Hero of Remnant: Veil of the Aether

by Aetherveil

Following after the events of the Volume 3 Arc, Dante, and his partner Inuba travel across Remnant to make their way to Haven, searching for clues that will lead them to the real mastermind behind the attack on Vale 6 months prior. They will meet allies, both old and new, and face challenging new enemies on their journey. Secrets will be revealed. Continuation of Hero of Remnant.

84. Chapter 84: Real and Imaginary

I'll keep it brief, since some of you might be a little miffed I haven't posted in.. god, its been 4 months or so.

To surmise, your boy was doing alright for himself and was working hard at a new part-time job. Was filming sporting events with a crew for live broadcast and for streaming platforms, etc. Really fun, paid nicely, but long long hours. Which is why June till the start of September was like a deadzone (literally worked from 12pm - 2am some days). In any case, it was still part-time in the end for the season only, and while I got paid a good deal, expenses still rack up. So since basically the start of September, job hunting. AGAIN.

*Sigh*

It's tough, and frustration is setting in steadily with the constant rejections.

In any case, I finished up just a few hours before bed as of posting this, so I hope you enjoy.

---

Chapter 84: Real and Imaginary

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---

- Nearly two years ago -

"So what you're saying is that we'll be getting no help at all?"

"Well…" The black haired Angel answered the devil while shoveling down spoon spoons of vanilla and chocolate syrup ice cream, "I'm sorry to say this, but… it's still being discussed…"

"It's 'being discussed' for a week now, Arkiel."

"I-I know, it's just…"

She swallowed the last spoonful of ice cream, setting the spoon down with a sigh as she folded her hand together, placing them on the booth table of the diner they were inside of. Arkiel kept her slightly glowing, blueish-silver eyes focused on the table, intentionally avoiding eye contact with Dante.

"I… I can't lie to you. Not because I'm afraid of you in some way like others in my station are, but because what's been happening isn't right."

"What do you mean?" Dante asked, still working on his much larger, gallon tub of oreo ice cream.

"We've… been working together for some time now, and I can one hundred percent testify that the majority of reports about you are very contradictory." She raised a hand up, pointing up in the air, "Well, maybe not the ones about your brutality on the battlefield, but the point still remains!" She quickly placed her hand back down on the table, "You aren't anywhere near the maniac they portray you to be."

"Oh wow, how amazing…" The devil rolled his eyes.

"And yet, you have demonstrated on multiple occasions to ignore initial orders."

He sighed as he leaned back into his metal chair, making it lean on the hind legs, "Yeah, well they sometimes asked me to do things that didn't sit well with me."

"Which I understand, but the proverbial nail in the coffin was the treaty."

"The treaty is totally and completely fair." Dante wagged his spoon briefly after shoveling a huge scoop of ice cream in his mouth, "The Plane only has real authority in situations threatening the whole of the world, minor or cataclysmic. In such events, they have final say. However, if the People of the World in question are able to reach a solution by their own means before intervention, what they do remains valid unless it means destruction of said People or the World."

Arkiel squinted her eyes, then clapped her hands together before spreading them out to summon a huge, silver metal cover book with black pages. It was a book of their laws, guidelines and operating procedures concerning both The Plane of Angels and when Angels visit other Worlds. Her book however… Well, there was simply no end to the various "sticky notes" and tabs stuck to the pages. After running her fingers across a few tabs on the topside of the book, she found the tab she was looking for, opened the book and flipped through some pages until she found the one she was looking for, eyes scanning the page quickly.

"Indeed, you are correct. Very accurately I might say. How..?"

"I stole one of your guys' shiny books once when I was up there waiting for a report to finalize."

Arkiel's left eye twitched for a few moments before exhaling, closing and dematerializing her book, "And you question why you aren't well liked by some in The Plane."

"Pursuit of knowledge and all that. Don't judge me."

"Yes… Well…"

"In any case, we broke no laws and found a workable solution. They're just being pissy because they didn't think it'd work, and we made it happen."

"Regardless… I'm sorry to say that you shouldn't be expecting any form of aid. Well, external aid, at least."

The devil sat up straight, giving the angel a quizzical stare.

"I know not of other angels that are currently in the World, but… I'll offer whatever logistical support I can!"

"Hey, anything you can contribute will help." He said before shoveling the last large spoonful in his mouth, "Business aside, you coming to the wedding?"

"Oh! I… I was invited..?"

"Uh, yeah, of course you were." The devil affirmed, "You've dodged us all week with a reply."

"I… Well… I didn't think I was welcome, considering…"

"Why? Because you're an Angel?"

"Er…"

"Look, out of over a dozen Angels I've met, there's only four I like. Not only are you included, but you're basically at the top of the list."

"Really? I'm at the top?"

"Definitely. The other three are a pain in the ass to deal with most of the time, and in the short time I've known you, you're actually pretty fun."

"Hehehe… Wow…" Arkiel rubbed the back of her head, "I've been called a lot of things over the millennia, and believe me, 'fun' is not one of those things." She said looking down at the table blankly, tapping the tips of her fingers together slowly, "You've been in The Plane a few times now, so… I'm sure you may have heard a thing or two…"

"Yeah, but so what? They're just jealous ingrates because you've got more talent and tenacity than they ever will."

"I'm not all that talented, really…"

"Dude, the last few missions we worked on together, you spotted and pointed out things I would have missed or noticed way later down the line. And when interacting with locals in other Worlds, your translations helped a great deal in communicating with them. Not to mention, you have that nifty Book of Records of yours that can help identify targets of interest." The devil leaned back in his chair again with crossed arms, "What I don't get is why you take all that crap from them. You-"

"There's no other choice really. Stepping out of line entails… much greater consequences compared to doing so here." Arkiel said, fingers interlocked as she fiddled with her thumbs, "Orders are meant to be followed to the point, for our sake and the sake of others. There is no room for leniency or divergent ideas."

"Even if it contradicts your principles as a living, thinking being?"

Her eyes fell down to her hands, her fingers still now as she narrowed her gaze in a rather pained manner unlike the typically smiling and rather bubbly expression of hers.

"Yes! Even if that's the case." The angel lifted up her head, smiling once more.

…

…

"Man, your workplace sucks." Dante bluntly said, making her giggle briefly.

"As with all things, there are ups and downs. Although I don't quite enjoy my superiors or their incompetence at times, I do enjoy the work I do and the places I visit. Besides… working alongside you has been both illuminating and enjoyable!"

"Heh… That's the first time an Angel said that they liked working with me."

"Like I said, most of my kind aren't as curious, explorative, or lenient. In my case…" She smiled once more and sat up straight, "If it's for the sake of research, just about anything goes for me!"

"You know, for someone with such a pure demeanor like yours, that actually scared me a little…"

"I haven't committed any… uh… 'war crimes', or the like. Though I may have more than 'twisted' the proverbial arm from time to time..."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Arkiel guiltily looked side to side before clearing her throat, "In any case, I'm afraid all you'll have for support from The Plane is me."

"Honestly, I'm more happy about that than anything. Thanks for sticking around with us loser, humans."

"Thank you for accepting the aid of a similarly inadequate Angel." She nodded, looking down at the table to remember she had long since finished her ice cream, "Is seconds out of the question?"

"Not at all. Help yourself."

---

Dawn was in the sealed "testing" room, arms spread out in a cone-like fashion as her forearms down to the tips of her fingers were encircled with floating white and black rune-scripts. One hand faced Eclypse, who sat on a white table with glowing black circuit lines, while the other…

…

…

The other faced Pyrrha Nikos, who sat on a similar table next to Eclypse.

Dawn never had the opportunity to meet her, but she had seen her many times when she was observing Dante from afar. She was a kind girl with strong sense of duty, and extremely powerful fighter. Even so, she fell at Beacon to Cinder Fall, who had completely absorbed the previous Fall Maiden's powers. As good as she was, she still couldn't completely overcome power that went beyond normal logic. Now…

…

Now she was alive again, looking about the room curiously while making small talk with Eclypse.

The ride back from the mining town was certainly ecstatic. The reunited team JNPR and Weiss were understandably excited and emotional given the miracle that beheld them today. Pyrrha was back, and although they knew not how this came to be, they were simply happy she was present, regaling the events of the last year and a half.

Dante, meanwhile… kept his distance the entire time, sitting next to a worn out Belîa as he kept his eyes unblinkingly glued on the "reborn" Pyrrha. Weiss was the first to notice this rather… unexpectedly cold demeanor of his. When she asked the devil why this was, he simply told her "that it was their time right now, and thus they should spend as much of it together". This was discerned by the once heiress as a half truth, or rather, a complete truth and a lie side by side.

From her perspective, it was as if Dante was watching "Pyrrha" like a hawk, observing her every move and waiting to see if she would make a "wrong move".

As soon as they entered kingdom territory, they flew straight to DarkStar Industries, where to JNR's dissatisfaction, the devil separated Pyrrha from them in order to conduct "tests". When they pressed fiercely as to why, he gave them a plethora of excuses that were intended to go over their heads.

Thus, he placed Pyrrha in one of the testing rooms, conducting a battery of tests; blood, DNA, whatever he could think of. As for the last round of tests, he was stumped on what else to try, but remembered the epic tale Jaune had regaled to everyone of how Pyrrha wiped the floor with the individual possessing Grimm-like traits and abilities. With that in mind, he called over his sister to conduct the last test, and had Eclypse involved as a "sample" based on a suspicion he had. After a few minutes of using her Identification and Appraisal Magic on both Pyrrha and Eclypse, Dawn was able to confirm both her and Dante's initial suspicions.

Pyrrha Nikos had been "reborn" as an Aegis Blade.

Her outstanding combat ability out on the field today proved as much, but there was one different trait she had now. Like Navâra and Xīn Huá, she now had white pupils.

With her analysis done, the floating runes encircling her arms and hands vanished as she let out a heavy sigh. She then turned her head towards the large two way mirror, her eyes glimmering briefly as she looked "through" the glass as those who had gathered. RWBY, JNR, and a patched up Belîa were watching in eager anticipation, JNR more so given that they were pressing against the glass anxiously.

Jaune was becoming impatient, an urge building inside him to just push through the glass to get to the otherside. As if sensing his anxiety, Pyrrha lifted her head and turned it toward the glass, her eyes "searching" until she "felt" she was locking eyes with him and flashed the knight a reassuring smile. Something akin to a phantom bolt panged through him, melting away most of his anxiety with just that simple smile. Even so, worry still washed over him.

Everyone turned at the sudden approach of a familiar voice, seeing Dante walking down the corridor as he spoke with Naomi. After finishing their discussion, the tall minotaur faunus flicked her holographic screen towards her employer's screen, merging the two as she nodded affirmatively. Looking up, she and Belîa locked eyes with each other, the two giving each other a stare of mutual respect between two "very tall" and "rather buff" women.

"I'll take my leave then to run final checks." Naomi said before turning around and taking her leave.

"Doctor! What's the prognosis?!" Nora asked Dante rather dramatically.

"Normally, this would be the point where I'd make a joke and say 'she's pregnant, just kidding, lol'... but given the situation, it's best I just be serious." The devil said, looking over the test results he had just gotten back, "Like I said before I took off with her, we ran a whole battery of tests to make sure of a few things. From her DNA to her vitals, she's a 100% match to the final medical records I had on file-"

"Wait, how do you have her medical records?" Yang asked.

"I asked for all of your guys' records, remember? In case there was ever an emergency out on a mission or whatever, I could do my best to administer emergency aid if Inuba were ever absent. Thankfully, there hasn't been a need…" Dante sighed, "In any case, I cross referenced Pyrrha's records with… well, Pyrrha, and everything checked out on that end. However…"

"What do you mean 'however'?" Jaune pushed away from the window, quickly walking up to the devil and grabbing his shoulders, "You just said her DNA matched and everything! Doesn't that mean she's cleared?!"

"Not necessarily…"

"What?!"

"Look, I get it, I one hundred percent do…" The young devil said, his screen disappearing as he firmly grabbed Jaune's hands and gently moved him back a bit, "But you're forgetting the fact that we're dealing with a pissed off witch-bitch from the Old World who wants us dead and out of the way so she can either destroy or enslave the World. There's no trick or strategy too underhanded for her."

"What are you saying?" Ren asked.

"He's saying that he wants to rule out the potentiality of your 'friend' being a 'sleeper clone'." Belîa spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to the knightess, "Some witches of significant power are able to create clone bodies of a deceased subject, and can either implant them with false memories or some memories of the original to pass as a sort of sleeper agent. Typically, those who knew the 'previously' deceased are the most distraught, and won't be as eager to question the so-called 'miracle'."

"Are you serious?!" The human knight raised his voice.

"Very." The giant woman crossed her arms, "As I understand it, you are in a war against a terrible foe, a witch for whom no strategy is vile and cruel. Do any of you truly believe such a tactic would not be utilized by an enemy that wishes to destroy you?"

Jaune raised his arms briefly before swinging them down, not able to find the words before he turned around to look at Dante.

"Just… let me conduct my final tests." He said raising up his hands briefly, "If she's all good, she walks out, no more questions asked or anything."

"And if she isn't?"

The devil paused briefly with a sharp exhale, "I'll figure it out."

Everyone's eyes followed him with a worried look as the doors slid apart to let him in before quickly closing behind him.

"Thank fuck! It's been two hours!" Eclypse complained as she leaned back onto the examination table, "I'm hungry!"

"We'll eat after this." Her Wielder said, stopping in front of Pyrrha, "Sorry for all this after seeing each other again, but… You gotta understand the irregularity of all this." He shrugged.

"I understand completely. Frankly…" She raised up her arms, staring at her hands as she turned them over slowly, clenching her fingers, "I'm… still trying to come to terms with how this is possible myself…"

"Um… What do you remember before meeting up with Jaune?"

