Life Hunter

"Death Hunters…" Lilis muttered, "Did you learn that word from the Seed?"

Arima nodded, "Yeah, he insinuated that I'm one of them. I also took his memories."

Lilis shrugged, "Well, that's not really surprising. I thought myself that you may be one since the beginning. Death Hunters are said to be very rare among Life Hunters. In fact, there are only three recorded appearances. The nuance between 'death' and 'life' is not that difficult to understand. We don't know much about Death Hunters, but it's written in the archives that they were capable to control Death itself and that their life hunt was impartial and dominating."

"I see, that's more or less what the Seed knew. But what annoys me is not those characteristics."

Lilis gravely nodded, "Yeah, the most significant thing about Death Hunters was their so-called destiny. They apparently had a mission to accomplish since the moment they were born. That mission was supposed to be given by their ancestors."

"And each time a Death Hunter was given a mission, he was obliged to follow it until their death. One of them tried to escape that destiny but when he did so, it's said that the world itself turned against him, forcing him to fulfill his duty."

Arima shook his head, "But the problem is that very duty. What was it? Did the three Death Hunters before me get the same mission or was it different? And did they even succeed?"

Lilis's expression darkened, "I don't know what the mission was. But we know that they were all extremely powerful, stronger than most gods. But still, the three of them died in unknown ways. When Heaven discovered the body of one of them though, we found out that the cause of death was internal mana disruption. As if he had lost control over his own magic…"

Lanya and Night (cub) were listening attentively. The former wasn't stupid so she, of course, understood that Arima was one of those so-called Death Hunters and that Lilis was a real goddess, perhaps even stronger than the entity who gave her an inheritance.

Night placed his paws on Lanya's arms and stuck his head out, "So, what's the advantage of knowing that?"

Arima sighed, "Who knows? If I ever feel that something is pushing me toward a predetermined goal, then I won't fight it. There would be no point in doing so. And at least, I won't be lost about what is happening to me," He paused and chuckled, "Well, let's just hope that I'm not destined to die for nothing," He said and Lilis smiled bitterly.

"Anyhow, according to what Lilis said, the reason why my three predecessors failed wasn't an external foe. Maybe it's something that will attack from the inside somehow. I'll just have to be careful from now on."

"True, but there's also a case where the Death Hunter died as he tried to escape his fate. Seemingly, it was because he was going against the world so much that he was punished. Don't ask me how that works because I have no idea. Some of the High Gods hypothesized that the progenitor of the Life Hunters cast a curse on the lineage."

"That's also one of the reasons why they were called with the word 'death'. Because no matter what they did, they would always end up dead as it was their goal; the target of their hunt."

Arima glanced at Lilis and frowned, "That wasn't necessary."

Lilis laughed in return and at the same time, Karia groaned and opened her eyes. She slowly sat up while holding her head. She spotted Arima's group nonchalantly eating at the table.

Arima looked at her, "Oh, you're awake? How do you feel?"

Karia stared at her hand wide-eyed and generated a bit of light with her magic. The result was a simple glow but it really shook her. She then closed her eyes and inspected her soul.

She immediately stood up and went toward Arima. She bowed incredibly respectfully, "Thank you very much." She spoke with a very composed voice, even more than before. Maybe that's how the elven Priestess is supposed to be without the Seed corrupting her.

Arima awkwardly smiled, because it was the second time he was thanked so sincerely on the same day, and nodded at her, "Sure, it's not a problem. It's actually a stroke of luck that the Seed tried to infect you. Your soul is too pure and the Seed had a hard time corrupting it."

Karia revealed a faint smile, "If it allowed me to protect others by keeping it in me, there's absolutely nothing to complain about."

Arima chuckled, "Elves are really fascinating after all."

Karia tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

Arima grinned and looked at her in the eyes. Karia tensed when she saw those silver eyes observing her. She noticed the depth in that look and noticed the snow star in his pupils. That made her feel as if she wasn't being stared at by a human but by an omniscient being.

"You're fascinating in one particular way. You have what humans lack the most. Respect, humility, self-control, and kindness. These four characteristics, you possess them at all time. That's fascinating. Admirable, I'd even say."

Karia giggled, "Thank you for that praise. But you're saying that humans lack it the most… You as well?"

Arima laughed and waved his hand before smirking, "No, of course not. I possess them. If you expected me to hold myself back here, you were mistaken. Saying that you're the same as others although you're not is just unwanted humility. You're degrading yourself. I grasped what humans lacked the most because I have it."

"True, you have those four qualities," Lilis joined the conversation, "But you can't say the same thing with other things."

"Indeed, Arima is the last person that we can qualify as a perfect human," Night added. It was unfortunate that his appearance didn't look that convincing.

Lanya just innocently hummed before nodding and acknowledging what the two others said.

Arima shrugged and Karia chuckled, "Where are you going after this?"

