Hey everyone, I know I've been gone a while, but I've had a lot of stuff to take care. First was completely finishing college by taking 3 courses online, and I finished them all last week. So, technically as of last week, I'm officially a college graduate. Yay!

Aside from that, there's also been the fact that job searching hasn't been going all too well, so it's been a struggle looking for something well grounded and worthwhile for me to work at. Nonetheless, I'll keep trying. Now that I'm entirely done with college, I'll have more time to write, and will likely start being able to get these out on a weekly basis. Promise this time.

Other than that, I've got nothing much else to say, besides that next week will be the start of the Volume 6 arc, which, I've thoroughly planned out to feed into the Volume 7 arc once RWBY starts up in November. All I can say is that this next coming arc will be even spicier than this one. And luckily enough, you'll only have to wait until next week.

Now, with all the announcements out of the way, lets begin today's chapter.

Chapter 58: Luxurious Night

«»

He walked towards the large mansion-like house in front of him, stopping to see Inuba just outside.

"Dante, you're-!"

"I'm fine. Woah!"

The once immortal moved backwards a bit from the sheer impact of Inuba's hug, coughing a little.

"Easy easy, I'm still hurt!"

"I-I'm sorry!"

Inuba's eyes looked up, seeing Athyra waving back at her as the kitsune took a step back in surprise.

"Ms. Aetherveil…"

"Hey hey, no need to get all antsy." The older woman waved off, "You're all good. Besides, your mom and I are gonna have our own talk later once this is all over. So come on in with us, yeah?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Don't worry so much." Dante spoke out, interlocking his hand with Inuba's, "It'll be alright."

Inuba froze up, her face turning a slight shade of red as she silently nodded. Eclypse immediately appeared on the opposite side of Dante, interlocking her fingers with his as she kept a steady glare on the kitsune. But the girl kept a determined look about her as the trio walked up the steps, entering inside.

Athyra sighed as she followed behind them, "Sheesh… I don't know how he got those two to behave and not tear him apart fighting for him… Though I suppose he's lucky enough to have girls fighting over him."

The mother stepped forward, opening the large, wooden double doors and stepping inside the luxurious, mansion-like home to see Dante up ahead.

"Man… I keep forgetting how luxurious they actually are… Not that it's all too surprising really. I bet Kareina's either set up shops somewhere or cleaned out a casino nearby."

"She gambles?" Dante asked, "Wait… I shouldn't be all too surprised…"

"Mother does gamble on occasion…" Inuba answered.

"And while she does gamble, her main shtick is being an entrepreneur in different types of enterprises, like restaurants, artifact shops, and maybe even a casino of her own."

"I guess I finally understand how your family was always so wealthy and well equipped…" Dante spoke out.

"I would venture a guess that mother has likely set up a casino somewhere nearby to start procuring funds."

"She's a devious one. It'd be easy for her to open up and maintain a successful casino." Eclypse noted.

"T-That may be, but she doesn't tamper with the odds like most other locales do. At least, not usually."

They all stopped before a large pair of wooden doors, and on the other side, everyone could feel the powerful Aura Signatures of the yōkai deep within.

"Well, let's get this over with."

The teen place his freed hands on the doors and pushed them open quickly, eyeing the different corners of the room to see them all in place. Daisuke and Seiji stood across from on another, with Asahi and Akihito sitting closest to their parents, who sat down in seats in the middle.

"Welcome, young Dante. It would seem that you fought admirably, and once again came out victorious." Kareina spoke first, "And while we haven't thank you for your previous endeavor, we'll take the opportunity to do so now."

"Yeah yeah, I'm not here for praise or rewards." The once immortal waved off.

"So? Why'd you come here then?" Tenma asked, sitting straight up and crossing his arms.

"I think we all know why I'm here."

Everyone's eyes focused on Dante, who gave the two elder kitsune a sharp stare.

"Pretty sneaky set up, I'll give you that. But like I told Asher, it wasn't one with malicious intent behind it, even though I did suffer quite a bit alongside your daughter. Frankly… I think we all would have benefited more with some honesty instead of sneaking around, don't you think?"

"Perhaps… But who was to say that you would have accepted the responsibility of protecting Inuba all the same had I told you the real reason from the start?"

Tenma sighed, thinking She's not even gonna try to hide it…

"I get that, but you kinda put me in a position where I couldn't refuse no matter what. Even if you had nothing but good intentions in mind, I think we both can agree on the fact that you kinda rigged the outcome in your favor."

"Indeed I did." Kareina spoke bluntly, bowing her head slightly, "And for that, I apologize. I understand the ramifications against me, and therefore accept any form of punishment you have in mind for me because of my crimes against you."

"Screw that." Dante brushed off, making the elder kitsune look back up at him in surprise, "I don't care about punishing anyone for small mistakes like that. Just be more direct in the future."

"I… don't understand. Why exactly did you come here then, if not to exact justice upon us?"

"Just to say my piece, really." Dante shrugged, "And… to say none of that crap matters anymore." His hand reached out, wrapping around Inuba's waist as he pulled her close to him, smiling, "Especially since I plan on taking care of your daughter for the rest of her life."

His statement shocked the two parents, Kareina being the only one to smile as Tenma went red in the face and stood up quickly.

"Y-Y-Y-You little..! What did you just say?!"

"I think you understand what that means perfectly well, old man." Dante winked, "Later then."

Speaking his final words, before Tenma could reach out and grab him, the teen and Inuba both vanished in a flash of platinum Aura, leaving the elder kitsune to grumble to himself angrily.

"Guess my idiot son isn't so much of an idiot anymore, huh?" Athyra spoke out, looking towards her old friend, "How about you and I get something to drink, Kareina?"

"Lady Aetherveil…"

"Oh stop it, I'm just me you witty fox. Now shut up and come with me. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Dante and Inuba appeared in a blur outside the home they were staying in, the once immortal letting out a deep sigh.

"Figured he'd try to take my head after saying that."

"D-Did you mean what you said..?"

The teen felt a tightened grip on his hand, forcing him to look over to Inuba, who kept her eyes glued to the ground, face redder than a beet.

"I mean, I can figure out a ring or something at a later date, but-"

"R-Ring?!" She jumped.

"Too gaudy?"

"N-No! I just… didn't think you thought so far ahead is all…"

"I mean… It just kind of made sense, didn't it?"

"A-Are… Are you certain about it?"

"Yep."

"Positively certain?!" Inuba asked more fiercely as she moved closer to Dante's face.

"Without a doubt."

"T-Then… Please take care of me…" she spoke in a soft voice, too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

Her head was gently turned back in his direction, and shortly after they locked lips, sharing a passionate kiss between each other.

"Hey."

Dante was suddenly pulled back by a pale hand, seeing a pouting Eclypse holding him by the back of his collar.

"You're forgetting someone, aren't you?"

"You really want me to say it?"

"I-If you'd please."

"I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you too, Eclypse."

Her tall body jolted a little at those words as she kept up her pouty face.

"Want a ring too?"

She nodded with an affirmative "Hmph", then pointed to her face.

"You want something else too?" Dante asked.

The sword sighed as she grabbed hold of Dante's waist, spinning him once as she leaned him back and quickly kissed him.

