I've returned from the Western Front. If you get that joke, I love you so much.
Essentially though, that's what it felt like these last few months. As some of you may or may not have known, I was struggling the last while to find a stable job that paid instead of the occasional freelance work I've been doing. While fun, it hasn't been consistent, so most days my efforts were focused towards sending in applications, interviews, etc.
Therefore, I only ever managed to write at around midnight till 2 am if I wasn't working on anything. Mix in the holidays and other stuff with friends, etc, it was a bit of a struggle to find the time. Of course, there were also some games I wanted to play that I put on the backburner for months, movies and tv shows i wanted to watch, so I wanted to work on those a bit too.
Essentially, it was Hell without having to actually go there.
Nevertheless, I hung in there, found a super job that pays very nicely and my mind is at ease for the time being. Not gonna lie, my daily schedule is hefty as is, and it'll be heftier now with this job. I'll do my absolute best to get these out twice a week, maybe once a month if I can, but as always I can't make any promises. The only promise I can make is that I'll do my best.
But putting all that aside, I feel like there's quite a lot to talk about, or get off my chest. Obviously, a part of this is the shutdown of RoosterTeeth, which I've steadily watched its decay for almost a decade now. It's honestly a travesty; these guys were titans in their own right and did a lot of things right. I've been with them ever since they released season 2 of RVB, which admittedly, I should have not been watching at the time but what the hell, right? I was there for Monty's addition (who I followed when Haloid first released on youtube for what feels like a century ago) to RVB season 8, and RWBY's first trailer and eventual Volume 1 release, which pushed me to start this whole journey. To see it all crumble after so long is nothing short of tragic, but something I've felt was coming since a few years back.
If you ask me, the decline started when they joined up with Fullscreen, where in later they would sell their freedom, and closer to now, their "soul". Everything was... ok to say the least, but things felt off where I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And as we all know, problems kept piling up, both internal and external, until eventually it was controversy after controversy and other bullshit and agendas that had no business being out in the open or on the platform even. They're there to entertain and bring their creative works to life, not participate in political bullshit which they can do on their own time without chucking shit here and there, much less injecting that same agenda-like and political bullshit into their works which overall has long affected the quality. Tragedies and difficulties happened on their front, without question, but they've steadily and painfully lost the plot over time, which we can see in all their recent works the last decade or so. RWBY and RVB painfully for the last few years, the fairly cool but still failed GEN:Lock, some of their own personal projects and entertainments which we've all come to love steadily crumbling apart with controversies and abhorrent actions, the list can go on.
So, what's the point I'm getting at essentially? They overextended their reach, overexpanded, and overtime let in too many people who had no business being there, who contributed little or overall negatively, and who only served to harm their overall reputation with the endless controversies, some of which included abhorrent actions involving people who won't be named again. They sold themselves off which started with Fullscreen, sold off their freedom and capabilities to produce actually good content they were once known for, and conclusively sold off the heart and soul of what made them RoosterTeeth, which has now led to their downfall and termination. Before you get on my case, yes, I obviously understand the need to expand and/or rake in more money, since thats how they can work on more projects or produce more content of even higher quality. But they quite literally sawed off their own hands and tongues steadily overtime, and have now paid the price for it in full.
Was the whole Justice League thing cool? Yeah, but it wasn't really necessary, and it didn't even deliver all too much overall. Frankly, I genuinely feel like they wasted the time they could have used producing a season of RWBY on a project that was just... ok. And yes, RWBY's quality has been on a decline for years now since Volume 4. Animation was cooler as were the change ups in style, but a lot of the story and the characters have just been a total and absolute mess, where it's impossible to find the community agreeing on something, and more likely finding them arguing and threatening each other regarding meaningless and stupid bullshit. Which of course, was also fueled in part by the producers who were often incapable of providing direct answers, and needlessly riled up fans constantly regarding stupid crap, like who's shipped with who, etc. Its fine and more than ok to believe in ships you like, but the community has severely and very obviously lacked any sort of tact. Instead of agreeing amicably on some points, or respecting each other's opinions for why they like x and y, they've constantly fought like animals. And for what?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They achieved nothing and only served as a detriment to themselves by showing how distasteful and crudely they act, to the point they've driven away a majority of long time fans (some of which produced excellent content and art mind you with greats ideas in mind absent of any political agendas or bullshit) and would-be fans who turned tail and ran away as fast they could as soon as they heard of RWBY. A vast majority of the community, has quite literally become a den of vipers with how toxic they are. And guess what? Unsurprisingly, the producers eventually crumpled and folded like tissue paper in the face of it all just to meet ludicrous demands, where even then they were chastised with extreme prejudice for "baiting" or "not being supportive of such and such", etc, where really, their only focus should have been producing content/shows.
Does it sound like I'm blaming the community? A little bit. Compared to the entirety of this shit filled pie we've been presented, they're but a small fraction of the whole, whose effects were long lasting but minimal at best. The greatest share of the blame falls on the producers, those in charge, etc, for consistently making poor decisions for whatever reasons or agendas they sought to push forward. Take note, by the by, that after each season of RWBY a new volume was virtually immediately confirmed right after, that they're already working hard on it, and so forth. Now? Volume 10 wasn't even greenlight after volume 9, which if my memory serves me correctly, has never happened before, ever. Of course, this might have been attributed to certain individuals foreseeing RoosterTeeth's fall since then, but the point remains the same. They never took so long to announce a new season and almost always worked on a new season immediately or after a brief cooldown period.
And now? We likely will never see a season of RWBY again. At least, maybe not this decade. I've seen Dillon Goo (who I've been a fan of his work since he released the Wraith store pudding animation) express a great interest in acquiring the rights to RWBY to continue the show, and honestly? I approve of it. He does brilliant work, knows what he's doing, and genuoinely cares about producing amazing and high quality content, his most recent examples being his Dehya and Yelan animation, his ArkNights animation, other genshin animations, and so forth. Point is, I think he could very much do it. And it helps that he actually used to be an animator on the show since vol 1 until vol 3 if I remember correctly. His capability is unquestionable, he could very much do it. Problem is, will Warner Bros. let RWBY go to him for a reasonable price? Probably not. Until we hear more, though, I think its safe to say that RWBY, as much as it kills me to say it, is pretty much dead for now. Hell, if I had the capabilities, I would have done fan animations myself, solo if needed be. Sadly, my imagination, planning, foresight and my writing abilities are the only thing I can make use of.
I'm sorry if I've upset anyone, but this has been a long time coming with how long I've held it in. I've tried my absolute best not to talk about this crap here and just give you an entertaining story, but I genuinely can't describe how stressful its been containing and stockpiling these emotions and grand disappointments. Have recent events in the last few years been discouraging? Yeah, but not really. Has the closure of RoosterTeeth driven a stake in me that's wounded me? Sure, but not in a way that I won't get over it in another month or two. Has it discouraged me greatly? Yeah. Not gonna lie or make up bullshit. Yeah, it has. Has it completely killed my motivation? No, not entirely. Part of it is my strong-headedness to never give up on an endeavor, especially until I've exhausted all possible ideas, strategies and outcomes, but a part of is just a very simple fact.
The story is nowhere near to being done.
I started this story almost ten years ago with a ten year plan in mind that constantly evolved further and further. Even today with where we're at in the story, there's still ten more years worth of content and storytelling. Possibly even more. There's just so much to say and do, and so much I want to show all of you with the crazy and amazing ideas Ive had along the years. Its literally been agonizing for me to keep so much of the story in my head for so long, especially with the new arc around the corner. But as you've all come to know, I've had my own share of troubles over the years that have always affected how much time i could spend doing this. Now, it's not like when I was in high school and had all the time in the world to do this and pump it out on a weekly or even bi-weekly basis like i used to. Maybe if this was something I can reliably get paid for, then sure, I could devote my time to doing all this while sustaining myself. But as things stand, my time isn't what it used to be.
You might be asking yourselves, "RWBY isn't the end of the world. Can't you do your own original work?". The answer is yes, I very much can. In fact, alongside with everything I've thought of for this story, for almost a year now, I've worked on details of a completely original work that can go for ten years currently. If any of you who ever read my story noticed, I transitioned from doing 50% percent canon content and 50% original content when i started, to 80-85% original content and the remainder being canon RWBY content. If anything, even now I can take away everything I've produced thus far to put it into a completely original work, which was how i designed it in the first place when I made the transition of how I produced the story so many years ago. I always prepared for the very likely inevitability that I'd have to separate from the RWBY universe, and I'm glad I did, since now, I can very confidently say I can produce an incredible story from scratch with its own unique universe. Even with all my complaints and own personal issues I've had with RT and their content the last few years, I'm still immensely grateful to the RoosterTeeth of then and the RWBY of then for starting my on my journey and helping me expand my imagination and ability of storytelling. While I am still pissed and sad about many things on many levels, I am still grateful for everything I've been given, everything I've come to learn, and everything I have experienced.
So then... the big question... Will I continue this story? Yeah, I will for however long I can and however long my motivation lasts, which is already grand because of how much I want to tell this story from start to finish. It isn't so much forcing myself as its just I can't stand not completing it as I intended since I love this story too much and the universe it started in originally. I already know the end, and the end is very much far away still. And who knows? If the chance arises for me to make a completely original production of my completely original story, be it a game or animation, I might move on to that in the end.
I'm sorry guys. It's just... a lot of things held in for one too many years at a time without really getting it out there, and a lot of disappointments I've never really aired out about RT and the direction of their most beloved content. Its a shame, and its terrible, but it is what it is. I just know things could have been done differently and much better if specific agendas and ideas weren't pushed ahead of producing actually, genuinely good content. But yeah, rant's pretty much over. Please enjoy.
Chapter 85: Frozen Souls
«»
- Nearly two years ago -
"M-Missile defenses..?! Surely the two of you aren't serious!" Blanc protested, rising from his seat behind a desk.
"Totally serious." Dante rocked back and forth in his chair.
"Even for you, this is-"
"The missiles we designed are meant for anti-personal use rather than causing mass destruction of terrain." Darwin explained, the brown haired android handing shifting his holographic screen towards Blanc.
"And how is that supposed to make me say yes?"
"It means that the explosions aren't large enough to cause extreme damage to the terrain." The devil explained, "If it hit a wall, it'd leave a hole the size of a large tractor tire. If one of these suckers hit a poor bastard in the chest, it'd blow their entire torso off."
"Oh good. So slightly less deadly than usual…"
"After collaborating with some of our allies, we've also made efforts to incorporate magic-based tracking, meaning that the missiles will only lock onto the magical signatures of Dark Entities." The android explained, sitting down in a chair in front of the young prince, "Of course, considering we will have our own Dark Entity allies, we have already spoken about the missiles with Queen Satanya, who in turn developed a magical formula to integrate into them so that they won't target anyone on our side."
Blanc sighed, "I assume these were developed in order to counter the massive forces of the enemy's Lesser Entities?"
"Pretty much." Dante swung his feet off the desk, "We both know that these guys are easy enough to make en masse for an invasion force. A King? Something we've never encountered before? The guys gotta have tens of thousands of them."
"As such, it'd be in our best interest to produce as many of these missiles as we can and use them against their main force in order to minimize our own potential casualties to the most extreme extent." Darwin reasoned, "Despite the quality of our own forces severely outmatching the majority of the enemy's forces, they will still likely outnumber us heavily. The abundance of numbers will cause too many distractions, and would likely cause a breakdown in our own formations. Hence, we decided this will be our best course of action to heavily reduce their numbers, amidst other tactics currently being deployed."
"Such as?"
"Such as upgrading the satellite covering the content." Dante pointed up in the air, "Using a module Darwin and I worked on, along with a magic formula for detecting portals made by Dark Entities, we'll be able to spot them without worry."
"Is the Barrier Dome we set up not enough?" Blanc asked.
"It'll be enough to keep them out, but if it gets directly attacked by that king bastard, it'll go down. Of course, we'll already be on the attack by then so he'll be too occupied with us." The devil explained, "Defense isn't going to be enough. So we need to wipe out as many as we can with the amount of munitions we'll have by then."
"Don't tell me you-"
"We've developed a prototype that we've already tested. Its performance was remarkable in terms of being handheld and being deployed in a fixed position." Darwin said, flipping various video files in the prince's direction, "The two of us decided it was best we infiltrate the First Circle to test our prototype on a variety of Lesser Entities. After three full days and nights, we gathered as much data as possible to bring back in order to convince you."
Indeed, the footage was… spectacularly gory.
The missiles themselves weren't all too big, being about the size of large railroad spikes. Yet despite their size, as soon as they homed in on a target and plunged into their flesh like a nail, the missiles exploded with enough force to turn the target into a meaty water balloon. As promised, the missiles that managed to miss weren't all too destructive of the terrain. The reason for that was that they were specifically designed to explode once "inside" a target, therefore minimizing most of the risk.
And from the looks of it, each container seemed to be made to hold a hundred missiles, as well as being portable for ground force use no less.
"The blueprints?" The prince asked.
"Stored in my database, but will be scrapped as soon as the conflict has ended." Darwin explained, "After that, the three of us will either construct a vault space somewhere discrete, or we'll ask for a 'portable space' to be made that can only be accessed by the three of us."
"In case of emergency, we'd need only two out of three authentications." The devil pointed out.
…
Blanc was tapping his index finger on his desk; the pros were starting to increase while the cons decreased. Such was the norm when any of their group convened together without much worry as to what could or couldn't be done. At that point, everything became a question of how to do things in the best possible way while causing the least amount of problems later. It was clear to him that his two friends had done everything they could to minimize the risks involved, the only problem now being public opinion about the missiles.
But that was least important for the time being.
"How many are you planning to make?"
"Around a thousand. Five hundred or so for ground units, five hundred or so to be installed as sentries." Dante answered, leaping out of his seat onto his feet, "Don't even get me started on the munitions…"
"We plan to use an automated factory in the Solitas Kindom to produce the launchers and the munitions. Of course, only I will oversee operations in order to keep matters discrete, as well as ramp up the production time."
The prince nodded at the android before looking to the devil, "Any other weapons of mass destruction I should be aware of? Or should I contact our allies in the east?"
Blanc's small quip made his friend smile, "No, just the missiles. Other than that, we've covered as many bases as we could. Now it's a matter of finishing up and waiting for the bastard."
"Very well." The prince said, opening his own holographic screen to begin his work once more, "Remember gentleman. Discretion."
"As if you need to tell us."
"I especially need to remind you, my friend." Blanc spoke very directly with Dante.
"Yeah yeah…" The devil said, heading towards the elevators.
With a faint sigh, the young prince looked to the android, the most responsible individual among their trio.
"Please keep an eye on him."
"Of course." Darwin politely bowed before making his way over to the elevators.
He stepped inside while Dante kept the doors open, soon letting it go so that they could start making their descent.
"Sooo… He told you to keep an eye on me?"
"An act of concern for a friend. You may be immortal, but you've recently been upping the proverbial ante in terms of taking unnecessary risks." The android explained bluntly, staring dead ahead at the elevator doors, "One can't help but think if this a result of your extreme infatuation with-"
"True as it is that I love her that much, it isn't as simple as just being crazy in love." The devil said, leaning against the wall of the elevator, "I'm just… fighting for what I believe in, rather than fighting because I'm supposed to or was told to. It's a beautiful dream any way you put it, one worth making into reality."
"I suppose it is, considering the previously improbable unification it has brought forth. We're already enjoying the fruits of previous unifications between humanity and other existing entities in this World, but one with Dark Entities was truly something unprecedented."
"That's because any that we saw prior to knowing Anya were some real pieces of shit with twisted ambitions. We never got to see any with genuine good will prior to getting to know her." Dante explained, "If anything, they were just as scared of us as we were of them. Just because humanity of this World has evolved past being fearful of all other beings other than themselves doesn't mean it's the same for every other World."
Darwin finally turned around, looking directly at the young devil.
"Indeed. It's always a curious thing seeing the varied gradients of humans. Whenever we observe them in other Worlds, the sheer cruelty some display are… horrifying beyond reason at times." The android crossed his arms, "It's as if no form of logical reason exists for such evils to be committed…"
"That's because most of the time there isn't. The answer could very commonly be something as simple as 'because I felt like it', or along those lines." The devil waved his hand briefly, "Humanity's capabilities have always been a source of sheer awe and wonder at their works, or terror and unfathomable evil. The sad reality is that some humans in some Worlds sacrifice much of their capabilities to indulge in twisted delights that bring brief satisfaction."
"Yet the humans of this World chose otherwise."
"That's because the entirety of humanity fifty years ago realized their seemingly endless evils and wars would lead to a dead end that no one would escape. No winners in the end. Only dead and gone losers."
"Thus, collectively they took a stand to overthrow their evil rulers, risking it all for a better future in spite of the potential deaths they'd be facing."
"Well… Would you rather everyone blow everything up just so they all die uselessly in the end? Or band together to change things so that everyone benefits?" Dante asked with a shrug, "Either way you look at it, humanity made the right call in this World, choosing unification and to help one another over blatant destruction."
The devil shot his robotic friend a quizzical look.
"Awfully philosophical today, aren't we?"
"I suppose we are. It's just… recently, I've been finding myself more and more blessed to be a resident of this World. To have all of you to call friends." Darwin smiled in earnest, something unusual compared to his mostly stoic nature, "That is all."
Dante smirked, "Yeah… Yeah, I guess I feel the same way most days. Who knows where'd I be or what I'd be doing now if I didn't have the good fortune to be here first."
"Likey what you're doing now. Helping others, protecting them from the evils that lurk in the Dark…"
"I guess."
"You… guess?" The android questioned.
The young devil shrugged, "I can be a nice guy, sure, but I can get up to some messed up shit if I set my mind to it."
"Perhaps. But you show enough patience and restraint so as to not go to unnecessary lengths. As far as I'm concerned… you've yet to cross any lines."
The elevator came to a halt as the doors slid open, the duo stepping out into the busy crowd of those passing by in the "citadel". In just a few moments, they were outside once more, cars driving down the early morning street as people busily went down the sidewalks, talking on their phones or speaking with those around them. A peaceful day all in all, so far. But in a week's time or more…
…
"You really do wholeheartedly believe I'm a good guy, huh?"
"You've saved me and many others from fates that could be considered worse than death. I think you've more than earned the right to be considered a 'good person' from my perspective."
"I could've just saved the ones that I did just so I can use them down the line."
Darwin smirked.
"In that regard, I've never met a more incompetent individual."
Dante chuckled, elbowing the android in the arm, "You gonna go work on production now?"
"I may as well. Best to be prepared in case they arrive earlier than expected."
"Alright then. I'll call to check in every day or so. If you need anything else…"
"I'll be sure to call you."
Morning.
