[Realm: Álfheimr]

[Location: Outskirts]

Orthrus's howls tore upward, two voices overlapping with unnatural harmony. The sound scraped across the sky like metal tearing, vibrating through the plains. Dante felt it long before he saw it. He shifted his stance, boots grinding into the broken ground.

Above Orthrus, the clouds twisted as the lightning came.

Five lances of red energy split downward in rapid succession, not wild or scattered but perfectly spaced, each strike screaming as it tore through the air. The light was blinding—violent arcs of power that carved through the sky and slammed into the ground where Dante had stood a heartbeat earlier.

He was already moving.

Dante leapt backward as the first bolt struck. The impact rang out—stone vaporized, earth collapsing inward as the lightning detonated with concussive force. The second and third strikes followed immediately, each blast ripping open the plains further, shockwaves stacking atop one another until the ground fractured like brittle glass.

Heat rolled outward.

Dust and debris filled the air, chunks of earth hurled skyward before being pulverized by the remaining strikes. The final two bolts crashed down in tandem, gouging deep craters into the land, the devastation spreading outward in rings.

Dante landed lightly beyond the destruction, boots skidding only slightly as he steadied himself.

("Healed,") he noted internally, violet lenses narrowing as his gaze returned to Orthrus. The beast stood tall once more, both heads intact, lightning crackling along its hide. ("Regeneration that fast… Echidna's work.")

He straightened, shoulders rolling as he shifted his weight.

"That won't save you," he said aloud.

He turned—

Too late.

The Nemean Lion appeared behind him in a blur of gold, its movement impossibly fast for something so massive. Its jaws were already wide, fangs sharp as it lunged, the ground erupting beneath its paws as it closed the distance.

Dante didn't flinch, nor did he even fully turn.

"Is charging without thought all you're capable of?" he asked calmly.

Then he backhanded it.

The strike landed with devastation—his gauntleted hand connecting with the Lion's face in a brutal strike. The impact detonated outward, a visible shockwave ripping through the air as the Lion's head snapped sideways with a thunderous crack.

The beast was hurled away like a discarded toy.

It smashed through the plains, its enormous body skidding and bouncing across broken stone, golden fur matted with blood as it finally came to a halt in a cloud of debris. The roar it let out this time was ragged.

At the same time the ground trembled as the Hydra rose again.

Its massive body coiled and shifted, nine heads swaying in agitated unison. Poison hissed from between its fangs as it drew in breath—deep lungs expanding like bellows.

Two heads reared back in perfect synchronicity, their mouths opened wide.

And fire erupted.

Not ordinary flame, but torrents of searing, destructive heat—twin waves of emerald-tinged fire that tore across the plains with annihilating force. The air warped violently as the flames surged forward, consuming everything in their path, stone liquefying beneath the intensity.

The heat hit Dante head-on.

But he did not retreat, he stepped forward as he drew back back his arm. Then he punched. The motion was simple—but the moment his fist drove forward, the air screamed.

A shockwave exploded outward from the strike, compressing the space in front of him so violently that the incoming flames split apart as though struck by an invisible wall. The fire parted down the middle, forced aside in two massive arcs as the wave of force continued unabated.

It slammed into the Hydra's two heads.

The impact was obscene.

Bone shattered instantly—skulls collapsing inward as if crushed by a giants grip. Flesh ruptured, scales exploding outward in a spray of gore and shattered fragments.

Both necks disintegrated in a storm of pulverized bone and vaporized flesh, the remains blasted backward as the Hydra shrieked, its scream raw and panicked now. The recoil traveled through its massive body, the beast reeling as it slammed down hard, gouging the plains beneath it.

The severed remains hit the ground in smoking heaps.

Orthrus hesitated in the distance.

The Hydra writhed behind him, remaining heads hissing wildly, ichor spilling where two necks had once been.

Dante glanced back briefly.

("She's still forming something,") he noted, eyes catching the intense emerald glow beside Echidna. The mana there was denser now. ("Another one. If I let her finish—") He clenched his fist once. ("I should remove one of them for now.")

Orthrus howled again.

The sound split into two overlapping tones, spiraling upward and outward, filled with malignant intent. The air around the beast warped as red lightning gathered, not striking downward but forming—hundreds of orbs blooming into existence around its massive frame. Each sphere pulsed with unstable energy, crackling violently.

Echidna frowned lightly.

"That many…?" she murmured, surprise flickering through her composure. "You'll burn yourself out at this rate, child—"

The orbs launched despite her words.

