I felt myself falling back into the void, into the abyss, a place where one leaves and never expects to return.
I woke up, in the middle of a sword. I was whole, and thanks to my inaction the moment before, I didn't pull my sword from my back, so it was still with me.
I stood up, face down, and looked at the island; about a few meters away was the jungle.
I looked around, and there were no remains of the ship.
I looked out to sea, and there they were.
A luxurious ship with the flag of the World Government.
And on the beach, there were only five people watching.
From left to right were Dianna, Alex, the knight, Ramses, and Anna.
The knight was wearing reddish armor, had long blond hair in a ponytail that reached his neck, and also had bangs at the front with long strands at the sideburns that also reached his neck. Finally, he had dark blue eyes and was 2.08 meters tall.
I recognized him immediately when they attacked the ship. I haven't seen him in a year, but he is unmistakable to me. That man was my father, Ares Manmayer.
Her gaze shifted to the palm of her open hand, where a piece of paper was waving in my direction.
Vrive card
How could I have forgotten the existence of such things?
Since I haven't seen any in these 14 years, and the series doesn't mention it much, it must have slipped from my memory.
I should have assumed all celestial dragons would have at least one of those.
He looked from the paper to me and said,
Ares: "You were hoping to leave the holy land, hide, and believe we'd never find you."
Dante: "If I'm honest, yes," I said while scratching the back of my neck.
I began to subtly stretch my muscles, already knowing where this whole situation is heading.
Ares narrowed his eyes.
Ares: "If you believed you could do anything true, you're doing it wrong, and without my permission."
He pulled his sword from its sheath and lunged at me.
I quickly managed to pull my sword from behind my back and position it defensively.
Our swords clashed.
He managed to drag me about 10 cm from our initial position.
While we were working hard, I could see the look of surprise on his face.
Ares: "I see you've improved both your durability and your defense. I was hoping to leave you with a fatal wound to bring back from the holy land."
His comment irritated me. I knew I could barely bear the weight of his sword, and my hands were stiff. I knew he was holding back, but I had no idea how much.
Ares swerved to the right and hit my sword, knocking me out to sea, away from the jungle.
As soon as I regained my balance, I took an offensive stance, and he did the same.
And we both propelled forward, colliding again. We began to attack and counterattack each other.
At first, we were evenly matched, but I don't know who's stronger, and no one likes their opponent being equal or winning. He started to put more pressure on me.
I had fewer opportunities to attack and more opportunities to defend. I could see almost no openings, and the ones I did see, I had no chances to attack him.
If I continued like this, I was going to end up losing one way or another.
So I calmed down, adjusted my breathing, and changed my focus.
I could see his confused look.
We were both fighting with the Manmayer family sword style, but now what I did was change my sword style, one more suited to the deadly sword.
Ares's confident expression disappeared, shifting to one of concentration.
I regained ground in the fight, not much, since he wouldn't let me.
In a swift movement, I saw him raise his sword to bring him down in a vertical slash.
I grasped the deadly sword with one hand and dodged his slash to the left. I placed the blade on my sword, pointing the edge downwards, got into a stable stance, grasped the sword with both hands, and slashed 180° vertically.
I used all my strength in that attack.
I watched as Ares quickly blocked my attack. I had to duck and drop one knee to the ground for support.
Then, I bent my body and guided my attack to the ground.
At that precise moment, he kicked me, sending me flying about 20 meters.
I fell to the ground but got up immediately.
I looked at my father as he wiped the little blood that came out of my mouth. He looked at me too, but with a smile.
I looked to my side to see my brothers. They were standing there, still, not moving a muscle. That's the level of respect and fear they have for a father.
Ares: "As expected of the prodigy of the Manmayer Family."
I frowned at that.
Ares: "Tell me, I'm curious. What did you hope to achieve with all this? Running away and all that?"
I took a deep breath and answered.
Dante: "Follow my dream."
He buried the tip of his sword in a resting position.
Ares: "And what would that be?"
Dante: "To be the greatest hero in this world."
Ares narrowed his eyes again. Ramses made a mocking gesture. Anna was covering herself with her parasol and fan. I saw Alex tense up and Dianna almost fall asleep.
Ares: "I see, you're a disappointment."
He started walking toward me slowly.
Ares: "I trained you to become the greatest holy warrior in existence in Mary Goise. That should be your dream, not that crap you just said."
That's where I tense up and prepare myself.
Dante: "That can be your dream, not mine. I'm not going to let anyone dictate which path I should take to be what I want to be."
Ares: "Trash," he said as he continued walking, "I'll bring you back even if I'm half dead."
I settled in, took a deep breath, and got into a battle stance, unleashing everything I had inside me.
Dante: "I'M NOT INTERESTED, I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU RUIN WHAT I WANT TO DO, I'D RATHER DIE THAN PLAY WITH YOUR SHITTY GAME, EVEN IF YOU CUT OFF MY ARMS AND LEGS I'LL KEEP FIGHTING UNTIL I WIN!!".
At that moment, I saw him stop and open his eyes and mouth. I didn't know why he was doing this.
Ramses: "You better stop, idiot. You made both Alex and Dianna faint."
That's when I saw that they were both actually fainted. Anna was on her knees, and Ramses was in a defensive position.
Ares: "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH"
He started laughing. I stood there staring at him, not knowing what to do next.
Ares: "Ramses, wake them up right now. I'm done emanating that aura."
We stared at each other again, only now I was serious, while he looked very happy.
Once the little ones woke up, Ares started talking.
Ares: "Let's make a deal. We'll let you live that shitty life you want so much in peace. In exchange, five years from now, if one of the five of us catches you and takes you to Mary Goise, you'll become that person's slave, okay?"
I thought for a few seconds and answered.
Dante: "I accept."
Ares: "Good," I pulled out the vivre card from somewhere, "This is the only one with your name on it, I swear by the Manmayer Family," and threw it on the floor, "In these 5 years, none of us will look for you, not even the World Government or CP0. If you find us, it will be a mere coincidence."
He headed toward the ship.
Dante: "See you soon, Dante," he turned to my brothers and said, "Let's go."
Ramses turned around without looking at me, Anna gave me a sweet, devilish smile, Alex stared at me for a few seconds, and Dianna waved goodbye.
In a few minutes, everyone had left, and the ship was already sailing away. I stood there watching them leave.
I went to pick up the vivre card that was lying on the ground and put it away. Later, I started walking along the beach until I found a piece of Sarmonie's destroyed ship.
I buried it on the beach like a tombstone and a mineral. Guilt began to eat away at me, since it was my fault that all this happened. If I hadn't been there, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Even if they hadn't been there, they would have also perished at the hands of the pirates. But I'm not clairvoyant enough to see alternate timelines to know that, but in this reality, their deaths were because of me.
At that moment, I decided to become a man strong enough to prevent something like this from happening again and to protect all the innocent people caught in the middle from something that shouldn't be there.
After all, I would become the greatest and strongest hero who ever lived.
I moved away from the makeshift grave and stopped after a few steps.
Because I realized I was stranded, alone on an unknown island, not knowing if anyone would rescue me or if I would stay here forever.