Path of the Demonic Villain

Meanwhile...

——

The moment Dante crashed onto the roof tiles, he felt the [Armor of the Silver Sentinel] that he wore beneath his cloak shatter.

He would have been stunned for two seconds if not for the [Lucid Braid] that he wore on his wrist, which countered the status effect, just as it was also currently countering the Sleep status effect of the [Cloak of Dusk].

"Fuck!" Dante groaned as he felt his vision blur, and white-hot pain radiated through his entire lower body.

A kick in the crotch with that kind of strength was enough to kill a lesser man. In fact, there was no way this wasn’t considered a status effect of its own, because the agony left him gasping for air as he rolled onto his side.

For a second there, he was confused and couldn’t think.

At this point, his body began to roll down toward the slick edge of the roof, but before he could slip into a dead drop toward the alley below, Dante immediately reached into his pocket with his good hand and pressed the button on the winding crown of the [Pocket Watch of Stolen Moments].

When he did, time seemed to pause, and Dante could finally think properly.

"Goddess... I think they are gone!" he wheezed with bloodshot eyes. Actually, they might have been gone had it not been for the armor.

’Edward is currently engaging her, but he won’t be able to handle her for long. I know she can’t use her artifact to escape as it only had one use left, so after she takes him out, she will try to escape through the door and make a run for it. I can’t let that happen! If she escapes with that notebook, everything will be pointless.’

Having made up his mind on what next to do, he began controlling the hoverboard that was still in the room.

At this moment, the three seconds were up and Dante reached the edge, tumbling into the open air. But before he could reach the floor of the alley, the hoverboard zoomed out from the broken window and scooped him from midair, stabilizing under his boots.

He then flew high up and made a spin, before dropping down with immense speed toward the apartment door by the side of the building.

He kept his distance in the air rather than approaching directly. At this moment, blood flowed out of the stump of his hand and condensed into a crystalline arrow made of blood.

Not long after, Vi stumbled out of the door wrapped in a cloak of shadows. Unfortunately for her, while Dante could still see her thanks to his [Spectacles of Truth], she could not see him.

By the time she made out the arrow of blood in the dark, it was too late.

Without hesitation, the arrow shot straight into her chest, bursting out the other side.

She stumbled back into the apartment with a groan as the head of the arrow protruding from her chest began to bloom into a large crimson rose, while the shaft piercing her spine erupted into a tangled web of blood-red thorns that immediately wrapped around her.

At this point, Vi was too weak to move. Blood spilled uncontrollably from her mouth as she collapsed onto her knees, staring down at the leather-bound notebook that had slipped from the bag beneath her cloak.

She reached for it with trembling hands, and as she did, she slowly looked up with tears in her eyes.

Only then did she see a figure floating toward her.

The figure got close enough that through her blurry vision, she could tell it was likely a man.

"W-who... are... you?" she rasped in a voice barely a whisper.

The man’s red eyes didn’t have any malice in them as he stared down at her. After a few seconds, he finally spoke in a somber voice. "Someone who loves his family just as much as you love yours."

He paused as she began to lower her head weakly. Then he added even more gently, "I am so sorry, Miss Vi."

’Where did it go wrong? I just... I just wanted...’ She sighed, and without completing the thought, she breathed her last.

Dante stared at the body for a short while, before sighing. He stepped off the hoverboard and walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind him. Then, he walked over to the body, reached down, and picked up the notebook.

He then walked over to the table to drop it so that he could flip through it with his remaining good hand.

Inside it were handwritten logs and detailed investigation notes, including pictures of someone he could recognize.

It was Bianca, the Madame of the Serpent & Lily.

At this moment, Dante finally understood the reason his family had lost their noble status in the game and where everything had begun to go wrong for them.

"So... this detective was the brother of the demoness now known as Bianca."

He sighed deeply and shut the book, then he looked around the apartment.

"It’s a shame..." he mumbled.

Right now, he was not bleeding out from his severed arm because his Blood Demon was passively cauterizing the open wound and sealing the blood vessels.

He moved to the gaslamp by the wall and snapped the pipe with his good hand, unleashing a hissing draft of flammable gas.

After a brief moment, he walked back to the young woman’s body and began to do the most important thing one would do after a fight.

He began to loot the body.

Before now, he had already checked her wiki and was aware of some of the items she carried with her.

Raising her finger, he could see a small silver-filigree ring.

