Dante's Return

Naoki: “What did you find?”

Souta: “Freaking 1 chaplet. This is ridiculous. He said this place is supposed to have a lot of chaplets, but all anyone has found so far is common chaplets.”

Naoki: “It might not be the right place. There are still a few places to check, but I’m assuming whoever was over there already found whatever was there. No legendary chaplets either. Tch! This was a bust.”

Wally called for everyone to come back as they were to head back up to the surface to sleep for the night before making their departure back in the morning. He assured them that anyone that wanted to wake up early could look once more for chaplets.

He did not use his abilities, but instead made everyone climb back up to the top on their own while he spread out red web in case of anyone falling as if they were training to become swordsmen themselves.

Naoki and Souta were the last two to exit out of sight from anyone else, so Souta spoke his mind. He yelled at Wally to bring them to another place that had more chaplets. Naoki apologized 10 times over, but Wally did not really care about Souta’s harsh words.

Wally: “If you would’ve allowed me to speak to you both before approaching me, then there wouldn’t have been a need for this conversation. Think about why we do these scavenger hunts. As much as I hate to say it, they are not to give people amazing chaplets and great powers of the world. Why would The Association want that? My young master certainly doesn’t want that. He wants everyone to have fun and bring the community together to create trust. I have already cleared out most of the chaplets in this area for safekeeping.”

Souta: “You bastard! Those aren’t yours! There was no reason for anyone to come here then! You really think that people care about community bonding? No, that’s a front and we both know. You’re stupid leader thinks that too. You just want chaplets for yourselves.”

Naoki: “Shut your mouth Souta.”

Souta: “No, you shut your damn mouth. This guy brought all these people here, us included, knowing that there wasn’t much to be found.”

Naoki: “Just wait, Souta. Wait for one second. We didn’t have to apply for this. If we were smarter, then we would’ve come here before they cleared the place out. It is our fault, not his…Wally, sir. I am sorry for our frustration. We did not get much sleep last night. I understand that mentality, but why would you tell us that? We could tell everyone here and tarnish your reputation?”

Wally: “Well, there really isn’t any point in lying and I know you both won’t come after us, so I figured I’d tell the truth before you go wasting your energy. You’re not here for chaplets, you’re obviously here for something else.”

Wally knew exactly what he was doing. Iki had tasked him with finding out what Naoki and Souta were up to. They had no idea that he was pestering them into saying what they really felt. Souta continued to yell at him before he eventually kept ignoring him and sent them on their way.

Wally: “Oh, wait you two. I almost forgot. Silly me. The young master did tell me of an empty hollow place where swords are stuck in the ground with gold attached to them. If you could pull one out, then it’d be worth a lot of Petals. Figured I’d let you know since we are telling the truth here.”

Souta: “We don’t need your stupid swords. Screw off. Come on Naoki. I’m sick of this guy.”

They climbed back up the ravine quickly, passing almost everyone before making it to the top. ‘Not swords they’re after. Not gold they are after either. And most definitely not a person. So is it a chaplet then? It must be, however they could not find it here. But, which one? Legendary no doubt. Doesn’t really matter. Even I didn’t find any legendary chaplets and I was here for a day, but I can report it back to the young master who was worried about them.’ Wally thought. ‘Well, I have a tracker on them thanks to Yahiko. His ability to switch into my eyes is quite unique. Maybe I should learn something from him if the young master lets me.’

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welpen woke up to a bizarre sight. The air from the dead bear smelled musty and moldy, he was freezing from the fire that went out in the middle of the night, and only Ryoko stood before biting his fingernails nervously.

Welpen: “Wh-What’s going on here? Isara? Isara? Where did she go? Did they go to get more food? Ryoko, what happened?”

Ryoko: “Umm, processing…Isara thanks you and says sorry. Left to continue journey without you. Wants to protect you. Not hurt you.”

Welpen: “Wh-What?! Ugh! Why?! I made it all this way to find her and she leaves again! Isara! What did I do that was so wrong?! Why does she hate me Ryoko? Tell me.”

