Third person p.o.v
'i-It can't be...
… bao'
Dante gathers his courage and leaps over the gap, barely landing on the other side. He feels a sharp pain in his ankle, but he ignores it and continues to walk. He notices that the hall is getting darker and narrower, and that the walls are covered with faces of tormented souls screaming and crying.
Dante tries to block out the sounds and sights, but they overwhelm him. He feels a wave of despair wash over him, making him lose his will to go on. He stops and falls to his knees, clutching his head. The voice tells him that he has reached the end of his journey and that he should surrender to the abyss.
Dante looks up and sees a faint light at the end of the hall. He realizes that it is the gate to the eighth stage of hell. He feels a glimmer of hope and determination and decides to fight against the despair. He stands up and runs towards the light, ignoring the voice and the souls.
Dante reaches the gate and pushes it open, entering the next stage of hell. He feels a blast of heat and fire, but he does not care. He has passed the test and escaped the hall of despair. He looks back and sees the reaper waiting for him, smiling wickedly.
The reaper congratulates Dante on his achievement but warns him that he still has a long way to go before he can reach his goal. He tells him that the next stage of hell is even worse than the previous one and that he will face more horrors and challenges. He then disappears, leaving Dante alone in the inferno.
---------
Dante's p.o.v
'…bao… i-I can't believe it' shocked at what I saw, I began to move back as the flame My hands flicked and ignited viciously, lightening up the surrounding area, showing more and more face plastered on the wall and crying for help. Soon, the whole hall segment were filled with screams and cries of suffering.
Still shaken by bao's presence among the faces in the wall, the cold chill started to envelop my body, making my legs buck under me and making me go on my knees as the abyss around me began to reach out to me in an ominous way. Extinguishing the flames in my right hand, I brought up my hands to grip my hair as I was starting to break... A tsunami of thoughts and flashbacks rushed through my mind, filling me with a massive amount of despair that made my entire being tremble from guilt alone…
The guilt of killing a former classmate... a human, a soul,
'I'm very sorry, bao. please forgive me.'
Flashback
Third person's p.o.v
"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAR!" Corrupted Bao charged at Dante with a malicious grin on his face; he brought down his hands with a hammer fist, trying to pummel Dante, but instead, Dante dodged to the left side and charged a blow at Bao's head.
"Take this!" Dante landed the right hook at Bao's head, staggering Bao away from the children. I need to get far away from them.
Dante thought of a plan to get Dao as far away as possible, but then, in a flash,
Bao charged again at Dante at a faster pace, shocking Dante. He launched a right fist at Dante's stomach.
"Dante!" Rin shouted out as Dante growled in pain. Bao's fist launched Dante towards the school gates, with Dante colliding with the hard metal gates.
"Damn it!" Dante got back to his feet and got into a sprint position. As he vanished and appeared beside the approaching corrupted bao head, he landed an uppercut at bao's jaw and did a hammer fist down at his face, placing him into the ground with great force. Dante tried to use Bao's head as a way to kick back and create some distance, but before Dante knew it, Dao grabbed his right leg and flung him down to the ground.
"Raaaaar!" Bao brought himself out of the ground and started to pummel Dante, who was down in the crater below, with devastating punches that caused shockwaves. Dante kept trying to block Bao's relentless assault.
'Bao is not giving me any chances of escape, and now in this corrupted form, I'm finding it difficult to keep up.' Dante analyzed while he kept blocking the attack. But then, just as Bao was about to launch another fist attack, Dante stumped the ground below him, launching him into the air. The only way to have a chance against Bao might be through press points. At this point, Bao's strength was far above Dante's.
Dante rose up to Bao's chest area and delivered a palm attack at the center of Bao's chest, producing a wind shockwave from his back. Bao stopped his pursuit for some time, and his eyes were wide in pain. But Bao roared out again and was about to continue his pursuit, but again, Dante launched another palm at his leg, and immediately Dante landed back on the ground. Bao came down on his right knee, but then Dante launched another palm attack at Bao's jaw, immobilizing Bao at that very moment.
It was the only way. The pressure point at the neck region could have been triggered in two ways: the non-lethal way, therefore hitting the pressure point directly at the center of the neck, and the lethal way, that is, underneath the jaw. But the reason it's known to be lethal is because... Dante paused, and before anyone knew it, an audible crack was heard as it echoed throughout the whole field. 'The pressure point instantly triggers the muscles around the neck to shatter the neck bone, killing the victim.'
Dante started to land as Bao's head started to go back, along with his whole body.
