"Hey, what are you thinking about?" The woman's voice invaded Dante's thoughts as he walked through the palace, marking each person with demonic energy.
"I'm thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow. Maybe I won't be myself anymore," Dante remarked, and Aaralyn emerged from his shadow.
"You're overthinking it, master." Dante looked at the woman and questioned, "I'm pretty sure I gave you time off, didn't I? Why are you working?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
"A shadow never rests. My master comes first." She said proudly, puffing out her chest. "You can't abandon me!" She exclaimed loudly. Dante, on the other hand, just smiled.
"Hmm, I think you've misunderstood something. I didn't give you time off because I wanted to push you away, Aaralyn," Dante said with a smile. "It's just that if I don't show that I need you, you'll go back to Valentina, won't you?" He asked with a smile, and Aaralyn withdrew... Dante's eyes... seemed like a vortex of a spiral abyss, sucking her in completely, but like a shadow, she quickly withdrew.
"Stop playing with me, master. I'm a loyal subordinate!" She quickly said and retreated back into the shadows.
"Tsk, damned shadow, be clearer with yourself, it'll be easier that way," he thought as he glanced around a few more places before heading to the final location, where he really needed to go.
The place in question?
The royal infirmary. He needed to deal with a problem that Ethan had caused.
He walked to the location and saw some nearby doctors examining a body still in a coma. Dante looked at those lifeless eyes and pronounced, "Let me see her, it's an order from your empress." And everyone quickly stepped back, leaving only Dante in the room.
"How pathetic," Dante said as he saw the woman's condition. He was truly angry at such an act, mainly because he thought if it were one of his wives... He would destroy the world if necessary.
"Aaralyn," Dante called, and the woman appeared. "Yes, master?" She questioned as she saw the deplorable state of the woman in front of her.
"Can you cover this room with a veil of your shadow to expel the intruders? I'll heal her," Dante said, and Aaralyn nodded.
'You've been serious few times, what did that imbecile do to affect you like this?' She wondered as she raised the isolation barrier, and Dante held Axilen's hands, who had more than half of her face completely destroyed.
He didn't even want to think about the details, but the woman he met in the palace salon no longer existed, she was completely dead.
It would be a miracle if anyone from this world could heal her, but it was impossible, except for Dante...
Axilen was corrupted by demonic energy of the highest caliber, even purer than what Dante has in his body.
"It's time to feast," Alter-Dante said as he began to slowly dissipate into mist, passing through Axilen's entire body.
The demonic energy from a high-caliber demon, something that should never be in this world, began to be sucked out.
Not in a perverted way or anything, it was more like it was slowly absorbed as it passed through every vein of the woman, through the bones, muscles, and cells.
All the energy from Ethan's blows began to dissipate, and Dante began to feel the negativity of what was there, it was like a flame of infinite greed that never fades.
"So it's you," Dante said as he felt a green energy emitting like smoke, and it was soon completely engulfed by the black miasma of his hand.
"One of the Seven Deadly Sins," Alter-Dante said, and Dante nodded; the energy of the Sins is much purer than any other energy.
"Greed," Dante said, it was the most obvious. Dante had no doubts, it was what surrounded Ethan the most.
"Avarice or Greed, call it what you want. A demon who uses illusions and steals the power of others," explained Alter-Dante. He had some information about each of the capital sins, after all, he was the progenitor side.
"Let's think about that later," Dante said and began to pass all the purified negative energy throughout Axilen's body, in order to heal her wounds.
"Are you sure you're going to do this?" Alter-Dante asked. However, Dante didn't listen to him and just said, "Whether I want to or not, it's my fault she's like this." He said coldly. He didn't blame himself, but something inside him said it was a consequence of his actions.
"Stop carrying other people's burdens," said Alter-Dante, but he refused. "If I am the progenitor of Hell, then the demons are my responsibility. Not just Ethan, but Avarice is involved. He or She will be punished when I find them personally." He said with a serious and intimidating look.
Axilen's body began to heal and be purified. Okay, maybe purified isn't the exact definition; he's just healing her with energy and swallowing the energy back, so he could heal her without corrupting her as Ethan did with his demonic mace blows.
Axilen's once bruised and blackened body, destroyed, began to be completely healed and soon, she opened her eyes seeing Dante, who was in his red-haired form.
"W-Who are you?" She stuttered as she tried to sit up, but "Argh!" She groaned in pain, and Dante pushed her back.
"Rest, girl. Soon you'll regain your movements," he said seriously, staring at her. Axilen was frightened by Dante's appearance, but still asked. "Who are you?" Again, now more firmly, while her body was still undergoing the healing process.
"I am the past that Ethan hates the most. I am his worst memory, worst nightmare, and worst reality. I am just your deepest hell. Try to think who I am," Dante said and turned away.
"Dante, you are Dante Scarlet," she said, without surprise or any negative reaction, just a confident smile.
Dante turned and looked at the girl. "Seems like you're much smarter, and you know your husband's fears well," Dante said and opened the door again.
"He's not my husband, he's my jailer!" She said, and Dante didn't look back. "Kill him, set me free! I beg you!"
"Don't worry. He will die... In the worst possible way," said Dante, his golden gaze turned completely red, and as he looked at Axilen one last time, she didn't even flinch.
"I'll cling to any chance of that bastard dying, whether it's Dante Scarlet or not, I don't care," she thought.