Skill Crystal: Ink Beast Creation Crystal - Allows Dante to create ink beasts using his soul energy.
Unique physique: Venomous Seraphic Physique - Grants Dante poisonous abilities and immunity to poisons.
Background
Dante took his first breath in a humble village that was in a perpetual state of survival. The village was nestled in the Kingdom of Arvindor on the planet Gaiadon, where the soil was barren, and inflation and corruption ran rampant. Despite his father's tireless work, it was always an uphill battle for Dante's family to make ends meet.
One dark day, tragedy struck the village when the king decreed a conscription order, which compelled all able-bodied men, including Dante's father, to join the army. The loss of the village's menfolk left the remaining families in dire straits, struggling to survive.
Dante's father was gone at the end of the first week of the war.
The war was merciless, and news traveled painfully slowly.
Months passed before word reached the village that Dante's father had perished in battle. The news was a crushing blow to Dante and his mother
Dante and his mother had always been tight-knit with the man. Dante felt a deep ache in his heart when he found out that his father his died, but his mother couldn't come to terms with the loss of her husband. She fell ill, so severely that even walking caused her to gasp for breath. She was in no state to work.
As a result, Dante wiped his tears and stepped up and became the head of the household, doing everything in his power to support himself and his mother.
Things were looking bleak for the duo until winter came, introducing an extra dose of misery to their grief.
It was a cruel winter that only brought suffering and scarcity. Dante toiled away for hours on end, taking any job he could find, but it was never enough to feed his family. As the winter dragged on, his mother's health declined precipitously. She grew weaker by the day until she could no longer rise from her bed. She implored Dante not to give up on himself, to find a way to survive by himself as the light in her eyes flickered out.
As Dante sat by his mother's bedside, holding her hand, she squeezed his fingers tightly and spoke her final words to him.
"My son, you are the strongest person I know. You've always been my rock, and I hope you'll continue to be strong after I'm gone. Promise me that you won't give up, that you'll keep fighting to survive, no matter how difficult it becomes."
Even in her last breath, she was worried about him.
Dante, tears streaming down his face, replied, "I promise."
She smiled at his response, and he felt her grip on his hand loosen. Her hand fell limply to the ground. She had breathed her last.
Dante was shattered by his mother's passing. He had lost everything that mattered to him and was alone in a world that didn't seem to care. However, he didn't end his life, as he had planned. He wanted to keep the last promise he had made to his mother, to keep fighting and living on, no matter how challenging it would be.
After burying his mother, Dante left the village.
Dante was determined to make something of himself in the city, but the reality was much harsher than he had anticipated. He was met with rejection at every turn, as the nobles and their workers looked down on him for his orphan status and called him names like "street urchin" and "bastard". With no money or shelter, he was forced to sleep on the cold streets.
One night, while shivering in one such alley, Dante was kidnapped and taken to a cave where he was forced to battle poisonous monsters to the death for what seemed like an eternity. He emerged victorious from each battle and consumed the monsters' flesh to survive, the poison tormenting him every moment of the day. He didn't die from eating the carcass of the poisonous monsters as he developed resistance against poison. He became a creature of poison.
As if that wasn't enough, Dante was then subjected to brutal experiments along with many others. Most of them died, but Dante and ten others survived the brutal experiments. They had developed a beautiful friendship as they suffered together, but he was forced to fight the other survivors in a one-on-one battles to the death.
His captors celebrated his every victory, and each one brought him closer to becoming the monster they wanted him to be.
Eventually, after winning his final battle, Dante became a true monster.
The captors revealed their true faces and fed him with a spiritual worm that they could control using the worm queen, ensuring that he would never be able to rebel against them.
He asked why they put him through so much.
And they merely laughed in response before taking him to the Imperial Frost Clan where he was adopted by the Frostweavers.
"Hahahaha!"
Evan's laughter burst out of him like a volcanic eruption, but there was no humor in it. It was a deep, guttural sound that reverberated through the room, and even Keldor, a sadistic maniac who delighted in others' pain, couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his spine. Dante, too, was taken aback by the intensity of Evan's anger, raising an eyebrow in his direction.
Evan could guess why Dante had suffered greatly at the hands of the Frostweavers.
They had groomed him to be the strongest first-step soul manipulator in case Evan ever initiated the inheritance war. They didn't know if he would do it, but they wanted to be prepared for it. The Frostweavers were the strongest among the minor families of the clan because they were always prepared for anything.
Evan couldn't help but feel a simmering anger at their callous disregard for human life and disgusting behaviour, and he recalled the vow he made not too long ago. He will kill Nicholas and break the frostweavers before the end of this year!
