"As I thought..." Valentina said to the wind. Her Vampire Count transformation was still active, and the Demon before her had already been completely annihilated.
His body wasn't pierced with one or two holes; it looked like a cartoon cheese, riddled with holes. If someone poured water on this poor soul, it would undoubtedly leak from all his pores.
"There isn't a single one besides him who can entertain me," she said, thinking of the only man who could truly give her a duel. "Now... where are my girls?" Valentina asked, watching the Demon's body turn to ashes and be carried away by the wind.
"I let him hit me multiple times to try to get excited about the fight, but... What a waste of time." Valentina stood up, her hair returning to its original length, her tense expression changing to a calculated gaze.
"I don't even want to imagine what's causing this, but it seems we have a lot of work ahead of us..." For a moment, Valentina paused, sensing a massive disturbance in the world's energy. "Damn, it's an invasion," she said, reverting to her Battle form again.
"We have located the [Priority Target SSS+], also known as [Valentina Scarlet], initiating Elimination." Valentina heard voices between the dunes, and several figures began to emerge from the sand. They were grotesque demons, mixed with abominable creatures that looked like walls of flesh and sand, forming a pseudo-army that stared at her with deadly intent.
"Well, well..." Valentina murmured, a smile spreading across her face. The sight of that misshapen army excited her in a way few things in the world could. "Do you really think you can 'eliminate' me with this? Hahahaha!" Her laughter echoed across the desert expanse, but this time, it wasn't an ordinary laugh. It was a distorted laugh, filled with wild and uncontrollable madness.
"Alright then, come at me with everything you've got!" Valentina roared, her eyes blazing with an intense red fire. Her Vampire Count transformation intensified, and she launched herself forward with superhuman agility, confronting the army with relentless ferocity.
"Let's see if you can entertain me!" she shouted, her claws tearing through the flesh of the creatures while her lance, moving at high speed, pierced anything that dared approach. Valentina moved like a whirlwind of destruction, each motion a lethal combination of grace and brutality.
"Just child's play..." Valentina murmured between attacks, her eyes shining with a sadistic fury. "You are nothing compared to him." She invoked memories of a rival who had yet to appear, one she yearned to encounter more than anything else.
"It's a pity I can't fight my dear one yet..." She smiled with dark malice. "You'll have to serve as a pastime."
The scene around her was a spectacle of carnage. The demons and creatures fell one by one, dissolving into pools of blood and fragments of flesh.
Meanwhile, Dante felt the increase in negative energy permeating the forest. "Consume!" he roared, invoking a whirlwind of darkness around him. The negative energy emanating from the branches and roots was sucked into him, like a vortex devouring demonic power. The tree attacked him directly.
The horde of demons hesitated, their grotesque forms trembling as they felt Dante's power growing. Each root he disconnected caused the demons to writhe and collapse, their forms melting in screams of agony and despair.
"Devour everything!" Dante repeated, his voice echoing like thunder, as he launched himself at the tree, determined to destroy it once and for all.
"Hey, calm down! You're consuming too much energy!" Alter-Dante shouted within him, the internal chaos evident. "I know I said to consume, but try to hold back a bit!" he yelled, and Dante snapped back, "Shut up and get to work; we've got bigger problems here than you slacking off!" Dante roared at himself, leaving him speechless...
But the battle was far from over. The roots surged up again, this time in a desperate attempt to protect the tree, transforming into monsters that attacked Dante with renewed ferocity.
"You're stubborn..." Dante murmured, dodging a charge and striking a demon sneaking up behind him. His claws pierced the monster's flesh, hurling it back against the roots that had birthed it.
Dante felt his fury growing. The demonic energy within him boiled, fueled by the need to end the invasion and save his wife. He channeled all his power, his heads roaring in unison as he unleashed a wave of destruction upon the roots and demons.
"You're insufferable," Dante said, and he had no other choice. "Amaterasu," he murmured, and black flames began to consume everything, absolutely everything.
The impact was instantaneous and devastating. The black flames of Amaterasu were unlike any energy Dante had used before. They consumed the very essence of things, devouring both matter and demonic energy with insatiable hunger. The pulsating roots of the tree were engulfed by the flames, writhing and melting as the black fire burned their essence.
The demons emerging from the roots were caught by the flames, their misshapen forms disintegrating into ashes and shadows. They screamed in agony, their voices echoing with a despair that reverberated through the forest.
"Burn," Dante ordered, his voice rising above the demons' cries. The black flames expanded, consuming everything around them with voracious intensity. They not only burned but devoured, turning everything into a vacuum of darkness that fed on the very essence of evil.
The white roots, with their pulsating veins, began to collapse under the pressure of the flames. The roots twisted and melted, their ends turning to ashes as they were consumed by the black fire. The demonic energy fueling the tree began to dissipate, sucked in by Amaterasu's flames.
"This is... pure power..." Dante thought, feeling the energy flow through him as he controlled the flames. The fusion of demonic power and black flames created an overwhelming force that no demon or structure could resist.
More demons emerged, but their attempts to attack Dante were futile. The flames destroyed them before they could even get close, consuming their forms and turning them into a trail of ashes lost in the wind.
"I don't know why Lucifer wanted something like this, but this really is a big problem."