Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 37

As soon as Dante exited the arena, Mia ran up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his combat uniform, pulling him toward her with surprising strength. She looked anxious and spoke quickly. “Did they know about your Classifications before the fight?”

Dante shook his head. “No.”

Mia grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him through the academy streets. “You need to leave, now. You don’t have time to go back to Housing District 1.”

Mia looked back for confirmation, and Dante nodded. He didn’t need the warning.

“Good, keep your head down, we need to find a way to hide your hair and eyes.” Mia began to lead him down side alleys, furtively glancing behind them every few seconds.

“Keeping my head down won’t help.” He had more than enough experience to prove that.

Mia rolled her eyes. “Obviously, but it’s worth a shot.”

Mia’s attempt to help him drastically improved his mood, but he didn’t want her to get in trouble because of him. “Maybe it would be better if you didn’t help me.”

Mia glared at him, then spoke as if he were an idiot. “How exactly do you think your chances of escaping would be better without me?”

Dante cleared his throat. “That’s not what I meant. Won't you get in trouble?”

Before he could even react, Mia turned on him and smacked him in the head. Hard. “Do you think that this is a game?” The blow was so hard that he wouldn’t have been able to continue his pace if Mia hadn’t been dragging him along. “If you get caught your life will be over.”

Her words gave him pause. Would they kill him? Or was it something else? It didn’t matter, either way he couldn’t get caught. “Where are we going?”

She answered without hesitation. “You are going to ride in a wagon. It would be almost impossible to run away unseen because of the academy’s geography.”

For a brief second, he focused on the way she said the word ‘you’. Something about it was disappointing, but he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting. He dismissed the thought, the second thing she said was far more important.

He hadn’t even thought that far ahead; his emotions, which were running hot from his fight in the arena, had been clouding his judgment.

Dante took a few deep breaths. Distancing himself from the thoughts of Jaseni, Haden, and Bridget.

The crater that the academy was located in would make escaping far too difficult. He would be in clear sight until he made it outside of the crater, and even then, the area surrounding the academy was mostly flat and open farmlands. Her plan was far better than escaping on foot.

Mia cursed. “They were faster than I thought.” She slowed their pace slightly, moving them into a dense crowd of people, and he was unsure of what she was doing until she yanked him sharply and they disappeared into a side alley that was only large enough for one person to walk through at a time.

“We won’t have time to organize a wagon ride, you’ll need to sneak on one.” The alley she led them down opened up into a wide street. As soon as they walked out, she led them in the opposite direction than they had been heading earlier. “Shit.”

Mia immediately cut back, turning completely around. “I can hold them off for a few minutes, but that’s all the time I can give you. Go straight down this road, there is a trading company at the end. Find a wagon on its way out and stow away on it.” She paused. “Your chances of making it out aren’t good, but I’ll do what I can to stall them.”

It didn’t take him long to find out who she meant by ‘them’. Almost a dozen House Calman guards poured out of the side alleys in front of them. Dante glanced behind them, but the road was already blocked by half a dozen guards.  Seeing them, he cursed.

He recognized some of them, they were instructors from his Swordsmanship class.

Don’t tell me all of them are specialized… We’re screwed.

Dante checked each of them, looking for a familiar face. He was relieved when he didn’t find Archie, that would have only made the situation far worse.

“I’ll open a path forward.” Mia glanced at him. “Good luck.”

To his shock, Mia’s hands began to glow with world essence. He had never seen world essence that was so dense and compact, and the speed she was forming it was unreal, and she wasn’t even packing it through a weapon or glove.

Almost as soon as the world essence coalesced around her hands, it began to swirl down to her elbows. Spinning with incredible force.

It was exactly like world essence around Aiden’s spear, but there was two of them, one of each hand, and they were far more powerful.

Without wasting any time, Mia charged forward, and he followed closely behind her. She quickly swept the guards to the side, none of them were even willing to come near her, as soon as she got close to them, they recoiled away. Then tried to attack him when she passed.

Mia was ready for it though. One of the Swordsmanship instructors, the one who got in a fight with Archie on the first day of training, lunged toward him blade first. She didn’t hesitate, slamming her hand into his world essence filled blade, shattering it instantly, and followed through until her hand penetrated the instructor himself.

