Before starting the fic, I want to say something. Just something.
Now, jokes aside, this is a bit of a spoiler, but from my point of view, it was clear what was going to happen, and it was Dante's way of escaping Pandora's Box. It was going to involve an external entity helping him, but for that, I'd have to give an explanation and go through a lot of work, and I was going to do it, but in another fic, I got the idea to steal it, since I think a thief who steals from another thief is forgiven a thousand times over.
Now, this involves giving him a power-up, something I didn't want to do, since I feel that Dante is already powerful, and if I keep buffing him, it loses its charm, since it would be something like Saitama, and that thing is only saved by the animation and the mangaka's art style. I'm not saying it's not good; I'm just talking about its popularity.
Getting back to the topic, this will be Dante's penultimate power-up, since I need to give him another one if I want a certain plot point to work.
That's all; let the fic continue.
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I looked around; I say "looked," but there was really nothing to look at except Kiss-shot since it was pitch black.
I was on the floor, wondering what to do, while the vampire tried to find a wall or something to hold onto.
"How is it possible for us to see each other if it's so dark?" Kiss-shot asked, clearly confused.
"I don't know, magic," I replied listlessly, since I was trying to figure out what to do next.
She stared at me and sat down beside me.
"I imagine you don't have any good ways out of here, do you?" she asked again.
"Exactly, more complicated than it should be; the worst part is that we both fall into the category of evil," I replied.
Pandora's Box is designed to contain the evils of the world, and Kiss-shot and I fit perfectly into this category. For her, it's simple; she's a vampire, a threat to humanity, while I'm a daemon, a demon, not to mention an anomaly and an entity of darkness, destruction, and emptiness.
"I can already imagine why none of your options are working; it takes time, right?" Kiss-shot said to me, to which I simply nodded.
We're currently locked up here, and Zeus could return at any moment. If that happens and we don't warn Libra to hide or leave, all his wrath will fall upon her.
"I have a method to get out of here quickly," I told Kiss-shot, and she looked at me, telling me to go ahead. "But it's very dangerous."
"Why would that be?" she asked.
"Tell me, does the word 'beast' ring a bell?" I questioned her.
...
Libra's POV.
As I walked through the not-so-new city of Athens, I realized the day felt strange; more than that, everything felt strange.
It was like I sensed something wasn't right.
Orion was behind me, following me, since he had nothing to do and said it was more interesting to keep me company. Forget all the nonsense that comes out of his mouth; he's a good companion.
During our search for somewhere to eat and drink, I noticed there were more eyes on us than usual.
The locals would glance at us for a while and then look away, but the guards—what appeared to be mercenaries and thugs—were constantly watching us, and their numbers were growing, more and more numerous.
"Libra," Orion whispered in my ear.
"Yeah, I noticed," they were following us.
We reached an alley where there was a line of guards who weren't blocking the way; when I looked back, I noticed that the same thing had happened, but with the mercenaries and thugs.
The only thought that crossed my mind was that this had something to do with Apollo. Even though he couldn't intervene, as my father said, it didn't mean he wouldn't send someone else, but I didn't expect him to do so in the city of the goddess Athena.
I didn't like the idea of being banned from a city I'd just arrived in and having more trouble with the goddess, but if it was to survive, there was no other choice.
Just as I was about to attack, I heard a familiar voice.
"I recommend you surrender and follow me without resistance," the voice said.
I turned around to look where the guards were, only to see the goddess of wisdom herself, Athena.
A thousand thoughts raced through my mind; I knew about this goddess's situation with my father, and I was already wondering why she wanted me specifically, but she clarified the situation for me.
"Your father has been sealed for committing a great sin against the Father of all. We need you to come with us to discuss a specific situation; if possible, we should avoid violence," he said, leaving the last words open to my interpretation.
But one thing was clear: I had to go with her if I didn't want the wrath of Olympus to fall upon me.
At this, I could only sigh.
"Is there food in Olympus's prison?" I asked because, to be honest, I was hungry and thirsty.
...
"Life's a bitch," I sang as Orion played the harmonica. "Life sucks, life sucks."
At that moment, Orion started playing a solo; it was incredible how good he was, considering he'd only started playing the instrument four hours earlier.
"I see your father is being taken for a fool; I don't see how you can say you're not his daughter," I heard a very familiar voice say, but this one brought me more comfort.
"Mother," I said when I saw Artemis, looking tired, arriving where Orion and I were imprisoned.
"Your mother?" Orion said, trying to comb his hair and look a little more elegant. Before I could do anything, he spoke first. "Let me introduce myself: I'm Orion, the best human hunter in the world. I'd like to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage."
As soon as he said those words, he received a punch from the goddess of the hunt, leaving him unconscious on the ground, unable to move.
I wonder if she did something like that to my father, but seeing as she did it to my mother, I imagine not.
