Dante's POV
In a white space, I stood unsure of what to do. The house was right in front of me, almost imperceptible. I was inches from the door.
"Aren't you going in, or do you not want to go home?" Celestia's voice called from behind me.
"You know, at first I thought this was an illusion or a dream, but now I think it's something else," I said without looking back.
"Death works differently in different dimensions, and you, someone so anchored to this one, shouldn't be a surprise," she replied, embracing me, her arms binding me.
"You shouldn't be here," I said firmly.
"In theory, but when you left, we all expected to see you again in death, but it was a big surprise that it wasn't so; you could say it's like ghosts that can't go to the afterlife and haunt a living being," she answered in a very sweet voice.
"I always knew that world was very strange, but I had the will to search and find myself. I only have one question: why are you appearing now?" I asked.
"We've been waiting for you to die so we can bring you back, but seeing your insistence on dying, we decided to appear. We can't really do anything, only affect your mind little by little, and seeing everything you do, in our eyes, you can't hide anything, traitor."
At that moment, everything went black, and I opened my eyes.
They were in the room where I went to sleep; Aoko was on my right side, hugging me, while Medusa was on my left, and Tora was on top of me, hugging me. They were all asleep, snuggled up to me with smiles on their faces.
(Note: Tora is how Dante refers to Kagetora.)
"Did you have a nightmare?" asked Kiss-shot, who was sitting in a chair watching me.
"You could say that; it's just the ghosts of the past haunting me, trying to get me to go back to them," I replied, settling in between the three women. "Why are you getting up?"
"It was getting too hot in there with all of you; we need to buy a bigger house, a two-story one isn't big enough anymore," she agreed. "About your dream, don't you want to go back to it?"
The question made me think.
"I have things to do and four very important people to me that I can't abandon; as long as you're with me, I won't leave," I said. "It might sound a little selfish, but they'll have to wait a long time for me to go back to them."
Kiss-shot just smiled at me, helped me onto the bed, picked up Tora, and moved her out of bed. Even though she fell to the floor, she didn't wake up. She settled on top of me, hugging me and getting me ready for sleep.
"If you want, you don't need to sleep; just cuddle me until morning." Hearing her words, she smiled and began to stroke her head.
"We're going to buy a bigger bed tomorrow," I said.
...
Third-person POV.
*Three years later*
Dante could be seen in an office, his long blond hair pulled back into a single ponytail, with a few strands loose. Even after his temporary baldness, he never cut his hair.
Knock, knock.
"Come in," I said, and a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes entered, carrying a mercury maid on her back.
"Dante, is it true you're leaving for good?" Reines asked, her expression cheerful, though a hint of sadness lingered in her voice.
"Yes, you missed the farewell party and also Lord Elmmeli II's drunken encounter; Gray and Rin had to drag him away in the end, as he was about to fight a washing machine," I told her.
"Really?" she asked excitedly, moving closer to me, standing just inches away. "Tell me you recorded it."
I simply handed him my phone, which he snatched away in one swift motion.
Reines went to sit on the couch only to realize there was someone else in front of him.
There was a young woman from the church with white hair and yellow eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked, mostly because he hadn't noticed him.
"Don't worry about me, I'm just playing with my father," she said as she stuck another needle into a doll that looked exactly like Kotomine Kirei.
"Hey, is that the device you made to trap the soul of that priest from the church during the Fifth Holy Grail War?" she asked me, making Dante remember what happened three years ago.
*Flashback*
Dante, wearing a hat to hide his baldness, could be seen entering the church with the SPB.
At the far end of the church stood the man who had nearly destroyed humanity and possibly the world, Kotomine Kirei.
"Oh, I didn't think you'd be here. I thought you'd already escaped," said Dante, barely managing to sound surprised.
"Where would I go? I have nothing, and my wish was taken away. I'd have to wait another 60 years, but it's not worth it. I'll just have to wait for my fate like the loser I am," he replied with a smile and a calmness as if what he'd done weren't really wrong.
"Hmm, that saves me the trouble of looking for you," Dante concluded, walking toward him.
"Are you going to kill me again?" he asked, still calmly watching as Dante prepared his scythe.
"Killing you would be too merciful of me," he replied, making a swift cut.