Dante didn’t stop running when the instructor's blood splattered across him. The man wasn’t stabbed by Mia’s hand, he was shredded by it.

As soon as they made it past the group of guards, Mia spun on her heels, waiting to block any attackers and allowing him to pass through unmolested.

Dante ran as fast as he could down the road, unwilling to waste a single second that Mia had given him. He pushed forcefully through the crowds, not allowing them to hinder his movement in the slightest.

He was only three blocks away when he heard a hoarse scream come from behind him.

Shit.

It sounded like Haden’s when he was burned alive, except feminine.

Dante hesitated, unsure if he should continue to the wagons or not. If he went back, everything that Mia did would have been for nothing.

But after a few seconds, the screaming didn’t stop, it only became even more hoarse.

Dante let out a deep breath, he knew it would be beyond stupid to go back, but if it was Mia…

He wasn’t sure what he could do if it were her, but for some reason, he needed to check.

Dante looked around, checking to make sure there weren’t any of House Calman’s guards looking, then Blinked up onto the roof of the building next to him. Thankfully the buildings were close enough together that he could run all the way back to where he and Mia split up, jumping across the rooftops and only Blinking when he came to a connecting road.

By the time Dante got to the rooftop that was overlooking the road where he had left Mia, the screaming had turned into guttural moans. Hesitantly, Dante looked over the edge of the roof, doing his best to remain unseen.

Mia was writhing on the ground, back arched, and clawing at her throat while Sir Andres was holding a glowing violet colored orb while standing over her. Surrounding the two of them were almost forty guards, around half of them were armed with bows aimed at Mia.  The entire road was soaked in blood and covered in chunks of human flesh. Most likely a result of Mia’s ferocity against the guards before Sir Andres had arrived.

Seeing Mia in pain, Dante’s blood began to boil, and his jaw clenched. But the violet orb in Sir Andres hand made him want to kill… everyone.

Mia had a wraith collar on all this time…

He had seen wraith collars on more than one occasion. Whenever one could be acquired by the head priest in Alazel, it would be sacrificed to the Goddess in a grand ceremony. The violet orb that Sir Andres had used though… That was a wraith leash.

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His information on wraith collars and leashes was limited, but he knew enough. He hadn’t thought his opinion of the Calman’s could fall any lower, but this wasn’t ‘almost slavery’ like the mana contracts. This was slavery.

Now he knew what Mia had meant when she said he’d lose his life if he were caught.

Dante controlled his breathing. Regardless of the possible consequences, he needed to find a way to get Mia out.

Sir Andres looked away from Mia, who had finally passed out. “Where did he go?”

One of the guards answered. “We lost him when he went into the crowds.” The guard pointed down the road that he had just come from.

Sir Andres called to order quickly. “Split up into six units and fan out toward District 7. If you find him use your flares.” He gestured toward Mia. “Tristen, your unit will deal with her, when you get to the garrison, arm the other guards with flares and send them out to search.”

The words made Dante perk up. If Sir Andres took most of the guards, his chances of rescuing Mia would be far greater.

The guards assembled into their units then took off down the street with Sir Andres in the lead.

Six guards stayed to take care of Mia, and four of them were carrying bows. His chances were far better than if he had to deal with Sir Andres, but they still didn’t look good. And if they were going to take Mia the academy’s garrison he would need to act quickly.

One of them picked up Mia and threw her over his shoulder before walking toward the garrison. He was followed carefully by the other five, four of which had arrows knocked.

Dante took a deep breath. Rescuing Mia seemed impossible. It was likely that the guards were specialized, or just shy of specializing. Trying to save Mia would only end poorly.

Yet… he needed to. Just the thought of leaving Mia disgusted him. He didn’t think he would be able to live with himself if he did nothing.

It wasn’t that he owed Mia anything, but… there was no one else. No one who he had ever cared about nearly as much as he cared for her. No one who actually cared about him, and who would risk their wellbeing to help him.

Mia was his first real friend, and her actions proved it. If he needed to die or even be enslaved to protect that, then so be it.

Dante stalked through the rooftops, carefully watching the guards progress below.

Ideally, he would have liked to take his time and pick the perfect moment to move. But the closer they got to the garrison the slimmer his chances of success would be. Dante created a narrow dagger, filling it with world essence and forming an edge.

