: "I passed? So I get to be reincarnated?" the he said in a hopeful tone.
: "NO" death said.
: "w-what then what did I pass" he said with a very troubled voice as death now glared at him with a very serious look.
: "YOU PASSED THE TEST THAT SHOWS YOU'RE READY FOR YOUR NEXT OPPONENT." Death said as dante was now shocked and his conscious was now slipping away.
: "w-who?"
: "......…ME" death said as dante then fainted to the ground and so did I….. Good night
Dante p.o.v:
'Is he really serious about it.... How can I even match up against him? After he just back hand my most powerful attack….. Though, I'm not even sure where that power came from... it was like if I had that power before, but how come it's still feels so new to me. Hmmm….. I guess it must have something to do with me possessing death's soul or maybe it must be the bracelet that father Alfred had given me to stop the nightmares that I was having' I thought but I was then interrupted by death.
: "SO YOU'RE AWAKE…" death said, as he was standing close to someone… who is that?
: "yeah I am." I answered in an angry tone and didn't even bother of that person with him.
: "SO CONGRATULATIONS ON PASSING THE LAST TRIAL…. AND IT SEEMS THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO MASTER MY POWERS BUT NOT YET PERFECT." Death said, as I was still confused by something.
: "what do you mean by last trial? I thought I was meant to fight you next as the final trial but from the way I see it... I can't complete the trial… I can't win. Almost all the fights that I had won… from Asterix to going up against the 11th executioner and from the looks of it, I guess he wasn't really the real one…. Was not even by my power but yours and even with it, I still died in every of them… so how do you expect me to fight you next….. WHEN I KNOW I CAN'T EVEN WIN IN THE FIRST PLACE! Maybe I should not even bother of getting reincarnated because it seems… impossible." I said and had gotten up from the ground as my whole body is screaming out in agony like as if I was thrown of a mountain but I just ignored it and kept on walking.
: "so it doesn't even matter anymore… I have lost before I even started… I failed them… I have failed them all." I said and had started to walk away until I was stopped by death, who wasn't even looking at my direction.
: "IS THAT SO? …. WELL THEN." Death said and summoned his scythe and had reaped a portal through the limbo.
: "what's that?" I asked in curiosity on what it could be and had already stopped in my tracks.
: "THIS IS THE PORTAL WAY FOR YOU TO GET REINCARNATED INTO THE NEXT WORLD." Death said with a very serious face.
: "but why are you showing me this…. When you know I can't win this trial… and it seems that my age is already catching up to me and might as well affect me… it has already been 40 years since I started training and from the looks of it, It was meaningless and if I train even more. Then I'm afraid that my age will stop me from doing so... so why should I bo-." I was caught off by death.
: "YOU CAN'T AGE." Death said and this had shocked dante.
: "w-what do you mean, I can't age. My body is already aging." I said in disbelieve and started to get confused.
: "YES YOU'RE CORRECT, YOUR BODY IS AGING BUT THERE IS A LIMIT TO THAT AGING… REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE IN LIMBO" death said but I was still left confused by this even more.
: "I am fully aware of that already but how does that even affect the fact that I can't age" I wanted more information on this but it doesn't still make any sense.
: "IT SEEMS THAT YOU MUST HAVE ALREADY FORGETTEN WHAT THIS REALM IS, SO LET ME JOG BACK YOUR MEMORY... THIS IS THE REALM OF DEAD, THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF ALL BEING… THE VERY PLACE THAT TIME IS KNOWN TO HAVE NEVER EXISTED… THE ETERNAL TOMB OF DEATH… MY DOMAIN….. THE VERY REALM THAT BOWS TO MY NAME." he said with a voice of authority that starts to shake the realm itself.
: "so you mean that." I said in awe.
: "YES, IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER IF IT FEELS LIKE ONE MILLION YEARS, EVEN TIME BOWS BEFORE MY POWER. SO LIKE I SAID BEFORE EVEN EONS IN HERE CAN FEEL LIKE A SECOND IN THE OTHER REALM… SO IN OTHER WORDS -."