Ryoko: “Processing…Doesn’t hate. Wants to protect. Wants to sh–”

A thick sword ran through the stomach of Ryoko while blood pooled out of his mouth. He fell to the ground panting softly trying to breathe and recover unexpectedly. This wasn’t like Weakening City in Chaplice Hill. He did not just get extra lives even though he had felt this pain before, so he tried to hold on like never before.

Welpen screamed out his name in shock of what had just happened. A man stood behind them that he had never seen before. He walked over to the bear and began to speak to it.

???: “You poor creature. I’m sorry I could not get to you in time. They have done unspeakable acts to you, haven’t they? You were just trying to make your way west and they attacked you, didn’t they? I will grant you a new life. Venture on with me.”

Welpen was in such shock that he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t know how to save Ryoko or how to stop the bleeding, but as he looked over to the man, he was standing now beside the bear that seemed to be alive, but looked dead at the same time.

He walked over to Welpen with a careless look in his eyes.

???: “You were a part of this, yes? You will pay the price too.”

Arata: “Run, Welpen! Scatter!”

Arata’s blue light came raining down. He crossed blades with the man before him before sending Welpen and Ryoko through a portal on the ground and away.

Arata: “Give the boy back. You can try to hide it all you want, but I recognize that soul inside of you. I know you can hear me. Fight, Dante!”

Nothing happened, but the man spoke with such laziness and depressed eyes. His voice echoed the carelessness he had of the world.

???: “Hmm? Who are you? It doesn’t matter I guess.”

Arata: “I can’t sense your presence, but I could tell this boy was in danger. I’ve had too much going on, but I know that you are standing before me Dante. You didn’t make it to Kastor I see. I will take responsibility for Kento. Let’s hurry this up. Give me the boy back and I might just spare you. I don’t have time for your nonsense.”

The man before him turned his back to Arata and formed a portal to walk through with the bear. Arata threw his sword at it before he entered, which brought about a flashback for the man of a similar occurrence in the past.

???: “Martyr King’s Resolve.”

The entire area became a snowstorm in one instance. The ground sank with heavy white snow and ice emerged from the ground. Icicles flew at Arata one by one as he evaded and broke them in pieces. He jumped around before targeting Dante’s feet, not knowing if he would kill him if he stabbed his chest.

However, his sword collided with his and quickly tried to reconnect at the arms. The man stopped Arata’s sword with his own hand, but Arata boosted his mana lines and cut through, slicing off three of his fingers.

Arata: “Doom’s Retribution!”

White pillars raised from the ground in the snowy conditions and shot out blue laser-like ropes from the tops that grasped Dante in a stronghold. The bear tried to claw them away, but they were too strong.

Arata swung his sword once and wiped away the terrain of the land, making the ground bare and the snowstorm non-existent.

Arata: “Inflicted Contribution!”

The floor beneath Dante lit up in ablaze, burning away even the ropes from Arata’s previous ability. Arata disconnected his own mana lines from his body to reach out and attack the man. They moved extremely fast and one was able to pierce Dante’s left knee.

???: “Oh? It looks like one got through. Looks like I’m going to have my sword again.”

The man took his sword and hovered it over the wound of his knee where it instantly healed. To him, he did not care about fighting. He just wanted to go home without the utter nonsense before him.

While it’s true that Arata wasn’t taking the fight that seriously either, he was trying to figure out a way to get Dante back. To any other person, it would’ve looked like these two were trying to kill each other, but to them, this was a simple hello and goodbye while Arata tried to understand how to free Dante’s soul.

Arata let him go as he opened up another portal.

Before leaving, he assured him that he would get Dante out of the man’s body no matter what. He needed to bring his real body, but he couldn’t do it at that moment in time without proper time allotted.

Arata: “Whether it takes days, weeks, months, or even years. I will find you again and make you release that boy. Someone will fulfill my duty while I take you on. Although, it should only take about 3 minutes with my real body. Wait till I find a way to extract that soul from you. Go cower in fear knowing that I exist in this world.”

The man didn’t care about what Arata was saying, but simply walked back through the portal to his domain. The two of them were extremely similar even though they didn’t realize it.

Both carried burdens that were too much for them, but their differences did not align. One cared for humans, while the other cared for animals. There was no way both of them could coexist, but Arata questioned if he could hang on to his own sanity before then while he teleported elsewhere.