Hi there. I feel like the fight is already dragging on a bit too long.
I would have liked to make it more spectacular, but I feel that writing any more is somewhat unnecessary; everyone is already more or less aware of the powers and abilities of those involved. Besides, the story isn't done with this battle yet—there is still more to come from these five characters—so I can go into greater detail regarding their strength and combat skills later on.
Without further ado, let the chapter begin.
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Libra, with her bow drawn, fixed her gaze on Dante's trajectory through the air; she realized that her current approach wouldn't work—her father certainly wouldn't just stand still and let himself be destroyed in a single blow. Fortunately, she had another ace up her sleeve.
"With bow and arrow, I humbly implore the protection of the Sun God, Apollo, and the Moon Goddess, Artemis. I offer this calamity as tribute! Phoebus Catastrophe: The Claiming Arrow!" Atalanta chanted, firing two arrows skyward.
As she fired, the arrows didn't simply streak through the air as massive projectiles; instead, they began to fragment into hundreds of smaller projectiles that homed in on the demon.
The blond man watched as a relentless rain of arrows prepared to descend upon him, while a multitude of magical projectiles surged upward to strike from below.
They sought to destroy him from every angle, ensuring nothing of him remained.
Dante realized that even with his regenerative powers, his arms alone couldn't repel such an onslaught. So, while still spinning in mid-air, he unfurled his two black wings, and his entire body began to transform.
"Shit," Libra exclaimed, watching as the demon began to shift into the very creature described in the legends; without a second thought, she unleashed a full-force attack.
The moment her target paused in midair, she summoned a spectral sword. Just as the first arrow was about to strike him, she shattered it with her blade—though her weapon was destroyed in the process.
It was a dazzling display of colors—blues, greens, and whites—colliding simultaneously and obliterating everything in their path. The ground beneath began to give way, slowly crumbling into dust; rocks were torn loose and shattered into thousands of shards amidst a barrage of ceaseless sword strikes and projectiles that triggered repeated bursts of mana.
A figure dropped onto the ruined ground through the haze of smoke. Unfurling a single wing, the being revealed itself—clad in armor that was nearly in tatters and wearing a mask that was little more than a skull fragment.
Arrows remained embedded in the figure's body, clearly visible; the wounds should have long since healed and the holes regenerated, yet the shafts still pierced the flesh.
Blue eyes shifted from the ground to where Libra stood, sensing an imminent threat.
She could only curse her vampiric nature; were it not for that, the attack might not have killed him, though it certainly would have left him at death's door.
"I think it's my turn to attack," Dante declared as a wave of Conqueror's Haki engulfed the island.
The raven-haired woman responded in kind, effectively cancelling out both their Observation Haki; neither would have the advantage of anticipating the other's moves, though by this point, neither cared.
Just as the now-white-haired warrior was about to move, Heracles appeared from the side, intent on attacking him.
Summoning his scythe once more, the demon parried his enemy's strike and knocked him back a few meters—but the son of Zeus didn't stop there.
As the bow and scythe clashed ceaselessly, Dante forced them both into constant motion and rotation, ensuring that any projectile he fired would threaten both of them equally.
Libra simply clicked her tongue upon realizing this.
"If this keeps up, we won't get anywhere," he thought, noting the position of the moon. If daybreak arrived, he still had no way to stop Dante from fleeing and using his scythe to open a portal to safety. "We have to end this quickly."
With that in mind, he cast aside his bow, summoned a cross-shaped weapon, and charged into the fray.
Meanwhile, the one-on-one duel shifted into a two-on-one battle with the arrival of Orion.
For the moment, the two demigods held a clear advantage, though not as decisive a one as they might have liked.
Despite no longer having his power-up, Dante proved to be an exceptional close-quarters fighter—compounded by the fact that any wounds they inflicted had no effect on him—and his combat aggression surged exponentially.
