It was chaos in a dimension torn by storms and churning darkness. Dante, clad in Kilamahi's divine form, faced Taouon, the Sinner of Sloth, in his true shape.
A Kraken.
The monstrous sea demon reared up from the abyss, countless eyes glinting with cold malice. It roared in fury, a deafening shriek that cracked the air.
Dante had read about krakens in his past life. From childhood to digital games, through every screen and book, he'd imagined them. But seeing one with his own eyes now should have left him frozen with terror.
It did not.
Instead, excitement flooded his veins.
Lightning shattered the sky as the first tentacle struck. With a battle cry, Dante raised his blade and swung hard, catching the monstrous limb. He twisted, driving it down into the cracked stone tiles.
Another tentacle lashed toward him. He pivoted and caught it, locking it in place with his chain blades. Before he could pin it fully, the first tentacle tore free and whipped around with staggering force.
The Kraken slammed him upward. He grunted, feeling the air vanish from his lungs, but he did not release his hold.
"KKKRRRAAAGGGHHH!"
The Kraken's roar split the darkness. Dante swung himself free, flipping backward through the air. As he fell, he hurled one chain blade like a harpoon, embedding it in the tentacle shaped like a jagged spear.
He pulled himself forward, the chains rattling with a shriek of metal. Channeling Kilamahi's mana, he drew back his free blade, eyes blazing red.
With a single, savage slash, he severed the tentacle at the base.
"Gotcha!" he roared.
Another limb struck him broadside, slamming him into the stone platform. The impact made the world flicker black for an instant.
Gasping, Dante forced himself to stand. Rain pounded his face as he saw the severed spear-tentacle still clinging to his chain. He grinned, spinning it around with a roar that matched the monster's own.
"RRRAAAGGHH!"
He hurled the tentacle like a javelin. It shot across the churning air and smashed into the Kraken's right-side head wound with a wet, cracking impact.
"KKKRRRAAAGGGHHH!"
The Kraken screeched, thrashing in agony.
Dante laughed through bloodied lips.
"Oi?! Kid, you wouldn't—" Kilamahi's voice echoed in his mind, alarmed.
"And here they say you're the crazy one. But me?"
He spun the twin blades back into his hands, their chains glinting with lightning.
"I'm a godforsaken maniac!"
He sprinted across the rain-slicked stones, storms raging overhead. Thunder rumbled so loud it shook the foundations of the collapsing dimension.
"KKKIIIDDD!"
Dante launched himself from the cliff's edge. The Kraken surged up to meet him, jaws yawning open to swallow him whole.
He hurled the chains outward, swinging in an arc around the monster's writhing limbs. He landed atop a tentacle, boots sliding over the rubbery surface. Five more came crashing down to crush him.
He raised a hand, mana blazing from his palm.
"Freeze!"
The tentacles stopped mid-strike, locked in place by his will.
He jumped, using the frozen limbs as footholds, rising higher and higher. Lightning flared in the clouds. He threw both chain blades skyward, letting the chains uncoil and anchor to his wrists.
Thunder cracked.
Bolts of ferocious lightning struck the suspended blades, igniting them in a red, murderous glow.
Dante felt the heat in his bones.
He fell from the sky, eyes locked on the Kraken's wounded head. As the beast reared up to meet him, he reached out, summoned the chains back, and caught the handles with a snap.
He spun in midair.
He struck, driving the blades into the Kraken's cracked skull with all the force of falling thunder.
"KIIIEEE!"
The Kraken convulsed, its limbs flailing wildly, trying to shake him off. He tore the blades free and leapt again, swinging around its body, along the slick surface of its neck, across the gaping wounds he had carved.
He landed atop a jagged cliff that jutted over the maelstrom. The Kraken turned toward him, its eyes burning with hatred.
A glint of fear passed through them as it saw what lay behind him. A massive spear-like outcropping of rock, sharp enough to pierce its heart.
"You and that Domikhael demon killed Lytharis!" Dante's voice thundered across the dimension.
"NOW FACE KARMA!"
With every muscle screaming, he wrapped the chains tight around his forearms. He heaved.
The Kraken resisted, pulling away with all its colossal weight.
Dante did not flinch.
He pulled again, red and black energy surging out of him in a violent aura. The chains glowed white-hot, burning his palms raw.
The Kraken shrieked, eyes bulging as smoke rose from its seared flesh.
One last roar erupted from Dante's throat. He wrenched the monster forward, the blades embedded in its skull tearing deeper.
With an earsplitting crack, the Kraken's head drove down onto the jagged rock behind him.
"KKRRRAAAAHHH!"
A final cry echoed as the dimension began to collapse. Waves swallowed the stone. Reality itself unraveled into boiling water.
"Kid, you did it. Now switch back with—"
Kilamahi fell silent.
Dante did not move.
"Let me do the final kill, Kilamahi..."
She looked at him through the bond they shared. The War Goddess saw the unbending resolve in his exhausted eyes and gave a silent nod.
The world dissolved into darkness.
They fell together into the endless abyss.
THUD.
Rain hammered the earth. The sky was a charcoal dome above the ruined academy. Crowds gathered in shock, watching as reality stitched itself back together.
Dante stirred on shattered stone. His skin was no longer white but returned to its natural light-brown. His hair lay matted in the rain, no longer crowned in flame or marked by Kilamahi's sigils.
He was himself again. Bruised. Bloodied. Alive.
He forced himself upright, gasping. Nearby, Taouon lay sprawled in human form, coughing thick blood. The right side of his head caved in from the mortal wound.
"Cough... cough... arrk..."
Dante limped forward, each step agony. His chain blades dragged behind him, glinting dully in the stormlight.
He stopped over Taouon, raised his right blade, and met the demon's gaze.
"It's over. You, Domikhael, Lustia... all of you are finished."
Taouon looked up, blinking rain from his eyes. A low, wheezing chuckle escaped his throat.
"Hehehe..."
"I admit, I have not seen a manaless boy defeat me and Domikhael. Lustia died screaming when Domikhael tore her mana foundation out to strengthen himself against your War Goddess."
Instead of hatred, a solemn respect passed over Taouon's ravaged face.
"Tell me one thing."
Dante narrowed his eyes, exhaling.
"Go on."
Taouon drew a rattling breath under the heavy rain and the sky became more grey, as thunder and lightning crackles at the sky itself.
"Are you... an Alderman?"
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Chapter 27 – End