Chapter 49: Penultimate Struggle
«»
Hell.
It is very real.
For centuries, people have pondered and questioned whether or not this terrible realm exists, or if it's simply a fabricated horror tale to persuade others from wrong doing. Others may even believe Hell is inside your head, or terrifying events happening right before your very eyes.
All these are correct and more.
There exists a realm tailored specifically for dark beings, or creatures of a darker nature. But Hell can manifest right before your very eyes when you least expect it.
All because of a foolish bunch who couldn't understand…
Scylix pushed herself out of the ruble, chunks of debris falling off of her as she rose back up onto her feet. Her pale hands swept and patted down her black cloak-dress, freeing it of the dirt and smudges it had been dirtied with. One hand quickly moved up to her neck, rubbing it gently as she replayed what had just happened in her mind.
Dante had… thrown her, for lack of a better term. To be precise, he grabbed her and flew off with the Dark Entity towards the distance to out space between them and his allies. What confused her so much wasn't the fact that he threw her.
It was how easily he did it that was slightly startling.
A small thud was heard further away, drawing her attention to the teen in the distance, waiting for her to come on out. So she took steps forward out of her would be burial site, and looked the teen dead in the eye.
"You can't be the same Dante from before. Or rather, you shouldn't be." She said, dusting herself off once more for good measure, "I don't know by what miracle you've become this physically strong, but I know one thing is certain." The woman said, her purple eyes giving off a brief flicker of purple, "You have no Aura."
He hadn't used Aura or his Semblance a single time yet. Also…
"The moment you stepped in here, I couldn't feel a single trace of your Aura Signature. Thus, there is only one logical conclusion to derive at this point in time." Scylix said, pointing towards Dante, "You anticipated my strength, and therefore sacrificed your Soul to be able to fight me head on through physical means."
It was what made sense. She understood the concepts of sacrifice, and what great power it could offer. If Dante sacrificed smaller faculties to turn into the blackened beast that he was days ago… what was to stop him from sacrificing his soul to become so much stronger? But as much as it gave the teen a huge advantage, it also came with a weakness presumably.
He couldn't use , how could one use Aura or a Semblance without having a soul?
He couldn't.
"I don't know how exactly you managed to achieve this, but it's very much certain that your power in terms of raw physical ability has increased tremendously. But… it's regrettable." Scylix said, a twisted smile forming on her face, "You've wasted your last chance to defeat m-"
"Shut up and start fighting, you're wasting my time."
The teen's sudden comment stopped Scylix, mainly because of the audacity he had to say such a thing, regardless if he cut her off or not. But it didn't matter.
He would be dead soon enough.
Scylix's body became a black blur, vanishing out of sight in a staticy noise and appeared behind Dante, a black twin spear staff with deep purple colored blades in hand as she swung down on him.
The teen immediately spun around and swung his new sword across his body, parrying the attack. The collision of their attack created an explosive shockwave, erasing the ruins near them entirely. As the ground trembled before them, the two engaged one another, Scylix keeping up a fierce and powerful front as she struck at Dante repeatedly with powerful blows, while all the teen did was parry each attack without so much as batting an eye. Each exchange resulted in the destruction of the environment around them as the earth continued to quake from the constant forces of destruction that shook it.
Dante parried a few more of the attacks, which where now quick and deadly fast twirls from the twin blade staff. Scylix then transitioned into a downwards swipe, letting out a small battle cry as she and her opponent clashed blades.
"Surprising, isn't it? You probably didn't expect my physical force to match yours, and perhaps imagined I would stick strictly to range like I did in our last fight. But this time… This time, I've decided to crush you with brute force, and best you by your own terms!"
The Dark Entity's freed left hand reached down to the center of her chest, and she dragged one of her sharpened nails down, creating a small cut to expose her chest.
Dante's eyes followed the cut, and saw something embedded deep within her flesh. It was an elongated, diamond shaped white gem that glowed with black energies within the crystal.
"That's right. I physically fused the Gem with my body to grant me it's untold power. You likely didn't expect this, since the last two people you've seen use one of these Gems simply used it. As such, they couldn't entirely access the power. But you know of its failsafe, I presume?"
No one could use the full power of the Gem. No one that was of a supernatural force like a Dark Entity or Angel, at least. It was clear that some individuals among the two factions had a lust for power that only grew with more promises of power. And from what Dante learned, The Gems were made so that the two sides could never use its full power, only a fraction, or at least half of it.
"The Gem may be resisting my nature as a Dark Entity… but… It isn't resisting my once human nature."
Dante's eyes narrowed slightly, the teen now interested in hearing what she had to say.
"Us higher class Dark Entities were typically Human at one point, or some form of intelligent life before we turned away from all things good and Light. And there are some, like that King, that are simply born as such." Scylix explained, "As you can imagine… I am the latter. A human who became a substantially more powerful being from the burning hatred flooding from the depths of my soul. So… even if the Gem resists my nature as a Dark Entity, it will respond entirely to what was once human."
Each Gem was an amalgamation of one million souls, and the power of so many souls bundled together to create the object that is the Gem thus is able to grant practically every wish and desire within reason. For instance, one cannot become God within a day if they wished it, but the Gem can advance their growth as being quickly enough so that they could well be down the road to become one in a short amount of time.
Aultus had the Gem he found for a week, thus it enhanced his already Divine powers to the extent it made him a God. Scylix had the Gem for approximately a day. But if what she said was true, and if her desire was strong enough, the Gem would fuel her power much more quickly than it did with Aultus.
Which meant the fight had to end today.
"Are you beginning to understand just how much more powerful I am than you, Dante? If not, let me demonstrate for you!"
Scylix broke off their clash, resting her twin blade back as it brimmed with her purple and black Aura.
"If I desire it, the Gem will allow me to utterly obliterate you into nothingness with one strike!"
With her attack charged up, Scylix thrusted her twin blade forward to pierce Dante, expecting the teen to turn to ash the second it made contact with him.
But it never happened.
A soft zing of metal was heard, and Scylix found her weapon stopped entirely. When she saw what had stopped her blade, she was utterly taken aback.
A finger. That's all that had stopped her weapon. One, single finger that had its tip pressed against the pointed end of her weapon.
With a slight push from Dante's finger, Scylix went skidding back on her heels, stopping only when she plunged her twinblade staff into the ground to slow herself to a halt.
The Dark Entity growled at the current predicament, standing up and plunging her weapon into ground before digging her sharpened nail deep into her palm to draw blood. With her fingertip as the pen and her blood as the ink, Scylix began writing runic scrawls on her arm at a quick pace as she chanted.
"Deep within me, my Demon writhes forever, blackening my soul to deepest Dark; As I breathe, my soul burns and fills me with an eternal guilty desire!"
The runes drawn on Scylix's arm began to glow purple and lifted off her arm and into the air, streams of black and purple coming together to form an enormous blast of Aura, that spread out like a sea of flame and surrounded Dante from all sides.
"The Demonic soul within me leads me thus, far from the sight of God, wanting and broken with dread into the deep darkness! And into my eyes it throws visions of blackened destruction!"
The Aura surrounding the teen began forming into a dome made of serrated chains, completely cutting off any means of escape.
"Prison of the Damned!"
The last few chains tightened up quickly in the dome shaped formation, completely entrapping Dante inside.
Oxygen would soon be cut off, and his Aura would be drained until he had nothing left. The Aura that was absorbed would then be used to reinforce and repair the chains against forms of internal damage, making it truly a hellish prison to be trapped within. It would be where Dante would spend his final moments.
