The battlefield had ceased to be merely a long-destroyed coliseum, transforming into something much closer to an open abyss in the middle of reality, where each impact distorted space, each exchange of blows made the air vibrate as if about to completely rupture, and each breath carried the weight of a war that had already surpassed any logical limit of existence.

At the center of it all, Sapphire and Sepphirothy continued fighting Dante with renewed intensity, not because they were stronger, but because they had accepted something simple and brutal: there was no more room for error, hesitation, or unnecessary pride.

Even so, in this extreme state of focus, the two remained who they were, and that meant that not even in that absolute hell could they stop arguing.

Sapphire advanced first, spinning Belial in a wide arc that cut through the space ahead like a living blade, her movement more precise now, less impulsive, more calculated, while her aura pulsed erratically, trying to keep up with the absurd pace of the battle.

Dante blocked the attack with his forearm, the energy exploding on impact, spreading a shockwave that swept across the ground like a concentrated storm. At the same instant, Sepphirothy appeared behind him, her speed still terrifying even with the evident exhaustion, her leg already poised for another direct kick to the base of the skull.

"Why the hell isn't some idiot god interfering in this?!" Sapphire shouted as she pressed her spear against Dante's arm, forcing him back, her voice laden with genuine irritation, as if this were a personal affront on top of everything else already happening.

Sepphirothy spun her body in the air, her kick descending like an invisible blade toward Dante's head, which he dodged by inches, letting the blow pierce the void with enough force to tear the air behind him.

"I DON'T KNOW, DAMN IT!" she replied in the same tone, her voice cutting through the chaos as she retreated just enough to reposition her body. "THEN STOP TALKING SHIT AND FOCUS ON THE FIGHT!"

Dante just smiled.

That distorted, almost unstable expression seemed to grow larger as his body adapted to this absurd new existence he had reached. He gripped the spear with one hand, completely ignoring the force that came with it, and violently pulled Sapphire forward, preparing his fist to crush her face in the next instant.

But the blow never came.

Sepphirothy was already there.

Her knee surged forward with brutal force, striking Dante's chin from below, the impact creating a visible shockwave that made the surrounding air vibrate violently as his head snapped back. Simultaneously, Sapphire released Belial, spun her body, and used the momentum to deliver a direct kick to his abdomen, sending him flying several meters backward.

"Focus on the fight, huh?" Sapphire murmured with a crooked smile, retrieving her spear with a swift flick of her hand.

Sepphirothy didn't respond immediately, merely watching Dante rise again, her expression now far more serious, her eyes analyzing every detail of his behavior. "He's speeding up…" she said softly, more to herself than to Sapphire, as she watched his aura fluctuate even more erratically.

Dante tilted his head slowly, cracking his neck as a wet sound escaped his throat, as if he were… internally adjusting. "You talk too much…" he murmured, his voice carrying a slight, almost imperceptible distortion, but profoundly wrong.

And then he disappeared.

It wasn't speed.

It wasn't teleportation.

It was… absence.

And he reappeared between the two.

The impact came before the reaction.

His two arms moved simultaneously, striking Sapphire and Sepphirothy at once, the dry sound of the impact echoing like thunder as both were hurled in opposite directions, traversing the battlefield like projectiles.

But neither of them stayed on the ground.

Sapphire spun in the air, slamming Belial into the ground to stop his movement, her teeth clenched as her body trembled slightly from the impact. Sepphirothy, on the other hand, simply spun her body and landed on her feet, sliding a few meters before fully stabilizing.

And then both advanced again.

Without words.

Without discussion.

Just fighting.

Meanwhile…

Far beyond that central point of destruction, amidst still-smoldering rubble and fragments of bleachers that had been pulverized throughout the battle, something moved.

Lilith.

She emerged slowly from the wreckage, her body still scarred, her aura unstable, but her eyes… completely lucid. There was no confusion, no hesitation. Only understanding.

She took a deep breath.

Once.

And then she looked.

Her eyes met Seris's.

And Vergil's body.

For a single instant… she froze.

Her eyes widened slightly, not from ordinary surprise, but from immediate recognition of something that shouldn't be happening. Something… impossible.

And then she disappeared.

The space in front of Seris distorted violently, and Lilith appeared beside her without warning, immediately kneeling and placing her hand directly on Vergil's chest, her expression completely changing to something serious, focused, almost… urgent.

