I do not own Black Clover or any of its characters.
Final Push
Dane narrowed his eyes as he and Raya watched Asta fight. With help from Finral and Vanessa, he was flying around Vetto in a blur, managing to land a scratch every so often. However, as he watched, the strikes stopped landing. Vetto was adjusting.
"Finral, bring Asta through here and warn him to hold his breath," Dane whispered, kneeling. "Transmutation Magic, Pollen Garden!"
All across the chamber, vibrant, shimmering, blue flowers bloomed. However, before Finral could pull Asta back, Vetto managed to slash Asta's side.
"Asta!" Noelle shrieked.
"Pull him back!" Dane growled, forming his armor's mask, which would protect him from his own spell's effects.
Vanessa complied and immediately passed along Dane's warning.
"Please!" Asta scoffed. "This? This is nothing! One attack just managed to graze me! Now, let's go!"
"Hold on, kid!" Yami's voice called out.
Dane quickly whispered his spell's effects, Asta nodding subtly.
"Fighting in close like you are, you should know better than anyone that that blow didn't 'just happen' to land," Yami said darkly. "He wants to learn your timing, your battle quirks, your weaknesses. To do that, he's been holding back and goin' on the defensive instead. If you fly in there hasty and unprepared, well...next time, you're dead for sure."
"There's nothing hasty," Dane said. "We can stall a little longer. Hurry up and get your ass down here, Captain. We need you. My impulses have gone silent."
He saw Vetto glance down for the briefest of instants, at the scratches and stabs Danes mercury spikes had given him, which he'd healed. The only wounds he couldn't heal were Asta's, but finally, Dane could see it. The mercury was finally starting to take effect.
"I'm working on it," Yami said.
"It can't be!" Noelle gasped.
"That's a Dark Swordman for you," Vetto chuckled. "With battle instincts like that, you're going to make an excellent main dish. But what do you expect them to do with this information? Knowing my strategy won't change their situation. You pitiful humans! Attack whenever you're ready, but the next one will be your last!"
"You don't know that, you overgrown furball!" Asta shouted. "Or you, Captain! We can't know what'll happen until we actually try!"
"The hell I don't know!" Yami snapped. "I'm like a gajillion times stronger than you!"
"Is that right!?" Asta asked. "Then how about ya quit watchin' and get down here already!"
"Oh, you went there, too, huh?" Yami asked. "Hittin' me right where it hurts!" He snarled frustratedly. "It's freakin' killing me that I gotta just watch how all this plays out! Do you have any idea how pissed off I am?" He took a breath. "Kid! Calm down, okay? I'm not telling you not to attack. What I'm sayin' is you can't do it like ya did before. You can beat him, but you three have to be smart about it. And Dane, maybe you should get your ass back in the fight. Finral! Vanessa! Kid! You know what you need to do at a time like this! Let me hear you say it!"
"Right here, right now!" Asta snapped.
"We'll push further past our limits!" all three declared as one.
"Good," Yami said. "And Dane, be careful. You already lost your arms to this monster. Push past your limits, too, but be careful about it."
"I haven't even found my limits, yet, Captain," Dane said. "Asta, you start, and then we'll support you. He can heal from our attacks, but we can distract him."
Asta nodded. Then, he took off at a sprint. And then, they'd begun, Vanessa warning Asta they'd be going even faster. The first strike was close. Both landed a grazing hit, but Asta didn't stop. And true to Dane's warning, Asta was holding his breath.
"Finral, near the ceiling is safe for him to breathe," Dane said. "I'm going."
