Magi fell on Drima, crushing him beneath her before pulling herself to the side. She stood and coughed loudly, as she tried to keep herself intact. Slowly approaching from the broken wall of the other room was none other than Dante, now with full knowledge of what had happened.

"'Lass, the young and noble smith of a small town with amazing powers who set out to save the world alongside the 'Goddess of Life'", Dante scoffed, "It was all such a haze...all the time. That jackass...Gladeon and you bastards are so unbelievably wicked to the core!" he yelled.

"He's so...god..." Drima grunted as he got up.

"So what? You dumb shit actually thought this through all the way or not? You surely knew how to bring back a force so destructive but not a moment did you think of how to control or contain it. Consequences." Dante spread his arms widely.

"By all means, you have the right to be mad, I get it! But you have to realize, we did this to protect you!" Magi fully recovered.

"Protect me? Protect me?! You bitch went ahead and slaughtered my family, you murdered Ikarisa in front of me and levelled my home to the ground!"

"Then what about all the sacrifices we pulled off to raise you?! We risked our lives for it!" Drima yelled.

"The only thing you risked was the lives of others, just to satisfy your relentless ego, and the only sacrifices made were those of everything I had!"

"Kid, you have every single right to be mad, I get it. But-", Magi was interrupted.

"You don't get jackshit! You built me up just to watch me fall or something?! Everything...Cecilia...I..." Dante began to break down.

Drima looked and nodded at Magi, "Maybe..."

Magi nodded back as she approached Dante and tried to lay soft words on him, "I'm...sorry..." she said with her voice cracking in the process.

Dante looked Magi straight in the eyes, "I hate you." he said with the utmost serious and menacing look.

No punching, no resistance, nothing came out of both sides. Dante simply slapped Magi's hand away from him before he walked by her. It was almost as if he knew that he could do no more damage to her than this...and he wanted her to hurt. He long viewed death as a luxury compared to life's suffering and though he lacked both the expressions and words to properly inflict said damage, he did it in his own way. He passed by Drima as well, going to the wall behind him while easily walking through the wreck that once was his lab. With utmost ease, it only took Dante but a casual punch to completely sever the reinforced lab wall to bits, including the rocks and dirt behind it, making a clean hole from the underground. He quickly climbed out and disappeared from the scene of the wreck. All that was now left behind was Magi torn apart and Drima left in awe.

"Kid was right...I would never think he would be able to control his powers to this decree by simply remembering. Muscle memory is the one thing I thought he'd surely retain, but still...no burst, no yelling, no crying. This is...fascinating and horrifying at once."

"He is the most powerful thing in existence, supposedly. Sorry for the lab, Drima." Magi silently said with her back against Drima, refusing to show her face.

"Nuts and bolts are all this is. And it's really not my budget anyways, maid bots are already starting the cleanup process. I would be lying if I didn't say I'm pissed about the drag down for the next few days, but like the kid said consequences. I knew what I signed up for when I did this to him back then and now."

Magi dropped seethed her sword and went towards the elevator, "I'm going. Gardard is deep within Victoria, so he shouldn't be long to Dirunon anyway."

"Uh, Magi. Are you alright? Your hate powers must have kicked in full throttle, no? If there are any problems, I can run you some antidotes." Drima worryingly said.

"That's the problem Drima. He...hates me.", Magi held her tears in, "Luna left Lina up top to the guards for protection. She didn't want her anywhere near Dirunon when we know what was about to happen. Take her down when you can, the soldiers and guards around her are piss scared and are literally backed to a corner."

Drima was yet again left in awe, "I...sure." he watched Magi go up the elevator, "When did you stop your journey to power...to care for some kid?" he whispered.

Coming up to the top floor, Magi slowly came out of the elevator and started walking down the hallway, claymore behind her waist and breathing rapidly increasing. She was way broader in her way of expressing herself, but at that moment she had to endure hits that she had never done so before. It was as if her powers were eating away from her little by little. Yet questions kept appearing in her head. Why was it like this? Why did she feel a way she shouldn't? Why did she give it all up, the quest for power and excitement? Before she could find the time to answer any of it, she quickly turned her head to the squeals and yelps of nearby soldiers.

