“We’ll stop here for the evening.” Luna says, landing on the hard ground of the Badlands. A few small mountains and plateaus sprinkle the barren landscape, with barely any vegetation in sight. “There’s a small cave we can camp in for the night. I’ll create a tent and—”

“Yeah, there’s that. Or…” With a few magic words from Dante, a portal springs up before them. “We could sleep in a comfy mansion.”

“…That works too.” Luna says, lowering herself to the ground for Dante.

After he climbs off, Luna stands tall and lights her horn. As the sun had already set, Luna needed to raise the moon and brighten the stars for the night. Once her charges were in place in the sky, she walked towards the portal and entered it, Dante right behind her.

“Such a grand creation.” Luna says in a neutral tone, observing the beautifully decorated room. “I would like to know how you made such a place.”

“One spell at a time.” Dante says, reaching for his side, patting around until he found a small, cylindrical container. He pulls it from his belt and presents it towards the last place he heard Luna’s voice which, incidentally, was about five feet behind her. “This is the spell that will bind a dead creature’s soul.” Looking behind her, Luna activates her horn and grabs the container, opening it. “Normally a gemstone is required to cast this spell, but I fused it with the scroll inside the container. It will appear when the soul is captured."

Luna pulls the scroll from the container and unfurls it. She looks over the words on the page before her eyes go wide. “Dante…this language…I’ve seen it before.”

“Really?” Dante asks, using Iatril’s staff to find his way towards the dining hall. “Where?”

“Star Swirl wrote several spells using this language. It’s what he called word magic.”

“Ah, yes. I believe your sister mentioned something about that before.” He calls out from the other room, sitting down at the long table and motioning to his nigh invisible servants.

Luna walks into the other room as well, the scroll still floating in her telekinetic field. “I didn’t think your magic really was word magic before, but this confirms it.” She sets the scroll down on the table, right next to Dante. “How can you use such dangerous magic so carelessly?”

“What do you mean?” He asks as one of his servants brings over a tray of fruit.

“Star Swirl only cast one spell using word magic. After he did, he had a heart attack and nearly died. He found that the energy that responded to his words was too chaotic to trust and vowed never to cast another spell in that manner.”

“Hmmm. What spell did he try to cast?”

“It was a spell to teleport him from one town to the next.”

“Oh, well, there’s the problem.” Dante says, biting into an apple. “He tried to cast a mid-level spell as a novice.”

“What do you mean?”

Dante set his partly eaten fruit on the table. “Conventional spells are identified in power by their level, a number from zero to nine, nine being the strongest. The reason for this is because of the amount of magic required to cast each spell varies significantly from level to level, even if it doesn’t seem like it at times. The Teleport spell I have prepared is a level five spell; so, the spell Star Swirl tried to cast is most likely a level five spell as well.

“Now, a wizard can’t just pick up a spellbook, read a few pages, and cast whatever spell it was without consequence. Beginner spellcasters must start with zero level spells to accustom their bodies and minds to the magic. Otherwise, they run the risk of being torn apart by the magic they’re calling on. Hell, trying to cast a spell even one level higher than what you’re ready for just once can result in death for the caster, especially wizards. Sorcerers, who are born with magic in them, can get away with this sometimes, though few are smart enough to write and read spells. Their bodies naturally know what they can cast and allow the sorcerer to cast more powerful spells when they’re ready. Wizards have to figure that out on their own.

“The only possible reason Star Swirl was able to survive was because he, like sorcerers and warlocks, was born with magic in him. He must have been a very proficient mage as well to survive casting a spell five levels higher than what he was ready for.”

“Astounding.” Luna says, looking over the spell again. “But if that’s true, then what’s the point of the scroll? I’ve never cast a spell using word magic before.”

“I know thieves and rogues who aren’t spellcasters either, yet they learn to read and cast spells from scrolls in case of emergency. Casting a spell from a scroll is hardly dangerous; most of the spell is already cast. It’s more like putting the blade of a sword into its hilt, while preparing and casting a spell is like forging a new sword. Well, maybe. I don’t know crap about blacksmithing.”

Luna smirks at his remark. “I’m having trouble deciding if you’re a savant or a fool who gets lucky.”

