see, in contrast with the Law of Balance which makes you gamble, this Law really gives you something in exchange for another of the same worth," Arima said and the Creators didn't stop him.

 

"I could ask for anything. But the reason this Law is so antagonized is most likely because it's too unsure. Things may not be as worth for you as they are for others after all. It's even an evil and wicked way to do things since it usually requires lives to work properly. Indeed, we can't put a price on human lives but we can tell which one is more valuable than the other."

 

"…I know all of that," the Devil responded and glared at Arima with his inexistent eyes. "What I want to know is if you're aware of what you're doing?"

 

"Of course, I am," Arima lightly laughed. "I connected my life to you two by the authority of this Law. Actually, killing you has always been easy. Although I have to admit, I'm lucky that I didn't trigger the bomb in my soul before fighting you. I didn't know that you would have a pseudo-soul. I would have blown myself up without knowing you would survive."

 

The Original God had already managed to recover his body at this point. He stood a few meters away from his counterpart and surprisingly stayed silent. The two imposing creatures were both quietly listening to the words of a hundred meters tall demon.

 

"But I had a safety measure. This Law will connect my life to yours. If I die, you die. It's as simple as that. I blow myself up, you blow up too. Isn't that pretty neat?"

 

"…There are two things in your plan that are completely irrational," the God raised his voice. "First of all, your life alone may be enough for the Law of Exchange to kill one of us. But the other will survive."

 

"True. My life is perhaps not worth the two of you combined," Arima shrugged. "But you see, I have someone else with me right now that can help to fill that gap."

 

"{…I hope it's not me you're talking about.}"

 

"It's you that I'm talking about, Krynox. If I die, you die. That's not new anyway."

 

"{That's not the issue! I don't want to be used as a sacrificial chip!}" Krynox retorted and grumbled. "{My goodness, is this what everyone becomes when they stay with you for too long? They start bashing you instead of the enemy?}"

 

Arima's eyes widened. He seriously gave it some thought and tilted his head. "I think so."

 

"{It's even worse even if you're aware of it.}"

 

"It's true that you have the Spirit of Existence with you. Then let me point out the second problem. I don't appreciate acting like the fool, but I still need to say it. If you do that, you will die," the Devil uttered and Arima chuckled.

 

"Obviously."

 

"That brings me to the third and final conflict. Once all of us three die, the balance will be compromised. Without the Original God and Devil, the world will break apart without a leading presence. The Worldly Energies such as mana will probably go out of control and kill the people using them."

 

"The only ones left would be the ones without magic. But even they will lose the protection of the Laws which regulate how things should be. The Laws will lose a leading pattern and do things that will steer the world to its end."

 

"In the case where you kill us and stay alive, you could have taken our place by absorbing our life force from us. But in the scenario of our collective death, the world will end even if we don't wish for it. Which goes against your goals."

 

The Creators explained the consequences together and Arima couldn't do anything else but to keep his smile.

 

"That is something I already knew. Don't worry about it. Even if we, the three 'leaders', die, I can assure you that nothing like the end of the world will occur."

 

That's what the demon said and the Creators didn't have anything else to retort with. The crimson magic circle behind Arima didn't show any signs of receding as well. And as it expanded, the two Creators sat down cross-legged and shook the ground by doing so.

 

"So, you're going to give up just like this?"

 

"Don't mock us, Kind Demon. Your formation can't be stopped anymore at this point. The only way to stop it is to kill you. But by doing so, we will also die. There's no point in trying to fight."

 

"But we will not end our lives for you to live either. If we fall, we'll drag you down with us no matter what."

 

Arima grinned and sat down as well. "What a wise decision coming from you two."

 

The three invincible super-powers of this world were sitting in a circle while one of them was about to self-destruct. None of them was talking and emitting a sound whatsoever.

 

"{…This is so awkward. Arima, you won't actually die to kill them, right?}"

 

"{What are you talking about? I will 100% lose my life today. The Law of Exchange has already been cast, after all,}" Arima replied with telepathy to not alarm the Creators in front of him.

 

"{How do you plan to save the world from its destruction then? I didn't see you do anything for that?}"

 

"{Secret.}"

 

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"{…...Why did you erase their memories then?}"

 

"{I didn't erase but confined them. The reason… the main one is just that I didn't want Layla to end her own life in the next few days. That's all. Since I locked her recognition as well, she shouldn't be able to remember by looking back in time.}"

 

"{That's quite a sad ending.}"

 

"{Do you think so?}" Arima flashed a smile and the Creators caught that.