Sunlight started to peek over the mountain, and as a result, light began to filter into the bedroom of the fancy, penthouse suite. Belîa's eyes slowly opened when the first light hit her eyelids, the sudden throbbing headache making her bring up a hand with groan, rubbing her eyes. As her vision adjusted, she could clearly see the early morning, sighing. Normally, she would have been up before now, carrying out her morning training as per usual, but given last night's activities of heavy drinking…
…
She was drinking heavily, but there was someone else with her. After some encouraging words of comfort, she left with them, where they began an intense, heavy round of drinking, which then devolved into a drinking competition of an extraordinary magnitude. Admittedly, she acted in a very "unknightly" manner last night with said individual, however… even she eased up and had fun once in a while. Indeed, their various battles between drinking, eating and even arm wrestling were glorious. Even-!
…
Even…
A furious blush flourished in her face as she was left sputtering and stood up straight in an instant, bringing her hands to her face shamefully as she peeked through her fingers. A quick look beneath the sheets and Belîa quickly she was completely bare, eyes frantically scanning the room for her dress. She found it cast off in the corner of the room, but a quick glance showed that the chest area had been brutally torn apart.
A memory briefly flickered in her mind, reminding the knightess that in her fervent passion, she herself had torn apart the dress. Considering her incredible height and her size that towered over any and all humans, the dress was rather a pain to put on, much less custom-tailor. Her heavily inebriated self was beyond rational thinking, and saw the dress as an obstacle.
Like all obstacles the Embered Knightess faced, she tore them apart with her bare hands. In this case, her dress was the obstacle standing in the way of a night of fervent passion, something she never dreamed she would have. After all, who would ever love a giant woman like her? Much less return her feelings in earnest?
"You are beautiful. Never let anyone tell you differently."
…
Now she remembered who. It was a young man she always admired from afar, someone that was absurdly strong, loyal to his companions, and demonstrated unwavering bravery against all odds. And now… he had earnestly called her beautiful, something that no one, save her only friend, had ever said to her. Indeed, for her, there was no one more suitable or capable to be her lover, even husband. Marriage had always been her end goal, after all.
Yet, that was a dream supposedly forever out of reach… until now.
As ecstatic as she was, she also felt immense guilt. She felt like she had committed an unbelievably ultimate betrayal against her Queen. After all, they were to be married at one point; she felt as though she were stealing her Queen's husband, something incredibly scandalous, if not sinful. But given the circumstances, and his current relationships…
…
She buried her face in her hands as a shameful blush flourished on her face. Considering the circumstances, it should be alright for the time being. This was likely wishful thinking at best, but… she'd rather take her shot than not at all. This was her chance at happiness, perhaps her only chance at finding happiness in the arms of another.
Another sigh escaped her soft lips as she rose from the bed, which creaked very loudly to her surprise. With an effortless lift of the mattress, she saw that the mixed wood and metal frame was in shambles; most of the thick wooden rails supporting the mattress had been shattered, and the metal frame and legs had been flattened like how one would step on a tin can to flatten it. Unbelievable embarrassment filled her entire being, and for the first time in her life, she felt like she'd cry out of shame.
Letting the mattress fall, she looked around to see if there was something she could use to cover up, since her dress was virtually destroyed. A quick search of the bathroom in the bedroom showed that there was a robe, but given her stature, the robe may as well have been a skimpy shirt, which wasn't even enough to contain her "monstrous peaks'.
She caught a faint glow in the mirror, turning her head fully to see her fairly muscled form in all its splendor. Indeed, despite her great size, her fit body had the perfect mix of soft curvature plumpness and solid muscles, particularly her abs. Problematically, she saw her form as anything but. However, that was the least of her problems. The biggest problem she was facing now was the big and noticeable, glowing, azure blue mark just below her navel. It was shaped in the form of a jagged, flaming, demonic heart, with more azure blue, jagged, flaming lines surrounding the borders of the center heart-shaped mark.
…
…
Her face scrunched up, embarrassment washing over her as she silently screamed into her hands.
Belîa now had The Bond of Eternal Love.
Some Dark Entity women were just that, Dark Entity women, but some were born as what were commonly referred to as Succubi. Obviously, Succubi were specifically tiered towards sexual activity, being a very promiscuous bunch that knew most if not all forms of "pleasure". While they do "recharge" and derive most of their power from sexual activity, physically or within a subject's dream, they weren't the strongest of fighters. However, they were still fairly powerful, especially Succubii that had lived long lives.
In contrast, Dark Entity women were born fighters or intellectuals, but mostly fighters. They derived power either from the souls they consumed, their natural innate power, or a mix of both. Obviously, they outclassed Succubii entirely when it came to fighting or magical power, yet even they retained strong and beautiful femininity.
In short, Succubii were the masters when it came to love, love-making, or relationships. Dark Entity women were the masters when it came to combat, learning, or magical abilities. However, the singular aspect that tied them together equally was that both types were female denizens of the Dark World, and as such, shared some common traits.
For instance, the Bond of Eternal Love.
It was something both types had regardless of their birth or coming into the World. Whenever either types fell intensely in love, and that love was equally reciprocated by their intended partner or mate, the Bond of Eternal Love would form on the female Dark Entity or Succubus, essentially expressing their intimate, undying love in an obviously physical manner. In other words, the Bond of Eternal Love was like the Dark Entities version of a wedding ring, proving and sealing their love eternally.
Aside from that, it also served as a very obvious notice that they had given their love to "their one and only", the singular individual they would ever love in life and death. Even if they and their intended were to die and be reincarnated one day, they would inexorably be drawn to one another yet again, never to be swayed by entrapments of false love.
And now, Belîa had this very same mark below her navel, which dangerously stretched towards lower parts. Thankfully however, the mark would not always be visible, only appearing in times of feelings of intense love, or love being intensely expressed. After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, her glowing, azure blue Bond of Eternal Love steadily faded, the knightess letting out a sigh of relief as she rested a hand upon her beautiful and incredible abs, the tingling sensation vanishing shortly after.
…
…
What's done is done…
Belîa opened her eyes once more, firmly staring into the eyes of her own reflection with intense resolution.
Should the time come… I will face whatever punishment the Queen gives me when we meet again. But for now… I will make the most of my time…
Exiting the luxurious bathroom, she looked around once more, casting her eyes to the thin sheet beneath the thicker layer bedsheet, quickly pulling it away. With some effort and spare bobby pins she found near the desk, she fashioned herself a sort of toga using the black under layer sheet. However, given that she stood at eight feet, the size was still rather small, and showed off a great deal of her legs.
The strain of the pins was particularly apparent near her rear and her bust, but it had to do.
After arranging her "clothes", a pleasant smell of meat filtered into her nostrils, and judging by the smell of the cooking meat itself and the spices and seasoning used, a steak was being cooked. It was then she could hear sizzling from behind the closed door of the room, and after opening the door, a whole variety of food oriented smells pleased her nose.
Looking towards the dining table near the wide window view of Atlas, she could see the circular table already had a spread on the table. Cooked white rice with hints of melted butter for added softness, shredded cabbage salad with a slightly sweet smell, cooked and sauteed mushrooms with a rather delectable, slightly spicy smell, and golden, crispy potato wedges. Her mouth was practically watering, particular at the scent of steak, but she minded her manners and wiped her mouth.
Stepping further into the hallway, she rounded the single marble wall and saw a sight most unexpected and jaw dropping.
Dante Aetherveil, or more specifically his marvelous bare bottom and back muscles, was at the kitchen stove wearing a pink apron. She chortled, mostly at the sight of him wearing a pink apron as he cooked breakfast, but her laughter quickly faded once she started eyeing him up and down.
A fine man indeed… she thought as some drool escaped the corner of her mouth.
She shook her head, ridding herself of her momentary lascivious thoughts. It was only natural for her to feel this way, and loosen the vice grip restraints she had on her romantic feelings, given that she had never progressed this far in a relationship, much less dared to dream of such a thing. That was how she felt. But how did he feel?
Thus remained the question as to whether or not for him this was just a singular passionate night, or… something more.
Stepping out from behind the corner, the Embered Knightess thought to approach the young devil, but quickly changed her mind and silently moved towards the dining table to take a seat. She didn't have to wait long for him to take notice, for he took the frying pan with the large steaks in them and put them in the already heard oven. He took off the oven mitt he was using and set it down on the marble countertop, then turned to see Belîa waiting at the table, hands patiently folded together, but still nervously fiddling with her thumbs.
"Morning!"
"G-Good morning…" she nodded.
Quickly spinning around, Dante opened the fridge and reached inside for what looked like a gallon pitcher of fresh squeezed blood orange juice. Reaching the dining table already set with pint glasses, he first poured a full glass for Belîa before pouring one for himself, then set the pitcher down, seeing as he had ten or so minutes.
"I-It would seem both of us happen to be short of spare clothing…"
"You were a little wild… Not that I minded really. It was… something else. Unexpected, but… awesome."
"Apologies… That was… the first time I had ever laid with someone… so… If I was too rough, I'm sorry, I was acting on instinct, and-"
"Don't worry. It was great. Your rather 'rough' passion was… a new but enjoyable experience to say the least." The devil smiled, rubbing his shoulders.
"Erm… Was I..?"
She was too embarrassed to finish the sentence, for good reason too. But Dante's keen instincts told him what it was she was worried about. Although, it didn't take a genius to see what her concerns were.
"No no, not at all. I mean, yeah, you're a heck of a lot taller than me, but that was sexy in its own way."
"I-Is that so..?"
Unbelievable relief. Now that she had her sensibilities intact, one of her biggest concerns was if she was too heavy. Belîa was by no means fat or chubby. In fact, her body was lean, toned and muscled to perfection. Her arms and her legs were indeed muscular, but not overtly so. Still, if she flexed, she'd easily put most men to shame.
Her legs were long and her thighs large, but they were toned; firm, yet supple and soft to the touch. Her hips were wide and her rear was amazingly large given her initial size and height, but both were beautifully curvaceous and amazingly well-proportioned. Despite her large size and height, she maintained a solid figure, close to but not quite hourglass. And her abs…
…
Her abs were ridiculous in the sense that they weren't grotesquely muscled like some, but sheer perfection, a strikingly beautiful balance between hardness and softness. One could wash clothes on those abs, or grill meat. The last bit was more or less a sort of joke, but very much realistic, given that she was indeed the "Embered Knightness".
The size of Belîa's breasts were enormous, forever outclassing the vast majority of women in any World, the sole exception being if a person or entity matched her overall size and height. But such beings were ultra rare as it was. Each breast was quite literally the size of two of his heads pressed together. If the size already wasn't amazing enough, her very ample chest was incredibly perky and firm, something he confirmed for himself last night. If he wanted to, and ever had the opportunity, she could practically envelop his entire head. Even now, it was difficult not to stare, for her bosom stuck out far too much, and would forever do so regardless of what she wore.
Her makeshift toga was proof enough, her chest literally created an outstanding tent effect with the fabric.
Even considering her far than normal height, size, and excellent proportions, she was still first and foremost, a beautiful young woman. Indeed, her facial features were like that of a strikingly beautiful noble lady, her wild, long, free-flowing light blonde hair that reached down to her waist just as magnificent with a sleek, elegant shine. Her chest length bangs draping down over her soldiers encompassed the sides of her face and forehead perfectly.
Honestly, she had Yang beat by a large margin in regards to hair.
Most beautiful of all however were her magnificent eyes, specifically, her azure blue irises with black slit pupils that seemingly sparkled like polished gemstones. A better analogy would actually be that they looked like polished gemstones containing passionate and brilliantly hued azure flames. Her silky smooth, fair skin faintly glimmered under the lights of the penthouse and the intruding sunlight from outside, showing how well maintained her skin was. With features like these, a beauty like Belîa would never need makeup on any given day, and even then, would ever only be an extra feature to enhance her already striking and rather seductive charm.
Nothing needed to be said about her horns. They were simple in structure, but elegant and majestic, design and color-wise.
And yet with all these facts in mind, she was still very self-conscious about her overall appearance. More specifically, her weight. Of course, because of her towering form and her overall excellent and even muscle mass, it was only natural she'd outweigh most men and women. But again, her figure was not only the peak of physicality, but outrageously beautiful.
"Can I say something?"
"W-What is it..?"
"In all honesty Belîa, as a lady, it's only natural you should be worried about these things, especially since your end goal specifically is to have a blossoming relationship. The simple reality is that you have the body that you have, so… and please don't kill me for saying this, you're obviously going to outweigh a vast majority of people."
…
…
It was true. She couldn't be angry in the slightest, for it was the simple truth. She was simply a great deal different compared to the vast majority of humans and humanoids. And yet, it was still a very sore subject whenever rejections were based on her size.
"I'll give it to you straight, since I'm a guy and all. You wanna know what it is that's turning most guys off?"
"I…"
"Nothing that's any fault of yours. You see, a vast majority of guys are stupid, egotistical jerks who can't stand it when someone is taller than them, especially a woman. And since they're lacking in confidence and inches, in both senses of the term…" He quirked his eyebrows twice, "they try to make amazing and beautiful women like you feel bad about themselves for shitty reasons."
"Is it… really mostly because of my height?" The Embered Knightess questioned, still shifting about rather nervously.
"Of course it is. Most guys can't appreciate a goddess-like physique or height like yours. Forget any of those puny guys being able to sweep you off your feet." Dante mockingly waved off.
…
She felt better hearing him say that, especially since he blatantly denounced the majority of apparent… egotistical men who ever had a problem with her appearance, or height. She wasn't completely over it yet, but… It still felt good to hear all that, and put a smile on her face. Even so… she was still concerned about one other thing.
"You…"
"Hm?"
The young devil looked back at Belîa, who was glancing back and forth between him and the table. Truly, it was an amazing sight to see the usually hardened Embered Knightess so girlishly flustered.
It was unbelievably cute.
"In all honesty… Do you… dislike my height..?"
"No, not at all. I think it's one of your charming, if not sexier points."
That word again… It made her face flush red, with the restrained wisps of black, misty, smoke within her horns flowing freely in seemingly distressed bursts.
"A-And you… truly find me appealing?"
"Absolutely. You're ridiculously beautiful."
Thicker, concentrated bursts of black smoke flowed from her horns, briefly taking on the shapes of smokey, black hearts that seemingly pulsed rapidly, just like her heart rate.
"Is my stature… truly not burdensome to you..?"
He stared at the knightess ahead of him, who was still fidgeting nervously. Problematically, or perhaps with great blessing, her makeshift toga was moving around far too much, making it extremely difficult to concentrate. Regardless, he already formulated his response.
Dante stood up from his seat, making his way to Belîa's side of the table, who stared at him in confusion. Before she could say anything, she was taken by surprise and gasped sharply when she found herself lifted into the air quickly. She reached a hand to his shoulder to stabilize herself, but was utterly shocked when she realized she was sitting on the entirety of the devil's slightly hooked arm, not so much as moving as he stared deep into her eyes.
"As if I'd be some puny and weak jerk that couldn't even do something as simple as carrying a beautiful woman like yourself."
The black smoke flowing from the Embered Knightess' horns went full burst like the engines of a jet, forming larging, quicker pulsing hearts with incredible speed. She was flustered beyond belief, unable to speak properly and reduced to a sputtering mess as her other hand covered as much of her face as she could, eyes darting around frantically. That was the second time she was literally swept off her feet, so swiftly and effortlessly by someone smaller than her. Indeed, if it weren't the case before, now, she had completely fallen for him.
"Ah..! Hold on!"
Dante quickly but gently set Belîa back down in her seat and rushed over to the oven. After turning it off, he put on the oven mitt, opened the door, and pulled out the large pan, quickly moving to the table after grabbing a large, two prong fork. Still holding the pan, the young devil used the fork to take out the first steak and put it on Belîa's plate before he put the other on his. With the steaks set, he then used the outcropped pouring notch of the pan to evenly distribute the sauces atop both large slices of cooked meat. Now done, he quickly carried the pan to the sink, took off his mitt, and hurried back to sit down.
Having calmed down a fair deal, she focused her attention on the steak presented to her. It was well-done, precisely how she liked it. The edges were crispy, but nowhere near burnt, and when she cut towards the center of the huge plate of cooked meat, she saw that inside it, from the edge to the center was a light brown color, very barely red in the center. Belîa smiled and nodded in approval. From the cut half, she cut a smaller piece with her fork and knife, and like with the overall appearance of the steak, she was impressed with the texture and particularly the taste. The seasoning used was definitely of high quality.
Indeed, this steak was made with great love and care.
"It's almost perfect. If you left it for another three to five minutes, the inner layer would have been cooked evenely. But overall, for me, this steak is a nine out of ten."
The young devil sighed with a hand over his chest, "That's good… I'm not as good as Inuba when it comes to cooking…"
"Do you not cook often?" The knightess asked, eating a potato wedge.
"Not really. Usually Inuba does all the cooking, and when she isn't available, I usually just have packaged, non perishables that I hand out to everyone else, since I don't really need to eat."
"I had almost forgotten about that… In a way, it's convenient when out in the wild since you'll have an easier time of rationing and maintaining food in a group."
"No one starves, and everyone is happy. Though I guess even if it isn't to sate hunger, psychologically, it's still good to eat something at the very least."
"To starve anywhere is a terrible thing… To not eat at all, even out of necessity… It's still rather…"
Belîa remembered when she and Satanya first escaped the Dark World. Traveling from the Eighth Circle all the way to a crack on the First to escape to the Human World… It was filled with all manner of hardships. Animals were… scarce to say the least. Even if the Lesser Entities could in a sense be considered animals, it would frankly feel like cannibalism to have consumed them. And so some days, the pair would starve a great deal.
The human world was indeed filled with a great deal of wonders and comforts when they arrived, and had their first delicious meal in days.
"When matters have been settled… How will we explain this to Lady Anya..?"
"She'll undoubtedly kill me a few dozen times, but… I think she'll come around and understand…"
"I hope so. If I'm to be frank with you… I… I don't believe I'll be able of finding someone as capable, and perhaps more importantly… open-minded as you. That's why… I… I hope that perhaps, w-we…"
Belîa set down her fork and knife, prompting Dante to stop as he watched her slip off the diagonal sleeve of her makeshift toga, standing up slightly with bent knees to show her bare lower abdominal, her Bond of Eternal Love glowing vibrantly once again.
The devil was shocked to say the least.
He had no intentions of evilly abandoning Belîa or disregarding their night of hot passion as a fling or one night stand. Frankly, even though they fought a lot and disagreed on matters, making it look like the two were practically oil and water, he always had a fondness for her, and had a great deal of respect for the Embered Knightess. She was mighty, and she was beautiful, even having her moments of cuteness despite constantly acting in a manner that could only be described as a "hardened Knight".
But like with everyone else, he trusted her to have his back in a fight. To disregard her deep feelings for him would feel shameful, both to her and himself. Dark Entity or not, she was a young woman who never in her life shared a profound bond of romance with another due to others' disregard of her… different appearance. It was clear she was… ecstatic to have found someone to give her tremendous affection to, especially considering she had bound herself to him with the Bond of Eternal Love.
Indeed, to deny her love would be evil to say the least, and would make him a failure of a man.
"Even if Anya mIght be angry with me… I won't deny you or abandon you, regardless of the outcome. I'll take responsibility, so… If you're really okay with me, then I'd definitely like to continue our current relationship."
