Dante moved, dodging several feathers and air attacks, keeping a safe distance from Horus.
"Damn," Dante thought to himself.
"What's wrong?" Kiss-Shot asked.
"This guy has 40 lifelines," he complained.
"Is that a lot?" the vampire asked again.
"This is the being with the most lifelines I've ever seen; the second was a Lovecraftian entity with 65 lifelines, and the first was an entity from my home world, which has infinite lifelines," Dante informed Kiss-Shot.
Dante shivered as he remembered that humanoid cat with the ridiculous hat he'd met long ago, the one that had managed to chase him during two trips across the multiverse.
"You still don't need my help?" Kiss-Shot asked.
"It's still too soon; I'll let you know when you can come out," he communicated telepathically.
The conversation couldn't continue, as Horus was already upon Dante, ready to launch his relentless attack.
Horus used his entire body, including his metallic wings of divine gold, to attack.
Unfortunately, Dante already knew how to fight beings larger than himself, so using only the Buster Sword, he was able to repel most of his attacks. However, with so many points of attack, he still ended up sustaining superficial damage.
Dante narrowed his eyes, as he could barely see any opening to attack, and if he did find one, he couldn't attack quickly enough, since the god's wings were capable of intercepting the attack.
"I think I'm getting used to fighting Ares," Dante thought to himself, considering the situation.
If he couldn't exploit any opening, he had no choice but to create one.
Using the power of darkness, he covered his foot so that it spread across the ground, allowing Horus's foot to be absorbed into the darkness, causing him to lose his balance. And with a fluid movement of his sword, he delivered a slash.
"Dikastirio Apólytis Epikráteias," Dante pronounced, and with all his might he sent the god of the skies flying, destroying a large part of the island's surface in the process.
The damage was enough to make him vomit blood but without causing him any superficial harm.
Horus rose, wiping the blood from his mouth, to stare intently at his opponent.
"An entity masquerading as a god," the god said, now standing still, "but a false god can never defeat a true one."
"Wait a minute, I never claimed to be a god," Dante countered, but he couldn't finish his sentence, as he had to dodge an attack from Horus's wings.
The sun god attacked with several beams of sunlight, intercepting Dante's movement, which allowed him to attack his arm, forcing him to drop the Buster Sword.
In response, Dante summoned a kusarigama, and with the movements of the chain, he managed to create distance from the god.
Horus dodged the multiple chains that began to appear as if in a dance and, with a single punch, shattered the weapon created by Dante.
Using two long feathers, his wings began to sever all the chains that Dante had summoned before launching himself at his opponent, who dodged by turning to the side where the Buster Sword lay. Grasping the sword, he swung sharply, his haki-infused movements shattering the god's weapons and forcing him back.
"What is that sword made of?" the Egyptian sky god wondered to himself.
Dante repeated the same attack, but this time Horus protected himself with his wings, managing to stop it.
He extended his wings, knocking his enemy back and rising into the sky, the safest place he had.
Thanks to his divinity, he could manipulate the sky as a form of attack, distorting it as if it were his own blows.
Faced with this situation, Dante reverted to his original form, since he could no longer strike Horus; simply by being lifted a few meters into the air, the god could use his celestial abilities.
Perhaps Devil Fruit abilities don't consume magic energy, but they do consume his own energy to be used, and one of the most energy-intensive is the complete transformation of his Death Fruit.
Two whirlwinds of air formed from the sky, spinning and crashing to the ground, and Dante was at their intersection.
Estea simply leaped horizontally, avoiding taking to the air, only to be met with a barrage of aerial bullets.
Dante immediately understood the god's plan: to force him into the air so he could attack him as quickly and precisely as possible, since escaping these aerial strikes was nearly impossible, as they were practically instantaneous.
He could use his vision to dodge the attack, but the problem was that there were several simultaneous attacks, and dodging is difficult. Therefore, the best option was to remain on the ground for the time being, until he figured out a countermeasure to this type of attack.
Clicking his tongue, the concept of expansive emptiness was able to dodge all the air attacks his opponent launched at him; if it weren't for Haki, he would have already turned into a donut or cheese.
