Hero of Remnant: Veil of the Aether

by Aetherveil

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

74. Chapter 74: The Pale Light

Hey everyone. Must be getting a little tired of hearing me say sorry by now huh?

What I thought was going to be a week long trip actually turned into weeks, where ended up trekking across the whole country almost. Lots of new sights, lots of good food, etc. No time really to just sit and write, especially since my relatives are kinda hardasses about technology and stuff.

Then, it gets even better. I got sick three days after coming back. Don't know how. All I know is I felt like dying a few times.

Anyway, I'm not sick, and I finally finished this up right now.

So without further ado, please enjoy.

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Chapter 74: The Pale Light

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- Nearly two years ago -

He was nervous. Being nervous wasn't… common for Dante, but this was a sort of diplomatic mission. As he stated to others a great many times, he's more of a fighter. In "tense" situations where diplomacy would very well solve the current problem, he left the matter to others, like Blanc and Inuba. They were both royalty in essence, had been well trained since birth in matters of politics and diplomacy, and had a sort of natural charisma that enabled them to work extremely well with others.

Dante on the other hand… Well… He was more used to starting fights and subsequently ending them shortly after.

Which is why on his way to the meeting place, he felt like there was a black hole in the pit of his stomach.

He was going in solo. Not out of a sense of false bravado or the "I totally got this" attitude, but because he had to. The people he was on his way to meet only trusted him. Otherwise, Blanc and Inuba would be walking down with him right now.

The young devil had done his absolute best to earn their trust, helping people of the Dark Entity community with tasks and the like for almost a month now.

Not a single one of them were violent. I mean, yeah, there were some guys that liked to fight, but for the fun of it. Not out of malice or anything like that. And… I definitely could tell there were some there who led not so "peaceful" lives before coming here and living among us. But no incidents. Nothing. If this all goes well… Could we really live in peace like we have been?

It was the biggest question on his mind during his walk over to the warehouse section of the pier. The area had been abandoned for some time now due to plans of renovation. It was far enough away from the general populace, so there wouldn't be any outsider stumbling in, not that the general public was made aware of anything yet.

"If talks go well enough and you manage to speak with some sort of leader, and if they show genuine interest in integrating into the Human Realm peacefully, then I'll not only invite them for treaty talks, but also make the general public aware. Until then, we have to keep quiet about this whole affair."

Those were Blanc's words. If humanity was ready to accept Yōkai with open minds and hearts, then if a convincing enough case was made, Dark Entities would have the same fair and equal treatment.

Hopefully.

He stopped suddenly in front of the warehouse a good distance away, fully dressed in his combat attire.

His closed black coat, his glossy, black armored hands, arms, and feet, black pants, and most importantly… his mask. While he wore the mask, his hair was a pitch black color, while his sclerae were a pitch black and his irises a glowing white.

As soon as he took a step forward, a glorious burst of blue flame crashed in front of him.

The smoke cleared, and a giant of ten feet steadily stood before him. The figure had a more muscular definition and was certainly thicker, but the features were certainly more feminine. The armor the she-giant wore was pitch black, resembling smoldering bone as her blue flames burned brightly from the gaps in her armor. Her helmet looked to be that of a dragon's skull, mouth agape where the face was likely located since red eyes glowed from within the jaws encompassed with shadow, despite the back and top of her head burning brightly with blue flame.

The massive greatsword she wielded was almost as tall as she was, the pommel of the handle stopping just at her shoulders. Like her armor, it seemed comprised of a thick mass of smoldering, blackened bone, flattened and dangerously sharpened to resemble a huge sword. Blue flames engulfed her entire blade as she plunged it into the earth, gripping it tightly.

Holy shit… She's…

"The Embered Knightess… I've been hearing rumors about you for almost a few months now." Dante said with an impressed hum, crossing his arms.

"The infamous Black Devil… You are… tiny."

Her voice was rather feminine despite the hollow, echo to her voice and a little on the husky side.

He chuckled a little, "Just because I'm small doesn't mean I can't pack a punch."

"Indeed."

"So… You working with this new 'leader'?"

"I am."

"Why?"

The Knightess looked up to the night sky, clenching her free fist tightly.

"For more than a thousand years now… my life has been nothing but war and ruin. I served under no one, carving my own path across the Dark World and very few times in this Realm in ages past. I lived for nothing. A lonely existence until I slumbered for the last four hundred years. Then… ten years ago, a young girl approached me."

Girl? Guess Rosswall was right, their leader was a girl. Now I owe that vampiric fucker five hundred tyr (human currency in Primordial).

"She spoke to me of a dream, a foolish one from my perspective. At least, that is what I thought at first." She bowed her head down to fix her glowing red eyes upon Dante, "The more she showed me of this current era, the more interest I had begun to accumulate. Her dream steadily began to seem like it could become a reality. Ever since, I have served as her sword and shield, guarding her with my very life."

"That's very noble of you."

"Our Queen has taken a great interest in you, o' Devil of Darkness. She seems to believe that with you, her dream can finally become a reality. Our people are seemingly of the same mindset, having placed a great deal of trust in you." She knelt down to Dante's level to look directly in his eyes, "I am not so easily convinced."

…

…

This might be a problem…

"While we may not have done battle against one another, I have heard tales of you. Your ferocity, your brutality… The way you cut down so many of our kin mercilessly-"

"Those 'kin' you're talking about were bastards threatening us and our Realm. So yeah, I cut them down without thinking about it twice. Wouldn't you do the same if your people were under attack?"

She growled a little, wisps of flame emerging from her helmet.

"Indeed… I too would have done the same thing."

"Then understand this, Embered Knightess. Unlike some of the rumors about me out there, I'm not some bloodthirsty shithead that enjoys killing. I kill only in defense of myself and others. Unless you give me a reason to, I'm not gonna start swinging any time soon."

The giantess exhaled, steadily standing tall once again.

"And you intend to treat with our Queen in good faith?"

"Would we even be speaking if I didn't?"

She chuckled, a tuft of flame emerging from the shadow of her helmet.

"You are arrogant, Black Devil. But rightfully so. I would very much like to cross swords with you, but today we are to speak of peace." She moved to the side, allowing Dante to proceed as the two walked over to the entrance of the warehouse.

The Embered Knightess reached out with her hand and slid open the door, letting the young devil in first as she closed the door shortly after.

Looking around, he could see a great many familiar faces among the hundreds present. They looked… happy, some even overjoyed that he was present. Then there were a great many faces he didn't recognize, people that had likely been convinced to come out of hiding today to see this momentous occasion for himself.

Still… being surrounded like this by hundreds of Dark Entities… If this were by some miracle a trap… this would be a sticky situation indeed…

The room was almost filled, but they still parted to make way for the Embered Knightess and the Black Devil, who steadily approached the far end.

From deep within the darkness of the back area, wisps of smoke steadily emerged with a cold chill. Along with that smoke came small, glistening shards of transparent crystal.

Fancy reception…

The young devil lifted his head, hearing a "clinking" noise that sounded like glass heels stepping on a glass panel without it breaking. The noise echoed sharply throughout the whole warehouse as all the idle whispering went silent, everyone's gaze focusing towards that darkened back area, where from it emerged the figure of a woman.

Immediately, he was captivated by her appearance.

He didn't quite understand what he was seeing, but aside from the fact that the young woman was seemingly completely exposed, the majority of her body seemed to be composed of glistening, smooth, white crystal except for two areas of her body. The inner-side of her chest exposed lightly tanned skin in a diamond-like shape, showing off her navel in a rather dangerous low cut, the inner sides of her rather large breasts and her collarbone; her neck was completely covered. The girl's upper arms and shoulders, as well as her beautiful thighs, were the only other parts of her exposed.

Her hands may have been white-crystal, but her clawed fingertips were like pitch black diamonds. From her hips extended four, thick strands that almost looked like coattails, each one reaching to her ankles; two draping down the sides of her hips, one flowing downwards from just above her rear, and one flowing downwards from just below her navel. Each strand was crystal clear, and would have been completely transparent if it weren't for the faint glow emanating from them. The last feature these strands had was that at their tips were pitch black crystals that took on the shapes of extended diamonds, glistening faintly with each small movement.

The apparent leader's face was completely covered in a mask that seemingly looked to be made of black marble. Like Dante's own mask, her mask had slanted eyeholes, but with a more feminine accentuation by comparison. The only difference was she had no visible mouth pattern like the young devil did.

Her sparkling, white hair was long enough to reach the back of her thin waist, almost touching her wide hips and beautifully curvaceous rear. The sides of her head were adorned with beautifully smooth, long, obsidian horns that curved outwards towards her masked face and then stood straight up, each horn being a foot long.

Her eyes… They were the same like his eyes; pitch black sclerae with with glowing white irises, only her irises had a sort of crystalline shimmer to them.

…

…

Would it be evil of me to admit to myself that she's absolutely gorgeous? I know she's a Dark Entity, but… She's got to be the most beautiful one I've seen in my life…

Aside from being captivated by her beauty, his heart… It stirred. So much so that he had to place a hand to his chest to calm himself down briefly.

Is it a Charm effect? Can't be that… I'm highly resistant to all forms of magic. Either she has a Charm ability that's immensely powerful… or I'm just that naturally attracted to her…

She stopped just a few meters away from the young devil, everyone present in the room lowering themselves to one knee to bow in reverence. Dante on the other hand simply looked around a little sheepishly, immediately turning back around to face the people's Queen.

She narrowed her eyes on him, giggling lightly as she raised up her hand, her palm glowing with translucent white energy that was riddled with small crystalline shards, accompanied with a silent, ringing hum. A throne of obsidian quickly formed itself from the ground-up, allowing the young woman to take a seat. As she did, she raised her hand up as it glowed with more of her beautiful energy, forming a rather spectacular armrest chair that looked to be made of diamond just behind Dante.

The Queen waved her hand silently towards him, prompting the young devil to quickly take his seat.

"My greetings to you, Black Devil. Or would you prefer the name the humans have given you, the Black Knight?"

Her voice, like her appearance, was smooth and beautiful, but like Dante's currently disguised voice, she too had a hollow, echoing tone. Although…

Her voice… Have I heard it before?

"Er… You can call me whatever you'd like, uh, highness. What, uh, what would you like me to refer to you as?"

She giggled once more, fingers raised to her chin, "Even with my exaggeratingly long titles, I would prefer we be casual. You may call me… Satanya."

Satanya, huh? Pretty fancy name…

"I can't guarantee though that my retainers enjoy having you speak my name so casually..."

"Uh…"

"Hehehe… I must admit, I didn't expect you to have a timid side, Black Knight."

"Yeah, well lucky you…"

He couldn't see it, but he could feel her smiling behind her mask. She was having fun teasing him. It ticked him off a little bit, but she was a Queen. He wanted to let her have her fun.

"Now then… It would seem that in this last month or so, you've not only discovered my faction, but have devoted time and resources to protecting my people and their interests. Why is that?"

"You tell me. Why is it that you and your people are here in the first place? Why the interest in integrating with our Realm peacefully? Aren't we your enemy?"

She bowed her head slightly, crossing one of her beautiful, crystalline legs over the other as she folded her hands together.

