Life Hunter

In a place disconnected from what you'd call physical matter, a fetus-like entity was being formed at an extremely slow pace. Although it was weak, it was constantly being given the energy to grow up.

After just a few months, that living being was already stronger than most, capable of destroying planets with a glare.

A few years fast-forward and an infant who kept his eyes closed was hugging his knees as if he was sleeping and waiting for a certain moment. His growth afterward was astounding and certainly atypical.

Every single muscle of the boy was perfectly built and shaped as if he was training them for decades or maybe centuries. But he still looked like a seven-year-old child.

When he reached ten years of age, seven strange and uncanny creatures appeared and started revolving around him as if they were trying to please and comfort him.

At fifteen years, a pair of black scaled and feathered wings grew on his back and were fully developed and deployed five years later.

Then finally, after twenty-five years, a man with dazing looks, pale skin, and an intimidating build opened his silver eyes.

At first, there were four irises, but they all trembled before fusing to form a normal pair of eyes. The man with long black hair, which had not been cut since his birth, covered his eyes with his hands.

He only put them away after a few minutes. When he did so, his pupils narrowed into a slit for less than a second as his eyes became red. A circled hexagram was projected and glowed strongly.

"…Natus evolved I see," the man commented with a smile and tapped his wings before folding them. He looked at himself and practiced some movements while stretching. At the moment, he was completely naked, so he could also see that there were no scars on his body.

"Oh shit…" He suddenly cursed when his eyes reverted to their usual silver color and that the crimson hexagrams had shrunk to become a very small symbol in the center of his pupils.

"{…First of all, I need explanations. Urgently. Like, right now, please.}"

"Krynox, could you wait for a little before that. I need to check my body and also lament about the fact that I forgot to rewrite my eyes," Arima responded and sighed.

He cracked his neck and snapped his fingers. Aeter covered him and produced some really strong dark lightning. When thunder exploded, it was replaced by fire.

Under that layer of flames, a new outfit was being created. The first to appear was the pants, then the shirt, the coat, and at the end, a necklace that depicted a skulled cross. Additionally, a pair of glasses were put on Arima's nose.

When the fire dispersed, his new coat fluttered. It was a black velvet coat with a red fur interior that could be seen around the collar. There were a few decorations on it such as the white bands around the sleeves.

But the most dazzling features were the small purple and fluorescent dots spread across the surface of the entire coat. The dots would shine every time he moved and were especially pretty in a dark place. It made the fabric look like a starry night sky.

"{Finished?}"

"Yeah, yeah…" Arima arranged his glasses and cut his hair so that it reached his shoulders. "It's done. So, you want explanations, right?"

"{Yes.}"

"Well, basically, what happened was this. When I activated the soul bomb, I first cast the Fourth Black Art to make everyone forget about me. I'll come back to it later. Then, I invoked the Lawless Tome. The Tome's role wasn't to pass on my will to the Téra like I may have let you think. Actually, the Téra were already able to use Laws as a group thanks to me. What I said about preventing the world from collapsing with them was true though."

"The Lawless Tome's job was to save my life. And that plan to keep me alive had, as he said, less than 1.3% chance of succeeding. That's why I didn't tell you since it would just give you false hope."

"{…Sure, why not. Although I'm pretty sure I could have dealt with some false hope. Anyway, although I have an idea now, what was that plan of yours in the end?}"

"The main points were the First Black Art and the Spirit Realm. I gave the order to the Tome to cast 'Diuinitus' during the collapse of the 'Eternal Haven' by using the life force of the God and the Devil. The energy provided by those two should've been enough to materialize at least one cross on every planet or any type of viable environment that existed. All of that thanks to the connection the 'Eternal Haven' had with every location throughout the Realities."

"Then, obviously, through the crosses, the Tome intruded their mind and kind of sneakily gave them information about me. They won't revere me or something like that. What the Tome had to do was to make them believe I existed and tell them who I was."

"All of that happened in a single instant. A moment where everyone in Existence was focused on me. All of their spirits combined triggered the Spirit Realm and gave birth to me again. The nuance is crucial. I wasn't resurrected by them. I was reborn."

Arima clenched his hands and scanned himself with the two hexagrams of Natus. "That's why I'm not a Life Hunter anymore. I may be even race-less. I am what others imagined me to be. In this case, I'm strictly a divinity."

"To conclude, there were three reasons why I confined the memories of everyone that knew me. The first one was indeed to stop Layla from ending her own life. I think she's capable of being calm in every situation, but that's also why she would have no qualms in killing herself to follow me."

Arima shrugged. "That was pretty stressful. The second reason was that people remembering me could have disrupted the Spirit Realm. For the latter to create me, I needed to not exist. If the Spirit Realm had received the thoughts of the people learning about me and had matched them with the people knowing about me, it might have simply concluded that the two were the same people and thus should be dying."

"The third reason was because of my memories and personality. For me to retain my past-self, I needed people that were familiar with me to offer their memories of me at the same time as everyone else discovered my existence. Well, for you as well. We two form one but you may have been completely assimilated by me if I hadn't done that."

