The gods managed to go break through the horde without much trouble thanks to Arima's magic and Layla's lead. She had gotten rid of every Téra on their way, especially the aerial ones.

 

When they had finally escaped the huge stampede, they all rushed toward the Heaven Gate to join the gods and angels who were arriving in groups.

 

At the same time, every prince of Hell who was still alive had gathered there too. Although none of them were friendly with Heaven, they were aware that it wasn’t the time to pick a fight and had just came to talk. Even Leviathan, who was rumored to never leave his home, was present.

 

"Belphegor," Hades called one of the three princes who wore a tired and emotionless expression. The demon in question looked up to see his ruler arriving with all of the other gods.

 

"What happened?" He asked right away once they landed while pointing at the few Téra around them. Those were the weakest Téra as the strongest ones were currently surrounding Arima.

 

"A lot. But summarized; Pandora opened," Hades replied and Belphegor's eyes widened. He was Hades' first subordinate and friend so he knew about Pandora and its supposed destruction.

 

"What do we do now?" Michael suddenly asked and everyone focused on him. He was talking about the gods’ and the angels' situation. If Heaven was collapsing, they had nowhere to return to.

 

"I don't know…" Gabriel uttered with a darkened expression.

 

Hades mused for a moment. "I can give you a territory to stay in while you're in Hell. There's no reason to fight anymore. And we also need to discuss the situation," he said.

 

"Wait," Layla spoke up and everyone looked at her. "We can't stay in Hell."

 

"…What?"

 

***

 

A few minutes earlier, when Layla reached the Heaven Gate, she received a telepathic link from Arima in a matter of seconds.

 

"{Have you arrived?}" He asked hastily, seemingly in rush.

 

"{Yes.}"

 

"{Good. Now tell them to leave Hell.}"

 

"{Uh, them? You mean the gods?}" Layla was confused.

 

"{No, everyone-! Dammit! This bird is annoying!}" Arima suddenly gasped before cursing at something. "{Anyway, everyone has to leave Hell. Gods and devils alike. If I'm not wrong, it's Zeus and Chulainn who can respectively control the Heaven Gate and the Hell Gate. Tell them to open a path to the lower worlds and send everyone through it.}"

 

Layla was perplexed. "{Why do they have to leave?}"

 

"{Because I will destroy it soon-!}" Arima responded but was interrupted by something before he could explain and the telepathic link was cut off.

 

Layla smiled wryly before raising her voice to warn the gods.

 

***

 

While Arima was fighting against the human and bear Téra, a third one joined in and began to make the balance tilt. That new Téras was a giant bird that would strike him and fly away before he could retaliate.

 

Therefore, the 1v3 rapidly overwhelmed him. Each time Arima blocked the bear with Karma, the humanoid one would attack him from an unpredictable angle and force him to either retreat or parry with his tail. Then, it would be the bird's turn who often succeeded in injuring him.

 

Arima had to abuse of the Arts from the Destruction and Blue categories to get out of those situations. Some bad news came to him as well. First of all, the Téra were getting smarter and more coordinated over time and, secondly, the weaker Téra had stopped waiting and were dangerously closing in.

 

Arima snarled while in the middle of a contest of strength with the bear. They were both locked into a grappling motion, trying to hurl the other. He was already in bad condition and wouldn’t be able to last much longer. Not only had he increased his strength to 400% but he also had used the One Thousand Parade. With both of these techniques active, the toll on his body, even draconic, was tremendously huge.

 

On top of that, he had injuries all over his body caused by the damned bird that would always grasp the perfect window to hit him.

 

‘It's time to bail out,’ Arima thought and pulled on his katana's chain that was planted in the ground at his feet. Lightning flowed from his arm to the blade and Aeterna was automatically conjured by Karma herself.

 

The explosion separated Arima and the bear while shoving the human Téras away. It also allowed him to evade the bird who dove toward him.

 

"{Are we going there now?}" Night inquired.

 

"{Yeah,}" Arima replied and transformed into a black electric snake before taking off. "{I can't waste any more time. I fought these guys long enough. What is even more annoying is that they don't have any life force for me to drain, so I can't recover my stamina by killing them.}"

 

Arima grunted as he arrived in front of the horde. He stopped there and returned to his physical form before casting another magic.

 

"[Third Blue Art, Fragor Magnus]."

 

The powerful fireball exploded in the middle of the stampede and created a path which he immediately took before the three Téra behind him could catch up.

 

It was just after that, while he was heading to a remote location of Hell, that he contacted Layla. And shockingly, the bird he was fighting before managed to follow him and hit him until he was forced to cut the telepathic link.

 

"Will you leave me alone already?" Arima glowered and muttered after he returned to his physical form. He inhaled before spitting out a large and unavoidable fire breath.

 

"I don't have time for this," he added and continued to fly toward his destination. The entire plane was shaking at the moment and the collapse of Heaven was starting to be felt by everyone

 

"{Still, the solution for saving the Plane is quite radical,}" Karma commented as they were being pursued by the entire army of Téra.

 

"{Well, if you think about it, it's quite logical,}" Night retorted casually. "{If Hell and Heaven form an equilibrium; when one of them suffers a change, you just have to do the same to the other to fix the problem.}"

 

"{So, that's why we need to destroy Hell too, huh?}" Karma muttered.

 

“…both of you are seriously too stress-free.”

 

***

 

"He will what?!" Hades shouted when he heard Layla's explanation. She was basically saying that Arima was going to destroy his home and the place he was supposed to rule on.

 

"Oh, so that's why he said that my wish would be granted soon," Azes exclaimed.

 

"I'm shocked at how you can be so honest about the fact you planned to rebel against Heaven and destroy both Original Lands…" Aphrodite stated and Azes shrugged.

 

"I didn't want to destroy them per se. I merely planned to disable the cores and prevent the Lands from getting any energy without actually erasing them," he explained and everyone sighed.

 

"Anyway, we better do it now. I suppose we don't need to set the same destination, Zeus," Chulainn said and walked toward an open area. The moment he stopped walking, the ground below him bulged and a giant gate emerged.

 

Zeus sighed and went to the Heaven Gate and placed his hand on it. The doors closed and like Chulainn, he started changing the destination and opening a new path. He had to do it quickly since the Gate will lose its power the moment Heaven collapses for good.

 

Hades felt heartbroken as he watched Chulainn summon the Hell Gate. He groaned and leaped toward the nearby army of Téra to blow off some steam. Poseidon mused before following him with a shrug. Gabriel shook her head and waited calmly with everyone else.

 

Layla had released her draconic form but her eyes were still shining, looking through time, as she gazed in a certain direction.

 

***

 

"We arrived," Arima had barely reached his goal when the bird attacked him again. This time, he clashed with the Téras head-on and stopped it in mid-air. He easily won the strength contest and grabbed one of the bird's wings.

 

Arima sneered and bit its neck before igniting his throat. His fangs penetrated the bird's body and allowed the fire to infiltrate and burn it from the inside. He then let it fall on the ground before scoffing, "You’re not really a problem without your friends."

 

"I have a few minutes before those things catch up," he sighed and his aura’s intensity peaked to a completely new level. He clasped his hands together and a large magic circle was drawn in the sky.

 

"Time to unleash Destruction."