"What do you know of our Realm, Black Devil? What do you understand of the Dark World?"

"I only know that it's your home, and that there's nine realms stacked upon each other. The Nine Circles, if I remember the name correctly."

"I see… Then you have no idea what goes on in our Realm, do you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her statement, making sure to pay close attention to what she had to say.

"Our World… is one of Darkness and war. Lords constantly wage wars with each other in different Circles, with those battles sometimes breaching into other Circles. All except the Ninth Circle, the Circle of Kings." Satanya explained, "While the bulk of our forces are simply creatures with little to no intelligence, there are many, like those you see here, that can think and feel for themselves. And like myself, the majority of my citizens have seen the horrors of the constant wars, and have lost a great deal. Like myself… we do not desire to take part in those wars. Our only wish is to live in peace."

"And you decided the best place to live in peace is here in our Realm. I'd ask about why you didn't think of vacating to another World, but it just occurred to me that the Angels wouldn't allow such a thing to ever take place."

Now that I think about it… If we do manage to successfully integrate Dark Entities into the Human Realm peacefully, at least those that want to… Would "they" allow it..?

"You are indeed correct. You may already know this, but this World and the Dark World are closely linked together on a dimensional level. The Dark World isn't simply a World of its own, but is a separate dimensional plane that exists within this World, just like the Apparition World."

"Which is why Dark Entities seemingly have ease of access into our Realm."

"Correct. Compared to traveling between entire Worlds, traveling between dimensions barely registers unless a massive gate is opened in this realm. Taking advantage of this fact, those of my faction, and those that wish to join us have slowly trickled in over time, silently integrating into human society for the last ten years without causing major disturbances. Of course, when we have fought, we have only done so in defense of our lives or the lives of others."

"I'm guessing not all of your kind sees eye to eye with you and your faction's beliefs?"

"Unfortunately, we have met resistance from those of our kind a great many times. And those who tend to speak more aggressively, well… I think I needn't explain myself further regarding that train of thought…"

"No you don't…"

She may be beautiful, but she can definitely be scary. That just sent chills down my spine…

"So you've all led relatively peaceful lives with minimal to no incidents. You didn't come here to invade us but to live among us in peace." Dante summarized briefly, "Aside from the obvious fact that it's easier to come here, aren't you afraid of us not coming to an understanding? That we'd cruelly take up arms against you?"

"That was an initial fear. To be honest with you… it is still one of our greater fears. Would humanity understand that some of us do not wish to bring them harm? Would they see us as more than monsters or 'evil beings' of the Dark that have haunted them for millennia? Just as the yōkai have proven, we wish to similarly prove that we can co-exist among you. That not all of us are evil."

"I understand that much. This last month in particular has been… eye-opening to say the least concerning your kind, and their potential to exceed the base assumptions others have laid out about them. To be honest… I didn't believe it at first. Any of this." Dante said, stretching his hands out towards the bowing mass of Dark Entities, "I was thinking this was just another clever trap to finally take me out. But having met with a lot of the people here, hearing their stories… I was put at ease, I guess. Frankly, it's good that you and I met face to face like this, because being here with you, I can tell you're sincere about the whole thing, even if I can't see your real face. Everything you've told me makes sense and holds up, so I'm honestly right about there in terms of placing my trust in you."

"Then..?"

He held up a hand, "If some of your people start to stray from the path and the ideals you wish to follow… Can you promise with absolute certainty that you can rein them in if they try to cause trouble? Or if worse comes to worse… take care of them?"

"I can."

"Don't rush the answer. Take your time to think about-"

"I can do it, if such things were ever to occur. I can guarantee it."

…

…

She was serious. About the whole thing.

Being here in her presence, sitting across from her… It was strange. It was as if on some level they were personally connected to one another, and that there was no way either of them could lie to the other.

"If you're prepared for what lies ahead… then I'll make arrangements to set a meeting with the King to welcome you at the Citadel."

"Truly? Can you make such a thing happen?" She asked, almost standing up from her throne.

"Er… Yeah, I can. In fact I spoke with him before coming here, and he said if our meeting here today goes well that I'm to invite you to the Citadel. And seeing as the meeting has gone pretty well, I can safely say that we can start making some headway."

Excited murmurs echoed through the room, some even sighing in relief at hearing the young man's news.

"Then… I suppose we shake on it now?"

"O-Oh… I guess we do…"

Dante outstretched his hand towards the Queen, and she eagerly did the same, both hands meeting together gently to shake each other's hand.

The gentle warmth… It was… familiar…

"For peace." He said, shaking his head briefly.

"For peace." The girl replied in turn.

As they said this, a crash came from the ceiling further behind them, scattering glass amongst the crowd as they quickly scurried away.

The smoke cleared, and there stood a tall man, hair short, swept back, and a glossy light purple. His skin was pale and smooth, while his eyes were gold with a slight shimmer to them. His fanciful white coat with golden trim gleamed under the moonlight, his two coattails lightly brushing against his ankles as he kept his black gloved hands folded behind him. His black dress shoes shone slightly, crunching under the broken glass and rubble as he cast his gaze over the room.

He seemed disgusted by the sight, more so by the bewildered Dante and Queen.

"I see following you was indeed a good idea in the end." He spoke in a smooth and absolutely chilling voice.

Dante couldn't help but stand still. After all…

The Angel Maizar had descended upon them.

"Activity in this city has been… unusually high as of late. Though, this mostly applies to the Lesser types really. I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would see so many of you gathered in one place. And with the serpent's head no less!" Maizar waved his hand over to Satanya, "And it's all thanks to you, the spectacular Guardian Dante!"

The Embered Knightess was behind her Queen, but she looked between the Angel and Dante, unsure of what to think of the situation.

Satanya cast a confused glance at Dante, and all the devil did was shake his head, silently professing his innocence.

"Now then… Unfortunately I have no time to waste of you filth. So, mr. Black Knight, be a good sport and help me wipe out these trash."

"That's not gonna happen." Dante said.

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because everyone here is under my protection and under the King's protection."

Maizar laughed, "Are you serious?! Truly?! You do realize that means absolutely nothing, right?!"

"It means a whole lot, jackass. You're nothing but overseers and only ever intervene in catastrophic situations concerning our World. Other than that… you don't have any authority here." The young devil firmly told the Angel as he walked up to him, "Now get the fuck out before I throw your feathered ass out of here into the nearest oven for Sunday dinner."

"Oh? You? Throw me out? Are you sure you want to defy me?" The Angel spoke as he too began to approach, "Then…"

The celestial being stopped briefly, stretching his hand out towards a cowering Dark Entity woman. His fingers glowed with light, and just before he discharged a blast of light, he was tackled and pushed away by Dante.

"Everyone evacuate!" Satanya called out to her brethren.

As Dante continued his violent bout of fisticuffs with Maizar, both of them brutally beating the other and tossing each other about, the multitudes of Dark Entities began to run toward Satanya to leave through the back exit.

The trouble was covering the people as they fled. Maizar had multiple opportunities within his bout with the devil to take shots at people, and he would have succeeded had Dante not moved in his way to take the attack or redirect it.

"Go."

"My Queen..?!" The Embered Knightess spoke, confused by the order.

"Ensure the safety and relocation of our people! I'm staying to assist him!"

The giantess hesitated, but nodded shortly after, guiding the few remaining people out as she followed after them.

Satanya spun around, rearing back her arm as a javelin of transparent crystal, charged with black and white energy, formed in her palm. Without a moment's hesitation, she threw her weapon, seeing it impale Maizar's hand before he punched Dante in the face.

He growled angrily once the weapon pierced his flesh, but squeezed his hand into a fist to shatter the weapon, tossing away Dante shortly after.

The Angel chased after Satanya, forming a sword of light in his palm while the girl formed a longsword of crystal. He smiled, so sure of himself that his weapon would easily cut through hers, only to have his confidence shattered when he had been stopped completely by the Queen.

Dante tackled the Angel from the side, finally brandishing his own black longsword to join the Queen in their attack. Dante's brutal yet refined slices, along with Satanya's graceful and accurate strikes, flowed together in a matter that could only be described as synergistic perfection.

Where one struck, the other defended. When one managed to place Maizar off balance, both capitalized on the opening made by the other to strike. The Angel was forced to bring out his resplendent wings of light, mixing them into his attacks and defense.

He tried to put distance between them by taking to the sky, only to be brought down by pillars of crystal Satanya created above. A burst of light from his body failed to shatter those pillars, but his physical strength allowed him to slip away, only to find himself under brutal assault yet again by the duo.

Each one landed a strike or two, allowing the other to quickly move in and capitalize, continuing the flow of their rather perfect teamwork. Each strike only served to chip away at Maizar's wings of light or his sword, until eventually, both had been broken.

All the same, he struggled sloppily against his opponents, aiming the wing with the most feathers left at Satanya. As the burning, bladed feathers found their way towards her, the Queen quickly swiped her right hand upwards to erect a wall of white crystal, keeping her completely safe.

This would be a mistake for the Angel, for once Dante got a hold of him, he wouldn't be able to escape, regardless of his physical strength. When he spun around with the Angel in his arms, a crystal longsword pierced the throat of the Angel, lightly scratching the forehead of Dante's mask as the blade passed through.

Once Satanya drew her sword away, the young devil dropped Maizar like a sack of potatoes, his body crashing into the ground with a harsh thud as he writhed on the ground, turning himself over. He was clutching his pierced throat, raspy gargles escaping him as his pristine white and gold coat was smeared in blood. He tried to drag himself away with his other hand, but his progress was slow until finally it came to a complete halt when Dante stepped on his chest.

"How..! Dare you..! You..! Trash..!" The Angel's once smooth, but now extremely hoarse voice managed to escape, partially thanks to him squeezing his neck tight enough and his power healing him very steadily, "They'll..! Skin you alive..! And these..! Filth..!"

If he could have spat at Satanya he would have.

"Yeah… See, the problem with that is that I'm fairly certain you told no one about you being here. I've heard about you, you know? Maizar, the Hunter. Pretty famous up there for rooting out Dark Entities from their hiding places." Dante quickly pointed up towards the sky, "And unfortunately for you… you're a stubborn solo act."

The Angel's eyes widened in shock, knowing now no bluff would scare the teen into making him listen.

"That's what I thought." Dante said, summoning his black longsword with a flash of black energy.

"You'll..! Never get away..! With this..!"

"The thing you guys don't seem to understand… is that I'm very good at operating under the radar." The teen said, bringing up his sword as he slowly twisted it around, "Even when it comes to you guys. Normally your remains would be burned into the ground where you die, but when I killed that Rogue Angel a month ago, I discovered something pretty neat."

Maizar raised up his other hand defensively, his voice no longer able to come out.

"When I kill an Angel, no permanent etching. No proof of death. Nothing. You just… disappear."

Without saying another word, Dante grasped his sword with both hands and swung, decapitating the Angel in one cut before pointing his sword at his chest and plunging it deep within. Cracks of black energy spread out across Maizar's entire body as it began to quickly fall apart, particles flying off the corpse and into the air until his entire body had been broken down, leaving no trace whatsoever.