Inuba was definitely taken aback by Eclypse's aggressive approach, raising a hand to her face to hide the sudden build up of embarrassment. But as soon as her once rival looked up at her with a victorious gaze, the kitsune most certainly felt frustration welling up inside her.

She soon heard the door open and looked towards it, eyes going completely wide as she gasped. Eclypse's eyes soon followed along with Dante's, but the once immortal was the only one to look surprised as his sword took her lips off of his.

A robotic hand grasping at the door suddenly began to crack the entire frame, and the teen only pursed his lips as he muttered one word.

"Shit."

Blake sat in one of the chairs in the kitchen, reading a book she had found on one of the shelves in the living room. However, her curiosity couldn't help but be piqued as she looked up from her book at times, eyes focused upon the eldest Son of Sparda who sat next to her a short distance away.

He too was preoccupied with reading a book, all while the others listened and were highly amused with his little brother's tales of glory and adventure. Vergil felt a vein throb now and then whenever Dante claimed that he "utterly defeated Vergil", but he let it go.

This was a time to rest, not murder his younger brother for being an idiot.

And fabricating untrue events, like him having defeated Vergil.

He simply put a hold on those fights to be concluded at a future date, if ever.

"You've been eyeing me for some time now, cat-woman."

Blake almost laughed, "Blake. And I never thought I'd see either you or your brother any time soon."

"Oh? So all of you here have heard of us then?"

"You can thank our Dante for that. He likes to tell a lot of stories."

"So I've heard." Vergil spoke as he tumbled a page and closed the book, "And? What does he usually say about the Sons of Sparda?"

"Only that the two of you are the greatest warriors he's ever seen or fought. He talks about a lot of people he's fought and had respect for across the different Worlds he's been too. Some short, noisy, but extremely tenacious guy named Asta." Blake numbered off, "A samurai named Kenshin. A ninja called Naruto. A reaper of souls by the name of Ichigo. I think a pirate swordsman named Zoro. A bunch of Heroic Spirits. Some guy called Jotaro Kujo. A powerful Esper called Accelerator. A Fire Soldier by the name of Shinra Kusakabe An aspiring hero, Izuku Midoriya. And then there's you two."

"I see… That's quite a list…"

"He also says he thinks you've got better skills and discipline."

"I see." Vergil spoke, perking up a little as Blake swore she saw a twinkle in his eye.

"I guess you really like our Dante."

The Son of Sparda hummed in amusement, "To be perfectly honest with you, I see some of myself in him. We both have ambition to gain power. However, our histories are different. My efforts were more vainglorious and flawed. His more forthright and just." He placed the book on the table, folding his hands together, "The fact remains that we both seek power to protect whatever it is we desire to protect. Selfish to an extent, but more focused."

"I think it's good to be a bit selfish at times." Blake shrugged.

"Perhaps."

The two looked behind them when they heard the rowdy voices grow with excitement as Dante continued with his tale, posing all the while.

"Then I told him, 'Looks like we're gonna need a bigger leash'!"

"I guess your brother likes to tell stories too."

"At times. Only he tends to exaggerate details greatly." Vergil explained.

"Like defeating you?" Blake asked.

"Exactly. I simply postponed our fights."

The two heard a muffled roar outside the large home, their heads perking up as they eyed the doorway. Not a moment later it fell apart, or rather, something had impacted the home like a cannonball as pieces of splintered wood and concrete flew into the living room. Everyone froze as all eyes fell upon Dante, completely flat on his back with some blood trickling from his head.

For someone who had flown through a wall, he was unusually calm.

"W-What happened to you?!" Ruby asked in a panic as she slid down next to Dante, "Why'd you come flying in through the wall?!"

"Well… I was punched in the face." He explained before looking to the others in the room, "Anyone got some paper and a pen? I'm gonna need to write a will before I get killed in the next few seconds."

"What?!"

Ruby was shocked to have seen Dante get put through a wall, but when she looked to his left cheek and saw a faint scorch mark, she froze up. The little reaper suddenly realized who it was that punched Dante through the wall.

"S-She knows… doesn't she?"

"Yup."

"Oh no…" Ruby said, dropping her head, "How did she find out?!"

"She saw Eclypse kissing me."

"W-W-W-What..?! Wait, no, that shouldn't really surprise me actually…"

"Remember me, Ruby."

"Don't give up on life so quickly!"

Everyone heard splintered wood being kicked away as heavy footsteps filtered in. The blonde hair of Yang was crackling with small flickers of flame as her eyes glowed red, small growls escaping her lips.

"She looks pissed, kid. You say something to set her off?"

"No."

Before the older Dante could say anything else, Vergil had grabbed hold of the back of his collar, dragging him out.

"H-Hey! What the hell-?!"

"We're leaving. This doesn't involve us."

Two swift cuts of the Yamato left a jagged cross of light blue energy before it expanded into the shape of a four pointed star, revealing a cosmic space inside. Despite his younger brother's struggling, the eldest Son of Sparda tossed him inside like a toy as the space behind them closed.

With enough of a distraction, Ruby was able to place herself between Dante and Yang, raising her arms up defensively.

"I-It isn't what it seems like, honest!"

"Outta the way! I'm gonna rip off his arms before I burn him alive!" Yang shouted.

"My arms? My beautiful beautiful arms?" Dante asked in mock terror.

"You're not listening! What you think is happening isn't because..! I..! I'm in on it!" Ruby explained.

"W-What..?!"

The fire blazing around Yang's hair died down as her eyes returned to normal, her face full of shock.

Ruby took a deep breath, lowering her hands, "We… need to talk."

Athyra downed the last few ounces of her gallon sized glass of alcohol, letting out a pleased sigh as she placed the mug down. However, as she did so, the bottom of the glass broke as her eyes focused on the damaged parts.

"Damn… Looks like I still can't control my strength entirely yet…" she spoke before looking to Kareina at her side, "So… Like I was about to say, I think somewhere you misinterpreted 'take care of my son' with 'use him for your needs'."

"I apologize Lady Athyra, I-"

"Just Athyra." The woman waved off, "I'm no one fancy or important enough to have 'lady' attached to my name."

The kitsune chuckled lightly to herself, gaining a look of confusion from her elder.

"I see. Now I know where young Dante gets his disposition from."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Athyra asked.

"You should know by now that with all of his accomplishments, he's been offered a great deal. Titles, fortune, glory… All one could ask for and more. And yet every time he turned down such niceties, saying he was no one special enough or deserving of such titles."

"He's a strange one… Both an overachiever and an underachiever. I swear that damn kid of mine just swaps between the two to mess with everyone."

"Perhaps." The kitsune shrugged as she finished off the last of her drink.

"I look back to everything I've seen these last twelve years… and it's just… well, impressive to see just how much of it he's gotten right. Sure he looked to other people for an answer sometimes, but a lot of it were things he just figured out on his own as he went. And now… He's so grown up."

"He certainly has come a long way from so long ago." Kareina spoke as she held her glass with both hands.

"Fact is, he didn't have much of a choice though. He never had time to just… relax, and be a kid and love life a lot more because he was so focused and hellbent on growing up. The worst part about it all is that it was just to survive. To get by without a promise for a better day."

Athyra's bright sky blue eyes drifted down to her large gallon glass as she rubbed her thumbs over the top edges of the glass.

