The moment Nightingale's body hit the ground, limp and lifeless, everyone froze. Up until then, the skirmish had consisted of nothing more than simple exchanges.
Moriarty's plan had been to keep the demon occupied until Libra finished her task and stepped in to handle him personally; he hadn't expected the demon to suddenly get serious.
In the mind of Holmes's rival, this demon was a figure with little sense of allegiance and a profound lack of interest in most events—at least, that was the impression gathered from his history and the accounts of those who knew him. Moriarty had simply expected him to toy with everyone and only get serious once Libra arrived. They would have used that moment to escape and regroup, but Dante's abrupt shift in demeanor left him speechless.
The Englishman's internal monologue lasted only a second—just long enough for someone to plummet like a meteorite onto the red-eyed blond, kicking up a cloud of smoke.
Everyone watched intently, only to see Asterior with his massive axes buried in the ground, while Dante regarded him with utter indifference.
Enraged that his attack had missed, the Minotaur wrenched his weapons free and unleashed a flurry of frenzied, consecutive blows.
Using Observation Haki, Dante dodged his enemy's attacks with ease; however, the others didn't stand idly by—bullets and snakes began closing in at high speed.
Seeing this, the demon couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance.
Meanwhile, the battle elsewhere was gradually losing intensity, signaling its imminent conclusion. Dante decided it was time to move; he had no real desire to fight Libra, but he still had a job to finish first. Using *geppo*, the demon dodged the projectiles while delivering a kick to the Berserker; he slammed him roughly to the ground and immediately fixed his gaze on Moriarty, who realized what was happening.
"This is bad," he couldn't help but remark as he moved toward the two saints assisting in the fight.
At the same time, Alice watched as Nightingale's body gradually dissolved into a trail of mana, leaving her filled with sadness, frustration, and, above all, rage.
As a mere book, she shouldn't possess emotions of her own; yet, she was also a Servant, inhabiting the body of a girl she had known long ago—a form adopted solely to interact with others. Even without an innate capacity for emotion, that didn't mean she hadn't developed feelings during these few days of their journey.
While Georgios blocked Dante's attack with his sword, Ascalon, Martha, tried to strike with her cross from behind him; however, she was kicked back, while the other saint was shoved violently away.
Dante had his priorities regarding whom to eliminate first, and Moriarty topped the list.
But at that moment, the ground cracked, flooding the area with mana. The demon—whose Observation Haki was focused elsewhere—failed to notice what those around him were doing.
He immediately looked at Alice, who had a book levitating before her, and heard her speak a single phrase.
"Nameless Forest," the book with the human body said.
Moriarty, realizing the danger, used his coffin weapon to fire rapidly at the ground; the recoil propelled him out of the Noble Phantasm's activation range.
As a result, only Dante was trapped within the reality sphere.
...
The blond man, gazing at a colorful forest while standing near a long table laden with cups, tea, and pastries, reflected on recent events and his own minor blunder.
Suddenly, several playing-card soldiers emerged from the woods, surrounding him. It was impossible to gauge the total number at a glance; a quick count revealed there were over a hundred.
At that same moment, a monster's roar echoed through the air.
Dante turned toward the sound and spotted a monster—one that could be classified as a summoned Servant. It was the Jabberwocky, a beast that could only be defeated by a lost sword.
...
Outside the Reality Marble, Alice sank to her knees, drained by the massive expenditure of mana. Lacking a Master, the situation had been perilous; had she used even a little more energy in that manner, she might have vanished entirely.
"Are you alright?" Martha asked, appearing at her side.
The young woman simply nodded, glancing toward the spot where Nightingale's body had lain, but nothing remained there now.
Moriarty shifted his gaze from Alice to the Reality Marble.
"How long can you keep him trapped?"
"I..." she began to reply but was cut off by Chiyome's voice.
"Watch out behind you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs toward Alice.
Alice looked up, but the danger was already at her back. A portal had opened behind her, and a scythe was rapidly thrusting out from it.
Blood flowed. The scythe pierced the body, creating a gruesome scene.
That was what Alice witnessed as she was shoved aside by Martha, who took the blow in her place. "I see; I expected nothing less from a saint," Dante said, quickly stepping out of the portal and swinging his scythe, sending the saint flying like a ragdoll against the ground—where she bounced, leaving the floor covered in blood.
Dante had intended to sever Alice's head from her body, but following Martha's intervention, he ended up plunging his blade straight into her chest.
It was a scene Dante didn't particularly enjoy witnessing, yet since they were all Servants—already dead—he felt far less remorse for his actions than he would have had if they had been living human beings.
Before anyone could react, the demon used *Soru* to appear right in front of Alice.
The blond man's reappearance was so sudden that no one could move quickly enough to stop him.
Raising his scythe before the young girl, he focused not on her body but on her book. He knew the true Servant was the book, not the girl's physical form; damaging the body would have no real consequence.
And so, before he could be stopped, he slashed at the book.
Alice watched in horror as the attack unfolded, unable to do much given her virtually non-existent reaction speed.