Finral nodded, and in a flash of light, Dane was behind Vetto, slashing him down the back just as he turned to strike Asta. Asta capitalized perfectly, slashing Vetto's shoulder. Vetto spun, swiping at both, but Asta slipped through Finral's next portal and Raya teleported Dane out of the way at a strike. Rapidly, Raya and Dane began to trade off responsibilities, one focusing on warping and avoiding strikes while the other controlled Dane's body to attack. They kept no counter for when to switch, allowing the timing to be as random as placement. More than once, when Vetto expected an attack from behind, they appeared in his face, and several times, they appeared to attack from the same direction as Asta. And every so often, after pulling Asta past them to pass along the info about breathing high up, Finral would let Asta breathe.
As they continued to press Vetto, he raced around the battlefield with his Cheetah Charge, and hidden behind his mask, Dane smirked as Vetto continuously stirred up more and more pollen. Vetto's calm enjoyment of the battle began to wane, replaced by frustration and rage at Dane making it nearly impossible for Vetto to deal with Asta's increasingly rapid string of attacks. And after Asta canceled his magic the one time he tried to heal from Dane and Raya's assault, he'd given up on trying, allowing wounds to rapidly build.
"Spirit Magic, Pixie Dust!" Raya chanted, adding an endless barrage of projectiles to the storm of attacks, conjuring them from all around Vetto this time, instead of only around herself and Dane.
"You annoying pests!" Vetto roared as Dane's impulse began to sing again.
Dane's face split into a wide grin, and his attacks rapidly began to target more painful locations than fatal ones. Unfortunately, his Achilles tendons were protected by his Cheetah Chase's aura, but Dane managed to slash the back of one of his knees, crippling his mobility. And suddenly, attacks were exploding into him faster and faster without him being able to evade them as easily. Vetto roared in rage, finally managing to land a blow on Dane.
"Spirit Magic, Sun Shield!" Raya chanted, a dome of light flashing into existence around Dane just in time to protect him from the blow, though he was still sent exploding backward into the wall of the cavern.
"Well done," Vetto commended them as he continued to fend off Asta. "Your ability to focus is commendable. Although, how is your magic holding up?" He looked to Vanessa and Finral. "You'll be scraping the bottom of the barrel soon. Absolute amount of power. That is the definitive difference between my kind and yours, ya fragile little insects!"
"Ko, Nue," Dane chanted.
Vanessa's outfit burst to life with Nue's purple flames as Finral's roared to life with Ko's teal ones. Both spirits began to lend their own mana to the two Mages, and both grinned instantly, their efforts rapidly stabilizing.
"Perfect!" Vanessa grinned, as Nue's durability extended to her straining threads.
"This'll work!" Finral grinned, as Ko's speed extended to his ability to form his portals.
"I trust you two, and we're gonna win!" Asta roared as he hurtled toward Vetto again.
Vetto instantly turned, sending a Bear Claw at Asta, only for Gauche to finally make his appearance, blasting Vetto and forcing him out of Asta's way, allowing Asta to reach the next portal unscathed.
"It's not just two," Gauche informed Asta. "Looks like we made it in time."
Dane glanced over, smiling as he saw Gauche and Charmy, but for a second, the third person with them confused him. It was a small girl roughly his age, he was pretty sure, who had a white shirt with blue over her abdomen, puffy, blue pants, a Black Bulls cloak, and blue hair in a bob cut with several locks sticking up from the top. She looked terrified, and seemed ridiculously shy by the way she was partially hiding behind Gauche and was hunkered down.
"Grey?" Dane asked.
Grey shrieked. "Don't look at me!"
"Gauche!?" Asta asked, landing in front of them and stopping for a moment. "Charmy!" He stared at Grey for a moment. "YOU'RE GREY!?"
"That's right," Gauche confirmed. "That's actually what she looks like."
"Please!" Grey squeaked. "Stop looking at me!"
"Shy, huh?" Dane asked. "Explains why you wouldn't fight me."
"Save all that for later," Gauche said. "Right now, take this! With all the magic power I can muster!"
Dozens of mirrors formed around Vetto.
"Mirror Magic, Reflect Refrain!"
A storm of blasts began to rain down at Vetto, but when Asta had stopped, he healed all of Dane's wounds, and was able to move freely again.
