Life Hunter

Arima had completed the main phase of the fusion. Now, he just needed to compress it and make it return to its original shape. The magma chamber was now totally empty. It became a giant cave. Of course, the excess of magma going up stopped too, allowing the dragon and the T-Rex to rest.

But although there wasn't any lava left, the place was still extremely hot and it's not like the 'source' of the volcano itself had disappeared. Arima just got rid of the accumulated magma, in maybe a few thousands of years, the problem will come back. Or maybe a new volcano will appear near this one.

"(Well, that's not my problem. I'm sure the next generations will have an idea of how to deal with it,)" Arima thought. He looked at the giant lava sword hovering in the air and smiled. The shape of the sword was extremely crude and its size was around ten meters in length.

"Now, it's time to begin," Arima connected his soul and mind to Karma. The moment he did that, he coughed some blood and was struck by a mental rebound. Arima wiped the blood and sighed, "As expected, it will be harder from now on."

His body became shrouded in a black mist and he instantly took his skeleton form, "I won't take physical damage, but my soul is still in peril so let's finish this quickly," He muttered and devoted himself to his work.

****************************************

"A ninth level dragon!" Drannoc's guard exclaimed. She stepped in front of the prince to protect him.

Night cracked his neck, "It's been a long time since I fought a one vs one battle. The last time was also the first time, without counting the one against Arima. So, let's have fun," He smirked and his crimson pupils glowed like a Will-o'-the-wisp.

Night flapped his wings and charged first. He covered his claw in dark fire and attacked Fayla with it. The latter's black dress became blurry as if it was darkness itself. That darkness met head-on with Night's fist, causing a shockwave to sweep the surroundings.

Fayla drew her golden sword and hacked at Night's chest. At the same time, the sound of electricity resounded and lightning burst around the weapon.

Night conjured a sphere of compressed fire and used it to clash with the lightning blade. That explosion instantly destroyed the whole room of the mansion.

Night breathed in. Sparks and flames escaped through the gaps between his fangs. He roared and a large fire wave hit Fayla at close range. That additional explosion now completely destroyed the second floor of the mansion and everything that was behind Fayla.

In a hurry, she pushed the prince out of the mansion. She used a lightning shield to block the fire and countered by conjuring a huge thunder spear which she threw to the sky. The clouds gathered like with Arima and thunder rumbled. A powerful lightning bolt instantly fell from the sky and exploded on Night.

The red lines on the latter's body shined and his body was ignited. He extended his hand to the sky and literally grabbed the lightning. The ground where he was standing cracked and he directly fell to the ground floor of the mansion. The flames surrounding his body moved and enveloped the lightning and the two exploded together, destroying what was left of the mansion.

While Night was dealing with the lightning, Fayla kicked the ground and aimed to cut the dragon's throat. Night deflected the blow with his tail and conjured a dozen of small spheres of compressed fire and threw them at her.

Fayla's black dress blurred and became darkness. Her speed raised considerably as she jumped back. The thunder clouds condensed one more lightning bolt which clashed with the spheres.

The two magic exploded together and covered the area in a mile radius, destroying some attractions of the amusement park in the process.

After the explosion, Night and Fayla landed on the ground calmly. They glared at each other and slowly took a stance. They didn't look tired at all.

Night grinned, "You're pretty good."

"You too," The woman maintained a stone face and responded while looking around.

"You're looking for that guy?" Night snickered, "He must be fighting with Lanya right now. Don't worry, their fight is fair. They are at the same level, but Lanya is almost at the ninth level and her draconic form is powerful too. If you want to save your prince, you should hurry."

Fayla stared at him, "Then I won't hold back," She said and her eyes glowed with a golden light. The clouds in the sky began to multiply and lightning started to fall continuously.

Night let out a chuckle, his fire appeared everywhere around him. He also conjured a great sword made out of magic and put it on his shoulder, "Fine by me."

They both charged at the same time. Night hacked his sword and clashed with Fayla's. In terms of physical strength, Fayla was greatly pressured so she could only deflect the great sword.

Night profited of that moment to endow his other hand with fire before punching Fayla. The latter narrowly dodged and Night struck the ground, creating a huge crater. She raised her sword and lightning fell on it before she swung it down on Night.

Night waved his tail and struck Fayla's side to distract her. He cast a fire ball which he grabbed and pushed directly against her chest. Fayla frowned and gathered lightning around her sword and slashed the fireball. The result was an explosion that made her fly away for hundreds of meters. Her dress fluttered and she landed gently. She didn't look injured at all.

"Tch," Night clicked his tongue. At first sight, this fight may look like it was going in his favor but it's actually Fayla who is controlling the rhythm. Additionally, Night couldn't keep the dimension as long as Arima.