Or so Scylix thought.
A loud, echoing, metallic zing sounded throughout the planes, and the chains fell apart into thousands of pieces within seconds, Dante's sword gleaming under the red skies as he kept it raised outwards of his body.
The Dark Entity was frozen in complete awe, unable to register what had just happened as the teen strode forward, completely unscathed.
"You must be having a hard time processing what you just witnessed…" Dante spoke up as he continued to walk across the black sands, "Let me make this easier for you. Yes… this is really happening. This isn't some sort of illusion or dream you think you may be experiencing."
This couldn't be real. He couldn't possibly-
"I let you make as many moves as you wanted. But now… I'll be on the attack."
Scylix's eyes widened in shock when she saw Dante had instantly closed the gap between them, and ran his blade across her chest, leaving a deep cut that surged with blood.
The woman's own body blurred out of sight and appeared further in the distance, her hand clutching her body as her cut worked to heal itself. Her gaze focused upon Dante, who had lowered his blade, staring straight at her.
"What's wrong?" Dante asked, "Are you afraid?"
Her wound healed, Scylix dropped her hand, squeezing both of them tightly out of frustration as she gritted her teeth.
"Don't get so full of yourself, boy! Do you forget you are human like the rest of your little friends now?!" The Dark Entity shouted.
"Human, you say… No… I don't quite think I am that." Dante said, looking up towards the sky, "All this time, I tried my hardest to act like them, and be like them, even though I'm not. And in the process… I was never able to really act like myself. Not entirely, anyway. From now on… I do what I do because I want to. And I fight because I want to fight, not because someone forces me to or expects it of me."
"Is that really the kind of attitude you should take when trying to save the World?"
"Honestly? Screw the world." Dante spoke bluntly, earning a quizzical glance from Scylix, "I could care less about the World or Creation. I gave more than enough and more than I should have protecting Creation. The only reason that I'll ever fight for the World, and for Creation… is because the people I love are in it."
The Dark Entity's hands unclenched themselves, and the woman began taking slow strides towards Dante, stepping down from the ruins she stood upon. Her dress changed slightly, gaining a tattered, diagonal slit from the left side of her dress to show off a pair of feet and legs armored in twisted black metal up to her knees. Her long and wide sleeves tightened, and pulled themselves up to about her elbows, as armor formed on her hands.
The woman's long, black hair also pulled itself up from the back, clipping it together and letting two of her side bangs dangle over her shoulders.
"Hmph… You may have gained outrageous strength to stand here before me… but for how long, I wonder?" Scylix mused as she descended.
A swift motion of her hand, and the sands beneath their feet crackled briefly with purple Aura, turning the black sand into a smooth, plateau of obsidian that spanned for miles.
"You don't have the same power that you did to defeat that rogue Angel. How can you expect to stand against me and the power of the Gem?"
"I have all the power I need to take you down."
"Is that so?" Scylix said, twirling her twinblade rapidly a few times, "Very well then, hero. Come forth, so that we may end this take of tragedy."
(Dissidia: Final Fantasy OST - Chaos, Last Battle 1)
The woman's body surged with a violent burst of black and purple energy, winds rushing past Dante and kicking up the tails of his coat.
"Your volition cannot overcome my daunting power." The Dark Entity spoke, "Hope for the future is lost with your pursuit of it. Now, Dante… perish, along with your destiny of defiance!"
Scylix moved forward, spinning and swiping her newly formed twinblade at the teen in quick slices. Dante parried the first two strikes, then placed his sword in front of his body to block the rapid twirling slash that followed through. Once her attack ended, Dante swung at the woman with great force, sending her skidding back on her feet.
Instead of waiting, as soon as the Dark Entity's feet touched the ground, she performed a backflip and swung her weapon, letting loose a large and powerful wave of her blazing Aura. It crashed into the once immortal, trying to push him back. The immortal's sword began tearing into the wave, and with one forceful push, the teen cut the attack in half.
Another attempt came in the form of six dagger tipped chains, all of which Dante cut apart quickly, with just enough time to block a rising slash up into him. Scylix gave chase up into the air, spinning her body around continuously and letting loose numerous, thin waves of her Aura that threatened to cut the teen apart into pieces. Dante jumped leapt and dodged the first few slices, cutting apart the last few and watching Scylix crash into him, leading with her right foot as they both plummeted to the ground.
The teen spun himself out of the kick, rotating to Scylix's back and leaving a large cut across her flesh. Just as he went in for a second slice, he took note of the Aura gathering around Scylix, and vanished in a blur of white, reappearing a distance away from the column of Aura that shot up into the sky.
Once the blast vanished, Dante noticed Scylix was no longer where she was previously, catching a glint of light up in the sky that made him look up. The Dark Entity's twinblade was raised above her head, charging with an orb of her black and purple Aura before she swung it down, unleashing it into a large, cone shaped blast.
The teen reared his sword back, waiting for the beam to get close enough, and when it did, he swung his blade forward into a powerful stab, completely erasing the blast in one blow.
(1:44)
The Dark Entity's body suddenly shot down into the ground, her dark Aura cloaking her body and expanding outwards into another pulsing shockwave as she let out small battle cry. This time, black wisps sifted off her person as her irises blazed with powerful, cracking her neck by moving it side to side.
Her feet quickly lifted off the ground, allowing her to hover over the obsidian plateau as her twin blade floated near her hand.
(1:59)
Scylix's weapon shot forward, controlled by an invisible force as she moved her hands and body in fluid motions, her weapon following her movements. Dante moved in between her attacks, blocking and parrying each swing of her weapon. Its movements were faster and more free ranged compared to when the woman held onto her weapon in hand.
Putting distance between herself and Dante, the Dark Entity called her weapon back to her hand, "Watch in awe!"
The woman's body blurred out of sight, appearing near Dante and letting loose a rapid series of cuts and slices before teleporting out of sight, reappearing in his blind spot a moment after to continue her frantic attacks. She continued teleporting around the plateau erratically, striking Dante numerous times before disappearing and reappearing in another blind spot, making it harder for Dante to pin her down accurately.
The teen noticed how he was being pushed further up into the air, seeing Scylix teleport directly beneath him to stab at him with her twin blade.
"Die with your dreams!"
As she thrusted her weapon up into Dante, numerous, consecutive blasts of her dark Aura shot out from the tip of her spear, barraging Dante from all angles in front of him.
Once the smoke settled, Scylix growled silently to herself as she saw Dante standing in the air, simply having his sword raised up in front of him and pointed down towards the ground, shielding him from the blast entirely.
The Dark Entity herself teleported back down to plateau of obsidian, her weapon floating behind her as she brought her hands together up above her head. Once she quickly drew them apart, a large orb of black and purple Aura formed and grew larger than her body by three times. Dozens of smaller orbs appeared around her in a large circle, then shot out into small, penetrating spears that homed in on the teen from various angles.
Dante raised up his sword in front of him, and as the bolts closed in, the teen's sword arm moved in an invisible blur, slicing around him in all directions and directly countering each bolt of Aura.
With the prelude of her attack finished, Scylix's arms reared back slightly before she forced them forward, throwing the large sphere at Dante. The teen's arm moved across his body, and forcefully swiped outwards, letting out what looked to be a clear, thin, slicing wave. The wave traveled through the air with startling speed as it crashed into the sphere of Aura, setting off a massive, chain explosion that blanketed the whole area in smoke and shards of black glass.