Aiming his bow, the son of Poseidon fired, piercing the white-haired man's body and inflicting a wound that should have been fatal; yet the latter ignored it and, moving with blinding speed, kicked his attacker in the face.
Orion was sent crashing violently against rocks and trees, leaving several teeth on the ground as evidence of the damage his enemy had dealt him.
"My ultimate technique, forged in the trial of the gods! Nine Lives: Shooting the Hundred Heads!" Heracles chanted. He fired a powerful arrow that transformed into eight hydra heads, all attacking the white-haired man simultaneously.
Aware of the incoming assault, Dante utilized his full speed; he narrowly dodged six of the nine shots, though one destroyed his leg, another his shoulder, and the last took out part of his skull.
Seeing this, the son of Zeus simply braced himself and raised his bow, halting the demon's attack while feeling his own bone crack under the strain.
The white-haired man quickly kicked his opponent's bow; the moment he landed, he spun his body, swinging his scythe with the intent to finish him off.
He tried to defend himself using the hide of the divine beast. Atalanta had already fired several arrows, but his enemy simply ignored them.
Moving his scythe in a zigzag pattern—and taking several projectiles that embedded themselves in his chest, neck, and arms—he severed Heracles' head, channeling every ounce of his Armament Haki into the strike.
Silence reigned for a few seconds; the head rolled away, and the body collapsed to the ground. Dante stared at his scythe for a moment, realizing something, but he could not pursue the thought further, as Libra arrived at that very moment. Realizing he was too late, he could only grit his teeth; channeling his Haki, he attempted to strike down his father, who intercepted the attack with his scythe.
At that very moment, he fired a barrage of bullets from *The Punisher* into the demon's body, but the creature took the hits as if they had no effect and launched a counterattack simultaneously.
The plan, which had been going perfectly up to that point, fell apart the moment Dante knocked out Orion with a single blow and killed Heracles.
Spinning his weapon in a cross-like motion, he unleashed a blast of mana and aether intended to slice the white-haired man in half; however, the latter used his own scythe and brute strength to deflect the attack into the ground. The two weapons clashed and strained against one another until they shattered in a massive explosion, sending both combatants flying backward.
The instant she saw her *Punisher* weapon destroyed, she summoned her ten rings and lunged into hand-to-hand combat.
Seeing this, Dante discarded his scythe and engaged with bare fists.
A flurry of punches, strikes, and blocks flew back and forth; wielding both Conqueror's and Armament Haki, neither held back in their assault.
The moment the raven-haired woman spotted an opening, she used three of her rings like a lasso to strike her father in the chest, sending him reeling several meters backward.
Simultaneously, she launched five rings at him like projectiles; he responded by blocking each one with his scythe. Once the attack subsided, he glanced upward, realizing another rain of arrows was descending upon him.
While Dante ceaselessly dodged the barrage of projectiles, Libra summoned her bow. Drawing the string, she began gathering as much magical energy as possible—reserving just enough to keep herself from fading away.
Red lightning crackled around the magical arrow taking shape. She knew the only way to defeat the white-haired man was to wipe him off the face of the earth in a single strike.
"Through destiny, through truth, through lies—no barrier shall halt me; I shall reach the heavens and shatter them utterly, leaving nothing behind," she began to chant in a whisper.
As the rain of arrows ceased, Dante looked toward Libra and realized what she was doing; to his misfortune, he was too late to stop her, for she had already unleashed her attack.
"Katárrefsi tis gis ton theón," declared the greatest huntress in Greek history—the very same shot that had destroyed Anakosmo moments before her death. A massive burst of magical energy was unleashed; the moment it struck, a colossal explosion erupted, illuminating the entire area as if a miniature sun had appeared.
The shockwave swept away everything in its path. Atalanta clung to whatever she could, preventing herself from being blown away and lost to the sea—Poseidon's domain.
Libra gazed at his handiwork as his Haki gradually faded, but suddenly his eyes widened in horror; he saw Dante flying straight toward him with half his body destroyed—and, worst of all, his scythe still intact in one of his remaining hands.
