"You’re okay?" Night asked as he helped Arima stand up.

"Yeah," Arima answered with an annoyed expression and cracked his neck. "I hate to admit it, but that other part of me actually saved me."

"What do you mean?" Chulainn asked from the other side of the barrier since it still hadn't disappeared.

"That final attack, it wasn't specifically meant to wake up ‘him’ up. That's obvious. It was an attack meant to destroy my soul. And it was blocked because that thing got in the way," Arima explained. "Seriously, who stationed this armor here? The Original God? Who the hell could resist a soul attack like that?"

"Well, you apparently," Lilis smiled wryly. "Maybe it was waiting for someone like you. You know how they call it; fate."

"Fate is bullshit," Arima snorted. "Everything is decided the moment you're born? Of course, it is. The future can't be changed or anything. You will just live your life how you're supposed to. And no matter what choices you will make, it will still be what you were meant to do since the moment you were born."

"They just gave a name to this to somewhat embellish gods and make humans truly believe that they are inferiors," Arima ranted and everyone smiled bitterly.

"Anyway," he walked to the place where the armor had disintegrated and picked up a small object that was lying there. It was a small white disc with a certain symbol on it.

"Gods sure like white. It hurts my eyes," Arima jested and crushed the disc.

"Huh?" His companions exclaimed. "Wa-wait! It's not because you don't like white that you should break it!" Lilis shouted and her eyes widened right after.

When Arima broke the disc, the ruins’ edifices started moving in a spiral pattern around the center. Meanwhile, within that same center, the ground cracked and something very large emerged from the ground and slowly elevated everyone.

After a few seconds, Arima’s group was standing on top of a massive temple made of white marble.

"It was meant to be broken, huh?" Lanya casually commented and Lilis shot a glare at her.

"What if I told you I really broke it because it annoyed me?" Arima uttered and everyone looked at him with dumbfounded eyes. "I'm kidding. It had literally a sign on it. It was a small drawing of a disc being hammered. There even was a text below saying ‘break it’. At least God is straightforward," he said and jumped to land in front of the temple's entrance.

"…" Lilis was speechless and so were the others. They all remembered to follow Arima only when he had entered the temple.

"So, will that ‘creepy you’ be a problem?" Chulainn jumped back on Arima's shoulder and asked.

"Most likely. When he said he would come back, he wasn't bluffing. Thanks to that damn armor, he's seriously awake now and will try to seize control at every occasion," he answered as they were navigating the corridors filled with paintings and beautiful decorations.

"You can't destroy it?" Lanya asked after he finished.

"No, I can't. Destroying him would mean destroying my soul. Who is dumb enough to do that?" Arima said and traced the runes on the wall with his fingers. "At best, I could try to assimilate with him but it's impossible in my current state. That thing is as strong as me or even stronger. To fuse with him, I would need him to be cooperative. I'll let you wonder about the probabilities of that happening."

"So, what's your plan?" Chulainn inquired and Arima sighed.

"Maybe I'll take advantage of the Life Judgment. I don't really know how it works, but let's think of it like this; I will assimilate with parallel versions of me. But what if that other part of me can do that as well? In that case, I would just need to integrate with more parallel versions than him before being able to do the same with him."

"I see…" Chulainn nodded and fell silent.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"So, you have to fight with yourself basically. But isn't that thing also a part of your soul? How can it be so hard to control? Can't you just, I don't know, accept its existence and fuse peacefully with it?" Lilis questioned since she was still a bit confused.

Arima laughed lightly at her question. "I think there's one thing you misunderstand. I perfectly accept his existence. I have that darkness in me, I'm not trying to deny it or anything. It's not because I rejected him that he was able to get his own ego."

"Everyone has a part of darkness. Mine is just bigger than most. When I arrived in this world, he must have mutated into a sentient being through the magic circuits. Just that it was 'asleep' at the time," Arima clarified. "When I arrived in Hell, to be honest, I was scared that he would wake up completely but luckily, he just went back to slumber."

"But, of course, an empty armor had to wake him up again," Arima shook his head and sighed. "Well, in any case, let's just think of that as an opportunity to get stronger. It should be, as long as I take care of this issue without messing up," he affirmed and stopped walking.

"With that said, I think we found our objective," he said and pointed at a huge white cube floating in the middle of the hall they had just stepped in.

"That's Origin?" Night frowned.

"I think it is," Arima shrugged. He approached the object cube and stopped just below it.

"So, what do we do now?" Chulainn asked and he scowled at him.

"That's what I should be asking you," he said, and the Hellhound covered his ears with his paws, faking a sorry expression.

"I told you. I only heard stories, nothing more," he said and Arima sighed.

"Let's try to touch it then. If anyone has a better idea, you’re welcome to propose it," he bantered and jumped lightly to reach the cube.

