Life Hunter

"Wait… I need to drop by somewhere," Arima suddenly said and changed his destination just as he was about to enter his soul again. He reappeared inside a circular, dome-shaped room.

It was extremely wide, perhaps as much as a hectare. The floor was made out of a mystifying material that radiated an incredible amount of pure energy. The color also tended to swap between black, red, and blue. It was a really odd sight.

At the very center of the room stood an imposing representation of the Kind Demon's Cross and just above it was located a cubic magic stone that was responsible of the lighting.

Skipping the numerous extra decorations, the most eye-catching aspect of this place was definitely the hundreds of doors on the walls. There were even long rows of stairs circling the room so that one would be able to access every door.

The material in which the doors were fabricated with seemed to vary in sturdiness and color. But on each one of them, there was a common symbol.

"{This place became really fancy since your 'rebirth',}" Krynox commented. Arima quietly nodded and made his way toward the stairs.

"{From what I can see, this is Kymestuos' Twelfth Level. Why are we here?}"

"To meet some ex-inmates," Arima responded matter-of-factly as he climbed the staircase. He passed by many doors and only spared a glance for each one of them. He then stopped in front of the one with a large eight wrote on it.

"{Eighth… that woman?}"

"Yeah," Arima opened the door and stepped inside. What lied behind was a dark and damp cell. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of indestructible dark stone and no light would be able to reach the cell if the door wasn't open.

At the very back of the room, there was an illusionary-looking door. Arima squinted his eyes and opened it. A bright light flashed but he didn't even blink. He suddenly reappeared inside of a cozy wooden hut in the middle of a forest.

He looked around and hummed. An elderly woman then came out of one of the rooms holding a fruit basket and gasped when she saw Arima.

"We meet again, Baba Yaga."

The old woman slowly put down the basked she had in her hands and scowled at Arima.

"…How did you find me?"

"Kymestuos is my Hell. Anyone who has ever been imprisoned there will be left with a mark on their soul. And you see, even if you were there for only a short while, it's enough for you to be branded for life. It's a sort of countermeasure. If the released criminal one day starts committing evil again, Kymestuos will pull him back for a new cycle of torture and imprisonment."

Baba Yaga shivered whilst glaring at Arima.

He smiled in return. "Well, anyhow, I've reached a level where I'm able to know the location of anybody I would want to find. Kymestuos was merely a shortcut."

"I see. You've become even more monstrous."

"I'm sorry to say that 'monstrous' is far from being able to describe me anymore at this point. In any case, aren't you curious why I'm here?"

"Perhaps."

The old witch calmly replied and picked up her fruit basket and placed in on the table before sitting down.

"So? To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

"Children."

Arima's answer was so short and unexpected that Baba Yaga was stunned for a few seconds.

"Sorry… could you explain?"

Arima sighed and sat down as well. Baba Yaga watched him as he picked an apple from the basket and ate it.

"Well, you see, I want you to be a head-maid of sorts so that you can also take on the roles of a babysitter to assist the future mother as well as tutor for her child. I think you're the ideal choice among the people I know. You possess a deep peace of mind that comes together with your age and wisdom. You're perfect for the job in my opinion."

"Wait," Baba Yaga was getting restless. She was completely confused. "Are you telling me that you're… expecting a baby?"

"Of course not." Arima shook his head. "Lanya and I are still in a sort of stabilizing period since I'm still, let's say, gradually 'reviving' my emotions. I like her though, of course. I love her even if you want to quibble. But we're not at that stage yet."

"{Wait… I think I'm lost too. What does that mean exactly?}" Krynox raised his voice.

"Well, obviously, Lanya and I aren't the ones expecting a child. Neither are Night and Karma. So…" Arima added and Krynox fell silent for ten seconds. He then suddenly came to a realization.

"{Are you telling me-!?}"

"Yep. Shakti is pregnant."

Baba Yaga's eyes widened as she recalled about the enchanting Goddess that once was her enemy. She wondered who had managed to make that pure maiden fall for him.

"{What the heck?! Why do I don't know about that?}"

"Well, it's something I noticed not too long ago. But I certainly sensed a blooming life in her womb."

"{No way… thinking about that guy having a happy family makes me feel strange. Wasn't he a skeleton in the first place? That makes it even weirder… I wonder what Shakti saw in him… When did 'that' happen anyway?}"

"Who knows. I guess Malum got really proactive during their honeymoon," Arima smiled as he felt amused by the situation.

"{I'm shocked…}"

"Um…" Baba Yage mumbled. She felt too awkward. 'What is happening? What is this? What should I do? Maid, me? Babysitter, me? And it's the man who tried… no, SUCCEEDED to take control over the world who is asking me that? What should I even say at this point? Can I even say no?' Her thoughts were chaotic.

Arima snickered. "So? What do you say? Will you accept?"

