"I am Haji~" Before the demon could respond, he was interrupted by surprise as Dante appeared in front of him at supersonic speed. The fire-charged blow struck, and the demon took it without any defense.
POW
The blow was devastating, hitting the demon squarely in the stomach, leaving no chance to dodge. The punch was so powerful that Dante's fist left a burn mark on the demon's reddened skin, the imprint of Dante's fingers outlining in a frightening display, especially considering what came next.
The demon was thrown several meters and slammed his back into one of the large roots forming the pathways. A sharp roar of pain followed, showing that the strike was indeed effective. Dante, however, showed no expression; he merely watched as the demon's body fell to the ground.
"I'm tired of this nonsense. Am I going to have to go down to hell personally to find Lucifer? This is beyond limits," he growled. Dante was already completely enraged. Even though his wife had been kidnapped, he had been relatively calm compared to what he intended to do before. But he was gradually getting tired of being rational; he just wanted to lash out at something, and unfortunately...
this demon, Haji... would be the perfect punching bag.
He flexed his fingers around the hilt of Excalibur, the blade gleaming with a sinister light, the energy of Amaterasu still burning intensely. Dante launched himself at the demon's body, which was still recovering from the impact. "No more rationality. I'm done waiting and solving problems with restraint." He leaned over Haji's body, his piercing gaze fixed on the demon's terrified eyes.
Haji, still staggering and struggling to get up, raised his head only to find Dante mere inches away. The demon tried to mumble a defense, but his voice failed under the intense pain and growing fear. "You... you don't understand... I'm just a..." He tried to speak, but his words were lost in a groan of agony.
"Fuck what you are, I don't care," Dante interrupted, his voice a roar of fury. He raised Excalibur, the blade roaring with Amaterasu's black fire, and swung it in a swift arc, cutting the air with a deadly hiss. Haji raised his hands in a desperate attempt to defend himself, but Dante's blow struck him with crushing force, the impact sending sparks and flames everywhere.
"Urgt!" Haji screamed in pain, his body being thrown again against another root, his skin darkening and twisting under the relentless heat.
"This is for all the obstacles, for all the demons, for all the chaos you brought, you bastards!" Dante snarled, looking at him fiercely, his eyes burning with rage. "I'll cleanse this tree of you, even if I have to reduce everything to ashes."
The demon tried to rise once more, his legs trembling under the weight of his own pain. "Please... I..." he began, but Dante didn't listen. He advanced with Excalibur raised, ready to deliver another deadly blow. "There's no place for mercy here. Didn't you want this?" Dante said, his voice cold as steel.
"You brought this upon yourselves." With a quick and precise movement, he struck again, the blade slicing through Haji's body with terrifying ease, Amaterasu's fire consuming everything in its path.
"AAAAAAGHH!" Haji's final scream echoed through the tree's interior, his form dissolving into particles of darkness that were sucked into the pulsating interior of the tree, the demonic energy being absorbed by the grotesque structure around.
Silence fell over the battlefield, only the sound of Amaterasu's fire crackling softly around.
"Fuck it, I'm not going to give these bastards time to think or say anything anymore. My wife and your mother are far more important than some fifth-rate villain's idiotic speeches," Dante said sharply.
Without wasting more time, he cast a glance at the top of the tree. "Time to find the core of this damned thing and end it once and for all," Dante muttered, his eyes fixed on the tangled veins and roots that stretched out before him, spiraling chaotically up the interior of the tree.
"I hate this crap!" he roared and swung a cut upward. The slash started to rise through the air but quickly dissipated. "Damn, the energy above is even denser; it canceled my attack," Dante thought. "Well, on to the next." He said, jumping between the vines again, getting close to the supposed next floor.
And again... as he was climbing this immense tree of demonic energy... his wives were not in the best mental state... Especially... Valentina.
Let's just say that the beautiful scarlet-haired wife was... having a bad day.