"{…I'll be honest here. My mind is blown,}" Krynox uttered. "{You rebooted the entire universe just so that you could live.}"

"I guess you're right," Arima waved his hand a created a fissure on the strange, matter-less, dimension he was in. He stepped through and ended up on a random planet.

But even if he had never visited this place before, he knew about it and everything going on its surface because he was linked to every single one of his crosses. And even though he wasn't a Life Hunter anymore, he could still drain people's powers through the Crosses.

And theoretically, as the God that he is now, he could also create by himself a technique capable of extracting life force and even bestow it to anyone.

Arima hummed as he looked around. "This is a sub-reality. One born from a story in one of the Mother Realities…" He remarked as he scanned the entire planet and particularly a certain castle where a certain princess was summoning a group of high school kids.

"Anyway, I'll just go back home now," Arima turned around and took another step, his exquisite coat wavered as he landed on the ground of Earth.

Right then, as if she knew in advance, a woman suddenly fell from the sky and grabbed him. The aftermaths made a deep crater on the plain they were in.

Arima's eyes widened but his body had barely even moved. His position hadn't changed at all even with that shock. From the moment he was struck by the flying girl, he kept standing straight while the earth at his feet was crushed.

Now, Layla was hugging him tightly. "Um, Layla? Could you release me now? Please?" His words were completely ignored and instead, she used more strength.

"Ow," Arima relaxingly exclaimed but then frowned. "Wait… Ow? Me?" He then noticed some time ripples in the air and a large amount of mana flowing. "Oi… Oi! Layla?! Are you using your full strength right now?! Stop, quick! You're going to destroy the planet!"

Arima groaned as he was casually being ignored. He patted her and every single energy wave was put to rest within a second. He sighed and gently pushed her away.

"I temporarily cut off your circuits, alright? It's your fault."

Layla glared at him with tears in her eyes and a silly pout. "You know what's worst about what you did?"

Arima pursed his lips and anxiously laughed. "I don't know?"

She breathed in and wiped her tears. "It's the fact that I can't find a good reason to be angry at you except for the fact that you gave me the biggest fear of my life. I know that you couldn't tell me since it would have reduced the chances of you coming back."

Arima smiled and stroked her head. Layla growled in both happiness and resentment because he decided to just pat her but didn't complain at all.

"Why don't you just hug already?" Malum's voice resounded and Arima looked up to see him crouching at the edge of the crater with a smirk on his face.

Arima snickered and jumped from the hole with Layla. "What about you?"

Malum stood up and squinted his eyes to observe him. "You… you changed a little bit. It's almost like… you've recovered most of your emotions. How did you do that?"

Layla visibly reacted to that as she seriously stared at Arima. She, of course, had noticed that change but couldn't find the cause even if she looked with her 'Unblinking Eyes'.

In contrast, Night thought of something. "Did you perhaps get a new timeline?"

"{Indeed, I detect a new mentality inside of you,}" Jorga joined the conversation as his giant body coiled in the sky, behind the clouds. His mastery of mind magic allowed him to notice a change.

Arima shrugged and just smiled. "That's one of the reasons, I guess. I'll explain what happened later," he declared and turned toward someone who stayed silent and passive. "So, Ahura, what's your verdict?"

Ahura returned his look and showed a rare smile on her cold expression. "There's no point in me chasing you anymore. You dominated Angra's soul, to begin with. And with what you've done and how strong you've become; do you think I would ever think about standing on your path? Just go live your life."

"Ah, I'll be sure to do that, sis," Arima extended his hand to her and she accepted it. She shook hands with him and nodded.

"You better be, bro," her expression returned to normal as she turned to look at Sebasfiel who was now back to be an old butler. "Let's go, Sebas."

"Wait," Layla stopped them before they could leave. She smiled and beckoned them to look at a certain place. Two persons teleported there almost immediately. They were Jin and Evergreen. Layla giggled as Ahura tilted her head.

"Why don't you stay for the marriage? You're all welcome. Right?"

Jin laughed and nodded. "Of course, especially if it's Arima's sister."

"Oh, so you're marrying now," Arima was a bit surprised. "By the way, how long has it been since last time you saw me?"

Jin mused for a few seconds. "Well, it's been around a month already, I think. Your friends arrived a week ago. They explained to me what happened."

Arima awkwardly laughed.

"{Well, it's true that after all of that happened it's a bit odd that it amounts to only a month. Maybe that, along with your rebirth and the time distortions during your fights, you were gone for around 30 years from your perspective.}"

Meanwhile, Ahura was pondering and finally accepted the invitation when Sebas told her it wasn't a bad idea.

"Let's do it then, we still have to prepare for the right amount of people," Evergreen sounded a lot gentler but she still had a domineering presence around her.

***

In the next few days, everyone attended the marriage in the largest church funded by Aurorae. Arima sat quietly during the ceremony with a smile on his face.

