After three weeks, the magic academy established under Arima's instructions had tremendously grown. Many were those who had applied to participate in the lectures. The location of the academy had more or less been given to the public and people from the entire planet were already coming to learn there.

 

Thanks to the help of the teachers chosen by Arima, the whole academy was now as big as a small city. It was built shockingly quickly. The main reason for that was that the students could now use magic at a basic level. Even without the help of Arister and everyone else, the students were already capable of building a city if they wanted. Earth magic made it incredibly easy.

 

All the teachers had already chosen their disciples too. For instance, Hieran was teaching one student about earth magic and physical enhancement. Rex was making of his disciple a true expert of mana control. Arister was mainly teaching the spear but since his student was an inheritor, he also helped him with that. And Chulainn was teaching fire magic and how to manipulate the aura efficiently.

 

As for Arima's former students, they were all teaching their specialties too with the same kind of method Arima had used to teach them.

 

Of course, every student enlisted in this academy was also taught about the soul summoning and soul contract. Unfortunately, there wasn't any magic beast strong enough on Earth to make use of the latter. So Arima passed by during the second week and installed a spatial portal powered by Eion stones that simply led to a planet highly populated with magic beats; in another world.

 

Ultimately, the people Arima had called were now on their last week of teaching.

 

Inside Evergreen's mother tree, Jin breathed in and punched a giant boulder, perhaps as big as an average hotel. The entire thing immediately crumbled into pieces and Jin sighed.

 

His appearance had undergone a drastic change compared to the beginning of his training. He certainly did not need a wheelchair anymore. His muscles had completely been revigorated and almost all of his wrinkles had vanished too. His hair was still white but his overall appearance made him look middle-aged at worst.

 

"Congratulations, you reached the sixth level," Evergreen clapped and smiled. "You've grasped the basics for mana control and theory manipulation. I can start teaching you spirit magic and green magic. You'll have a lot of work this week."

 

Jin looked back at her with a strange look and nodded.

 

***

 

"Hey… how long is this gonna take?" Malum complained. He was sitting along with Karma, Night, and Layla. They were all currently in Arima's soul realm. They had been so for the last seven days, without moving an inch, sending their soul imprint into a weird magic circle that they were sitting around.

 

"Not sure. It should be over soon though," Arima replied indifferently and Malum grunted. Arima had been silently watching them for the whole time. He wasn't doing anything; his sigil would just glow from time to time.

 

"But what is this for? You still didn't tell us," Layla asked as she observed the runes of the formation in front of her. Even she couldn't understand what it was for. Arima had told them that it was important but nothing more.

 

"Are you blind, woman? This thing is a freaking bomb," Malum uttered.

 

Layla's eyes narrowed and she looked at the circle again. If she observed it with that kind of perspective, she could understand what it was for. Night and Karma also noticed it immediately.

 

"What are you trying to do?" Layla asked solemnly while suppressing her concern.

 

Arima snickered. "This is a bomb indeed. It's a formation meant to split my soul. Its fragments will spread through the magic circuits as a virus. Then the theory contained inside this circle, will condense my soul essence, fuse it with my life force, drain my life energy, decompose my body, then detonate everything."

 

Layla's expression twitched. "What is that supposed to mean?" She immediately retracted her hand from the circle.

 

"Libra will also put everything on the balance. The explosion's power will be multiplied."

 

"That's not what I'm asking!" Layla shouted and Arima smiled.

 

"This is just a counter-measure. It will be my joker against the Creators," he declared and Layla huffed.

 

"How much damage do you assume this bomb can do?" Night asked, as calm as ever.

 

"If I'm not wrong, it should be able to at least destroy one Reality. I don't know about others since what separates them is a mystery for me."

 

"What about our soul imprint? Why are you asking us to transfer it like this?"

 

"Simple. You all, even Layla, have a direct connection to my soul. I need the imprint of each one of you to finalize it. I also need it to filter it."

 

"Filter it?" Layla raised an eyebrow.

 

"Yes. For you, it's not really necessary. But for Karma, Night, and Malum; it's important. If my soul explodes, they will die. That's why I need to get their soul imprint and be sure that they won't be a part of the final explosion. You will be able to survive as long as I send you away before the detonation."

 

Everyone reacted strangely to that. Especially Malum. He raised his head to look at Arima as if he had just heard the dumbest thing ever.

 

"…What will happen to you?"