This ring was a spatial artifact. After taking it from her and wearing it onto his pinky finger, an image of the space inside the ring appeared in his mind. Most of the stuff in it was just basic consumables, spare coin, and other standard stuff. As a middle class woman, it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t have a lot of items. The only other good artifact she had in her possession right now were the twin daggers on the ground.

Dante picked up the daggers, and they both magically vanished into the spatial pocket.

There was also an earring on her ear. That was the artifact she had used to escape the Circus of Miracles, and the other pair was likely back at her place in the Central District.

From what he knew, one piece could only be used once while the other served as the anchor. Since her mother had used the anchor piece before gifting her the artifact, this single remaining earring was now completely spent and useless after her earlier escape.

Well, since she no longer had anything else on her, Dante straightened. Then, he exhaled and muttered under his breath.

"Edward. If we drink her blood, will I be able to heal my arm?"

Just then, Edward’s figure began to emerge again from the blood pooled on the floorboards, but his size was even smaller this time and more fragile.

The young boy had a slightly annoyed expression on his face. He stared at the corpse and nodded. "Just enough to get the arm working again. It’s poisonous, you know, and we won’t even gain much strength from it. Plus, you’ll still be in pain."

"I know," Dante said expressionlessly.

Edward stared at him for a moment before nodding reluctantly. "Yes, Master."

Just then, tendrils of blood with mouths at the tip erupted out of Dante’s severed arm. They snaked forward and clamped tightly onto the dead body, draining it violently.

As this was happening, Dante prayed. "To the Goddess who gathers the spilled and the broken. Take what remains of this soul, and grant her peace in the depths of your crimson sea."

At the end, all that remained was a withered husk.

The tendrils then retreated into Dante’s flesh, leaving the stump sealed.

Just then, Edward asked curiously, "Why did you wait until she died, Master? Why couldn’t you drain her in that window before she breathed her last? You could have gained more, but you chose to wait. Why?"

Edward couldn’t understand no matter how hard he thought about it.

Dante smiled somberly as he walked over to where his severed arm lay and picked it up.

"Edward. My goal is not to become emotionless. The goal is to feel every emotion but choose what to act on." He paused, and his eyes seemed glassy for a moment. "Just like me, it was the love of family that put her in this situation. If I had my way, I would have granted her a painless death."

He turned to the boy. "Since I could not, the least I could do was not put her through more pain. I hope you understand."

The boy stared at him with an expressionless face, saying nothing.

Dante looked away and pressed the severed forearm directly against the raw stump at his elbow. The freshly absorbed blood began to thread together like crimson stitches, fusing muscle, bone, and flesh back into place.

While this was happening, Edward walked over to the small opening in the floorboard and took out the sealed wax envelope. Then he picked up the leather notebook from the desk, walked over to Dante, and extended his arm with a slight bow.

"I might not understand human sentiment, Master. But... I do not need to. If this is how you choose to walk your path, then I will follow without question."

Dante smiled and nodded subtly.

"Thank you, Edward."

He took the items from the boy, holding the silver-filigree ring in between his thumb and index finger as the notebook and wax envelope vanished into its spatial pocket.

Then he pocketed the ring before bending down to pick up his gun, after which he put it back into his holster. Finally, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a hip-flask filled with alcohol.

He flipped it open, took a quick swig, and doused the rest over the desk, the bed, and the papers on the floorboards.

With that done, he casually tossed the empty flask onto the floor. Taking one final look around the room, he walked toward the window, stepped onto the frame, and jumped out into the night.

Just then, a hoverboard swept under his feet, catching him effortlessly in midair. The board stabilized his weight, banked sharply through the night sky, and carved a smooth arc back around, bringing him to a halt a safe distance from the open window.

Dante reached into his pocket, pulled out a leather cigar case, and slipped out a cigar. After pulling down his mask, he sniffed it twice, before placing it between his lips. Then he popped open his flip-top lighter, brought the flame to the tip, and took one long drag, exhaling a plume of smoke into the fog.

Slipping the lighter back into his pocket, he drew out a silver pocket watch and clicked it open.

It was past one o’clock.

He snapped the lid shut, pocketed the watch, and took one last drag, bringing the tip to a bright glow.

Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the lit cigar straight through the open window frame.

Shortly after the ember landed in the room causing a fire, the room detonated with a deafening crack. A wall of orange flame and shattered glass blew outward into the night, but Dante was already gliding away into the darkness, his silhouette swallowed by the fog.

***

On Sunday morning, 27 February, 1888, Dante Fioravanti stopped the initial disaster that should have led to his family’s stripping of their noble status and the ruin of the Fioravanti name...

[End of Part 1: For the Sake of Family.]