Chpter 7: Trials of a King 6/9

When Dante woke up this time, he was shocked because he was in a large plateau of earth, standing up he was shocked when the world started shaking. Turning around Dante was gob smacked to see a massive Titan walking towards him. The titan was massive around 500ft tall with earthy-brown skin with white tribal markings. When the titan reached him, it spoke in a gravelly voice that sounded as ancient as the earth itself, "You are the young mortal chosen by the kings. In the place of the Tall King I will be doing your Trial of the Tall. For this trial I will be testing your resolve. For the next 72 hours you will experience the pain of every king and those you love, if you survive then you will pass, failure means death. Are you ready mortal?" When the titan finished Dante took a long breath and stood firm looking the titan dead in the eyes, "I am ready. Do your worst, Archean." Dante made a resolve to never give up, even in the face of death he will always walk forward with a smirk on his face and a fire in his heart. "Very well mortal, I hope you will not break. You are very interesting, and Shiva would like you." With this the Titan brought down a massive fist but instead of crushing Dante it passed through him. When the fist contacted him Dante's mind instantly felt pain like no other but if anyone was there, they would never know it because he just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and his usual smirk on his face. He saw it all, his pain, the pain of the 14 kings, the pain of the gods, the pain of his mother and father, but the one that got him the most was when he saw the pain that Rose felt. He saw her pain as she watched the life fade out of his eyes, his funeral, her pain as she forced herself to move forward; he saw it all, but he didn't break and for three days he just stood there watching the pain of those close to him, but he never wavered. He stood tall and promised himself to help those he can, but should someone hurt those he holds dear then not even all the gods combined could resist his wrath.

After three days Dante broke out of the spell placed on him and looked back up at the titan. "Well done mortal. You have passed this test, should you pass the rest you will receive my blessing to invoke my power but for now you will have to settle with the kings' weapon." As he finished talking the titan kneeled down and held his hand out to Dante, in his hand was a crystalline great-sword, but unlike normal blades it was rectangle shaped and while one side was an edge the other was a chainsaw. Dante held out his hand and the blade rose up and entered his body. Looking at the titan Dante said, "I look forward to meeting you again Archean." The titan gave a smile as he saw Dante fall over and disappear in a bright crystalline light. "Maybe, just maybe, this mortal can truly wield our power, but that is yet to be seen."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Dante woke up for the 9th time he was surprised to see himself on a throne looking out at a vast city. "I see you have awoken young king." When Dante heard the voice, he turned his head to the source to see a man around 22 in a white buttoned up combat trench-coat. He had white hair and long/wild white hair and blue eyes, but the most noticeable thing was his metallic left arm. Dante realized that Dante was looking at a king that had taken the form of Ravus, Luna's older brother. "Hello, do you want me to call you Ravus or something else?" Ravus had his normal cold look as he looked at Dante. "This is the Trial of the Just, to avoid complications you can call me Ravus. Your trial is to decide the fate of two criminals, depending on your choices will decide if you pass or fail. Here they are so be prepared as I will be watching very carefully." With this Ravus moved beside the throne and they watched as a beautiful woman and a young boy were brought in and made to kneel to Dante. "My king, these two were sentenced by the judge to be directly sentenced by you as he was unsure what to do. The woman's name is Jessica Greenwood, she is the heiress to the Greenwood family. Her crime is the murder of her younger brother in an attempt to take control of her entire house. The young man is named Jack Mason, he is charged with a whopping 4,722 cases of robbery and thievery." Dante looked over the two for a long time, he didn't miss that the woman was purposely loosening her dress to appeal to him. On the other hand, the boy was simply kneeling there waiting for his judgement. "You each will have a chance to defend yourselves. You will only have one chance after I have heard the both of you, I will judge you. I will not kill off people that can rightfully justify their actions." Both of them perked up hearing Dante's words, Ravus gave Dante a curious look but said nothing. The first to speak was the woman, "Your majesty I would like to first inform you that the only reason that I killed, my brother is because he was planning against you. I have always been loyal to the kingdom and couldn't stand it, so I killed him. Though I know it is a foolish notion I always held a small hope in my heart that you would be able to take notice of me as since I saw you so long ago I have always wanted to be with you and thought that the power of my family would be the greatest gift I could offer." Finished with her plea she kneeled once again once told by Ravus. "And you boy? What do you have to say in your own defense?" The boy slowly stood up, Dante could see that the boy was malnourished and weak, suggesting he was either abused or homeless. His body may be weak, but his eyes held a raging passion, "Your majesty, I have nothing to say in my own defense. I will honestly admit to stealing and robbing but I swear on my family that I never took more than I needed to survive, and I never hurt anyone in the process intentionally and if I noticed that it was truly important to someone then I would leave it be regardless of its worth. This is all I have to say your majesty." With this the boy kneeled without waiting for Ravus to tell him to do so. Dante looked at the two of them for a long time. "My judgement of Jessica Greenwood is to be executed for the murder of her brother without plausible cause. Even if he was plotting against me it was not your choice to make whether or not to kill him. Now remove her from my sight!" with this the guards dragged away a screaming and crying Jessica. Seeing this Jack shuddered. "Now then as for Jack Mason your sentence is to serve under my personal information gathering team. I looked into you and discovered out of 4,722 acts of thievery and robbery you never hurt an innocent person. Not only that, the only time you got caught was when you were arrested and that was because you were helping a young girl escape from a bunch of gangsters. I am impressed by your acts and you will be working directly under me. I value these that are selfless even in the face of danger to themselves, not only that but you have an uncanny talent for sneaking whether it was for personal reasons of=r for your own survival it is undeniable that if that if the girl wasn't in danger you would most likely have gotten away. Now then I want you to get washed up, some food in your belly, and to report to me first thing tomorrow morning. Is that clear?" Everyone in the room was shocked including Ravus, Jack started crying tears of joy but managed to stand and say in a voice full of pride and happiness, "Yes your majesty. I will not disappoint you." With a bright smile on his face Dante sent them all out. Now only Dante and Ravus were in the throne room. To Dante surprise once everyone was gone Ravus busted out laughing. "My, oh my. I definitely didn't see this one coming! Killing the seductress that could topple kingdoms with her looks and taking in the thief as a personal spy. I must admit I dint see that one coming, but you definitely pass the trial. Well done my king." Finished congratulating Dante Ravus turned into a crystalline tall shield and entered Dante. "One must have drive to move forward. That boy had it. Now I must show my own resolve." With this Dante's vision turned white.