Chapter 424: Chapter 422:Sana.
"Hmm... so this is where you were?" I wasn’t even bothered enough to hide the amusement in my voice as I looked around, uncaring for the murderous gaze being directed toward me.
"You know? If you weren’t such a petty and vengeful being, you’d be considered quite beautiful." My attention finally fell on the only other person within the room. "Don’t you think so, Sana?"
"Do not address me so casually, we are not friends," the woman spat.
I couldn’t help looking at her closely. Twin-colored black and white hair. A simple and unadorned robe. Body proportions that didn’t lose out to the likes of Clarissa and Aunt V. Truly, she was quite the sight to behold.
"If you don’t stay your eyes, I’ll gouge them out this instant."
"Yeah. Yeah. Like I haven’t heard that one before." I waved away her concerns.
"What do you want, Dante?"
"I thought we weren’t addressing each other on a first-name basis since we weren’t friends." Walking casually toward her, the laws in the room reacted and then a mat, similar to hers, was present before me. "Or is it that my looks are finally warming up to you?" I took my seat with a small smile.
"Say your piece and leave. You’re interrupting my work."
"What work is that?"
"Being a warden. Heh! Who do you think has to keep all this rabble in check?"
"Well, you aren’t doing a very good job. Those two old grandpas of mine seem pretty free."
"And WHOSE FAULT IS THAT???" She exploded.
"Meh..."
"DANTE!!!"
"See? That looks much better. Get rid of that pompous old lady gag, you look better this way." I nodded satisfactorily, eyes locked on the mountains of flesh straining violently against her dress with each heaving breath.
"Haaa... you know what? Fine. Suit yourself." She finally gave up, plopping down with little decorum.
"Hey, where are my friends?" I asked, curious.
"Going through the trials like NORMAL people should."
"Well, can I watch?"
"What do you think this is? A control room?"
"Heh!"
"Heh!"
Seems even Shaia found it funny, as she couldn’t help laughing out loud.
"This little girl is still trying to put up an act, huh?"
"Well, can’t blame her. She seems to really not like me."
"You have a talent for getting on people’s nerves, that I agree."
"Hey! I just burst up a few floors, floors that were projections, mind you. She’s just being petty."
"Teehee. Then be pettier. I’m sure you can manage."
I could only shake my head at those words.
"Sana..."
"DON’T CALL MY NAME!!"
"So you can use mine, but I can’t use yours?"
"You’re insufferable. I am not. That’s the difference. You use my name like you want to make me take off my clothes, so I don’t want to hear it."
"So let me get this straight. You don’t want me using your name because it makes you feel some type of way?"
"That, and because we’re not friends."
Okay. So is anyone else totally confused by the random bullshit coming out of this woman?
"Fine. Whatever. Just pull up my friends’ trials. We can watch them while we talk."
"I already told you, this isn’t a control—"
"Let’s drop the act, Sana. I already know what this Tower is. And no, I’m not talking about the fact that it’s a cosmic prison."
She fell silent at that.
"So, we can do this the easy way, or my always preferred, tried-and-trusted hard way." The look she gave me was one that could freeze the hearts of weak men, but...
"Humph!" She could only oblige as slowly, the interior of the place changed. The simplicity vanished, and in its place, a world of wonders.
The law saturation within the place was one I’d only felt from one other place, and that was Terra’s core.
Screens of light were placed at different angles, each showcasing every floor and every happening within the tower.
I wasn’t even given time to be properly impressed by the view before my attention was drawn toward the massive glowing sphere placed at the central point of the sky within this realm.
It was big. Ethereal with a multitude of colors. Beautiful in its entirety, but it was also...
"Damaged." I couldn’t help muttering quietly, Sana flinching at my words.
"Wha... what are you talking about?" I ignored her, taking a clearer look at the wonder around us, before my eyes finally landed on the screens.
There, displayed clearly, were my companions. Each of them had been split by the tower and sent to different trial locations. Obviously, most of them had already blazed through the lower floors, with some like Valen, Aunt V, Dakota, Tian, and Clarissa having already cleared more than 500 floors and still rushing up.
