'Eat or you will die.'

Dante awoke to see Ghost standing over him like an executioner.

"S-so is that it? Did I pass?"

'No, it's not over.' Ghost said, turning to point at the corpse of the tusked ape. 'Eat his heart, and your regeneration will be boosted ten fold.'

"No thanks, I'll pass." Dante staggered to his feet, sore from the poison that had recently ravaged his insides. His vision had returned in one eye, while the other was half formed. A wheeze accented his guttural voice, as he struggled to inhale and exhale.

"So this is my new body…" He frowned. He was scarred and pocked, with blisters running along his chest and arms. His fur was black, but unlike the lustrous darkness that was Helen's cloak. His frame aligned more with Ghost over J'zaxx, suited for agility and dexterity, rather than strength and vitality.

Currently it was weakened, but the underlying power was still there he knew. Near the end of his last battle, through panic, his consciousness had begun to reform. Aloting him more screen time. More time to reflect on what he had done.

Dante closed his one eye and exhaled.

The first time he spotted the little girl, he did all he could to contain the primal urges. He didn't want to kill her. Instead doing all in his power to save her, but through that, he had to channel the driving hunger. Forcing himself to merge with the beast, making an unforgivable choice.

At that time his mind wasn't locked away. At that time he chose to feed, taking bites out of the four armed male. Swallowing chunks of his flesh whole. Lapping up the pool of blood. Savoring the final tear, of peeled skin that had reached the end of its elasticity. The memory wasn't hazy, the memory wasn't fuzzy. It was one he would remember forever.

Exhausted mentally and physically, Dante slowly walked a few paces, stumbling under his new gait, then collapsed on a bench. It wasn't solely the damage he realized, he needed to relearn how to control his body. The werewolfs anatomy was similar enough to a humanoid that he could manage, but he wouldn't be able to run until he could master walking.

'Your body needs to recover, and so you must eat.' Ghost said, now tossing the tusked ape at him. 'The longer you leave it, the more damage builds up. And then it will remain, permanently engraved on your soul.'

Dante grimaced, breaking eye contact, and looking around the square. All was silent. He would even say peaceful, once he disregarded the carnage. But when his eyes locked with J'zaxx he vomited. Then he vomited again when he saw a finger in the bile.

"I can't eat that stuff anymore. I'll get by with my meditation skill and potions." He mentally checked his inventory, there was about half of the Lindonberry tea left. It would do, and he could sell some of the Iron Way clans weapons and armors, for other types of beneficial items.

Dante pulled out the gourd from his inventory, only to have it slapped out of his hand by Ghost.

'Don't drink that. Any form of supplemental enhancements during the trial will decrease the quality of your rewards.'

Dante hesitated, then sighed, tossing the tea back into his own personal pocket dimension of space-time. "How about weapons? Since you're always carrying that battle axe around."

'If you take it from a fallen foe, your rewards will be increased. However you should stick with tooth and claw. Consuming your enemies boosts the base health regeneration of your stat, and if you feed enough you're likely to get a supplemental skill."

Dante sat conflicted, he was too stiff to move. With no other path available, he decided to eat. A necessary evil, but after he was whole, he'd restrict his diet to monsters only. Flexing his claws, Dante dug into the apes chest. His mouth watering from anticipation.

When he removed the heart, a memory of a braided red tail flashed through his mind. It was a young green woman with red hair. It wasn't that of blood, but of fire. Dante didn't understand much, but he tossed it up to his repressed memories from before he had reawakened. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and ate. If he thought about it for too long, he was afraid he would get lost again, unable to find his way back to the light.

"You said there's extra credit for the way I kill correct, so what about my fire? Will my flames increase in temperature, and change color? Blue flames would look nice."

'Yes, depending on the spell or mana it will take on another characteristic. A sort of augmentation, like that of your fire wolves skill.'

"Wolves? I don't– Flame Conjuration?" Dante read out loud.

Flame Conjuration: Summon flames primed to reform at will.

"I gained a new skill, not bad I guess." Unimpressed, Dante activated Flame Conjuration, ready to reform it into a Katana. Even now his weeb tendencies refused to die. But before he had the chance too, it arrived fully formed shaped as a wolf. Wisps of flames played across its fur, and its fangs spoke of intangibility, yet he knew it could claw and tear as well as any flesh and blood hunter. "Oh, that's what you meant."

The spell was similar but unique to Fire Manipulation, as it wasn't a constant drain on his mana pool.

