The roar in the skies continued as Voralith and Eldrax tirelessly provided aerial support around the colossal tree, which kept pulsating demonic power into the atmosphere. The skies grew darker as the world was being drained by the tree...
A real problem that Dante needed to solve as soon as possible, but unfortunately... Dante wasn't the only one facing a deadly impasse with this invasion...
"I should have stayed in bed!" Katarina shouted while fighting, her claws breaking and tearing through various demons. Around her were numerous beast-men and people she barely knew. The demi-humans started to form a defensive brigade to keep the demons away from the city, but it was impossible; the roots themselves were clearly a major problem, and now, the entire city was engaged in combat.
"You know! I'd really like to have my beer! But you guys are too annoying!" she screamed in fury as her whole body changed, transforming into something... something very different from a cat... or rather, still a feline, but... one of the most dangerous kinds.
Katarina is no ordinary cat; she is a demi-human cheetah, a Red Cheetah, one of the fastest. She is a Deadly Sprinter, combining strength and speed at extreme levels... In her school days, she was a deadly threat because no one, absolutely no one, could even see her face during a fight. It might seem normal since speed can be countered with strategies, but nothing works against Katarina.
Her original power, something she had learned since childhood, was an increase in strength and speed so great that fighting her was impossible...
"You could be like those brats!" she shouted, recalling her school days when she defeated everyone with a single blow... now... Let's say she was showing she was a spoiled woman, "She's gone mad again…" Aren murmured while killing waves of demons with his staff.
"Leave her be, she's stronger when she's mad. Here she can vent as much as she wants..." Boris said, while effortlessly killing hordes of demons. His sword was completely red, barely showing the blade's color.
"I don't know what's going on here, but... we need power to bring this thing down, there's something strange coming from the top of that thing." Boris said, though he didn't know that this was the smallest of the trees.
There was a central tree in Nightsphere and, by chance, it was right where Valentina was. The others on the Beast, Vampire, and Witch Continents were smaller versions. The same applied to where Dante was... there was the central one with him and the others that were relatively smaller...
And speaking of the trees where Dante was...
"Damn it!" Aldria shouted as she used a giant axe to cut a root that was around the royal palace. Aldria was in a complete rage; being an Empress... is not an easy task.
"Your Majesty! Half the city has been cleared!" one of the soldiers shouted as he saw Aldria on one of the roots, surveying the destruction she had caused. "Damn it," she muttered before turning to the soldier. "What about the wounded?" she questioned, not caring about the destruction but about the people who couldn't defend themselves.
"We have already set up the camp with the best doctors to support the wounded; most people had minor injuries, fortunately." the soldier reported, and Aldria felt a weight lift off her shoulders; "Thank you for the work, go rest a bit, I will continue clearing this place." Aldria said, and the soldier bowed and left.
Aldria raised her axe again, "Here we go again," she said and delivered another heavy blow that shook the entire palace.
SMASHH
As she continued to clear the remaining obstacles in the palace, Velryna and Nagasawa... well, they were quite excited...
"Come on, you bastards! YES!" Nagasawa shouted in frustration as she punched, froze, and obliterated various enemies. "Damn man!" she shouted again, each blow fueled by insane fury, creating enormous carnage.
On the other side, it was no different.
"That bastard dares to do nothing to me!" Velryna shouted, blasting various demons with lightning-infused attacks that struck many of them. "I gave him everything! And he didn't even give me a kiss before disappearing again! That ungrateful wretch!" Velryna roared... the sweet princess had completely vanished... Now she was just a frustrated woman because her husband was a major slacker.
"I'm going to kill him when he shows up!" She shouted as she slaughtered so many demons per second that the soldiers could only watch; the demons didn't even get close to them.
"She's... enraged." one of the soldiers commented to the others, "Yes, it seems the Demon King did something... and it wasn't just to her..." he said, turning to the other side and seeing Nagasawa behaving similarly...
"Dante this, Dante that! I just want my husband's attention! But he keeps collecting more sluts and forgets about me!" she screamed, delivering a blow so powerful it triggered an ice hurricane that swept away all the weak demons in front of her...
While the battlefield boiled with the fury of the warriors who just wanted their husband's attention, Dante and Vex approached the entrance of the tree after annihilating numerous roots. The demonic roots advanced from all sides, their vibrations threatening the integrity of the ground beneath their feet. The air was thick with malevolent energy, and the scene grew increasingly desolate.
"These things keep getting in the way," Dante said, adjusting his sword. He felt that this great tree would only stop attacking him if he brought it down, but it was impossible to make a horizontal cut strong enough to fell it. Besides, there was another problem...
The tree was located in a forest, which was less bad since there were no cities around him; the place was far from the capital of the Lyrianna Empire but... Even so... Dante faced a dilemma.
Despite not knowing Fey well enough, having only a façade of a marriage, somehow... He couldn't just destroy the tree and turn the forest into a war zone. If what he understood about a world tree made sense, it would be like he was beating his wife, and despite being a VERY unrealistic and somewhat exaggerated thought, Dante wasn't willing to do that, not at all.
"Damn..." he murmured as he cut through various creatures and strange vines that attacked him. "There's no way." Dante said and looked at Vex, who seemed to be having a lot of fun... "I shouldn't have turned her into this... She looks like a lunatic." Dante muttered, seeing that Vex was very intent on massacring the poor demons; in fact, Vex was much more...
"Has she become more powerful?" Dante questioned himself, noticing that Vex's strength was increasing every moment...
"It's not her that's getting more powerful." Dante heard from himself, "Look closely." When Dante returned to his inner world... "What the hell happened here?" he questioned, the world seemed more... Alive?
The scene was almost surreal. The red seas that had once spread vast had shrunk into narrow streams that meandered through the terrain. There were stones scattered all around, and the red grass seemed to pulsate with life of its own. The cycle of day and night blended in a strange, yet familiar way.
He had seen something like this before, but now, the Spider-Lily fields were denser, almost merging with the grass as if they were part of the soil. There were no demons around, just a calm that filled the air.
Even so, he felt small fragments of souls emerging in the streams between the mountains. It was as if the place was beginning to create something, very different from the nine infernal layers. A kind of realm that did not follow the rules of the Demonic Hell.
"What's happening here inside?" Dante questioned directly to his alter-ego, who when he appeared... "W-what the hell happened to you!?" Dante questioned, seeing that his version... was completely different.
He no longer looked human now. Over two meters tall, his jade-like smooth skin gleamed under the light. His golden eyes had a mesmerizing glow, and his entire body was covered with intricate tattoos. The golden lines of the tattoos contrasted perfectly with his crimson hair. His physique was impressive, with well-defined muscles that would make anyone envious.
But what really stood out were the imposing horns that rose from his head.
"I told you not to absorb so much energy at once. I had to use my own body's essence to hold while directing this filthy mass of energy to the dimension. The only energy I refined came to the body; we're not equipped to absorb all this demonic rotten energy." Alter-Dante said, and he was speechless... Let's say that... "And when will I be able to use that body?
I mean, that one is way better than this one." He was blunt; he couldn't deny that his other self was much better than this.
BONK
"OUCH OUCH OUCH" Dante complained while placing his hand on his head. "Shut up and let's talk about what really matters." Alter-Dante said and looked at him...
"We're close to the next breakthrough."