My Blood Legacy: Reincarnated as a Vampire

As the dust clouds raised by the sandstorm slowly dissipated, a battlefield filled with the bodies of the hybrids that Dante and his allies had destroyed was revealed.

The fighters' breaths were still quickened, but a tense silence hung in the air, as if the very ground was waiting for the next move.

Dante, Valentina, Lilith, and the Scarlet Valkyries gathered in a circle, heavy glances exchanged as they processed what had just happened.

Siren, with a green aura still pulsing around her, began to assess the situation. "We need to discuss what to do with these beings."

Valentina, wielding Gungnir, looked around, her eyes fixed on the mangled bodies. "These hybrids were an abomination, something someone clearly planned. We can't ignore this."

"But what can we do?" Lilith asked, her tone slightly provocative, but there was a seriousness in her gaze. "If the source of this is somewhere nearby, we need to find it. However, what can we do with these bodies? Should we leave them here as a warning or..."

"Or absorb them," Dante intervened, his voice firm, yet tinged with a shadow of pain. "If I can do this, I can understand their origin better. I already have a theory, but... if they are indeed hybrids, absorbing their essences might give us a clue about what's going on."

The Valkyries exchanged worried looks, but none of them contested Dante's decision. They knew his strength and his instincts. However, Lilith seemed intrigued. "Absorb? Won't that cause you problems? Dealing with the essence of such distorted beings?"

Dante hesitated, recalling the pain he had felt in previous battles. But the urgency to find the source of these creatures' creation overrode his doubts. "I'll make sure not to lose control. This is necessary."

He approached the first body, extending his hands as dark energy pulsed around him. Dante closed his eyes, focusing, and the Cerberus from his arm emerged, beginning to devour the strange black energy along with the blood... What Dante hadn't anticipated, however, was that absorbing the essence of the hybrid would hit him with a wave of pain, like an electric shock coursing through his body.

"UUUUUHHRHRRRGG!" he screamed, but the pressure building inside him felt beyond anything he had faced before.

The Valkyries watched, worried, as Dante fell to his knees. "Dante!" Valentina cried, but he couldn't respond. He was lost in a whirlwind of sensations, the essence of the hybrid invading his mind like a tempest.

Tears of pain streamed down Dante's face as he struggled to control the flood of energy assaulting him. Each hybrid he absorbed brought with it distorted memories, visions of pain, suffering, and an insatiable fury. He saw images of werewolves being forced to transform, creatures being manipulated by an unknown presence, shadows guiding them and feeding on their weaknesses.

A voice echoed in his mind, a dark whisper that said:

"You are one of them. You cannot escape."

Dante fought against the wave of emotions, but the pain intensified, growing to an unbearable point. He finally could no longer endure it, his body trembling as he collapsed to the ground. The Valkyries rushed to him, but he was trapped in a wave of agony that seemed endless.

"Dante, no!" Lilith shouted, kneeling beside him. "Focus! You are stronger than this!"

But the pain was so intense that he couldn't hear her words. He was losing himself in an abyss of despair, the reality around him beginning to fade. Just when he felt he was about to lose consciousness, everything around him lit up in a blinding flash.

Dante opened his eyes and immediately found himself in a completely different place. He was in a vast stretch of desert, but it was unlike any he had known. The sands were a bluish hue, and the sky, a mix of purple and red, pulsed as if it were alive. Strange rock formations emerged from the ground, shaped in impossible ways, as if nature itself had been distorted.

He tried to stand up, but his body was still trembling, the pain persisting in his joints. What happened? Where was he? He forced his mind to concentrate, but he couldn't clearly remember what had happened before. The last image he had was of absorbing the essence of the hybrids, and now... now he was here.

He looked around and realized he wasn't alone. At a distance, shadowy figures moved among the rock formations. They moved with a fluidity that defied gravity, their silhouettes not entirely human. Dante readied his sword, prepared for any attack.

