"The real question is; what the fuck happened to you, Arima?" Night broke the silence after he returned to his human form. Arima scratched his head and grunted as he stood up.

 

"Shit, my mana pool is completely empty…" He grumbled and slowly walked out of the large depression that had been formed by the earlier incident.

 

"After opening that gate, which should have been impossible in the first place, and resisting Hell’s Inquisitorial, you don’t really have the right to complain…" Chulainn uttered.

 

Arima quietly ignored him and watched the broken chains around him slowly merging with the ground before turning toward Night.

 

"I honestly don’t know what happened myself. The only thing I recall was sensing my soul being pressured as if the world was trying to reject everything I represented," he said.

 

He approached Lanya and gently moved her hands away from her eyes. The blood on her cheeks had begun to dry but she still seemed to be in pain. Arima waved his hand and a silver light flashed over her eyelids.

 

Lanya sighed as she slowly opened her eyes again. "Thank you," she whispered gratefully and Arima nodded with a smile.

 

"Anyway, after that, when I was about to faint, something deep within my soul emerged to fend off that 'invasion' I was suffering," he then turned toward Chulainn with a meaningful stare.

 

The Hellhound just waved his tail and crushed some trees at the same time. "How am I supposed to know why Hell tried to imprison you?" He retorted before Arima could ask. "I'm just a sort of administrator, I don't know the details."

 

"Fine," Arima waved his hand dismissively. "Don't mind then. It's just that the 'power' which saved me is something I wished I’d never see again," he replied and cracked his neck. "What should we do now? Do you have an idea?"

 

"…I don't know," Chulainn said after a brief moment of silence.

 

"Thanks, Admin," Arima jested and he snorted.

 

"We have to get information before taking any initiative. First, we need to know what the movements of the prisoners are, the plans of Hell's princes and Hades, the strategy of the Gods, and finally, Ojure Karez's next course of actions," Chulainn listed and suddenly looked over the forest’s trees with one of his heads.

 

"Let's go for now. Your aura of death from earlier attracted some curious people," Chulainn muttered as he stomped on the ground.

 

The land moved by itself and the ground raised to form a dome above the group. It remained for a second before crumbling to dust. Once it had disappeared, no one was there any longer.

 

A few seconds later, Hades arrived and scanned the area with a frown.

 

"…Kerberos was here. Did he come back?"

 

***

 

Arima observed his new surroundings and whistled. "So, that's what you can do as the Gate's Guardian?"

 

"Basically. But it's just one of my simplest abilities here; a mobile dimension," Chulainn responded and looked at everyone. "We can go to anywhere in Hell from here. What do you want to do? If you want to help in this war, I will assist you since I can't be roaming around Hell with the prisoners of the Purgatory on the loose. Some of them were sent in there because of me, after all, I don't want to be assassinated."

 

"So, summarized, you're asking for our help," Arima spoke and Chulainn opened his mouths before closing them. He growled and gave a nod. "All right, you know that I will help anyway. Tell me what you know first, about those prisoners and the rest of the ‘devils’ in Hell."

 

Chulainn sighed. "If we're going to talk…" He mumbled and his body turned back into a small pup.

 

"See? You get used to it. Almost to the point you like it better," Night exclaimed and Chulainn groaned.

 

Arima snickered and made a table with magic. He sat down with everyone and Chulainn leaped on the table. Chulainn cleared his throat and focused. "Let's talk about the prisoners first. Basically, they're strong," he said with a blank expression and Arima put his arm on the table as he stared at him.

 

"Let me finish," the Hell pup added quickly. "They're really strong from your perspective. No one among you is in the Heavenly Realm. Meanwhile, every single one of the thousands of prisoners is at least at the First Divine," he explained and Arima nodded calmly.

 

"The crucial point here is that the difference in strength between each divine is enormous. A second divine can easily beat a hundred people who are at the first," Chulainn said and looked at Arima. "Of course, it's really hard to sound convincing when someone like you is just in front of me but that's how things are."

 

Arima's three companions nodded to those words and the said person just waited. "Anyway, before going any further, you need to at least enter the Heavenly Realm," Chulainn gravely declared and Arima exhaled.

 

"I know. I guess I have to pass that damn Life Judgment," he replied and Chulainn shrugged. "I think I already know how to start it. I have an idea for the occasion as well. So just continue," he waved his hand.

 

"Fine, if you insist," Chulainn said and rolled his eyes to the left. Three projections of light appeared there; each representing the strongest prisoners that had escaped the purgatory.

 

"The demon woman with eyes looking like precious stones… I'm not adulating her by the way, I'm just describing her," he remarked and then continued. "She's called Vastra, Second Divine, and most likely the strongest 'charmer' who ever lived. You can be sure that if you want to fight her, it's an army that you'll go for."

 

"The beast-man is called Utain, Third Divine. He's capable of destroying a planet with a single punch," he paused. "Physically only. Get that right."

 

Chulainn looked at the last projection and furrowed his eyebrows as if he had seen something really annoying. "The last monster you see there is something I'm sure you know about. He's an actual deity. He’s quite popular in your world. Try to guess."

 

Arima inspected the figure of the large monster with goat legs. He then saw the horns and the pair of black feathered wings. "…A winged goat? Baphomet?"