"It's just… so conflicting for me, you know? Seeing him one day as this… tiny little munchkin way too eager to kick anyone's ass," she laughed, "Then seeing him today as someone who's almost an adult. It makes me feel so guilty that I've been gone this long."

"You may have been gone, but not for reasons of your choosing. Regardless, you have watched over him and the rest of your children as best as you could. What matters more than anything is that you are present now. So the only thing I can tell you is to do your best now. Better than your best."

The woman smiled at that, resting her chin in her hand before she gave the kitsune a serious glance.

"Why my kid though? There probably could have been a lot more reliable people than my idiot son, but you chose him instead. Why?"

"Well… Isn't it obvious?"

"No, not really." Athyra pointed out.

"Their connection to one another. My little cub Inuba had an eye for young Dante before their first journey together a year later. She was… fascinated to see someone so different from her. And I would like to think young Dante was charmed by her as well."

"You guys are kitsune, the most beautiful creatures to ever exist. It isn't a surprise my idiot son was so slack jawed with Inuba."

"I thank you for your compliment, but frankly I don't think my kind and I can compare to your beauty."

"Yeah yeah, no need to work your magic here Ms. Flatterer." Athyra waved off before pulling the kitsune in to cuddle with her, "Well, we can just leave them be, right?"

"L-Lady Athyra, p-please..!" Kareina said, purring slightly from the gentle feeling of the duel head patting and cuddling.

"Come on now, don't be so shy!"

She missed. Being out here in the world, having her fun. As much as she wanted to do just that, she couldn't. At least, not all the time like she planned to. Athyra had a responsibility to take care of her children given how she had been absent all these years. And she was going to make sure to give her all for them.

"I… I can't believe it…" Yang said, completely shocked, "Did all of you know?"

"Um… Sort of?" Nora stated.

"You guys weren't all too sneaky about it either…" Jaune spoke up.

"My sister told you all, didn't she?" Dante asked.

"Yeah…" they all stated.

That little..! She tells everyone but Yang! Brilliant!

"Everyone… out!" The blonde pointed towards the door.

Everyone but Yang, Ruby, Inuba, Eclypse and Dante filtered out of the room, with Nora trying to sneak her way back in until she was pulled away by Ren. With the door closed behind them, Yang looked at the four with folded hands, letting out a sigh.

"So… How long has this been going on for again?"

"About a week…" Ruby meekly replied, pressing the tips of her fingers together repeatedly.

"A week…" the blonde said in disbelief, "And you agreed to this? You didn't get pressured into it, or..?"

"No Yang, I wasn't forced to do anything! I..! We… talked about it together and figured this was the best thing to do."

"If it helps anything, it was my idea." Eclypse spoke up, drawing Yang's attention to her, "I was the first to suggest it once I realized a conflict of interest would arise amongst us four."

"And this includes that chick with the red hair? Blaire or something like that?"

"Correct."

"This is just…! I mean, how does this even happen?!"

"Something like this happens when we all genuinely love the same person. Given each of our strong feelings for Dante, it simply couldn't be helped. In addition, given how he felt about all of us, committing to one person when he knows his feelings for the others would've been very problematic and unsettling. Therefore I formulated this plan to bring us all together and solve all our issues, and by doing so, avoided one large mess."

"You make it sound so calculated…" Inuba said with a sigh.

"Of course I put effort into planning this. If I went into this haphazardly, who knows what kind of problems may have arisen and where we'd all be now? Some of us, if not all of us, heartbroken or worse. Which is why I had to be careful and meticulous." Eclypse affirmed before looking back at Yang with a sharp stare, "Call it what you may. Sneaky, manipulative, it makes no difference to me. I planned in accordance with everyone's happiness in mind, and it paid off. Each of us are living happily with each other."

Dante would be lying if he said he wasn't uncomfortable with the current situation. Frankly, he was more concerned about what the blonde brawler was thinking of at the moment. Although… Eclypse's words definitely had a way of reaching people, and the teen was certain Yang heard her clearly.

Eclypse was indeed a sharp Blade.

"I would like to think this business has been concluded." The weapon spoke as she stood up, adjusting her black coat, "But if you still have issues with our relationship, then by all means continue to make your complaints. It won't change a thing. We're far too strong for a skeptic to break our bond."

Speaking her final, sharp words, Eclypse walked out of the room without so much as looking at the girl, closing the door behind her with enough force to make Inuba and Ruby jump.

"I'm sorry about her." The kitsune said while bowing her head briefly, "She's… fairly aggressive. Especially about personal matters."

"No kidding… But now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense that she's your Sword." Yang said as she looked to Dante, "She's not the kind of person to back down from anyone."

"While I do like that about her, I honestly think it'll get her in trouble a lot. Frankly I'm surprised she didn't do the whole 'And I am his lover' deal that she usually does."

"She actually says that?" The blonde asked with amazement.

"Announces it to the whole world every time when people ask her who she is…" Dante sighed, "Look, there's no plan, or treachery, or scheme, or anything. We're all in this together and willing. We're all… devoted to each other." Dante said as he stood up too, "But I'm kind of with Eclypse on this one. You might not like it for what it is, but it doesn't change the fact that we all love each other. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some business to take care of. After I ice my jaw a little."

As the immortal moved out of his chair and headed for the door, he paused briefly.

"When I get back… I'd like to take a look at that arm of yours. See if I can make some improvements."

"S-Sure… I guess…"

"Cool. Have fun."

Shortly after, he too had disappeared from the room, leaving only Inuba, Ruby and Yang together.

"Seriously, how did you guys even fall for him?"

"Well… He's a pretty cool person…" Ruby spoke out sheepishly.

"More importantly however is how he's genuine with us." Inuba added.

"Yeah! It's like he's emotionally raw with us! Or, you know, something along those lines. Point is, he's always real with us."

"There's a variety of reasons each of us have for our… infatuation with him." Inuba spoke, her tails whipping about slightly as her face went a little red.

"Y-Yeah… We all like him for a lot of reasons…"

"Oh god… You two are absolutely smitten with him, huh?" Yang asked.

"N-Naturally…"

"Y-Yeah…"

They answered pretty quickly…

"Alright look, if he's being… you know, weird or stupid or gets any funny ideas…"

"I assure you we can straighten him out ourselves, Ms. Xiao Long." Inuba answered quickly.

The blonde let out a sigh. She wasn't entirely convinced, but… she couldn't exactly just break them all apart. Even if it all seemed so ridiculous to her…

"I'm still gonna keep an eye on him."

"Yang!" Ruby quickly interjected.

"If you're all gonna do… whatever this is…" the blonde gestured with her hands, "then I'm at least gonna make sure he isn't up to any funny business."

"Not that he would be, but we appreciate your concern, Ms. Xiao Long." Inuba said.

"Right… I'm gonna need to go chill out after this whole crazy series of events…"

"Um... have fun?" Ruby shrugged.

"Yeah… I'll do that…" Yang said before she took her leave.

As soon as Yang left the room, the two of them both let out a sigh.

"I… did not expect it to go that smoothly… I anticipated another attack, but…"

"I seriously thought she'd try and kill him more than once…" Ruby added, "I think we're gonna have to be more careful. I don't think she knows about… well… you know…"

"Agreed… If she knew about how… intimate all of us have been, she's liable to kill him on sight without question…" Inuba told the little reaper.

