The battlefield had ceased to be rely a long-destroyed coliseum, transforming into sothing much closer to an open abyss in the middle of reality, where each impact distorted space, each exchange of blows made the air vibrate as if about to completely rupture, and each breath carried the weight of a war that had already surpassed any logical limit of existence.
At the center of it all, Sapphire and Sepphirothy continued fighting Dante with renewed intensity, not because they were stronger, but because they had accepted sothing simple and brutal: there was no more room for error, hesitation, or unnecessary pride.
Even so, in this extre state of focus, the two remained who they were, and that ant that not even in that absolute hell could they stop arguing.
Sapphire advanced first, spinning Belial in a wide arc that cut through the space ahead like a living blade, her movent more precise now, less impulsive, more calculated, while her aura pulsed erratically, trying to keep up with the absurd pace of the battle.
Dante blocked the attack with his forearm, the energy exploding on impact, spreading a shockwave that swept across the ground like a concentrated storm. At the sa instant, Sepphirothy appeared behind him, her speed still terrifying even with the evident exhaustion, her leg already poised for another direct kick to the base of the skull.
"Why the hell isn't so idiot god interfering in this?!" Sapphire shouted as she pressed her spear against Dante's arm, forcing him back, her voice laden with genuine irritation, as if this were a personal affront on top of everything else already happening.
Sepphirothy spun her body in the air, her kick descending like an invisible blade toward Dante's head, which he dodged by inches, letting the blow pierce the void with enough force to tear the air behind him.
"I DON'T KNOW, DAMN IT!" she replied in the sa tone, her voice cutting through the chaos as she retreated just enough to reposition her body. "THEN STOP TALKING SHIT AND FOCUS ON THE FIGHT!"
Dante just smiled.
That distorted, almost unstable expression seed to grow larger as his body adapted to this absurd new existence he had reached. He gripped the spear with one hand, completely ignoring the force that ca with it, and violently pulled Sapphire forward, preparing his fist to crush her face in the next instant.
But the blow never ca.
Sepphirothy was already there.
Her knee surged forward with brutal force, striking Dante's chin from below, the impact creating a visible shockwave that made the surrounding air vibrate violently as his head snapped back. Simultaneously, Sapphire released Belial, spun her body, and used the montum to deliver a direct kick to his abdon, sending him flying several ters backward.
"Focus on the fight, huh?" Sapphire murmured with a crooked smile, retrieving her spear with a swift flick of her hand.
Sepphirothy didn't respond imdiately, rely watching Dante rise again, her expression now far more serious, her eyes analyzing every detail of his behavior. "He's speeding up…" she said softly, more to herself than to Sapphire, as she watched his aura fluctuate even more erratically.
Dante tilted his head slowly, cracking his neck as a wet sound escaped his throat, as if he were… internally adjusting. "You talk too much…" he murmured, his voice carrying a slight, almost imperceptible distortion, but profoundly wrong.
And then he disappeared.
It wasn't speed.
It wasn't teleportation.
It was… absence.
And he reappeared between the two.
The impact ca before the reaction.
His two arms moved simultaneously, striking Sapphire and Sepphirothy at once, the dry sound of the impact echoing like thunder as both were hurled in opposite directions, traversing the battlefield like projectiles.
But neither of them stayed on the ground.
Sapphire spun in the air, slamming Belial into the ground to stop his movent, her teeth clenched as her body trembled slightly from the impact. Sepphirothy, on the other hand, simply spun her body and landed on her feet, sliding a few ters before fully stabilizing.
And then both advanced again.
Without words.
Without discussion.
Just fighting.
anwhile…
Far beyond that central point of destruction, amidst still-smoldering rubble and fragnts of bleachers that had been pulverized throughout the battle, sothing moved.
Lilith.
She erged slowly from the wreckage, her body still scarred, her aura unstable, but her eyes… completely lucid. There was no confusion, no hesitation. Only understanding.
She took a deep breath.
Once.
And then she looked.
Her eyes t Seris's.
And Vergil's body.
For a single instant… she froze.
Her eyes widened slightly, not from ordinary surprise, but from imdiate recognition of sothing that shouldn't be happening. Sothing… impossible.
And then she disappeared.
The space in front of Seris distorted violently, and Lilith appeared beside her without warning, imdiately kneeling and placing her hand directly on Vergil's chest, her expression completely changing to sothing serious, focused, almost… urgent.
