In this second round, both Arima and Raal elevated things to a completely different level. Maybe their combined power could contend against the Earthen Realm at that point.
Though after their enhancement, the battle's flow visibly fell into Arima's hands. After all, Karma was still a transcendental weapon and although it could sound like a vague assessment, it was still a weapon supposed to be above anything you could find in the entire world. At its maximum power, it could easily push Raal's sword back.
Also, the One Hundred Parade was Arima's enhancing magic that needed both him and Night to maintain. Something like that would obviously be strong.
In the end, Raal was the one on the losing end. Regardless of the size of their bodies or their weapons, Arima had an unquestionably superior explosive strength. No matter if it was the magic output or physical output, Arima was above. By continuously slashing at him with Karma and storming him with lightning, he was putting Raal into a tight spot.
They fought for a while with him on the defensive, casually destroying at least a hectare of land with just a single swing of their weapons.
At some point, Raal's grin became wider and a blood-colored aura surrounded him. His sword shined with the same light and he swung it in a really strong motion.
Arima felt something was wrong and urgently grouped his lightning. "[Aeterna]."
He swung his sword to meet Raal's. At the impact, Aeterna detonated and released a black lightning sphere. A bloody aura then encompassed it and literally erased the magic as it grew stronger. The explosion was suppressed and the two fighters took their distance once again.
"I heard of that," Arima remarked and Raal smirked. "The ability that a small number of demons possess, ‘Blood Eater’. If I'm not wrong, Blood Eater allows the user to integrate the aura of his victims by drinking their blood so that he can use them for himself. It's not really strengthening yourself, but more like using a secondary limited source of power."
"You're correct," Raal nodded. "That's what you call a Blood Eater and I am one of them. Then, are you prepared?"
Arima laughed lightly and flapped his wings. He charged toward Raal and both of them once again riled the elements as they battled.
The blood aura around Raal became even stronger as the two fell into a stalemate. The attacks such as the earth uprising or the lightning falling down were being ignored as they assailed each other with their swords.
Because of their recent enhancement techniques, both Arima and Raal couldn't find the time to cast large-scale magics anymore.
At some point, even their ways of fighting started changing. Raal began to parry some strikes with his horns and even let some attacks reach his flesh.
On the other side, Arima started using his tail and wings to variate his actions, and contrary to his opponent, he couldn't let Raal hit him once. Although his skeleton form was almost invulnerable from most damage, it wasn’t indestructible. A single swing of the Demon King’s great sword could shatter a lot of his bones and he would need time to repair them, which would give the advantage to Raal.
After half an hour of strenuous battling, Arima decided to bet his victory. The inconspicuous snow star pattern in his eyes glowed and revolved once without Raal noticing. Arima then tightly gripped Karma with his two hands and used all of his strength to oppose Raal’s blow.
The result was that both he and Raal lost control over their weapons for a second. Arima obstructed Raal's horn with his tail and then mobilized a huge amount of lightning and fire in his hand.
Raal reacted quickly. His fist was endowed with his blood aura and he added as many spirits as he could call in that short period of time.
Subsequently, the two opponents threw a punch at the same time. Because of Raal's size, Arima had his whole upper body punched while Raal got himself a bloody hole in the abdomen.
The two fists met each other head-on and generated a great shockwave. The ground was flattened and the sky was cleared. They both were sent flying away by the strike and were rapidly separated by more than a hundred miles.
Arima groaned while fighting against the air pressure and the momentum. He straightened his neck and swapped Karma for Ira. Thanks to his wings, he recovered his stability before Raal. His skull and ribs that were splintered started regenerating. Fortunately, the injuries as an undead are completely different. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to heal the effects of Raal's attacks so easily.
He lifted his gun and started firing without inhibition. Ten shots would leave the muzzle every second. Each bullet was in adamantite and was enriched by the ‘leftover’ energy of Karma's transcending. Additionally, the ones Arima had just fired were all explosive bullets that he personally enchanted.
