A Marvelous Devil.
Chapter 21: A Gilded Cage.
Dante Andromalius.
The underworld.
It was fascinating, really.
After six months away from my family, what would have been a mere wink before my death made me change. Again.
It wasn't the first time. That happened when I became Dante, when mortal emotions bled into ancient memories, and I found myself caring about things that didn't matter to me before.
My mother's smile. Tandy's tears. The anger at Father's recklessness and stupidity. And those weren't the only ones.
But now? It was like a pendulum that shifted back.
Six months in my original reality, surrounded by mortals who didn't know me, making deals and building power in my lonesome... I'd shifted. I was acting more like Seere again. The detached demon that did what it had to do.
The Dante who'd left the Underworld would have agonized over leaving Tandy behind. I hesitated over it, but I understood that it was for the best.
As much as I missed my light by now…
In a way, I didn't like it. Because Tandy made me feel something not even Mephy managed to do with our relationship during my previous life.
It felt like… for the first time, I was truly alive. No, I didn't see Mephy as some meaningless fling or anything like that. Even as Seere, I saw her as something that mattered, but when I focused on what I felt back then, it was like I was seeing those emotions through glass. Muted.
How curious.
Did I hate the shift? No. Why would I? I'd spent eons unchanging, a constant in the sea of collapsing realities and timelines from the multiverse. And yet here I was, morphing between states like some mortal experiencing mood swings.
It was novel. And novelty, for someone who'd experienced everything the multiverse could offer, was worth more than power.
I could stop it. Now that I'd noticed the pattern, I could lock myself into one state or the other. Seere the Ancient Demon that saw everything beneath him. Or Dante the Devil, burning with mortal passions.
But why bother?
Let me change. Let me experience both. Let me see what it means to be ancient and alive, calculating and caring, fair and possessive.
Because one thing would never change, regardless of which aspects dominated at any given moment.
I was fair.
Not good, I was never good. I didn't focus on morality or righteousness; those were mortal creations that started eons after I was born.
I made deals that benefited me first. I manipulated everything to my advantage if I felt it was necessary. I'd kill without hesitation if someone threatened what was mine.
But I was fair. Every deal I made was balanced and I kept every promise. Every contract honored to the letter.
I also didn't demand the blood of your firstborn or twist words into traps for the idiots that simply made it too easy.
That was Mephisto's game. The petty cruelty of lesser demons who needed to cheat because they weren't skilled enough to win honestly.
I didn't need to cheat.
I won. Every time. Because I was better, smarter, older, and more patient than anything this reality could produce.
And I did it fairly.
Because changing that… admitting that fairness was weakness, that my eons of operating by that principle were wrong, would mean everything I'd built, everything I'd been, was a mistake.
And I was never wrong.
Not me.
So what if I shifted between Seere and Dante? I wanted to experience this strange duality. These changes were fascinating and not harmful.
Because at the core, beneath the new mortal emotions and my ancient memories, beneath my new caring self and the calculation?
I remained exactly what I'd always been.
A demon who made fair deals. And thrived because of it.
The strangest part? I was having fun. Red gave me something I never knew I needed.
Life.
I had thought that I understood mortals back then, not that I saw them as complex beings, just confused despite their certainty. But I didn't see the whole picture.
And I could now because I was living it.
I opened my eyes in the darkness of the room. I'd spent hours simply... watching my sleeping mother.
She was so frail, so… flawed. And despite all that, I found myself longing for her presence.
Celestine looked the same as she did before I left, physically, at least.
But seeing through her flesh, I noticed that she wasn't well.
She was also broken by what had happened, and I was at fault. In a way, at least.
I caused that pain. That loneliness she felt when her husband fell 'sick' and her only offspring disappeared to who knew where.
And it made my chest ache a tiny bit.
I smiled. Being a mortal was fascinating. I couldn't stop repeating that. The uncertainty of it all was just so perfect.