Night dispelled his sword. He flapped his wings and flew off. He halted at around a kilometer away from the ground. He released his aura to the maximum and the clouds above him were burned. The red lines on his body began to shine brighter. Soon, his whole body was radiating with a red hue.

"[Et evigilare faciatis, hic et nunc] (I awaken, here and now)."

"[Et dominabitur super orbem terrarum flammis Draco ex Deo] (I'll dominate the world with the flames of the Dragon God)."

Black flames gathered around the black dragon like a spiral and formed a giant sphere of fire around him. A black sun with a thousand meters' diameter appeared in the sky with Night in its center.

Fayla judged that she couldn't escape that attack so she decided to take that magic head on.

"[Strike and burn this lower world]," She chanted and lightning came out of the ground around her and the clouds above. It connected together and thunder roared.

"[Materialize here to destroy the hope of my enemy]," The lightning slowly transformed into a giant trident.

"[Rideat me in mortem animam dolent evolasse] (I laugh at death and fret over life)," Night continued his own chant.

"[Et facti faciet tui tandem somnum exterreri solebat] (I shall become your last nightmare)."

"[Et semita ut exitium ab secure in tenebris, et non perimus] (I'll take the path of ruin and drown you in the dark purgatory)."

The 'sun' started to change form and gradually took the shape of a certain beast.

"[Ater Novae] (Black Nova)," Night finished chanting and now the black sun had become a giant fire dragon that appeared to be an extension of Night's body.

Night closed his eyes and the red eyes of the giant fire dragon opened instead. The terrifying monster roared and made the earth shake.

"[Pierce through the sky]."

"[And fall to destroy dreams]."

"[Trident of Dawn]," Fayla also finished chanting and the trident above her became a lot larger and some runes seemed to have been engraved on it.

Night grasped the initiative and the colossal dragon brought his fist down. The lightning trident moved and blocked the punch. The strength on each side was more or less equal. The ground cracked and a whole a new crater formed, erasing everything. Fayla was being protected by the trident itself.

The dragon backed away temporarily and started using his tail and legs to beat the invoked weapon in front of him. The trident was extremely fast and caught all the blows while counter-attacking as if it had martial knowledge.

*****************************************

At the same time, the flames burning in Arima's skull were weak and some of his bones had cracked under the physical pressure.

In front of him, the lava sword had now become a lava katana. But it was still too hot, to the point the only color really was fiery red.

Arima extended his hand and tried to grab the katana, "Kuh…" He gritted his teeth and pulled his hand away almost immediately. He looked at his skeletal hand which was fuming. Although he was in an undead state, he still felt the pain from the heat because of the soul link.

Arima stopped moving. After a while, he trapped his hand in purple ice and grabbed the katana before propelling himself upward. In less than a second, he had grabbed the katana and traveled a hundred meters toward the exit of the volcano.

He elevated his speed as much as he could. After a few seconds, he got out of the crevasse but he continued to fly upward for another few. He then turned toward the sea before throwing Karma as far as he could. Afterward, he reverted to his human form and landed on the top of the mountain.

"Hey, what's going on? Did you succeed?" The land dragon appeared beside him along with the T-Rex, "What did you just throw?"

"My soul weapon," Arima replied and the two beasts looked at each other in confusion. Arima pointed at the sea, "Look, it will fall in soon."

The two beasts squinted their eyes and spotted a red light falling in the distance, "Why did you throw it there?" They asked at the same time then Karma finally went underwater. Nothing happened even after three seconds.

"…Hey, what was th-" Before the land dragon could finish, the seawater exploded into a huge pillar several miles high. When the water fell back, there was a huge depression on the surface of the sea.

The T-Rex furrowed, "Seriously…what happened?"

Arima exhaled, "Steam explosion." He didn't say anything else and just extended his hand toward the sea. A red light surfaced and landed in his hand within a few seconds. When Arima inspected what he had in his hands, he smirked.

Karma had now been reborn. But its appearance was different from before. The handle had become a lot more refined and tough looking with a chain hanging at the end of it. The blade was longer and was obviously wider and heavier.

Most of it was now of a dark red but the edge of the blade was dark purple and some silver runes had been drawn on the sides of the blade. The sword was releasing a powerful aura on its own.

The two beasts were looking at the sword agape. They never saw a weapon that looked this threatening by just lying in the hands of its owner.

Arima gripped Karma tightly with his right hand and raised his left one as if he was trying to grab something. A dark red flame appeared out of nowhere and took the form of a scabbard. After the fire died out, a black sheath was left in Arima's hand.

Arima casually wielded Karma and sliced the air. He then sheathed it and the aura vanished. When the blade became totally covered by the sheath, a huge crack appeared around the crevasse. It instantly crumbled down across thousands of miles. In an instant, a fourth of the crevasse was destroyed and buried under rocks and soil.

Arima laughed and admired Karma in his hand, "It's a good sword."