"Well, where was I? Oh, yes, checking on you, my child," I said to myself as I stroked my head from behind the bars of the place where we were imprisoned.
"Mom, what happened?" I asked her, to which she only sighed.
"Something bad happened to your father. Hera, Hephaestus, Apollo, and Athena conspired against him," she told me, and my eyes widened. "My father, along with the God of Travel, went to investigate a situation on the border of the pantheon, but this was a plan devised by Athena, intended to give Hera her opportunity. The goddess of marriage summoned your father and drugged him, taking advantage of him. According to my brother, the goddess of wisdom sensed something was amiss there, so he went to investigate, only to catch them in the act. Your father escaped, but Athena and Hephaestus managed to seal him away along with Kiss-shot and then did the same with his sickle."
"So what will happen?" I asked again.
"Most likely, they'll keep your father locked up until Zeus arrives to put him on trial, which will most likely end in his death." That filled me with a bit of panic; the thought of my father dying hadn't even crossed my mind.
"And what do I have to do with all this?" I asked the final question.
"You should know what Dante is like; there's a small chance he'll escape, and if he does, you'll be the one to make sure he doesn't go far." Basically, I was a hostage.
Now I regret fighting Athena, but I didn't know if I could escape or if other gods had intervened; hence my choice to surrender.
"Now we just have to wait for my father to come back and see what he'll do with Dante," my mother explained, still holding me close.
We both knew he was going to escape, but we also knew he wouldn't abandon me; that uncertainty was eating us both up inside.
At that moment, Orion finally fell off the wall he was stuck to, revealing his bruised face.
...
Dante's POV
Upon consuming the Yami Yami no Mi, I was transformed into its Dark Human. Currently, my being is 25% human, 25% Dark Being, 25% Death, and 25% Alchemy.
This doesn't exist in the world of Type-Moon, so my existence and being became something that aligns with their mythology, hence my being a daemon.
Now, Devil Fruits have awakening stages; the only way to reach that stage is to fulfill the Devil Fruit's purpose. An example is Whitebeard; he never awakened his Devil Fruit because he never intended to destroy the world.
If I were to awaken my Devil Fruit right now, I would become a being of pure darkness, chaos, and emptiness, which would allow me to destroy Pandora's Box from within, but that would make me unstable, slowly losing my humanity, a being who would try to turn the world into a place of darkness, destruction, and emptiness. I would bring the world to its end prematurely, which would be recognized by the world as a kind of beast. The Beast that brings about the end of everything.
Perhaps I'll be stopped by some Grand Servant, but by the time that happens, I'll surely have already destroyed the entire Greek pantheon, including Medusa, Artemis, all my children, and maybe even Aphrodite, since after so much fucking, I can't help but develop some feelings for her, even if they aren't the purest.
"And what about your scythe?" Kiss-shot asked me.
"It was sealed," I replied. "Being sealed isn't much different from when it's destroyed, so I can't just put it back in my inventory and bring it here to escape."
"Then the quickest way out of here is by becoming a monster," he stated listlessly.
"The one we have available right now, yes, but I have a different method," I replied.
"What would that be?" I wondered.
"That would be deceiving the world, but for that I need to weaken the box, create a fault line, and see parallel worlds," I simplified the idea.
"But you can't do that," the vampire complained.
"I can't now, but that doesn't mean I can't now," I explained, leaving her confused about my point. "Basically, I'll become a divine being."
"Ah," she said, surprised by my comment. "You'll become a god?"
"No, since I don't have a foundation of faith or authority to be a god, but if I reached a spiritual level very close to them, at least that's what the world would think."
This world is very strange, having consciousness and shaping itself according to what lives within it.
In the end, with all that, I would like to be an entity that observes and analyzes, like a mediocre version of Akasha.
But now for the important part, the thing that will grant me this leap of power and relevance, making me the greatest anomaly in this world.
I went to the system and searched for the most expensive items. What I was looking for was priced the same as Ea or Excalibur.
I looked at the object and hesitated to buy it; I had the money, I had set it aside to buy the Sword of Rupture, but there was something more important, my daughter's life, and that was more important to me than a weapon.
Closing my eyes, I bought the object.
"System, implant the newly purchased object," I told the system.
[At your command, implanting the object called Kamigami no Gigan into the user's body]
I felt an energy and heat within my eyes; I felt the information from her eyes in my brain.
I opened my eyes to see everything blue, and instantly, all the information from Pandora's Box reached my brain.
"Dante, your eyes," the vampire said in surprise.
"I know," I said simply, staring at a point, the weakest spot in the box, the very place where evil enters and exits. "Enter my shadow. Only I can leave by doing so, but if you're in my shadow, you'll move with me."
"I understand, my husband," she said simply, stepping into my shadow. I still don't understand how she can do that without light; it must be because of the power of the Kage Kage no Mi; I'll find out later.
I walked slowly to the spot, covering my hand with the Yami Yami no Mi, and began to affect the box's functioning.