"This…"

"This changes nothing." Dante told the Queen, "Here's how this goes. You go underground for a week or two. No movements, nothing. Just stay hidden."

"But-"

"But nothing, just listen, Highness." He firmly said, "This bastard? He took a random swing in the dark and happened to hit the mark. Like I said, he's a lone wolf and he's been lurking about for the past week or so. Nobody knows he was here or what he was doing. You are totally and completely safe from this. Go home, talk with your bodyguard or whatever, rally your people and tell them they're all safe. Just stay under the radar. Got it?"

She wordlessly nodded, turning her head back at where the deceased Angel had once been.

"Hey, it's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Frankly, that guy was a dick. What you're doing here can change everything as we know it. He would've torn all that down for nothing because of blatant ignorance." Dante explained, placing a reassuring hand on the Queen's shoulder, "I didn't believe in any of this. But after thinking it over, actually seeing everyone like I did… I believe. I believe in what you're doing, and I believe in you."

"Enough that you're willing to risk yourself for this?" She placed a hand over his, squeezing it tightly, "You'll be the first one they suspect. And if they somehow find about this, you-"

"They're not gonna find out. I'll be fine. Just worry about yourself and yours. Way I see it, we're gonna be working together a lot more from here on out. I placed my trust in you, just as you did in me when you brought me here. So trust in me, alright? We're gonna make this happen."

…

…

"Are you truly prepared to work with Us? Can you truly place your life in our hands if you work with us?"

The teen chuckled, "All of you placed your lives in my hands the moment I was told a meeting was set and showed up. I could've ratted you out, or done worse. You knew that. You all knew that. Yet you placed your faith in me anyway. I'm doing the same thing. So no matter what happens, no matter what they say… I'm on your side the whole way through, Ms. Queen."

She laughed lightly, soon realizing she was still holding his hand before she drew away and cleared her throat.

"Thank you. For believing in us."

"Don't worry about it. Now get outta here already, will ya? I'm gonna clean up a little."

"Right… Of course."

She politely bowed to him, quickly stepping towards the back entrance to leave Dante to his own devices.

The Queen turned around, holding a corner of the doorway and smiling when she watched him placing his hands on his hips, as if he were thinking about what should be done.

He always does that…

…

…

In that fleeting moment of innocent thought, guilt suddenly hit her.

She felt guilty, because he didn't know it was her. She felt guilty because she had to lie to him daily.

She desperately wanted to tear off the mask and go to him.

But now…

…

For now, she couldn't.

She was scared. Scared that if she told him, showed him who she was and what she was…

…

So the Queen retreated in silence, disappearing into the darkness of night, wondering if ever there would be a day she could tell him.

Wondering what would happen if ever he found out.

---

After the frustrating evening Jacques had, he sat alone in his dimly lit office, drinking from a glass with a spherical ice cube in it, eyes glancing at the door as it opened partway.

"Father, you, um… have a visitor." Whitley Schnee announced, the younger brother of Weiss and Winter.

Jacques slammed his glass down on the arm of his chair, "I told you I didn't want to be disturbed. Why did you let them in?"

"I didn't. He... let himself in."

A hand reached around the door, pulling it the rest of the way open to show that it was Arthur Watts who had arrived. A chill ran down the spin of the current CEO of SDC, memories of the eventful day of Watts' supposed death quickly playing out in his mind.

"A spitting image of you, this lad, Jacques. Creepily so, I might add…" Arthur said as he moved inside the room, "He's definitely inherited your… affect."

"Arthur…"

Jacques took a second to quickly gather himself before he looked at Whitley.

"Whitley, leave us. And shut the door."

The youngest Schnee sibling looked between his father and the uninvited guest, both confused and concerned.

"I said shut the damn door!" Jacques shouted as he slammed his glass down, Whitley hurriedly closing the door as his father focused on Watts once more.

"You're supposed to be dead."

"That's what I wanted people to think." Arthur sighed, "My status aside, I've heard things about you too, Jacques. Namely, that you have an Ironwood problem. Not only that, but recently, 'the people's Hero', Dante Aetherveil has made his way into Atlas with his merry rabble."

"That bastard Ironwood is costing me more money every day with this embargo. I'd lay off every employee in Mantle if I wasn't trying to get their damn votes for this Council seat." Jacques coldly stated, "As for that menace Aetherveil… At first I wasn't all too concerned, but the fact you even brought him might make me reconsider my initial assessment."

"Hmph… With enough preparation, time, and the right resources, Ironwood can be dealt with rather easily. As for young Aetherveil… Unfortunately he's adored by the people, unlike our dear General. Even the majority of Atlas' citizens have already begun to publicly support him and his efforts." Watts explained, "But every Hero, whether small time or the Hero of the Century, has their weaknesses and flaws. Frankly speaking, he's been a thorn in my… colleagues' side for a great deal of time. And like a cockroach, he's damned difficult to stamp out."

"If you've already made attempts on his life and failed repeatedly-"

"Oh I'm not trying to kill the boy, Jacques. See, my colleagues have expressed great interest in bringing him over to our side due to the simple fact that in our hands, he would not only be a reliable asset, but a powerful addition."

"Did you perhaps gloss over the articles expressing how much of a dogooder he is?"

"No, I haven't. But with enough pressure… he might be forced to reconsider in due time."

"And pray tell how you will manage to put pressure on an individual who's recently been made into an S-Rank Huntsman?"

Watts smiled, "As I said… every hero has their weakness."

---

"Boss, wake the hell up."

A rather powerful slap from Naomi not only woke up Dante, but dismounted him from his chair.

"Man, you're really going for that Employee of the Month bonus, huh?" The teen jokingly said as he rubbed his red cheek, sitting back down in his chair.

Currently they were inside a darkened room, the only source of light coming from the huge, holographic screen projected from Dante's obsidian desk, and the other side of the glass. In the opposite room behind the glass was a room of incandescent white, a sort of massive, white plateau in the center. On that very same plateau was a long, rectangular box, somewhat resembling a coffin.

Running along the white plateau and coffin were hundreds of black lines, their patterns resembling circuitry as they flowed into the coffin, white glows steadily traveling along the circuit paths.

"What'd you wake me for anyway?"

"Why were you sleeping in the middle of a procedure?" Naomi asked, crossing her arms as she towered above Dante.

"Because I've done this procedure dozens of times before and the sequence can run by itself."

"I'm not a computer whiz, but aren't you supposed to keep watch for errors or some shit?"

"I ran a 10,000 simulations before the procedure, each one having a 10000/10000 success rate. It's fine."

"If you say so…"

The Minotaur Faunus' eyes caught something on the ground, leaning down to pick up what looked to be a photograph.

It was with Dante and some blonde girl she had never seen or heard of.

"I know you're swimming in girlfriends boss, but don't you sometimes think you've got one too many?"

The teen looked back, quickly snatching the photo away from the tall Faunus.

"What can I say? I'm a greedy, emotionally needy bitch."

She tried to contain her sudden burst of laughter, chortling as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"S-Sorry… Never heard you call yourself a 'bitch' before."

"Just telling it how it is…" The teen sighed, stretching his arms over his head as he put away thoughts of the past further into his mind.

"So who's she?"

"Someone not here anymore."

The Faunus quickly froze. Sure, she and her employer lovingly took jabs at one another constantly, but she suddenly regretted her decision to ask.

"Sorry."

"Don't be." The teen shook his head, "Frankly, I probably should talk about it. Get it off my chest once in a while. It's just… It was a difficult point in time at the end."

"Then… you wanna talk about it or something?"

"Oh, look at that, we just finished."

The woman scoffed as she rolled her eyes, the first to leave the room with Dante following behind as they made their way to the opposite room. As the doors closed behind them, the black circuit patterns began to fade away, the coffin steadily rising at an angle. A crevice formed directly in the center, a hissing and popping noise emerging as the coffin lids slid apart.

A head of beautifully flowing orange hair emerged, the girl dressed in a sort of white hospital gown as she slowly began to climb out, with Dante helping her take her first new steps.

She glanced herself over, pleased with what her eyes saw. No unnatural crevices or cracks, perfectly smooth skin that felt real, and… sensations. She could feel the slightly chilling cold from the floor, the warmth of his hand, and a warmth she had never felt before throughout her entire body.

She laughed. She laughed with joy as she took up both of Dante's hands, happily jumping around as the young devil awkwardly chuckled, considering as per her request, she had a good amount of "bounce" to her now.

Penny was simply ecstatic, so it couldn't be helped really.

"This is simply sensational! I never imagined such a thing would be possible, but as per usual, you greatly exceeded my expectations and went above and beyond! Thank you! Thank you very much Dante!"

"Er… You're welcome, but…"

"But?"

"Please stop jumping..."

"Oh yes!" Penny said, immediately doing so, "I do suppose it is a bit much, but… Oh! I'm simply far too excited about this!"

"I gotta admit Penny… When you asked me if I could build you a body as close as possible to a human's, I was a little… Well, surprised."

"But didn't you say you had a friend like myself?"

"Yeah, but… Nevermind." Dante shook his head, Penny soon letting go of his hands as she let out a few gleeful hums and twirls, "How does it all feel? Anything off?"

"Not in the slightest! Though I suppose feeling various climates will take some getting used to, as well the breezy sensation I'm currently feeling."

She looked down and innocently began pulling up her gown to examine herself, but was quickly stopped by a baffled Naomi, clearing her throat soon after.

"I'm, uh… Gonna go get you some clothes real quick. Don't prance about too much." The minotaur Faunus explained as she hurriedly left the room.

"I'm afraid I don't quite see the issue…"

There's plenty of issues..!

When Penny approached Dante about her request, he was indeed a little baffled. Still, she was very much passionate about her request, and he couldn't just turn her down.

Essentially, Penny requested a body as close as possible to an actual human body in terms of shape, feeling and characteristics, complete with all five senses, touch in particular. When she said "as close as possible", she meant "as close as possible".

Along with this request came a secondary request concerning her proportions, asking for her "shapeliness" and stature to match Ruby's exactly.

Seeing as he had Ruby's proportions and measurements memorized completely, it wasn't a difficult task. Considering Penny and Ruby were "besties" and this was her chance to be more like her dearest friend, it did make sense for them to "match", albeit in a strange way.

"Er… Penny?" Dante asked as he waved his hand, the ground beneath both him and Penny rising up like liquid to form chairs for them to sit in, "Why did you ask for your… upgrade? No judgement or anything like that. Just… I don't know…"

"Hmmm…"

The girl placed a finger on her lip, thinking back to a conversation they had just yesterday.

"When we spoke yesterday… You explained to me that losing your immortality and almost dying made you feel… closer to everyone. Close in the sense that you were like them, able to die as well." The girl explained, gently and happily brushing her hand over her arm to feel her miraculously realistic skin, "For the longest time… I was of a similar mindset, but was never able to organize those feelings until after hearing your story. Yes, it was immensely fun to simply 'hang out' with everyone, but I felt… distant. Like I wasn't meant to be. Especially with the body I had."

"Did you feel put off by us because you weren't exactly flesh and blood?"

"No! Not ever! I… I just felt completely out of place because of what I was. When I first 'awoke', my one and only dream really was to be 'real'."

