Akari turned her face towards Aaron, holding his gaze, and they nodded their heads in unison, a silent agreement forming between the two challengers.
There would be no fighting until that hellish beast was dead, the abomination so disgusting and grotesque that it didn't deserve to be alive.
Chimeras themselves were uncommon outside of the Sea of Souls, their forms having been genetically engineered by the original monarch who ruled Alaria in the early thirty-first century.
With an estimated magnitude of seven point nine, they ruled the mountainous terrain, feasting on the farmers and livestock they could pillage.
The desert environment was unique for such a creature, its humanoid eyes darting around nervously as it attempted to determine which challenger to target.
Its two noses locked onto a particular scent wafting around Aaron, its face flinching backwards as if in disgust.
That, of course, meant that there was only one other target that it could find to hunt, that being a very injured pink-haired child staring blankly at its hideous form.
This… isn't good…
Bracing herself for the creature's rampage, she watched as her opponent turned ally vanished from where he stood, appearing ahead of the beast without fear.
Holding his sword in front of him, he watched as the chimera flinched backwards, its sharp teeth glistening in the arena spotlights.
SKREE!
Charging forward without hesitation, the monster opened its twin maws wide, purple venom dripping from its teeth as it leaped into the air.
Attempting to tackle the boy and devour him in one gulp, it was unprepared for what his quick reaction would entail.
Digging his one good foot into the soil, he readied his stance, his eyes closed, and his blade placed in front of him.
What the hell? He's going to get himself killed!
Realising the danger that her friend was now facing, Akari lunged forward with all her strength, her ornate dagger stretching outward and creating an array of magical pink blossoms.
The hybrid creature's eyes nearly popped out in shock as it reflected the sight of beauty within its gaze.
Aaron, who stood in the path of the beast, simply sighed, his eyes opening and his sword moving up above his head.
『Dawn's Wave』
A flash of turquoise enveloped the world for one split second, the entire city of Blackport Ridge, even the top of Mount Evermore, glowing blue
And as his blade arched downward in one, endlessly powerful streak, the chimera could only attempt to dodge with all its might, its body ejecting its teeth like quills towards the boy.
Two dug their way into his body, one in his neck and one completely puncturing his ear, the bloodied piece of cartilage resting on the ground beside him.
Yet its final attack meant nothing in the face of a wave of utter destruction, every last ounce of mana that the boy had pulled into one singular attack.
He had planned to use it against Akari to sever her legs and win the fight; however, with the alterations in the battlefield, he had determined that no matter the outcome, he would lose unless he used it now.
Her gun was gone, and her body wasn't built like his was, an impenetrable fortress that could regenerate endlessly as long as he had the mana.
And as his vision waned and he fell forward with a quill sticking straight through his throat, he watched the beast split into two distinct pieces.
Trying to laugh, the noise came from the hole in his throat, not his mouth, his eyes rolling backwards into his head.
There wasn't a countdown as the medics ran out from their corners of the arena, panic wrapped over their faces as the number one guild prospect lay unmoving on the floor.
In the highest reaches of the arena, three Sea Kings watched with bated breath as the boy ceased movement, falling atop the destroyed corpse of the chimera.
Maria Elaris was prepared to stand, her personal attention required if she were to perform a revival ritual.
However, as the room began to dissolve into chaos, she noticed one oddity among the carnage: a pulsating glow appeared around the boy's form.
There was an emblem of utter uniqueness that the God Slayer had hunted for his entire life, a mark so rare that even upon the murder and emblemization of multiple gods, he could not attain.
Now, as she focused on that boy's index finger, an unusual ring glowed with a ceremonial hue, its surface shining like the sun as it made contact with an orb resting below the boy's corpse.
Her body stiffened, her thoughts going numb as a conversation with Death himself returned to her at that very moment.
"Since the birth of the universe."
He had said.
"There was an Insignia embedded into Space and Time's flesh."
The blonde woman stared in utter dismay as the beast's core vanished from sight, something that none other had seen.
"I was created without such an engraving, so I know nothing of its uses, however, to mortals and gods alike…"
Her chains rattled as the boy's form stiffened, then relaxed, the sound of the countdown chants ceasing at once.
"It was said to be a power that could surpass the gods themselves."
Aaron's form stood tall from the corpse of his slain enemy, the wound on his neck gone, and his ear returned as if nothing had ever happened.
And as he turned around to face the horrified Akari, he opened his mouth wide, speaking the very same words that a certain Old Man had told Death on his final visit to the Great Beyond.
"Did you think death could stop me?"
…
The arena burst into a roar loud enough to cause a miniature earthquake, the entire world that listened to the broadcast not quite believing what they had just heard.
Aaron Grimstall was alive and well, his eyes set on his opponent, who stared at him like a ghost in human form.
Even the three Sea Kings and the president of the Hunters' Guild couldn't quite believe their own eyes.
"Impossible!"
Lepaie and Vaelmyr shouted the same words at the same time, their sentiments quickly hushed by Cauron, who shook his head.