“I’d like to think of myself as a simple man who enjoys simple things. Like this food.” He says, taking another bite of his apple. “Food is such a simple thing: it’s planted, it’s grown, it’s eaten and the new seeds are replanted. It’s the basic necessity, besides water, living creatures need to survive. Sure, this food here was created using powerful magic, and there’s more food here than I know what to do with, but the fact remains…well, I was going somewhere with this. Anyway, the spell. Can you read it?”

Luna looks over the scroll again before responding. “Well, most of it. I’ve never tried casting such a spell before.”

“Hmmm. This may be difficult, but it can be done. I’ll help you understand the scroll as best as I can.” Dante stands from the table, facing Luna. “By tomorrow’s end, you’ll have cast one of the most powerful spells there are.”

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

After a long night of deciphering and practicing arcane words, Luna felt confident in casting Dante’s spell. They were able to get a decent night’s sleep before Luna felt the calling of the sky to be changed. After she lowered the moon and had breakfast with Dante, they set out again towards the gates of Tartarus.

Within a few hours of flight, they arrived at the massive gate, set in the side of a mountain with a giant, three-headed dog guarding the entrance.

Luna landed before the guardian, lowering herself so Dante could climb off. Unbeknownst to Dante, all three sets of Cerberus’s eyes were set on him.

“Cerberus!” Luna calls out to the guardian. “We ask permission to enter Tartarus! It is a matter of great urgency!”

Cerberus lumbers forward until he was right above Dante. He lowered his heads to sniff the warlock before growling loudly at him.

“I take it he doesn’t like me.” Dante says, leaning on Iatril’s staff.

“Not surprising.” Luna shakes her head. “Cerberus is charged with keeping evil contained, not letting it come and go as it pleases.”

“Hmmm. I have an idea. Get ready to open that gate.” Dante says, moving his weight off of the staff.

“Wait, what!?” Luna calls out. Cerberus, not waiting to see what Dante was planning, raised one of his front paws to smash Dante into the ground. Before he could, Dante let out a piercing shout at Cerberus, causing him to roar out, his three heads shaking to relieve themselves of the pain in their ears. Before Cerberus could fully recover, Dante cast his spell again. This time, Cerberus tried swiping at Dante, but he couldn’t concentrate on where he was aiming and merely swatted the air.

In the confusion, Luna quickly teleported herself in front of the gate. She called on all the magic she could and pulled on the gate with it, making the gate creak loudly. Dante had cast yet another Shout spell on Cerberus, who was already getting used to the pain. This time, when he swung at Dante, he connected and flung him back towards the gate. Dante landed with a thud, gasping for air, barely keeping a hold on the staff.

“Dante!” Luna yells out, moving towards him.

“Gate…” He tries to yell, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. Hearing it, Luna kept on the gate, forcing it open just enough for the two of them pass through. As Cerberus came bearing down on them, she grabbed Dante in her telekinetic field and ran through the gate with him. Just as they made it through, the gate was slammed shut. Luna set Dante down on the soft earth and looked him over.

“Can you keep going?” She asked.

Dante tried lifting himself up with the staff but fell to the ground. “Hard…to breath.” He wheezed out.

Luna looked up and around them. The landscape was radically different from the barren grounds just outside. There were several pathways, all made of dark, burnt earth and surrounded by pits of fire and lava. A few of the paths led to caves while another led higher up and over a hill, where streams of lava on either side of the path came down from a large plateau above.

Off in the distance, a few winged creatures were flying in the air. Luna picked Dante up with her magic and set him on her back.

“Stay with me, Dante.” She said calmly. “How do I find an outsider? What do I look for?”

Dante steadied himself on Luna’s back. “How you…saw me…” He whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“See…my evil. See…theirs. Great…aura.”

Determined, Luna took to the air. She passed over the fire pits and flew towards the creatures she saw. When she was close enough, she lit her horn and scanned the bat-like creatures. The two she scanned noticed her and soared at her. Luna banked down and flew on, the creatures trailing behind her.

“Those two seem malevolent, but not too strong.” Luna said, flying higher to what seems to be the ceiling of Tartarus. She flew around the stalactites and down again, trying to lose her stalkers. The giant bats kept on her regardless.

“Maybe.” Dante said, a bit more breath in his speech. “But I’ll need…a lot of power. As I’m not hearing much besides flapping and growling…I doubt they’re worth anything. Where are they? Distance as well.”

“Directly behind us.” Luna turned her head to see the two bats still keeping up with her. “About thirty feet.”

With that, Dante cast his spell, shooting a pea size red sphere towards the bats and engulfing them in flame. The pair fell out of the air and down into the pool of lava below.

