Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's

Chapter 25

The Chinese Campione looked on with indifference as the Rat… no, Dante, was getting away from her, the distance growing considerably with each moment that passed. She was held up in the sky with the use of her golden hand, her attention turning up towards the circular arena of silver that was still suspended in mid-air by whatever magic properties it was that they carried. It showed severe wear and tear from having been the center of their confrontation, being covered with cracks and some holes going through it in several places.

The black haired martial artist raised her still diamond arm upwards, before a bolt of lightning flew towards it at high speed. The green force of nature twisting and changing shape as it closed the distance to the arena, growing in size at a similar pace. The end result was a hand with vicious, claw-like fingers that dwarfed even the gold hand she was standing on, as it was now bigger than even the arena she had sent it towards.

The claw like protrusions that acted as fingers to the limb of pure energy closed around the metal, before slowly but surely closing into a fist. The silver arena of runes crumpled like tinfoil, as it didn't have the power to stand against its destruction caused by the Campione and her new power. Within seconds and with minimal effort had she turned the battle scarred arena into nothing more than a small ball, no larger than a baseball. Having been forcibly compressed when the hand shrank when returning to Luo Hao, was it no surprise that it had resulted like that. However, couldn't she dispel the hand at the moment, she wanted to keep this. But even with her great strength, would it be hard to move it without the support from the green lightning that currently coated her right arm.

She had no doubt she would be able to move it out of her own abilities, she was just willing to accept the fact that doing it this way was far more efficient.

Her eyes drifted over to the crackling electricity that had manifested all of the sudden, as it enveloped the entirety of her arm, almost hiding the entirety of the diamond her arm had become as a result of her Authority underneath. It was a sudden and unexplainable anomaly that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, her body having just moved and activated it on its own, as the almost magnetic attraction her arms had experienced towards Dante once transformed had suddenly reached an all time high, as a once metaphorical spark suddenly turned real in that moment. A side of Divine Might of Vajrapani having suddenly awoken in that one single instance. And it was a strong side from what she experienced.

Her gaze lifted from her arm, back towards the barely visible silhouette of the younger Campione that had managed to escape her grasp. In all her time had she never met an individual that showed so many sides to themselves as he had in such a short amount of time. Or maybe showed was the wrong word to use in this instance, it was more that he changed constantly. Everything from how he had suddenly become able to keep up with her in martial arts in thanks to that eye of his, to how he was all of the sudden unable to lay a hand on her. Even the first minutes of their confrontation had shown her how quickly he could change, having gone from being fully prepared to face her, to losing all manner of confidence once she had utterly destroyed his firearm.

To her was it clear that there was more to him than she had seen, a prospect that interested her somewhat.

But before that needed she to change her dress, as the one she had been wearing had almost been completely ruined by the explosion Dante had unleashed in order to counter her divine hurricane, a strategy she hadn't expected him to suddenly pull out of seemingly nowhere. Just before he had suddenly become unable to fight back against her all of the sudden…

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to give this new look a chance, but she still needed to get fresher and non-destroyed clothes.

…

Shizuka looked back towards the table they had been placing everything that didn't need to put into the refrigerator with some mild contempt, as they had been here for the better part of two hours now doing nothing but cooking all manners of smaller dishes. They had effectively been making a buffé for the occasion, something she started to think was utterly ridiculous as she fried another batch of shrimp while barely looking, every motion having become automatic by this point.

Godou meanwhile, standing not too far from his sister, was able to see her disdainful look as she turned toward the table. And he could somewhat understand the feeling, starting to feel that they had long ago passed the point that could have been considered excessive in regards to the amount of food they had been cooking. But his attention was more focused on the third member in the Kusanagi kitchen. The youngest Campione knew that there had been something that had occupied the majority of her thoughts for some time now, ever since she had suddenly froze up and stared straight into space.

He had initially decided to not ask what it was that had happened, but her continued distraction from whatever it was she had seen in what he could only believe to be one of her visions had made him all the more curious to what it might be that she had seen.

He moved as discreetly as possible over towards the Shrine Maiden, hoping to not draw his sister's attention as he was almost positive that she would get the wrong idea by them talking by themselves. That wasn't a guess, it had happened before.

Mariya took notice of his approach, turning her attention towards him momentarily before turning it back to the food before her. There was an odd form of tension between them for a moment as they stood there in silence, neither being entirely sure who should be the one to initiate the conversation. Godou felt that it was his responsibility to do it, as he had been the one to approach her, but he was starting to have second thoughts about it all. Yuri meanwhile took notice of her native god slayer's sudden hesitation, but decided to see if he would be the one to start up the conversation.

