Ever since he stepped into the Labyrinth of the First, the reason that why he got in here was what Dante was most curious about. He still didn't know the answer, but now, he knew under what conditions he'd entered into the labyrinth. However, what he had heard shook his mind profoundly and made him even more confused.
"Deep sleep? An arranged entry? I don't understand anything you say. What was your purpose?"
Mr. Skull's gaze focused somewhere in the void. It seemed like he was trying to recall some long forgotten memories. After a while, he started to talk in a manner as if he was telling a tale.
"Sixty thousand years ago, a great war broke out in this corner of the universe. It was a war that threatened all existence. No race had the option to stay out of this war. Humans, elves, dwarves and a lot of other races that you never heard of... They all left their homeland and ran to war."
"The war lasted for many long years. The new generations didn't even know why they were fighting anymore. All they knew was they had to fight. The defeat meant extinction."
Mr. Skull turned his gaze back to Dante. His expression and eyes were warmer than ever. "Yours and my story started in such an environment."
All Dante could do was to listen with a baffled face. Just when Dante felt that nothing could surprise him anymore, Mr. Skull was detonating a new bomb.
"Who were we fighting? And for what?" Dante asked suddenly.
When he heard Dante's question, Mr. Skull averted his gaze. To him, the answer to this question also was something Dante should not hear at this moment. "With an unknown enemy... from a faraway place," he said.
Dante, "…"
Then a strange expression appeared on Dante's face, and he touched his face as his thoughts gave life to other thoughts.
'So I'm sixty thousand years old? Even hearing about the three thousand years was too much for me… yet sixty thousand years? So the labyrinth has my sixty thousand years worth of memories? How long does it take to collect that much memory? Even the thought of it is scary!'
"Ha ha! Don't worry, Dante. You're not that old. Actually, you're not even a hundred years old. As I said before, you've been asleep all this time. That's why you did not get old." Mr. Skull said as if he had read the thoughts of Dante.
Dante, "…"
Mr. Skull continued to speak without much pause. "You and I didn't see the end of the war. At that time, neither of us cared about the war because we were about to die."
"At first, we were also a part of the war. However, in a failed struggle that we fought because of our own reasons, we were severely injured."
"You were in a situation where you could die at any moment, and my Soul Core had been damaged in the last battle of our struggle. Death was inevitable for both of us." At this point in his speech, the voice of Mr. Skull had begun to be filled with sorrow.
"When you were about to give your last breath, there was nothing but curses in your words. You were cursing your own fate and the whole of the existence. You'd gone crazy. For a second chance, good or evil, you've been praying to all the known gods... even to the devils."
"I could have lived a few thousand years more with my damaged Soul Core. For the sake of accomplishing our common mission, I was planning to raise a new generation during that period of time. But..."
"You were my only friend, Dante, and you were the only human worthy of being my friend. I couldn't stand... seeing you like that, and I didn't want to count my remaining years just to die alone in the end."
"That's why, I ripped off my own Soul Core from my body before it lost any more power, and I put it in you!" Mr. Skull's voice suddenly rose.
"Then I sealed both of us! I kept the fangs of time away from us! In deep sleep, I silently waited for the day when history would forget us!"
Mr. Skull seemed to lose control of his emotions. He was talking fast and ignoring Dante's reactions.
Dante was staring at Mr. Skull with wide eyes. Every word of his was causing the stunned expression on Dante's face to become a little more profound.
With each passing second, this speech had been drifting to the places that Dante did not even dream of.
"You and I were two life forms that were very different from each other. Under the influence of the seal, it took fifty-seven thousand years for my Soul Core to fuse with you. It provided you with life force and prepared your body to accept my inheritance."
"That's why you were able to survive from your metamorphosis."
"It was also my Soul Core that made us feel each other when you had stepped into the Lower Catacombs. Contrary to what you had thought at that time, it was not your memories."
"Three thousand years ago, the process of fusion was finally over, and as a result of that, the seal on me was broken. The completion of fusion was the trigger. On the other hand, you slept until the day that you entered the labyrinth."
"However, due to a side effect of this fusion and the severe wounds you had received, you have lost all of your previous powers. I didn't worry about that because the Dante I knew was the greatest genius I've ever seen. Now you, the Dante who combined my inheritance with his own talents, will become more powerful than any of us have ever become. I have no doubt about that."