Of course, Raal couldn’t be defeated by that. But a single bullet could still injure him and his body size was rather large, making him an easy target. Ultimately, he chose to carefully dodge or block the incoming bullets. Even when Arima used an enhancing circle to boost the bullets, they still weren't enough to pressure Raal.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
‘The main advantages of a gun are their range, their firing speed, and their low consumption. But their damage is not to be ignored,’ Arima thought then summoned Superbia in his right hand. The rifle immediately started loading electricity and plasma.
Raal spotted Superbia and furrowed his eyebrows. He kicked the ground and propelled his huge body. But at that exact moment, thunder roared and lightning fell just in front of him. Before he could react, a literal rain of lightning started falling while he was being shot at with Ira.
It didn't take him a lot of effort to disperse the lightning, but he suffered some nasty burns and got hit by three bullets that were aimed at his biggest injury. Furthermore, the head of the bullets detonated and made him cough more blood. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't like Arima and couldn't heal his injuries so easily. But he was nonetheless recovering at a speed visible with the naked eye.
Because of that storm of lightning, Raal lost around four seconds. That was plenty enough time for Arima to make his move. The Demon King looked at the sky where Arima was and saw Superbia pointed at him, releasing a dreadful lot of energy.
Raal’s expression darkened then he thought of something. If the weapon Arima had in his hand at the moment had the same concept as the previous one, then he would be able to dodge it since it would come in a straight line.
But in the end, he had no choice. He invoked his spirits and flew toward Arima at full speed while trying to stay out the firing line. The jump he performed to leave the ground shook the planet itself.
Arima smirked and a complex magic circle formed in front of Superbia's muzzle. When Raal perceived that circle and recognized the runes on it, his entire body froze and his countenance radically changed. After that, turning around was his first reflex. But it felt like slow motion to him and his eyes widened as he realized it was too late.
When he caught a glimpse of what was behind him, his mind started working without rest. The exact same magic circle that he saw in front of Superbia was also right behind him.
“[Dolus Iaculat Scriptor] (Dolus’ Shot).”
Arima pressed the trigger and a massive black energy pillar left the muzzle before entering the circle. The attack then resurfaced behind Raal and engulfed him along with the raging thunder and the echo of earth trembling as the black pillar penetrated the ground.
After the pillar subsided, Raal reappeared with a severed arm. Apparently, he had discarded it to minimize the damages. Of course, he didn't stand there like an idiot afterward and promptly jumped away. No matter if there was something coming at him or no, he just couldn’t afford to stay immobile because he had lost Arima’s figure.
Even though the latter was now a big skeleton with blazing eyes and should be easy to find.
"[Accelerans] (Accelerando)."
Raal heard an eerie voice resounding very close to him. His eyes drifted downward and spotted Arima reaching for his sword’s handle whilst in an Iai stance. Karma was already infused with three different magics. Lightning, Fire, and surprisingly, Light.
The blue flames inhabiting Arima's skull turned into silver ones and the aura surrounding Karma also turned into a shiny and beautiful silver.
"[Et Convertam Aeterna Lux in Aeterna Noctem] (Eternal Light will turn into Eternal Night)," Arima chanted very slowly but Raal couldn't prevent it even if he wanted to. It felt like Arima was talking to him from another dimension and for every single move he would make, his opponent would do ten more.
Arima slowly unsheathed Karma and a silver light illuminated the area for at least a thousand miles’ radius. When the blade was halfway out of its scabbard, the light died down and Arima returned Karma inside its sheath.
Raal then noticed that Arima was once again moving normally but at the same time realized that his body had been paralyzed. There was a menacing silver cut going from his shoulder to his waist. Considering Raal's size, it was indeed terrifyingly large.
As Raal was giving his best to free himself, Arima's flesh started coming back and when he totally returned to normal, he exhaled heavily and a blue mist came out of his mouth.
He faintly panted and smiled at Raal. "How was it? I used time magic to land that blow. Even in my undead form, the rebound was quite challenging. I even cast light magic in that form, which worn me off even more… Now I think I can't return to that form for a while."