"I don't know if you want to talk about, but whatever it was that you saw in your vision seems to have shaken you somehow. I just wanted to let you know that I am here if you want someone to talk to about it" his voice was just slightly above a whisper, just quiet enough it wouldn't catch his sister's attention, and just audible enough that the brown haired girl besides him would hear him clearly. "I might not understand a lot about all this magic stuff, I am more than sure that you are leagues ahead of me with that. But I can see myself as being quite the competent listener if I put my mind to it."

Mariya Yuri, turned her head towards Godou, fully looking at the young man her own age, for once actually managing to look past all of the trauma that the label of Campione brought to her, the image of all Kings acting like the grey tyrant that had brought her untold physical pain and mental scarring cracking substantially by his actions and words. Ever since their meeting up by the temple had all his words and actions left differently sized cracks in her beliefs about all the Campione that existed in the world. An image that had been seared into her mind ever since she had been used by the oldest god slayer currently alive, an image that had traumatized her towards all other Campione, as she believed them all to be the same.

And as such, was she glad that she had managed to not only meet one King that didn't act that way, but two. She was more than a little aware that it would take some time before it would disappear completely, she was just happy to be able to tell herself that she was on the path towards what could be considered recovery.

"I… had a vision, one unlike anything one I have ever had before. I… I think they knew that they were being watched" her breath quickened a bit as she remembered the individual that her vision had shown her. A woman, not much older than herself if she had to guess, her long green hair a stark contrast to the endless expanse of sand that surrounded her. She was looking towards… something, she couldn't tell what from her vision being limited to being essentially behind her in the vision. She was shocked however when the woman took notice of "her", something that shouldn't be possible, as that shouldn't be how Spirit Vision worked. And yet could she feel as the even greener color of her eyes turned directly towards her, as if she had noticed the presence of something.

And yet hadn't she said anything, just been staring straight towards her with an unflinching gaze that bore right through her. She felt fully exposed under the young woman's attention, as if she knew things that the brown haired girl didn't know about herself, and more. But just as quickly as she had turned towards her, looked she away, and continued walking as if nothing had caught her attention.

"..." the boy at her side stood there silent for a moment, both to wait and see if she would continue, and to consider what it was that she had told him. He wasn't the most familiar with any form of magic, his own Authorities being to only constant exposure that he could think about, and those were considered in a league of their own from what he could understand. He did however understand a bit about how the Shrine Maiden's power worked from her explanation. "I take it you aren't used to being seen through… whatever it is you did"

"I can't think of a single instance where it has happened, at least not from my own personal experience. I have however heard that you Kings have something of an innate ability to sense that they are being viewed through magic in some manner."

"Did you see a Campione perhaps?" he asked, only for the girl to shake her head in response to his question.

"No, I don't believe so. She didn't appear to be one of the other six that exists besides you and your friend" Mariya answered, her confusion about the vision growing with each second that passed where she wasn't given a form of answer. She was a bit frustrated with her powers for a moment there, the sudden and honestly completely random activation of them having left her completely perplexed.

Shizuka meanwhile looked over towards them from her side of the kitchen. It hadn't taken her long to notice her brother's movement towards the school idol, as it wasn't that hard to guess what it was that he was doing. So while he had been subtle overall in his approach, didn't it help when she could read her older brother like an open book in these situations.

She hesitated for a moment, the knife she was chopping onions with at the moment shaking ever so slightly as she looked down, as that one stray thought forces her to get her emotions under control once more. She couldn't allow it to show right now, the words Athena had spoken during their private talk had already sown seeds of doubt, and she couldn't allow them to bloom into flowers of sorrow. She wouldn't allow herself to show weakness right now, as there were still things that she needed to conclude before then.

She took a steadying breath, before she went back to cutting the remaining onions. At least she would have, hadn't the household phone begun ringing. Before her brother even had a chance to begin walking had she already started to move. "I got it!"

The youngest Kusanagi took the phone off the wall with a bit more force than what was probably necessary, not that she paid much attention to it as she put the speaker to her ear. "Hello, Kusanagi residence-"

"Shizuka?"

The brown haired girl felt as her heart almost jumped up into her throat at hearing the voice, recognising it immediately.

"Hideyoshi"

"Is it okay if I come over, I… I would like to talk with you"

"Yeah, of course..." a slight smile spreading unconsciously at hearing his voice. The heavy feeling in her heart alleviated ever so slightly, as the words of Athena was moved to the side for the time being.

They weren't gone, still whispering in the back of her mind and heart. Like an irritating itch she couldn't hope to scratch properly, always there and slowly regaining hold on her attention as it simply waited.

…

Dante was exhausted. His entire body ached as the adrenaline settled down once more after his reckless escape. He had expected to escape rather easily, being fully aware of all possible ways Luo Hao might attempt to capture him, and had come up with several potential ways he could temporarily hinder them from stopping his escape. And then the hand had appeared out of nowhere.

