Once the world gained a shade of gray, Chronos stood up and slowly walked toward Ifrit. He jumped on his shoulder and the Djinn regained his colors as he started moving.

He looked around and saw Chronos from the corner of his eyes. He tried to say something but no sound left his mouth. Chronos shrugged and Ifrit could only charge at his target.

In a world where everything is stopped, no sound could be produced since there aren't any waves that can spread in the air. Even the vibrations of the earth each time Ifrit took a step would stop.

But one thing that wasn't hindered was the fire fueled by his magic "{Well, you'll use ten times more mana in this place}" Chronos talked to him by telepathy in the end and Ifrit scowled.

He arrived in front of the gray tornado and stepped inside through the 'frozen' wind. He immediately entered in a crater and fell down. He landed just in front of the huge body of Hephaestus who was trying to block the wind.

Chronos squinted his eyes. He perfectly noticed that Karaskan had done nothing to help the giant. He already knew it since he saw it. But he had also seen another possible future where Karaskan fought back and completely overwhelmed the G.o.ds' side. So, he was still wondering how it happened. Then, he thought of the only thing he wasn't capable of seeing earlier, the magic Layla cast.

"(That was a strange spell. Capable of distorting the world…)" He thought and nodded at Ifrit. The latter smirked and his body became surrounded by his flames. A mark glowed on his back and all of his fire gathered into his fists.

He inhaled and stomped the ground. Without hesitation, he punched Hephaestus's chest with all of his strength. The flames left his fist and stuck to the Demon like glue. It was a strange sight but Ifrit didn't stop there. He continued his onslaught and pounded Hephaestus.

Soon enough, the Demon had been covered by odd, unmoving flames. Meanwhile, Ifrit was exhausted and was already back to his normal form.

"{Quick, I won't hold much longer}" Chronos hastened him as he stood beside him with a tensed expression.

"{I know}" Ifrit responded and grabbed the Time G.o.d and flew away with him. His speed was a lot lower than before but it didn't pose a problem. He flew around the battlefield and caught everyone before leaving in a completely opposite direction from the tornado.

Then, as he was getting away, he saw something that shocked him. Chronos was astounded beyond words. In the distance, a black lightning serpent was making his way toward them. And what shocked them was that it was still moving.

It was clearly displacing in this world where Time was stopped. Chronos gasped. He couldn't wait anymore and stopped his Manifestation when he was about to spend all of his mana.

The flow of time returned an everyone retrieved their consciousness to see they were with Ifrit and Chronos, far away from the fight zone.

They couldn't think much about how the plan worked before a tremendous noise drowned everything else. The giant white tornado which was raging suddenly blasted and was replaced by a deadly explosion.

A mushroom even bigger than the one created by the First Blue Art was formed and the earth trembled. The temperature rose considerably and a shockwave seemed to spread indefinitely. They both reached the G.o.ds' group.

Layla was the one with the most mana left and protected everyone from the aftermaths. Then her pupils suddenly contracted and Chronos got the same kind of reaction at the same time.

Just a second after that, a black light pa.s.sed by without even causing a small breeze. The speed of that light was something that even someone at their level would have a hard time noticing. Layla smiled brightly and Chronos sighed in relief.

When the black lightning serpent reached the mushroom of the explosion, its form was released and Arima appeared with his wings deployed. The black serpent form he just used was his best displacing-magic. His speed could rise to an unbelievable level but he wouldn't be able to fight since his entire body would just be made of electrons at most.

That's why he used it to come here since Pandora hindered his teleportation. When the Kind Demon came back, he immediately called Karma in his left hand and waved his right one as his sigil glowed on his robe.

"[Evanescet] (Disappear)" He chanted and something happened that made Ifrit feel awkward. The flames instantly lost their strength as the oxygen disappeared, then it started to rain, the wind blew and the earth raised from the ground to drown the flames.

A single chant combined all of those magic and every last flame was extinguished in less than a minute. His eyes scanned the place and he flapped his wings once they were locked in.

He grabbed his katana's handle in mid-air. He was approaching the fuming Hephaestus who had at least half of his body obliterated and a blatant hole burning in his chest. He wasn't moving the least and he seemed to have lost any kind of life in his body.

But Arima didn't stop his charge. Although his mastery over Time magic wasn't enough to see in the future like Chronos and Layla, he could still faintly detect important 'turning points'. And this one was so big that even he, who didn't see most of them, could feel it.

He gripped Karma and black lightning flowed out. But this time, it was in an orderly way and the lightning seemed to flow as smoothly and calmly as water.

He breathed in and his silver hair fluttered before he disappeared and reappeared just next to the giant's neck.

