Life Hunter

Chapter 92: ''Kerberos''

Chapter 92: ''Kerberos''

Arima coughed some blood and wiped the one flowing down on his lip. He suffered internal damages and even some of his bones were broken. He particularly got a huge cut on his chest. The pain wasn't enough to make him complain but when he tried to stand up, he cursed.

"Fuck," He sat down and sighed. He closed his eyes and the enchant on his clothes start working at full power. He also channeled his mana and boosted his natural regeneration.

Meanwhile, Night and Karma started chatting, totally unfazed. "{That was surprising,}" The former commented.

"{True. Of course, I expected the Hell gate to be something out of this world. But what happened to Arima just now was indeed surprising.}"

"{Yeah, when we touched that gate, that annoying skull instantly opened his mouth and shouted something. The bones then moved to hit Arima. The problem was the speed at which happened. Quite scary,}" Night reminisced.

"{I see, then it should be okay if we destroy those bones first, no?}" Karma wondered and suggested.

"{I highly doubt it will be that easy.}"

Arima opened his eyes and stood up, fully healed, and stretched. "Why the hell are you talking together so nonchalantly. I was injured back then, you know?"

"{Eh?}" The two interjected at the same time with a really confused and innocent voice

"{Arima? What are you talking about?}" Karma asked.

"{Worrying about you is most likely the most meaningless action to do there is in the world right now. And you should remember that my body is also yours in this form, worrying about your state would mean worrying about myself,}" Night gave his honest opinion and Arima groaned.

He clicked his tongue and looked at the sky. "Anyway, we can't destroy that thing. To be exact, it's fundamentally indestructible."

"{Why?}" Karma inquired.

"It should be protected by an Owl or something. I felt it when it countered me. It's not something that can be broken as it's something we can't even interact with," Arima stared at the gate as he explained.

"{What?}" Karma exclaimed in shock. "{Then are you telling me that we have to watch as it does anything it wants?}"

"{No,}" Night responded. "{It's just a gate after all. Although it's Arima-proof, I guess it can only do one thing; its basic duty.}"

"{Duty?}"

Arima snickered and followed Night words, "Have you already forgot? It's a summoning ritual. For what do you use a gate usually?"

Soon after, as if proving his words, the skull shined with a red and golden light and then split in two right in the middle. Now that the gate had lost what kept it closed, it slowly started to open.

While it was slowly opening, Arima waved his hand and thousands of people appeared in the same crater as he was. They all looked around in disbelief at their destroyed houses.

"{Who are they?}" Karma asked when she saw that.

"{They are the people who were in the zone destroyed by Arima's crash}" Night answered to her. "{Arima sent them into another dimension before that crash occurred to rescue them And you should seriously learn to be more observative Karma.}"

"{}"

"You all, run away as far as you can," Arima spoke casually, without even looking toward the people he had just saved. "Spread the word and tell everyone you meet to run in the opposite direction of that thing."

He didn't need to point at the gate for the listeners to understand. They all nodded promptly and started running away. Some were around the third and fourth level and left as fast as they could. During all that time, Arima's eyes never left the gate. It was already half-opened.

Arima lightly flapped his wings and flew off. He approached the gate and stopped a few miles away from it.

Even when it was half opened, Arima couldn't see anything behind. It was just a dense screen of darkness. As he observed the gate's movements, his expression suddenly turned sour.

"Oh shit," He cussed once again and flapped his wings. He headed toward the opposite direction of the gate. The force he used to accelerate provoked a sonic boom and even created a shockwave that damaged the empty part of the city.

Just half a second later, the gate was slammed open and a powerful sound wave spread throughout the entire city, but especially around the gate itself. Arima wasn't far enough and he almost fell down again because of the intense jolt directed at his spirit and aura.

But that wasn't the end, an explosion occurred at the same time and everything around the gate was instantaneously demolished, even the royal castle. Thankfully, the latter was empty since it was evacuated in time.

It was only a matter of time before Arima felt an immense aura coming from that gate. Even he couldn't help but feel the urge to bolt right away. It was just a natural instinct before a stronger being.

Arima laughed wryly. "It's been a while since I felt like this," He smirked and observed with a firm look. Karma and Night remained silent this time.

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Not that far away from Center City, Karez was watching the Hell gate from a small meadow in the outskirts of the city.

His eyes became cold and since they were usually empty, that coldness was the only thing that reflected in his eyes right now, accentuating the hate that one could feel exuding from him.

"He's here," Karez muttered then shifted his eyes slightly and looked at the figure in the sky, staring at the gate. "So, he's the Kind Demon, huh? I hope you'll last long enough to delay him. I need to get to that gate."

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Behind the veil of darkness, there was a sudden movement and something went through. It was a giant paw that stepped on mid-air as if it was firm ground. It was soon followed by the forearm.

Already at that point, Arima's expression was twitching. "That guy is no joke. He's a legend known by all, even in my world. What kind of strength would he have if he was real?"

