"Absorb? What are you talking about?" The T-Rex frowned. "How could you absorb it? Where would you send the magma? You can't put it inside your storage, it's too dense and powerful. You also can't teleport that kind of matter without risking to miscalculate the transfer."
"I know all of that," Arima waved his hand. "Do not overthink it. Just bring me all of the Dravinite you have."
After he requested it, the land dragon ultimately brought him a huge purple rock the size of a small-sized car.
"That's everything we have."
"Thanks, that should be enough," Arima put the rock inside his storage and turned toward the crevasse.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to use the magma as a fire to reforge my soul weapon. The Dravinite has absorption characteristics, it can assimilate other metals and fuse with them to upgrade itself. I'm going to use every metal I have with me and forcefully integrate them into the Dravinite and then reforge Karma.”
“Of course, normally, I wouldn't be able to mix that much metal together. But if I use this big reserve of magma to transcend the melting point, then I think it’s possible. It has some magic properties to it so it should be fine. Additionally, Karma is bound to my soul and while it's restoring itself, it's in an ethereal state, which should allow it to accept the new material."
"Basically, I will trigger a fusion between the multiple metals I have and use the magma to stabilize it and compress it into one. Ultimately, the most important thing in all of this is whether my soul can withstand the process or not."
The two beasts more or less understood what Arima was going to do. They knew what was a soul binding and they were a bit surprised when they learned he had succeeded in doing it. But they only had one question about his plan which they voiced at the same time, "How?"
Arima snickered and he released his aura. "[Cutis Salamandra] (Salamander Skin)."
His skin became strangely hard and dark red in color. Overall, it seemed like he had transformed into a moving red statue. He then jumped into the crevasse without hesitation. He cast Enraged Spark and turned into a lightning bolt that flew toward the bottom at an insane speed.
The two beasts were shocked as they watched him freefall. Arima kept accelerating during his descent until he saw the hot rising magma. He breathed in and slowed down before diving in.
The moment he went under the lava, he became extremely slow and a wave of extreme heat assaulted him. He pushed through the magma and continued to go deeper. He made his way inside for almost an hour. When he judged that he was around the bottom of the magma chamber, he stopped moving.
He opened his eyes that resembled a lizard’s and which had a sort of rocky aspect to it. He waved his hand and started writing something with mana.
"[Scriptura]"
"[Infragilis, Aeternus, Periculo, Ultrix, Protector] (Unbreakable, Eternal, Dangerous, Avenging, Protector)."
"[Coronam auream] (Golden Crown)."
He transcribed and the words formed a hundred meters wide spherical golden barrier. The barrier had a strange ornament on top of it that looked like a crown. The barrier repulsed the lava and was now an empty spot inside the magma chamber. But Arima was actually saying outside it.
After that, a silver light appeared inside the sphere under his call. Next, he put the Dravinite inside the barrier and the metal began to revolve around Karma as if it was an electron.
Arima didn't stop there, he took out around ninety percent of all the metals he had accumulated in his storage; adamantite, mithril, orichalcum… and added all of it.
The several units of metal hovered around Karma and completely covered the silver light. At that moment, Arima started working very carefully. He placed his hands on the sphere and closed his eyes.
Inside the barrier, Karma shined and was linked to the purple metal with a thread of light. The two began to glow together as they merged. Afterward, all of the other metals started shining with different colors, one after the other. They all turned into chunks of light that moved toward Karma.
When around five different metals had been melded to Karma, the first rejection occurred and the sphere cracked. Arima glanced at the crack and instantly fixed it.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
‘I need to hold this barrier for five minutes. If I don't, Karma will explode one more time along with all of the metals here…’
Arima grinned. There was actually something he didn't tell the dragon and the T-Rex.
‘If I lose control over this barrier too early, then forget about destroying the region, it's the whole continent that's doomed. Well, I didn't know I would do something so risky before coming here. I should have brought Night…’ He thought and then spotted another crack forming and immediately repaired it.
‘Well, that should give him some experience at least. He has only fought Aria's soul beast alone after all,’ Arima brushed it off and wholly focused on the barrier.
***
In the ‘castle’ of the spirit people, Night was nonchalantly sleeping when Vinia entered the room and told him that the human prince would arrive tomorrow.
Night yawned. "Oh? That was easy. There was the possibility that he’d refuse and tell you to go to him instead. It's good then. I'll be able to take care of it faster than I thought," he said after waking up. Then, his ear abruptly twitched and he looked in a certain direction.
"Arima is doing something interesting apparently."
"Mh?" Lanya tilted her head when she heard Night's mumbling.
"Oh," Lilis was delighted to hear that though. "What kind?"
Night shook his head. "I’m not sure. I just know that Arima is really expectant of the result of what he is doing."
"Tch," Lilis clicked her tongue and then thought of something. "Why don't you tell me where he is right now? I can go there directly."
"No. I'm sure Arima doesn't want you to follow him everywhere. Why do you think he hid his presence from you?" He refused and Lilis pouted.
"Um, Lilis, master, we could visit the city to pass time," Lanya suggested and Lilis immediately agreed to it while Night groaned.
