Life Hunter 182 "...Don't Come To Complain Later"

If it was someone else experiencing his pain right now, he would have either fainted on the spot, screamed in agony, or even simply died because of the overload.

"Night" Arima called but Night didn't respond. Actually, he even hid really deep in his soul "…We'll talk later. I'll also take care of Malum after" He declared and looked up. He eyes fell on both Fafnir and Jorga, who was on Deva behind them.

Arima then looked down at himself and groaned. He couldn't heal himself with the Fifth White Art since he noticed the 'path' in his circuits was totally overheated. Arima called his gun and locked his eyes on Fafnir for now.

He didn't know how long Jorga would take to receive the full inheritance but he could tell it had already begun as Jorga's aura was rising very quickly.

As he thought that, Fafnir abruptly crashed just in front of him and deformed the landscape even more. Arima frowned when he saw how big the golden dragon had become.

He glanced at the dragon's eyes and exclaimed in surprise "Oh, you're still lucid"

The giant dragon snorted "Of course I am. I'm not weak enough to be controlled by my own power"

"You say that, but your power was something you got from an exterior curse wasn't it? It's not really yours" Arima retorted.

"I had thousands of years to dominate it. I spent enough time on it to be able to completely control it" Fafnir sneered and stepped forward. His eyes flashed with anger as he stared at Arima "But you stole my possessions right now. I know you're weak right now. Be prepared to die"

Arima laughed and pointed Superore at Fafnir "This isn't enough for you to get the upper hand. I only gave Malum the control because I knew I wouldn't be able to last as long as him. That guy sucked my mana but I still have more than you overall anyway"

He smirked, "Now tell me, what color do you prefer between white and black? Choose well, I only have enough mana to cast one of them" He said and Fafnir was taken aback.

The dragon's eyes shook for a moment "(Is he serious?)" He was stunned. Arima's expression revealed absolutely no sign of a lie. So he was really asking Fafnir to choose which one he was going to use.

The golden dragon was perplexed and very hesitant. He had heard during the fight the magic Malum had chanted. He could understand that White Arts were about healing, sealing and body manipulation. But he didn't know anything about Black Arts. His opponent never used them. But the name was far from appealing.

"White" Ultimately, he chose. He absolutely couldn't go with Black. He at least knew that White Arts were not about dealing damage. And even if Arima heals himself with that magic, the mana he would've left would not be enough to beat Fafnir.

"Good choice" Arima nodded and grinned "You were at this to choose to go through even more torture than what you experienced with the flames"

Fafnir shuddered "I'll show you the First White Art then" Arima declared and flapped his wings and retreated.

"As if I'd let you do it easily" Fafnir transferred next to Arima and instantly threw a punch along with an explosive fire magic. But his eyes widened as he tilted his head to dodge Superore's bullets. Arima got out of the flames without any additional injury.

He smiled and started to fire in barrage with his hand cannon. Superore was the best choice for Arima at the moment. Karma was injured and his gun was a weapon which didn't need any particular magic to function and only required mana to operate. Not only that, but it was also powerful while being low-consumption.

Even Fafnir wouldn't ignore that many bullets coming at him. He summoned his gold artillery and made it clash with the bullets. It turned into a long range fight very quickly. Arima couldn't do any fast movement at the moment.

His magic circuits used for Time magic had already been overloaded and he knew that if he moved with that pain, his movements would be dull and slow. In the end, n.o.body can ignore the physical restraint of the body when it feels pain. Particularly one at that level.

On the other hand, Fafnir didn't really care that much about this ranged battle; he could teleport at will every five seconds. He could prevent the First White Art's activation quite easily since he couldn't slow down time anymore.

What occupied his mind right now was how Arima avoided his punch earlier. He didn't see it clearly but when he tried to hit him, the black dragon's figure seemed to coil around his arm then strangely go over it.

But he couldn't wait eternally and moved right below Arima. He confined the area with his golden s.h.i.+elds and then extended his palm at Arima. A small fireball ignited and spun. It soon transformed into an insane flamethrower.

Arima was one more time shrouded by the flames but his figure emerged again with just a bit of smoke on him. Fafnir furrowed and took Excalibur and swung it at Arima.

