"How many problems..." Dante murmured as he sat on the throne of Aldria with her in his lap, trying to maintain the composure of an empress, but... well, she was failing, especially when she saw all those people in front of her looking at her with predatory eyes...
The ones who seemed the most eager to leap at her and drag her out of there were Morgana, Vex, and Sara... the others seemed to be in good spirits, even Eldrax was quite calm, though her arms were crossed, and her eyes were closed as if she were sulking. Voralith was the same, it even seemed like Eldrax was imitating her, but her face was calm and serene.
There's no need to mention the others, Nagasawa, Aaralyn, and Velryna were still quiet, waiting for Dante to start speaking.
"First, I want to clarify something. Currently, I have taken the throne of Hell and theoretically I am an entity above anyone here. But since I have not died and my soul has not gone to Hell, I am just a mortal without my true powers as the Infernal God or whatever that may be. I cannot yet say with precision what will happen..." he said.
Of course, Dante searched the mind of his former self, Lucifer, who had all the infernal experiences, but he found nothing, because he had always been a Demonic Sovereign. It was complicated, actually, he was the first of his world; his Hell was somewhat different from Lilith's current Hell.
"Besides..." He pondered whether or not to comment on this, but he no longer wanted to hide the truth from them. He had started with Valentina, and now it was time to tell the others. "I am a reincarnated soul." He said, causing some reactions to be quite exaggerated, especially Vex, who stood up and was the first to shout. "How could you hide this! Damn man!" She said quickly.
The reaction was as natural as could be; her eyes were wide open, barely able to accept what he was saying. In fact, damn! How could anyone accept that!
The second to comment was Eldrax... well, it wasn't like she... "I don't know what that is, but Dante is still Dante and that's fine with me." Eldrax said, crossing her arms and pouting, "No matter what Dante is, he is still mine." She added, and everyone looked at her not knowing how to react. Was she just... silly? Well, no one could tell...
Breaking the silence, the next to speak was Sara. "Are you referring to when you died? If so, then yes, we know you reincarnated... but if..." "I wasn't Dante in my previous life." He admitted. Many things went through Dante's mind... "How long have you...
known this?" She asked, looking for something he hadn't shared. She wanted to know exactly what had happened to him...
"Since I was born into this world, I knew I was reincarnated, but I was born in a strange way." Dante commented, and the eyes of the women, especially Aldria who was closest, were practically begging for more information. "Ah~ This is so complicated..." he murmured, scratching his head...
"I was born without concrete memories of my previous world, just experiences and memories related to it. I had many fragmented dreams, but after I was killed in Kryoris, those nightmares and fragmented memories stopped." Dante tried to explain as clearly as possible.
"But now... I know exactly who I was... the people I once was in other places in the Universe." Dante said, and they were even more surprised, especially Morgana... "People? You mean, several?" Morgana commented, and Dante nodded... "I recalled three lives to be specific, but I believe there are more, at least I feel that way." Dante commented, looking at them.
"My last life is the least interesting..." Dante murmured... he didn't want to say much, but...
"No one is here to judge who you were. If you are Dante Scarlet, it doesn't matter who you were." The person who spoke these words... shocked everyone. After all... it was Lilith, someone who barely knew him well enough to say something like that, but... the feeling was mutual...
"I agree with her." Nagasawa said. She had been quite silent since Dante returned, because... she was a bit irritated with him, but knew it was only due to her own selfishness. "Not only do I agree with her, but I also wanted to ask something. Can this help us? I mean, knowing who you were, does it affect or propel you?
We are family, it changes nothing, but we would also like to know more about you." Velryna said. As always, she was the one who thought the most about the family as a whole.
"We're tired of being mere spectators while you stronger ones keep trying to overcome everything alone," Aaralyn said, after being "sent away" from the main tree under the pretext of a "mission." This really irritated her.
"I understand..." Dante murmured, looking ahead while gently adjusting Aldria on his lap.