Quirking his lip, Dante looked around, searching for a target. But then he stopped, his eyes scrolling back to the silver willow-esque tree in the center of the square.

Sylestra, Weeping Dryad of the Joten clan.

Relationship status: Hated

He had thought it was simply a fantastical looking tree. Many of the flora and fauna weren't drastically different from the species back on earth, but now Dante wondered. "Is this, alive?" He asked Ghost.

'Obviously.'

"I mean, can it think, can it talk?"

'No, not in its current form. And if it could, you've killed it's caretaker so it won't be able to communicate. Not that it would want to talk with you. The only reason you aren't dead, is because it's pregnant and fears retaliation from either myself or J'zaxx.'

Dante frowned at that, staring up at the dried and withered leaves, caused by his fire. "What are they?"

'Special beings blessed by the Old ones. They grant a bonus to essence points and levels for those under their harvest. Their sphere of influence. Besides losing essence points, it's bad luck to kill them, even if you are at war with their faction. Now let's get the fuck out of here, I don't want anyone thinking I'm your accomplice, for the damage you have aleady caused to it.'

Feeling guilty, Dante made his way to the sentient tree, pouring out the remainder of the tea onto the silver roots. It wasn't much, and was probably a useless gesture he thought, but the healing properties and boost to mana regeneration, had to account for something. Right?

With that done, Dante turned, his eyes burning with determination. "Show me."

Ghost gave him a cool look, then ushered Dante around the outpost, pointing out the strongest targets he and J'zaxx had killed. In his mind, Dante would have sworn he heard Ghost mumbling about what a gluttonous fuck, J'zaxx was. Next time, he wouldn't be late to the buffet.

Dante had eaten his last heart, when they walked back to J'zaxx who was rubbing his belly and picking at his teeth.

"Ahh, someone's made a full recovery."

~

Dante ran on all fours, picking up speed. The undulating motion of his spine was a  bit concerning and it took him a while to ignore it.

Ghost had him hunt beasts and monsters. The first dire bear he fought, tackled him to the ground, an opening after he over extended with a Claw Slash. He managed to kick the dire bear off, ripping into its belly with his clawed feet. Then a fire wolf darted, charging forward with a speed enhanced by his mind. When the dire bear struck, attempting to intercept the wolf, it morphed into a spear, impaling the bear and setting it on fire. The clean up was easy, as Dante stripped the charred meat to the bone.

This continued for hours throughout the night, while J'zaxx watched Dante receive instructions from Ghost. Somehow Dante thought of the man as a vengeful Mister Miyagi. He taught Dante how to fight in beast form. How his tail could become a distraction, opening up the opponents guard and allowing for a game changing strike. And throughout all the lessons, the werewolf stood tall, brimming with hate.

Dante didn't even understand how to approach the topic. He felt that his head would come flying off if he uttered one word about the Red Saber Wolf he had killed. For that reason he had never used the skill he had gained from the kill at all. Instead fighting with three fire wolves by his side.

As the difficulty increased Dante's essence points soared. He asked about other uses for the resource, and was told of a dungeon he was to enter. Their plan was for him to drain its core, and to do that he would have to remain in there for some time, and without essence points, he would die.

"Like being underwater without air?"

'Yes, that's correct. Now watch out for the lizards behind you, they're corrosive.'

Dante's claws tore through a spiked salamander, skinning it alive. The creatures had an ability to shoot acid needles, along with an ability to imbue all of their attacks with acid.

"Flame Conjuration!"

Half a dozen fire wolves, which he discovered was his max, pounced. Defending his flank.

"Hey about that axe you carry around, was it a reward for your Slayer mark?"

Ghost shimmered from head to toe in sword aura. The intensity was profound, and Dante noted he could cut with the palm of his hand sharper than any blade.

"J'zaxx." Dante said, immediately trying to shift the blame. He had inadvertently brought up what he just told himself a second ago he wouldn't do. Of course Ghost would understand how he received his Slayer mark, and was sure to know about the Death Defier mark as well. "J'zaxx said, err–"

'You'll choose your weapon later. Don't ask me about that again.'

Killing the last lizard, Dante ripped it's heart out, savoring the bloody morcel. "Looks like we're done here, where to next?"

They traveled through the night, boosting his Track skill with each successful hunt. Dante felt power congregate on his claws and fangs, when he readied the skills.

Claw Slash has reached level 5

Bite has reached level 7

The skills he assumed leveled up faster in beast form. And what a group of skills they were. He came to love them. Paw Strike performed as a quick attack, with Claw Slash performing as a heavy attack. There was a combo interlaced with the attacks as well, and once again the world became a game that he lost himself in.