"I… remember Beacon, and fighting Cinder before I was… shot… I think I was burning up, but I'm not quite certain since I couldn't feel much after getting shot. I saw an orange flash, and then nothing." She said, narrowing her eyes as she let the memory wash over her, "After that… I felt as though I was in some sort of dream. I think I saw you at some point, but I'm not quite sure."

It wasn't a dream…

When for the first time in his life he was on the precipice of death many months ago, the devil was certain that he had hallucinated a brief meeting with Pyrrha deep within the confines of his mind. After that, he never gave much thought to it. But after what she just said, he was certain it was no visage, but an actual, brief reunion between the two.

"And then?"

"Then… I felt awake. Everything was dark, then came the feeling of the cold, the sound of whipping wind, and finally… my eyes opening." Pyrrha explained, placing a hand over her chest, "I found myself in the attire I'm currently wearing and began looking around across the tundra. My body… It felt lighter and stronger than it did previously. The cold elements were only a nuisance at best, and I could feel… immense power deeper within. My hearing became leagues better, as did my eyesight. Then I felt tremors throughout the mountain range, and when I focused my mind, I could feel numerous Auras from the epicenter of the tremors. I felt… something familiar, and when I focused on that…"

The girl lowered her hand, looking towards the glass directly at Jaune.

Her sensing is definitely sharper… She knows exactly where he is, and is most likely making eye contact with him.

"Everything she's saying about 'sensations' or whatever the crap pretty much aligns with my experience 'waking up' for the first time twelve years ago." Eclypse pointed out, crossing her arms, "Not to mention… We Blades can more accurately sense our own kind."

"Own… kind..?" The red haired girl questioned.

Dawn, Dante, and Eclypse shared an awkward glance between each other, the devil sighing as he stepped closer to her.

"Listen… The reason you're vastly more powerful, and why your senses are a lot sharper is… is because you've been reborn. As an Aegis Blade."

"An Aegis Blade..? You mean to say I've been reborn… as a legendary weapon from the stories..?"

"Figuratively speaking, the nose knows." The platinum haired girl pointed to her nose.

"And uh… I…" Dawn awkwardly stepped forward, raising as hand briefly to draw Pyrrha's attention to her, "I did confirm it myself by comparing the 'definition of your existence' to Eclypse's."

"Oh. So you too are… like me..?" Pyrrha turned to face Eclypse.

"Yep. Except unlike you, I was made from scratch by that sexy dude instead of being reborn like you were." She pointed towards Dante who covered his face with both hands in embarrassment, "Which means aside from being super hot myself, I'm way stronger."

The red haired girl giggled briefly, "I see. Then will you be my mentor of sorts to become more acquainted with my new way of life?"

That… wasn't the reaction Eclypse was expecting, but…

…

…

The thought of being a mentor gave her a sudden sense of superiority.

"W-Well… S-Sure… I guess…"

Awfully flustered all of a sudden, huh?

~Give me a break, will you?~

"Unfortunately, we still don't know everything about Aegis Blades. I recently only learned a bit about them myself, but…"

"You're gonna need to form a contract with somebody to unleash the full extent of your power." Eclypse cut in, "But, I don't see that being an issue with you. At least, if everything goes smoothly from this point on."

"What do you mean..?"

"Er… We've pretty much confirmed that… well, that you're you." Dante answered.

"And I also confirmed that you're an Aegis Blade, which virtually debunks any notion of you being an infiltrator." Dawn added.

"I… suppose that's a logical presumption given my sudden return…" The red haired girl said, "But if you've confirmed practically everything you need, is there any point to further tests?"

"No, but… While we know that you're you, others will still speculate and question as to whether or not you're the real Pyrrha Nikos reborn. And on some level… the smallest trace of doubt will still exist." The devil explained, briefly shifting his eyes towards the glass, "Which is why this little act is necessary."

"To erase all doubts."

"Exactly."

"Then… what test remains?"

"It's pretty simple really. Just a memory test. We'll ask you questions only you would know the answer to, and all you have to do is confirm or deny with as much detail as you can provide." The young devil answered, bringing up a holographic screen, "After this, we're totally done. But, we will need to talk about some protocol with you and everyone else."

"Such as..?"

"Such as keeping your identity a secret and all that crap." Eclypse hopped off her examination table, "People would freak out if they saw a previous dead person walking about. Plus, with you on our roster, that would make three known Aegis Blades in our group. I don't know about you, but I don't think the military or whatever would be too happy about that, and might even ask to take you in."

Pyrrha frowned, "Would General Ironwood..?"

"Not him necessarily. It's the council we're more worried about." Dante hovered his hand in front of him, white particles quickly rising from the ground to form a smooth, white chair in his hand so he could sit down, "They may see it as an imbalance of power, and in order to rectify that, they might order the Gener al to take you away for their own purposes. That's why out in public or anywhere else, you keep your identity as Pyrrha Nikos secret, but just as importantly, your identity as a Blade."

"Understood." The girl nodded, clasping her hands together and resting them atop her thighs, "Shall we begin the test then?"

With a brief smile, the young devil nodded, bringing up his holographic screen. For the next twenty minutes, he asked Pyrrha all sorts of questions about her life since her birth, some serious, some not, and some a little embarrassing. All the while, he had the microphones in the room pick up their voices to broadcast them to the room outside, allowing everyone to listen in anxiously.

Of course, Dante asked the girl questions about Jaune; what she thought of him, how she felt about him, and so forth. She was as bashful as a young maiden in love at first when asked such questions, but after the first few, she was replying much more quickly and much more boldly, much to everyone else's enjoyment. Jaune, however, was doing his best to hide his face from everyone else.

To everyone's satisfaction, and the devil's, everything had completely checked out. Standing up together, Dante and Pyrrha walked towards the doors with Eclypse and Dawn following behind them, greeting a very cheerful bunch outside. The girls of the group pounced on the red haired girl, who did not so much as move a hair, altogether to give her loving hugs. Their talk was rather chaotic, as was the norm with their group, but still lighthearted and full of laughter.

A smile crept on the devil's face as he bowed his head. He had to bite his lip a little to prevent himself from getting too emotional. A sight like this? Friends that are practically family reunited through nothing short of a miracle? It was a rare sight, an almost impossible happening. How could his heart not be overflowing with joy?

As joyful as the occasion was, there were still two matters of business to attend to.

Clearing his throat, he drew everyone's attention to him.

"Well, seeing as you all heard what we said in the room, you know that Pyrrha is now an Aegis Blade, like Eclypse or Navâra. That being said, there's still the task of forming a contract with her to start tapping into the full extent of her power." He explained, then focusing his gaze on Jaune.

Everyone followed suit, staring at the young man rather intensely with affirmative glances and nods.

"M-Me?!"

"Who else?" Dante scoffed, "You were talking about 'wanting to be worthy', and all that, right? Here's your chance."

"B-But I'm..!"

"Jaune." The devil rested a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Suffice it to say, amongst all the circumstances… she answered your call. And she was… or rather, is your partner. It only makes sense that she forms a contract with you."

…

…

I couldn't be happier, but… I'm… I'm not…

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Pyrrha's voice drew him out of the confines of his troubled mind, her hands gently grasping his own as the two locked eyes. Through just this simple contact of hands, he could "hear" her in his mind.

It's alright Jaune. I believe in you, just like I did before. I couldn't ask for anyone more suitable.

Her voice quickly swept away the fog of doubt in his mind, a sudden calmness washing over him like a cool breeze on a warm day. He exhaled as he took a step back, kneeling as one would upon receiving their knighthood. Pyrrha's hands steadily reached out, her fingertips touching the sides of his head as she bent forwards just enough to press her lips to his forehead.

White and red Aura shimmered amongst their respective persons, meeting together where the pair made contact and intermingling with a sharp, almost crystalline, whirring hum. After a few moments, they had become "connected" to each other, both feeling a new source of strength within.

A strength akin to a flame being reignited.

"Congratulations!"

Dante's cheer along with a party popper that unleashed a stream of colorful paper strings, with Eclypse constantly blowing a party horn while tossing handfuls of confetti above the duo, startled everyone if but for a brief moment.

"Now as Wielder and Blade, you're bound to go on many incredible adventures together, so rejoice, young man and fair lady!" The devil said, goofily leaning forward in a very exaggerated forward lunge, presenting them with a bouquet assortment of flowers made from his platinum Aura, "Today is the start of a new way of life!"

"Why thank you!" Pyrrha accepted the bouquet.

"Why, it's my absolute pleasure!" He took a step back next to Eclypse, "Now, all business has been concluded for the day… Why don't we go to the cafeteria to celebrate? I'll ask Chef Macarius to whip up some nice full course meals to celebrate the occasion!"

"For real?! Let's go let's go let's go!" Nora excitedly shouted as she single handedly grabbed all three of her teammates and rushed down the hall.

"Left, Nora! Left!" Ren's voice faded down the corridor.

"I don't know about you guys, but I haven't eaten anything since we got off missions a while ago!" Yang told them as she and Blake headed down the hall, "So Weiss, what was with that new hairstyle? It looked really good on you."

"N-No it didn't! Shut up!" The once heiress fumed briefly as she followed them out with Ruby.

"Coming?" The little reaper asked with a glowing smile.

"Yeah, we'll be out in a bit. I just gotta call the chef and encrypt some of the files."

"Ok, see you in a bit!" She waved.

Dante waved goodbye with a cheery smile, leaving just him, Belîa, Dawn and Eclypse in the examination room. Once the doors closed, the devil stood still before twitching a few brief moments, then collapsed in a withered fashion, like a failed funnel cake that came out of the oven.

"Ugh… That was so nerve-wracking that I thought I was gonna puke…"

"Huh? Then why didn't you?" Eclypse asked, eating a banana she plundered from the office next to their current room.

"You're seriously asking me?!"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it's your floor, so you can if you want to."

The devil sighed at his Aegis Blade's roundabout logic, earning an awkward chuckle from Dawn as well. If anything, his already twisted logic was partly to blame. After all, she was his Blade, and since she was made by him, she likely had some influence from him in terms of mannerisms.

Possibly, at least.

"She does have a point." Arkiel's chipper voice sounded next to him, the Angel appearing out of thin air in shimmering sparkles of white light, "If it is yours, you are allowed to do whatever you want with it."

"See? She gets it." Eclypse nodded towards the black haired angel.

With a sigh, Dante asked, "So… Everything check out?'

"One hundred percent, amazingly enough!"

"Good…" He said as he stood up, "Did you meet with him?"

"Indeed I have! I've locked in coordinates so we can travel there freely at any time!"

"Right. We should pick up Ray for that as well when we head out." The devil crossed his arms.

"Is the meeting about..?" The Embered Knightess spoke up.

"Yeah. You… wanna come along?"

"I may as well. There's a possibility I may have something to contribute to the discussion from my travels. If not, then at the very least I'll be learning more in order to better prepare." The giant woman said.

"I'll be staying behind then to… store the 'data'." Dawn said as she tapped away at the holographic terminal, "That, and I need to prepare more of my deployable Domains along with some other miscellaneous items."

"How many do you even need to prepare..?" Her brother asked.

"Normally I only ever prepare three, but I've been thinking of doubling my count to six for more consecutive battles, considering…"

"No wonder you've looked so worn out these days… Take it easy, yeah? We've got Aura to spare, but even we get tuckered out expending too much over a long period of time."

"I know, but… We need to win, so I can't afford to just sit back. Therefore, I need to prepare more than usual and further my studies."

"If you say so." The young devil shrugged, looking to Arkiel, Belîa and Eclypse, "You guys good to go after we eat?"

"Indeed I am!"

"Sure."

"Yes." Belîa replied with a nod, "However… I would like a word with this… 'chef' Macarius."

"Huh? What for?"

"To 'verify' his credentials."

Meaning she wants to see how good of a cook he is and if she can learn anything from him…

"Alright, but take it easy with him, yeah?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't like, eat him or something if you happen to disagree."

"When will you learn that I am not a scoundrel like you?" Belîa scoffed with a roll of her eyes as she passed by him.

"Hey, I'm a rascal at best."

The giant woman chuckled as she continued walking down the hall. Dante outstretched his hand, gently grasping Eclypse's hand as she quickly dematerialized in a burst of platinum Aura to "join" him.

"Well then, my adorably chipper seraph, you coming with?"

"Indeed! Oh!" She perked up, her halo of white light bobbing slightly, "Will there be more of the so-called ice cream at this miniature banquet?"

"Typically not until Friday, but hey, we can always ask."

"Phenomenal!" Arkiel jumped up briefly in a cheerful manner, soon running after Belîa.

"You sure you don't want to come? You could at least just finish storing the data and do the rest tomorrow." Dante asked his sister.

"I…" The young mage sighed, "I suppose we won't come under attack tomorrow… Then, if you don't mind, will you wait for five minutes so we can go together?"

"Sure thing."

The older brother leaned against a wall, bringing up a holographic display to go over some messages and notations as he waited. Really, it was only minor, supplemental reviews, but he needed to keep himself occupied, or rather keep up the impression he was busy. Occasionally, he glanced over the top of his screen, watching his sister diligently work.

She's been working really hard as of late… A little too much in fact. From what Inuba and Ciel have told me, she hasn't slept in five days. Aside from supplemental training in melee combat and her prep work, she hasn't been doing much else. We don't need sleep or all too much rest, but… Even if we can force it as long as we want, it's still super uncomfortable.

"Ok… Done."