Seris was startled, recoiling slightly instinctively, her eyes wide at seeing Lilith appear so abruptly. "What the hell are you—" she began, but was interrupted by what Lilith was doing.
Her hand sank into Vergil's chest.
Literally.
As if the flesh were rely a veil she could pierce through.
Seris froze.
"—What are you doing?!" "She demanded, her voice thick with disbelief as she watched Lilith pull sothing from inside his body.
A heart.
Destroyed.
Torn apart.
Still weakly pulsing with distorted energy.
Lilith didn't answer.
She just stared at it for a second.
And then… bit.
Seris froze completely.
The sound was grotesque.
Wet.
Too real.
"...Have you gone mad?!" Seris said, her voice rising, but unable to stop what was happening as Lilith continued, pulling out another destroyed heart and consuming it in the sa way, without hesitation, without ceremony.
"I need energy…" Lilith murmured between bites, her voice low but completely steady. "I can heal him later…"
Seris blinked.
Once.
Trying to process it.
But she didn't have ti.
Because Lilith was already on the third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Each destroyed heart being ripped out and devoured as if it were pure fuel, as if she were absorbing not just energy, but sothing deeper, sothing that made her own presence begin to change.
And then… it was over.
Lilith was silent for a second.
Her head slightly lowered.
Her body motionless.
Seris opened her mouth to say sothing—anything—
But she stopped.
Because sothing was wrong.
The air around her shifted.
The pressure increased.
And when Lilith raised her face…
She was no longer the sa.
Her eyes… were different.
Deeper.
Darker.
More… ancient.
"I'll be right back," she said simply.
And disappeared.
The next instant, she was in front of Dante.
Neither Sapphire.
Nor Sepphirothy.
Nor Dante himself had ti to fully react.
Her fist was already advancing.
There was no preparation.
No aura accumulating.
No scream.
Just… impact.
The sound was no ordinary sound.
It was like the rupture of sothing fundantal.
Lilith's fist struck Dante's chest with a force that not only pierced flesh, bone, and energy… but undid everything below that point in a single instant.
There was no resistance.
There was no block.
There was no ti.
From the waist down…
It simply ceased to exist.
It exploded.
It disintegrated.
It was erased.
His upper torso was thrown backward, spinning in the air as blood and energy spread like a chaotic storm, and for a single mont… everything was silent.
Dante's head was still there.
Slowly spinning in the air.
His eyes open.
His expression… still conscious.
And then—
The impact ca as what remained of his body hit the ground.
And the world… seed to stop for a second.
The impact still reverberated across the battlefield when what remained of Dante hit the ground, his head rolling a few ters before stopping on its side, his eyes still open, still conscious, still… alive, in a way that simply shouldn't be possible. The silence that followed was not relief, nor victory—it was expectation, heavy and suffocating, as if the world itself were waiting to see what would co next from this abomination that refused to die.
And then… it began.
First, ca the movent.
Subtle.
Almost imperceptible.
The fragnts of flesh scattered across the ground began to tremble, as if responding to an invisible call, as if pulled by an inescapable force that completely ignored natural laws. Blood, tissue, energy—everything began to move, dragging itself back, joining together, rebuilding itself with a speed that wasn't just fast… it was wrong.
Sapphire was the first to fully realize it.
Her eyes narrowed as she instinctively took a step back, Belial still firm in her hand, but his posture now carrying sothing that hadn't been there before: genuine caution. "Ah… no…" she murmured, her voice low, laden with an irritation that barely masked the growing discomfort within her.
Sephirothy saw it too.
And this ti… she said nothing.
Because there was nothing to say.
Before them, Dante's body was completely regenerating, muscles rebuilding layer by layer, bones rising as if they had never been destroyed, his entire form returning to existence with absurd precision, as if that complete destruction had been rely a montary inconvenience.
But the most disturbing thing…
Was his expression.
When he finally stood up again, completely regenerated, Dante wasn't smiling.
His eyes were wide.
His breathing was irregular.
His chest rose and fell unevenly as he stared at his own body, flexing his fingers slowly, like soone trying to understand… what the hell had just happened.
"…What the hell…" his voice ca out lower than before, laden with sothing new.
It wasn't pain.
It wasn't anger.
It was… uncertainty.
He looked up.
And t Lilith's gaze.
For a full second… he didn't move.
And then he smiled.
But it wasn't the sa smile as before.
This one… was more tense.
Sharper.
More… interested.
"Okay… that was new…" he murmured, tilting his head slightly while cracking his neck again, as if adjusting to this new information.