*End of flashback.*
The doll Caren is holding is an alchemical contraption, similar in principle to a homunculus, but this one is a chibi version. The only thing the imprisoned soul can do is see and hear. Furthermore, the dolls only have sensory receptors, so if you hurt them, they will feel it.
Beyond that, they can't do anything else; they won't respond, and they don't need to eat, but they can't move or speak. They can only remain still, waiting for someone to do something to them.
Dante, remembering this, looked to the corner of the room, staring at a similar doll but, with Gilgamesh's touch, hanging upside down, supported by a single leg.
"Since I have some dealings with the church, I got to know Caren, who, interestingly enough, is Kirei's daughter, so I invite her over sometimes so we can have some quality father-daughter time," Dante explained as Reines stared at the doll covered in needles.
"Hmm, I see," Reines said, lost in thought.
"You should watch the video, since I'm about to finish my thesis and then I'll be leaving," Dante told Reines.
"The video is real," she replied.
"Right, I have to get some things from Touko's room and I might be a while," Dante explained, getting up, grabbing the Gilgamesh doll, and tossing it to Reines.
"And this?" she asked.
"Give it to Rin; she knows what it is, and when you're done, leave my phone on the table," Dante replied, leaving the room and leaving Reines and Caren alone.
...
In the middle of a doorway, Dante was seen holding the SPB.
"Welcome home, my love. Would you like dinner, a bath, or me? Aoko said, approaching Dante in a heart-patterned apron, trying to kiss him.
But Dante did the opposite, stopping Aoko in her tracks and playfully cupping her cheeks.
"First of all, did you do what I asked?" he asked.
"You mean transferring all the company shares to Kaori?" she countered, to which Dante nodded. "Not yet."
"What did I tell you? We won't be leaving here in just a few days, and if you don't do it, that money will be lost; it's better to give it to Kaori than to let it sit among greedy officials," Dante scolded her.
"But it's so boring! I have to sit in a chair, dressed formally, listening to guys who, something tells me, have no souls, not to mention just sitting there signing things and doing absolutely nothing," Aoko complained, almost crying.
"Medusa," Dante ordered.
"Yes, darling," Medusa said, peeking out from the hallway, her glasses obscuring her mystical eyes.
"Tomorrow you'll take Aoko to Tokyo to transfer the shares of the company we bought a while back," Dante ordered.
"Understood," Medusa agreed.
"Nooooo!" Aoko protested, kneeling on the floor.
"Well, I'm going to the office to take care of a few things," Dante announced as he went upstairs to the second floor, ignoring Aoko's outburst, knowing it was just an attempt to avoid doing any real paperwork.
When he entered his office, he sat down, thinking he could play Stardew Valley for a while, when he remembered something important: the system.
"System, is it safe to take everyone in the SPB to another dimension?" he asked.
[Affirmative, if you have their souls in the SPB and store them in the system's storage, you can summon it again with all the souls inside.]
"Excellent," Dante sighed, relieved, and started playing.
The idea was to use the SPB as a storage place for the souls of Medusa, Aoko, and Tora so they could go with him, since none of them were vampires like Kiss-shot and, therefore, couldn't travel the way she did.
Once they arrived in the universe, he, using sorcery and the Third Magic, would create entirely new bodies with the characteristics and appearances of their original bodies.
This Third Magic solves several problems that the homunculi of this world have.
[That's highly unlikely to work, since neither you, nor Medusa, nor Kagetora can leave this dimension.]
The system's words stopped him in his tracks.
"What do you mean?" Dante asked.
[Currently, the souls of Medusa, Kagetora, and yours—which by default is Kiss-shot's—are intertwined with the Throne of Heroes. You have to sever that link, or else, if you try to leave, you could damage your soul or theirs.]
The system's words momentarily froze him.
"So, what do you recommend I do?" Dante asked.
[Make a deal with the Throne of Heroes so it releases your souls, allowing you to travel from this dimension without difficulty.]
Dante pondered these words.
"That's not a bad idea, and I can't think of anything else at the moment," Dante declared, invoking the SPB. "It's a good thing that, having been a Servant before, I know the coordinates for the Heroes' Throne dimension."
With that, Dante sliced through the air to open a portal and stepped through, leaving the office empty.
...
A packed food stall was visible. Dante went inside to see if there were any free seats, but unfortunately, there weren't any.
Dante had already returned from the Heroes' Throne with a deal he'd made with that entity to release the souls of the three heroes from their position.
