Valentina looked into the eyes of the man before her. "Why do I feel like I'm being constrained?" She thought, as she sensed a massive connection coming from the man before her, who didn't even consider her an opponent; he was simply... taking the fight calmly, and that irritated her.
She was Rias, the woman who could slaughter armies, but why was a man treating her like a child? "Who the hell is this Valentina he keeps talking about!" She roared internally. It was as if... her thoughts were fractured, and her concentration barely existed. She knew she was stronger than him; that was obvious, but...
"Why does he know everything I'm going to do?" She questioned herself. She had already grasped that this man knew her, but... Why did he know her so well? Who was he?!
Once again, she rose and advanced towards him in the most brutal way they knew; once again, they began to raise their spears, unleashing a furious battle that caused tremors to cascade through the surrounding mountains.
Every blow they exchanged made their weapons roar like thunder, and the mountains around them began to yield to the force of their impacts. Valentina tried to maintain her stance, but with each blow, she felt weaker; with each intense clash of their weapons, her arms slightly faltered. It was a deadly dance of attacks and counterattacks, but... why did she feel like she was just losing?
"Focus, return to your being, Valentina Scarlet," Dante commented as he struck like lightning, tearing through the air with his negative energy. The chains of mountains surrounding the area were reduced to rubble under the power of their attacks; overhead, however, black clouds began to form, as if a storm were brewing.
Despite all this unrestrained destruction, they didn't stop. Dante had no intention of backing down until he made Valentina return to normal; it was his primary goal, even if it cost him a few days of his vacation. His heart burned with longing to find that woman he loved so much; afterwards, he would think about how to have ordinary life encounters and moments with her.
But for now, only Valentina existed in his mind.
For a moment, they stopped; each stood on a rocky peak overlooking a breathtaking yet frightening landscape; the scene they made was truly surreal. The sun had already disappeared; only shadows surrounded them, and the darkness of the battle began to emerge, heavy clouds laden with lightning began to appear.
ZAP! A flash burst, cutting through the air with a sinister sound.
With the noise of the lightning, they advanced towards each other, eyes fixed on one another. Valentina lunged first; her eyes sparked with fire, and a fireball was hurled, but Dante took it head-on without flinching and pierced it with his own chest, giving him a chance to strike.
Unfortunately, Valentina dodged, and the spear grazed her, leaving a trail of blood on her arm, causing her to let out a roar of pain.
"Argth, you bastard," she said. Despite the blow, Valentina maintained her composure, countering with a quick and precise strike towards Dante's chest, but he stopped the spear with his hand and kicked her stomach, sending her flying and crashing into one of the rocky peaks, destroying it.
As Valentina emerged from the rubble, visibly exhausted, Dante decided it was time to end this, and he would use his best weapons... "You forgot when I used to suck on your tits?" He said maliciously as he ran his fingers over her lips. "That never happened!" She shouted and lunged again, but Dante dodged. "Really?
I distinctly remember when you let me suck your blood from your tits' nipples, mommy," Dante said, smiling.
Valentina clenched her fists; her expression was one of pure rage and anguish. "You know nothing about me! Don't you dare utter those trivialities in a fight!" She screamed as she advanced, but she was already too weakened... She wasn't the true Valentina, she wasn't even a shadow of the woman Dante knew; seeing that, he could only laugh, a harsh and scornful sound.
"Ah, but I know enough to perceive your weakness," said Dante, serious this time. Valentina hesitated for a moment, struggling to control her breathing, her mind clouded with memories that threatened to overwhelm her. "I'm not weak," she growled. "I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!" She shouted, but Dante had already given up on attacking her.
"I remember when I first saw you, in that orphanage," said Dante, with a cold gaze, as he dodged Valentina's advances. He wouldn't fight her anymore. However, she didn't stop; in fact, she was becoming increasingly furious. "You're my woman," Dante murmured, his voice sharp as ice.