Dawn removed a crystalline clear rectangle off the table, its inner content glowing with black, circuit patterns before. With a somewhat awkward overhead toss, she tossed the "data stick" to her brother, who easily caught it without looking. The black metal, rectangular stoneplate ring on his left index finger shimmered, the rectangular, obsidian gem glowing faintly with platinum Aura. In but a second, the crystal data stick in his hand turned into platinum Aura, breaking apart into thin streams that flowed into the obsidian gem. Once done, his ring stopped glowing, the silver shield crest with a silver crown atop, which was in the center of the ring gem, giving off a faint shimmer of platinum.

Once, this ring served as Eclypse's "prison" of sorts before she was freed, and served as… some sort of symbol for something. As of now, he still had no idea what that was, but he recently discovered something interesting about the ring.

It could store items.

How much it could store was something he still had no idea of. Every day, he had been putting items of a miscellaneous nature inside, such as medical supplies, non-perishable food, kits of various kinds, and equipment meant to set up camps in the wilderness. So far, there didn't seem to be a limit, but then again, it wasn't as if he could go inside the ring to see for himself.

…

…

Then again, he never thought to try and do so until now. But whether or not it was possible was something he'd have to discover another time.

"Got anything in mind you want to eat specifically?" The devil asked his sibling.

"Well… I haven't had pie in some time now… Or strawberry strudel with frosting…"

"Ah, serious sweet tooth case today. I got you." He said, bringing up his screen to send a message, "What kind of pie do you want?"

"Um… Is that really okay..?"

"Sure it is. Pick whatever you want."

"I had apple pie last time, so… Maybe blueberry this time?"

"Nice. We were definitely sharing a brain cell, cause I was thinking the same thing."

Dawn chuckled amusedly as she wandered the hall with her brother, making their way to the elevator bay leading to the cafeteria floor. With his message sent upon arrival, he tapped the small screen next to the elevator bay, calling the elevator back up.

"Brother?"

"Yeah?"

"Are things… really going to be okay?"

…

…

He knew what she was referring to, and gave a brief, decisive answer.

"It will be. Trust me. My craziness got us this far, hasn't it?"

She smiled reassuringly.

Besides… Even if things go wrong…

The black marble elevator doors slid open, letting the siblings inside, a soft jazzy tune playing in the background as the doors slowly slid shut.

I'll take full responsibility.

---

Despite the cool air of one of the town squares, both Ruby and Dante were still sweating a fair amount. They were "patrolling" the area rather secretly outside of their usual attire, but for the most part, it ended up being a date. Both were dressed in gym attire, with Ruby wearing some very nice and very snug, black and red shorts and a sleeveless white top, which had been covered by a black and red training jacket, and Dante a pair of gray training pants, a short sleeved and very snug black training shirt, and a gray ballcap. He changed his hair color to black however in order to avoid drawing attention to himself, seeing as his snow white hair would have been a dead give away.

It initially started as a commission request by a local owner of a highly reputable fitness gym in Atlas, which detailed actions of a stalker harassing both male and female members that came in towards the evening. As such, the pair "disguised" themselves appropriately, and cased separate areas of the gym until their quarry arrived, which happened to be a rather… rambunctious and lascivious couple keen on "exploring" with others rather than one individual like they presumed at first.

Once they captured the couple and had some nearby officers in the vicinity make an arrest, the little reaper and the devil decided to make use of their time, seeing as Ruby had never been to a fitness gym before. Despite working different machines or exercises, they were close enough to frequently glanced over at each, both serving as a distraction for the other. Giving it was the evening, almost everyone left home for the night, but the gym wouldn't close for another two hours. Seeing as the duo had been thoroughly distracted by the other's… enticing physique, they reached a point where it became unbearable.

Thus, they found a secluded "massage therapy" room and began a whole new series of rigorous and sweaty "exercises" with what remaining time they had. With their intense "exercise" reaching an end due to the time restrictions, the duo stumbled out of the fitness gym clinging tightly to each other, both still suffering "aftershocks" and occasional spasms. Keeping in tradition of "post workout", there was a nutrition shop still open within a few meters of the gym, and after struggling to make their orders, they finally got their large protein shakes and headed to the square nearby to "cool off", in both senses.

Each had a coffee flavored shake, which at first sounded like it wouldn't taste good, but actually turned out to be quite a surprising treat in the end, considering both shared a common, almost fanatical love for coffee. Despite sitting near a fountain in the square to "cool off" and enjoy their post workout meals, Ruby was still squeezing one of Dante's upper arms in a firm, methodical, hypnotic pace.

"Dude… I noticed it earlier, but… I swear… you're like, a lot more… muscley…"

"Serythîl wasn't satisfied that I was doing next to no physical or fitness training, so she's made it a point to heavily train me herself when we've had the time." The young devil explained, wiping away some sweat from his forehead before taking another sip of his shake, "The training is honestly hellish given its a training regiment for "true warriors" as she called it, but… I guess I've actually been getting stronger. I'm not all that keen about having more muscle, but…"

"Nah, keep doing what you're doing. You could do with some more."

"Right, because you're definitely not drooling with bias."

Taking note of his words, she immediately wiped the corners of her mouth and leaned her head against one of his "awesome arms" as she so called them.

"S-So you know, I still liked you as you were. J-Just saying…"

"I know." Dante said, giving her some loving headpats.

"But keep up the good work!"

"Yeah yeah…" He replied, gently pinching her cheek, "I have to say though… Lately, you've been looking mighty fine yourself. The awesome new hairstyle, amongst other things…"

"Mmm… I noticed you were a little more excited than usual…" she exhaled heavily, rubbing her rear, "Not only did my pants get ripped, but my butt still aches a little…"

Before the shorts she was wearing now were black and red yoga leggings with a sort of red, heart-shape pattern flowing from the top of her rear down to her inner thighs. Ruby spotted them when they were shopping for their "disguises" and instantly fell in love, if not mostly for the color scheme. Given how well the leggings accentuated her fantastic "assets", reason had quickly snapped as soon as she gave her lover some "mesmerizing" poses.

Thankfully, he thought ahead and bought more clothes in addition.

"Sorry… I'll go buy a new pair tomorrow. But you aren't exactly innocent either, you know?"

Indeed, he spoke the truth. Just as Dante was immensely enticed with her, Ruby had been deeply enamored as well with his changing and improved physique as of late. Hence, near the start of their private "workout" session, she had ripped the previous shirt he was wearing, which was pretty much the same as his current one, only gray.

"I-I know that! But you can't just… look all hot like that! It's unfair!"

"Unfair?" He scoffed.

The small reaper clenched her hands into fists, then puffed her cheeks in a cute pout as she began rubbing her knuckles rapidly in his sides while cutely growling. After a few seconds, she was satisfied with her vengeance and picked up her shake once more, leaning her head against his arm. The devil wrapped his arm around her waist to keep Ruby close, working on the rest of his shake as well as the duo watched people pass them by in the square.

"Are things… alright?" She asked him all of a sudden, gaining a questioning hum from him, "You've been pretty serious lately…"

…

"Just a lot of things to think about. And, well… We've gotta be prepared if we're going to win, or at the very least, make it out with everyone still intact." He spoke bluntly, his gaze focusing briefly on a group of over a dozen students laughing as they returned home for the evening, "There's still a bit more to do, but for the most part, I've laid out the groundwork to account for as much as I can. After that, it'll all depend on what happens in the moment going forward."

"Are you thinking about that Ogre guy, or whatever his name is?"

Dante smirked at how casually Ruby did away with a Dark Entity King's name, "Ogranîx. But yeah… He's been on my mind lately too. The rational part of me just wants to get things over with quickly and that's that. But the other part of me desires to tear him apart at my leisure, consequences be damned."

He crossed a leg over the other as he accurately threw his empty shake cup into the trash, resting his chin in his now free hand.

"Even with that desire in mind, the potential consequences of letting my want for vengeance lead me by the nose on this one scare me, if not mostly what might happen if I fail."

"Uh…"

"Basically, as much as I hate the guy, I don't want to be seeing red so much that if I make a mistake, it'll affect everyone else in the long run." He explained, "I'm only ever obscenely reckless when I know I have the best possible hand, and account for just about everything. But this time around… I need to take it seriously from start to finish."

The devil sighed, sitting up straight again.

"Sorry for being all over the place."

"Hey, you make time for all of us, so it's fine. Gotta say though, I am a little jealous that you got to be a big shot hero before me… But I'll catch up one day and be just as good!"

As she finished, both of her cheeks were being pinched as squealed and struggled to escape, eventually managing the feat.

"I know you're a bit touchy about being called a hero and everything, but… we all really think you are one. You try to be helpful, you're super cool, super smart, and super strong..!" Ruby flexed her arm briefly, earning a smirk from the young devil, "Maybe you don't think you're a hero because you have your own faults and troubles, but… with everything you've done for us and everyone else… you're definitely our hero!"

…

Her earnesty made him forget for a few moments of his dislike of "heroes" and the "concept" of them. Or rather, hearing her simple, honest words chipped away a huge chunk of said disdain from the decade long monolith constructed from his past experiences.

"Don't get ahead of yourself though! I'll be a super awesome hero myself one of these days!"

…

…

"I never got around to asking, but…" Dante spoke up, clenching his fist a few times to loosen up his fingers, "Don't take this the wrong way, but… Do you really need to be a hero so you can be Ruby Rose?"

The devil could see the gears turning in Ruby's head, making him smile faintly.

"Huh?" She finally asked, unable to fully process his question.

"I might be wrong, but… At times when you talk about heroism or becoming 'a true hero', it feels like… your being depends on it. That you absolutely need to become a hero no matter what."

"Uhhh… Well, to be honest, I kind of wanted to be one since I was a kid with all the stories I read. But whenever I remember all the stories about my mom, or the stories she told me, I just get… stupidly motivated and want to get there quicker. I want to be as good or better." She smiled, "Ever since I got to know you better at Beacon, I feel like I can actually get there if I pay enough attention and try to be better."

"Well… Can't you do the things a hero does without having to actually be one? Or having to operate under the title?"

"What do you mean?"

He exhaled sharply, looking down at his hands as he thought carefully.

"I know everyone calls me a hero and everything, but I honestly couldn't be further from one. I very actively try to distance myself from doctrine, or the concept of it, and although I still help and save people, I still do a far few things that heroes would never dream of doing." He explained, "The straight and narrow was never really for me. My more natural impulses, my own personal beliefs, my own experiences… They've never totally aligned with the ideals that constitute a hero."

The devil looked up at the sky past the "membrane" of Atlas that melted away the snow. Although they were mostly obscured, his eyes could see through the veil of snow to catch faint glimmers of light.

"I agonized uselessly and obsessively over the ideals of heroes and how to be like them for almost a decade. The more the years went by as I chased after the 'Concept of a Hero', the more I realized how much I actually hated it." He folded his hands together on his lap, interlocking his fingers, "Having to stand aside for some evil pieces of shit, seeing people die, being bound by rules that make no sense or benefit others not deserving… It pissed me off to no end, and I couldn't stand it anymore. Especially the phonies that took advantage of the title to hide their evil or progress their terrible agendas."

His hands tensed up fiercely as memories of the past flipped through his mind rapidly, his gaze more intense as he stared straight ahead of him. Then, there was awkward silence between them for about a minute, the small reaper thinking heavily upon his words.

"Do you… not want me to become a hero?" She asked, looking up at him.

"If at all possible, I'd prefer you didn't. However… I'm not one to crush dreams or to tell you what you can't or can do. Frankly speaking, I think you'd make a great hero with more time and proper training." He glanced over at Ruby, patting her head, "It's clear you want it badly, so… go do it. Become a great hero that puts all the fakers to shame. Just… be careful, and think things through as often as you can."

"Kaaaay."

He huffed with a small smile, noticing that the crowd had thinned out.

"Guess we should go home…"

"I'm too pooped…"

"Oh no, if only there were someone dependable to carry you home…"

"I know right?! If only there was a cool, handsome dude that would sweep me off my feet..!"

"You're shit out of luck, cause I'm ugly as fuck." Dante said, earning a chortle from Ruby as he came to a sudden realization, "Oh hey, that rhymed."

"Yeah yeah, Master Poet." The little reaper piggybacked the devil, "Let's go home please… I'm sleepy…" She yawned.

"Okay okay…"

---

"Now then… I suppose we're all gathered?" Valâr placed his glasses on his face after cleaning them with a soft, black cloth.

"I assume so!" Arkiel said, placing her notebook and pen on the smooth, white table.

"Yeah, we're here." Dante replied, resting his elbow on the table, chin in the palm of his hand.

Belîa sat next to him with her towering form, quickly elbowing the young devil to make him maintain proper posture at the table.

"So… what's this all about?" Ray asked, leaning back into his seat with crossed arms, "Strategy meeting for an upcoming fight?"

"In a manner of speaking, mr. Chroma." The bespectacled man said, "May I assume that he has been informed of the Fourth King?"

"He's in the know." Dante affirmed.

"In that case… Seeing as matters with the Fourth King are being handled as is by my Lord…" Valâr tapped two fingers on the table before folding his hands together, numerous holographic projections flashing into view and hovering above the round table, "The topic of today's discussion is what's currently pressing on my Lord's mind. More so than the Fourth King."

"Stop calling me that..! And they don't need to know that last part!"

Waving his hand towards the table, various sets of data and images made way for a large, 3D model projection of The Husk, the elusive being that was constantly slipping through Dante's fingers. Essentially, the experts in oddities and the like were all gathered in the room for a brainstorming session aimed at countering their target's ability to make quick escapes. Or at the very least, to keep her rifts open long enough to chase after her.

"In case no one's noticed, The Husk has been getting stronger with each appearance. Like I feared, she's essentially been warming up at a slow rate while accumulating more power. Obviously, she needs to be stopped before she becomes a problem even I can't handle, and as an added bonus, I'll be able to get this damn thing off." He rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, revealing the hollowed out black diamond on his forearm that had been slightly faded, "While it has sealed off my original transformative abilities and over half of my own Dark Powers, I've gotten by just fine. But like I said from the start, our biggest concern at the moment is stopping her escape."