Relief.
All things considered, there was some lingering guilt, but… In this moment, her joy unanimously and undeniably outweighed any semblance of guilt. After spending so much time alone, never having a single, meaningful connection with a significant other and believing she would be forever alone in that regard, she had finally found someone that accepted her entirely, despite some obvious differences between them. And so, she too was now fully resolved to move forward with this relationship, and was prepared to face whatever trouble may come their way in the future.
But for now, she would enjoy breakfast with someone she loved and admired.
Even as the mark lingered, she raised up the single sling of her makeshift toga to cover herself once more. Despite its vibrant glow, her lingering shame and embarrassment was steadily peeling away, like ashes from a burnt tree blowing in the wind.
"To be honest, I'm still a little bewildered that you like me that much to bear the Bond. Though… it makes me pretty happy that you went that far if I'm being honest."
"Had you not been in a relationship with my lady at the time… then I would have swiftly pressed the advantage and claimed you for myself."
Given her fierce stare and tone, she meant it entirely. That's how she was, really. If she wanted something and was certain of her ability to take it, she would announce it brazenly like she just did, and she would spare almost no expense to achieve her desired result.
This was one of the many reasons for Belîa being a spectacular knightess.
"I'm gonna have to go in two hours or so. Got a lot of things on the schedule today."
"And yet you were drinking like a madman last night." The Ember Knightess retorted.
"That's because I'll be fit as a fiddle as soon as I rip off this patch. So it doesn't matter if I drink like a lunatic."
"I suppose that's fine then if it doesn't interfere with your work… That being said…" Belîa paused, finishing the last two pieces of her steak, "Does one of your tasks today involve guarding, or transport?"
"Yeah, but it'd be best for you to be discreet for the time being. I still haven't told the General about you, and he might give me grief about it." Dante finished his plate with some final bites
"I see…" she smirked, "Where would you like me for the time being then?"
"Uh… I'll ask Inuba to make a sort of 'flare' that you can sense. That way, we'll all be in place just in case, and there won't be people snooping."
She smiled once more, "My thanks. I'll be sure to leave a little later. That being said…"
The Embered Knightess rose from her chair, and began setting Dante's plate with seconds from the vast breakfast array on the table.
"You… said you had two or so more hours before you leave for work, right?"
"Yeah, around that much time."
"Then after breakfast… Would you… be willing to stay for a while longer..?" She asked in a sweeter than usual tone, softly placing a hand on his shoulder.
Looking up at Belîa, Dante could see a gentler than usual expression of her face as well. It was unbelievably cute, a term that he couldn't exactly use before last night and today. Though of course, with the soft touch of her hand on his shoulder, the young devil could surmise fairly well why she wanted him to stay longer. If that wasn't obvious enough, the gentle, yearning look in her eyes spoke clearly enough without the usage of her words.
"Yeah, I'll stay."
With a faint laugh, she quickly went back to her side of the table, setting herself a second plate with a bright smile on her face. For a few minutes more, the pair would work on breakfast as they discussed with each other events of the past, particularly some of the more humorous parts of certain retellings. When the food had been fully consumed by the two, they went to work washing the dishes together, and then had their respective cups of coffee before moving on to enjoy the rest of their morning together.
"Why did you do that?!"
William slammed Dante into the wall of the abandoned building outside, making numerous large cracks. Admittedly, he did so harder than he originally intended, but his emotions were tense, still shocked in some way.
While on patrol earlier, they came across a crime scene with a greatly agitated woman, crying and virtually out of her mind. One look at Dante, and she immediately to Atlas and Mantle's up and coming hero. In her hysteria, they managed to discern that the woman's daughter had been kidnapped while she was playing in the streets. After a tough struggle, the woman had taken a beating from the kidnapper, and was forced to let go of her child, despite her holding on after being knocked out.
Of course, the young devil decided he would accept her request, and after some collaboration with the police, Dante and William started their own hunt for the criminal. After collecting data from surveillance cameras to get a general impression, and using the devil's Aura Sensing, they tracked the man down and cornered him.
Tragically, the man had already done his dirty work, and the child did not survive.
The man was a cannibal that had been released from confinement by Tyrion Callows, and his Semblance worked in tandem with his already evil and twisted nature. The girl had been consumed just before they arrived, quite literally finishing his meal after "starving" for so long. After a boring monologue and some insane laughter, William was ready to battle him and take him into custody, but he never got the chance.
Dante's Aura… had flowed in a terrifying manner. Streams of pitch black shot out his Aura in large bursts, the ends of the bursts sporting terrifying, jagged maws. Those very maws painfully and brutally rent the murderer's flesh, crunching his bones in awful and loud snaps and cracks as the Aura-emanated Darkness consumed the man in less than a minute. William had never seen such a thing in his life, least of all something so terrifying that not only froze his blood, but his very soul. All he could do was stare at the horrifying scene unfolding before him.
And yet after all that, the young devil picked up a bloodied blue ribbon belonging to the girl and casually patted William's shoulder as he walked out of the abandoned building. Dante said something as he passed by, but the young Operative couldn't hear his words. He was still stunned to complete stillness and silence, both by the casual act of murder his "ally" had committed, and by the horrifying manner he had done so.
Thankfully, Mórai's voice in his head snapped the young soldier out of his daze, who looked around frantically and noticed Dante had left. Thus, he rushed outside as quickly as possible, leading to their current confrontation.
"What do you mean 'why'? It wasn't obvious enough?"
"What's so obvious about taking a man's life?! So horribly, no less!"
"Look, would you let me go? I know we've been friendly but I'm not into gu-"
"This is serious, you lunatic!" He pushed Dante against the wall once more, "We were supposed to take him in for due process!"
"Let go, man."
"Murderer he may have been, and as despicable as he was, he should have had a trial at the very least!"
Dante rolled his eyes with a sigh, suddenly remembering that William was the straight laced type. Perhaps too straight laced for his liking at times. With annoyance, he grabbed the young soldier's collar with both hands and headbutted him with incredible force, creating a small shockwave. A headbutt like that would have killed other men, but William was quick enough to react and shield his entire head.
Even though it saved his head from being caved in, the force of impact was still too intense, bouncing his brain inside his skull and concussing him. The assault didn't stop there, for as soon as he let go of the devil, he was spun around and forced face first into the ground harshly, making a small crater. His arm was then wrenched behind his back, making any further movement, much less escape, impossible without breaking his own arm.
Mórai materialized to swing her sword at the young devil's neck, but had been headlocked by Eclypse, who materialized just as she did. Like her Wielder, the light blonde Aegis Blade had been forced to the ground harshly, arm wrenched behind her back as her head was forced down into the ground.
"Get off, cow tits!" Her muffled voice emerged from the ground.
"Shut it, flat tits. Our bosses are busy. Not our business to interfere."
With the last threat neutralized for the time being, Dante was free to do his talking.
"Right… In short, I'm well within my authority to execute scum like him. Article 89, section 7. Should a criminal case fall into the hands of a Huntsmen ranking S-Class, using their own judgment, they may supersede local authority to hand down a verdict, which also depends on the severity of the case. I made my judgment and executed the criminal."
William's Aura had repaired his lightly injured brain, allowing him to control his movement again to look back at Dante with a fierce look.
"Glare at me all you like, but I did the right thing. You just don't want to admit it because you're too much of a goody-two-shoes." The devil explained to a struggling William, "You'd have learnt this sooner or later, but I might as well get it out of the way for a 'justice' type like you. Some criminals or evil people in life can be redeemed, of that, there's no question. But there are some who are so irrevocably twisted that there's no hope, no matter how many chances you give them."
The young Operatives struggling was starting to annoy Dante, so he reared back the young man's head and smashed it into the ground again, "calming him down" a little.
"They can have an infinite amount of chances, but they'll still be up to no good and will continue to harm or kill more people if given the chance. That's why… people like that deserve no mercy or consideration, let alone from me. Even if people like you look at me like I'm the monster or something, I'd still rather kill people like that scum back in there to spare the possible innocents that they would murder for their own satisfaction. Truly evil people leave this World, and the truly good and innocent get to have a future that might have been stolen from them. Win-win if you ask me."
"Even so..! To horribly kill someone..! In such a way..!"
"Quick thinking on my part, if I say so myself." Dante smirked, "I thought to myself, 'This guy eats people, right? What better way for him to go than to get eaten himself!', or something along those lines. I bet he'll appreciate the irony from Hell!"
"You'd even..! Laugh about it..?!"
"I mean, it is kind of funny if you think about it. But that aside, he really wasn't much of a person. More like an animal, really."
"Kuh..! You..! Demon..!"
The young devil stopped smirking, allowing William to turn his head around enough to flare at him sideways.
"I guess I never told you, so I might as well do so now, considering we're having an intimate moment together and all that." Dante joked, "I'm a stupidly tolerant guy, to the point I let people get away with things at times that others wouldn't. But the minute you hurt a kid? Much less kill one? You may as well have signed your own death warrant. Be you God, Devil or noble, there'd be nowhere you could run to hide from me, and there'd be no power in the World that would save you from me. Your life becomes forfeit, and I'll make you wish you'd never be born as I maim or kill you in the same way you did to your victims."
The young Operative relaxed slightly upon hearing his reasoning, but was still tense enough. At the very least, he stopped struggling so much, making the devil take his hand off the young man's head.
"I guess in a way, I am a little twisted for some people's tastes. But hey…" He shrugged, "I guess they don't call me 'The Demon of Vengeance' for nothing, huh?"
Dante pulled back William's head, making sure to lean in close so that he could hear him.
"I like you fairly well, Will. You remind me of my own, idealistic ass a little when I was younger. But for as long as you're gonna keep working as a soldier for Atlas, much less an Ace Operative, you're gonna see some ugly stuff out there. A lot uglier than this. So…My advice? Wake the hell up and smell the roses. Otherwise? You're gonna be in for a rude awakening that'll shatter your entire World. So on that note, we're done here."
Dante patted the soldier's back lightly as he got off him.
"Oh yeah, friendly word of advice." The devil said as he stood up and lifted William back onto his feet, still holding his hand behind his back in a lock, "Friend or not, you lay hands on me like that again, and I'll fuck up your face. Kay~?"
The young devil pushed William away from him towards Mórai, the young man stumbling forwards a few paces as he steadily turned around and glared at Dante. With the conversation finished, Eclypse also let go of her fellow Aegis Blade, instantly rematerializing at Dante's side before the light blonde took a swing at her face.
"Hope this was an educational experience for you!" Dante waved goodbye, heading back towards the streets while Eclypse mockingly flipped off Mórai as she walked backwards behind him.
"You..!"
Before she could rush forward, she was stopped by William. When she looked up to yell at him, the Blade's own frustration ceased instantly upon seeing her Wielder's angry, glaring expression, and she immediately let it go.
William would lag behind Dante in total silence as they made their way back to the crime scene, the grieving mother now joined by her older daughter and son. When she saw the devil walking towards her solemnly without her daughter in tow, she collapsed to the ground in tears, her other daughter holding her tightly. The eldest son was the only one to speak to Dante, desperately asking what happened. He spared them the details of what happened, simply and sincerely apologizing to the family for his failure.
It was then he knelt down, pulling the bloodied ribbon out of his pocket to place it into the hands of the grieving mother, who took it and held onto it for dear life. He then told her that he didn't know if his next bit of news would bring her comfort, but he explained well enough without details that "he made the bastard pay the price horribly", leaving the family to their grieving.
To William's stunned amazement, the woman loudly and earnestly thanked the devil for what he did, and the justice he carried out.
…
How could she thank him for the "justice" he carried out? How is what he did "justice"? William understood that at times taking life was necessary in order to preserve other lives. Setting aside the fact that from a legal standpoint he was within his rights… did he have to kill the man so horribly? Did he have to show such a blatant disregard of life?
…
THAT is the man they call a Hero..? Someone who can casually take life so monstrously?
"William?"
The General's call of his name snapped the young Operative back to reality, who was now standing in his office.
"Were you listening?" Ironwood asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Y-Yes! Tomorrow I will be deployed with the rest of the squad to apprehend Gerald Fowl and his relatives. The following day, I will accompany RWBY, JNR, and Dante's group to apprehend Jacques Schnee after we receive confirmation that all of the SDC Board has been arrested beforehand."
The older man chuckled, "Although you were paying attention, you looked as though you were off elsewhere."
"I…"
…
…
His hands were behind his back, clenching tightly together as he overviewed the dilemma bouncing around within the inner confines of his mind. Even if it might seem distasteful, he had to say what was on his mind.
"I wish to file a complaint against Aetherveil."
"What for?"
William would then go on to explain the details of what transpired on their patrol a few hours ago, leaving out their brief scuffle. Although he was displeased about it, that wasn't as important of an issue.
"I see… Was that all that happened?"
"Was… Was that..? S-Sir..?"
Ironwood sighed as he put his Scroll down, folding his hands together.
"Sit down, William."
The young soldier sat down, slightly bewildered by his superior's casual response.
"Tell me what you think about how he operates based off of all the patrols you've conducted together."
"He… Well… I… I frankly don't know anymore, sir…"
"Are you confused as to how he truly acts?"
He nodded.
"I'm by no means an expert when it comes to Aetherveil. Frankly speaking, you'd have better luck asking everyone else he's associated with. But… after seeing how he fights, and from what you just described to me, I think I can offer you some sort of answer."
"Is there really any justifiable answer for such actions..?"
"I won't lie, while I agree with his judgment, I can't exactly agree with his method. At least, concerning this matter." The General leaned forward a bit, locking eyes with the young soldier, "Do you know why he is feared by criminals and some of the truly despicable individuals in this World? Why most of the vilest underground networks in Vale and everywhere else he's been suddenly… vanished into thin air?"
"Given what I saw tonight, it's not exactly hard to imagine…"
"There is that, yes… But you're focusing too much on the means. Think of the 'why', or rather, the 'idea'."
Try as he did, William could only shake his head.
"Yes, they fear him because of his swift and brutal retribution… But it's the simple fact that they're afraid of him in the first place. They fear something that can be 'worse' than them."
"Can be..?"
"I genuinely believe in his good nature and goodwill. None of that is fake in my personal opinion. In retrospect, he… isn't naive. Maybe slightly paranoid, but… He's no fool."
"I don't understand where this is going, sir."
"Simply put? There are some truly terrifying and vile individuals in the World, William. They don't fear or respect the law, those in power, or any form of retribution. And because they have this mentality in mind, they proceed onwards unflinchingly and unchecked."
"But we, and the S-Class Huntsmen and Huntresses, are the deterrent for such individuals, aren't we?"
"In some cases, yes, that's exactly right. Where others fail, the Atlesian Military, or S-Class Huntsmen, succeed with certainty or act as the last line of defense. But truthfully? Even then some choose to advance without the slightest trace of fear. Although I don't entirely like or agree with all of their methods or means, we also can't deny that the kind of work both Aetherveil and Warren do is not only important, but absolutely effective."
Kallus Warren… A name he wasn't too keen on hearing.
"In Kallus' case, he's been extremely effective in deterring crimes committed by corrupt Huntsmen. It's better to say that because of his reputation, crimes done by Huntsmen have taken a staggeringly sharp decline in fear of retribution at the hands of the 'Huntsmen Killer'."
"And in Aetherveil's case..?"
"The Black Devil of Vengeance… The name speaks for itself in all honesty." He half-laughed, "An avenging demon that will drag the vilest of individuals down to the deepest pits of whatever Hell exists. The moment he sets his sights on you is the moment your life becomes forfeit." The General paraphrased.
…
It was still difficult to understand.
"In other words… It's because of these unsavory actions on their part that villains such as those think twice." The young man answered.
"Correct. Where normal means like ours fail, drastic means like theirs are the definitive stoppers. But since we're mostly discussing Aetherveil… I'm fairly certain that the idea is that they need to fear something that can be worse than them. That even if they should die, they will forever remember him in death."
…
…
Was such a thing truly necessary in order to maintain peace..?
"In regards to this, if there's one thing I agree with him on, it's that some people will never truly change or repent for their actions. That given the opportunity, they'll escape only to do it again and again and again. It's only until someone shows up with the proverbial 'bigger' stick that they'll ever stop."
…
…
As much as he hated to admit it, he understood at last. Even so…
"Even so… I don't agree with it."
"That's fine. You don't have to agree with it. And at the same time… you can be glad that it's not you doing the deed."
"Sir..?"
Ironwood exhaled quickly, "In short, just be glad you're not the one to carry the burden."
…
…
Maybe his understanding was still lacking…
"Would you like me to pull you from-?"
"No. It… should be fine." William sighed, "He wasn't terribly… upset and left it with a warning."
"You should be glad that's all you got." The General picked up his Scroll and began working away at it again, "You're tough, William. For a new recruit in the Ace Ops, you've done good and efficient work. And in terms of combat, you could even surpass the current members in a few years time."
The young man tightened his grip again behind his back.
"And yet if it came down to it… I don't think I can best him."
Ironwood chuckled lightly, "Aetherveil is… an anomaly. Even among his new 'colleagues' of S-Class Huntsmen. Like Nira Ezdeil, his power seems simple enough on the surface, but has many unknown facets of extraordinary potential."
Aura Manipulation… It's already such a powerful Semblance… And I haven't even seen the current peak of his abilities yet. It makes me shudder to think about him possibly manipulating the Aura's of other people. Is he even capable of doing that? Can he do it and he just keeps it a secret? Because if he can… that would make him the modern era's strongest Huntsmen…
But the more disturbing thought was if that were the case, he could take on anyone.
"Can I ask you a question, General? Truthfully?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you pair me with him?"
"Well, for more obvious reasons, both of you wield swords, and not just any swords mind you." The older man explained, "In a more practical sense… there are still a few things you're naive about when it comes to the World in general and how some people behave. Aside from improving your combat skills alongside a recently appointed S-Class Huntsmen, I felt like it was an opportunity for you to learn more about the outside World rather than just the life of a soldier. After all, with the changes your sister has been making in relation to the Inquisitors and your family clan, as well as how you came to us, I imagine you might leave one day, or find different pursuits."
"And you think he can teach me to a reasonable extent?"
"I do. Even if there are things you don't like about him, there are still things you could learn from him. Be that interacting more socially with other individuals, what lies hidden in the darker side of the World, or even… some new ways to fight."
"An opportunity through and through…"
"Correct. Therefore, don't squander this golden opportunity. Learn as much as you can, because like you, he and his group will move on one of these days."
"Did he mention leaving..?"
"No, but… Who knows where the mission will take them down the line? If we successfully defend against the coming assault, it's likely they'll leave to chase after the enemy. It all depends on what happens afterwards." Ironwood exhaled, "That being said…"
"I promise to do my best to learn. Even if… I might not agree with everything he does."
"If you ever feel overburdened…"
"That's not necessary, sir. Even if things might become difficult… I'm not one to turn away and quit."
"Good to hear. Go home and get some rest. Take a day off if you need to. And… don't judge Aetherveil too harshly. You've no doubt gone through your fair share of troubles, but so has he. Compared to you, he has a vastly different perspective. Be patient."
