The next day, Arima directly left to the frontier. When he arrived there, he spotted some soldiers marching back and forth but there wasn't any battle occurring.
Arima looked around with his draconic eyes, "I might as well pass by the main battlefield."
Arima transferred to a place totally devastated by the skirmishes and magic assaults. There wasn't any big fight at the moment, but the two sides were clearly opposed there. After all, it's not like people fight each second in a war. Also, the magic in this world allows the use of large-scale attacks which can annihilate a great number of people in one go, so each side has to be careful in their actions.
Arima used a detection magic and determined that this whole battlefield stretched for hundreds of miles. The number of soldiers was around fifty to a hundred thousand on each side. The number of deaths amounted to twenty thousand on the Kingdom's side and ten thousand on the Empire's.
Arima suddenly teleported and appeared in the sky, two hundred miles away from where he was just before. He pushed through every defensive magic formation he stumbled on and flapped his wings to stay stationary.
"[Superbia]," Arima called his sniper and pointed it to the ground. At the end of Arima's sight was a small fortified camp, he was aiming at a huge tent in the middle.
"[Gun Metuunt Blasphemantes] (Rail Gun)." He chanted and the barrel of his gun began to emit a dense black light. Inside the chamber of the gun, the adamantite bullet was vibrating and spinning at an unimaginable speed.
Arima pressed the trigger and the bullet flew along with all the plasma accumulated. The projectile became a huge black pillar which descended and literally annihilated the tent and everyone inside. After the pillar vanished, a bottomless-looking hole was left there.
Before anyone could react, the Empire's chain of command had been destroyed.
"{How much?}" Night asked Arima during the resonance.
"40%."
Night felt cold when he heard that. That meant Arima just used 40% percent of the gun's full potential without any enhancement circles and only lightning magic.
"That was better than expected," Arima smiled though. He looked at his gun before storing it back. He glanced at the chaotic camp below, "That should be enough for now."
Following that, Arima headed to the nearest city because it was where the Emperor was staying temporarily. Once he reached his destination, he sneakily infiltrated the city and investigated. He soon found the biggest structure with the most guards stationed around it.
Arima didn't want to lose time, he directly rushed there and killed the guards in front with Ira. According to the rumors, the Emperor was extremely strong. If he could kill him with a surprise attack, it would be a huge economy of time and effort.
He jumped really high and placed himself above the residence. He wasn't about to use Superbia. If the Emperor is as strong as the rumors tell, he should be able to avoid it because the only demerit of this weapon, along with Ira, was that the attacks followed a straight line. Even if the pillar from before was only 40%, it could be more powerful, but it couldn't be much wider.
"[Pentagram caelesti], [Clara iudicium] (Heavenly pentagram, Bright judgment)." Arima chanted and an enormous purple circle formed above the whole residence, in the latter was the famous and well-known depiction of a pentagram.
"[Ultimum Praecantatio, Stabat Nubes Perosus Intercisis] (Ultimate magic, Severing Cloud Pillar)."
Arima finished his chant and the pentagram glowed. The earth shook and a purple light blinded everyone around. That light seemed to be produced by anything that was under the circle. Any kind of matter under it would start to emit light on its own.
It lasted for a second before everything exploded into a frightening huge pillar that went as high as the clouds were. When the light died down, what remained wasn't a hole or a crater. It could just be described in one word, nothing. The buildings, and everything other than the soil and vegetation had been turned into to dust.
What was left was just a perfectly flat terrain. But Arima wasn't happy, he looked into another direction and clicked his tongue.
A man in his 40s with a few gray hairs was standing outside of the zone of effect. His body was in tatters and blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth. It was the Emperor. Although he looked like he escaped the magic, he actually barely saved himself with a spatial technique.
He looked with shock at Arima. To answer if the Emperor was strong, it was yes. His strength was around the eighth level. But the man he was looking at, almost killed him in one attack. He gritted his teeth, "Liano!"
He called, and a big lion appeared beside him, "Resonance!" The beast and the human alike shouted at the same time. When the resonance was over, the Emperor had gotten golden pupils, his hair had changed of color, his teeth and nails sharpened, and his body size increased by two times.
He kicked the ground and charged at Arima. On the other side, Night had already resonated with Arima before even coming to this city.
When their fists met, Arima held an obvious advantage. The Emperor felt a great pain coursing through his arm. He kicked Arima and the latter parried with his other arm and countered. For a few seconds that felt like minutes, the two clashed with their fists and kicks.
The shock waves of the fight destroyed the structures in a hundred meters' radius.
The Emperor drew the sword he carried at his belt and slashed at Arima, the latter flapped his wings and retreated.
He stared at the Emperor and smiled, "I'm Arimane Blade" He introduced himself and summoned Karma.
The Emperor seemed to hesitate but eventually replied, "…I'm Kalsus Kation."
Arima nodded and wielded Karma skillfully. He swung his katana at Kalsus and the king responded by deflecting the strike with his sword and sending a punch to Arima's chest.
"[Propero]," Arima revolved and evaded the strike. He swapped Karma's sheath with Ira and pointed the gun at the Emperor's head. Kalsus's eyes narrowed and urgently tilted his head just before Arima shot. Benefitting of that opening, Arima conjured a dark sphere of flames and lightning and struck Kalsus with it.
The Emperor was hit by a big explosion and coughed some blood. His resonance almost stopped there. At that moment, he had already realized that he couldn't win against Arima and now, he was seriously injured while the other party was still unscathed.
He took out a strange stone. It was golden in color and the size of a fist. He clenched the stone and broke it barehanded. After that, a golden aura enveloped his arm until the shoulder.
