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Episode 65: It Was All For Nothing/Part 4

Episode 65: It Was All For Nothing/Part 4

Dante moved forward without a hitch, using his massive blade to instantly take down one of the lizard Corrupted with a single blow. Despite his perilous position, he swung his massive blade with utter ease, everything standing before him also falling with a single blow. It quickly became very apparent that he was a massive issue and a major threat. As his blade gleamed ever brighter from the sheer amount of Obsulyte it was forced to process, so did the storm raged on around him. The sound of thunder clashing with both bodies and ground filled the area.

Three entire groups ran straight at him, and without even flinching, he headed right at them. He dove straight into the first group, his slash along the way decimating them, unleashing another slash in a swinging motion to his left as he got back up. To finish the third group he vaulted forward, targeting a Watcher he saw amidst them and instantly driving his sword through its chest and into the ground. Forcing the blade further into the earth with one motion, thunder from above clashed right on him and everything surrounding him as if his blade and body were a lightning rod.

Not relaxing for a second, he dashed forward with a wide slash to kill just a few more Corrupted, before knowingly and almost mockingly turning his back at the enemy, about to sheath his blade. Seizing the mistaken opportunity, one of the lizard Corrupted spouted out a massive gunk of lava, easily triggering Dante's condition for his counterattack, instantly getting attacked and decimated regardless of how powerful and impenetrable its skin looked.

"Coming at me with this kind of skill? Fine.", he sheathed his big blade and took out the smaller one, "I'll waste no such power in small fry like you."

Whereas they'd normally be an issue, and despite now sheathing his blade, the distortion above and soon around Dante never faded, the storm raging on as the battle did too. It was then that Isabella successfully reached the point where she could clearly see Dante, witnessing him slaughter an entire battalion of enemies with ease, even the powerful ones, and only just then realizing exactly what his ever-increasing power was truly capable of.

"Anyone care enough to start explaining what the hell happened?", Isabella went on comms.

"I precisely know what occurred. As liquid materials from the Quantum Irregularity enhance this frame, interconnected with the Abnormal Space, I was requested to enhance my matrix power output around Dante.", Luna informed.

Isabella paused, "You overfilled this guy with power?!"

"It would appear as if my connection with the Abnormal Space, exactly like his, is less situational among activation of his abilities and more permanent. That is to say, Dante as a person is connected with the Abnormal Space.", she informed.

"God dammit. Like Cecilia...there's no way that Dante can be more powerful than that. Screw it, I'll go deeper in, try to damage control like I always do. Tiki, you think you can handle both battalions?"

Tiki chuckled, almost as if she was offended, "Izzy, you did not just ask me that."

"A simple yes or no would've worked just fine. I'm diving in."

Isabella left the side of her battalion as she headed straight for Dante, Tiki taking over and almost flawlessly commanding them into position before redirecting their efforts to the front lines. However, very quickly so, it became apparent that the level of power their enemies possessed, when trying at their utmost capacity, quickly overwhelmed them.

Barely able to cut through them, Terna dashed back to Tiki's side as she panted, followed by Luna who herself assessed the situation and found it almost completely disadvantageous for her to continue with the distraction plan.

"Tiki, the enemies are much tougher now. I can cut through them, yeah, but they pack way too big a punch to do so, especially those lizard things and especially under the influence of those Watchers!", Terna informed them.

"Unfortunately and in addition to that, Dante's new state which is powered by the Abnormal Space interferes with my own matrix, making the backlines where he is currently stationed at, a risk for my exposure.", Luna also backed out.

"Got it, but this isn't over yet.", she exhaled deeply.

Going to the very front as she left some of her troops and her friends behind, she butted heads with the nearest Watcher, almost smirking despite the very obvious danger of what she was doing. Being instantly alerted to her move, Terna instinctively jumped forward along with Luna, only to stop dead in their tracks as Tiki lifted her fist and signaled them to do so. An eerie feeling of a power surge engulfed them yet again, this time being blatantly obvious as to where the source of it was stationed. And in a moment of silence, her fist and words completely shattering that moment.

"Let's kick this up a notch.", Tiki took one long step back.

With her axe briefly place behind her, Tiki lodged a pitcher-like punch straight at the Watcher she butted heads with, sending both it and a dozen other enemies flying violently backward, and even toppling over an entire lizard Corrupted as they went. Grabbing back her axe, she commanded a head-on assault which she led, her constant eminence on the battlefield taking most of the hits for her allies as her enemies very frequently prioritized hitting her instead.

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Every single thing they tried to hit her with was shaken off by the combined power of her M.O.D. armor and natural Obsulyte abilities, as she pressed ever onward with Luna and Terna following after her and acting accordingly. The grinding of her axe's blade across the floor was all but quickly engraved into the minds of those wretched monsters.

"A fantastic display of your abilities, commander.", Alexandra commented.

"This ain't a petting zoo for praise, Counselor. Sit down and don't utter a word.", Tiki gave all of her focus and muscle towards the front.

Isabella, now right behind Dante, casually helped him take down enemy forces, trying her best to slowly but surely approach him with utmost caution. As Dante came to realize exactly what she was doing, he turned around to face her once again. In a scene most familiar to them both, it was he who made the first move this time, asking questions and waiting for answers.