Dante partially forgot his worries with Helen. There was hate there, a pot of stew that burned with the rise of his fire skill levels. He told himself revenge was best served cold, but the underlying anger was too hot to keep a lid on. He had to release steam, or it would boil over and kill him instead of her. That was where the joy came in. Weaving between a sandbear with skin as smooth as a babes butt, Dante slashed and severed tendons from bone. Activating Growl and Snarl to lower the sandbears defense and inflict the fear debuff.

When it fled, he tracked it down for the monster core and lesser sand essence shard, devouring its heart to get the most out of all his abilities.

"Tell me about her." Dante eventually said to Ghost. "Helen, what's her deal? Is she blackmailing you too?"

The reply was slow to return. 'No. I owe her a debt.'

"And what about J'zaxx, why is he staying around? He seems... different, but I doubt he'd team up with her freely. How can she be trusted?"

'That's exactly what he did. J'zaxx needs a pack and a leader, or he will lose himself. And Helen, well there's not much light under that dark cloak of hers anymore. If you don't trust her, that's fine, but you can trust me when I say she won't jeopardise your safety.'

There was an edge to that line that stung Dante like the salamanders he had finished killing. 'Did he ask Helen for permission to kill me?'

"Was she always that way?" Dante asked, he would deal with the ramifications later. Right now, he needed power and answers, and only Ghost could give them to him.

"Y'know, cold concerning other people, or did the curse do that to her?"

'You ask many questions…'

Of course I do, Dante thought. It was the easiest way to keep his mind moving. To make sure it was his and his alone, untainted by the monster that lived in the shadows. With each monster heart he consumed, it dared to replace him. 

"And you have many answers."

'...I knew Helen before the change. Before her sister turned her.'

Dante was shocked to hear that. "And?"

'They are one and the same.'

"...Understood."

Dante ran off towards J'zaxx. "Hey big guy, show me where the real tasty food is at."

The massive werewolf's grin parted the sky.

~

"I have about twenty thousand essence points now Ghost." Dante said.

Rising, Ghost led him to the dungeons entrance. 'It's through there.'

"But that's a tree."

'Yes it is a tree, but it is also an entrance through the warp. Continue forward, you're going alone.'

"Okay… oh wait, can I hand you a few items? I want you to sell them, so I can make room for new items to store in my inventory."

"I can do it for you. I know a guy, and you'll get more than it's worth."

"You don't even know what I want to sell."

"So?"

Dante hesitated. There was an honor about Ghost, that perhaps may kill him one day, but it could be counted on. "No thanks. I'll give it to Ghost."

Dante cleaned out his inventory save for the food, bath basin and a set of spears, bows and arrows.

Ghost looked at him as if he were a maid cleaning up after a sloven lord.

"Heh, Sorry." Dante said, turning to walk in the dungeon. "And Ghost, I really mean it. I'm sorry."

A chill came over Dante, as if the temperature plummeted. His blood rushed, Death's Corona blazed to life, and then he spun, only to find Ghost had vanished.

"I told you so." J'zaxx shrugged.

"Well I had to try something. It's stifling living under the threat of death!"

"Why are you upset with me? I'm just the messenger." J'zaxx tossed Dante a leather bag. "And don't use those unless it's absolutely necessary. She doesn't want you to ruin her plan. And the easiest way to do that is to die… Well yea, you'll probably die. But if you don't, the worse that will happen is that the quality of your rewards go down. She should be able to live with that." J'zaxx leaned in with a conspiratorial whisper. "But we both know how she is." Then he pushed Dante into the warp dungeon. "Bye."

"Damn bastards!" Dante rose to his feet, dusting the sand off of himself. The area was a barren wasteland with husks that could only dream of being considered trees. Swaths of grayish sand did not make for the best fertilizer, and shallow pools of tepid water reflected a green sun.

Sleepy Hollow

Essence remaining: 24,996

~

'Did you get it?'

"Yes. Kell won't be able to trace him until he comes in person. And even that will be hard to manage. There's many layers under this artifact."

"Oh Helen your back. Did you bring me any snacks?"

"Very impatient aren't we? Here." She tossed him the eye of a terror hawk."

"Yes yes. I had to sit here all night while they blabbered the whole time."

"Oh?" She turned back to Ghost. "What did you guys talk about?"

'He's planning to kill you.'

Helen stared back with a smile.