Chapter 43: The Reckoning
«»
How long have I been here, I wonder?
A year? Three years? Seven years?
No, I remember now. It's been… ten years now, yes… Ten long years…
And all I could ever do… All I've been, is but a mere ghost. Out of sight. Out of mind. Unheard. Unseen.
All except for the few rare instances were I managed to… slip on through, even if but for mere moments.
Those moments have always been more than enough to make up for the lost time.
But… I don't want this anymore. I don't want to be here anymore. I want to be out there.
I want to be with…
I need to get out. I need to get back. I can feel it. Even here, I can feel the pain and despair.
I am needed now more than ever. And I WILL leave.
I will be "me"... once again. Whole… and complete…
And… He and I will be...
"Where is he?!" Inuba shouted from the sands below, her White Aura flaring around her in a blaze.
"I already told you, he's been removed from the equation. There's no need to be worried about him any longer." Scylix stated, raising her hand up as her six chains phased into existence out of clusters of black smoke.
Both the kitsune and Dark Entity became blurs, appearing a few feet away from where Inuba stood as her white katana dragged across the chains, leaving a trail of sparks in her wake as she passed by.
In thanks to Scylix being able to extend her chains over large distances, she kept Inuba away as far as she could. Given how quickly the chains moved at her, and that they outnumbered her, it was difficult for Inuba to gain ground, much less take the time to attack.
The woman seemed so much stronger all of a sudden…
Ruby blurred in from behind, and swung Crescent Rose for Scylix's neck, only to find two chains blocking the name of her neck, a third quickly whipping into the girl's stomach to launch her away.
Ren and Jaune flanked the sides, but they too were blocked by the chains, only, they made sure to keep her in place, entwining their weapons in their enemy's chains. This in turn gave Nora the chance to leap up overhead from behind and bring her hammer down in an explosive burst.
The Dark Entity woman raised a hand up above, cloaking it in her purple and black Aura as it absorbed the impact entirely, much to the Valkyrie's surprise before she was forcibly flung away into the stone wall.
Distracted for but a moment, Ren and Jaune were yanked forward, with Scylix moving back to allow the two teens to crash into each other and topple the other over. With the two of them downed, Scylix's chains coiled around their bodies to wrap them up to their necks, and slung them along the wall where Nora was, the chains shifting outwards to wrap the girl up entirely as well.
With three opponents subdued, the woman unlinked her three chains from the wrapped up teens, which formed more chains links out of her Aura, the dagger-like tips forming shortly after as she faced Ruby and Inuba. The six chains whipped around her body slowly like entrancing serpents as she took steps forward, the kitsune and reaper in red resuming their stances.
"It's useless."
Scylix forced her hands forward after her comment, shooting her six chains forward like bullets as Inuba and Ruby valiantly fought back against the seemingly endless flurry of whipping chains.
What really started to drive the kitsune up the wall was how much force was placed behind the chains in spite of how little effort they thrashed about.
For Scylix, she had difficulty deciding how to effectively wear them both down and subdue them. Clearly Inuba was the bigger threat by far, but Ruby wasn't by any means totally ineffective.
Where as Inuba dominated in both brute force, speed, and intelligence, Ruby also dominated in speed, and to an extent, had great combat sense to her from what Scylix observed. Both had superb instincts to them; treating either of them as lesser beings would quickly lead her to defeat.
With the kitsune, Scylix used her three chains mainly to counter or stop her from moving forward, whereas with Ruby, she focused on containing the little reaper, using two chains for attack and a third to guide its way into her intended path of travel, preventing her from effectively using her Semblance to escape the flurry of chains and get close.
Even with her spectacular method of defense and countering, Scylix still couldn't completely stop the duo from advancing entirely. It was actually intimidating how well they were working together, despite having no previous experiences in working together, at least, from what was observable.
Was it him driving them forward so relentlessly?
That had to be the case. After all, they both shared intense feelings for Dante. It would make sense for them to desperately drive Scylix off.
She had all but forgotten how intense love could emotionally full someone to complete madness.
These two obviously had no regard for the consequences.
Scylix would show them the error of their recklessness.
Just as Ruby and Inuba went for a cross slash, their weapons were stopped by the serrated black chains, entirely kept in place as katana and scythe were enshrouded by the chains.
Scylix tossed the two girls around like toys, smashing them into the nearby ruins and dragging them through the black sands as their cries echoed across the planes. Ruby was the only one to be thrown into the wall soon after, chains wrapping around her arms and body to tie her up like Jaune and the others as she fell down into dirt.
Inuba was the last one standing, and still she was being thrashed about by Scylix effortlessly. The kitsune unclasped her left hand from the handle of her sword, pointing a finger over the guard as the tip of her finger sparked with white flame in the shape of sphere. The sphere grew larger, and just as Inuba was about to discharge a bolt of her flaming Aura, chains wrapped around her left hand clamped down tightly, digging its teeth into her flesh as she cried out and was slammed into the ground.
As the cloud of black sand kicked up from the impact, Scylix pulled back her chains before they dived back in to give the kitsune a harsh lashing, kicking up more of the sand as she cried out from the shroud of dust.
The woman's chains pulled away towards her, and hung menacingly overhead like serpents, slowly whipping about as they kept their dagger-like tips focused on the downed kitsune.
Black sand clouds were kicked up into air once again, but not before a colossal, cone shaped torrent wave of white flame shot out of the dust with intense speed, projecting forward into a continuous beam that reached high into crimson skies.
"I have no patience for your crude games!" A voice called out from the sands, a small inferno of white flame spreading out in the area.
Inuba stood at the epicenter, only now she was slightly changed.
