Chapter 54

(Hey guys. New week, new goal. Let's hit 1200 this week. It's only 100 more stones from 1100, and we shot past well that yesterday before the stones reset. I know we can do it. So, this is the official call-to-arms)

Shin snapped his finger, and I awoke to a fresh hell.

I woke up a screeching, hyperventilating mess, tightly wrapped in a dozen layers of bandages. My nose picked up on a cocktail of herbs so potent it would've knocked me out if I was not nearly out of my mind with pain.

"Mmmpff!" I bit down the scream ripping from my throat, but it was still loud enough to draw the attention of one of my minders. It was a portly Middle Eastern woman.

"Peace, Dante," she said as she walked in. "I understand you're in a great deal of pain, but you'll make your injuries worse if you struggle.."

Her voice was soothing, and she had a motherly charm that almost lulled me into a sense of security, but the pain kept me alert.

I scanned the room. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, lanterns burned, and there were stack upon stacks of scrolls stored on the tall shelves in the corner.

"Where am I?"

"In the Rejuvenation Quarters of Kamar Taj."

"How long have I been out?"

"Two days," she said. "You collapsed after walking through the portal with the Phoenix's Avatar."

"So, that's general knowledge now, is it?" My eyes narrowed suspiciously, to which the woman smiled.

"I will go fetch the Ancient one. She'll explain it all."

"Wait," I called as she stepped away. "I never got a name."

"Alara," she smiled and departed, leaving me to assess my current state.

Name: Dante Sparda

Species: Nephilim

Class: None

HP: 250/690 (Severe Cosmic burn -50% health until fully healed)

SP: 230 /670

AE: 450/450

DE: 480/480

Strength: 43

Dexterity: 45

Endurance: 67

Vitality: 69

Angelic Energy: 45

Demonic Energy: 48

Well, Shit.

So that was why I felt like ass when I woke up. I spiked Angel regeneration, letting it heal the half of my untouched body.

Pain and Fire Resistance flared to life, nibbling on my middling energy pool, bathing my aching body with the palpable relief all of the tinctures and bandages had not managed. I struggled to my feet with a groan and focused on moving my body.

My AE dropped at alarming speeds, but I was fairly used to that by now. I was more excited by my stat growth. At 20 strength, I was pushing 700 pounds of weight easily. At double that, I was over 1400 on the Bench Press. Reaching 43 only translated to about 105 pounds more pushing power, but every last bit counted in a fight.

Stack that with my outrageous speed of 100mph backed by 45 points in Dexterity, and I could hit with the force of a small supercar.

If only my vitality hadn't taken a fucking nosedive.

I imagine I wouldn't be quite as bulletproof as I used to be or be able to fight for a prolonged time with fresh wounds and pain holding me back.

Still, I had to grind. I was probably going up against the Hulk next, and I had the durability of a D-rate villain.

Without the cheddar to go shopping at Shin's store, my options were pretty limited.

Resistances were the first thing that came to mind. Maybe if I gathered enough of them, I could roll them into an overpowered resistance skill that gave a flat damage reduction across the board.

I'd done it once with my (R) Myriad Martial Art Mastery skill.

Sounded like game character logic, but fuck it, it is what it is. In the meantime, I could work on developing demonic energy techniques and work on my angel side as well. Heaven knows it was lacking.

"Glad to see that even the fires of the Phoenix cannot keep you down for long," I heard Yao's voice beside me, and it took me some effort not to jump out of my skin.

"You know me," I said, turning around. "I'm a glutton for punishment."

The Ancient One took careful steps to the center of the room and summoned a set of chairs for us to sit down on.

"You've got to teach me that," I said.

"How are you feeling?" Yao asked with a look bordering on concern. I couldn't truly tell with her perpetual deadpan face.

"I've been better," I said, carefully lowering myself onto the chair. My body lit up as I sat down. "My burns, they're not healing."

Yao frowned. "It is to be expected. No one has ever survived contact with the Phoenix, much less earned its mercy. I wouldn't even know where to start to help you. You're overflowing with cosmic energy."

"Mercy?" I grunted. "That's certainly one way of looking at it." Some part of me wondered why the bird hadn't healed me. I couldn't look out for Jean when I was bruising with every step. "How's Jean doing?"

"She refused to leave your side for the first day and most of the second. It took me slipping her some sleeping tea to put her to bed. We'll know more about her mental state when she wakes."

"That worked? She must've been really tired, or the bird or the Phoenix trusts you."