As soon as the guards met a crowd, he didn’t hesitate. Dante Blinked twice, placing himself right in front of the man who was holding Mia and pierced his eye with his dagger.

The man was dead, without a doubt. The blade pierced deeply into the guard’s skull, but he met resistance when he stabbed the eye. He didn’t know how much Constitution was needed to reinforce the eye to such an extent, but the fact that it managed to slow his world essence blade was ridiculous.

As the corpse slumped to the ground, Dante pulled Mia off of its shoulder. He didn’t wait for the others to react, he picked up Mia and ran through the crowd as quickly as possible, then cut to the side quickly as he saw an alleyway.

Mia stirred slightly in as he grabbed her.  She looked confused for a moment, then looked up toward him and mumbled.  “Dante…”  Her words were barely audible.  “Idiot.”

She’s not wrong.

As he moved through the alleyway, Dante glanced back and cursed.

The archers were fast. All of them seemed to have at least as much agility as him, if not more. He was momentarily thankful that the fifth guard hadn’t been able to keep up until a loud explosion sounded from behind him.

Above their heads a massive blue flame shot in the sky, screeching with an ear-piercing sound as it flew above them.

Things were only getting worse.

It had to be the flare that Sir Andres had told them to use earlier. In a few minutes, guards from all around the city would be swarming towards him from every direction like a broad net. He had no idea where he should try to escape to. It seemed like there were no options.

Things were going poorly, and that was before the archers started to fire at him from behind.

Dante pulled Mia from his shoulder, holding her in front of him and protecting her from the arrows raining in from behind. The first shots weren’t fatal, they were all aimed towards his feet, which were easily avoided by a combination of his Agility and Dexterity.

“Leave me you moron.”  Mia seemed to be regaining her focus. 

As he held Mia, he awkwardly held out a hand and made a small dagger. It was awkward to hold her and the blade, but he needed a weapon in his hands for his increased ability with bladed weapons to kick in, and his other dagger was stuck in someone’s head.

After that, the arrows were easily avoided, he just needed to resist blocking them with his dagger and move out of their path instead. It was easy until they stopped aiming at his feet.

Just as he was going to shoot out of the alleyway he felt three arrows aimed at his right side, so in an attempt to dodge them Dante moved to the left, and right into the path of a fourth arrow that he hadn’t been able to feel.

The arrow slammed into his left shoulder, and the impact was staggering. The force of the blow spun him until he was sideways, throwing him off-balance and causing him to lose his footing.

Without hesitating, Dante threw himself to the ground while holding Mia up to protect her body from the fall. The arrow in his shoulder snapped as he impacted the floor, sending waves of pain through his body and forcing him to clench his teeth to stop himself from crying out in pain.

Just as he skidded out onto the street, he felt a thud of impact on Mia’s body and heard her whimper in pain.

Shit.

Dante immediately twisted, throwing Mia under him so he could block the arrows, but even as he pushed her under him, he saw yet another arrow slam into her ribcage, causing her to groan.

“Stop! I surrender!”

An arrow slammed into his right shoulder, the sheer force of the impact launched him several feet away from Mia.  She was staring at him, a slight smile on her face as she bled out on the road.

“Get a healer!” He was screaming the words at the top of his lungs as he tried to push himself closer to Mia so he could block the arrows.

“Hold your fire.” The shout came from the alley behind him.

“Halt!” Guards began pouring out of every alley and street, drawn to the flare. There were already almost a dozen surrounding him with weapons drawn. “Don’t move!”

Mia’s gaze went slack.

Dante stopped crawling toward Mia, then pleaded with the guards. “Please get a healer, I’ll surrender.” Mia’s body was now sitting in a pool of blood that was growing in size from two arrow wounds in her chest.

One of the archers from earlier stepped forward and felt Mia’s pulse, then cursed and faced the other three next to him. “Goddess Damn it. Through the heart too, which one of you morons didn’t pick your shots. Who do you think is going to explain this to Sir Andres.”

He listened to the archer’s words in disbelief.

Mia is dead…? That’s… impossible.

One moment she was alive and fine in his arms, and in only a few seconds she was completely dead.  It didn’t seem possible.  He had seen others die just as easily, but he never imagined that it could happen to Mia.