"Could he have used the Holy Arts to heal his own body? No… The mana required would be impossible to gather unless he siphoned it from…"
He froze, the now-depleted ball lying within the corpse of the chimera that he had personally imported, connecting the dots in his mind.
"That boy is truly insane…"
The orange-haired Sea King was not incorrect, however, in the way he said the words, one could argue that it was simply a figure of speech.
To Aaron Grimstall, who stared down Akari Ayaka with a smile, the meaning of 'insanity' was a blurry line.
His mind was a wreck, thousands of voices bombarding his skull with the interference of the deity attempting to suppress them.
The time on Absolute Tranquility had ended; the piercing and unrelenting gazes of the Sea Kings bore down on him without hesitation.
All that separated him from the deity's wrath was a new, refined version of that very same barrier magic that had just run out.
With the new mana from the chimera, a sort of backup system had been engaged within his mind, allowing him five minutes of peace.
While it stopped the prying eyes in reality, the near-death experience brought upon its own oddities that couldn't be understood.
Even as he stared forward at the girl, he didn't see her, only a vast ocean and a vessel floating within it.
It was a familiar ship, of course, that being his Ghostship; however, this one was different, its size vast and its armaments incredible.
Could it be a dream, he wondered, or simply a figment of his imagination?
There was no telling, his own mental state so far gone that as he felt the stormy waves below in the distance and a vessel bearing white sails appeared before him, he could only react sluggishly as if he wasn't in control of his body.
His hands were not his own, his legs were not his own, his eyes were not his own, his hair was not his own.
Aaron Grimstall wasn't Aaron Grimstall, but someone else completely.
He could not tell who or what he was, only that an illusory form approached him on the deck of his own ship.
They were a silhouette of white fog, their figure that of a burly human who held a sword in their hand.
It was as if a person had once been there, but had been erased from the world by a metaphysical wipe of a cloth.
The illusory figure vanished from sight only to appear before him, his own hand parrying without any effort.
Without wasting a second, his borrowed body slammed the hilt of his sword into the fog's head, his hands moving faster than he could register and tearing off the erased human's left arm without a struggle.
He held the limb for a moment before tossing it aside, his attention returning to the frenzied and screaming silhouette.
The weapon in its hand had mysteriously changed to a dagger.
That's strange, the boy thought; how could that happen?
As his thoughts occurred, they didn't quite make sense, a voice reading his own words out to him like a silent narrator.
Yet the white foggy human charged again, their dagger slashed his arm, before his hand reached out and grabbed their ear.
RIP!
The white mist was almost comically easy to tear off, a smile coming across his face as he felt his body going in for the kill.
Around him, the Ghostship screamed with cannonfire as various other illusory figures moved along the deck, fighting other ghosts.
It was a battlefield, and he was the commander, the weight of his decision determining his and his men's fate.
There would be no do-overs, and he needed to make sure he won at all costs, regardless of what violence he must commit.
Rage consumed his body, adrenaline overwhelming his rational thinking, and his form flickering as he appeared behind the white figure.
Grabbing the human's neck before it could react, he felt joy spread throughout his body as he lifted the being into the air.
Slowly, he closed his grip, feeling her flesh begin to tear under the force he was placing on it, an insane smile forming across his lips.
He felt someone grab his coattails, his mind flashing with rage as he swatted his second hand back to clear the way.
No matter, he thought, they were just worms interfering in the wake of their captain's victory against his challenger.
Feeling her cold, thin neck begin to crack under his fingers, a voice echoed throughout the battlefield, one serene and cool, calm but scared, worried, and fearful.
"A-aron…"
She gasped aloud, blood bubbling on her pink lips as her beautiful blue eyes stared back at her oldest friend.
Through her swimming vision, she didn't see the turquoise eyes that she had known for years, but rather the reflection of storm-tossed waves in a gaze that was centuries old.
It was the look of a man who had traded his mercy and kindness for the helm.
Aaron's body trembled, his vision waning as he loosened his grip slightly, an odd feeling working its way into his mind.
No, he thought, I'm not a captain of a ship…
I'm no captain at all…
He felt his eyes clear, the Ghostship battlefield vanishing from sight, and the true world once again shining in its bloodied radiance.
Aaron Grimstall now gazed upon Akari Ayaka, who hung barely conscious within his grip, her arm gone and the side of her head bloodied and broken from the forced removal of an ear.
His grip collapsed as he dropped the girl in shock, his mind spinning and the world not quite clicking as his consciousness returned to his body.
W-where am I? W-who am I? W-when…
Screams filled his ears as he buckled, the smell of iron and seawater drowned him from inside, slowly choking him on something that didn't truly exist.
As he buckled to the ground, clasping at his own neck, he gazed upon his nails, their freshly repaired splendor now covering not just sand—but pieces of weathered wood.
Not only that, but a single strand of ghostly, white hair blew gently in the wind, breaking off from under his nail bed and drifting off into the wind as if it had never existed in the first place.