Life Hunter

Arima's group appeared on firm ground this time. The place they arrived to was just a plain with small hills here and there.

Arima frowned and took a step forward before taking another backward. He waved his hand and a transparent sphere formed in his hand. He threw it to the front and it exploded in mid-air although it there was no obstacle. After the small blast, the air was slightly distorted and it returned to normal after a second.

"It's neither a physical barrier or an illusion, huh?" Lilis remarked and Arima nodded.

"What kind is it then?" Lanya asked in curiosity. She didn't even bother about questioning whether or not they could pass through it. With Arima and Lilis there, no barrier could stop them.

"I'd say it's something like a projection," Arimane replied. "What I just threw wasn't offensive magic at all. It was just a bunch of mana that was disrupted before exploding. My guess is that this is a formation that hides things from outsiders. We can't see the city from outside, but they can see us from the inside. But most likely, just entering isn't enough to get rid of this projection. It's like walking in the enemy territory while being blind. Well, I can sense their presence though."

"How do we break it?" Night asked. It appeared that he was liking to be carried on Arima's shoulder since he didn't move at all since the moment he jumped on it.

"We don't break it…" Arima said and drew Karma out of thin air, "We cut ourselves in."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"[Primum, confractus] (First, Break)" Arima undid the first seal and unsheathed Karma. The blade became endowed with a transparent, white and blue aura.

"[Quod Temporaria Inanis] (Temporal Void)," He chanted and swung his katana effortlessly.

An energy wave made of the two different colors slashed something invisible. A vertical cut appeared in mid-air and through the gap, one could see the landscape of a city. It felt like a sort of painting.

Arima sheathed Karma and it dematerialized into red particles, "See? Done. Space magic is the best to cut physical barriers. Add time magic to it, and it can breach any kind of magic array," He explained and casually jumped in the crack of the barrier.

"…Did he just say time?" Lilis mumbled, "The hardest magic theory to understand and practice in the entire universe?" She said with a twitching expression and turned toward Lanya who was staring at her with innocent eyes.

She sighed, "Of course, you don't know how tremendous it is. If Chronos knew this, he would go on a rampage," She muttered and followed Arima. Lanya let out a chuckle and went after her. The crack on the barrier closed afterward.

Inside the city, Arima admired the vehicles that were used there. It was simple carriages but they weren't pulled by beasts or monsters but simply by using magic crystals that collected mana and drived the wheels.

"And here I thought I will never see anything like that in this world. But apparently, the demons are actually a kind of scientific race… Well, seriously though, this should be something anyone capable of using magic should think of. Why isn't it more popular?" He said and started appreciating the view.

The city was a bit different from the ones he had seen before. It was perfectly 'arranged'. The houses and buildings looked very neat and clean and had been built following a really precise design. Even the type of glass used was different, it was simply of better quality than what Arima had seen until now.

The second thing he noticed was a cake shop in which he directly entered which made speechless the two girls behind him. He searched for the most good-looking cake and chose it. He directly cut a slice of it and ate it. The cream on the exterior melted in his mouth and tasted like candy. His teeth then reached the layer of biscuit and bit into the chocolate inside. It was so good that Arima almost cried.

"Is it that good?" Night asked and a flash passed through Arima's eyes. He cut another slice and put it in the mouth of the wolf cub on his shoulder. Night was caught off guard and almost spat it out to complain. But when he tasted it, his expression endured a complete change. He began to chew on that cake earnestly and asked for more after.

Lanya laughed and Lilis sighed, "Let's go visit ourselves. They'll come back once they're done."

After that, it was, of course, shopping time. For both sides. Arima unsurprisingly began to buy out every patisserie in the city.

As he was walking on the streets while looking around, he felt something odd and looked at the sky. He discerned that the sun had bulged a little bit, "Well, of course, it can't be perfect."

"True," Night nodded, "By the way…"

"What's wrong?"

"People have been staring at me for a while now. It's uncomfortable," He complained with an annoyed expression.

"Oh, that…" Arima smiled and glanced at the passersby. There were a lot of them who would smile and look at Night. No matter if it was girls or boys, they would find him cute holding onto Arima's shoulder. How would they react if they knew that even in that form, Night could kill all of them in one magic spell?

"Don't bother. It's normal. Everyone is attracted to cute things."

Night's eyes twitched, "It doesn't make me feel better."

Arima snickered and his eyes fell on an interesting shop. In front of it, a short man, which seemed to be a dwarf was working on a man propelled vehicle with two wheels, you could see a saddle and a handlebar.

