Dante continued climbing the enormous tree. After passing the tenth floor and facing Akira, nothing else happened. Honestly, it seed like that place was completely empty. Besides the strange sounds of pulsations and heartbeats, nothing could be heard that made a difference, and that was completely weird.
Dante carried [Devil Ex-Calibur] on his shoulder as he walked inside a huge, very hot tube. Despite barely feeling the erging heat, he had been climbing for a few hours without any enemies appearing, and honestly, he was bored.
"I should have brought that battle-crazy demon with . I think it would have been more fun," Dante said, mocking the situation. Well, that's what he could do, right? It was either that or beco completely enraged and destroy everything.
"I wonder what that Virtue of Justice is doing... It's been a few years since I last saw Jeanne. I an, I was never close to her, so whatever," Dante said as he reached the end of the enormous tube. Well, he was almost at the summit of the tree. He had already wondered how much longer it would take to get to the top, but upon reaching the end of the tunnel, he ca across a floor.
"Hahaha," he began to laugh at the scene in front of him and jumped onto the floor, coming face to face with an old acquaintance. Yes, he even looked different from before.
He placed a hand on his nose as he tried to clear the air, as if sensing a horrible sll.
In front of him was soone he knew very well... Wasn't it? "Cerberus," Dante said, seeing the enormous three-headed dog.
"Well, well, what do we have here? An old friend?" he questioned, seeing the enormous monster before him, over six ters tall and with three heads.
This Cerberus had a really robust and powerful body, covered in a carapace of bones and plates. Additionally, his skin had a tallic and rough-scaled appearance. Dante watched the monster moving from side to side, its three heads agitated and alert. It was quite different from the first ti he had faced sothing similar. Well, this wasn't the Cerberus he knew.
Its three heads were also distinct. Yes, it had three different elental heads.
The one on the left was covered in incandescent scales and lava spikes. It was already drooling fire. Despite the visible threat, this would be the least problematic, considering that the current Dante was almost immune to fire.
The middle head seed common at first glance, but Dante noticed a bluish breath emanating from it, with small ice crystals rising when the head opened its mouth. Ice. Sothing he had rarely faced all these years. And that worried him. Resistance to cold was not exactly his strong suit.
The last head, on the right, was emitting small purple lightning bolts. Lightning constantly ran through its fangs and around its head. The electric hum was unsettling, promising pain and destruction if he wasn't prepared.
"Get out!" The middle head said as its whole body began to rise. It was bound by several chains holding it to the corners of the enormous arena filled with ice and frozen spikes. Cerberus was in the middle, like a prisoner.
"Only the kings of the underworld may enter these gates!" The lightning head said, glaring fiercely at Dante. But sothing didn't make sense. "What gates, you idiots? We're in the human world," Dante thought.
"You will not pass!" The fire head snarled, its voice the most distorted and angry.
Dante just looked at the spectacle with a smile on his face. After all... He was itching to have a pet.
"Hahaha, easy boy. Hey... I rember a slly dog just like you." He mocked. It really wasn't the first ti Dante had faced a Cerberus. Well, he himself had a Cerberus imitation in his powers, but this one? This was the real deal.
"You insult , foul creature!" The middle head shouted, straining its body forward but limited by the chains.
"Looks like your master put a very short leash on you." Dante mocked again, seeing the sturdy chains holding the giant dog.
"Co on, doggy." Dante said, clapping his hands, provoking the demon. "Let's take a walk, co on! Let's go!" He continued to taunt him. After all, Dante didn't feel any danger coming from the creature, so he decided to have so fun.
"You fought our child in the past..." The middle head said. It seed to be the leader among them. "But I am the King of the Cerberi!" They shouted in unison. But was it over? No, they were quite chatty. "They were weak!
But WE will devour your flesh... and gnaw your bones!" As they said all this, Dante just paced back and forth with a smile on his face.
The enormous demonic beast began to stir, straining against the chains that bound it. Cerberus roared, a sound that reverberated through the arena, shaking the ground. With a powerful surge, he began breaking the chains one by one, freeing his movents.
ROOOARRRR!!
The roar echoed throughout the vast arena as Cerberus freed himself completely.
"So you're the strongest, huh? Looks like we'll need a bigger collar. Co on, pup!" Dante taunted with a confident grin, clearly eager to take on the monster. He had been bored for hours and wanted so fun. After all, he was still a battle maniac.
Dante stood firm, facing the demon. In a matter of seconds, the creature charged at him, but its speed was nothing compared to Dante's.
"This is going to be child's play," Dante said, dodging the attack with a massive leap over Cerberus, leaving the beast confused. Dante could feel the heat from the lava head as he passed close by, but it was nothing to worry about.
Landing on the ground, Dante finally drew his sword, which seed rely decorative in his hand, but that was because he was completely unperturbed.
"First, the ice head. It seems to be the leader. If I take it out, the other two might get confused if my theory is correct," he thought. Cold could be his biggest enemy in this fight, especially since his power was entirely fire-based.
Cerberus turned after Dante's dodge and glared at him. Again, he charged at Dante, who this ti prepared for a cutting strike.
The beast ca running towards Dante, who was fully focused, aiming to slice the middle head when it got close.
"Not yet..." he murmured, closing his eyes and entering deep concentration. The whole world seed to slow down.
The beast's heavy steps got closer and closer to Dante, then he opened his eyes.
"Now." With an agile leap, he aid a precise strike at the throat of the middle head.
WOOOSH!
The speed of the blade was such that it created a small vacuum, generating a gust of wind. As it hit the rough and resilient body of Cerberus, a shockwave forced them apart. Dante was thrown back but maintained his balance and landed smoothly on the ground.
Cerberus roared in pain, with so blood beginning to ooze from the wound Dante inflicted. The lava head was already preparing to counter-attack.
The beast exhaled a breath of flas, but Dante, almost dancing on the battlefield, deftly dodged it. His sword absorbed the heat without much difficulty. After all, what was a re fla from a mangy dog compared to the flas of Amaterasu?
"I thought you'd die pretty quickly, pup," Dante said, resting Devil Ex-Calibur on his shoulder again, looking at the furious heads, drool dripping onto the ground. "Don't you recognize your master, pup?" Dante asked. Theoretically, as far as he knew, Cerberus was the guardian of the gates of Hell, and if Dante was the Lord of Hell, he was Cerberus's master.
"I have no master!" the three heads roared in unison.
"I see, so it's going to be like that... Such a pity, I'll need a new gatekeeper," Dante thought, using the ground to propel himself towards the Lightning Head, which began to charge an electric discharge.
"Co on, big guy! Entertain !" With a shout, Dante struck directly at the electric discharge Cerberus unleashed. Dante sliced through the attack, splitting it in half, and his sword t the top of the lightning head. Sparks flew, the tallic sound ringing through the air, but despite the hit, it caused no damage.
The lightning head shook violently, sending out small electric shocks that forced Dante to retreat, feeling the electricity coursing through his body like sharp needles.
"You're really stronger than I expected, my friend. Sorry for underestimating you!" Dante said excitedly. Now things were getting really interesting. He smiled, having a big idea in his mind—using sothing he typically avoided.
"It's been a while since I used this..." Dante murmured as a dark magic circle ford in his hands. He usually avoided using this magic because it was sothing he didn't know how to control. Well, he didn't even try; he was too busy and hadn't trained in a long ti. Plus, he felt quite uncomfortable using sothing he hadn't fully absorbed. But he wanted to test his theory.
"Tsukuyomi." The entire world went completely black while he, however, could see everything.
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