"Penny, just because you're an android doesn't mean you aren't real. You can think for yourself, you have dreams of your own-"

"But I'm not like the rest of you. It's clear that you've all chosen to ignore this fact because it doesn't matter to any of you, but… Even with your kindness, I still felt that barrier between us."

"Like how I felt a barrier between me and everyone else back then, no matter how close we got…" Dante sighed, crossing one leg over the other as he folded his hands together, "I understand completely. Still… You were… very specific about 'certain additions' to be as absurdly realistic as possible."

"Indeed I was."

"Er… A-Any reason for that in particular?" The young devil asked, nervously rubbing his thumbs together.

"Indeed! My reason… is because I wish to experience love!"

He nodded in agreement, but immediately afterwards, his eyes went wide, "L-Love?!"

"Yes, love. And from what I've read, highly intimate skin-ship is an important part of the process."

"A-And you read about this?"

"Why yes. I've gone through many texts and illustrations, and devoted a great deal of time to closely study footage in secret these last few months."

"U-Uh… Wow… You're uh… really invested in this, huh?"

"Indeed! I'm quite serious about this. I essentially understand the concept of love, but… Reading and watching from the sidelines is drastically different compared to experiencing yourself." Penny explained.

"Like how there's a difference between watching someone else play a video game on HoloTube and actually playing the game yourself."

"Exactly! The more knowledge on 'love' that I absorbed, the more I found myself wishing to experience it for myself. Ruby's stories about your intense moments of intimacy only made me want to experience love all the more."

Dante inhaled sharply, "She… Uh… She tells you-"

"Only when I fervently ask her to the point she can't refuse me. I've also been studying how to be a bit more 'pushy'."

"A-And the talks?"

"Ruby has been quite copious with details."

I'm not even mad in the slightest… I'm… It's just gonna be hard to look Penny in the eye for a good while…

"So as well as experiencing love… you want to experience intimacy, which is why you requested particular specifics concerning your new body."

"That is correct."

Dante quirked his eyes upwards briefly, "Any idea how you're going to start?"

"Start?"

"Yeah, like how are you gonna… erm… start hunting for a significant other?"

Penny raised her hand up as if to answer his question immediately, but paused, eyes looking up towards the ceiling in ponderous thought.

"It would seem I haven't planned that far ahead."

Dante chuckled a little.

"I was thinking of asking someone for their opinion first, but hearing that you and Ruby had arrived in Atlas made me consider asking individuals who are actually in love."

"Right… So, what did Ruby have to say?"

"Unfortunately I wasn't as… forthcoming as I was with you. At least when it came to receiving a new body."

"Why?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise!"

…

…

There were a few things wrong about this situation, but… Penny was just too damn adorable to scold or refuse. Sure there were a few… gaps in her process, but this wasn't just a simple "spring fling" for the girl. She was genuinely interested in the idea. The fact she asked for a new body was in and of itself a testament to her desire of not only becoming more human… but experiencing love.

With Darwin, it was a simple matter of just blending into society. But this whole situation with Penny… Well, it was frankly quite an exciting development, and something of a first for Dante.

So in that moment, the devil decided he was gonna be her Demonic Godfather, the Fairy Godmother's sassy, bitchier twin.

"Um… Alright." Dante clapped his hands together, "I'm gonna do my best to help you as much as I can."

Penny gasped, springing out of her chair to lovingly hug Dante while at the same time squeezing him like a sponge, "Really?!"

There was brief confusion between pain and something innocently pleasant. Regardless of this understanding, the young devil still only managed to squeeze out two words.

"Y-Yeah… really…"

This is gonna be troubling to deal with…

The doors slid open, Naomi entering inside and freezing upon the sight of her boss being hugged to death by a girl wearing only a medical gown. Deciding not to say anything, she simply set the clothes she brought in down on the clean floor, and walked right out.

Great… I'm gonna get my ass-kicked later…

"Thank you so much! I will make absolutely sure to be the best student possible under your tutelage!"

…

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad…

"Er… All that aside, what do you want to do with..?"

Penny walked over to the other "coffin" that her old body remained in, placing her hand on the top.

She could feel the slight chill of the metal rushing through her fingertips and skin, narrowing her eyes on the rectangular box.

"My father… went through a great deal of trouble to make my body the first time, and then again after I fell at Beacon. Frankly, I felt some shame in asking you to make this new body because of that fact alone." The girl said as she removed her hand from the coffin, "I still do honestly… I feel guilt for wanting something so selfish when my father went through so much effort already."

"In a way, I can understand that. Frankly, it's that kind of mindset that kept me from doing a lot of the things I wanted to do back then." Dante explained to Penny as he leaned on the opposite box, "But what's wrong with wanting to be selfish? To follow your desires the way you want to?"

"But…"

"It doesn't matter what anyone else says. They can be ass- I mean, clowns and chastise you all they want for being selfish. What matters most in the end is what you want, Penny. Regardless of what anyone else says or wants. Be you. Be… free, and live your life the way you wish."

She smiled faintly, touching the center of her sternum before her hand moved to the nape of her neck. Dante flinched a little, remembering that in those places she touched were "kill-switches". Of course, she no longer had them within her new body, and they had no way to examine her Consciousness Data to check her memories. No one would really know that her body was new unless they did a full examination.

The young devil was of course more than willing and eager to grant Penny's wish, but seeing those kill switches in her old body, and realizing she didn't really have a choice of privacy, even with her own memories…

It pissed him off.

So yes, while he was motivated to go to such lengths for a friend, he was also motivated to screw over the Atlas techs that thought doing such things was a good idea.

Seeing as Pietro loves Penny more than anything, it's impossible to think he did it. Either he had no idea, or was forced to accept it.

"I know that I had those… devices installed in me. Certainly it made me uncomfortable to consider the possibility I would forcibly be shut down for whatever reason, but… I understood, in a manner of speaking. If ever I was hacked into, or taken by unsavory parties, then it'd only be logical to do as such."

"But is that any way to live?" The devil asked.

"No. And I think that on a subconscious level, that's also one of my reasons for wanting a new body. To truly live free without leaving it up to others to decide how long I live. So… truly, I can't thank you enough for what you've given me."

"Ah, it's no sweat…"

"Is there any way I can compensate you for the trouble and materials?"

The young man chuckled a little, "Just live your life the way you want to Penny. That's all I can really ask for. And, wear some clothes. Please."

---

He strode down the marble halls in silent frustration, his white coat with gold trimming catching the sunlight that filtered in from the windows to give off faint glistens. He didn't even bother maintaining "appropriate posture" like he was educated so many years ago.

Not that he cared really. The only person that would have poked fun at him for that was…

…

Blanc shook his head, his emerald eyes furrowing into an angry glare as he trekked the halls of the citadel, making his way to his office.

"What the hell is going on…" He silently muttered to himself.

Ever since two months ago, strange creatures had begun to very steadily filter in across the globe. Their numbers were small, and they were frankly too feeble given how easily they were eliminated, but those black creatures resembling animals with white bone masks and glowing red eyes… They were starting to get on his nerves with how he was hearing reports about them every other week.

What made matters worse was that their bodies disappeared almost immediately, making autopsies impossible. Not even their black essence could be captured for study. Aside from 'what they were'…

How are they still stepping into our World? No, how are they doing it in the first place? Ever since The Cataclysm, all DoorWays were completely shattered, making travel impossible unless an individual is an Ascendant Being like myself, or the higher tiers of Dark Entities or Yōkai.

But such a thing would have been impossible. There was no activity on either front, and he or his subordinates would have noticed any movements.

…

…

Could it be him..?

Blanc came to a complete halt, turning his head right to look out the window at the cloudy skies constantly hovering over his city, a phenomenon that had existed long before his birth.

Memories of the past began flooding into his mind, of a time he walked under those very skies with the person he once called friend. No…

Brother.

His black gloved hands clenched into tight fists, the young man closing eyes for a few brief moments before he turned his head back and looked onwards.

Also impossible. He wouldn't have the means. If anything…

He felt a shiver crawling down his entire back as he remembered that day, two slight tingling sensations emanating from his back between his shoulder blades. The memory brought pain, and the haunting sound of bone being torn from flesh.

The day his "wings" were plucked.

He lost a great deal of his power that day, but would soon enough gain it back along with his "wings", now of ethereal white light. Still…

That didn't mean he forgot, nor forgave, regardless of the terrifying situation and the heartbreak both sides endured.

And yet… To this day, Blanc wondered which one of them was right. He may have been defeated, but he still believed his actions right in the end.

Even so, he couldn't help but wonder now and then.

…

Do I..? No. No, that can't be it.

He shook his head and continued onwards to his office. While he may not have had much more as the Grand First these days, he still had a Kingdom to run.

---

"Just how?! How do you do it?!"

"Do what?" Dante innocently asked Jaune.

"He's not doing anything in particular." Ren answered.

"Exactly! He does nothing all that amazing and still..! How?!"

"R-Really Jaune… I'm actually not doing anything…"

Now that they were in the walls of the Kingdom, the trio could relax a little like they used to back in Vale. However, the absence of Sun Wukong and Neptune was noticeable, since the two would eagerly join Dante, Jaune and Ren in their antics. One of their more favorite pastimes, which was started by Sun, was to see which of them got the most phone numbers by the end of night, wherever it was they visited.

And currently, they were in a bar, sitting back and relaxing.

It's like Jaune thinks I'm like Diarmuid Ua Duibhne with that love-spot of his that charms women. Last time I checked, I don't have some weird spot on my face that does something like that…

"To put it bluntly, he is a naturally attractive individual. I assume his heritage plays a role in his attraction factor." Ren explained.

"But that's cheating!"

"Being born the way I am is cheating?"

"Yes!"

"Dude."

"Dude!" Jaune returned, "You're using some kind of magic or something, aren't you?"

"Seriously, I'm not."

"And yet you somehow got eleven phone numbers. Three from waitresses, the others from girls that bought you drinks." The blonde pointed out.

"Fuck…" Dante silently muttered, reaching into his pocket to hand Ren three plastic cards of 30,000 Lien, "You knew, didn't you? Bastard…"

"I was feeling audacious, for once."

"Liar." The devil replied, Ren smirking slightly as he pocketed his Lien.

Dante sat back down, taking up his bottle of pear flavored cider and finished it off, sighing afterwards, Jaune following suit with his blueberry flavored cider. Ren decided to imbibe as well with blackberry cider, but not nearly as much as Jaune and Dante did.

The blonde sighed, "Even Weiss…"

"Is that what this is about?"

He was startled, realizing he had laid bare thoughts he didn't intend to.

"Aw, dude… Come on, that's just a façade so she can get the douchebags off her back while she's here and whenever she goes out." Dante explained.

"Logically speaking, it is a wise decision." Ren explained as he looked at Jaune, soon turning to Dante, "But…"

"But..?"

"But what? Do you really not see how she looks at you sometimes?" The blonde asked.

"N-No..? How does she look at me?" The young devil asked, a little startled, "Like she wants to carve out my liver and eat it?"

Ren was the only one to chuckle slightly at the joke, Jaune leaning further back in his seat as he groaned.

