Strength... What is strength? Naturally, people would talk about overcoming obstacles and moving forward. They'd say it's about how much you can endure and keep going, like in a historical romance or an adventure novel.
But... What is true strength? A cultivation stage? A deity? For Valentina, it was her very essence.
She was absolute, a path she had cultivated over the years, perhaps in the wrong way? Probably yes. Cultivation had only recently been discovered in this sector. Although Morgana had somehow created this system, it was still chaotic, and many who attempted cultivation faced severe reconstruction issues with their bodies, like Lyrianna, who became much weaker in exchange for creating her own path.
But Valentina?
Valentina always followed a single path, a single destiny, a straight line from beginning to end.
She knew completely who she was, what her goal was, what her world was, who she had been, who she was, and who she would be in the future.
Valentina understood herself and her impact, and for that reason...
"Run..." one of the demons murmured, seeing the relentless wave of blood cutting through everything in its path, an enormous whirlpool of flesh spreading across the arid desert.
The dunes began to turn into craters, sand flew into the air as everything was shredded by the woman who only smiled like a madwoman.
Fire, Blood, Madness...
The demons trying to stop her were not just lowly demons. On the contrary, they were all Named Demons, demons who had been given names over millennia.
What did that mean? Nothing... Only that they had lived long enough for Hell to bestow a name upon them, something that happened rarely per "Demonic Year," the passage of time in Hell, which is completely different from the world of the living.
All these demons with names, weapons, and objectives were merely being erased from existence and sent back to Hell with their souls obliterated. "Come! Come!" Valentina...
"That's why I fight!" she roared, her scream so powerful that it sent several demons flying from the force of her vocal cords, she really did seem like a monster... "That's why I fight! To see disgusting worms crawling at my feet, to feel supreme above all!" she roared again, even louder.
In the distance, more demons emerged from a magical cycle, and the moment they stepped into the reality of the living... They went insane from the screams, the noise was so deafening that many of them, with humanoid bodies, had their eardrums burst just from hearing her voice.
*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR*
A dragon roared in the sky. Dante quickly looked up and saw Voralith soaring, destroying various branches of the tree that held demons and other strange entities.
"I told you to protect them!" Dante shouted, perhaps a bit harshly. But the Dragon looked at him and said, "And leave you at the mercy of this? Shut your damn mouth and keep moving; there's too much demonic energy here. If you stay watching this, you'll die!" she yelled, clearly furious with Dante. "Stop trying to do things alone!
You idiot!" she screamed, and at that moment, another smaller dragon, completely black, let out a roar followed by a breath of purple energy.
*ROOOIAAARRR*
"Damn it, I don't want you here!" Dante shouted as his body began returning to normal; his demon transformation had expired after continuous use. "Damn it," he murmured.
"You should just sit and wait, darling." Vex appeared, hugging him from behind. "You're way too excited, you know? Calm down and leave it to us for a while," she said, seeing various hordes of demons emerging from the tree.
"They're so ugly," Vex commented with a malicious smile. She released the hug, her eyes glowing with a sinister light. Dante just watched her head towards the demons. She turned her back, and her tail, now much larger than Dante remembered... Her tail, now sharp as a blade, slashed through the ranks of demons with a devastating strike.
SMASH!! SMASH!! SMASH!!
"Darling, look!" Vex smiled, still facing away from the demons as her tail delivered a deadly blow, turning them into a formless mass of flesh and bones. "I've gotten so strong!" She exclaimed, blowing a kiss towards Dante, who watched in astonishment as Vex created an enormous massacre.
The impact was visceral. Over a thousand demons were obliterated in a single attack, turned into a puree of flesh that stained the ground, creating piles of bodies. Vex smiled with wild satisfaction, her eyes gleaming with cruel malice.
Dante just... stood there, watching the carnage these women were causing. He had become a mere spectator... watching Voralith and Eldrax pulverize demons and branches...
Vex returned to his side, her gentle smile hiding a ferocity known only to those who truly knew her. "You need to rest, my love," she said, her voice soft but firm. "Leave this to us. You've done enough." Dante realized he could no longer fight against their will... He could hardly go against their wishes naturally, and now even more so...
"Tsk, you forgot about me..." Aaralyn said, appearing with Simon and Akiko, who visibly had recovered, at least enough to walk normally again. "I didn't forget you; I knew you were coming," Dante said with a smile. "But, you have to get out of here," Dante said firmly. If he couldn't oppose their will, he could at least manipulate them to get each one out of this mess.
"Yes, yes, the overprotective one will send me after Aldria, right? Yes, I'm already going, annoying husband." Aaralyn responded as if reading Dante's mind.