A/N:
" " : Speech,
' ' : Thought,
"Bold text" : Spells.
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Omniscient POV
Despite the name, the Forest of Poisonous Beasts wasn't populated solely by poisonous and venomous animals. Its nature was a marvel of both magic and natural evolution.
Due to the high concentration of mana in its environs, the fauna had all become magical beasts, making them far stronger, and at times, far larger than their regular counterparts. But some of the flora had also evolved , particularly the poisonous ones, to become a lot more poisonous, and the magical beasts, in an attempt of adaptation, evolved to not only be resistant to poison, but also become poisonous or venomous.
In fact, the poisonous nature permeated into even the mana, making it dangerous to humans, and possibly even lethal. To combat this, Dante had developed a technique of mana manipulation that essentially formed a second skin of mana, that repelled surrounding mana. After all, he had been planning ahead, so having that as preparation was natural. For him, at least.
If any Magic Knights were aware that a boy who was just about to turn 10 years old had learnt an advanced mana technique all by himself, they would rightly doubt their own capabilities and talents.
Using this, Dante strutted his way through the forest, searching for any animals that would be willing or eager to fight him. He knew that if he looked around, he would eventually find one. After all, the ecosystem here would have collapsed if there weren't any animals to cull some of the others.
As he wandered deeper into the forest, he eventually came across an animal that showed aggression, a wild boar. Of course, since it was also a magical beast, it was far stronger than a regular boar.
The boar scratched the ground with its hooves and snorted out a lilac mist, showing the level of poisonous mana within its body. Dante seeing this, smiled, and tossed the bag he was lugging around upward, into a cradle of branches in a tree.
He calmly hopped on the balls of his feet, then motioned for the boar to attack him. The boar became enraged by this and charged at Dante, its tusks letting off a small poisonous mist.
Dante remained calm and collected, his gaze focused. And as the boar neared his body, he put up his hand, looking as if he was going to to try blocking it with a single hand. As it for closer and closer, the memories of his training hit him.
...
Flashback
Dante POV
I had brought out Asta and Yuno for our regular weekend training, because I wanted to try and keep up with the rule we made behind it.
"Okay, Dante. You've brought us here now, so what new thing do you have to try out now?" Yuno asked calmly. "Well, it's not really new, but it's something that if I'm able to make it work, I'd possibly be untouchable in a fight." I said with a smile on my face.
"Oh? What is it?! Is it like that Drive that you showed us last time?!" Asta said, his voice as loud as always. And I had also let Yuno know about that other energy, although I still don't know what exactly it is.
"Well, it's not that, but it is something that would work best using my other energy." Asta seemed to deflate at my first statement, but the second made him perk right up. "So, what is it?" Yuno asked calmly.
"Well, I want to try blocking." My answer made them speechless. "Wait, wait, wait. I know how that sounds, but this is different. Remember, this one is meant to work best using the other energy." I said, trying to keep their attention.
They looked at each other, then at me. ""So???"" I hate it when these two move together like that. "So imagine, someone fires a massive spell at me, but using this technique, I perfectly block it with my hands, making the spell useless." Their eyes seemed to shine, as if they just wanted to see me do what I just said.
"But I haven't been able to properly train it just yet, that's why I need you guys to help me out this time." Although they were excited to see what my technique would be like, they were a bit skeptical of my intentions back then.
"Yuno, remember me helping you train your mana control so that you could make your Three Tier Funnel. Asta, don't forget that I also helped you polish your moves multiple times now." I said, reminding them of the times I had aided them in getting stronger and more skilled.
"Alright, alright. We'll help you out. But what do you need us to do?" Yuno said, as he pushed my hand away. "I only need you guys to attack me. I am training blocking, after all." My words would have surprised them, if they weren't already used to me bringing up some crazy things, like my double jump that I call the Air Hike, or my Sky Star technique.
"Okay, fine. So how do you want to do this?" Yuno said, prepping a spell to use against me. "I want to see how well I can deal with purely physical attacks first, then magical. After that, we'll do like always and I'll take on the two of you at once." Normally, anyone else that heard someone that seemed to be at the same level as themselves saying such a thing would be angered by it, but they're already used to losing to me with combined efforts, so they took it as normal.