"Seriously?!"

Dante could only sputter out words of confusion to the frustrated Jaune.

"She looks at you in a way that expresses genuine interest." Ren explained.

"Bullshit. How would you even know?" The devil asked.

"Nora and I have… noticed certain subtleties, both in her approach towards you and her mannerisms ever since our reunion in Mistral. Seeing as Jaune has always been interested in Weiss, well… It was certain he would notice quickly."

"Then-"

"It's likely this façade she's enacting isn't simply a façade." Ren explained, "This 'act' might just be a means to shift your relationship from 'friends' to-"

"I don't believe it. I mean, we're close, but-"

"Dude, you have like four girlfriends." Jaune added.

"So what?" Dante shrugged.

"Obviously it's not an issue."

"Seriously man?"

"I think what Jaune's trying to say is that-"

"No, I get it." The devil stopped Ren mid sentence by holding up a hand, "Look… I might just seem like some well off bastard that gets his pick of the girls any day of the week, but it's not like that. I… genuinely feel love for Ruby, Inuba, Eclypse and Blaire." He explained, placing a hand over his heart, "Each of them had a significant impact on my life in many ways. And honestly? I… I don't think I would've made it all too far without their love for me, or their… abundant support."

"You're like the strongest guy alive. Literally with all those stories about you."

"Man, we've had this discussion tons of times before." The devil stood up straight, "Power means shit. Can I kill just about any bastard out there? Sure. But what's it all for if you're just a lonely shit in the end? With no one or nothing? Love completes us. Makes us whole, or at the very least for some, almost whole. Monsters like me though… well… Love makes a huge difference in our lives, and also means everything to us, regardless if it's one partner or more."

"I didn't mean it like that…" Jaune said, hunching over in his seat as he grasped his bottle with both hands, "I… I'm just… a little jealous if anything since I liked her quite a lot..."

"Liked?" Dante asked.

"I've just been thinking… Did I actually like Weiss like that, or… was I just dumbstruck with how beautiful she is?"

"Dumbstruck." Ren and the devil answered in unison.

"I guess so…"

"I mean, let's recap, Jaune." Dante began, bringing up his hands, "How many times have you asked her out on a date in total?"

"67 times."

"Holy shit…" The devil silently muttered, shaking his head quickly, "Um… Ok. And each time she rejected you. Was there any point in time that she seemed to… soften up, per say?"

"No, she was really firm each time and has kicked me a few times."

"At some point did it ever occur to you asking her out was a lost cause?"

"My dad said-"

"The persistence tactic doesn't always work." Ren pointed out quickly, "I do agree though that it would be opportune for you to… look to different horizons."

"Like who?"

"Dude, those five single moms for instance." Dante reminded the blonde, "You got casseroles from them and four of them gave you their numbers."

"That's…"

"What?"

"They're older than me…"

"So what? Blaire's 26 and she's amazing. In many ways." The young devil said, eyes quirking up briefly , "Not to mention that it's always a blast spending time with her."

"Wait, she's 26?"

"Yeah."

"And you're dating?"

"Yeah."

"And you… do certain things with each other at night?"

"YEAH." Dante emphasized loudly, shaking his head up and down rather fervently.

"B-But…"

"Again, who cares? I mean, some other moralist people might care, but fuck 'em." The devil shrugged, finishing his drink, "If what you've got is genuine love, does it matter when you understand each other's feelings?"

"I am curious as to your relationship with Ms. Embryl… How exactly did that happen?" Ren asked.

"Well, when I lost my memories the second time when I was seven, I woke up in the hospital and stayed there alone for two weeks before she found me. I was what was considered 'gifted', and the organization she was working for was looking for people like me. So I joined, making her my commander/handler. And since I had nowhere to stay, I stayed with her."

"You lived together?!" Jaune asked,

"Yeah."

The more Jaune heard, the more he became bewildered, all while Ren looked on with interest, still going steady with his own drink, "I think you can imagine for yourself the rest of the details…"

"What kind of World did you live in..?"

"One with many freedoms…" Dante spoke as he set down his 20th bottle, "In any case… You're a free man Jaune. Go on some dates while you're here in Atlas. You might just end up finding someone to your liking."

"Yeah… I guess…"

"Start with those hot, young moms in your area."

Immediately Dante burst out laughing due to him remembering the many browser ads that popped up on Jaune's scroll, one of them advertising the exact same thing Dante just said.

"Oh you're so funny…"

"We do seem to have a great deal of time on our hands between training and missions… Perhaps you might find a significant other in between."

"You really think so, Ren?"

"We believe in you buddy." Dante assured with a thumbs up, "After all, you're a charmer when you mean to be."

"I… Thanks guys. Really… But what about you, Dirty Dan?"

"Shit, you heard that?"

"Dude, it was recorded."

"Dude!"

"Dude…"

"I think someone is working on a compilation of your rather… interesting one liners…" Ren told the young devil.

"I hate my life sometimes…" Dante sighed before he turned his head back to Jaune, "What about me?"

"Well… What are you going to do about this whole situation with Weiss?"

…

…

"I don't know, if I'm being honest… I'm, uh… Just gonna stick to the intended plan…"

"Do you like Weiss?" Ren abruptly asked.

"W-Well… She's… nice…"

"He totally does…" Jaune plainly stated.

"It would seem that way." Ren agreed.

"Shut your faces…" Dante told them, avoiding eye contact with his friends.

"Well… Seeing as you have a shot, why not go for it?" The blonde said, half encouraging while the other half was still a little sour with the development.

"Go for it..?"

"Be genuine, like you always say." Ren added.

"Look, I-"

"Why fake it when you can have the real deal?" The blonde explained.

"Look, I'm already in a rather scandalous position as is. Frankly I don't give a shit what anyone says, but if they talk smack about any of the girls… Well… I'd get pretty pissed."

"True, yet the situation does work in your favor since Weiss is not only a Schnee, but also because you're a recently promoted S-Class Huntsman."

"Good publicity and all that."

"If anything that's worse, since people would be more keen on keeping an eye on us for shitty gossip news." Dante told his two friends.

"But since your concern is for everyone else, they'd only be focused on you and Weiss, wouldn't they?"

Ren's got a point…

"Make the most of it then…" The devil sighed.

Still… I can't imagine that she likes me that much. I mean, we're really good friends now, but… She used to hate my guts back at Beacon the first few weeks… Could there really be some truth to all this?

Dante exhaled before he stood up from his seat, taking out a few Lien cards and putting them on the table.

"You guys enjoy yourselves. I gotta head out elsewhere to take care of some things."

"Secret S-Class Huntsman stuff?" Jaune asked.

"No, just some other stuff. Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Enjoy yourselves." Dante waved goodbye as he took his leave.

"Hey, don't forget about game night on Saturday!" Jaune reminded him.

"I won't!" Dante called back as he exited the establishment.

~Were you just putting on airs?~

No, I wasn't, Eclypse. I'm genuinely amazed she has any interest in me at all to that extent…

^Are you really, though?^

What's that supposed to mean, Sêrythîl?

*Come now, Master! Do you truly not understand? As a young man, your features make the hearts of even the fiercest of women throb uncontrollably! Do you not agree, Queen of the Land of Death?*

^W-Well… Aside from his talent as a warrior, our Master is quite… handsome…^

*See?! We are all in agreement!*

~Our personal passion for you aside… What are you going to do with Weiss if it turns out she actually has the hots for you?~

…

The more he thought about it, the more unease he felt. Yes, he agreed to assist Weiss with her lie, but… When he thought back to that event and how she reacted, not to mention some of their interactions in the final month before the Vytal tournament, it seemed like what Jaune and Ren said was all the more true.

And…

It wasn't like he didn't look at Weiss in that way a few times before he started dating Ruby. She was beautiful, strong willed, prideful, and enjoyable to be around whenever she truly expressed herself. Most importantly, she was a good person in spite of her early antics. Like him, she too was buried under the mountain of expectations others had for her, never truly having the freedom to decide for herself what she wanted to do with her life.

Now that he thought about it, it was actually kind of ironic how similar their circumstances were in that regard, and how much they actually had in common despite arguing most of the time at Beacon.

…

Honestly, I feel guilty even considering the idea…

~Hey, if the feeling is mutual…~

I understand that, but-

*Don't fret over such frivolous things, my Wielder! Love has many expressions and takes on many different shapes! As you said before, does it truly matter what others think of you or say?*

^I'm not an expert in love or affairs like these, but I agree with both of them when they say you should go for it. If you love somebody in that way, why shouldn't you? Especially when your affection can extend to others?^

Then… I guess I won't fake it then. I just hope that it won't be one huge misunderstanding…

As he walked the streets of Atlas during the night, he suddenly received a ping to his Scroll, a holographic projection popping up in front of him to show the message he received.

Well… Aren't we a little impatient?

~Looks like the cat caught a mouse.~

Seems so…

For a few minutes, Dante walked further and further into the darker parts of Atlas, rounding a corner to a rather secluded area where there were blind spots in the CCTV cameras.

"Oh? No FaceTime? Now I'm a little disappointed…"

The devil steadily swept through the message, reading every line quickly.

"Dante, I apologize for not doing this face to face or over a video call but the signal out here doesn't have the speed for that. I'll keep this brief as I don't have much time but there are some things you need to know."

In the message, two video files appeared underneath the text.

Guess he did video logs to keep track of progress steadily. Pretty decent method, especially when conducting an investigation over the span of a few days as to not bore individuals. Only problem is that if he got in trouble at any point in time, I wouldn't know until I see the videolog. Well, he's at least checking in.

Dante's eyes glossed over the file names, one of which read "good news", while the other "bad news".

This guy…

With a sigh, the young devil opened the good news file first.

The file opened up to display a still frame of Ray's face, the faunus covered up with a pair of goggles and a face mask with two small vents on the sides.

Considering there was what looked like a blizzard in the background, it wasn't hard to figure out why.

With a tap, Dante played the video file.

"Alright, here's the good news," Ray yelled over the sound of the wind rushing in the background. "On my way out of Mantle, I took the liberty of tapping into an Atlesian network relay, which is what I was planning on doing before those bastards arrested me."

Dante saw the faunus duck and avoid something that moved too quickly to be seen in the footage before he continued.

"I think I've caught onto a lead regarding our good friends at the Black Church, a manuscript of theirs that Atlas had apparently been keeping hold of for quite some time. Now I don't know about you, but I find that rather curious, wouldn't you agree?" Ray paused as he took some deep breaths, fog blowing out from the vents in his facemask. "Anyway, using copies of a journal belonging to my great-great-great-uncle, I've started to translate it into something somewhat legible. Turns out his obscure interest in dead languages was actually worth something."

"One of his family members actually deciphered that maddening shit? I'm actually impressed…" Dante exhaled.

He remembered when he first learned the language about two years ago. It was… certainly a process.

"Though I guess they must be pretty crazy already if Ray decided it was a good idea to take on a shit heap of enemies part of a deranged cult… So… what's the manuscript say, I wonder?"