"I'll keep that in mind." William saluted before leaving the room, entering the elevator.
Seeing as it was just him, Mórai materialized on his left side, back leaned against the elevator wall. She could tell he had something to say, so she waited, but…
"Look-"
"Do you think I'm naive?"
"Huh?"
"Me. Am I… still too naive?" William asked, staring dead ahead through the glass and looking upon Atlas.
"Yep."
"How do you think?"
"You're way too nice, honest, and straight-laced. If it weren't for me or your sister, you'd get taken advantage of easily."
"T-Truly?"
"Hell yeah."
He sighed in disbelief.
"Honestly? You're just not as experienced when it comes to fighting people to death. In a way, you're lucky you haven't been put in such a situation, and even then, your Semblance basically provides you the ultimate defense if used right. Suffice it to say, you don't have much to worry about in terms of dying."
"Then… you think the issue is as simple as me not having killed anyone?"
"Pretty much."
"How? Aren't we supposed to avoid unnecessarily taking life?"
"Well, sure." Mórai shrugged, "As much as I don't like that smug bastard Aetherveil, the general had a point."
"The point being..?"
"Sometimes… there's no other choice. We can dance around and try to say there's always another way, but… that's not the case all the time. There are some seriously scummy people out there that'd stab you in the back as soon as you show them mercy."
"So I should be more ruthless?"
"Nah… Not necessarily."
"Then..?"
The blonde Aegis Blade huffed as she shifted her position slightly.
"Not if… But when you're put in that position, don't hesitate. Be it your life, or someone else you're protecting."
"How am I… supposed to know that kind of person? Someone so irredeemable that they deserve death?"
"Instinct, in all honesty. It's mostly a 'know it when you see it' kind of deal. But… I guess to make it easier, if you do spare someone trying to kill you or other people, keep a close eye on them and make sure they don't try and stab you in the back, or kill other people."
"And when fighting a person to the death… Or rather someone trying to kill me…"
"Always prioritize your life over theirs. If all other options fail… better you than them."
…
…
"That's my lesson for today. You can thank me later." The Blade smugly smiled.
"I suppose I should say thank you…"
"Don't. If the World were a better place, there wouldn't be a need to talk about killing others."
William let out a drawn out sigh, relaxing from straight posture and leaning against the elevator wall.
"I guess so."
…
…
He didn't wish to take life needlessly. Although he understood it was at times necessary, his greatest fear was doing so unnecessarily. He didn't want…
…
…
A flicker. A memory of a terrible day where lives were needlessly lost. A memory that still haunted him to this day. A memory, that now that he thought about it, was holding him back. Every time he swung his sword against another person, on a subconscious level, he would recall that day and the recollection would make his arms heavy, as if he were wielding a string of train cars instead of a claymore.
He knew and understood all this, and yet…
…
…
"It's not your fault, you know?"
William's eyes snapped to his Blade, slowly looking over at her in surprise.
"Did you-?"
"No, I didn't peek at your memories. Don't need to." Mórai rolled her shoulders, her large, silver pauldrons clinking lightly as she kept her arms crossed, "I told you before, didn't I? We're linked. I can… feel your constant anxiety. Your occasional bouts of guilt.'
"And how does that tell you anything in detail?"
"Who knows?" She looked off to the side, staring through the glass as she avoided eye contact with her Wielder, "Maybe I know a thing or two. Maybe once upon a time… I felt a similar guilt that I can spot a mile away."
…
Whenever I asked her about her life before becoming an Aegis Blade, she always brushed me off, said there wasn't anything interesting to talk about…
"Cause there was nothing interesting to talk about then."
"How-?"
"Dumbass… You forget we can read each other's thoughts? I explained all this shit to you day one."
"It's not my fault you're terrible at explaining things…"
"Hah?! It's your fault that your stupid, fat, dense head is good for nothing except for being a decoration!" She said in between kicking William in the shins, who had used his semblance to protect himself as he stood perfectly still amidst the harsh "clanking" noises, "Don't cheat with your Semblance, you chicken shit!"
"Says the petite knightess who tried to take me by surprise…"
"Tch! When did you grow a pair?"
"Since a few moments ago, I suppose."
Both of them locked eyes, silently staring at each other in mutual understanding before their gazes turned back on the city.
"Well… good for you." Mórai sighed as she leaned against the elevator wall once again.
A faint smile crept onto the young Operative's face, their elevator creeping to a halt.
"I'm glad that you answered my call." He said before the doors opened.
"Y-Yeah… Whatever…" Mórai huffed as she followed her Wielder out of the elevator.
~You sure about leaving things like that?~
Like what? You mean with Will?
~No, with Zachson Limberlake. Of course I'm talking about mr. High Morals.~
Dante smirked as he continued walking through the snowy terrain, the view of the Schnee manor on his right a kilometer or so away. He paused as he let out a sharp exhale, crossing his arms as he scanned over the mansion in the distance, though by appearances alone, it was more like a fanciful, gothic, snowy castle. As much as he was tempted to drag Jacques Schnee out by his mustache, he couldn't be hasty. He needed to wait until tomorrow night. Besides, that place wasn't his target tonight.
What he was looking for was on the very edge of the cliffside, about a kilometer away from the Schnee manor.
While I do like him, he got a little too comfortable just because we've been on good terms. Had to knock him off his high horse a bit. Either way, he'll get over it.
^Are you sure? Young men like him tend to be more… emotional about these things and dwell on it more than they should.^
What do you want me to say, Serythîl? "Oops, so sorry, let's shake hands and kiss and make up"?
*If you were to leave out the kissing part, then yes, that would be the preferable way forward. As much as I agree with your stance, striking him was perhaps a step too much.*
Maybe, but he wasn't having it. I couldn't exactly let him beat me around either, otherwise he'd be keen on doing it again in the future if we disagreed on something else. It was better to put him in his place now rather than later. Even if we're friends.
+Could you not have thrashed him first?+
No, it was necessary. You saw him yourself, didn't you Xīn Huá? He was too amped up to bother listening to me, so I made him chill out for a bit. It's not like he actually got hurt.
Dante stopped at the edge of the cliffside, looking down to see nothing but misty snow and darkness down below. Kneeling down, his hand glowed with platinum as put it just above the edge, letting his Aura fan out like a liquid. Within seconds, his Aura was blanketing a sort of invisible platform, where with an outside flick of his finger, the Aura flooded to the right side, trickling down to reveal invisible steps leading further down the cliffside.
Now that he knew what was there, he could easily see how the snowflakes fell atop these invisible stairs, but for the sake of convenience, he let his Aura guide the way, further and further down. After a few minutes, he passed the mists and into the darkness, where with another flick of his finger, a bright glowing sphere of platinum lit the way. Normally he would use his "Dark Vision" to easily see everything and anything in the dark, but he wanted to practice some more practical usages of his Semblance, just in case there'd be something that could block his "vision".
It had yet to happen, but it paid to be prepared.
After five or so more minutes, the young devil reached a large crevice along the cliffside wall, stepping into it and taking a quick look around. It was intricately carved into a wide, rectangular corridor, the stone getting smoother the further he went in until the smoothness was like that of marble. At the end was a set of elegant, intricately carved white marble double doors, which glowed faintly as soon as his orb of platinum Aura lit up the area. At the center was a vertically stretched, hexagonal plate, which seemingly kept the doors locked.
Reaching into his pocket, he found the item he was looking for, pulling out an ornate, black, crystalline key, the butt end shaped into the symbol of the Schnee family. The man he and Neo interrogated and interpolated data from said that he was holding on to Jacques Schnee's dirtiest secret, something he kept for insurance despite being ordered to destroy it. However, as the man himself said, no matter what he tried, the key refused to break.
However, there were never any instructions regarding what the key was for or where to use it. By luck, he poured some Aura into it, and then used his Aura Sensing to see it making a trail leading exactly towards the cliffside near the Schnee manor.
Just as he was about to step forward, he felt a hand lightly tap his shoulder from behind, making him spin around as he exhaled sharply. Alas, it was only The Seeker, taking a step back herself as she clutched her black staff tightly, the dim black and white flame from the torch lamp tip flickering briefly within the confines of the nine, short metal prongs.
"Oh… Oh it's just… Whew…" Dante sighed in relief, "You really need to stop doing that. I know it's a little fun for you, but you're seriously going to give me a heart attack one of these days…"
She tilted her head, confused by his remark.
The devil smirked as he shook his head, "I assume you came out because you have to tell me something?"
The young woman nodded, walking forward towards the double doors as she rested her hand on it.
"Tis a mausoleum."
"A mausoleum? Here of all places? Actually…" Dante crossed his arms, "Now that I think about it, nobody knows where the Schnee family ancestors have been buried, except the family head supposedly."
If the big, damning secret is in a mausoleum, then it must have something to do with Nicholas Schnee. Initially, when Jacques took over after the death of his father-in-law, people speculated that the rat bastard did him in. Of course, he continuously professed his innocence, and with no solid proof, he was never convicted.
The devil's eyes trailed to the ground as he raised a hand to his mouth, running his thumb across his lips slowly.
Tried as everyone did, nobody could find anything to link him, and Willow Schnee was never able to provide any other information or evidence against him, despite her strong suspicions later down the line. After a while, life continued on, and Jacques was on top of the World. Still… if there was no evidence that came out of the autopsy, what can I find that they didn't? Wait… how did The Seeker know that past these doors is a mausoleum?
"Uh… Can I ask you a question?"
The young woman turned slowly, the silver metal band-mask covering her eyes staring directly at him as she clutched her staff with both hands again.
"Are you… a necromancer by any chance? Or can use necromancy?"
She seemed hesitant given how she looked off to the side, and grasped her staff even tighter, but she looked back to him again after a few moments, steeling herself.
"Tis impossible for me to command the dead, lest through mutual agreement by contract, thus converting their being into that of a Guardian Spirit." She explained, her voice soft as she spoke rather timidly, "Alas… 'tis possible for me to commune with the dead freely, should they remain in this World."
"Let me guess… There's a whole bunch of ghosts sealed inside."
She nodded to affirm his suspicion.
"Great… I hate fighting ghosts…"
The Seeker shook her head, "Unlikely. They shall flee from thy presence and mine."
"If they're gonna run, then what will be the point of communing with them?"
"In the deepest confines of the mausoleum, an unwavering soul remains confined, guarding the former generations laid to rest."
…
"Nicholas Schnee…"
The young woman nodded in response to the name he put forward.
"So the Old Timer's been sticking around to guard the place, even if his soul was trapped in here against his will… I guess he'll tell us himself how everything went down." Dante uncrossed his arms, holding up the key and staring at it, "But it's gonna be tough convincing everyone I got my evidence from the testimony of a deadman. Though, I guess he might give us something that everyone else missed."
He then looked back at The Seeker.
"It's been a while since just the two of us walked around together. I know it isn't exactly the classiest place to take a stroll, but… you wanna walk with me?"
The Seeker seemed to ponder the idea for a few moments, not because she didn't want to go in with him, but because she was wondering if it would be alright to go in with him. He didn't seem… distrustful, shocked, or even disgusted by the revelation of one of her abilities. If anything, he looked as though he were.. intrigued.
Of all the things, he was intrigued.
…
…
She was… relieved by his response.
And so she gave him a nod, prompting the young devil to step forward with the key as he pushed it against the stretched hexagon, a white mist emerging from the point of contact as the key sank deeper into the plate. With one full circle twist, the key soon vanished in a puff of black smoke as the plate split in half perfectly down the middle, allowing Dante to push open the large, double doors with loud, echoing creaks and sounds of scraping stone.
Air rushed inside past the doors in haunting whipping whistles, dying down after a few brief moments.
"Like Gandalf, 'let me risk a little more light'."
Dante swirled his finger twice as his glowing orb of Aura grew significantly brighter and floated high above their heads, illuminating most of the massive first room. At the center of the room was a smooth, white marble sarcophagus, absent of any elegant etchings or designs. It was bare and simplistic in design, beautiful regardless of the simplicity. The only thing out of place really was the layers of dust completely caking the top lid. Stepping forward with The Seeker, Dante approached the sarcophagus, brushing his hand against the lid to see a faint, ice blue, glowing inscription.
"Rudyard Schnee, founding father of the clan." The devil read aloud, pushing off the stone as he looked around the room, "Not who I'm looking for, but…"
His eyes caught something interesting as he scanned the walls, seeing a vast array of perfect and elegant carvings in the form of scenery, people, and events.
"From what I can understand of these carvings…" He looked around, doing his best to piece everything together mentally, "They tell the story of good old Rudy here when he was a young man, and established one of the first small settlements that began in the New World. They struggled and fought like hell against the Grimm, gradually losing people over time. Eventually, they discovered Dust deposits in caves they hid in, and used the shards either as weapons, or to coat whatever weapons they had to infuse them. After a long struggle, they established an isolated village that gave them great defensive opportunities, and allowed them to prosper until his death thirty years later."
It was all interesting information, and as much as he enjoyed his fair share of history, it wasn't information he was looking for. With nothing else left to observe, he passed on through the hallway at the end of the room, emerging into another expansive room, which also had another sarcophagus in the center of the room, and more carvings higher up on the walls. This room, however, had some smaller sarcophagi slotted into the side walls
"Seems as though the entire history of the Schnee family is carved on these walls… Makes me wonder how many people know about this place…"
Although it seemed as if he were talking to himself, The Seeker had in fact been listening the entire time. Only, she wasn't all that vocal, if at all. It seemed as though she was only so verbose when needing to provide a path forward for him to follow, or a means to achieving whatever goals he pursued. Therefore, the most he heard from as they passed from room to room were brief hums of agreement whenever he spoke aloud, or posed a question or theory. It wasn't exactly the most engaging conversation, but the young devil didn't mind all too much.
At the very least she was listening.
After passing five rooms total, Dante and The Seeker came upon a large set of double doors that bore no locks like the entrance doors. With a push requiring some effort, the doors were pushed in towards the room, dust flying inside along with the air. Unlike the rooms from before, this one had torches lining the side walls, which flickered to life with glorious, ice blue flames as soon as the doors had fully opened.
This area was much larger than the rest, about the full size of a football field by the devil's quick estimates. At the end of the room yet again was another white marble sarcophagus, this time more intact and less weathered by time. The key difference however was the tall suit of rusty, silver armor facing the doors, standing tall in front of the sarcophagus with a double edged greatsword, both gauntleted hands tightly grasping the handle of the large sword. The dashing red cape, which had white fur lining the neckline and gold strands tying it together, fluttered faintly amidst the sudden presence of air. The armor itself wasn't all too elegant, fancy, or ornate, but just a simple set of heavy plated, rusted silver armor, its overall design and features exactly matching Weiss' Knight Armor summon.
Seeing as there were no other doors to be found, this had to be the final room, meaning that the sarcophagus and the armor had to belong to none other than Nicholas Schnee himself. After walking up and looking at the lid, he confirmed as much for himself, stepping back a few paces as he looked to The Seeker.
"Is he… you know… here?"
She nodded, "His soul lingereth, silent and slumbering in the darkness of this tomb."
"So… how does this communion work exactly? You gonna summon his ghost, and 'poof', he manifests?"
The young woman shook her head before facing the direction of the armor and clutching her staff more tightly.
"I get it… You're gonna summon him and use the armor as a medium to make it easier to keep him tethered, am I right?"
She nodded, but immediately reached out to gently grab his shoulder, stopping him.
"Long hath he slumbered in the dark, suffering silently in deafening silence."
"So he's gonna be pissed when we 'wake him up', or he'll think we're burglars or something."
Dante crossed his arms, thinking upon the situation and what he should do. But for him, the answer was simple enough, and The Seeker surmised easily enough from his mischievous smile what he intended to do.
"Heh… It's not every day one can have a fun spar with 'The Hero of the Schnee Family'..."
She seemingly sighed at his rather childish approach to this, but… it wasn't without its logic. Aside from the faint traces of madness hanging in the air from the presence of the man's soul, there was… anger. Sadness. To be forcibly manifested after being murdered over a decade ago, and lingering in the silent dark all this time… It was all but guaranteed he would not be pleased by whoever entered this tomb, much less disturbed his "rest".
"Prepare thyself."
The young devil smirked as he summoned Eclypse to his right hand, twirling her into a backhand position as he planted her in the ground, resting his hands atop the pommel, eagerly waiting.
"Soul of the Lost who lingereth in the dark… Answer mine call, and manifest thyself before me."
She then tapped her cane lightly against the ground, but however light the tap was, it let out a resounding echo throughout the room. A faint tuft of black and white flame emerged from the point of contact, spreading out in a thin, perfect circle that spanned the entire room in but a few seconds before disappearing. Glowing, ice blue energy materialized shortly after like a haze of mist, fluttering about aimlessly until it began to filter into the crevices of the suit of armor before them.
With a brief exchange of glances, The Seeker nodded her head before sinking quickly into Dante's shadow, the young devil shifting his head side to side to crack it twice as he rolled his shoulders, now physically and mentally prepared as he watched the energy vanish entirely in the armor. The armor suddenly twitched, slowly breaking out into a tremble as the joints and limbs steadily came to life, creaking loudly before ice blue energy glowed brightly from the eye sockets of the helmet.
As it gained the maximum range of it's mobility, a metallic, echoing shout emerged from the armor of Nicholas Schnee as it ripped its sword free from the ground. Immediately eyeing Dante in the distance, the armor broke out into a quick jog, which built up into a fast sprint as it grasped its massive greatsword with both hands. The devil got into position and took off himself, running full speed at the armor as he dragged Eclypse's tip across the ground, sparks trailing behind his sword. Two powerful swings tore through the air, and two swords clashed with an intense ferocity that blew away all the dust around them.
The armor had two inches on Dante, but it wasn't a problem; what posed a slight problem was that it had strength, enough to stop them in a total deadlock. The devil, having grasped his Blade with both hands by this point, intentionally loosened up, allowing the armor's greatsword to slide down Eclypse's flare side as he spun rapidly and lashed his blade out at the neck of the animated armor. Amazingly, it leaned back enough for the sword to lightly graze the chin of the face plate before leaping back, simultaneously swinging its massive sword outwards.
Given his active Threat Tracer, the blade point scraped a centimeter above his right cheek, scratching only a thin, fine layer of briefly manifested Aura. The armor was no joke. Pure strength alone, it could overpower virtually any Huntsman and Huntress below S-Rank with sheer brute force alone. While not as fast or agile as Dante, it was still fast enough, making it rather difficult to land a solid hit. That, and whatever battle instinct remained of Nicholas Schnee fueled the animated armor with an intense ferocity, its swings, slashes, stabs and occasional strikes from its limbs masterful with refined expertise.
It's… no… His technique was close to perfect. No move was wasted, no attack was thrown out wildly, and always served as an opener to initiate chained attacks with its immense might, or to deftly switch to a counter or block. Indeed, this wasn't as simple as the young devil thought it'd be, and yet, it was fun. Putting aside the fact he was battling with Nicholas Schnee so fiercely, his ability was remarkable in every way, giving Dante no time to relax or to take it easy.
