Harion hastily channeled his internal force to minimize the damages. He was sent flying away and coughed blood when he crashed on the ground. On the other hand, Dracula was cut in two without any resistance. The two parts of his body transformed into a multitude of bats afterward and joined back together somewhere else.
The vampire had his energy being drained by just doing that. He was sure that he had transformed his body in time but that dark red sword had actually affected him on a physical level although he was insubstantial.
"This ain’t good…" Harion muttered and controlled the Qi in his body. His muscles contracted and his veins bulged. Dracula drew a silver one-handed sword and a bloody aura manifested around him.
Arima deployed his wings and even more lightning fell on Melumnia. His aura was enough to deal with the mob around Harion and Dracula. He stepped in midair and transferred just behind the two Pillars.
This time, they were able to react and turned around to meet his blow. Harion moved his body accurately and struck Karma's flat side to deviate it. But that exchange alone was enough to injure and knock him back.
Dracula chose that timing to push forward. His blood aura coated his sword as he swung it. Arima frowned as he felt a strange feeling coming from that blade. He felt like that sword would hit him no matter what.
He conjured ‘Aeterna’ and kicked Harion away. He drew Superore and pointed it at the vampire before pressing the trigger.
Dracula grunted and relocated his blood energy from his sword to his body. He extended his hand and the projection of a red crest protected him from the Superore's bullets like a shield. But it didn't last long as Arima cut it apart with one swing.
At the same time, Harion had recovered and moved his arms in a particular pattern before taking a stance. His eyes locked on Arima and he put all of his weight on his pivot. He kicked the ground and created an enormous crater.
He reached Arima in no time and stirred his Qi accordingly. "[Burned Flesh, Sacrificed Blood, Discarded Bones]," he intoned and his entire arm started fuming and his sleeve was torn apart.
"[Three-Way Impact]."
"[Terminus Confractus]," Arima chanted and stopped Harion's fist with his own. Harion's expression contorted as he felt the violent rebound. Arima's physical strength was unbelievably high and that scaled arm felt like an impregnable wall.
Their clash split the ground apart and destroyed a large chunk of Melumnia, turning the city into vestiges again.
Dracula's eyes glowed and he waved his hand toward Arima. The ghouls across the battlefield suddenly became mad and mindlessly jumped toward him.
"You're not the only one who can make people explode," Dracula growled and the ghouls' bodies swelled before bursting. The ghouls died one after another and each time released a strong blood aura.
Arima frowned when he noticed his mana being disrupted by that strange aura. Harion snickered and saw an opening. He grabbed Arima's wrist and his leg started fuming. He clasped Arima's arm tightly then rotated to kick him.
Arima was struck directly in the abdomen and grunted. But Harion's victory only lasted a few seconds. The Kind Demon had not even taken a single step back after being hit.
"All right, it’s over," he muttered and his eyes flashed crimson. He temporarily dropped Karma and closed in toward Harion. He grabbed him by his nape and pulled him before kneeing him. His next moves were steady and unbelievably fast. His hands seemed to duplicate as he first struck Harion's liver with his palm, then the ribs, the solar plexus, and finally the heart.
Harion paled and coughed blood. He gritted his teeth and fell on the ground, unable to recover.
"[Resurrection]," Arima then heard Dracula chanting his Soul Manifestation and he was abruptly surrounded by darkness. He extended his hand and managed to call Karma just before a giant coffin appeared out of nowhere and confined him.
Dracula sighed and panted a little. His Manifestation was an instant-cast type. He could summon a coffin that would imprison and suck the blood out of the victim while impaling him with spikes.
He didn't believe that it would kill Arima, but at least he could buy some time to pick up Harion and wait for the other Pillars to arrive. In the first place, he and Harion were the ones who went ahead. They assumed it would be easy to get rid of Arima if he was alone; a monumental mistake.
But before he could even turn toward his fallen ally, Dracula heard a cracking sound and watched thunderstruck as his coffin fissured.
"It can't be…"
Soon enough, the coffin ruptured and Arima came out of it. He flapped his wings and appeared in front of Dracula. The vampire grimaced when he saw him. There were a few holes on Arima's clothes and some parts of his body had indeed been drained of its blood.
But what stunned Dracula was how Arima looked; half-human and half-skeleton. He could also see with the naked eye that new flesh was gradually returning on the bones which had been exposed.
"I'm not the best opponent for you when it comes to organic weaknesses. You should have aimed for my ‘blood essence’ instead, " Arima uttered and Vlad groaned. He silently commanded and a few thousand ghouls came rushing again. But they were all slain under Karma’s blade before they could get near.
"You lost," Arima said and grabbed Dracula's neck. He lifted him and didn't even bother to use the Fifth Black Art. He immediately crushed his spine and throat while infusing a large amount of aura to it. Dracula went limp and died just like that.
