Chapter 39: Rekindled
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Ren and Nora leapt off of the short cliff side, an explosion blowing over them as they took a moment to catch their breath.
"What's… What's that guy's deal?!" Nora asked between breaths.
Ren only shook his head as he got his breathing back under control, "I don't know… They just attacked and separated all of us…"
"Except us! Cause, you know, we're inseparable!" Nora stated happily, earning a chuckle from Ren.
The thunderous crash ended, and the duo nodded to each other as they quickly moved around the underside of the cliff a good enough distance to throw off their attacker, peeking their heads out to find their opponent out in the field.
He was a hulk of man, mostly muscle. Nothing special about his appearance; black pants tucked into a pair of black boots, and a gray sleeveless shirt. On his face, he wore something resembling a Grimm Ursa mask that fully enveloped his head, with only a few strands of messy black hair peeking from the back of his head.
On his arms were black, bone-like cufflinks, and on the underside were large, black bone knife blades that had numerous segments spanning the blade. The segments were connected together by numerous crimson strands that resembled muscle fibers. At the back end of where the knives connected with the cuff links seemed to be embedded Dust shards, red currently inserted into the back slot for explosive fire.
Normally, one would think because of his size he'd be slow and easy enough to move around. But the fight early on proved the duo wrong. For someone his size, he moved incredibly fast, and it didn't help that he had his tremendous strength to boot. But what worried Ren the most was how quickly and powerfully he swung those segmented sword whips of his.
A single blow had cut through a tree… Not to mention the raw power the Dust crystals added…
He dreaded thinking about being hit by them…
"Nora?" Ren asked drawing her attention, "Can you make a smokescreen from here by shooting at his feet?"
She took a few moments, peeking her head out of cover and squinting her eyes.
"Yup, looks like I can make it from here!"
Ren gave her a nod and quickly circled around the cliffside as Nora prepped herself, checking the ammo drum of her launcher once more before closing it up. Leaning her head back, and letting out an exhale, she quickly sprinted opposite of where Ren ran off to and leapt up into the air over the cliffside and took aim.
The man noticed Nora, but was too little too late as three loud shots flew through the air quickly and exploded near the man's feet, forcing him to lift an arm to shield himself. Pink smoke enshrouded him entirely as his head looked everywhere. Not having it, he raised up his other arm and did a wide sweep with his chain in the hopes of hitting the hammer wielder, but felt his chain make no contact with anything.
The man was too late to notice Ren had fallen atop the man and plunged StormFlower's blades into his shoulders, making the man cry out in pain as he flailed about wildly to shake his grappler off his person. Ren missed his initial target, that being the area around the man's neck, and raised one of his weapons up to finish the deed, but was grabbed and tossed into the dirt.
He ran up to kick the teen, but Nora had charged in and swung Magnhild into the man's side to send him skidding on his feet back into a tree.
Ren quickly stood back up and shrugged his shoulders a few times to shake off the pain that shook through his body.
"Those were quite impressive attacks." The man said with a deep, booming voice, "It's quite clear the two of you work well as a pair. That means I'll have to end this as quickly as I can." The man spoke as he twirled his chains twice.
Ren focused his glance on his opponent, "Nora, we can't afford any mistakes here. We need to-"
"I know." The girl softly replied as she switched her grenade launcher into its massive hammer form, "Don't worry Ren, I won't mess up!"
With that, he gave his partner a nod and was the first to move, leaping over and in between the chains being lashed out at him as he got closer and continued firing his weapons. Ren handled a majority of the attacks, but noticed his attackers focus splitting up when he moved one of his arms and chain to attack Nora.
She too demonstrated superb dexterity under assault of the deadly chains, but it was her attacks that made the man move back, dodge, or slice into the grenades shot at him. He was put off balance, allowing Nora to slide down and through his legs, turn around, and unload a grenade shot into the man's back before she stood up, transformed her weapon, and smashed it into her opponent's head to send him stumbling forward.
Ren followed up from the front by uppercutting his foe using one of his weapons to leave a cut across his chest. Still in the air, Ren quickly twirled around and delivered a powerful spin kick into the man's face.
The duo, sure that their attacker was completely disoriented, moved in to finish him with Nora targeting his legs and Ren his head. But they themselves were caught off guard when the man seemingly recovered almost immediately from the exchange of blows and kicked Nora's hammer away from its trajectory before he backhanded the girl away from him.
Ren was caught in his mighty grip soon after, but fought back by stabbing the man's hand repeatedly until out of annoyance, he tossed ren away from him and into the ground, causing him to bounce a few times until he rolled to a stop.
The two partners slowly picked themselves up to see the man laughing heartily at them as he circled his arms around, his chains flowing freely. They had the time to regroup by the will of their opponent but he then reached into a pouch behind him and pulled out two large shards of yellow dust.
Inserting them into the attached slotting mechanism on the underside of his arm, and whipping his chains once, they crackled to life with vibrant and violently flowing lightning that cut into the earth as they trailed his path.
A chuckle emerged from him as he took slow strides forward, whipping his chains menacingly twice before pausing a brief moment and resuming, only now, he whipped them about his person continuously as he made his approach.
The idea was to intimidate them. And it was working to some extent. But now, at the very least, their unfavorable situation was somewhat salvaged now that he used lightning. And given Nora's Semblance, it would definitely provide them an advantage. Regardless, being hit with the chains directly had to be excruciatingly painful, and Ren didn't want to needlessly put Nora in danger simply for the sake of gaining an advantage.
If there was to be an opportunity to just grab them when they're at rest…
Ren's train of thought was interrupted when he quickly avoided a chain lashing down on him, while Nora raised up her her Magnhild to block the other lashing at her horizontally. Separated, the man had an easier time of keeping them from attacking him simply by preventing them from combining their attacks.
Whenever Ren moved in, he used on chain to keep him at bay while he used the other to stop Nora's advancement. Ren made no attempts to block, lest he be heavily damaged, and tried his best to weave in between the chain strikes to find something of an opening, anything usable.
But nothing was working. The man was skillfully keeping them both occupied with his chains. It wasn't until now however that Ren realized the chains moved in odd directions and flows. Sometimes when the man moved a chain, Ren expected to avoid it entirely, but the chain seemingly sought him out at times.
With no choice concerning the next strike, Ren quickly leaned back to avoid a swipe and flipped backwards and over another swing, and like he figured, the chain had sought him out. He had no option to dodge, and so he raised up his StormFlower weapon pair and blocked the strike, feeling a heavy current pass through him as he was launched into a boulder nearby.
"Ren!"
Nora's shout drew the attention of the man as he slung his other chain down on Nora, the girl using the handle end of her weapon to stop its contact with her body. Both chains were wrapped around the opposite ends of Magnhild, electrifying the girl as she resisted the pull of the man.
Little did he know, the constant flow of electricity was only making Nora stronger as she suddenly let out a roar and pulled hard enough to bring the man towards her as she spun around, chains unraveled from her weapon and slammed her explosive hammer into her enemy's chest and sent him flying.
Quickly recovering after tumbling shortly, the man dug his hands into the earth and charged Nora, this time prepared for her hammer strike. As soon as they came into close contact with each other, the man grabbed Nora's hammer, and was slowly being forced back until he used both hands. It was then Nora was the one being overpowered.