Lilith didn't respond imdiately.
She just watched him.
Completely still.
Completely… different.
The energy around her had drastically changed, not only in quantity but in quality, as if sothing within her had been activated, released, distorted by what she had consud monts before. Her eyes were fixed on Dante, but there was no hurry in them, no imdiate impulse to attack again.
She was… thinking.
Calculating.
And then she spoke.
"Sapphire."
The voice ca out firm.
Direct.
No room for discussion.
Sapphire turned her face slightly, still keeping Dante in her peripheral vision, clearly irritated at receiving orders at that mont. "What?" she replied dryly, twirling Belial once in her hand as if ready to advance again.
Lilith raised her arm slightly.
And pointed to the sky.
Above them.
Where, until then, nothing seed to exist beyond the constant distortion of reality.
"Throw that thing with all your might."
Sapphire frowned.
"What?"
"To the sky." Lilith repeated, her tone unchanged, but now carrying a slight pressure that hadn't been there before.
Sepphirothy was the first to understand.
Her eyes moved upwards.
And then… she saw.
It wasn't visible at first glance.
But now, in focus… it was there.
A do.
An absurd layer of demonic energy completely covering that space, like an invisible prison isolating everything inside from the rest of the dinsions, blocking any attempt to escape, any external interference, any… help.
"…Son of a bitch…" she murmured, her eyes narrowing as she finally understood what was happening. "That's why…"
Sapphire realized it too.
And her smile returned.
But now it was… more dangerous.
"So nobody's ignoring us…" she said, adjusting her posture, her aura reacting slightly despite extre exhaustion. "We're just locked in here."
Lilith nodded slightly.
"Exactly."
A brief pause.
"Break it."
Sapphire didn't respond with words.
She simply spun Belial once.
And then disappeared.
The next instant, she was in the air, dozens of ters above the battlefield, her body spinning as she drew on all the remaining energy she had, concentrating it all into the spear, her aura exploding in a final, brute effort.
"Let's see if this holds…" she muttered through her teeth.
And then she launched it.
Belial cut through the air like a cot.
Rising.
Tearing through space.
And struck the do.
The impact ca a second later.
And the sound… was deafening.
An explosion of energy illuminated the entire battlefield, fully revealing the structure of that monstrous barrier, causing it to vibrate violently, as if it had been struck by sothing that truly… threatened its integrity.
But it didn't break.
Yet.
anwhile—
Lilith had already moved again.
Her eyes now turned to Sepphirothy.
And for the first ti since she appeared there… there was sothing different in her expression.
Sothing… personal.
"The son needs you."
Sepphirothy froze.
For a mont.
Not completely.
But enough.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…What?"
Lilith didn't look away.
"Vergil."
The na fell like a stone.
Heavy.
Definitive.
Sepphirothy felt sothing tighten in her chest.
Sothing she imdiately ignored.
Or tried.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked, her voice lower now, but still heavy with tension.
Lilith answered bluntly.
"Freeze ti in his body."
Silence.
One second.
Two.
Sepphirothy's mind raced, connecting the pieces, rembering the unstable energy, the state of the body, the removed blades, what was probably happening while they were locked in that absurd fight.
"…You want to preserve him," she murmured, more as an observation than a question.
Lilith nodded.
"And buy ti."
Sepphirothy took a deep breath.
Her gaze moved briefly in the direction where Seris was.
Where Vergil's body still remained.
And then back to Lilith.
"…And you?" she asked.
Lilith turned her face.
Looking back at Dante.
Now… she was already advancing.
Faster.
More aggressive.
More adapted.
"I'll hold him off."
The answer ca simply.
Directly.
Without hesitation.
Sephirothy let out a small sigh through her nose.
"You won't be able to handle this alone."
Lilith didn't answer imdiately.
But when she did…
Her voice was different.
Lower.
Deeper.
"I know."
A brief pause.
"That's why I just need ti."
Dante was almost there.
His smile had returned.
Wider.
More insane.
"Is the little eting over?" he taunted, his aura exploding again as he advanced without any restraint.
Lilith took a step forward.
Alone.
Placed between him and the rest.
Her posture firm.
Her eyes fixed.
"Go," she said without looking back.
Sephirothy hesitated.
For a split second.
And then she turned.
Disappearing toward Vergil's body.
anwhile—
Lilith smiled.
A small smile.
But a dangerous one.
"Now…" she murmured, her energy beginning to rise again, pulsing erratically but powerfully. "Let's see how long I can hold you off."
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