Her hair was longer, virtually waist length with her long bangs cascading over her shoulders. Tufts of her snow white hair danced about from the immense force her flames, the black sand beneath her feet quickly hardening into glass as she took slow strides forward. Her crimson eyes remained the same, only now, she had black slit pupils instead of her normal ones.
And most importantly… nine long white tails thrashed about behind her as the inferno seemingly only grew with intensity, reciprocating an intense rage the kitsune almost never showed.
"Where is my Master, you harlot?!"
Scylix stood atop her shortened wall, her smiling growing wide as she gazed at the kitsune from on high.
"Let's see… When you talk about 'your Master', do you mean the fierce and lively fellow that creates miracles out of thin air?"
The woman's hand reached behind her grabbing hold of something as she slowly brought it into view.
"Or the pitiful, dead fellow in my hand?"
Inuba's eyes widened as she gasped, all breath seemingly leaving her body as she looked at the what Scylix held on to. Slowly as she raised it into view, the inferno quickly died down as the kitsune fell to her knees in disbelief, struggling to catch a breath.
It was Dante. Surely, she thought it couldn't have been him…
But it was. This was no trick, no form of craft to deceive her senses as she looked on in silent horror.
Whatever spark of life that once resides within the immortal… was now gone. It stung at her like thousands of needles biting into her entire body simultaneously once Inuba realized all Inuba could feel from him…
Was cold death.
"I'll admit, he put on quite the final performance. Struggling and defiant all the way to the very end. So very like him." Scylix spoke out as she held the lifeless teen by the back of his neck and raised him up, "Look closely, Little fox. This was the man to whom you entrusted all your hopes, dreams and desires. And now… he is no more. Completely undone from life. All to protect you."
No matter how hard Inuba tried, she couldn't force out any form of words as tears flowed, her hands reaching for her neck and tightening. Perhaps she was trying to shock herself out of her speechless state.
Or perhaps… the pain was so great and terrible, she tried to still it.
(Peter Gabriel - My Body is a cage)
The inferno of white flame quickly sprung to life once more, far more intense and violent than before as raging, red tints accompanied the flames. Little by little, Inuba's voice returned as she choked out breaths, those breaths turning into silent cries, and then agonizing screams as the inferno quickly spread out further and further across the black planes, turning the ground she stood on into glass.
Her cries rang out painfully and fiercely, so much so that one would think it was a cry that could be heard around every corner of the world, a cry that was accompanied with a roaring inferno.
But those cries of agony steadily changed into angry, wrathful shouts. When the heartbroken kitsune locked eyes with Scylix, they underwent change once more. Red sclerae burned ferociously as they encompassed pitch black irises, and white slit pupils, Inuba's cries of ultimate fury growing louder by the second as her inferno spread further and burned hotter.
All while Scylix stood above her wall, a twisted expression among her face as she giggled ominously to herself.
"Exactly what I was waiting for..!"
Speaking her words, the Dark Entity stretched out her arm that held Dante, dangling his body over the wall as Inuba looked on from below, her glare so deathly and terrifying it would kill any other man that dared gaze into her eyes.
And then… Scylix dropped him.
Inuba's eyes went wide for but a moment until she narrowed them in a sharp gaze and lunged forward with intense force, shattering the field of glass behind her. Her yell carried out across the planes once more until the kitsune caught her Master, and kicked off the wall to land on the ground.
All within a second, Inuba's entire body was enshrouded with white flame, tightening around her body like a glowing white layer of second skin. Her feet and hands became clawed and sharp, and the second layer of skin near the mouth formed a long maw of sharp, ephemeral teeth.
The kitsune's eyes were cloaked in burning red flame, like the inner part of the mouth that opened and let out a ear piercing, distorted roar that shook the very earth from the sheer volume and unfathomable pressure from the blazing inferno of Aura.
With Dante's body in her grasp, unharmed by her flaming hands, Inuba's flaming white tails expanded and grew to large proportions, then folded forward, tips pointing into one another as a sphere of white flame formed and expanded.
Scylix watched from above, laughing silently to herself as the sphere grew larger by the second.
(2:30)
The ball of flame grew to three times of the transformed Inuba's size, then five, ten, and further up to twenty times her size before the sphere discharged into a colossal beam of glowing white fire.
The woman blurred out of sight as the titanic, cannon-like laser of flame shot out immediately like a beam of light out into the red veil that was the sky. Winds blew through the area with intense force as the darkness of the planes was filled with the angry, burning flames.
Ruby and the others, free from their bonds that turned into black ash, gathered themselves as the watched, utterly speechless at the sight of the beam of flame breaking through the sky. As it finally died down, they all saw a gaping hole in the sky, cracks surrounding the epicenter until it all finally fell apart, revealing a vast emptiness of space now instead of red skies. And in the distance… their home.
Remnant.
Their attention was drawn to Scylix, who reappeared further along ten breached wall of stone, her laughter carrying out across the black sands.
"Yes! This is the power I was waiting for! Any other incompetent fool would assume Dante to be the one with power to destroy a world, but they would be sorely wrong! The truth is… that you, Inuba Kitsukami, held that power deep inside you! And now… the great, wrathful power of Dakini, and destructive force of Inari, is being released!"
The Dark Entity's gaze lowered upon Inuba once more, her sickening smile ever broader across her face as she relished in her sweet victory.
"Use it! Use the power fueled by your rage and despair at the loss of your Master to destroy the world of Remnant!"
Another earth shattering howl escaped the transformed kitsune as the tips of her tails came together in front of her once more. Instead of taking numerous seconds to charge up a singular destructive blast, the tails loosed a large enough beam within three seconds before splitting away from one another, forming nine separate beams that flailed outwards sporadically.
