Dante p.o.v

I continued to make my way through the dark halls with some face faces still on the walls but gradually I started to see less faces on them while making my way towards the gate. The light from the gate continued to shine brightly with an ominous red glow, though something about it felt... not right. The ice ground beneath me seemed to have stable a little bit as I made my way closer to the gate, though when I stare down into the abyss beneath the ice ground, something about it didn’t feel right also. I finally reached the gate and the moment I had arrived, the red glow suddenly became dispersed, leaving the gate with a dull like appearance.

The ancient citadel loomed before me, its shadowy corridors winding like the veins of some forgotten beast. I had ventured far beyond the realms of reason, driven by desperation and a gnawing sorrow that clung to my soul like frost on a winter morning.

The faces on the walls haunted me. Their eyes, once vivid and expressive, now stared vacantly into the abyss. Some were etched in agony, their features twisted by unseen torment. Others had faded, their existence slipping away like whispers carried by the wind. Each face told a story—a tale of hope, despair, and the inexorable passage of time.

As I pressed forward, the light from the gate beckoned me. It spilled through the cracks in the stone, casting crimson patterns on the ice-cold floor. But this light was no ordinary illumination; it pulsed with a malevolence that sent shivers down my spine. It was as if the very fabric of reality strained against its brilliance, threatening to unravel.

The ice ground crunched beneath my boots, its frozen surface betraying the weight of countless footsteps. I wondered how many had tread this path before me, seeking answers or salvation. The abyss yawned below, a fathomless void that seemed to breathe—an ancient lung inhaling the souls of those who dared to cross.

I hesitated, my breath crystallizing in the frigid air. The faces on the walls whispered to me, their voices merging into a mournful chorus. They spoke of lost loves, shattered dreams, and the inexorable march toward oblivion. Their anguish seeped into my bones, and I wondered if I, too, would become one of them—a mere echo etched into the stones.

The gate stood before me, its archway adorned with symbols older than memory. The red glow intensified, bathing me in its eerie radiance. I reached out, fingers trembling, and felt the texture of the stone. It was smooth, yet somehow porous—as if it absorbed the essence of all who touched it.

And then, as if sensing my presence, the gate shifted. The red glow wavered, flickering like a dying flame.

‘hmmm that’s strange… ‘I tried to look for the nearest clue on how to open the gate and get through. I lite up my hands in flames to carefully light up the way for me to have a better look at the gate… but the moment I did that and had a better look at the gate, it seemed that it was more of a wall than an actual gate. My mind started to race with a lot due to the sudden revelation, I desperately started to touch the wall with my hands still on fire, as I tried to push into it finding a way to get a sudden reaction from the gate, but to no avail it didn’t budge or react.

“damn it… do something” I roared out then proceeding to punch at the gate with a might thunder shockwave as I kept on the onslaught while roaring at the gate to open.

“COME ON!” I roared out, launching more and more attacks at the door. “I’ve already gone through enough of shit to get stuck at this place! I won’t take this! Not NOW!”

I riled back my right arm while encasing it with a sudden purple glow of thick mana, prepared to knock down the gate… I roared out and charged it at the gate, but just at the very last minute… I managed stop at just an inch to the gate and with that, a sudden shock wave filled the hall segment.

‘n-no… I can’t do it…’ I placed my right hand on the gate and began to slide down to my knees… feeling a sudden force on my shoulder that began to weigh me down. ‘I can’t let the abyss consume me… this must be his plan, i-I need to control myself.’

“b-but why… what was the essence of this test in the first place… I managed to reach the gate, an important factor to freedom, but to my surprise… it’s nothing more than a wall… another dead end.” I continued to sulk while starting to feel my hands vibrate from the nervousness building up within me. “i-I’m so confused… I don’t know what to do… I have been trying for 500 hundred years now to get pass this torment… but no… I guess it wasn’t enough, I’m lost once again.”

