Chapter 11: Maternal Shield
Reflected in Dante’s purple eyes after the door swung open was a woman in a sweeping black dress. This distraught woman, who was breathless and looked to be in a panic, was none other than Isabella, his mother.
Upon seeing that he was alive, she immediately heaved a loud sigh. "Oh, my sweet boy."
In an instant, she crossed the room and pulled him into a desperate, tight embrace.
"Thank the Goddess, you are alive. I was so worried that... that..."
She couldn’t finish the sentence as tears welled in her eyes, choking back her words.
Meanwhile, Dante, who was now wincing from the sudden pressure against his wounds, muttered in a strained voice as he tapped her to free himself. "It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m alright, Mother."
"Are you sure?"
Isabella pulled back slightly, and her hands frantically traced over his arms and shoulders as she inspected him to make sure he was truly alright. She could see that his green cloak, his pale cheeks, and even his dark hair were smeared with dried blood.
"Look at you..." she whispered, and her hands trembled as she cupped his face. "What’s all this blood?"
Dante sighed.
He lowered his eyes, and after a few seconds, he replied, "We were suddenly attacked by scavengers. They killed Lucian and Thalia. I barely managed to escape with my life."
As he was speaking, he noticed that his mother’s worried expression had suddenly shifted, becoming completely unreadable.
"Is that so?" she finally said after a beat of silence.
Dante slowly nodded.
"I see..." Isabella straightened up and sat on the edge of the bed. She reached out, taking his hand, and spoke in a voice that had grown noticeably colder, yet calm. "Don’t worry about them. Don’t worry about anything. All that matters is that you are okay."
Dante slowly nodded again. Then a thought suddenly popped into his head.
’Oh. I should probably emphasize now that they stole everything I had, including the ring she gave me. After all, she’s my best bet for getting items that are rare and irreplaceable. She’s basically my whaling sponsor!’
He cleared his throat and spoke up. "Uh... Mother."
"Yes, dear?" Isabella asked softly as she reached out to rub some blood off his cheek using her glove.
Dante deliberately made his voice sound deeply hurt as he continued. "Those sons of... I mean, those scavengers stole everything I had on me, including the ring you got for me." He paused, then added, "Everything.~"
Isabella slowly looked away, lowered her hand, and exhaled with an unreadable expression. "I see."
Then she turned back to him and locked her purple eyes onto his. "Don’t worry about that either. I’ll make sure to get you even better replacements."
’Wonderful...’ Dante felt his heart grow warmer, and he couldn’t help but smile.
He looked at the remaining coffee in his ceramic mug, but because it had grown cold, he decided against taking another sip and set it aside on the table beside the bed.
’Mother is a really powerful mage and an Apostle,’ he thought as he observed her gazing blankly into space, lost in her own thoughts. ’Although a mage’s ability to sense the divine power in Apostles is extremely weak compared to High Priests, who can sense it the moment they get close enough, mages can still pick up on it if they actually actively inspect someone. Knowing Mother, it’s likely she has already inspected me, and I’m sure she’s noticed the divine power now flowing through me. Since I had prayed earlier and used the power, it’s now in a turbulent state. So it’ll be almost impossible for her not to notice it.’
Truth be told, Dante had already known that he would not be able to hide this fact from someone like her, so he did not plan to hide it from her. It was now just a matter of when she would ask him about it.
Just at that moment, though, she turned back to him and asked in an ethereal voice, "Are you thirsty? Would you like me to get you some water?"
’Yes. I could use some water.’ Dante almost said that out loud, but then he caught himself just in time!
He instantly grew alert as he suddenly remembered the terrifying nature of his mother’s abilities.
As someone who had battled her over and over again on a screen, he knew most of her powers inside and out, and there was one crucial rule he had set for himself upon entering this world, which was that in times like this, never drink water in front of her!
From what he knew, Isabella could infect water with just her gaze, making it so that she could read the mind and corrupt the heart of anyone who drank it.
If he took her offer right now, the secrets he didn’t want her to know would be laid bare!
"No." He shook his head. ’Heck no!’
Isabella arched a brow, looking curious.
Seeing this, Dante pressed on. "I know you want to make your way into my head." He frowned and his voice grew serious. "But I do not want that. You promised not to use your powers on me. Do you want to break that promise?"
Isabella’s lips parted slightly. But she did not say anything or deny what had been said. She looked guilty, and for a moment, it was quiet between them.
Eventually, she turned away and sighed heavily. "Forgive me."
She paused before adding, "But I am worried, dear, and you can’t blame me. I really want to know what went on in there."
"I have already told you," Dante said, letting out a small sigh of his own. "If there’s anything in particular you want to know, you can just ask. You know I would not lie to you."
Hearing that, Isabella began to ponder her words. Then she turned back to him, speaking slowly as if measuring every word. "I have come across many apostles in my life. However, none of them have emitted the same kind of power that’s currently flowing through you. Something’s different. I cannot recognize it, which means that there is a high possibility that it does not belong to an Orthodox God."
