Creating a Legend

For the Previous Chapter, see: Chasing a Zombie

Alternatively, to view the series'Index, see: Set Out!

The Dead Queen and the Infinite Symphony
With the arrival of Diaros, Dante figured he had a fairly brief idea of why his opponent was called The Corpse. Covered in blood from head to toe, his clothes in rags but what concerned the Phantom King the most wasn't the fact that Diaros quite literally looked like a zombie; no rather, it was the look within his eyes. Fierce, Furious but most of all, Dante knew the look within that eye: Determination.

Jumping off of a particularly high branch, Dante soared while twisting backwards, casually contemplating his current situation. Diaros had survived a direct hit from his Giga Impact and quite frankly, although he knew the Corpse wouldn't survive another shot of his technique, Dante was almost all out of magic. That burst of speed he had used to reach Diaros had taken up an abnormally large amount.

Landing on another branch, he scratched his head as he wondered what he should do before calmly saying "oops" before jumping in the air once more, dodging a frenzied strike from Diaros. Landing on another branch, the Phantom King attempted to jump once more but slipped, stacking it and landing roughly on the forest floor. As he stared up at the sky, completely bored and somewhat tired, he noticed too late Diaros' shadow, and the Red blade that was headed towards his heart. Gulping, he only managed to utter the sound "ah..." before a violent clash of metal rang out throughout the calm forest.

Leaping forwards once more, Serum and Florence swung their blades, managing to deflect Diaros' sword, sending it flying upwards. With a swift movement and within unison, the twins both twisted their bodies and kicked their enemy in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Leaping out of seemingly nowhere, Gottes grabbed his hammer with a tight grip and viciously swung it, catching Diaros in the back and with a full swing, sent him flying some distance into the tree tops.

The three left Dante without a word, running after Diaros as if he was some sort of flying hot air balloon. On the other hand though, Jinx stalked towards Dante and transforming into a Human, almost immediately punched Dante in the nose, causing an audible groan to emerge from him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing Dante!?"

Frowning at his injured nose, Dante continued laying down on the ground as he muttered "Well I was thinking...if I'm all out of magic then what do I do?"

Fury wrecking her face, Jinx leaned down and once again, pounded Dante's nose with her fist, this time creating a louder groan to come from the Phantom King "THAT'S what you're thinking about?? Dante! Look. At. Me"

At her command, the Phantom King stared at Jinx's face before casually asking "...exactly WHAT am I looking at?"

"What you're fighting for Dante."

"Sorry but why would I be fighting for you?"

Her eyebrow twitching, Jinx opted for a different area, this time kicking a certain organ on Dante's male body. Watching him instantly react and curl up, rolling back and forth in absolute agony, the cat ignored his reactions and instead continued "Your friends dumbass. Why'd you get angry? Why'd you hunt Diaros down when in truth you could've just attended to Silas and the others, being thankful that they're still alive?"

"How would I know?"

"Cause you care for them Dante. To you, they're people you can trust, people who would help you when you need it."

Seeing as how the Royard was staying silent, Jinx huffed before turning around, walking in the direction Florence and the others had gone. As she did so, she casually uttered out "Well anyways, if you're like this in an actual battle; sorry but I don't think you'll survive against Simon"

From hearing the name of his nemesis, Dante's magic suddenly flared up. Satisfied, Jinx turned around expecting to see her partner up and ready to go but instead, she saw him crawling in a pathetic attempt to move. Frowning, she reverted to her cat form and asked "Ok...what are you doing this time?"

"You kicked me down there. There's no way I can walk now right?"

Remembering her rash action, Jinx sighed as she sat on the ground, watching Dante crawl his way to her direction. Offering no assistance whatsoever, she casually said "...So how does it feel?"

"Worse than childbirth"