The sound of footsteps echoed through the dark corridor, each sound a reminder of the absolute emptiness surrounding the hooded figure. The darkness was deep, impenetrable, a blackness that rivaled the Abyss itself. There was no light, only the constant sound of firm steps resonating through the hallway.
"Open," ordered the female voice. With a subtle gesture, she opened a veil in space, revealing a passage to a world of pure white, a complete contrast to the previous darkness. Radiant light flooded the corridor, casting long, sinuous shadows behind her.
In the center of this white world, a man with black hair floated in the lotus position, his features serene in a state of deep meditation. He seemed indifferent to the presence of the woman who had just entered his domain.
"It was hard to find you, you know? Why did you open a passage in a dungeon? Oh, it doesn't matter," the female voice said, a hint of mild frustration in her words, as she had been trying to find this man for a long time... "We need your help." She approached further, the passage closing behind her, isolating them in that space of pure light. Her words echoed, blending with the immaculate void.
"I'm sure I said I would leave the realms and continue seeking the way of the sword, Alice," the man spoke calmly, his eyes remaining closed, his expression unchanged. His tone was firm but also gentle. They had been friends for a long time.
Alice Arcano, the Witch Queen, observed Musashi Miyamoto for a moment, her expression troubled as she searched for the right words. "I know that's what you said, Musashi. But the situation has changed. It's not something we can handle alone...
we're being invaded." Her golden eyes reflected the real urgency of the situation, her words carrying a weight far heavier than the usually carefree witch who quarreled with everyone in her path.
Musashi sighed lightly, his eyes still closed. "There's always a situation, Alice. There's always something that needs solving..." He opened his eyes slowly, revealing a deep and penetrating gaze that seemed to pierce the very fabric of reality around him. "But I'm no longer interested in the battles of the realms. My pursuit is for the perfection of the sword, and nothing more."
"You don't understand, Umbral and Nightsphere are being invaded by Demons," Alice insisted, taking a step forward. "This time it's different. The natural order of things is at stake. The balance that sustains all realms is unraveling, besides... Dante Scarlet has been resurrected." Her voice caused Miyamoto's eyes to finally react, a serious look emerging.
Musashi held his gaze on her for a moment, his features expressionless as he processed her words. "Dante Scarlet has been resurrected... What's really happening?" He finally asked, his calm voice betraying a hint of interest.
"Yes," Alice replied, "if the balance collapses completely, there will be no place left for the pursuit of the sword. Everything will be consumed by chaos. Currently, several almost indestructible trees are draining the planet's life force. While I'm here, my daughters are isolating one of the trees, but I've already sensed three more of them."
Musashi was silent for a moment, his gaze drifting as he pondered Alice's words. "I would prefer to stay here," he murmured, but there was a glint of curiosity in his eyes. "Understood, very well, I will help. I've been trapped here for many years anyway. I need some challenge to test this weary sword."
Alice took a deep breath, she had succeeded... She thought it would be very difficult; for a second she thought of something... "Just mentioning Dante and he changed his stance...
Damn man, still a subject of interest to strong people like us." She sighed and continued, "Then let's go, I'll show you what's happening," she said and began to open the veil again, but this time to her personal chamber in the Witch Kingdom.
Musashi was silent for a moment, his gaze drifting as he pondered Alice's words. "An invasion, huh..." he murmured, as if testing the words he had just heard. "Destruction and chaos... interesting." His eyes returned to Alice, who led the way; for some reason, he seemed excited.
With that... Musashi Miyamoto joined the Invasion alongside the Witches.
And as Musashi began to enter the battlefield, in other realms, everyone was struggling to completely stop this great problem... But the real problem was a man who was ready to enter the Giant Demonic Tree.
"I'm sick of this shit already," growled Dante, his eyes burning with fury after slaughtering numerous demons attacking him, his patience wearing thin. He wielded Excalibur, the blade now imbued with the black flames of Amaterasu. The blade shone with an almost unbearable power, its light merging with the dark energy flowing through it.