The Emperor roared like a lion and the whole area became covered in a golden light.
Even Arima was pressured.
In the sky, a golden sun, the size of the entire castle formed.
Arima's eyes narrowed, "(What the hell is that stone?)" He couldn't even use any spatial magic because that golden sun was disturbing space. He called back his scabbard and sheathed Karma.
He took an Iai stance. Black flames and lightning gathered, not only around his sword but also around him in a ten meters' radius. He also created a silver circle at his feet to stabilize and condense the fire and the lightning.
"[Terra Aeterna] (Eternal Night Over the World)." Right when the golden sun started to fall, Arima unleashed his technique. The two attacks clashed with one another.
It was like a moon fighting with the sun. The black moon and the golden sun exploded together when they couldn't sustain themselves anymore, a huge shock wave spread across the city. The unfortunate souls that were still around experienced their flesh melting away only leaving their bones. Countless buildings collapsed and some remnant energy set fire to the ruins.
The Emperor and Arima protected themselves with their respective protective magic. Arima scowled at Kalsus, "[Dimensiva gradus] (Dimensional step)."
He took a step on thin air and it felt like time stopped. The air around his feet cracked like a mirror, he vanished and reappeared in front of the Emperor almost instantly.
He grabbed his throat. "That was a good fight," He commended and his eyes flared with a blue flame. The Emperor's eyes burned with the same light until they became stone. Different from the slave dealer he didn't raise his voice once while he died.
Arima cremated his body and analyzed the memories he just received. His eyes widened then looked at somewhere far away.
"{What do we do? We have another problem now,}" Night said after also seeing the memories of the Emperor.
Arima released the resonance, "We'll have to go take a detour." He said to Night who reappeared as a dragon beside him.
"Let's go," Arima said and restored his coat.
Then, they teleported away. Not to the capital, the Holy City, but a mountain not far from it.
****************************
Meanwhile, in a strange golden room. A young-looking man was staring at an image reflected by some intriguing clouds.
That image was precisely Arima fighting the Emperor. The image displayed the whole fight until it lost sight of Arima.
The man dispersed the clouds, "Who is that human? He hasn't a soul imprint. Why?" He said and closed his eyes in wonder.
*******************************
Arima was now on a snowy mountain with Night.
When he looked around, he sighed, "Why is he staying here?"
"Maybe he likes that kind of environment," Night guessed as he followed Arima.
They walked for a few minutes until they found the entrance to a cave. They stepped inside and the more they were going in, the wider it became until they arrived at a large open space.
And in the middle, a huge shadow was laying down. When Arima and Night intruded his lair, the figure moved. It raised his head and approached the two. When the head of the figure was just above them, they instantly recognized the creature.
A sky dragon. A sky dragon was hibernating here. In terms of size, it was even bigger than Jorga. His body was blue like crystal and his eyes were of the same color too but there were many contrasts in it.
"Human, why are you here?" The dragon spoke up.
At that moment, Arima clearly felt it, this dragon was at the ninth level. The pinnacle of this continent.
For reference, Arima's strength is comparable to the upper class of level eight. When he resonates with Night, he can go up to the ninth level. He also has three hidden cards but two of them is something he doesn't want to use if possible.
For instance, the Emperor had a strength around the pinnacle of level eight as well, but his resonance was much weaker and Arima got the first strike.
Hence, Arima wasn't so confident in winning against this dragon. At least, not without sacrificing something.
Arima sighed, "(But I have no choice, what a stroke of bad luck.)" He looked at the dragon, "I want to ask you, why did you become the guardian of the Holy City?"
What Arima learned from the Emperor was that the Pope convinced this dragon to be their guardian in an unknown way.
The dragon frowned, "What will you do with that information?"
Arima scratched his head awkwardly, "Well, I'm kinda in the process of destroying this country, don't you pay attention to what's going on outside?"
The huge sky dragon had a sudden change in his expression, "You can't do that!" He shouted and the cave shook as he moved his body. He seemed to be a bit panicked.
"Do you have some kind of reason for protecting them?" It was surprisingly Night who asked that.
The dragon looked at him and was momentarily stunned, "You are a noble dragon…!"
Night nodded. Arima forgot about that and was surprised. But as a noble breed, Night would be a respected existence among the dragon race.
"Anyway, tell us. If the Pope promised you something, I'll get it for you and if the Pope is making help him by some reason, I'll take care of it."
The dragon turned toward Arima. Of course, he already estimated Arima's strength to be similar to his own. He didn't wish to fight as well.
"…He has my child. He dared to take it while I was absent for a day," He said while gritting his teeth, the sound echoed in the cave.
"Your child?"
"He still didn't hatch, he threatened to kill it if I didn't accept to became their guardian."
"That's all?"
"What?" The dragon glared at him.
"No, I mean, if I act, he won't threaten me of destroying the egg because they can't know that I have any connection with you. Actually, I just have to secure your egg and then take care of the Pope after. Maybe you can't sneak in the city because of your physique, but I can easily do that." Arima said like it was obvious.
"Ah…" the dragon realized that what he said wasn't wrong. "Then, I will have to trouble you… But if you get caught, I won't be in condition to refuse their orders."
"Don't worry about that. I specialize in assassination originally." Arima smiled, "Also, if you want to thank me, I would like you to preserve the peace in this continent in the future."
The dragon nodded, "If you save my child, I will happily do that."
Arima left afterward. When he was outside the case, he stopped for a moment and breathed in, "It went a lot better than I thought…"
"Indeed," Night agreed.
The two looked at each other, "This guy is easy."