Even with the power of her Semblance, she still couldn't fully stop the immense force of her opponent, and was eventually pushed into the ground before being tossed away.
Nora flew into a rock formation, the sheer force of her crash causing the rocks to fall and bury her. Ren had already moved around the man and ran to where Nora fell and helped pull her out from the ruble.
"He's… He's too strong..!" Nora said in between breaths as she winced slightly.
Ren knew that now after seeing he easily handled Nora after she was powered up. Running was their only chance of living, but… that was only a pipe dream at this point.
"It clear to me you wish to retreat." The man spoke up in his deep voice, "And I suppose I'll allow it."
He… was going to let them leave..?
"However, I'll impose one condition." The man spoke as he took a step forward, "One may leave. The other is to be left behind."
…
…
Leave one another?
Dante and Ren leapt back from their exchange of blows. Ren was breathing heavily, and Dante exhaled slowly once before both he and his sparring partner relaxed their stances, stood up straight, and bowed to one another.
"Not so bad Ren. With more practice, you'll be even more menacing with those fists of yours."
"Thank you, I suppose?" Ren said after having calmed down his breathing.
"No joke, you've got some serious hand-to-hand skills. You actually made me keep my guard up the whole time."
"Which I imagine is a triumph in its own right?"
"Triumph, huh? Eh, I guess." The immortal stated with a shrug as they both sat down and drank some water from their bottles.
"How was it at first when you discovered you were immortal?"
Dante glanced at Ren briefly before he shifted his gaze up to the sky.
"I guess… It was a bit maddening. Seeing something that should've certainly killed you happen right before your eyes? You're bound to go a little crazy. But that feeling didn't last for all too long."
"How come?" Ren asked.
"A realization. If I don't have to worry about dying, then I can keep fighting without worrying about myself. Plus, what better way to scare the crap out of your enemies if you're still charging at them full speed like nothing happened at all?"
That'd certainly be terrifying for someone not used to such a sight…
"I can certainly see it's uses…"
"Right?" Answered Dante, "You know what's actually scary? How well you and Nora work together."
"Really now?" Ren asked smiling.
"Yeah, man. You guys works fluidly together like a really well oiled and cared after machine. Like you'd guys never break down, or something along those lines. Almost reminds me of…"
He paused briefly, his gaze falling to the ground before looking back to Ren.
"Eh, that's not all too important right now. What is important though is that you and Nora keep a tight grip on the bond you two have. Nothing will ever be more important in this life."
"One leaves… while the other gets to survive?" Ren asked, his tone solem and his gaze falling to the ground.
"That's right young man. If you wish to leave the young lady and escape, that's fine." The man answered, "However, if you wish for her to be the one to escape, then you must be the one to remain."
Silence had fallen among them. Nora looked to Ren with concern, not for herself, but afraid that he would volunteer himself to stay behind and let her escape, something she didn't want to happen for any reason at all.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Nora's eyes lit up at Ren's sudden response.
The man looked to Ren from afar, and saw the teen glaring daggers at him.
"There's no way that I would ever leave Nora by herself. Not now, not ever." Ren responded simply as he stood up fully, "You're wasting your breath on a result you'll never get."
"Then you'll die together?" The man asked.
Ren smiled as his gaze seemingly grew sharper and more fierce.
"The only one that will be dying… is you."
"Is that so?"
"Yes…"
Ren felt immense power flowing through his body, his earlier injuries no longer painful to him as his pink Aura briefly flared around him before condensing itself to his body and vanishing.
Nora herself suddenly felt invigorated herself, and like Ren within the next moment, noticed blackened energy clinging itself to her arms, covering her fingers, hands and forearms all the way up to the center of her arms. The blackened energy formed into black, twisted armored gauntlets that were heavily plated.
Ren's black armored Gauntlets had the same twisted design, only sleeker, more elegant and not too heavy on the plating. That, and the tips of his fingers had sharper claws compared to Nora's.
As soon as Nora gripped her Magnhild, its silvery color changed to pitch black, and it became larger as it took on a more brutal form, all while still maintaining its somewhat elegant design.
Ren had briefly glanced over his newly armored hands and arms, turning his sharp gaze back to the man as his white sclerae, along with Nora's, were now a pitch black color. Taking a stance and raising up his hands, the teen readied himself to begin the fight anew as he delivered the final part of his reply.
"It is so."
"Then so be it!"
The man whipped his chain forward, but missed both his targets. Nora simply leapt back to avoid the swiped at her, but Ren…
Ren had completely vanished. That was until he showed up on front of the man and stabbed his index and central finger into the underside of the man's arm. He cried out in pain and swung down on the teen, but he was moving fast than before, striking at his opponent rapidly with his fists before kicking him in the gut and sending him skidding on his heels.
He's stronger?!
The man was confounded, and totally focused on Ren. That in turn allowed Nora to position herself behind him, and pull the trigger on her enhanced Magnhild to fire off a grenade. The shot, however, did not move like a grenade. It had no angular curve, and moved straight like a beam, almost like it was a railgun.
The projectile flew through the air at near invisible speed and tore through the man's shoulder, and even after the projectile burned through him, he had been launched backwards with immense force. His only method of stopping was crashing into a boulder, and even after, he crashed through and rolled around until he stopped on his own.
There was no rest for the man, for Ren had already made his way over and began attacking his opponent numerous times, stabbing the points of his fingers into the man wherever the teen struck.
More and more, the man began to feel numb all over. It just felt like his body was getting weaker. But a human doing this much damage in such a short time? It was incomprehensible.
His train of thought was broken when Ren delivered a powerful punch to the left side of the man's face, and then followed up with a heavy palm strike under the jaw of the man to launch him up. Nora had moved in quickly as well, leaping up overhead of Ren and smashing her hammer down into her opponent's face.
His large body crashed into the earth and tore through it, leaving a gaping trail in the dirt as the man was sent into a hill that collapsed on him shortly after.
It wasn't any strange wonder that the man was having trouble using his Aura. Ren had blocked off his opponent's pressure points where his Aura was being channeled through, this preventing him from using Aura in specific sections of his body. This not only left him unprotected against Ren and Nora's onslaught, but it left him unable to counter or attack.
Ren noticed it early on, but the way the man swung those chains was too irregular. Some of their trajectories never followed their expected destinations, and went out of their way to seek either of the teens. Thus, Ren could only conclude that Aura had to be involved, and more specifically, his opponent's Semblance.
He never used this type of fighting before in a live situation. Dante had spoken off this method of targeting pressure points to debilitate the enemy, and even trained with Ren so that he too could use this style. But he wasn't strong enough at the time to reciprocate it effectively, and thus never used it in combat.
Until now.
"He won't be getting up after that…"
Almost as if fate was challenging her, electrified chains shot out from the smokescreen, and almost hit Nora where it not for Ren. He had moved in front of her, grabbing hold of chains with his armored hands as he fell to his knees from the intense electricity coursing through him.
"Ren!"
Ren's eyes opened at the calling of his name, the pain seemingly lessening as a burning fury welled up within him, overtaking the sensation of pain he felt. With a loud roar, Ren stood up on both feet, and with a mighty pull, yanked his enemy out of the smoke.