It was an anomaly he had never encountered before, a power he had never seen Luo Hao wield before, and one he was more than certain she didn't possess in this timeline. And yet had it appeared, seemingly a surprise for both of them if the brief moment of shock had appeared on the Chinese Campione's face was anything to go by, not that it had hindered her from using it expertly.

If he had to be honest, would he say that that most of the reason why he had been able to fight, and escape, Luo Hao was all because of luck.

Hadn't the One Eyed Wanderer activated itself wouldn't he have been able to put up any resistance against the master martial artist.

Hadn't the Vajra manifested itself temporarily, would he surely have been captured back then.

All of it was luck, nothing else. And it had brought its fair share of misfortune with it as well. His Thompson Contender was utterly destroyed. Luo Hao now had access to a new power for her to use freely. But worst of all, would have to be the conflicting feelings he now felt towards her as a result of his Authority's new power and drawback. He still didn't know fully how it worked, having not gotten enough time to actually experiment and see how much had actually changed with the Authority, and this just happened to be a drawback that had always existed for using it at such high power for an extended period. Or this was a new part of the Authority that had awakened as a result of him pushing it so far.

He rubbed his temples, his head feeling quite empty at the moment. Every time he attempted to form any complex thoughts about what had actually transpired, felt he how his thoughts fleed just beyond his reach, making him quickly lose track of where he had been going with his thoughts. Instead saw he in his mind's eye sudden images of Luo Hao, particularly in regards to her more wild and disheveled appearance she had had when standing over him. He did his best to banish them as quickly as he possibly could, only for them to return not long after.

He began thinking about Brenda instead, certain that focusing on the girl that he loved with more than his whole heart would cause the intrusive thoughts to disappear. And just as he had expected turned all his imaginations focus towards the red head instead of the dark haired martial artist, not that it made him any less aware of the fact she still present in his the back of his thoughts like a barely noticeable tingle, just enough for him to acknowledge that it existed without being able to tell where it was located or even its general area.

His feelings about these new intrusive feelings were somewhat mixed. For one was he unable to stop loving Luo Hao, a feeling that had yet to stop growing stronger, at least until it matched his love for Brenda he could only guess. However, at the same time knew he that these feelings weren't his own, at least not entirely. Yes they came from another version of himself, but that didn't make them his. They were foreign to him, something that didn't belong inside him, and yet couldn't he ignore how seamlessly these new feelings had been implanted within him.

He lied down on top of the grey stallion's soft mane, the long, soft hairs forming a comfortable surface for him to lean against as he actually felt how the exhaustion from the previous battle rolled over him. He grew tired, almost feeling sleepy for a moment, his eyes drifting down towards the seemingly endless blue that stretched out in all directions far beneath him. He didn't actually look at the ocean, his gaze just being pointed in its direction without his brain actually acknowledging the fact that he was looking at it.

He felt a rumble from Sleipnir, catching his attention, his eyes drifting up from looking at the ocean to instead look towards the approaching landmass of Japan in front of him. A tired smile appeared on his face, as the thought of there not being any more dangerous things happening today crossed his mind, something he was happy for.

…

"This- this is incredible!" Athena exclaimed in barely noticeable excitement as her dexterous and precise fingers quickly moved her across the internet at an inhumane speed. Her only direct change in expression was her wider, almost sparkling eyes that moved quicker than her machine gun fingers as she absorbed all the information she could come across. Her motions were fast, but still within the realm of humanity. It was rather her reading speed that was impressive, making quick work of all their available information before moving onto another source of info.

Hideyoshi could only look on in amazement as the small girl was currently showing more emotions and skill in this moment than she had for the entire time she had been living here. Only when she had regained her strength as an actual god surpassed it, and it brought a smile to his face to see her being so happy right now.

She suddenly pushed against the wall, causing the chair she was sitting on to roll backwards, straight towards him. It however stopped before crashing into him, the damaged former goddess having seemingly been able to anticipate how much force was needed without needing to look back. She looked up at him, her face upside down as she stared into his eyes. "The information provided by all these numerous sources is vast and expansive, but also contradictory in instances and sometimes all out false from my personal experience. No wonder there is bound to be Heretic gods appearing in this world, as I feel that some of our relatives wouldn't like their portrayal across all these various interpretations. I can however understand the confusion, seeing how little has been properly translated from our time in Mycenaean Greece, the sourceless Dark Age, and how several people have written down our myths and legends through the ages."

The blonde god vessel just looked down at Athena as she ranted, his mind not exactly having been able to keep up properly with what it was she was talking about. "Did you at least manage to find anything that could help us? Even if the information wasn't up to your standards?"

