There are objects born from metal, stone, or magic. Artifacts created by divine or demonic hands, forged with ancient techniques and powerful enchantments. However, very rarely does something different emerge: something that is not born from common creation, but from the convergence of opposing concepts.

The so-called Fruit of Good and Evil was one of those cases.

In ancient human scriptures, hidden among metaphors and allegories that few truly understood, there was a peculiar phrase. A simple phrase that many theologians repeated without understanding its true implication.

"And by tasting the fruit, man knew good and evil."

For centuries, that phrase was interpreted as a moral lesson. A symbolic story about disobedience and conscience. But for some entities… it was never merely symbolic.

Some believed that the story concealed a much more literal concept.

A fruit capable of provoking a fundamental change in consciousness.

Not a simple revelation.

A transformation.

A violent evolution in how a being perceives its own existence.

Dante had taken this idea seriously.

Very seriously.

For years, he had studied fragments of sacred texts, forgotten records, and forbidden theories that not even gods dared to discuss openly. He realized that if good and evil were treated not as morality, but as primordial forces, perhaps it would be possible to condense them.

Absolute purification.

Absolute corruption.

Divine energy.

Demonic energy.

If both were compressed into a single core, the result could surpass any natural limit of existence.

But creating something like that required fuel.

And Dante had found the perfect source.

Minor gods.

During the tournament, several of them died as Dante began his conquest. Each death released sacred energy. Each divine essence was collected, refined, and compressed into a singular core. However, that was not enough. The fruit needed a second ingredient.

Corruption. The densest demonic essence that existed.

Then Dante completed the process with his own energy.

He poured his own demonic essence into that energetic structure until both forces collapsed and, instead of destroying each other, merged into something new.

The result…

It was an apple.

Small.

Perfectly smooth.

Golden.

But inside it existed an absurd concentration of opposing energies that distorted even the surrounding space.

It was the Fruit of Good and Evil.

An attempt to reproduce what human scriptures called "the fundamental shift in consciousness."

And now…

It was in Dante's hands.

…

Lilith watched silently as Dante's body finished stabilizing after its absurd regeneration. The newly formed flesh still pulsed slightly as his demonic aura reorganized around him.

She remained motionless for a few seconds. Then she sighed.

A long sigh.

Almost weary.

"Interesting," she said finally, her calm voice echoing in the heavy air. "I think this is the first time I've seen a demon return from a single molecule."

Her eyes scanned his body with genuine curiosity.

"Demonic hearts have always been the only thing that can't be completely destroyed," she continued, tilting her head slightly. "Even the oldest ones depend on it to regenerate."

She crossed her arms slowly. "Without a heart, there is no return."

Dante smiled.

A wide smile.

Almost proud.

"It's normal," he replied, relaxing his shoulders as his colossal form began to retract. The horns diminished, the wings disappeared, and the monstrous mass of muscles began to reorganize until his body returned to the humanoid form he frequently used.

In a few seconds, he was there again.

Human. Or something very close to that.

"That happens when you surpass your own race."

He slowly raised his hand.

Something gleamed between his fingers.

A small golden fruit appeared in the palm of his hand.

The surface was smooth as polished gold, but at the same time it seemed alive, pulsating with a strange energy that mixed divine light and demonic darkness in impossible proportions.

Lilith saw it.

And her eyes widened for the first time since she had appeared.

It wasn't a dramatic gesture.

It was something subtle.

But evident.

Dante noticed immediately.

His smile widened.

"Ah…" He lifted the fruit slightly. "So you know what this is."

Lilith remained silent for a few seconds, observing the golden apple as if she were looking at something profoundly wrong in the structure of the world.

Dante began to walk slowly.

Each step crushed fragments of stone beneath his feet as he twirled the fruit between his fingers with almost childlike pride.

"I've always found it curious," he began, his tone almost philosophical. "How so many species are content to remain at the same level of existence."

He raised the fruit to eye level.

"Evolution is simple. The strong devour the weak. The intelligent overcome the ignorant. The daring surpass the fearful."

His eyes gleamed.

"Yet still… so many beings choose to remain limited."

He chuckled softly.

"Gods worship their hierarchies. Demons worship their traditions. Humans worship their beliefs."

He squeezed the golden fruit lightly.

The energy within it vibrated.

"But I…"

His eyes returned to Lilith.

"…I hate limits."

He opened his arms.

"I don't just want to be stronger than the other demons."

His smile grew colder.

"I want to be something more."

He pointed the fruit at his own chest.

"This is the key."

His eyes were full of ambition.

"A new consciousness. A new kind of existence. Something that doesn't belong to any known race."

He tilted his head slightly.

"And when I achieve that…"

His voice was low.

Dangerous.

"…I will crush any creature weak enough to exist beneath me."

Silence fell again.

Lilith looked at him for a few seconds.

Then…

She smiled.

A small smile.

Amused.

"That's even cute."

