Dante's P.O.V
'huh... Where am I?' I opened my eyes weakly, bringing up my arms to block the rays of the sun from obstructing my vision. The weakness I felt in my body was so overwhelming, that I was so tempted to stay in bed... But no, I needed to get up. "damn it, I need to get up."
I pushed off my bed, and let my feet hang on the edges. But then a flash of an image overcame my vision, as it was bao from my dream. "Hmmm... What did he mean by 'I killed him' I can not even remember myself doing anything after he cornered me."
I tried to get up but was brought back to the bed by a sudden headache. I was forced to grip my head, as I started to see different flashes from that very moment.
'I WILL KILL YOU DANTE!' I heard Bao in his corrupted form roar out, as he rushed at me.
'Dante stand back!' Then came Rin's voice, and I remembered her coming in front of me to protect me from the charging on Bao.
The flashes continued to the point where I finally lost consciousness... Still, something felt... Wrong. I managed to crawl out of my bed and started to prepare myself and get ready.
'Maybe I should probably visit Father Alfred and talk to him about what had transpired after I was knocked out... Maybe he was the one who took care of Bao.' I thought while finishing up and heading for the door.
I got out of my room and started to head out, but then I was met with a fellow student; who seemed to be waiting for someone... But just as I was about to greet him, his eyes shot out and stared at me with pure fear, as he immediately sped out of the hallway. I tried calling out to him but to no avail, he had already gone far.
"What just happened...?" I questioned myself in confusion, as I wondered why he had sped off without warning.
I started to make my way out towards Father Alfred's office, but then, as I started to approach the main hall... I finally noticed that at the end of the main hall... A boy... No... The boy I saw before, during the bao incident was currently at the end of the hall.
"What the....
'rest... Child' I remembered hearing that utterance from his mouth.
I looked up again to see that... No one was there... And apparently, there were some people present in the hall too... But how come? "How is this possible... This hall was empty..."
I started at the end of the hall... Only to see some of the students staring at me in disgust and hysteria. I tried to forget about what had just witnessed and continued to walk down the hall... But as I did, the loud chatting among the students started to get to me, as I started to hear rude comments and hateful talks about me, and also some with fear lingering within it.
"Look it is him... The demon." a student intentionally whispered out loud for Dante to hear.
"he can't still be normal after what happened..." a girl whispered out in fear and disgust, as her friends also nodded in agreement with her
"Or maybe he's just trying to hide that he's already a hamji... It's just unheard of..." another student spoke while maintaining his distance from me.
"Well, we can only watch for now..." a senior student said, without hiding the fact that he was gossiping behind me.
I tried to focus and keep my cool, but apparently, some of the students were just too afraid to even stare at me and instead continued to gossip about me.
'damn, it... What's up with them now, This is frustrating' I grumbled out in anger, as I made my way towards the main door... I finally reached the door, but as I was about to open it,
I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder... And by the time I turned to see who it was... Time had stopped and everything around me had changed.
I was not confronted by a student... Instead, it was a hamji... He stared down at me with purple flames leaking out of his facial cavities, as the environment started to go down in flames. The terrain was now a burning wasteland with cinder and ashes. I was frozen in fear, as I started to shake in terror... But then, the hamji came down in front of me and whispered something to me, as it tried to reach for my... 'huh... A bracelet'
Suddenly I was caught out of my trance and was now staring at Trinity who stood very close to me, and it was her hand on my shoulder.
'Ooh, it was just Trinity... Thank God.' I thought in pure relief, as I smiled at her.
"Is something wrong Dante?... You seemed shaken." Trinity asked with a soft frown on her face, as I didn't like to see that look on her face. So I smiled and gave her a thumbs up to cheer up the mood.
"I'm fine Trinity, though the headaches are kind of a problem, but aside from that, I'm doing alright," I assured her, as this made her smile, though I saw some of the other students sending my dagger looks... This seems to have gotten to Trinity's observation.
"Hmm, how about we go to Father Alfred's office... He spoke earlier that he wanted to see you earlier Dante." Trinity called out to me, but as we started to turn towards the way to his office, Trinity seemed to have almost dropped to the floor, I supported her weight on me to prevent her from falling. I got worried about this.
"Trinity, are you alright?" I asked in a panicked voice, but it seemed that she managed to draw herself up, though I remained closed to assist her some more.
"I'm fine Dante, I just felt a little dizzy, ha..ha.., I guess I need to stop Skipping breakfast... Come, let's keep going. " Trinity said with a tired smile, though I could see that it was more than just an empty stomach...
'Her mana presence is so faint... Why is this so? Did she encounter a hamji?... Hmm' I pondered, but just as she was about to leave, I held her other hand, stared at her intensely and shot her a very sad look. "Please... Don't stress yourself out... Trinity, I beg you, I hate seeing you like this."
Trinity was mildly shocked by this, but then she smiled brightly with a blush on her face, as she hugged me tightly... This started to make me stutter in gibberish, as my face turned red from the very close proximity to Trinity. "Thank you... Tobi."
She let go and continued to walk towards the office, but then I called out to her, as I followed right behind her.
"Erm, Trinity? There something I need to ask you about" I said with an unsure look on my face. She turned her head back at me while nodding her head in response to my request. "Why are some of the other students acting weird towards me... Some are now rude to me, disgusted... Or sometimes even scared for some reason."