"This is gonna be a lot harder than any of us thought…"

"Understandably. But… it's a price well worth it to pay, isn't it?"

"Yeah! Definitely!" Ruby nodded.

"We should see to the dinner arrangements. It's almost that time, isn't?"

"Ooh! What are you gonna make tonight?!"

"Something special I've had in mind for a while now." The kitsune said with a confident smile about her.

That went… a little bit better than how he expected it to go. He imagined… well, a massacre. Fortunately, that didn't happen, and he was able to walk away relatively intact. However, he did just that.

He walked. Which meant it wasn't entirely over. But he shared the same sentiments Eclypse did about the matter. She might not like that it's happening, but her dislike about the situation wasn't going to be much.

Dante didn't blame her skepticism, or her rage. Anyone in that kind of situation would freak out like Yang did. But he was serious about it. He was serious about maintaining the relationship he had. It was going to come with its challenges, surely, but it wasn't impossible.

However, at the moment, he had to ask a favor before a certain individual decided to take off. The teen could finish his conversation with Yang later.

"So then… I assume all is well amongst you and your allies?"

As expected, Vergil immediately called the teen out before he had the chance to speak, and chuckled slightly.

"For the moment. Everything's calm, but I've got a feeling the conversation isn't over yet."

"I see… So then, is there any reason for you seeking me out?" The Son of Sparda asked, "On the possible chance you came here for Dante, he ran off to a few establishments in town, no doubt racking up a large tab as we speak."

Of course he was…

"Believe it or not, I came here for you." The younger Dante spoke.

"Oh? And what does Dante Aetherveil seek from me?"

"I…"

…

He came this far. He wasn't going to back out.

"I want you to teach me."

Vergil's eyes snapped open as he looked back at the teen, facing him fully.

"I've been off my game for the longest time now. I've gotten sloppier, unrefined. Especially when it comes to wielding a katana. I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be. That's why… I want you to teach me your ways, your methods, your techniques."

"You have plenty of power as is. What reason do you have to gain more so suddenly? And why me of all people?"

"You and your brother are some of the strongest I've ever seen. While Dante's had his good fortune, and has his own set of skills, I've already learned a lot from him. But… when it comes to technique and discipline, I think you overshadow him a great deal."

The older man smiled as he heard the young Dante's words, pleased to hear them. But as much as he liked the idea… there was still an important question to ask.

"Why do you seek power, Aetherveil?"

"What?"

"What is your purpose, your reason for gaining power?" The man in black asked, "As it stands, you already possess a great deal of power, and will only continue to grow stronger as time passes. So I ask you… why are you in such a hasty pursuit for power?"

True, he had gotten stronger recently, but…

…

With the reacquisition of his real power came the undeniable reality that stronger foes would emerge. Not only that… there are still powerful foes lurking about, like Aizûr and those people that could turn into partial Grimm.

Then… there was Salem. He didn't know the extent of her power as a being, but he knew how far and how infectious her influence was. If she could seduce a headmaster of an academy over to her side, there's no telling who else she could win over to her side, either through fear or promises of power. Regardless, she was a huge threat.

But was she as big a menace as Aizûr? Or those humanoid Grimm?

"I… I might have gotten stronger recently, but… Even with my power, the future is uncertain. Not that it ever will be certain. Though… I'd feel a bit better about it knowing I can take on anything. But I suppose you want a better answer than that."

"If there is…"

Dante's had many reasons for gaining power over the years, but this time… This time he was certain he had a definitive answer. Fighting Asher only confirmed it.

"I want the power to always protect what matters to me. The power to protect whatever and whoever I want my way. I want power so I can continue being unbound by things like Fate or Destiny, to carve and pave my own way into the future." Dante's eyes trailed up to meet Vergil's, "You once told your brother that 'might controls everything, and without strength, you can't protect anyone, least of all yourself'. You may have been on the wrong side of things then, but that doesn't change the fact that what you said was true. That's why… please teach me! Pass down your knowledge to me so I too can become stronger!"

A light chuckle escaped from the Son of Sparda.

"You and I are kindred spirits in a sense. My path to power was selfish, and nearly destroyed the world around me twice. But in truth… I more or less wanted power for reasons similar to your own. That is why…" Vergil lowered Yamato to the ground, resting his hands atop it, "Your words resonate with me. I will honor your request and teach you my ways and what I have learned. We shall train for three days and three nights, and by then… I'll have trained you into a better warrior."

A smile crept up on Dante's face as he stood up fully.

"Prepare yourself, Aetherveil. I will show you no mercy."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

Three days unexpectedly became thirty minutes. Ciel's Semblance and Dawn's magic made it all possible. Ciel had up to ten pocket spaces of her own that she used for just about anything. Storage, hiding out, you name it, it was convenient with anything. The only issue was that it was cut off from time and space.

Dawn's magic however helped. Dante and Vergil did indeed train for three days and nights inside one of Ciel's pocket spaces, but Dawn's magic helped accelerate the time within the space, making three days only thirty minutes outside.

The training was… grueling, like he expected. He was fighting the Son of Sparda at his current peak, and even with his power, Vergil still proved to be a more than formidable opponent, the toughest he had ever fought. And true to his word, he was without mercy.

But that helped Dante moreso than hurt him. Fighting Vergil as if he were an enemy helped to not only make Dante stronger, but it prepared him. It helped the teen fight as if his life depended on it. He needed to get out of the mindset he could take any hit and survive, and needed to start thinking about his fights more strategically in order to avoid being hit.

Fighting someone as relentless as the eldest Son of Sparda definitely refined Dante's battle tactics and skills to a newer level. Not only that… but he managed to learn his techniques. Vergil didn't promise that Dante could exactly learn his skills, much less copy them to the exact same extent, but he could learn enough to get as close as possible to the final product.

Eclypse was instrumental with the learning process with how much aid in battle she offered while Dante did the fighting. And with her help, he was able to refine those techniques to get as close as possible to the Son of Sparda's.

It was incredible with how much he was able to learn and accomplish.

Still… It was a shame to see the Sons of Sparda go. The teen didn't know when, if ever, he was going to see them again.

He could only hope they wouldn't kill each other until next time.

"I can't say I approved of the idea, but it produced results at the very least." Eclypse spoke as she apparated next to Dante.

"It was necessary." The teen said as he shrugged his shoulders, loosening them up, "I need to get stronger so I can survive and kick anyone's ass that comes our way. Alongside of getting stronger, I also need to learn as much as I can from people with promising skills and potential. I've come a long way already, and learned a great deal, but there's still room for more. So in that regard, I need to improve as much as I can as often as I can. That goes for you too."

"Hmph. I'm already as flawless as can be." The girl proudly spoke as she flipped a hand through her hair.

She stopped momentarily, giggling as she pushed Dante against the wall.

"Aside from all that… You surely must be exhausted, even if a little. Would care for me to… re-energize you?" She spoke as the teen felt a hand rubbing his thigh.

He immediately tensed up, momentarily considering her offer before grabbing her hand.

"I-I'm good for now."

"Really~?" She asked, pushing her chest into his.

"W-We did it a lot last night anyway!"