The beams of white flame easily melted through the sands in Scylix's direction, who shielded herself with her purple and black Aura as the laser-like blasts did her no harm, and trailed off into the distance towards Remnant.
The trails that were made by Inuba's flames suddenly erupted with immense waves of white fire, and Ruby, sitting where she did, watched one of the beams that trailed off into space hit the planet, spotting a tiny speck of white flame erupting from the surface.
"That's it!"
Ruby's eyes quickly darted to Scylix, who now stood high above in the sky where the girl glanced at it.
"One last time sweet fox! Do be sure not to miss!"
(3:43)
The reaper looked on, spotting the raging Inuba in the distance bring her tails forward with another powerful scream, charging up another massive blast to be discharged. With its trajectory…
It was perfectly centered on the planet..!
Ruby horrifyingly realized that if Inuba had shot out that beam… Remnant… Everyone would…
Before she could continue her thoughts, a blur of white rushed past her and the others towards the transformed kitsune, and by carefully trailing the figure, the reaper in red could clearly see a person wrapped in a white cloak above Inuba, hand reaching out and grabbing hold of Dante's body.
The figure brought out another hand as she planted her feet on Inuba's back and the hand on top of the flaming girl's head between her fox ears. Tearing Dante from her grasp, the white cloaked figure kicked off the kitsune's back, strands of black and white Aura materializing shortly after to restrain the transformed girl.
With the restraints layering her entire body, and wrapping around her flaming tails, Inuba's charged beam had been thrown off its original target, the immense blast of flame shooting out into space and barely missing the planet as it harmlessly passed by.
(4:14)
The figure in white audibly blurred behind Ruby, causing the girl to turn her head around as she looked back to see the person laying Dante's body down on a thin veil of light, making sure it wouldn't touch the black sands.
Without a second though, the reaper scrambled to her feet and rushed over, seeing Jaune, Ren and Nora staggering up to their feet as well to go to Dante.
Jaune got there first, and was shaking Dante slightly, probably calling out his name. But Ruby couldn't hear anything. She could see the blonde's lips moving, but she couldn't hear him speak. All that she could hear, was a silent ringing in her ears as she fell down to her knees staring down at the teen who didn't budge.
Her eyes and Jaune's met, and she saw him struggling to form words until his lips finally formed the words she could read.
Tears started welling up in her eyes as she too tried shaking Dante.
He was out cold. Had to be. He was going to get up soon. He had to get up…
He always got back up… Always…
No matter how long she waited expectedly… he didn't move the slightest bit.
The tears were finally too much to hold back for Ruby as she tried to shake him awake, sobbing as she did until Nora stopped her, wrapping the girl in her arms to comfort her. Jaune and Ren moved instinctively, trying to resuscitate their friend to no avail. They tried and tried, but even after repeated attempts, they realized there was nothing that could be done, if anything at all.
The cloaked figure's hood folded in their direction for a few brief moments before looking back at the beast-like Inuba in the distance, quickly breaking free of the bonds that held down her raging form. The figure's fingers clenched together tightly as her head looked down towards the ground at their feet, trying to stop the shaking.
"This… This wasn't supposed to happen… None of this..!"
The four of them couldn't see it, but the figure brought their other hand up to where their head would have been, clutching it tightly.
(End Song)
Pure white light blinded the pair of eyes that worked to examine their surroundings. But the further they looked, the more it was… white… Just an incandescent space as far as the eye could see.
But as the bright sky blue eyes blinked a few times, the person they belonged to realized just exactly where he was.
Was it true though? Was he really… here of all places? It was just… so hard to believe that he came here without breaking in like he did the last time. He came in the natural way.
He died.
"So… It finally happened, did it..?" Dante asked as he clenched his hands together gently.
Something was strange though. This wasn't the entrance like he remembered it. In fact, he had never seen this before now when he came here last.
The only thing that told him he was in The Beyond currently, or at the very least it's precipice, was the feeling of stillness. Yes, it was a strange thing to call it but… that's exactly what it was.
Stillness. Peace. A place absent of the woes and joys that made Creation what it was.
A place all would come to in the end.
And now he was here, all alone…
Or so he thought.
Dante heard the clacking of heels slowly approaching him from behind, turning and squinting his eyes at the brighter source of light approaching in the form of a person. As the light died down, he had a clearer view of the person standing in front of him now, waiting to greet him.
"Head Honcho Arbitrator sent you down here to get me?" He asked the figure.
"Not so much 'sent' as he asked me to come and see you personally. He figured that having a familiar face to guide you through would… ease the process."
"Ease isn't exactly the word I'd use for… all this." Dante said waving his hands around briefly, "But... I appreciate the sentiment at least, Pyrrha."
"Strange… Here I thought you'd question whether all of this was real or not, or whether it's actually me." Pyrrha offered with a smile.
"I know this is real. And I know you're real too. I've been here before, so I can tell."
"So I've heard. Though, from the story I was told, you broke in the last time."
"A story I've yet to tell everyone else. Except for Ruby of course. She knows the whole deal by now."
Pyrrha's vivid-green eyes moved off to the side briefly as she clutched her right arm with her left, "I… How is-?"
"Jaune's…" Dante let out a sigh as he stared back at the girl, "He's doing better. I don't think he's fully over it yet, but… I don't think anyone can fully get over something like that. He's adjusted though. So have Ren and Nora. They're doing just as good."
"That's… That's good to hear at least. I hope it stays that way."
"Pyrrha…" Dante said, drawing the girl's gaze on him, "What happened to you wasn't fair. It was… unfair crap happening to a good person."
