I felt myself falling back into the void, into the abyss, a place from which one emerges and never hopes to return.
I woke up in the middle of a sword; I was whole, and thanks to my inaction the moment before, I hadn't pulled my sword from my back, so it was still with me.
I stood up, lying face down, and looked at the islands; a few meters away was the jungle.
I looked around, and there was no wreckage of the ship.
I looked out to sea, and there they were.
A luxurious ship with the flag of the World Government.
And on the beach, there were only five people watching.
From left to right were Dianna, Alex, the knight, Ramses, and Anna.
The knight wore reddish armor. He had long blond hair in a ponytail that reached his neck, a fringe at the front, and long strands of hair at the sideburns that also reached his neck. Finally, he had dark blue eyes. He was 2.08 meters tall.
I recognized him immediately when the ship was attacked; I haven't seen him in a year, but he's unmistakable to me. That man was my father, Ares Manmayer.
His gaze shifted to his open palm; there was a piece of paper waving in my direction.
A lifetime card.
How could I have forgotten the existence of such things?
Since I haven't seen any in these 14 years, and the series doesn't make much mention of it, it must have slipped from my memory.
I should have assumed all celestial dragons would have at least one of those.
He shifted his sights from the paper to me and said,
Ares: "You were hoping to leave the Holy Land, hide, and believe we'd never find you."
Dante: "If I'm honest, yes," I said while scratching the back of my neck.
I began to subtly stretch my muscles, knowing where this whole situation was heading.
Ares narrowed his eyes.
Ares: "If you truly believed you could do this, you're wrong and without my permission."
He drew his sword from its sheath and threw himself at me.
I quickly managed to pull my sword from my back and placed it in a defensive position.
Our swords clashed.
He managed to drag me about 10 cm from our initial position.
As we were straining, I could see his surprised face.
Ares: "I see you've improved both your durability and your defense; I was hoping to leave you with a fatal wound and bring you back to the Holy Land."
His comment irritated me. I knew I could barely bear the weight of his sword, and my hands were stiff. I knew he was holding back, but I had no idea how much.
Ares swerved to the right and slammed into my sword, knocking me out to sea, away from the jungle.
As soon as I regained my balance, I took an offensive stance; he did the same.
And we both propelled forward, colliding again. We began attacking and counterattacking each other.
At first, we were evenly matched, but I don't know which is stronger, and no one likes to see their opponent equal or winning. He started to put more pressure on me.
I had fewer opportunities to attack and more to defend; I could barely see any openings, and the ones I did see didn't give me any chances to attack him.
If I kept this up, I was going to lose one way or another.
So I calmed down and changed my breathing and my focus.
I could see his look of confusion.
We were both fighting with the Manmayer family sword style, but now what I did was change my sword style to one more suited to the Sword Buster.
Ares's confident expression disappeared, giving way to one of concentration.
I regained ground in the fight, not much, since he wouldn't let me.
In a swift movement, I saw him raise his sword to bring him down in a vertical slash.
I grasped the deadly blade with one hand and dodged his slash to the left. I placed the blade on my sword with the blade pointing downwards, got into a stable stance, gripped the sword with both hands, and slashed 180° vertically.
I used all my strength in that attack.
I saw how Ares quickly managed to block my attack; I had to crouch down and drop one knee to the ground for support.
Then I bent my body and guided my attack to the ground.
At that precise moment, he kicked me, sending me flying about 20 meters.
I fell to the ground but got up immediately.
I looked at my father as he wiped the little blood that came out of my mouth. He looked at me too, but with a smile.
I looked to my side to see my brothers; they were standing there, still, not moving a muscle. That's the level of respect and fear they have for a father.
Ares: "As expected of the prodigy of the Manmayer family."
I frowned at that.
Ares: "Tell me, I'm curious, what were you hoping to achieve with all this? Running away and all that?"
I took a deep breath and answered.
Dante: "Follow my dream."
He buried the tip of the sword in a resting position.
Ares: "And what would that be?"
Dante: "To be the greatest hero who ever lived in this world."
Ares narrowed his eyes again. Ramses made a mocking gesture. Anna was covering herself with her parasol and fan. I saw Alex tense up and Dianna almost fall asleep.
Ares: "I see, you're a disappointment."
He began to walk toward me slowly.
Ares: "I trained you to become the greatest holy warrior in existence in Mary Goise; that should be your dream, not that bullshit you just said."
I tense up and prepare myself there too.
Dante: "That can be your dream, not mine; I'm not going to let anyone dictate what path I should take to be what I want to be."
Ares: "Trash," he said as he continued walking, "I'll bring you back even if I'm half dead."
I settled in, took a deep breath, and got into a battle stance. Drawing out everything I had inside me, I said, "I'M NOT INTERESTED! I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU RUIN WHAT I WANT TO DO! I'D RATHER DIE THAN PLAY YOUR CRAPPY GAME! EVEN IF YOU CUT OFF MY ARMS AND LEGS, I'LL KEEP FIGHTING UNTIL I WIN!!"
At that moment, I saw him stop and open his eyes and mouth. I didn't know why he was doing this.
Rameses: "You better stop, idiot! You made both Alex and Dianna faint."
That's when I saw that they had both actually fainted; Anna was on her knees, and Ramses was in a defensive position.
Ares: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
He started laughing. I stared at him, not knowing what to do next.
Ares: "Ramses, wake them up right now! He's stopped emanating that aura."
We stared at each other again; only now I was serious, while he looked very happy.
Once the little ones woke up, Ares started talking.
Ares: "Let's make a deal: we'll let you live that shitty life you want so much in peace. In exchange, five years from today, if one of the five of us catches you and takes you to Mary Goise, you'll become that person's slave. Okay?"
I thought for a few seconds and answered.
Dante: "I accept."
Ares: "Good," he pulled the Vivre Card from somewhere. "This is the only one with your name on it, I swear on the Manmayer Family," and threw it away. to the ground, "Within these 5 years none of us will look for you; neither will those of the world government and the CP0. If you find us, it'll be a mere coincidence."
He headed toward the ship.
Ares: "See you soon, Dante." he turned to my brothers and said, "Let's go."
Ramses turned around without looking at me, Anna gave me a sweet, devilish smile, Alex stared at me for a few seconds, and Dianna waved goodbye.
In a few minutes, everyone had left, and the ship was already out at sea, moving away; I stood there watching them leave.
I went to pick up the Vivre Card that was lying on the ground and put it away. Afterward, I walked along the beach until I found a piece of Sarmonie's destroyed ship.
I buried it on the beach like a tombstone and a mineral. Guilt began to eat away at me, since it was my fault that all this happened. If I hadn't been there, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Still, maybe they would have perished at the pirates without me, but I'm not clairvoyant enough to see alternating lines. I wasn't enough to know that, but in this reality, their deaths were for me.
In that moment, I decided to become a man strong enough to prevent something like that from happening again and to protect all the innocent people caught in the middle from something that shouldn't be there.
Ultimately, I would become the greatest and strongest hero who ever existed.
I stepped away from the makeshift grave and, after a few steps, stopped.
Because I realized I was stranded, alone on an unknown island, not knowing if anyone would rescue me or if I would stay here forever.