It was more than enough for the box to stop working for just a moment; I didn't even need it to break. I needed it to let me see outside.
Using all my strength, I strained to make a point—just a tiny point—of the divine construct stop functioning as it should.
I barely managed to disable a piece, perhaps less than a centimeter, of its primary functions; I looked outside, and at that moment, using the power of the all-seeing eyes of the gods, I saw different parallel worlds. I noticed one where I was not imprisoned in Pandora's box, especially with the power and divinity that I have just arrived with; it is something that should not have happened.
There exists a world where I wasn't sealed; this makes the world feel the incongruity that I shouldn't be sealed, causing it to begin to correct itself, and suddenly I was out of the box as if I had never entered it.
(Note: It's like playing with possibilities and the passage of time. Think of it as the fact that Dante shouldn't be in the box, but he is, causing the world to correct the mistake, making Dante appear outside the box automatically.)
Third-person POV.
Apollo and Hephaestus were guarding Pandora's Box, waiting for Zeus to arrive so they could tell him what's happening and judge Dante for his sins, expecting the worst possible punishment: death, a final death if possible.
They were both bored beside the box; some birds were pecking around.
If it were up to them, they wouldn't be there, but there's a chance Dante could escape, which wouldn't be good.
As they both stared blankly into space, having nothing in common to talk about, Dante magically appeared between them.
They both stared at Dante in surprise, because if he appeared, they expected the box to explode or something similar, not for him to simply vanish as if he'd always been there.
Before they could react, Dante acted with foresight, using his all-seeing eyes; he altered their vision, making them see the same thing as the bird that had been there.
"But what?" Apollo cried out, confused.
"What's going on?" Hephaestus exclaimed.
Without wasting a second, Dante punched Hephaestus in the jaw, sending him flying and momentarily stunning him. Then, leaping forward, he kicked the sun god, sending his face crashing to the ground.
The pain, both from the kick and the impact of his face hitting the ground, left him sore. He covered his face, wincing. He barely opened his eyes before he saw that Dante had already vanished; he only saw Hephetha, still dazed on the ground.
"Damn," the sun god spat out, seeing what had happened and what it all meant. He could still feel it somewhere, but the feeling quickly faded. "He hid."
He quickly went to check on Hephaestus so he could help capture Dante, knowing that Dante could even kill him alone, so he couldn't afford to fight by himself.
...
Kis-Shot and Dante had hidden in a cave, waiting for Dante to stop what he was doing.
The vampire watched the sun from the shadows; she knew that the moment she moved, the wrath of the sun god would fall upon them.
"Do you know where Libra is?" she asked her husband.
"Not on Earth," I replied, still meditating with my eyes closed.
"That means he must be in Anakosmos or on Olympus," Kiss-Shot concluded.
Presently, Dante was trying to turn off his eyes; his ability to manipulate darkness had already become unstable after the box trick, and his eyes had made him a threat to Gaia, the consciousness of the world.
Dante knew he absolutely had to defeat the two gods who were searching for him, but if the world's consciousness sent something to eliminate him in the middle of the battle, it would be a definitive defeat.
He couldn't get rid of his Devil Fruit power, but by using it, he could turn off his eyes, at least momentarily, using the fruit's ability to cancel or negate.
It was a power that gave him a significant advantage, and it would be easier to defeat the two gods with it, but given the points already mentioned, Dante didn't know how to control the eyes. He knew what they did, but these eyes were a weapon or artifact that responded to its user as if it had a mind of its own, which is why he couldn't control them as he wished, at least not right now, since he had just acquired them.
After a few minutes, Dante opened his eyes to see that he had his normal red-pupiled eyes again.
"It's a nuisance having to use my powers on myself, but there's no other way."
"How did you turn them off?" Kiss-Shot asked curiously.
"It's a bit complicated to explain, but think of it as putting their eyes to sleep; if I wake them up, they'll go back to being blue with symbols and everything," I explained. "This is only temporary, though; later on, I'll have to find some kind of binding artifact to deactivate their eyes without having to constantly use my dark powers."
"Okay, let's plan then," Kiss-shot said, looking at her lifelong partner.
"Yes, sadly, we won't be able to fight side-by-side since that effeminate god can summon the sun's rays at any moment during the fight, and he knows that's your weakness," Dante clarified, stretching.
"There's no other way," the vampire said, summoning her sword and swiftly cutting off her own shadow so that Dante could consume it.
As soon as Dante had Kiss-shot's shadow inside her, she breathed calmly and adjusted to her newfound power.
Kiss-Shot handed him his sword and quickly disappeared into his shadow.
"Well, it's time to begin," Dante said, summoning the Buster Sword.
Just as he was about to leave, he stopped to summon a piece of paper and a pencil to write a letter; taking the Fusion Sword from his inventory, he placed it in the cave.
"Done," he declared, this time stepping outside the cave.