(3:28)
As the smoke cleared, Scylix was the first to be seen, gritting her teeth in frustration as the smoke pulled away to reveal a still unscathed Dante, the two glaring at each other across the battlefield. Dante took the first few steps forward, slowly walking towards Scylix as her feet quickly carried her towards the teen. Their paces quickened into full on sprints, and until they got close enough, both warriors lunged at each other from across the distance, quickly flying over the plateau.
(3:41)
Both sword and twinblade clashed with each other head on, unleashing an immense shockwave that pulsed across the planes with tremendous force, blowing away the sands near them. Their blades remained locked for but a few brief moments until Scylix broke their clash, pushing Dante back a few yards.
As the teen raised his head, he could no longer see Scylix in plain view. Suddenly, the ground trembled violently, Dante remaining perfectly still and keeping his eyes open, soon seeing a colossal shadow towering high above him.
An enormous, thin black arm with red swirls reached out from beneath the plateau, crashing near Dante as another arm reached out, slowly pulling out the titanic creature from the abyssal glass that made up the ground. It was the same creature Dante, Inuba and RNJR fought at the entrance to this area, only now, it had a complete lower half as it stood tall above Dante at about fifty feet. Scylix stood atop its right shoulder, the creature letting out an ear piercing, earth trembling roar that seemingly shook the world.
It's thin hand reached down into the obsidian plateau, and from it, the beast ripped free a monolithic sword of obsidian that formed as it drew the weapon from the earth, the blade standing as tall as it did.
(4:27)
With another unearthly cry, the beast swung its weapon sideways through the obsidian glass, moving straight for Dante.
The teen remained where he was, simply raising his sword across his body to stop the attack entirely, remaining completely unmoved, and with a forceful push, he forced back the colossal Grimm's blade.
Instead of stopping, the beast spun itself around wildly and swung from the opposite direction. Like the last time, Dante simply swung his sword outwards across his body, stopping the blade completely without being moved and giving another forceful push to push the monolithic blade away.
Angry, the massive beast raised its sword of obsidian high above its head, and then swung down on Dante with all the force it could muster. Its blade crashed upon Dante with earth shattering force, completely destroying the plateau beneath its feet and kicking up the black sands in a huge dust cloud. Scylix stood atop the beast's shoulder, cackling to herself triumphantly.
However… once the dust cleared, she was completely jaw dropped at what she saw.
Dante stood where he was, completely unharmed and not having budged even a single inch as his sword was raised up in the air above him, blocking the massive sword.
His arm didn't even shake.
Scylix gasped as her eyes met Dante's from below, and when he spoke, her blood went completely cold.
"Is that all you got?"
Simply nudging the blade up slightly, Dante brought his blade across his body once more and swung it outwards, resulting in the obsidian blade being erased completely to the point not even a shard of it remained, and the colossal beast, along with Scylix, being thrown up high into the air simply by the tremendous force of the swing.
(4:57)
Dante crouched low to the ground before kicking off it, soaring through the sky to meet his opponent. The beast opened its wide maw, a huge torrent of crimson energy amassing in its mouth before it shot outwards, and split apart into large streams of homing energy.
Dante darted and weaved through the air, slicing apart each wave with a single swing of his blade as he approached the beast, landing on its gigantic hand shortly after. With that, the teen quickly sprinted up its arm whilst cutting it apart at invisible speeds, eventually reaching its face and cleaving clean through it in one strike. Scylix, still mounted on her beast held on as best she could, feeling the massive corpse of her creature being thrown easily like a stone through the air.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Dante bolting directly for her, and shot out numerous blasts of Aura from her twinblade in panic, hoping one of them would hit the teen. And yet, he merely breezed through them like a gust of wind, dancing around the bolts of energy as he let loose three quick slices in a triangular formation, each slicing wave clear and frighteningly fast as they moved past Scylix, cutting off both her legs and both her arms cleanly.
Now utterly defenseless, the Dark Entity could only watch as Dante shoved his foot directly in her face, letting out a satisfying crunch as she rocketed into the black sands below and crashed.
Dante flipped through the air twice and landed gently on the ground in a low crouch with his eyes closed, slowly standing up moments later and letting out a breath. His platinum colored eyes opened a few brief moments after, staring at the fresh crash zone from afar as he lowered his blade to take but a few brief moments of respite.
(End Song)
The once immortal stood where he was, carefully watching the crash zone without so much as blinking.
A burst of rose petals drifted into his view, prompting Dante to look off to his right to see Ruby quickly walking up to him.
She opened her mouth to say something, but fell silent looking upon him.
"What's wrong?" He asked her, tilting his head in a confused manner.
"Wha-?! Ah, n-nothing! Nothing at all! It's just… well… You're okay…" Ruby stated, pressing the tips of her fingers together nervously, "And… you're a lot taller now…"
"I've been getting that quite a bit." He replied with a smile.
"Is she..?"
"No… Not yet. She'll get back up soon enough. The Gem will keep her going until it'll run out of power. If the normal transitional stages are the same for a high class Dark Entity like her, this'll be her seconds stage, and after that…"
"The third and final stage." Blaire stated as she walked up, her giant greatsword slung over her shoulder, "Strongest form she has. Nothing we can't handle, right?" She said, nudging Dante's side.
"Right."
The teen took note of everyone else filing in behind him, giving them all a nod as they nodded back confidently.
"What was that attack of yours?" Xera asked, standing next to Dante.
The once immortal raised up his sword, staring at its runed flat side as it gave off a brief shimmer.
"It was the Crow's move."
"Crow?" The Phoenix asked, "You mean that girl with the crow wings."
"That's right. It's her technique, in a sense." Dante explained, "Kuretsusen is the name of it. It's the ability to cut the atmosphere and fire a high density sonic wave at your enemy that will slice right through them. It's faster than lightning, incredibly powerful, and built with precision in mind."
"You said 'in a sense' earlier… What do you mean by that?" Leo asked.
"What I used was essentially the same technique, only the performance is different. Ayame uses her nature as a Crow Tengu, who are highly attuned to Wind, and her magic to easily form these slicing waves. I however… I simply use my own strength to make them. I could never replicate her technique by means of magic, therefore after some thinking, I just figured out the exact force I needed to swing my sword to make a wave."
"Damn… I knew I was strong, but… Not that strong…" Ciel commented, "Well, not yet anyway."
Dante smiled at his sister's comment, and looked further behind him to see a flash of light, Dawn and Kitsuki appearing from that flash. Though, Dawn had her hood up to obscure her face, making Dante shoot her a quizzical glance. His sister simply waved him off in a motion to tell him "I will reveal myself later". He only shrugged slightly as his attention turned back to the crash zone Scylix laid in.
"Just give it all you've got everyone. And remember… don't die." The teen stated.
"Pfft, as if you need to tell us." Ciel waved off.
His and everyone else's attention was quickly drawn to a strong source of Aura welling up from Scylix's crash zone. Violent torrents of black and purple Aura shot up into the sky like a searchlight, flooding the area with dark energy.
The Aura came crashing down in a thunderous blast, shaking the black sands as a new form emerged from the shadowy wisps of Aura.
(Final Fantasy XV OST - Hellfire (Ifrit Boss Battle Theme)
An unsightly Beast, effeminate and thin limbed in form, and completely cloaked in a tight, second-Skin layer of black energy that crackled with brief shimmers of purple. Its body was much larger now, and spanned 15ft. Large, torn, draconic wings sprouted out from her back, the webbing glowing with purple Aura.