***
"Do you think it's going well?" The dragon asked the T-Rex as they sat near the volcano, waiting for Arima.
“I can’t say. What he told us, I don't think it's impossible, nor do I think he lied to us, but I'm sure it's really hard to realize. Wait…maybe…he didn't tell us the consequences in case he failed!" He suddenly realized and shouted.
Following his statement, an earthquake abruptly struck the continent. Followed by a peculiar and unique aura.
***
While she was calmly walking through the amusement park, Lilis felt the earthquake and her eyes widened. But what shocked her wasn’t the tremor but the aura that came after.
She turned toward the beast territory. "Impossible!" She exclaimed. "It's the force of a transcendental weapon in its creation process!" A thought suddenly jolted her mind. She glanced at Night who was looking in the same direction as her.
‘'An interesting thing'? Is it that man's doing? Are you telling me that he has a soul potent enough to forge a transcendental weapon with the materials of this world?’ She thought and her expression stiffened. ‘How monstrous do you want to become before you're satisfied?’
***
Arima had successfully held for five minutes. When he released the barrier, Karma and all of the metals had condensed into a weird assembly of different colors. When the magma entered in contact with it, Arima forced the two to unify with neutral magic. At the same time, Karma released the strange aura felt by Lilis and the whole volcano began to shake.
The magma was being siphoned by the amalgam of ores and metals and a huge spiral formed in the middle of the magma chamber. Arima was already feeling the exhaustion hitting him. He was currently doing his best to manipulate the lava. He was directing it so that it would gradually heat and refine Karma. The huge metal block became red because of the heat and its form started changing.
Everything was going well until the shaking became way too strong for comfort. Arima's eyes narrowed and he urgently sent a message to the two beasts above.
***
"‘I can do it but I need time. Meanwhile, try to stop the excess of lava coming up'?"
The T-Rex repeated the message out loud and looked at the dragon at his right. The latter instantly acted. He gathered his mana and spread it around the mountain.
"What are you waiting for, old geezer?! Help me! You control the flow of mana while I cast my magic!"
The T-Rex grunted. "Fine!" He roared and strange tentacle-like appendages sprout out from his body and connected to the dragon’s body.
"[Grow for me]."
"[Become a wall protecting the world]."
"[Earth Confinement]."
The land dragon chanted and two huge walls of earth formed on each side of the crevasse which spanned for around three thousand kilometers. The two walls joined together and confined the crevasse.
"I hope you can finish it quickly because I can only keep this thing up for a half a day," the dragon muttered when the first explosive magma reached the surface.
***
Arima continued to refine Karma, but because he realized he wouldn't be able to last for too long if he used his full power, he had to reduce the pace.
‘At this rate, I'll finish it in ten hours or so.’
After that point, it was just a matter of time. Arima kept refining Karma whilst the two beasts restricted the partial-eruption.
Like that, eleven hours passed.
***
The next morning, it was time for the prince to arrive at the spirit city. Although everyone could feel the shaking originating from the beast territory, it was going on for almost half a day already. It was also becoming weaker over time so people already got used to it and expected it to be over soon.
So, it didn't stop the prince from coming to see Vinia. The prince arrived in front of the huge mist dome with a pretty big escort. At least a hundred soldiers with each one them being at the fifth level at least.
Vinia had already opened a huge path to the inside of the territory and was waiting for the prince’s arrival. When he stepped down from his carriage, Vinia walked to him with a smile.
"Welcome, Prince Drannoc," she bowed and slightly lifted her dress to greet him. Her expression didn't reveal anything strange.
The prince laughed. "I'm here. Did you finally decide to be mine?"
Vinia giggled. "I wanted to talk to Your Majesty about that. Why don't you come in?"
The prince nodded. "Surely," he said and waved at his escort. He ordered them to stay outside but a beautiful woman wearing a dark dress and a cold expression stood at his side. "She will accompany me. I'm sure you understand, right?"
"Yes. There’s no problem," Vinia nodded and began to lead the prince into the dome. Like with Arima, they first used the stone paver in the flower field before reaching the town. They directly went to the 'castle'. They passed by the park and entered the mansion. Vinia invited the prince to the exact same room Arima was left waiting last time.
When the prince and her guard entered the room, the latter immediately reacted and her eyes narrowed. "Your Majesty, please stand back," her eyes were fixed on Night who was lying on the couch.
"What's wrong, Fayla? It's just a mere sixth level beast," the prince frowned in displeasure.
"I’m afraid… it's not just a beast,” Fayla replied with a darkened expression.
Night stretched a bit and jumped in front of them before chanting, "[Altera Rationem Terram] (Next Dimension Territory)."
The space distorted and Vinia disappeared from the room.
"What happened?!" The prince looked around in panic and Fayla grabbed the handle of her sword.
Night inhaled and initiated his transformation. In just a few seconds, a black and red dragon was already standing in front of them, smirking. The ceiling was smashed because of his height. He wagged his tail and all the furniture inside the room fell apart.
"Now…"
***
At the same time, Arima grinned and viewed the giant magma sword in front of him.
"Well…"
***
""Let’s begin.""