CHAPTER 41: A NEW GAME APPROACHES

[Identity Detected]

Name: Nellie

Age: 19

Date of Birth: April 6th, CT-326

Ethnicity: German

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Current Year: CT-345

Current Location: City #14 - Malwood

[Background Information]

Status: One of the Hundred Adopted children of Mierlos, a cruel and high-ranking executive within the Dog of Heaven syndicate.

Affiliation: Dog of Heaven, a small gang that became a syndicate over the years — a recognized criminal organization with the 7th Circle.

Designation: Low-Level Gang Member — Active in the gang since adoption at age 6, raised within the criminal structure.

Reputation: Untested, likely underestimated due to her age and low rank, but possesses deep-rooted gang ties.

Threat Level: Low - You can one shot her too

Potential: Very High

Dante looked at the screen before him, the faint glow of his monitor screen reflecting off his face. Just like with his first Avatar, Beatrice, the player’s background information was laid out clearly before his eyes in a clean, and organized way, of course it doesn’t reveal everything about them, but just the important bits

"So she is a gang member?" He muttered, resting his chin on his hand. "I thought as much. Still, her potential is high... that is a very good sign."

He leaned back slightly, his eyes tracing everything he currently has on her, as he tries to get a good read on her as a person. "That aside though, she doesn’t have the same extreme potential Beatrice had, I kind of score big with her because of that." He continued, more to himself than anyone else. "But no matter... if I do make her my Player Avatar, I wonder, what kind of Dream World should I subject her to, maybe something like a Saint Low, or GLA, but those are low end games, and quite weak for someone with high potential like her."

He paused, his expression unreadable, as he seriously tries to consider his different options, and how he could go about this. "Originally, I chose the Soul Genre for Beako because she has the potential to become something close to divine." But in Nellie’s case... His voice trailed as his gaze dimmed. "I wonder if she also has that spark, perhaps not the same brightness, but something still formidable in nature."

He drummed his fingers against the keyboard rhythmically, lost in thought. The world around him stretched endlessly, starlight frozen in place like faint candle embers. And like before his workstation sat upon a fractured asteroid, black stone carved smooth only where his desk and monitor rested, he had no wires either so the set was clean as it was uncanny.

"But ultimately... He exhaled, his tone softening. "I’ll need to understand her better. Her personality, her fears, basically that drives her as a person, that way I can better determine what game world would truly suit her."

He said out loud, then, suddenly or rather faintly, he could hear approaching footsteps. Dante then looked up, his glowing violet eyes narrowing slightly at the familiar young woman that approach him.

From the edge of the darkness, a figure approached. Booted feet against cold stone. Her breathing uneven, it was clear she was nervous if not borderline afraid of Dante. And then came her voice, like a disrespectful Yankee, that is meeting an even bigger Yankee, her attempt of respect sound weird, as her nervousness show in her voice. "Are you... the one that brought me here!?" Nellie’s tone carried both nervousness and fear, like someone cornered but still pretending to stand tall. Her gaze darted from the endless void to Dante himself, and instantly, her body stiffened the moment his eyes was upon her.

She didn’t know why, but the sight of him filled her with something primal, an ancient fear buried deep inside her instincts. The exorcist she had try to fought earlier was terrifying, yes, but this... this was something else entirely.

Even though the figure before her looked simple, almost modest in appearance, everything about him screamed wrong. The space bent slightly around his figure, magnifying his intimidating look even more.

’What the hell is he!?’ She thought. ’My eyes, they always let me sense how strong a Negative Spirit is, but this... I can’t even see it. There is no definite measure to be had here even with a educated guess, nor is there any boundary, atleast not what I comprehend. Could he be one of them? One of the Great Ones?’

Her throat tightened more and more, as she looked at him with her third eye. Dante however just exhaled lightly, almost amused, as he finally began to speak. "Come on, human." He said, as he enter his roleplaying mode. His voice was calm, steady, yet it carried enough power to make the world feel like it was trembling, for Dante this was mostly prop, show, and games, to better come off as an enigma to the humans, as his voice began to reverb. "Take a seat. I don’t bite you know. You have my word, I won’t so much as touch a hair on you, so sit down and let us talk."