 

The God stared at him. "What is funny?"

 

"Nothing, really."

 

"Since we have come to this. Why don't you tell us how you plan to keep the equilibrium once we die?" The Devil asked the thing he was the most curious about.

 

"Well, you won't be able to stop it now even if tell you. So, why not?"

 

"{Huh?}" Krynox exclaimed at his words. "{What the hell? Why did you say 'secret' when I asked you? Hey, Arimane!}"

 

Arima ignored Krynox and started explaining his plan to the Creators. "The Téra are the key to do that."

 

"Téra? Those lowly creatures birthed by Pandora?"

 

"Indeed. When I gained immortality and my Godhood, I finally was able to use the Laws to a certain degree without facing any setback. In this case, I used the Laws to change the fundamental behavior of the Téra. Usually, they would appear around inhabited areas and get stronger over time. In the original setting, Téra should have been strong enough to kill humans the moment they, let's say, spawn."

 

"I changed that. I made them weaker and gave them more intelligence at the same time so that maybe one day they would be able to make a civilization and either make peace with humans or maybe wage a legitimate war with them."

 

The Devil was quite interested apparently as he was all ears. "I think I understand. Did you turn them into your army?"

 

"Yes," Arima smirked. "The Téra are actually all connected together by a common link. I only needed to infect one so that the others underwent the same change. While doing that, I left my mark as their ruler."

 

"But it's a bit strange," the Devil commented. "With all of those entities as your followers, you should have been a lot stronger as the Kind Demon. Maybe even more than us. Unless..."

 

"You're correct. The Téra can think but they lack what we call spirit. As you perfectly know, it's the Spirit Realm that converts the beliefs of mortals to create Gods. But since the Téra don't have spirits, they can't make me stronger."

 

"I see. It makes sense. In the end, through your influence, the Téra became strong enough to monitor the world and prevent it from collapsing. It most likely worked only because they are a race capable of linking themselves at will, forming a single mind that has roots everywhere," the Devil laughed once he had understood everything.

 

"After all, you were a really fascinating human. Angra Mainyu was a powerful being that we almost lost control on. We never expected him to give birth to a new race to prepare his reincarnation. But it's ironic how you managed to overpower the Ancient Spirit who had created your race in the first place. Then you showed us a Life Hunt that surpassed everything else as well as a terrific talent."

 

"Ultimately, everything was decided the moment you were born. We didn't do anything. We never controlled your fate whatsoever nor ever felt something strange around you when you were born in a normal world without magic." 

 

The Devil formed a mouth with the dark energy coming out his neck and grinned. "You're one of those; someone born to be the strongest. You were not fated; you were meant to be. That would be more accurate."

 

Arima started laughing along. "You're also quite interesting for a Devil. Maybe we will meet again in the afterworld," he stated as his body started to turn into dust. The magic circle behind him was completed and the silent explosion commenced.

 

As predicted when Arima made the bomb, his soul was expanding and contaminating the surrounding magic circuits.

 

"The afterworld?" The Devil was stunned.

 

"Of course. Humans always asked themselves this question, right? What is death? What comes after? We'll never know. No one will ever know. Because I may have died once, but I'm still speaking to you, right? A dead man tells no tales. As long as someone is moving and talking in front of me, I don't believe he saw the afterworld."

 

The Devil was utterly shocked. His perspective had been changed at the last minute of his life. Only the Original God just sneered and ignored Arima's words as he waited for his end.

 

"Haha, you're right! That's indeed the truth. I thought that I had gone over that. Death. I always considered myself to have nothing to with it. But you're right, after all. You can't possibly be unfazed by death if you don't what it is. Where the dead go, huh? This has never been more appealing to look for. Thank you, Kind Demon."

 

Arima nodded, more than half of his body had already vanished. "It was a pleasure for me, Slanderer."

 

The Devil grinned again then Arima's body completely disappeared.

 

"Hey, Prayer. It's only a matter of time now. What do you think?"

 

"Nothing. All of this was stupid and ludicrous."

 

"You will never change, huh?"

 

What followed their last words was colorless, soundless, painless, and instantaneous. As the Eternal Haven' was tumbling down, a certain light illuminated the entire Existence at the same moment.

 

In the middle of that mysterious light, everyone happened to witness a weird book frantically flipping its pages.

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