Dante's Immortality: Beginnings

by Antonio Terzini

  All that was left was for him to focus on the single swordsman in front of him, even though he was still cautious of a stray arrow.

  After adjusting for the noble’s strength, it wasn’t hard to deal with him at all. After so many fights with Will, he knew how to best use his agility to avoid hard-hitting blows.

  The key was to not meet the attacks head-on. Instead, he merely deflected the strikes while simultaneously using his Agility to narrowly avoid them, using up the least amount of energy possible. He actually had many chances to end the fight, the noble had several holes in his guard which would have allowed him to easily slide in and finish the fight.

  He waited though, he didn’t want to take out his enemy until at least one more of their opponents was defeated. If he took out his opponent prematurely, it might put Haden and Jaseni’s life at risk.

  As his fight with the noble progressed, he used the brief moments when the nobles guard slipped to slash at the noble’s sword. It would buy him a few seconds to glance around and see how the fight was progressing.

  Haden seemed to be having an easy time dealing with the archer, he was standing a few feet away from the him, entirely covered by his shield and ready to intercept any projectile that came near him. Anytime the archer thought of intervening in the swordfights, Haden would use the opportunity to get in close and try to bash him.

  It was a strange balance of offense and defense, and he couldn’t believe how well Haden was stopping the archer from firing his bow. The way Haden moved was incredibly practiced and methodical. And the way the world essence on his shield was controlled was done skillfully enough to allow it to double as an intimidating weapon.

  Somehow Jaseni’s performance was more surprising. He had taken her to be a Warrior, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Her Agility and Dexterity were even faster than his own. She skillfully dodged her opponents swings completely, weaving in and out of each thrust while also managing to give the noble shallow cuts in almost every exchange.

  The two commoners were far more skilled than any nobles he had seen thus far.

  Dante refocused on his noble, waiting for Jaseni’s opponent to bleed out so he could deal with his at the same time.

  “Dustin, buy me time!” The opposing team’s archer shouted out from behind Haden.

  The opponent he was fighting immediately disengaged, the noble spun on his heels and ran toward Haden as quickly as he could.

  He was slightly surprised by his opponents change in tactic, but he was waiting for something. Without hesitating, Dante charged his fleeing opponent and smashed the pommel of his sword against the noble’s temple, causing him to fall unconscious and crumple to the floor.

  Dante sighed in relief, if his Agility hadn’t been higher than his opponents, that could have ended badly.

  There was mocking laughter coming from the archer. “I’ll still kill that bitch!” Dante watched in shock as the archer sprang backward, away from Haden, and swung his bow to face Jaseni, who was still tied up in her own fight. Haden was on him immediately but was a second late.

  The archer completely ignored Haden’s incoming threat. Releasing the arrow and taking Haden’s incoming shield head on, which knocked him out.

  “Jaseni!” Dante couldn’t stop himself from yelling out as he charged toward her and her opponent. Thankfully, she seemed to process the shout in time to slightly twist away from the incoming arrow and just barely avoid a fatal shot to her heart, but it still slid into her ribcage with an audible thunk.

  Dante didn’t pause, the arrow looked like it might have pierced her lung, and the noble who she was fighting was still attacking her.

  Jaseni barely managed to avoid a swing, then threw herself to the side, rolling on the ground and snapping the arrow that was piercing her ribcage, likely making the wound worse.

  The noble lunged toward her, intent on finishing her off.

  That was when he finally made it to them. Seeing the noble try to kill Jaseni, who was clearly out of the fight and defenseless, his rage flared. Seeing red, he snagged the noble by the shoulder and yanked him up so that they were facing each other. There was brief second when they looked each other in the eye, Dante smiled maliciously, only having a brief moment to see the surprise on the noble’s face before he rammed his sword through the boy’s gut.

  It was hard, but he stopped himself from twisting the blade and making his attack lethal. He wanted to. So badly. But after seeing what Jaseni and Haden went through to compete in the tournament, he wouldn’t ruin their chances of winning.

  The moderator called out with a disinterested voice. “Team Hope is the winner, Healer!”

  The healers rushed out. Immediately heading toward the noble that Dante had just rammed his sword through and ignoring Jaseni completely.

  Haden was now kneeling over her, doing his best to stop the bleeding, but the arrow had definitely pierced a lung and she was now coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.

  Furious and still filled with his bloodlust, Dante walked up to the two healers and yanked them up while jabbing a finger toward Jaseni. “Get your ass over there and heal her before she dies.”

  “My lord, we need to heal the nobles first. It’s a part of the academy’s standard operating procedure.”

  Dante smiled in response. “If she dies, I will kill all three of them.”

  The healer audibly gulped, then nodded and hurried over to Jaseni.

  Chapter 35

  Dante’s Immortality - Chapter 35

  Dante paced outside of the hospital, still furious.

  He glanced over to Haden, who was standing by the door with a worried expression on his face, waiting patiently for the healers to finish working on Jaseni.

  As soon as the fight ended they were forced to leave the arena so the other semifinal could begin, despite his protest.