"My last life before ending up in this world, Elysium. I was born on a planet called Earth. I wasn't anyone important, in a world where magic doesn't exist, or rather... only humans exist, nothing supernatural. At that time, I was a girl named Aisha Walker... I suffered from bullying, and I'm not sure what happened, but it might have been suicide.
The memories of that moment are still blurry; it might take some time for me to understand what really happened." He revealed, and the women listened in silence, understanding the weight of his words. It was a life that ended because he couldn't bear to live anymore.
Dante sighed, then looked at Lilith, who was intrigued by his gaze. "What is it?" she asked, and he just smiled. "I know a Lilith too," Dante said, and everyone paid attention.
"Another life I remember... I was the man you hate the most," Dante said, and Lilith didn't understand what he meant, but of course, he wouldn't speak without creating suspense. After all, being him was really complicated, and he wanted to see his wives' reactions. "There is something I haven't fully understood yet, but it might be called Parallel Reality or interconnected worlds, I'm not sure.
But I was the man you hate the most in this world," Dante said.
"You mean you were..." Lilith murmured, unsure of the madness she was about to pronounce. "Lucifer?" she said, and the entire room fell silent, with only Dante smiling. "Well, not this idiot Lucifer. I was much more handsome, still am, actually. And Jesus! Don't look at me like that, damn it, I'm much cooler than him, okay?" Dante said, looking at Lilith, who had a strange expression.
A mix of feelings passed through her.
"Are you kidding me?" Lilith finally said, trying to process the revelation. "It's impossible that you were... him."
Dante shrugged. "I know, it's hard to believe. But as I said, parallel realities. I've lived many lives in many different worlds."
"So, in one of those lives, you were Lucifer," Sara said, trying to understand. "And now, you are Dante, here in Elysium."
"Exactly," Dante confirmed. "Well, I'm not proud of it... even knowing that the crazy spark who thought he was the supreme god of everything accused me unjustly... damn, he was a lunatic!" Dante said, as if releasing some pent-up frustrations from his past life.
"And... do you remember anything else?" Sara asked, already finding the details he shared too crazy, but...
"I don't need to tell the last one... There's someone here who knows me much better, and she must be really interested in talking, since she's even talking about disputes, right? Li Mei." Dante said, completely ignoring Voralith's name and her requests again. He didn't look at Voralith, just closed his eyes while continuing to stroke Aldria's black hair, who was enjoying the moment...
"Who is Li Mei?" The first to ask was, of course, the most curious. Eldrax looked around, trying to find someone who resembled a "Li Mei."
Everyone started looking for who this Li Mei might be, until finally, her voice emerged...
"I told you, I abandoned that name! You red lizard bastard!" Voralith roared furiously, and everyone turned to look at her.
"Lizard?" Morgana questioned, trying to understand more and more.
"That bastard! He was the damn Dragon Lord!" Voralith said, cursing her own husband. His jokes had already worn her patience thin.
Dante opened his eyes and looked directly at Voralith, a mischievous smile on his lips. "Voralith knew him very well... well, let's say she managed to evade him quite well... Hey, I feel betrayed, you know? I came back from multiple reincarnations to get you back; you should be grateful! I missed you so much!"
"You never change, do you, Dante?" Voralith, still furious, crossed her arms and huffed. "Yes, I have known this idiot for a long time. And to be honest, I would rather not remember that, but here we are, again, after a million years, look who's miraculously back to torment me."
"So, he was a Dragon?" Sara asked, intrigued...
"Yes, Dante was... the Progenitor of All Dragons," Voralith replied, trying to stay calm. "But he always had this damn ability to annoy me to the extreme."
"And you two were... friends?" Vex asked, hesitantly.
"More than that," Voralith said with a sigh. "We were partners. We fought side by side, faced powerful enemies, and even... He was my master." She stopped, looking at Dante, who was still smiling.
"Damn it..." She murmured, especially now, knowing she couldn't escape this man in any way... after all... she had already fallen in love with him.
"Fate is cruel," she concluded, leaving the women unsure of exactly what she was referring to.