It was exciting to really fight someone like this again after so long, someone with actual technique and skill rather than just a person who brute forced it. Of course, while he himself was guilty on multiple occasions of taking the latter approach more often than not, he still appreciated having a "fun" fight where sophisticated technique was involved. Nicholas Schnee was by all accounts impressive, and worthy of being called the hero of the Schnee family, but what his summoned spirit had been fighting was no Huntsmen or Grimm.
It was a demon not of this World.
Try as he did, the armor was no match for Dante in terms of speed, and now that he had caught on to his antics, the devil was able to counter more effectively. After a well executed last second feint, the armor had missed its attack, allowing the young devil to grab his sword hand's wrist as he caught the other armored fist in his palm. It was here that the spirit of Nicholas Schnee had made a grave error by assuming they were in a deadlock, for immediately afterwards, two demonically armored, spectral arms of platinum Aura manifested in the blink of an eye, and went to town.
Head, face, chest, shoulder joints; nothing was spared from the harsh and blatantly devastating pummeling the armor was taking, which ended with a fierce right cross to the faceplate that sent the armor flying backwards hunched over. Instead of tumbling backwards like most, the possessed armor found its bearing and forcefully planted its feet in the ground, skidding backwards on its heels as it plunged its sword in the ground to slow itself, a brief flood of sparks jumping about in its trail.
The once pristine but rusted armor had been dented heavily across multiple areas, bore a few deep slashes that showed ice blue Aura underneath, and had been dirtied around the hands and feet with all the tussling it had done with Dante. A completely arrogant and oblivious warrior would have assumed this was the end, but the devil knew better, letting out a sharp exhale as he plunged his sword in the ground and waited.
The armor stood up straight from its slight crouch before it upturned its greatsword, the room suddenly vibrating and growing intensely cold as energy seemed to flow into the armor. A misty, ice blue Aura began to emanate from the entirety of its body, coating the massive greatsword as he raised it up slowly and plunged it into the ground. What can only be described as a "flash" avalanche of ice blue Aura blindingly swept through the entire room for a few brief moments, a good deal of the armor's damage repaired aside from the more serious dents.
Dante's body and clothes had been coated in a thin sheet of ice due to the "avalanche" and the now dramatically decreased temperature, but it was a problem easily melted away by a brief flash of his own Aura. Most people would have been completely frozen into a block of ice by that simple release of power, but a quick use of his Aura Sense made Dante smirk as he chuckled excitedly for a brief moment.
Yeah… His power now definitely outclasses the majority. He could easily give a Maiden a run for her money…
With a second wind, the spirit of Nicholas Schnee took its sword out of the ground and leapt from one end of the to the center of the massive room, slashing at Dante with a deathly cold, sweeping attack, followed by a powerful downwards strike that shattered the earth and layered it with heavy frost. Then, he raised up his sword with both hands as it had been encompassed by a torrential blizzard of razor sharp hail and icy blue Aura, the blade now elongated with a greater length before it attacked.
One. Two. Three. Four blindingly fast and tremendously heavy strikes came at Dante from diagonal angles with focused precision, making dodging them rather impossible as he stood his ground and blocked its attacks with Eclypse. The final, fifth attack had the armor raise its sword high above his head as the mass of ice and Aura grew even larger before he slammed it down in Dante's direction. From the attack emerged an intensely fast and ferocious torrent of sharp, jagged clusters of teeth-like glaciers that almost reached the high ceiling as it crashed into the devil.
Silence, save for the crunching, cracking noises of the now ice filled tomb.
Just as the spirit of Nicholas Schnee lowered its sword, a flickering slash of platinum Aura ripped clean through the entirety of the mass of ice, shattering it completely shortly after. Massive chunks of ice filled the entirety of the air, faint trails of icy mist following the flying debris as the armor failed to find Dante at the other end. When it occurred to the possessed armor to look behind, it was too late.
The young devil has already zipped around it, skidding sideways to halt before dashing forward straight for the armor. First, he used Eclypse for a heavy handed series of destructive slashes, which threatened to unbalance the armor until the event became a reality with the final chained strike. Then, in a flash of platinum Aura, Nȃvara had taken Eclypse's place, where the devil used the added bonus of the further increase to his speed to rapidly strike at multiple joints and segments of the armor to further weaken its mobility.
Then, he twirled his blade as another brief burst of platinum Aura replaced her with Serythîl, where he then used the spear with flourishing, twirling spins to strike with both blade and blunted bottom cap at the main body to cause further damage by means of deep gashes and cuts. The armor however made one last attempt to retaliate with a reared back stab, only to find its blade point met by Serythîl, where the greatsword soon met the beginning of its destruction. Chunk by chunk of the length was being shattered until the point of the spear reached the handle and pushed it forcefully out of the armor's hand.
Now disarmed of its weapon on it's last legs, Xīn Huá had been swapped in, Dante starting his next chain of attacks with a series of continuous, blindingly fast and powerful, sweeping round kicks to one side before spinning and switching to the other side to deliver a few more similar kicks. The attack string ended when he performed two front, upwards swinging, diagonal kicks with each leg, the momentum of which carried him high up into the air as he then led with his right leg and dive kicked the armor in the head with his heel. Pushing off the armor and landing on the ground, his left gauntlet flashed with a burst of platinum Aura before he glided forwards and dealt a devastating straight punch right to the armor's chest.
The sheer impact had already knocked the armor off its feet once more, sending it tumbling backwards a few times until it came to a complete halt. Tried as he did, the spirit only managed to rise onto its wobbly feet for a moment before falling down to its knees, pieces of the armor falling off it.
As the pieces fell, it was quickly revealed that there was a secondary set of silver armor beneath, much thinner in terms of thickness and meant more for appearance rather than combat. More importantly however was that now he could see the face of an older, handsome, short bearded gentleman, his skin pale and slightly glowing while his sclerae were a pitch black, encompassing his ice blue irises.
He breathed heavily, looking at his gauntleted hands in confusion before looking up at the devil standing a short distance away, Eclypse slung over his shoulder as he kept his free hand on his waist.
"You… You are not of my kin…"
"Finally! Someone that doesn't confuse me for a Schnee! Not that I'm against it or anything. I'm just my own man is all." Dante replied.
"Who are you then, if not my kin, to manifest my spirit in the tomb of our ancestors? Such a thing should not be possible unless you are of my blood."
So if a Schnee does enter this place, they can possibly commune with a previous member of the Schnee family if they're buried here, or at the very least, the last family head. I don't know how, but it's likely some ancient magic. Maybe lucky leftovers from the Old World happened upon the first of the Schnee family in the Current Era, or maybe a secret tied directly to the Schnees since they first walked the earth in the New World. As much as I'd like to know more, that's not what I need to focus on.
Dante exhaled silently, casting his eyes to his shadow.
So… it's not necessarily necromancy, but something more akin to spirit summoning. She can command them if they establish a contract with her, but until then, they're just summoned ghosts without a Master. Not only can she do that, but she can give others a "Blessing", like she did with my current Armor. Makes me wonder what else she can do, and just how powerful she really is. Could she actually be..?
The young devil stepped forward, offering a hand to the summoned specter as he hesitantly took it, being helped to his feet. With an upwards flick of his index finger, two chairs made of platinum Aura manifested behind the pair, Dante sitting first as he politely motioned for Nicholas Schnee to sit as well.
"Sorry I don't have tea ready."
"Pay it no mind. Tell me… If you are not of my kin, how come you by this place?"
"The mausoleum key. Jacques tried to get rid of it, but since it proved indestructible despite his best efforts, he tried hiding it instead. The key was still radiating with power, so I tracked the 'link' between the key and the mausoleum to here."
"Jacques…" The specter clenched his fists tightly, growling slightly, "Tell me… How came you by all this? What involvement have you with Jacques Schnee?"
"I'm honestly more involved with Weiss rather than RatStache."
"You… know my granddaughter?"
"We're… uh… close, so to speak."
Dante then took the time to explain the current happenings of the World, all the way from Beacon's Fall, to their journey here in Atlas, and their common enemy, Salem. But most importantly, he explained the details of his investigation on Jacques, and his suspected involvement with the enemy. Having been presented with all this information, there was only one thing he could say.
"Thank goodness…"
"Uh… Thank goodness the World is in danger?"
Nicholas Schnee chuckled lightly in the face of such an obvious joke. It was clear that had he a truly corporeal form, he'd be shedding tears of joy with how his closed eyes twitched and his lips trembled.
"My son-in-law… Not only did he poison me that evening whilst we discussed matters on the Schnee Dust Company, but he took a knife to my heart as well. Furious and saddened by his actions as I may have been, my worries were more pressed towards my daughter, and her children. I was certain he would have killed Willow, if not his children as well after my passing, to truly cement his ill-gained power. But to hear that they still live… It soothes the soul of this old man beyond what mere words can describe."
It would have been true suicide if he laid his hands on Mrs. Schnee. He was already under suspicion after Nicholas Schnee passed away, so if any of them perished, his hold on the Schnee family name would have completely slipped his grasp. Failing that, he would have been under constant skepticism for the rest of his life.
"As I've come to learn, he bribed the doctor that examined your body, wherein he detailed to everyone else you died of natural causes. A year later, the doctor died in an 'accident', thus sealing away any sort of evidence from seeing the light of day."
"And? What evidence do you believe I can offer?"
"Well, your own personal testimony of course."
"Do you truly believe any would hear the words of a dead man?"
"Doesn't matter. Dead or alive, the second anyone hears your voice, they'll know it's you. Aside from that… I was hoping there was some more… physical evidence left over."
The specter laid a hand on his armored chest, likely where he was stabbed when he was alive.
"The poison weakened me considerably, leaving me unable to summon strength to my limbs. Forcing a dagger into my grasp, he used my own hands to pierce my heart, likely as a distraction from the poison should his clever tale of 'old age' failed him."
"Mmmm… Yeah, but it's not entirely a clever one. Aside from what I know of you, others would have known you weren't the suicidal type. Even so, there'd still be enough chaos to make it even harder to determine your real cause of death. Either way… mind if..?"
The spirit nodded, waving a hand towards his sarcophagus as Dante sat up and opened the lid. On an initial glance, the body still had been preserved in fairly good condition, despite the flesh being withered. Upon removal of the breastplate and moving aside the dusty fabric of his shirt, the withered and rotting flesh that covered his chest showed a puncture wound above where his heart would have been, which had slightly expanded due to the aged skin.
Regardless, a sharp stabbing wound could still be observed, and as such, the devil used his Scroll to capture pictures, first of the overall body before he took more detailed pictures of the wound itself from various angles. Buried beneath the body's left arm was what looked to be a steel dagger, half of its length covered with dried blood.
Nice. Direct evidence linking Jacques to the murder. This likely still has some of his fingerprints on it, so…
Dante summoned a spectral hand to clutch the unbloodied blade length between two fingers, the hand moving towards the stoneplate ring on his left hand as it dematerialized in streams of platinum Aura. After that, he found a section of rotting flesh that begun to fall apart to make a natural, clean gap, and thus ripped a piece of flesh away. If the blood from the dagger wouldn't be enough evidence, the flesh would be able to offer a DNA match as opposed to DNA from a relative.
Having what he needed, the young devil quickly closed the lid of the sarcophagus, and then sighed as he sat back in his chair.
"Sorry for the unwanted strip search… I wanted to grab as much evidence as I could."
"Do not apologize. You do what you must. If anything, I am grateful that you have undertaken this task. I may have loved my son-in-law, but he showed his true intentions the night he murdered me. I ask you… please bring him to justice, before he has the chance to harm my daughter and her children. He must be brought to heel, and his flawed dream of power must come to an end."
"Don't worry. Now that I have all the physical evidence I need, I only need to record your testimony and that's that."
The task only took a few minutes at best. It was conducted like an interview of sorts, first with confirmation that it was indeed Nicholas Schnee speaking by way of knowledge only he would know, knowledge that even Jacques was unaware of. Then, the specter spoke of the days leading up to his death, and described in vivid detail the night of his death and the instruments involved. Lastly, he spoke kind words of love for his family, his daughter and each of his grandchildren. As for Jacques… he simply left words of warning and self-reflection, and although his son-in-law may not have loved him, Nicholas did in fact love Jacques.
Now finished, Dante put away his Scroll, smirking widely as he thought of how to incorporate his new pieces of evidence.
"Young man, you are indeed mighty and brave. In you, I see great potential to change the future, for better or for worse based on whatever vision you behold. Tell me… what vision do you behold?"
"Hmmm… Well, let's see… I'm not some grand idealist looking to change the World or anything, nor do I want to be that kind of person. I'll just leave that to the idealists, and if they want some help, I won't mind if I'm up for it."
"Then? What do you believe your part to be? What do you wish your part to be?"
"Frankly, I don't want any part of anything. Because I'm stronger than most people and have been through some shit nobody else would ever even dream of, I'm unfortunately forced to take part in 'The World's' shenanigans'." Dante rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, "I don't wanna be some revolutionary, or a leader, or a hero, or anything. I just want to be me, and do what I want, free from the burdens and expectations of others. I know it's selfish, but… honestly? I think I would have lost a little less if I was a lot more selfish."
The young devil crossed his arms, eyes trailing to the sarcophagus of the previous head of the Schnee family.
"So… my selfish ass is going to keep doing as I please, and doing what I think is the right thing. If it so happens the future's a brighter place as a result, then cool."
Nicholas Schnee clasped his hands together, leaning back in his seat as he chuckled.
"You're running, young man."
"Hah?" The devil said, slightly upset by the accusation as he looked over at the specter.
"You don't even know what you're running from, do you? But you can feel it nonetheless. An unnerving, constant feeling in your bones with each pace forward that you take. A feeling which in turn tells your instincts to veer off course as much as possible to get away from that feeling, even if that means you steer without a clear vision of the road ahead of you."
The young devil scowled, ready to say something but instead looked ahead again as if he were trying to brush off the specter's words. After some brief consideration, he found the words he wanted to speak.
"I control my own fate, old timer. My life, my future… It's in my own hands, and not in the hands of some god or The Creator. I refuse to allow anyone else to dictate the course of my life."
"You grasp too tightly, young man. I know not the happenings that have led you to your desire to keep such a vice grip on the events of your life, but no matter how wise or mighty you may be, there will always be things completely outside of your control. Heed this old man's advice, for my intent is not to chastise you; do not obsess over such things, or you will completely lose sight of the present and what you truly cherish."
"Yeah yeah…" Dante leaned his chair back on its hind legs, arms behind his head.
The bashfulness of youth… Nicholas Schnee smiled, folding his hands together, Even with his mask of humor and childishness, he's much too serious for someone his age, refusing to even allow himself to make mistakes. He understands the price all too well, and because he does, he fears making errors. I can't even begin to imagine what sort of life he's lived if he wasn't even allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, as all youths should…
With a heavy sigh, the specter felt his time drawing nearer, and thus stood from his seat, drawing the young devil's attention to do the same as they faced each other.
"You speak rather fondly of my youngest granddaughter."
Dante only shrugged with a light hum, clearly telling the older man he had no intention of gossiping on the topic, much less if it was an opening to tease him. A wise decision, considering that was exactly Nicholas Schnee's intention.
"I would ask you to ensure her safety, but with how highly you spoke of her earlier, I don't imagine such words are needed."
"You're damn right she doesn't need me babysitting her." The devil smirked rather impishly, "She's a big girl that can take care of herself."
With a proud hum, the spirit crossed his arms, slowly drawing in one more breath as his body began to slowly evaporate into specks of ice blue aura.
"Your name, young man. What might it be?"
"Dante Aetherveil."
The older man's left eye twitched as he dipped his head lower, smiling briefly.
Aetherveil, he says… I should have known the moment I saw him. Nay… from the moment we crossed swords. I should have known that he is…
"A fine name indeed." He raised his head, a relieved but still fierce gaze in eyes, "I readily return now to the darkness, relieved to know that the future will continue to be safeguarded by you and those like you. Fight well in the dark times to come, young Aetherveil. Fight for what you believe is right, and fight to protect what you cherish most. And… keep not your eyes solely fixed upon the future, lest the present pass you by."
With his words spoken, the last portions of his body had dematerialized, the specks vanishing into the darkness soon after.
"Don't need to tell me, old timer."
Stretching out his hand, a demonic, spectral arm of platinum Aura reached across the room, pulling back after a few seconds with the helmet in its grasp. When it was in his own hands, he walked towards the sarcophagus, stopping for a few moments as he rubbed one of his thumbs over the eye sockets. With a heavy sigh, he then placed the helmet atop the massive lid of stone, turning around to see that The Seeker had remained in his previous standing spot. She began to follow him almost as he passed her by, the duo walking side by side as they made to exit the mausoleum.
The Seeker was… a little shifty now given how tightly she was clutching her staff, her head constantly shifting from in front of her to casting "glances" at the young devil.
"You ok?" He finally asked as kept walking.
She looked at him a few more times before breaking the silence after about a minute.
"Art thou… not concerned?"
"About?"
She finally stopped, clutching her staff tighter towards her chest.
Whatever the reason, she seemed… bothered by the fact that she revealed such an ability to him. The common person would normally look upon such an ability with utmost terror and disgust, and would more than likely lynch someone with an ability, let alone kill them outright. Dante however had no such qualms, not because she was beautiful, but because he believed that in the right conditions, abilities like necromancy or something similar to it could be useful.
This case for instance, in which grabbing a testimony from the deceased would be impossible under normal circumstances. Who better than the deceased to point out the murderer if their sight wasn't obstructed in any way? In any case, he wasn't all too bothered by it. A little surprised perhaps, since The Seeker has never definitively explained or demonstrated her powers, other than giving the devil her "blessing". He had no true gauge on what she could or couldn't do. For all he knew, she could likely destroy the World on a whim. Though, given her meek and rather closed off attitude, that was unlikely the case.
"Look… Do you ever plan on hurting me or trying to kill me?"
She immediately shook her head no.
"Ok… Do you intend on killing anyone or anything that's innocent and isn't trying to hurt you or people you know?"
Again, she shook her head no.
…
…
He had one last question he wanted to ask, but… it was probably better to leave it, just in case. Besides, she answered the most important questions by far.
"Then so what? Who cares if you can do stuff like raise the dead or whatever? If you're not gonna hurt me, people we know, or other innocents, then stuff like that doesn't matter in the slightest." He shrugged, "But if someone does give you trouble about any of that… then you tell me and I'll handle it. Alright?" He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Normally, this would have been the part where she flinched from contact, a small twitch at the very least. But she was perfectly still. Although he could never feel her presence, much less her Aura Signature, he could now feel her darker emotions, fear and anxiety the most prevalent of all. But now? Although her lips were very slightly agape, she had no discernable expression on her face, but that was mostly in part of the thin, ornate, silver metal band that was wrapped around her eyes. What he did know was that a few moments after touching her shoulder, any semblance of fear and anxiety washed away from her entire person like a passing tide.