The man couldn't understand what was happening. All he saw after he was pulled towards Ren was the teen's black armored fist crush in itself in the center of his enemy's face, and sent him flying.
Just when his torment had seemingly ended, Nora had already zipped off to the other end where he was heading towards, and was rocketed high up into the air by the brutal force, and equally brutal looking Magnhild.
Ren had ran towards his partner, and leapt up on the head of her hammer before she spun around and quickly launched Ren in the air with a mighty swing. Like a bolt of lightning, the teen surged through the sky with intense speed, passing his enemy before he too spun around, reared back his arm, and smashed his fist into the man's chest.
The next few moments could only be described as if one was watching a shooting star of pink light crashing into the earth, making a huge crater in the process.
Ren stood at the center, breathing heavily as he removed his fist from his enemy and took a few steps back.
The man's body was battered and beaten beyond recognition. And it didn't quite seem like he was alive either. If he was…
…
Ren had listened closely and waited. And waited.
…
No heartbeat. Which meant it was safe to assume the man had died.
Ren let out a sigh, and failed to notice he was stumbling backwards until he felt a pair of hands supporting him.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded to Nora's question, "Yes… I'm alright… Somewhat…"
Nora giggled at that as Ren found his footing. Both had watched the blackened armored break off of their hands like ash, floating up into the air before vanishing moments later. Magnhild had even returned to its original form as well, and Ren's StormFlower weapons were in his hands once again.
"Do you have any idea what just happened? Because I have no idea what heck just happened…"
Ren had hidden his weapons, and stared at his hands briefly before smiling.
"I think I have an idea. But I don't think I can totally be sure until…"
Ren turned his head in the direction of approaching footsteps and sighed in relief once he saw it was Ruby and Jaune that approached them.
"You guys okay?!" Jaune asked as he came to a stop.
"We're fine. I assume the both of you handled your attackers accordingly?" Ren asked.
"Of course!" Ruby said proudly placing her hands on her hips.
"That's good… What about Dante? And your uncle?"
Ruby and Jaune looked between each other briefly before Ruby answered Ren's question.
"Dante made sure to put a barrier around Qrow before we were separated. But… we haven't seen Dante at all."
"Do you think he's okay?" Nora asked worriedly.
"Knowing him, he's probably trying to find us right now. Question is… how can we make it easier for him to find us? Or even find him for that matter?" Jaune pondered.
They all looked between each other, and noticing a flash off to the side, Jaune's eyes lit up as he got between everyone and expanded his shield.
A bolt of flame had crashed against his white shield, protecting his allies as the flames pushed past them.
Looking up, they saw a figure in a forest clearing, smiling at them while he pointed his finger at the group, as if his hand was imitating a gun. Wasting no time, he immediately ran.
And like he expected, the group ran after him.
They pushed through the heavily wooded forest with Ruby at the front given she was the quickest. And once they broke through the forest, they came upon a valley, with cliff sides on both sides of them that seemed to span infinitely towards the sky. A huge lake was a few hundred yards in front of them.
But there was still no one in sight.
A whistling sound carried itself through the air until it got close to the team and exploded at their feet. Jaune however once again came to the rescue as his shield blocked the blast, splitting the flames past the edges of his shield.
"To think a mere human was able to block my flames with such a small shield… I'd be impressed if you weren't such a lowly subspecies."
Their attacker approached from behind them, wearing a black pinstripe suit with grey lines, a black and grey line-pattern tie, and shining black dress shoes that seemingly had silvery plated metal covering the entire bottom soles of his shoes. On his wrists were thin, silvery bangles that looked as though different, elegant strands were woven together to form them, and on his right index finger, a ring that looked as though a draconic beast was eating its own tail. And on his waist was a grey belt with a black metal buckle resembling a Grimm-like flat dragon skull.
The man's eyes were a burning orange, his irises black slit pupils that stared deep into the souls of the teens as he slowly and proudly strode towards them. His chin length and slightly mess platinum hair blew around in the breeze that swept past them all.
He also looked young, maybe twenty from what the group could tell.
The man stopped a few dozen yards away from the group, keeping his smug smile on his face as he glanced over them all. Then, without warning, he raised his right hand up, clenching all but his index finger and thumb to make it resemble a handgun.
The group readied themselves for an attack, but the man only stood there, grin growing wider as he chuckled softly to himself. Then, all he did was move his arm up and behind him, and clicked his thumb down to resemble a hammer from a gun firing as a bolt of flame immediately shot out from his finger and into the rocks above.
A fiery explosion came first, then all the debris and rubble came tumbling down, blocking off the entrance.
"That was the only way in or out of this valley. Well, unless you're able to climb all the way to the top of course." He said raising up the hand he fired a bolt from while keeping the other hand in his pocket.
The man looked off to the side for a moment, placing a hand near his ear to try and attune his hearing.
"Heh… And it seems like your other friend is still a bit of a ways from here. Just like we planned."
"Are you here for Dante?!" Ruby shouted at the man.
"Hoho, well look at you little one." The man said as he glanced to Ruby.
In the next second, Ruby had almost been hit with a bolt of fire, but she found herself able to dodge just in time, allowing the bolt to only graze her cheek.
"Don't talk to me like we're on the same level, mongrel." The man cautioned, "As for that brat, well… Let's just say this visit of mine is an unsanctioned one."
"Unsanctioned?"
"That's right little insect. We were told to leave him alone, but after hearing so much about him, I couldn't help but round up a small crew. Two for the young man, the rest for you to play with and kill time."
"What do your people want with him?" Jaune asked.
"What indeed. That's for us to know and for you to not worry your scraggly blonde head over."
It didn't seem like they were going to get answers out of him, not unless they beat it out him at least…
"Well… Here's to hoping Kailêk can hold your friend long enough for me to finish with you brats. Come forth mongrels," The man said raising up both hands to urge them to come forth, "Let's see how strong you really are."
Dante broke through a clearing, and hurriedly looked around, seeing the remains of a battlefield all around him.
He took a few moments to slow down his run and come to halt, looking around the sight more clearly now that he wasn't running through. Bullet casings… Large ones.
Ruby was here. If there was anymore evidence needed, the casings were of a silver colored metal, and from picking one up and inspecting it, he saw a small marking on the side that had the initials RR.
Inspecting the area further, he could see more signs of where the battle moved to, given a few of the trees had been either scorched or cut down entirely. Most importantly, he had to find it.
He looked around, eyes quickly scanning the ground and the trees until he found what he was looking for.
An emergency marking he had taught Ruby and the others in case they were split up. The marking was hard to read, intentionally so in the event a pursuing enemy would give chase. But if one knew the secret to the marking, like the five of them did, it'd be easy to understand its meaning.
With that, he had his destination.
Or so he thought.
A few steps forward and he found himself stopping suddenly, his vision blurry as a strong sense of exhaustion swept over him, bringing him to his knees. Dante covered his head with a hand as he took deep breaths, turning himself around so that he could lean his back against the tree.
"Damn it all… The worst possible time…"
Exhaustion was finally starting to hit him, heavily too.