She paused, leaning in closer as her eyes narrowed on him. "Tell me honestly, Dante... whose apostle have you become?"
’From what I recall, information about Goddess Evelyn was not known or made public until much later, after the evil deeds of that lunatic, Marco, and his cult became a serious problem. At this moment in the storyline, she is not yet declared an evil Goddess by the Holy See, but is rather an unknown existence,’ Dante thought, quickly running through the lore in his head.
He then lowered his eyes and feigned a look of guilt. "A while ago, I happened to come across the name of a deity. She is the Mother of Blood, and her name is Evelyn. When I found myself in peril in the Labyrinth, I prayed to her and after our brief communion, I trusted my instincts and pledged my devotion to her. In return, she made me her divine Apostle. To be honest, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now if not for her. I would have been dead."
Isabella remained quiet with a tight expression as she searched his eyes for the truth, and for more.
But Dante didn’t say anything else. This caused her to narrow her eyes, looking deep in thought. After a few seconds, she let out a slow exhale and said in a serious manner, "There is a reason why the Holy See advises against unorthodox deities and hidden existences. You know that, right? I believe you know the implications and the danger involved."
"I do," Dante replied calmly. "But you don’t need to worry."
"Tell me honestly," she narrowed her eyes. "What did this deity of yours ask from you?"
Dante did not say anything immediately. ’If I tell her nothing, she’ll know I’m lying. Nothing is free in this world, especially when it comes to unknown or evil deities. But at the same time, I can’t tell her about the "I’ll take your heart" bit. Even I don’t fully know what that implies yet.’
After only a few seconds, he finally looked back up at her. "She made me promise that I can never change my faith and serve another deity ever again."
"Huh?" Isabella arched a brow. "That’s it? Is that all?"
Dante nodded firmly. "Yes."
For a moment after, both just looked at each other in silence. Then, Isabella leaned back, looked away, and exhaled hard in resignation.
"I’m really glad you survived. You have no idea just how glad I am." The corners of her lips curled up into a soft smile. "And I’m proud that you managed to become an apostle in the end. Though you have to promise me that you will be very careful and you will not allow yourself to be tainted by this deity."
Dante nodded. "Yes. I do not plan on getting myself tainted either."
Isabella stared at him for a long moment like a doll without an expression. Eventually, she smiled and gave a small nod of approval.
Phew...
Dante exhaled. Then his eyes dropped to his mother’s chest, or more specifically, to the Emblem of the half moon hanging from her neck.
’Since the issue of my "advancement in status" has been settled, I think now’s the time to ask her to get me an emblem.’
From what he knew, most apostles walked around in public wearing the emblem of the Order they served. One of the main reasons they did this was because every emblem had restraining magic embedded right into it.
Apostles were a lot more special than normal humans and had to constantly restrain their divine power. The higher the grade of the power, the purer it was, making it far easier to leak out and be sensed by those whose class gave them the ability to do so. On top of that, the higher the tier of the apostle, the more their divine power could affect regular people around them.
Because of this, emblems were crafted by the Churches and handed out to their apostles so they wouldn’t always have to worry about manually compressing their power. The emblem just handled the suppressing automatically.
However, one trick Dante had learned while playing the game in his past life was that a few clever apostles used emblems in a totally different way, which was to hide their actual faith.
They figured out that even though the emblem hid an apostle’s divine power, if someone with a class that allowed them to sense it actively probed them, they would eventually perceive divine energy. However, what they detected would actually be coming from the emblem’s blessing rather than from the apostle themselves. So, sneaky apostles, especially those worshipping evil deities, would wear the emblem of a completely different order to mask their true divine energy behind the one emanating from the emblem.
’Not just any apostle can receive an emblem of an Order. They need to prove that they are truly of that faith first. But it shouldn’t be hard for Mother to get me an emblem from the Church of the Moon.’
Having made up his mind, Dante opened his mouth to ask her, but just then, he saw his mother reach up and unhook her emblem. Then she held it out and hung it over his neck.
"Wear this."
"..." Dante’s lips parted in surprise.
Isabella smiled softly and added, "I don’t know if you’re aware, but an emblem can help an apostle contain their divine power. You’re still new to this, so you might have trouble restraining yours."
She leaned back, studied him, and smiled. "Also, I learned something interesting some time ago. Do you know that this can also deceive anyone who tries to probe your faith?"
’Wow. She really is dependable...’ Dante thought, genuinely impressed.
"Really?" he asked, looking down as he adjusted the chain. "It can do that? Then... I can relax!"
"Yes." She nodded with a small smile. Then, she leaned closer, reached out, and placed a hand over his.
"Listen to me. From now on... I will help you in whatever way I can. If there’s anything you ever want, please... do tell me."
Dante smiled.