THE POWER WITHIN.

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Chapter 12:The power within.

Dante's breath came fast, his body thrumming with raw energy. He could feel it—something deep within him had shifted, awakened. The golden pulse beneath his skin had flared to life the moment he made contact with that Revenant, and now…

Now it refused to fade.

The air around him felt different—thicker, charged, like the moment before a lightning strike. His fingers curled into fists, his mind racing to process what had just happened.

"Dante."

Lyra's voice was steady, but there was something behind it—something careful. He turned to her, and for the first time, he saw something unfamiliar in her usually cold green eyes.

Not calculation.

Not skepticism.

But wariness.

She feared him.

Dante swallowed hard. "I don't know what that was."

Cain let out a low chuckle, stepping forward. "Oh, I do." His crimson eyes gleamed as he tilted his head. "Looks like you've finally unlocked your first trick."

Dante shot him a sharp look. "First?"

Cain smirked. "You think the Primordials went through all that trouble to just make you stronger?" He gestured toward the collapsed Revenant, the concrete wall behind it cracked and crumbling from the force of impact. "Nah. They built something else into you. The question is…" His smirk widened. "Can you control it?"

Dante's jaw clenched. Control. That was the problem, wasn't it? He hadn't tried to use whatever power had just erupted from him. It had just happened.

And that was dangerous.

Lyra reloaded her gun with sharp, practiced movements. "We don't have time for this. That blast wasn't subtle. If anyone else is hunting us, they know exactly where we are now."

Cain sighed, rolling his shoulders. "She's right. We need to keep moving."

Dante exhaled through his nose. He could still feel the lingering energy under his skin, restless, waiting. He shoved it down—he couldn't afford to lose control now.

"Let's go," he muttered.

And so they ran.

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The City's Underbelly

The deeper they moved into the ruined city, the more the world seemed to shift. Gone were the open roads and collapsed highways—here, the buildings loomed taller, casting jagged shadows over the alleyways below. The neon lights above flickered, half-dead, casting an eerie glow over the damp streets.

But the worst part wasn't the decay.

It was the silence.

No footsteps. No distant voices. No sounds of life.

Just… emptiness.

Dante's senses were on high alert. Every flickering light, every shifting shadow made his muscles coil, ready to strike.

Then—

A whisper.

Not a sound.

A feeling.

His golden eyes snapped toward a dark alleyway to their left. The others hadn't noticed anything yet, but he could sense it.

Something was there.

Something was waiting.

Dante's body tensed as he took a slow step forward.

"Dante," Lyra warned, her gun raised.

But it was too late.

The shadows moved.

No, not moved—rose.

A figure detached itself from the darkness, its form rippling like liquid before solidifying into something human-shaped. But it wasn't human.

Too tall. Too thin.

The figure stepped forward, its movements unnaturally smooth, as if it wasn't walking but gliding over the ground. Its skin was obsidian black, shifting like living ink, its eyes glowing with a deep, unsettling violet hue.

Dante's pulse quickened. This wasn't another Revenant. It was something worse.

The creature tilted its head, studying him with eerie patience. Then, it spoke.

Not with words.

With thoughts.

"You are not complete."

The voice rang through Dante's mind like an echo inside a vast chamber. He flinched, gripping his temples as the words sent a sharp pain through his skull.

Lyra and Cain didn't react—they hadn't heard it.

The thing took another step closer.

"You are one of us. And yet… you are not."

Dante's muscles coiled, golden energy crackling along his fingertips. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

The creature's lips curled into something that might have been a smile.

"You will."

Then, it moved.

Faster than sight.

Dante barely had time to react before the thing was in front of him, its elongated fingers reaching for his chest—no, not his chest. The core of energy beneath his skin.

The golden light inside him surged in warning.

His body acted before his mind caught up.

A pulse of raw force erupted from him, the impact sending the creature flying backward, shattering a nearby wall. The air shimmered with the aftershock, Dante's heart hammering in his chest.

But the thing… it wasn't dead.

It rose from the rubble with fluid grace, tilting its head as if amused.

Cain whistled low. "Alright. That's new."

Lyra didn't hesitate. She raised her gun, firing off three rapid shots. Each bullet hit its mark, but instead of piercing flesh, they vanished into the creature's form as if swallowed by the darkness itself.

It didn't even flinch.

Then, it moved again.

Dante braced himself, but before the creature could reach him, another force interrupted.

A blinding, searing light sliced through the darkness, striking the creature mid-motion.

It let out a screech—a sound that vibrated through Dante's bones—before it twisted into itself and vanished, retreating into the shadows as if it had never been there.

Dante exhaled sharply, turning toward the source of the light.

A figure stood on the rooftop above, the remnants of glowing energy still crackling around their outstretched hand.

A woman.

Clad in sleek combat gear, her silver hair caught the faint neon glow of the city. Her eyes—piercing blue—locked onto Dante with a gaze that burned with recognition.

"You," she said. Her voice was steady, unreadable. "So the rumors are true. You really did survive."

Dante narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman smirked, but there was no humor in it.

"Someone who's been looking for you for a long time."

The air remained charged, the echoes of the battle still lingering.

Dante's fists slowly unclenched, but the energy within him refused to settle.

Whatever was happening to him, whatever he was becoming—

He wasn't alone in it.

And that terrified him.

—End of Chapter 12—