The former goddess of wisdom looked back down towards the computer screen, her brow slightly furrowed in thought. "Heracles has many tales surrounding all his deeds, and is also associated with several other gods from all over the world. The real question right now would have to be how much of his power do you have access to at the moment. From there would we be able to determine if they would be able to help you."

She looked up at him in that upside down way once more, this time with a smile on her face. "In fact, has he been associated with Verethragna, the god that your dear friend's brother slew to become a Campione."

"You certainly know a lot about all of this..." He responded, taken aback and off guard by how she had referred to Shizuka. The slightest of blushes presenting itself on his cheeks as a result. "Anyways, do you have any potential guesses as to what it is I am able to access from his powers at the moment?"

The young looking girl just stared straight at him in response, her eye suddenly feeling as if it was peering straight through him. It was actually a bit mesmerising to look into her eye when it was like that, the dark orb surrounded by white leading to an even darker iris that divided the center like a cut mark. It was almost cat-like, but without the possibility of expanding to a circle, and would continue to remain as a line. A feature that revealed her to have been a goddess of Mother Earth, a being with a strong connection to the mythical serpents: dragons.

"You have shown abilities connected to the first and third labor of Heracles. The unpierceable hide of the Nemean Lion that he skinned off the beast after having strangled it. And the godly speed and endurance needed to hunt the Ceryneian Hind down by foot for an entire year."

Hideyoshi understood what she was talking about, as he finally came to fully understand what Authority it was he had currently access to. He had thought it was several powers, but in actuality they all came from the same source, the greatest and most known achievement spoken of when it regarded the hero known as Heracles. His twelve labors. Twelve seemingly impossible tasks that he had been given by his cousin in order to atone for his crime of killing his wife and children. Many of which included some of the greatest monsters and beasts of Greek mythology.

He felt something shift inside of him in response to his thoughts, several beasts quickly flying past his vision as they cried out a sound only he could possibly hear. It went by too fast for him to properly process, most of them having appeared as nothing more than shadowed shapes to him, with only the Nemean Lion and Ceryneian Hind appearing properly to him. A shiver went throughout his entire body. Not a normal shiver however, it seemed to leave his body hurting all over, before his entire body suddenly went numb.

It soon felt as if pins and needles were covering his entire body, piercing deep into him, going through the numbness that enveloped him. Pain, barely noticeable, numbed as it was, was still being recognised by his body as it surged through him. And yet, while the pain was surely there, was there a small voice in the back of his mind telling him that it wasn't actual pain he was feeling, despite what he was feeling.

Just as soon as it had appeared, subsided the feeling almost just as quickly moments later. No pain or numbness lingering behind, and yet felt it as if something had changed within him. It was as if he could feel the Authority inside him now, as if his acknowledgment of it had been enough for it to integrate itself properly into him.

Twelve Labors of Heracles.

He felt it inside him, as if beating in rhythm with his own heart, pulsed its power inside his being. It was faint, not yet fully awake, only enough for Hideyoshi to notice that it was there at all time. Somewhat similar to how despite never thinking about your heart beating constantly, would it continue regardless, a part of him that felt inseparable and familiar, as if it had always been there.

He looked up towards Athena, a sense of cold dread creeping its way up along his spine as he saw the grim expression that passed over her face for a second, before it was quickly hidden away by her near perfect emotional mask. He could still see past it however, as whatever insight Heracles was subconsciously providing him with allowed him to effortlessly read her emotions despite her attempt of hiding them.

Athena meanwhile was considering what it could actually mean with him getting access to Heracles' Authority, especially one that consisted of several parts, and only parts of it. Acted it like a clock, giving the blonde boy an idea of how long time he actually had remaining? Or was he aware that giving him full access to an entire Authority might cause great damage and pain to the boy on both a physical and mental level?

There was too little information for her to have a chance to accurately determine what it was it actually meant, if anything to begin with. Those thoughts brought about a feeling of unease and stress, both feelings something foreign to her, and something she would rather not experience. Athena focused her attention towards the computer, her lack of one eye having no effect on her actual sight, her body still carrying enough divinity to make sure that such impairments had no effect on her senses. She was honestly surprised and elated at the same time to know that so much information was available at the very tip of her fingers, and hoped that it would be enough for her to find a solution that could help her in saving Hideyoshi.

…

Dante didn't need to look at Sleipnir to know that the Authority that kept the godly horse in this world was running out of power, feeling inside his being that it was on its last legs. He couldn't think about a time when he had kept it continuously running for so long like this time. Not only had he used Sleipnir to confront Luo Hao, he had needed to keep him in existence throughout the entire fight, as he would otherwise not be able to get back.