Odd, but… At least she's not on edge anymore…
"It seems thou shall worketh through the night…"
"Yeah, looks like it… But the payoff will be worth it once we put that scumbag behind bars. He's hurt untold scores of people out of greed and self-satisfaction. Worst of all… he hurt his own family just to gain and maintain a seat of high power. That alone, aside from his many crimes, is reason enough to tear him down from his throne."
A rather noble response, even if it was unintentional on his part. Not… that it was such a bad thing. Simply put, she kept in mind his mannerisms and stances towards such things as "nobility" and "heroism". He had no such egotistical pursuits, and was only ever concerned with moving ahead on the path he believed was the right one. A mentality like that… was what made him the perfect choice for her.
…
…
Or so she was hoping.
He had proven himself a great deal more than all others she had ever considered, but she still knew far too little about him. She had borne witness to his many triumphs, and was indeed satisfied with his capabilities concerning combat. But what of his failures? What of the moments where he was pushed to the absolute limit, and forced to make difficult decisions? What about..?
…
…
She needed to see more of those things rather than his successes. Given how events were unfolding, it was certain that she would see the things she truly wanted to see. Those "things"... would serve as the basis for her future actions, regardless of whether or not her choice was the right one or not. If her choice was correct… then there was hope for the future.
"Hey."
She jolted up a bit, snapping out of her inner thoughts as she moved her head in his direction.
"Do you ever… I don't know, go out on your own?"
She shook her head lightly.
"You know you can hang out with everyone else, right? Inuba, Ruby, Weiss… They'd be happy to hang out with you."
She hummed lightly.
"Not a fan of too many people being around you at once?"
That was certainly part of the reason, but it wasn't as though she had a problem against everyone else. It was just that… compared to everyone else, his intentions were always crystal clear. And… he…
…
"I know my shadow's cozy and all, but you're missing out if you just stay in there all the time. You'd be surprised with how much fun you'd have." He crossed his arms, smirking as he kept walking.
…
…
"One day…" She silently spoke as she followed at his side.
He chuckled silently, "One day, then."
"So you'll be going back after Ogranîx is dealt with?" Dante asked.
"Frankly, I should be leaving in a day's time, but they've likely noticed me and are waiting just for that." Rosswal shrugged, picking up the tri-color dango and biting off one of the rotund pastries, "It wasn't like before where'd they'd come in and check on me every three days to make sure I wasn't plotting a rebellion, much less your return."
"That jumpy about you, huh?"
"Not at all." The vampire waved off, "He was the one that suggested the surveillance."
…
Him, huh..?
"Aside from Darwin, Akihito, and H, I was your other closest confidant. And given my own inhuman nature, I was also most likely to be sympathetic towards you, since the others were more or less neutral. But we both know that wasn't the case in reality. With all this in mind, they didn't like me all too much given my more… slippery abilities."
"So what, they've gotten more lax?"
"Not really. I just shaved off enough of my body over time to leave behind a decoy of sorts. My sister can only keep them out of our castle for so long, which is why I should get back as soon as possible. I wouldn't want them to trace me here and… uproot the lovely life you've been living."
Currently, the two were sitting in the Emerald Dragon Teahouse in the early morning, both having ordered tri-color dango. For tea, Dante had a cup of green tea, his usual, while Rosswal was enjoying chilled black tea.
"Yeah, that'd be a bummer for them."
"Yeah, it would… Wait, why would it be for them?" The vampire.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"A bummer. Why would it be a bummer for them?"
"Cause I'd kill them all, obviously."
Rosswal was simply stunned by the casual remark, so much so that he couldn't help but laugh loudly for a few moments straight. Of course, only Dante would make such a remark so casually and be serious about it entirely. After all, this was the madman who strangled a frog-like god with its own tongue, faced the fully fury of Zeus' lightning head on before using one of his thunderbolts to pierce his heart, ripped off a giant's fingers and killed him by subsequently stuffing them up his nose until they reached his brain, killed a dragon with a crusty old soup ladle…
Indeed, there was no end to the insanity of Dante Aetherveil's spectacular, gory, but mostly absurd achievements. In all his years, Rosswal had never met a man so gloriously ridiculous that would slay enemies and evil beings alike in such absurd ways. It was always a spectacle that was guaranteed to impress or slacken the jaws of witnesses and enemies alike.
Truly, he was glad to have met such a good friend who never failed to entertain or put a smile on his face.
"Why're you laughing, you giggly bitch?"
"No, I was just thinking how true your words are! What was the expression again? 'It's funny because it's true'?"
"Yeah, well it's not really funny. While I'm not looking for another repeat anytime soon, I'm definitely not gonna hesitate if it comes to that. Either way… no one wins in that scenario. Not even me." The young devil said as he bit off another dango.
That much was true. That day almost two years ago, a great many angels died for a pointless conflict; a lie of rebellion, a lie to return things to what they were. In the end, that bloody conflict was but a distraction, a buffer that served the agenda of one individual, who in the end, also fell by Dante's hand.
Lives may have been saved and restored, but there were no true winners in the end.
"Fair enough. Though to be fair… let's say by chance they do ever find this World one day. Just the mere fact that you're here would make them think twice about doing anything too hastily."
"Yeah, I guess, but they'd still rather burn the World down with me on it to be safe. Lives don't matter as much to them unless it's their own kind."
"Oh dear, speaking so poorly of our fair maiden Arkiel absent her presence?"
"Shut up. You know that's not what I meant." Dante briefly pointed, tea mug in hand as he took a quick sip, "Arkiel is of a small minority that don't like that."
"True… But it does make you wonder…"
"Wonder what? Why most angels are assholes? It's not a complicated answer."
"Oh? Do elucidate me, then."
"Think about it. The Creator's goofing of who knows where, and left them with the whole ordeal of managing the Worlds and the separate Realities. They've gone crazy up there and have been royally pissed off for milenia. They're just taking it out on humans and everyone else as a result."
"So… essentially they're behaving like spoiled children who have been left alone for far too long by their parent?"
Dante gave the vampire an affirming, mocking chuckle as he shrugged, sipping some more of his green tea.
"Well, I can see it, more or less. It certainly makes sense in its own way, that the angels of now are no better than bratty children."
"Well, that's how they are. Things not going their way? They smite the fuckers without giving them much of a chance." The devil lightly tapped the table with his palm.
Rosswal smiled as he chewed on his last dango, eyes trailing to Dante as a sudden thought danced across his equally chaotic mind.
"I don't imagine Darwin said much of anything since his visit, but… Want to know what he's been up to these days?"
The devil's eyes immediately snapped to the vampire without so much as moving the rest of his body. Knowing him, his response was likely going to be-
"Not interested."
The vampire hid his ear to ear grin behind his folded hands as he rested his elbows on the table.
"Come on, not even a little?"
"No."
"He's king now, ruling over the majority of the World as intended."
"I said-"
"Of course, there were some continents that wanted their sovereignty, so after giving them trials, he of course allowed them to have their sovereignty if they passed, but also kept friendly relations."
"Hey."
"He's the promised King everyone's been waiting for, what with everything he did to help rebuild after The Cataclysm. Nobody even knows he's actually Grand First of the newly formed Trinity."
"Hey!" The devil was a bit more vocal.
"Everyone basically loves him, save of course for those of us in the know. But everyone else has been hush hush about the whole thing, but the masses of Primordial attributed the victory to the two of you. Of course, everyone wondered where you went, and of course, he cooked up some grand lie saying you left to save other Worlds in need now that your work on Primordial concluded. Kind of awesome how they propagated your heroic legacy, huh?"
…
…
Dante remained silent, glaring at an impishly smirking Rosswal as he stared back.
Sorry, friend. You might hate my guts for a while, but it needed to get out there. You've been running from it too long, and if the metal man or anyone else doesn't have the balls to tell you, then I definitely will.
The young devil rolled his eyes as he leaned back against his chair, placing his cup on the table.
"Good for him, I guess. And the rest of Primordial too I guess, if everyone's happy."
The vampire chuckled lightly with a raised eyebrow, leaning back in his chair as he placed his hands under the table, now trembling slightly. He was certain he was going to suffer an impalement or a quick beheading, not because Dante was an evil dick, but because whenever they argued in the past and got heated, their arguments almost always progressed to "attempted slaying" of the other, their equivalent of a childish fistfight. Of course, the young devil always won those "arguments" given who he was. Regardless of the fact neither would die, an attack from him still physically hurt nonetheless, and was always something he never looked forward to.
…
Though apparently, it would seem he had moved on from such "childish" antics. That, or he didn't want to make a mess in this lovely shop. Either way, he was certain he touched a nerve just now, but it was one in need of touching. It was time to bring it up, and subsequently move past it.
"Aren't you worried they might send him if they ever find you? Blanc was the only one with the balls to ever fight you seriously with the intent to defeat or kill you. Aren't you curious how much stronger he is?"
"Not really."
"Come on, he's Grand First now. He may not be on Aultus' level yet, but he's still pretty tough."
"If that's the case, then there's nothing to worry about."
"Oh?"
"He can get as strong as he wants and sharpen his techniques all he wants, but his follow through has always sucked. And it will continuously suck, especially if he's pressured or if the fight's not going his way."
"You know each other too well."
"He knew the old me. And from the sounds of it, he's still stuck in his old ways. He'll lose, just like he did that day." Dante said as he casually consumed his last dango.
"I'm sure he'd love to hear that."
"I bet he would."
Rosswal smirked as he placed his hands on the table again, taking up his cup to finish the last remaining portions of his black tea.
"See? Don't you feel better?" The vampire asked.
"No. I wanna strangle you with that fancy belt of yours and throw you into the sun."
"Awww~ You do like me."
"Eat shit and die."
Rosswal burst out laughing, Dante working his way from a smirk, to a chuckle, before he too started busting a gut. Normally, after a conversation like that one, any bystanders would have assumed the two of them would have broken out into a fistfight, let alone attempted murder of the other. But this is just how they were. It used to be back in the old days that just Rosswal would poke fun at Dante, but when they reunited a few years later, the vampire was pleasantly surprised when the young devil learned how to "clap back", as the kids say these days. Thus started their "friendly banter" that could easily have been misconstrued by onlookers as the prelude to a potential murder scene.
"In all seriousness though… For someone who claims to have left it all behind, you sure hesitate to even talk about it."
…
…
Now I know why this bastard kept pushing it…
Dante sighed, "It's a sore topic. It was a shitty time for everyone, regardless of who was on which side. More than that, it's done and over with. So… I don't see the need to revisit it."
"And yet it's still been wearing you down in the back of your mind. I bet you never talked about it with Inuba or anyone else since you feel like you'd be 'weighing them down with unnecessary talk'."
"I talk to them plenty about most of the emotional aspects of my life. I'm not a fucking shithead, stone wall that doesn't talk when I'm going through a tough time."
"But not this. This…" Rosswal tapped the tips of his fingers on the table a few times, "This has been exclusively yours. Like it or not, it has been on your mind ever since you left. You just never wanted to talk about it before now. Why? Because no one would understand..?"
"Because before I even found out I actually had family… sisters, a brother, hell even my mom who came back from the dead… the guy was pretty much my brother, Ross." Dante crossed his arms with a sigh, "We did all kinds of crazy shit together, we had each other's back through virtually everything despite our respective dumb shit, we fought some of the ugliest and evilest bastards to ever grace our beautiful World… We weren't related by blood, but we may as well have been."
"Good to know where I stand…"
"You're a bastard and dumbass sometimes, but you're my friend Ross. You and I have a different synergy as friends compared to how it was with me and… Blanc…" He reluctantly muttered under his breath, "Regardless of that, you've helped me, and we've been through our own shit together as friends throughout the years."
"I know, I know, I'm messing with you. Can't say I'm not a little jealous though, but oh well." The vampire shrugged, "Still, we both know that out of everyone we've ever been involved with, I'm the only one with balls to bring up the uncomfortable stuff with you."
"Hence why you're a bastard sometimes. But… I'll give this one to you." Dante uncrossed his arms, resting his elbow on the table with his chin in his palm, "Shit like this might need to be talked about sometimes, but it still sucks."
"Sure it does. But I've known you long enough to know that when you keep stuff like this bottled up for ages, it won't stop with eating at you from the inside, and it'll spill out eventually in a way you never like." Rosswal pointed out with a wave of his hand, "It was the same five years ago, and it's the same now. You put on a good act friend, but we both know you're much more emotional than you ever let anyone know. After all… blood doesn't lie, right?"
Dante's eyes widened briefly, suddenly remembering a rather annoying ability vampires have.
"Fuck…"
"Fuck indeed." Rosswal smirked, "When you fed me your blood back then, and subsequently created artificial blood fonts for my kind so that we'd never starve or thirst, I saw a plethora of your memories and felt a great many things you've felt." He hunched over the table, hands folded together, "I can't even begin to imagine how people would react knowing the great Dante was so emotionally vulnerable."
He was caught, and he knew it. That's why the devil offered no rebuttals in response.
"You tell anyone, and I'll actually stake you and throw your corpse into the sun, however long it'd take me to get there."
Rosswal gleefully giggled, "I bet you would. Thankfully, your secret's safe with me. Well, I might be tempted to tell your girlfriends…"
"Ross…" Dante cautioned.
"I mean come on, can you imagine how much they'll pounce you and shower you with love after they hear-?"
"Ross!"
The vampire defensively raised his hands up off the table, "Alright, alright, I've had my fun. But I am still serious in a way. A little more emotional vulnerability in front of them wouldn't hurt, you know? No need to keep the tough guy act up most of the time. Just some friendly advice."
"Noted. Now shut up about it."
"Ok." Rosswal said as he sat up straight, "So… keep patroling the outer walls then until he shows up?"
"Honestly, you don't need to anymore. We're fast enough to be the first responders, and he hasn't probed any of the defenses so far. So we may as well hang back and wait it out."
"So..?"
"So… Go have fun while you can, man."
"Yippee! Best friend ever!" The vampire sprung out of his seat to glomp the devil, raising him up out of his own seat as he twirled him around side to side.
"Let me go..! You dumbass!"
"Aw come on, feel the love!"
Dante sighed heavily, half tempted to headbutt Rosswal. But after his good intentioned "talk", and "brotherly bonding session" that they had together, he was going to allow it. At least, he allowed it for a few more seconds.
"Alright you had your fun, now put me down before I knee you in the balls and do the women of any World a tremendous favor."
"Boo…"
The vampire let his friend down as Dante adjusted his disheveled clothes, rolling up his long sleeves again.
"So, you don't need me there tonight?" Rosswal asked.
"If I bring you, you're definitely gonna hit on all the married women there."
"So..?"
"No." The devil bluntly said, "If you wanna go hit on women tonight, do it at your own discretion and I'll pick you up from jail tomorrow morning or something."
"Why assume I'll be in jail?"
"Cause it's you. And that always happens when you're out and about for that kind of thing."
Rosswal crossed his arms, thinking intently for a few seconds before smirking.
"Yeah, I guess it does." He said before turning around to exit the shop, "See you tomorrow!"
"Yeah, see you in jail tomorrow. You dick…" Dante smirked as he muttered the last bit under his breath.
The young devil sighed as he sat back in his chair, bringing up the screen of his HoloScroll after a few seconds as he looked over all of his compiled data. The plans were in place, evidence had been prepared for review, and various law enforcement agencies were prepared to take in the lengthy list of criminals and collaborators. All that was left now was to enter Jacques Schnee's trap, and the devil was more than eager and willing to step inside and spring it.
A message popped down from the topside of the screen, prompting him to tap it and open the entire message.
"I have noticed your recent movements around individuals, both old and new, that have ever aligned themselves with Jacques Schnee. I believe you and I have similar interests in bringing down that monster once and for all. I have no doubts in mind you have already gathered more than enough evidence in order to achieve this, but I believe I am in possession of knowledge that will completely provide General Ironwood with the definitive authority to put him in prison. The decision is yours to make, but I cannot stress enough the tremendous benefit this information will provide you."
At the end of the message was a set of coordinates, which when he checked his map…
…
Coordinates near one of the outer walls of the Schnee manor? Could it… No, only those close to me have my contact info. There's no way Jacques could have acquired my info under any means unless I personally gave it out to him. So then… that could only mean there's a sympathizer to my cause. A current employee or a disgruntled ex-employee is the only logical conclusion, since Weiss would have brought this to me herself. Actually, speaking of…
Dante crossed one leg over the other, closing his scroll as he looked out the window in ponderous thought.
Could it be her brother Whitley..? I don't personally know him, so I can't completely speak for his intentions, but… Maybe he's come to a realization that his father remaining in power is detrimental currently. From what Weiss has told me, the kid's unbelievably smart when it comes to tech and systems, despite being a quote unquote "gremlin of a little brother". If that's the case, then him sending me this message isn't totally outside the question. Still…
The devil smirked, contemplating the idea that this was a clever ruse by Jacques, who in his arrogance believed he could entrap him. The thought of crushing all of his plans in that potential scenario made him gleefully smirk a twisted smirk, a faint and quiet laugh escaping him as he couldn't completely hold back the laughable thought.
"Well… My preparations are all complete anyway. Everyone's out on missions for the morning except for my people holed up in the hotel, and I've already directed our other allies for this evening's activities. I guess I have some time to kill this morning."
Dante rose out of his seat, moving his head side to side before he reached into his pocket to pull out the lien he needed to pay the bill. After placing them behind the counter near the register along with the receipt of his order, he walked through the door and stepped outside, taking a deep breath.
"Ok… Let's see what's in store for me this morning."
Once again the devil found himself treading the territory of the Schnee family, utilizing an almost similar route like the one utilized during his trip to the cliffside. Considering it was early morning, he resorted to using The Seeker's ability, sinking into his own shadow as it stretched out like a thin arrow, gliding over the snow with blinding speed. As soon as he made it towards the outer wall, his shadow slipped through a golfball-sized hole, moving towards a secluded area that was pinpointed by the coordinates. There, he found a cloaked figure waiting beneath a worn down archway, fiddling with the lock of a rather weathered wooden door. Judging by the lower depth of the area, and just how far away this location was from the main manor, this had to be a secret entrance of sorts.
It hasn't been used in ages… Must've been built when the first iteration of the manor was made. If this guy knows about it, then…
The devil stopped near the stout man, and quickly emerged from his path of shadow, crossing his arms. Noticing the sudden shadow stretching onto the wall, the man turned around hurriedly, sighing as soon as he saw Dante.
"I must admit, I didn't expect you to arrive so soon, if at all."
"You said you had some info too good to pass up. That, and you know about my personal little project. So… it was in my best interest to come, either to learn what you know, or silence you."
The man sneezed, "Well killing me ain't gonna do you a whole lot of good, will it?"
What the..? This guy went from polite and upstanding to a bit angry and rude. It's like his personality just did a complete 360. Wait…
Taking a closer look, the man was indeed shorter than he was and stout. Plus, with the sneeze, as well as the sudden personality change…
"Hey, you're that funny little butler guy Weiss talked about." Dante pointed out, relaxing his guard.
