"Look, Magi. I know that it's hard and you want to make up for it, but if the big guy is truly as strong as everyone fears him to be then it's pointless. It is way more of a logical solution to sort it out together than you going one on one."

Magi took a long sigh. "I know...but even then, you are all no match for him. I have faced Tiki before, I know about her battle suit and considering she won't control it properly yet, she will be an obstacle to herself. Terna is immediately out of the picture as she will be a laughable matchup and you might have Wolven's strengths and a new transformation to amplify them, but that's barely a means to even the playing field. It's either me fending him off with my hate-absorbing abilities or 'Enemy' combining her abilities with Hikari to take him down."

"You're forgetting a very key ally here." Anya put her arms around her waist.

"Mellistar? I just hope that he gains enough power to come back and hold Dante off doing something really stupid. That amulet Tiki took had Neker as a base and was another amplifier made by Cecilia. It was specifically designed to directly transfer Dante's powers into Mellistar so that he wouldn't cease to exist. Mellistar is not at all like 'Enemy'. By Dante's body standards, he is a threat and a virus. His body will most likely keep hammering on Mellistar in order to expel him instead of actually feeding him via the amplifier. The only other way that Mellistar can feed off Dante is during his outbursts when there's way more excess energy than Dante can handle and it overpowers him. The most key difference is the fact that 'Enemy' switches places with Hikari for the fight, and by doing so, she also switches bodies. Mellistar simply takes over Dante's body and guides it through the process."

"So that's why despite the hectic situation at Corosta, the big guy was still in full control? With the amplifier gone, he seemed to be handling it way better compared to what I saw in Reingard and what I heard of at Kaci."

Magi's eyes gave a faint feeling of surprise. "What? So...that probably means something good for once. Despite it being surprising, the kid must have already forced his body into accepting his powers. You see, he might be the most overwhelmingly powerful being to ever exist, but he's still a mortal. Granted he is a tough bastard to kill between the overpowered healing factor, borderline impenetrable skin, unneeded and extreme skeletal structure...but the one thing that always remained his main threat was simply himself. If he has already managed to control his powers that well then hell, he might not even burst in the first place."

"That's good then. However, I wasn't exactly thinking that Mellistar would be our final saving grace. I have an overwhelmingly powerful being that ever existed."

"Hmm? Oh..." Magi smugged. "I see."

"You read right through my head. And what's more is that they share the same power, but Yuno has been training with it for far longer than Dante."

"It is an extremely good theory, but it could be a cancelling out instead of Yuno taking Dante down. You see, Dante is simply not a laughing matter. The reason why his personality is so different right now is because of the memory steal. Once we give him his memories back he will also gain something more than...experience. Muscle memory is one thing, but if he remembers the entirety of his life to the age of 10 when he had them taken, he might still destroy Yuno. Yes, he will have less control over his Obsulyte or whatever it is that his powers are connected to, but Dante is still the Durandal commander of the Silver Lances. There's both a very distinct and a very disturbing reason why he would be the commander of that specific army and the holder of that title at that piss-low of an age. I'm sure that if he hadn't burst that day, he would have destroyed me, Glady and whatever sort of asshole we brought along for the raid with us. His skills with practically any weapon, especially lances and heavy swords, which was Dirunon's speciality, would be practically honed into perfection. Considering Cecilia was his teacher and Naga had him under her wings too, it's already enough to terrify me."

"Great...ever heard about that one time that the daughter of the richest man in the world made friends with practical god? Yeah, me either." Anya said with a straight face. "And if that's the case, which mind you, I didn't even bloody know he was taking on so much when we were kids, he should also have...combat experience?"

"Hmm? As a kid you mean? I would guess so, Victorians are notoriously known for their over-the-top realistic combat simulations. Not with blood spilt of course. Just extreme training till the point of breaking."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Not a simulation, rather the real thing. Though it's one thing to be able to and doing so, Dante has proven to do both. Specifically, I'm referring to the big guy being able to swiftly lead your army at Reingard and...Well, he takes on the sight of blood disturbingly well. To an extent that is. I remember back at Kaci, there was that cute lil dragon girl that Yuno liked a lot. She was mentally and physically tortured, to the point where her entire body was just...God I can't even begin to run the images back. Thank god adrenaline kicked in and let me keep it together to an extent. Dante took it somewhat casually and tried to take control of the situation...however, Yuno was the polar opposite. He was the one who burst and began mangling all the Shadowers there."

