"So, how are the plans to blow up my world coming along?" Dante asked bluntly, without mincing words; he was short and direct... "Oh come on, you know it's not like that... and you have plenty of time, don't you? I mean, you have a primordial dragon by your side." The Administrator shrugged, seeing that Dante was really trying to extract any information.
"You're not easy, huh? Come on, just a little spoiler..." Dante said, pouting, but she simply ignored him. "Do you want to take her with you?" she asked, and Dante dropped his friendly appearance, "It's not a matter of wanting, I will simply take her... And if they don't agree, I'll just take her soul to give her a new body."
He said without any hesitation, he would simply do what he wanted as he always did. "Well, that's what I was going to tell you, good luck then." She said, turning to leave.
"That's it?" Dante asked, and she turned to him. "She's not like Voralith; she's stuck here because she messed up in the Prime Sector. She's a bug, but there's no way to send her back to her Sector, and her soul is trapped. You just have to offer a contract and take her soul for yourself. She won't be considered a living individual anymore, and you can take her with you. The world is simple, isn't it?
If it were Voralith and all that power... Jesus, I don't even know what we'd have to do, but her..." She murmured, and Cherry looked at her intrigued...
"She's weak."
Dante frowned, his expression darkening at the White Administrator's words. "Weak?" He repeated, his voice full of disdain. "You really don't understand anything, do you?"
The Administrator shrugged, indifferent to Dante's threatening tone. "I'm just telling the truth. Compared to other entities we've encountered here, she doesn't pose a significant threat. A bug, a glitch in the system. Nothing more."
Cherry, who had been quietly absorbing the conversation until now, felt something boil inside her. "A bug?" She murmured, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the Administrator. The contained anger in her voice was palpable, but she remained silent, allowing Dante to take the lead.
"You may see her as a 'bug,' but I see much more than that," Dante replied, his voice cold and calculated. "I don't care what you think of her or how you try to categorize her. Cherry is not a disposable piece in this game, and I will prove it."
"And I don't care about that, understood? I am supreme here, so I'll say it again, she's weak, and that won't change... besides, you don't expect her to be able to use her multi-portals in your world, do you? Hahaha, when you give her a body, she'll probably lose all her powers.
Here she can play because the Spiritual Realm is more about the strength of her soul than the real strength of the being in their physical body," she said, laughing with disdain... "Now I'm leaving."
Dante watched the White Administrator for a moment, his eyes narrowing to a dangerous slit. "Go ahead," he said, his voice low but filled with frustration. "But remember this: underestimating someone can be your biggest mistake." He said directly to the Administrator.
The Administrator merely shrugged, still with that disdainful smile on her face. "We'll see, Dante. We'll see." With those words, she disappeared, leaving behind a slight distortion in the air.
When she was gone, silence hung for a few moments until Dante turned to Cherry. He could see that, despite the contained anger, there was a shadow of doubt in her eyes. "Don't let her get to you," he said, his voice soft but firm. "You are much more than she can understand. And I'm here to make sure you have the chance to prove it."
Cherry blinked a few times, absorbing his words. "But, master... what if she's right? What if, out there in the world, I really can't do anything? What if I... lose everything?" There was a rare vulnerability in her voice.
"So what?" Dante asked, completely breaking her expression. "You just learn again, so let's go." He said, looking at Kazess, who was getting up.
"Sir, I'm going to desecrate your dimension for a moment, okay?" Dante said with a smile as he made a rather... strange hand gesture. "I've always wanted to do this..." He murmured.
"Domain Expansion: Infernal Sanctuary." He said, while Cherry couldn't believe what she was hearing. "M-Master... how do you know that reference?" She stammered as she looked at him.
"We need to talk a lot about my lives, Cherry... a lot of talks..." Dante murmured as a demonic portal resembling a temple appeared behind him, tearing the veil of space in the spiritual realm.