He sneezed again, "V-Very good, sir! I-I'm very glad you w-were able to recognize me!"
Letting down the hood of his cloak, he revealed his balding brown head and face, along with a rather splendid mustache.
Once more he sneezed, his eyes changing from yellow to light blue, "I am Klein, previous head butler of the Schnee family."
"Previous? So Rat-Stache let you go, huh?"
"Indeed, sir. When I assisted young mistress Weiss in escaping the manor months ago, they naturally assumed it was by my aid she fled. While of course true, I would have preferred to stay just a bit longer."
"Why?"
He sneezed again, eye color changing to red, "Why for the lady of the house, and young master Whitley. I wanted to at least ensure their safety however much more I could from that no-good, rotten wank-!"
He sneezed before finishing his sentence, eyes changing back to yellow.
"S-Scoundrel..! T-They've suffered enough as i-is!"
"I bet. So Klein, what do you have for me?"
"P-Pardon..?"
"You said you could give me a lead, right? So what do you have for me?"
Yet again Klein sneezed, eyes turning… brown this time.
"Truthfully, I'm not the one in possession of said information."
"Then..?"
He stepped closer, turning and looking behind briefly at a specific area of the main building before looking back at the towering devil.
"The information comes from the lady of the house herself."
WIllow Schnee? Out of the blue just like that?
"I can tell you're unsure how this came about. Put simply, ever since I left the manor, I've occasionally returned to deliver whatever news and updates that I could on young mistress Weiss to Lady Schnee." He let out a heavy sigh, "Their relationship has been… grandly strained over the years due to the shenanigans of our mutual adversary. Regrettably, Lady Schnee has yet to find the words, much less the means to… mend the proverbial cracks, much less snap out of her current predicaments."
"So, what? She just suddenly happened to stumble on some information and told you to find someone capable?"
"Not just anyone, young sir. While spending my time in Mantle, I had heard the rumors that I had heard, and assumed it to be your work. After all, when young mistress Weiss returned from Vale, often did she speak of all of you and your rather fantastic and bizarre adventures. You in particular."
"Oh? Really?"
Fantastic. More material for me to tease her with later.
"Indeed. She spoke highly of your abilities, competency, and many talents."
"Aw, that was sweet of her."
"As well as your buffoonish actions."
"Dang it…"
"All in all, it would seem the young mistress places a great deal of faith in you, something that she does not do so readily or lightly." Klein explained, keeping his hands folded together, almost as if he were praying, "Thus, since she seems to place a great deal of faith in you… I would also very much like to do the same."
The young devil hummed with a smirk as he crossed his arms, "Faith, huh? Not a huge fan of the concept…"
The once butler's hands clenched tighter, a frown appearing on his face.
"But hey… Since Weiss likes me that much, I guess I could do you a solid." He shrugged "In all seriousness though, I'm already on the proverbial warpath as is. And since nobody likes old RatStache, may as well kick him when he's down."
"I can't thank you enough, young sir."
"Ah, don't sweat the small stuff." He waved off the compliment, "So we walking up, or..?"
"I'm sorry, young sir, but I'm afraid I'll be taking my leave at this time. If I stay any longer, I run the risk of discovery as opposed to someone of your capabilities. Therefore…" Klein rummaged through his coat pocket, pulling out a black data chip, "A map of the interior and floors of the Schnee manor. I already have the section of the manor ms. Schnee resides in highlighted for convenience."
"A whole section..?"
"Yes, young sir. Considering escape is rather impossible for her at the moment, much less on foot, she virtually has nowhere to go. And… it does not help that her mental state for years now has been… bleak and hopeless, to say the least." The stout man sighed sorrowfully, "He knows he has her trapped, and has dashed any hopes or dreams of leaving the manor. Therefore, security around her section of the manor is rather bare."
"And yet he's got surveillance and security up the wazoo everywhere else. Cocky bastard…"
Dante took the chip from Klein's hand, tapping it against the diamond stud on his collar as it let out a pulsing white shimmer from the center. In the next few moments, his holographic display blinked up in front of him with a detailed map of the entire manor, everything from corridors, to secret passages, surveillance cameras, security positions, etc.
This must have taken him years to compile, since he was their butler and all…
It was then he noticed a sort of hotspot gradient in one section of the manor that wasn't to be seen anywhere else on the map.
"That's her section?"
"Yes."
"Awfully big bird cage… You said you were leaving, right? Need me to get you out first?"
"No need for that, young sir. Foot patrols pass by the top walls of this section every hour on the hour, and they passed by just about a few minutes before you stumbled upon me. With the route I have in mind, I should be well and on my way without worry."
"If you say so… But, just in case…"
Dante twirled his right index finger in the air, summoning a small dagger of platinum Aura.
"You don't need to use it, but if you do get into trouble, just snap the blade and it'll take you somewhere safe."
"I thank you for your kind consideration, young sir." Klein said as he tucked the dagger away into his saddle bag, sneezing soon after as his eyes changed to a faint, glowing yellow, "B-Best of luck to y-you!" He scurried off in a hurry.
The devil briefly tilted his head with a slight hum, turning and opening the decrepit door carefully before entering inside and closing it just as cautiously. Keeping the map open, he once again sank into his shadow and stretched it as thinly as he could to make a small line of shadow, traveling along the crevices and contours. If he was going to infiltrate and subvert any form of attention, either from patrols or cameras, that much was necessary. Occasionally he'd stop to peek an eye out faintly to check for cameras, and would move to a secluded area to check his map before moving further and repeating.
Aside from the staff scurrying through the halls to get the rest of the manor prepared for tonight's event, there was only ever two guards to a room, making sure everything was proceeding swimmingly and without conflict. After a few minutes, he finally reached the third floor, seeing two guards posted outside the large double doors leading to the section behind them. After slipping through, Dante peeked his eye out again to take a look around, progressing further and further in.
True to Klein's word, the entire area was unguarded, and mysteriously without any form of surveillance. He spread his senses out to detect cameras, listening devices, anything… but found nothing. Jacques Schnee was truly confident that he had broken his wife's spirit to the point that escape seemed truly impossible, if not entirely laughable.
…
…
That was rather upsetting to think about.
Sure enough of his safety, Dante emerged from the shadows, but opted to keep his head hooded, and his face obscured by wispy black Aura just in case, and silently roamed the halls of the totally secluded section of the manor. Laundry room on one side, huge kitchen on the other further ahead, a full room utilized as a walk-in closet, a tv-room, a massive office-library… She essentially had everything she would ever need without having to leave. Presumably, whatever supplies she needed were restocked by some sort of staff, given that a quick peek in the room revealed massive panels that looked like they were dumbwaiters.
At the very end of the high and wide corridors was a pair of large double doors that had been swung open and bolted in place, revealing a dark blue wall decorated with glittering diamond specks. Moving in, he saw that the path forked off towards the sides, but before moving ahead, he quietly unbolted the doors and closed them, moving just as silently down the left side. The room's walls had the same color and decor like the rounding wall behind him, and had a variety of darkwood-grain furniture in the room, ranging from a large desk, to a chair, to a huge dresser, and a make-up table with a wide mirror.
On one side of the wall was a huge queen-size bed, framed by darkwood grain wood with engraved carvings, and a wooden canopy-tower high above the bed, each of the three sides having two, transparent, rough white curtains. The fabric glistened like sparkling diamonds under the light, so much so that one could almost mistake the material as thin, flexible crystal, or snow impossibly woven together into a stretch of tapestry. Lastly, at the far end of the room was a large window-pane, likely reinforced to prevent breakage from the inside or outside. Meeting the bottom frame of the massive, wide window was a huge cut-out that had been fitted with a sort of white, glittering sofa, meant for one to lounge and look out at the window as the days passed by. Worst of all, this looked to be the only window in the entirety of this enclosed section of the manor.
Lo and behold, the imprisoned mistress of the Schnee manor sat at the lounging window seat, gazing despondently out the window as one hand clung to an empty wine bottle, while the other held a half full glass of wine. Looking at the floor near her feet, there were already two other empty bottles. Having just a side-view of the woman, he could see that she was indeed beautiful despite her tragic circumstances and solemn, resigned expression. Everything about her, from her slim, curvaceous, and bountiful figure, to her smooth skin, beautiful and elegant face befitting a mature and dignified lady, to her pure, snow white hair, was beautiful. Even in this solemn state, Willow Schnee was remarkably exuding sensuality without doing anything; so great was her beauty that it even made the young devil's heart palpitate greatly until he steeled himself.
Jacques, you shit stain… To have a woman this grand and beautiful as your wife, only to cast her aside for the fortune of her family… It's downright criminal, and absolutely unforgivable.
With a silent, solemn sigh, Dante stepped forward, not so much as making a sound as he stopped just before the bed, about three feet away from Willow.
"Ms. Schnee?"
Like a bolt, the woman spun and led with a swipe of the empty bottle in her hand, finding that she had not caused the damage she believed she did, and was stunned by how she came to a sudden halt. Glancing at his hand, she saw he had easily caught the bottle, then glanced up at his obscured face. Her beautiful face had been flushed due to the large consumption of alcohol, but based on her movement just now, she wasn't totally hammered, and still had good control of her basic "motor functions". With a shuddering exhale, she let go of the bottle, staggering back a step before she plopped down onto the sofa upright, still holding her half full glass in the other hand without spilling a drop.
Raising the glass, she took a large sip, exhaling as she finished and lowered her glass and hands towards her lap, lightly swirling the contents of the glass as she stared at her own reflection in the deep, red liquid.
"Have you come to kill me..?" She spoke softly.
"I-"
"You can tell whoever sent you that I don't have anything left to hand over… Nothing except my life. Although… it's virtually worthless as things stand…"
"I'm not here for any of that."
She looked up at the devil as he swiped his hand across his face, dispelling the wisps of Aura as he pulled back his hood. Willow was… stunned momentarily as she narrowed her eyes, focusing on his features for a few moments before she scoffed.
"You really do look like you'd be someone from my family at first glance… However, your facial features don't match mine… or his… Not to mention… your eyes… They're a… brighter, deeper shade..?"
She groaned as she touched her forehead with the fingers of her free hand, rubbing it slightly for a few moments before she looked up at Dante again, and sniffled briefly.
"So you're the 'miracle' everyone seems so fond of talking about…"
The devil chuckled with a tilt of his head, turning around to quickly grab the desk chair as he set the empty bottle he caught on the table, quickly moving back and setting the piece of furniture in front of the woman as he sat down in it.
"Miracle's a huge stretch."
"Is it..? Your reputation… says otherwise…"
"My reputation isn't so spotless."
"So what?"
He smiled at her response.
Looks like she gets it…
"I heard from Klein that you've been rather diligent as of late. Tell me, have you found anything of worth?"
"Plenty, actually."
She scoffed, "Have you now? Such as..?"
"Such as damning evidence that Jacques killed your father."
Her head snapped to him, a mix of bewilderment and disbelief displayed through her eyes and facial expressions.
Dante reached into his coat, pulling out a rectangular, black crystal no bigger than his index finger as a holographic projection emerged from the center. Multiple pictures of the dagger used to finish off Nicholas Schnee, as well as a blood analysis matching records of his blood to the blood on the weapon and Jacques fingerprints on the handle, forensic analysis of the poison used, pictures of the withered corpse where he was stabbed, and… the interview he conducted with his spirit.
Willow was shocked initially when she saw the photos, but it was only until she heard her deceased father's voice that she reached out to the young devil, taking the crystal from her hands. She slumped back into her sofa seat in utter disbelief, watching the video feed of her father's summoned spirit speaking and explaining the events of the night that led to his murder. Of course, to finish his interview, he relayed final words to his grandchildren, Winter, Weiss, and Whitley, and even left words to be relayed to Jacques if he would see them.
What finally broke Willow was his final words to her.
"My beloved daughter… It pains me to hear, much less imagine the suffering you must have endured in the years after my passing. I cannot apologize enough to you. My single regret in the time I have manifested in this form was that I allowed myself to be fooled, and as a result, married you to a man that did not love you, a man who merely lusted after the fortunes of our family. Regardless… Should you blame yourself for your predicament, do not. We were all spectacularly fooled."
Tears were welling up in the corner of the woman's eyes as she brought a hand over her mouth, stifling her silent sobs.
"Dearest daughter. Weep not for me. As I understand it, this young man seeks to liberate our family from these dark chains that have bound us all. Rough around the edges he may be, but he genuinely means you and your children well. Trust in him, and aid him by whatever means you can."
In the video, he exhaled briefly before he looked up, almost as if he were staring directly at his daughter through the screen.
"Be brave, Willow. And… I hope that one day you won't be too shy to show others how beautifully you skate."
If she didn't believe it before, she knew now with certainty that it was her father that had spoken.
"Nobody but my father knew that I figure skated… Not even Jacques or my children knew… How..?" She looked to Dante, tears streaming down her face.
He sat with his hands folded together, exhaling sharply.
"I have an ally that can… recall the spirits of the deceased and manifest them. It wasn't until I found the family mausoleum that I figured I could ask your father for details and… examine his body personally. After we talked for a time, I asked him to give his testimony, as unbelievable as it would seem. I thought about how I could verify that it was indeed him and thought about going to Weiss first, but imagine my surprise when the funny butler guy contacted me saying you've got dirt on Jacques. If anyone could authenticate the veracity of this video testimony, who'd be better than you, right?"
"I don't understand… What..?"
"Look, short of it is this." Dante raised up a hand, "No matter what, he's screwed. And if what you have is just as spicy as what I have, then he's definitively screwed. And with how I arranged everything, you'll be the one taking full control of everything once he's in custody until Whitley becomes of age. All of his associates are currently being monitored and we're planning to take them in later tonight before everyone gathers for the 'dinner party' here in the manor tonight, wherein Jacques will be the finale. After tonight, he'll never hurt you or your family ever again."
"You don't understand, Jacques-"
"He's got nowhere to run, and no cracks to slip through. I've been collaborating with General Ironwood and Grand Inquisitor Melia for the last while, and I've consulted with a smorgasbord of lawyers to ensure the legality of you taking over until Whitley's of age, since Jacques likely means to hand the SDC down to him. The entire Board of Directors are going to be taken into custody, and any other partitions of leadership have already been cleared off the board."
The devil leaned forward, a fierce seriousness in his eyes that was difficult to ignore.
"After tonight, you'll no longer have any enemies or anyone standing in your way. You'll be the next head of family, and you and your family will be safe. This is one of the very rare times I can say this, but I can guarantee everything I said one hundred percent."
"Why..?"
"Sorry?"
"Why do all of this..? What do you have to gain from this..?" She asked, hints of disbelief and mistrust in her eyes and face.
"Nothing."
"That's ludicrous! There's no way you'd do all of this without wanting something! So what do you want? Economic power through the SDC? Our fortune?"
"I don't want anything."
"Don't lie!"
The young devil leaned back in his chair with a sigh, looking past Willow Schnee and out the window.
"I grew up without my family for almost 12 years. Hell, I didn't even think I had family until I met them all over a year ago. And just a few months ago, I actually got to see my mom for what was the first time in my life for the current me. She didn't leave by choice, and since she found us, she's been doing her best to be in our lives and take care of me and my sisters."
"What's-?"
"My point is… As dysfunctional as your family has become, you and your children are still family. You love your children, and they still love you. Weiss especially."
"Weiss..? No, she…"
"She doesn't hate you. She just… wishes things didn't get so fucked up between you two. I'm not here to judge or place blame or grandstand with any other moral bullshit. The focal point of you and your family's suffering is Jacques, and it ends with him. After that, it's up to you and your children how you want to proceed and fix things between each other."
The woman took a few deeps before she rested her forehead against the tips of her left hand's fingers, calming down as she took another gulp of wine. She gave the young devil a sideways glance, a hint of fierceness still present in her eyes.
"You still didn't answer my question… What do you get out of all of this? What do you want?"
"I don't want anything from you or anyone else. Frankly speaking… this one's personal for me. I value the people in my life immensely, more so than my own life or reputation. That's why… when I see you and your family's situation, it pisses me off. Beautiful, dignified and queen-like wife, smart, talented and good natured children… He threw all of that away just so he could be rich and feel powerful. What he did to you is especially unforgivable. If you were my wife, I would have treated you like a queen and given you anything you wanted in life."
Her eyes were darting back and forth between Dante and the window-sofa contemplatively, finally smirking as she chuckled with a rather happy hum. It seemed she was more relaxed now given her expression softened and her shoulders untensed. She sighed once more, using her free hand to wipe away the tears as she finally sat up straight, looking directly at the young devil.
"You're certain you have him?"
"I am. It ends tonight." The devil replied.
She nodded her head softly, looking off to the side as she exhaled sharply and buried her mouth in her palm, closing her eyes briefly as she breathed in through her nose. Once she opened her eyes again, her mind was made up, and she rose from the window-sofa to move towards the bookcase in the corner. There, she reached for a dark blue book, pulling it out and opening it to reveal a black card. At first glance, the card looked like nothing more than a typical luxury lien Black Card, also sporting the complimentary white lines and streaks, but someone with a particular eye could see that it was something more than that.
Willow Schnee hurriedly walked over and handed the young devil the card, who politely took it and then tapped it against the diamond stud on his collar. Then, a holographic projection popped displaying a folder, some subfolders within to likely throw off anyone being nosy, and then another folder that held a video file. The video file automatically started up, the scene set to the office of Jacques Schnee within his office, working away at his desk. Then, a surprise visitor, someone that Dante didn't recognize.
With just a few minutes of conversation, the devil could understand why exactly this was damning evidence, even if Willow Schnee didn't fully understand it herself.
"How did you get this?" He asked, replaying the video and watching it carefully.
Willow had already moved behind him, watching the video as well as she rested a hand atop the backrest of the young devil's chair.
"Occasionally, I am allowed to roam the manor as I please. I… simply cannot leave the manor is all. Therefore… I had Klein install cameras in various points of interest before he was fired."
"Like prison recess…"
"More or less…" She sighed, "When I do get the chance, I typically tour throughout different areas of the manor, or just sometimes go to one place and… reminisce. It wasn't until one of Klein's visits where he told stories about an up and coming 'hero' that I had some… faint spark of resistance buried deep in me. So for the last few days… my visits would sometimes take me to my 'husband's' office. Part of me hoped to find something incriminating, but… as angry as I am to admit it, part of me was hoping these last handful of years were just a nightmare, wherein if I found the proverbial key, I'd wake up to see that my husband loved me, and that our family was still together. Reality, however… was nowhere near as kind."
"And you pulled this yourself?"
Willow nodded, "Jacques has become… complacent in the last few years to say the least. He's fully convinced himself that the major success of SDC's dominance almost worldwide has made him virtually untouchable, physically or financially. Even if someone tried to get physical with him, he had the resources to either make the case disappear, or…"
"Make them disappear." Dante smirked, "I'm surprised he didn't send anyone else after me…"
"What do you mean?"