Seris was startled, recoiling slightly instinctively, her eyes wide at seeing Lilith appear so abruptly. "What the hell are you—" she began, but was interrupted by what Lilith was doing.

Her hand sank into Vergil's chest.

Literally.

As if the flesh were merely a veil she could pierce through.

Seris froze.

"—What are you doing?!" "She demanded, her voice thick with disbelief as she watched Lilith pull something from inside his body.

A heart.

Destroyed.

Torn apart.

Still weakly pulsing with distorted energy.

Lilith didn't answer.

She just stared at it for a second.

And then… bit.

Seris froze completely.

The sound was grotesque.

Wet.

Too real.

"...Have you gone mad?!" Seris said, her voice rising, but unable to stop what was happening as Lilith continued, pulling out another destroyed heart and consuming it in the same way, without hesitation, without ceremony.

"I need energy…" Lilith murmured between bites, her voice low but completely steady. "I can heal him later…"

Seris blinked.

Once.

Trying to process it.

But she didn't have time.

Because Lilith was already on the third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Each destroyed heart being ripped out and devoured as if it were pure fuel, as if she were absorbing not just energy, but something deeper, something that made her own presence begin to change.

And then… it was over.

Lilith was silent for a second.

Her head slightly lowered.

Her body motionless.

Seris opened her mouth to say something—anything—

But she stopped.

Because something was wrong.

The air around her shifted.

The pressure increased.

And when Lilith raised her face…

She was no longer the same.

Her eyes… were different.

Deeper.

Darker.

More… ancient.

"I'll be right back," she said simply.

And disappeared.

The next instant, she was in front of Dante.

Neither Sapphire.

Nor Sepphirothy.

Nor Dante himself had time to fully react.

Her fist was already advancing.

There was no preparation.

No aura accumulating.

No scream.

Just… impact.

The sound was no ordinary sound.

It was like the rupture of something fundamental.

Lilith's fist struck Dante's chest with a force that not only pierced flesh, bone, and energy… but undid everything below that point in a single instant.

There was no resistance.

There was no block.

There was no time.

From the waist down…

It simply ceased to exist.

It exploded.

It disintegrated.

It was erased.

His upper torso was thrown backward, spinning in the air as blood and energy spread like a chaotic storm, and for a single moment… everything was silent.

Dante's head was still there.

Slowly spinning in the air.

His eyes open.

His expression… still conscious.

And then—

The impact came as what remained of his body hit the ground.

And the world… seemed to stop for a second.

The impact still reverberated across the battlefield when what remained of Dante hit the ground, his head rolling a few meters before stopping on its side, his eyes still open, still conscious, still… alive, in a way that simply shouldn't be possible. The silence that followed was not relief, nor victory—it was expectation, heavy and suffocating, as if the world itself were waiting to see what would come next from this abomination that refused to die.

And then… it began.

First, came the movement.

Subtle.

Almost imperceptible.

The fragments of flesh scattered across the ground began to tremble, as if responding to an invisible call, as if pulled by an inescapable force that completely ignored natural laws. Blood, tissue, energy—everything began to move, dragging itself back, joining together, rebuilding itself with a speed that wasn't just fast… it was wrong.

Sapphire was the first to fully realize it.

Her eyes narrowed as she instinctively took a step back, Belial still firm in her hand, but his posture now carrying something that hadn't been there before: genuine caution. "Ah… no…" she murmured, her voice low, laden with an irritation that barely masked the growing discomfort within her.

Sephirothy saw it too.

And this time… she said nothing.

Because there was nothing to say.

Before them, Dante's body was completely regenerating, muscles rebuilding layer by layer, bones rising as if they had never been destroyed, his entire form returning to existence with absurd precision, as if that complete destruction had been merely a momentary inconvenience.

But the most disturbing thing…

Was his expression.

When he finally stood up again, completely regenerated, Dante wasn't smiling.

His eyes were wide.

His breathing was irregular.

His chest rose and fell unevenly as he stared at his own body, flexing his fingers slowly, like someone trying to understand… what the hell had just happened.

"…What the hell…" his voice came out lower than before, laden with something new.

It wasn't pain.

It wasn't anger.

It was… uncertainty.

He looked up.

And met Lilith's gaze.

For a full second… he didn't move.

And then he smiled.

But it wasn't the same smile as before.

This one… was more tense.

Sharper.

More… interested.

"Okay… that was new…" he murmured, tilting his head slightly while cracking his neck again, as if adjusting to this new information.

Lilith didn't respond immediately.

