Laughter echoed across the ruined rooftop.
Ada and Raen chased Dante in circles, their frustration and amusement overlapping into chaos.
Ada (yelling): "Get back here, you smug little punk!"
Raen (snapping): "Yeah, run all you want, pretty boy — I'm gonna kick your ass!"
SFX: [THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!] — Dante's boots pounded against the cracked tiles as he darted between shattered mirrors, grinning.
Dante (laughing breathlessly): "Come on, ladies! You'll have to do better than that!"
He glanced back over his shoulder — flashing his trademark smirk — completely oblivious to what lay ahead.
SFX: [CRUNCH]
His foot caught the edge of a jagged glass shard buried in the dirt.
His balance snapped — his eyes widened.
Dante: "Ah—shit!"
SFX: [SLIP—THUD—!]
He stumbled forward, arms flailing, sliding across the dust-streaked ground toward a fallen marble pillar.
Time seemed to slow.
The laughter of Ada and Raen distorted into distant echoes.
The world dimmed — colors draining to black and violet hues.
As Dante's body pitched toward the pillar, a single shard of glass reflected his face… then fractured into a thousand pieces.
SFX: [SHHHHH-CRRRAAAK] — The sound of breaking glass spread like ripples through water.
Everything… faded out.
Silence.
The next thing he heard was his own heartbeat — slow, deep, echoing in the void.
SFX: [THUMP… THUMP… THUMP…]
He opened his eyes — but the world was gone.
No Ada. No Raen.
Only a dark mirror field stretching infinitely, faintly glowing with a violet mist.
Dante (whispering): "Not again… am I—inside the shard?"
His reflection stared back from every direction — each version of himself wearing a different expression. Fear. Anger. Emptiness.
Voice (distorted, distant): "You still don't understand… this power you wield… it remembers."
The mirrors pulsed with the same purple-black light that had once enveloped him. The air trembled.
Then — from one of the shattered reflections — a figure began to emerge.
SFX: [VOOOOM] — Shadows coalesced into shape.
The Shadow Mancer stood before him again, its form shifting and flickering, eyes glowing beneath a hood of endless night.
Men'Sar (echoing): "You run from them… but you can't run from me."
Dante's expression hardened, his heartbeat accelerating.
Dante: "You again… What the hell are you—?!"
Men'Sar: "The reflection that answered your call. The part of you that fears… and the part that hungers."
The mirrors began to tremble, each reflection whispering fragments of Dante's voice — overlapping, chaotic.
Whispers: "Fight… run… save her… destroy… embrace…"
He clutched his head, gritting his teeth.
Dante (shouting): "Shut up!"
The moment he yelled, the ground shattered beneath his feet — glass exploding outward like a thousand screams.
SFX: [KRRSSHHH—!]
Dante's body fell into the void below, swallowed by darkness.
And just before everything went completely black—
Men'Sar (voice fading): "You and I are not so different… Dante…"
SFX: [FWOOOOOOSH]