Jagged, angry, glowing purple eyes stared up at the sky, a huge maw of black, sharpened teeth present and seemingly attached to the black flesh. Two large horns sprouted from the sides of its head, and curved upwards slightly, and a long, black, reptilian tail thrashed about.
The figure fell down on all fours, clawed hands and feet digging into the sands below. One loud, hollow, echoing roar filled the air, loosing a powerful shockwave of black and purple Aura that blew away the sand entirely around its area, revealing the black stone earth beneath the creatures feet. Once it finished with its howling cry, it's head snapped to Dante immediately, and began running at him on all fours.
(0:24)
The teen, darted forward first, quickly flying over the sands as the beast lunged at him with its claws leading the way. Dante's sword and the creature's claws clashed for a brief moment as they passed by each other, the teen moving away as the beast spun around to give chase. Before it moved forward even a few feet, Leo and Xera, with their blades, rushed past the creature, slicing up its sides and legs in the process.
The beast used its wing to smack away Xera, and whipped its tails into Leonard's face to launch him as well. Musashi had run in from behind, the beast turning around too little too late, and receiving a powerful uppercut from the bronze dragon Faunus, lifting up its head. Skyla fell in from above, trying to slam her dual blades into its hide, but the beast raised its large hand up to take the pointed ends of the blades, its arm expanding in an explosive burst briefly. Surprised that her explosive Semblance failed to rupture its arm, Skyla found her blades stuck, and a blazing purple hand reaching for her.
The dragon Faunus pulled back on the arm to stop it, but was backhanded away. Before it could try and kill Skyla, a skeletal scythe stabbed into its forehead, Ciel yanking her weapon back to rodeo the creature as Skyla managed to free herself. The beast dash towards a pair of ruins, and slammed its back into a pair of ruins, knocking Ciel off it.
Bailey came from above and slammed her large nagamaki down upon the creature's shoulder to lower into the ground, and dodged back to avoid a tail whip. As it rose up, Alice leapt up and spun herself around vertically, turning herself and her two katana blades into a deadly saw that shredded the creature's entire back as she passed by it over head. However, as soon as her attack ended, the beast made to headbutt her, and action that Bailey blocked with her large weapon, resulting in both of them crashing into each other and being sent away.
Nora rushed in from the creature's blindspot, and smashed her hammer across its face with a powerful blow, disorienting it enough for Ruby and Jaune to leap onto its back and plunge their weapons into its hide. As it focused on the two of them, Ren was able to run in from its front and deliver a few powerful punches and kicks to its face to further damage it. This only made the creature angrier, for it lowered itself towards the ground and spun up into the sky like a drill, a powerful gust of wind knocking away Ren and Nora, and throwing off Jaune and Ruby.
Its eyes focused on Jaune, and slammed its tail on the ground towards the reaper, sending out an explosive, column of energy her way. Blaire shot down from the sky, her greatsword ablaze with a massive torrent of flame as she slammed it into the energy wave, keeping it a bay. Kitsuki leapt in from nowhere, quickly grabbing hold of Jaune and bolting away with him.
Asahi blurred into view above the creature, digging her katanas into the creatures neck and rodeoing the beast, guiding her straight to Blaire and Akihito, who sent out immense blasts of crimson and white flame that swirled together into one giant inferno. The flames crashed into the creature just as Asahi blinked out of view, making the beast screech loudly in pain.
Dawn and Dante glided over the planes, their swords readied and beginning their work into slicing the creature apart. They danced around the creature, much to its irritation as it could not hit them. A slice from Dante unleashed another, long, slicing sonic wave that quickly zoomed over the sands and cut off one of the demonic creature's horns.
It's eyes searched frantically for someone to take a shot at, anyone or anything in its immediate view.
Ruby was that unfortunate target, still recovering from the earlier attack.
Unknown to the reaper, the beast's wings brimmed with its dark energies, and when it flapped it's wings in her direction, it unleashed a quick, explosive blast of Aura that spanned out into a sea of dark energy, moving straight for Ruby to utterly erase her.
She looked up in time just to see the wave approaching her, and shielded herself using her arms.
(1:49)
The explosive burst of energy that littered the sands for miles passed, turning the surrounding area to glass. When ruby opened her eyes, and felt no pain whatsoever, she looked up, and saw Dante standing tall in front of her left arm raised.
When she saw him, she gasped.
His left arm, from the tips of his fingers up to his biceps, had been singed, and the upper left half of his coat had been destroyed, revealing most of his chest. The once immortal lowered his arm, shaking it off and clutching his fingers tightly into a fist. Ruby, still in a daze from his injured state looked on in shock, and was snapped out of it once the teen extended his right hand toward her.
He stood there smiling, as if nothing happened, and nodded his head towards her to take his hand. The little reaper did so, being helped up as everyone joined their sides shortly, gathered together in one large group.
Dante's platinum colored eyes shone with energy as he raised up his left hand, a banner staff appearing in his hand as he slammed it down into the earth. White and black Aura surged from the banner, briefly cloaking everyone in the energy as everyone's clothes had become a mixture of white and black to match the color of Dante's clothes. Their eyes brimmed with energy as well, crackles of Aura flashing around them as they beast stood in the distance wide eyed.
(2:26)
Letting go of Ruby's hand, Dante's sword formed back in his right hand, and he and ruby were the first to move forward. The dashed past the creature, leaving a streak of slashes before blurring in and out of sight repeatedly to leave more. Dante turned around, a shield of Aura forming on his hand as both he and Jaune slammed into the creature's face, repeatedly attacking it with a relentless series of slashes until they both uppercutted the beast.
Jaune stepped out, allowing Ren to move in with Dante as the duo let loose a series of powerful round kicks to the head, finishing with a rising double back-heel kick and landing their kicks atop the creature's head. Moving out of the way, Nora moved in for Ren, swinging her hammer as Dante's own sword mimicked Magnhild's shape and joined her in smashing different parts of the creature. The two ended their spree of pain by swinging their hammers up into the creature's chest from opposite angles, sending it flying as they fist bumped each other before Dante took off.
His weapon wreathed in flame, Xera fell in line next to him as they flew in to deliver their attack. They slashed and cut the creature rapidly from different angles as they flew around it, finishing with a dual cross slash that put them past their enemy.
Asahi stepped in for Xera, both she and Dante flashing around the creature in streaks of white, and from the distance, Akihito delivering another destructive inferno, the once immortal unleashing a blast of his own Aura as the two collided, and resulted in a great, explosion. Kitsuki was next to join the mix, using her scarf as a sort of sword whip, Dante's own weapon elongating and breaking off into sharp segments as they lashed their opponent with numerous cuts.
Skyla was next in the fray, both she and Dante using their dual weapons to dance around the creature with grace and cut it apart, needing their joint attack by clipping both of the creatures wings, but still leaving some of them remaining.
Chains of light from Dawn wrapped around the creature's limbs to restrict its movement allowing Dante and Musashi to rush in and pummel the creature repeatedly with their bare fists, ending with a powerful strike to the stomach to launch. Dante's weapon appeared in his hand once again, and this time took the form of a scythe as both he and Ciel went to work in reaping its body with deadly cuts, and pushed it back with a powerful thrust from their scythe's turned spears.
The creature was pushed into Bailey and Alice, who attacked their opponent with a series of slashes, even swapping weapons with each other in the mix, and ending with powerful cross slashes of their own respective weapons. Hundreds of glowing circles of black and white Aura, as well as white and black Aura swords surrounded the creature entirely, Dante and Leo commanding their attacks to rain down on the beast in a deadly storm of Aura bolts and swords.