"I haven't quite finished it, but I'll paraphrase what I know already. The Black Church is in Solitas. That is something we can confirm as absolute truth. However, it's reluctant to offer any kind of coordinates or map. Probably because those assholes never left the place to go and explore, but your guess is as good as mine. It does however allude to its location being northwest of the continent, which is exactly the direction I'm headed as I speak."

"There probably are some sort of coordinates, but I figure they'd leave the deciphering process to higher officials, that way when they 'gather the flock' they bring them in person rather than let the secret slip out. Still… Northwest, huh?"

The devil quickly scaled the tall building, emerging from the alley and onto the roof, facing northwest.

"Must be underground. That, or they're well hidden in the mountains outside of normal view. They likely have larger numbers than usual, so… They might be hiding out in a monastery."

"Oh and before I wrap this log up, I should tell you that I also took the liberty of surfing through your stuff at DarkStar. Don't worry, I haven't taken anything, but I've familiarized myself with your navigational systems and I'm charting a flight path in order to quickly guide you through this tundra when the time comes to put the cult down. Flying out here blind will be a nightmare, even for the bravest of pilots, so I'm saving you a ton of time by doing it myself."

"This guy really is pretty crazy… Though, I guess I'm worse since I would've taken a stroll through the tundra… I do hope he packed well enough."

"That's all the good news for now, check the bad news next when you have the time. Ray, out." With that statement, the footage went black before returning to the original message screen.

"Great… Can't wait to see what else I got for Christmas this year…"

Dante shook his head, closing the file and tapping on the "bad news" file as he crossed his arms and waited in "eager" anticipation for what he was about to hear.

"Alright, so I'm going to start this under the assumption you watched the good news first. If not, I'm guessing you're really a pessimist and you like hearing awful things." Ray's covered face was once again displayed in the recording, fog seeping from his facemask as he trampled through the snowy tundras of Solitas, "So aside from it looking like Jacques Schnee's asshole out here, my relay tap revealed some disconcerting news to me that you definitely need to know. Let's start with the fact that the upper echelon of the military is really pissed off that I got sprung from jail. After decrypting some transmissions, it would seem there's a few higher-ups that needed my incarceration to leverage my family into giving up our secrets."

"Makes sense… The Chroma family has lived in seclusion for the last few decades. Even then, they aren't really the sharing type with information, artifacts and the like. Who knows how much ancient, mystical shit they have stored in the family trove…" The devil pondered.

There was a pause as Ray seemed to clamber up onto an icy surface before he continued. "They wanted to use me as a bargaining chip to get their hands on literally all of my family's archives. Not just copies, but they intended to seize the entire lot. As you can imagine, that plan has been fairly spoiled now and some people in Atlas are very upset."

"I can only imagine… If Ray got his ass thrown into jail like he did, then there's definitely some powerful people taking advantage of Ironwood's focused efforts towards defeating Salem to do some shady shit without his knowing. The murders down in Mantle for example… Strategic and concise. Done to specifically cause harm. Likely no connection, but… Hey, who knows?"

"Either way, that's why I was imprisoned. Not that I expected it, but it's not outside the realm of possibilities. What is important is that they know I wasn't alone, but I don't think they're aware that you're my accessory. Either way, watch your back, I'm confident they'll try to fish around for the truth sooner or later."

"They'll try. I've covered my tracks near-perfectly and I still have many methods to keep myself obscure. Either way, that's good news in essence. They have no idea who I am, and they'll likely underestimate Ray and slip up. Bet they'll shit a brick if they find out an S-Class Huntsman is backing him…"

Dante cracked his neck and knuckles, letting the message play further as he brought a hand up to his chin to listen further.

"Oh, and by the way, congratulations on your new promotion. I saw it on the network but was too fixated on our current objectives to look at it in detail. Regardless, this is all I have for now at least, I'll send more when I get the chance or if something interesting crops up. Ray, out."

"Gotta hand it to him, he definitely knows how to give a SparkNotes summary while keeping in all the exact, important details…" The devil closed his screen, looking out into the distance Ray pointed out, "Either the tundra is hiding them really well, or they have a Bounded Field. If Ray is as smart as I think he is, then he likely knows something like that exists and has found some sort of workaround. That, or he'll sniff them out and call me over. Either way… Hopefully, he'll be alright."

Dante leapt off the building back into the alleyway, landing with a silent "thud" into a low crouch before he quickly stood up.

~That was a bit of a let down… Here I thought we'd see the Cat in the Hat in person…~

The young man only shook his head with a small smile as he made his way down the street, seeing that it wasn't crowded. It was almost midnight, but it was also a Wednesday, so of course, not too many people would be out.

^The contrast between the two cities is… vast… It always shocks me how the disparities between those that are rich and those that are not widen…^

Money changes people in ways you'd never imagine. Even the sweetest, simplest person can turn into a seriously evil person.

^I knew as much, Master. It's just… shocking, that people would value material possessions so highly above others…^

*While people have the capacity for outstanding kindness, they also have the capacity for great evil. Even the smallest of reasons is enough to turn one sour.*

All it takes is a person believing they're right…

The idea was… ironic.

In truth, that's all it ever took for Dante to do the things did, or to continue doing what he does best. Just like "good" and "evil", "right, and "wrong" was a dangerous, double-edged sword. The difference was that he believed the latter was the purest form of reason and truth, which made it all the more dangerous by comparison.

There were others he met in his life that were of a similar mindset. Their belief in being "right" is what drove them, either to do good or perform acts of evil.

…

…

He always tried to do the right thing, to be good even when others stood against him for his idea of it. He wasn't picture perfect. He wasn't a saint, but he wasn't a completely evil shit either. Yes, Dante had done things in his life that would make a majority of people's skin crawl, but…

His only desire was to do good by others.

Maybe that's why people liked calling him "Remnant's Demon of Vengeance". He didn't always do a pretty job, but people were always grateful in the end. At least, most of the time.

~Always with the deep, philosophical thoughts…~

It's good to do some self-reflection now and then.

~Too much of a hassle. Besides, I'm already perfect as I am.~

Ok, Eclypse.

Dante chuckled silently to himself as he trekked the vacant streets, stopping once he noticed that the lights were beginning to flicker constantly.

Then… total darkness.

The devil's eyes flickered to his Shadow Eyes, black encompassing white sclerae as his irises turned a glowing white. Every edge, every corner, every gap was highlighted in dim white, allowing him to see in the dark.

Power outage? No, not likely. Maintenance in the kingdom is strict, especially in Atlas.

He then looked up to the sky, seeing the glow of lights further within the city.

Lights are on everywhere else in the city… This isn't an outage..!

The young man extended his hand, summoning Navâra first and swung outwards. Given her nature, in Blade form, she had a rather majestic white glow to her, so when she made impact it wasn't just the sparks that revealed who had shot forward to Dante's back. Not to mention, bits of her glowed a deep purple.

It was hard to make out at that moment, but he was certain of what he saw.

A girl, likely between 17-19 that stood at 5'8, had managed to block Dante's sword.

She looked as though she was wearing some sort of skin-tight, light grey battlesuit that almost looked like tights, but… Given how glossy the slight shine was under the moonlight and with how it hugged her figure entirely, it looked almost like bare skin given he could see her navel.

Pitch black armor covered her feet, with long and thick heels whose soles looked plated in silver. Deep purple flaps, which glowed, covered the back of her ankles. From the heels emerged thin, black armor that covered her rather long and thick legs, stopping at the center of her thighs where her grey battlesuit fed into the armor. Diamond shaped plates covered the side of her thighs where the armor stopped, the tips and upper edges trimmed in a deep purple glow.

It looked as though she was wearing skintight, high-cut, black short-shorts as bottoms that were meshed into the battlesuit, keeping her from being "exposed" given how seemingly thin the fabric of her suit was. On the sides of her rather voluptuous hips were some sort of circular black and silver metal panels no bigger than small plates used for teacups, which held up the two strange, thick, shortsword-like flaps that protected the sides of her rear. They, like the diamond plates on the sides of her thighs, glowed a deep purple.

The upper part of her torso wasn't plated in metal, but it looked as though it was some sort of black, hard leather covering that only wrapped around her modest bosom, which split down the center of her chest to expose the light grey of her battlesuit.

While her neck wasn't completely covered, the fabric of the battlesuit stopped at her throat, a thin, silver collar wrapping around the base of her neck. Her arms, up to the center of her biceps, were plated in black armor. Circular rings that glowed a deep purple rested just above where the armor stopped at her upper arms.

Her forearms had an extra layer of black armor plating shaped like diamonds, where the tip facing her hands had been elongated to cover the top of her arm entirely and stopped at her wrists. Covering the back of her hands were thick plates of metal shaped like arrowheads, their blade-like edges glowing a deep purple. Her hands were gloved in black fabric, whereas the underside of her fingers and her palms glowed a deep purple.

The girl's hair was… strange in that he wasn't quite sure if it was blue, but when the pale light of the moon shone on them, he could see it was a sort of blueish-purple. Her bangs were rather long, with two thicker strands on each side of her face covering her barely exposed ears, framing her face. Her long hair that reached her lower back had been tied up into a low ponytail with a thin, white fabric band.

When he looked closer, he could see longer strands of her rather beautiful hair reach down and drape over her left shoulder. It looked as though it had been fed through and kept together by a black and white marble, no bigger than the tip of a pinky, that had been perfectly centered on the strands of hair.

While he would have liked to identify his attacker, she unfortunately wore a black, V arrowhead shaped faceplate, with two diagonal, parallel lines that glowed a deep purple on each side where her eyes would have been. On the top sides of her head were two black hairpieces, each one shaped like horizontal diamonds, their edges blade-like and glowing a deep purple.

Who the hell is she? I didn't swing all too hard, but… She stopped my strike with her hand a little too easily… Could she be..?

What happened next startled Dante a little given how he quickly took a step back and moved his body sideways. Normally, speed types weren't an issue in the slightest to track; he could easily keep his eye on them and give them the false illusion that they were "fast" and "unable to be seen". But this girl…

She moved past him in an almost invisible blur.

If he didn't take predictive measures, she would have likely blown through him with her punch. But she didn't stop after one attempted strike, and quickly initiated her next sequence of attacks. While she made it a point to stop his attacks and sword swings mid-attack by punching or palm-striking whatever part of his body came her way, Dante made especially sure to try and not get hit by any of her punches and kicks.

He'd seen some real meat-heads in his time that had some serious power, but they were always easy to out-maneuver or counter. With her, his attacker had deadly speed, precision, and power. While one of her high side-kicks missed his head, the powerful wind current and the quieted "booming" sound that followed with any of her attacks made him all the more motivated not to get. Worst of all, he couldn't attack her.

Not up close at least.

The devil feinted a vertical slash into a shoulder bash, making the mystery attacker leap back a good distance, directly into a barrage of floating Aura Swords.

And yet, he found his opponent all the more disturbing with her next set of actions.

She immediately took up a low crouching stance, making both hands crossing her body and shaped like an edge. Then, as the dozen or so Aura Swords came crashing down, she lashed out her right hand in one fluid, powerful motion, spinning herself around once as a result of the momentum.

Thus, in one seemingly effortless strike, she shattered all of his Aura Blades.

This small sacrifice wasn't without its tidbit of information, however.