He was unsure how much time had passed throughout it all, but he wouldn't be surprised if someone told him it had been several hours, because to him it felt like it. Each second in his battle against the Chinese Campione had felt like an eternity, every moment being crucial for him to get the fight somewhat under control. He had no delusions of winning that confrontation, the dark haired martial artist having literally shattered such thoughts when she destroyed his Contender with ease. Even less so now that he couldn't lift a finger against her because of Odin's eye having all of the sudden gained a new power.

He smiled a bit on the last thought, his fingers combing through the mane, down to the short hairs that covered Sleipnir's back. "You think something similar would happen to you if you were pushed to the limit?"

All he got was a snort in response, whether in amusement or disdain he couldn't tell. But that got him wondering about not only his Authorities, but those held by others as well. He was aware of the fact that they could be utilized in numerous ways, and he was sure that them 'evolving' wasn't unheard of, even having born witness and experienced it himself today. The question being what could bring about these changes.

Luo Hao's seemed to have been in response to an Authority of shared origin being in close proximity, at least from what he could tell. His own he could honestly not find a close origin for, as it felt as if way too many factors had been present for him to determine which one it was. He could just guess that the last vision was due to the Authority being intensely overburdened by his extensive use of it, temporarily forcing him to view a timeline with him in it. That did make him curious if that was now a restriction that had now been removed, or if that was the new cost of overloading the One Eyed Wanderer. But the potential consequences of finding out kept him back, even if he doubted that he could currently activate the Authority at the moment.

But the pressing matter at the moment would have to be the fact that he could visibly see Sleipnir disappearing before his very eyes. The stallion's entire body seemingly turned into a being of purple light. Dante felt as his body suddenly had no more support underneath it, feeling momentary weightlessness before quickly being followed by the sensation of his body starting to accelerate downwards.

He was practically flung into a downwards arc, as he lost his source of forward momentum while gaining momentum down towards the Earth. For what would have to be the third time that day felt he his body flooding with adrenaline as his survival instincts kicked into gear as a result of the situation.

Time seemed to slow down, as his brain sped up its processing speed beyond its normal capabilities, slowing down things around him from his perspective. Thoughts that would have taken several seconds to go through, was being stretched across what possibly felt like entire minutes. Almost as through instinct, commanded Dante his runes to appear beneath his falling body, aiming to form a small platform he would be able to land on. But his instinctive use of his Authority made him miss entirely, having already flown past the runes meant to intercept him before they were even properly summoned.

His quicker perception of the world actually allowed him to for once full the entire process of the runes summoning, something that normally seemed instantaneous now appeared so slow, slower than he had honestly anticipated. It was still a fast process, it just happened that at his current speed would he be hard pressed to use them to stop his fall. Not that it would hinder him from trying.

The dirty blonde teen reached out with his right hand, pushing through the turbulent winds that rushed past him at high intensity with some difficulties. Runes, smaller than normal, gathered in the palm of his outstretched hand, until they resembled a ball that was made out of several sections that constantly moved, or as if thousands of ants were running all over a ball. And with a thought fired Dante hundreds of smaller runes downwards, while simultaneously doing his best to supply more runes to the palm of his hand, all while sending a command and image from his mind to just the runes that were fired.

What formed from all these small symbols could best be described as a metal slide, quite steep in the beginning, but it gave Dante something to start with.

He landed on the metallic surface with a heavy thud that reverberated throughout the entire structure. Yet didn't his body bounce up, as he was almost magnetically pulled towards the slide thanks to the runes, making sure that he continued being pressed against it. It didn't take long before the blonde god slayer was sliding down the silver slope at high speed, keeping his hand aimed forward and continuously firing the small runes in order to extend the length of the slide.

It didn't take long until he was just above the waters of the ocean. Not changing direction, dove he straight into the water legs first with little hesitation, the salty waters quickly breaking his momentum. Dante allowed his body to fully stop before swimming towards the surface, quickly breaching it once more. A smile appeared on his face, as his heart slowed down and adrenaline levels began to lower. He was completely soaked through all his clothes, something that actually felt quite refreshing after having been in such a tiring experience as fighting Luo Hao in a straight up hand-to-hand confrontation. He just floated there on top of the surface of the water for a while, exhaustion finally beginning to set in as he simply lied there, not caring if the salt in the water would ruin his clothes. It was… peaceful, to simply float along the surface, rising and falling in rhythm with the small waves.