He could fight for days on end, weeks even.
But that was exactly the issue. He had been fighting nonstop.
Ever since regrouping with Ruby and the others, he never rested himself properly. Even sleeping was done on false pretenses just to bring a sense of comfort to Ruby that he was properly resting. But the truth was that he never slept a wink the whole time. Surely, he kept his eyes closed, but he kept all his other senses open, sharp, and vigilant for anyone or anything that would mean them harm.
Tyrian only amplified his anxiety. Aizûr and Eradûm only worsened it to an entirely different level.
And so Dante had remained vigilant, like he always was. Never resting and always making sure everyone else was safe regardless of the consequences to him. He may have been entirely unkillable, but he was still able to get exhausted under the right circumstances.
No sleep, no time to rest properly… It wasn't a mystery as to why this was happening.
The only thing of real concern to him were two things. His Aura Reserves, and RNJR.
He needed to get a move on and help them, but his Aura Reserves were fairly low, another consequence of his weeks on end without rest.
"If it was the old me fighting…"
"Do you plan on reversing time to be your younger self?"
Dante's gaze snapped up to the shadowy figure in front of him that oozed inky black Aura from its person in great quantities. It looked like him when he used his Shadow Skin…
It was the Proxy…
"I was wondering when you'd show your face again…"
"You already know when exactly I appear."
"I have an idea of when, nothing more." Dante replied simply, "But now… Now I just don't know."
The shadowy figure knelt down to Dante, so that they could be eye level, "I think we both know why I am here."
"Words of mysticism I suppose that'll allow me to win in this situation."
"Funny, but no." The shadow spoke with a wave of its hand, "You say that you are at your limit right now, but is that really the truth?"
Dante gave the shadow a quizzical glance, "I don't follow."
"Don't play coy." The shadow spoke as it grabbed hold of the teens cheeks, turning his head to make sure he saw him, "You know what I speak of."
The immortal brushed away the cold spectral hand, "That is never going to be an option."
"You've already realized it. You realized it since that lunatic attacked you. You realized it when the two dragons attacked you. And now…"
Now…
"You know there's no longer any room for reservations if you wish to protect them."
Even so…
"Is it really the only I option I have now?" Dante asked.
"You can stay here and let them die of course. But I suppose that's something that won't quite do."
…
…
There really was no other option…
"Look inside yourself. You know it's there. It's always been there, waiting for you to unlatch the door. Rekindle the flame."
With the Proxy's last words, it dissolved in the air, scattering like blackened ashes as Dante watched them vanish one by one. He let out a sigh, pushing himself off the tree as he plunged his sword into the ground, where he then sat in "seiza", placing his hands atop his thighs near his knees. Closing his eyes, he let himself drift as darkness took him.
("Blades of Chaos" Extended OST, God of War 4)
The immortal walked the long dark upon a surface of water, each step he took making him feel all the more uneasy. When he first came to Remnant and discovered it was still here, he made sure it stayed here and was never used.
Now… It brought upon him a sense of shame that he needed to come back here and re-obtain it. To use it just so he could win. And he hated the fact it was necessary, that it all came down to this.
This… This was his greatest burden. A painful reminder of the past he left behind, the people he once called friends. Just thinking about it brought on a powerful rush of all the terrible things he had ever experienced.
But for them…
…
For them, he would have come here at any time if it was the only option left.
Dante was eventually met by two large black metal doors that stood leagues above him in height, decorated with countless waves that resembled energy, and countless devils swallowed up by those waves.
It took some effort, but he managed to quickly push the doors open and step on through.
Seeing it made him stop in his tracks, forcing him to bite his lip as he let out a heavy sigh and reluctantly stepped forward. Each step only made him want to turn back all the more, but it needed to be done.
It was funny. Those phrase was all he ever needed to go through with his crazy ideas and plans. "It needed to be done". "It was necessary". All those times, he was never afraid. But now…
He was terrified.
Dante stood face to face with it, a deathly chill washing over him as his gaze fell on its form. His hand slowly reached out, and the cold grew with intensity as his hand touched it, his eyes closed in solemn silence.
…
"The time for reservations… is over. I can't afford to play around any longer like I have been. I won't let the past repeat itself. I… I will do whatever it takes to protect what I want."
(1:01)
His eyes opened, a more hardened gaze staring back at his Shadow Skin, standing in front of him like a suit of armor with its clawed hands resting atop the pommel of a black longsword.
This wasn't the same thing he had been using all this time. This… This stood as a testament. A physical representation of the Dark Power he once thought had left him. But he knew the truth all along.
It had never left. That power was weak to the point it was mere embers, but it survived. Knowing this, the immortal deliberately placed it under lock and key, that way he'd never use it on accident, only if he willingly did so of his own accord. As his new powers grew, so did his old Dark Powers, albeit at a very minimal rate.
He intentionally neglected them.
Now though… Now was the time to take back what was his and use it to protect, regardless of the painful past it reminded him of.
(1:30)
"You never really knew when to call it quits, did you? Then again, that is part of the reason you're here as well."
Dante turned his head to see from the corner of his a familiar figure. It was a being completely wrapped in glowing white robes, and brilliant wings of pure white. Blonde strands of long hair, and golden colored eyes stared at the back of the immortal.
"Like a moth to the flame, you come running back once matters take a turn for the worse. This is the fool I lost to?"
"Aultus… Still lingering about are you? You're supposed to be dead."
"But I am dead. The current me is but a fragment left behind, waiting to activate at just the right time."
"To spite me, no doubt." The immortal replied
"I've been watching, you know. Seeing everything through your eyes. That Shadow of yours was correct. You've neglected your wonderful power simply because of the pain it has brought you. But really Dante, you of all people should have faced facts already."
The once living Angel of The Trinity took slow strides forward until he was directly behind Dante, placing his disgusting hand on his shoulder.
"You're a monster. Always have been, always will be. Changing around your whores won't change that fact, regardless of how much they 'love' you. Trying to do good deeds and saving lives will never erase the oceans of blood you've spilled."
…
…
"You're absolutely right. I am a monster." Dante said pulling his arm back, "I'm probably the biggest monster to ever plague the entirety of Creation."
As the immortal spoke, his body quickly became blanketed in black Aura to form twisted segmented armor and his devilish head, his Shadow Skin now fully formed.
(2:18)
"But I'm not the monster you wasted ten years of your life to make." Dante spoke in a hollow, echoing voice as he backhanded the Angel's projection into oblivion and moved forwards back towards the door.
Consumed in a flash of light, Dante found himself back in reality, his entire body Shadow Skinned as he opened his eyes to show his glowing white irises and black sclerae, slowly standing back up on his feet.
(2:28)
The Shadow Skinned immortal grabbed hold of his longsword backhand style, pulling it from the ground and twirling it into its normal position as he stared down the gathering of Grimm that surrounded him.
He welcomed them openly.
The first pack of Beowolves charged in without fear, as did immortal as his feet seemingly left the ground barely as he surged forward almost instantly, spun around, and hacked through the first flock of five in a single swing.
More filtered in, confident in their numbers as they pressed the attack, but Dante leapt up into the air above the swarm of Beowolves and surged downwards into a powerful, explosive sword slam of violent black and white Aura that shredded the poor creature into chunks of meat.