This is gonna suck…

Without a second thought in mind, Dante rushed forward with blinding speed, his body becoming a brief blur of platinum streaks before appearing in front of his attacker, prepped with a side slash coming from the outside. Just like he predicted, the girl easily caught him by the wrist like she did a few times before, only instead of trying to throw him this time, she reared back her right hand as it crackled with a golden-orange glow.

Eclypse had already activated his Threat Tracer ability, adjusting the range to stop the punch within three inches of making contact with his chest. A thin, circular membrane of Aura formed in front of the blow, matching the size of her fist. All Eclypse had to do now was patiently let the attack make contact with the membrane, and adjust its strength to completely cancel out the force of the other girl's attack.

And yet with all this in mind, the attacker's punch effortlessly shattered the membrane of Aura, striking Dante in the chest where his heart was.

The sheer force of the attack sent him flying down the street a few dozen meters or so, crashing into the topside of a car and subsequently flipping over it as he crashed into the asphalt. It wasn't just his heart that had literally been exploded, but his left lung too. This was, however, an issue only for a moment as his Aura healed his injured organs instantly, the devil taking a sigh of relief as he staggered up to his feet.

Fuck… That wasn't just uncomfortable, that actually goddamn hurt… That's… not supposed to happen…

~I don't understand..! I adjusted the output to exactly match the force of her punch to cancel out the damage! How-?!~

That wasn't on you, Eclypse… You did it perfectly.

^Not that I doubt that, but how did she still manage to land a strike?^

*Indeed… I am also baffled by this, good Dante…*

She didn't "break through" Threat Tracer… She bypassed my Aura shielding entirely. Typically, if an attack is too great for someone's Aura Shielding, all of the Aura will be drained in that attack, resulting in bodily harm. Case in point, Yang. In her first confrontation with Adam, his attack was simply too strong for her Shielding to handle.

~If she didn't brute force it, then what the hell did she do?~

He could hear the metallic clacking of heels, seeing the girl approach him.

"You're still alive after such an attack… I'm astonished."

Her voice was deliberate and to the point, carrying a soft intonation and airiness behind her sharp voice. It wasn't quite husky, but almost had the same delivered breath without the reverberation or intent.

"Sorry about that… I usually survive just to spite people who think they landed a killing blow…" Dante wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth, spitting out the rest towards the sidewalk, "You're pretty fast. Not to mention pretty damned strong. But… I reckon it wasn't just pure force alone that broke through my Aura shielding."

She stopped her approach, her head tilting downwards slightly. If the devil didn't know any better, she likely had her eyes narrowed on him now.

"That pretty much confirms it then…"

Navâra disappeared from Dante's left hand, the young man quickly taking a stance.

~Hey, are you serious?! You do realize she just exploded your heart and one of your lungs earlier, right?!~

^No, he's right to do this. This foe is particularly adept at countering opponents armed with weapons. It won't matter which one of us he uses. Not to mention, Aura Based attacks don't seem particularly effective.^

*Then it would seem our best course of action is to engage her hand to hand…*

Thankfully I'm not useless without a weapon…

"What's wrong? Scared all of a sudden?" The young devil smirked.

The girl scoffed, soon walking forward once more until she was three meters away from Dante. She then took her own stance by turning sideways, one hand behind her back while the other faced forwards and bent at angle, fingertips facing the air at an angle.

She was confident.

Dante slowly circled his opponent, the girl following in perfect tandem, as if the two were dancing. While he was studying her for any weaknesses in her defense, she was likely just biding her time patiently, waiting to see what course of action he'd take.

Very carefully the devil inched closer until he was about a meter away, where he then made the first move. He reared back his hand to make it look as though he was going to punch, but instead spun around to deliver a spinning heel kick. As expected, his attack was blocked, but he didn't simply ease up after the first strike, and instead kept attacking.

His attacks became frequent enough without pause that the girl actually started using both her hands to block Dante's attacks. She tried to counter-attack on multiple occasions, but was blocked at each turn. The devil did indeed take considerable damage each time he blocked, but his Aura healed him quickly enough without putting too much of a drain on him.

His stamina seemed infinite, for he simply kept attacking and blocking without pause or concern. Punches, kicks, he relentlessly attacked the girl with everything he had, matching her speed at the very least despite her working towards shattering his bones.

Unfortunately for her, his bones would never break, her exasperated exhales signifying her frustration in this tactic not working as expected.

Then, she showed a moment of weakness, evidenced by how she was pushed back by a sidekick she blocked. While she didn't get sent back far, it was enough for her to be distracted, allowing Dante to grab hold of her wrist.

Then began a true dance, the two working to out maneuver and pull at each other while linked together. Given how light she was, it was almost effortless to try and toss her around, but even her strength was great enough to give Dante trouble in trying to move her.

Eventually, she managed to break free after twisting about harshly enough, putting a brief amount of distance between them. She noticed him moving in to punch her, and in that moment, she retaliated with a punch of her own, their two fists on course to collide.

When they did, an explosive shockwave emerged from the point of impact, the force shattering the glass windows around them throughout the entire block. Even as shards of glass rained down around them, the two remained perfectly still, Dante's arm bursting across multiple sections, as if he had been cut, while the girl only suffered a few cracks in her gauntlet.

"I knew it… You are a Martial Artist..!" The devil said in a strained voice, trying to push the girl back, "Still haven't figured out how exactly… you bypassed my Aura like it didn't exist..!"

"It seems I underestimated you to a slight degree… I assumed you would be easier to dispatch without a weapon, but it seems you have some knowledge of Martial Arts as well…"

She then delivered a swift kick to Dante's stomach to send him staggering backwards, and lowered her leg shortly after.

"You aren't nearly as foolish as I heard you were." The girl said.

"Fun little pastime of mine…" The young devil shook off his injured arm, "So… Any particular reason you're trying to kill me?"

"My intent wasn't to kill you."

"My previously damaged organs say otherwise."

"I imagine so."

…

…

She knew. She knew he could regenerate to an extreme extent.

"What's this about? Truly. Clearly you know about me, so what is it? Woman I may have unintentionally ignored? Jilted lover? Boyfriend I killed in the wilderness or something?"

The girl seemed to… sigh in distraught at the brief list of reasons.

"Hey, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility, alright? Just about anyone would have a bone to pick with me…"

"To think that even you would have so many enemies…"

"I wouldn't say that exactly, but…"

He froze, realizing that for a moment he was speaking to the girl a little too casually.

"I'm not the picture of perfection, so obviously I'm gonna get hate for some of the things I do or say." Dante said, rubbing the forearm of his previously injured hand, "So, what's your reason for wanting to purée my ass?"

"You've adopted more drastic defensive maneuvers compared to a few months ago, where you previously injured yourself with reckless abandon to simply eliminate your opponents. Truly, it was a tactic that terrified the majority of your enemies. You wouldn't make such changes to your tactics unless you were vulnerable in some way."

That calm and matter-of-fact tone of hers… It was a little disturbing. Moreso was the fact that she had been apparently monitoring him for who knows how long. But why? For what purpose?

"That still doesn't answer my question." Dante pointed out.

Her head bowed, as if to contemplate.

"To test you, I suppose."

"Test me? For what? I'm cleaner than hospital disinfectant."

"Your poor taste in jokes aside… Your worth."

"Worth?"

Is she an S-Class Huntress that heard about me and possibly disagreed with me getting my rank? I can't really think of anything else that makes sense… She seems like the logical type, well-mannered… So this isn't just a chance for her to go around and beat up shits like me to say she's the strongest.

"Sure, I may be the best kind of husband material, but you can at least take me out to a few dinners first before trying to put a ring on my finger, you know?"

She growled silently, raising up her hands once again.

This time the girl had one hand extended outwards and one reared back close to the center of her chest, her glowing, deep purple palms facing Dante as she kept her fingers together.

Ah shit… I got her mad…

He exhaled quickly, raising up his own fists and taking a stance.

I'm at a serious disadvantage using a weapon against her, although my situation hasn't improved too drastically going unarmed against her either. If I use Aura for either defense or offense, she'll break it using… whatever it is she's using.

Looking around, he noted the lights weren't on still, and when he couldn't even hear the slightest buzzing noise, he realized that power for the whole area had been cut. No lights, and no surveillance footage.

No help coming either.

I can still use my Aura to heal my wounds. Since I'm not throwing it around like I usually do, I'll have far more than enough to keep healing myself. And in the meantime, I can keep studying her, figure out her patterns and movements. Although… She's likely doing the same, so the longer this goes on, the more dangerous this is gonna get for me.

"Dear oh dear, every time we seem to meet, it almost always seems to be when you're in trouble." A voice called out from the building above.

That voice..!

Dante looked up at the building to his right, the girl doing the same as they both saw a pair of glowing, light blue eyes staring back at them. He was crouched low, elbow resting on his thigh as his hand under his chin kept his head propped up.

In his left hand was a sword all too familiar to Dante.

The longsword was pitch black, it's edge a glossy midnight blue that seemingly glowed under the pale light of the moon. The cross-guard had ends shaped like diamonds, with black, thorn covered vines wrapping around the branches. The handle had been wrapped entirely in midnight blue, but had finger imprints to grip the weapon more firmly. The sword also had a distinctive midnight blue knuckle guard, and quillon that appeared to be designed for two hand wielding instead of simply just one.

That very same sword was soon raised up in front of the man.

"Sinful Key, Vanitas… Drink deeply of my blood."

As he spoke his words, glowing, midnight blue vines covered in thorns emerged from the handle, piercing into his fingers and the back of his hand. The sword then blazed to life with midnight blue energy, and in one very quick swing, the man unleashed a brief torrent of the energy.

The girl spun around, seeing the attack coming her way. Like with Dante's Aura Swords, she made to destroy it. With a single knife-handed thrust, she did exactly that, however, given the burns on her fingers, clearly she didn't go completely unharmed like with Dante.

Distracted, she didn't notice the man had already stood in front of Dante.

I can't hear his breathing, or his heartbeat. I didn't even hear him move down from the building…

"The way I see it young miss, now that there's two of us against you, your chances of victory seem slimmer, no? Especially since it appears as though my attacks work on you compared to his."

…

…

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Aura, the elements, she could counter those easily. But this… Magic… It was something she never encountered. She could push her luck and focus on this new enemy before trying to defeat Dante, but…

This new opponent was a complete unknown.

"This won't be the last time we see one another."

Speaking her words, she blurred backwards into the darkness, completely vanishing from sight.

The man sighed, turning around to face Dante as his sword reverted to normal so he could place it back into It's black sheath, "Goodness me, I'm glad she decided to leave! I wasn't particularly feeling like fighting seriously!"

It was a voice he hadn't heard in a long time. Sharp-witted, arrogant, and a little higher pitched.

He had light blue eyes with slit shaped sclerae resembling a serpent, short and slightly spiky midnight blue hair in the front while the back of his hair was pitch black, long and kept in a braid that came over his shoulder on the left side of his neck. Thick eyebrows sat above those eyes of his and that young, stupidly arrogant and handsome face of his. He still had a single black piercing in each ear, and like those of his ilk, he too had fangs and slightly pointed ears.