  He didn’t understand why the fight had affected him so drastically. Mia had told him that their opponents would be out for blood as soon as the fight turned in their favor. But something about the match was rage inducing. He had never lost himself like that before, and his emotions were still a mess.

  It had to be the pettiness. Killing in self-defense made logical sense. Even killing to gain power was something that he could have understood and accepted. But the way they tried to randomly kill someone who was practically enslaved to a mana contract didn’t make any sense to him. If anything, they were only damaging House Calman’s property out of spite.

  The door to the healer room opened, and Jaseni stepped out. Dante let out a breath of relief, other than her downcast expression, pale face, and evident exhaustion she seemed fine.

  As soon as Jaseni saw them, she lit up with a broad smile, and ran into Haden’s embrace.

  The moment seemed incredibly personal, and awkward since he was there, so Dante was just turning to leave when Jaseni broke off from Haden and bowed to him. “Thank you for waiting for me, my lord.”

  Dante tried not to groan, the last thing he wanted to be called at the moment was ‘my lord.’ He smiled back to Jaseni. “I’m glad you’re okay, and you don’t need to call me ‘my lord’, just call me Dante.”

  Jaseni nodded. “Of course, my lor-” She paused, as if unsure of herself. “I mean, of course… Dante.”

  Haden scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat. “Uh, thanks for getting the healers to Jaseni so quickly… Dante.”

  He didn’t see how saying his name could be so difficult, but progress was being made. Haden seemed to be uncomfortable, so he gave a reassuring smile. “It’s fine, any teammate would do the same.”

  His words only seemed to make Haden, who was still scratching the back of his head, even more uncomfortable. “Uh… I really appreciate what you did for Jaseni, and I know how much going to the tournament final must have meant for you to have done it… but I’m not sure if Jaseni is in the condition to fight in the final.”

  He thought that I only got the healers so that we could fight in the final�
�� I suppose in his position that makes sense.

  Still, the Haden’s words were reassuring. He had been trying to think of a way to get the two of them to drop out of the tournament, but didn’t want to make the decision for them. “I would have helped Jaseni regardless, and I don’t mind dropping out of the tournament. The reward isn’t worth dying over.”

  His words weren’t received well, as soon as he said them, Haden and Jaseni’s expressions immediately became downcast.

  Jaseni looked up, filled with newfound determination. “I’m fine. There is no need to drop out of the tournament because of a small injury.”

  Small injury?

  Instead of saying anything, Dante looked over to Haden. Whether or not they fought in the final wasn’t his decision to make. The two of them had already made massive sacrifices to make it so far, and they were likely more aware of the dangers than he was, so it wasn’t his place to make the decision for them. Besides, they seemed to have a reason to fight in the tournament that he was unaware of.

  Haden had a look of hesitation on his face for a minute, but gave a slight nod in the end. “If you are still able to continue… We should fight in the final.”

  Then the two of them looked at Dante as if wanting his confirmation. “I’ll fight, as long as the two of you are willing.”

  * * *

  It was unfortunate that healing Jaseni took so long. By the time they got back to the arena, the other semifinal fight was already over, so they had no idea who their opponents were. Without much else to do, the three of them stayed in the resting area until the final, trying to give Jaseni as much time to recover as possible.

  Even when it was time for the fight, they didn’t move an inch until a flustered attendant rushed up to them. “What are you doing? The moderator has already finished going over the rules for the crowd, and your team was announced, but you weren’t there.”

  Dante glanced over to Jaseni and Haden, still hesitant, but seeing their looks of determination he released a sigh and stood to follow the two of them.

  None of them spoke on the way to the fighting pit, and their expressions sent a shiver down his spine. It didn’t look like they were walking into a tournament fight, but to their death… which wasn’t unreasonable.

  This entire situation was unreasonable though. Just seeing their reluctance made his blood boil at the injustice.

  As soon as they made it to the entrance of the fighting pit the attendant spun on his heels and spoke quickly. “You were already announced, so you will only be given one minute to prepare for the fight when you enter the arena.” He motioned the three of them forward, scowling at their slow pace.

  Taking a deep breath, Dante followed Jaseni and Haden into the arena, eager to size up who they would be fighting in the final.

  It seemed that all three of them were unprepared by the sight that greeted them because as soon as they saw their opponent, they all froze.

  Damn.

  He recognized all three, they were all sitting at his table during the party he went to with Kayla. It was Bridget and the two noblemen who were talking about whores the entire night.

  Dante turned to Haden and Jaseni. They were even more shocked than he was, which he couldn’t understand, they shouldn’t have interacted with nobles from Housing District 1.

  He waited for the signal to surrender the fight, which would have been more than sensible, but Haden and Jaseni’s expressions both hardened. It seemed like there would be no surrender.

  He couldn’t see things going well after having Bridget fight at the party. Even if she only attacked what was likely a corpse, her fireball skill was a cut above any he had seen thus far.

  The protective shield began to cover the arena and Dante began to fill his sword with world essence. The fight wasn’t going to be as easy as the last one had been. Only one of the nobles had a weapon, which was a giant greatsword, and due to the mana shield, he could see that the other was a magic Classification.