“m-maybe there’s no difference between I and the corrupted souls in this realm…” the ice beneath my feet began to crack and break, with hands coming up slowly from it to grab onto me and began to pull me into the abyss, breaking the ice ground even more. I didn’t resist this time… why fight the inevitable in the first place… “i-I’m sorry I failed guys… I hope you can forgive me”

The ice beneath me finally broke through, as the abyss started to consume me whole, with my right hand stretched out… signifying my last attempt to escape the abyss, while closing my eyes to let the cold effect of the abyss to take over my soul.

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‘please… forgive me…’

I found myself underneath the ice ground while more hands from the abyss tried to reach out to me… ready to drag me into the abyss even more… ‘was this the end’

“don’t quit now dirt… don’t you dare give up!”

I forced my eyes open with a sudden gasp, as I felt a hand grasp onto my stretched-out hand… and to my surprise… it was. ‘bao?’

“come on, don’t stop now Dante!” he shouts again, pulling me away from the hands with a grin on his face.

“b-bao… why… why are you helping me?” I questioned with a solemn look on my face, at why he would do this.

“there’s no much time to answer that… but look, don’t feel bad for me okay, It was my fault I got corrupted not you. I’ve been stuck here for a while now, and trust me… I’ve seen my mistake and I couldn’t forgive myself for that…” bao kept on saying, while gradually pulling me further away from the dark hands of the abyss. “Dante… I am so sorry for everything I did… and you don’t have to ask me forgiveness for killing me, you had to… and I’m fine with that, thank you… Dante, for everything.”

With a finally pull, a sudden large hand came out to grab me, but bao pulled me away from the hand and put himself in my place… getting pulled away by the hand, while I continue to head towards the opening in the ice ground.

But due to the coldness of the abyss I starting to feeling my consciousness slipping away little by little… until I heard it’s voice…

“THE ABYSS SOMETIMES HOLDS THE TRUTH YOU SEEK CHILD” I forced my eyes open to see bao getting pulled away even more by the abyss, as the voice continued on with it’s words.

“… FOR WITHOUT THE DARKNESS, HOW CAN WE NOTICE THE LIGHT… SO WHY AVOID IT… THE REAL QUESTION YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF CHILD IS THAT…” as the voice continued, I started to regain some of my consciousness back… and this time I decided to focus my vision only at the abyss below with the incoming dark hands heading my way, until I finally sighted something like a light deep within the abyss… the same red light from the gate before… of course.

“…IS IT OVER?!” I began to feel my mana begin to cloak me as the flames from my hands before ignited in a very bright burst and with an intense glare. “no”

“THEN… AWAKEN” I finally shut opened my eyes open with it only glowing white, as I summoned my astral chain and blades and swung it back, impaling them into the ground of ice above me before dragging myself backwards to have a firm footing on the ice above me while crouching upside down, and with a powerful jump, I shot into the darkness and sliced through the hand that held bao, as I wrapped him with my chains and brought him along with me. We held into the abyss, while I used my other astral weapon to slice and dismember the abyssal figures within the void, and finally I started to see the red light that resembled the gate from before and just before I finally saw it, I released bao and began to chant while glowing a bright white with black mana shrouding around it.

As bao finally opened his eyes, he floats beside me in amazement as we finally gazed upon the actual gate of hell and with a mighty swing, I roared out pure rage.

“USE MY POWER CHILD!”

“…” I was surprised at what happened for a spilt second, as I chanted with my mouth moving but nothing being said at the same time, as if I was dumb and couldn’t utter a single word… but still I somehow knew the words I said.

the moment I casted the special, my astral weapon glowed a bright white burst of mana, outlined with a strange black mana at the same time. The blades engulfed by the manas then proceeded to slice through the gate as this long-sliced mark line seems to have affected everything in sight, with a sudden distortion happening at the same period as the slice… but then… everything became white with one question in thought…

‘what just happened?’