The cool waters helped his body, feeling to be on the brink of overheating on top of the exhaustion. Yet, was it warm enough to not be uncomfortably cold. The world quickly sped up to its normal pace, as the adrenaline in his body was fully flushed out. Dante's gaze drifted towards the rune constructed slide that stretched up towards the mostly blue sky, and dismissed it with a thought, causing it to start disappearing. At the same time he flexed the same hand he had used to make it, creating a thin sheet of metal of the runes right underneath his back. He pushed himself up to his feet, causing his wet hair to cling to the back of his head and face, while his clothes became like a second layer of skin as they removed all space between them and him. He felt the sudden drop in temperature as a result, the cold winds removing whatever heat might have been present in his wet clothes, but didn't pay it much mind.

Dante pulled back his hair with his hand, removing whatever strands had gotten in his face as it clung to his skin, their tone having darkened somewhat from the moisture. The currently brown haired man looked in what he believed to be the direction of Japan, his directional awareness telling him the direction he had been traveling just moments prior. Not that he had any way of telling if it was true, he just believed it wholeheartedly, having never been led astray by it before everytime he had used it on top of Sleipnir.

As such got he the platform moving with a mental command, the square formed piece of metal moving slowly in the beginning before it started to pick up a bit of speed. It didn't get much faster, just enough that the second Italian Campione could feel that it was moving forward. And despite whatever command he tried sending to it, wouldn't it move any quicker than it already was.

'This is taking too long'

With that thought in mind dove he from the small metal square with no hesitation. Runes surrounded his body as he sailed through the air, as he called upon all manner of combinations he could come up with for underwater travel and summoned forth them, quickly merging on top of his skin like a suit of armor, streamline and almost fish like in it's appearance. It cut through the surface with minimal disturbance, and seemingly disappeared from view just beneath the surface of the water.

Dante took a cautious, experimental breath through the armor's mouthpiece. And to his pleasant surprise found he himself able to breath water at the moment, the armor appearing to fill all criteria he had for it at the moment, with there just being one more to try out. He willed the armor to move forward, and felt the air based runes he had mixed in both the sole and palm parts of the armor respond in kind, creating air compustions that propelled his body forward at high speed.

He felt how the water tried resisting the fast motion he had achieved with the armor, only to not find any real surface to push back against as a result of the streamline design centered mostly on his head and arms, allowing it to cut through the salt water with ease. Dante was however basically going blind, being unable to see far ahead of him before the waters turned too dark for him to make out anything beyond that. All he had to tell him he was going in the right direction at the moment was his own sense of direction, with his surroundings staying unchanging except for what fish was in his field of vision for barely a moment as he jetted past them.

Much like how he had started thinking on the back of Sleipnir, started his brain going in this environment as well. The enveloping silence and unchanging surroundings causing his mind to wander as a response to not having to focus on anything at the moment, while his body settled into auto-pilot.

His mind was brought to the fight, an experience which he could only compare to a roller coaster in how it had gone, both as a confrontation and an emotional journey. He couldn't help but call himself an idiot for how confident he had been in facing the master martial artist, just to have it shatter along with his favored gun. Some had returned when he became somewhat able to keep up with Luo Hao's moves thanks to Odin's Authority, only to find out that it apparently had a devastating backslash for him in particular. And now was he basically in love with Luo Hao, something that could only lead to disaster in the future. Not that there was anything he could do about it now.

All he could do at the moment was return to Japan and wait until later, hopefully taking it easy for the rest of the day as he started to dread the approaching backlash from Knowledge of the Runes Origin that would strike at day's end.

'I wanna hug Brenda'

…

The young Scandinavian woman looked at the takeout menu in her hands with a look that seemed both hungry and mildly irritated, her eyes squinting in a conflicted glare that made the other knight in their hotel suit's living room wonder for a second if she was considering if should burn the paper or not with the intensity of her gaze alone. Liliana meanwhile didn't doubt for a second that she had the capability to do so, being physically aware of the heat that she radiated just sitting there.

Or maybe she couldn't do so, the silver haired woman thought for a moment as remembered that it wasn't actual real heat that Brenda was giving off, but at the same time couldn't Liliana help but think that it was very probable an indication towards the red head's most natural element. The knight hoped that the other female wouldn't suddenly cause the paper to burst into flame, being a bit nervous for potentially setting off the alarm, or worse, potentially cause an actual fire. Something Liliana would like to avoid happening.

She began approaching the red haired woman, her pores instantly reacting to her closing the distance between them as the heat beared down on her fully, being brought to the brink of sweating within moments of getting closer. The fact that she shortened the distance between them didn't go unnoticed by Brenda, who quickly turned her attention away from the pamphlet in her grip, her red eyes looking up at her questioningly.

"I thought we should talk a bit, seeing as we haven't been able to fully introduce ourselves to one another." Liliana hesitated for a moment, contemplating for a moment whether she should bring up the other thought that she had had on her mind. "...and that we might be able to become friends as well… or at the very least get better acquainted with one another."