"I'd expect so. He was stranded in a training ground for most of his life and didn't even come into contact with real fighting aside from training. In a way, Yuno and Dante are each other's missing pieces. Yuno's experience with their powers is way more honed and his personality is way more cheery and upbeat than Dante's, while Dante himself is much more blank, closed in on himself and methodical. His skills and time in the army should've been the culprit for it. I mean, I don't even know what kind of a dumbass Cecilia must've been to shove a literal kid into a position where so much responsibility was laid on its shoulders. And if you're thinking the same, it's highly likely that Dante was indeed pushed to certain operations where actual combat was involved, hence his experience and handling of bloody scenarios where hell was a daily part of life. Yuno was not at all pushed into anything than what you recently told me happened in Kaci."

"It is rather interesting, those two. So...are we sure about this then? Because I'll need to inform Yuno about It.", Anya looked at Yuno in the car.

"Honestly...yeah. It is a great idea girl, I'll give you that. But we must assist little Hyrusa too, to cover his current weaknesses. Only then we might have a chance against an early-up brought Dante. And mind you, our plan will primarily revolve around being able to convince him to calm down himself. How long we are able to hold him to do so will depend on our efforts."

"Got it, sounds solid. And another thing, any idea where we go from here?"

"Ah yeah, that super important, god-defying mission by Haty for reunifying the 'Big Three'. I already send an invitational letter to the Gardard High Order, they should be awaiting you there."

"Nice. Do we just walk in then?"

"Yeah, basically. I've sent Hikari's and Dante's information in the letter as those two are the only officially known ones who embarked on the treaty quest. So you all might have to sit it out for a bit."

"Man...Sounds so lame. And speaking of lame, shouldn't you be at Jugnia anyway? What happened to that vacation?"

"Well, after realizing the fact that he was a total dumbass for getting excited at the fact the 'goddess' had returned, the king started to sweat a river when he realized he basically laid the future of the world to a bunch of teenagers."

"Hey, we're not that bad. Haven't you seen what we've done so far?"

"It took you this long to reach one capital out of two with the only in-between 'treaty' being signed between an overtaken city with minimalistic army value and high technological advancements. Honestly, I'm starting to share part of his worries."

"Come on, we're gonna do just fine. Besides, the team is growing with more powerful people by the day. I mean, we're pretty jacked here, we have healing, amplification, raging demons, scythe-wielding digital assistants and copious amounts of money. I think we're pretty stacked to take this on." Anya flexed her muscles.

"Ehm. One of them is a pop idol, the other is a rampaging monkey, the 'digital assistant' is practically non-registered anywhere and may also be wanted for crimes such as theft, money can't, unfortunately, buy you much and that 'healing' ain't going to put ink on the paper. Considering current circumstances, your best negotiation power comes from a socially awkward teenager who's pruned into world-ending mental breakdowns." Magi corrected Anya.

"To be fair you do have a point, we have no experience in this and I'm the only one who has ever negotiated and signed a contract but I'm not officially part of this party to gain an audience.", Anya took a grim face while lowering her tail and ears. "Welp...shit." she facepalmed.

"Yeah, the plot holes are starting to really show now, huh?" Magi folded her arms.

"To be fair, I thought we could get away with some magical plot armour bullshit that wasn't explained, but Decean just had to go ahead and bring logic into an anime-based story, didn't he?", Anya whisper-wait, did you just directly mention my name and dumpster my story?

Magi ignored Anya's commendation. "Don't even know who that guy is, but I'm gonna tell you one thing. Now, more than ever, you must get your act together and make it through. Gardard is an exceptional ally to bring to the table and they will probably be one of the hardest to get them to side with us. So please..." Magi worryingly said.

"Don't worry, we will. I'll make sure of it, you know me! Now gotta go...I guess I'll be seeing you soon."Anya turned away and started heading towards the exit.

"Hmm. That is the only thing I'm sure of at the moment...I'll see you soon, Nya."

And so, their grand arrival in Gardard brought them forth new tasks and new obstacles. As to how they would overcome them, they knew little but hoped for more. It was about time that it all had to fall into place...