Arima complained a bit as he stretched. He knew that overuse of time magic would cause hazardous and alarming harm, but he still tried to use it longer to see how far his undead body could go. Result; now, even his fleshly body had some internal damage. Perhaps that if he hadn't suppressed his own strength, maybe he could have managed to resist the rebound.
As time passed, the silver light on Raal's chest glowed brighter.
"…So, that was time magic, huh? This is the first time I witnessed it in action."
Arima shrugged and extended his palm toward Raal. "Clench your teeth. This will hurt."
"[Stella Noctem Aurora] (Dawn Night Star)," he intoned and the silver mark was finally unconfined.
The detonation was mysteriously silent and Raal became shrouded by a dazzling light that took the form of a giant silver cross. The few clouds that had survived until now were annihilated and the sun vividly illuminated Arima’s magic.
Even the water that was coming back, stopped flowing altogether. It wasn’t pushed back but actually started floating around the light cross instead. Soon, a sphere of water enclosed the cross and was illuminated from the inside, creating a magnificent scene resembling a kaleidoscope.
After a moment, the cross gradually shrunk and the water fell from the sky and filled up the ocean again. Arima idly observed his magic under the ‘rain’ without moving.
Then, as expected, Raal came back with injuries over his whole body. He was panting violently and his body had failed to heal. But, unlike Arima, he had managed to hold his transformation as a minotaur.
If the two were to continue this fight like before, they would both receive wounds that would need urgent intervention and the winner would be uncertain.
As Arima and Raal were silently staring at each other, the former lifted his hand and pointed at the sky. In the direction following Arima's palm, space cracked like a mirror.
"To be honest, this was a close fight,” he said and Raal frowned.
“You’re saying that as if you've already won.”
Arima grinned. “Of course. Frankly, I’m quite weak at the moment after using time magic. I’m not confident I can beat you. Additionally, I couldn’t use any hard to cast magic since our physical strength was similar and you’d stop me every time. In the end, I chose to use this to conclude," he declared and their surroundings literally changed in the blink of an eye.
The temperature suddenly rose dangerously. The water disappeared. It wasn't being repelled or anything, it had just entirely evaporated. But the most intriguing detail was that the whole place was being illuminated by a reddish light of unknown source.
Raal slowly raised his head to look at the sky and his eyes narrowed. The sky had been overtaken by a burning star that was risking to collide with the planet at any moment.
If you were to compare that star with the actual sun, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration at all. Although its size was definitely several times smaller, its appearance was exactly the same. The heat as well may not be that different from the real one.
When Raal saw this, he burst out laughing. "I see. You created another dimension to prepare a magic that didn’t need incantation but is extremely flashy and slow. You must have begun this the moment you chose to use your long-range weapons. Afterward, you kept distracting me so that I wouldn’t detect the massive amount of mana leaving your body. Because if I had noticed it, I could have escaped from the zone in which you are able to send me here."
Arima smiled. "Correct. This is my last attack. Do your best to resist,” he declared and flew up toward the falling star. He then looked down at Raal and deployed his wings. Because of the light, he appeared to be a shadow and only his eyes could be seen.
"Don't worry, I'll retrieve you before you enter into a critical state and I'll heal you the best I can. Good luck," Arima disappeared and his voice echoed everywhere in the dimension.
"[Supernova]."
Raal grinned while staring at the falling fun that was getting hotter every second. "Rayord, at least, let's try to not fall unconscious."
"{Unlikely, but fine,}" his soul beast jested and Raal laughed.
The huge minotaur landed on the ground then stamped. "[Spirits of Earth, Wind, and Fire. Help me Get Through this Ordeal]," he chanted and used every last drop of mana he had left.
The earth quaked and fissures opened over a large surface of the planet. Raal shaped the terrain around him into tall mountains. He also used the wind to fight against the sun and tried to control a small part of the fire spirits dwelling it.
After a while, the star touched the tip of one of the mountains and the whole thing exploded. The nova drowned the world with an orange radiance and turned half of the planet to ashes.