Lastly, Blaire joined Dante's side, the duo giving each other a nod as Dante's weapon mimicked her greatsword's huge shape, crimson flame and white and black Aura coating their weapons as they delivered quick and powerful slashes that left glowing marks deep into the creature's already fractured hide. They slashed and cut as quick as they could, and delivered one powerful, combined cross slash that left an X shape in the creature's chest.
(3:57)
Quickly turning around, the noted the creature standing back up, and let out an earth shattering roar that unleashed a massive shockwave blast of black and purple Aura, knocking away everyone but Dante as he raised up his still injured left arm to shield himself.
"Damn it..!" Leo stated as his clothes returned to their normal color like everyone else, "We've hit her with everything, and yet she's still going!"
Ciel was about to comment herself, but she spotted something strange.
Someone she didn't recognize had apperated behind Dante, and began walking up to him.
"Who the hell is that..?"
(4:10)
Dante looked to his left, seeing Ecylpse walking up to his side and keeping a leveled stare on the beast in front of him. Looking to the immortal, she gave him a nod and reached out with her right hand, Dante nodding back and placing his left hand in their fingers together firmly, the duo glared at the creature as the sands blew past them in an intense gust of wind.
(4:18)
When they raised their joint hands high above their head, a massive, spire of white and black Aura shot out from their hands, reaching high up into the skies as their Aura's furiously blazed around them.
Their attack ready, they quickly swung their joint hands down on the beast, and their spire of Aura crashed upon the creature like a hammer upon an anvil. The first wave was an intense, rushing torrent of white and black Aura, and then transitioned into an explosive column of Aura that shot up into sky, the beastly Scylix's cries fading out as the Aura blast overtook her.
As the column of Aura continued, Ecylpse kept her and Dante's hands held together, leaning into him and wrapping her other Arm around his as she laid her head on his shoulder, the two watching the Aura burn away their foe.
(4:45)
The girl's armored hand raised up moments later, and with a snap of her fingers, the column of Aura ceased instantly. What was left was thousands upon thousands of little scraps of white and black Aura, that danced and fell from the sky like glowing snowflakes. Everyone looked around them in awe of the false snow that fell from the skies, a few even reaching out with their hands to touch the Aura before it faded from sight.
(End Song)
"How about that..?" Blaire said with a smile, watching the scrap of Aura in her hand fade away.
Everyone took their moments of respite to look around at the strange phenomena happening around them.
Strange… but pleasant nonetheless.
Ruby's hand had gathered a few scraps within her palms, staring at them as she worked to understand what it was she felt.
There was a plethora of emotions within his Aura now, unlike where previously there was nothing in it. But something stuck out more from the small wave of emotions and thoughts she felt from the Aura scraps.
That was…
…
Ruby suddenly realized something important. There was someone standing next to Dante. When the reaper focused her vision, she saw it was another woman, almost as tall as Dante was. When she saw how tightly she clung to him, Ruby was off in a second.
"I want a reward." Ecylpse asked, staring at the zone where they blasted Scylix.
"A reward?" The once immortal asked, tilting his head towards the girl as he kept his eyes focused on the crater.
"Yes. And I'd like to claim it early."
"What kind of reward could you want right now?"
Ecylpse's left hand brushed up the arm she clung to, her armored fingers moving towards his face and under his chin, giving the teen a rather devious smile.
"That should be perfectly obvious." The girl said, leaning her face in towards the once immortal.
Before she got closer, Ruby got into between them, separating the two with cute and irritated squeaks before she looked up at Ecylpse.
"Who are you?!" The little reaper asked.
The lightly armored girl's head tilted slightly in confusion, her platinum colored eyes staring deep into Ruby's silver eyes. She then took steps forward towards the little reaper, towering over her as she crossed her arms under her ample bust to stare at the girl while Ruby awkwardly stared back.
The brief staring contest continued, but Ecylpse let out a brief chuckle as she smiled smugly at the "smaller" Ruby. Like it was a hidden instinct, the reaper knew immediately why the "bigger" girl was smiling so smugly, and could only pout in frustration.
"Don't be mean to her." Dante asked, pinching his companion's cheek.
"Ouch." She said in a monotone voice, "It was unavoidable."
"Unavoidable…" the once immortal sighed in disbelief.
"W-Who are you?!" Ruby worked up the courage to ask.
"I am Ecylpse." The girl said calmly, "I, am his sword and shield. Also…" she said as she clung tightly to Dante once more, "I am his and his only."
"W-What?!" Ruby shouted.
Even in her frustration, she had a brief moment of realization in the girl's earlier words.
"Wait… Did you say… you're his sword and shield?"
"That is correct. I… am his weapon." Ecylpse stated proudly.
"Whoa~! Is she joking?! She's definitely joking!"
Dante extended his hand to Ecylpse, and as they joined hands, Ecylpse's body became a specter of white and black Aura, her body's shape soon taking on the form of a sword. Once the Aura dispersed, it revealed the sword Dante had been using throughout his fight with Scylix.
"No way!"
"Yes way." The teen confirmed for Ruby.
The sword in Dante's hand transformed into a burst of his white and black Aura, and shot out of his hand and towards the ground near him, expanding and growing larger to take on Ecylpse's human shape. As expected, once the Aura vanished, it revealed the slightly armored girl in place, hand on her hip.
"That's way too cool!" Ruby excitedly said, looking around Ecylpse.
At first, she seemed confused by the little reaper's actions, but a smile formed on her face as she placed both hands on her hips proudly.
"O-Of course it is." She stated.
"From picking on her to being bashful by her praise… You sure were quick to change your stance." Dante commented to Ecylpse as Ruby continued her examination.
"Naturally."
Snapping out of her excited daze, Ruby took a few steps back and moved towards Dante to question him.
"Where did she come from?"
"I… That's a bit… complex to explain at the moment…" The teen stated, "But I promise to tell you everything I know once this is all over. Right now… all that you really need to know is that she's on our side."
"Aside from Eclypse and the whole… nuke, thing," Xera called out, his voice coming from the bottom of the small hill of a crater the trio stood on, "If she's dead-dead, don't you think we should be getting out of this realm?"
"She isn't dead, bird-person." Ecylpse replied, "The end is approaching however."
"You know, Xer, I don't think your hoodie's doing much to keep those wings hidden anymore." Sky commented, lightly poking at the boy's side.
"Right… but at the same time, she probably saw them at some point if she can take in her surroundings while in weapon form." Xera replied, not really doing anything to brush Skyla's finger away.
"Not really. I simply share my Master's memories. Therefore, I know who and what you are, as well as your abilities." The lightly armored girl said.
"She knooowwws yooouu." Skyla teased, drawing out her light voice, "Another reason not to hide your wings all the time."
From Xera's other side, Kit walked over in the sand and stopped beside him, looking up at Eclypse.
She was one of the first to have seen her, but she hadn't quite interacted with her yet.
"Do you share in his learned abilities, too?" Kit asked, testing to see if the new girl could read sign.
"Naturally. As does he in concerns to my own abilities." She told the kitsune, looking back at the once immortal with a sly smile, "He even shares my memories as well."
Dante's cheeks reddened slightly as he let out a sigh, much to his companion's amusement.
Skyla hummed to herself beside Xera, "There's something going on between them…"
"Definitely something." Xera agreed.
Kit nodded to that.
Dante's eyes quickly darted up towards a monolithic castle tower that lay in ruins, noticing wisps of black and purple Aura gathering together to form Scylix.