The Croatian knight had barely finished her sentence before the Swedish woman jumped towards her in a blur, the instance between her sitting down and being airborne basically none existence, as if she hadn't stood up on the ground in the motion, and just launched herself directly from the chair. And as Liliana had the other female's arms wrapped around her neck, she understood truly how warm Brenda actually was. The leakage of raw magical energy that her senses picked up as heat being its absolute hottest as their bodies were right next to one another, each and every pour in close proximity immediately reacting as a result.

"I would love to be friends with you Liliana!" Brenda shouted in excitement as she pushed herself away, her eyes positively sparkling as she smiled from ear to ear. The knight that was the recipient of said smile was meanwhile having trouble keeping up with what had happened, leaving her temporarily behind in whatever conversation it was they had been having, despite the little amount of exchanges that it had actually had. The only thing Liliana could do was to nod along to what Brenda was saying, as her brain barely connected the dots fully.

Her response caused the red haired to somehow get even more bright. "Great. What do you wanna talk about?"

"Erm, well… if it isn't too much to talk about, would I like to know how you and Dante meet"

"I would be more than happy to." she responded with a smile before sitting back down. Liliana followed soon after, sitting right across from the redhead. "I think it would have to be about 3, possibly even 4 years ago that we met for the first time, it was at least before he had become a Campione and all that."

"I always got the impression that he has been a King a little longer than that." the silver haired knight couldn't help but comment as she listened.

Brenda didn't seem perturbed by the sudden comment, actually appearing a bit happy by the Croation girl's input. "Yeah, it wasn't until 1 year later that he actually went on to become a Campione, but I am getting off track. It was back in Sweden that we met for the first time, his father apparently having been an old friend of my parents'. Anyway, hadn't he visited in a really long time from what I remember, the last time being before I can remember at the very least, as he seemed to have recognised me. He then went on to explain that his own son, that being Dante of course, was about my age and that we could try getting along while he talked with my parents about something."

Her smile returned full force at this point as she took a brief moment to gather her thoughts. "So I was sent to the backyard, whereupon I met him for the first time, and our first meeting was, well, a bit chaotic."

"Didn't you guys get along?"

"No, rather the opposite, we got along too well. I hadn't met many kids my own age that were aware of magic, seeing as my knightly training took up so much of my time, and that my parents were a bit paranoid about me interacting with older kids. So meeting someone that was not only aware magic, but was also my own age, was very freeing. My parents were quite livid about what had happened with the backyard after we were done playing around."

"That sounds nice." Liliana stated with a smile of her own, her gaze focused on the table between them as she imagined a younger Dante and Brenda on their backs laughing in exhaustion. As she looked back up to look at the other girl, she was taken aback by how close her face was all of the sudden, leaning over the table to close the distance between them.

"Now that I told you how I met Dante, you have to do the same!" Brenda practically ordered, a glint in her eyes that made it hard to deny her request being on full display as she stared at Liliana.

The knight in question basically lit up in embarrassment from the resulting memory, being something she'd rather not remember if possible. It was however hard to ignore Brenda's pleading expression for much longer, as Liliana could almost physically feel herself starting to go along with telling her about it.

"W-Well you see…" Liliana got silent, unable to take that last step before retreating, her embarrassment of having been caught by Ebony and then displayed to her lord in such a manner keeping her silent about the encounter.

Brenda, noticing that she wouldn't continue, backed away, a knowing expression shifting into place on her face as she watched Liliana. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it"

"...thank you"

"No problem. Now, how about you and me try to figure out what we should bring us."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

While the two girls left their conversation behind them, both of them were unaware that in the bedroom of their suite had Maria been listening in on the conversation between the older females. The brown haired girl was sitting on the ground, her knees against her forehead, as her back was up against the door. Her legs current positioning was pushing her the bridge of her glasses into her nose somewhat painfully, something she didn't give much thought to at the moment as her brain was somewhere else entirely. Somewhat blurry memories of a man lifting her up above his head played through her mind, a man she knew to be her father. The memories brought both happiness and sadness. Happiness for all the times he had been there for her, taken care of her, loved her as his daughter. And sadness because she knew she could never get that back into her life.

Maria, unlike her brother, didn't follow along on their father's travels as often, as her mother didn't want to allow her to travel until she was older. And their father's travels hadn't been as extensive, frequent, or lengthy, so she didn't have to wait for too long before the two of them got back. But then there was the time only one of them returned.

Her memories regarding the day were fuzzy, the only thing she remembered properly being the emotions she had been feeling at the time. All the sadness for having lost the father that she loved. All the hate she had had towards her brother for making it back without their father, as she for a moment wished that he had died as well. And she loathed herself for thinking such thoughts towards her brother, even if small sparks of it still remained to this day. She knew that it wasn't his fault, and was aware that he had done his best to fully repair the bond between them all this time.

