Chapter 108

Congratulations. You've defeated Kreal, the Dreamrunner

You've earned 1000 Red Orbs

Effiong walked down to me, slow-clapping.

"That was…a most impressive showing," she said. "I can see why she chose you."

"Who was he?" I asked, gesturing toward Kreal with a somber look.

"Ah, Kreal was the First Captain of Enrique's squad. Enrique is Belasco's second born, and in some ways, he's even more twisted than his older brother.

"Kreal was an unfortunate pawn in a game between Vergil and the Secondborn. Enrique had Kreal challenge the Son of Sparda after he supposedly joined the demon ranks to test his resolve.

Vergil saw through the plot to publicly humiliate him in front of his new 'allies' and exploited Kreal's better nature.

He approached him before the fight, and they struck a secret pact to be gentle with each other to save face."

"Let me guess, Vergil did not honor the pact," I said.

"He tried to cut Kreal down the moment the fight started, and had Kreal been anyone else, he would've succeeded, too. We arrived just in time to stop his execution. That was the last time I saw Vergil."

 "Jeez," I sighed. "Leave it to fucking Vergil." The story explained why Kreal was so hostile, but I couldn't say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I had been in Vergil's shoes. 

"How strong was Kreal at his peak?"

"Nearly three times as strong as he was during your fight." 

Yeah, that'd do it. "And how long ago was their fight?"

She raised a brow at my question but answered anyway. "About four years ago."

"He had to be what, 15 at the time? That's just ridiculous," I said, jealousy seeping into my voice.

"Comparison is the thief of joy, even among half-angel, half-demon twins," Effiong said. "Your brother knew who he was since he was 10 years old and trained every waking moment for what he thought was his destiny. You, on the other hand, are just waking up to yours."

"And what was it, his destiny?"

"To kill Belasco and avenge your parents' death. He trained in isolation for a decade, and I was the master assigned to keep tabs on him." 

"Why did you never try to recruit him?" I asked.

"The same reason we didn't approach you and had you come to us. You were being heavily monitored by the demons. Before Vergil betrayed them, the demons saw both of you as potential genetic donors for their cambion project. They also theorized your blood was the key to lifting the limiters placed on them."

"After a chance encounter with Isha, he decided to side with them in hopes of pumping them for techniques and information. It worked, and he stayed with them for about a year before he tried to kill Belasco. He failed miserably before retreating to the Sanctum for treatment and information. After that, he left the planet."

I stood there in silence as I digested the news. 

It was certainly a surprise to find out that this version of Vergil was not a total asshole. He was impulsive, to be sure, but I could respect his goal. Revenge. Pure and simple. Heck, with the way things were headed, I might even help him get what he's looking for.

After my little chat with Effiong, I turned to the dead monsters, whom Effiong had charitably helped me transport to the dune just beyond the eye of the desert. I felt out for my New Class skill, Harvest.

Harvest the remains of fallen foes and gain an intuitive knowledge of their potential application for weapons and armor.

As I approached the Blood Spinner's body first, an infernal dagger materialized in my hand. Its stinger gave me an inkling that it could be used as a Sniper or a powerful stabbing weapon. Personally, I was leaning towards the latter.

Its segmented Chitin body was also perfect for a highly defensive lightweight armor—perfect for Jean.

Looking at the Rage's body gave me inspiration for a lightweight kinetic armor for Rin specifically, and the Lightning wolves' tail seemed perfect for a lightning whip.

I was not sure I'd be able to imbue the weapons and armor with the demons' innate abilities with Enchant, but I had high hopes.

Harvesting took me the better part of an hour, during which I realized that I also needed the monster's core if I wanted the Enchant to work.

Before I left, I asked to see Effiong's whip for reference for my new lightning whip and dazzled her by wielding it with preternatural grace. I knew how to strike, maneuver, set up follow-up attacks, and twist the whip to create a lasso.

I obviously got the Basic Whip Mastery skill. 

Effiong watched me work with an astonished look.

"I thought you said you've never handled a whip before." 

"I've not," I said.

"What you did should be impossible. Even your brother, as talented as he was, required weeks before he could use his blade with any real skill."

Uh. That was news to me. I always assumed Vergil had the same advantages Dante did. Again, I was reminded I didn't know much about this dimension.

"I've always been able to gain a basic mastery of every weapon I came across almost immediately."

She stared at me dumbfounded. "You do realize how absurd that ability is, right?"

"I guess I'm spoiled," I shrugged. "I've gotten a bit too used to it."

---

Effiong dropped me off after a lengthy conversation, during which she advised me to expand my Arsenal substantially. She argued that my unpredictability would stump even the most powerful foes, and with my Arcane blacksmithing skills, I could ensure I always had an answer in every situation.

I concurred. Adaptability was the primary reason I'd survived up until this point, and it was half of the reason I chose the Forgemaster class; the other half was the runes, of course.

