When Arima dived inside the massive gathering of life force, he immediately activated his life hunt. He then started absorbing without any inhibition. Ultimately, he wasn't able to contain all of that energy at once and died for the third time in his life.

 

***

 

"Wow, I honestly didn't think you would be able to get here again. So, you were transmigrated, huh?" A voice reached him and Arima instantly woke up. He looked around with a weird expression.

 

He was in a dark space, with almost no light to speak of. In front of him, a mirror version of himself was calmly smiling at him. He exhaled and facepalmed.

 

"Ah, I remember now. So, I really died that day…" He muttered and stood up. "Hi, by the way," he added with a voice filled with sarcasm as he glanced at his right. He had directed that greeting to the three-meter-tall skeleton next to him.

 

"Yeah, yeah, hi..." The skeleton answered with an uninterested tone. He was quite disappointed to have failed taking over Arima before the Life Judgment could begin.

 

"Be a little more enthusiast. We'll become stronger after this. There's also a war going on outside," Arima quipped and his evil clone clicked his nonexistent tongue.

 

"Stop clowning, you damn cunt. I'll most likely be absorbed by you before we can leave this place," the purple flames in his eyes burned stronger as he spoke.

 

Arima laughed. "Of course, you damn Skeletor. I seriously thought you were going to overpower me earlier. Your disappearance will be a relief," he retorted and sparks appeared between the two.

 

"{Um, should we say something?}" Karma asked Night.

 

"{Nah, it's okay. It's fu- I mean, we just should continue watching, yeah.}"

 

"Ahem," Arima's ‘reflection’ coughed to get the attention of the two. "We're in the middle of something right now. Stop fighting, please."

 

"We're not fighting," Arima and the skeleton exclaimed at the same time.

 

"Skeletor started it," Arima added.

 

Skeletor snarled. "I'm fine with being called by some name but choose another one."

 

Arima mused and deadpanned at the big guy, "Malum."

 

"…" The skeleton stared at Arima speechlessly. "Why did you suddenly give me a decent name?"

 

"Well, I'm sure you know 'Malum' means 'Evil', right? I couldn't help myself but give you a name so good fitting," Arima shrugged and replied.

 

"…Sure, fine. I'll take it," Malum nodded and took up his new name.

 

"Can we start now?" The reflection's eyebrows were twitching.

 

"What? Do you want a name too?" Malum turned toward the reflection and smirked. The latter became even more infuriated.

 

"{What's wrong, Night?}" Karma asked as she kept hearing some weird noises.

 

"{I-I'm fine.}"

 

As the three Arima’s were talking to each other, Night was trying his best to not burst out laughing at the irony of the situation.

 

***

 

When Arima disappeared inside the huge sphere, the 'zombies' he had created before didn’t fall and continued to attack the closest living beings. It seemed that the pentagram on the ground was constantly powering them.

 

Azes joined the battle against Baphomet as Gabriel had told him.

 

"I don't need your help though," Zeus uttered the moment Azes landed next to him.

 

Azes smiled and gathered mana in his hand. "I'm sure of that. But let's do this carefully, shall we?"

 

"You're pretty relaxed, Azes," Baphomet commented and shouldered his sword. "Are you sure you can win against me? You're the God of Order, your strength isn’t suitable to face me."

 

"Do you think so?" Azes grinned and the formless mana in his hand turned into a long scroll that touched the ground as it unrolled. "My domain isn't only meant to observe and guide the world," he paused. "I can also dictate the rules."

 

A line of words written on the scroll vanished from the paper and Zeus abruptly disappeared. Baphomet panicked a bit and narrowed his eyes as he moved his sword to shield his back. Zeus' hammer struck the blade and lightning fell from the sky.

 

The earth was excavated and Baphomet became the center of a crater. But he hadn’t moved even a bit from the blow.

 

"Tch, you're needlessly tough. I expected you to fly away," Zeus grumbled and Baphomet turned around in the fraction of a second before kicking him away. But after he did so, Zeus’ figure cracked like a mirror and dispersed. In the next instant, thunder rumbled stronger and numerous bolts of lightning struck him.

 

The Evil God grunted as he endured the lightning with his body and glared at Azes who was observing from afar. He conjured another wave of red energy to scatter the lightning and kicked the ground to rush at Azes.

 

"That's an interesting magic, as much as it is bothersome," Baphomet remarked as he swung his organic sword vertically. Azes' eyes glowed and another line left the scroll. An invisible barrier appeared in front of him and blocked the Evil God's sword.

 

The shockwave produced by Baphomet's strike changed the landscape once again and even some devils and angels fighting far way were affected.

 

Azes smirked. It was as if stopping the sword didn't require any effort. "My unique magic, Heaven's Scroll. I obtained it after thousands of years spent on researching my domain," he stated and Baphomet frowned.

 

He lifted his sword again. But this time it was to block Zeus' sneak attack. Baphomet inhaled strongly and roared. His voice that carried the oppressive feeling of death and despair swept over the battlefield. Both Zeus and Azes were forced to freeze by pure instinct.

 

Zeus gritted his teeth as he was truly kicked this time and Azes used up more lines to teleport away before Baphomet's wave of darkness could hurt him.