Arima then teleported beside the fallen Harion and strangled him too.
"Haha… are you going to kill me now?" Harion laughed at his situation and Arima stared at him with his cold blank eyes. He didn't reply and killed him in the exact same way as Dracula.
Arima threw Harion's body away and snapped his fingers. The two Pillars' corpses were instantly cremated by dark flames.
"{…They were reckless by coming alone,}" Karma remarked and Arima nodded. He huffed because of all the noise caused by the army around him.
"Guess I'll have to take care of them too," he grumbled and started building a magic formation. As he was about to cast his Art, Arima froze and urgently stopped his magic before turning around.
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Just behind him, there was one man quietly standing in midair. He was an average looking man; he had no commendable features whatsoever. But there was one thing about him that particularly stuck out, and it was his black eyes and the vermillion pentagrams glowing on his irises.
"…The Second Pillar, Ambor… am I right?" Arima asked carefully. Through his senses, he could feel the overwhelming feeling of being observed and analyzed. He immediately deduced who it was.
The man squinted his eyes and looked at Arima, then the battled field, and finally, the places where Harion and Dracula had died.
"Are you the one who killed them?"
Arima furrowed his eyebrows. ‘This is bad. Really bad.’
If he fought Ambor like this, there's no way to tell if he’d win or not. Ambor was like a perfect counter against him in a sense. Arima's main strength came from his ridiculous magic aptitude.
Against someone who can copy his magic, dissect it, and even alter it, he would be at an extreme disadvantage.
‘I was about to use 'Estuans Sors'… I don't know if he had the time to scan it or not…’
"…I am," Arima ultimately replied to the question and Ambor's eyes narrowed.
"I see," he whispered and the two silently faced each other. After a short moment, enough for the suns to completely go down and the night to fall on Melumnia, Ambor's body was abruptly ignited in a dazzling blue fire.
"{He saw through it!}" Night exclaimed.
"Shit," Arima cursed and jumped back.
"[Mors aeterna] (Death is eternal)."
"[Vita est unum diem durantia] (Life is ephemeral)."
Ambor started chanting the same incantation Arima had created for the First Blue Art.
Arima flapped his wings and flew off. ‘Dammit! He even got the chant without me saying it. I can't use another Art to block it since he would copy it. I also can't use 'Estuans Sors' myself since he will finish it before I can.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘Why is it him who had to come now? And at that specific timing…’
"{So, what do we do? Honestly, I don't think we can stop one of your First Arts without using another,}" Night inquired and Arima clicked his tongue.
"We still have 'Ragnarök', which is already cast, so he can't copy it. But the chemistry isn't good. The Red Arts can't win against the Blue Arts. They are made to alter the elements but they can't hope to control the Blue Arts which are way stronger in magnitude. I could use the First Black Art but it's still not the right time," Arima said and heard Ambor uttering the last line of the incantation.
"[First Blue Art, Estuans Sors] (Burning Fate)."
The sky became filled with an azure fire. Ambor looked up with a genuinely awed expression.
"Amazing … I can't believe a magic like this exists. I also can see in its formation that it's connected to the theory of an entire set…" He muttered and fixed his glimmering eyes on Arima. "It's a shame I can't figure out the other Arts from this one only. I need you to show them to me."
Arima almost choked when he heard that.
"As if! Who the hell would be dumb enough to make his enemy more powerful?!" He retorted and stopped flying. He had taken his distance only because he wanted to gain some time to think. It was impossible to escape the eternal flames of 'Estuan Sors' after all.
Arima glowered and urged his First Red Art to activate. Although he had said that it couldn't help him much, he still activated it.
"Hm?" Ambor's eyes widened and looked at the ground. "This is…" The pentagram on his irises spun and shined. "…You are controlling this planet's five mother elements as if they were your own limbs,” he was astounded once again.
Arima snorted and the elements went berserk. The oxygen disappeared and a huge force tried to contain the azure flames.
"Useless," Ambor stated. "I already know that your magic can't win against this fire."
Arima groaned. "Shut up. You don't know anything about my Arts."
Ambor closed his mouth then looked up at the sky again. "Hyacinthum Ignis," he spoke and Arima's expression twitched. "Adolebitque Ea (Burn them)."
The blue flames in the sky gathered to form the shape of a giant skull.
"Are you kidding me?! That guy is using the hidden aspect already!" Arima couldn't believe it. He bit his lip and conjured another formation. It was a gamble. Ambor's eyes instantly focused on it and the whole thing was immediately memorized.
"No choice," Arima mumbled and the familiar book appeared in his hand. "[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios] (Lawless Tome)," he chanted and the blue fire finished its condensation at the same time.
The hidden aspect was triggered and at least a quarter of Melumnia bathed in flames as the Lawless Tome shined and flipped its pages crazily.