In the dark hours of the night...

The day went by quietly as Dante just focused on remembering his breathing and cultivation techniques from his previous life and practiced them lightly. Although he had regressed from the future, his memory was not spectacular and the system was still not at it's full potential.

It could only perfectly store the last week of Dante's life, so he was able to vividly remember the faces of those that went after him and Edward's own, when cutting off Dante's head. This brought both fury and peace within himself as he knows it will be a long path and rushing the path of an awakener will only bring harm.

The rest of the memories were hazy to Dante including his old techniques, since he no longer had the memories and had no muscle memories either. Without the system, as it currently has no ability to retrieve them. He was basically a blank slate at this point. Perfect to mould his body and mind into any form he wants.

Dante's eyes opened with a hazy blur in the middle of the night. He had learnt to sleep in an efficient way as he was mostly in constant danger so if he needed to wake up at any point he could. He found the perfect zone in between recovering the most and staying in the light sleep stage/

It did not matter anyways as the higher the realms are for awakeners the less their dependency on mortal necessities are. When they become God's and Immortals they no longer have the need for it and transcends.

However, something was different tonight. Dante was not awakened yet so his senses were not heightened with an investigative technique. Yet he could barely detect it using his normal technique.

There were light footsteps within his room in the middle of the night. The user was most likely using a movement arts technique since not even felines could be this quite.

The noises of his desks and wardrobes being searched could be heard as Dante tried to regulate his breathing to back when he was asleep.

Closing his eyes hard he just fully focused on sensing around him.

Within a few seconds he felt long stands of hair brush on his body as person searched under his bed.

Since they didn't find anything they simply walked back near the window.

Silence lingered for a minute, he could no longer feel the presence of movement. Dante was not sure if they had left or not...

Suddenly, a cold feeling shot through his body. It was definitely a feeling he was familiar with. It was a mix of killing intent and observation. The hot sensations mixed with the cold as he began to sweat from his head.

It was like a pair of eyes were intensely burning into his soul. He was right it was not safe to look yet.

A minute passes before the killing intent disappears and a familiar voice said in a low tone.

"Your senses have become sharper, despite not having mana. Careful, if you stick your nose to where it doesn't belong. Death is the only thing waiting for you..."

All presence disappeared soon after as Dante opened his eyes.

He calmly takes a deep breath as he looked around, nothing was out of place. It was disturbing.

The window was still open as all sounds left in the room was the wind blowing.

Dante knew the cause of all of this. One of the few people that he found the hardest to understand.

Amanda.

Amanda was his personal maid with long silver hair. She was 20 and possessed incredible talent, becoming a high B rank at her current age.

She was a person that Salazar used in his plans quite often. On the cover she was a maid to take care of Dante. However, he barely even saw her much during his time in the mansion. Only a few times. She was even absent during the celebration which was mandatory for servants as Salazar had allowed it.

Under all forms of disguises she was adept with, she was an assassin. Possessing multiple stealth, movement and mind techniques. Her abilities were outstanding.

Salazar would frequently send her out for missions, with proper compensations, in which she would take out some influential people. This explained for the lack of times Dante saw her.

She would eventually leave the Demiscue household and create her own group that was feared through the west which became a desert.

'The Phantoms.'

Dante would only find this out through a fate encounter a year before his death when he was surviving in the west.

His death was almost guaranteed as a higher ranked awakener began attacking him.

When suddenly Amanda took pity on Dante and killed him in one swift motion from the shadows.

She had crossed the threshold of becoming a Saint and became an S rank. With enough dedication she could have made it to SS after many years.

When Dante asked her why she saved him she could not explain it properly herself.

"Well..."

"It's hard to explain, I was not actually a proper servant..."

"Fuck it, come. I'll buy you a drink."

Amanda had taken him into a used up bar and explained her previous story. She was orphaned from birth and never really felt connected with others.

After a few years alone when she left the Demiscue Household. She met a few others like her in the open when doing a mission. They all accompanied her and she grew on their presence. After a while she felt much more happy then she had ever been.

The feeling of belonging to somewhere.

Dante smiled, whilst his heart had a tinge of pain. She managed to get what he never obtained.

Deep within Dante didn't really blame her for her neglect. The apology was nice to hear though. During that time he didn't blame anyone much yet it still hurt. However, it would be ungrateful to pay back kindness with hate from the person who saved him. So forgiveness was the best option then for him.

A couple years would pass after this moment and unfortunately, a few months before Dante had died. He was in another area of the south and looked up at the news from the screen. What he saw made him drop his drink as the news hit him. The headline said.

'The members of Phantom had been killed. The Hero of Light, Edward Tristate, was heavily injured from the leader. He promises to recover and purge more evil in the continent.'

Although Dante was sad inside there was nothing he could do.

He left the bar and had a moment of self reflection. Although they were not close and she barely interacted with him. She treated him better in that one moment than his family did in his life...

Dante looked up at the fractured yellow sky, asking a simple question.

'To live a few years free or to die whilst alive?'

The thought pondered in his head as he paid for his drink and moved on with his travels.

The night went by slowly after that as Dante inspected his injury. It was still deeply cut but it was doing a lot better than before. The bones have been positioned back and the muscles were recovering slowly. The feeling of the itch and burning lessened as well.

He lay back down on the bed as he carefully positioned his arms. When he becomes an awakened he should be more free to be more independent and not as reliant on Jason.

Within a few moments Dante returned to his state of rest as the dark veil upon the world was slowly pulled back, revealing the sun once more.

Dante opened his eyes to the feeling of a slightly sore arm which was fully recovered. He stood up and began doing some stretches.

"Good." He says.

His joints and their mobility were fine as he fully stretched them out.

Afterwards, he went towards the dining room for breakfast since he felt quite hungry after not eating for a fully day and a half.

When he arrived the doors were closed a servant was there. He stared at Dante and said.

"I apologise, you may not come in for any meals during a fortnight."

"Who said?"

"The lady of the Demiscue household."

He knew it, after his actions 2 nights ago, his mother could not stand the sight of him. Not even to share the same space with.

"Your food has been prepared, please take the tray to your room and dine there instead."

Dante did not reply back nor complain as he grabbed the tray and went to his room to eat. The meal was properly cooked as was made well.

Previously it would only be half done and shabby. It seems his actions the last few days did have some impact.

The servants he passed would now not openly speak ill about him. Dante knew they still talked shit over his reputation, just not Infront of his presence.

After the meal, he got dressed and went towards the knight's training grounds again. This time it was full and the knights were already training.

He got a few stares from about half but the others just concentrated on training. Silvana glanced at him once and ignored him the rest of the day fully immersed in her techniques. The only difference is this time she was carrying her massive Greatshield given to her by her father.

Dante had spent the entire day fully working on his body, it was easier than yesterday as he can tell he made some slight progress.

From the rumours he heard it seems like Danny was still in the infirmary recovering. He was healed by an awakener as well but not to the quality given to Dante. Furthermore he held more injuries so of course it would at least take a month to heal.

When the sun fell and Dante felt satisfied with his level of training, he went back to his room and took a shower.

After putting on the same worn out formal clothing, he walked towards his fathers office, only to meet Jason on the way.

He stopped Dante as he stood Infront of him with a doubting face.

"I heard your father had summoned you..."

"You are correct."

Silence was left in between the two as Jason finally said with a sigh before walking away.

"I wish you luck..."

He knew how terrifying Salazar can truly be.

Dante stood Infront of the large patterned wooden door. It held the looks of many leaves.

Before Dante could knock on the door, a booming deep voice came from within as the doors opened...

"Enter."