 

"Bingo," Chulainn smirked. "There's not much to say, don't you think? That thing is at the Third Divine and one of the strongest beings in this Plane," he declared and Arima nodded. "Well, after that, we have the seven princes, seven sins, or fallen angels; use what you prefer."

 

Chulainn erased the projections of the three prisoners and started listing names with a new figure appearing each time.

 

"Asmodeus; Lust. He's a bad guy but he's always in seclusion. Don't worry about him, you'll most likely never encounter him."

 

"Belphegor; Sloth. You also won't see him, I think. He's too lazy for that. He may act a little for certain things, but he never moves seriously."

 

"Beelzebub; Gluttony. This one is another thing though. You may or may not meet him. Pray that you don't. He's really annoying when he's hungry."

 

"Leviathan; Envy. That big snake won't annoy you either. He just protects his own turf. Nothing more, nothing less. So, just don't destroy his home."

 

"Lucifer; Pride. Now it's important. Lucifer will always act against Heaven when he has the chance to do so. So, if you want to prevent Heaven's destruction, you will meet him for sure."

 

"Mammon; Greed. It should be okay. He's a friend of mine. You have to give him things for free to calm him down usually. Not a problem."

 

"Satan; Wrath. Well, of course, you'll meet him. He's the third strongest individual amongst Hell's inhabitants. And he also loves to fight. I don't know which side he will be, but he never fails to be a pain."

 

Chulainn finished and Arima glared at him. "What?" The small dog tilted his head and Arima sighed.

 

"Nothing. Thanks for the information, I guess," he still thanked him although he was doing his best to not be sarcastic in face of such lacking descriptions.

 

"Well, just remember their faces. Now, I want you to concentrate on this man," Chulainn resumed and another projection appeared, depicting a five-meter-tall demon. "He’s Hades, effectively the current King of the Underworld. Along with Baphomet, he’s one of the strongest people across the entire Plane. An interesting fact is that he had a huge quarrel with Poseidon centuries ago. So, he may actually oppose Heaven," Chulainn told and Arima rubbed his eyes.

 

"So, basically, there's actually no one in Hell who will help us to stop Karez except the H-Gods?" Arima inquired and Chulainn blinked before nodding. "That helps a lot…" He grumbled then thought about the prisoners and the demons. "I only see bosses… and I’m freaking under-leveled,” he muttered and gazed at Chulainn. "What about Origin?"

 

"Hm?" Chulainn tilted his head. "Oh, do you want me to bring you to its location?"

 

"Yeah, we'll start from there," Arima affirmed.

 

"Fair enough," Chulainn activated his sigil and the separated dimension was dispelled. They reappeared in the middle of a sandy beach bordering a dazzling sea of crimson water.

 

"It's right there," Chulainn pointed at the water and announced.

 

"Where is… ‘there’?" Arima scowled.

 

"Underwater. I don't know where exactly. Nobody knows. I thought I told you that," Chulainn answered.

 

Arima cursed inaudibly and sighed. He then lowered his sight to look at the ground in a contemplative manner. He took a step forward then hopped for a short moment.

 

"The gravity is different, the magic circuits are bigger, and the nature is filled with magic and killing intent. So, this is an Original Land, huh?"

 

"Yes, keep in mind that everything here is stronger and tougher. For example, the power you needed to exert to destroy a boulder in the mortal world is multiplied by at least a hundred here."

 

"I see," Arima nodded and speedily chanted something. "[Fifth Red Art, Exhaurire]," he cast his magic and red particles emerged from everything around him before entering his body.

 

"What is he doing?" Chulainn inquired.

 

"He's replenishing his mana with the Fifth Red Art," Lanya answered the question and Chulainn raised an eyebrow.

 

"He really can do anything with his Arts. I would want to see all of them listed on paper. It would be quite interesting to read every description."

 

"You're right about that," Night agreed. "Did you know that each Art has a special characteristic?"

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"For example, the Third Blue Art you used against Errastas; its special ability is quite simple to grasp since it's the main theory. But as you know, that magic is made to be indefinitely strong as long as you can give a stable and constant flow of mana without losing control."

 

"That's the special characteristic or ‘hidden aspect’ as Arima calls it. Another example; the Fifth Red Art he's using as we speak. Its use is to drain mana from nature and even the people nearby. But the hidden aspect is a life energy drain. Not our life force, but what keeps us alive," Night explained and Chulainn turned to be extremely shocked. "That shows how much Arima's theories are complete."

 

"I’m replenished enough. Let's go," Arima said as the effects of the Art disappeared. He then dived into the sea without any additional comment.

 

Lanya chuckled and went after him. Night and Karma shrugged and followed. Chulainn was left alone with a pensive expression.

 

"Should I really ask for a complete list? I feel like it can become some sort of divine treasure…" he muttered and jumped in the water.

 

***

 

At the same time, a large gate appeared at an unknown location in Hell. The doors opened and Karaskan surfaced from the vortex contained within the massive portal. He landed on Hell's surface and smirked as he reached for his surroundings with his spirit. He put up a thoughtful face and grinned.

 

"Where should I go first?" He hummed. "Let's meet that human who wants to destroy the world," he stated as if he was playing a small game and turned into a mist cloud that flew off toward a certain direction.