 

"I'll die," Arima stated without any hint of doubt or hesitation. "It's a matter of fact. To use Libra at its maximal potential, I have to put my life on the table. It's the only way I have to threaten something like the Creators."

 

Layla finally snapped and kicked the ground. She threw a punch at Arima who was on the opposite side of her. She passed by everyone else and her arm became covered in scales.

 

Arima was a bit taken off guard but he merely dragonized his arm as well to meet Layla's. Black lightning mixed with silver light erupted from their clash. The soul realm shook and Malum casually observed while Night guarded Karma against the pressure.

 

When things calmed down, Layla had her fist firmly held by Arima.

 

"Couldn't you just let me hit you? I think you deserve it," she said and he chuckled.

 

"No way. If I let you, you definitely won’t hold back. I don't want that."

 

Layla clicked her tongue and backed away. She returned to her place and sat down. "I know why you need to do this. But the fact that you intend to use your life as a chip annoys me."

 

"I know," Arima smiled.

 

Layla sighed. "Include my soul to the formation."

 

"…What?" Arima was surprised and Karma gasped. Night frowned and Malum glanced at her.

 

"I want to be part of this explosion, as you said…" She stared at Arima in the eyes. "If you ever die using that, I'll die with you."

 

Arima was speechless. Night started laughing while everyone else was keeping their mouth closed. He stopped sending his soul imprint in the circle and pulled his arm back.

 

"Get me out of that filter too."

 

"Me too," Karma did the same and now there was only Malum who still had his hand on the circle.

 

Everyone looked at him.

 

"What?" He exclaimed and Layla glared at him. "Really? You’re gonna force me?" The intensity of the glare increased. “Alright! Alright! Fine…” He raised his hands in defeat and the magic circle stopped glowing.

 

“To be fair, I don't even know why you even decided to protect me too. The explosion would be obviously stronger with me taking part in it. It's not like we are best buddies anyway."

 

Arima shook his head helplessly and snapped his fingers. Four blue strings of light came out of the circle's center and each connected to someone's chest. New runes were then drawn on the circle and the strings returned inside.

 

"Done," Arima announced and his group felt satisfied. "The filter is completed." Until that point.

 

"Hey!"

 

"What?" Arima squinted his eyes. "I've been doing this for the last week. Fortunately, I finished before you decided to take out your hand. Do you want my work to be wasted or what? I decided that I would protect your life if I ever use this bomb. I never asked you to die with me. Are you stupid?"

 

"I appreciate those feelings," Arima smiled wryly. "But you should care about mine too."

 

"Says the guy who is currently ignoring others’ feelings…" Layla grumbled angrily.

 

Night sighed and Karma giggled.

 

Malum tilted his head. "Well, either way… I don’t care?"

 

"Karma, come here for a second," Arima abruptly called and Karma transformed into a katana which flew to his hand. "I just want to finish inscribing this. You're better than any other instrument for that."

 

Arima unsheathed the katana and started altering the circle with the tip of the blade. Karma was a weapon that had been refined to an incredible level. The blade's material was so magical at this point that it was the best catalyst to manipulate mana. It basically could be used as a sort of staff as well.

 

When he finished adjusting the circle, he tapped the ground with Karma’s scabbard and the circle shined before ascending. It floated around like a literal piece of paper before wrapping around the blade of the sword.

 

Arima then swung Karma toward the 'sky' while it was shrouded in an ominous aura and a thick soul essence. A blue wave was launched from the tip of the blade, just like Aeterna. It reached the inverted ocean and entered the water.

 

It promptly exploded and from below you could see countless small runes and circles spread through the streams of the water. The entire ocean was soon filled with small blue lights which were, in fact, miniature runes.

 

From the ground, it looked quite dazzling and Arima's group even took their time to admire the sight. But they also knew that these lights meant that there was a terrific bomb planted right inside of Arima's soul.

 

"This place is getting prettier and prettier. Eion fireflies, the ever-changing vines, the flowers that bloom every time you release your aura, the different varieties of plants representing your age, blue granite here and there, and now ‘stars’ inside an upside-down ocean…" Layla commented.

 

Arima smiled and Karma reappeared at his side in her human form.

 

"We don't have the time to admire it though. We have one week left to acquire transcendence."

 

"'We'?"

 

"Yeah, we. I'll make sure we are all Transcendentals in seven days," Arima asserted.