"So? You may have satisfied me completely last night, but what about today? What about right now? All that fighting earlier got me hot and bothered, you see. And now, I have a thirst that's hard to quench."

She was really damn aggressive..! But he had to admit that there wasn't a single part of him that found it incredibly attractive.

"Then keep your thirsty ass in check."

Both heads turned to see Yang in the hallway, glaring at them with her hands on her hips.

"You said you were going to check out my arm right? Can you do that now?" The blonde said raising up her prosthetic.

"He's tired. Come back later after I've recharged his batteries with my infinite love."

"Sure."

Eclypse jumped at the answer, looking to Dante with a displeased expression before pouting.

"Later, alright?"

She grumbled angrily before letting out a huff of air and pushing herself off the wall, all while glaring daggers at Yang. The blonde lifted up her hand, gesturing to Eclypse that she was watching her. Eclypse returned the gesture in the same fashion Yang did before she turned into Aura and vanished, making the blonde raise up her robotic arm and express her confused anger.

"She always like that?"

"Every minute, of every hour, of every day." Dante explained with a sigh, "Though it's understandable given her circumstances."

"Which are?"

"Well, long story short, she was basically separated from reality and had her identity as a person and being stripped from her until I remembered her again and gave all those back to Eclypse."

"Ok..?"

"Yeah, it's complicated for normal people to understand all that supernatural, cosmological stuff. Simple version is to think of it as her being trapped in a prison against her will."

"She do something to get stuck in a place like that?"

"Not really, no. Someone out there got scared of how strong we'd be together, so they separated us. But I guess they couldn't keep us apart forever."

"Literally. She's practically glued to you. But I guess I get it." Yang shrugged, "Inuba just as bad?"

"Not entirely. In fact, it's actually really cute when she and Ruby give me hugs and the like. It's like my heart explodes with joy and cuddly warmth each time."

"I bet. What about the red head Blaire?"

"She's more reserved. Doesn't mean she isn't playful now and then."

"Seriously though… Older women dude?"

"L-Look, there's a lot of circumstances involved between us, alright? Kind of complicated just to talk about it…"

"Next thing I know, I'll find out you and Ms. Goodwitch were having a fling."

"Seriously, you really are stupid sometimes if you think that happened."

"So that's a no then?"

"Definitively." Dante said as he put a little bite to his tone to make sure Yang got the message.

"Alright alright, just joking a little! No need to get so worked up." The blonde raised her hands up defensively, "But really now, four? Dude, don't you think that's greedy as hell?"

"I need a lot of love and care."

"Four?"

"I'm a high maintenance bitch that needs a lot of lovin' and a lot of care."

Yang laughed briefly before raising up her prosthetic arm, "So, my arm?"

"Right…"

Dante opened the door to the room across from them where he had set up his work station, making Yang whistle at all the tech and tools she saw neatly organized throughout the room.

"When the heck did you set all this up..?"

"I work fast." The teen said as he closed the door behind them, "For example…"

The teen moved over to a mechanical workstation, the lid sliding open as soon as he waved his hand across tabletop. He reached inside and pulled out the object, keeping it hidden from Yang until he got close enough and turned around.

The blondes eyes went wide as she reached out with her prosthetic arm, her fingers touching the item in question as she stared in awe.

"When did you..?"

"Soon as you got here. I'm not too trustworthy of Atlas or their military for good reasons, so I got to work and made you a better arm."

The prosthetic arm almost looked golden under the light, but that was because of the pristine shine it gave off. The golden yellow faded into black at the joints of the entire limb, the fingertips slightly clawed. The entire limb was sleek, maintaining some elegance while displaying visual elements of strength, like how some of the metallic ends tapered off to look like jagged flames along the backhand, forearm, and upper arm.

It looked like a form fitted gauntlet. Though as Yang looked on at the arm in admiration, it looked more like an actual arm, only plated in armor.

"Badass…"

"Right? Took me a while, but I think I got the design right and suited to your tastes. May I?" Dante gestured to Yang's arm.

She nodded in stunned silence, sitting in one of the chairs as Dante set the new hand on the table. He first undid the locks and popped Yang's arm out of its socket, setting it aside. Next, he was very careful in removing the neural connectors, the blonde wincing still as she felt twinges of pain shoot through her body.

The new one he had was already pre-installed in the prosthetic limb, and was a lot less painful to socket in.

"Alright. This next part will tingle a bit. Your old neural panel was just that, a panel. While it did connect to your nerves with a powerful adhesive to offer less latency between the arm and your brainwaves, it's still flawed. Not to mention, it's more susceptible to allowing your arm to get popped off."

"So what's your 'better' arm do?" Yang asked.

"For starters, it makes it less painful to put on or replace if ever needed. Not to mention, it'll be damn near impossible to rip or cut off."

"How so?"

"Well… I layered the socket with nanites that'll fuse to your flesh."

"W-Wait, what?!"

"Relax, it's not as bad as you think. I'll explain in a minute after I explain this bit." The teen said as he raised up the limb, "The nanites will fuse with your flesh and nerves in your arm to make a solid and pretty permanent connection. Think of it as if it were your actual arm and it was never gone in the first place."

"But you said-"

"I know, but hear me out. While the nanites will fuse everything perfectly together, the arm can still come off if you want it to through usage of your brain signals. The nanites are programmed as such for when you want to put your arm on or take it off. So like I said, it'll stay on and won't come off unless you want it to. Even then, there'll be a second factor authentication from you in order to make sure you want to take it off."

"Neat… So those nanites do anything else?"

"Not really. If your arm gets damaged in battle for any reason, the nanites will work to slowly repair the damage over time, but don't expect instant results."

"So why fuse my arm to my flesh and all?"

"Aside from making a more permanent bond, it's also to reduce latency from the brain signals being sent to your arm. You notice how your arm was a little slow to respond at times in battle?"

"Yeah… It's like even though I'm telling my arm exactly what to do, it's still sluggish…"

"Well, that won't be a problem with this arm. So… You good with me slotting this on?"

"You went through the trouble, so might as well give it a try. Slip that baby on."

With Yang's permission, Dante did exactly so, slowly connecting the limb to Yang's stump as a small yellow glow remedied. A moment later, Yang felt her skin crawl as she shivered, feeling numerous vibrations run up her arm and through her shoulder.

It felt like her blood went a little cold…

A minute passed and all those sensations vanished and instead…

Wait a minute..!

She raised up her new limb, clenching her fingers and already noticing a difference in response. Dante did indeed keep his word. But more importantly, when her fingers touched her palm… she could feel the smooth metal of her palm. And when her hand drifted towards the wooden desk, she could feel the smoothness of the lacquered wood!

She could actually feel things with her hand!

"You noticed huh? I implemented sensors to give you a sense of touch."

"I… I don't know what to say… Thanks…"

"Hey hey, we're not done yet. Stand up a bit. Tell your arm to do the thing you usually do when Ember Celica goes active."

Yang did as instructed, shifting her arm up slightly before forcing it downwards, her golden-yellow kite-shaped knuckles retracting backwards a little to reveal vertical slits along her four knuckles.

"Woah..!"

"Pretty cool huh? That mode is more for penetration. Tell your arm to go into its secondary fire."

Within an instant, the slits quickly widened into small, cone-shaped circles.