"What are you playing at?" Vetto scoffed. "Ya think with enough blasts, one has to land?"
"I think you're right where I want you to be," Gauche said coldly. "Now, Fivehead!"
"Cotton Creation Magic, Strike of the Sleeping Sheep!" Charmy called out. "Strike one! Strike two! You're out!"
With each strike she called out, the massive sheep she'd formed drilled a punch into the ground.
"They want a smokescreen?" Vetto scoffed. "Good luck with that!"
He swept his hand through the dust, only for a chunk of debris to transform into Asta. He slashed it with his Bear Claw, only for it to transform back into rubble. Vetto's eyes widened as dozens more Astas began to appear in the air around him. And then, they all began to rain down on Vetto. And then, Dane and Raya were back, tearing into Vetto rapidly. And finally, it began to take effect. As Dane slashed Vetto across the back, Vetto stumbled. He spun to strike them, but as they vanished, he stumbled again, this time ending up with his face in front of Dane's arm just as it expanded into a tube, as it had the first time, this time painlessly as it was only a prosthetic.
"Transmutation Magic, Arm Cannon!" Dane grinned horribly.
Vetto leapt into the air, but the blast caught him in the gut, blasting a gaping wound into his flesh, though it still was far from fatal. As Vetto turned to engage the barrage of Astas attacking from behind, Dane's other arm became a whip, catching his ankle and smashing him to the ground. A trio of Light Swords stabbed down into him, two in his shoulders and on in the abdomen to hold him still, but Vetto smashed them and flipped, smashing all of the Astas with an expanded Bear Claw.
"I've had enough!" Vetto roared. "Time to plunge you insects into despair!"
"Yeah right!" Asta roared, emerging from a portal to the side, stabbing ahead of him and canceling a Bear Claw. "Who has time to waste on despair!?"
Then, he plunged his sword deep into Vetto's gut, the tip of the blade protruding from Vetto's back. Vetto roared in agony and everyone began to cheer, except for Dane, who teleported to Asta, only for Vetto's Bear Claw to explode into him directly, blasting his armor apart and sending him exploding backward to Gauche's group. Then, Vetto's Bear Claws grabbed Asta's arms, crushing them.
"Did you really think your feeble human powers would have any effect on me!?" Vetto gloated. "I took that blow on purpose, you fool, in a place that wouldn't kill me! Only one of you noticed that it wasn't fatal, but I knew you'd come to your friend's rescue, giving me the perfect opportunity to finally crush you! And all that so I could steal your weapon!"
Raya appeared at Dane's side, but Dane stood, reforming his prosthetics from the ground.
"Dane!" Charmy gasped.
"Your arms!" Vanessa breathed. "What..."
"It doesn't matter!" Dane growled. "We have to finish this!"
"I know full well, when all hope is lost, that is when despair sets in, profound and unshakable!" Vetto continued. "Now the time has come at last to plunge into its depths!" He squeezed again, crushing Asta's arms further.
"Please, no!" Noelle breathed.
"Asta!" Yami shouted.
With a third sickening crunch, Asta's shriek of agony reached a new pitch, and Vetto's horrible smile grew to euphoric.
"There it is!" Vetto rasped. "The scream I've been waiting to tear from your fragile body!" He leaned forward into Asta's face as he crushed Asta's arms still further. "Yes! Wallow in your despair, boy!"
As he released Asta's arms at last, he began to chant despair over and over. Asta staggered back, then fell to his knees, his arms hanging limply. Vetto began to cackle.
"So, how do you feel now?" Vetto gloated. "You'll never recover!"
"Not yet," Asta breathed, then looked up at Vetto defiantly. "I'm not done!" He began to struggle to his feet. "It's...not over! I won't give up!"
"That's incredible!" Finral breathed. "How is he standing!?"
"That's right!" Vanessa smirked. "You tell him, kiddo!"