"Dante…"
"Good people shouldn't die because of idiotic acts of chaos on someone's dumb agenda. Broken, terrible idiots like me deserve to die in crappy situations like that. A do-gooder in love like you should walk away clean."
"I thought you didn't do self-pity." The girl asked, giving Dante a half smile.
"I'm branching out from intense self-loathing and extreme self-destruction, for once." Dante said tilting his head slightly, as both he and Pyrrha looked around the empty white space.
"It's sad really… Knowing now for the first time how you truly feel. Otherwise…"
She sighed briefly, taking the time to examine the blank space around her.
"I imagined there'd be a lot more here now instead of this empty place, but… Your World is… completely vacant..."
"What can I say? I'm a minimalist."
Pyrrha shot the teen a quizzical glance at his witty remark, another small smile forming.
"I see your humor hasn't improved all too much."
"Was never good to begin… with…"
Dante looked on in bewilderment at the new sight in front of him. What wasn't there previously, now stood a clear, translucent veil that ebbed and flowed like water, rippling when the teen tapped its surface. As he looked closer, he…
...
The black sands once again… Ruby being held back while Nora tried to comfort her. Ren and Jaune had finally given up after what was seven minutes of nonstop attempts.
But the girl cloaked in white… She, like Ruby, looked so emotionally injured…
Dante couldn't see it before, but now, on the opposite side was a space. And further on the opposite side was another translucent veil, like the one he was currently behind.
"You haven't seen this before, have you?" Pyrrha asked as she walked up next to Dante.
"No… I haven't…"
"Good… Then just like he said, this will be much easier."
"Easier?" Dante asked.
Pyrrha nodded, "You have a choice Dante. One that's afforded only to you because of how special you are. Once… and only once… you get to choose."
Choose…
...
A choice… Perhaps the first real choice he's ever made in his life…
Ironic that it was to choose to live… or to move on and go into The Beyond.
"You understand what this means, don't you?" Pyrrha asked, earning a nod from the the teen, "Then… what will you do?"
"I could stay here with you." Dante answered simply.
"When you really wish to go back?"
The teen's fists clenched together tightly as he bit into his lip. A part of him wanted to go… but so much of him wanted to stay, since…
"Go back to them, Dante." Pyrrha told the teen.
"I can't…" he said shaking his head, voice growing softer.
"How come?"
Dante's right hand moved slowly to his chest, clutching it tightly as tears streamed down his face, something he hadn't had happen to him for the longest of times.
"I don't want to go back… because… It doesn't hurt here… After tens years… it finally doesn't hurt anymore… I don't want to be in constant pain like I've been. I don't want to be miserable everyday. Everyone… Everyone else didn't do anything wrong. They alleviated enough of it to make it manageable but… It doesn't work anymore. The pain comes back worse each time."
There was also…
"And out there… everyday… It's just more and more of the same. People hurting people. I can feel it all. I've always felt it. It's like… knives digging into every corner of my body. It's… too much to bear anymore."
A gloved hand reached out to wipe the tears away from the teen's face before resting on his shoulder, patting it gently.
"Go home Dante."
"Home…" Dante spoke out, sniffling once as he let out a stifled breath, "Sadly Pyrrha… I don't even know where 'home' is…"
A forceful, yet friendly nudge moved the teen forward a few steps until his hand passed through the veil. But instead of moving forward, he stopped, and looked back at Pyrrha, possibly for what would be the last time.
"Tell Jaune… that I said hello… And…" the girl said tearing up, "That I'm sorry."
Dante glanced over his shoulder at Pyrrha for a brief moment before looking back at the veil, giving a brief nod as his body began to slip through.
And as he slipped through… he could feel it again… slowly inching its way back to him.
Pain.
Jaune and Ren stared down at the body, still in disbelief that what they were seeing was real.
Dante was actually dead. No pulse, no warmth in his body… He was truly gone.
"Ren… What… What do we..?"
"I…" Ren started as he fell backwards, "I don't know Jaune… I don't think there's anything we can do…"
Jaune slammed his fist into the sands, gold and white sinking into the sands as he bowed his head down.
His eyes drifted to Dante's body, seeing his wounded form covered in numerous cuts and bruises, blood splatters dry across his flesh.
But it was then he noticed something odd.
A brief glow of white and black Aura emerged from the wounds, and then, they started to close. They weren't closing at the startling, nearly instantaneous speed that they usually did. Instead, Jaune and Ren could see the flesh of Dante's cuts slowly moving together and sealing up with brief flickers of light. The bruises disappeared as well, like stains removed from sheets of laundry to make his pale skin clear and free. The only thing that stayed was the dried blood.
Ruby moved past Nora and knelt over Dante, patting him down before her hands moved to his face, holding the sides of his cheeks.
Moments after, Dante's body lurched up in a backwards bend as he gasped for air, and then fell back down, opening his eyes just barely as he went into a coughing fit.
Jaune and Ren helped prop up Dante as he pounded his chest, trying to kill his coughs and get it out of his system.
The white haired teen's head turned towards Jaune, his ears still filled with a high pitched ringing in his ears, unable to hear Jaune or anyone else's voice. His sight was still blurry, but the shaggy blonde hair was so clear to him, even in his state, that he knew for sure he was looking at Jaune.
Thinking of the blonde, he had just remembered what she asked him to say, but…
He was going to settle for just a brief excerpt.
"Hello…" Dante groggily stated, as if he had woken from a long sleep.
"Hel… Hello..? That's..?! That's all you have to say?! Hello?!" Jaune shouted.
Dante's already narrowed eyes squinted more as he looked to Jaune in confusion.
"That is still the term, isn't it?"
Vision still blurry. Wires crossed? No wires. Not machine. Body not fully adjusted to… waking. Was dead…
Dead...
