[Espy]

Oh no. Not this. Not again.

But this time, it was different. This time, Dante could feel his skin burning, the searing flames shooting up his arms.

At least he wasn't dead. But then again, it was likely he would be in just a few minutes. Again.

He reached out with his mind. There was nothing. The nauseating aura the snake-woman had been coated with -- yes, coated as if the light had been layers upon layers of silk, or soap films -- was gone, but the pressure in his head still remained. The suffocating darkness threatened to overwhelm him.

But isn't it the same? A small, yet persistent, voice crept in from the inner recesses, the long-forgotten depths of his mind. The same as before. It was true. The darkness, the feeling of being completely lost -- it was something familiar to him, something he had thought was a weakness, shoved into a dusty coffin, and nailed shut. In the pitch black of blindness, anything could be out there, things that he couldn't see but could likely see him. If there was only a way to make himself invisible as well.

He took a deep breath. He couldn't see any of the usual green flowing around himself, but he could feel it.

Dante inhaled again and unholstered the gun the priest had given him weeks ago, mentally willing the now-invisible green tendrils to come back. He felt their presence lessen, not completely, but even this little bit could possibly help. It would be difficult to maintain for long.

Taking note of where he had last seen his traveling...companions, Dante ran sideways, doing his best to dodge the flames as they sped towards Sin, and fired a volley at the hounds.