Dropping my clan trait, I breathed out. The sound barely left my lips when Celestine's eyes opened wide, and I was faced with a dangerous-looking fireball next to my face.
I grinned, allowing the Dark Force to come out to play as it consumed the very demonic power from the spell, making it fail.
Then my grin turned softer, my eyes taking in the first scared expression that appeared on Mother's face, then confusion, then surprise.
Like she didn't understand what she should be feeling at what her senses perceived.
But even through all of that confusion, she jumped out of bed and launched herself like a missile.
"Dante?" she mumbled through my shirt, making me laugh brightly despite myself. "Is this a dream?"
"Mother," I hugged her back, the warmth of her body feeling oh so different than anything I had felt. Just that action alone made everything worth it.
And I loved it.
"I missed you," I kissed her brow as she looked at me with wide, unfocused eyes.
Tears sprang forth from her eyes as soon as those words left my mouth, leaving me a tad bit confused.
She hid her expression on my very expensive shirt, making me frown momentarily. Then I sighed.
Yes, she deserved this.
Her arms hugged me even tighter, hard enough to seriously injure the Dante that left the underworld back then.
I just held her. It was the least I could do.
"Where had you gone, my baby boy?" she mumbled against my chest, not decreasing her strength in the slightest. "I thought you died."
I smiled, caressing her back like she used to do in my memories, "Believe me, mother. There are not many things that could kill me, despite what you think."
Then I pushed her away gently.
The shocked expression when she couldn't overpower me was hilarious. It surprised Celestine enough that she didn't know what to say.
Winking, I lifted her despite her protests as I took her outside, towards the kitchen.
It made me frown. This was… worse than I remembered.
It wasn't as clean as it used to be, and beyond that, I felt a tiny amount of anger at someone related to me living somewhere so… plain.
I couldn't fix that before, but I wasn't the previous me.
At least the security was still good, since I improved everything when I made this house my domain during my conversation with Sona. But this wasn't going to continue.
I couldn't bring my light here.
Was this… embarrassment?
Heh.
Shaking my head, I snapped my fingers, and everything started to move under Celestine's gobsmacked look. The Dark force began spreading everywhere as small gusts of wind threw the trash and dirt into the portal that encompassed the ground.
Celestine squeaked on my arms, but I kept my hold around her waist, making sure to order the fog to leave Mother unharmed.
She shivered as the Dark force turned the whole house colder almost instantly, but I was already preparing some tea.
Not even a minute later, everything was spotless, just like Mother used to leave it after cleaning.
I nodded in satisfaction.
"Here," I offered her a cup, the best tea on earth that money could buy. I still had a shit ton of it sealed inside my soul.
The fragrance was as divine as mortals could comprehend, but that alone wouldn't make it special.
No, someone like Celestine deserved something better. This one was infused with Tandy's light, the pure life force basically coming out of the leaves in waves, turning the drink milky white.
It made me smile.
Then I clicked my tongue. As amusing as these feelings were, they really liked to get into everything.
"How have you been, mother?" I asked to get her out of her frozen state, glancing at the tea with almost fearful eyes.
I sipped on mine, closing my eyes in contentedness.
It was so damn good. The Dark force also thought so, the barely there consciousness of it opening a portal inside my stomach to have some of it.
Celestine's eyes snapped upward, and a fierce (adorable) expression appeared on her face.
"Don't try to confuse me, boy!" she smacked my arm gently even as she drank out of the cup almost greedily, "Explain. Where in Lucifer's name were you? Why did you leave without explaining anything? Do you have any idea what I've been through since then?"
Then she continued softly, "What if something happened to you? Would I even learn of that, or think you left us behind? I know Hadrian and I committed many mistakes, baby…"
I lifted my hand to stop her, but she was already looking down at her body in shock.
She must have been feeling the pure life force entering her body and fixing everything that was wrong.
"Nice, right?" I smirked.