“Are they dead?” Dante asked.

“Yeah.” Luna said with a smirk. “You got them.”

“Worthless.”

Before Luna could react, a beam of energy shot her from below, piercing her right wing and sending the pair into a spiral. Luna could see the pit of lava below coming ever closer. Hissing in pain, she curved her wing and pulled out of the dive. She barely avoids the lava and slams onto the ground next to the pool. Dante is launched from her back and tumbles on the ground, keeping his death grip on the staff. Luna, after barreling over the burnt surface, smashes into a nearby wall. She hears a sickening crack and cries out in pain. Pulling herself up and looking at her other wing, she finds it to be bent backwards over itself, blood spilling out from her exposed bone onto the ground below her.

She looks around for her attacker, only to see a giant shadowy sphere speedily approach her. Before she can react, a dark tendril shoots out from the shadow and wraps around her, pulling her closer to it only to be thrown against the wall again. A spike on the wall pierces Luna’s side all the way through, leaving her body impaled near the floor on the wall.

Panicked, Luna shoots her magic at the ball of shadow, only for it to pass through the creature. Luna was barely able to stay conscience. The blood loss was bad, but the pain was nearly unbearable. She could feel herself slipping away.

‘Not like this.’ She thought. ‘I can’t accomplish nothing from this. I have to keep fighting. I have to get up. I can’t fail.’ Despite her will, she couldn’t force herself to get up; she couldn’t force herself to move.

The shadow hovered closer to her. A tendril slowly came out of it and neared Luna. As it was about to grab hold of her again, a burning light shone from behind the shadow, momentarily blinding Luna.

‘Tia?’

The shadow sprouted numerous tendrils and launched itself away from Luna. A second later, a second burst of light erupted from within the shadow, shattering its form. As its remnants fell to the ground, Luna could see Dante lying on his stomach with the staff pointing right where the creature was.

“Dante?” She calls out weakly.

“Luna?” He calls out in kind. A word and a moment later, Dante appears right in front of Luna, still lying on the ground with the staff in hand. A trail of blood ran down from his mouth and into his beard, staining it. “Are you alright? Can you move?”

“No.” She says, barely audible. “This was a bad idea. I knew I would never die of old age, but I never thought I would die like this. This is just—”

“Silence!” Dante yells, coughing up some blood. “I’ve died more times than I’d like to count, and each time was worse than the last.” He drags himself closer to Luna, staff still in hand. “I refuse to let my end come when I can’t look into the eyes of my killer.” He reaches the wall and grabs a jagged edge of it, pulling himself up and turning to sit against the wall.

“There’s nothing you can do.” Luna whispers. “You yourself said you don’t have any healing magic to cast. I’ll be dead soon enough.”

“Not while I’m around.” Dante twists the staff and smacks the wall with it. He taps around until he jabs Luna in the chest. Luna sees him give a large grin at her, teeth showing and stained with blood. “Now quit your bitching and get up!” With a surge of energy, Luna feels herself pulled from the wall and lands next to Dante. Her wounds quickly heal themselves and her wing realigns with her body painlessly. Her body was as good as new. “And while you’re at it, seal up that creature.”

Luna looks back at her wing and side, trying to find any trace of her wounds. “H-How…but I thought—”

“Hey, I’m happy we’re not dead too, but that corpse isn’t going to stay there forever. Plus, the spell has a time limit it can be cast on a dead body, remember?” Dante feels his side and pulls out the container. Luna grabs it with her magic. Before she turned to face the dead creature, she noticed the odd angle of Dante’s legs.

“Your legs are broken.” She says, stepping closer to the creature and opening the container, not taking her eyes off of Dante.

“The cost of doing business. Sure, it hurts like hell—hah—but that won’t matter after I get that soul in me. This doesn’t even make my top ten worst pains list.”

Luna unfurls the scroll and looks it over. She takes a quick breath before reading the last line of the text. As she does so, the remnants of the creature swirl in the air for a second before falling into the scroll, which crumples up and quickly hardens. When it’s done folding in on itself, it takes to form of a small black onyx gemstone, no bigger than a plum.

“I’ve got it!” Luna calls out, trotting back to Dante. “Okay, heal yourself and let’s get back.”

“Can’t.” Dante says, releasing the staff and letting it fall to the ground. “Those Sunbursts on the creature took up a bunch of charges. Healing you was the last of its power. Now it’s nothing more than a finely crafted stick.”

