Shadow shook his head. “No. No, Feng. It is impossible that God has awoken. I would know if he has.” Shadow looked to the sky. It had turned a deep red. “This phenomenon … is only due to the enormous huge and sudden summoning of aether. And the summoner … now … is …”

All Seraphim Knights present focused their gaze upon Dante.

Dante could no longer hear his thoughts anymore, for the pain surging within him was drowning them out. Seizure after seizure, the aether spiraling about him tore into his soul and deposited themselves into his essence.

Silence.

Aeris’ voice, her voice that had been pleading for help had suddenly fell silent. All the while, Dante had been focusing upon her cries, despite whatever commotion there was. Yet, it had abruptly vanished.

Was … she … dead?

Dante’s eyes were bloodshot with pain and anger now. The world about him grew softer as he turned deaf to it. All he could think of … all he could hear …. was the absence of Aeris’ screams.

Dante raised a shivering left arm, moist from sweat, and pointed his finger to the gates of the Northern Palace.

“Nothing shall stand in my way.” Dante roared, his voice brimming with hatred and pain. And as his words echoed and reverberated across the lands of heaven, the gates of the Northern Palace crumbled into dust.

Dante took a step forth. And then another. And another …. He broke into a jog and then a run and he sprinted into the Northern Palace. Each foot that he planted onto the ground exploded into a mirage of horrendous pain within his small frame.

Too slow … too – too slow ….

Dante bit his lips as a sudden bulge in his back at the shoulder blades swell and tore apart his flesh and skin. And what ensued … what grew and displayed itself magnificently above Dante’s body …. were three pair of white wings too sparkling to direct a full gaze at.

It was all happening subconsciously within Dante’s thoughts. Whatever consciousness Dante could afford to offer, above the churning, boiling sea of pain as the aether continued to amass within Dante’s frame, Dante spent it upon worrying about Aeris’ well-being.

Fly … fly …

His six wings flapped simultaneously all of a sudden, whipping and cutting through the air so sharply that it incurred a huge clap of thunder that echoed through heaven and earth.

And Dante rose to sky, above the angels beneath him that stared up in wonder and awe.

Dante wheezed and panted, each breath he took in filling his lungs with torturous pain. Yet, he ignored the screaming within his body and willed himself forth.

Nothing …. Nothing … will ever stand in my path …. AGAIN.

The ground before him abruptly burst into a wall and sea of flame and fiery fire, as if – as if to welcome his eventual initiation as the Eighth and final Seraphim Knight. Dante circled about the air for a moment or two before diving into the fire and making his way to Lucifer’s chambers.

To where Aeris resided.

Now that he was bestowed and blessed with aether, he could easily pinpoint her location.