"Alright! I'll show you just how much stronger I am!" Asta shouted, as he took out the greatswords I had carved out of stone for him. I had made multiple of them because I expected him to be rough with them, but he's maintained them shockingly well.
I trained my technique with them for some weeks, and eventually I got it. *Clang!* Despite the fact that his sword was made from stone, and the fact that Yuno was using wind, the sound of a metallic clang rang out with a small shockwave as I perfectly blocked both of their attacks, causing Asta to rebound away from me, and blowing apart Yuno's wind blade.
"Hahahah! Let's go!" I shouted in triumph, as I had finally succeeded in making my technique. "So, what'll you call this one now?" Asta said as he breathed audibly, panting from the exhaustion that had hit him. "Well, since I'm trying to become the Wizard King, I've got to give it a name worthy of a king." I said, then sat down to think.
Seeing that I was no longer on the mood to fight, the both of them sat down onthe ground, panting from the exertion. After a few minutes of silence and thought, I stood up with a wide smile. "So, what is it?" Yuno asked with a smug grin. "I'll call this technique Royal Guard."
Flashback End.
...
Omniscient POV
Dante saw the boar coming at him in slow motion, and waited until it was just a millimeter away, then he swiftly raised his hand to block, and suddenly, *Clang!*, a metallic clang went off as he blocked and rebuffed the boar, much to its confusion.
The boar shook its head, trying to refocus, then it looked at Dante. It was confused as to how he had blocked its charge with a single hand. And that sound, there's no metal here, so what made that sound?
Taking advantage of its confusion, Dante used his mana to create a string that went into his bag, then tugged on the string, bringing out one of his many carved stone swords.
Immediately the sword reached his hand, he grabbed it and funneled mana into it, and coated it in demonic energy, enhancing his next strike. He then moved faster than the boar could perceive, to the boar's side, then slashed at its neck. All this happened within a fraction of a second.
The boar didn't even know that it was dead, until the sensation of only its head hitting the ground was registered in its dying brain. Dante released the cloak of demonic energy and stopped channeling his mana into the sword, and despite the destructive nature of demonic energy, the sword remained intact.
He found that mana was better received by other materials than demonic energy. So instead of single-mindedly channeling demonic energy into his weapons, he would instead channel mana while coating the weapon in the destructive demonic energy, increasing their attack potency, but leaving them with far less damage.
He pulled his bag to himself using his mana strings, then lifted the boar's headless body and went deeper into the forest, hoping to find a stream or a lake, so that he could prepare the body of the boar for use as meat.
As he kept moving through the forest, he came across different aggressive magical beasts and he dispatched them with inhuman efficiency, while staying unscathed. He refrained from taking all of their bodies, as he knew that he could only carry so many of them before they started to become cumbersome.
Thanks to the high amount of mana within the corpse of the boar, its meat didn't rot quickly, giving Dante a bit more time to find a water source.
As he ventured deeper into the forest, night fell, and he came across a place that felt cold. Not the cold that one would feel from low temperature, but rather the cold feeling one would get from something that was steeped deeply in evil.
He didn't understand why he felt that way, but he kept his guard up as he continued moving. Suddenly, he was attacked by another magical beast, but this one was far stronger than any of the beasts he had come across.
It was a massive leonine monster that looked like it had been dyed in pure darkness, and had feathered wings that were the same hue. Dante felt that it was strange that this monster would attack him, rather than the corpse of the boar that he had been carrying over his shoulders for hours on end.
But he didn't have too much time to think, as the monster lunged at Dante once more. When it got close, he dashed out of the way, then jumped into the air. The monster, in a show of impressive agility, bounded towards Dante shortly after it landed, expecting to catch him mid fall.
But much to its shock, Dante seemed to jump again midair, then he landed on a branch of one of the tall trees around them. "Huh, a black cat. But since you've also got wings, maybe you're also a crow. I didn't think my luck was that bad." Dante said, taunting the monster.
