''That must've been tough.''

"In any case, does that mean you're ready to become a Plane Guardian?" Raylein couldn't help to ask when they were back to Aurorae along with everyone else. Layla had also left Malum alone and sat down next to Arima.

"I said one month, didn't I? Unless you think that two weeks equal to thirty days, you shouldn't need to ask me that."

Raylein looked back at him with a deadpan expression. "Should I just force him after all?" He said while staring at his hand with blank eyes.

Arima shrugged. "I'm taking a break right now. I don't want to fight all day for the rest of my life."

"Do you think more highly of your break than the safety of an infinite number of innocent lives?"

"Yes," Arima bluntly answered and Raylein rolled his eyes and sat down on a chair in the corner.

"To be honest, I don't think there's anything you're better at than fighting," Layla retorted with a pensive expression.

"…" Arima didn't even know how to react to that. Particularly when it was Layla who said that, the frankest and most honest person in his group. Night hurt himself while trying to not laugh but Malum did it full-heartedly within Arima's soul.

"{That was good! Just for that, I forgive you for what you've done,}" he said to Layla, and Arima coughed to quiet them.

"More importantly, why you didn't choose someone earlier? Why did you set your sights on me anyway?" He then questioned Raylein.

The latter was not expecting that as he jumped off from his chair "Hum…" His expression changed a few times. "How do I say that…? I was too lazy and rebellious and didn't choose anyone. But when I realized the world was in deep shit, and that I may have to do something, you entered my senses."

"…That's awfully irresponsible," Karma commented and Raylein took a huge blow. He sat down again and just decided to spend those freaking remaining weeks sleeping.

"What are you going to do now in the first place? Do you actually have something else to do except fighting?" He uttered after a moment.

Arima glared at him and clicked his tongue. He waved his hand and grabbed a white sphere out of nowhere. "I should do this at least," he declared and juggled with it.

Raylein scowled. "You seriously don't need my help? You know that you can die if you mess up the conversion, right? No matter how strong or immortal you are, if you fail, you will either die or become a normal human, if you have a lot of chance," he warned.

"I guess," Arima replied nonchalantly. He extracted a little chunk of life force and manifested it above his palm. His sigil glowed and the usually colorless aura gained a black hue. He inhaled and covered the force with his hands.

Nothing happened on the outside but when Arima parted his hands, the life force had become white. He raised Yeion's original force and compared it with what he had just made.

"That's… impressive. I would even say it's shocking… and traumatizing too," Raylein couldn't believe it. He sighed. "It took me fifty years to just do what you just did… I wonder how you managed to learn it by just combating a Transcendental. It's not like you could take his memories either."

"I just analyzed it while we were fighting. It's easy to look through the essence of a magic when you have someone trying to hit you with it."

"Yeah, of course," Raylein nodded sarcastically. "And most people would simply say it's impossible because they would need to be someone who knows every secret behind every magic formation, circuits disposition, theory, soul, and mind; which you apparently know about."

"Yeion was not even using the same worldly energy as you. It wasn't mana but ether. Internal force is universal, but energies are decided by which plane you're born in. Even like that, you still managed to uncover every mystery behind the magic of an ether practitioner while you are a mana practitioner," he clapped and laughed dryly.

"I hate geniuses…"

"That's not new," Night remarked. "That guy managed to make me feel out of the place the day I was born. Can you even believe that?"

"That must've been tough."

"It was."

Arima rubbed his temples while listening to his soul beast agreeing with a Plane Guardian who was perhaps capable of destroying this entire plane as if it was nothing.

"All right, fine, I'll convert my life force then I'll come with you. Are you happy with that?"

Raylein smirked. "It's perfect."

"How is it going to unfold anyway? Am I just going to pass a test then become even more powerful? If it's something like the Life Judgment, I refuse. I don't want to get through that kind of bullshit again."

"Well, not exactly. It's a test indeed but it's not a trial or a judgment. I will bring you with me to meet the other Guardians. Then, through a vote, they will either decide to let you in or not. After that, you'll just need to go through what we call 'Inscribing'. You will meet the Original God himself and he will determine what kind of power he should give you. Just like this, you'll be assigned to a post among the Guardians."

Arima hummed. "Interesting. I have a question though."

"Go ahead."

"What kind of cuffs will I end up with?"

Raylein's eyes widened. "…You're right. It comes with some rules attached to it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have retired," he sighed. "Summarized, you'll need to listen to every order of the Original God."

"You can't act on your own volition unless it's granted by both the First Guardian and the Original God. Let me tell you that it doesn't happen a lot. I tried."

"You're forced to be in service for at least twenty thousand years before having the option to retire. You also have to choose a successor within the next five hundred years or you will be forced to come back for another cycle."

"Finally, the power you'll be granted can be used to control you or even kill you if the Original God has a good reason to do so," Raylein finished and looked back at everyone listening.

Layla glared furiously at him. "That's just a slavery contract."

"Don't blame me," Raylein raised his hands. "I'm not the one setting the rules. You can blame God or the very first generation of Guardians."

"But, in the end, there are still Guardians working under those conditions. If I'm not wrong, the First Guardian has been doing it for 150 thousand years now. He's one of the oldest beings in this mother reality."

"Well, contrary to you, he lived all of these years instead of gathering them through parallel lines. In the first place, Life Hunters are the only ones capable of assimilating the strength of other timelines living in the other planes."

"And you are most likely the only one who has ever got their memories as well. By the way, can I ask you how many different essences you assimilated during your Life Judgement?"

Arima frowned. "With me and Malum together, around 150 million…" He froze before he could end his sentence.

Raylein groaned. "I guessed it would be big… but not that much. Anyway, I'm sure you have realized that there's something wrong with that number. I told you; there are only 789 526 planes in this reality. How could you have 150 million? You shouldn't even have one million."

"That's because at each generation, there would be a new you. A new Arimane," Raylein declared. "Normally, it shouldn't happen. And actually, most people don't even have more than a hundred thousand parallel lines. Even Plane Guardians had only around 500 thousand before the Inscribing."

"That fact that you have millions of them just shows how massive your fate is. The number of parallel versions entirely depends on how strong and important you'll become in the future."

Raylein sighed and drank a cup of water that was placed on the table next to him. "That's why you should accept it. Destiny is bullshit but you can't turn your back to it."

"…Why did you tell me all of this now?" Arima inquired and Raylein smiled.

"Because I want you to perfectly know what kind of existence you are. I already had noticed that two weeks ago. Your entire existence is a miracle, or simply an absurdity."

"I would even say that the Original God might act someday to either control you or turn you into his pawn. That's why I'm advising you to accept the contract. At least like that, the Original God will be also limited by the contract when dealing with you," Raylein gravely said and silence fell.

Arima closed his eyes for a moment then stood up. "I'll give you my answer in two weeks," he stated and teleported away.