"[Iai, Saecularia Aeterna Noctem]" He unsheathed his sword and swung it in the same movement. His blade couldn't even be seen as it was already returned to its scabbard before anyone could understand anything.

Nothing else happened, no explosion, no detonation or lightning. Just a few sparks of electricity around Hephaestus's neck.

Arima casually jumped off the Demon's shoulder and landed lightly on the ground. Then, a weak sound was produced. Like wood cracking. The head of the giant behind Arima slowly slid off his original place and fell on the ground.

The mud-like creatures that were about to make of Hephaestus an even more terrifying creature slowly crawled out of his head like parasites and died by Arima's lightning.

The Demon's lifeless body fell on its knees first and collapsed just after, raising a big dust cloud. At the same moment, Layla landed near Arima along with everyone else. Chronos looked at the severed head and sighed.

Arima called back Karma into his soul and looked at Layla. Even he was surprised at her appearance, not only he had to admit that she was beautiful but her entire presence also impressed him.

"{That worked incredibly well}" Night commented.

"{Almost too much…}" Karma followed and Arima's expression darkened.

Arima was about to say something to Layla but then stopped before asking something "…Should I apologize?" His word choice made Layla smile.

She shook her head "No. Not even a bit. Both Lanya and Lilis didn't regret anything at all. I know it" She responded and Arima put his hand on his neck with a difficult expression.

"Even so, it's something that should have never happened"

"It's okay" Layla immediately retorted "Even if you had sent your doppelganger earlier, he would have been weakened like the others, and he would have disappeared after five minutes anyway. It was Chronos's fault in the first place. And even if you had used the First Art earlier too, Hephaestus wouldn't have been damaged enough without Lanya's final magic"

Arima closed his mouth and stared at Layla silently with a strange look "You learned a lot…" He uttered and Layla chuckled.

"Yes" She nodded happily and Arima snickered "Arima, I'm Layla from now on. I hope I can stay with as such"

Arima smiled "Of course" He then glanced at Ifrit who was staring at him "Something to say?"

The Djinn sighed strongly "…Your clone asked for something unreasonable. How embarra.s.sing can it be to apologize twice to the same person?" He muttered "…I'm sorry"

Arima laughed and shook his head "I certainly received your intentions. You don't need to worry. It's not your fault" He said and his eyes swept over Chronos "But since we're making apologies right now, why don't you join?"

Chronos shuddered at the cold stare he was inflicted with and looked directly at Arima "I'm sincerely sorry" He bowed and apologized calmly "But even if I know what I did was despicable. I still think that it was the right thing to do"

"It was" Arima immediately retorted and Chronos's eyes widened as he looked up. But he saw that Arima's eyes didn't lose any of their coldness, rather, they were even colder "Sacrificing one to save many is a correct policy…I used it many times too" He said and Layla turned solemn "But you chose the wrong person to sacrifice. You see, I'm extremely selfish," Arima's killing intent leaked out his body "I would kill millions to save someone near me"

Chronos's expression twitched and he gasped. All of the other G.o.ds also stepped back. None of them had enough strength to resist Arima's pressure at the moment. Only Layla wryly smiled. She felt warm since Arima was angry for her.

"But, for now, there's someone who needs more attention than you" Arima declared and approached the beheaded Hephaestus. He crouched down and touched the ground where the shadow was. His arm entered the darkness as if it went inside water.

His eyes narrowed and lightning exploded around him. He pulled back his hand in a strong motion and threw away the figure he had caught.

Karaskan grunted as he rolled on the floor and stabilized before gaining his footing. He held his bleeding chest pierced by the lightning while withstanding the pain in his head caused by the Lawless Tome.

"So, it's the Tome who didn't allow you to act, huh?" Arima said with a cold a voice and Karaskan looked up with a smirk "A really smart book, isn't it?" Arima continued to talk as he approached Karaskan with steady steps.

The Mad G.o.d snorted and stood up "Indeed" He responded "Are you going to kill me just like that?"

Arima sneered "You will definitely die soon. But 'just like that' sounds too easy. Right now, because of my different lives, my hate for you isn't as big as it should be," Arima stopped right in front of Karaskan. His stature cast a shadow over Karaskan and even made the latter s.h.i.+ver "And that fact is angering me even more"

Arima grabbed Karaskan by his neck and lifted him up "[Fifth Black Art, Penitentia conspiciunt, Finalis Gratia]" He chanted while looking at Karaskan in the eyes.

Then, both of their minds were suddenly expelled out of their bodies and regained consciousness in a completely different place.

At the same time, the invaders created by Pandora surrounded Arima and the G.o.ds and slowly made their way toward them with the strongest ones in the lead.