Dante suddenly found himself wrapped by a pair of arms, feeling wet cheeks touch the side of his face.
Ruby...
"I… thought…"
"You stopped breathing… And your pulse… Where you..?"
"Dead?" Dante began, answering Jaune, "Absolutely…"
Ruby pulled herself back momentarily, placing both hands on the side of Dante's face, glancing into his dull, tired eyes.
"Hello…" he replied again simply.
"Hi…" she replied with a small smile, sniffling as she leaned her head forward to press their foreheads together.
Ruby looked off towards the girl in the white cloak approaching, and moved her face away from Dante's to allow the girl to kneel next to them and examine Dante.
"It's me…"
"I know it's you… you utter lunatic…" the cloaked girl replied, choking back an angry voice as she continued examining him, "What happened?"
Dante was about to speak up and tell them everything, his eyes glancing to Jaune briefly before looking back at the pitch black space of the cloaked girl's hood.
He wasn't going to say anything about that. Not right now.
"I was… in that place…"
"That place…" the girl whispered silently, her hood quickly folding up as she grabbed Dante by the shoulders, "You were in The Beyond?!"
The teen gave her a small nod as his eyes moved down to the black sands.
"But how did you..?"
"Second chance… Only chance…" Dante replied, realizing someone among them was missing.
When he realized who it was exactly, his eyes widened as he frantically looked about.
"Where is..?"
His hand grabbed hold of the cloaked girl's arm, pulling her closer to him.
"Where is she..?!"
Her hood folded down towards the ground before looking out towards the ramparts, Dante following her trail as he spotted white flashes out in the distance, feeling the earth shake beneath him.
He struggled to stand up at first, but with Ruby and the cloaked girl's help, they brought him to his feet as they helped him walk forward a few steps to see what was causing all of it.
And when he saw it… the pit of his stomach fell so hard it felt like it was ripped out of him entirely.
No...
He fell to his hands and knees once more, eyes never breaking contact with the sight he beheld.
A figure wreathed in a tight body of white flame and nine long fox tails was frantically traversing the field, clawing and swiping at the woman in black with her chains as she struck back, countering the tails that shot forward like spears and claws that would have shredded the woman to pieces.
"Dante… It's clear that you have an understanding of… whatever that is…" The cloaked girl stated, leaning down towards him, "Can you explain what it is to us?"
The day finally came… And seeing it for himself now, he had failed to keep the promise he made seven years ago…
Seven years ago...
"That is why you wanted me…" Said a ten year old Dante, sitting across from Kareina Kitsukami.
This was the night he had rescued both her and Inuba, and other yōkai from their terrible fates under devious human contracts.
This was the night he and Inuba became partners and left together for the CGA. But before Dante had gone to confront the ringleader, he had sat down with the elder kitsune and discussed terms of his partnership with Inuba.
But… those terms came with unexpected information. VERY unexpected information.
"Yes… Out of every other person I could think of, only you come to mind as being the most capable." Kareina answered.
"Why? You barely know me outside of the psychic communications we've had back and forth for the last three days. Outside of that, you know next to nothing of me or my power."
"As I explained, I've been observing you on my own time, carefully gathering bits of information of you. That is why I know enough. That is why I know your power will be enough."
"You overestimate me."
"Quite the opposite. If anything, you assign yourself severely less value than what you're rightly owed."
"For good reason."
"To you, perhaps." Kareina said, taking a sip of her medication, "In any case, that is the state of matters. And officially, I recognize you as the only capable person. That is why I have chosen you, young Dante."
"When the time comes…"
"IF the time comes… I would ask that you save my daughter."
Dante closed his eyes, letting out a sigh as he opened them up again to stare at the elder kitsune.
"You ask of me a great deal, Lady Kitsukami. A task that even I might not be able to accomplish given the… complexity of the situation. But… if Inuba is to be my partner, and I hers… then this is a responsibility I will gladly accept. I only hope that your faith in me isn't as misplaced like I believe."
"Dante?"
Ruby's voice called back the teen's attention as he stared into her silver eyes, those same eyes looking for some sort of explanation, along with the others.
Holding back information any longer wouldn't be of benefit to anyone. Just as that was true, it was the same for them being unable to do anything about the situation.
They could do nothing.
They couldn't at least.
"Whether it's… a gift or a curse, I still haven't the slightest idea, but… From birth, Inuba has always faced two potentialities. What you're seeing is but one of them. Those two potentialities… are to maybe become either a Deity… or a Divine Beast."
"A Divine Beast?!" The cloaked girl asked in shock.
"Yes… Inuba's family consists of two bloodlines. She's a direct descendant of Great Goddess Inari, who I in recent years helped install as the Supreme Deity of the East for the betterment of yōkai and mankind."
"She's related to a Deity?" Ruby asked.
"That's right. But she's related to another one. One whom I indirectly served for a time as her champion. You all should know her name by now, since you've heard me shout it."
"Dakini no Okami (Great Goddess Dakini)…" The cloaked girl responded, piecing it all together.
"Dakini isn't… like other normal Deities. Before she became a Deity of war, and a Deity that granted wishes for the right price, she was first, and foremost, a Divine Beast."
"What does it mean, to be a Divine Beast?" Ren asked Dante.
"They're essentially mindless creatures bent only on pure destruction of whatever is in sight. Some, as the name implies, resemble beasts or animals, while others like Dakini took on a more humanoid shape, like what you're seeing now. By rare chance, or… complicated circumstances, they can become a Deity. Just as Dakini did."
"How is she related to Inuba?" Jaune asked.
Dante felt a pain in his side, and moved to sit on his rear, letting out a long exhale before he continued his explanation.