Mr. Skull paused for a few seconds.
Words were still sticking to Dante's throat. He wasn't sure, whether it was Mr. Skull's unbelievable words or the knot in his throat, which one was preventing him from speaking.
However, there was a vague feeling inside of him about that something was missing. Why did Mr. Skull go so far? Even if they were once brothers, this was too much.
"I've entrusted your sealed body to an old acquaintance, to the Gravedigger. Making a binding contract with him has never been easier." Mr. Skull's corner of lips arced into a self-mocking smile. "I don't know how he did it, and why he waited three thousand years, but he was the one who made you enter the Labyrinth of the First."
"As for me, I had very little time left when the seal I made on myself was broken. That's why I immediately entered the Labyrinth of the First. I was lucky that no one, including the Lord of the Labyrinth, has ever noticed me."
"Your memories, along with your entry into the labyrinth, naturally scattered into all the ten floors of the labyrinth. However, before my consciousness fell asleep in here, I also had hidden my own memories in the labyrinth in order for you to find. More precisely, I had hidden many pieces of information in the form of memories. Like my flail, there are also a few items that I left for you in the labyrinth."
"I wish I could give them all to you right now, but I couldn't keep them all in one place. On the other hand, this place is also a trial ground for you. Without enough tempering, you wouldn't be able to become someone formidable."
At this point in his speech, Mr. Skull stopped talking again. Then the look on his face turned cold for the first time. His voice was also equally cold. This caused Dante to feel a chill on his spine.
"Dante, if I have been just a good friend of yours, we wouldn't have been having this conversation here. If that had been the case, I would have never wished for you to find your memories, have wished for you to live happily here without knowing the life you left behind."
"But I didn't do all of these just because I was a good friend. You have a mission which you inherited from me and our fallen predecessors."
Mr. Skull had become a tough man who pushed his emotions aside and started to talk business.
The mixed expressions on Dante's face disappeared. A grave and confident expression occupied his face. "I knew you'd say something like that. Now everything makes more sense."
"In short, you want me to finish our unfinished mission. I believe there's a reason that you're not going into details. That's why I won't ask."
"I can sense from your words that you really care about me, and what you have done until now proves more. This nostalgic feelings inside of me also make it difficult for me to reject you."
"Besides, this mission you are talking about also used to be my mission once, and I have no doubt that it will be my mission again when I get back my memories."
"That's why I can't find a reason to reject you. I don't know what the future holds, but you can leave this to me," said Dante. Although he still didn't understand everything and wasn't sure how he should feel, he was aware that it would be disrespectful to wear an indecisive expression in front of such a devoted friend.
A smile that somehow didn't look like a smile arose on Mr. Skull's face, and his speech continued.
"It made me happy that you to think that way. However, I have a point to mention. From now on, you, Dante, are in a boat that you can't stop. No matter what you think in the future, or whatever you do, you can't escape fate. Even if you don't seek out your mission, it will sooner or later find you only because of you are you."
Dante, "…"
Mr. Skull was again speaking in a language that Dante couldn't understand. It was like a riddle.
Mr. Skull continued to speak in business mode.
"Do you know why I first informed you about the Labyrinth of the First?"
Dante shook his head.
"I wanted you to understand what kind of situation you are in and what level of hope you're carrying."
"While the Labyrinth of the First is actually a prison and playground, it is also an irreplaceable place for you. Now you understand how isolated this place is. Here, away from the eyes of the outer world, while no one is aware of your existence, you can silently grow and develop. That's the biggest reason that we're in the Labyrinth of the First right now."
"No matter what, 'those beings' should not be aware of your existence before you are ready to face them. Otherwise, everything ends."
Mr. Skull sighed deeply and threw Dante a strange look.
"You're the only one left, Dante. Because of my choice, we're late for sixty thousand years. I hope you won't waste my efforts and will prove that my choice was right. Otherwise, in life after death, you're going to have to face a lot of angry souls, and when that happens, I won't be able to do anything to help you."
Dante "…"
Dante was like an infant in front of Mr. Skull. His bewilderment was growing a little more with every word of Mr. Skull, and he often did not know how to respond.
At this time, Mr. Skull's frame trembled again. Only this time the tremor was perpetual and more severe.