"We can still fight!" everyone declared.
"Dane, can you fix his arms?" Vanessa asked.
"I don't have time right now, and if his arms are as broken as I think, I don't have enough control right now to fix them," Dane growled. "This is bad. We need him wielding his sword."
"We'll have to get it back, first," Vanessa said.
"Wrong sword," Dane said.
Vetto roared, enraged by being denied the despair he so craved. His Bear Claw expanded over him, meaning to crush Asta.
"Raya!" Dane instructed.
"Now, go!" Yami ordered.
In a flash of light, Raya had retrieved Asta and dropped him off with Vanessa, then possessed Dane's reformed armor once again.
"You can't run from me!" Vetto roared, exploding toward Asta again.
"Spirit Magic, Pixie Dust!" Raya shouted as she began to rapidly teleport herself and Dane around the chamber bathing Vetto in the projectiles.
"Spirit Magic, Starburst!" Dane roared, raining the more powerful blasts at Vetto, who began to dodge them.
Gauche added his Reflect Refrain into the storm, allowing him and Dane's blasts to graze Vetto every so often.
"Who's despairing now!?" Gauche demanded.
"Gauche, stop firing and give me mirrors!" Dane shouted.
Gauche complied instantly, and Dane formed Raya a pair of arms as well, both of them targeting the mirrors as often as Vetto, allowing them to strike from odd angles as well as direct shots. Vetto roared in rage, forming his Rhinoceros Armor for the first time since Asta had joined the fight.
"Spirit Magic, Solar Flair!"
Dane and Raya together formed Raya's most powerful blast, sending it exploding down through his armor and into Vetto directly, smashing him into the ground.
"We're almost out!" Raya warned Dane.
"Not yet!" Dane snarled. "We can't stop!"
"Asta's right, we're not giving up," Noelle intoned. "And we'll never lose. Not to you!"
She fired a single blast of magic, but Vetto blocked it with his Bear Claw easily, only for a Starburst to punch through his abdomen from behind, courtesy of a mirror, only for all of the mirrors to fade.
"We can't fire anymore!" Raya warned, only for Dane to form a pair of daggers, Raya doing the same. "We can't teleport."
"That's fine," Dane said. "It's finally taken full effect."
They exploded forward, and Vetto turned to face them. However, as he struck, Dane stopped, allowing the strike to breeze past in front of him before launching himself at Vetto and twirling. Four gashes opened along his side, and Vetto spun, swiping at them, only for them to duck under it. His movements were sluggish. His eyes were trembling inside their sockets, unfocused. Blood was leaking from his nose and ears. The pollen, which had faded when Dane was struck, had finally taken effect. Its poisonous nature had destroyed his equilibrium and was attacking his senses. It wasn't a lot, but it was an opening. Vetto roared in rage, striking over and over in a storm of blows, only for Dane and Raya to flip, spin, duck, and lunge around his Bear Claws, lashing out over and over with their daggers. Swords would be better, but with each slash, Raya's power drained. Daggers were more mana efficient, but it was still a race against time. Over and over, they lashed out, splitting Vetto's flesh open. Dane's impulses roared, but he restrained them. Now wasn't the time for that. Now wasn't the time to target for pain. He had to end this fight.
As he spun around a blue, a stone spike erupted from the ground where he'd been, stabbing through Vetto's arm and into his torso and four daggers tore through his back. Vetto smashed the stone, swiping at them, his other end following it. Dane dropped as the daggers faded. That was it. Raya was out of power. His hands tapped the ground, a dozen spikes bursting from the ground behind Vetto, piercing his body as chains coiled around his arms and legs. Then, as Raya's light vanished from his armor, Dane lunged. Vetto's eyes widened as Dane reached for him again. He had a chance. He could end this. He just had to make contact. Just once. And then, Vetto's head exploded into Dane's, Dane's arm missing vetto my millimeters. Dane's helmet shattered, and Vetto's arm broke free of the chains.
