Chapter 83: New transformation

Two nights ago. Floor 50, in a stairwell.

At Midnight. Dante sat on the cold steps with half a dry biscuit in his hand.

[Midnight reached. You receive 1x Free Daily Spin.]

[Spin Complete! You got: ’Broken Horn Chip’ (F-Rank Junk Item).]

[Description: A chip of bone from a dead demon. Useless.]

He flicked it with his thumb. The chip spun in the air.

[System 2: 100x Sovereign Multiplier Triggered!]

[’Broken Horn Chip’ (F-Rank) ---> Multiplied by 100x!]

[You got: ’Demon Sovereign Transformation’ (SSS-Rank Hidden Technique).]

[Status: LOCKED.]

[Condition: The host must drink demon blood.]

Dante read it and snorted. "Demon blood," he said to the dark. "Sure. Like I’ll just ask one nicely and they will give me? No wait, esabella is also a demon so— no, it is to selfish of me. Whatever forget it."

He closed it and didn’t think about it again.

...In Present...

Danta was laying there , Something wet touched his lips.

Dante’s eyes were half open, but the world swam. A weight lay across his chest, hot and shaking. Black and red feathers hung over his face like a roof.

’Wings?’

He tried to turn his head and couldn’t.Esabella was on top of him.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck. Her forehead pressed against his collarbone. Her whole body trembled, and her breath came in short, wet pulls. Blood ran down her chin from her mouth, and it dripped onto his lips, one drop after another.

It tasted different, Under that, something hot, like fire.

’No Wait what is happening?Why is she bleeding?’

Then the memory of earlier came back. The sword in his shoulder. The dagger in his stomach and hip, again and again. Marcus laughing. His hand falling open in the sand.

And her. Throwing herself across him. Dante’s eyes found her back over her shoulder. The scales were cracked and grey. Boot prints covered them, and dark blood soaked her hair.

His fingers dug into the sand. His hands shook.

’They kicked her. She’s dying because of me, and i am just laying there ? I need to get up’

"Move, Queen," Elena said, from somewhere above them. She sounded bored.

A boot hit Esabella’s back. Her whole body jerked against his, and a broken sound came out of her throat. More blood fell on his face.

Dante’s chest burned. It wasn’t the wounds. It was something worse.

’Everyone who stands next to me ends up bleeding. I couldn’t protect anyone’

His teeth clenched until his jaw cracked.

’No. Not her. Not again.’

’I’ll kill them.’ He tried to lift his arm. It wouldn’t move so he lift his head, blood coming from his mouth and his eyes full of anger and rage try to reach towards them. His hand finally moved.

"Enough games," Marcus said.

A foot hooked under Esabella’s side. Another caught Dante’s ribs. The two of them were kicked across the sand like trash and rolled apart, then lay on their backs side by side, with only a hand’s width between them.

Dante turned his head. Esabella lay beside him. Her cheek was in the dirt. Her gold eyes were open, wet, and fixed on him.

Her scales were moving. They crawled up her arms again, glossy and black, and her horns pushed through her hair. A low heat rolled off her skin. The sand around her shoulders began to glow.

’Is there really no other choices?.’ Her hands shook. Her lips trembled. She wasn’t looking at the sky, or at Marcus, or at the blades. She was looking only at him, and she was terrified.

’I hate that, but if i don’t do it he will die’ A tear ran down her nose.

’ I have to do it for him’

She closed her eyes tight. When she opened them again, they were bright gold, and the slits had stretched thin. She was going to do something.

But then – Dante’s heart gave one hard beat.

’Esabella...’

[Demon blood detected. Absorbing.]

A line of red text come in his vision.

[Analysis: Not common demon blood.]

[Source: Esabella Vaelorix. Royal Demon Queen.]

[Condition met. Hidden technique ’Demon Sovereign Transformation’ UNLOCKED. Power increased by royal bloodline.]

[Warning: The host’s body is in critical condition. Using this form now may kill the host.]

[Activate?]

’I deserve to die if i can’t protect them ’

"Yes," he said.

As he said yes Red light blasted out of his body.

It tore across the arena like a wave. Marcus and Elena were thrown back and slammed against the stone wall. Esabella’s half-formed scales froze, and her eyes went wide.

Dante rose. He didn’t push himself up instead Something lifted him off the ground by the spine. The wounds in his shoulder, thigh, and hip closed in curls of red smoke, though the pain stayed behind. A horn broke through the left side of his skull, black and curved and glossy, with a purple sheen. Dark veins crawled up his neck and arms, glowing a faint red. His eyes opened, and they were red too, with a thin black slit in each.

He lifted his hand.

A sword lay in the sand a few steps away, half buried in melted glass. It was esabella sword. The fire inside it had gone out.

The blade tore out of the ground and flew into his palm like a hound called by its master. He looked down at her.

Esabella lay on her side with her scales half formed, staring up at him.

"Leave everything to me and Stay down," Dante said.

His voice was low and rough, as if two people were speaking at once.

A new line of text lit up.

[Demon Sovereign Form activated.]

[New skill acquired: ’Spatial Cleave’.]

[Description: A single slash that cuts through space itself.]

[Warning: Using Spatial Cleave in the host’s current condition may cause fatal damage.]

Marcus had crawled out of the rubble. Elena was already getting up, with her black eyes wide.

Dante lifted the sword.

"Now... Let’s begin the real show. today i will show you what real fears look like" he said.