Chapter 1543 Duke Horacio [1]
Damien urgently wanted to get back into the field, but obviously, there was one more important task for him to complete before he did so.
He went to Ice Luan Mountain for a reason, after all. It may have been a spurt of desperation or something like an adventure powered purely by desire, but Damien still ended up getting what he wanted.
With the Harmony Fruit in his hand and war on the horizon, Damien didn't have much time to spend with the comatose Dante.
But he could at least feed his father the fruit and hope that a change would come.
That was Damien's second priority when he returned to Void Palace since the first took a lot more preparation and time to carry out.
Once the various meetings were over and the deployments had been sorted out, Damien went to his father's room with his mother and Serena.
They were the only ones he'd told about the fruit. The news could be spread to others if it actually worked. Otherwise…
Well, it was better not to get people's hopes up.
Dante Void looked peaceful.
His skin shone with the luster of someone who had never been sick before in his life. His expression was calm, like he was taking a short nap rather than suffering from an endless dream.
Damien had to pry his mouth open. No matter what he did, there was no response from the man himself.
Though, Damien had become quite experienced in feeding people who couldn't eat themselves.
The Harmony Fruit was mostly made up of energy, so once it was put into Dante's mouth, Damien's main job was guiding that energy to where it needed to be.
His mind, his body, and his soul.
A pathway needed to be created between these three.
Once that was done, the rest of the work would be on Dante's side.
'There isn't much I can do.'
Damien helped the mana flow as it wanted to. He stabilized the process within Dante's body so it would go according to plan.
But that was all.
Dante didn't wake up. He couldn't do that immediately.
And if he was trying, there was no way for Damien to know:
It was bitter.
Still, it was hope.
'Mom and Serena will watch over him.'
Dante would get better.
Damien kept telling himself that no matter how much time passed.
It was the only way for him to keep himself stable.
***
It was a world of crimson.
A crimson sun, crimson skies, and dark crimson soil. The monotonous existence of only a single color in the entire vicinity was nauseating, enough to drive anyone insane if they spent enough time here.
That insanity would only be taken to a new level by the complete lack of any life.
This world was created for one man. It was an eternal prison within his eternal prison, a prison that encapsulated his mind and soul while his body rotted outside.
It was the Dark God's gift for Dante Void.
As he was the only one present in this place.
A single man, sat in a meditative posture amidst the crimson environment.
This place never changed. Days and weeks would pass with no activity. Perhaps it had been many years, but Dante had no way of knowing.
He stopped keeping track of time when he realized it was causing his mind to deteriorate.
There was really only one thing he used to measure how long he'd been here.
It was a tally of how many times he'd fought the same battle and lost.
The time had come again.
A being wrapped in darkness appeared over the horizon. It was massive, bigger than the world itself, and its figure was covered in such a powerful aura that it caused space itself to crack and dissipate.
It was a shadow of the Dark God.
And at the same time, it was Dante's warden.
Once again, he stood up.
He had confronted this being 500,000 times by now. This would be the 500,001st battle and the 500,001st loss.
But he still stood up. He would never show weakness to that man.
His eyes opened, a pristine blue that absolutely contradicted the world.
Despite the grueling years he'd spent here, the fire that burned in his heart never dimmed.
He would defeat that man. No matter what he had to do to make that possible, he would do it.
The valiant shadow cast by his back could not be viewed by anyone else. The sacrifices he made to entertain this battle would never be seen by the outside world.
But that also didn't matter.
As long as the Dark God was contained, as long as he couldn't affect the people in the outside world, Dante would continue to fight this battle, trapped within his own mind.
Or at least, that was what he thought.
But as he got ready to fight today, he noticed something different.
'A distinct connection to the outside world.'
Something he thought impossible.
It had miraculously manifested itself.
Dante smiled slightly. A glimmer of hope appeared in his heart.
'Maybe…it is not as impossible as I thought.'
Just maybe, he could one day escape this place.
That sentiment alone was enough to refresh his mind and heal him.
So he walked forward, approaching the dark being on the horizon.
Perhaps he would lose today.
But one day, he would win.
One day, the Dark God would be defeated.
That was Dante Void's entire life purpose.
***
Duke Horacio wasn't in a group. Unlike many of his compatriots, he decided to stand his ground alone, as if he were waiting for someone.
Because he was.
Damien wasn't the only one looking forward to their rematch. Perhaps they didn't fight that much during their first meeting, but the Duke had clearly sensed that Damien's strength was about the same as his.
The man's choice to retreat was a strategic one. It wasn't that Damien was forced to retreat. Rather, he weighed his options and chose returning to his people over causing a commotion in the Frostbound Mountain Range.
Duke Horacio wanted redemption. Damien wanted that too.
As such, the battleground for their next confrontation had been set. As if they had a mutual agreement between them, they both ignored the rest of the conflict, if only for a moment, to confront each other first.
Damien recognized Horacio's intent easily. That was why he chose the man as his first target.
Since he was getting back into fighting after a long time, he had to pick a battle he would enjoy, right?
The scene was a mountaintop that was separated greatly from society. For tens of thousands of kilometers in every direction, there was only empty scenery without any human interference.
It was a place Duke Horacio chose after a lot of thought, a place where Damien wouldn't be forced to hold back his power.
Duke Horacio wanted to see everything his opponent could offer.
And Damien wanted the same.
So as he approached that place, he didn't hide his aura.
Duke Horacio met him in the sky.
And though no words were exchanged between them, they had a mutual understanding of each other's intent.
This battle had already begun.
It was just a matter of who was willing to make the first move.
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