She just watched him.

Completely still.

Completely… different.

The energy around her had drastically changed, not only in quantity but in quality, as if something within her had been activated, released, distorted by what she had consumed moments before. Her eyes were fixed on Dante, but there was no hurry in them, no immediate impulse to attack again.

She was… thinking.

Calculating.

And then she spoke.

"Sapphire."

The voice came out firm.

Direct.

No room for discussion.

Sapphire turned her face slightly, still keeping Dante in her peripheral vision, clearly irritated at receiving orders at that moment. "What?" she replied dryly, twirling Belial once in her hand as if ready to advance again.

Lilith raised her arm slightly.

And pointed to the sky.

Above them.

Where, until then, nothing seemed to exist beyond the constant distortion of reality.

"Throw that thing with all your might."

Sapphire frowned.

"What?"

"To the sky." Lilith repeated, her tone unchanged, but now carrying a slight pressure that hadn't been there before.

Sepphirothy was the first to understand.

Her eyes moved upwards.

And then… she saw.

It wasn't visible at first glance.

But now, in focus… it was there.

A dome.

An absurd layer of demonic energy completely covering that space, like an invisible prison isolating everything inside from the rest of the dimensions, blocking any attempt to escape, any external interference, any… help.

"…Son of a bitch…" she murmured, her eyes narrowing as she finally understood what was happening. "That's why…"

Sapphire realized it too.

And her smile returned.

But now it was… more dangerous.

"So nobody's ignoring us…" she said, adjusting her posture, her aura reacting slightly despite extreme exhaustion. "We're just locked in here."

Lilith nodded slightly.

"Exactly."

A brief pause.

"Break it."

Sapphire didn't respond with words.

She simply spun Belial once.

And then disappeared.

The next instant, she was in the air, dozens of meters above the battlefield, her body spinning as she drew on all the remaining energy she had, concentrating it all into the spear, her aura exploding in a final, brute effort.

"Let's see if this holds…" she muttered through her teeth.

And then she launched it. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Belial cut through the air like a comet.

Rising.

Tearing through space.

And struck the dome.

The impact came a second later.

And the sound… was deafening.

An explosion of energy illuminated the entire battlefield, fully revealing the structure of that monstrous barrier, causing it to vibrate violently, as if it had been struck by something that truly… threatened its integrity.

But it didn't break.

Yet.

Meanwhile—

Lilith had already moved again.

Her eyes now turned to Sepphirothy.

And for the first time since she appeared there… there was something different in her expression.

Something… personal.

"The son needs you."

Sepphirothy froze.

For a moment.

Not completely.

But enough.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"…What?"

Lilith didn't look away.

"Vergil."

The name fell like a stone.

Heavy.

Definitive.

Sepphirothy felt something tighten in her chest.

Something she immediately ignored.

Or tried.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked, her voice lower now, but still heavy with tension.

Lilith answered bluntly.

"Freeze time in his body."

Silence.

One second.

Two.

Sepphirothy's mind raced, connecting the pieces, remembering the unstable energy, the state of the body, the removed blades, what was probably happening while they were locked in that absurd fight.

"…You want to preserve him," she murmured, more as an observation than a question.

Lilith nodded.

"And buy time."

Sepphirothy took a deep breath.

Her gaze moved briefly in the direction where Seris was.

Where Vergil's body still remained.

And then back to Lilith.

"…And you?" she asked.

Lilith turned her face.

Looking back at Dante.

Now… she was already advancing.

Faster.

More aggressive.

More adapted.

"I'll hold him off."

The answer came simply.

Directly.

Without hesitation.

Sephirothy let out a small sigh through her nose.

"You won't be able to handle this alone."

Lilith didn't answer immediately.

But when she did…

Her voice was different.

Lower.

Deeper.

"I know."

A brief pause.

"That's why I just need time."

Dante was almost there.

His smile had returned.

Wider.

More insane.

"Is the little meeting over?" he taunted, his aura exploding again as he advanced without any restraint.

Lilith took a step forward.

Alone.

Placed between him and the rest.

Her posture firm.

Her eyes fixed.

"Go," she said without looking back.

Sephirothy hesitated.

For a split second.

And then she turned.

Disappearing toward Vergil's body.

Meanwhile—

Lilith smiled.

A small smile.

But a dangerous one.

"Now…" she murmured, her energy beginning to rise again, pulsing erratically but powerfully. "Let's see how long I can hold you off."