Chapter 24 - Grudges

[Usable Nano Lites: 50/70]

Dante's eyes widened as he was kinda surprised on seeing this. If it was before he regained his memories he most likely would have consumed all of his Nano Lites. Even though it was good to think he was responsible, he believed that it was some kind of skill that was responsible for this.

[Passive]

[Nano bisector: Nano Lites used by the user is halved for a certain period of time. This can only be activated if the user has been on a killing spree]

"Damn it, I wish I knew that sooner", Dante said to himself.

It was quite obvious that the High Fracture would come to face them after this passive skill was disactivated. This would only make things a lot more complicated than they were supposed to be. Now he would have to control his Nano Lites usage.

"Are you sure it is going to come?", Dante asked as he starting to have doubts.

"Yes it will show up. High Fractures only show up when there has been some sort of disturbance in the environment. It has to be something similar to the ruckus you caused when you first came to Earth and from what I can see we have clearly done more than that. The thing with them is that they can feel when a Fracture dies, a huge massacre like this is bound to attract them", Serena explained.

Upon hearing this, Dante used his remaining time with the passive 'Strain absorber' to create another item to which he equipped afterwards. Serena had told Dante how dangerous High Fractures were while they were still preparing in the Garden, there was no way he was going to underestimate them.

After awhile, he could feel the passive skill disactivate causing him to feel as if his one of his aces was out of play. Even though he had learnt a new passive skill and even gained an increase in his total Nano Lites, Dante could not help but feel disappointed that he had not learnt any new active skills.

All of a sudden, from outside the ice dome, Serena and Dante could hear the roar of a High Fracture. This made them shudder for an instant before speaking.

"It's here, Serena remember the plan."

"Got it", she said before jumping up to a spot high up in the dome. There she loaded her charged bullets awaiting the beast.

Dante removed his sword from the Void vault along with the combat crown and Density gauntlet. He equipped all of these items before giving a bitter smile. He had felt his adrenaline spike before, however this was nothing compared to what he was feeling right now. It felt as if he was fighting the main boss of a game but in real life. As they both waited for the High Fracture to enter the dome, they stood in defensive positions as they expected anything could happen.

Just then the High Fracture walked through the dome entrance in a slow controlled manner. It's gaze travelled through the entirety of the complex dome before coming to a rest on both Dante and Serena. When it looked at Serena, their eyes locked causing her to feel a wave of pressure which made her feel like she was going to sink into the ground. This had never happened to her before so she had no idea if it was a new ability or the ability of the Fracture before them.

When Serena had recovered from the immense pressure, her gaze met an enraged High Fracture causing her to take a step back unconsciously.

"Damn it! It's that same Fracture from before!", Serena shouted alerting Dante.

Immediately, he remembered the High Fracture that was staring her down when she had just saved him. The fact that it was that same Fracture made it clear that this was going to be a tough battle.

"Are for real!? Why him of all the High Fractures around!?", Dante asked in a panicking tone.

"I don't know but we have to take him down anyways."

"Why does it hate you so much?", Dante couldn't help but ask.

"It doesn't hate me exactly, it hates Ren. Though since I was with Ren at that time he hates me just as much. Ren had tried to kill it but only ended up damaging one of it's eyes. Since I helped him out during their fight it has some kind of grudge against me", Serena explained.

Funnily enough, Dante had just noticed that now. He was unaware of the fact that it had one eye all of this time. His guess would have to be that since he was so scared when they first met he didn't notice it at all.

"No wonder it hates you so much", Dante said in realization.

After their short conversation, they set their eyes on the enemy in front of them prepared for a battle. As if noticing that they were done talking the High Fracture stood in an offensive stance. Expecting a lunge forward, Dante pointed his Anti-Fracture blade out only to be caught off guard by a roar which sent shockwaves all over the dome.

Dante flinched giving the creature the opportunity it needed to attack. Lunging forward in a quick motion, the Fracture tackled him hard sending him straight for a collision course with the wall of the ice dome. Dante crashed into the ice wall causing some ice pillars to fall on him hence leaving a massive dent in the wall.

"Dante!", Serena shouted only to be shocked by a quick stare from the beast to her.

It dashed at her at high speed in an attempt to attack, however she barely dodged it's attack by jumping off of her current high ground. She knew that this was only possible because of her shoes and clothes in which Dante had previously walked on. He enabled her shoes to increase her speed by some form of air propulsion. Serena quickly knew it was effective when she tested it out, hence she encouraged him to work on her jumpsuit as well. Now because of this she was capable of making quick precise movements faster than Fractures which were originally faster than her. This was the reason she was able to out run them and even dodge the High Fracture in the first place. Though she was aware now that even with this she was still barely able to keep up with the creature. Serena couldn't help but wonder what would happen when the crystals all over it's body turned red, however she knew she would have to survive first to find out.