Merge

"My entire purpose for life… is only to return to my home."

Dante stood before the corpse of his enemy. It had been a long and difficult battle; one that seemed almost meaningless, as there was no prize to be won. It was only a hindrance. It was only something else to stall him on the way to the top of the Temen-ni-gru, where he would find his most powerful adversary.

Dante had yet to learn that even the most powerful creatures in the world have a shadow; one that they can never fully escape.

He still wondered how he would escape from this room without doors. He picked up the skull of the Doppelganger and began to spin it on his fingertip like a ball. After a few minutes, all of the lights suddenly went out with a flash, and a large cyclone of energy appeared in the center of the room; the exit.

"So this is really it for us, huh? What a waste of time…"

Dante carelessly tossed the skull over his shoulder and began to walk toward the warp point. The bright light of the teleporter created a dark aura around Dante; a large shadow cast off behind him into the darkness. His gazed followed the colossal silhouette all the way to its final destination. The catalyst was the decapitated skull of the former adversary. It absorbed all of the emptiness in the room.

This created a nauseating effect, in which it felt as though all matter was being sucked into the skull. Dante felt his very soul tearing at his insides in an effort to burst out. The pain was more than he had ever experienced. No wound ever inflicted was this deep inside. He closed his eyes tightly and lay on the ground motionless, trying to keep himself from going insane from the pain.

However, he was still alive when the tension ceased. He was sweating profusely and felt very cold. The dizziness still had not gone away. He stood up as straight as he could without stumbling over and wiped his forehead. When he had finally gained his bearings again, he opened his eyes.

"Is this… purity?"

Absolute nothingness was all that remained. Everything was gone. Existence, as Dante had come to know it, had vanished. He was in a white world of emptiness; a bottomless, endless void with no direction. All the darkness in the room had been absorbed, but there was one thing that remained, staring at Dante from within the heavenly arena; the glaring Doppelganger head, now pitch black.

"If this is what it means to have purity, I don't want it… This is nothing. And that means life would be denied… What's the point of a perfect world if no one can be a part of it?"

It was clear even to a half-demon the significance and preciousness of life; "existence" isn't quite enough. So there was only one thing left to do in order to restore order to this place. Dante walked over to the midnight skull and fired a shotgun shell into it.

…But nothing happened. It ricocheted off the surface, and spiraled endless into the pure realm. Then, a voice called out. It was barely audible, but Dante could make out the slow faint words:

"L…e…t… G…o…"

"Let go, huh?"

Dante brought forth his true colors; his bright red demonic form. As if it was using the transformation as an ignition, the skull burst into flames almost immediately after. It rumbled and shook on the ground, and the heat it gave off was tremendous. Dante let Rebellion get the first blow; a diagonal slash.

The skull reacted to the attack quite strangely. At first, it merely stopped rumbling. Then, its flame went out. And for a long time, nothing else happened. Dante wondered whether he should take another strike, but he noticed that his slash was slowly darkening. It became more and more red as the seconds rolled past, until finally, it ruptured open.

Out of the small fissure, darkness spewed up and out into the air. The skull was levitated amongst the black cloud of darkness. It spoke to Dante:

"You did attack. It would seem that you have come to realize the significance of shadow as well as purity. They are balanced and coexistent; one cannot have one without the other. To purge of darkness through purity is impossible, even in a seemingly perfect world. Now that you have learned this lesson, it would seem that a test of spirit is in order, to see if you truly are worthy of the power and wisdom I can give you."

The smoke began to swirl around Dante menacingly. He swung his sword at the skull in random flurries, but it did no good. When Dante had finally worn out, the cloud became heavily concentrated into a very small ball and entered Dante's mouth. He could feel the shadow travel down his body. It made him feel as though his throat was dying.

It pulsed through his body violently. His eyes bulged out, as he was lifted off his feet. He lay across the "floor" horizontally, with many spasms. His muscles contracted and released painfully. Then, his body was smashed up against a wall that did not even seem to be visible. Thankfully, Dante had gone into shock before this happened.

Dante lay on the ground motionless; for how long, nobody knew. When he awoke, he was gasping for breath.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

His answer was a painful shock to his central nervous system. His torso flung up into the air in a massive reflex. It then proceeded to dance around the white emptiness, as if some internal marionette had gained control of his body.

"Damn… possession? What, you can't fight fairly?"

The voice came from within. He could hear it in his head.

"Not possession, Dante. Think of it more as a Merge. I have become one with you; nay, your spirit. My essence has become a critical part of your essence."

"A merge huh? Then why do you have more control over what I do?"

"That, my dear host, is a bit more complicated. You see, you have a very domineering aura, as do I. But mine has suffered the pain of defeat that you so cruelly dealt me before. It seems that our souls are battling it out on some distant, internal plane within you, in an effort to find out who is more powerful; a war of dominance between our very shadows if you will."

"Yeah, that's nice. Just tell me how the hell I stop it."

"You cannot stop it, as there is no escaping your own shadow. Your only hope is to find that place within you and do battle. You must find out whose shadow has more potential; who can find the tiniest bit of light, even in its absence."

"Find light in its absence?"

"Yes… It is a very difficult thing to do. Do you feel ready to accomplish this?"

Dante looked down, and then quickly hacked the air with Rebellion. He leapt into the air and came down hard in his demonic form; all just a little warm-up.

"Okay. Bring it on!"