It was too sudden. It couldn’t be real. How could Mia have died just like that? And from an archer’s mistake?

No, it was real.  This was just reality.  And it was all his fault.

He could have left her. Even slavery must have been better than dying. But he had gotten her killed.

Dante looked away from Mia’s body, he couldn’t take the guilt. He couldn’t process what was happening.

He was struggling to breath, taking breaths in deep gulps.

His chest felt like it was constricting, like something was boxing him in and suffocating him.

He could feel the hot tears leaking from his eyes, but what right did he have to cry when he was the reason she had died?

“Alright, we can’t change what’s happened. Sir Andres should be on his way with a collar. Someone restrain the kid.” Dante felt a kick to the side. “And make sure you cut the collar out of her throat before you dispose of the body, no use in wasting it.”

Before anyone realized what had happened, before even he realized what had happened, the Archer who was talking had a dagger through his eye.

There was a brief moment of silence, no one could understand Dante’s sudden appearance in front of the archer and the archer’s immediate death that followed.

Then all hell broke loose.

Dante lost control. He couldn’t comprehend anything but his desire to kill.

The archers were his first targets, the other three were taken down smoothly with their lack of Constitution.

Then he sewed chaos into their ranks. Blinking into groups of Warriors and taking several them off guard. Hacking at their throats, stabbing at their eyes, and piercing their hearts.

He couldn’t comprehend his own actions. It felt like his body was moving of its own accord, but every time he spilled his enemies blood it exhilarated him, filling him with the desire to continue.

Every time he killed, he felt his control slip. It felt like he was losing himself. Every death at his hands made him less aware of what was happening around him, but at the same time, far more savage.

The sound around him dimmed until he could only hear the sound of his blades cutting into his enemies and their screams before death.

Guards continued to pour in, drawn to the flares that were going off around him, but after dealing with the specialized archers, they were all so weak. He savagely butchered them one by one, unhindered by the injuries he was receiving or the arrow wound in his shoulder.

That was when Sir Andres arrived with the guards he had led earlier. Even in his lost state of mind, he recognized the Sir Andres.

Sir Andres was the person that he wanted to kill the most.

Dante immediately charged toward him, then used all of his remaining mana to Blink around Sir Andres, plunging his weapon savagely toward the knight wherever he appeared.

It was completely ineffective, the blades just bounced off of Sir Andres’ skin. Even when he tried for the Knight’s eyes, Sir Andres would just move his head slightly. His irritation at not being able to kill was maddening.

Sir Andres snorted at his attempt, then glanced over at Mia’s body and frowned. “Years of careful training wasted.” Sir Andres reached out toward Dante’s neck lazily, and Dante couldn’t react at all. All of the muscles on his body were taught from the strain of resisting, but he couldn’t move an inch.

Sir Andres grabbed his neck and pulled him over, then let out a sigh. “All of this could have been avoided if Layla would have taken my advice, but the girl is strong headed and… stupid.” He reached inside of a pocket and pulled out a small black orb. “Hopefully she’ll grow out of it.” He pushed the orb onto Dante’s collarbone, and as soon as it touched his skin, the orb melted and merged into his body.

He couldn’t pull away, he could only watch as the melted orb spread around on his skin and around his neck like a loose collar. Then it flashed purple, and he felt… weak. And his thoughts were far slower, yet he was far more clearheaded, completely losing all of his earlier bloodlust.

“See? It’s not that bad. It could have been this easy, but you had to do all of this.” Sir Andres gestured to the bodies on the ground next to him, then pulled out the purple orb he had seen earlier. “I really don’t like to do this, but I’m afraid that if I let this behavior go unpunished, you will develop bad habits that will hinder your future training.”

Sir Andres held out the violet orb from earlier, and it began to glow.

The pain began to shoot through his body in waves. It was unlike anything he had ever felt. The pain was so intense that his brain couldn’t even process it.

He resisted for a moment, but then started to scream. It was involuntary, he didn’t want to show the weakness, but he couldn’t stop himself from crying out. Dante clawed at his throat, trying to tear the collar out of it, but he was too weak to even break his skin.

It felt like an eternity before he finally passed out.