"I kind of find it hard to believe you guys don't have any special tools or anything meant for this kind of thing." Ray spoke up with a wave of his hand, "Do you actually not have anything at the moment, or do they just don't work?"

"Production of the tools isn't necessarily the issue. The issue we face is if they'll even work in the first place, or be practically useless. Then again, even one second could make a difference." Arkiel replied with a brief shrug, "As mentioned, this entity, The Husk, is a completely new and undocumented lifeform to every individual in this room. However…"

Arkiel stopped, playing with her fingers in a nervous manner as she looked between Belîa and Dante.

"However, as recent events have revealed, the identity of The Husk has been confirmed to be the Third Dark Entity Queen, Satanya Lilithase. Or at the very least, her remains." Valâr very bluntly stated in order to tear through the unease of three of the five individuals at the table.

"Her remains..? Like her corpse is just up and about on its own?" Ray asked, slightly bewildered by the thought.

"It is one of my hypothesi, but given the circumstances of her death, the possibility is small at best." The bespectacled man said, "Therefore, the alternate working theory at the moment is that the Queen has been affected by an Incomplete Resurrection."

The term caught the attention of the other four at the table, Dante in particular.

"What the hell are you saying..?!" The bewildered devil said.

"To briefly review, Dark Entities of Knight Class or above are capable of a total resurrection after a set period of time so long as their souls haven't been annihilated. One year for Knights, ten years for Lords, and one hundred years for a King." Valâr explained, mostly to inform Ray, "During this time, their bodies will regenerate around their soul, however, if a compatible body is found or created beforehand, their resurrection may be expedited to circumvent this time limit."

"Problematically, the only records we have on Queens are the fact that there's only been three so far, along with minute comprehension of Queen Anya's abilities." Arkiel tapped the cover of her notebook with her index finger, "As such, we haven't the faintest idea as to the resurrection times of a Queen. Although, given how powerful and refined Queen Anya's Aura was, I think it would be safe to conclude her resurrection time might be quicker than that of a King Class or Lord."

"But her soul…" Dante spoke up, his mind quickly playing the memories of that gut wrenching moment.

"Was it totally destroyed?" The angel asked, folding her hand together in front of her mouth.

He replayed and replayed it continuously in his mind, but for naught. He was too distressed at the time to focus on every minute detail, so he couldn't say for sure.

"Remember, my Lord…" Valâr pointed a finger in the air, "If but a scrap of the soul survives, then resurrection is still very much possible. However, what you may have not known is that a fragmented soul may have their 'complete' resurrection hindered; a longer time frame depending on how much of the soul remains, loss of memory, or loss of a majority of power."

I never knew… And all this time, I assumed her soul was…

A theory suddenly popped into mind.

"Wait… Is it possible that a Dark Entity soul can be afflicted by two of the abnormalities? Or even all three?" Dante asked.

"Oho! I was somewhat confused as to why you'd ask that question, but given the observed abnormalities of The Husk, that is indeed a valid question!" Arkiel practically jumped out of her seat, using her hands to organize the data floating above the table, "Based on Dante's testimonies, she has displayed virtually complete memory loss to the point where she couldn't even formulate words correctly until this latest battle. To add, she utilizes the exact same magic Queen Anya did when she was alive, which, given with testimonies from previous battles, her power has steadily been increasing. Therefore, we can safely conclude that alongside memory loss, her powers have been weakened significantly."

"A curious case indeed… All the more reason to believe a piece of this grand puzzle is an Incomplete Resurrection." The bespectacled man crossed one leg over the other, "Still, this is but a piece. Hypothesizing on how to fix the damage will be useless at the moment since we cannot fully ascertain the extent of the damage. Therefore… Now that we understand what the affliction is, our next concern is the power she is utilizing, and how to nullify it enough to capture her."

"If the proverbial 'level ups' aren't too explosive, can't we just gang up to capture her?" Ray asked, "We've got all sorts of tools, weapons, and people with unique abilities. Does nothing work on her?"

"It's not entirely a matter of 'if it works', but more so 'how long will it work', in essence." Arkiel pointed out, "Although her abilities are virtually the same as before, which does give us a certain advantage, those very same abilities are infused with a foreign and completely unknown power. For the most part, we have been able to fight back well enough, but who's to say that will remain the case in future iterations. Not to mention…"

Arkiel pulled up two screens, with diagnostic data of someone's body and their condition, and footage from after the fight with the Dark Entity twins. The footage showed how the young devil had been shot through with the beam attack from The Husk.

"We've been observing Dante continuously to see if there are any adverse effects to his health, but so far, there's nothing out of the ordinary. To be fair though, that may just be due to how his constitution automatically fights foreign elements, magical or biological."

Ray scoffed, "So not only are you hard to kill, but you've got immunity too?"

"Not by choice, just how I was born." The devil replied.

"Yeah yeah, typical 'built different' bullshit…" The young faunus waved off, "So what then? If he's pretty much immune, are you keeping watch of everyone he comes into contact with just in case he's acting as a carrier?"

"So far there's been no outbreak of any kind, but it has been only a day so far. Typically, magic born anomalies or outbreaks have an effect that's either instantaneous or happens within a handful of minutes. But because this is a completely foreign element, the times may vary." Valâr explained, then pointing to the footage, "Even though a contagion is something we need to be wary of, this has been troubling me the most. My Lord, you developed an automatic defense matrix ability in order to be more efficient with defense-based Aura usage, did you not? Was the attack simply too powerful to block with Aura?"

"No… It was like…" He moved one hand back while the other moved forward, palms briefly colliding, "It completely ignored my Aura, like it wasn't even there." He then leaned back in his chair, "My Threat Tracer was made specifically to counter any attack using the exact amount of Aura needed to effectively negate it. That way I don't need to waste Aura for a full body shield like the majority. However, its single flaw is that on my own, it only blocks what's in my field of view."

"Hang on, doesn't it work as an all around defense?" Arkiel asked.

"It started working like that once I got Eclypse back. And since we can connect on a deeper level as Blade and Wielder, we're able to tap into each other's abilities. But now that I have Navâra, Serythîl, and Xīn Huá, the Blades on standby can totally take over defense to let me try other shenanigans in the meantime. But all of that is besides the point." The devil explained as he leaned forward once again, "Whatever power she's using can phase through Aura like it's not even there. I don't know about HardLight Dust, but I wouldn't try experimenting anytime soon."

"So how are we gonna fight her then if we're gonna get clapped through our Aura?" Ray briefly raised a hand up with a scoff.

"Perhaps her energy projection attacks are only vastly more effective against other energy types like Aura and Dust." Valâr proposed, "Therefore it could be possible that physically crafted material absent of any and all energy types could prove to be viable. My Lord, were you able to accurately sense the feel of the impact?"

"Well…" He rested his chin in his hand, placing a hand over the shoulder he had been shot through earlier, which had long since healed, "I guess it was as bad as getting shot by a revolver…"

"Oh, it was only 'as bad', not 'oh shit I've been shot'."

"Well what do you want me to say? Impact wise it wasn't too forceful, but seeing as it phased through my Aura and burned through my body, I really don't have much to offer feedback wise." The devil replied to the cat faunus.

"Regardless, this is a theory worth pursuing. Therefore after our meeting, I will attempt to create something capable of defending against The Husk's energy based attacks. As to whether or not it'll work, well… We'll have to see out in the field, won't we?" The bespectacled man said.

"Fighting her won't be our biggest issue, but preventing her escape will be." Belîa spoke up, addressing another critical component of the meeting, "If you haven't been made aware yet, The Husk has been able to make quick escapes through rift portals it creates. Problematically, the usual phenomenon of 'tears' remaining for a set period seems to not apply to her, seeing that as soon as she steps through, the rift closes quickly and the tear that's supposed to remain for a short period also immediately disappears."

"Uh… Seeing as I'm no portal or dimension expert, is the simpler explanation that she's not leaving a trail or something like she's supposed to when she does that?" Ray asked.

"Correct. A most curious and unheard of phenomenon indeed…" Valâr rubbed the underside of his chin as he studied the footage of The Husk's escape, "Normally when one creates a portal or a rift to another dimension, realm, or World, this creates a 'tear' in the fabric of reality that will shortly seal itself depending on how much power was used and/or the entity that created the tear. Needless to say, the stronger the power or entity, the longer the tear remains open."

"If that's the case, isn't it a contradiction then? The Husk or whatever is pretty strong as is, right? So if that's the case, how are these tears closing instantly?" The cat faunus asked, looking amongst his colleagues with mild confusion.

"A result of whatever power she's using, no doubt. Which makes our need to understand her power all the greater should future anomalies or enemies utilize the same or similar abilities." Arkiel scratched the side of her head with her fountain pen, then summoning her records book to flip through its pages hurriedly, "The problem is that we have no points of reference to look back to thoroughly examine-"

"Twelve years ago." Dante cut in, gaining a questioning stare from everyone at the round table, "Primordial. Teariaz City."

The angel narrowed her eyes with a slight tilt of her head, then quickly flipped through some pages until she slowed her pace. She quickly scanned each page with the occasional page turn before leaning forward towards her book, finding what she was looking for.

"How about that… Around the time we first managed to confirm your existence, a month or so after, a similar phenomenon occurred twice within one day within seconds of each other. You disappeared for a few moments before reappearing in the exact same spot five seconds later."

"What's the meaning of this..?" Belîa asked.

The devil uncrossed his arms, resting them on the table as he looked to Valâr, "When last we spoke, we spoke of your involvement in my past. It got me thinking about what other shenanigans might have happened back then." He tapped the side of his head twice, "I still can't remember anything before I turned five, but I remember my very first day in the city and the orphanage I lived in vividly after the caretaker found me. I discovered I had powers early on, and could at most manifest Shadow Skin to my arms and eventually legs with claws and blades."

His gaze then shifted to the Embered Knightess.

"There were frequent supernatural events occurring outside of plain sight that caused confusion amongst the authorities, events which I usually took care of at night time. Occasionally, I'd be spirited away for days, even weeks at a time to another realm or world, only to come back and find that seconds, or minutes passed."

"So..?"

"So…" The young devil folded his hands together, looking at the cat faunus, "I remember one strange occurrence in particular that I could never explain. I went out at night like I usually do to a nearby convenience store, and noticed it was close to 8pm. I rounded a corner into an alleyway to take the usual route home and then noticed a weird, static-like distortion. When I stopped to look behind me, I saw the street for a moment before there was another staticky distortion, where I was then instantly facing the other way without having moved an inch."

Dante then looked down towards his clothes, tugging on the collar of his shirt while Arkiel was rapidly writing down notes.

"When I checked myself out, not only was my plastic bag of snacks and drinks missing, but my clothes were slightly torn, bloodied, and burned. Looking at my phone, I noticed five minutes had passed in an instant after that staticky flicker. I couldn't remember if I was in a fight or had some weird fugue state where I was completely unaware of where and what I was doing. I checked news outlets and everything I could to find nothing. So the only explanation I ever had was that I was 'spirited away' somewhere, and lost any memory of where I was and what happened when I came back out."

Arkiel was humming to herself, checking her records book once again.

"An Angel in the area at the time documented a strange occurrence of a rift opening somewhere in the city before it completely disappeared a moment later. And exactly as you described, said rift appeared again before disappearing completely once more." She explained, "While the phenomenon was noticed, it completely disappeared and left no trace whatsoever, making any further investigation impossible. To add, seeing as nothing dangerous came out during the time the rifts had been open, the case was cataloged as a harmless phenomenon and shelved in the event of a recurrence."

She snapped her book shut, lightly tossing it up above her shoulder as it disappeared in a brief burst of white light.

"Our record books not only document the whole collective of written knowledge we Angels have gathered since our creation, but sensations, sights and emotions. Based on the recorded 'sensation' within the record I just viewed... I can confirm that it completely matches what I 'sensed' when observing the previous battle with The Husk."

Valâr rubbed the side of his index finger against his lips, eyes narrowed onto the table as he was deep in thought. So long as he had an understanding of something, he could attempt to fabricate a counter to it, technological or otherwise. Attempt was the keyword here, for if he didn't have a complete understanding of whatever he was attempting to create or counter, his fabrication could be potentially flawed. However, his keen intellect and incredible ability to theorize and hypothesize allowed him multiple avenues of open minded thinking to fill in any gaps.

Even with this advantage in mind, his success wasn't always guaranteed.

"Ms. Arkiel, my lord, I would appreciate it if you would both allow me to access your memories relevant to the rifts. If I can review whatever information we have… then I may be able to create a counter to prevent our query from escaping. Or at the very least, I may be able to create an opportunity for you to follow her through her rifts by keeping them open long enough."

Dante almost jumped out of his seat, "Can you actually..?!"

"There is a possibility, but I cannot guarantee anything." He briefly raised up a hand, "This is an entirely new phenomenon that has been documented previously, but never fully explored. To make matters worse, the rifts created by The Husk do not follow the standard theorems of portals and rifts, so suffice it to say, whatever I design may be flawed until we have more accurized knowledge. What could be a few seconds might be narrowed down to a mere moment. If I successfully manage to fabricate something, you must be ready to immediately jump into the proverbial lion's mouth."

"I'm fine with the idea. It'll be impressive to see you attempt to create a construct capable of interfering with The Husk!" Arkiel smiled as she twirled her pen between her fingers.

"Should magic fail, technology must attempt to pick up the pace, or merge well enough with magic to create a suitable enough result."

"Need anything from my end?" Ray waved a hand at them.

