More than once before, Dante had been burned, and each ti he was reminded of why humans feared fire so much, and why hell has always been depicted as a land of eternal fire. One thing about burning, however, was that its main cause was an external force.
Rarely, if ever, does such force co from inside the body, but one can still imagine how painful it would feel to burn from the inside out, and without having to experience it, people could still agree that it would be a harrowing experience. But people’s imagination has been proven to be lacking.
When he noticed the heat spreading out from the inside of his hand, Dante didn’t feel the sa sensation he would have felt if he were to touch sothing hot. Instead, a slight discomfort struck him first, then ca the pain, its source being his wrists; the area where his bones t the tal from the simple implant.
The agony flooded his nervous system in an instant and his consciousness almost slipped away. A sudden weakness struck his entire body, his strength robbed away as if a nasty disease had sunk its fangs into his very being. If he hadn’t emptied it earlier, his bladder would have given in by now. Not that he would have cared.
Plunging his hands into icy water, Dante felt the pain subside for a second, but then it returned and refused to go away. As he struggled to keep himself from screaming, the realization that he should have prepared sothing to bite on ca to him. Unable to do so anymore, he looked around for the closest thing then pressed his face against the bed, biting into the blanket.
A muffled scream filled the room a second later.
With a clock superimposed on his vision, Dante was made painfully aware of how much ti had passed since he chose the cursed [YES] option. Two minutes. Two minutes of nothing but excruciating agony. If he hadn’t watched the numbers change, Dante would never have believed that all the suffering he went through happened in the span of 120 seconds. Worse, there were no signs of it coming to a stop any ti soon.
In the end, the process continued for another two minutes. Dante was sohow able to remain conscious through the whole thing, and by the ti he received the notification, his mind was ready to give in.
[
Implant: Iron Fist (E) has been upgraded to Diamond Fist (D)
Strength: 5 → 6
Durability: 3 → 4
]
While listening to the sound of his heavy breathing, he stared at the words in front of him, failing to comprehend their aning. The heat radiating from his hands slowly dissipated, and eventually, the coolness of the iced water prevailed, finally giving him a mont of respite. The pain wasn’t entirely gone, of course, but the cold water helped.
Soti later, Dante had to force himself to abandon the comfort of the cold water. He took so painkillers, another thing he should have done much earlier, and wrapped his hands in bandages, even though his skin lacked any signs of injury.
Refusing to pass out, he dragged himself to The Clinic and had Larry check on his hands. The unlicensed doctor was utterly horrified by what he saw. According to him, it wasn’t so bad, but the nature of the injury defied logic.
While the skin looked unhard from the outside, everything beneath it seed to have been exposed to imnse heat. Muscles and tendons were slightly burned, but it wasn’t to a degree that would’ve made healing them impossible.
In the end, Dante had to fork up 5000G for a shot of Nanods. He could have let the injuries heal on their own over ti, but that would’ve left him without hands for three weeks at the very least.
While waiting for the nanobots to do their job, he went back to his apartnt and collapsed right away. By the ti he woke up, the pain was gone, leaving behind only a faint itch that’s impossible to scratch.
~[ ]~
In the small open space behind one of Moonstone’s buildings, a group of teenagers gathered to enjoy one of their usual outings. They brought food, alcohol, and even convinced so of the ladies they knew to co out and play.
Before long, their laughter grew loud enough to rival the chaotic orchestra played on the nearby highway, but no one paid them any mind.
"And then I told him: How can you call it chicken breasts if it’s so ass!!"
Their laughter echoed again, died down, then ca back once more. As the boys took turns telling jokes and funny stories, bragging and showing off to the girls, one in particular seed entirely disinterested, continuing to stare at empty air.
Derick happened to notice the somber mood that one girl was in so ti ago, but it took him a while to gather the courage to talk to her. Doing his best to appear natural, he slid to her side and cleared his throat.
"Hey, Kim, right? I noticed you hadn’t said much since we ca here. Is sothing bothering you?"
His question was t with indifferent silence, and the longer it went on, the more awkward it got. As contempt slowly grew in his heart, the boy opened his mouth to say sothing. At that mont, the girl’s eyes shot wide open, and she suddenly jumped up to her feet, startling him quite a bit. Before he could wonder what had just happened, she grabbed her bag and dashed toward the exit.
".... The hell?"
A wave of laughter ca from the side, alerting the boy to the fact that he was being watched this entire ti.
"That’s one hell of a rejection you got there, Derick!" Said Ryan.
"Man! And they tell you the worst she can say is no!" Kevin cackled.
Pursing his lips, Derick then sighed and walked over, picking one of the cans from the cooler.
"The hell is wrong with her?" He said. "First, she ignored entirely, then she ran away without saying anything."
"You picked the short straw, that’s it," Flinn said. "Was she your type or sothing?"
"Well..."
Not feeling like answering that question, Derick popped the can of beer open and brought it to his mouth.
"Seriously, though, don’t let it bother you too much." Sam, the girl sitting on Kevin’s lap, gave him a look full of pity. "Kim has been a little obsessed with this one ga that ca out recently, that’s all."
"What ga?"
"I don’t rember the na, but... It’s one of those gas where you go looking for things around the city. I think it has sothing to do with cards."
"A treasure hunter." One of the boys scoffed. "Who the hell still plays those?"
"A lot." Another one answered. "A dozen or so have gotten themselves killed in the last week alone. They keep wandering into the wrong spots for so reason."
"Morons. All of them."
While the others were discussing her strange behavior, Kim made it to the end of the alleyway. As she dashed, she paid no mind to the kid standing near the corner, the couple making out near the street light, or the red-haired youth who walked right past her and into the alley she ca from.
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