Performing a short somersault, Dante touched the ground, causing it to mold into multiple walls of earth that blocked most of the attacks; perhaps they didn't stop him, but they were enough to deflect them or reduce their power.
"That's not magic," confirmed the god of the sky, watching what Dante was doing.
"It's a transmutation, an ability I have," Dante told Horus.
"Transmutation?" asked Kiss-shot in his shadow.
"Yes, remember I told you I ate the Alchemy Fruit; it gives me the ability to transmute almost anything with just a touch. This is from a famous anime I'm still a fan of, and after using the fruit for a while, creating inventions, I was able to reach this level," Dante told the vampire hidden in the shadows.
Dante touched the ground with both hands, and the symbol of the House of Hestia appeared beneath Horus.
"But if you want me to use magic, I can do this," Dante said excitedly, and multiple rows of eternal Greek sacred fire erupted from the magic circle.
Horus was startled by this and, using an air attack, tried to intercept the attacks, but since wind wasn't very effective against fire, he had no choice but to escape the fireballs.
"I'M NOT FINISHED YET!" Dante shouted, placing a magic circle on the Buster Sword and throwing it toward Horus.
The god, using multiple steel feathers, stopped the sword inches from his body.
"Bang," Dante snapped his fingers, and a ball of eternal, sacred fire erupted, resembling a sun, covering it within a radius of about 5 meters.
The Buster Sword fell to the ground completely engulfed in flames, rendered useless.
"AAAAAAAH!" Horus screamed in agony, his face now covered in eternal fire. He quickly flew toward the sea to try and quell the flames and ease the pain, but Dante, using all his speed and Soru, reached the water first.
"Ice time," Dante declared, covering the entire surface of the sea with ice, preventing the god from entering the water.
Horus, engulfed in flames, could not enter; he could only crash into the ice, creating cracks in it.
Perhaps the water didn't actually contain the fire, but at least it made it less violent, allowing the god to use something to create fire, mitigating its effects somewhat.
Right now, using all his power and divinity, he was relentlessly healing himself to avoid being completely consumed by the flames, which would have left him in perpetual torment.
Horus looked at Dante, his eyes reddened with pain and hatred, and rushed toward him.
Dante opened his eyes to this, for he possessed the power to summon, use, and even manipulate fire, but he couldn't extinguish it. If he were to be burned, he would be no better off than Horus.
The only way to avoid death would be to ask Kiss-shot to temporarily transform him into a vampire, but with only him in sight and the fire upon him, he would die in a matter of seconds.
The area where Nova had attacked was still ablaze and slowly spreading across the island, a situation that did not bode well for Dante.
His only option in this case was to flee.
On Olympus, Hestia approached Persephone and whispered to her.
"Remind me to give her the authority to extinguish the fire next time," she said, to which Persephone looked at her incredulously.
"Why didn't you give it to her before?" Persephone asked, to which Hestia simply shrugged.
Returning to the fight. Horus, seeing Dante escape, took the opportunity to dive into the water, breaking the ice.
Horus had no choice but to remove his skin and the parts that still held fire, throwing them to the bottom of the sea.
This was thanks to his weapon, the Eye of Horus. This comes from the legend of when Set took his eyes and Thoth returned them, transforming him into the Udjat, the restorer; he completes and re-establishes order.
This also makes him oppose beings of chaos and destruction. Horus is not an arrogant god, but in Dante's presence, he can't help but become more vengeful and impulsive, all because of the trauma inflicted by Sett.
Once Horus emerged from the sea, he saw that Dante was nowhere to be seen; looking at the sky, he realized he was near the flames of eternal fire from the first attack, so with supersonic speed, he descended very close to him.
"Ah, I see you're finished," Dante remarked as he absorbed the flames with the power of darkness. "It would be bad if the island were completely consumed by fire."
"That would only be bad for you," he said, creating a whirlwind that passed through the eternal fire, becoming completely engulfed and directed toward Dante.
Dante used Soru to escape the attack; it was possible to absorb that type of technique; after all, what he couldn't completely absorb were physical attacks.