"Do you really not remember me?" he questioned, his voice sounding concerned, which he indeed was, after all, it was his woman standing in front of him.
Valentina screamed as if something had struck her, a sound of anguish that echoed through the surrounding mountains. "Stop this!" she shouted, her words laden with pain and despair.
But Dante showed no mercy. He continued to throw memory after memory at her, like sharp arrows finding their target with deadly precision.
"You adopted me, treated me as your son," he said as he stopped her spear with bare hands. "I saw the greatest monster become the kindest person I've known in this life," he commented, pulling Gungnir from her hand, which was trembling slightly.
"Look into my eyes and tell me you don't recognize me." Valentina writhed, her mind a mess of conflicting emotions, unable to bear the crushing weight of what he was doing to her. "Release me immediately!" She shouted, kicking, but he didn't budge.
BOOM! A thunderclap resounded, shaking the ground beneath their feet, causing Valentina to tremble with fear, which gave him space to approach her as quickly as possible, after all... "You're still afraid of thunderstorms," said Dante, holding her and pulling her close to him, as the rain began to fall, extinguishing Valentina's hair that burned like fire. She trembled, something that...
made Dante extremely shocked.
"In the end, she's still perfect," he thought. He enjoyed seeing this vulnerable side of Valentina.
"The Scarlet Reaper is afraid?" He questioned, holding her by the shoulders. "Stop..." she murmured, melancholic, her head beginning to ache badly. "The Supreme Monster," he said, and she lightly punched his chest. Valentina's mind began to return.
"The Supreme Evil, the Goddess of War, the Reaper, the Devastator, the Strongest Living Vampire, my little fire, my beautiful mother, and above all, my Valentina," Dante whispered in her ears, making her tremble. The connection between them began to fully reconnect until finally Dante approached her showing his neck.
"Drink," he said, referring to the blood, but drinking blood directly from the neck meant something.
She tried to resist, really fought hard... But she couldn't run from it, the scent of demon blood... the scent of hybrid vampire blood... it was too much, even for the strongest woman.
"Mhffm..." he moaned as she voraciously drank his blood, sending him into ecstasy. He then stroked Valentina's head.
"Drinking blood straight from my neck, you know what it means, don't you?" Dante repeated the same words Valentina said when he drank her blood for the first time. However, now... "You're my husband, why should I care about meanings?" She said, blushing, but who cared.
"Looks like my true wife has returned, hasn't she?" Dante smiled, and she commented: "You'd better explain yourself, because dying and coming back to life wasn't cool at all, mister." She said lightly letting go of Dante and stepping back.
"You traitors, you could have stopped this with a snap of your fingers," said Valentina, releasing a burst of mana into the sky, destroying the entire barrier. "Tsk, spoilsport," Morgana said.
"And you, you treacherous weapon, you were supposed to protect me!" She growled at the weapon, which trembled lightly... Gungnir... well, let's leave Gungnir aside for now.
"And you, you bastard! I spent a hundred years locked up because of you! You better compensate me very well!" She shouted at Dante, who just laughed, missing that woman far more than he should. "Don't I even get a kiss?" Dante questioned with a mischievous smile. "Say anything else and I'll kill you again," Valentina said seriously, and Dante approached and grabbed her from behind.
"And you, how long are you going to limit your body?" He questioned, after all, he saw exactly how her body was, but the others didn't.
"Tsk, arrogant," she said. "Confidence, not arrogance," he replied, and Valentina's body returned to what it was supposed to be, a voluptuous and luxurious woman with a warrior aspect but completely sexy, big breasts and a rounded butt in the right places and her true fiery red hair, without that dead color from before. "So beautiful," he said as he held her by the waist.
"Kaalindra," Valentina said, and immediately the woman appeared. "Since when are you so weak that you're knocked out with one blow?" She asked seriously. "I'm sorry, My Lady, it was a request from Morgana to let Dante deal with you."