“That reminds me, how did you know where to aim? I thought you were blind.”

“I am, but for a split second I could see.” Dante grins, again showing his blood stained teeth. “I guess the demon wants to keep on living as well!”

Luna looks over his legs again, seeing blood leaking through his pants. “How serious are your injuries? I’m not very proficient at treating injuries and the trip will take more than a day.”

“Don’t worry. Remember, I still have teleport spells prepared. One will be enough to get us back. Take my hand.” Dante extends his hand to the princess. Luna stored the gemstone under her wing and set her hoof in Dante’s hand. The two of them disappear from their spot, only to reappear in at the gate. Dante sniffs the air before speaking next. “Why do I still smell sulfur?”

“We’re still in Tartarus.” Luna says, looking at the gate. “Looks like we’ll need to get out before teleporting back. Maybe I can…oh my.”

“What?”

“Start blasting the gate with everything you have!” Luna yells as she charges up her horn. “Hurry!”

Coming over the plateau were more of the bat-like creatures from before; hundreds of them. Luna and Dante began pounding at the gate, Luna with her energy beams and Dante with his Shout spells. The howls of the creatures grew louder and louder as they made their way towards the pair.

With an overly powerful Shout and a large blast of energy, the gate creaks open barely enough for Luna and Dante to squeeze through. Luna wraps Dante in her magic and lifts him in the air.

“Hang on!” She yells, running right through the opening and into the Badlands outside.

Cerberus, standing guard just on the other side, slams into the gate, closing it as the pair exits. He then turns his attention to Luna and Dante. Luna pulls Dante to her, wrapping a wing around him.

“Teleport! Quickly!” She yells. Just as Cerberus’s paw slams into the ground, the two of them disappear.

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

“You need to tell us where they are.” Iatril says, standing before Razorwind.

“I do not see why I need to tell you that.” Razorwind replies, not missing a beat. “You two have been asking me since yesterday morning. Today is no different.”

Princess Celestia slowly walked up to the dragon. “If they’re in trouble, we need to know where they are so we can help them.”

“I have lived in the Everfree forest all my life and not once have I seen anything stronger than you and your sister, except perhaps Dante. If they come across any trouble, I am sure they can handle it.”

“That doesn’t excuse—” Iatril starts, just as Luna and Dante teleport next to Razorwind. Dante was wrapped in Luna’s wing, but he falls out of her grasp and lands on his ass, facing Iatril and Celestia. He grimaced for a moment before he burst out in a laugh.

“I can’t remember the last time I was so close to dying! It was such a rush!” He yells to the heavens.

“While I don’t find nearly dying to be so amusing…I suppose this experience could have gone worse.” Luna says, wrapping Dante in her magic and lifting him into the air.

“Nonsense! I mean, if you had died…well, I’m not sure where you’d end up. But, if I had died, I’d probably end up in that hellish pit anyway. Then I’d get to fight those beasts at my best! Imagine that: Dante, king of Tartarus!”

“You went to TARTARUS!” Celestia bellows at the pair.

Luna spins around so fast she almost trips over her own legs. “Tia! What, ah, what are you doing out here?” She does her best to smile and feign innocence. Needless to say, she fails miserably.

“I was out here trying to find out where you and Dante disappeared to. It seems that question has been answered. How could you just go to Tartarus!?”

“Dante needed the soul of an outsider, so we went to Tartarus to get one. I know it was wrong, but—”

“It’s far beyond wrong, Luna!” Celestia starts walking towards her younger sister. “You can’t just kill a creature and feed its soul to some monster!”

“Hey, now.” Dante says, still floating in Luna’s magic. “I’m sure that thing was just as much of a monster as I am. I mean, it didn’t even try to talk to us.”

“Stay out of this!” Celestia yells at him.

“Lighten up. Look, get mad at me, not her. It was my idea.” Luna looks over at Dante, but he remains oblivious. “Raven read something about Tartarus in one of the books and I asked Luna to take me there.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised.” Celestia stops a few feet from the pair. “Anything to restore your power, right?”

“You say that as if me staying here would be a bad thing. Anyway, Luna has the soul of that thing. Luna?” He holds out his hand to the alicorn. She unfurls her wing and levitates the gemstone into his hand. “All I have to do is perform the ritual and a few weeks of power are mine.”