They fired all at once.

Hundreds of red bolts tore through the air at impossible speed, converging on Dante from every angle, screaming as they shredded the atmosphere. The plains lit up in flashing red, the barrage dense enough to erase any clear path of escape.

Dante didn't retreat despite that. He leaned forward and charged.

The moment his foot struck the ground, the earth imploded beneath him. A shockwave rippled outward as he vanished in a violent burst of speed, his form blurring so completely that it fractured into a dozen afterimages, each sprinting along a different trajectory.

The lightning barrage tore through the illusions.

Explosions followed—violent detonations chewing through stone and air alike, carving the plains into chaos. But Dante was already past them, already inside the storm.

Orthrus's heads snapped toward him, eyes widening.

The beast tried to leap back.

But it was much too slow. Dante appeared directly before it, the distance annihilated in an instant. He reached out and seized the lower jaw of one head mid-snarl, fingers locking in with an iron grip.

Then he slammed it down.

Orthrus's skulls crashed into the ground with a thunderous detonation, the impact sending a radial shockwave tearing through the plains. Stone shattered as the earth collapsed further inward. The head let out a broken roar as its neck buckled under the violence of the strike.

Dante didn't pause.

He shifted his grip. One hand closed around the other head and then he pulled.

There was no flourish or dramatic wind-up.

Muscle merely tore as bone snapped. Flesh ripped apart with a sickening sound as Dante wrenched the head free from Orthrus's body. Blood sprayed outward, sizzling where it struck still-hot stone. The severed head was weightless in Dante's grip, jaws snapping reflexively before going still.

The remaining head roared in pain.

Orthrus thrashed, body convulsing as it staggered backward, lightning flickering erratically across its hide. Dante let the torn head drop from his grasp without a second glance.

Before he could finish it—

A roar erupted behind him.

The Nemean Lion lunged.

Its massive jaws clamped down on Dante's shoulder with titanic force, teeth grinding as it bit down with everything it had. The impact echoed across the plains, dust billowing outward as the Lion braced itself, muscles straining.

Nothing happened.

The Lion froze.

Its jaws remained locked—but they hadn't pierced anything. No blood. No resistance giving way. It was like biting into an immovable wall.

Confusion flashed in its eyes.

Dante didn't even react at first.

Then he turned his head slightly.

"…Still trying this?" he asked, voice calm—almost disappointed.

He reached up with one hand and gripped the Lion's face.

Fingers dug into invulnerable flesh.

And he lifted it.

The Nemean Lion's entire body rose from the ground, its massive form hoisted effortlessly into the air as it roared in shock and fury. Dante pivoted once, boots grinding into the earth—

—and slammed it down.

The Lion collided with Orthrus's downed body in a catastrophic crash, the impact carving a massive crater into the plains. Stone exploded outward, debris raining down as both monsters were crushed beneath the force.

The ground trembled violently.

Dante stepped forward, drawing back his fist, intent clear.

Then a hiss interrupted him. It was sharp and much too close.

He reacted on instinct, leaping backward just as two enormous Hydra heads sailed past where he'd stood moments earlier. Their jaws closed gently—but decisively—around the ruined forms of Orthrus and the Nemean Lion, lifting them with unsettling care.

Dante's lenses narrowed.

("Pointless,") he noted internally. ("Their recovery won't change the outcome.")

He bent his knees, preparing to pursue—

Pain.

Something pierced his shoulder.

It was not blunt force, nor an impact. But a sharp intrusion.

Blood sprayed outward in a sudden arc as something retracted just as quickly as it had struck. Dante's body stiffened—not from pain, but from surprise. An intense impact followed suit.

Something colossal slammed into him from the side, an overwhelming force that ripped the air apart. Dante was hurled backward, the world spinning violently as he crashed into the ground with bone-rattling force.

The impact was very real.

The earth caved beneath him as he skidded across broken stone, leaving a deep gouge in his wake. The force knocked some breath from his lungs.

He rolled once before coming to a stop.

Silence followed as Dante lay still for half a second.

Then he moved.

Slowly he pushed himself up onto one knee. Blood dripped from his shoulder, dark and vivid against the black and gold of his coat. The wound smoked faintly, edges seared by whatever had struck him.

He looked down at it.

There was a sensation there—searing and invasive. Not agony, but something sharp, something that cut deeper than flesh. His body felt… heavier. And suddenly slower.

("Poison?") he surmised.

He raised his head.

And there it stood.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.