"Now, take this," Dante said, tossing a golden contract to her. "Sign it, and you'll be completely mine again." Without thinking twice, Cherry quickly bit her finger, causing a small wound to let the blood flow, and she signed with her fingerprint.
Dante's smile widened as he watched Cherry sign the contract with a speed and determination he knew well. She barely hesitated, pressing the wounded finger against the golden parchment, sealing the pact with her blood.
When the blood touched the contract, it glowed intensely, and the words inscribed on it began to light up as if they were absorbing Cherry's essence. The paper floated for a moment before transforming into pure energy, enveloping Cherry in a golden light and then disappearing into the air, leaving only a faint trace of magic in the environment.
Dante observed the process with a look of satisfaction. "Welcome back to the team, Cherry," he said, his voice laden with quiet confidence.
Cherry looked at her hands, feeling the almost immediate change. There was a new energy, something that felt both familiar and entirely new. "I... I'm really different," she murmured, still processing what had just happened.
She felt more connected to Dante, as if signing the contract had reestablished an old bond, but she was also curious about what this would mean for her outside the Spiritual Realm.
Dante nodded. "This is just the first part, Cherry. The real change will come when we cross into my world. There, everything will be different, but you'll adapt. As you always have."
He gave her a wink, and Cherry couldn't help but smile, even though she was still intrigued. "Master... you really are strange, aren't you?"
"Well, shall we go? I still need to create a body for you," Dante said, extending his hand to her. "We have a lot of work..." He said, as he began to move toward the portal to leave the spiritual world. "Oh, right..." He said before turning to Kazess.
"Your debt is paid, okay? Don't worry too much about Titania; I won't bite her... unless she decides to antagonize me again..." Dante said with a malevolent smile. "Then again... she used to run around my realm playing... Maybe uncle should go visit her later?" Dante said.
Of course, it was a bluff, but Kazess didn't want to take any chances...
"Fine, just leave and don't come back." He said, showing a firm stance on the outside, but inside... "I need to warn Titania immediately!" He thought. "Oh, can you send me directly back to where I was? I assume my wife is quite worried." Dante said, smiling.
"Just go," Kazess said, using the wind of the spiritual realm to push Dante toward the opaque portal that had opened.
As the spiritual wind pushed them toward the portal, Dante kept a calm expression, even though he knew Kazess was desperate to get rid of them. "See you later, Kazess," Dante said with a hint of irony in his voice, while Cherry firmly held his hand, her excitement almost palpable.
"AND AWAY WE GO!" She shouted, smiling, completely delighted by the situation.
The portal enveloped them in an opaque vortex of energy, and within seconds, they were hurled back into the physical world. The transition was quick and abrupt, with the Spiritual Realm disappearing from view as they crossed to the other side.
As the energy around them began to dissipate, Dante and Cherry emerged into a familiar environment. They were back in the place where Dante had been taken from before—the same mansion where it all began. The room was still a mess, with remnants of the spiritual explosion scattered everywhere.
Cherry, still holding Dante's hand, looked around with bright eyes. "We're back! And I'm... here... really here!" She laughed, spinning around the room, feeling the ground beneath her feet again. The spiritual energy that had surrounded her slowly began to stabilize, and she realized her abilities were changing, adapting to the new world.
Dante, on the other hand, was more concerned with something else. "Nagasawa... She's going to kill me," he murmured to himself, knowing his wife was probably worried—or worse, irritated.
"What's wrong, master?" Cherry asked, stopping her spinning to look at him.
"Nothing, nothing. I'm just thinking about the reception we're going to get," Dante replied, mentally preparing the explanations he would have to give to his wife.
Before he could think of anything else...
"Dante Scarlet." The voice came from behind him, sending a shiver down his spine from the irritation in her tone. "You have a lot to explain, don't you?" Nagasawa, arms crossed, asked, seeing Dante and an unknown woman in front of her. "Dante effect," she thought, still irritated.