But before he could brace himself for battle, a voice echoed in his mind, familiar and enigmatic. "Dante... you have arrived."

The figure before him materialized in an ethereal glow. It was a woman with long, snow-white hair, dressed in a gown that floated around her as if submerged in water. Her eyes were a deep blue, and her smile radiated a calming, almost hypnotic aura. "Welcome to the Abyss of Echoes, a place between worlds, a reflection of your own pain."

"Who are you?" Dante asked, his voice coming out raspier than he intended.

"I am Elyndra, a guardian of this realm," she replied, stepping forward. "And you, Dante, are more special than you realize. What you did by absorbing the hybrids has brought you to me."

Dante frowned, trying to comprehend what was happening. "The hybrids... I needed to know. They were an abomination, and now I'm... here."

Elyndra smiled, but there was a sadness in her gaze. "You didn't just absorb their essences; you absorbed the echoes of their souls. And that caused a rupture between worlds. You find yourself in a state of transition, between pain and understanding."

"I don't want to be here," Dante said, forcing himself to stand. "I need to go back; I need to face what's happening. Something terrible is about to unfold, and I can't let it continue."

"That's precisely why you're here," Elyndra explained. "What you will face upon your return will require more than just physical strength. You need to comprehend the pain these hybrids carried. You must understand who they are, what they have become, and who manipulates them."

"Manipulates?" The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. "So they were created... forced to become what they are?"

"Yes," Elyndra replied. "Someone brought them into this existence, someone who wishes to manipulate pain and suffering for their own gain. Your mission is not merely to defeat these beings, but to understand their origins."

"Wait, I thought they were from Fenrir," Dante said.

Elyndra shook her head, her eyes conveying a seriousness that made Dante's heart race. "Fenrir does not possess that capability. The origin of these hybrids goes beyond what you can imagine. They are not mere experiments; they are fragments of lost souls, tragedies that have been collected and distorted by a powerful entity that feeds on suffering."

Dante felt a chill run down his spine. "So, who is this entity? What does it want?"

Elyndra crossed her arms, her expression darkening. "No one knows for certain. What we do know is that it lurks in the shadows, far from the eyes of the world. This entity feeds on pain and uses the collected souls to create monsters that can do its dirty work. Each hybrid you face is an extension of its will, a tool designed to sow more pain and confusion."

"So, we're dealing with something much bigger than we imagined," Dante murmured, the reality of his situation becoming increasingly clear. "We need to find this entity and end it once and for all."

"Exactly," Elyndra said, her tone rising with renewed fervor. "To do this, you must follow the trails of pain that spread across this world. Each hybrid you defeat can provide you with clues about where the entity hides. They are more than monsters; they are the key to unraveling this mystery."

Dante continued to absorb her words, but... he had thousands of years... he had already felt something...

"Keep hiding things from me, and I'll kill you," he said seriously, and the woman before him stopped immediately.

"Oh crap..." Elyndra paused and looked at him. "I'm sorry, Demon Emperor." She said, bowing slightly. "I was instructed to act this way until you realized. I deeply apologize."

"Why were you hiding something from me?" he asked, his voice calmer but still laced with an undercurrent of tension. "What else do you know about this entity?"

"There is no entity. This is a remnant of Tiamat," she replied, and Dante sighed. "Oh great... Tiamat is what? The beast of the end of this world?" He said aloud, and Elyndra nodded.

"Yes, she is the Dragon of Chaos, the Beast of the End of this sector," she said, and Dante froze. "So, I absorbed the power of the End of these hybrid werewolves?!" Dante exclaimed, shocked.

"Oh, not exactly. You actually absorbed part of Tiamat's Soul, a bit of the power of the person who created them, and the blood of those beings," Elyndra explained, shrugging.

"Yes, and you mean to say that... I absorbed all of this and I'm still alive?" Dante questioned, incredulous. "Well, you've absorbed a lot too, right?" she said as if it were no real obstacle for Dante.