"You speak as if you've met her," Yao said.

I weighed the advantages of telling Yao about my conversation with the Phoenix vs. keeping my knowledge to myself.

If I started talking now, it wouldn't be long before I'd told her about everything else. And while I trusted her…somewhat, I was not sure we were there yet.

"I got a sense of her in between rounds. She spoke exclusively in one-liners. I thought she was more bloodthirsty than anything else."

"Sounds…accurate enough," Yao said offhandedly before folding her palms over each other. "There's something I wish to tell you now that we have some time."

"I'm guessing it has something to do with the demons."

Yao nodded. "A demon in particular. Sparda."

I raised my brows. "You knew my father?"

"We were old friends," Yao said affectionately. "He helped me when I was coming up as sorcerer Supreme, and we remained close until the end."

"He told me in a dream he was sealed away, not dead," I said with some confusion.

"So you know?" Yao's eyes widened a little bit. "I suppose it's like him to spell you with memories of the past. That will save me a great deal of time explaining. Your father was an anomaly, even among his race. He's the only demon I've met with a conscience, and up until 20 years ago, he was the only one of his kind on Earth. He was powerful, charismatic, and one of the kindest people I knew. I've never met anyone like him since," she said fondly.

"Sounds like you wanted to shag him," I said, deadpan.

Yao froze, and for the briefest moment, I thought I saw her cheeks blush. But it was gone in the next instant, and she continued on with her story like she hadn't heard me.

"Your mother was his equal and completed him. She was everything he was not. Impetuous, Rebellious, quick to anger, and knowledge-hungry. She studied with us for a while, soaking in the sorcery of Earth and adding a few spells of her own."

"Mom was a sorcerer?"

I supposed that seemed like the obvious path to go down as a transmigrated Angel. She was probably desperate to understand her new reality and see if sorcery held the key to returning back home. Seeing as she had Dante, that obviously didn't work out, but that didn't mean her work couldn't be useful, especially to a gamer.

"Will you teach me like you taught her?"

"No," the ancient one said, startling me.

"But you said–"

"I cannot teach you Eldritch Magic because it's not safe," she said. "I can teach you how to manipulate your personal energies better, but anything beyond that might put you in grave danger. You and your brother are both anomalies with signatures that are so antithetical and powerful they scream out to the dimensions we channel when we create spells. Your presence will draw attention. Attention that will put you and the Earth in danger."

"That's...understandable," I said with some disappointment. I always fancied myself more of a fighter than a sorcerer, but it'd been nice to have more options. Still, I was open to learning. "I might take you up on that offer to learn spells for my personal energies."

She smiled. "I hoped you might. There are dozens of tomes waiting for you, but before that, there's more to discuss," Yao slowly said.

"Belasco is trying to destroy the barrier we placed between Limbo and Earth and conquer the planet. When Sparda was alive, no demon dared travel to the surface without permission. He was just that powerful.

However, after Eva's arrival, some of Belasco's oldest Cambions (half-human, half-demon) grew bolder. Suspecting war was unavoidable, your father, Eve, and I erected a Restriction Barrier based on Agamotto's original design that stripped all demons kind of most of their power when they crossed over to our plane, with a few exceptions, of course."

"Me and Virgil are the exceptions," I realized, though something else bothered me. Was she trying to say that Dante has been fighting demons in easy mode this entire time?

"Your father knew you and your brother might need to take the fight to the demons one day," Yao continued, "so he made alterations to the Spell that would allow you to enter and leave the realm without backlash."

That was actually pretty convenient for me. I hadn't met the man yet, but I already liked him, though something else occurred to me.

"The demons are coming for me, aren't they?"

"Yes," Yao said tentatively, "but not for the reasons you think. They can't use your blood to break the barrier. Your access is coded to your Angel Energy, not your blood."

My eyes went wide. Holy shit.

Naruto's parents could learn a thing or two from Sparda. He managed to strengthen his sons without making them even bigger targets.

"If they're not coming for me because of the barrier, it's probably because of who my parents were," I concluded. "I put a target on my back by showing I was more than just a wastrel."

"Price of excellence," Yao simply said.

"Well, fuck me." Shin certainly did say the demons were coming for me.

"So, what do we do?"

"For now, you rest," she said, "talk to Jean, keep her grounded, and begin your training into proper Demon and Angel Magic. Both of your parents come from beyond our cosmos. If there's magic that can heal your cosmic burn, it's theirs."

(Read up to Chapter 70 on Patreon.com/ArtandCreativeWriting)