: "I'm immortal in here." I responded even before he got to finish his sentence but he then nodded in response and I started to walk off again.
: "but it doesn't still change the fact that I can't still pass this trial… you know that already… that this wasn't my fate to begin with." I said in sorrow and I had walked so much that death started to fade out of my view.
: "
: "w-why father Alfred." I said as everything became slow and my vision had started to get blurry as flashes of past event I have had with father Alfred.
: "w-why rin…." Flashes of rin came in my head, as I had started to lean back and my vision was getting dark.
: "w-why trinity." Flashes of trinity came in my head and I had already given up on them...… I'm not just able to win this
: "w-why …. Did….. Y..ou ...….. Leave." I said and like that the bracelet that father alfred gave me had appeared at my wrist and had started to fade away as I was getting even more weak, the color in my eyes had started to be replaced with a dead fish look as I started to reach the ground.
Somewhere else:
Death p.o.v:
'Hmmmm it seems that he has already started to give up his soul and from the looks of it, that blasted bracelet given to him by the true saint can't let me interfere. And if I don't do anything his soul will be lost forever.' I though as I started to get worried by what will happen to me if he gives up his soul.
: "BUT I GUESS, HE HAS TO MAKE HIS OWN FATE." I said with a serious tone as I could already feel myself fading out of existence.
Back to dante:
: "w-why …. Did….. Y..ou ...….. Leave." I said and had fallen to the ground…. But I wasn't on the ground but now in someone's arms as I started to open my eyes again, thinking that I will be met with darkness.... and it was that but was.
: "never say that again.... Tobi." The figure that was holding me said in a very beautiful and comforting tone, and when I had the name tobi. I had known straight away who had that voice, someone who was so dear to my heart, the only person who always calls me that name.
: "t-trinity." I said and like that my vision had become clear and there I saw them... my family.
: "trinity… rin...
: "don't need to cry dante. We're here for you." Rin said as it just made me cry even more.
: "h-how is this possible, I thought that you both had already gotten reincarnated by now." I said and had started to shed sorrowful tears as it was my fault that they had to be killed for my sins and carry my burden with them.
: "no Tobi we were waiting for someone... our family." Rin said as she was already shedding tears.
: "b-but why! ... WHY ME! I was the one who led you to your deaths... so why." I said and had closed my eyes in shame and expected them to shout or slap me on my face.... But I was wrong.
: "because you are someone who would have done the same for us, you trusted us… you became our family, so we waited for our family… we waited for you Tobi." Trinity said with a loving smile that just melted my heart when I saw it and rin had gotten closer to me as they both hugged me in a loving and warm embrace and I happily returned it with full force.
: "so don't keep us waiting dante… we miss you too dear… please come back to us." Rin said with a cracking voice as she had started to shed even more tear.
: "i-I won't, I promise.... I won't keep you waiting…. I love you both." I said as they had started to fade away in a bright sparkling light of dust.
: "we love you too Tobi/dante." They both said in union and had already vanished leaving a beautiful aurora northern light in the sky of limbo as I stared up at it and had stood up back.
: "I think… I'm ready to let go of the past, and I will past this trial." I said in determination as my bracelet had started to fade away and the color in my eyes was back and with that I started to head to a mountain at a distance.
<1 hour later>
I had arrived to the huge mountain that giants over any mountains or sky scrapers that I have seen in my life to the point that it even make Mount Everest look like a hill.
: "Hmmmmmm the path to despair…" and with that said. I had started to scale up the mountain as it took days before I had finally reached the top which was above anything I have ever since before.
: "finally I made it… so i guess it's time I accepted my fate…" I said as I got in a meditating pose and had brought my hands together as I closed my eyes and like that I could feel it… I could feel the power of despair flowing through my body as I have one goal in my mind, one that will drive me never to give up even though I am a droplet of water, I will become the sea… even though I just a mere dust of rumble, cinder and ashes, I will become the very world… even when I have no life, then I will become death, for I am fighting for that goal.
: "the goal to fight for my loved ones...… my family."