On the island, power outages erupted, chunks of earth flew everywhere, and the scent of blood and sweat permeated the air.
Their swords clashed, creating a ceaseless symphony of metal. Sparks flew continuously as the two moved with a frenetic energy.
Dante darted from side to side, dodging not only his opponent's slashes but also those of the creature behind him, supporting him like a sacred guardian.
In midair, using Geppo, he launched himself forward to attack, invading several spectral swords that the guardian had been using.
Musashi remained completely silent, focused on every attack and counterattack. She had a good understanding of how her opponent's abilities worked and realized something: Dante didn't have a specific sword-fighting style, so she took advantage of that without hesitation.
She switched sword techniques, from defensive to offensive, gradually gaining the upper hand.
The demon realized this and decided to create distance by flying upwards, since if he remained on the ground, the pink-haired girl would undoubtedly follow him.
Being airborne gave him time to prepare his next attack, or so he thought. He saw Niou charging his sword with fire and wind, ready to unleash a blast.
"What a nuisance," Dante complained, soaring as high as he could, landing in the planet's thermosphere near the layer where Artemis was, and without warning, he descended upon Musashi like a meteorite.
"This is bad," Musashi remarked, observing this as she prepared herself, using the void and summoning her Buddhist guardian behind her.
In less than three seconds, Dante had already traversed the entire trajectory, arriving where her opponent stood with both swords ready to strike, but her opponent was already prepared to counterattack.
The two swords clashed once more, but the released energy created a shockwave capable of uprooting virtually every tree.
Musashi, I could feel her arms, feeling the full force of it all as she tried to slice through everything in front of her, or at least tried to.
The ground and even the sea were split in four slashes, lifting everything up, revealing a scene both magnificent and apocalyptic.
"ARGGGG," the swordswoman screamed, using all her strength to throw Dante backward, sending him tumbling to the ground, something the pink-haired woman didn't waste.
Taking advantage of the adrenaline still coursing through her body, she launched herself at her opponent at full speed, but he was already there, so he attacked. But Musashi intentionally threw herself to the ground in an unusual attack stance, causing Dante to open his eyes, but he didn't have time to think, as the Nion immediately attacked him, forcing him to defend himself.
Without hesitation, the swordswoman made the cut, positioning her body as if she were wielding a blade, severing Dante's tendon. This caused him to open his eyes, losing part of his support for defense.
Under such pressure, the white-haired man's Haki failed him, forcing Nio to use his two remaining swords and cut the enemy, sending him flying several meters backward. Then, using his now free blades, he attacked again with fire and wind, creating an explosion where Dante had landed.
Musashi couldn't continue the attack chain, as his arms ached and he needed a moment to catch his breath. He had overexerted himself by performing that single attack, which had to be perfect to be effective.
Through the smoke, Dante was seen walking slowly; outwardly he appeared unharmed, but inwardly he was a different story.
It seemed the demon was about to say something, but he looked up, a gesture the pink-haired woman also made, only to dazzle her like Artemis. The machine goddess already had her arrow ready to fire in the direction of the spark.
And in the next second, it was fired without hesitation.
Musashi was ready to act, but at that moment, she felt someone push her out of the arrow's path.
She sensed no intent to attack or malice from Dante, so she didn't realize when he had approached her and pushed her away.
He, enveloping his arms in darkness, raised them, receiving the full power of a goddess upon himself, but instead of an explosion, all the energy began to be absorbed.
"AAAAAAAAH," Dante screamed as the floor beneath him cracked from the pressure and force of the blast.
The moment the attack ended, Dante, still fully transformed, was seen staring at the sky with his arms hanging limply at his sides.
The swordswoman was about to ask why the person who supposedly wanted to kill her had saved her, only to stop upon hearing the scream.
"ARTEMIS, WHERE IS SHE?" Dante roared angrily.
At that moment, a woman with white hair and large breasts materialized, wearing a metallic visor that made it difficult to discern her thoughts.
"Why did you stop me from eliminating the target?" he questioned Dante in a monotone voice, but in a flash, he grabbed the goddess's clothes and approached her, their faces meeting. Unlike a tender moment that might have occurred in another dimension, this was one of anger and reprimand.
"Why did you intervene in my fight?" the demon asked, his teeth grinding.
"Because I saw you were having trouble," she replied. In another situation, this might have been a well-intentioned attempt to help, but Dante didn't see it that way.
"So you saw I was losing and you intervened, guess what?" the white-haired man said in an icy voice. "I don't need anyone's help, and I don't want it either; I'd rather lose and die than receive help, especially from a god."
With that, Dante violently shoved Artemis backward, causing her to fall. While she wore a somewhat strange expression, as if trying to convey disbelief and uncertainty but failing.
At that moment, the white-haired man discarded what little affection he had left for the goddess. He had cherished her, practically considering her his former lover, but she wasn't; she was merely an emotionless machine with her own body, nothing more.
"Disappear if you don't want me to do something stupid to you," Dante threatened, pointing to the sky.