“Only a few weeks?” Luna asks. “For what we went through?”

“It’s just a guess.” Dante shrugs.

“Then that’s all it will be.” Celestia states. “You will not be performing your ritual.”

“Oh?” Dante says, raising an eyebrow.

“You have no concern for your own wellbeing and willing to put my sister in harm’s way.”

“I’m not a child, Tia!” Luna says, stomping the ground. “I know what I’m doing!”

“You just went along with Dante to Tartarus and, if I’m inferring what Dante said correctly, you nearly died! How could you be so irresponsible!?”

“He saved me, so I should have no problem helping him!”

“Even if it costs you your life!?”

“If that what it takes to save Equestria, then YES!”

It got quiet after that. Razorwind just sat there, observing it all. Iatril didn’t want to get in the way of their fighting, unless Dante was in trouble. Dante, however…

“Well, I’m glad you two got that out in the open.” Dante says, playing with the gemstone in his hand. “I’ll just go about my business and absorb this soul now.”

“No, you won’t.” Celestia glares at Dante. “I won’t allow it.”

Dante just rolls his eyes. “See, it’s things like that that I really love and hate about champions of good. You’re decisive and quick to act, even if you’re wrong. Saying things like that make you seem weak as well.”

“Dante,” Luna interrupts, “not fifteen minutes ago, you told me you wouldn’t let me die.”

“Yes, but I had the power to back that up.”

“And I don’t?” Celestia asks, standing tall.

“To stop the ritual, certainly. But don’t get too focused on that. After all, it only takes one asshole doing something really simple and obnoxious to get around the problem.”

Before anyone could react, Dante popped the gemstone in his mouth and swallowed it. The instant he did, a fiery aura came around him. Celestia quickly teleported away with Luna right after, letting go of her telekinetic grip on Dante. He continued hovering in the air, energy releasing from his body straight up into the sky. Shadows seemed to leak from within Dante as he began growling from the energy release. The shadows caught fire and swirled around Dante in the air.

The flames quickly subsided and Dante hung in the air, his shadowy wings out of his back once again. He looked over at Iatril, his eyes brown.

“And that takes care of that.” He says, floating towards Iatril.

“But…your ritual.” Celestia says, staring at him.

“You made it clear you didn’t approve, so I improvised. Instead of a few weeks, I now have a few days, and I’m still not back at full power or my desired age. That’s not really a problem, since I can see to prepare my spells. Those hell beasts won’t know what hit them. Razorwind?”

“Yes, sir?” The dragon lowers his head to the human.

“I’ll need some gemstones; black onyx to be exact; about a dozen. Actually, I’ll just hole myself up in your cave for a while. I need to regain my spells. Will that be fine with you?”

Razorwind scratches his head before speaking again. “As long as you do not venture out of the cave, I see no reason for reprisal. Still, I should return as well, just to be safe.”

“Excellent! Iatril?” He turns to his companion. “I’ll return tomorrow morning. Standard procedure.”

Iatril’s eyes lit up at that. “Then we’re staying?”

Dante just shrugged before disappearing, teleporting away.

Iatril looks over at Celestia. “This is a good thing.” She says, seeing the worry on Celestia’s face. “Think of it as redirecting evil forces for good.”

“Is that how you justify it?” She says to Iatril, glowering at her.

Iatril looks away. “It helps.”

“We all die eventually.” Razorwind says, spreading his wings. “Some sooner than others. Let Dante absorb the Tartarean beasts without hassle. It will help end all the bloodshed more quickly.” With that, he lurched forward and took to the air, heading towards Ponyville and the Everfree Forest.

“He’s right.” Iatril says to the solar princess. “Things will work out fine.”

“That remains to be seen.” Celestia says, spreading her wings and taking flight, flying right up to the hole to the throne room.

Iatril walks up to Luna, watching Celestia fly away. “She seems more mad than she should be.”

“It’s this whole situation.” Luna says. “The Changelings working with the Griffons, the death of our citizens, Dante, it’s all piling up. Imagine if you ruled for 1,000 years of relative peace and all of a sudden such a catastrophe occurs. I don’t know how she remains as calm as she is.”

“I hope she makes peace with Dante soon. He’s a brute, but he’s good at what he does.”

“So I’ve seen.” Luna says with a smile. “I think I shall retire for now. I need to prepare for night court and keep watch over the night.”