"…I will," she grumbled.

***

After that, Arima proceeded to visit Loren. The middle-aged looking man was similarly living in a secluded place like Baba Yaga. In contrast to the latter, he didn't react strongly when Arima appeared at his door.

"What is the purpose of your visit, Kind Demon?"

"Would you accept if I asked you to be our gardener. The man who planted Yggdrasil and even used his own soul to create an even more majestic World Tree is the best choice, don't you think?"

Loren's eyes widened. He was surprised indeed. But it only took him a few seconds to accept the offer. He knew that the man in front of him wasn't a corrupt man. And it was a fact that he was a gardener. Now that he had been robbed of his life force, being a humble worker for the greatest God that ever existed was not a bad prospect.

***

Following that, Arima went on to meet current inmates. He had already released most of the Pillars of Elysium who were under Ahura in the past. There were still some remaining within the 'prison' because they still needed some time to repent in his opinion.

Then there were the Plane Guardians he had personally killed at the city of Melumnia. Among the three who remained within Kymestuos, Shiva and Ambrogio were the ones he went to meet.

Arima visited them to determine how long he should let them stay in Kymestuos. Ambrogio wasn't evil at all in the first place. You could even say he was a kind of gentleman vampire. He was just a bit too loyal toward the Original God. Arima declared that he would automatically be released after 10 years and he silently acknowledged it.

In contrast, Shiva was completely different and Arima honestly disliked him. Even if he was a sort of cousin to Shakti, the guy was so annoying that he was sentenced to one thousand years of imprisonment.

"{Well… poor guy.}"

"I seriously don't regret it. Even if he's not that bad, I just can't afford to let a spiteful mouth like his be free."

Krynox chortled at Arima's response.

"{Anyway, what are you going to do from now on? Will you go back to your soul realm then live peacefully until the end of your life?}"

"Nah. I'll enjoy my married life I guess but I still plan to do some cool things or whatnot. And it's not like I will stop here."

"{'Stop here'? What do you mean?}"

"Although there's no one stronger than me at the moment, that's not a reason to stop improving. As long as the saying 'there's always someone above' is valid, I will never stop to aim for greater heights. In order to never lose this peace to anyone."

"{…}"

Arima grinned. "I refuse to kneel before anyone. And believe me, I will do everything I can so that it will never happen."

"{I see... Sounds like you. By the way, what are those 'cool things' you mentioned?}"

"Well, you will soon learn about one of them."

Arima declared and invoked his soul gate. He stepped inside and disappeared from Kymestuos, leaving the room full of doors awfully quiet and empty.

But from time to time, loud screams would echo. If you ever were to go to the lower floors, you would notice that each one of them was larger than the previous one. This symbolized the potential danger of the inmates.

To be precise, the larger it was, the weaker the prisoner. Consequently, the smaller it was, the stronger the prisoners were. Kymestuos had exactly fifteen floors and would probably resemble an endless tower if it was something remotely near to a physical edifice.

At the very lowest level, the room wasn't one anymore. The dome-shaped hall was simply as a big as a planet. But this didn't mean that it was limited to one.

Each floor of Kymestuos is virtually infinite. It can hold as many prisoners as needed. Through the God of Eternal Night's 'theory', it became the largest prison that ever existed.

Kymestuos could be considered a Reality all by itself. On top of that, it wasn't only big, it was also very 'populated'.

Since Kymestuos was the depiction of Hell connected to the Kind Demon's legend, if any criminal were to die on a land marked by the Kind Demon's Cross, which basically meant everywhere, the man's soul had a chance to get trapped by the Cross and forcefully brought to Kymestuos before being chained and punished accordingly to his sins.

This applied for any soul weaker than Arima's. Which, once again, meant essentially everyone.

Kymestuos had become the absolute prison for every single evil soul across Realities and a symbol of authority for any powerhouse who heard of the God of Eternal Night.

Because they were aware.

A prison, that held billions, trillions, quadrillions of souls was not only frighteningly hazardous, but it also represented a stunning amount of energy.

As the tales of the Kind Demon spread, people started asking one question. Was it possible for the God of Eternal Night to lose? The answer was generally negative. He couldn't. As he was the sole administrator of the biggest prison, he had access to every soul detained within it.

For a God, spiritual power from its believers meant power. But similarly, spiritual power from its antagonists wasn't all that bad because it nonetheless gave them strength.

Based on this, how strong would the Kind Demon be? He not only had forced everyone across Realities to be aware of his existence through the Crosses but he now also had an incalculable number of people hating him because he had caged them.

In the end, some people cursed him, others worshipped him, a certain portion prayed for him, the majority feared him, and most of them respected him.

No matter what emotions they felt, all of them without any discrimination were all hoisting a single name. Over and over again.

Ultimately, what could they say?

The answer to 'the' question was obvious. He was the strongest.