At this, Artemis closed her mouth and vanished, leaving the world traveler and the demon king alone once more.
Silence filled the devastated wasteland, devoid of any greenery.
"That was quite intense," commented Musashi, who had watched all of this without moving or making a sound.
"Don't misunderstand, I don't want anything in return for this favor she did for you; I did it because I couldn't stand that junk interfering in my affairs," Dante said as the entire floor began to crumble into dust.
The swordswoman began taking several steps backward, reaching the beach, as the entire island was being enveloped in darkness.
"You're trying to go to the next island; let me help you," Dante's voice called from beside Musashi.
She assumed a defensive stance as her opponent sped toward her, fist ready to strike.
"Absolute pressure," the demon declared, throwing the punch before it could touch his opponent, but it was still struck by the pink-haired woman. Musashi's mouth opened, saliva sprayed out, and she was sent flying, crashing into the sea near the next island beyond the one she had been on.
Musashi began swimming to the beach, gasping for air, as the blow had forced all the air from her lungs.
She looked toward the other island, her eyes widening as the darkness vanished, and with it, the island she had been on.
Dante appeared in the sky, flying slowly toward her, repeatedly opening and closing his fist.
"Well, that was a good break. Are you ready for the next round?" Dante asked.
The swordswoman breathed more calmly, summoned her blades, and smiled at her opponent.
"More than ready," she replied, causing the white-haired man to make a sound as if trying to stifle a laugh as he summoned a spectral scythe accompanied by a long chain resembling a rose's slash.
...
From her office, Kirschtaria watched the entire fight with precision.
The whole situation had been very sudden, but it wasn't too untimely to be missed.
The moment she sensed him there, she spoke to him, urging him to give his all, as this was the opportunity to prove that her Servant was a crucial piece in all of this and that Zeus should be more careful when acting against him.
"Not bad, but I'm more surprised by the woman fighting him," commented Castor beside her, also watching the fight.
"She must have divine blood," suggested Polux next to his sister.
"She's nothing more than an anomaly," replied Koyanskaya not far away, looking at the cut that had already healed on her body from the spachina when they traveled to the Lostbelt.
"It doesn't matter; as long as she doesn't lose, I let her do whatever she wants," commented Wodine, still watching the conflict between the two.
...
The chain tried to block Musashi's path, and every time she tried to cut it, it simply reassembled itself as if nothing had happened.
"Idiot," Dante exclaimed, as he snapped the chains, which he could create by simulating thorns to fulfill the condition that he could cut through them.
The swordswoman was ensnared by the chains, unable to move her arms.
"This is it," she began, unable to finish her sentence, as her opponent yanked the chains, spinning her through the air like a yo-yo at high speed.
After several spins and the accumulation of kinetic and centrifugal energy, he hurled her to the ground, sending her crashing and destroying everything in her path, sending pieces of roots, trees, rocks, and earth flying.
Musashi, having already stopped him, couldn't help but spit out a little blood as she fought off the dizziness, feeling a sudden sense of danger and looking down at the ground.
Dante, high in the sky, extended his fist upward, only for a burst of Conqueror's Haki to begin swirling around the entire island and its surroundings.
"This is a tribute to a grumpy old man I knew a long time ago," the demon remarked as his Advanced Haki unleashed his fist.
Making it crash down, Musashi dashed as fast as he could from the center where Dante had aimed.
"Galaxy Impact!" the white-haired demon exclaimed, as if striking the ground from mid-air.
In the middle of the island, a powerful surge of energy suddenly filled the air, and then, in an instant, a massive explosion rocked the island.
The force of Dante's blow caused particles in the air to be crushed against the ground at high speed, heating them up and generating the explosion.
Using sorcery to further enhance the attack, he made it far more devastating than the original.
The island's trees began to be uprooted as if they were nothing, while Musashi kept her swords buried in the ground to avoid being blown away by the massive blast of wind emanating from the epicenter.
The swordswoman saw a huge explosion, like a nuclear bomb, hurtling toward her.
Without hesitation, she released one of her swords and, using the void, slashed.
The massive explosion split in two, dissipating much of its energy and preventing the slasher from being engulfed.
Once it had dissipated, the pink-haired woman surveyed the devastation before raising her swords and blocking Dante's attack.
Using a scythe, she managed to bury its blade in Musashi's shoulder, causing Musashi to immediately use the void to destroy the weapon, but to her surprise, her opponent created another.
The weapons clashed, were destroyed, and new ones appeared.
Dante, using long-range weapons, avoided exposing himself to the swordswoman's attacks, while she did her best to create an opening to hire him.
Out of nowhere, the Niou, created using only the pressure of the swordswoman's sword, appeared to help her.
The demon, seeing the guardian appear once more, simply clicked his tongue and leaped back, enveloping his hand in darkness.
"Let's see if you can survive this," Dante said, extending his hand as a massive burst of magical energy generated in his palm.
Musashi immediately recognized the energy as part of the woman's earlier attack.