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

The village in view seemed peaceful and serene. There were a few guards posted outside what appeared to be the main street, as well as one in a lookout post just to the side. The sun was shining with only a few clouds in the sky and it air was calm and warm. Luna’s vision approached the village slowly.

‘Such a beautiful place.’ She thought as she observed the village coming into a clearer view. ‘This must be a memory of Dante’s. It seems Tartarus had other effects on us than simply the heat.’

As she got closer to the main street, the pair of guards outside unsheathed their swords. They held themselves in a defensive stance, holding their shields in front of themselves.

‘What’s going on?’ As if on cue, a man passed through her vision, walking up to the guards with a green sword in his hand. His dark brown hair hung below his shoulders and there was a certain uneasiness about him. ‘Dante?’

One of the guards swung his sword at the man, who merely sidestepped and thrust his green sword into the guard’s chest. The other tried the same as the first, but the man was able to parry the swing and cut into the guard’s neck. A scream sounded in the village as citizens fled from the man. More guards appeared and Luna flew in front of the man, discerning who he was.

‘It is Dante. What’s going on?’

As the guards approached, Dante let out a blast of magic, striking the closest guard and then arcing into the other three. They all fell to the ground, their chests melted by what seemed to be acid. Dante picked up one of the spears a guard was holding and lit it aflame with his magic. He hurled it onto the straw thatched roof of a nearby house and stood in front of the door. A moment later, a woman ran out of the house with a man right after. Dante charged his sword with the same fire as before and slashed them both in the chest. They fell to the ground, instantly killed.

‘No. No! He can’t be this bad!’

A bolt struck Dante from behind, imbedding in his right shoulder. He spun around, glaring at the shooter in the watchtower, and hurling a shot of black energy at him. The shooter convulsed for a second as wounds just opened all over his body before falling to the ground. Dante picked up another spear and walked over to another house. This time, he slammed open the door and looked around. Luna floated over to him to see what he saw: a group of five children huddled together in the corner.

“No, Dante, please don’t!” Luna shouted.

For a second she thought he might have heard her. Dante just grunted and exited the house, closing the door behind him.

‘Thank goodness.’

A moment later, a spear was thrust through the door and into the ground, melting a bit of both with acid. Luna quickly went through the wall and saw Dante move away from the door before turning around. He held up his free hand and shot a stream of fire all over the roof and wall of the house.

“NO!” Luna cried out as she saw through a small opening in the wooden wall. The children seemed to be frantically looking around, the oldest looking one running up to the door to escape, but the spear held it in place. The children quickly got back together in a huddle, waiting for the fire to get them. Dante continued on through the village.

No matter who came up to him, Dante either cut down or blasted every opponent. Male, female, adult, child, it didn’t matter who Dante crossed. He treated each and every human as an adversary and struck them all down. All the while, Luna watched on in horror. The blood, the senseless violence, the screams echoing in her mind. She couldn’t fathom how Dante could carry out these atrocities. One by one, the villagers fell and Luna’s heart sank.

After what felt like an eternity, the killing stopped. There was no one left alive in the village. Dante stood in the center of the village, looking at all he had done. Luna looked at him, hoping against all odds that he would show remorse or sadness, anything to show that he made a mistake.

“Ha.” She heard him whisper.

“Haha.” He said again, louder.

“Hahahahahahaha!” He laughed, staring up at the clear sky and thrusting his sword into the air. He laughed and laughed, a smile plastered on his face the whole time. No remorse. No regret. Only joy.

END CHAPTER

Author's Note

Hello, hello, hello! It's been a while. Almost....2 months. Wow. I'm terrible. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I had fun with this one, especially near the end. It may just be because it's been so long since I made a chapter, but I have the feeling some people may have started looking at Dante in a nicer light. So, just in case, I threw in a memory of his of him killing a whole village. Nothing too extreme, just some perspective .

Oh, and don't rack your brains trying to figure out the monsters they came across. I just sorta made them up. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I'd handle the Tartarus scene. It feels a little rushed, but that's for you all to decide, I suppose. And a shout out to all DMs who have cocky players who think they can handle anything and then you through some crazy ass monster at them to keep them in their place. Good on ya!

Also, I think Ima cancel the 'spell guessing' thing. It feels a little late to have them start yelling the spell name when they cast it (though that would add a bit of comedy to it, I think; maybe I'll try that out). So whatev's.

Next chapter whenever, hopefully before November. No promises.