Basically, it was a bike. He was working on it while it was upside down.

Arima became curious and approached, "Hey, how do you call that?" He asked the dwarf.

"…I called it ricycle," He eyed Arima with a strange expression and answered to the question

Arima chuckled, "You should just call it bicycle. 'Bi' for two wheels," He said and the dwarf glared at him one more time before continuing his work.

Arima and Night looked at each other and shrugged, "Why are you working on that? I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't like it. It's not made to work with magic after all, and it's not that fast."

The dwarf trembled and stopped his movements for a second but then resumed, "…Because I have a poor magical ability, I decided to live without it. The things that weakness brought me in the past made me like this."

Arima smiled, "I see…" He walked toward the dwarf and crouched down on the other side of the bike. He gazed at the dwarf and conjured a hot flame in his right hand.

"Look at this," He said and the dwarf frowned irately but waited. Arima then conjured a ball of water in his left hand, "You know what happens when water is heated to its extreme, right?"

"Of course," The dwarf responded.

Arima nodded and placed the fire he had created under the water. The heat of the fire was so powerful that the water evaporated instantly. Arima caught the vapor with magic and made it sustain its gaseous form. He then made it fly around him, "That's what you call steam."

The dwarf watched the steam hovering in the air, "Why do you want to show me this?"

Arima grinned and waved his hand. The steam followed his orders and flew toward the pedals of the bike. The steam was then released at high pressure and the pedals started revolving around the shaft, making the wheel turn as well.

At first, the dwarf watched with confusion but then suddenly thought of something as he rushed inside his store. A few seconds after, he came back outside with a hurried expression and bowed to Arima.

"Thanks," He said and returned inside.

"What did you do?" Night asked while eating a small slice of cake he had taken from his storage

Arima smiled and made his way to the center of the city, "I just taught him a cool thing. Anyway, call the girls, tell them the playtime is over. We go to the castle," He instructed and disappeared from the streets without anyone noticing.

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

An hour later, near a giant gate made entirely of titanium enhanced by orichalcum that connected the castle and the citadel together, Arima was sitting down on a wood bench with a straight face.

He suddenly bit his lollipop and opened his mouth to speak, "Hey, Night."

"Mh…"

"I've got an idea."

"If it's anything related to destruction, it's denied."

"…"

"…"

"I never said that…nor thought of it."

"Yeah, sure."

They fell silent, "…Why don't you teleport them back here?"

"Lilis concealed herself along with Lanya. I can't detect them," Arima replied and put another sweet in his mouth.

They waited one more hour before Lanya and Lilis arrived. When the two girls came back, the first thing they spotted was black lighting in the sky and electricity filling the air. Then, it was a vein popping on Arima's forehead. Even with all of that though, Night had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

"Well, it's not really anger… right?" Lilis wryly laughed and Lanya instantly hid behind her.

Ultimately, Night woke up and pacified Arima before they could advance toward that gate.

"Who are you?" When they arrived at the main gate, a soldier stopped them in a rude way. The lightning that was gathering in the sky until earlier had put them into an alarmed state.

When Arima was stopped like that, he smiled in a way that made his companions shiver. Even the dozen or so soldiers at the gate were affected. But he was smiling after all. No one said anything to him. He took out a gold and silver card and handed it to the soldier.

The latter grabbed it, trembling, and inspected it. When he saw what was on it, his eyes widened. He rushed inside the castle by a small entrance on the side at a speed befitting a fifth level.

"Are you still angry? Stop bullying these soldiers and restrain your intent. That lightning was your doing in the first place. Don't fault them," Night scowled at Arima.

"I'm not angry. I'm just irritated. You know the difference. It's good now though. I spent it."

A few minutes later, the soldier came back with a higher ranked officer and they brought them inside by the smaller human-sized gate.

"What's the point of that huge gate?" Lanya asked an innocent and candid question that made all the soldiers look away.

"Well, it must be something like this; the main one is too big to open casually, so they just built a small gate to use instead," Arima speculated and the soldiers felt like they took a critical attack.

"That's stupid," Lilis and Night exclaimed at the same time. This time, the personnel of the castle wore a defeated expression.

"Why are you all so depressed?" Arima asked and that was the final attack that brought them to their knees.

Seriously, a technologically advanced city had to have this kind of gate for the castle, that was almost humiliating. It was just all because the King wanted an imposing and really strong gate to be at the entrance of his castle. Because of that, they couldn't open it unless someone at the eighth-level acted.

"That's dumb," Arima complemented and he almost finished off the mental of these poor demons.