The Ursi soon followed, clumsy swinging their massive arms at the teen as he effortlessly moved between them, his body disappearing and reappearing in black blurs among their ranks as he stabbed and hacked them to pieces. Eventually he leapt on top of one and plunged its sword into his skull, then turned to continue the onslaught.
He leapt from one Ursa to next, delivering a killing stab to one before he leapt onto another, eventually coming upon the alpha of the pack and dashing past it to take its head.
Thinking they had set a clever trap, a mixture of Ursi and Beowolves had encircled the teen, and were about to pounce on him, but he let out a quick chuckle before he back flipped out of their encirclement, gazing down on them from above.
With a loud grunt, the transformed immortal quickly spun himself around, sending out a fan of dozens upon dozens of black and white Aura swords that carpet bombed the Grimm below before he immediately twirled around once more and delivered another destructive fan of swords.
As soon as all the swords had hit the ground, half a second had passed before they all exploded in fiery blasts of the teen's Aura, completely obliterating their ranks into nothing but mere scraps of flesh and bone that dissolved soon after.
An ear piercing roar sounded through the clearing as two Berengal smashed their way out of the forest, spotting the transformed teen and charging at him after they pounded their chests. The one at the front was the first to suffer, for Dante had rapidly swung his sword twice and unleashed thin, neat waves of his black and white Aura that cut off the arms of the first Grimm to make it eat dirt.
Dante welcomed the other one head on, tossing his sword high up into the sky so that he and the Berengal could grapple each other's hands. The beast, to it's surprise, was almost immediately overpowered as Dante twisted its arms around to lock them up before he harshly tugged the creature towards him and delivered a devastating headbutt that caved the creature's face in.
Catching his sword, Dante quickly walked over to the armless Beringal, plunging his sword into the ground next to it so that he could use both hands to grab hold of its head and snap its neck with a harsh twist that almost took the Grimm's head clean off.
A pack of five from the earlier group of Beowolves thought they had snuck up behind Dante, but they thought wrong. The teen's sword was already in hand, and when he grasped the handle and pulled in opposite directions, the longsword transformed into a twisted spear, allowing the teen to stab one Grimm, and swing his spear into another and another and another until he skewered them all on his weapon.
With a quick thrust outward, he shot their corpses off his weapon as it took on its original sword form. In front of him stood more as they slowly began to step away from the Devil.
But the Blackend Devil wanted his due.
Grabbing his sword with both hands, he pulled the weapon apart to create dual blades, and dashed forward, using only one of them at first to cut apart a few of them, then performed a cross slash with both blades to cut another Grimm into pieces. Without giving pause, Dante ran forward, swinging his swords in front of him at blinding speed to the point of where his slashes seemed create perfect X shapes as he diced through the fresh meat.
To finalize his combination attack, Dante leapt up and twirled his body sideways to turn himself into a sawblade, tearing through the Grimm and the earth before he performed a final cross slash to wipe out another flock in front of him.
A quick second later, he tossed his dual blade into the other half to create the full weapon once again.
Nothing remained intact. All the Grimm were either dead, and very few were in the process of suffering slow deaths from all the pieces of their bodies that had been hacked away.
Another roar sounded throughout the forested area, this one sounding bigger than the Berengals.
But this one he recognized.
One of their biggest was on its way to play. Perhaps this one would be more of a challenge.
A column of flame bursted through the treeline and swept past Dante as he stood his ground, waiting as the thunderous footsteps grew closer with each second.
It was a Minotaur Grimm, much like the one he and Inuba fought months ago. It stood at twenty feet tall with bull-like legs and a humanoid upper torso. Only the head resembled that of a bull, with its bone white mask and glowing red eyes and red markings sprawled across the mask.
In the creature's hands was a large metal hammer that was lit aflame.
The Minotaur let out another echoing below at Dante, who continued to stand where he was, unimpressed with the creature's show of strength.
Instead, the immortal smashed his armored fists together, his sword splitting apart into four pieces. Two covered his arms and hands to form twisted, armored gauntlets, the other two blanketing his feet and legs up to his knees in more blackened armor. The adorned greaves and gauntlets bore elegant, glowing white lines and waves etched into the black metal, slowly pulsing with energy as the teen took a stance and readied himself.
The bull charged forward and swung down, but Dante easily avoided the attack and landed a solid punch to the creature's jaw to crack its mask. Angered, it tried to backhand the teen, but he instead leapt onto its massive arm and leapt up to deliver a power uppercut under its jaw to force its head up.
Dante's momentum carried him up with the creature's head, allowing him to spin around as he brought his leg all the way up to his own head and slammed his armored heel down onto the Minotaur's head to leave another nasty crack in the bone as its head collided with the floor.
The Grimm was quick to get up, grabbing hold of Dante with both hands. But no matter how hard it tried, it could not lift the teen off the ground. Instead, the teen steadily pushed away the colossal creature's hands wrapped around his body and dealt another devastating blow to its face.
The immortal, now having forced back the creature, threw his shoulder into its massive hulking body to lift it up off the ground and run with its huge body in his hands. A few moments later, Dante tossed the creature off of him and into a rock wall, and began delivering a flurry of devastating and rapid punches to wherever his hands could reach until he delivered another powerful punch to the throat to fully seat the beast.
Dante moved back a few paces, then brutally stepped on the creature's arm that held its giant hammer, completely separating it from the main body. Kicking away the arm, Dante grabbed hold of the massive hammer, took a few more steps back, then charged forward to end the best.
Swinging the hammer around and under, he landed the solid chunk of metal underneath the Minotaur's jaw to lift it into a standing position. Using the momentum of the swing, Dante had lifted himself up into the air as well, the hammer he held now high above his head before he brought it down on the beast's head with a loud roar, completely crushing it's head into paste as hammer and head met the rocky ground they stood on.
(End Song)
Dante smashed his fists together once more to discard his greaves and gauntlets to form them back into his longsword, and within the next second, his Shadow Skin dissolved from his body and scattered like ash.
Somehow… He now felt refreshed.
No, refreshed wasn't right. Surely, Dante felt better now; his Aura Reserves had been restored and his exhaustion had left him. Yes, he had been renewed, but he felt something more from this occurrence.
He now felt… just a little more complete than he used to.
Complete. That was it.
For months now, his Aura Signature had been fluctuating greatly. Sometimes his Aura was strong and vibrant, other times it was frighteningly weak. But now… everything felt balanced out.
It was the restoration. Dante had learned his "newer powers" were always his own, just locked away from ever being able to be used. And when his Dark Powers were diminished beyond usability, they undid the shackles. Even if the new set of powers were unlocked when he came to Remnant, it left a detrimental imbalance that ended up making him weaker than he was supposed to be.
But now? Balance had finally been restored.
He could feel it for the first time in his life as he glanced at his hands a brief moment, clenching his fists as he could feel his Aura flowing more freely and calmly.
Even so… He thought about it all for a few brief moments. The pain, the suffering, the tragedy; all of it came rushing back the instant Dante opened the door again. Regardless, he had already made up his mind.
The past had shackled him a great deal already. But he understood it all now. He didn't need to fight it any longer.