Blackbeard had been affected by Ace's attack in their first fight, but that was because he didn't dodge or block it. However, once the fire was upon him, he absorbed it.
But the eternal sacred fire is more difficult to absorb, not to mention that all of Horus's attacks contain divine power. It's better to dodge it than try to store it, as that can go wrong in many ways.
Horus launched himself at Dante, attacking with all his speed, but Dante, using the power of the Dark Fruit, expelled all the eternal fire he had managed to absorb.
The god managed to dodge it, but the fire still managed to cover one of his legs and a wing.
"I have no other choice," Dante said, beginning to completely cover the island in darkness, storing all the eternal fire but also all the nature, trees, and animals that were hidden among the mesa, leaving the island completely deserted. "One less thing to worry about," he told himself, deciding not to use the fire anymore for now, given how dangerous it was.
Dante quickly looked at the sky to see a giant beam of sunlight heading toward his position. It destroyed everything within a 4-meter diameter, but using Soru, he was able to escape the area damage.
Only to open his eyes and see the attack pursuing them, while at the same time multiple smaller beams intercepted their path.
Dante had to use his normal speed and all his agility to avoid the sunbeams, since if he used Soru, he might not be able to turn in time.
Sunbeams, steel feathers, and aerial attacks were all heading towards him. Dante could only run and dodge as best he could, using his Observation Haki to avoid the attacks coming from behind.
But absorbing everything on the island had exhausted Dante, which ended up causing him to crash and fall to the ground, where he was struck by an air attack.
Horus, now without his fire, saw this and, without hesitation, generated a current of air where Dante was falling and lifted him into the sky.
Quickly, several air distortions appeared around Dante. He could only shield himself with Haki and use defensive magic to withstand the attack.
Dante began to be struck by multiple invisible attacks, which sent him hurtling from one place to another at great speed, preventing him from hitting the ground.
Horus, orchestrating the entire attack, simply watched with his arms crossed, seeing the man who had made him suffer so much get what he deserved. But that wasn't the end of it.
High in the sky, the heavens distorted, forming a nearly imperceptible, gigantic fist that slammed into Dante, sending him crashing to the ground at almost supersonic speed.
Just as he was about to hit the ground, Horus was already waiting, ready to deliver his strongest blow. Using his ability to manipulate air, he prevented any friction on his arm, making it faster and, consequently, more powerful.
Using all his strength and divine power, he sent Dante crashing to the ground, striking him directly in the face. Dante could only shield himself as best he could, using his arm coated in Haki and magic.
The moment the blow made contact with Dante, it sent him crashing to the ground with brutal force, destroying almost the entire deserted island.
Horus stepped back only to see his arm shattered by the attack but quickly healed; He was panting, showing how tired he was, since all of this, plus healing from the fire attacks, had exhausted him.
And the truth was that Horus was fighting without all the divinity he was used to, since the intervention of the biblical god had altered the divinity of the Egyptian gods, making him weaker than he should be, as divinity was entirely tied to the faith of the people.
He had to do this now or never, because there was a possibility that everyone's divinity would continue to decline as time passed, and this would give Apophis the opportunity to kill them all.
Once all the smoke and dust cleared, Dante was seen slowly getting up; he was missing his hands and forearms; these had been destroyed by the full force of the god's explosive and divine damage. His face was also severely damaged, leaving him blind.
"At least this way I shouldn't be cursed," Dante joked.
On Mount Olympus, Persephone covered her face so as not to see her adopted son in that state, while Hestia covered Libra's eyes, who was beside her, so she wouldn't see her father in such a terrible condition.
The other gods watched the unfolding events in silence; the most troubled of all was, curiously, Ares.
He considered Dante a great friend, and the thought that he had initially intended to do this, and seeing him like this, made his blood boil.
Gods like Hermes, Poseidon, and Hades silently supported Dante, hoping he would rise to victory despite his condition.
The others didn't know what to think, but the most nervous was none other than Artemis.
Athena watched all this emotionlessly, as if she had turned off all her emotions, thinking that everything that was happening, Dante, was his punishment for rejecting her.