"Perhaps. Should I be lacking in certain resources or ideas, I would very much like to keep in contact with you." The bespectacled man told the faunus, looking to the devil, "Well, my Lord? Is everything to your satisfaction?"

…

…

Hope, or something assuming its guise. He bit into his bottom lip slightly, curbing the frenzy of overexcited thoughts in his mind. There was a significant chance of failure due to the numerous unknown variables, but two in particular weighed on his mind heavily.

What entity, if any, was influencing her new power? And could it be undone?

…

…

No, he wasn't going to give up hope. Not before he even truly began. Even if the uneasiness and uncertainties he felt made him tense up like a stone statue, he needed to attack this with the mindset he always has when faced with a difficult situation.

He was going to succeed in whatever way he could for the result he desired most.

"Can you really make a device or contraption to stop her from escaping? Or give us a chance to follow her?"

"I can most certainly try. But without the genuine article in front of me to conduct experiments, the best I can do is create a construct that will function well enough, not perfectly. Hence my word of warning to 'jump right in' rather than hesitate."

"Then I guess it's settled…"

Two of Dante's fingers and his thumb glowed with platinum Aura as he pressed them against his temple. Wisps of white flowed from the points of contact as he pulled back his hand, the wisps soon forming into a small, golf ball-sized cube of white light. Arkiel did the same after jolting up with an "Oh right!", the two sliding the cubes across the table in Valâr's direction as he caught them in his gloved hands.

"I'll get back to you in about three, maybe four days, my Lord. In the meantime… do be cautious with your dinner reservation at the Schnee manor three days from now."

The young devil rose up from his seat, Arkiel, Belìa, and Ray doing the same as he locked eyes with the smirking "man", his message subtly broadcasted to the young man.

He scoffed as he turned around and gave a simple wave goodbye, "Sure thing."

"Ooh! Where is this dinner reservation?!" Arkiel giddily asked the devil.

"You weren't invited, so you can't come."

"Awww…"

Dante smirked as he patted her head "We'll go to the Cake Factory tomorrow after I finish any missions."

She gasped, "I always wanted to go to one of those!"

"I would like to go as well. My repertoire of cooking skills is mostly focused on meat, and I'd like to start expanding into deserts." Belîa added.

"Don't you mean vegetables?"

"In due time."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, you mean that fancy expensive place in Atlas?" Ray asked.

"Yep. Wanna go on a double date with Nira?" Dante smirked like a smug gremlin.

"A-As if, you freaky alien!"

As the banter of the leaving group disappeared into the elevator bay, Valâr leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other as he flipped the cubes between his fingers and playfully tossed them up a few times. On the last toss, he caught the cubes in his right hand before slapping both hands together, white powder exploding from between his palms and fingers. The dust filled the air around him like glittering dust as he closed his eyes, the darkness soon overtaken with a flood of memories from both the Angel and the devil. Everything from sight, sound, taste, smell and touch flooded through him, giving him the same sensations they felt temporarily, including their emotions.

Dante's were… particularly chaotic, enough that even the bespectacled man uncomfortably shifted in his seat briefly with a slight tilt of his head.

Aside from all other sensations and feelings, the ones he focused on the most was their "aura sensing" or "sensing" of other mystical phenomena. He wanted to understand the feeling of the "rifts" made by The Husk, and both provided valuable feedback. Sensing these sorts of phenomena was akin to… data being transmitted into the air. Although a totally unfamiliar set of data can't be totally or partially interpreted, it still relayed the incoming data regardless. Unfortunately, as he predicted, it wasn't to understand the whole scope of the power being used.

But it was more than enough to gain a decent understanding.

As he "registered" the data, a smirk crept up on Valâr's face as he kept his hands folded together. Now that the flood of memories had ended, his crimson eyes opened, staring at the ceiling above as he chuckled. reliving a memory from the past.

"I see… So this is what you sought all those years ago… I think I'm beginning to understand little by little what it is you were truly after… my Maker."

---

"I must say, I'm not all too impressed with the choice of venue…" Cosmos spoke, lifting an ornate porcelain cup to her lips.

"My apologies. Normally I would have no issue going to your choice of locations, but… they may prove challenging for others to enter without someone accompanying them with a magnificence close to yours." Noland explained.

The Silver Queen hummed in amusement as she finished her sip. Her motions and overall aesthetic were magnificent, so much so that she easily drew the attention of all others in the slightly fancy cafe. After going on a sort of shopping spree in Atlas for most of the morning, Cosmos was reminded by Noland of a meeting that were supposed to have with Dante Aetherveil. She suggested a high class restaurant, but as her Wielder just reminded her, such a place would be challenging to enter on account of such a locale being "too fancy" for anyone else that wasn't like her.

She took pride in that fact

Alas, they were forced to recede into what she considered a "quaint" cafe. It reminded her of a large, log cabin one would find a commoner living in outside of civilization, such as the woods. Although she wasn't particularly impressed with the furniture and overall design, she could not deny the quality of the coffee, or deny being impressed by the fact that they specially brought out this cup for her. Locale was decent, but the quality and service was at the very exceptional.

Overall, it was passable.

"I'll allow it. In the future, do attempt to find a locale that doesn't sacrifice appearance for better quality."

"I'll keep that in my mind, my queen. I did choose this place simply because I knew you appreciate quality over appearance, but I will do my best to find something that strikes a more perfected balance." The raven haired man spoke, sipping some coffee himself, "That being said, most locales like this in Atlas sacrifice varied levels of quality simply for something eye-catching. We would have better luck finding something matching your paradise tastes in Mantle, but…"

"But what? I won't go anywhere near such a place due to it being filled with those of the lower class?"

"W-Well…"

"You fool. If truly no such place exists where a proper balance can be struck, I will not hesitate to tread ground with commoners. So long as one puts heart and soul into their work, there will be no shortage of wares I will be willing to try."

"Very well then…" He huffed in relief.

Cosmos was… a difficult individual to interact with, particularly in the case of individuals who do not personally know her. She was a queen in every sense of the word, and while gaudy and sometimes arrogant, she was neither petty nor a fool. Although she clearly would always prefer a grander venue, when judging with her own eyes something she deemed of "high quality" made with utmost care and effort, she'd almost never turn down anything.

She truly was a finicky individual…

"So, what is your condition?"

Her sudden question snapped him back to attention, "My… condition..?"

She scowled, "We went 'hunting' for a reason, did we not? I can supply you with my own Aura continuously, but I can't do so forever without weakening myself." Cosmos then pointed to Noland's left hand where he usually held his cane sword, "You were fortunate to come into possession of such a tool. Although I can't ascertain its origins, I have come to understand its power. Aside from acting as a catalyst for spells, it can 'break' a vast array of spells and magic. Most critical however is its dark essence to life force conversion."

"It has been helpful. Our 'hunting' has indeed left me… 'topped off' for the time being, but… It will only work so many times. This body as it is won't be able to handle the continuous back and forth between breaking down and repairing itself. I will reach my limit soon enough."

"Such a shame. You're much more talkative now then you were previously."

His gaze shifted from her to his reflection in the cup, a slight frown forming on his face.

"Back then, there wasn't much to speak of personally. I simply took in your instruction, and focused on my battles or journey." A slight shift in his hand made ripples form on the surface of his coffee, "Everything I've done has been working towards this confrontation. We've prepared as far ahead as we could. We've laid out as much of the groundwork as we could."

He clenched his hands, the sensations in his fingertips slightly dull.

"Now it's just a matter of holding out until then. That's why we've been working behind the scenes instead of doing most of the fighting. I need to preserve my strength. That being said…" He summoned his grimoire, its black pages flipping to the place he had in mind before he turned the book around, using an index finger to guide Cosmos' eyes, "I've had some peculiar homework to cover since yesterday."

The Silver Queen leaned forward, narrowing her eyes on the passage pointed out as well as the images displayed on the page. Strangely enough, the image on the page moved, as if she were staring right at it.

"Indeed… This is a most peculiar sight."

"Thoughts?"

"Sadly, none. I never experienced such a phenomenon during my lifetime. But as it was described to you, this was a phenomenon that only ever appeared in two worlds, correct?"

"The World Dante stayed in before this one. And more recently, the appearances of The Husk here on this World."

"A happening that has only occurred for what reason?"

It took him a moment until it came to him suddenly.

"Incidents involving Dante."

"Something rare and completely new that follows no logic we currently understand." She scanned the lower contents of the page, "Then there was the troubling fact her power completely ignored Aura, but burnt through flesh."

"As if it didn't…"

His eyes widened immediately upon thinking of the word.

"So that's how it is…"

"That's how what is?"

Noland and Cosmos looked up to see Dante and Eclypse standing near the booth.

"I think we might have made a sort of breakthrough in the case of The Husk." The raven haired young man leaned back in the u-shaped booth seat before scooting over towards cosmos.

"Oh? You figured something out?" Eclypse slid in the booth, "Funny, I thought you were prancing around out of sight not doing much."

"As opposed to a voracious cretin like yourself who is only good for fighting and sex?" Cosmos snapped after taking a sip of her coffee.

"You act awfully high and mighty for someone who hasn't crossed swords with me."

"That's because crossing swords with you wouldn't even be a competition. It'd be a massacre."

"You eager to die?"

"I could ask you the same thing, mongrel."

A gentle bonk on the top of Eclypse's head from Dante made her scowl as she crossed her arms and slouched back into her seat.

"Save it for training, will you? Besides, he can't exactly fight like the rest of us do. So aside from recon and sneaky tactics, he can't help us directly."

"I am quite frail compared to the rest of you." Noland smirked, "As much as it might displease you and everyone else, I can't afford to fight so brazenly, despite wanting to. I need to preserve as much strength as possible until the last possible moment. So I apologize if I can't always be on the frontlines with all of you."

"You don't need to explain anything. You're contributing enough as is from behind the scenes, so I've got no complaints." Dante said, glancing off to the side with his arms behind his head.

…

…

He knew.

If it wasn't obvious before, it was now. He knew Noland's body wasn't in the best condition, and that it was steadily deteriorating. After all, he did look a bit more pale than usual. Perhaps his skin had cracked when he didn't notice and the devil saw it at some point in time.

…

Dante's powers of observation were indeed incredible.

"As to what we were discussing, I think I have a scant idea of what we're dealing with now. After all, you yourself gave me the biggest clue."

"How so?" The devil asked, looking back his way.

Noland placed his grimoire on the table, spinning it around for Dante to see as he pointed at a specific passage.

"A power that's not Aura, but completely ignores Aura to do direct damage to the body. Per your words, 'as if it didn't exist'."

…

…

Dante's eyes widened upon realizing what his colleague meant, and the man smiled.

"That's because the power she used did and didn't exist. It's like it was imaginary."

"Suitable, all things considered. From this point onward, shall we proceed with calling this power the Imaginary Element?"

"I mean, it does fit, so…" The devil shrugged, "Fighting it though… We'd have to basically NoHit Run her, and she gets stronger each time she shows up."

"Therein arrives my next theory. Why does The Husk flee each time after engaging in combat?"

"Well, we have been able to fight her off each time. Last time she just swooped in and then left."

"Perhaps her instincts of preservation are honed to a greater extent, but I think it's something more than that." Noland folded his hands together, "She's fought brazenly and with utmost confidence each time, then ceases aggression after a certain point in time and flees. Don't you think that's somewhat suspicious?"

"She could just be gathering data on us and running off." Eclypse pointed out as she stacked sugar packets atop each other to make a small tower, "When she goes back to wherever the hell she goes to, she studies up for the next encounter. Kinda like a machine."

"A bold observation in every regard, mongrel. But not entirely right." Cosmos spoke up as she set her now empty cup down, elegantly crossing one leg over the other.

"Alright then, shiny tits. What's your oh-so-brilliant idea?"

The blonde queen smirked, "She does indeed study your capabilities and returns a mightier force each encounter. I don't doubt she creates a simulation specifically for this purpose whenever she returns to her realm. However, the reason she flees each time is simple enough to decipher now that we have a firm idea of her abilities."

"So?! What is it then?!" The other Blade asked, mildly irritated with Cosmos' coyness.

"I suppose I did expect too much for a muscle-brained fiend like yourself to understand…"

"Hah?!"

Before Eclypse could leap out of her seat to strangle her fellow Blade with the diamond necklace around her neck, Dante firmly placed a hand atop his Blade's hand to calm her.

"Seeing that she's using the 'Imaginary Element', which exists and doesn't exist at the same time… I'd say that aside from preserving her 'life', she's running away as often as she does so that her power doesn't fully exist."

"What the hell…"

"Think about it." Noland said, taking back his grimoire, "If something non-existent, or Imaginary, continuously interacts with things that exist, then presumably, that non-existent power will become existent after enough interaction."

"Makes sense." The young devil said.

"Does it really..?" Eclypse asked.

"Kind of. In pure energy form, The Husk's power has a set limit of how much it can interact with another power, whereas before that limit, her power is pretty much unblockable. Once it reaches that limit, her Imaginary Element will become something we can counter with our own Aura's."

"Ah, I think I get it now." The platinum haired girl nodded, "Why can't you two just explain shit normally?" She angrily retorted to the duo across the table.

"Is it our fault you are more mentally deficient compared to us?" The Silver Queen sneered, getting a growl from Eclypse.

"Her going back to… let's call it, The Imaginary Boundary, is basically her reset period." Dante and Noland continued the conversation, separate from their arguing Blades.

"Precisely. And during that time period, she continues to progress her learning of our capabilities to combat us more effectively with each encounter." Noland noticed a small amount of coffee left in his cup, enough for a single sip as he raised it to his lips, "Actually, I am curious about something."

"About her?"