  Unsure of what to do once the battle started, Dante turned back to Haden, ready to receive orders.

  Unfortunately, Haden also seemed unsure. He just stared down Bridget as he filled his shield with world essence.

  “Did you really think that you could refuse my brother’s offer?” Hearing Bridget’s words, Dante was confused, but when he turned back toward her, he saw that she was talking to Haden, not him.

  Bridget had a haughty look on her face as she sneered at Haden. “To think a mere commoner would deny a request from House Daynard. And you even tried to join House Calman’s guard by winning this tournament…” She snorted. “You won’t live to regret it.”

  Bridget’s words would have seemed far more menacing if her two teammates weren’t merrily talking to each other. He found their lack of interest in the current situation far more disconcerting than Bridget’s threats.

  Things were definitely going worse than he thought.

  “Dante, handle the unarmed noble. Jaseni, you’re on the greatsword. I’ll take on the noblewoman.”

  At least he didn’t hesitate when he said ‘Dante’ this time…

  Haden’s plan was better than anything he could think of, so he had no objections.

  Just after Dante readied himself to take on the unarmed noble, the moderator shouted out from the side. “Begin!”

  He didn’t hesitate, rushing out toward his target. Any mistakes on his part could cost Jaseni or Haden their lives.

  Dante charged towards the noble’s mana shield. It was thick, far thicker than anything he could have created, but nowhere near Kayla’s shield.

  Dante slashed the shield with his world essence filled sword, managing to cut through it, but barely. As soon as he withdrew his blade the shield recovered itself. Things didn’t seem to be going well.

  The shield was a curved wall and didn’t cover the nobles back, so with no other options, Dante began to sprint around to flank him.

  He was completely unprepared when a hole opened in the shield, just large enough for a green liquid to spray toward him. Dante rolled to the side, grimacing in pain and silently cursing instructor Arin as he felt some of the green substance splash on his arm and begin to erode his skin.

  How did holes opening in mana shields not get mentioned in any of that bastard’s classes?

  He had no idea how to fight the noble. Every time he tried to get around the shield, he was cut off by the same green spray. If he tried to get out of range first, and then flank him, the noble would move towards either Haden or Jaseni. It was quite clear that he was just being toyed with, the noble didn’t make a single move to truly harm him.

  They were only fighting for a few minutes when the arena lit up, and Dante heard inhuman screaming, far worse than Greggory’s when his wrist was crushed.

  Shit.

  The sound was distinctly masculine and coming from where Bridget was fighting Haden.

  Dante quickly threw a glance over his shoulder to check the situation, expecting the worst, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

  Bridget was standing over Haden’s flailing body, throwing fireball after fireball down upon him as he released guttural screams… and she was smiling.

  There was so much fire that he couldn’t even see Haden, it was just a bright flailing mass that rolled along the floor as he tried to put out the flames.

  Dante was still taking in the horrific scene when he heard the second scream, it was far more ear piercing than Haden’s.

  Dante spun on his heels, ignoring his opponent. “Jaseni surr-” He was cut off by the sight of Jaseni’s head falling from her body. As soon as Jaseni saw her brother dying on the ground and began to scream, the noble took advantage of her distraction to cut off her head.

  Dante stared at the scene in front of him in shock. He knew that their deaths were a possible outcome, but nothing could have prepared him for what had just happened, it was so sudden. So meaningless.

  Bridget began to laugh. Not as though she had gone mad,
like he would have expected after burning someone alive, but as if she was delighted. Like the entire thing had been some game for her to enjoy.

  Bridget saw Dante’s shock. “You look so surprised, but what other outcome could a commoner expect when they act against the wishes of their betters?” She sneered. “That is something that I think you should remember moving forward.”

  Dante’s breathing was becoming uneven. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Jaseni’s face, even after death the shock of seeing her brother burn to death was still on her face. No one deserved to die that way.

  “Don’t worry, we won’t actually harm you. Go ahead and surrender like a good commoner.”

  The smell of Haden’s burnt flesh finally reached his nose. It was completely sickening.

  Dante could feel himself losing control of his emotions, far worse than in the prior match. He could still resist, or at least he thought he could, but his desire to kill was so intense that refraining from it almost hurt physically.

  The noble behind him spoke up. “Alright Bridget, you’ve had your fun. Get him to surrender. You said you would pay for our whores if we helped you kill them, and I’m getting bored.”

  Dante snapped. The small amount of control he was maintaining was gone.

  He packed as much world essence into his sword as he could, far more than he could control. Then, before anyone could react, he spun on his heels and stabbed his sword through the mana shield until the pommel slammed against the shield wall.

  He forced the Mana out towards the tip of the sword, instantly blowing everything but the hilt to pieces and killing the unsuspecting noble before he was even aware of what was happening.

  Dante turned back to face a shocked Bridget, giving her a wrathful glare while materializing two swords into his hands.

  Consequences be damned, he would kill them.

  Chapter 36

  Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 36