She knew that she feared the fact that she might actually lose Dante, just for some reason deciding to not fully acknowledge it. She didn't know what it was that was keeping her from fully accepting it, just knew that something kept her from doing so.

…

Dante pulled himself up from the salty waters on all fours with heavy breathes, the armor flaking off his body like dried paint before disappearing into dust. He looked down to his now exposed hands, his eyes narrowing somewhat as he took notice of the sickly, purple markings in the shape of runes that marred the back of his shaking hands in seemingly random spots. He had been a bit surprised when the runes had suddenly stopped working properly just before he reached the shore, making him have to swim the last bit. However, now that he actually had some time to think, he came to realise that he must have reached the time limit for how long he could use the runes for today. And now he would suffer the consequences.

Dante collapsed to the ground, his arms suddenly unable to support his body, feeling as if all strength was sapped right out of him. He didn't try to get up, instead rolling over so that he lied on his back instead, not caring as sand now clung to both the front and back of his still drenched through shirt, too exhausted to give it any thought at the moment. All he could focus on was the clear sky above his head, momentarily taking notice of the sun being in its downward arc towards the horizon, just a couple hours until sunset by now.

The Italian god slayer just lied there on the shore, half his legs still in the water as he lacked the strength to move just a little further up, as well as the energy to care.

Dante had no idea for how long he didn't move, his body so motionless that if someone had walked up on him would they have mistaken him as a corpse until getting a closer look. But eventually walked someone over to him.

"Hey, are you okay there?"

Dante managed to tilt his somewhat dried head up towards the person that had spoken, pushing sand towards his scalp as a result. What he saw was a woman about his own age, if just possibly a little bit older, but not by much in that case. She was tall, her concerned, yet piercing red eyes looking down at him from a considerable height. Her dirty blonde mane of hair being somewhat illuminated by the sun just behind her.

He couldn't help but think for a moment that he might have caught a glimpse of her at some point, just not quite able to place his finger on where and when.

"I would like to say I am, but that wouldn't be true now would it."

"No, it certainly wouldn't, mr god slayer."

"Good to know I don't have to keep too much hidden. I'm Dante Zola."

"Chizue Shimizu."

"...would you be kind enough to help me possible… please"

The Japanese girl let out a good natured chuckle. "Sure, you are asking nicely after all."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome"

…

Lancelot was moving some of the more expensive and rare stuff in the small antique shop towards the back, as "Aldo" was currently too busy in some kind of meeting upstairs in their shared living space to simply magic it away. The Knight of the Lake had trouble understanding what was going through the head of that old geezer, the fact that he had taken up residence and opened a shop still baffling her after all this time. She was still having doubts about her own decision to stay here, but having someone she could trust nearby and possibly get help from was too good of an opportunity to pass up on.

The honey blonde goddess heard the bell from the front door chime as she put the last thing away in the backroom, her mind already berating the white haired god upstairs for not having locked the door at least before walking away.

She grit her teeth as she did her best to appear as cordial as she currently could"I am sorry, but we are currently clos-!" only for the last word to get stuck in her throat as she saw who it was that was standing by the door.

A young woman dressed in a white summer dress, her long light green hair cascading down her back, while her green eyes shared the same smile her face had in a picture perfect display of innocence. But that wasn't what Lancelot saw, images of the very same woman staring down at her, covered in the blood of her comrades, her eyes looking as if she was looking at her coldly. Her body ran cold, every signal in her body screaming at her to run.

"Why hello there Hippolyta, didn't expect to see you here." The green haired woman greeted as she walked towards the book section of the small store, her eyes scanning across the small selection of books available to her.

Lancelot had trouble giving a response, her throat dry as all words failed her. The utter terror she was experiencing being borderline paralyzing at the moment. It somewhat helped that the woman didn't focus her attention directly towards her, seeming to be mostly focused at the books. Not that the Knight of Camelot believed that for a second, fully aware that the green eyed monster had no trouble dividing her attention equally between them.

"What's the matter Hippolyta, I thought you would like to have a talk?" She inquired, her fingers pulling out a book the former queen of the Amazons recognised as a book that was filled with all manner of Greek myths and stories. Her attention was quickly gripped by the fairly large spider that appeared on the monster in human skin's shoulder, its black beady eyes seemingly fully focused on the book in her hands.

"Or could it be..."

Her fingers went towards another book, her eyes moving towards the honey blonde goddess as she pulled out the book. A book she knew was filled with poems by Chrétien de Troyes.

Lancelot froze for a second as the girl before her became the split image of the monster in her memories, her eyes completely cold and filled with killing intent.

"That you prefer the name Lancelot perhaps."

Hope you liked it.

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