"DIE!" Vetto roared.
Threads yanked at Dane at the same time as Charmy tackled him in her adult form for the briefest of instants. Vetto's strike swept over them, and Vanessa yanked them back to herself and Finral. And then, Asta snatched up his larger sword, Vanessa using her threads to bind his arms and allow him to move them, so long as he ignored the pain. And then, he was flashing around the room again, and between the sword plunged into his gut and Dane's pollen and mercury poisoning his body, he couldn't track Asta. He roared in pain, ripping the sword free of his gut and casting it aside.
"I won't lose to you humans!" Vetto seethed. "Your lives belong to me!"
"You've been losing this whole time, Vetto!" Asta fired back. "Not one of us who went against you has given up! You tried to make us despair, but you failed!"
"SILENCE!" Vetto exploded, his mana exploding and shattering the ground before he began to punch debris, scattering it through the air.
However, his aim was off. He couldn't hit Asta. And then, Asta slashed him across the chest just as Vetto's Bear Claws slashed Vanessa's threads, breaking them, and Asta crashed to the ground, bouncing and rolling to a stop.
"No magic," Vetto panted. "No matter. It won't stop me from killing you!"
He turned after Asta, only to freeze, eyes wide as saucers. Something had changed. Something sinister, evil, was stirring as Asta rose to his feet, hir right arm gripping his sword.
"Not yet," Asta growled. "I'm still...not giving up!"
He began to stalk forward, his left arm beginning to move, gripping the sword's hilt as well. Vetto roared, forming his Bear Claw again as Asta broke into a sprint. Then, Asta began to leap and sprint around the room, reaching nearly the same speed as Vanessa and Finral had had him moving at. Vanessa and Finral began to aid him again, speeding him up as Vetto began to roar in desperation, realizing for the first time that he genuinely might lose. And Asta's strikes began to land rapidly. His shoulder, his cheek, his back, his shin. Faster and faster Asta moved. And then, finally, Vetto spun, roaring and sending a Bear Claw to Asta, only for Asta to somersault over it.
"Hey, Despair!" Asta roared. "This is where you lose!"
Then, as Vetto roared, Asta's blade exploded down on his right shoulder, splitting his torso for the entire blade's width and smashing Vetto to the ground, shattering it. Then, Asta flipped over Vetto, landing on his butt.
"Bring him back," Dane growled. "I don't...trust it."
Vanessa agreed, and yanked Asta back to them once again.
"It's over!" Noelle gasped. "We won!"
"No," Dane said before anyone could cheer. "If he's breathing we haven't won, and his Grimoire hasn't dissolved yet."
"Jeez, do you know how incredible you were out there?" Finral asked as he and Vanessa hugged Asta, holding him up.
"I never doubted you," Vanessa told him. "Not for a single second!"
"That was amazing!" Charmy cheered from where she was standing next to Dane in her toddler form again.
"I'm so glad you didn't let the despair get you!" Grey said from behind her hands.
"Damn," Gauche said, sitting down. "That shrimp's got some serious guts."
"Hey, um, you guys," Asta said. "Please stop! I'm super hurt everywhere!"
"Oh, sorry!" Vanessa and Finral both said, releasing Asta.
"Vanessa, can you get my bracer?" Dane asked.
Vanessa looked around for it, then pulled it back to him with her threads, Dane putting it back on. "Your arms..."
Dane groaned, pushing himself up. "I'm going to use him to make new ones. He's made up of the same molecules as me. And it'll kill him."
Vanessa nodded, and Dane limped forward, staggering slightly. The others began to congratulate Asta and check on the wounded, but Dane didn't have the strength left to listen to them. Ko and Nue appeared at his sides, and he ran a hand over each of their sides.