"I'm sorry, bao." Dante reached the ground as he continued to stare at the corrupted bao's lifeless body. But just before Dante turned his back, Bao's body burst out in purple flames from his eyes and mouth. This alerted Dante, as he tried to move back away from Bao's reach, but instead, Bao brought back his head with his mouth open. A black orb of dense, dark mana started to form from the tip of his mouth, and from how he started to sink into the ground, it could be seen that the orb was completely causing this sudden pressure. Bao turned his head towards Dante and launched the orb of dark mana towards him. The path in front of the orb was destroyed, and as it started to reach Dante, the heat from it overwhelmed him.
Dante didn't have time to react, so he had brought up his arm in an x-defense out of pure instinct while coating himself with his red mana. But immediately after the orb collided with Dante, it shot him straight towards the forest, uprooting tons of trees in the process due to the destructive force of the blast attack.
Dante slammed into the side of a mountain close to the school, with the orb still trying to push him back. But due to the heat, Dante's clothes were burned off, and some parts of his skin had blisters, but his trousers were still intact.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH, AURORA WILL: SHELL GRAB!" Dante pushed back against the blast with some of the last strength he had. He grabbed the orb with his right hand, but before that, he had already coated his arm with his red mana. He started to shift the orb blast towards the sky, and with a shout of his final effort, he pushed through and directed the blast towards the sky. The blast went through the clouds and cleared them. After that happened, Dante got on his knees due to fatigue as he panted heavily. "My right arm feels broken... And my injuries are far too many; I need to heal myself."
'Aurora drive: Rapid recovery.' Dante was about to heal himself, but before he knew it, a massive fist came crashing down on the right side of his rib. "Gahhh!"
The fist launched himself up towards the sky, heading towards the main school building, but then Bao, in his gigantic form, jumped after him and appeared on top of Dante at blinding speed. He then delivered a devastating hammer fist downward at Dante, pummeling him into the ground just in front of the students and Rin.
"Damn it...." Dante spoke out in pain and fatigue as Bao landed just about 17 feet away from his tattered body. Bao's new body is far stronger than I expected. His speed and strength are just on another level. And the mana he uses is something I've never witnessed up close before. But this is not bad right now because he came back to life after the lethal press-point blow. I have him. It's for certain that this is a demon. Bao is gone.'
"DANTE!" Dante turned his head towards Rin, who started to run towards him as Bao started to approach him with a hungry and malicious grin on his face. "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"
"Rin, stay away. He's too dangerous." Dante tried to protest, but Rin had already made it just in time as she stood in front of him in a battle position.
"Shut up, Dante... Please... You're too hurt." Rin pleaded while being surrounded by a thick layer of mana and fire. "This bastard will pay for what he did to you."
In a loud bang, her chronicle was summoned out of thin air, just beside her right area, as it started to glow in a very thick blue but then started to change into a bright golden red.
Bao saw this and started to run towards her, almost hungrily, but just before he could reach her... Rin pointed her right index finger toward him in a gun-like position and then placed her left hand firmly on her right bicep. The mana drains towards the tip of her index finger, forming a ball.
"Rin, you're using that move..." Dante tried to get on his knees, as he was already barely healing himself. Rin squeezed her eyes in seriousness and then said,
"Dante. This is the first time I've countered this kind of hamji. I just don't want to take any chances." Rin said, with fear laced in her voice, that as Bao came closer, she altered.
'magic technique'
"Elemental attribute: golden blaze!"
The golden orb shot out of her index finger at the speed of light and headed towards Bao's chest, but on impact, the ball started to expand to a size that dwarfed Bao and consumed him in a ball of concentrated fire. The flame burned the living spirit out of Bao, leaving his figure in a state of ash and cinder. But just before Rin was about to sigh in relief, she noticed that the color of the flame started to flicker and change into a dark red-purple. Dante saw this and soon realized what was going on.
"Rin, get out of the way!" Dante roared out and pushed Rin out of the way. And stood in front of her as the ball of flame around Dao turned pure reddish purple and then exploded, releasing a blaze of fire coming her way. Dante saw this and reeled his hands back.
"AURORA TECHNIQUE: SHOCK!" Dante slammed his hands together and, due to the force, created a shockwave that overwhelmed the blast of flame. But thinking everything was alright, Dante sensed something rushing towards him, and as it collided with him, he put his forearms out to protect him, but instead he was met with an excruciating pain that shot through his body, as this was caused by Bao mauling on his arm and pressing him down towards the ground. Bao was now bigger and had flames spilling out everywhere from his body cavities.
"AAA...aaagrrhh!" Dante, struggling under the pressure, was out of options on what to do next, but due to the excruciating pain he felt, his body started to feel a wave of weakness flowing through it. "I can't take it anymore."
