Chapter 454: Another Promise.

“Kid!? Dante!!? You hear me!?”

The voice was muffled at first, and felt a little distant. Dante felt he recognized it, but with how blurry his vision was, he couldn’t make out the face it belonged to.

“Move aside! Let me handle this!”

Another familiar voice reached his ears. This one incited a strange emotion in his chest, adding to the confusion he felt.

“Boy! Do you hear me!!? Don’t you dare die on me!!!”

’Old… old hag?’

The words formed in his mind, and a moment later-

BONK!

A powerful blow landed on his head, and the pain reverberated through his whole body. His eyes shot wide, and the urge to curse shot through him. When he tried, his mouth failed to move. So did the rest of his body. Only his eyes could shift around, and as they did, the light cast on him began to dim, and he could finally see the world around him. What he saw quenched his anger in an instant.

“Boy!? You awake?” Looking down at him with a deep scowl was Nobara. “Do you need another smack?”

Her provocation struck true, and the anger he felt before returned, squeezing his face together.

“Madam! Why would you do that!!? Causing such trauma to someone in this condition can-”

“Oh shut up! You think I don’t know what I’m doing?” The old cook went on tapping him on the head with her long pipe. “This thing is as thick as they come! Sometimes you have to give it a good whack for it to start working again!”

As his annoyance grew, Dante opened the messenger app with a thought and sent a quick message. A loud ringing echoed in the room. The old cook quickly took out her phone, and a moment later, she turned to him with wide eyes.

“Boy! You’re awake!”

[Dante: Of course I’m awake!

Why the fuck wouldn’t I be when you’re hitting me in the head!!?

]

“Oh shut up!” Without hesitation, she whacked him again. “You had me worried for a moment there, goddamn it!”

“Madam!”

Another familiar face appeared just then. He was a lanky man with sunken cheeks and bags under his eyes, wearing what appears to be a white coat.

“I know how you feel, but you can’t keep going like this!”

The man grabbed the old cook by the arms and quickly took her away. She screamed at him to unhand her, but he refused. The two disappeared out of Dante’s field of sight, and though he tried to lift his head to follow them, he found himself unable to.

’Volcan? You there?’

[Dante, I am glad that you were able to regain consciousness.]

’Yeah, same here.’ Dante heaved a mental sigh. ’What happened?’

[… I believe it would be best if you heard it from your doctor.]

Soon after, the lanky man returned. He looked over Dante for a moment, then turned away, audibly clicking his tongue. Opening another contact, Dante sent him a message.

[Dante: What?]

“… You’re seriously asking me that?” Larry replied.

Grabbing a pen from his coat’s breast pocket, he leaned over and forced Dante’s right eye open, pointed the pen at it, clicking the other end. Though he tried to quit when the light came on, Dante knew the drill at this point, so he followed it as the doctor moved the pen around.

After doing the same with the other eye, Larry pulled away and let out a long sigh. He then took a pack of cigarettes and bit on one before proceeding to light it.

[Dante: Hey know. You sure you should be smoking in front of patients?]

“In front of patients? Not really.” Letting out a big white cloud, the doctor turned to Dante, staring for a moment before pointing the cigarette at him. “In front of dead people? Sure. Why not?”

Dante did not know how to respond to that. Catching on to that, Larry took another puff.

“Total organ failure.” He said. “Everything besides your bionic lung and kidneys completely collapsed. That included your heart, and without it pumping blood to your brain, well….” he sighed the smoke out, shaking his head. “Seriously, if I hadn’t cracked your head open and seen it for myself, I wouldn’t have believed you had a brain.”

Dante heard everything from the start to the end. Even then, he still had trouble understanding.

[Dante: My heart stopped?]

“No, not stopped.” Larry felt the need to use a mocking tone. “Collapsed. Entirely. The thing was barely recognizable when I got it out. It looked like it had been squashed by a goddamn boot.”

Once again, Dante was lot for words. Larry clicked his tongue.

“Your remaining lung, your liver. Your stomach, intestines, pancreas, and everything in between. Gone. Your spine survived only because of that upgraded SRE of yours. Your brain was kept from shutting down by your MLP. Surprisingly, your nuts are still holding. Not sure if they work, though. ”

[Dante: …

Damn.