"I see... So I guess the loss of Bao Matthew is quite heavy on most people's hearts... And maybe because you had a hand in fighting Bao... So I'm guessing that must be the reason why you're getting all this ill-treatment." Trinity tried to answer my question, but it seemed that couldn't be... Since they portray it as if I killed... Bao.
'But I couldn't have... I Blacked out immediately after he held me down.' I was trying to reason out what must have happened. "I couldn't remember anything..."
'... He doesn't remember...' Trinity thought, as she wore a sad look on her face, but still kept on moving.
They both finally reached Father Alfred's office, Trinity opened the door to his office, which was quite large and had his desk at the end just in front of the massive office windows. Father Alfred knelt in front of his office altar, as he was currently praying.
"Father Alfred... He's here." Trinity spoke, then excused herself out of the office, which Father Alfred nodded in approval.
"Good morning... Father Alfred... You called for me." I said in a very respectful tone, as I also bowed my head. Father Alfred finished his prayer and made his way towards me, Grabbing my right wrist with the bracelet on, gently, he inspected it, trying to make sure that it was alright... And then it hit me. 't-the tattoo... It's gone...'
Father Alfred sighed in pure relief, as he let off my hand and knelt to hug me, in which I returned. "Thank God... It's still on your wrist, Dante please promise me that you won't take this bracelet off... Because as you can see, this relic on your wrist, was created by me... To prevent the seal from getting weakened."
"... I see..." I nodded my head, as I responded to his words. I felt the bracelet and touched the skull on it... It felt cold... And as dark in complexion... I could feel the dark mana present within it. "F-father Alfred... What happened to Bao... Did you stop him after I went unconscious...
Father Alfred just smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder. While getting up to his feet. "It's alright Dante... Everyone is alright... And Bao was taken care of... You're excused. And remember-"
"Not to take off the bracelet... I understand sir" I said while heading out of his office, though I bid him farewell and gave him a respectful bow before leaving.
I made my way towards the training ground ignoring most of the other students and their muttering.
"assholes, what's up with them... Huh?" I stopped in my tracks and remained quiet... 'This is weird... I'm the only one outside on the training grounds... Then... What's going on... Why am I sensing something right here... In this very training grounds?...'
"huh... No one is here though-." I was caught off by a loud cry from the forest around the training ground... A student seemed to be in danger. 'could it be another Hamji attack...' "damn it", HOLD ON!"
I sprinted towards the source of the loud cry, This took me even deeper into the forest, but finally, I saw the student... Though something was up... "Hey... You there, what happened, are you okay?"
There's no hamji around... Then why was he shouting, there was no one apart from him and me here.. So what is wrong?.' I tried reasoning out the situation, then started to approach the little guy, as he had his entire head buried with his arm in a defensive-scared way. I tried comforting him as he kept on crying and shouting. "Hey there... Relax already, everything is alright-."
The boy stood up and faced his head towards me, and the very moment he did that... Everything around us turned black, as the very sky turned red and the sun over us turned pitch black. "WHAT THE-."
"come... Child..." the little boy raised his head to reveal that... He was that same boy who was at that very moment blacked out...
Flashback
"rest... Child..." I saw the kid among the unconscious students.
End of flashback
"What are you? Who are you?" I questioned the possessed boy, but then the boy just kept on smiling with his black sclera and red iris eyes locked on me.
"that... Doesn't... Matter... Child... Just... Come..." the boy said again with a deeper voice tone. I didn't understand what was happening as my very body started to move on its own, towards the boy, whose right hand was now stretched out. 'w-what going on with my BODY!'
"Do not resist... Child... For I'm your savour... I wish you no harm... Just relax, all your problems will be solved... It won't be the first time... Dear child... " the boy said in a very sinister way, I tried to stop myself from moving, but then I thought of what he said.... 'my problems... This won't be the first time.'
My body continues to move on its own... But then the very moment I was close enough, he went for my bracelet... But suddenly, a force from the bracelet blasted him off, though this had changed the surroundings back to the way it was.
"I see-" The boy was caught off by my shoe, as I kicked back with his face and performed an aerial back flip and landed safely away from him.
"I don't know who you are... But you suck!" I roared out and was about to engage in a battle with him... But remember that...he's after my bracelet... Something is wrong, I need to go now to Father Alfred- no... He seemed stressed out today... Too stressed out.'
I turned my back to the boy and zoomed out of the forest, but as I pushed through some of the students, I caught a glimpse of a poster in one of the student's hands...
'missing... That picture... Resembles the boy from the forest... What's going on here?' I reasoned out.
I passed through the main door and headed straight into my room. I locked the door and stood at the centre as I started to drop down my guards... But as I made it to my bed, I sat down and brought my head down in fatigue... But just as I rose my head back up, I was met with the gaze of that boy that was in the woods... As I just sat down I was shocked... 'H-how?'
"You're... Almost out of time... CHILD" the boy said, but with a very sinister look. The door busted open to reveal a very tired father Alfred at the door. I turned to him with fear written all over my face... As I then whispered out.
"... Father Alfred..."
"HOLY ART: AUTHORITY!" hecastd, immediately blinding the whole room in a bright light.