"Care to tell me why you're not in a different part of the battlefield now? Clearly, I've got this."

"What's wrong with backup?", Isabella tried to reason, with a faint hint of fear covering her face.

Dante caught on to the fact, "You're here to contain me, aren't you? Same as last time, playing the contingency plan?"

"Half and half on that.", she kept her answers short and straightforward.

"You already relegated yourself to a 'backup'. Back off and let me kill them all as I deem fit.", he calmly told her.

Isabella slowly came to realize more and more, "Your control is...much better. I can maybe calm him down then. Not too crazy, but he's emotionally distressed at least...like in Dirunon. I'll try to lure him into it.", she whispered as she remembered his cry for silence back then, quickly making a plan to calm him down as she knew what was to come.

"Look around you.", he spread his arms wide, "I slaughtered them efficiently, without collateral, without going crazy. We can chit-chat because I simply outclass them. The only thing of note is the lizards, and that is only under the influence of the Watchers. Dirunon was just me being tossed in the deep. And as one does, I learned to swim."

"You're strong no doubt, but you can't keep this state up, unless you want what actually happened in Dirunon to happen again."

"It won't. I won't let it happen."

"Assuring words from someone who did just that a few days prior. With that in mind, you want me to believe you?"

"Touche. Because I don't. Listen, I don't know what you and Hikari said between each other, your makeover and everything, I don't care. Neither do you. Covering your ass and that of the others is what you're after. It's not like I care that you see me as a liable psycho, but stop with these so, so moronic efforts to win me over. Do you think sudden care when you haunted me for years and tried to kill me for months is going to make me get a liking to you? Look at this-hmph!", he swiftly took down a couple dozen monsters heading his way from a distance, "Want to have a picnic too? These worthless monsters will keep coming in groups and I'll just kill them over again, and again, and again."

Isabella was unfazed, "Ok? You want me to do the same? Because I definitely can. At least you're using the small blade and minimum power so as to not overload yourself as much. I can say you're learning fast at the very least."

"That I am. I'm done pretending that I don't have what it takes, because I do, that's why everyone was after me, Cecilia, then those bastard Sentinels, and now Alexandra. Turns out that power does hold a deeper meaning. As I've seen since you've backed off. All these troubles I had with you are suddenly gone and you're relegated to a 'backup'. That to me is the sole reason that you stopped."

"You really think that?", Isabella scoffed.

"Yes, I do. And I wasn't going to rely on you anyway. I may not have earned these powers, but they're still an indispensable tool I'll use. For myself."

Isabella tossed her lance right beside Dante, taking down a couple dozen monsters with it before colliding with a big lizard, penetrating its skin and bringing the monster to its knees. Going up to Dante with only her generic sword at hand, she found herself face-to-face with him. What followed was a last-ditch attempt for her to get through his ever-rising fury.

"You're way out of line, and I don't know why. Whatever you were as a kid like I once knew, you're anything but anymore. You're talking in such ways and are acting so vile that even Alexandra had to comment on it. Dante, she came late, you beat the shit out of one soldier for daring to raise his head, grabbing him by his tail, and violently pummeling him! What would she have said then?! I wanted to kill Mellistar, not you, and my confusion hurt you, I take full blame for that. I own that. I think I've shown you and everyone else that I want to change, haven't I? Not because of affection, not because of anything. I did this for me. Power is not just limited to you thrashing things around, although it may boil down to that in battle, at least believe me on that. As far as Hikari and I go, you know damn well who's who and what's what. Lapdog, sister, call it whatever I of course will love her since she's literally another part of me. You know that, since you knew me as a kid too, at least in this world in Dirunon. And you're doing the exact opposite of what I did here, instead of going back to who you are, you're turning into what you're not.", she said right to his face.

A massive lizard Corrupted came straight at them both, magma dripping from its mouth as it gaped wide open ready to swallow them both. Dante, before getting another chance to talk, counterattacked the lizard to such a brutal extent that its head came clean off with ease, forcing it to tumble down right beside them, before coldly turning back at Isabella. A massive thunder striking right beside Isabella completely destroyed the rest of its body, almost frightening her as the tension of facing one of the few forces she had come to fear had its face briefly lit up in red from the color of the thunder itself.

"I'm not turning into something I'm not, I'm becoming that thing that I never was. Strong, powerful enough to lift the entirety of the legacy that everyone, especially Cecilia placed on me. Powers that can finally make those dreams I always held dear come true, that I reluctantly locked away because of my selfishness. And I'll make those come true, even if at the end of the line, I won't live to see it. I have no other purpose set for myself anyway. If you can't accept that, so be it. I never sought out any of you anyway, you all just came to me and got stuck ever since. If you think that's not bad, take a look at Anya and the hell she's through right now, for merely trying to do the exact same thing you're doing now. Speaking of which, the monsters are piling up again, so I'll just go look for another spot where I can do the same thing again. If you're done with your idiotic monologue, go back and help the others."

Never would any normal battle circumstances allow for such heavy messages between them to be exchanged. However, it was clear from his moves and words that this battle became more and more one-sided by the second, and that he quickly overpowered everything that came his way. Yet this wasn't the end, for his side was one of many more desperately trying to get to the finish line.