"That fucking sucked." Dante began to stand up to get his bearings.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Said Lucifer with a bright smile, it was like his outburst earlier didn't even happen.
"What the hell was that book?"
"The best way I could describe it is to think of yourself as the bane of all corruption."
"Your mana has a property that makes it one of a kind now."
"Does it have any other power-ups?" Dante asked if the amount of pain he felt just now didn't equate to just one thing in his eyes.
"I'm not sure; that book was made thousands of years ago by some long-extinct god. Why don't you go ask him?" Lucifer said it mockingly.
"Whatever, what is this beating in my chest? It doesn't feel natural." Dante had felt some sort of swelling in his chest that was opposite of his heart.
"Oh, shoot, yeah, I forgot. We need to form your etheric heart before you implode." Lucifer casually laughed before motioning for Dante to sit in front of him.
"I hate how casual you're." Dante said as he quickly sat down.
Suddenly, the cheerful atmosphere around Lucifer completely disappeared and was replaced with a solemn one.
"I know I joke a lot, but this swelling feeling is a parting gift from my best friend." Lucifer narrowed his eyes at Dante.
"Don't waste this opportunity Bahamut gave you." The atmosphere grew slightly darker before finally lightening up.
"Anyways, start trying to condense your mana on the opposite side of your heart." Lucifer placed both of his hands on Dante's back before reciting a spell in a language that Dante couldn't begin to decipher.
Slowly, Dante tried to recall the feeling that Ryota had shown him, and sure enough, he was able to slowly force all the mana that was just sitting in his body towards the swelling vortex in his chest.
Each second that passed had an increase in pain for Dante, but he kept holding on until around four minutes passed. Just as he was about to give up, Lucifer quickly made himself reign back in.
"The longer you last, the better the results; don't fucking waste this gift." Lucifer had beads of sweat falling down his face, but he persisted.
"I can't let this asshole outdo me." Dante gritted his teeth and decided to resign himself to the growing pain.
This persisted for over an hour before Lucifer finally fell backwards because of exhaustion.
"Good…. Job." Lucifer said this while panting between breaths.
"Fuck…. You." Dante said back.
Lucifer only smiled before slowly standing back up and stretching.
"Alrighty then, you have an Aether heart now."
"That is?" Dante asked.
"Oh yeah, you still have no idea about magic. Humans form mana cores to store mana to use, but you have an ether heart." Lucifer explained.
"Is an Aether Heart different?" Dante knew practically nothing about magic, except for the fact that it can empower your body and how to feel it.
"Think of it as a charger for your mana core, but the mana it pumps out isn't mana but aether."
"What the hell is aether?"
Lucifer just rubbed his head in frustration.
"Aether is what man wishes it could be; pound for pound, it is the strongest fuel in existence."
"That heart you have now generates it, so thank Bahamut for this exceedingly powerful gift." Lucifer snapped his fingers, and a set of black armor began to materialize over him, while on his back, black tendrils began to form as well.
"Any questions before I send you back? I've got a busy schedule."
Dante was lacking in many things; he had no idea how to get stronger than a typical human at this point, and his general knowledge of the world was completely shot.
"Fastest way to acclimate to this world?"
"Oh? Great question." Lucifer began to ponder.
"There's an academy on the central continent you can go to; it has plenty of teachers that come from all walks of life."
"There's also that headmaster that even I find scary." Lucifer shivered at the thought of the swordsmen who ran the academy.
"Alright, off you go! Don't die!" Lucifer snapped his fingers and immediately sent Dante back. He was instantly met with a mouthful of dirt since he wasn't prepared.
"Asshole," he thought.
Right above Dante, a giant gray object that was blurred by its speed passed right above him harmlessly.
Dante stood up and came face-to-face with a wolf that was similar to the one Ariel had fought, but it was horribly disfigured and had eight tentacles where its tail used to be. Clearly, this one was far more corrupted than the one Ariel had a hard time fighting.
"Just my luck." Dante sounded annoyed, but it was completely betrayed by the giant smile on his face. Dante had been in this new world for years now and was slowly getting bored; even the new beasts he had been fighting in this forest were nothing to him now. But finally, something that easily threatened his life showed up, and he was truly excited.
Behind him, Aiko began to stir and finally woke up, only to see some weird creature staring at her and Dante.
"I'll support you." She spoke slowly before staggering to her feet.
"If it looks like I'm going to die, then jump in." Dante's smile was only getting bigger with each second.
The wolf, who was around 15 meters away, immediately jumped at them without a shred of intelligence. As it got closer, Dante weaved to the side and swung his sword, leaving a giant gash from its mouth to its ribs.
"It's rabid, basically; if that's the characteristic of a lot of corruption, then that isn't too bad." Dante thought to himself; slowly, the smile he had was fading away.
The wolf stumbled to the ground from the wound before slowly standing back up with the same ravenous look on its face.
"It got my hopes up for nothing." Suddenly, the wolf seemingly teleported out of nowhere and was in Dante's face.
"Fuck!" He sidestepped to the side, but not before the wolf took a chunk of his bicep away from his right arm.
"Why did its speed increase so much?" Dante asked Aiko.
"It's using mana now; most beasts use that once they hit Rank 2." She stumbled and stood up before getting ready to fight.
"Point your sword at it and let me do the rest." Aiko began channeling her mana to cast a spell.
Dante just nodded before readying himself for whatever she had planned.
As the wolf lunged at them again, Aiko finished her spell, and Dante felt himself swelling with power.
Suddenly he could see the wolf instead of it looking like it teleported.
He angled his sword and braced his body for impact.
The wolf wasn't able to change directions in midair and impaled itself on his sword, starting at its throat and working its way all the way down to its stomach.
Under all the pressure the wolf generated, both of Dante's arms started to fracture and break.
By using mana, the wolf was able to generate so much force that even holding the sword straight was nearly impossible, even with the spell Aiko cast on Dante.
The wolf was slowly losing its life in its eye, but not before all of the tentacles located at its tail all shot forward to impale Dante.
Right before some of them made impact, a small disc of fire appeared, blocking six out of the eight tails.
Sadly, two were able to pierce Dante, but the tails aiming for vital spots were all blocked.
After a few seconds, even the tentacles went limp, showing that the wolf was well and truly dead.
"Thanks." Dante said, while wincing in pain, having both arms broken and two tentacles in one of your legs really hurt.
Before Aiko could reply, Dante collapsed and blacked out.