After that, it was pretty obvious. A nose, then the muzzle emerged from the darkness. But it wasn't only one. It was three of them. Arima solemnly looked at three dangerous-looking dog-heads. The three seemed to be pretty calm, they scanned the surroundings together.

Then, the second leg finally appeared and the rest of the body followed. But before the whole thing was out, the head of a snake peeked out of the veil.

When the entire creature was out of the gate. Its full figure was there for everyone to witness. Everyone in the city saw it, even if they didn't want to. They couldn't escape the ominous aura coming from the monster.

The three-headed dog had a jet-black fur and crimson flames were continuously burning on his body as if he was coated with fire. His stature was almost as big as the gate. He was around eighty-meters-tall and his body extended to more than a hundred meters in length. The three pairs of crimson eyes were strangely full of calmness but filled with dominance. His tail was a big black snake with green eyes.

Arima raised an eyebrow. "Kerberos In other words, Cerberus If it was to fight the hound of Hades, I would have preferred fighting an invincible gate," He jested and Kerberos turned toward him almost instantly.

"You seem to be the strongest human on this planet. Are you the one who invoked the gate?" The head in the middle asked. The voice was enough to give Arima the urge to cover his ears since it was extremely loud and powerful.

Arima stared back at him. "I didn't," He answered shortly and the two silently glared at each other.

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

Meanwhile, Karez took out a scroll and tore it apart. The pieces burned and the cinders scattered.

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Arima's eyes suddenly narrowed. The familiars he had sent close to the dungeons had died. All of them at the same time. He eyed Kerberos and pondered. He wanted to lock all of the monsters into another dimension but he didn't know if that hound was going to let him do it.

"Kerberos, tell me one thing. Are you going to make a move on this planet?" Arima asked and the three heads looked at him, surprised.

"You're an interesting fellow. No human has ever dared to address me so directly," The head on the left raised his voice.

"Wait, I remember people like you. One came to Hell once. You're a Life Hunter," The third head then remarked.

The head in the middle mused. "I thought they were extinct. It's been thousands of years since I last saw one To answer your question; since the Hell gate has been summoned here, it's my duty to destroy this entire planet right now. It's my binding."

Arima clicked his tongue. "I didn't think I would need to use it so early," He mumbled and closed his eyes. His aura started increasing and the three heads of Kerberos all frowned.

"[Ecce ego dominatus rationibus imponeret meum] (Here I impose my dominance)."

"[Hoc iusiurandum] (Here I make an oath)."

"[Hic forte involvam te cum argento] (Here I destroy you with this silver)"

The mark on his back shined strongly and was projected above him.

"A Silver Emperor" The three heads commented at the same time.

"[Omniformis] (Omniform)," Arima finished chanting and his surroundings exploded. A silver and purple light burst. Before anyone knew what was happening, a figure with long silver hair and bright purple eyes was already standing in front of the Hellhound.

Arima extended his palm toward Kerberos. "Sorry, but you'll need to wait for a moment."

The force carried by his voice was now around the same level as the hound and would make faint anyone who isn't worthy to hear it.

"[Altera Rationem Terram] (Next Dimension Territory)."

"[Plenum Officii Sint] (Full Discharge)."

Arima chanted and a magic circle encompassed Kerberos. The latter glowered and tried to teleport but then realized something.

"Dimensional magic" He said in a calm voice. He perfectly knew that dimensional theories were very hard to fight back since it basically meant cutting off the connection with the Space-Time surface. He just glanced at Arima before he was sent into another dimension. He then tried to destroy it from the inside with his own dimensional magic.

Arima evidently sensed it. "If I don't hurry up, that guy will destroy it. I have ten minutes or so," He determined then immediately teleported away.

He went to each dungeon and pulled all of the monsters into the other dimension. He also sent some of them to the same position as the Hellhound. He was trying to hinder him a minimum, even if it was impossible. Most likely, the monsters would either die because of his voice or directly run away.

After that was done, Arima transferred to the same court he had left before to go attack the gate. His students were still there.

When he reappeared before them, everyone almost fell on their knees. Just seeing the silver-haired figure made them shiver. They all saw the black scales illuminated by a silver light and coated in a sort of purple glow.

Arima patted Arister's shoulder and transmitted what he had to say directly into his brain. Arister rubbed his temples for a second then nodded with a sigh.

Arima didn't say a word. Just that simple action would hurt everyone in the school. He was still unfamiliar with the power given by the silver magic and he had already restrained his aura to the maximum. He gave a last glance at Lanya as well before entering the dimension where Kerberos was.

Arister scratched his head. He was currently under the disguise of 'Ares'. A few seconds after Arima left, he reverted to his true appearance and faced the bewildered students.

"Arima just told me to bring you to a training camp," He smiled wryly and declared.

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A bit earlier, when Arima left to take care of the monster overflow, Karez reached the Hell gate and tried to step inside the veil of darkness. But he was rejected and the bones on the gate tried to knock him off.

Karez merely waved his hand and a strange aura stopped the bones from attacking him. He stared at the gate with chilling eyes and buried his hands in the darkness.