Previously, he was much taller than Dante, but now they stood even a 6'3. Like Dante, his body wasn't overly muscled, but the man still had a little bit more definition than the devil did.

He wore black boots with midnight blue heels and toes that reached below his knees, and midnight blue dress pants. A black, double buttoned coat resembling the attire of a noble adorned his body, the midnight blue buttons shining under the moonlight. Being the fanciful playboy that he was, he left the top buttons undone to show off his pecs a little.

He had a black belt with a silver chain on the right side, whereas he had his black and midnight blue scabbard on the left that held his sword. He wore a midnight blue sleeve over his right arm, where the sleeve was fastened to his slightly tattered, midnight cape that covered his left shoulder and reached the back of his left leg. The sleeve also had two black stripes at the end. He also had a second cape similar in color to the first trailing from his waist to the back of his knees, also slightly tattered.

"Hey now, I know it's been a while but the least you can do is smile when a friend comes and helps you out, no?"

…

…

"Fuck." Dante silently muttered before he turned and began walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh come on!" The young man shouted, grinning impishly as he ran towards the devil with the intent to tackle him, "It took a great effort to come out all the way her-!"

Before he could finish his sentence, much less tackle Dante, the young man suddenly found himself clotheslined neck first by the devil's left arm. The momentum of his initial lunge unfortunately backflipped him about a few times as he spun in front of and away from his "friend", his face crashing first into the asphalt and violently sliding away like an ice statue until he hit a lamppost, leaving a bloody trail in his wake.

"I get attacked by some beautifully mysterious and kick ass Kung Fu girl, then this clown shows up… I'm in a beautiful dream that suddenly turned into a nightmare..."

"Hey! That was really mean of you!" The man pushed himself off the ground, his face completely healed and unbloodied as he ran over to Dante, stopping to pat him on the shoulder, "Still as grumpy as ever, huh?"

Shit, this is real.

"Gonna ignore me mr. Mean, Grumpy Demon?" The young man said, playfully poking Dante's cheek with his other hand.

"Just shut up already, will you?" Dante slapped away the hand, turning around to face him, "I'm sure it's a stupidly fascinating story of how you got here, Rosswal."

---

They were in a café that luckily was open 24/7 due to the size of their staff and their varying hours. The young man named Rosswal was happily sipping his coffee, while Dante sat resting his chin in his hand, staring back at his "friend", something that didn't go unnoticed.

"I know I'm unbelievably handsome, but come on, you know I like girls."

"Shut up." The devil replied, kicking him under the table

He just… couldn't believe it.

Rosswal fucking Belmont, the current Vampire Lord of Primordial was sitting across from him currently.

Dante first met him when he was twelve years old, and working with the CGA, where they were investigating a series of vampire attacks in villages scattered across the Europa Kingdom. Sources of acquiring blood without attacking humans began to dwindle thanks to an instigator that worked behind the scenes, and after much effort and a strenuous partnership together, they brought the vampire responsible to justice.

There was still the problem of the blood shortage.

This would then lead the two on a month-long trek together across the entirety of the Europa Kingdom, where they discovered Rosswal was actually the grandson of Dracula, the First True Vampire Lord.

Legend had it that Dracula was once a man in service to "God" that defended the people of Europa from monsters and evil of the supernatural kind. After his arduous journey to impede an extremely powerful Dark Entity Lord, the grief of losing his wife and friends along the journey had soured his belief in "God" and all that was good. His last "good deed" was destroying another equally powerful Dark Entity Lord, where in the process, he sacrificed his humanity and became a vampire unlike any other before him.

The new "Prince of Darkness" would go into hiding for a decade before he emerged once again to a chaotic, warring continent. Through fear and terror, his dark hordes, and his Dark Castle, he ironically quelled the constantly warring people, and snuffed out the flames of endless war. While the humans lived in fear of him, they lived quietly at the very least. Despite keeping all of his minions contained in his territory, his castle, monsters out in the World still killed humans, their fear continuously piling on for ten years

Then, a young man that was his son delivered without his knowledge, would arrive on his doorstep, battling through his castle that led to a fateful, bloody battle between father and son. Naturally, Dracula emerged victorious, his son telling him the truth only moments before his passing. He would not let his son die, and so gave him his blood, turning him into a vampire.

Father and son would battle for another decade, until both came to agreement to defy their fate together. Dracula decided to recede from the Word entirely, where his son Alucard would gather the remainder of the vampire nobles and form the Four Night Clans, noble vampire houses under one banner. His banner.

It was through this unification they kept to secrecy from the Human World, protecting them from the shadows against all manner of monsters and supernatural entities, even their own kind on occasion. Rosswal was Alucard's son, though due to an internal struggle between the Four Night Clans, Rosswal was hidden away with his sister, only to awaken a year before meeting Dante. With the devil's aid, he worked his way back up and took control of the Hierarchy.

Whenever Dante compared Rosswal to his father, or grandfather, only one question ever came to mind.

How is a mad fucker like this, who's a serious playboy that hits on girls all the time, related to Alucard and Dracula?

It was baffling.

Then again, while Rosswal acted like an idiot all the time, he was actually a lot more competent than he usually let on, and occasionally was of benefit. Not to mention… his power was the deal, no matter how much Dante wanted to deny it.

He would know, he "witnessed" Dracula towards the end of their journey.

Their first partnership ended when the two sampled each other's blood, the first and only time Dante handed over his blood for experimentation, and discovered that through combining the two blood sources, they could create a wellspring of synthetic blood. The taste automatically catered to any vampire's craving for a specific blood type, but most importantly, kept their thirst at bay for a significantly longer time.

Not to mention, the wellspring was self-sustaining and infinite, meaning it would never run out, and that all vampires in need would receive blood. Thus, less and less vampire attacks occurred because of blood starvation, but it didn't change the fact there would be attacks now and then.

Even after their partnership ended, Rosswal would continuously butt into Dante's affairs and aid him, regardless of whether he asked for it or not. He was liked a dumb, vampire puppy that followed him around everywhere. Despite the idiocy Rosswal displayed most of the time, his behavior was also kind of endearing at times, particularly when it came to how well he treated and protected friends.

Also, because of his stupidly handsome face, girls were usually more focused on him than on Dante, which in a way, he appreciated a great deal.

"Man, this takes me back!"

"You mean how you ended up losing money frequently, and I had to hustle it back?" Dante explained, starting on his coffee.

"But it was all in good fun!" Rosswal explained.

"We were broke most of the time because of you."

The vampire sighed, childishly leaning back in his chair with a loud groan. His miniature tantrum thrown, he sat normally once more, crossing his arms as he looked at Dante.

"Still… It actually is good to see you again after all this time. Especially with how circumstances were left at the time."

"I don't really care about any of that crap anymore." The devil waved off, "What I'm concerned is whether your dumb ass was smart enough for once to not get tracked. How did you even get here, Ross?"

"Vampire magic."

…

…

Dante stood up from his seat and made to leave.

"I'm joking, I'm joking! Come on, sit down will you?" The vampire noble pleaded as his friend took his seat once more, "You can thank the Kitsukami clan for granting me safe and obscure passage."

I actually had been meaning to ask how they came here in the first a good deal of time ago.

"As you already know, the yōkai have their own means of traveling across different dimensions and the like. Learn a little bit of the applications of traveling between Worlds, and well… Of course they can do that too." Rosswal explained, picking up his cup of coffee again to take a quick sip, "Since The Plane doesn't want to start any funny business with Eihei Nine, they've opted to stay out of the Apparition World entirely. Plus, since the Four Night Clans and Eihei Nine have a treaty between each other, of course, we'd help if there was trouble."

"Not to mention humanity isn't exactly on the side of The Angels anyway, since we established that the Human Realm is its own domain by right. Either way, confrontation isn't ideal for The Plane." Dante elaborated further.

"Pretty much. And because they can't see into the Apparition World, they have no idea of seeing anything that goes on. Not to mention, I'm a vampire, remember? When it comes to remaining invisible and unseen, we're the best at it."

He was right. Dracula went into hiding for so long that people assumed he was actually dead. Imagine their surprise when he walked the earth five years ago.

"So, you're here for just a visit?" Dante asked.

"Vacation!"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously! I needed a break with all the work Sirin was plastering me with. So I ran away and came here!"

"You really are an idiot…"

"Come on, even I could likely die from overwork you know? That's why I left my sister in charge instead!"

Scoundrel.

That was the other word to describe Rosswal that Dante suddenly remembered.

With a sigh, the devil asked, "So, is your ass homeless at the moment?"

"Not at all! I actually found this nifty little motel down in that lower kingdom they call Mantle. The landlord was really cute and I think she took a liking to me!"

And people have the nerve to call me a man-whore or a gigolo… Wait…

"When did you get here?" Dante asked.

"Just last night actually. I've been hearing a great deal about how Dante Aetherveil, the Mighty Demon of Vengeance, suddenly became a high-ranking individual in this World's… Hunter system."

"Relax, I don't think there's vampires in this World, so there's no real reason to hunt you down. But since you're a bastard, someone will likely kill you for personal reasons."

"So mean!"

"Well deserved you mean. I forget, how many women were out to kill you again?"

"Twenty seven."

Holy shit…

"What about you? Still single after all this time and ignoring poor Inuba's advances? I figure if you still haven't become an item, I might as well-"

A swift kick underneath the table aimed towards the vampire's crotch was stopped by his own heel, a swift gust of wind passing through the shop. The devil wasn't amused by the vampire noble's remark, evidenced by the scowl he had on his face. Rosswal on the other hand was giddy with joy, since that reaction was all he needed to confirm it.

"So you really are together! How nice! Did you take your wedding vows yet? Or did she take you?"

"You want me to stake you, Ross?" Dante replied.

The vampire laughed at the idea, not because it was unrealistic, but because it'd be an amusing spectacle to see from start to finish.

"As appealing as that sounds, I'd rather not die on my vacation." The vampire said as he brought his foot back towards him, "In any case, I'm glad that happened! I mean really, watching you two all the time was like watching a heart wrenching soap opera at midnight."

Tell me about it…

"Ah, right. Apparently people here have these devices called Scrolls-"

"I'll get you one by tomorrow night, but it'll be modified to work like our HoloPhones back home."

"Nice! Same old reliable Dante!"

"Shut up… If you're gonna goof off on your vacation, you may as well be of use and help us out."

"Sure sure, I'll help."

"I mean it Ross. If I find some half assed note like I did on our last trip, I'm actually going to throttle you with your own hair."

"Same old scary Dante… But I promise I'll be here tomorrow."

While dealing with him was initially a pain, Rosswal did save him tonight. That and…

…

Well, he could be a really good friend at times.

"Good to see you again, Black Devil."

"Good to have you here, Blue Moon Vampire."

---

Woah! Two new faces in one chapter?! Amazing!

Rosswal has been someone I've been dying to intro for a few years now since his creation. You can probably see why for yourself.

This new girl will add some interesting things to the mix in terms of story. She's... more involved than you can imagine currently. Guess there's a lot more going on than we can currently see.

Anyway, that's all I gotta say. I'm tired, and I need some sleep.

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

Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Your support genuinely matters.

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