"Dane, don't kill him," Yami intoned. "If you're going to use him to reform your arms, pull what you need from his bones. The marrow should contain everything you need, and it'll leave him alive but fragile. He won't be able to move at all without breaking something, which would be a perfect punishment for him, and a perfect way to take him back to headquarters."
"You're underestimating him, Yami," Dane said, stopping beside Vetto. "Even in this condition, he's probably still capable of killing us all."
"Just do it," Yami ordered.
"Fine," Dane sighed. "Nue, I need mana."
Nue's tail coiled around him, beginning to transfer him mana, but almost as soon as it did, mana began to explode off of Vetto again, centered at his third eye.
"YOU FILTHY HUMANS!" Vetto roared.
Nue and Ko leapt backward, Nue pulling Dane with him.
"I'm taking you with me!" Vetto roared. "All of you! In fact, I'm going to blow this entire temple away!"
As Vetto floated into the air, a mass of raging mana began to form around him, rapidly destabilizing.
"Shit!" Dane swore harshly. "He's gonna blow! This is just like Licht!"
"Listen, guys!" Asta growled. "This doesn't change anything! Send me at him again!"
"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Finral said, then shook his head. "You know what? Ignore me, I almost gave up again."
"Tell you what, Finral," Vanessa said. "Help us pull this off, and I'll go on a date with you."
"A date!?" Finral shrieked. "Really!? Now you're talkin'!"
Dane narrowed his eyes, flexing his prosthetic right hand. "Ko, Nue, give them your power again."
Both spirits complied, and Dane swallowed hard. He didn't have enough power to get anything through that mana, and even if he did, he didn't have enough power to do anything worthwhile, unless he could make contact.
"There must be something left we can try!" Noelle said.
"I'm in!" Gauche growled. "No one keeps me from Marie and gets away with it!"
"We're gonna destroy him, and then I'm gonna eat all the seafood in this place!" Charmy cheered.
"I'm basically terrified, but I'll do my best!" Grey promised, trembling.
"Alright!" Asta shouted. "Now come and get us!"
Then, finally, Yami arrived, crashing to the ground and shattering the floor. As though at the flip of a switch, Dane's strength left his legs and he fell to his knees, sweat pouring down his face and his breath coming in labored gasps.
"It's about time, Captain," Dane panted. "You're late."
"I miss anything?" Yami asked sarcastically.
Dane flipped him off. "Dick."
"Jeez, you're wiped," Yami said. "Guess you found your limits."
"Only of my...mana reserves," Dane panted. "Still don't know how...far I can...push my magic itself."
"You...You really came for us!" Finral cried.
"How, though?" Noelle asked. "Weren't you trapped somewhere this entire time?"
"Some Mage had me trapped with Spacial Magic," Yami admitted, "but I managed to bust through it. Had to get a little...forceful."
"Well...now's the perfect time...to get forceful again," Dane said. "Don't hold back."
"What do you mean forceful!?" Noelle asked.
"It would have been better if you'd gotten here a little bit earlier, though," Asta said.
"Shut up," Yami said. "I've got my reasons, thank you very much. I can leave if I'm not wanted."
"Don't make me make you hurt me," Dane threatened.
"Um, don't you mean that you'd hurt him?" Noelle asked.
Just then, the High Priest arrived, running over to Kiato and Kahono. "Kiato! Kahono! You pour things! It's all my fault! That idiotic game! And Gio! You got dragged into this mess just to humor a foolish old man!"
"Captain," Dane said. "You saw. We can't take him alive."
"I've got this," Yami said. "Well, we don't exactly have a lot of time here. Let's get this over with."
"Alright!" Asta cheered. "With Captain Yami here, we're a hundred times stronger! No! A million times stronger! Let's beat the snot out of that guy!"
Yami grabbed him by the top of the head. "Hey, where's this cockiness coming from all of a sudden? You gettin' a big head now 'cause you though you could beat that guy?"
"What cockiness?" Asta asked as Yami released him.