The monster released a roar that shook the environment, then fired off many of its feathers at Dante. Dante, although slightly surprised by the attack, dodged them with ease. Then he dashed toward the monster, which swiped at him, but only hit an afterimage, leaving it open to attacks for an instant.
Dante immediately took the opening, smashing a demonic energy infused fist to the side of its head, twisting its neck over 200 degrees the wrong way, then he kicked the body away from himself.
Dante began walking to the tree where he placed the corpse of the boar on, but he stopped and glanced back at the monster, which despite the blow it received, was still very much alive.
Suddenly, Dante heard cackling coming from the monster, and immediately pulled out one of the stone swords. He looked at the monster, with its mangled neck, and noticed that despite the level of damage he had expected it to receive, there were no traces of blood.
"Hehehehehe." The monster laughed eerily at Dante, and something else happened that shocked him. The wings of the monster seemed to dissolve like shadows, and its entire body reshaped itself into something else, something familiar to Dante.
"No way. How is that even possible?" Dante said, as he looked at a spitting image of himself, even brimming with demonic energy, same as him, except for the fact that its entire body was black, save for its eyes, which were glowing red. This was the Deathvoid, otherwise known as the Doppelganger, a demon that was dark reflection of its enemies.
Dante went back into a fighting stance quickly, as the Doppelganger dashed toward him, its fist cocked back for a punch, one that he noticed was charged with demonic energy. Although it was as fast as he was, he noticed that it wasn't as skilled with his movements or energy use as he was.
For one, he noticed the leakage of demonic energy from its fist, as well as the waste of energy in its movement. Once it got close, he dashed out of the way, then dashed close to the Doppelganger, and released a punch of his own.
But much to Dante's surprise, he found out that his blows seemed to have a minimal effect on the demon. But he couldn't keep that thought process up for long, as he was soon occupied with the blows of the Doppelganger.
The Doppelganger produced a dark copy of the sword that Dante uses, and began slashing at him, attacking him with a three slash combo that he was familiar with. Narrowing his eyes, Dante put his hands forward to block the sword. *Clang!* X3.
"Hey, no one likes a copycat. Especially one that's not as good as the original." He said, then stepped forward and punched the Doppelganger, pushing it back a few meters, but dealing minimal damage to it.
The Doppelganger laughed, its voice sounding like a layered version of Dante's voice as it began taunting him as well. "Come on, you're not that weak, are you?" Dante scoffed at its imitation, then put up his hand in a taunting motion.
The Doppelganger dashed at him with its sword wreathed in demonic energy, and when it got close to him, it stabbed out strongly. *Clang!* But its efforts were rebuffed by Dante's Royal Guard.
"Hmm, you've somehow copied Stinger, huh? Well, show me how much you've copied. I haven't had a strong enough training partner for a while now." Dante said with a cocky smirk. The Doppelganger bellowed out with its layered demonic voice, then dashed at Dante, slashing at him wildly.
Multiple metallic clangs went off as Dante continued to block the Doppelganger's blows with his Royal Guard. But as time passed, Dante's frustration began to build up, since his blows weren't as effective as he would have liked.
He knew that a considerable amount of time had passed because he had gotten very hungry, but he didn't know exactly how much time had passed. The hunger, in combination with the frustration he had been feeling made him angry.
What he hadn't noticed due to his focus on the fight, was that his demonic energy was beginning to shroud his body, beyond the limits of his control, causing him to glow a menacing red. As the battle between the two of them continued, a pair of massive bluish black eyes watched them from a distance.
Fatigue had begun its assault on Dante's body, and the Doppelganger had been using that to try and get some licks in, but Dante would either dodge or block its blows, retaining an inhuman level of focus.
Multiple trees had been felled by the Doppelganger's attacks, clearing the canopy made by those trees, leaving space for one to easily see the sky. And as time would have it, the sun had already begun peeking out from beyond the horizon.
Dante was annoyed that this battle had taken him that long, since he hadn't gotten a chance to properly eat throughout the previous day. In his frustration, he blocked the Doppelganger's attack, then counterattacked, and much to his pleasure, he felt his blow have greater effect.