"Yes." The raven haired man set down his cup, leaning back in his booth seat, "In your battles so far, has she been fighting on a similar level to her previous self?"

"No. She's been… a little more clumsy and aggressive by comparison. She's lacking the precision and grace of her old self, but… she's been getting closer. If she gets back to peak performance, we're gonna be in trouble."

"Then I suppose we'll need to defeat her within the next few confrontations, if it even comes to two."

"Yeah…"

Anya at full power was a force to be reckoned with. Her offense, when serious, was terrifying enough, but defense was her truest speciality. Healing, defensive wards, counter spells; she was a defensive and impenetrable bastion in the truest sense. If this iteration of her, The Husk, could build back up to that level of power more suited to offense…

Forget defeating her, we'll just be stalemating each confrontation for who knows how long… If Aura won't work until she hits her interaction limit, maybe Inuba could make talismans to restrict her movements…

"Find anything out about your father?" Dante asked, redirecting the conversation.

Noland sighed, "Nothing. Perhaps he isn't as well known as the Schnees, but he's still a fairly prominent figure. What worries me is that there was a complete erasure of any relevant information, from his business practices to his name. The home he lived in had been demolished, and no previous employees are currently alive."

"Yeah, that's definitely not the actions of a sketchy or guilty dude."

The young man smirked, "Indeed. I'm afraid he may have anticipated my potential to survive and committed to a total erasure of presence to maintain his obscurity."

"And people call me paranoid for liking to be prepared…"

"You have the luxury of being an incredibly powerful individual capable of taking most threats head on. He does not."

Dante let out a slow exhale as he leaned forward on the table, resting his chin in his palm as he drew loops on the table with his finger.

"Think he bolted?"

Noland stared down blankly at the table, "I don't believe so. He's a man capable of abandoning his pride and his home if need be, but I don't believe he'll have run away from the confines in the kingdom. He has to be hiding somewhere amongst the upper class echelon of Atlas where even the law cannot willingly approach without being prepared to risk some aspect of their lives."

A devilish grin formed on Dante's face, "My favorite kind of place."

The young man hummed amusedly, "If I recall, you and your mute friend excel in gathering information within those environments."

"That we do. Though I'd argue she's the better infiltrator by far. And that's putting aside her already scary Semblance…"

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to investigate?"

"I mean, I would, but I know next to nothing about the guy except that you've been trying to pick up his trail. I don't even know his name."

"Maxwell."

…

…

"That's it?"

"That's all I can offer, I'm afraid. I have no photographs to pass on."

"Well… it's something at least." Dante stood up from the booth, "Ogranîx might make his move soon. You gonna be alright until then?"

"I'll manage. I survived this long after all." Noland replied, the two locking eyes silently for a few moments.

"That you have…" The devil reached into his pocket, pulling out some lien cards, "So… Any recommendations on the pastries?"

"I'm afraid I can't say." The young man shrugged, "I'm not particularly fond of sweets."

"Come on dude, if you're gonna support in the background, the least you can do is study up on the food in your spare time." Dante complained with crossed arms, earning a smirk from his colleague.

"I'll keep that in mind going forward."

The young devil looked over to Eclypse, who was still berating a smugly smiling Cosmos that was as equally fired up with her retorts. As soon as he gently grabbed hold of his Blade's hand, her blistering barrage of expletives had ceased entirely, the girl becoming something akin to a blushing maiden as she followed him over to the counter. As soon as they departed to order some pastries to take home, Cosmos dropped her smug smile, focusing an intense stare on the pair, more specifically, Eclypse.

"I don't understand your keenness on starting altercations with her." Noland spoke up, noticing the Silver Queen's action.

"That girl unsettles me entirely."

"Why?" He chuckled faintly, "Because she doesn't show you the reverence of a Queen?"

"Nothing so quaint." The blond Blade replied, keeping her eyes unblinkingly glued to the platinum haired girl, "Her manners are indeed severely lacking, but that's besides the point. No… It's something about her nature that puts me off."

"Eclypse is a completely unique Aegis Blade. Unlike the standard means Blades form over time, she was created using a fragment of Dante's soul. Essentially, she was thought given physical form. To add… her level of power easily is at the level of a Legendary Blade. Your level."

"Yes yes, facts that I know all too well." Cosmos waved off unconcerned, resting her chin in the palm of her hand, still keeping a focused stare on her target of interest, "She is indeed mighty despite her uncouth nature, but that isn't what I'm talking about either. What I speak of is deeper. Her state of being."

Noland looked over at the couple, seeing them discussing with each other which pastries they should choose, Eclypse being more "lovingly" forceful with her selections.

"I'm afraid my understanding of your meaning is lacking."

"Her creation is without question unique in every regard. But her 'being' as an Aegis Blade is even more unique, separate from myself and other Blades entirely. For instance, the Legendary Spearwoman of the Land of Death." She said, finally looking Noland's way, "Before becoming what is the equivalent of a Guardian Spirit after the end of the Old World, the woman was a demigod by virtue of an Incomplete Ascension from human to god. Now that she has been reborn as an Aegis Blade, despite her status as a demigod, she still retains aspects that made her human."

"Ah, I think I understand now. Despite Blades being reborn as they are, they still retain traces that once identified them as a human being. However, in her case…" The young man said, briefly nodding towards the platinum haired girl, "You believe she gives off a presence that is otherwise human. I suppose I understand why you would think that, but I believe you may be overthinking for once."

"Oh? You seem to have grown bolder in our time apart if you so brazenly contradict me." She narrowed her gaze, smiling in a manner that could only be described as terrifying.

Noland gulped, avoiding eye-contact with the Silver Queen.

"Her very being is unique, is it not? As I said, she was essentially thought given physical form as an Aegis Blade. Could that not be a possible explanation as to why she feels other than human?"

Cosmos scoffed, "Perhaps you may have a point. Time will tell, I suppose." She crossed one leg over the other once more, swapping positions.

As they continued into other topics of conversation, unbeknownst to them, Eclypse had an intensely focused glare on the Silver Queen.

"Ok, last is our pick." Dante spoke, snapping her attention back to him, "What are you feeling this time?"

"Hmmmm… Maybe… Plum pastry tarts? I had strawberry last time, and I've never had anything plum flavored before. Been hearing all those lovey dovey couples in town about how plum flavored pastries are pretty awesome."

"Plum is pretty good when prepared right…" He smirked, "Alright… Since it's been a while for me, I'll get plum too."

"Hah? You copying me now? You expecting me to feed you all lovey dovey?" The platinum haired girl arrogantly smirked in response.

"I mean… If you don't want to, that's fine. When we get back, I'll feed you instead, and you can sit back and relax. So don't worry about it too much."

His earnest reply accompanied by the smile she loved all too much sent a pang through her heart in the most physical sense, making her lean backwards briefly as if she had actually been shot. Then, she forcibly clasped her hands on the sides of the devil's arms, surprising him as she leaned forward, her breathing heavy with a thin line of drool escaping the corner of her mouth.

"You know that when you spoil me like that… I really want to eat you."

"Uh-oh…"

Wide eyed, Dante hurriedly paid the cashier and swiftly took the numerous bags full of boxes of pastries meant for everyone, looping them on a single arm as Eclypse dragged him out of the cafe, giggling excitedly. Despite him struggling to walk on his own, his Blade's eagerness and overwhelming strength made it impossible to do so as she dragged him away hurriedly in search of a discrete location.

Seeing as she was entirely focused on the young devil, she failed to notice the Silver Queen's gaze on her yet again. At first, it was that of a questioning stare, still not totally sure as to the girl's true nature. Even so, the Queen could not deny that her "fellow Aegis Blade's" infatuation with Aetherveil was grossly genuine, bordering on pure madness. Which is why…

She could not decide at the time what was more dangerous; Eclypse's "true nature"... or her "love".

---

In a private, velvet room located within a high class bar, Dante typed away at his Scroll's holographically projected screen. Of course, he was incognito at the moment in a black suit and tie, with a gray dress shirt that had a slight, sleek shine to it. He scratched the side of his now black hair, his now platinum eyes scanning the data he just pulled from a "friend" currently playing patty-cake with one of his friends in the restroom. His "seat", a knocked out bodyguard, stirred until the young devil stomped the side of his head into the floor to knock him out again.

He heard a few pained cries from the man in the restroom, but his muffled screaming wasn't as important.

Seems like Rodger was planning on an embezzlement scheme to siphon funds from the SDC… Specifically, employee and manager pensions by discreet enough amounts to be barely noticeable. After all… barely anyone in the company would care enough to investigate siphoned funds from the Faunus workforce. Assholes…

He sighed at the state of such affairs, because even if this plan was now officially dead in its tracks, there wouldn't be a significant change in treatment of the workforce. Not until Jaques Schnee was taken out of the picture.

In the legal sense.

There was nothing he could really do at the moment except pass along this evidence. Aside from that, he was more concerned with the other data Rodger was holding onto, which was oddly more encrypted than his own personal data. This data used encryption that needed the "owner" to unlock and view said files, which is why the devil's "friend" was currently trying to "motivate" him to unlock the data stick.

Another muffled scream came from the restroom before it was completely erased by the loud noise of a flushing toilet. The door slid open as heels clacked loudly on the small, wooden dance floor in the room, those same heels eventually treading across the velvet carpeting in absolute silence. A gloved hand tossed up a red, rectangular, thumb-sized stick numerous times before stopping at Dante's side, catching the data stick and tapping his shoulder with it.

"He unlocked it?" The young devil asked.

Neo smirked deviously as she sat with him on the makeshift "seat", wearing her normal attire as she placed her umbrella near a wall and leaned her head on his shoulder, eyes quickly scanning over the data on screen. Her eyebrows quirked up briefly as she mouthed out "wow", crossing one leg over the other.

"Yeah, pretty bad… But I have a feeling whatever's gonna be on that stick is gonna be spicier…"

"You think?" she used her hands to sign.

"Uh, yeah. That stick is what we mostly came here for."

She lifted the data stick in front of him, but when he reached for it, Neo playfully moved the stick up, prompting him to reach for it again. Thus began a playful back and forth, with the young woman moving using her incredible agility to keep the stick in her position. She eventually had her back pressed into him, arm slung atop her head as she dangled the data stick in front of him.

As soon as he reached over her shoulder for it, she once again moved it away, spinning around in his lap as she very flexibly swung a leg over his head, the woman now straddling him with her arms around his neck. The stick was now in between her lips, Neo smiling coyly as she flicked the stick up and down.

"Seriously..?"

She tilted her head, pointing to her lips.

"Payment?"

Another tilt of her head, this time with one of her eyebrows quirked up in a questioning manner, "Don't wanna pay?"

Skillfully, Neo flicked the stick upwards enough for it to escape her lips, letting it spin in the air until it fell down and disappeared into the cleavage of her ample bust. Like a drop of water falling into a lake, her bosom bounced up briefly, a small ripple forming from the point of contact as the smuggest of smiles formed on her face.

She was very blatantly and silently telling him, "Now what are you going to do?"

"You only made this easier for me."

Neo glanced at him questionably before being completely taken by surprise with a sudden, upwards buck of his hips, the young woman now finding herself bounced up a foot in the air. The short bounce was forceful enough to make her chest bounce upwards as well, and with it, the data stick appeared from the depth of her cleavage. Within that quick interval, the devil tilted his head sideways and moved it rapidly between the gap underneath her chin and chest, his lips finding the tip of the data stick as he then yanked his head back.

With the data in his possession, Neo gently plopped back down into his lap, a look of surprise still splayed on her face as she blinked a few times, registering what just happened. Looking down and noticing the very absent feeling of the stick, her look of surprise turned into a moody pout, the young woman then standing up, turning, and sitting back down in his lap with crossed arms.

The height difference essentially placed her head, bowler hat and all, just at the base of his neck, the young devil leaning his head down next to her face with a goofy, arrogant smirk. Of course, considering she was displeased with the outcome of her failed "game", she huffed and looked away as to not make eye contact, crossing one leg over the other.

"You can't be mad at me that I beat you at a game you tried to rig." He playfully flicked the stick up and down between his lips a few times, soon grabbing it with his hand, tossing it up and catching it.

She gave him a pouty "hmph", turning around more so that her back was to him. Dropping the act, he moved his face towards Neo's, planting a quick kiss on her cheek that made her stiffen up in surprise.

"Thank you for your hard work. I appreciate it a whole lot."

The smoothness of his voice and genuinely appreciative tone melted the young woman, but she insisted on keeping her pouty attitude a bit longer, swaying the foot of her top leg up and down slowly. After a few brief moments, Neo slightly bounced upwards to plant a quick kiss on his cheek before returning to her moody pose, waiting silently a few moments before reaching up to his other cheek and lovingly patting it a few times, making him chuckle.

"Right… Let's take a look then."

"You sure you want me to see what's on here?" She signed with her hands.

"Why not? I trust you."

"Oh? Do you now?"

"I do. Aside from us working together on this, just like how I'd never sell you out, you wouldn't sell me out either, so I've got no qualms about sharing info with you."

A reasonable and fair explanation, one that Neo was satisfied with as she shrugged with a smile and leaned back into the devil, her head just an inch or two beneath his chin. Dante pushed the stick into his holographic screen, which quickly scanned the device and then opened up an array of files and folders on a newly projected screen. Shady deals, fudged financials, some shocking plans to deal with his enemies… The works.

Normally, an intelligent person wouldn't put so many sophisticated details on a drive and carry it around, but as proven by Neo's gentle "interrogation", the man had the intelligence of a brick in shit.