All that power was compressed into a single point, roughly the size of a marble, as it began to spin at high speed, sending beams of power emanating from it.
Using Sorcery, the white-haired man amplified the attack he was preparing.
Meanwhile, the swordswoman simply stood there, preparing herself, knowing that interrupting the attack might result in the entire island exploding, with both of them caught in the blast.
With a plan in mind, she waited for her opponent to strike.
"I hadn't planned to do this, but I have no other choice," Dante said. "Yes, it seems quite hypocritical of you, given what you said earlier," Musashi remarked.
"I won't deny it, but having this resource, it would be stupid not to use it," Dante replied as he sprinted toward the pink-haired woman.
At a distance, just as her opponent was a few steps away, about to attack, she plunged one of her swords into the ground, causing the earth beneath her to crack and the ground to become unstable.
The ground split open, momentarily throwing Dante off his balance. Musashi lunged forward without her swords and deflected his attack.
The energy ball that was supposedly aimed at the Spanish woman ended up flying past her, traveling out to sea. A few minutes later, a massive explosion erupted, beginning to vaporize the entire area.
"You're an idiot," the pink-haired woman declared, flying away with the demon, who, like her, was also destroyed by the force of the blast. "You were planning to blow us all up."
...
The swordswoman struggled to her feet, surveying the aftermath of the explosion not far away. The last thing she remembered was being launched into the air alongside her opponent.
She saw a gaping hole, one that had nearly destroyed part of the island they were on. Water was slowly filling the hole, but it seemed it would take a considerable amount of time.
Not far away, Dante rose, his transformation gone, reverting to his human form. All the wounds he had sustained in the fight were visible, including the severed hand he had lost just as they reached the Lostbelt.
Musashi immediately assumed a fighting stance, uncertain of her opponent's next move.
"Tell me he's not planning another suicide attack," she pleaded.
He, now back to his blond hair, stared at her with the blank stares of a dead fish, raising more hands in a gesture of appeasement.
"I don't have the energy to do something like that again," he declared, lowering his arms once more. "But that doesn't mean our fight ends here."
With his remaining hand, he summoned his crimson katana, which radiated red beams of power ready to strike.
"Then, I will use everything I have to bring you down," Musashi said, launching himself at Dante, their blades clashing once more.
...
Three days had passed since the fight began, a battle that started in the snow and ended on a deserted island, with nothing but two individuals fighting to see who would emerge victorious.
The initial animosity was gone, replaced by a desire to end something neither knew how to stop.
Dante parried one of Musashi's katanas, causing it to clash with the other, but Musashi, using his elbow and knee, blocked the attack, only to strike again with his own weapon.
Both were exhausted, wounded, and practically drained of energy and mana.
Dante had almost completely exhausted his Haki, fighting on pure instinct and impulse.
Meanwhile, Musashi had long since given up trying to maintain her mystic eyes and her void, fighting as she had when she was a novice swordswoman in her youth.
After the final exchange of blows, they both took a few steps back to look at each other.
They both gasped and stared at each other, no longer with malice or determination. But there was an urgency, a desire to end this once and for all.
Dante simply nodded, and the pink-haired girl immediately understood what he meant.
They both prepared themselves, both were ready, and in the next second, they both attacked.
In a single movement, they both passed from one side to the other, without looking back.
Suddenly, Musashi began vomiting blood, covering her neck with both hands, trying to staunch the flow.
The cut wasn't quite severe enough to sever her throat, but it was close enough to be fatal.
Meanwhile, Dante remained standing, only to kneel and begin vomiting large amounts of blood.
The cut severely damaged her lung, and I felt it fill with blood, making it difficult for her to breathe.
Without much thought, he plunged a finger into his chest, and the moment he withdrew it, a large amount of blood began to gush from his body, blood that had previously been filling his lungs, preventing him from drowning.
Musashi looked at Dante, seeing him surrounded by a great deal of blood, perhaps even more than his own.
"I see that we both can't keep fighting," Dante commented, looking back with a smile. "There's no other way; we'll have to postpone it until we're both in better condition."
The swordswoman, who couldn't speak at that moment, simply nodded as, using one hand, she created a cut, while the other continued to press on his neck, and she vanished.
The moment Musashi disappeared, Dante threw himself to the ground, bracing himself on his elbows, avoiding falling completely as he continued to vomit blood.
The next moment, Kiss-shot appeared from her shadow, holding an umbrella, surveying the destruction before looking at her husband.
"Well, I see you're going to die," she commented with dry humor.
"You don't say I hadn't noticed," he replied in the same tone.
The vampire grabbed Dante like a sack of potatoes and flew away, returning to Olympus to treat him in a better place.
(Note: I had planned to include an attack where Dante throws the island he absorbed at Musashi at some point, but I forgot, and I don't have the time.) I feel like rewriting everything to put it somewhere. I mention this because it's odd that Dante absorbed an island and did nothing about it. Maybe I'll use it another time; I just wanted to mention it.