When his hand interacted with the cube, the latter shrunk immediately, and its size instantly went from twenty meters to barely ten centimeters. Arima blinked and silently grabbed the cube. He observed it and then played with it for a bit.

"Will you stop playing around with an artifact created by the Original God himself?" Chulainn rebuked and Arima smiled as he walked back to his group.

"That's it?" Karma tilted her head and asked.

"Well, apparently," he answered whilst showing the cube to everyone. "Of course, if you ignore the fact that I could have died and be overtaken by an evil counterpart. Yes, that's it."

Karma pursed her lips and laughed awkwardly.

"Seriously though. Can you use it?" Lanya asked in curiosity as she stared at the cube.

Arima shrugged. "I have no idea," he casually said, and everyone stopped talking.

"…I remembered something. Try giving it a name," Chulainn broke the silence and Arima looked at him in surprise. "It's just a story I heard. 'Origin' is just a title used to designate it. To actually appropriate it for yourself, you need to bestow it a name," he explained. "If everything goes well, Origin will reveal itself to you if it acknowledges you and the name you gave it."

"Hm," Arima mused as he observed the cube. He threw it in the air and nodded when he caught it back. "You shall be called Deva then," he stated and the cube shook as it left his hand.

The white cube became a ray of light that went through Arima's body and then began transforming into something else afterward. It became bigger and then landed on the ground thunderously.

When Arima saw what it was, he snickered. Origin had accepted its new name and immediately connected itself to his soul. He now knew that Deva would take the form most suited for its owner. He felt amused at the form it had chosen.

It was a daunting motorcycle with four wheels. On each side of the bike, there was a transparent crystal-like material that allowed one to see the interiors. There were mysterious mechanisms and energies locked in there. Lightning would occasionally appear inside of it as well.

Arima smirked and promptly rode it. The bike made a roaring sound as if to welcome its owner. The mechanisms all started moving. Several gears started spinning and some pumps began to move.

There were also some intricate lines drawn across the entire bike’s frame which resembled circuits circulating a sort of white energy. When Arima used the throttle, thunder resounded and the wheels released steam at high pressure. Everyone could only admire the power and magic contained within that vehicle.

"Well, let's see how well this thing can do. From what I understand, I should be able to bring you all with me," Arima said and released the brakes. When he did so, the group felt a breeze and in the next instant, their sight was twisted. They felt as if the world around them had blasted into pieces and that they were sliding down a slope really quickly.

The next thing they heard was the sound of a bike slowly calming down and water splashing. When they opened their eyes, they saw Hell's sky above them and the red sea below.

Arima casually looked around and snorted. Deva was perfectly stable on the surface of the water while sparks came out from time to time. Everyone looked at him with strange expressions. They had no words to explain what they had just experienced.

"You shouldn't daydream now. Someone’s coming and I’m not sure if it’s good news," Arima suddenly said and looked up.

After a few seconds, he spotted a small dot on the horizon. Chulainn was the first to notice who it was and the others followed. The individual in question reached them in less than second and his abrupt halt rippled the sea.

Arima gazed at the figure who was now hovering in mid-air above them. Deva, which he was mounting, didn't even shake from the water’s disturbance. In fact, Deva didn’t circulate on anything physical, it used dimensional anchors to move.

"Let me be sure. Are you a Life Hunter?" Utain, who had just arrived, aloofly asked.

Arima’s obvious reaction was a deep frown. It wasn’t a question he would expect considering Life Hunters were supposed to be extinct and forgotten by most people.

"I am, why?" He answered.

Utain didn't answer and squinted his eyes. "What's your name?" He ignored the question and responded with another.

Arima's expression twitched. "…Arimane Blade," he was quite displeased but he didn’t have any other choice but to answer. Utain was positively stronger than him and the only one who might be able to face him was Chulainn. If he could talk his way out, it was worth trying.

"Arimane… I heard that name before. Where was it?" Utain muttered and focused on Arima again. "Your father? Who was it?"

"What?" Arima was perplexed. "I don't know who my father is."

"What about your full name?" Utain asked something else and he groaned.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't know?" It was the beast-man's turn to be confused. "You didn't go through the Life Judgment?" His face showed a hint of shock. "Are you telling me the death aura around you, the different mana cores, and even the silver mark are something you got before your Judgment? I thought you just had failed to enter the Heavenly Realm…"

A vein popped up on Arima's forehead. "Hey, will you just tell me who you are and what you want from me already?"

Utain snickered and glared at Arima. "Sorry kid, but you will die today. If I'm not wrong, your full name should be Arimane Reigen Blade," he declared and Arima scowled at him. "I swore to destroy the Reigen clan. No matter if you're the last of your race or completely unaware of the circumstances, I cannot let you live."

Utain clenched his fists and this small action made the surrounding water surge, the sky to clear, and the earth to quake. His aura materialized afterward and pressured every living being nearby.