After several days, his mother's cough only grew worse. Seeing that it would not go away, his father finally deigned to call a doctor. After a long, thorough, and tense examination, the disastrous news arrived. The doctors announced that the woman had been contaminated by monstrous energy for years; it was so deeply rooted in her body that there was no longer any possibility of expelling it through conventional methods.
They gave her one year to live, at best.
Although Dante had already mentally prepared himself for that news, hearing it in reality hit him terribly. A horrible weight settled in his chest.
From that day onward, the atmosphere in the household became suffocating and heavy. His mother, although she still smiled and tried to remain calm so as not to frighten her little son, looked noticeably more gaunt. Her health visibly worsened with every sunrise.
Dante, seeing that time was running against him, knew he could not keep waiting. He had to act now.
Minutes later, the child left his room carrying a mighty sacred sword and accompanied by his mythical spirit beast, ready to face a dangerous enemy and retrieve the missing ingredient for the cure.
Well, in reality, the legendary sword was just a simple wooden stick he had found somewhere, and the imposing spirit beast was an entirely ordinary dog.
"Cucho, the time has come..." Dante said with a determined look while patting the head of his canine companion, a pet his father had given him some time ago.
"Woof!"
It was unclear whether the animal truly understood the gravity of the situation, but it still responded with an energetic bark.
Not far from them, a maid from the mansion walked stealthily, closely following her young master. Although she had no idea what the child was plotting, she assumed it was just a typical children's game, so she decided not to intervene and merely watch him from a safe distance.
After searching meticulously through the corners of the backyard for several minutes, the dog sniffed something between the roots of a large tree. Dante hurried to his side. He had found it.
"Cucho, we've got her," Dante said with firm eyes while falsely sheathing the stick at his waist and taking a battle stance.
Cucho immediately positioned himself beside his master, baring his teeth in a rather adorable attempt at intimidation.
In front of them, coiled upon the ground, was a chocolate-colored snake. Although it tried to look threatening, its eyes were somewhat comical, moving independently exactly like a chameleon's.
'Thankfully it's not venomous,' Dante muttered inwardly, reviewing the novel's information while preparing himself for the impact.
"One, two, three... NOW!" Dante shouted as he stepped forward, thrusting the stick directly toward the reptile.
The snake dodged with surprising ease. Irritated by the attack, it launched a violent defensive tail swipe. Dante reacted in time and managed to block the impact by positioning the wooden stick horizontally, but the force of the blow was so great that his small four-year-old body stumbled several steps backward, losing balance.
'Damn it, it's much stronger than I thought,' he thought, feeling pain in his childish wrists. "Cucho, now!"
The dog lunged in a surprise attack from the unprotected flank. However, the snake reacted quickly, recoiling into itself to dodge and counterattack with a swift bite. Cucho barely managed to move away in time, losing a few hairs in the process.
A few meters away, the maid watched everything from behind a bush. For a moment, she wondered whether she should intervene to rescue the child, but ultimately restrained herself.
'Well... it's just a children's game,' the woman thought, relaxing her posture. 'Besides, that species of snake isn't venomous. It won't put his life in danger.'
After several minutes of chaotic and clumsy fighting, both sides ended up completely exhausted. Dante stepped back while panting, planting the stick into the ground to use it as support so he would not collapse to his knees.
'I can't back down here,' he swore to himself.
The child exchanged a knowing glance with his dog. Both nodded in perfect synchronization.
Cucho ran with all the strength left in his paws and, in a desperate movement, managed to bite and clamp down on the snake right in the middle of its body. The reptile began twisting violently, trying to free itself from the grip, but the dog kept his jaws firm. Seeing itself trapped, the snake did not hesitate and sank its fangs directly into the dog's back.
"CUCHO, NO!!" Dante screamed.
Despite the pain, the dog maintained a determined gaze toward his master, refusing to release the prey. Seeing his companion's sacrifice, Dante's eyes filled with tears. He ran toward them with his heart in his throat and brought down a tremendous strike with the stick directly onto the snake's head, instantly stunning it. Taking advantage of the opening, the child continued striking the ground over and over in fury until he was sure the reptile no longer moved.
Once the battle ended, Dante dropped the wooden weapon and threw himself to his knees beside his dog, who had collapsed onto the grass on his side.
"Nooo! Why you?!" he shouted dramatically, hugging the animal's body while sobbing. "Cucho, don't die!"
The maid, who watched the scene from a distance, felt the corner of her lips twitch at such a theatrical spectacle between the child and the pet.
However, after a few seconds of processing her young master's heartbroken crying, the woman remembered a crucial detail: the snake had no venom. The bite was merely a superficial wound.
With a bored and dark look, the maid silently walked over to the dramatic scene, crouched down, and lightly flicked the dog on the back of the neck with her finger.
"Stop acting, it wasn't venomous," the woman declared flatly.
The dog, who just a second ago had been pretending to lie upon his deathbed with half-closed eyes, suddenly straightened up, let out a whine, and looked at the maid with a reproachful expression, as though complaining that she had ruined his performance.