He looked behind the Doppelganger, and it clicked in his head. "I see now. So you don't like the light, huh. That's too bad." He said, then rushed at the Doppelganger, whacking it multiple times with his fists, while defending against its blows.
And when the sun rose in its entirety, the Doppelganger had incurred much more damage than it had taken in the hours of the night that passed. Its form wasn't even that of Dante's anymore, but rather it had become a featureless darkness that had the shape of a human man.
By now, Dante had noticed the accumulating of demonic energy in his body, and was making plans to use it for an explosive attack that would end the fight in a single blow. But it seemed that the Doppelganger wasn't giving up just yet.
It struggled, but eventually succeeded in reforming itself to look like Dante once again, pushing the anger that Dante had to a much greater emotion, rage. "Alright, fine. You wanna do that, then go ahead. How about I make it so I won't even have to block you, then we'll see what you can do." Dante said through gritted teeth, his demonic energy shrouding his body and concentrating to the point that it looked like a black mist.
Dante thought about the effect of his Royal Guard, and decided that he'd spread that all over his body, and his demonic energy moved with his will to make that a reality.
In front of the Doppelganger, Dante's form was covered by his demonic energy, and a small shockwave was released from Dante's body, kicking up another dust cloud. As the dust cleared, Dante's form was revealed.
His entire body was covered in a solid, black armor with spines, that had lines running through it in mystical patterns, which glowed a bright yellowish orange, and had a misty red aura coming off him. His face was also covered, with six openings, three on each side, glowing the same color as the rest of the armor.
*Dreadnaught*
"You've made me annoyed for the last time, punk." He said, his voice layered, yet more menacing that the Doppelganger's. He used his mana to pull out one of his swords, and held it up against the Doppelganger. "Now, come on. Let's end this."
The Doppelganger attacked him with a Stinger once again, but he didn't even try to block the attack, an instead channeled demonic energy into his sword while forcefully holding it together with his mana.
The Doppelganger hit Dante's body over and over, but couldn't cause even the slightest bit of damage to him. As soon as Dante felt that he had concentrated enough energy in his sword, he jumped up, then used Air Hike to go even higher.
Before the Doppelganger could react to him, Dante released all of the accumulated energy as one gigantic slash that impacted the Doppelganger and the ground beneath it. The impact generated a shockwave that blew down several trees and caused a localized earthquake within the Forest of Poisonous Magical Beasts.
As Dante landed, the sword in his hand crumbled to dust that blew away in the wind, and the armor on his body dissipated, leaving his body unprotected. Even then, he looked relaxed, not worrying about the Doppelganger.
And as the dust cleared, the reason for his calm attitude showed itself, the body of the Doppelganger had been perfectly bifurcated, with a 30-meter-long gash across the forest floor.
The Doppelganger's body dissolved into shadows that moved in Dante's direction. Dante looked at it weirdly, but didn't move away, and it deposited itself into his shadow. And as it did so, a large amount of information was injected into his mind.
For most other people, the amount of information would have sent them into shock, but Dante's brain sorted through it much faster than them, taking only a few seconds, albeit jolting his body a bit. He wouldn't know that this was a product of his demonic heritage until much later.
After sorting through the information, he looked down where his shadow was meant, and he saw nothing. He then looked up to see a perfect clone of himself facing him. He stared at the clone for a few seconds, then punched out.
The clone mirrored his actions, returning the punch. Their fists collided with pinpoint accuracy. Dante sent out a front kick, and the clone mirrored it, their feet hitting each other's throats at the exact same spot.
Understanding the power he had gained, Dante willed the clone to dispel, and it walked back to him, and dissolved into demonic energy and darkness, giving him back his shadow.
"Well, I guess I'm going to at least be twice as productive now." He said then went to find his bag, which he did by sensing his amulet, which he had stuffed into the bag in the middle of the battle against the Doppelganger. After which, he found another tree, and slept there for most of the day.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 3,486
Thanks for reading!