The word came out with an almost irritating lightness.

Dante frowned.

Lilith tilted her head slightly as she observed the golden fruit again.

"It's really cute."

She calmly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"A child trying to look grown-up."

Her smile widened slightly.

"Without really understanding what she's holding in her hands."

Dante stood still.

The air around him began to vibrate slightly.

"Child?" he repeated, his irritation now evident.

Lilith nodded.

"Yes."

She pointed to the fruit.

"You've read human stories. Interpreted ancient symbols. Mixed opposing energies and believe you've discovered something revolutionary."

She took a small step forward.

"But this…"

Her eyes returned to his.

"…this is just ignorance dressed as ambition."

Dante squeezed the fruit tighter.

"You think I don't know what I'm doing?"

Lilith laughed.

A soft laugh.

Almost maternal.

"No." She replied calmly. "I'm sure you don't know."

The silence that had followed the conversation lasted only a few seconds.

Dante still held the Fruit of Good and Evil in the palm of his hand, his fingers pressing lightly against the golden surface as the energy within the fruit continued to pulse like a small divine and demonic heart at the same time. Light and darkness swirled slowly within that impossible structure, creating small distortions in the surrounding air.

He was angry.

Much more than he wanted to show.

Lilith's words hadn't been just provocation; there was something in them that sounded like absolute contempt, the kind of contempt only someone absurdly ancient could show in the face of an attempt they considered childish.

Dante hated it.

He hated being treated like someone small.

Especially by someone who had just appeared after thousands of years away from the world.

"You talk too much," he said, his tone growing colder as he slightly raised the fruit before her face. "Perhaps you've forgotten who has just been reborn into this world."

Lilith didn't answer immediately.

She merely observed the fruit for a few more seconds.

Her eyes narrowed.

Then she sighed.

"I really hate this sort of thing."

Before Dante could ask what she meant…

Lilith vanished.

There was no distortion.

There was no visible displacement.

In an instant she was a few meters away.

The next instant…

She was in front of him.

So close their faces almost touched.

Dante barely had time to react.

His hand still held the fruit when Lilith's fingers moved.

It was quick.

Simple.

Precise.

She snatched the golden apple directly from his hand like someone taking candy from a distracted child.

Dante blinked.

"—"

But before any words could leave his mouth…

Lilith raised the fruit before her face.

She slowly turned it between her fingers.

She observed the golden surface.

She felt the divine and demonic energy pulsing within it.

Then she grimaced.

A genuine expression of disgust.

"What a disgusting thing."

Dante frowned immediately.

"What—"

He didn't finish.

Because Lilith moved again. This time it wasn't elegant.

It wasn't casual.

It was brutal.

She grabbed Dante by the jaw with one hand.

Her fingers closed with absurd force, pressing against his face as she forced his head back.

The impact was so quick his body barely reacted.

Then she shoved the fruit directly into his mouth.

Hardly.

Very hard.

CRACK.

Dante's front teeth shattered instantly as the golden fruit was slammed into his jaw like a hammer.

The sound echoed loudly across the silent battlefield.

Dante's eyes widened.

"GH—!"

But Lilith didn't stop.

She raised her arm again.

And punched.

CRACK.

The fruit struck his mouth again.

More teeth shattered.

Blood spurted from his lips as white fragments scattered through the air.

Sapphire, in the distance, blinked several times, not understanding what she was seeing.

Sephirothy simply observed.

With a neutral expression.

Lilith held the fruit as if it were literally a piece of stone.

And she was using it to strike Dante's mouth.

Another blow.

CRACK.

"Eat."

Her voice came out calm.

But there was an overwhelming authority in her.

Dante tried to react.

His body began to generate demonic energy.

But Lilith tightened her grip on his jaw.

Her fingers sank into the flesh.

CRACK.

She punched again.

More teeth broke.

Dante's mouth was already completely bloody.

The golden fruit was being forced further and further into his mouth as Lilith used it like a brutal battering ram.

"Eat it all."

She pushed the fruit in again.

This time with such force that half the apple pierced Dante's torn lips.

He tried to spit it out.

He tried to turn his face away.

But Lilith's hand held his head like a steel vise.

Another blow.

CRUNCH.

The remaining front teeth simply disappeared under the impact.

The fruit finally went completely into his mouth.

Lilith then forcefully closed his jaw.

CLACK.

The jawbones snapped shut violently.

Dante let out a choked sound as the fruit was crushed inside his mouth amidst broken teeth and blood.

Lilith released his face.

Dante immediately fell to his knees.

His fingers went to his mouth as he coughed up blood and pieces of tooth onto the destroyed floor of the coliseum.

Lilith watched.

Completely calm.

"There."

She wiped some blood from her hand. "If you were so excited about this crap…"

She tilted her head slightly.

"…then eat it all."

Dante coughed again.

Choking.

His eyes were wide.

Because the fruit was already inside him.

And now…

The energy inside her was beginning to react.