"Oh, Dante, it's been a while. Did you come back from London?" a voice called out. Looking to see the speaker, he saw Sakura holding orders in each hand. "Did you come to get something to eat?"
"No, I just came to visit, since we're leaving soon," Dante replied.
"I see. If you'd like, you can go to the kitchen," Sakura suggested, to which Dante nodded.
As he walked, he ran into Sella and Leysritt, who were also working as waitresses. They were just as busy as Sakura, so they simply nodded and walked on.
Dante passed by the reception desk, where, oddly enough, Shinji was working.
"Hey, long time no see," Dante greeted him.
Shinji just stared at him blankly; thanks to his complete lack of magical talent, faulty magic circuitry, and being missing an arm, his opportunities in life were incredibly limited. He ended up in this job that forced him to be nice to people and, incidentally, to put up with the same kind of person he was. It was the only position he could do with only one arm.
"Yeah, so long," he said listlessly and then looked at the customer in front of him. There was only one thing you could say about Shinji: right now he was stuck in a job and a place he didn't want, but he couldn't leave either.
Dante just ignored him and went inside the shop. The first thing he saw was a big, muscular man carrying five large crates of vegetables with ease.
"Hercules, long time no see," he greeted, but this time to the Einbernz family's former servant.
"Who are you, Dante? It's been so long," the ancient Greek hero returned the greeting with a smile.
"Because thanks to me, using the third magic, I was able to save the short lives of Sella and Leysritt, which allowed Heracles to later marry Leysritt, something I would be grateful for."
"Yes, I see that everyone is well, and he's getting better at negotiating," Dante replied.
"Exactly. Didn't Illya come with you?" Heracles asked.
"No, this time I came alone; Rin and Illya stayed at the clock tower," Dante answered.
"I see. Stay for lunch later. I have things to do with everyone. See you later." With that, he continued on his way, leaving Dante alone.
Dante simply watched him go and continued on his way to the kitchen, only to find two men, who could almost be described as twins, fighting.
"This is my side of the kitchen; you're not allowed to go through here," Archer said aggressively. We'll call him Archer to avoid confusing him with the person he was fighting with.
"But I had to get something that you took from my side of the kitchen, you idiot," Shirou retorted, before accusing the other man.
Once the war ended, the relationship between these two was, to say the least, very strange.
Archer, knowing everything that had happened, knew that Shirou wouldn't become him, so there was no need to command him, not to mention that he couldn't anymore even if he wanted to. On the other hand, Shirou had seen his alter ego's life, so he understood him, but that didn't mean he accepted him.
You could say that the relationship between them was one of rejection of their ideals, but at the same time, of who they were and what they had done. Basically, a love-hate relationship.
"Are you two going to behave yourselves?" a female voice called out.
The three of us, including me, looked toward the sound of the voice to see an actress, about six months pregnant, holding a bamboo sword in a regal pose, not to mention that a wedding ring was visible on her ring finger.
"Ria, what are you doing here? You should..." Shirou couldn't convince his wife, as she grabbed his ear, making him wince in pain.
"You told me you wouldn't argue at work anymore, right?" She glared at him, turning her gaze to Archer, who flinched in fear. "And you said you wouldn't provoke my husband anymore."
"I think it sounds better to say he provokes himself, hehe," Dante said quietly, but Artoria looked away to see what was there.
"Well, if it isn't Dante. It's been a while since you visited us," Artoria said, looking at Dante, her demeanor softening as she finally released Shirou's ear.
Seeing that they were ignoring him, Archer sighed, only to receive a swift blow to the forehead from the bamboo, knocking him to the ground.
"You two get back to work," the lioness roared.
"Yes, boss," they both declared, ignoring the pain and giving a military salute as they continued cooking.
Dante whistled as he did so.
"I see you've become quite the boss, or not, Arturia. It's like you're the queen of this place," Dante teased.
"Besides eating and sleeping, all I could do was keep those two under control, preventing them from killing each other," Artoria replied.
"That's already quite a feat considering you only have two chefs, but that's not why I came," Dante responded.
"I imagine you've come to say goodbye; Tora already told us she and the others had. It's a shame you're leaving," he replied with complete sincerity.
Artoria had a deep appreciation for Dante for everything he had done, both for saving her from Gilgamesh and for bringing her back here so she could have a normal life with her beloved.
