Dante's Vow

Just like that I took Jamie's life and completed the two missions I wanted to.

Once inside and after sending everyone out, Jamie would be easy to kill, all I had to do was send people out of his room and tell Dante to let him sleep. Actually, that was the original plan… until the system gave me a new mission…

…

A couple of hours earlier…

…

"You have an idea don't you?."

'I thought about something that might work…' she looked at Dante, and he opened his eyes to look back at her.

'Yeah, I can do that!'

"Can someone tell the plan?".

Rose smiled at me and started to explain.

'We should use Dante's ability to overwrite the memories of the people in the mansion, we will let them believe that you are one of the guys that got lost earlier.'

"That's an option but what happens if Jamie notices that there is someone that it's not under his control?"

'We should be ok~, Jamie is staying in his room~… I think I broke him~.'

"But if he sees me he will know that I'm not one of them?"

'yep~, when one of his subordinates dies, he can see the last seconds of their lives~, so he already know you, I tried to modify those memories, but it's too difficult~.'

"Then, once I'm inside of the mansion, we have to make them go out. That way I can act with more freedom."

'That's easy, we just let them know that the cat they are looking for is not inside. Most people should go out at that time, we have to make sure that you stay inside.'

"And I just had to sneak attack him at that time."

'Exactly.'

"Can you modify so many people memories?"

'Mmm~ I can, but it can be a little tricky.'

A flow of information came into our Minds, all the people that got lost were there, the process was not as fast as it sounds, by the time we finished, half an hour had passed, Rose had already seen all, and was feeding a leaf to Lucy, who ate happily.

We all focused on three people that were good candidates, not many interactions with the others, and no one knew them from before.

In the end, we chose a guy called Luke, he was the ideal candidate, Dante started the task of replacing everyone's memories of Luke with the same but with my face there. This was going to take a while, before starting he transmitted memories and information about the mansion and the people there to avoid mistakes.

"Rose, why don't you go to eat and rest a little? It's going to be a long night."

After what happened last time she rejected, but after telling her that with Dante here, there weren't going to be any problems, she accepted reluctantly and left, saying that she will come back soon.

Lucy stayed with us and climbed on Dante and fell asleep like that… it was a funny sight, but I'm pretty sure that Dante doesn't even feel her, so there is no problem.

Dante was cuddled as usual with his eyes closed if I didn't know what he was really doing, he would look like a normal cat taking a nap. I petted him for a while. When a new notification appeared.

[Mission: Achieve Soul Resonance with the Dante

Type: Normal

Rewards: INT/WIS +2, Mind Shield (Shared)

Time left: 2w 0d 1h 32m 14s]

[Mission: Help Rose achieve Soul Resonance with the Moon Rabbit Lucy

Type: Normal

Rewards: Astral link Lv.2, Rose-Lucy Synchronization maxed out

Time left: 4d 15h 32m 14s]

'Soul Resonance? What is that?'

I was just thinking to myself, but unexpectedly Dante was the one the answered me.

'It's a special state~ when two souls harmonize~, they synchronize and become one~, in this state souls become stronger~, making the original abilities stronger. It's something that can happen when there is a contract between two souls, like a pet contract~.'

There was no need to ask the system anymore, but I was curious about how did Dante knew that information, and if he knew more than he told me.

…

'I can't tell you everything, sorry.'

Is Dante hiding something?

"Why?"

'It's not like I don't want to… but some parts are blurry, and I'm not clear about them myself, the System sealed those memories.'

"The System?"

Dante looked at me and nodded.

'Yes~, before waking up the day after the meteor shower I talked to the System~.'

This revelation shocked me, how was possible for him to talk to it.

"You mean like in your head?"

'No~, I was scared at that time~, it happened after the comet appeared when we fainted. I was in a white space, floating, and you were there.'

"Me?"

'Yeah, that calmed me down, you petted me for a while, my mind woke up at that moment, and I started to understand what had happened, I thought I had died, and the guy that looked like you told me, "you don't have too much time, but you have a choice". At that time I already understood what had happened, the comet forced my intelligence to awaken, but the impact was too much for me to resist. I haven't died yet, but I was going to…

I didn't want to die, I wanted to be petted and cuddle more with you and Hope. I also understood at that moment that the guy that was petting me even if it looked like you it wasn't really you, but gave me a familiar aura anyway. Also, he said that I had a choice, so I may have the chance to stay with you…

He told me "The first option is, of course, leave this world, the second is to make your soul stronger and bind it. Don't worry your Soul will be bounded to Spencer in a Pet contract. And to make your soul stronger, I will give you a power to make it sturdier, so it doesn't dissipate."

But is that what Spencer wants? Getting a power and being bound to you looked too good to me at that moment. He told me, "You are right it has a cost, but you are not the one paying it, I'm here in his regard…"

I was reluctant to accept, but then he added. "You are not the only one that died or almost died today, to Spencer, the people around him is the most important, so for him, the price he had to pay is meaningless compared to any of you. In the other two cases, they just needed their souls to be more stable, but your case is the most sensitive, because of it the pet contract is the safest way for you to stay here, but I had to talk to you for it".

I don't know the price you paid for preventing us to die, but I know that you save us without noticing it that day, I made the pet contract, got this power, because of the situation under which the contract was made, my life became bound to yours.

I know that I talked with the system a lot more, but I can't remember all the details of that conversation. Actually, he explained the Soul Resonance to me at that time, but when you mentioned it now, those memories were unsealed.

I remember that before waking up, the system talked to me the last time, this time to ask me for a favor…

"Dante, Spencer and the others are going to live difficult times, you have to become their pilar until they can defend their selves, protect them please."

I didn't have to think about it. I complied without thinking,

And from that moment I did my best, I started by waking you up, and make sure that no one freaks out… I kept those that could have bad intentions away, in the beginning, was difficult so I made a mistake, but with time I got better at it. I tried to be sure that none of you suffered and be relaxed most of the time. I did my best to keep the vow I made to the system.'

I wasn't sure how to react to his revelation.

There was so much information to take in just one go…

I have made the same contract with Dante than the one that Rose made with Lucy. There were a lot of things that started to make more sense.

I remember no one freaking out about Dante's telepathy, and keeping calm most of the time, even with the situation we were in, he had been helping us even from before I thought he was. The ability to keep in contact with me most of the time despite the distance. The fact that I got the reward when he killed the crow and those were just the ones I can remember, and I know off, I could only wonder how many dangers have we avoided thanks to him.

All of this makes sense now, but from all the things he told me what surprised me the most was that he was supposed to die, and somehow I save him through the system and he wasn't the only one I saved. Who else was going to die? What would I have done if I woke up next to my sister or one of my friend's lifeless body? I didn't want to even imagine that. I wondered what price I paid because whatever it was, keeping any of them in my life was worth it.