He motioned toward the empty chair across from him. "After all, I merely want to play a game." Nellie hesitated for a minute as every instinct in her body screamed at her to run, but she knew, just as surely as she knew she would one day die if that day is not today atleast, that there was no escaping this. Running from something like him would be pointless, so she took a deep sigh, as she accepted her reality, and listen to him, it was clear she had no power muchless a say here.

Her fingers trembled as she reached for the chair, pulling it back slowly. The screech of its legs against the stone echoed far too loud in the empty space. And then she sat down cautiously. To her surprise, the seat was warm. Soft, even, but despite the comfort of it, this did nothing to ease her nerves.

Dante ever the jokester, began to comment. "See, was that so hard!?" He said with a smile, Nellie on the other hand wasn’t having it, as she said respectfully. "Look, I am not here to talk, or make friends, however I want say thank you for saving me earlier, but honestly, I owe my part of the deal we had earlier, you said, you wanted to play, a game right, well good, you brought me here to play I would presume, so what is the game you have in mind?" Nellie asked, awaiting a quick response from Dante, who just have her a deadpan look as he said. "Really!?"

"What do you mean really!?" Nellie asked, a little confused by his initial response to her own response. And Dante answered clearly address the elephant in the room. "For a human your curiosity is so low, normally this is the point where you should be asking, who are, or what are you, but instead you jump straight to meat and gravy."

Nellie merley sighed as she said. "Look, I know how strong you are, your demonstration aside, but my third eye can see things, well mostly only Negativity Energy, and also through objects, it has serve me well over the years, and because of this eye, it has kept me out of danger, and also show me the people I shouldn’t anger or fuck around with, you fall on the latter, you are scary existence, I know you are something more than just your average Negative Spirit, but anything else ain’t be business, I just want to play this game, and get on with my life."

Nellie explain taking Dante by suprise. "I see, so your coward?" He said nonchalantly. "I ain’t a damn cowards, I just know that there is always someone or something bigger and badder than me out there, you and the exorcist woman is a perfect example. I just know my place out there." She admitted making Dante smile as he said. "I see, a simple dream, well tell me Nellie, before we start our game, what is your greatest dream in life!?"

"My... Greatest dream!?" She paused for a bit, then question. "Why do you want to know that!?" She asked, her guard up, as she was very cautious now, Dante on the other hand, replied as such. "I just want to know the person I am going to be playing with better, come on, I don’t bite like I said before, you can ease up a bit, for starters, I am a Outer Spirit, to you humans I might as well be a God or a Devil. And you can call me D, I am the Spirit of Administration. That aside, I won’t bore you with my Dreams, as it is a little, how do I say this, weird, as it is a complex one. So come on human, tell what your dreams are, believe it or not, maybe I can help!?" Dante asked once more, as he warp the world around him, forcing Beatrice to calm down, and open up.

’How strange, why do I suddenly feel so relax, ahhh, I know I shouldn’t, trust this thing, but suddenly I feel right at home, ahhh maybe talking to him won’t hurt.’ Nellie said to herself, as she gave Dante a neutral look as she sighed and began to speak. "Well, I thought as much, I never believe there would come a day, I would ever get the chance to sit infront of an Outer Spirit of all things. But very well for starters, my name is Nellie, just Nellie, I am an orphan, but I was adopted as a potential soldier for the Dogs of Heaven when they took over my orphanage. I might look scary, I hate the cops, and this corrupt system too. But I do have a dream, I just want to make a lot of money and leave this life behind, I love money, it is the only thing better than pork belly and beer."

"... See, was that so hard hahaha!? Very well then, human... Listen up, I can actually help you with your problem. But I will explain that in detail as we go along with our game. Now the first game we are going to be playing is....