"And that's for all out damage."

"How's it reload?"

As soon as she asked, Yang's forearm quickly popped open a little, revealing five rows of five shotgun shell slots that ran along the underside of the panel.

"Nice!"

"The simulations I ran show that it'll fire and work like the original, only with the additional firing mode upgrades I implemented. The reload process is also pretty simple. Just slide in the shells through the top rack and it'll all go in easily. Once you activate the reload process, it'll only eject the empty shells used up."

"But what about when firing? How do the other shells get moved out for the new ones?" Yang asked.

"Simple. The empty shells get ejected from the underside of the arm while the new shells get moved into place. Trust me when I say it won't jam up on you."

"Anything else it can do?"

"Yup. It's a pretty badass feature where I got the idea from a fellow inventor called Nico, who made weaponized prosthetics."

"Alright, so what do I do?"

"See if you can surge your Semblance through your arm and then just… force it out."

"Force it out, huh..?"

Yang got into a stance, taking a breath before she reared back her arm and punched directly ahead of her. For a brief moment, a large fist of fire surged outwards with Yang's punch, vanishing a moment after as she took a startled step backwards.

Looking to her hand, she saw segmented slits that ran along all the digits of her fingers, her wrist and forearm.

"That's for when you either need some extra reach, blowback power to force someone back, or just extra force behind your punch. The idea of you 'venting' out your Semblance just came to me in a moment of creative thought. So working off of a design of one of the inventors arms, Overture, I replicated the effect. Only instead of a massive shock, it helps channel your Semblance into a fiery, focused point of attack to do some serious damage."

"This is..! This is just..! It's freaking awesome!" Yang exclaimed.

"I know right?!"

"What did you even make this thing out of?"

Dante chuckled briefly, remembering an earlier conversation he had with Dawn.

"The outer layers are made from the toughest metal I could find. It wasn't easy to find, even in some of the black markets on the lower levels. As for the inner components and nanites… Well, I made those from when I melted down what was left of Anvil."

"Wait, you melted down your old sword just to make me a new arm?! I thought you loved that thing!"

"Yeah… I did… Carried me all the way from the start of my time here until recently. Sad to say it got broken, so it wasn't going to be much use to me anymore, especially since I have Eclypse now. I thought that I may as well use what was left for someone else's good. So when I saw you here with that fancy arm of yours from Atlas, I figured out a better use right away."

"You made a freaking new arm for me man. Which is apparently way better than Atlas tech."

"I tend to outperform the competition. Besides, I don't trust Atlas enough with important stuff like that. What if they made it so your arm could get hacked or something? They're too quick to get these things out the door, so I don't think they took everything into consideration."

"You really hate Atlas…"

"Only their crappy and easily abductable tech, and their military. Other than that, I don't have much else beef with them." Dante noted as he and Yang sat back down, "In any case, that arm is definitely gonna last you a lifetime, but you should still take care of it."

"You bet." Yang stated as she cracked her knuckles, "Before we go… We didn't finish earlier. Our conversation."

Right…

"Look, Yang-"

"I get it. I'm not… all there for it yet, but I know you're not some disgusting creep looking to take advantage of my sister or the rest of them. I know you're better than that with all the time we've known each other. So… I'll allow it. I'm still gonna freaking punch you now and then though."

"Thanks for the heads up…"

"I'm serious. You start being a jerk or getting pig headed, I'm really gonna kick your ass."

"I get it already."

"Dead serious man. I'll use the new arm you made me to actually hurt you bad."

"Again, I get the message." Dante said as he defensively raised up his arms, "Look, I'm nothing but serious about it all. I'm not gonna be a bonehead and mess it all up."

Yang let out a skeptical hum for a few brief seconds, but soon after leaned back in her chair, letting out a sigh.

"Fine. I'll take your word for it. But don't be a-!"

"Dumbass, I got it already." Dante said as he crossed his arms, "Message received Yang."

"Dinner is prepared!"

Inuba's voice sounded through the halls, and Dante perked up, smiling in delight.

"Nice! Let's eat!" The teen said as he jumped out of his seat.

"Hey!"

Stopping, he turned around and saw Yang walk up to him slapping him on the back forcefully with her new limb.

"Thanks for the 'hand', Dante!"

…

"That was so bad that I have no real words to give you."

"Shut it. Get moving already."

"Heh… Yes ma'am."

The teen let out a sigh as he sank into the waters of the open air bath connected to the manor they stayed in. Come tomorrow, they were going to pack up and leave. The plan was to take the train from here all the way to Argus, and find a ride to take them straight to Atlas.

It would be nice to finally see the town rather than from his Scroll. At some point, Dante thought of taking a road trip with Ruby after graduating from Beacon. He wanted to travel the World, visit the other three kingdoms and the established towns, like Argus, in between.

Regardless of the circumstances, he more or less got what he wished for in a twisted sense of irony. The only thing left to do was revisit Anima and Sanus to give it a proper journey, and as it stood, tomorrow they would be heading towards Solitas to make their way into Atlas.

Four Relics. Four Kingdoms. They were currently in possession of the Relic of Knowledge, leaving Choice, Creation, and Destruction still in play. Rather, two of the relics were still in play, while one of them was safely stored away still beneath Beacon. What scratched at the back of Dante's Mind was which Relic was being kept at Beacon.

The last three Relics had to be of critical importance compared to the Relic of Knowledge. Creation was a no brainer really, but did it have limits? Could it create anything or did it have limits as to what it could make? Could it create humans? Could it create other forms of intelligent life?

There were so many questions, and a variety of reasons why Dante would have liked to get his hands on the Relic. It would mainly be for academic purposes to conduct experiments into seeing what it can and can't do.

Even if his curiosity was intrigued, he knew full well the dangers such a power could hold. It's exactly why he was all the more eager to get his hands on it, if ever the day came. He wanted to learn about it. To study the Relic to its maximum capacity before deciding what to do with it. If it was too dangerous a power to have like he assumed, he'd rather destroy the Relic. Though, he had a feeling destroying it would do more harm than good.

He also had questions about the Relic of Choice. The context was seemingly simple enough to understand, or rather grasp at. Did it remove or take away people's ability to make choices? Perhaps it had the power to influence the choices of people or other living things? There would be a great deal to learn from it too.

The Relic of Destruction also had its obvious contexts to it, but still yielded questions. What kinds of destruction could it cause? What was it's scale? It's range of effects? Could it transform? Could it-?

…

Could it kill anything and everything? Gods? Celestial beings?

…

Immortal beings?

...

With all the possibilities in mind, it was very difficult to classify which of the three remaining Relics was the most dangerous overall. Maybe no one Relic was more dangerous than the other. There was always the chance that the last three Relics were equal in both power and capacity for danger, so it'd be impossible to rank one Relic as "better" than the other. More importantly…

Which Relic was where?

Knowledge was found in Mistral, but what of the others?

Considering Atlas' reputation, Dante speculated at first that Destruction might have been hidden under Atlas Academy, but he soon realized Ozpin may not have trusted the people of Atlas with such a power. It would have been a surprise to him if Destruction was located under Atlas Academy, but he had a strong feeling that Creation was there instead.