They might not seem like much now, but when they reached Adept and Master Tier, I was certain they'd begin showing their true value. Plus, the Demons and Asgard have no shortage of powerful runic weapons. 

Reverse engineering a few would set me up for success in the MCU when the events finally started.

I sought Yao out as I made the Grade 4 upgrade for Rebellion, and she led me to an empty chamber below the forge where she could help me push the last of my resistances and produce a truly transcendent skill.

She watched with me as I fed the Orbs to the blade, and it gained a supernatural sheen, much like the Vibranium weapons I saw with Effiong.

The durability spiked to Very high-tier enhanced durability and high-tier energy affinity.

As predicted, Grade 5 was the final upgrade, costing about 35 thousand Red Orbs.

I spent the token and upgraded the weapon, marveling as the blade shifted fundamentally. It devolved into metal sludge before reforming in the exact same shape, except I could note the minor differences.

The blade was slightly longer and thinner, and I felt something profoundly powerful lingering underneath. I gave Yao a startled look, and she reciprocated with something that roughly meant, 'I don't know.'

Slowly, I filled Rebellion with energy and watched in surprise as the blade practically lapped it up. I formed a Stinger energy blade on a whim and fired it at the shimmering wall.

It crashed against a Mandala that Yao raised at the very last second. I threw a confused look at her.

"Your excitement was about to ruin 6 hours of spell weaving and rune scribing," she explained. These walls have been programmed with spells designed to put you in the most amount of pain without killing you." 

I winced. "Now I'm really wishing that attack went through." Gritting my teeth, I worked my neck. "I said I wanted this, so let's get this over with." 

In a few seconds, I was down to my pants, standing in the center of the chamber. Yao flicked her hand, and the entire space lit up with a purple light.

Evasion activated, and all of my senses went haywire. I almost activated Angel Evade on instinct, but I got a grip of myself and stayed the course as a monstrous weight slammed onto me from above. My muscles screamed as I crashed to the floor so hard my knees rattled.

A muffled groan escaped my lips, and every muscle and bone in my body quivered from the magical strain. My bones fractured, my joints pulled out of their socket, and blood slowly drained from my orifices. I was seconds away from begging Yao to stop when the notification came in.

Congratulations: You've learned Gravity Resistance Basic

The relief was instant, like a boulder had been lifted off my shoulder. Angel Regeneration kicked into overdrive to repair the damage the gravity did, and I managed to climb to my feet slowly. 

"Fuck me. That was God awful," I said. "Was it me, or were the resistances getting harder to stack."

"It's your body pushing its limits," Yao explained. "You've developed a natural tolerance to nearly 15 magical and demonic energy types. Of course, acquiring new resistances will be a challenge eventually."

"That makes sense." Still, the explanation did nothing for my mood or make me feel better about the pain that was coming. Yao gave me 10 minutes to rest before we tried to reach Adept Tier. I was a blubbering, incomprehensible mess at the end with multiple broken bones. 

Dimensional Energy resistance was even harder to acquire than gravity. It consisted of me standing still and allowing Yao to wail on me while I stood in an array that snuffed out all my space-related abilities and resistances. 

Apparently, they got in the way and made skill acquisition even harder. And it was the worst 50 minutes of my life. Yao started with small constructs like staffs and beating sticks and moved onto more powerful attacks like whips before graduating to blades and finally circling over to rays that burned a hole straight through me. Angel Regeneration never worked so hard.

By the end of it, I'd gained marginal increases in Pain and Heat resistance and reached the Adept Tier in Eldritch Magic Resistance.

With skill on our list checked off, it was time to create the skill I'd been dreaming of for months and get my full health bar back.

I brought up Rebellion and read the skill description.

Rebellion, Grade 5 (Fully Upgraded)

Signature weapon of Dante Sparda and a powerful conduit for his bountiful demonic and angelic abilities.

Abilities: Very High-tier energy affinity, Very High-tier Enhanced Durability, Unify.

Unify—combine multiple entities, items, or power on a conceptual level with equal parts Demonic and Angelic energy. Energy cost varies depending on the power of the items or entities. Unify costs 70% less when applied on Dante Sparda. 

After explaining the particulars of the skill to Yao, she floated down to my level.

"That's actually much more charitable than I was expecting out of a power so reality-breaking." 

"I think we should use cosmic burn as a base," I said, "though I'm worried about the cost." 

"With your energy output, that might not be as big of a problem as you think it is," she explained. 

"True," I said. "I guess there's nothing to do but input the numbers and see." 

Cosmic Burn Base (50,000 DE, 50,000 AE) + 14 Adept Tier Resistances (140,000+140,000)

"That's actually not bad," I said, doing the mental math. It'll take me about two weeks to pump out that much energy and funnel it into the sword, and that's if I take no breaks."

"Not necessarily," Yao said with a meaningful glint in her eyes, and I immediately understood.

"Devil Trigger." 

 (Last chapter for the week. Thanks for the support guys. If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead, checkout Patreon.com/Artandcreativewriting)