Unable to do much, the black-haired girl took a kick from her father that shattered the ribs on her left side and punctured her lung.
As she was sent flying backward, she screamed in pain, a large amount of blood spewing from her mouth.
While still airborne, Orion—having braced himself as best he could—turned and took Dante's next blow.
Using advanced-level Haki, Dante destroyed a large portion of the son of Poseidon's internal organs, the emitted energy damaging Libra in the process.
Both crashed brutally to the ground, creating a crater.
At that moment, the shockwave subsided; instead of attacking the female on the ground, the demon used all his strength to charge straight at Atalanta.
With much of the forest destroyed, the Princess of Arcadia had nowhere to hide and was left with no choice but to flee.
But the white-haired man wasn't about to let her get away so easily; sheathing his Haki-infused scythe, he unleashed an energy attack.
Given the speed and the close proximity between them, Atalanta had no time to dodge; she took the attack head-on, which sent her flying backward as she vomited blood.
Once on the ground, the huntress—now without her bow—clung to whatever she could as the enemy's attack continued to drag her along; she lifted her head, only to see no one there.
The very next second, she looked up at the sky, only for Dante to slash her chest open with his scythe. Blood sprayed onto the demon's body as Atalanta's eyes rolled back, turning white.
She immediately collapsed to the ground, dead, as her body began to fade away bit by bit.
The white-haired man glanced at his scythe before dropping it to the ground and looking into the distance at Orion and Libra, who were struggling to get back on their feet.
Poseidon's son was brutally injured but still alive, while the black-haired woman suffered from multiple contusions and hundreds of broken bones.
With neither of them using Conqueror's Haki anymore, she realized what was about to happen; acting on instinct—and despite the agony racking her body—she fired at her father using her rings.
He deflected the attacks with his special weapons and prepared specifically to kill Orion.
Libra realized his intent, but she also noticed something else. She was the Grand Servant; his priority should have been to kill *her*, yet instead, he had focused on picking off other Servants one by one.
Weapon at the ready, the demon lunged, thrusting toward the demigod's body—only to stop abruptly when he saw his daughter using her own body as a shield.
The blade halted just centimeters from her neck.
She stared fixedly at her father, who returned her gaze; for a fleeting second, however, her eyes clouded over, shifting focus from him to something behind him.
At that moment, the spectral blade vanished. Dante turned around, summoned his scythe, and—tearing through space to create a portal—departed, leaving the couple alone.
Seeing this, Libra let out a breath and sank to her knees. She looked at her husband, who was struggling to breathe, and then at her own body.
She could only curse her own weakness in the face of everything that had transpired, weeping silently amidst the desolate wasteland and the half of the island left utterly destroyed by her Noble Phantasm.
...
Dante's POV
I arrived at my room in Olympus, realizing there was no one around. Kiss was likely with Europa.
Without a second thought, I let my transformation fade, only to see my body completely wrecked, riddled with hundreds of fatal wounds.
If not for my vampiric immortality, I'd be dead by now.
I threw myself onto the bed and closed my eyes, recalling what had happened just a few minutes ago.
*Flashback*
I aimed my sword and lunged forward, only to realize Libra had stepped into my path.
Thank goodness I managed to stop in time, but that wasn't what really hit me.
The moment I paused behind Libra, I saw an image of Arthur.
My traveling companion—alongside Trinity, Isis, Sullivan, and Hunter. I remembered then that he had died because of me. From that moment on, I never wanted to experience the loss of a loved one like that again. And right then, I realized what I was doing.
Looking at Libra and Orion, I had been telling myself they were already dead just to justify becoming a heartless killer.
I dismissed my weapon, turned away so my daughter wouldn't notice my sense of failure, and—scythe in hand—I left the scene.
*End of flashback*
"Heh," I chuckled. "Is this what I wanted? Is this why I stayed here?" I shook my head.
I think it's time to put an end to this—but first, there's still someone I need to visit.