Before he started this project, he had asked to cooperate with the Intelligence office from the Atlesian Military and precincts in Mantle. The Military was more than eager to cooperate, but the two precincts in Mantle weren't too happy about an S-Class Huntsman "throwing his weight around to get what he wanted". But, this was proven to be a misunderstanding in the end, since both sides got off on the wrong foot. After some apologies, an eventual understanding was reached for them to work in a collaborative effort, with Dante doing his best to gather as much evidence as possible, and then passing it on to those two precincts, General Ironwood, and Melía of the Inquisitors in order to make the arrests legitimately.

Jaques Schnee needed to be absolutely cornered with not so much as a crack to escape through. And to do this, the final actions taken needed to be totally legit, and the evidence airtight. To do this, they needed to corner the other rats first by knocking off the smallest ones, and discretely gaining evidence and testimonies from the big players. Rodger was a member of the board, but on the lowest rung of the ladder, often interacting with others in Mantle, where no other board member dared to go.

He was essentially their bread boy.

Taking all that into consideration, he had the most motivation to climb the ladder while screwing over everyone else, Jaques in particular, by gathering an array of blackmail against them. He was definitely ambitious, seeing as he was, quote "eager to steal away Mrs. Schnee and lay her some pipe".

Reading his little diary entry made Neo and Dante giggle gleefully.

"Speaking of, you ever see her yourself?" The devil asked the young woman.

Neo shook her head, "Never seen her in public before. Weirdly enough, any image of her has been scrubbed entirely. Why? Think Rat-stache offed her?"

"No… If he did that, Weiss and Winter would've not only been epically pissed, but they probably would've stormed the Manor to skewer his ass ten ways to Sunday." Dante answered as his eyes quickly scanned through the "blackmail", "Even with everything in his possession, he was probably smart enough realize that if he offed her, not only would his life be in danger by way of his children taking vengeance, but in terms of legality, everything would be questioned ceaselessly. In the end, he'd either have some or no access to anything with the Schnee name on it, or everything would be in a legal deadlock for who knows how long."

"So he's probably keeping her locked up in the Manor…"

"Maybe. Weiss barely talks about her mother at all, so I don't really know anything other than what she's very briefly told me." The young devil scratched his chin, "But if her image has been scrubbed completely and she's never made any public appearance in recent years, it's safe to assume she has almost no freedom. But I wouldn't put it past her to find a way and some time to slip away."

"Wouldn't she have tried to expose him by now?"

"Maybe she did try and failed. All I know is that if the SDC has enjoyed immense success as it has despite all the controversies over the years, Jacques definitely quashed whatever valid evidence he could find against him." Dante rubbed his index finger between his lips briefly, "Since he could practically buy just about anyone's loyalty or silence, he's been sitting comfortably the last few years without any true competition or threats."

"And we're gonna completely pull the rug from under him."

As she signed this, the devil had finished his compilation of data, sorting out the valid information from "garbage" info he had cross referenced from the data he and Neo had gathered from other collaborators and board members. Like with Jacques, most of the Board and other collaborators had grown complacent; some illicit activities here and there, but nothing that could up definitely in any courts, much less The Council. They felt completely safe against all odds

But Dante and Neo's investigations (infiltrations) revealed a treasure trove of evidence against all members of the Board, with small tidbits on Jaques here and there. However, different chunks of evidence pertaining to the Board lead back to their CEO, but nowhere near elaborated enough to make it stick. Rodger, ironically enough, was the missing piece of the equation to tie everything together, from the various interactions and activities certain members of the board collaborated on, to some "orders" and "plans" passed down by Jaques, as well as certain activities he personally took part in.

Rodger particularly focused on Jacques with his power fantasy of "taking everything that was his, woman included", and thus stressed his efforts to spy on Jacques or gather enough blackmail. The information was indeed valuable, and certainly juicy, but it was an incomplete puzzle at best, a puzzle that was now complete through information gathered by Neo and Dante. Now, as he read through Rodger's "legally" obtained info and their gathered info, the pieces fell into place. Dots were connecting perfectly, and specific happenings and pieces of evidence tied back to each other with total clarity and relevance. As well as…

…

…

"We've got Rat-stache by the balls." Dante smiled eerily.

Neo's eyes squinted on a particular event, fairly shocked by what she read.

"Holy crap… There were always rumors, but this…"

"This is going to by far be the biggest nail in his coffin. And it looks like Rodger has the physical piece of evidence in a safe at home."

The young woman's lips curled into a devious smile, "Guess I'll be taking a trip. Which safe?"

"The one in the basement."

She spun around in his lap sideways, crossing one leg over the other as she pinched her index finger and thumb together, rubbing them.

"And the pay?"

"How much do you want?"

She visibly scoffed with a smile and a roll of her eyes, "Not 'how much I want', but 'what I specifically want'."

"Uh… Alright… What do you want?"

Dante nervously watched Neo's eyes trail to the ceiling in thought as she bit her lip and tapped a finger against the corner of her mouth. Her playfulness aside, she was giving it genuine thought, which is why the devil was nervous. This current task aside, he still owed her a favor of her choosing within reason.

"Ok… How about… I get you for three full-day dates, from morning to the next morning?"

…

…

Oh.

"T-That… That's it?"

She nodded.

"For real?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Like, for real for real?"

She nodded very vigorously.

"Uh… Ok, wow." Dante briefly laughed, "Wasn't expecting you to want just that…"

She reached up and pinched both of his cheeks, stretching them to their limits, which surprisingly hurt.

"What do you take me for, one of those gold-digging, bimbo housewives you'd find here in Atlas?"

"N-No! I was just hoping you weren't in a super bad spot to the point I'd have to take extreme measures!"

Neo then grabbed his tie and pulled his head down closer to hers.

"Oh? So you don't think I'm like one of those fat-lipped, materialistic sluts you see on RapidGram?"

"You definitely aren't like that! You can pretty much buy anything you want and you're way prettier! And! Uh… W-Well… Y-You might be pretty horny, but… in a wholesome way?"

"Damn straight." She conveyed by quirking her eyebrows, licking her lips quickly before giving him a strong kiss, "On all accounts, by the way." She tilted her head briefly, quickly using her hands to sign her message before grabbing his tie again to pepper him with two more kisses.

She's a handful… In more than one way…

A poke to his cheek drew his attention back to the young woman, who gave him a sweet and earnest look.

A brief flicker of regret flashed through his mind, seeing as her words and expressions were all genuine, not a suspect fabrication. In his life thus far, he has studied various kinds of people, and thus could usually tell what their intentions were from their words and expressions alone. Not to mention, he could "feel" negative emotions as a consequence of his powers, and thus always knew if some was directing ill-intent towards him.

But from Neo? From their first few meetings, to their reunion, to even now in this moment, he never felt any ill-intent from her. Not once. She was always good to him, always playful and sweet, very affectionate…

…

He wanted to say gentle, but she was never really "gentle" when conducting their "activities".

But one of the most important facts of all, was that despite her background, she had never dragged him into the shadier side of her work, something she actively made sure of. While the devil did give a majority of people the benefit of the doubt in spite of certain aspects of their background or their activities, he still kept a close eye on things and planned ahead, just in case.

Neo had never given him a reason not to trust her. Sure, he was pretty mad at her that she seemingly just… ghosted him completely, but the circumstances of their lifestyles at the time prevented them from seeing each other, and set them on opposing sides. And yet in spite of it all, she never did anything to hurt him, emotionally or otherwise. That's why when she looked at him the way she did and "spoke" her next words, his gut was riddled with guilt.

"I really do like you… you dum-dum." She signed before making a heart-sign with her hands, fluttering her eyes as her pupils changed to glowing pink hearts for a few moments.

It felt like his entire top-half had been obliterated with a beam of warm light, leaving nothing behind but his bones. Despite the intense struggle ping-ponging around in his brain at rapid speeds, he still managed to keep his reason intact, and leaned his head down to plant a kiss on the young woman's forehead.

"Thank you for showing genuine love to a thing like me."

Neo saw a smile so sweet that her heart exploded from the sheer overload of loveliness she was exposed to. Thus, she pulled herself up to his head level, her small stature virtually weightless as she lightly swung side-to-side with her arms wrapped behind his neck, peppering his cheek lovingly with fervent kisses. After that, she began nuzzling the side of her face against his, lovingly patting his head and rubbing his other cheek. If she could speak, these would have been her words.

"Seriously! How can you be so stupidly cute sometimes?! It's ridiculous! I'm super cute and all, but..! I swear, if I could, I'd cuddle and kiss you all day everyday!"

Although such words weren't spoken, they were broadcasted very thoroughly by means of her intense cuddling and faint, giggling hums. For the devil, being given such love was more valuable than any treasure or praise he would receive.

A slight groan emerged from the bulky guard they were using as a chair, and with a brief flicker of anger, the young woman swiftly reared back her leg, planting the sole and thick, elongated heel of her high-heeled shoes into guards. Her quick but well aimed strike also glanced enough of his chin to perfectly knock him out once more. She glared at him as if she was staring daggers at trash.

"You thick-headed pig. You're interrupting the rare amount of time I get to be lovey dovey with the guy I love. Get up again, and you're dead."

Was more than likely what she was thinking.

Her terrifying gaze instantly flipped back to that of a sweet, lovey dovey expression when she spun her head around to stare at Dante, cutely tilting her head and fluttering her eyes.

She really is something else…

Checking her Scroll for the time, Neo let out a disappointed huff and swung her legs outwards, hopping off of the devil's lap as she stretched her arms behind her back. She very intentionally gave him a gratuitous view of her splendid rear by leaning her torso down in a horizontal fashion and arching her back, extending her hips and rear as far back as she could. Standing up straight again while keeping her arms stretched behind her, the young woman then leaned forward, steadily tipping over until her large chest "pomfed" and buried Dante's face in it. Then, she lowered her arms and hugged his head, nuzzling her cheek on the top of his head as she lightly swung side-to-side.

Letting him go, she grabbed the sides of his cheeks with her hands and planted a sweet kiss on his lips, giving him a wink as she walked over to the wall and grabbed her umbrella.

"See you tomorrow, cutie." she signed before waving goodbye, quickly changing her form with her Semblance.

He waved goodbye in response, then gently clapped his hands together to make the holographic display disappear.

We're reaching checkmate. If what I saw on Rodger's drive is true… Then "that'' will be the piece that delivers the killing blow. However, he never managed to get the other necessary pieces because their acquisition was next to impossible from what I've read. Well, impossible for him, but not for me. Still…

He rested an elbow over his crossed leg, then plopped his chin into his palm, narrowing his eyes.

I can't just ask for that so casually without a good explanation… Well… I could, but it wouldn't be nice. Not to mention… It's an incredibly sensitive topic to just broach out of nowhere. Maybe I can ask Winter…

He let out a sigh, standing up as he adjusted his suit, unbuttoning both of the lower buttons before placing the data stick in his pocket. Leaning down, he patted the bald head of Fred two times in an appreciative manner, since the man served as the devil's chair for the evening. With his business done, he grabbed the glass cup he drank out of and passed through the doorway that slid open, taking a final sip before passing by a waiter carrying empty glasses and placed it quickly on the tray held in his hands. Now that he had some time on his hands, he loosened his tie as he stepped through the private room doors back into the main area of the bar.

The crystalline ceiling lights had been dimmed a good deal to set a sensual mood, for the majority of the customers in the bar currently were couples. Some were in their booths, laughing and giggling with each other, glasses of wine in their hands. Some enjoyed their dinners over some casual talk, while some took to dancing on the large ballroom floor towards the fad end corner. Dante, however, headed towards the bar, finding himself a stool to sit on as he ordered a frozen, blue raspberry and lime margarita. Some individuals would make fun of his choice, but the simple reality was that he liked fruity or sweet and sour drinks over the hard stuff any day.

It was, as he described it, "a lot yummier".

The pieces are all in place. Now I just need to wait for Neo to bring me the last piece I need. After that, one last testimony to back up that piece of evidence. Jacques Schee will have nowhere to run, no cracks to slip through. He won't have any of the board members to back him and none of the crooked officials in his pocket to rely on. Everyone on the list will be arrested at least an hour or two before his dinner party. He won't have any judges to take advantage of either since I requested Grand Inquisitor Melía to preside over the case, since I know for sure she can't be bought or threatened.

Dante folded his hands together in front of smirking fiendishly and chuckling eerily within the confines of his mind, putting a certain notebook user to shame.

We've won.

His drink was served, the handle long enough to be grabbed by his whole hand while the "cup" was essentially shaped like a goblet, the size essentially like that of a large and deep bowl. The glass held at least a liter and a half. Instead of the usual salt, the rim of the glass was lined with crystalline white sugar, a lemon slice pressed onto the edge while a red cherry rested in the center of the frozen beverage. The aroma had an enticing, fruity, sweet scent, and with a quick sip through the large straw, it was an almost perfect blend of sweet and sour flavor.

"Ah… Been a while since I had one of these…"

Looking down, he had realized he drank the whole glass within those short few seconds. It was just that good. Considering he put on one of his specially made patches earlier, he started feeling a slight tingle in his fingertips. That much was natural, considering the main composition of the drink was tequila.

Still, considering the stress of everything happening around him, he needed to decompress, and the only major operation he had was two days from now at the dinner party. Worst case scenario, he could just rip off the patch and detox in under a minute if need be, but until such an occasion arose, he just wanted to ride out whatever may come. So he ordered another drink of the same size, this time of pineapple and lemon flavor, and then another of strawberry and lemonade, and so forth. It was difficult to go slow and entirely savor the flavors.

Even so, twenty minutes would pass, and eighteen drinks would be consumed in that time. His body was slightly warmer than usual, and his motor control skills were only slightly hindered, requiring a little more effort than needed to finely control the movements of his hands or fingers. Most welcome however was the fuzziness that he was feeling in his head. Normally, he was constantly thinking and contemplating without pause; always alert enough to intercept a threat, always thinking of the future from situation to situation, or regaling the past on occasion when something of relevance came up.