"The demon city, I guess. Let's say I owe a fight to Raal now," Arima said while pulling out another lollipop.

Karia blinked with a blank expression, "…Sincerely? You're actually going to humor that man?"

Lilis served herself a cup of coffee and smiled, "That's not a fight anymore though. You're at the Earthen realm now. It will be tough for him to even injure you."

"I'm aware. I'll suppress my life force to the peak of the tenth level," Arima casually replied and Lilis shrugged and didn't press further. In fact, forcefully reducing one's life force is not recommended but she couldn't do anything if Arima had made his choice.

Arima stood up and stretched his arms, "Well, let's go then. Also, Karia, I erased the source but there should still be some remnants sleeping in your soul. Be careful and slowly get rid of them."

"I understand. Once again, I'm very grateful for your help. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't here."

"Don't mind it too much. It wasn't a big deal anyway. That Seed was troublesome, but it wasn't that strong," Arima responded and waved his hand. Night jumped off Lanya's embrace and four magic circles formed at the feet of everyone, "See you," Arima said and disappeared along with the other three.

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

The four of them reappeared in mid-air. Lanya reacted in time and deployed her wings. Lilis was surprised but she spontaneously started floating.

"Why did you bring us here?" Night jumped on Arima's shoulder and asked after determining where they were.

Arima looked at the ground, "I wanted to see something, and it's as I expected."

He actually had teleported above the frontier. What Arima wanted to check was the waterway he had made before which now separated the continent in three. As he suspected, the destruction he had brought there was being 'cleaned' and he predicted that it would only take around three days for everything to naturalize itself as if there had always been three continents.

"Lilis, what kind of being is this planet?" Arima asked the one who was most likely to know.

"A natural Earthen God. This type of existence usually lives without any troubles whatsoever. They have their own ego, but they are extremely simple. Usually, they're very caring about the species that live on their surface and always do their best to maintain a good environment for them. Their most valued characteristic is their 100% pure mana," Lilis briefly explained. She was used to it at this point.

Arima mused, "If he wanted to, could he move on his own?"

"Move? In space you mean?" Lilis was puzzled, "Well, yes, he could move freely in space. There's nothing stopping him. He's not compelled by any gravitational field coming from the main star after all."

Arima smiled, "Good then." He released his spirit and condensed it around his hand. He stopped levitating and landed gently on the ground. He crouched and put his hand on the ground.

"[Infragilique Vinculo] (Unbreakable Link)," He chanted and a powerful spiritual force was expelled from his palm. It penetrated the earth and started 'digging' at great speed.

"What are you doing?" Night, who was still resting on Arima's shoulder, asked.

"I'm trying to establish a connection between me and this big guy," Arima answered then Lanya and Lilis landed beside him.

"What's the point in doing that?" Lilis was confused but then opened her mouth wide, "Ah… I see…That's why you asked me if he could move, huh?" She exclaimed and Night also revealed an enlightened expression.

"Mm?" Only Lanya was left out, not understanding what was going on.

"Precisely. If this guy can move, then it would save me time."

"Will he listen to you?"

"If he's simple as Lilis said, then it should be also easy to motivate him… Keep it quiet now," Arima closed his eyes and engaged into a telepathic connection.

The first thing Arima received was a pure sentiment of curiosity. There was no voice, just a thought saying 'What do you want?'. Arima smiled and honestly responded. They started conversing and only finished ten minutes later.

Then, Arima exhaled and stoop up. He rubbed his temples, "Finally over. Sustaining a link like this is rough."

"So?" Night inquired.

"He agreed. He told me that he would go to the place where Errastas is right now. You should be able to feel it moving soon."

Lilis smiled, "I see, how fast did he tell you he will go?"

"He will arrive in three months at a casual speed. Oh yeah, I also told him to create a new 'sun' with magic."

"How can he do that? The sun is not something you can reproduce that easily."

"He doesn't need to create a real sun. He just needs to create a source of energy capable of emitting UV's, IR's, and visible light. I explained to him the basic theory and he said he understood it."

"Oh, I see," Lilis nodded and sensed a slight trembling coming from the ground. She reflexively looked at the sun and noticed that it moved off its normal position by around a centimeter.

"He'll try to make it as natural as possible. The majority of people won't realize we're moving," Arima stated then scratched his hair with a wry smile on his face, "Though… I'm kinda sorry for astrologists now…"

"In the end, how did you convince him to do this?" Night waved his paw in front of Arima's eyes and changed the subject.

Arima glanced at him and grinned, "I said it, right? If he's simple, then it should be easy to make him move. That's exactly what happened. I just said this to him: 'the one who sent an asteroid in your direction is there'. And I added that if he could bring me to that place, I would be able to take revenge for him."

Night was speechless, "…True, I guess you can call that simple…" He uttered with a blank expression and the two girls nodded.

"Well, that's it. Now let's go, I have a meeting," Arima said and teleported his group away in an instant.