She wasn't worried if Dante died, since there was a way to resurrect the dead, but she had to do it in a way that would make him dependent on her and her slave. All of this, obviously, in the event that she lost.
On the battlefield, Horus surveyed Dante's pathetic state.
"You were a good fighter, but this is over," he gasped, launching an air bullet at Dante's skull, only for Dante to dodge it.
Horus narrowed his eyes, thinking this was mere coincidence; he launched another, only for Dante to dodge it again. This time he launched one at his feet, only for his opponent to pick him up, avoiding the attack.
Neck, esophagus, heart, lung. All the attacks were dodged, an impossible feat after all; Dante was blind.
"I see, clairvoyance," Horus announced, drawing the attention of the other gods watching the fight.
"You could say that," Dante said with a smile.
"But that doesn't change the fact that you're finished," the sky god said, launching himself at Dante with the intention of cutting off his head, but Dante moved with surgical precision, dodging the weapon with a spin, using Haki and magic to increase his strength; he kicked Horus away.
"COME, CERBERUS!!" Dante shouted, and in the place where Horus had been thrown, a door appeared—the door to the underworld—and the moment it opened, the head of a dog emerged.
Before Horus could react, Cerberus had already bitten him, sinking its teeth into his abdomen.
"Τάρταρος: Αδιάσπαστη Αλυσίδα (Tártaros: Adiáspasti Alysída)," Dante's pronunciation.
Dante has a strong connection to Nova and Cerberus, allowing them to be combined, not as fighting beasts, but as spells and magical attacks; once the attack ends, they disappear.
Once Cerberus killed Horus, Horus vanished, but multiple chains bound the god.
Each head possesses a unique ability intertwined with its legend. The left head bestows a death curse, called Stygia: Inevitable Death. The middle head devours everything: attacks, abilities, barriers, Noble Phantasms, anything spiritual or containing mana, called Erebus: Absolute Negation. The right head restrains the target, creating conceptual shackles that immobilize, restrict abilities, deny regeneration, and prevent escape; this is called Tartarus: Unbreakable Chain.
Horus, using all his strength, managed to break free from the chains. Being a completely divine being, Cerberus's abilities are not as effective, but that doesn't mean they have no effect on him.
The god's power is now greater, his abilities weaker, his mobility slower, and his regeneration almost nonexistent. If before he could heal in seconds from the loss of an arm, now it will take much longer for it to grow back.
"Hahahaha." At this, Dante began to laugh, since everything was going according to his plan, which was to tire, deceive, and weaken Horus.
From Dante's back, a pillar of darkness erupted, engulfing the entire sky and blocking out every ray of light.
Horus opened his eyes as he watched Dante begin to regenerate his wounds at incredible speed.
Dante conjured a spark of fire between them, creating a temporary source of light—just what he needed. The god felt someone grab his ankle tightly, only to see a hand emerge from his shadow.
"When—" he began, but couldn't finish as the hand slammed him violently into the ground.
Before the fire subsided, Kiss-shot stepped out of the god's shadow, wielding her sword Kokorowatari, and attempted to plunge it into his heart.
The god managed to react, escaping the attack, but Kiss-shot didn't remain passive. With a swift slash, she severed his arm.
"I see you can be cut now," Dante said, watching golden blood flow from the god's severed arm.
Horus said nothing at this, as he knew of the entity that lived in Dante's shadow, but he never realized when it had passed from Dante's shadow into his own.
Dante extended his now-healed hand, and from it appeared a sword with a firearm sheath.
The moment he drew it, it began to emit intense red beams that nearly engulfed the entire island.
"Incredible, and I'm not even using Haki," Dante said, looking at the Murasama.
This Murasama comes from the Calamity mod for Terraria. This weapon is only available for use near the end of the game, so it's only meant to combat cosmic-level entities, such as supreme calamities or the God-Eater, not to mention the Moon Lord, which lags behind in power, being a rare version of Cthulhu.
This weapon is almost sentient; It's only released at the precise moment in the game's progression, hence his "excitement" at having a divine being in front of him.
Both Dante and Kiss-Shot assumed fighting stances and looked at Horus.
"Well, let's continue the fight," he said.