"Please don't come any closer! Y-You...you...you cute little girl!" the guard captain backed up to the corner of the wall with the rest of the battalion.

"But...mister Drima said that I should apologize! Admitting your mistakes is the first thing towards adulthood, and I need adulthood right now! Otherwise, I'll never catch up to my big sis!" Lina approached the soldiers gently, only to have them pull back in terror.

"Oh god! Captain! Captain do something!"

"What do you want me to do against this?!"

"Oh come on, don't act like a wuss! Now...does anyone want to help me-", Lina cracked her fists.

All the soldiers simultaneously began screaming at the top of their lungs, morbidly afraid of her beginning to crack her fists.

"Save us all, please!"

"Oh god!"

Lina pulled a flower pot behind her back, "-Plant some flowers in the garden!" she scratched her head, "With all the fighting and the excitement we did quite the numbers on the flowers...so we should plant them back to fix our mistake! Oh, and don't worry, if you have any questions, I know a whole lot about gardening! We had a huge flower valley back home!"

"W-Wait, you want my battalion of high-ranking royal guards to help you...with gardening?" the captain asked.

Lina jolted up, "Oh, would you rather train with me then? I've been getting a little bit sore as well!"

"No! Please don't kill us all, we have families!" the soldiers yelled.

"Gardening! It is gardening time men! To the royal garden, now!" the captain yelled.

Magi momentarily chuckled as she paused and looked at the tiny Lina moving to the front and cutely leading the way for the soldiers towards the royal garden. Her voice amidst the laugh, however, heavily betrayed her desperation for escaping what she currently experienced, which only struck her with more doubt as she realized, always opting to go right through her problems instead of navigating and evading them.

"There's simply no end to the wonders of this world." she chuckled, "I can never see it all."

A beep echoed in Magi's ear before Drima's voice started to be transmitted through it, breaking her train of thought.

"Magi? Is this working fine?"

"Yeah, I can hear you clearly. How are you doing this, I thought most of everything was destroyed?"

"Maid bots work fast. I managed to reboot the command center at least, as it’s in a relatively workable state. And with it, I've got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want first?"

"Bad."

"Oh, ok. Bit of a downer today. Let me see...yeah. I'll put it simply. Dante is a threat in every aspect. And I mean it. He is extremely dangerous. I managed to take some biometrics while he was out and listen to the A.I.'s report: 'Subject contains irregular amounts of Obsulyte within its core. Said substance is questioned as pure Obsulyte source as it emits similar aspects to previous samples, but can be registered as entirely new, as formal measurement methods failed to give correct results.'"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Tell me something new. I already knew what I was going after."

"But that's just the words on paper. You don't have access to the numbers right now since the system is a temporary backup, but I have them. Magi...his power isn't limited to just large bursts anymore. It amplifies everything he does with ease and further gives him some sort of permanent increase in innate abilities. He's from Dirunon, sure, but compared to normal data on them, his strength is substantially higher and so is his mobility. Additionally...good god. Everyone else might not even be able to make a dent in him. If the hastily taken data are to be believed, he is bulletproof."

"He, what?!" Magi said in surprise.

"His powers are like spreading poison that doesn't kill. It's all over his body and his skin will hypothetically be able to take on any form of heavy artillery ammunition and survive any form of explosion. Not even the Garuda SSS which is a new and illegal L.A.B. Obsulyte-based, supersonic prototype sniper will make a scratch. For full context, the bullets of that weapon are also Obsulyte infused and you bet that it's been tested on the field. Of space. The target practice happened with a satellite sent in space...and its bullets destroyed it from Y axis absolute zero and kept going into the emptiness of space." Drima flipped through Dante's biometrics.

"This is...absolutely insane. How can someone so...mortal, have something like this?! Drima, I need to inform the others, I had no idea he would escalate his power level so unreasonably high. We might be in more danger than before. Maybe we can...do damage from inside to neutralize him?"

"Already ran that in and it is a possibility, but what's on the cover of the book is also on the inside on this one. Hell, feed him Obsulyte grenades or dark matter nukes, his insides are as durable as on the outside. And while you could poison him before...yeah. There's more awkwardness to this hellish mix. I managed to collect some form of blood while he was dormant and it appears he hasn't got white blood cells. His powers are now his immune system." Drima flipped through L.A.B.'s prototype reports.