She just nodded in confusion.
Then, I exhaled, looking at the ceiling.
"First, I can't tell you where I was. For your own good." I flicked her nose when she opened her mouth, "trust me."
She scowled adorably.
"I was somewhere far away. A… friend of mine took me there to grow stronger." I continued explaining to her.
Her jaw moved, like she wanted to scream or keep vomiting questions, but she kept them in.
And my explanation wasn't that well received, but it was the best she was getting.
She was ignorant of how big everything was, and I wasn't in the mood for an existential crisis right now. I doubted she even could comprehend Red's existence.
And like the pervert he was, I heard a chuckle inside my head.
Fucking voyeur.
We need to talk after this; I need some information. Take me there while I sleep.
I felt him wave his wings in acceptance as his presence retreated.
"Were you safe?" She asked, almost hesitantly.
Nodding, I grabbed her hand as more tea poured out of my hand towards her cup.
Yes, I had both leaves and the liquid ready inside my soul. Bite me.
"I killed some vermin, but nothing I couldn't handle," I murmured, thinking back to the vampires and a couple of humans that required my attention. Meh, nothing was lost.
"Then, I left because I needed to grow stronger. There was something I didn't tell you before leaving." I clasped my hand over hers, knowing that this would probably break her even more. "The sleeping sickness is not an illness, it's a curse."
She gasped, trying to move her hand.
"I know, I know," I moved my thumb gently on her hand, "They will pay, but that's for later. They moved against what's mine, and I will deal with them when I find them."
"But Dante," she looked scared beyond belief, "If what you're saying is true… there's only one group that could be responsible."
"The great king faction," I nodded, "Don't mind it, it's a foregone conclusion."
She looked at me like I had grown a second head.
"I noticed the problem when I arrived, and I couldn't fix it back then." I continued, "So, I had to leave. If they decided to move against him, the rest of us were already in danger."
"Sona Sitri," she murmured, closing her eyes.
"She fulfilled our deal, I expect?" I nodded.
"Un," she nodded adorably, smiling despite her worries, "Her family butler arrived hours after you left. I am now the manager of the biggest store in the territory."
"I even have guards!" she smiled prettily, then her eyes widened in horror.
"Where are they?" she scowled, "They should have alerted me if someone entered the house!"
I rolled my eyes at that. This woman changed moods way too fast; she was lucky she was my mother.
As if some idiot could notice my presence. This was my domain; if I didn't want someone to notice my presence, they wouldn't.
"Doing their work, I suppose," I snapped my fingers to get her attention, "I didn't want our reunion to be interrupted."
"But they are high class?" she mumbled, then her wide eyes locked onto me.
I just smiled.
"Now for the last part. Yes, you overstepped. Hadrian more than you, and I will have some words with him when I wake him up," I grunted irritably. "I apologize for making you feel this way, but I don't regret my actions. It was something I needed to do at some point, and Father forced my hand."
Celestine winced in shame, but I kept caressing her hand, "I don't care. It's the past, and what's done is done. And I doubt father will continue being an idiot after I set him straight."
"DANTE, he's your father," she looked as if she were on the verge of crying.
"And he was an idiot," I said unapologetically, "I care for him, I will fix him, but he needs to know what he did was wrong. He put you in danger for his pigheadedness, and I will not allow that to happen once more."
"If he can't change his ways, I will keep him safe in a gilded cage. For his own good."
No one was allowed to harm what was mine. Not even my own people.
Celestine cried bitter tears that I cleaned with my other hand.
"Can you truly heal him?" she asked.
"I give you my word." I nodded with a smile.
"Then I don't care. I want my family back."
Wow… shots fired. She also wasn't happy with Hadrian.
Heh, I couldn't wait to see her rip him a new one.
"And that you'll have," I grinned. I loved it when people could be efficient like this.
She tried to stand up, already pulling my hand, but I stopped her while rolling my eyes.