It made sense to some extent given how "symbolic" the kingdom was. It's growth was immense, and it's capacity for advancements in technology vast and rapid. It made sense for Creation to be there.

Destruction could have been in Vacuo underneath Shade Academy, or maybe even Choice. Fact is, Ozpin would have probably liked to keep the most important Relics closest to him, therefore making Destruction and Choice likely candidates to be kept close by in either Beacon or Shade.

Time would only tell which Relic they'd find next, and what it'd be capable of doing. As fun as it was to work his brain towards anticipating the future their journey held, he was in the bath to relax now. Ease his body and mind from all the craziness he was surrounded with recently. Doctor's orders.

Rather, it was Inuba's plea for the teen to take better care of himself, considering she was practically his doctor and nurse. Normally he would have brushed off the advice, but given that he was vulnerable now...

No, vulnerable wasn't a good way to put it. Rather, now that he was for the most part normal like everyone else, he needed to take better care of himself. Though, that idea was mostly for making everyone else worry less.

Dante inhaled through his nose, and just as he was about to exhale, a pair of smooth, small hands covered his eyes, surprising him slightly. He then felt a soft and fairly large pair pushing against the back of his head as it took him a moment to figure out who it was.

"Ruby?"

"H-How did you know?!"

…

The teen really didn't want to say it was because he had memorized the exact measurements of her chest…

"Y-Your Aura… It's got a distinct feeling to it."

The small hands veiling his eyes drifted down to loop around his neck as Ruby leaned into him more and moved her head past his shoulder so that he could see her.

"Looks like your Aura Sensing thingy doesn't suck anymore!" She cheerfully stated.

"Thankfully." Dante affirmed in agreeance, "I'm telling you, it's still kinda freaky having Senses this much… sharper, since I'm used to having them dulled."

"Basically then, it was like having a permanent cold."

"Good interpretation. But yeah, basically that's what it was like."

Ruby slipped in next to Dante, having a towel wrapped around her as she let out a sigh. He only glanced briefly at her as she settled into the water next to him, pleasantly giggling to herself.

"Ah… This feels really great..! I haven't been able to sit down like this for a while!"

"Even though you laze around more than the rest of us?"

"N-No I don't!"

"You try to skip out on training unless me or Ozpin drags you in to participate. Remember-"

"I'm good but I can always be better." She mimicked, trying to deepen her voice and copy Dante's, "My kicking has been getting better!"

"That it has…" the teen said, moving his hands under Ruby's legs to shift them to over his legs so she could rest them, "Your legs got a lot firmer…"

A hand shot up to cover his eyes, making him chuckle as he grabbed Ruby's hand and brought it down, staring at her cute and embarrassed face.

"I can't appreciate your beautiful legs anymore?" He said as he raised up one of her feet and kissed it.

The little reaper squeaked in embarrassment as she felt her heart skip a beat, still giving him that embarrassed glance before she covered her face up to hide it. A few moments later though, she peeked through her fingers to see Dante giving her the same heart melting smile he always gave her. Then, without warning, the teen lifted her up and sat her down on his lap. She panicked as she shifted her position, practically straddling him, and put both hands on his eyes to stop him from looking.

"Why are you so shy all of a sudden?"

"I-I got self-conscious about my legs!"

"Your beautiful, beautiful legs?"

Ruby's hands moved to his cheeks, smooshing them together as she gave him a sharp, pouty look. Her head moved down as she placed her forehead against his, looking right into his bright sky blues with her shining silver eyes. Just as she was mesmerized by his eyes, so too was the Devil captivated by her beautiful gaze.

There was something in her eyes that genuinely made his soul shiver with delight. Just by eye contact alone, he could feel her extraordinary love that burned from the depths of her own soul.

It was just like…

…

"C-Can… Can I kiss you?" Ruby asked.

"Y-You don't need to ask me you know…"

He felt embarrassed just hearing that. But it always shook him with how cutely innocent she was at times.

Slowly but surely, the little reaper moved her face closer on her own and kissed Dante, the teen wrapping his arms around her waist to hold onto her tightly.

Wait a moment, did..?

"It might be just my imagination, but I think your kissing's gotten better…"

"E-Eclypse told me how I should kiss and… make it feel nice…"

"If you want kissing advice, you should probably asked Inuba since she's the kissing freak…"

Eclypse without doubt knew how to tempt Dante and make him loses his "proper" sensibilities in favor of hotter, lewder escapades. Inuba, despite being pure and proper as she was, could reach similar levels of heated passion, but by comparison to Eclypse and the others, had the best kissing technique.

Her kissing not only made his body burn with fiery passion, but it made his very soul melt.

"Y-Yeah… But it's still kind of embarrassing though, asking people how to do that…"

"I don't think she'll mind all too much. Besides, I think you're great as is now. No need to rush."

"But… I want to make you feel good too!"

S-Such straight forward lovey dovey words..!

Ruby perked up with a small squeak and looked behind her, face getting redder as she looked to the once immortal, trying to avert his gaze.

"Y-Your words were super effective…"

"B-But I didn't really say all too much!"

"I'm a simple man sometimes..!"

Her head tilted down as an awkward silence befeel them a few moments, at least until the little reaper spoke up meekly.

"Do you want to..?"

"W-Well, I don't want to force-"

"Do you want to do it?" Ruby asked with a more affirmative tone, shaking him a little.

"O-Only if you want to…" Dante answered shyly.

"Then… I'll make you feel good this time."

Dante knew Ruby could be really competitive a lot of times. If his experience in playing Remnant: The Game against her and everyone else was anything to go off of, the littler reaper really did put in a lot of effort in order to try and outshine others.

And try she did during their 'fun' in the baths.

Compared to the last time, she not only had more stamina, but did indeed manage to not to pass out afterwards. However, she was still exhausted, and after a few minutes of actually using the bath for what it was intended, he carried Ruby back to their room so she could sleep for the night.

Walking there was a bit of a challenge given how… impressively energetic Ruby was, so he too started feeling some exhaustion. The biggest challenge however was dodging everyone else while they too were getting ready for bed.

The teen had a close call when he nearly rounded the corner into Nora after dodging his sister and Musashi.

With everyone else pretty much settled in for the night, Dante found himself in the kitchen, brewing some green tea to drink before bed. After six minutes passed, Dante grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and began pouring some tea, pausing briefly as his eyes darted up.

Letting out a displeased sigh, he finished pouring his tea before grabbing another cup and pouring the last of the small batch into it, grabbing both cups and heading up the stairs silently. Once he reached the third floor rec room, his eyes drifted towards the balcony door as he used his foot to push it open, spotting exactly who he hoped he wasn't about to see.

"You seem to be doing well for yourself. One might even say you've been indulging a little too much, young man."

The calm and sky voice of Aizûr called out to the teen, the man himself sitting cross legged on the railing as his tattered black cloak fluttered in the gentle breeze. His hood was down, and his Grimm-like dragon mask was nowhere to be seen in sight, allowing his near shoulder length, messy black hair to drift about. When the teen stepped up to him and cast his eyes upon him, he could see the man kept his eyes narrowed to slits, just like Kareina usually did. And on his face was the largest smile he had ever seen.

"Were you peeping on us?" Dante asked, grip on his cup tightening.

"Oh no, nothing of the sort! You see, when two powerful people indulge each other like you and Ms. Rose did, it's hard to miss the small flare up of Aura."