Yami rested his hand on top of Asta's head gently. "I can handle this one on my own, kid. You guys have already risked your lives fighting him. It's about time for your captain to take a turn." As he passed them, he set a hand on each of their heads. "Finral. Vanessa. Noelle. Gauche. Charmy." He stopped at Grey, leaning down level with her head. "Who are you?"
"Yeah, hi, I'm Grey!" grey panicked, blushing and hiding her face.
"You guys too," Yami said, moving on, "Magna, Luck. Real good work, all of you." He stopped, resting his hand on Dane's head. "Especially you, Dane. You and Raya are almost as stubborn as Asta. You lost three times and kept coming back for more, even after losing your arms." Then, he walked forward, his Grimoire opening. "Since you've done so much already, I'll handle the clean-up."
Dane began to sway as exhaustion began to fill him, and Vanessa caught him, helping him up and over to the other wounded, setting him against the wall gently.
"Rest, Dane," Vanessa said gently. "You've more than earned it."
"Not yet," Dane said. "I need to stay awake. I need to be ready."
Vanessa sighed, nodding, and sat beside him as Charmy sat in his lap. Nue and Ko both appeared beside them, Nue reaching past Vanessa to coil his tail around Dane, transferring him mana as Ko set his paw on Dane's shoulder, doing the same.
"Would you give up already!?" Vetto roared as Yami reached the mass of mana around him. "You humans will taste despair! Yes! DESPAIR!"
"Would you shut up about your damn despair already, you freak?" Yami asked, darkness exploding off of his katana's blade as he raised it over his head. "However strong your magic might be now, it doesn't matter! Cause this spell slashes through dimensions!" Then, he slashed, the darkness pulsing and rushing out, then vanishing. "Dark Magic, Dark Cloaked, Dimension Slash!"
Then, as the darkness finished fading from his katana, reality warped, then broke. A strike that defied reality, that severed it down the middle, split the mass of rampaging mana, split Vetto, split the entirety of the room before Yami. And it took only an instant.
"Thanks for toughening up my squad," Yami said. "Now goodbye, Mister Despair."
As blood began to spray out of the separation running down the exact center of his body, Dane sighed. Yami wasn't trying to take him alive. That was good.
"Looks like you didn't make it to the main dish," Yami said as the mana began to break up along the separation across its entire, vertical center. "Rest in peace." He watched as the mana vanished entirely and Vetto fell. "Oh, and sorry. I, uh...I never...despaired, either." He sheathed his katana and turned away. "All yours, Dane. Take what you need."
Vanessa helped Dane up, and they walked over to Vetto. Dane knelt, set his hands on Vetto's own hands. Yami had been right. Vetto's bone marrow was the perfect option to reform his arms while keeping Vetto alive. But with him dead, that wasn't necessary. And slowly, as he broke down Vetto's body, his arms began to transform from Diamond Metal to flesh and bone. Vetto's arms began to break down starting at the fingertips, seemingly dissolving and being pulled back into his body as Dane's arms began to transform in a wave starting at his own fingertips. Then, as his new arms finished transforming and fused themselves to his own arms at the amputation site, Dane grit his teeth, groaning in pain as he had to break down the end of his arm to attach his new arms, leaving a ring-shaped scar just above each elbow. However, due to Vetto's physically larger body, Dane only had to take Vetto's body up to mid-forearm. Dane sighed, slumping against Vanessa as he finished the process, and Vanessa smiled, holding him.
"What are you...wearing for...your date?" Dane asked.
Vanessa smiled. "Jealous?"
Dane smiled exhaustedly. "Maybe a little."
Vanessa's smile widened, and she kissed the top of his head before using her magic to lift him, carrying him back to the others and setting him down back with the wounded, she and Charmy both sitting with him again. Dane kissed the top of Charmy's head, but passed out almost as soon as he did, Vanessa catching him before he could fall on Charmy, pulling him onto her shoulder.
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