"Stupid tree, open up!" he roared, and with a powerful swing, he slashed the demonic tree from top to bottom. The blade tore through the grotesque bark with an incandescent gleam, creating a massive rift that tried to close with pulsating veins of energy, but couldn't resist the destructive power of Excalibur.
Before him, the opening revealed an interior that resembled a living nightmare. The inner walls of the tree were made up of grotesque veins spiraling around, forming a complex web of organic threads that climbed to the top.
The tree was partially hollow, its innards filled with tunnels and corridors that intertwined, forming a labyrinth of entrances and exits leading to branches, hidden chambers, and other unknown parts of the demonic structure.
Dante narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the interior with suspicion. "What the hell is this?" he muttered, his voice echoing in the depths of the tree. The structure pulsed with a life of its own, the veins glowing in shades of purple and red, as if charged with malevolent energy.
"Nothing I can't handle," Dante said to himself, tightening his grip around Excalibur's hilt. He took a step forward, the blade still glowing intensely, and entered the rift he had created. His steps echoed as he advanced through the tree's interior, each sound resonating like a whisper in the pulsating darkness.
"Forget about us?" He turned and saw Vex pouting. "You handle the outside; I'm going to blow this thing up from the inside," Dante ordered, and Vex pouted again, and so did Eldrax. She was just watching after nearly being suffocated by Voralith. "I'll reward you later." Dante smiled and leaped upward without giving the girls a chance to respond.
"Listen to him, you wouldn't survive what's up there." Voralith said. "And what's up there?" Vex questioned.
"A wounded wife of a powerful man," she commented.
After disappearing from the women's sight, Dante found himself in a strange atmosphere that seemed to vibrate with a sinister energy. "Let's see what this damn tree is hiding," murmured Dante, keeping Excalibur ready for any threat that might arise.
The veins around him writhed and pulsed as if they were the arteries of a gigantic living being. But he continued walking on them calmly.
He climbed a few places and found a ceiling with only one entrance, as if it was truly a floor of the tree, something that really caught his attention, but it didn't matter. With an agile leap, he managed to jump from platform to platform until he reached that entrance.
Suddenly, a strange noise echoed from the depths of the tree, followed by an intense glow emanating from one of the side chambers. Dante turned quickly, his instincts on alert. "What's that?" He advanced toward the glow, his eyes fixed on the source of the light.
Upon entering the place, suddenly, a strange noise echoed from the depths of the roots, followed by an intense glow emanating from one of them that seemed to be sending something. Dante turned quickly, his instincts on alert. "What's that?" He advanced toward the glow, his eyes fixed on the source of the light, which seemed like a tentacle transporting something.
The tentacle, or root, Dante wasn't even sure what it was, in the center of the room, spat out a strange figure, wrapped in a sort of cocoon made of pulsating veins.
"Ugh, what a disgusting thing! Who the hell designed the interior of this place?" Dante mocked, his eyes fixed on the figure. The cocoon seemed to pulse with a life of its own, and Dante could feel the demonic energy emanating from it. He tightened his grip around Excalibur, the blade vibrating in response to the growing power around him.
"Let's end this," he said, raising the sword to strike the cocoon. But before he could deliver the blow, the cocoon ruptured with a violent snap, and the figure inside fell to the ground, enveloped in a dense aura of darkness.
The figure rose slowly, revealing itself as an imposing man, his eyes glowing with deep malevolence. "Finally, someone worthy to face," said the man, his voice reverberating with dark power.
"Oh, fuck off! Another shitty demon!" Dante shouted in sheer frustration. "What is this? The third idiot to appear in front of me saying, 'Oh, I am a powerful demon! Die by my hands!'" He mimicked the demons' voices in a completely sarcastic tone.
"Go on, introduce yourself and say you're going to kill me, that you're too strong, or whatever! So I can obliterate you and move on to the next annoying demon!" Dante said. The demon was simply at a loss for words.