"Not so fast," I laughed, "Things aren't that simple. I can heal him now, but he'll have to wait."
Celestine pouted, glaring at me.
Ooookay… why the actual fuck did that pout remind me of Tandy?
Oh Seere… There were two of them, and I didn't realize it until now. I wasn't sure about bringing my light here anymore. They would absolutely team up against me.
"I will get my promotion to high class first, then I will get a territory for our family that I will ward to the best of my ability. Healing Father and another devil will bring A LOT of heat and attention, so I will need to make some preparations." I explained patiently. "For now, continue as you were doing. I will make sure everything goes smoothly. Sounds good?"
It was true, and from both sides of the coin. The sleeping sickness had been the hidden weapon of the Great King Faction since the civil war, probably even before. They will absolutely be pissed that I can break it, and will infer that I know it is a curse, not a sickness.
And while a lot of the victims' families will pay anything for me to heal them, some wouldn't take no for an answer. I needed to be in a higher position than I was right now.
Cue in her worried look. She was doing that a lot.
"You've changed, baby," she hugged me, "But thank you… for not cutting us out as many would have. I love you."
"And I you," I hugged her back.
"Now give me some more tea, I won't even ask what it is, but I can feel revitalized," she grinned happily.
Well… it was my fault. As mortals say, as Mother says, so you do.
Later that night.
Opening my eyes, I nodded disappointedly at what I found out. I stayed hidden in my secret room after Celestine left for work, her guards none the wiser.
And for hours, I had been doing one single thing. Prepare for the high-class exam.
The theoretical part was easy enough; I barely had to read a few books readily available on the devil net.
No, what I spent most of my time on was cataloguing my strength and deciding what I would use and which things I'd keep hidden.
And that had stumped me.
I wasn't expecting much. Honestly, it would've taken a god-forsaken miracle for things to work the way I had hoped.
Yes, I said it. No, it didn't hurt anymore.
Blocking the curse by making it forget it was connected to me wasn't as hard as I'd feared. That alone left me increasingly convinced there was something genuinely wrong with those feathered pigeons upstairs.
There was no way the Yahweh of this reality would leave me alone after cursing the name of every one of his sons in the most imaginative way I could manage.
He genuinely cared about his offspring, and I seriously doubted the one from this reality was that different from mine.
While this universe was weaker than mine, its Yahweh was considered one of the strongest Gods, if not the strongest, if you didn't count Red, and as strong as these super devils were, they shouldn't be able to stop a pissed-off Yahweh.
He also hadn't shown his gold mug for centuries.
I did briefly wonder how confusing it must be on their end. A devil, calling out across dimensions to curse them like a sailor without hurting like all others. Even better, one they didn't know existed.
That thought almost made me laugh.
Almost.
Because the moment I focused on the real problem, my amusement evaporated.
I couldn't use the magic I learned at Kamar-Taj here.
Not because I was an idiot who didn't understand what he was doing. But because the very dimensions and beings didn't exist in this reality. There was simply no way to connect to something that wasn't there.
There wasn't even a connection with Red's reality and mine.
And I sure as hell wasn't about to improvise one.
Alerting Dormammu from this place would be like tossing a starving wolf into a nursery filled with babies. He'd have a field day with these poor sods, and I wasn't interested in explaining that mess to anyone afterward.
If there was anyone left.
So yes. One could say my progress was wasted.
But that would be a lie.
I never expected it to work, only hoped, and would have been over the moon if it did.
What I learned there was never about the spells.
It was about understanding their system.
And once I framed it that way, the question became painfully obvious.
What was the Underworld? It was a dimension without a Lord.
One with tens of Gods of the dead, a prison holding Samael of all people, the very home of the Fallen Angels and the Devils.
And that meant one thing.
If I wanted to do anything meaningful here… I needed to speak with Red.
Because I had a question.
What the fuck was the actual underworld?
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