He was the one in control.
"Man, I round up a small army of Grimm just to take you on, and you kill them all while laughing in my face about it. Tch… you punk…"
Dante looked above towards the source of the voice, spotting him sitting above a cliffside, freely dangling and kicking a leg about.
It was a man dressed in a black biker jacket and pants. The jacket had been zipped up, and had small tufts of black fur around the neck and color. The man also wore fingerless gloves, and black boots that shone under the light of the sun. A pair of golden sunglasses covered his eyes as his messy, near shoulder length platinum hair drifted with the gentle breeze. Black headphones covered his ears, which made Dante note that the man had probably been watching the whole time as he listened to music.
He looked around twenty five years old…
"But seriously now, did you wake up pissed today brother? Because man, you seriously shredded through them like they were nothing!"
I don't have time for this idiot…
Dante looked forward towards the path he believed Ruby and the others had gone and kept on walking, acting as if the man didn't exist.
That was, until the man suddenly appeared in front of Dante in an instant.
"Hey now, that's not very nice you know? I went through a lot of trouble just to set up this little shindig, you know?"
"And I really don't care if you did. Out of the way."
Dante moved forward, but the man insisted in standing in front of him.
"You know as well as I do there's no other way to go besides through me. So let's do this the old fashioned way brother. Mano a mano."
"I'm not in the mood to deal with you. Get out of my way. I won't tell you a third time." Dante spoke with a much more menacing tone as he stood just mere inches away from the man.
"Brother, you know I'm not-"
The man yelped when he narrowly avoided a stab to his throat, and leapt away from Dante.
"Hey, that was dirty!"
"Dirty?" Dante questioned with a quizzical glance, "There's no such thing in a fight. There's only winning, and that's that."
"Tch… Real serious type… Alright!"
The man reached behind him and pulled out two baton rods, the handles resembling coiled together muscle fibers while the rods themselves were thick, circular black bone. On the sides of each baton were four thin, sharp strips of outcropped bone, possibly done so to add a sort cutting effect.
Dual weaponry and seemingly very quick… This will be annoying...
Dante glanced to his sword a brief moment, letting out a sigh.
I can't waste too much Aura on this clown. I have to end this as quickly and effectively as I possible while being superbly efficient with my Aura. But what to… Ah…
Dante reached behind his back and sheathed his weapon, earning a confused glance from the man in front of him.
"What? Don't tell me you're giving up before we start?"
"That's not it." Dante called out as he removed his sheathed weapon from his back, "I was just taking the time I have to think quickly."
"What about?"
"How to kill you in the quickest and most efficient way possible."
The man sounded as he just tried to stifle a laugh. He was amused.
For now anyway.
"I can already tell you're a technical fighter, so regardless of what my methods are, fighting you will still be a pain and take some time. My only problem is finding which method will kill you quickest without wasting too much Aura."
"Brother, you are really starting to piss me off with that attitude of yours, thinking you're higher above me or something."
Dante pursed his lips together and hummer briefly, "That's not it either. Enemy or friend, I look down on nobody."
The immortal held his sheathed weapon at his side now as it warped it's shape to take on the form of katana. The cross guard simply shrunk down to two inch prongs, and the blade simply curved itself slightly, the sheath taking on the curve to fit the weapon properly.
(DISSIDA FINAL FANTASY: NT, Massive Explosion)
"Listen and listen well." Dante proclaimed, "There isn't a single thing in this whole universe that I can't cut or kill. Be you human, Faunus, Devil, angel, or even God, it won't matter in the end. They all fall the same."
"Alright ya damn punk..! You asked for it!"
The man leapt at Dante, but the teen slid a foot back, quickly drawing his sword. In the man's eyes, Dante only pulled his sword halfway before sheathing it, yet somehow, the air around the man was filled with tens of dozens of slashes, all within an instant as their energistic zing sounded through the air.
His body was littered with cuts immediately as those slashes appeared around him.
"Damn, you got some bite to ya! Alright youngster! Kâlek's the name! Best you remember it after I beat you down!"
"Then and take a piece of me. If you can." The immortal challenged.
Kâlek spared no time and charged straight for Dante, watching the teen slide back a bit before he kept doing his near invisible draw slashes that unleashed a flurry of slashes wherever the man went.
He could only run around. Stopping meant death, that much was certain.
It took him some effort but the man leapt in close to Dante, attempting an uppercut that failed before the immortal began countering his opponent using only his sheathed sword. He didn't even draw the weapon, and simply continued to smack Kâlek with the scabbard hard enough to make him feel it whenever he left an opening for Dante to exploit.
Speaking of an opening, the man had thought he finally found his, but this too proved to be a faulty triumph. With that same blinding speed, Dante draw slashed once, but two cuts appeared on the man's batons. And on the last strike, the immortal actually drew his weapon for a quick and powerful slash that left a deep cut across his enemy's chest.
Kâlek didn't falter, he kept himself moving, assaulting Dante from every angle he could using his batons and kicks.
But it was all too easy. It was all so much simpler now.
The immortal's defense was frustratingly on point an nigh impossible to penetrate given how quickly he reacted to everything thrown at him.
It almost terrified Kâlek that someone of Dante's age could perform such feats against him of all people.
Even so, he still had a trick up his sleeve.
Kâlek took quick note of Dante, seeing the teen lean forward a bit as his feet glided over the ground in a blindingly fast dash. During this short dash, the immortal quickly drew his sword entirely this time before twirling and sheathing it once more, leaving a trail of slashes in the path he traveled.
But his opponent was smart enough to jump high up into the air to avoid the attack.
No, being smart had nothing to do with it. It was either just dumb luck or a survival instinct that kicked in.
"Alright brother, time to really lay the hurt on you!"
"I'm still waiting."
Kâlek let out an angered laugh and charged forward again, and Dante only shook his head as he too ran forward, hand hovering over his sheathed katana to cleave the man in two as soon as he approached.
As soon as he was within striking distance, the teen did exactly as he intended, only he missed somehow.
Dante twisted his body around and delivered a high side kick to stop the baton about ready to strike him over the head.
The teen couldn't quite understand what was happening now. Every now and then when he was sure he was about to deliver a killing blow to Kâlek, he missed every swing and stab as his opponent danced around him with a smug look.
Once again, baton and blade clashed against one another, but the man still had a few tricks to show. He quickly tapped his other baton against the butt of the other one and spun around to deliver another p
Dante noticed something odd, rather, he noticed something was missing.
Where was the other baton?
He soon found his answer when the man swapped hands and the other baton found itself harshly crashing against the back of teen's skull. Kâlek let out a triumphant laugh as he went in to deliver a deathly swing at the teen's head.
To his surprise, the immortal raised up his sheathed weapon and stopped the blunt tool from proceeding entirely. Wide eyed, the man did nothing in that next moment but watch as Dante smashed his fist into Kâlek's face to send him flying.
The teen scratched the back of his head where had been struck, then propped his weapon in front of him, resting his hands on the butt of the katana.
"Now… you have my undivided attention." The immortal replied.
Kâlek let out an angry roar as he ripped off his shattered sunglasses and readied his batons.
