Chapter 77 Radical... Right?

In the last hours, Dante's mind received two profound shocks that left him stupefied; the first one was a glimpse of what he could devolve into; a lunatic consumed by unbridled ambition, who only cared about power, devoid of an ethical boundary in its dictionary, such sobering revelation quite broke his hopes of what to expect about the others versions. It even shrouded him with doubt about his true nature...

Perhaps deep down, they were alike... or perhaps he was the anomaly, and everyone followed a similar path, but what appeared in front of him...

In front of him firmly stood a guy who was a small paradox of time. His face carried the features of being old, yet his eyes held a strange spark that told the world that he wasn't so old.

He had red, piercing, scarlet eyes, which were accentuated by the large dark circles under his eyes, creating an intense ambiance that was commanding and unnerving in equal measure.

Dante studied this alternate version of himself. The man's hair was stormy gray, wild, and slightly unkempt. His skin had an ashen hue. His attire was simple yet imposing, being conformed of a large, tattered black overcoat draped over broad shoulders; at simple sight, you realized its fabric was worn and weather-beaten from years of use, complemented by black pants and a battered leather belt.

He lifted his cigarette to his lips and spoke with a voice as cold as his gaze, "Shouldn't be the question why aren't you a man? No..." His eyes flickered to the pink palette of the girl, triggering a house of memories that stirred a mix of disgust and anger within him. "Why aren't you a human? That is the correct question..."

Dante, taken aback, murmured in response, "What do you mean? we transformed in the tutorial and lost the ability to go back, so we were stuck in this female body-" Mid-way sentence, With a deft motion, the man unleashed a telekinetic assault to his position, slashing with a lethal position at the girl.

Instincts kicked in, and Dante's reflexes sprang into action; he quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a spoon, positioning it at the perfect angle to block the attack. The clash of metal against metal reverberated loudly through the air. Still, as Dante did all this swift motion, the alternative groaned slightly irritated, "Your face and colors remind me of those two love maniacs..."

Dante's thoughts echoed through his mind, 'Two? Could it be that there is more than just one...' He shouted to his extremely edgy version of himself, his eyes narrowing as he awaited a response. "Who are they? The maniac love alternative is the Cadance version... isn't it?"

The alternative replied with an irritated tone, "Yes... that is the first and the second one is the aspect of Maelorion... She is a god damn nuisance, she keeps getting powers ups out of her ass because" With even more disdain in his tone, he continued, "'HEY I USE THE POWER OF LOVE SO I AM STRONG' A pity that I failed at killing her twice."

Dante, seeing the alternative angry reaction, explained a few things about himself to not start an unnecessary problem, "well, look! My colors are pink but it's just a coincidence..." he began, his words coming in a rush as he tried to defuse the tension. "this is the body of Pinkamena Diane Pie and is related to laughter... Wait... No, it was joy! I think?"

The alternative remained nonchalant; his demeanor was still calm and collected despite the earlier attack, he remarked casually, his tone betraying no hint of apology. "Just venting the anger in you... nothing personal. I already know that."

Dante couldn't help but feel a surge of indignation at the dismissive response; he exclaimed, "HEY!!!"

Seeing this, the alternative walked closer, his intense gaze piercing the ambiance, "What? Are you gonna cry about it? What is done can't be undone; there is no point in whining over spoiled milk; just bear with it now... why did you come to this place?"

Despite his counterpart's grumpiness, Dante couldn't help but feel a surge of relief. Seeing that this version isn't a psychopath with radical thoughts and more like a reasonable living being, with a wide grin, Dante exclaimed, "Knowledge!"

His counterpart, unfazed by this request, reached for a package of cigarettes and muttered through a puff of smoke, "Let me guess... You can't control yourself?"

In an instant, Dante's clothes transformed into a yellow hard hat now perched atop his head while welding goggles adorned his eyes. Yellow latex gloves materialized on his hands, and an ID bearing the name 'Dell Conagher' appeared on his chest. With a defensive stance, Dante retorted, "How did you know?"

The alternative said the first intrusive words that came to his mind, not caring a damn about opinion, "Because most of the time, all of you are just weak-willed minded bitches who barely have a grasp over their personality."

Annoyed by the alternative's attitude, Dante couldn't help but lash out with a sharp and annoyed tone as his clothes got back to the previous set, "HEY!" However, he quickly reminded himself that words couldn't harm him, and he composed himself. "Why do you curse so much and why are you so mean?"

The alternative, Dante, cynically replied, "This is our true personality, you are altered, you are just probably between 60-90% yourself and probably hadn't realized it, but we curse a lot... perhaps when your transformations were simpler you cursed a lot... it's that and constant stress and pain can make anyone a jerk."

"Huh..." Dante recalled that the edgy version was correct; he indeed cursed more with Rainbow Dash, whereas with pinkie pie, he scarcely could recall one memory, IF he had even cursed once, but this raised his hopes about this version more, "Then do you have a solution for it?"

The alternative responded with such a simple answer that leaned more toward a stupid one, "Willpower... You don't need anything overly complex," he stated plainly. Then, as if sensing the girl's unspoken urge, he continued with an answer that was more like what Dante wanted, "Apart from that, seek out the upgrade, 'Self-Integration Protocol: Persona Shift.'"

Dante eagerly accessed the System and Class Skill Tree to buy at this moment the upgrade, but just as her face was adorned with a smile mere seconds ago, the smile inverted, showing now complexion in the features of the girl, "It's blocked... I need to get other stuff before it! but, wow... I actually didn't expect you to well... help me." With a slight chuckle, she continued, "And you may not or may want to know, but it was because you were mean and you don't seem to have personality problems..."

Surprisingly, the alternative said something that Dante' wouldn't have expected: "I actually do, in fact, but mine don't change it; It just enhances certain characteristics... It's fairly lame and basic."

Dante was intrigued and pressed further on this theme, "Like what?"

The alternative replied with a list of negative sentiments, "Hate... Wrath... Savagery..." The words reverberated in Dante's mind, painting a different picture of the alternative. However, upon hearing this, Dante couldn't help but draw a conclusion. "Oh? So you are the contrary to her?" This alternative appeared to stand against everything the love version lived for; one was hate, and the other was love, counterparts of each other.

The alternative replied calmly, taking a drag from his cigarette, "Coincidence..."

Dante would lie if he didn't say that he was fascinated by the duality of the two alternatives. It was almost as if they were the left and right of a balance, each with its own unique set of pros and cons. Dante then asked, "Cool! How much time do I have left here?"

The alternative looked at his watch and replied, "1 hour. That's the limit, you can go before if you want and if you stay more than 1 hour the system will automatically kick you."

Dante, trying to make the most of this journey that his silly personality ended up creating because he wasn't fast enough to stop her, said, "You seem like someone who had a rough time, so probably you'll have a lot of experience, can you help me with other things, your wisdom might come handy."

The alternative casually replied, with a plume of smoke curling from his lips as he lit another cigarette with a vintage lighter straight out of the 1900s. "That's quite the fancy way of calling someone 'old.' But believe it or not, we're practically the same age. At most, we're only a year apart."

Dante's face froze, "WHAT!!!" back on earth, this guy looked like he already had a wife, children, and a stable job with a house, yet they were in THE SAME AGE RANGE?!

The alternative explained why the paradox, "Appearing to be in my early thirties is merely a side effect of extreme fatigue... I have a normal human body that is enhanced by the system... But the constant danger I am exposed takes its toll, leading to stress, which, as you may know, is detrimental to one's health." he paused to exhale the cigarette smoke out of his mouth, "That's why I also smoke this cigaratte in steroids, keeps my mind sharp and active at all times."