]

“… that’s all you got to say?”

[Dant: What do you want me to say?]

“I haven’t mentioned anything about your muscles and bones, you know?”

[Dante: I don’t think that changed anything.]

[Dante.] Volcan spoke. [Your brain functions have almost ceased. Your… soul, as you humans call it. It almost left your body.]

’Now that’s a surprise.’ Dante felt himself smiling under the oxygen mask covering his face. ’An AI talking about souls.’

[That is no laughing matter, Dante. VOLCAN is directly integrated with your soul. If it were to lose its shape, VOLCAN would be forced back into its dormant form until a new host is found!]

’That’s… no good…’ Dante felt like he had just heard something very important. ’Did you just say… you’re integrated into my soul?’

[Yes.]

’Oh… I see…’

Dante remembered wondering where exactly in his body the relic was more than once before. Whenever he equipped an armor, the white threads would usually come out of his chest.

Since he remembered the relic piercing his chest when he came into contact with it the first time, he had always assumed it was somewhere around that place, but he had multiple surgeries, and Larry had yet to mention anything about it.

“Hey, you listening?” The lanky doctor snapped his fingers, trying to draw Dante’s attention. “I got you hooked to a dozen machines, but you won’t make it at this rate. We need to decide what to do with you.”

Dante couldn’t help but from.

[Dante: Isn’t it obvious?

Just patch me up already!

]

Larry’s face twitched.

“Of course you’re gonna say that.” Finishing his cigarette in one last drag, he put out the embers. “You probably won’t make it, you know?”

[Dante: You’re talking as if I have other options.]

“Well, you can always pull the plug and let me get some rest.”

[Dante: Sorry, doc. You won’t be sleeping for a while.]

The faint hiss of an automatic door opening caught their attention. Larry turned to look, but Dante could only watch at the edge of his vision, unable to see anything.

“What are you doing here?”

“Just let her through.” Came Nobara’s voice. “She’s been worried sick.”

“… Okay, sure.”

With a slight grimace, Larry rubbed his neck and backed away. Soon after, a blonde little girl wearing an oversized red jacket entered his view. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she looked on the verge of bawling her eyes out. After many tries, she finally managed a single word.

“Dante?”

Dante tried to open his mouth only to remember he couldn’t speak. Unsure what to do, he remembered that Nobara was around, so he went to send her a message. Looking at the girl, he was about to hit send. A thought flashed in his mind just then.

“It’s all your fault.”

Scenes floated to the surface, all of them vivid despite being from a dream. The words kept repeating in his head, and each time, a different face accompanied them.

“What? Do you need another whack?”

Snapping out of his daze, Dante realized that Nobara was within his field of view once more, frowning with her pipe already drawn.

’… Volcan?’

Discussing something with his resident AI, Dante then opened his Storage and took something out. Marie and Nobara were startled by its sudden appearance, but the old cook seemed to realize what was happening.

[It’s ready.] Volcan said.

A small screen appeared in the corner of Dante’s vision, and on it was a simple red button. Tapping it with a thought, Dante turned his sight to the little girl.

[Hey, Marie. Sorry for scaring you.]

His voice came from one of Volcan’s androids, which he had summoned just now. With a little help from his resident AI, he was able to make his thoughts audible.

Marie stared at the cloaked android, then turned to him with wide eyes. Once again, she was lost for words, but this time, she was unable to stop her tears.

[Hey now, no need to cry. I’m fine.]

“But… but…”

[Don’t worry. I will be back in no time, okay? I promise…]

Dante wanted to raise his hand and pat the little girl’s head, but he was still unable to move a single muscle. Volcan seemed to have caught on to his intention and made the android do it in his stead. Though he wasn’t sure if a machine could convey one’s feelings the way a human touch would, there was nothing he could do about it.

Though he meant every word he said, Dante still felt like he was lying. He didn’t know what caused that feeling, but a part of it was undoubtedly fear. The fear of making another promise he was unsure if he could keep.

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