The two figures surged at each other like lightning splitting the skies. A single flash, a thunderous snap and the battlefield erupted into chaos.
Kilamahi and Taouon, embodiments of divine fury and demonic lethargy, collided in a gruesome spectacle. Inch by inch, they clashed, tearing through the air and the earth itself.
The dust rose like a wall, spinning into a vicious whirlwind that swallowed the ruined Academy of the battlefield.
The crowd of warriors and spectators scattered, some screaming, others simply vanishing in the disarray.
Evan Ruthwilfer stood firm at the edge, his gaze fixed on the maelstrom of violence before him. As the dust finally began to settle, a grim silence followed. Kilamahi, possessing Dante's body and Taouon were nowhere in sight.
"Where are they?" Diana Ruthwilfer whispered, her voice caught between awe and terror.
At the center of the battlefield, a sudden spark lit the at the center of the ground, a crackling pulse of raw energy. It exploded in a blinding burst.
PANG.
Then came the light. Blinding, rhythmic flashes darted across the field. The two combatants were dueling at speeds that surpassed mortal comprehension. Not even Giang and Xilang, royalty of the dragon kind, could track their movements.
Giang squinted against the light, his voice a low murmur. "How long has it been since I witnessed a battle between a god and a demon general..."
Zhurong stood near, horror frozen on her face. Through the strobing chaos, she caught a glimpse of Dante's possessed form.
His skin glowed pale white like fallen snow, adorned with garlands of bone and crowned by a flaming skull sigil on his chest.
Black flame tattoos ran like tribal war paint along his arms, his palms ignited in dark fire that blazed up to his wrists.
"Father, we have to help Da—"
Xilang held Zhurong back, shielding her with her arm. Her voice was stern.
"That's not Dante, my child. That is the Goddess of War, Kilamahi."
Zhurong's eyes widened, disbelief and dread colliding. On the battlefield, Kilamahi cackled with madness, hurling a blinding jab toward Taouon. The Demon of Sloth retaliated, striking back with a brutal counter that impaled Dante's body directly through the heart.
The scream that followed was not one of pain, but of euphoria.
"Aaaaahhhhhh....!!"
Kilamahi howled as blood surged from the wound. Yet before even a heartbeat passed, the wound sealed itself—skin, flesh, bone, and heart regenerating in an instant.
"AAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!"
She twirled her fingers and vanished in a blink, appearing before Taouon. With savage precision, she plunged his own spear into the tendons of his leg.
Her laughter intensified as she wrapped conjured chains around his body and yanked him into the sky. Up there, among the storms and lightning, she unleashed a flurry of merciless lashes.
"Muse me! MUSE FUCKING ME, TRASH!! AAAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"RRRRAAAGGGHH!!"
Taouon writhed in agony. His body twisted in pain, his screams echoing across dimensions. He finally reached his threshold, and his form began to morph.
"I AM THE SINNER OF SLOTH! TO DEFY ME IS TO DEFY HIS MAJESTY!"
"AAHAHAHAHAHAAA....OWWWOOOWWRROOOUUGGGHHH....!!!!"
A deafening horn bellowed from his throat. The sky split open. Reality itself trembled as the battlefield shattered, replaced by a dimensional rift of Taouon's creation.
Kilamahi cursed aloud.
"Shit!"
Inside Dante's mind, chaos raged. He saw Kilamahi falter.
"Kid, you have to survive this!"
"Me?! You were fine just now!"
"This is a domain created by a Sinner. I'm almost out of power. You need to take control. Use what's left of my energy and end this!"
And just like that, she vanished. Control returned to Dante.
He gasped, blinking rapidly. "My skin's still white... Guess I'm still in her form."
He touched the spot where his heart had been pierced, now fully healed.
The fog lifted, revealing a twisted dimension. The ruined academy was gone. A stormy grey sea churned beneath him, a whirlpool spiraling like a gateway to the abyss.
Massive tentacles erupted from the depths, creating chaos in the water. Ships splintered like toys. Lightning struck in relentless fury, each bolt causing oceanic detonations.
Dante reached for power, but something else stirred.
A red gem tied around his neck glowed.
Kilamahi's voice growled in disbelief. "Kid... you asshole! You had Kalikrithar with you?!"
Dante's eyes shot open. The gem, a shard his mother Blake gave him. "Could she have been... an Alderman?"
No time to question.
He yanked the pendant free, channeling Kilamahi's last remnants into the gem. The energy surged, forging twin chain blades in his hands. Blood-red edges glowed with molten heat, the hilts black as the void, the chains writhing like living veins.
"Kid, we seriously need to talk after this," Kilamahi muttered faintly.
Dante wasted no time. He twirled the right chain blade, launching it to hook into a writhing tentacle. He yanked himself toward it, landing hard.
"Urgh!"
He slid along the slick surface, using the blade to steer. Another tentacle whipped toward him. He leaped, landed, and kept moving, barely ahead of its crushing force.
As the tentacle lunged, he swung his second chain, pulling himself free just in time.
The rain came down in sheets, thunder deafening. He hurled himself into the heart of the vortex, the spinning black center of the whirlpool.
"KID!!! YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY!!!"
Kilamahi, though exhausted, was impressed by his boldness. She watched through his senses.
Dante dove deeper. All light vanished. Silence reigned beneath the sea.
Then—
BBRRUUU....!!!
He turned. A monstrous yellow eye, wide as a house, stared directly at him.
"What... is this?"
The beast moved. Fast.
It circled him like a predator. Then, without warning, it attacked.
Dante spun away, barely dodging. He retaliated by launching his chain blades, both stabbing into its head.
He latched on, riding the beast. It roared in pain, flailing to dislodge him. Dante stabbed again and again, carving into its flesh without mercy.
KKRRAAA!!
The sea monster shrieked and shot toward the surface, erupting out of the ocean. The force split the water apart like an explosion.
Dante leapt away and landed on a ruined stone platform, the remnants of an ancient temple now exposed at the eye of the storm.
He dragged his chains behind him. The blades ripped across the stone, snapping back into his hands.
CCCRRRAAAAGGGHHH!!!
The beast exploded from the whirlpool like a volcano. Water surged, dousing Dante. Lightning flared above.
And there it was.
A towering leviathan. Massive. Titanic. The true form of Taouon. The Kraken. His eyes glowed with slothful hatred.
Dante, no more than a speck before the creature, stared up.
He grinned.
"So you've turned into a Kraken, Sinner of Sloth."
He raised his right blade, the tip pointing at the sky, then locked it on the beast.
"Come on then. Let's finish this."
Taouon let loose a bellow that shook the skies.
KKKKRRRAAAAGGGHHHH....!!!
---
Chapter 26 — End