"Inuba's father, Tenma, was the direct relation to Dakini, with Kareina, her mother, being related to Inari. The joining of their clans essentially made Dakini and Inari deific sisters of one another by law. So Inuba, and her siblings are now essentially direct descendants of both Deities."
"But what does that have to do with Inuba's current state?" The cloaked girl asked.
This was going to be the hardest part to explain…
"Yōkai, with direct relations to Deities or Divine Beasts, have a chance of becoming one or the other, should the right circumstances be aligned to make them into such beings. As such, these descendants are known as Ascension Candidates. As you've all ascertained maybe, Inuba and her siblings are either or cases." Dante stated, resting his forearms atop his knees.
Oh yeah… There's also…
"There are exceptions. One of which is that you might not be chosen as a Candidate, and it'll skip you entirely. The other, that among siblings, only one out of the bunch is chosen. Inuba, out of her three siblings, was unfortunate enough to be picked."
There's one thing I don't know however…
"What… What triggered her change?" The teen asked.
"That woman… Whatever her name is…"
"Scylix." Dante tacked on.
"R-Right…" Ruby stated, as she continued, "She was talking about using Dakini's power or wrath, or something."
Wrath…
"She… She was holding you up… Dangling you over the wall and…"
Inuba must have seen that. Taking into account her excellent Sensing abilities, she must have also felt his life and Aura had been extinguished.
Seeing something like that had to have absolutely devastated her. With how close they were…
It makes sense now. Scylix somehow knew of Inuba beforehand, and planned this all out from the start. Severing my immortality with that sword was just one step, and she must have absorbed… whatever energy might have come with it. Then, to set about destroying Remnant, she needed to trigger Inuba's latent Candidacy as either a Divine Beast or Deity.
Dante closed his eyes, exhaling slowly as he continued his thoughts.
Dakini's story as a Divine Beast is all about tragedy before she became a Deity. Her tragedy is tied into her rage aspect as a Divine Beast. She nearly destroyed a whole country back then. When the dust settled, and her tragedy induced rage subsided, she emerged as a Deity. Along with the extreme power she possessed from "rage", she gained a new power when she became a Deity. The power to grant any and all wishes, but only if she was given an appropriate payment equal to the worth of the wish.
The teen's eyes opened slowly, focusing on the battle in the distance as he… watched her move about, angry and frantic.
Seeing as Inuba is a direct descendant, she has full access to Dakini's power as a Divine Beast, unlike me, who inherited her power by becoming her Champion. As such… if Inuba where to go into a fit of rage, or witness something terribly tragic, like with Dakini, then it'd tigger her Candidacy as Divine Beast, like now.
His fingers folded together, but the grip was tight, so much so that one might have thought he was going to break his own fingers.
All this time… after everything… To think it'd indirectly be me serving as her trigger…
"You little fool…" Dante whispered.
"Do you think she'll win against that woman?" Ren asked.
"Without question. The power of a Divine Beast almost matches that of a Deity, Lie Ren." The cloaked girl answered as she walked up next to Dante, overlooking the field, "The question is… what are we going to do about it?"
"Absolutely nothing." The once immortal stated, "There isn't a damn thing any of you can do."
His tone was different.
Callous. Angry.
"W-What do you mean?" Jaune asked.
"It means…" Dante said as he slowly stood back up, wincing silently from the pain he felt all over his body, "That none of you are going to do anything. And… that I have a mess to clean up."
"You can't go-!"
"By myself? Of course I can. And I will." Dante stated to Jaune, searching for his sword and finding it a few steps forward, buried beneath the sand.
He slowly reached down and drew it from the black sands, hearing the grains scraping across the white metal of his blade as he held it up and glance at it.
"Dante, you…"
"Were dead until a few moments ago? Noted." The teen answered Ren.
Calm down. It's not their fault. They don't understand. This isn't like all those times before now. This… This is something absolutely beyond them.
Dante let out a sigh before he turned to face them all, "This… is something none of you here can take on. I don't say that because of my mentality to keep you out of harm's way, but… She will absolutely destroy you. She'll shred and tear you to bits, or burn away every single molecule of you to the point not even ash will remain to scatter. There is nothing you can do to help."
The teen finally turned his head towards the cloaked girl, who took a step back when his harsh glance fell on her.
"And you… Don't even bother trying. You? You've been as useful as a brick. Which is practically useless."
"Dante..!" Ruby exclaimed.
"No, do you know just how stupid she actually is?!" The teen pointed towards her, "You could have done so much to actually be of some use, you ridiculous moron!" He said shouting at the cloaked girl.
She was taking steps back from his harsh yelling, bringing a hand up to her chest.
"Allow me to educate you, dumbass. We are so far removed from everything else out there, that if we decided to blow up the freaking planet, they wouldn't be able to pick it up in the slightest. Do you understand? Say you understand."
"I… I didn't know… I just…"
"Was being a stupid coward. Glad your efforts paid off." He said to the girl sarcastically, waving her off and stumbling forward towards the field ahead, where the transformed Inuba and Scylix fought.
Her secrecy had cost them. She could have helped them far better. She could have done something, anything to prevent this, but…
It didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that he had to fix the problem.
Even if he had no idea how exactly to do so.
"Make yourself useful for once. Keep them safe while I go and… deal with this nonsense."
"Wait!" Ruby pleaded, stopping Dante in his tracks as she ran up to him, "You can't just go on your own, you-!"
"There is nothing any of you here can do!" The teen said facing her, using a gentler tone than what he did with the cloaked girl, "You will die, and there will be nothing I can do to prevent that if you go out there. You're all stronger now, sure. But this… This is something I'm not going to risk your lives on. There is nothing you can do to convince otherwise either. So please… just take my word for it this once."