When Evergreen and Jin finally kissed and concluded the marriage, everyone cheered. The dryad then made the flowers of the bouquet she had in her hands bloom beautifully and threw it behind her.

As expected, the one who got it first was none other than Layla. She giggled and made a victory sign while looking at Arima. The latter could only laugh bitterly.

At the same time, two other people caught a second and third bouquet that appeared out of nowhere. Only a few people noticed that it was Sebas who slyly made them appear with a shrewd grin.

The ones who had caught them were Shakti, sitting next to Malum, and Karma, right beside Night. Both of them had caught them completely out of instinct. They practically fell on their laps and they could only blink in surprise when they saw the flowers in front of them.

Ultimately, it didn't take them a lot of time after that to prepare the next marriages. The first one being between Malum and Shakti, followed by Night and Karma, which wasn't a really surprising couple since they had that kind of natural relationship since the moment they were born.

The last one was obviously between Arima and Layla, and it was Layla who basically had to take the initiative and force Arima to kneel and propose. Which he did with a stiff face.

But in the end, for all of them, marriage was just something to express that they cared about each other. They would certainly stay together from there on but when you think about it, marriage wasn't something essential for people like them who stood at the apex.

But one notable thing was how Malum laughed to tears when he saw Arima's slightly embarrassed expression during his union with Layla, something which only his close companions could discern.

***

A few months later, after Layla stopped dragging Arima, not around the planet, but the entire world for their honeymoon, Arima created a locked dimension that was connected to all of his crosses. It was a charming place filled with nature and an entire ecosystem.

In there, he constructed a humanoid golem with the strongest metals existing and infused a certain life essence into it; one that the Lawless Tome had preserved as he was ordered.

The dark blue golem's eyes lit up in with a red light. At first sight, it looked like a moving armor. The golem waved its arms around like an idiot and Arima sat down to wait for it to finish.

After a few minutes, the living armor sat down cross-legged in front of Arima who was eating a few candies.

"Why did you bring me back?" The golem spoke with an emotionless voice and Arima handed him a plate of snacks. "…What are you doing?"

"Eat. I gave you a sense of taste. You should be able to appreciate it," Arima replied and the golem slowly started eating. He froze for a few seconds when he ate his first snack and reached for another one a little bit faster although he tried to hide it.

"The reason I revived you is that I want you to monitor this world for me, Slanderer."

When Arima spoke up, the golem, who was stuffing himself, halted every movement.

"What do you mean by that?"

"This place is not the 'Eternal Haven' but it will do the trick. I also added in your life essence, a part of the Original God's life energy so that you can keep the balance by yourself. I gave you some life force as well but you should be able to use Laws without it anyway."

"So, that's why I felt strange… Once again, why?" The Slanderer raised his voice. "Don't you have the Téra to do that? Also, you seem to be living a peaceful life right now. Are you sure it's a good idea to revive me and give me power? I could betray you."

"No chance. In the first place, you can't hope to even threaten me anymore," Arima smirked and the golem fell silent. "As for why; it's because I can't let everything to the Téra because there are chances that they will do something stupid by themselves. But you see, I don't want to oversee them all the time, it's exhausting and annoying. So instead, I'll let you do everything. Keep sure that the Laws don't go berserk, repair the damaged circuits, maintain the balance of blessings and curses in every Plane of each Reality, and so on."

"…In short, you push the work on me because you're too lazy, right?"

"Correct."

"…"

"…"

A lengthy silence was installed between them. Only the chirps of the birds and the wind blowing could be heard.

"Well, you're more experienced than me and you're also the only Creator that I trust."

"You're right about that. Prayer would undoubtedly plot against you. There's no doubt. At the very beginning, when we were all alone and decided to give birth to the world, Prayer was already shrewd and hard to satisfy. He only believed in his own opinion and we ended up creating the notions of bad and good."

Arima chuckled. "Well, that's one of the reasons I had to eliminate him I guess," he chugged the cup of tea and sighed. "To be completely honest with you, it's not only because I'm lazy that I'm giving you this work. It's also because I want to be free."

"Free?"

"Yes. You see, I will continue to wander. Before all of this, my reach was limited to the Earth's surface. But now, my playground is the Existence. I will never get short of things to do. So, the real reason I called you was because I want you to fix things behind me if there's a need."

"'Wander', is it?" The Slanderer was perplexed. "What does that mean? What are you going to do?"

"Oh, come on. Don't you know what I am?" Arima grinned. "I'm an assassin. I shoot heads and slit throats for the betterment of this world. Just like yours."

The Slanderer wordlessly gazed at Arima and watched him stand up.

"See you. I'll come back to check on you from time to time," Arima said those words before leaving the dimension.

Once he was alone, the Slanderer started laughing. The metal composing his body made some noise too. His voice made the animals run and the birds fly off the trees.

"The strongest being in existence is a killer, huh? It's so fitting."

As he said that, a bird landed on his head and started pecking it.

"…fuck off, you little pest."