But now, he held them in an odd position, as if they were…
Nunchucks… How quaint…
Now the immortal understood the blow from behind.
Kâlek began twirling his nunchucks around himself, going at a slow pace before gradually speeding up to a blindingly fast pace. That wasn't all however.
Lightning began to gather at the rods from the intense circulation of wind. The man let out another roar as he leapt up into the air, and slammed one of his nunchucks into the ground, unleashing three separate torrents of jagged lightning that were on collision with the teen.
As if that could stop him.
Dante's feet seemingly left the ground only barely as he dashed forward to face the bolts of lightning head on. Then, in a rapid series of blurs, Dante's hand and sword moved at blindingly fast speeds as he continued his dash, cutting through three different bolts of lightning as he quickly approached his target of interest.
Yet again Kâlek began twirling his nunchucks around rapidly, erecting a barrier of lighting around his person as Dante's blade screeched closer and closer. While the lighting barely did enough to stop the immortal's sword from cutting through it, it gave the man plenty of opportunity to retreat.
What the hell is this kid?! I heard he was some sort of freak, but this?! This is just insane!
The man's train of thought was broken when he felt something and looked behind him, seeing Dante already waiting for him and swinging his sword.
Another large cut had been run across the body of the man, but as Dante went in for seconds, the man dodged over him and crashed into the ground.
There was no choice. It was time to use it.
Kâlek's golden Aura flared up around his body, and then, he vanished.
The immortal's eyes widened before he was struck from behind, but he quickly spun around while lashing out his sword to catch his attacker, if that was even possible.
Dante had now taken a more defensive approach now that his attacker had shown his hand. Striking randomly would only waste energy and time, so he decided the best approach was to stay were he was and continue defending until he found a clear pattern of attack.
The attacks were too random, almost as if it were…
Kâlek had ended his onslaught, appearing in the air above Dante as he used his lightning to keep him standing in the air.
"Alright brother! This ends here!"
The man twirled his nunchucks around, this time faster than before. Bolts of lighting began appearing around Dante to in what seemed to be the hundreds to form an inescapable dome.
…
It would seem I have to use it. Even if for but a few brief moments.
Dante drew his sword from his sheath, and pointed it up at his enemy, his sharp gaze focused on him before he swung outwards. A burst of black Aura completely swallowed up his entire body, vanishing moments later to reveal the twisted, black armored form of his Shadow Skin.
But it was different. The armor was less heavily plated, and now more sleeker, elegant. Even his horns were slicked back slightly at a diagonal angle. And the scabbard he held for his katana… it seemingly grew an outcrop of two connected bones that folded together in a V shape, one that attached itself to the arm and the other to the scabbard, fusing the two together.
Kâlek would have lied to say he wasn't a slight bit intimidated with the new form, but it didn't matter. He had Dante in an inescapable iron maiden of sorts. There was no hope or even chance of escape.
Little did he know, Dante didn't need to escape this meager prison of lighting.
All he had to do was shatter it to pieces.
With a forceful swing of his nunchucks, Kâlek called down the cage of lightning bolts as they glowed more vibrantly with energy, and were ready to strike.
"You think something this petty has a chance of stopping me?" Dante called out in a hollow, echoing voice.
Kâlek's smug smile vanished as he watched the transformed teen slide his foot back into a stance, his blackened, clawed hand hovering his katana as his black and white Aura blazed brilliantly around him.
"Don't get ahead of yourself..! You trash!"
Dante had seemingly slid forward, but apparently also in numerous different directions in a circular angle around him.
They were but afterimages as both he and his "look alikes" vanished instantly. Then, within the next instant, every single bolt of lighting had been slashed and cut out of existence. Within the last second, Kâlek could only watch as Dante knelt on the ground, drawing his katana over the top of his scabbard before slowly inserting the weapon, pausing very briefly before forcefully pushing the weapon back into it's place of rest.
And then… Kâlek found himself littered with dozens upon dozens of deathly cuts around his entire body before he fell to his knees gasping for air, then feel flat into the earth.
(End Song)
Dante slowly stood up as his Shadow Skin vanished afterwards, allowing the teen to rub the back of his neck freely and stretch it out.
He took one final glance at his seemingly defeated opponent and turned to walk away.
As he did, the bloody and cut apart Kâlek stood in front of him, ready to bash the teen over the head with his baton. Dante drew his sword to counter, then grasped it with both hands to begin his motion of cutting down the man.
But, everything began to move slowly, to the point Dante seemed frozen. Kâlek smiled victoriously as he stood a short distance away from Dante and rushed forward to deliver what would have been a finishing blow.
He, however, did not see Dante twirl his sword into backhand style and thrust his sword behind him. Just as he expected, his katana had met Kâlek's heart.
The man coughed up blood, wide-eyed as his weapons clattered to the ground, his hands weakly grasping the sword now embedded in his chest.
"There's no… fucking way… you could have…"
"I'll admit this much. Your efforts in hiding what your Semblance's capabilities are were somewhat impressive given your… boisterous personality. But your 'suicide' attack essentially confirmed it for me." Dante spoke as he slowly turned around to face his attacker, holding his weapon steady.
The man angrily glared at Dante, weakly reaching out with one hand, but just falling short of the immortal.
"Your Semblance is something of a reversal. It allows you to place yourself directly behind your enemy so that you can deliver some sort of sneak attack, given that they are unaware of your abilities of course."
"How did you..?"
"Know? It was quite simple really. The set up of my previous attack is what helped me. Usually when an opponent disappears right from your very eyes, there are only two assumptions to make. They're either directly behind you or above you."
"That's..! A fifty fifty guess! You… couldn't possibly..!"
"I did check above first. Hence why my sword was raised up so high. Then, after seeing you weren't above me, I was absolutely certain you would strike from behind."
Kâlek's angered expression changed to that of surprise when he truly realized what had happened.
"You… You set me up..!"
Dante's smirk grew, "That's right. That feeble attempt to counter you and intentionally leaving myself open was nothing more than bait. Considering you were desperate to finish me off, it was only logical that you'd take it."
"You're… a real freak..! A monster..!"
"And? What of it?" Dante asked as he plunged his blade deeper into the man, slightly churning his tool of destruction to inflict more pain, "True as it may be that I'm a sort of freakish monster, that doesn't change where my allegiances lie. To humanity and Faunus kind, for starters. But more importantly… to those whom I wish to protect."
The man weakly groaned and gasped for air as he tried to grab hold of Dante a final time.
"You and your comrades stabbed the Devil in the back without even realizing it. And so, the Devil's claimed his dues. You can come at us all you like. It won't make a difference." Dante said as he grabbed hold of his attackers face with his free hand, "This 'monster' will always be ready to greet you and cut you out of existence without fail. That, I promise."
With his final words spoken, Dante pushed his opponent of his katana, letting his body crash to the ground with a heavy thud. The immortal whipped his blade outward of him to completely remove any bloodstains, and sheathed his weapon as he began leave.
But once again, he found himself irritated that he had to stop.
Kâlek has used whatever strength he had to lunge at Dante, his body glowing with lighting inside. He was going to destroy them both with this blast. Or so he thought.