The fuzziness allowed a rare, calm, stillness to his hyperactive mind while awake, his worries melting away, if only temporary.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips, eyes closing shut as he leaned forward, resting the lower half of his face against his folded hands atop the table. He slowly rubbed his thumbs side-to-side underneath his chin, steadily filtering out everything around him until he found himself enclosed in silence. His mind was completely blank, absent of thought and image. He would remain that way for a few minutes until he felt a rather agitated and discouraged presence blatantly radiating next to him, prompting him to open eyes.

Glancing over towards his left, he saw a woman sitting next to him on the other stool. His vision wasn't blurry yet, but he had to squint his eyes to focus, seeing that she was wearing a black, tube bodycon dress with arm sleeves connecting to the dress from her underarms, leaving the upper section of her glorious bust, her shoulders, and upper back exposed. From the tight, pencil-shaped hem of her dress to her underarms where the sleeves were connected, the sides of her dress were laced up in a stretched, criss-cross pattern, showing a fair amount of skin on the sides.

…

Either he was imagining things, or he genuinely didn't see any traces of underwear between the criss-cross lacing near her hips.

The dress encompassed her form entirely, emphasizing her large but amazingly shaped rear and hips, her slim waist, and magnificently mountainous, excellent rounded, perky bosom. Squinting his eyes more, he could see her arms were slightly muscular given the tightness of the arm sleeves, her legs also slightly muscled. Speaking of, her beautifully toned, shapely legs were long, where when glancing further down, he could see she was wearing shiny, black ankle-strap pumps with long, thick heels, white fur lining the top strap wrapping around above her ankles.

Indeed, this young woman was a perfect blend of curvy shapeliness and well toned musculature without being absurdly muscled. Her wild and flowing light blonde, waist-length hair had a glossy sleekness to it that gave off a beautiful shine under the dim lights of establishment, her side bangs draping over her shoulders in wild flares.

Looking further up, he failed to see her face, but then took note of the tiara-like blackness atop her head. In fact, two front pieces that were cropping out in a straight fashion almost looked like straight and smooth, diamond-shaped horns with elongated tips. And centered in the front-face of the horns were four-sided azure gems with an inky blackness sifting in wisps deep within.

…

…

No fucking way…

"The hell are you doing here?"

Azure eyes with black, serpent-like slit pupils turned to gaze upon him in a menacing manner, her eyes glowing faintly.

"Do I know you?"

Dante scoffed as he quickly swiped a hand across his face, revealing faint traces of white hair and his bright sky-blue eyes before swiping his hand across again to reform the entirety of his disguise.

"Y-You?!" Belîa jolted up, half surprised and half embarrassed as she quickly looked away, pretending as if she didn't see him, "W-Why are you here..?!"

"Work."

The tall knightess scowled, not believing him in the slightest due to the many large glasses and heavy smell of a sweet, alcoholic aroma coming from him.

"Why are you pretending to be drunk?"

He sighed, undoing a button on his dress shirt as he pulled on the collar far enough to reveal a black patch on his chest, "Not pretending."

"What is that..?"

"A creation of my genius little sister."

"And why would you use her incredible talents for such meager shenanigans?"

"I'm virtually immune to any poison or toxin that enters my system after a few seconds, so I can't even properly enjoy the occasional drink unless it's using something like this." The devil buttoned up again, "Is wanting to be normal for a change meager shenanigans?"

She closed her eyes, growling silently to herself in recognition of her mistake.

"Forgive me. One tends to easily forget that your… 'immunities' can cause you emotional distress at times."

"Right~? So respect me some more, you big jerk." He huffed, resting his chin atop his folded hands.

The Knightess rolled her eyes, receiving the olive martini she ordered in a larger than normal glass, which of course, in her hand was a perfectly normal size. It was a classy drink for someone with some genuine class, seeing as she was a model knightess. Even the way she drank her martini was done in an elegant fashion, from lifting the glass to consuming the contents in a timely fashion. Still… the question remained…

"So? What are you doing here dressed like that?"

"What business is it of yours how I dress myself?"

"None. Just asking a simple question is all." He sighed in the face of her aggressiveness, "It's just that I've never seen you dress like this before."

"And? What of it?"

"Nothing. Aside from looking really good, I was just wondering what the occasion was."

She flinched upon hearing his words, setting her glass down with a heavy sigh.

"In the past, I never had enough time to focus on my own… activities due to the extensive work of my Queen. As she led her double-life as a human, I took care of most of the proverbial slack from morning until the evening." Belîa leaned forward, resting her hands atop the table, "All I have been doing is fighting without much regard to my own future, and while I thoroughly enjoyed my service to Queen Satanya… W-Well…"

She curled a lock of her light blonde hair around her index finger.

"I… W-Well… I am at a point in my life where I am seeking… relations…"

…

…

He looked up at the ceiling, piecing together the bits of information that his fairly inebriated mind could.

Previously overworked knightess. Almost no time off. Traveled alone for virtually two years. Who knows who or what she fought? Now safe among trusted individuals. Time to do as she pleases for the first time in forever. High class bar. Sexy yet elegant dress. Relations.

…

Relations…

…

Oh.

…

…

Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh.

"Oho? Oho oho? The Embered Knightess Belîa acting so scandalously?"

"S-Scandalous?! Me?! If anything, you're the one that's scandalous!" She kept her voice aggressively hushed.

"Yeah, I know!"

"Don't be so blatantly proud about it!"

The knightess sighed as she leaned forward, resting her throbbing forehead against her hand. Dealing with Dante at times was headache inducing, especially with how… strange he could be at times.

"So? How many numbers did you get?"

"W-What?"

"Numbers! You know, to call or get called back? How many did you get? Like twenty?"

Belîa scoffed with a faint scowl, no longer giving the devil a sideways glance as she stared ahead at the array of bottles on the shelves behind the bar counter.

"None."

"Hm?"

"None, you fool."

"Huh? How the hell not? You should've been guaranteed at least ten if you were doing a speed-dating event." Dante reasoned, turning to rest his elbow on the counter and almost missing, "Did a few of them try to get handsy and you threatened to pummel them, or..?"

"None of the options you are thinking of." She clenched her other hand tightly.

"Then..?"

"Be serious. Take a good look at me."

He spun around twice in his stool chair, slowly coming to a stop as he raised the top edge of his hand to his forehead, narrowing his eyes on the Embered Knightess. He gave her a once over, humming silently as he carefully took in the entirety of her image.

"Yeah, no, I don't see the problem."

"How drunk are you..?"

"Not enough to where I can't see straight. But I am more relaxed, so…"

She sighed once again, taking another sip of her large martini glass. Belîa glanced over her shoulder, seeing Dante still staring at her quizzically.

"W-What is it?"

"I just don't get it at all…" He hummed, spinning around yet again in his stool, "So… what? Did they make fun of you because you were taller than them, or a little bit beefier?"

The knightess' hand quickly shot out at the edge of his seat, effectively stopping the devil.

"Only one attempted to be rather… insulting, but his wording was subtle."

"Not subtle enough apparently…"

"The rest were visibly uncomfortable, despite their best efforts to hide it. Some wouldn't even look me in the eye."

"You do have a certain… intensity to you…"

"How do you mean?" asked Belîa, pulling back her hand as she looked over her shoulder at Dante.

"Had the same problem ages ago. Apparently me being polite and attentive by maintaining eye-contact freaked out most people, so I started looking off to the side more during conversations." The devil leaned his back against the edge of the counter, resting his elbows atop the smooth wood.

She scoffed, "Me staring isn't the issue, and we both know that. My appearance is just too offputting."

"So what if you're like eight feet tall, a little bigger than most girls, and have some muscle? That doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters if those criteria are the main basis of my rejections!"

"Only to the idiots it does."

"What?!"

"Listen…" He pointed up in the air, "Looks are important, but they're not the most important aspect of a person. What is important is whether or not you like spending time with the person of interest. Sure, someone could look like a supermodel, but if you hate spending time with them, then your relationship will easily crumble like sand."

The Embered Knightess gently squeezed the sides of her temples, slowly shifting back as she finished her martini.

"Another, if you would, barman."

As the man worked on Belîa's drink, she rested her chin in one of her palms, the young devil glancing over as he deftly grabbed his massive, unfinished margarita.

"The simple reality is that compared to the rest of you, I'm greatly lacking in physical beauty."

"No you're not." He replied immediately, "What you're epically lacking is confidence in your own appearance just because you stand out more than most. And then, some jerks who can't appreciate real beauty put you down for it. Yeah, it sucks and feels pretty bad, but you should know better than to take their word for it."

He spun around in his stool twice before facing the bar counter once more, quickly sipping the rest of his glass before setting it down and sliding it off to the side with the other twenty-some huge glasses.

"What I'm gonna say, I say with utmost confidence and truth." The devil looked up at the Embered Knightess, "Those jerks can say whatever they want, Belîa… but you are beautiful. In body and soul. No one can say otherwise."

"How are you able to say such a thing so blatantly..? Did you forget who I am?" She placed a hand atop the counter, "I'm the Dark Entity known as the Embered Knightess. Amongst the known Lords, my 'legacy' is one of the most terrifying and brutal there is. What else could that make me if not..?"

"Beautiful, and reliable! No wonder I can count on you to take care of my dumb ass wherever I go!" He smiled brightly, the knightess' face now flushed a bright red, "And between me and you, Inuba's actually pretty jealous of your expertise in cooking meat or making meat related dishes!"

Dante gave her two gentle pats atop her hand.

"So you see? You aren't even close to being as bad as you think you are."

Just as he made to pull away his hand, he found it stopped shortly after by Belîa's slightly bigger hand. It was a little rough, but the overall smoothness of her palm and fingers demonstrated the knightess' great care in maintaining her appearance, in spite of her profession.

All manner of thoughts and feelings raced through her mind like ricocheting bullets, guilt being one the greater ones. After all, this young man was her Queen's lover, and soon-to-be husband once upon a time. Had he not been promised solely to the Queen at the time, she certainly would have attempted to begin a relationship with the young devil.

Why wouldn't she? Despite his reputation, compared to the vast majority, Dante was the most appealing suitor by far. Yes, he was handsome, was brilliant on occasion, and was humorous at times even if most of his "jokes" went over her head. Despite his usual antics, he was kind, generous, and wasn't terribly judgmental of others, be it their appearance or their personality.

But just as importantly… he was absurdly strong. Be it his might or his will, he was unshakable, and always rose to the occasion; never fleeing, never surrendering, never fearful of his enemy. Whenever it was do or die, he laid everything he had on the line.

Compared to everything else, these aspects of him appealed to Belîa the most, for his bravery and unwavering loyalty were always his most respectable traits to her. Indeed, from her perspective, there was no one more capable, suitable, or outstanding in the eyes of the Embered Knightess. But given her position and the circumstances of the past, it was a passion she could never pursue out of respect and loyalty to her Queen.

…

…

"Lord Aetherveil..?" She spoke in a quieter than usual tone.

"Yes?"

"Will you… speak plainly with me… without your usual semantics or theatrics?"

"Yes." He immediately responded, his tone becoming quieter as well.

"Do you… truly find me beautiful?"

"I do."

"Truly..?"

"Without question."

…

…

The more she thought about it, the more she affirmed there would be no one better in her future. No one kinder, or so accepting of her being. No one so genuine and pure with their feelings. The past was the past, and the circumstances surrounding the pair of irregular devils were different now. Thus, the feelings of guilt shackling her heart snapped apart quickly, a powerful yearning now ablaze in her heart and body.

With the wild thoughts running laps inside her head, Belîa's trembling self slowly squeezed Dante's hand tightly, her being entirely still and fearful when she felt his hand shift. But when he upturned his palm and interlocked his fingers with hers, any semblance of fear, doubt, and self-loathing washed away from the knightess' being like an ocean wave passing by her.

Words no longer needed to be spoken.

Having kept track of his amount of drink's and Belîa's, the young devil reached into his pocket and pulled out a black Lien card, tapping it on the sensor of the register in front of him. When a confirming "ping" sounded out from the machine, Dante got up from his stool while still holding the young woman's hand tightly, tilting his head towards the door.

Wordlessly, the Embered Knightess' expression softened from her previously tense state as she grabbed hold of her handheld purse and followed him out. She was very noticeably taller than him, given he was 6'3 and she was an even 8 feet. If that wasn't enough to draw attention to the pair from peering eyes throughout the establishment, their rather intimate hand holding did, some smirking or laughing, others visibly shocked or in disbelief.

Her usual calm and cool demeanor had already vanished from her racing heart and mind, a feeling of nervousness setting in from all the looks they were getting. A firmer grasp of her hand snapped Belîa out of her unease as she walked with the devil, the young woman watching as he gave their spectators the middle finger as he walked out. A smile crept upon her lips as tears began welling in the corner of her eyes, the duo walking down the street amidst the falling snow.

As the pair of knights walked through the night in search of a place to stay, occasional, small tufts of azure blue and platinum Aura could be seen flickering from their interlocked hands.

---

A bit of info-dumping this time around to set the stage for future events, and of course, some spiciness sprinkled here and there. About 50 pgs this time around if the doc is anything to go by. Realistically speaking, this arc should wrap in about... idk... maybe under 20 chapters? Given the pace I've been going at, it's a seemingly daunting task, but I'm trying. Lot's of exciting things that yet again I've been dying steadily to get to. Let's just hope things go smoother, and I find a job soon that'll afford me more time. All that aside...

If you have questions, ask them anytime. I will try to answer them without spoiling anything.

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! Your support genuinely matters.

With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend, and remember... be kind and excellent to one another, stay safe, and stay healthy.