Ruby was hesitant to let go as Dante moved forward, and she didn't, even when Dante was still far enough to have his arm tugged on by the girl.
All he did was look at the girl, giving her a half smile.
"I'll be back. Promise."
Their fingers drifted apart as Dante took slow strides forward, dragging his sword behind him in the sands.
He thought about it for a moment. If he was going to see them again, that is. The chances were low. He could die now. Which meant… Inuba as she is was more than likely going to kill him. Something like a Divine Beast… and with how weak he was at the moment… It was almost impossible.
Almost.
But there was still a chance. And he was going to take it.
He owed her that much after all this time.
Scylix finally managed to ensnare the transformed Inuba within her black chains, fully restraining her. But it wasn't doing all too much in the end. Even if the chains had the ability to drain a target of their Aura and weaken them, they weren't entirely effective in Inuba's case, whose power was already so overwhelming.
Siphoning off the Aura was helping at the least to keep her Aura Reserves topped off and filled, so if she had more time, she had a chance to actually restrain the transformed girl, who let out distorted growls and angry roars in her voice, only now it was hollow, and echoing, ominously transmitting her fearsome voice over the planes.
Still… Six times she managed to break out of the chains. This made it restrain attempt number seven.
"Hmph… You've already discharged a large enough portion of your Aura from those three blasts earlier… But still… to be so strong afterwards… You're a frightening enemy, Inuba Kitsukami."
The beastly girl only roared at the Dark Entity, chains creaking loudly from the immense strain she put on them as she clawed at the earth wildly.
It was taking everything she had to keep repairing them and keeping Inuba restrained.
But then she saw something approaching from the corner of her eye, and what she saw utterly shocked her.
"So… You're still alive somehow…" Scylix said in a strained voice, "I don't know how you managed… to survive Dante… but you should have stayed in the afterlife…"
The teen took a few clumsy steps forward as he aimed a slice for Scylix's head. She easily dodged the strike, but found herself dodging to the side almost immediately as she avoided a wave of white and black Aura that grazed her cheek.
Looking to Dante, she saw him panting heavily, and his Aura was crackling around his body.
It was unstable. The shock to his system as a result from him dying must have thrown things off in his body. The boy's Aura Signature was constantly fluctuating up and down from weak to strong.
Even in his condition…
This was a turn of good fortune actually, now that she thought about it.
"I'll leave you to it then, young man. After all, she is your partner, is she not? Therefore it's your responsibility to take care of this situation." Scylix noted, taking steps back further from Dante before blurring out of sight in a flash of black.
The teen didn't reply to her, and only turned his head in the direction of his now beastly partner, still struggling to break free from her bindings.
He couldn't be angrier with himself, evidenced by how tightly he was gripping his sword.
"So… this is how it's going to be then…"
Dante plunged his sword into the ground, keeping his right hand gripped around the handle as he slowly knelt to the ground. It was going to take another two minutes and thirty seven seconds for Inuba to break free. He was at least going to have some time to prepare himself for what was to come.
"Of all the things I thought that'd possibly kill me one day… I never imagined it would be you of all people. Kind of ironic, isn't it."
Snarls and growls are all that followed to Dante's remark, who let out another slow exhale as the chains began chip and slowly fall apart. The teen plunged his sword into the ground and worked his way to sit in seiza, resting his hands atop his knees.
"Sorry, Ruby… I may have accidentally misspoken."
Two minutes exactly now.
"But… it doesn't mean that I still won't do my best..."
(Omake: Christmas Cookies)
«»
"You want me to what?" Dante asked, sitting in his chair.
"We would like you to test our cookie batches, since Christmas is coming in just another two days." Inuba stated.
"We want to bake the best cookies that we possibly can! So we want you to act as the judge!" Ruby eagerly stated.
"R-Right… I guess I can do that much." The teen stated.
"Wonderful!" Inuba stated, turning to Ruby as they high fived each other and immediately went to work.
Dante let out a sigh, smiling at their eagerness before looking up at his Scroll for a few moments. His "order" wasn't going to be ready for pick up till tomorrow. Even then, he was still anxious. He wanted it to be as perfect as possible for the both of them. So he went out of his way and found the perfect person for the job at the start of the month and had him work on it.
Thankfully, he was going to have it done by tomorrow, so he would have enough time to sneak out and to grab it.
It took them a few minutes, each working on a different recipe of their own. When Ruby and Inuba had time in between wait periods, they talked between one another, smiling and laughing.
It was a nice sight to see. Especially after the crazy year they had. Things were finally calming down after what seemed like ages of constant stress.
Sitting back and enjoying the small things in life was… pleasant. It was a peace he had never fully known.
And…
"We're finished!"
Dante's head jolted up from his HoloScroll as he saw Inuba and Ruby standing in front of him, each holding a cookie in a piece of baking sheet. They let them cool off for two minutes, and brought him once cookie each.
Inuba's cookie was slightly different than the standard cookie. The crust was golden brown like that of the chocolate chip, but the chips themselves were mixed swirls of black chocolate and white.
When Dante took a bite, he was pleasantly surprised by what he tasted. It tasted almost like a chocolate chip cookie, but it had a very delicious mint flavor to it that you'd only ever really find in chocolate, or other candies. But Inuba managed to mix that delicious flavor into the cookie batter, without sacrificing the normal taste of a cookie or without ruining it.
It was essentially perfect.
The teen then took a bite out of the cookie Ruby presented, and was just as equally delighted by the delicious flavor. Both girls went for making the baked goods from scratch rather than already prepped, store bought dough. But Ruby did something incredible with her batch. Yes, to the common eye, it looked nothing more than a normal chocolate chip cookie.