Her bestial form had been cast away, and for the most part she had remained similar to before she transformed. Only now, she had glowing purple markings spanning her pale flesh, and her horns remained from her transformation, shimmering slightly from the red skies above. Small shards of armour wrapped around her black dress, framing different sections of her body.
When she opened her eyes, her black sclerae where now white, and her purple eyes shimmered with power, her black pupils elongated into thin slits.
"Why?" she asked suddenly.
"Why what?" Dante asked in return.
"Your actions now contradict your words from before. So I ask you… why are you standing here against me, fighting me so fiercely as you do now, Dante?"
The teen's gaze trailed down to the sands, remembering their conversation from before.
"Why do you continue to fight Dante? What drives you forward so relentlessly?" Scylix asked.
Dante had a big smile on his face.
"I've been asked that question so many times, but for once, I'll tell truth." the teen spoke, standing back up, "The reason I fight so hard for everyone else's sake… is because someone like me… Someone like me has no future."
Scylix seemed shocked by the answer, but her shock transformed into a steady calm, almost sorrowful.
"If I have no future… then it doesn't matter what happens to me in the end. So long as everyone else has a future… then I'll fight for their future without any regards to my safety, or to what's in store for me."
"Fighting for everyone else… and never once fighting for yourself. Giving everything you have to others until you have nothing left, not even your soul… You truly are insane…"
"Maybe." Dante shrugged, "But that's my reason. My life, my accomplishments… all of it summed up and wrapped together into one, insignificant reason that the world will never really know of or care about."
…
…
"I see… Very well then… Have it your way."
"For someone who says they have no future, you oddly enough fight like someone who has a future to lose. Telling a lie isn't good."
"But I didn't lie."
Scylix's head jolted up, her eyes carefully staring at the once immortal.
"I was telling the truth at the time. I didn't see any kind of future for myself at all. Not ever in the slightest." Dante stared at his armored palm, squeezing his fingers tightly into a fist, "But I worked up the courage for once to look for my future. And I saw it. Seeing it finally made me realize just how much I had missed out on, abandoned, or left behind. It was a cruel thing I did to myself."
His thoughts and memories were those of Inuba, Ruby, Ecylpse, and even of Blaire.
"Worst of all… it was a cruel thing I did to those around me, and those who cared about me for so long. That's why… I'll start doing what I should have long ago."
The dark entity looked on at Dante, mild bewilderment present as she took a step back once Dante took a step forward, and raised his hand up to completely cover up the woman in front of him. He clenched his hand tightly around the air in front of him, making sure she could see him.
"I'm grabbing hold of future, and won't let go no matter what. And I'll keep fighting for it, however long it takes."
At that moment, Dante remembered something else, something important Dawn had told them before they set out. She knew part of the truth, or at least a truth. And to Dante, that truth was invaluable. Scylix calling his name reminded him of it, reminded him of that truth Dawn had spoken.
"And another thing… Burn this into your memory before I defeat you." The once immortal said, pointing at the woman, "My name isn't Dante. My true name… is Dante Aetherveil. Remember that before you pass on!"
Scylix's own hands clenched together tightly as she raised them up in frustration, baring her clenched teeth.
"Very well then, Dante Aetherveil! If that is your answer… then I'll steal your future, and the future of those here for the sake of achieving my goal!"
Crossing her arms, Scylix's Aura spanned outwards into an ocean of black and purple, consuming everyone in the area. As the Aura subsided, Dante opened his eyes to see only himself and Ecylpse immediately. Looking back, he saw everyone had been blown away further into the distance, leaving only himself and Ecylpse at the forefront.
[NieR Automata - The End of YoRHa (Weight of the World Medley) English sub]
"You must realize this struggle of yours is pointless. Behold, my greatest form yet. A rapidly induced Ascension by means of The Gem. And with its power still flowing through me, I am naught but invincible. You are now nothing but a mere mortal. What chance do you have against me?"
Dante's hand extended towards Ecylpse, and her armored hand fit into his armored right hand, her body turning into a burst of white and black Aura as she took on the form of Dante's sword.
"Defiant until the end…"
The woman's hand slowly rose up, and with it, dozens upon dozens of huge debris chunks that were pulled up into the air, hovering over her head.
"Do not atone for a life unlived Dante! Just perish!"
(1:25)
With a loud yell, the chunks of rock flew at high speeds at the teen down below, who took off running. He lashed out as quickly as he could, slicing up the first few volleys with sonic waves made by each slice. The rocks split apart into pieces, some of the air wave slices continuing forward to cut through a few more chunks.
The teen was surrounded the closer he got, but with one fell sweep, he spun around and unleashed a powerful shockwave that turned the rocks into pebbles. Without stopping, Dante used the momentum of his spin to propel himself forward, sword raised up and swung down upon her head.
The woman raised up her hand, and as soon as the sword made contact, her hand was shielded in her Aura to completely stop the blade. Her Aura surged forward into a blast, but Dante leapt back soaring through the air and landing a distance away, looking up to see a large beam of Aura heading his way. The teen raised up his sword, but halted himself as someone moved up in front of him.
(2:05)
The blast collided into a shield, and kicked up the dust clouds around the teen. Lifting his eyes up, the teen saw black and gold armor in his view, and with it, a large black and gold shield.
"You alright?!" Jaune asked.
Dante looked as though he wanted to ask Jaune that, but when he saw the blonde smile, he knew he didn't have to. Looking around, he saw Ruby and Ren next to him in their armored upgrades, Nora as well standing behind Jaune and keep him steadied with extra shock absorption.
"Well well, the pitiful humans can still stand. I'd be impressed if you weren't being such a nuisance. At the very least, you can die with your friend."
"We aren't dying today!" Jaune shouted at her.
"Yeah! If anyone's get their butt kicked, it's gonna be you!" Nora pointed out from behind the shield.
"We'll keep fighting with everything we have!" Ren stated.
"And this time, we'll be the ones to protect him!" Ruby confidently shouted.
"Protect him? Please, you can't even protect yourselves."
Scylix's hand pointed itself towards the group, brimming with her Dark Aura as Jaune's shield became smaller, molding to his arm.
"We've got your back, Dante." Jaune told him, as Ruby and Ren helped up the once immortal.
The four gave the teen a nod, and he nodded back at them as they readied themselves before taking their charge.
(3:12)
Scylix let out a sigh of annoyance, and flicked her hand in their direction, her aim going straight for Ruby first. Jaune intercepted the blast by leaping in front of her, but as a result, was blasted away. Ren and Nora had come upon the woman first, chopping his hand down while Nora came in from the side. The Dark Entity was quick to block both strikes with her bare hands, and blasted away the duo with her Aura.
Ruby and Dante had their opening, and moved in with a cross slash, only to be sent away by a backhand swing of Scylix's arm, unleashing a shockwave of Aura that sent them away as well.
The teen stuck his sword in the ground, slowing himself down as he watched the reaper in red tumble past him. His attention was soon drawn back to an oncoming bolt, forcing him to raise up his sword to block until an infernal wall of white flame separated the once immortal from the bolt that crashed into wall, disintegrating after a brief struggle.
(3:52)
Dante looked up to his side, seeing Akihito standing in front of him, hand extended to produce the wall of flame along with Asahi, his sister.
"Are you alright?" Akihito asked, looking back at the teen as he lowered his wall of flame.
"Just peachy…" Dante replied.
A hand from Xera and Skyla extended to bring him up to his feet again.
"Peaches can get bruised too, you know." Xera pointed out after the teen got hoisted up.
"Always with the technicalities…" Dante noted with a brief roll of his eyes.