The book fell motionless to the ground as Nursery Rhyme's projected body vanished, marking yet another victim claimed by Dante.
"Well, we moved fast," the demon remarked, already fully employing his Observation Haki against the group to avoid repeating his previous mistake.
Unsure of exactly when Libra might appear, he decided to end the fight before she could arrive.
Asterios was the first to act, charging at full speed toward Dante, who met the charge head-on, unleashing a shockwave.
Sparks flew from the repeated clashes of their three weapons. While parrying the enemy blows, the demon kept a close watch on the others who were preparing to strike—but he had no intention of letting them.
After parrying the Berserker, he stomped hard on the ground, shaking the earth and destabilizing Georgios; the latter had closed in to attack, only to be dismayed to find Dante's gaze fixed not on him, but on the forest.
Kato lay in hiding, preparing to fire her Noble Phantasm the moment the enemy was isolated, but in the heat of the moment, their eyes met; though not human, the doll felt an unimaginable sense of danger.
A streak of red lightning cut across the battlefield as Dante vanished.
A vast swath of the forest was sliced in two. The Servants turned toward the spot where Dante had moved, only to catch a glimpse of Kato—now headless.
Even without her head, the ninja doll attempted a counterattack, knowing she would soon fade away; the blond warrior struck again, however, this time slicing straight through her core. Katou Danzou's body slumped lifelessly, to the horror of Chiyome, who stood at the edge of the battlefield.
Moriarty, already beginning to panic, launched an attack. Multiple missiles streaked toward the enemy, but he easily dodged them as he moved to target the group's last remaining ninja—only to be intercepted by the wielder of Ascalon and the guardian of the labyrinth.
Both attacked simultaneously from opposite sides, forcing Dante to block the sword with his scythe and the two axes with his Haki-coated forearm.
The enemy then spun his scythe, forcing the Saint to step back while simultaneously using his other arm to execute a trip that sent the Minotaur crashing down upon him.
With a spin across the ground, he sent Asterios's body crashing into Georgios's.
Amidst this, Moriarty was unsure whether to simply stop, use his Noble Phantasm, or engage in close-quarters combat—feeling that none of these options would suffice—while Chiyome remained in shock over her friend's sudden death, oblivious to the others' predicament.
Yet no one could entirely blame her; the entire sequence of events had unfolded in less than two minutes since Dante emerged from Alice's Reality Marble.
As the swordsman appeared, he saw the demon before him and landed a blow to its chin, leaving it momentarily dazed—long enough to disarm it with a strike to the tendons.
Sword now in hand, he pivoted to dodge the Berserker's attack, leaning his body aside while delivering a simple slash.
A massive jet of blood began to spurt from the Minotaur's neck.
Simultaneously, Dante spun to drive *Ascalon* into Saint Georgios's chest—piercing his heart—and sliced him in half with a powerful stroke.
Turning again, he kicked aside the coffin Moriarty had hurled in a desperate attempt to stop him, only for his opponent to slash his chest with an energy blade, sending him reeling backward.
Asterios, despite his mortal wound, moved as if unharmed, intent on killing Dante, but Dante simply seized the Minotaur's arms, headbutted him—shattering his mask—and, drawing a Haki-coated blade, severed his head. "Curse my blood! Afflict my sins! Countless years have passed since the time of Kōga Saburō, yet something remains here that cannot be atoned for. *Kuchiyose*—Ibuki Daimyōjin Engi!" The chant rang out from behind him.
The moment Dante turned around, eight serpents suddenly appeared, intent on swallowing him whole.
He quickly leapt to dodge the first serpent, then used *Geppo* to evade the second.
As he dodged the malevolent deity, his gaze fell upon Chiyome, who was glaring at him furiously.
Without a second thought, he moved toward her position, all while fending off the serpent heads that tried to devour her.
The kunoichi grew frustrated seeing that her Noble Phantasm still wasn't enough to stop him; she drew her ninjato, ready to die fighting, only for Dante to stop dead in his tracks and use his scythe to destroy multiple arrows heading her way.
"What?" Chiyome exclaimed at the interruption. It didn't stop Dante from reaching her, though; instead of killing her, he simply delivered a powerful kick that sent her crashing into several trees.
After slamming into the fourth tree, the ninja fell to the ground, vomiting blood before losing consciousness.
At the same time, the evil god vanished as the supply of mana was cut off, leaving Dante on the battlefield with a badly wounded—but still alive—Moriarty nearby.
He watched as the demon glanced toward a specific spot, revealing Libra staring right back at him.
In that moment, he realized the explosions and chaos from the other location had already ceased.
"I see you're done. How'd it go with that idiot?" Dante asked, speaking as if they weren't enemies meant to be eliminated.
"That asshole managed to escape," Libra admitted, never breaking eye contact.
"I see. And did you bring friends?" the demon remarked, leaning back to dodge two arrows aimed straight at his body—one at his heart and the other at his head.
Not far away, Atalanta clicked her tongue in annoyance as her sneak attack failed.
Dante looked ahead at Libra, to his right at Atalanta, to his left at Heracles, and behind him at Orion.
"This is going to be a hassle."