…

That sort of thing happened? Or was he just making an excuse?

...

Maybe it was something to consider paying attention to next time...

"Whatever… Here." The teen said, holding out his hand.

"Oh? Well this is a pleasant surprise. I never imagined I'd see the day where you would show some generosity towards me."

"Well today's your lucky day." Dante spoke, gesturing to the man to take the cup.

He let out an amused hum, grabbing the porcelain cup and taking a long, first sip.

"You know, when I said to make a choice all that time ago, I didn't mean that you should make four choices."

"I'm a greedy bastard." The once immortal noted as he took a short sip of his own tea, "Besides, I make my own decisions."

"So I've seen."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Hm?"

"Why'd you save us back then from that Diabolica that almost killed us after our fight with Scylix?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." The man spoke, his smile growing wider if only a little.

"Fine, be that way then…"

"I have a question for you now." Aizûr asked, "How does it feel? To be a little bit more normal I mean."

He wasn't sure what answer to give. Maybe grateful? No, that wasn't it. Perhaps… he felt like he could relate more to everyone else around him?

"Not sure really. I guess I can understand people a bit better now. I feel like… I've gotten more perspective all of a sudden just from that one event. Which is strange considering everything I've been through so far."

"I see… So then, I assume you'll be leaving Mistral tomorrow?"

"Yeah. And don't follow us, otherwise we're liable to kick your ass."

Aizûr hummed in amusement as he held his chin in his palm.

"I thought I should let you know… I checked the sites for all four towers that you and yours demolished, and… well, I couldn't find the body of the man responsible. Scary, no?"

"Not really." Dante shrugged, "If he comes back, then I'll just have to kick his ass. Simple."

"You sure know how to make impossible situations seem like simple matters to never worry about."

"If you think too much about difficult things, deep down in your mind you'll start to feel like it'll be impossible to do. I've done the impossible for so many years throughout all my journeys so far. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing stupid crap like 'impossible' or 'useless'. Words like that mean nothing to me and mine."

Aizûr chuckled lightly, "You really are a weird guy."

"I don't think you of all people should be calling anyone weird."

"Says the strangest man of all."

Dante growled slightly before taking a sip of tea, loudly placing the cup down on the balcony.

"Who's side are you really on, Aizûr?"

"I told you already, didn't I? I'm on nobody's side but my own side. Same goes for the rest of us. We're neither your allies nor enemies. It's all a matter of where our interests align. If our interests happen to be about the same thing, but we're of differing opinions concerning the endgame, then you might expect some resistance. But if we're on the same path through and through..."

"Cooperation isn't such a far cry…"

The idea sounded appealing… Aizûr and his group of… whatever they were, are all very powerful individuals. They didn't seem to be aligned with Salem, nor with any of the kingdoms. They just do as they damn well please so long as it's within their interests.

If Dante and his group made enemies of them, then they would have some real trouble on their hands. He didn't know how far their reach or influence extended, if they could manipulate the power of the kingdoms around them to their favor. Given how shady Aizûr was, it wouldn't be such a far cry.

If they were able to be utilized as allies in future exploits, they could be very beneficial.

But at what cost potentially?

"See? Now you're beginning to use your head more clearly. If things work out well enough, we could very likely be on the same side most of the time."

"Maybe."

Dante more than anything wanted to find out more about what Aizûr really was, same for his people, and what they could really do. And…

If they could possibly be a real threat to everyone.

"Well then, I should take my leave. Quite frankly, I'm not supposed to speak to you unless it's absolutely necessary. But as you can imagine, I'm not really a stickler for the rules." The man said as he stood up on the railing.

Ironically, that makes two of us…

"I meant what I said. I catch you following us, I'm kicking your ass." Dante told the man.

"Oh my. What if I just happen to be going in the same direction as you?"

"Highly unlikely. Now get out of here so I can sleep in peace."

"You mean make out with your girlfriends?"

"Want an advance on that ass kicking?!" Dante asked, raising his fist.

"I'll pass on that for now."

Aizûr made to leap, but halted himself as he turned back to Dante.

"You should be careful. We've… had some rogues as of late. They're not too keen on taking orders, so they've taken it upon themselves to up and leave. If you do see them… feel free to kill them."

"I'll keep that in mind…"

That suddenly took a dark turn…

"Well then, bye bye now!" Aizûr waved before he dropped off the balcony into the streets below.

The teen sighed as he bowed his head, soon looking up to the stars briefly before his eye caught the remains of what was Haven Academy. He almost choked on his tea, seeing how he practically demolished the entire school.

"Look at it this way…" Eclypse spoke as she crept up behind Dante and hugged him, "You made it so that some lucky students have a really long vacation from school."

"I guess... I still feel a little bad though."

"Don't be. It was an unavoidable circumstance as a result of our… complete union…" The girl spoke, her hands drifting lower to his pants.

"If us becoming one always did that, then everything would explode each time." Dante said, stopping her hands.

Eclypse welcomed the challenge, spinning him around while forcing him against a wall, placing her hands on the wall to trap the teen.

"K-Kabedon, huh? You realize this only works when the person is taller, right?"

The sword licked her lips, "Is that so?"

She pushed her outstandingly ample chest into his, making him tense up as he tried to sink deeper into the wall, only to have the girl push further.

"A-Alright, props to you. You're making it work."

"Hmph. It's only natural." Eclypse bragged, "As your blade and your lover, there isn't a single thing I can't do or achieve with nothing less than a perfect result."

"Your incredible self confidence never ceases to amaze me…"

"Your largeness always amazes and pleases me."

"Do always have to take a nice moment and turn it into something lewd?" The teen asked.

"No. But I like doing it." The girl said, leaning back a bit as her eyes trailed the ground, "I can't be as pure and lovey dovey like Inuba or Ruby. I can't be as shy or reserved as Blaire. The only thing I can do is be aggressive with my advances. Be the bad girl of us."

"Even though there's nothing bad about you?"

"What..?"

"Sure, you're aggressive with demonstrating your love, but I think it's nice that you take it seriously. It's like each time you do it, you're only proving how much you love me, and… it's honestly a really nice feeling, knowing I'm so loved. And… I guess you're right. I kind of do like naughty girls since I think they're more upfront with their feelings."

Soft hands immediately covered Dante's face, namely his eyes to prevent him from looking at the furiously blushing girl. As soon as he moved her hands away, he could see that she was trying her hardest to avoid eye contact with him entirely.

It was a strange process to see, but nonetheless heart-throbbing for the teen. The best way he could summarize Eclypse's displays of affection was if the girl had infinite attack power, but minimal to no defense.

This had to be one of the cutest things he had seen. And so, he decided to reward her with a hug, surprising her further.

"Please continue taking care of me."

"Y-Yes…" Eclypse answered, returning the hug in full.

It wasn't even a question. She'd always do that. She would always do whatever it took to ensure his safety and their prosperity.

No matter what.

And there we have it. The finale. Next time, the Volume 6 arc begins, so be prepared. And keep your eyes wide open for secrets. I've got nothing else to say, so with that...

If you've got more questions or just wanna chat, send something my way and I'll get back to you as quickly as possible now that I'm done with college.

Otherwise, 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!