The phoenix cracked a tired smile, "You're lucky Sky doesn't get technical with you."
"I would've called you an apple," the girl pointed out.
"Now we have the wayward foxes of the Kitsukami family, as well as a Phoenix with clipped wings, a lunatic, and a mute. What a brilliant collection defects you have aiding you, Dante." Scylix stated.
"I take that as a compliment, you know!" Skyla called out, waving her free sword around.
"Clipped isn't too far off, though…" Xera chipped in, glancing Kit's way to see her give him a confused look.
Right, she wasn't really called anything bad.
Just a mute.
"We may be rejects from your perspective, but we at the very least we have all come much further than you have, and will continue to traverse further."
"Akihito laying out the sick burns… I'm all for it." Asahi said in response to her brother's comment.
(4:59)
Flicking her hand towards the group, Scylix loosed thin strands of her black and purple Aura that shot out from her fingertips at incredible speeds. Asahi and Xera flew across the planes first, the kitsune using her dusk blades to cut apart the oncoming strands whilst Xera took to skies, thinning out strands and dodging them as he streaked the skies.
Akihito's flames came to his hand, forming into his pure white katana with a black, rectangular shaped guard resembling a cross window pane, allowing him to make quick cuts as he ran, letting loose screeching waves of flame that homed in on Scylix from various angles. Her barrier kept the flames at bay, as well as Asahi and Xera with her bolts, leaving only Skyla, Kitsuki, and Dante to charge forward.
Using her scarf, Kitsuki slingshotted the brunette towards the Dark Entity, who shot off like a cannonball and crashed into Scylix blades first. The same barrier stilled her weapons, and the would be explosions that would came forth.
Dante descended from above, sword pointed down to take the plunge. The woman's eyes flashed with power briefly before she outstretched her arms in annoyed shout, quickly expanding her barrier and blasting away the group.
Dante's body tumbled briefly before he was on his hands and knees, sparks flowing around him as he skidded to a halt, watching the others fly past him.
When he looked up, arcing waves of black and purple shot forward to cut him apart, vanishing within a black and white rift that opened up with a quick cut of a skeletal scythe.
(5:39)
Ciel and Leo stood in front of their brother, their respective companions at their sides as Blaire helped up Dante this time, Dawn joining her brother's side shortly after.
"And at last, we have the failure children, and a woman with a failed facade of fearlessness. The underwhelming last line of defense of Remnant."
"We may not have lived up to certain people's expectations…" Alice started off.
"But we have at the very least achieved our own wants and desires." Bailey stated.
"So screw 'em." Alice ended.
"I am still young, and will continue to fail and mistakes. But I won't make the same mistakes twice, not now, nor ever." Musashi said as she stood tall next to Ciel, crossing her arms.
"Look at you being all cool~!" Ciel said, bumping her hip against the tall dragon Faunus, "I like it!"
As Musashi let out a proud huff, Leo stepped forward slightly, "We're not the absolute best. And we will never be. But that doesn't mean we'll stop progressing and moving forward. We'll always strive to do better and be better."
"I let down the only people closest to me in many ways… All because I lived in fear of higher powers…" Dawn said, eyes moving from the ground into a strong glare at the woman ahead of her, "But like my brother, I won't be afraid. I'll keep pushing forward for the sake of my family!"
"Then you will die as the world and your family come crashing down."
Scylix brought up her hand, darkened elements phasing into existence at her side as blackened flames, ice, lighting and stone materialized and grew larger.
(6:46)
Those blackened elements surged forward with the Dark Entity's command, Dawn quickly stepping forward and bringing out her magic staff and swiping it ahead of her. Large streams of pure white light shout out from the staff, darting and weaving through the sky and crashing into the elements to dispel them from existence, allowing her siblings and allies to move forward.
Leo kept firing off his guns, unleashing a barrage of black and white Aura beams that the woman simply shrugged off with her barrier. Bailey and Alice had quickly surged in from behind, using their wind and shadow Semblances to place them at their target's blind spot as they moved to cut her. Stone rose up from the ground behind the woman to throw the twins into the air, and powerful gusts of wind crashed into them, sending them crashing into Leo.
Ciel and Musashi moved past them, the smaller girl using her scythe to cut apart easy attacks and slicing in rifts to absorb the larger attacks, the dragon Faunus following in from behind and taking care of any remnant attacks. When they were close enough to attack, Scylix didn't even move, dropping her barrier and catching the duo's scythe and katana with her bare hands, sending them away with powerful blasts of her Aura.
Looking down, Scylix saw a huge stream of white Aura shoot forward, and extended her own pale, marked hand to send out a black and purple stream of her Aura to meet the blast sent by Dawn head on. The girl was slowly being overpowered, but her plan was already in motion.
Crystal clear shards broke apart above Scylix, revealing Dante above that emerged from the illusion created by his sister. Three quick slices unleashed three sonic waves, each blocked with Scylix's barrier until she raised up her hand to catch Dante's blade. Having a firm hold, she tossed him towards Dawn, who ceased her beam to catch her brother before the two were met with a blast of Aura that sent them flying.
Dante tumbled and rolled on the ground, using his left hand to slow himself down to a halt as he looked up at the woman.
Using his sword, the once immortal propped himself up onto his feet, standing up shortly after to meet the Dark Entity's gaze.
(7:26)
"Now you are but one, Dante. All alone, and with no one to aid you."
"That's wrong." An echoing voice called out.
Eclypse took on her human shape, holding up Dante as her platinum eyes glared at the woman.
"They may not be at his side at the moment, but he is never alone. And he will never be."
"That's right." A rather playful and cheery voice called out.
Opposite of Dante, white and black flames formed, and withered away to reveal a young woman in a loose white and black kimono, a slit near the edges of her hips to reveal her bare legs. She had white fox ears that were black tipped, and nine long, white, black-tipped fox tails, each tail containing a white handle and guard katana sheathed into the tips of the tails.
"Like she said, even if everyone else isn't with him physically, he'll never be truly alone in this world, for we will always be here with him." Dakini spoke out.
"You only delay your inevitable end, witch." Eclypse pointed out.
"The only one who will meet their ends are all of you."
Scylix raised up her hands once more, both glowing with a fluorescent purple and black glow as they grew in mass.
"Well then, my champion… Shall we be off?" Dakini asked the teen, who gave her a silent nod.
Her body turned into white flames, forming a katana in Dante's left hand that was jet black in color, save for the white oval shaped guard and handle, and at the butt of the handle, a long black tassel with white flame patterns.
"Do not worry, my Master." Ecylpse said grabbing hold of Dante's right hand, "For I am here with you, always and forever."
With her words spoken, Eclypse's body turned into white and black Aura, her body taking on its sword form and resting comfortably in Dante's right hand.
"Hollow being..!" Scylix's voice rang out.
(8:33)
Dante looked up at the woman, seeing a massive orb of her Aura floating above her head as hundreds of smaller orbs appeared around the bigger one. The teen took a few quick steps forward before pushing himself up into the air. The smaller orbs followed, homing in on him quickly from behind.
The teen stopped his flight, quickly turning around and watching the orbs surrounding him and curving in to eradicate the once immortal. As soon as they were close enough to completely obscure Dante, the immortal's blades rang out loudly as they rapidly slashed around the immortal in a perfect sphere, slicing apart each orb with blinding speed. He then crossed both blades across his body and let out one final cross slash that completely eliminated all speheres.