Bao started to unleash an onslaught of attacks on Dante, pushing him down even further.
At any time now, my whole body will fail me, and everything will come crashing down. Damn it, I can't stop now... I can't give up now... The others' lives will be in trouble if I'm gone. But my body is just too heavy. Come on, I need more. strength. I need to save them all. I need to be stronger!'
Dante tried to push further. But just as he turned his head up, his attention was drawn towards one of the children who was meant to be unconscious before. But now, the child was looking directly at him, with dark eyes and red pupils, as the child's face looked pale and dark, and with the expression the child had... He looked almost possessed.
Uh-huh. What's going on with him? Dante thought as everything said to move slowly. Then the child's mouth whispered something.
.
.
.
".....ReSt.....ChiLD...."
The moment Dante heard that from the child's mouth, everything turned black, and Dante's head dropped. This action confused Rin. But then Rin started to feel the presence of something. Cold and beyond dark... The feeling could be described as having to stare at the face of something beyond anything. But this was the surprising thing... The mana's presence came from...
'dante....'
Dante brought his head up. To reveal that his expression was totally different, with his eyes black and his pupil red. His skin was now dark white ash, and the black tattoo on his right hand started to grow and grow towards his upper body. Rin stared in both fear and shock, as she knew what was going on.
"Oh no. This is not good."
Bao continued to maul at Dante's arm. But then he was met with the intense, bored gaze of Dante.
Dante used his left hand to grab Bao's right horn, with a grip that had started to crack his horn in the process. Dante forced Bao's mouth open with a powerful tug on his horn and then slammed Bao's head straight down to the ground with a bone-cracking sound. The force was so great that it shook the terrain tenfold, and the shockwave was huge.
This had stunned Bao, but he started to get himself together and was about to attack back at Dante, but was unfortunately met with a kick, launching him straight towards the sky, and then was met with a hammer fist downward back towards the ground. Dante landed directly at Bao's, shattering the corrupted Bao's back.
"AAAAHHHHH!" Bao shouted but was then silenced by a step on the jaw by Dante, as this had pushed his head deeper into the ground.
Dante continued to pummel bao's head with his right foot, but then the ground that buried bao's head started to glow reddish purple, and from the ground a bright orb of mana, the same as the last one, launched straight at Dante, but instead, Dante grabbed it, regardless of the force and speed of the orb, and pummeled it into bao's chest, resulting in bao's shouting out in pain.
But in a flash, Bao managed to deliver a right hook at Dante, launching him away from him at a distance.
Bao then stood up and started to head towards the training grounds, with a hungry look on his face, as he ran towards them for the purpose of consuming them and regaining his lost mana. But just as he was about to reach them, Rin tried to defend them.
"Sanctuary!"
A white magical barrier was cast around the students and Rin, causing Bao to collide with it. But this had turned his attention towards Father Alfred, who had a look of sadness and disappointment on his face.
"Bao, what have I done?" Father Alfred spoke in a grieving tone as he stepped in front of the barrier he placed over the students, some of whom had started to awaken due to the sanctuary's healing effect on them all. "Rin, where is Dante?"
Father Alfred asked Rin, who just looked forward with a panicked expression on her face as she pointed out towards the distance. To view them, Dante walks in towards them like a zombie, with the black tattoo almost covering his whole face.
Alfred saw this in shock and was about to cast a spell at Dante. But was caught torn from either attacking Dante or Bao. But then, before he knew it, Dante flickered and appeared in front of Bao, surprising everyone. He blocked an attack from Bao and proceeded to beat the daylights out of Bao, as this started to end up quite messy... Some of the students that witnessed it were all traumatized by the scene in front of them.
But then Bao conjured up a blast to launch at Dante, but instead Dante grabbed it and kicked Bao up into the sky. And with the orb in Dante's right hand, it started to change into a redness black mana orb, and with a fling, the orb landed at Bao, but on impact, the orb increased far too much, dwarfing Bao in size. As it consumed him and basically disintegrated Bao to nothing, as the clouds in the sky were blown away.
"He's a monster." Whispered by one of the students who was currently witnessing the slaughter.
end of flashback.
Dante p.o.v
'i…I remember… I killed y-you, up till then… I didn't know what happened that day… but now that I remember… please'
I raised my head and brought down my hands as the abyss around me began to subside... and then I wore a stoic facial expression on my face, bearing no emotions at this point. Though my face may show the slightest of emotions, my soul roared out in agony for bao.
I stood up on my feet, turned my head towards the light, and began to take a slow stride towards it, forcing myself to ignore the tears I saw spilling out from the eyes of Bao... and so did some spill from mine too.
"forgive me… bao."
