Chapter 303 Pent Up Desires
contemporary romance
303 Pent Up Desires
Beatrice herself could not see this aura, but she noticed that Killian was practically trembling at the sight of her. She sized the Anti-matter beast up and down, then narrowed her eyes, turning to Dante.
"And what does this one do?"
Dante glanced at the frightened Killian with puzzlement. "He's usually a tough guy, calls himself Killian like some serial killer. He's a Divine Beast of Anti-matter, able to produce the substance continuously depending on his power."
"Oh? Anti-matter? Well, what do you know, it just so happens that I do NOT like anti-matter." Beatrice spoke slowly as her eyes became full of killing intent towards Killian.
After all, Anti-matter was the primary method used to kill her mother back then, not to mention that it became one of the few things that could harm her, which her enemies often tried to employ to limited success.
So naturally, she had no good feelings towards the substance, energy, or anything affiliated with it. In this case, a Divine Beast that made its whole shtick about the thing would naturally not grace her good books.
What truly disappointed and chilled Killian was that he could see Dante glancing at him indifferently. If Beatrice gave the word, he would terminate the summoning contract and send Killian back into the quantum world to eke out his days in ignominy, knowing that a simple 'off switch could end his existence at any time.
We always joked about how the world was a simulation, but it was truly existentially terrifying to think that you could be seated where you were at this very instant and in the next, everything that composes you is simply lost forever, your thoughts coming to an end as your existence is wiped because someone pressed the shut down button.
You wouldn't even feel it. One moment you were aware and the next... void.
Killian did not want to experience that fate. How could he only rush back into Dante's soul space to hide? After all, he did not think begging or groveling would work; he was not a Truth Beast and did not know what Beatrice was like.
However, one thing Killian did know was that if you were an eyesore to someone, the best way to reduce aggression was to get the fuck out of their sight. In this case, it worked as Beatrice lost interest in the fellow and turned to the other ones.
"Oh? This must be the Faith one, right? How do you plan to use her?" Beatrice asked as her eyes fell on Dorothy, the white dove.
"First, I need to establish a reputation for myself. Faith can come in three ways in order of potency, which is fame or infamy, idolization, and worship," Dante began as he beckoned to Dorothy who flapped her wings and landed in his open palm.
"Fame is the most basic. Everyone knows your name and knows why they know your name, and the more they respect or hate you - or basically, the more you're in their thoughts - you can collect some meager faith energy. Faith produced this way is the least troublesome but the slowest to accumulate."
"Idolization is a step further. Everyone knows your name and why they knew your name, and they also wish to emulate your actions or to achieve some feat of yours as well. The faith energy collected here is not small since idolization can be intense or light, but it is a bit troublesome because it comes with expectations and emotional baggage."
"Worship is the most common and the method everyone knows. It is where you possess a reputation that makes people directly look up to you as a superior being, placing their hopes and dreams into you as well as revering you from the bottom of their hearts. The faith produced is massive even with a small crowd, but its baggage is so great that it is like trying to eat slightly spoiled meat."
Dante smiled plainly as he tickled Dorothy. "To eat that, you would have to cook it deeply and use many complex methods to purify it from germs, which take work, time, and effort. This is usually the main purpose of the Divine Fires that gods possess."
Beatrice frowned. "Sounds troublesome. What's the point?"
"Well, Dorothy here doesnt convert the faith energy into divine energy like the gods do, leaving residual traces that infiltrate them. She collected the raw unfiltered faith energy for me to use indirectly," Dante explained.
"And what can faith energy be used for?" Beatrice asked the important question.
"Many things. Manifestation of Abilities, Protection, Miracle Creation, Psychic Abilities, Enhanced Healing, Warding Off Evil, Guidance and Divination, Conversion and Mental Control, Empowerment of Objects, Summoning Special Beings and even Interdimensional Travel!" Levi couldn't help but butt in.
"And the best part is that neither Dorothy nor I bear any consequences. Her ability makes her a container that does not convert the energy, and my connection as her summoner allows me to manifest faith-related abilities using that energy without actually allowing it to enter my body or taint me," Dante added with a nod to Levi.
"Hmm. Okay, I see her value. Besides, you want to use faith energy to research psion energy, right?" Beatrice finally finished feeding Antonia and took a tissue to wipe the baby's milk-stained mouth.
'Yup, but I want to use the fame method to gather faith for now. I'm not willing to try idolization nor worship yet, though it would be easy to implement the former in the Eternal Universe and the latter in the Centralis Universe," Dante asserted before releasing Dorothy back to the stand.
"Alright. If any of these fellows are good at helping babies sleep, they should follow me to Antonia's cot or they should make like the wind and vanish." Beatrice joked as she rose to her feet and took Antonia to her cot.
The beasts shared looks and felt helpless since none of them were capable. Maybe the Dream Beast could, but Dante did not select it. The rest were either offensive or defensive, and the support-based ones were very technical.
'You guys are free to roam the territory, but do not cause trouble unless trouble is caused upon you." Dante casually gave them free rein to move.
They acknowledged his command and moved out in different directions, not yet close to each other to move in groups. Only Levi followed Dorothy around like a simp, not realizing that the white dove was not interested at this time.
Meanwhile, Beatrice was coaxing Antonia to sleep in her cot, but she didn't realize that the room was now silent and empty, with not a single lifeform within a 100 meters of their location except the baby.
Dante smiled weirdly and stood up from his seat, taking heavy and meaningful steps towards Beatrice who had her back turned to him. By the time she realized the nefarious presence behind her, it was too late as Dante's slightly taller figure bore down on her.
Beatrice froze and stood up right, her lips forming a thin line as sweat formed on her brow. "Dante? Is that you?"
"Of course, it's me. Isn't it great, my darling wife? We're finally alone, with no more distractions or voyeurs around to disturb us." Dante's voice sounded a bit different, containing a hint of perverse enticement.
Beatrice flushed at feeling his breath and growing body heat - literally, since his hellfire began to churn in his body - understanding what was about to happen, but not dreading it.
After all, she too had abstained for over 10 months since she prioritized the safety of the child and did not dare take any risks.
As someone who used to drain Dante dry every chance she got, no matter how horny or deprived Dante thought he was, it was only half of what Beatrice had felt all this time.
However, because of Antonia, Beatrice could not find the time to exert her desires, not to mention that Dante was going to be very busy henceforth.
Still, Beatrice had a trace of rationality even as purple-colored hearts formed in her eyes. Her lips tightened as she resisted the urge to drool.
"B-But Antonia... needs to... sleep..."
Dante smiled playfully and cast the 6th Rank Rejuvenating Tranquility spell, which was an upgrade from the calmness spell. It caused Antonia to fall asleep immediately, and she would enjoy the kind of rest only told of in legends.
He then leaned into Beatrice and breathed out a bit of heat from his raging hellfire coursing through his veins, causing Beatrice's knees to almost buckle.
"Now, what's your excuse? Every day you day to walk around looking so beautiful and sexy, you think I don't have any evil planned?" Dante stated with a hint of blame.
He placed his hands around herwaist and gently caressed her soft and supple body. "No one is going to save you this time, you have fallen into the hands of the evil demon..."
However, if Dante could see the kind of expression the unhinged and now worry-free Beatrice wore, he would know that she was not the one that would soon need saving.
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