My eyes lock onto the figure in the distance before I draw my sword, trying to ignore the pain within my gut.

"Dante!" Lia shouts with worry in her voice.

The black figure doesn’t seem to be moving just yet; something about it is completely off from when it initially hit me. It is just staring back at me with these glowing purple eyes.

GRIP!

I tighten the grip around the handle of my sword before rushing towards the black figure. Using each step to give me some momentum towards it.

Without hesitation I lift my sword up and swiftly bring it down towards the black figure.

My sword doesn’t seem to be going down into this figure, the blade is being held back by what appears to be a hand. It is just looking into my eyes.

A closer look tells me that it doesn’t seem to have a real physical body... It just looks like a real one.

"COME ON!!!" I shout with frustration in my voice.

I can feel myself struggling to push the sword down and eventually find myself getting pushed away.

SHOVE!!!

It pushes me away from it with a bit of force but it isn’t enough to knock me down or anything. Again, the figure refuses to do anything else for some strange reason.

I don’t understand what is going on all of a sudden. It hit me with an amazing attack just to suddenly stop? What the hell does this even mean for me now.

Is this the opportunity for me to get some blood before it finally decides to attack me again.

I need to do what’s best to keep everyone here safe while also giving us the chance to move forward. Drinking blood is definitely going to be the way for this to happen.

"Dante!" Amelia shouts.

I turn my head towards her to see she is waiting for me, a worried expression on her face.

"Yeah?" I question while holding my side with my other hand.

"Take some of my blood," Amelia says while moving closer.

"Stay back, I’ll come to you," I instruct with a serious tone.

Quickly I make my way over to her while keeping an eye on this figure... Again it doesn’t seem to move. Its eyes just linger on me as I move around the room.

"You prefer her blood over mine?" Lia asks with a bit of jealousy in her voice.

"I’ll take yours too," I respond, still keeping a serious tone.

I sink my teeth gently into Amelia’s neck as she flinches slightly from the initial prick. I thought she’d be used to it because she gave me some before... Guess not.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

My heart begins to race as the feeling from before starts to return, covering my vision in red. With that I remove my fangs from Amelia’s neck to avoid hurting her.

I need to get blood from Lia before I can’t hold myself back. She won’t be happy if I just skip past her.

Within a few seconds I reach Lia and quickly sink my teeth in her neck, drinking a bit of her blood before taking my fangs out.

"That was pretty quick for both of us," Lia says with a surprised tone.

BA-DUM. BA-DUM.

My heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest as I fall to one knee for a moment; pain begins to disappear from my stomach as I notice the same scales forming along my arm now.

CRACK!!!!!

The ground cracks around me as I stand back up.

My eyes locked on the figure ahead with my vision still a bit messed up by this red that I’m seeing. Still, it holds itself in place.

"So you’ve met the pet?" A woman’s voice echoes.

Immediately I begin to look around the room for the source of the voice but find nothing whatsoever. Her voice is clear, yet somehow she doesn’t appear to be that close to us in the slightest.

GRIP!!!!

I lift up my sword and rush towards the figure once again, this time faking my initial attack. Instead of swinging down towards it I bring my sword up from the right side.

SLASH!!!!!

My blade cuts right across the stomach of this figure or at least where it should be; The blade doesn’t feel like it has any resistance as it goes through.

SPLURT!!!

A mysterious purple like substance begins to spray out from the black figure in front of me, assuming that it is the blood of the being.

"You don’t appear to be a joke in the slightest," The woman’s voice echoes once again.

"Sylas wasn’t wrong," A man speaks up.

It sounds like hunters are here for some reason... Why the hell would hunters be inside of this cave? No, wait I know why they would come here.

The artifact must be here and it is definitely important, that much is obvious with the fact that hunters are around us.

"He doesn’t appear to be speaking," The woman says with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"Marie I wouldn’t worry about it since he’ll be dealt with shortly," The man replies with confidence in his voice.

I take a few quick glances around me and notice that some more black figures have appeared around the room. All of them have the same purple eyes as the one I just slashed.

"Dante there is a lot of them," Amelia speaks up with worry in her voice.

"Just breathe Amelia," Lia says calmly.

Too many enemies for me to handle all at once with the kind of strength I got hit with before. If they all attack me at once I’ll end up dead.

"You aren’t this weak."

"Dante you are better than this."

"Come on!!"

My sword begins to radiate with a bit of a purple glow, along with the same glow flowing along my arms. So I grip my sword with two hands and prepare to fight.