The latter looked at the sword calmly. Then, Fafnir managed to spot some really discreet and small silver sparks under Arima's feet. When Excalibur was about to reach him, the sparks at the black dragon's feet silently became bigger and his body s.h.i.+fted place at extreme speed.

His figure seemed to duplicate multiple times as he moved. It wasn't on the level of an afterimage anymore at that point. Fafnir saw it and fell in a daze. Arima continued to move like that and actually used the sword's flat side to jump away.

Fafnir felt like things were happening in slow motion and only when Arima jumped off did his sword resume its course, which he stopped just after. He then waved his hand and called his weapons to counter Superore.

His mind was thinking about what he just saw "(What kind of magic is that? It's too fast. It isn't Time control. There's no fluctuation. But it's not teleportation either since he was certainly translating in s.p.a.ce…)"

He really thought hard and decided to test it again. He summoned two giant hammers and made them fall on Arima. The latter didn't even look at them as they fell from above and weak lightning appeared at his feet. His figure moved again. He flapped his wings once and went toward one of the hammers and jumped on it to move away like before. He seemed to be able to completely ignore magic fluctuations and inertia.

When he had receded, the lightning disappeared. He pressed Superore's trigger again. He smirked as he was firing "[Third Red Art, Semita Vitisque Repertor] (Path Finder)" He chanted and lightning sparked around just for a second.

When he heard that, Fafnir's entire body froze. He glared at Arima then urgently looked behind him "You! You fooled me!" He shouted to Arima just after "You never intended to use any of your Arts when you asked me. It was just to make me doubt and hesitate!" Fafnir finally realized what Arima had done "You just wanted to gain time"

Arima chuckled and the place where Jorga was situated suddenly became covered by a light blue mist which even reached the two of them. That mist was incredibly pretty and mixed with the dark color of s.p.a.ce perfectly.

"That's too late for you to realize" Arima said and Fafnir gritted his teeth as he used his pa.s.sive Manifestation again. The golden dragon appeared right in front of Arima with bloodshot eyes and swung two Excalibur's filled with fire magic.

Arima used the Third Art again and went through it like it was a breeze. The sword hit nothing, but a huge discharge of fire spread to the surroundings and burned the blue mist. The shockwave even surprised Arima as he ended his state of extreme speed and reaction.

The Third Red Art was a technique which acted on both the caster and the world. It was a continuous magic that could last forever as long as you let it active and it only consumes mana when you activate it. It was a very useful magic which allowed the caster to freely move across the world by taking the right 'path'.

In theory, you can evade anything with that magic. The world around you would show you the way and help you take it. That's why Arima looked so fast. Every time he moves in that state, anything that could be around him; light, atoms, molecules, air, and anything that could help him, they would all carry him to escape the threat he is facing.

Of course, in exchange for that, the Art takes something; defense. When you use that Art, your defense would basically become zero. Maybe at the moment, maybe someone at the first divine could kill him in one strike if he managed to land a hit. Without even counting his injuries.

But even if it meant no mistake allowed, Arima still appreciated this magic a lot. He created it for times where he would be in dire situations like this one in the first place. The other disadvantage was that the mana used to keep the 'Path Finder' active was monstrous. Maybe even just a second would be enough to suck dry the mana of a G.o.d at the third divine, for example.

That's why Arima only uses it for a short moment when he has to escape an attack "s.h.i.+t, I have a bad feeling" Fafnir gritted his teeth and muttered as he looked at the place Jorga was.

The blue mist around then started to converge into two different places and condense. The shape was clear and a pair of reptilian eyes, full of sharpness and wisdom, was formed. Fafnir instinctively s.h.i.+vered when he was looked at by that pair of eyes.

When the blue mist dispersed again and the eyes vanished, Fafnir sighed strongly and glared at the front before turning back to Arima "You are the ones who forced me to use it," He paused "…Don't come to complain later" The golden dragon uttered and Arima halted any displacement to observe him.

Fafnir's body lighted up with a gold light then disappeared just after. Arima's eyes narrowed and he looked around as he confirmed that Fafnir had not teleported anywhere near "{What…? Did he flee}" Night was confused.

"(It's now that you finally talk?)" Arima raised an eyebrow and clicked his tongue "No" He responded "I think… that he physically went inside his Vault"