I couldn’t help but let a smile cross my face at the sight.
"So, what do you say?" I asked, eyes still focused on my companions.
"Say about what?" Sana deflected, but...
"Let’s not do this, Sana. You’ll just waste both our time. I know you heard my conversation with the two old men. I’m awaiting your answer."
Silence. That was all I got.
"You suffer from the same dilemma as them. You have been abandoned by your creator."
"Shut! Up!"
"Denying it won’t change the fact, Sana. Your creator felt you were damaged and useless, so he’s abandoned you. That’s why you’re here, on Terra, licking your wounds and helping poor mortals, trying to get some sense of purpose back into your existence, is it not?"
"Shut up!"
"Denial, Sana, is not for you. Let’s leave that to whom it belongs. All I need from you is an answer. Will you help me locate the LifeTree of Primus?"
...
...
The silence stretched for a moment, and just when I was about to speak...
"Heh!" Sana scoffed. "All this talk about me, what is it meant to achieve? Make me depressed enough to trust you? And what will that bring me? Do you even know what I want?"
"Vengeance." My words silenced her once more.
"Even without trying, I can feel the raging hatred within you. You wish to make them pay. Not just LifeTree for putting you in this predicament, but Penance as well for abandoning you."
"Vengeance, Sana, I understand perfectly."
"Do you? Dante, tell me, do you truly? Do you understand what it’s like to be forced to watch as you’re broken apart by a being that considers themselves far beyond you? To watch your being be stripped apart, peeled open, broken, just because you were doing what you were meant to!? To suffer unforgettable pain, just because you were sticking to your directives!?"
"Tell me, Dante!!! Do you!!?" She screamed in visceral rage, her facade coming undone.
"To watch the being you endured all that for merely resort to diplomacy!? Diplomacy that ended up with you being discarded like trash!? Used and obsolete!? Do you!?"
I kept quiet, letting her get it out.
"You understand nothing!!! Just because you played vengeance on a few measly minor races, you believe you understand my thirst for vengeance!? Do not give me that crap! And so what if you do? Am I supposed to be swooning? Throwing myself into the arms of the hero? In belief that what? You’ll face a pillar for my sake? You’ll fight a battle that has nothing to do with you for my revenge? I’m not a fool, Dante! I know what type of person you are..."
"You do not..." I finally interrupted her rant. "Sana, you do not." I shook my head, finally getting up from my sitting position.
"You ask me of what use it’ll be even if I understood you? You asked me if I’d fight a battle I had nothing to do with? You asked me if I’d fight for you, Sana, when I have no reason to? If you knew me as you just claimed you did, then you’d know the answer to that question, my dear—" I had already arrived in front of her, our faces separated by only a few centimeters of space "—is yes. Yes, I’d fight for you. Yes, I’d go after a pillar of the cosmos for you. Yes, I’d stick my head where it doesn’t belong. Why? Because, Sana, the moment you agree to join me, you’ve become mine. And what manner of man would I be if I couldn’t do as little as grant those around me the satisfaction of their vengeance?"
I could see her eyes shake. Her lips quivered, almost opening to protest, but I didn’t allow it.
"A pillar of the cosmos? So what?" I raised a hand, eyes still locked with hers as I pointed toward the massive sphere in the sky, toward her core, and then...
"Restore..." The laws around us roared to life as time glitched, vitality flooding the core like a tidal wave.
"Mmm~~" A strangled moan threatened to escape her lips as she felt the rush of euphoria, but she bit it down.
"You need to understand, my dear Sana, that it doesn’t matter who they are. A man. A god. A constellation. A pillar. A freaking outer-existent being. Once you become one of mine, you become off-limits, and whoever has crossed that limit, be it now or before, only has one end." I finally stood back up as I felt all the hidden damage within her restore itself.
"And that, my dear Sana, is to be devoured by me."
"So, I give you the same option I gave my two grandpas."
"Become mine and let us make those who hurt you pay."
"Or."
"Remain here, destitute and weak, licking your wounds like a dog."
"The choice, my dear, is yours to make."
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A/N: Okay, Dante. The choice is hers, sure, we believe you...
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