"Yes, I don't know how traveling between parallel worlds with the scythe works, so I might never come back here," Dante explained.
That was the excuse he'd given for not saying that a system had pulled him out of the universe and he might never return, and if he did, the world might no longer exist.
"I've already said goodbye to everyone: the Okazaki family, Touko, Akari, my students and friends from the clock tower, Medea, and Souchiro; it was just you all left," Dante said, pulling out two chairs for them to sit on.
"What did you do with those two?" she asked.
"I gave one to his daughter and the other to Rin; after all, he was her father's servant."
"Are you sure it's safe?" Artoria questioned.
"Even if they are freed, their souls will simply vanish into the afterlife; they no longer have bodies to return to," Dante explained, to which Artoria nodded.
At that moment, Shirou arrived with several dishes.
"It's on the house. Think of it as a farewell," Shirou said, quickly returning to the kitchen.
"Thank you so much for the food," Artoria said, devouring it all and leaving me with nothing.
Dante watched as Artoria devoured everything, leaving him only empty plates.
"Delicious, wasn't it, Dante?" she asked, not realizing she hadn't let him taste a single dish.
"Yes, very," he replied. 'That must be the enormous appetite of a ravenous woman,' Dante thought, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.
...
"All set," Dante announced, looking at the four women beside him.
"We're ready," Aoko declared as Medusa and Tora nodded.
"Understood, see you in the other universe," Dante said, kissing each of them. With a swift cut of his SPB, he extracted their souls from their bodies.
Dante quickly caught the soulless bodies, preventing them from falling to the ground.
"What will we do with their bodies?" Kiss-shot asked.
"It would be great to take them with us somehow," Dante lamented, considering even burning the bodies to prevent anything from happening to them.
"But I have a question: as I recall, you can't reach living beings, but those bodies are no longer alive, so does that mean it doesn't count?"
Dante was about to say something to Kiss-shot's question, but he fell silent, lost in thought.
...
"Done," Dante said, looking at the three bodies in the stasis chambers, adorned with runes and seals that prevented the passage of time—something he managed to achieve by studying a bit of Aoko's fifth magic.
With a gesture, he watched as it vanished and was stored in the system, smiling that it had worked.
This left him with only 1,377,929,890,000 PL, since, thanks to the fact that he still had Enkidu in his body due to the Yami Yami no Mi, the system recognized it as if he still had him, reducing his acquisition cost.
Also, with the parts of the machine gods, Dante managed to modify the Fusion Sword and, with the system, replicate it with the Buster Sword; even though it was destroyed, it cost a significant amount of PL.
"All set," Dante said, looking at Kiss-shot, who nodded and sank into his shadow.
"System, take me to another universe," Dante declared.
[At your service].
At that moment, a portal opened above Dante, absorbing him.
During the journey, Dante saw himself emerge from the greenhouse and witness the thousands of branches of the multiverse within the same universe.
Dante couldn't help but feel awestruck.
[Error-error].
"What's happening?" Dante asked.
[Error-error, an entity is preventing you from leaving, error-error].
"What entity is it?" he inquired.
[The Throne of Heroes won't let you go until you fulfill your part of the bargain], the system announced. [Initiating safeguarding protocol].
With that, just as I was about to leave the universe, I began to slow down until I came to a complete standstill.
"What did you do?"
[Preventing the host's soul from splitting into four. You should make the deal with the Throne of Heroes if you don't want that to happen. Slow the journey to near-infinite speed, essentially bringing us to a standstill. I recommend you take the deal].
When Dante realized that his soul, along with Medusa's and Tora's, was intertwined with the Throne of Heroes, he made a deal: in exchange for freeing them, he would perform a summoning for all three of them, making a total of three summonings, both of the Holy Grail and a possible summoning of the world.
"Fine, I'll do it. I just need to be summoned and let myself die; that's it. Three times isn't so bad," Dante declared, only to feel his soul leave his body and travel swiftly across the multiverse.
...
Dante opened his eyes upon being summoned; he wasn't keen and hoped to kill his master quickly so he could proceed with the second summoning.
"Are you my master?" Dante asked somewhat awkwardly.
"Yes, I am," came the voice of a girl with several tubes attached to her body, accompanied by an IV.
Upon seeing this, Dante could only think one thing: 'shit.'