"I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU, YOU PIECES OF SHIT! STOP RESPAWNING ALL THE TIME!" Valentina roared to the skies, her voice echoing with desperate intensity. Her Vampire Count form twisted and transformed into something even more powerful. "BURN THE WHOLE WORLD!"
With each scream, the scorching sun in the sky seemed to respond to her, intensifying its shine until it became an almost tangible presence on the battlefield. The heat radiated with uncontrollable ferocity, and the demons around retreated, desperately trying to escape Valentina's incendiary fury.
"THE STAR THAT FALLS UPON ME, EMPOWER ME!" Valentina shouted, raising her arms to the sky. An aura of intense flames formed around her, growing and taking the shape of her Phoenix, Igris, who appeared majestically on the battlefield.
"IFRIT!" she screamed, her voice tearing through the air with unyielding authority. Her figure began to transform, her body molding into a hybrid form where her vampiric essence fused with Igris's fiery energy. Her flaming wings expanded, enveloping her in an incandescent aura that burned everything around her.
On the battlefield, the demons flailed in panic at the sight of Valentina-Igris's imposing figure advancing on them. It was as if the power of the sun was being invoked; was a Phoenix's flame this powerful? The incandescent fury she radiated was overwhelming, a storm of flames consuming everything in its path.
The temperature rose steeply, and the sand around her began to overheat, gradually turning into various loose pieces of glass as it liquefied under the extreme heat.
The demons tried to escape, but Valentina-Igris's flames were relentless, consuming them before they could regroup. "Burn, all of you!" she roared, her voice echoing like thunder through the chaos. Her eyes glowed with a neon red light, and her expression was one of pure, uncontrolled rage.
"Calm down, girl," Igris's voice echoed in her mind, blending with her own darker thoughts. "Advance and finish this fight quickly; those two demons ahead are controlling the rebirth of the others."
"GUNGNIR!" She screamed, and the lance returned to her hand. With a single strike using the reverse end of the lance on the ground...
The impact was monumental. A seismic shockwave rippled through the battlefield, and the resulting force swept away all the demons around. Waves of flames and energy propagated from the point of impact, incinerating everything in their path. The demons were thrown into the air, their bodies disintegrating under Gungnir's devastating strike.
"If you could have done this all along, why didn't you?" Igris asked, sounding quite serious, but Valentina shrugged. "It's been a while since I fought; I needed to warm up. After all, I'll have to go to hell to help my lovely husband soon enough." She said with a possessive smile, she would really love to explore hell, a place she hadn't had the chance to challenge yet.
"Now, let's deal with the two pieces of trash that have been bothering me on this exhausting day." Valentina turned to the two demons who were staring at her intently. "Just two more obstacles to be turned into mere garbage."
Fathy looked at the woman in front of him. "You're underestimating us too much, Valentina Scarlet." He paused briefly. "Demons always return, always reform. You can destroy, but you can't completely erase what we are." He said, and again more demons began to circle around her.
Their plan was never to fight, just to hold her off for as long as possible, even if it meant sacrificing thousands of souls, including their own.
Varall let out a growl, his muscles contorting. "Come at us; we can't be destroyed so easily. You will learn that there are things beyond your control, vampire." He sounded arrogant, very arrogant in fact, and Valentina didn't like that at all...
"I always found arrogant humans amusing. I was quite affectionate with dwarves who loved their work, met various fairies and spirits during my life, including elves, giants, and vampires, but you know... one thing was always certain..." She murmured as her power increased, leaking out from all sides...
"I am absolute." Valentina said, and a massive pillar emerged. The two demons... entered a state of panic. "S-she was..." "Playing."
The energy was so powerful that nothing could stop it. Even the lesser demons that were respawning began to be utterly torn apart just by the aura she was releasing. For a moment, there was only one person... Valentina. The only person allowed to stand in that place.
"No demon has the right to be arrogant before me," she said. "Demons must die," were her last words before the Apocalypse descended upon the ground.