"We had an… entertaining conversation after we crossed paths." He explained rather casually, "Untouchable, huh..? Boy is he in for a surprise. My handiwork was particularly nasty and meant to corner him, but this? There's no escaping this. No legal system anywhere in the Kingdoms will protect him, nor will anyone try to protect him. As soon as Ironwood sees this, he'll have all the authority he needs to keep Jacques locked up for the rest of his life, regardless of what The Council or anyone else wants."
"Then with this… he's well and truly finished… After today, it'll be over. It'll finally be…"
She stumbled backwards, as if the sudden weight of the realization finally toppled onto her like heavy sacks of wheat. The realization of freedom, something that she once thought would be impossible until the day she died, may have suddenly sapped the strength from her limbs, but it lit her once dormant heart and soul ablaze.
The bottomless well of despair had begun to dry up.
Instead of falling, the woman had been swiftly taken into the arms of the devil, who quickly and effortlessly carried her to the small bench set in front of her make-up desk. A quick glance in the mirror showed her slightly flushed face, though in this instance, it wasn't because of the alcohol. Once he set her down gently, he pressed the back of his hand against her forehead and then her cheeks, eyes falling down to her shiny, glossed lips to notice the corners of her mouth were rather dry.
"You're dehydrated…" He said as he stood up, "Back in a moment."
Swiftly he walked out of the room, and from what she could hear down the corridor, he had made his way to the kitchen. She thought he was going to bring her a glass of water considering he noted that she was dehydrated, but when he returned five minutes later, he had something entirely different in his hand. The glass was rather large, the contents lightly green with crushed ice, a few leaves inside with a small three-clove leaf atop the ice, and a lime wedge on the edge of the glass.
"Ever hear of a mojito?"
"N-No..?"
"Well it's your lucky day." He held the glass in front of her.
The woman looked between him and the glass a few times before she took it with both hands and a grateful nod. A large sip was all it took for a refreshing chill to run through her body head to toe, tasting a variety of flavors from mint, apple juice, lime juice, elderflower cordial, and soda water, which composed almost half of the beverage. Aside from the refreshing feeling that swept through her like a current of water, the taste was remarkable, and all without a trace of liquor like a usual cocktail would have.
Thus, the drink had disappeared in seconds shortly after, leaving just the ice and the leaves of mint. If she waited a bit longer, the ice would melt enough to sip at it some more, but for the time being, she was simply taking in the sobering effects of this… mojito beverage.
"Better?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"Much better. Thank you." She replied with a brief nod as she set the drink on the table, "You're quite knowledgeable."
"Well, when I'm not out there killing monsters and all sorts of unheard of things, I'd like to think I'm decent enough when it comes to taking care of others."
"So it seems." She folded her hands together, forgetting her manners for the time being and leaning back on the bench to relax more freely.
She was smiling. For the first time in years, she was genuinely smiling. Not out of anger or resentment, or in the heat of an argument when making a rather cruel point. Willow Schnee was smiling, for there was genuine hope now, not just for her future, but… for them as well, the people she felt she let down the most. She then glanced over at Dante, now sporting a significantly more relaxed expression, one absent of the crippling despair and anxiety that had long filled her soul with dread.
"It ends tonight, then..?"
He took to one knee to level with her, nodding in agreement as he rested an arm over his knee.
"It ends tonight." He affirmed definitively.
All it took to believe his words then was the firm and resolute look in his eyes, a look that told her all she needed to know.
…
Thus, she nodded with a silent sigh, her expression warm and gentle.
"Well then…" Dante stood up, flipping the card in between his fingers, "Business beckons. I'll keep this for now and bring it up tonight in front of Ironwood and whoever comes from The Council. Other than…" He politely bowed low in a manner that could only be described as a knightly prince bowing before a queen, "A pleasure to meet you." he stood up shortly after and made for the door.
As soon as he made it around the forking roundabout and grabbed the door handle, he found that he was quickly stopped, a hand firmly grasping his forearm raised towards the door.
…
Half of her had no idea what she was doing, but the other half of her knew exactly what she wanted to do. Thus, she poised her question once more.
"I just… don't understand you. You have a great deal to potentially gain from all of this, yet you want nothing from me or my family. I… I can't fathom it…" Willow said, looking up at him, "How do you do it..? Why do you even do it?"
He tilted his head slightly, keeping his eyes forward, "There's things in life more valuable than anything money or fame can give. For me, that's the people around me. Not being… alone." He exhaled as he admitted a truth he rarely did so openly, "As to the why… same thing more or less, only… I just want the people in my life to be happy."
"And yet you still grant people's wishes… Whether they're aware of it or not."
…
…
Wishes, huh..?
"I guess I do, one way or another."
Her grasp grew tighter, taking a light step forward closer to the devil as she almost pressed into him. Finally, he turned his head in her direction, staring into ice blue eyes that darted to and fro with uncertainty for a brief moment now that she had found herself locking eyes with him. And yet when she thought about how she lived the last few years… her uncertainty vanished almost instantly. A part of her thought that she wasn't sober enough yet and was thinking irrationally, on impulse. But when she remembered something he had said earlier, words which now echoed through her mind, and subsequently, her heart, she knew full well she was thinking with sincere emotion and clarity.
Right now, she knew exactly what she wanted, and it didn't take long for him to catch on.
"Mrs. Schnee…"
"Willow. Please, just… call me Willow."
"Willow… I don't think you-"
"I know exactly what I'm doing, and what it is I want right now."
Her hand moved from his arm as she wrapped both arms around his waist, pulling herself towards him as she pressed herself into his back, resting the side of her head against his upper back. It felt warm, reliable… Safe. Safe to the point where she could close her eyes and… indulge in the presence of the man before her.
It was leagues apart from the crooked back of that coward.
For a moment, the woman was concerned, thinking maybe she had gone too far. But he did not flinch from her touch, nor did he push her away or rebuke her. He wasn't repulsed or disgusted. If anything… he was holding back respectfully given his rather firm hold on the creaking door handle.
He was thinking of a variety of things to say. The first thing that came to mind was to remind her that she had a husband, but given how tightly she clung to him currently and her own circumstances, he didn't wish to insult her like that.
He had been courteous with her since the start, never judgemental or accusatory, despite her own failings. Thus when she sensed his hesitation, she had a fairly certain idea of why, and thus knew what she needed to say next.
"There is no love in our marriage. Or at least, there is no longer any semblance of love from me. It was a sham from the very beginning, a trick… a lie. And my father and I were fools to buy into it. Had he been different and genuinely expressed love towards me, and not for the fortune of my family, I would have done my absolute best to make things work. But he cares for nothing aside from himself and his need for wealth. He'd have been perfectly happy to get rid of me the first chance he got had he not already been under some form of scrutiny. I can't imagine what he would've done to my children if they ever had gotten in his way. That's why… I hold no love for that man or any sense of sympathy… for he never loved me or even intended to. That's why… I know what it is I'm doing, and I'm perfectly content with it."
"Is this really what you want?"
"Yes." She answered without any reservation, clinging to him even tighter, "Am I… not to your liking?"
"That's absolutely not the case."
"Then… Do you perhaps not fancy older women?"
"On the contrary. Because of the older women in my life that took care of me and taught me well while I was growing up, you could say I have an abnormally healthy appreciation of women older than me, if not outright affection."
"Then..?"
He inhaled sharply.
"Is this really what you want?"
"Yes."
She gasped sharply when he spun around quickly, which made her let go of him as she stumbled backwards until her back touched the wall. And like that, both of his hands found themselves touching the wall shortly after, preventing escape on all sides for Willow Schnee as she was trapped between the arms of the tall devil. The woman raised a hand atop her beautifully large bosom, her heart set aflutter by the sudden reversal and the closeness of his face.
"I'll ask you one last time."
He had to do as much, for there would be no turning back for her if she went through with this. In the same sense, there'd be no turning back for him either. Just like with the woman before him, this wasn't simply a lascivious act based on attractive instinct between a man and a woman. Her heart and soul had been subjected to constant torment for many years now by a husband that should have loved her. Instead, he stole virtually everything from her, isolated and alienated her from her children, tortured and abused her on a psychological level that could only be described as grand, and imprisoned her in her own home. A beautiful and fantastic woman like her had so much of her life stolen from her without having a proper chance to fight back.
It was an evil and cruel thing to do, especially to your wife, someone you should love, care for, and protect. The mere thought of it was unforgivable, unfathomably so. The pain from her soul was all too palpable for him. That was why… even if it were just for now… he…
"Are you absolutely certain this is what you desire?"
A flicker of hesitation sparked in her mind, a single question that had been immediately answered with hundreds of different reasons in the span of five or so seconds. The pros heavily out-weighed the cons by an insane amount, but this was more than just simple quantification. And so she gave her answer without so much as saying a sword, slightly standing on the tips of her toes as she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down closer to her face to kiss him.
It was long and drawn out, passionate and fervent; her kiss relayed just how desperately she had been deprived of a human connection, one that wasn't actively trying to harm her or tear her down. Thus, Willow Schnee thoroughly and intensely savored kissing the man before her, a man that wasn't her husband and was the furthest away from being anyone like her husband. Her soul was elated, her heart skipping around in her chest like a hummingbird as she relished in the thought of how she no longer belonged to that evil man.
True happiness and bliss, after what seemed like an impossibility for the rest of her life.
Willow pulled away from the deep kiss, not bothering to wipe away the thin string of drool connecting her mouth to his as she breathed heavily. She hadn't done something like this for years now, and her breath was quite literally stolen away from her.
"Does that… answer any… lingering doubts..?"
It did.
The devil saw her desire, no, her wish clear as day just by the feeling of her kissing alone, and thus fully committed himself to granting her "wish". With that, he took his left hand off the wall, reaching down behind Willow Schnee's waist to pull her in close, practically squishing them together stomach-to-stomach, chest-to chest as he leaned his head down and passionately returned the woman's kiss. Now completely smitten, her hands moved from his shoulders to wrapping around the back of his head, pulling him in even closer as the kissing grew even more intense and fervent. She didn't want to let him go. She was afraid that if she did, he'd slip away like a dream, and would then wake back up to the cruel reality of her life.
Two minutes or so passed, and she pulled her lips away to catch her breath, but still kept her face close to his, their foreheads touching together as she drew in quick breaths before diving back in. This time however, she raised up a leg to press herself even closer into his body, and the gentlemanly devil immediately moved his hand from around her waist to the underside of the thigh of her raised leg, keeping it comfortably propped for the woman. More time passed as their kissing became even more passionate, wherein as soon as she made to raise her other leg, she immediately found herself lifted up in a quick motion, and gently had her back pressed against the wall.
With this, she was now slightly elevated above him, still having her arms wrapped around the back of his head as Willow now tightly wrapped her legs around his waist. Now, she had her lower half completely pressed into Dante's, the woman shivering delightfully before the man moved his lips lower, peppering her neck with kisses until he found a spot near the base of her neck she particularly, and audibly, enjoyed. He was careful though, being delicate as to not leave marks on the woman's neck, despite how much she desperately would have liked him to.
Having her body completely and comfortably supported, in thanks to Dante's incredible strength and the wall behind her, Willow Schnee rubbed her hands from the back of his head to his cheeks slowly, soon lifting his head up as she dove in for a third, hot and heavy makeout session. Only this time, she was now moving her body up and down rhythmically at a slow and steady pace, rubbing and pressing her body, her lower half in particular, as deeply as she could into him. She wanted to "feel" as much of the devil as she could, to trace as much of his body as she could with her own.
Willow wanted to let him know how deeply and intensely excited she was, and when Dante started pressing himself deeper into her as well, matching her rhythm, she could feel his staggeringly immense and incredible arousal. Now her heart became like a jackhammer, fully set ablaze by the intense passion between the pair. Aside from her children, this was what she was missing most in her life. This was what she wished for most.
This was love.
This was no betrayal, no evil sin committed mindlessly out of simple lust. This was a rectification of the numerous and cruel injustices done upon her and her family by the cruel and callous will of a man who was supposed to be her husband, who was supposed to love her. And now, from the Darkness in an unbelievable twist of fate, she had found love in the arms of another, significantly more compassionate man. A man who was more than willing to love her and give her as much love as she wanted or needed.
As prepared as Willow Schnee believed herself to be, she would not be prepared for what would come next when they had moved their fervent makeout session to her bed. It would be there for the next while that her mind and heart would be completely melted by the passionate love she was being given, her entire soul and being warmed to life once more, something even she once thought would be impossible.
Four hours had passed, making it now 10:00 am, or thereabout. Three of those hours had been spent being… very passionate and intensely intimate, an experience Willow Schnee would never forget. Of course, as she reminisced about the amazingly blissful deed, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, if not slightly ashamed. After all, Dante was a younger man compared to her, a fact she had brought up once or twice during. Each time however, he would only remind her that she was a beautiful woman in body and soul, and that she deserved to be loved and cared for, a fact that he had… very thoroughly reminded her of.
Needless to say, any semblance of doubt or shame had long since left her. For the first time in many years, she had felt blissful and joyful, something that she never thought she would feel ever again. All that aside though, she had to admit that there was a… profound and intensely arousing excitement to being with a younger man, wherein Willow was indeed left more than satisfied. Alas, with the younger man's thoroughness and… incredible vitality, she had been thoroughly exhausted to the point that she passed out for a minute or so after, something that Jacques had never been remotely close to achieving.
That fact alone had spread a faint, vengeful grin across her lips.
As for the last hour, she was given what could only be described as a series of wonderful spa treatments. FIrst after the two had bathed, she was given an absurdly relaxing full body massage. Her arms, legs, hands, feet, back, shoulders, and neck had been massaged with utmost care and smoothness, releasing untold amounts of tension from the years of pent up stress. Of course, the massage also extended to her chest, rear and lower half, steadily getting the woman back into the mood, but she restrained herself as much as she could. As much as she would have liked a continuation, Willow realized he still had a great deal of work to do.
Another opportunity would come soon enough after everything was settled.
After that, she was given a relaxing facial, the entirety of her face and head smoothly and thoroughly massaged before being cleansed and moisturized with scented essential oils and creams. Her head had never felt so… pristinely clear, where any semblance or twinges of pain had been erased. The sensation was akin to having a gentle paint brush sweeping across the sections of her head, wiping away any built up blots of tension.
Indeed, she had never felt this good in a long time without consuming any kind of alcohol.
Now? Willow was seated in a chair in front of her vanity dresser, gently wrapped and dressed in a fluffy, ice blue bathrobe. Her eyes were closed as she held another ice cold, fruit flavored mojito in her hand, sitting back peacefully as Dante gently brushed her hair.
"Honestly… I'm still doubting whether or not this is reality…"
"Would you like me to hold your hand?" He asked.
She smiled as she raised her left up to her shoulder, feeling his hand slip into her grasp as she gently squeezed it. The warmth and sensation of another person was unmistakable, and for the time their hands were locked, it was like she could feel his soul, resolutely confirming that she was indeed not dreaming.
"To be this skilled in such a variety of ways… I assume there are others?"
"That phrasing is a bit…"
"Intentional. But teasing all the same." She smirked, "Your answer?"
"I've been… extremely fortunate to be loved by the amazing women in my life. I love and care for each and every one of them equally for the incredible aspects they uniquely add to my life."
"And? How does this usually go?"
"Simply put, the main rule agreed between everyone is that the feelings need to be mutual, and not some one night fling."
"I see…" she sighed, preparing herself for the next question, "So then… Is this-?"
"No. Not for me, at least." The devil answered immediately, "Frankly speaking… Aside from knowing your story, the moment I laid eyes on you, I could see the heavy, intense pain in your heart and soul. All because an evil man never loved you, only your family's wealth. The kind of damage that can do… is downright terrible. That's why when I saw you myself, I wanted to make you feel loved, respected, and happy, like you should have been from the start."
"Honestly…" Willow said lightly blushing, "A smooth talker amongst other things…"
"I'm just speaking plainly from the heart."
"How does something like this even start..?"
"With a simple wish…" he sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds as the image of someone from years ago popped into his mind, "Though on a more foundational level, you can blame a certain woman who just vanished into thin air one day."
"Oho? I assume this woman is also responsible for your rather intense attraction to women somewhat older than you?"
"I plead the fifth."
She smirked, knowing she hit the nail on the head, "I'll take that as a yes."
Willow looked down at her tall, mojito glass, swirling it around with simple and faint rotations of her wrist as her other hand grasped the devil's hand a little tighter.
"Then… Would you really be okay with a woman like me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I-I am 38, you know…"
"Oh… Then I was right."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Winter is 22 years old, and considering how situations like yours typically go, I figured you must have married early at 16, maybe 17, and had Winter at least a year later."
"That's… as impressive as it is slightly eerie…"
"Sorry."
"In any case… What's your-?"
"Yes. I'd like to continue lighting up your world."
Heat flushed over her face as soon as she heard those words. At one point or another, she had heard similar schmoozy, words of romanticism from the man that was supposed to be her husband. It was a little awkward, but cute nonetheless, and in her youth, it was enough to fall in love.
Even if it was all a facade for him.
Yet the man before her, significantly younger than her husband, had done more for her in just the few hours they spent together than her husband ever had, even in their "honeymoon" phase. Aside from his intimate and physical capabilities, he had been kind, gentle, and courteous, doing things not asked of him, but out of the kindness of his heart. What made it all better was that she could feel none of what he said was a lie, just by holding his hand in hers, an action that now that she thought about it, seemed to be a struggle for Jacques.
She was being given a great deal, and come later tonight, would be given just about everything she had ever lost back. Her time could never be given back, but the future moving forward with this man looked very good, even if the nature of the relationship was… somewhat scandalous. Even so… it would be exciting nonetheless.
"Thank you…. Truly… thank you…"
"My pleasure."
Another minute or so, and he had finished brushing her hair, walking to the dresser to set down the brush. Afterwards, he spun around and took to one knee, keeping his right arm horizontally above his right knee, like a knight revering a queen.
"Please wait a few more hours. I swear to you… that you'll live happily from this night onward."
Again, she felt her heart light ablaze, both by his gentlemanly prostration and his declaration. She wanted to call him in a specific way, but… it still felt the tiniest bit strange. Thus, she decided to save it for after tonight's "victory". Instead, like a fairy tail queen awoken from her nightmare, she graciously extended her left hand to the devil, wherein he gently took it into his right hand and softly planted a kiss on the back of her hand.
"Come back victorious, brave knight."
Once again, I'm sorry for my bullshit at the start. I just really needed to get it out there at last. My personal feelings aside...
You might be wondering, "why's a fair deal of this been spicy lately"? Answer, I like me some spiciness. Plain and simple. Don't look into it too much.
That aside, seems there's some tension between William and our boi. Might that play into certain events in the future? We'll see.
Next chapter, we cover the fall of old RatStache, and have a little downtime before we get into the final confrontation with Ogranîx. And after that... we begin the finale of the current arc. Oh yes, there's more to come and more to do. Lots more surprises and secret to unfold. Wait and see, dear readers. All that aside...
If you have questions, ask them anytime. I will try to answer them without spoiling anything.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Your support genuinely matters.
With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend, and remember... be kind and excellent to one another, stay safe, and stay healthy.