 

He then slid his finger on the scroll and three lines disappeared at once. The earth trembled and for tens of miles around them, the stone turned into giant spikes that simultaneously targeted Baphomet.

 

Zeus also made his move and clasped his hands together. His body began to emit a dangerous amount of lightning and his appearance gradually changed. His clothes transformed into pure energy and his height also grew. He pointed his hammer at the sky and lightning congregated into a single point amidst the clouds.

 

A large pillar made of silvery lightning fell on Baphomet just before he was assaulted by the earth spikes.

 

Baphomet dropped his sword and became surrounded by a thick and ominous dark smoke that consumed the lightning within a second.

 

As for the spikes, Baphomet crushed it with his bare hands. A pentagram on his chest glowed red and an incalculable number of dark spears materialized above him. He flicked his fingers and the spears moved incredibly fast as they flew toward Azes and Zeus.

 

The former used up two more lines to conjure a big sun above him that dispelled all the spears aiming at him. Zeus grunted and destroyed the spears with his own ranged magic.

 

After that, Azes grasped the occasion and burned up five more lines. White chains emerged from the ground and surrounded Baphomet before restraining him.

 

"Zeus!"

 

"You don't have to tell me!" The God of Lightning turned into his own attribute and arrived in front of Baphomet while literally holding a lightning bolt. His eyes flashed and he thrust the bolt at Baphomet's chest.

 

The lightning bolt impaled the Evil God and Zeus shouted, "Now!"

 

Azes nodded and the number of words on his scroll decreased greatly. Both he and Zeus were teleported away while the chains that were binding Baphomet coiled around the bolt of lightning planted in his chest.

 

Baphomet growled and tried to pull it out but chains made it impossible to do so in time. Thunder roared and an explosion occurred with him at its center. The explosion made from lightning and light magic spread for hundreds of miles and razed everything.

 

A minute later, the explosion was finally over. The crater created then was empty and lightning would still appear from time to time. Azes and Zeus were paying attention to their surroundings as to not be surprised.

 

But they couldn’t react in time as a black portal formed just behind them, and from which, a fist surfaced and punched Zeus. The Lightning God coughed blood and was sent crashing on a mountain afar. Six pentagrams then appeared and fashioned a cage around Azes before exploding into the shape of a red star.

 

"That wasn't half-bad. But, don't tell me you forgot my main ability." Baphomet stepped out of the portal and the state of his body could have petrified anyone. Half of his upper body was inexistent and his organs along with his bones were exposed.

 

"First-degree immortality…" Zeus grunted as he stood up among the debris.

 

"That's annoying," Azes also complained before taking his distance.

 

"{Stop messing around you two,}" Gabriel's voice resounded in their heads as she cast a heal on both of them. "{Focus on sealing him. You can't kill the Occult God like that!}" She proceeded to lecture them as they went back to fight Baphomet. "{Also, Azes,}" she contacted him through a private link.

 

"{What!? I'm kinda busy right now!}" Azes replied as he crushed Baphomet's surroundings with gravity.

 

"{I know you're a friend of that Life Hunter. What are you trying to do?}"

 

"{Can we have this discussion later!?}" Azes responded as he parried Baphomet's sword that was about to cleave Zeus in half.

 

"{Of course! I don't care about that anyway! But don't you have at least a way to make those zombies stop attacking our side too?! It's really putting our troops at a disadvantage. The angels have a hard time hurting the remains of their fallen comrades compared to the devils!}"

 

"{Like hell I know! Ask him yourself when he's back. Maybe if you promise him that you won't chase him for his life, he might feel more inclined to help!}"

 

"{That's another matter altogether! You know that Life Hunters became Heaven's enemy a long time ago for their deicide! It's not something I can change myself!}" Gabriel retorted as she healed her troops.

 

"{I know! That's why it's not the moment to be talking about this! Anyway, I can't interfere with or modify his magic. Ask Lanya or Zesta, maybe they have an idea. Maybe Kerberos could do it too- oh shit!}" Azes cut the link to escape from a massive ray of red energy.

 

The holy maiden clicked her tongue and looked at her left. She was able to see thousands of miles away if she wanted to. But even without that, she could still see Chulainn fighting far way thanks to his size.

 

"Even if you tell me that, they won't listen to me and Kerberos is holding off Utain. If the Destroyer joins the fray, our side will suffer even more," the seraphim groaned.

 

"Ahh, God! Why is a war going on now?! I didn't sign for this!" The archangel complained like a child and she seemed to be on the verge of crying.

 

"What is she doing?" Michael deadpanned when he glanced at her. He wasn't that far from her so he could see her expression.

 

"Don't look away!" Satan shouted and hacked at Michael with his two swords. The angel blocked them with his spear and released a wave of light energy to fend him off. Just after that, Lucifer attacked him with a black and white ray of magic.

 

Michael shook his head and slashed the wave as if he was cutting a physical object. He shouldered his spear and gazed at his opponents. He was quite irritated at first, but now he only felt pity for them.

 

"Your teamwork is feeble and both of you are weaker than me. This is just sad."

 

"Shut up!" Satan cut him off and resumed his onslaught.

 

Michael shrugged. "Fine. If that is what you want," he wielded his spear like a whirlwind and took a stance. "Prepare yourself!"