But it was chocolate chip cookie that had been practically perfected. And part of this had to do with the sugar she used. Compared to Inuba, who had used normal sugar for her batch, Ruby instead used brown, cane sugar instead. When Dante saw the pack earlier, the sugar was clamped together and moldable, almost like the cookie dough itself.
The final product was a normal looking batch of cookies, but a batch that far exceeds normality in a pleasantly, sweet taste that wasn't over-saturated.
It was just perfect.
"So? How are they?" Ruby asked, as both girls waited eagerly.
"Well, how do I put this… Deciding between which one was better is hard to do…"
Both girls were looking a bit pale at the moment.
"It's just… too hard to choose since both are too delicious!"
Their eyes suddenly lit up at the comment as pleasant looks adorned their faces.
"I mean really, I can't say one is better than other! Both are too delicious to assign such meager labels like whose it better. They're perfection!" Dante said, dramatically raising both baked goods in his hands high above his head.
It was almost as if he were praising the two respective cookies as holy objects.
With his praise loud and clear, both had pounced the white haired teen to hug him from both sides.
If Ruby had a pair of fox ears and a tail like Inuba, then surely both tails would have been whipping about frantically with pure joy.
"We're very glad you like them!" Inuba stated.
Dante smiled at the two laughing girls and returned the hug to both of them, making sure not to drop their divine baked goods.
In the distance, from a rooftop outside across the way, two women stood side by side, glaring down at the trio inside the building. One had a hand on her hip, while the other stood with her arms crossed.
"So… they beat us to it…" the first girl announced, her stoic tone as cool as the gentle breeze that passed through.
"Yeah… But don't worry… We'll have our chance on New Years."
Both women turned to one another, and fived the other, signaling their alliance to match, even surpass Ruby and Inuba's powerful baked goods that were too Divine for this earth.
Instead, their baked delights would be devilishly sweet.
Semblance Encyclopedia 18
«»
"Whew! We're finally back after all this time! And we are ready… FOR SEMBLANCE ENCYCLOPEDIA!"
Ciel made her excited statements as she pulled a party horn out of one of her rifts, and blew into it as confetti exploded from the ceiling.
"And happy new year! Ish!"
"We have about four more days until the new year, Ciel." Leo commented with a sigh.
"What? It's not wrong to celebrate early. Especially if the author can't get a chapter out by that time. So how is he supposed to wish anyone a happy New Years after its already happened?"
"W-Well…"
Letting out a sigh, Leo did realize Ciel had point.
Even if it was just this once.
"Right then, we've got that of the way, so let's talk shop! Leo!"
"Yes?"
"Who's on the agenda the today?!"
"Ms. Rose, I believe."
"Ooh! Double feature! Alrighty then, today we're gonna talk about Ruby! Again!"
"More specifically, we'll be discussing the upgrades that accompany her Semblance when using her armor."
"The first upgrade we see is of course, an increase to her speed." Leo stated, "Ruby's Semblance already puts her at startling speeds, but with the upgrade to her Semblance, she now moves five times faster than her normal Semblance speed. It's also worth mentioning, that her normal movement speed when using her armor is equivalent to her using her Semblance."
"Her next trick is actually her coolest trick by far! We call it… Rose Garden Storm! Essentially, what happens is that Ruby overclocks her already uberfied Semblance to make herself move at ten times the speed of her normal Semblance!" Ciel explained, waving her hands around to demonstrate her points, "Combined with her upped up physical strength, her durability, and her ridiculously ramped up speed, Ruby charges forward so quickly that it looks like she splits off into five clones or something, and litters the area around her in an inescapable space of thousands of slashes, all done within a matter of five seconds!"
"What's the radius of that attack, if you recall?" Leo asked.
"It think it was a twenty meter radius if I calculated it properly… Point is, Ruby literally shreds everything to thousands of pieces within that twenty meter radius. And all it takes is five seconds. Three seconds for the charge up, two seconds to actually deal all that damage. Now that's a lotta damage!"
Leo sighed at his sister's comment, "Really?" He asked her.
"What? It's still funny. To me at least. Anyway, I think that about covers it for now, right?"
"I believe so. Until we see more in the future, there won't be much else to say about her Semblance, or how much stronger it becomes when using her armor."
"She has those glowy eyes of hers, doesn't she?" Ciel asked.
"Yes, but we still don't know much about them as is. That, and I'm not certain it would be categorized as a Semblance either."
"We could still bring it up in the future, you know?"
"Perhaps. But for now, this will have to do." Leo said, facing the audience next, "With that, the segment ends for today. We hope you've had another pleasant and thought provoking experience here at Semblance Encyclopedia."
Unaware, Ciel was mockingly mimicking his words behind him until he turned to her for her goodbye.
"Ahem! Yep! Educational and all that. All right everyone, have a happy new year! We'll see next time! Buh-bye!"
Kept you waiting long enough huh? Well… It's kinda been a while since I've had the time to fully relax. That, and I got dragged around a lot to different places, etc. But hey, it was fun and all,
Firstly, Shepard, if you're seeing this, I have a confession to make. When I saw your latest review, something evil stirred in me to want to screw with you on inhumane levels, to the point I was going to completely change the story. But I decided against that ultimately, and settled for simply proving your statement wrong.
Now then… Holy crap are things taking a turn for the worse. Dante died, if only temporarily before he was sent back, Inuba is now a Divine Beast, all hope seems pretty lost at the moment.
Whether Dante and co. pull through is yet to be seen.
Like I always say, I'm open to questions, so ask if you need to.
With that said…
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story XSRA's Flame written by Xera Stark. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it pretty much immediately. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and more than definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying!
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!