"So I should give up any chance of poison working again?"

"Precisely. I would try to come up with a cocktail of all available harmful nerve agents or straight-up heavy classified toxic gasses but you saw what his powers can do outside, so I doubt any microorganism will be able to make a dent as well.", Drima flipped through a black market website, looking for illegal chemicals.

"Ok, this is bullshit, I thought I was fighting an almighty, world-ending being, not a goddamn Sait*ma on steroids!" Magi angrily said.

"Who is that?"

"I dunno, the kids love him though. Look, your good news better be anything close to redeeming or I'm calling this off!"

Drima chuckled, "Genius should have me in the dictionary. We can definitely have a probable chance of winning!"

"A definite chance at a probable win. You go, 'genius'.", Magi said with annoyance in her voice.

"But I'm serious. There's a total of 3 candidates for taking him on. One, obviously, is Yuno. Whatever Dante has, Yuno shares, him being his Guardian. That alone gives us a solid chance."

"I knew that but...who are the other two?"

"You'll be surprised. Hikari is one of them."

"What? Hikari can swallow grenades for breakfast as well now?"

"Apparently...she could probably do so? I have an Obsulyte monitor on the elevator that records who comes down to my lab for safety reasons. I have no idea why, but Hikari seems to share some form of same-rated energy. Very, very faint, but the computer matched that feint aura to 100% of what the biometrics report was."

"Your biometrics are as suspicious as you. I thought it was just characteristics?" Magi folded her arms.

"I mean...it's a measurement of some sort. I call it biometrics but you can go with analysis, status, vitals or something."

"Whatever. Hikari's feint signal is not any hope to rely on anyway. Interesting, but don't wait for me to lay on it."

"I didn't expect you to rely on her. I expect you to rely on yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm serious. Magi, your Obsulyte signature is compromised with a similar signature to Dante's. And my solid explanation is that you take your opponent's hate to use it as a battery to fight. That in itself has an upper capacity since there are only so many opponents you can fight and only so much hate, spite and vengeance someone can generate. But apparently, Dante's powers latched onto you when you took his hate!"

"So I have his powers now? I can swallow grenades for breakfast?"

"For the love of- enough with Grenade O's! I don't know how it may work or how you're going to use it, but you have it. Do with it what you will. His powers seem to be like water and electricity, superconductive and latch on anything around it...but..."

"Shit..." Magi frowned, "Non-compatible hosts...like Viola..."

"No need to worry just yet. As I said, there's Hikari and Yuno. This is incredibly new and we don't know much of anything, so we can only speculate. For now, we have to hurry to Dirunon. Even if you wanted to call it off, there's no way to beat around the bush. You will have to face him. Now hurry."

"Right. And...Don't forget to pick up Lina later."

"Got it...where exactly is she?"

"Gardening with a battalion of Gardard's finest soldiers and their captain."

"She what?" Drima said in surprise.

"Sorry Drima, I've gotta go." Magi inhaled and exhaled a long breath, "Alright. Let's go."

Magi tore parts of her armor apart, crushing it with the mere power of her palms, having already stored an immense amount of power from Dante's snap after his awakening. Only a few key parts of her armor remained intact, removing weight off her shoulders and allowing her to gain much more mobility than what she had before. She swiftly took off the palace's main gates and started to quickly make her way towards the place where her siege had succeeded, following the same path behind Dante. It wasn't long left before she would face her actions inevitability. She knew that as well as everyone else who was anxiously waiting at the ruined palace of Dirunon having much more time than needed to prepare themselves. Even then, they knew that over-preparing might prove to be insufficient.

"God..." Yuno frowned.

"You ok Yuno?" Terna asked.

"I am...but like I expected, Dante recovered his memories and let his guard down. I saw...everything." Yuno turned to face the spot where Cecilia's life was brought to an end.

"Was it really that bad?" Anya worryingly asked.

"Worse than you think. And don't expect me to go into detail about it. That's his call...even then, the memories are strange as they are horrific. There are parts where he really shouldn't be able to look in to remember faces and words, but he does. It's weird..."