Once he had a view again, the teen saw the larger sphere heading his way, and instead of running away, he dashed straight for it. Leading with his blades, Dante sunk into the orb, a confident smirk spreading on Scylix's face as the sphere exploded, loosing an immense shockwave through the area.
Surprise washed across her face once she saw Dante rocket out of the blast, and swing his swords down on Scylix. She had barely dodged to the side, two cuts now on her cheek as she reformed her twinblade and assaulted Dante. The last strike she made forced Dante to leap away from her, the ruins behind being erased within seconds.
A good distance away, the teen looked up and saw another tremendous surge of Aura building up around Scylix's hand as she pointed it forward. A sea of black and purple spread out from the woman's hand, blanketing all in destructive Aura. Once it was within Dante's range, the teen raised up his blades defensively as it crashed into him.
The advance of the ocean of Aura had ceased all progression against the single teen that stood at its front. Despite how much Scylix was putting into her attack, the teen would not budge.
Dante was holding back the tide, for now.
"What do... we do?! Can barely… move…" Ciel said, struggling to stand up.
Dawn was thinking as quickly as her frantic mind could. She was calming herself down, removing extraneous thoughts one by one to think a bit more clearly, until finally…
Her head snapped up in realization, standing at the front of everyone as she looked out upon them.
"Everyone! Stick out your hands towards Dante!"
"How is that-?!"
"Just do it!" She said, cutting off Leonard as she spun around, and stretched out her hand.
The rest followed shortly after, each person raising up their hand as their individual Auras, as drained as they were, sparked to life in their hands.
"Your luck's run out Dante! The end is nigh, and even with all your power, you and your pathetic friends can do nothing to hold back the tide!"
(12:08)
As she was about to carry on, she was silenced, staring in awe at the blast zone Dante was in and seeing a whole technicolor of various Auras gathering around him. Those Auras took shape in the form of specters, who placed their hands against the encroaching Darkness and helped push back.
And thus, the once immortal was able to take a step forward and walk, pushing against the blast as he made slow strides forward.
Panic started to churn in the depths of Scylix's mind as she placed her other hand forward and shot out more energy to add to the already tremendous blast. Dante and the Aura specters of his allies, while hindered, kept pushing forward. The woman poured more and more energy, hoping it would crush them all, but they still kept moving.
One of the specters shattered from sight, and then another and another as they kept pressing the charge. One by one, Dante's allies fell one after the other from the immense strain and exhaustion they felt, his siblings the last few to lower their arms.
Blaire and Ruby were the only ones still standing and sending out their Aura, but even with how powerful the older woman was, she eventually fell down as well, immensely exhausted. The little reaper was left, her voice strained and keeping back the pain as she continued to push out more with all her might.
She didn't want to stop, even with how slowly her body was breaking.
A small burst of blood spurted from her forearm, and a few more followed despite her resistance until finally she dropped to the ground, totally exhausted.
Scylix's face made a twisted smile as her triumphant laughs echoed across the plane, now sure of the teens imminent destruction.
As the remains of his shirt-cloak flapped around against strong winds and pressure, the small silver fox charm from Inuba dangled from his hip, and shone slightly.
A white specter with nine fox tails and ears apparated behind the once immortal, pushing herself into Dante's back to help force him onwards little by little. But even after a little while, that Aura specter had vanished as well.
"This is all I can do for you, my champion. The rest… is up to you."
Hearing Dakini's voice in his head, her personal katana had vanished from his left hand, leaving just himself… and Eclypse.
She wasn't "there" in the sense that everyone else could see her, but for Dante, she was present, and felt her hands wrap around him as she tightly hugged him from behind, resting her head against his back.
"It's time…" she spoke out.
Dante's head nodded quickly, taking his last step forward and rooting himself deep into the ground as his platinum eyes shone slightly.
(End Song)
Scylix's laughter had been cut short, her eyes widening as she saw Dante swing his sword outwards, and completely erase the ocean of Aura, leaving the woman entirely speechless as she stated back at him.
Was this reality?
Did he really just… destroy her attack? Crush it entirely with brute force?
"Scylix… I've a confession to make."
The woman snapped out of her daze, and narrowed her eyes on the teen, a small bead of sweat trailing down the side of her head.
"This whole time, you've been giving it your all. It's commendable, truly. But… I feel bad for not giving it my entire all now after witnessing your dedication."
Did he just say… what I think he just did..?
"I was saving up just for this moment, where your power would reach its peak. It was essentially a waiting game of letting you have your fun, but truthfully, I still wasn't ready. Until now that is."
Scylix watched raise up his sword, pointing Eclypse directly at the woman as an ominous sensation washed over her.
"This is the end, Scylix. Your schemes, the evil path you took for the sake of your goal… It all ends here."
Their eyes met, and she couldn't move her gaze away from his from the paralyzing fear running through her.
"Prepare yourself for the end. Because now… Now I'll show you the power of the people you mercilessly belittled. I'll show you… the power of the People of Remnant and Primordial all together… as one."
Well, there you have it. Loads of people bugged me about Dante not having a last name in the previous story. Technically, he always had it, I was just saving it for this moment. And now you've seen it. Dante Aetherveil is his true name. And if you think about it carefully… ever since starting this new story as the next chapter in the series… the name has been in front of all of you all this time.
Xera Stark and I concocted this idea when he helped me come up with Dante's name and the name of the sequel. So secretly, we both have been waiting for this moment. For those of you who may have guessed it from the start, congratulations, you uncovered a great secret before the time of its official introduction. If you didn't, don't feel bad about it. Xera and I thought about it a good long while.
Also, the songs. I cannot tell you how many times I've listened to them over and over in preparation for this day, imagining the scene as I listened to the song, especially the Nier Automata song. I know I've splurged about that masterpiece of a game by Yoko Taro, but I'm not joking when I say it was the best game of 2017. Truly. When I played the game back in 2017 and got the real true ending, I was so overwhelmed with a vast array of emotions as I got through the credits while listening to song I listed above. I actually almost cried, that's how impactful the game was on me.
In any case, that's what I rolled with, and the songs helped build the scenes as they've been stewing in my brain for some 2 years now. Again, you don't have to pull up the songs and read along to those time stamps. The time stamps are there really to give you a sort of exact idea of what I imagined in my head as close as possible, so just go at your own pace really, or if you want a challenge, read as quickly.
But man… what intense and emotional display… It was for me, so I hope it's the same for you. And we even got Dante's last name as a bonus this chapter! Yay!
Other than that, you might still be wondering, how the hell did Dante get this strong before taking on Scylix again? The answer comes next chapter, and comes third. You'll see what I mean.
Other than that, the Scylix conflict arc will essentially conclude next chapter or so. By that, I mean the fight ends next chapter. We still have at least one more chapter to fit in. At least, if I need to write another chapter.
One last thing, I've been waiting to intro the name "Aetherveil" for some time now, not just for Dante, but also for my own personal use. Now, if you've seen this name across gaming platforms or other places, yes, that was the real me. So if you see that name somewhere, mostly in online games, know that it is me. So yeah, now that the name is out in the open, I'm also changing my author name to that... by next week I suppose? It'll give everyone enough time to have read the chapter by then.
Anyway, that's all I have to say, so with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story Rogue Huntsman written by Xera Stark. The 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. Plus, I'm working on it with him as a co-author, and my characters are in it too. So if you want to see a sort of alternate story and such with my characters in it, go on over and give Rogue Huntsman a read.
And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and tells Rogue Huntsman's story from his characters' perspective, like how Knights of White and Black (my alternate story) tells the tale from my character's perspectives.
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!