The immortal paused for a brief moment, drawing his katana out of his sheath and quickly twirling it above his head twice before slashing it down in front of him. Kâlek had frozen entirely, letting out one last groan of pain as he watched Dante twirl his weapon once, slide it across the top of his scabbard, and slowly sheathed his weapon.
As soon as the weapon had fully been place back into its sheath, the man's body burst with fountains of blood as his body fell into dozens of pieces.
All that remained of him was a small portion of his cut apart torso, and half of his head.
The immortal let out a relaxed sigh, knowing now his opponent had finally been defeated.
"So annoying…" he said as he took strides forward.
But he stopped briefly, raisin up his bandaged right hand to stare at it.
It was hurting less. Brief flashes of negligible pain were still present, but it hurt far less than it did previously.
Lowering it to his side, he glanced ahead and began running once more. He already wasted enough time with his opponents. Now, he needed to make haste to help the others.
And destroy the enemy foolish enough to attack them.
(Omake: It's All in the Poses, by me)
"Damn Brother, you're pretty strong!" Kâlek commented to Dante, "What's your secret?"
"Secret?" The immortal questioned.
"Yeah! Everyone's got some sort of secret to make 'em as strong as they are! So what's yours?"
Dante brought a hand to his chin as he genuinely began to think about it.
"The first, healthy meals. An obvious, yet still crucial one."
Kâlek pulled out a pen and notepad and began taking notes.
"The second, daily exercises in the hundreds. Such as one hundred pushups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundreds, and a 10 kilometer run. Every day."
"Got it, got it!" Kâlek said as he continued taking notes.
"Third, long warm baths for at least an hour or less. It helps relax the muscles and helps sweat out any nastiness that would make you sick."
"Good, good!"
"Lastly!" Dante exclaimed as he tapped the butt of his scabbard against the ground and placed his hands on the pommel of his katana, "The poses!"
"The… poses?"
"Yes! They are absolutely of crucial necessity!"
"You're kidding, right?!"
"Absolutely not. Have you ever seen JoJo's Bizarre Adventure? The proof is evident. Poses are everything!"
"Alright, if you say so!" The man said taking the last of his notes, "Awesome! I guess with all of this stuff, I'm bound to be a kick ass maniac when it comes to a fight!"
Dante stood a distance away, smiling faintly. But his thoughts betrayed his expression.
This fool has no idea that he's now lost.
(Weapons Illustrated 17)
"Heya guys. I'm Dante."
"And I'm Ruby!"
"And today we bring you…" they said in sync as they posed together, waving their hands, "Weapons Illustrated!"
A small party horn sounded in the background as confetti blew around them.
"Been a while since we done this. Let's hope we still got it." Dante said stretching himself out.
"We totally got this!" Ruby affirmed.
Dante checked the sheet of paper in his hands with Ruby, and both froze up when they saw what was on it.
"I-Is that..?"
"Yeah…" Dante answered Ruby, "Seems like it unfortunately…"
"What do we do?"
Dante let out a sigh before crumpling the piece of paper and tossing it away.
"What we always do for the segment. Even if we're going to be a little bit… reluctant."
Dante cleared his throat before he began again.
"Alright, bit of a surprise, but today we're going to be talking about… ugh… Aizûr's weapon."
"Oh? I swear I heard someone call my name…"
Ruby and Dante looked to their left to see Aizûr standing a few feet away from the duo, calmly waving "Hello" to them.
"W-When did you get here?! And how?!"
"I was in the audience the whole time. Couldn't you see me waving at you?" The dragon masked man asked.
"N-No… I didn't…" Dante admitted.
"Oh well. Can't be helped." Aizûr said shrugging, "Now then, I believe you're talking about my weapon today?"
"Y-Yeah… But, we don't know the name of your weapon… So…"
"That's an easy one. It's name is Ephîldûr."
"Not bad." Dante commented with his arms crossed, "So, why don't we state some facts we 'think' we know and you confirm them?"
"That sounds good. I'm actually eager to hear what kind of theories you've created since the time we fought."
"There is one thing I know for a fact… Your sword is able to phase through objects."
"Yes and no. Be more specific."
Dante took a moment to think, glancing over the battle in his memories.
"It doesn't just phase through anything! It specifically phases through inorganic matter!"
"Bravo! You seemed to have figured it out. My sword allows me to bypass most armored enemies to deliver deathly blows. In the case of clashing swords, should someone block me while the phase effect is active, not only would my weapon pass through the weapon or their armor, but it'd leave a fairly nasty cut I'm afraid. As you discovered for yourself." Aizûr explained.
"Yeah…" Dante commented, "But I did figure out a way to counter it."
"Did you now? Do tell."
"Well, from what Dante told me, your ability works by vibrating at super high frequencies right? So if someone has a weapon or object that vibrates at the same frequency or higher, it cancels out your ability."
Aizûr chuckled silently to himself as he raised a hand to his chin.
"Impressive, young man. You got all that just from a single encounter? You're a pretty scary kid, you know?"
"Whatever… There any other tricks up your sleeve with that weapon?"
"Nope."
"What about what it's made of?"
"Can't say."
"Can't say?" Dante questioned, "You don't know or you won't say?"
"Can't say."
The immortal groaned audibly at how easily Aizûr was making fun of him.
And the dragon masked man laughed silently another time.
"I-I guess… That's it for today's segment…" Ruby stated awkwardly, scooching closer to Dante.
"What? Over so soon?"
"Well, there's not much else to cover, so…"
"But there's so much more!" Aizûr interjected, "At least, now you know there is. Who knows? It might be my turn soon enough again."
"I'll die before I left that happen…" Dante murmured.
"I suppose it would be time to call it a day then. Alright everyone, we'll be seeing each other again soon enough. Bye bye now!" Aizûr waved.
I'm very late, I know. Exhaustion, work, and illness that lasted for about week made it incredibly difficult to do much of anything. But now it's here, so no worries. Yay.
So, Nora and Ren. For Ren, I had this idea of him using pressure point targeting for the longest of times. I can honestly see him doing it. So when thinking of his "upgrade", that's what I rolled with, only it had an added effect. That effect is disabling Aura whenever he struck an area of the pressure point. Not only would a person's Aura shielding fail them in that specific Area where he struck, but the Aura wouldn't flow or work properly in that struck Area. Bit of a simple one here, but I liked it.
Nora was a bit of a challenge. I almost had no idea what to do for her, but thankfully, Xera Stark came to the rescue and helped me flesh out her upgrade. And as you saw for yourselves, that upgrade was in the form of a railgun of sorts. Instead of grenades, rail gun shots. And when in hammer form and pulling the trigger, the hammer had the added force of a railgun shot. Essentially, this was an upgrade to make the ever strong Nora even stronger.
Now then... Dante...
Yes, you saw correctly. A fragment of his original power survived, albeit a very very tiny fragment. As Dante worked on growing his new powers throughout his time so far in Remnant, his old powers steadily grew back at a slow pace. To clarify, he doesn't just get everything back by reactivating them. Like with his new powers, he mostly has to start from the beginning again. So, that's that. Unless there's more questions or needs of clarification.
With that, I have nothing left to say. So with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story XSRA's Flame written by Xera Stark. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it pretty much immediately. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and more than definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying!
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!