"I think I know what you mean. Dante was able to do something with his brother and sister. They had this weird thing where they could like...communicate at a distance, much like phones. But it goes a step deeper than that, his little sister told me that they could see and hear whatever the other did, almost like an intercom call."

"So they had sight sharing? Interesting but at the wrong time, it could screw them over completely." Tiki folded her arms, "I know I've seen things I wouldn't pass on to others."

"No way had it fully worked for them all. Sight-sharing only worked with Dante's sister apparently. But...why?"

Enemy stepped in, "Simple. Dante always had his guard up, so much like you not being able to view his memories, everyone else couldn't do it either. And his big brother...well, he was blocked off entirely."

"Why would he block off family?" Luna asked.

"Simple, they despised each other. Hell, I dunno what happened, but it was way too well known around here that those two did not see eye to eye. Dante is a disgusting being, after all, there were many times that I sensed his urge to kill his own brother. And you made 'that' your friend." Enemy scoffed.

"Hey, watch it!" Anya stepped in front of Enemy, "Hikari agreed to let you help fight, not smack talk."

Enemy stepped an inch off Anya's muzzle, "If your pea-sized furry brain hasn't realized it, I'm doing this for Hikari, not you. The last thing I want is for her stupid ass to kill herself attempting to fight this monstrosity and dragging me with her. I'll say what I want, when I want it, got it? For all I care, you're in my immediate command. So stop being a crying, little, literal bitch of a dog and step back, before I decide to back out and watch you go six feet under."

Anya backed off, "You say all this big talk, but in my eyes, you're a bigger, more selfish monster than he could ever come close to being."

Enemy folded her arms, "Then why is it him we're fighting?"

Anya stopped for a moment, angrily looking at Enemy. She knew that at the moment she was right, but was never about to admit it. She clenched her fist and grit her teeth, only for her to remain stationary, before turning around and walking away.

"I should've never left that day. Maybe then I could show you something different about him." Anya walked away.

Enemy stared at Anya with her typical aggressive look and whispered, "Show me what I've already seen?" she didn't move as well, losing herself in her train of thought.

"Oi, dog! Where are you going?" Tiki yelled.

"I'm going for a walk."

"What the hell do you mean 'going for a walk'?! The meat bag will arrive any minute now! You're looking to get killed or something?!"

"At least I won't have to look at that prick's face." Anya pointed her thumb over the shoulder at Enemy.

Tiki stepped forward, "Why don't they ever discipline-", she was stopped by Yuno.

"Nah...Give her some space. Remember the fact that she was the closest out of everyone here to Dante. It's only natural after...all this." Yuno grabbed Tiki's hand and pulled back.

"Tsk. I just don't want to have to worry about an additional burden!" Tiki gave in, in her own way.

"Worrying shows a sense of attachment. Perhaps you grew to view her as a friend than an ally?" Luna asked.

"Shut up you walking bucket head! Go set up a timer or something to utilize that dumb ass of yours!" Tiki angrily replied.

"You guys are legitimately the weirdest group Hikari could ever strive to find in this world." Enemy sighed.

"At least you look a little more relaxed now! That's great!" Terna cheered everyone on.

"I am relaxed all the time. It releases stress and prepares the muscles for a steady hold of a blade. If you spend just a little more time studying the songs of old heroes' lore than singing the verses for some no-life, impudent, perverted ugly bastards, you'd probably know a bit more too. I'm off to the throne room. I need some...space." Enemy took a weird look around.

"How rude." Yuno sighed, "She brands herself as Enemy but has lost the plot of that word..."

"It's...fine. I know I can't flip mountains or draw a sword, but I'll get used to all this. Eventually anyway..." Terna smiled.

Tiki let go of her anger, "I agree with Enemy to a certain extend...but not entirely."

"Oh, that's new." Yuno chuckled.

"Relax, midget dragon. She's still way too early in to be actually useful. Just enchant and keep us alive. We will clean up the mess for you." Tiki jumped up the cracked gate's wall, "Remember to not die and don't take long to get into position. If the plan doesn't work, I'll kill you. Looking at you, diva."